Change Through Nature & The Karankawa

Featured Articles

How a Grueling Backpacking Trip Helped Me Stop Drinking

Outside Online • 21 Aug 2024 • ~5000 words • Archive Link

W. Hodding Carter shares a raw and honest account of how a challenging backpacking trip became a turning point in his struggle with alcohol. As he navigates both the physical demands of the trail and the emotional weight of his past, Carter reflects on the complexities of recovery and the moments that led him toward sobriety. It's a compelling journey that reminds us how nature can sometimes lead to profound personal change.

I remembered how I’d once made interconnected loft beds out of cedar posts for my kids, and now, surrounded by cedars, I thought of them. Heavy tears flowed down my cheeks. I was sad for what I’d put them through, but at the same time I was crying because I knew that, for the first time, I was doing better.

The Karankawa Want You to Know They’re Still Here

Texas Monthly • 20 Aug 2024 • ~7500 words

The story of the Karankawa people, often reduced to myths of cannibalism and extinction, is far more complex and layered than commonly known. This cover piece from Texas Monthly explores the ongoing journey of Karankawa descendants who are piecing together their identity and heritage, confronting centuries of misunderstanding and marginalization. Dive into a narrative that highlights resilience, and the importance of cultural reclamation in the face of historical erasure.

But because the Karankawa resistance was so fierce, and because the estuaries, seacoasts, and lush prairie grasslands they inhabited were so coveted, they were designated as demonic seven-foot-tall savages ravenous for human flesh. “Karanquas,” wrote Stephen F. Austin in 1821, “may be called universal enemies to man. . . . There will be no way of subduing them but extermination.”

Recommended Articles

That Feeling You Recognize? Obamacore.

Vulture • 18 Aug 2024 • ~3300 words • Archive Link

Have you ever felt a wave of nostalgia for the optimism of the Obama era? This piece from Vulture explores the cultural phenomenon of Obamacore, capturing the vibrant spirit of that time through music, television, and the collective hope that seemed to define a generation. Dive into this reflection on how art and identity intersected during those years before its fall to the deep divisions that would define the following years. Continue to 100 Pieces of Pop Culture That Defined Obamacore (archive) for a sample of works that defined this era.

In cultural history, this era remains a fascinating blip, a brief ray of hope sandwiched between the chaos and trauma of the Bush years and the bitter resistance of the Trump presidency.

The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age

MIT Technology Review • 19 Aug 2024 • ~4050 words

As we create more digital content than ever, the worry about losing our online data grows. This article explores the efforts of archivists and researchers to preserve our digital lives, revealing both the challenges they face and the innovative ways they’re working to ensure future generations can access our collective history.

Across the world, [archivists] are scraping up defunct websites or at-risk data collections to save as much of our digital lives as possible. Others are working on ways to store that data in formats that will last hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years . . . The endeavor raises complex questions. What is important to us? How and why do we decide what to keep—and what do we let go?

Dilettantes and Polymaths

3 Quarks Daily • 21 Aug 2024 • ~3100 words

In a world that often favors specialization, this piece explores the joys and benefits of dabbling in various hobbies. The author reflects on how embracing a beginner's mindset can lead to personal growth and a richer life, challenging the notion that we must pursue mastery to find meaning in our leisure activities. If you've ever wondered about the value of being a jack-of-all-trades, this article offers some thoughtful insights.

. . . it’s interesting to know that the term *dilettante* originally had a positive connotation. It comes from Latin *delectare* “to delight” and was used to mean “one who delights in knowledge.” In this non-pejorative sense, being a dilettante is about pleasure derived from abundance.

Fifty Years of Paying Attention

Slate Magazine • 20 Aug 2024 • ~3300 words • Archive Link

This is a profile of Ian Frazier, whose story Paradise Bronx we featured in one of our newsletters last month. This piece captures Frazier's unique perspective and deep connection to the neighborhoods he explores and what makes him a unique author, maybe even one of America's greatest nonfiction writers.

