5SR - June 27, 2023

Madison works as a full-time freelance writer and is the owner of Grief Cards, where she sells sympathy cards that don't suck. In her free time, she plays in Stonewall Sports leagues and attends KC Current games.

Ida B. Bells Society Canceled Programs For Young Journalists After UNC Withheld Millions In Funding (NC Newsline)

This read covers how ripple effects of ongoing racist decisions by the UNC institution are still impacting people today, as well as how we reached this point after internationally recognized writer and society cofounder Nikole Hannah-Jones moved the Ida B. Wells Society to Morehouse College.

The exploitation of so-called academic red tape as a tool for the destruction of common decency… Whew. And all at the expense of young journalists of color who could have had incredible professional experiences with the prestigious Society and Morehouse College. Unacceptable.

We’re All Shopping Addicts Now (The Cut)

As much as I love #CleanTok and #SundayReset content, I’m also increasingly aware of how many more physical items I’ve accumulated since building a new home base in Kansas City. I’m no longer constrained by the two checked bags + one backpack packing that carried me through multiple international moves.

And so, somehow, I found myself on the Target app looking for under bed storage that would help me wrangle my winter clothing into a more manageable state, rather than cluttering my closet’s hanging space. I’ve never even thought about recording a haul video (and I’m actually more partial to empties videos from beauty influencers), but this additional consumption has still found its way into my life. This article helped ask questions about how online consumption is translating into everyday capitalism, and it’s already led me to reconsider what needs and wants look like when I’m no longer limited in packing space.

God Help Me I Have Even More Thoughts About The Ultimate: Queer Love (Cup Of Stars)

I binged The Ultimatum: Queer Love as soon as I possibly could. And it was somehow both beautiful to see queer visibility on such a traditionally heterosexual platform -- and heartbreaking to see how poorly the producers put these stories together. In this piece, Carmen Maria Machado says it perfectly: “The way the show is stripped, seemingly deliberately, of any identifying details that might shape these people as people, instead of game pieces being shuffled around a board.”

Representation like this is nothing more than tokenization, the checking of a box, that’s ultimately harmful.

This Class President Is The Model Of A Successful Teen. After A Ban On Trans Healthcare, She Can’t Wait To Leave The State (Texas Tribune)

To put my position quite clearly: Gender affirming care is critical and important and should be as widely available and accessible and affordable as is humanly possible.

I’m so proud of Topher Malone for not only getting through high school in Texas, an incredibly anti-LGBTQIA+ state across the board, but for achieving such success in her advocacy and leadership work. I’m also so devastated for the reality of her decision to attend Harvard University immediately after her graduation: Trans people should not have to abandon their homes, communities, and loved ones in order to feel a modicum of safety and continue accessing critical healthcare services.

The ‘Top Chef’ Oral History: “How Is This Going Off The Rails On Day One?” (Hollywood Reporter)

As a long-term viewer of Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef Junior, and Chef’s Table, I had no idea that each has ridden the cooking show coat tails of Top Chef throughout the years. This conversation is a coming together of showrunners, network executives, and on-screen personalities -- a real lesson in how even a single television show can permanently transform an industry in ways that we’re still learning about today. (And it made me want to read similar conversations about the fictitious-ish Suits, Jane The Virgin, and The Good Place!)