A lot can happen in seven days. Fortify now:
1. Kristi Yamaguchi’s childhood literacy nonprofit is meeting the moment. The figure skater’s Always Dream Foundation has improved reading time for kids in need by 20 percent during the pandemic, sending digital devices loaded up with books and data plans. Learn more about her advocacy and keep pretending you too can nail salchows, lutzes, toe loops, spins, and spirals.
2. Yesterday’s Notes 4 Votes livestream brought in Cornel West, Vijay Iyer, Terence Blanchard, Carla Bley, William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and many others for the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance’s get-out-the-vote party. “Nothing, nothing, nothing is more important than getting your vote in and on time,” said Arturo O’Farrill. Catch the replay.
3. Netflix announced its first all-Native animated preschool series, Spirit Rangers, created by Karissa Valencia. “As a Native storyteller, I’ve rarely come across the opportunity to tell my own story. I can’t wait for everyone to meet our funny modern Native family in Spirit Rangers,” Valencia said.
4. NBC is developing the first Native drama for network TV, Ava DuVernay’s Sovereign, about the lives and loyalties of an Indigenous family wrestling with challenges (external and internal) to self-determination.
5. Today marks the 65th anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s West Berlin show. Rare photos, newspaper clippings, and a ticket stub are on display by the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
6. Today is also the 116th birthday of the New York City subway. The mayor took the controls for the inaugural run at 2:35 p.m. that day in 1904, and it became the largest US system. Despite the many critics (this one included) who see it as an avatar of humanity’s descent into subterranean madness and hell, it’s actually okay.
7. An invitation: Let us know at recharge@motherjones.com what forms of justice, joy, hope, and strength you find in the coming days—or if each is in short supply—and if you want your name included in a future newsletter.