Frazier is both the epitome of a New Yorker writer and so sui generis that he barely seems to exist at the same magazine as everyone else. He’s a tireless reporter and a careful observer, but even half a century in, there’s no hint of genteel omniscience to his writing; he’s as ingenuous and curious as the day he arrived in the city.

For and Against Climate Progress in the Atomic Garden

jacobin.com • 17 Aug 2024 • ~7850 words

In a critique of M. V. Ramana’s book Nuclear Is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change, this piece explains the complex trade-offs and inconsistencies in the anti-nuclear stance. It makes a compelling case for why the left must embrace nuclear power as essential to the clean energy transition. Prepare to have your views challenged as you delve into this deep exploration of one of the most contentious issues facing the climate movement.

This one-sided focus on the costs of action without considering the costs of inaction runs throughout Ramana’s book. His priority is proving why nuclear is no solution, not in proposing what could be a solution. He emphasizes the cost of doing something but totally neglects the cost of not doing it.

Bigoted Bookselling: When the Nazis Opened a Propaganda Bookstore in Los Angeles

Literary Hub • 21 Aug 2024 • ~2600 words

In the early 20th century, Los Angeles was home to the Aryan Book Store, a hub for Nazi propaganda that sought to recruit locals through literature and social events. This article dives into the history of this bookstore, exploring its role in the broader landscape of radical political movements in America and the power that books hold in shaping ideology. How much can such spaces influence society?

The then manager, thirty-one-year-old Paul Themlitz, greeted all his customers. “Take a look at this,” he’d say, ushering them over to the latest issue of *Liberation*, a Fascist newspaper. If they appeared receptive, he invited them into one of the private backroom offices.

The Case for Hypochondria

The New Republic • 21 Aug 2024 • ~2700 words • Archive Link

In this review of Caroline Crampton’s book A Body Made of Glass, we explore the complex history of hypochondria, tracing its evolution from ancient times to the present. How are our anxieties about health intertwined with cultural shifts and medical understanding? This piece offers unique perspectives on a condition often dismissed.

“Hypochondria has been called ‘the ancient malady,’” writes Caroline Crampton . . . “For as long as humans have had an understanding of health, there has been anxiety about it”—especially when that understanding is subject to superstition and misconception.

Deep Reading Will Save Your Soul

persuasion.community • 21 Aug 2024 • ~2800 words

Higher education can often feel disconnected from genuine learning, and this piece explores innovative off-campus initiatives that aim to reignite a love for the humanities. With personal anecdotes and insights from students seeking deeper engagement, it sheds light on a growing movement to prioritize meaningful exploration over traditional academic structures.

. . . the university’s agenda of “relevance,” the professoriate’s agenda of political mobilization, the market’s agenda of productivity, the internet’s agenda of surveillance and addiction. In short, the whole capitalistic algorithmic ideological hairball of coerced homogeneity. The desire is to not be recruited, to not be instrumentalized, to remain (or become) an individual, to resist regression toward the mean, or meme.

The Strange Beauty of Mourning Online

The Atlantic • 17 Aug 2024 • ~1950 words • Archive Link

In this story, Charley Burlock reflects on the complexities of grief in the digital age, exploring how a Facebook memorial for her brother has shaped her mourning process. She shares her journey of navigating memory and loss through social media, revealing both the beauty and the awkwardness of keeping a loved one's presence alive online.

But slowly, I began to appreciate them. I was grateful for those blurry pictures. I was grateful for the memories they unearthed of him. Online, some of his life was restored to me.

Turf War

Toronto Life • 20 Aug 2024 • ~5300 words

I really didn’t want to be reading about rich Torontonians when I came across this story, but also, when I started, I couldn’t stop. This article dives into the tensions between old-money and new-money members in a lawn tennis club, when a clash erupted around a major $80 million renovation.

Two men on opposing sides of the rebuild, one a chartered accountant, the other a lawyer and board member, began discussing the plan for the new squash courts. The discussion became an argument, and they moved to a corner of the bar to talk privately. Things then turned hostile. Stoked by months of resentment, they began to tussle awkwardly, each landing powerful blows.