A lovely aphorism holds that education isn’t the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.
But too often, neither are pails filled nor fires lit.
One of the most bearish statistics for the future of the United States is this: Two-thirds of fourth graders in the United States are not proficient in reading.
Reading may be the most important skill we can give children. It’s the pilot light of that fire.
Yet we fail to ignite that pilot light, so today some one in five adults in the United States struggles with basic literacy, and after more than 25 years of campaigns and fads, American children are still struggling to read. Eighth graders today are actually a hair worse at reading than their counterparts were in 1998.
One explanation gaining ground is that, with the best of intentions, we grown-ups have bungled the task of teaching kids to read. There is growing evidence from neuroscience and careful experiments that the United States has adopted reading strategies that just don’t work very well and that we haven’t relied enough on a simple starting point — helping kids learn to sound out words with phonics.
“Too much reading instruction is not based on what the evidence says,” noted Nancy Madden, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who is an expert on early literacy. “That’s pretty clear.
“At least half of kids in the U.S. are not getting effective reading instruction.”
Other experts agree. Ted Mitchell, an education veteran at nearly every level who is now president of the American Council on Education, thinks that easily a majority of children are getting subpar instruction.
Dig deeper into the moment.
Others disagree, of course. But an approach called the “science of reading” has gained ground, and it rests on a bed of phonics instruction.
(I’m focusing on national policy, but parents also play a role. It can be dangerous to listen to kids — you’ll be talked into buying a video game — so read to them! I’ve offered my suggestions for the best kids’ books ever — and truly one of the best reasons to have kids is the chance to read to them.)
I spent much of the 1980s and 1990s as a New York Times correspondent in East Asia, and children there (including mine) learned to read through phonics and phonetic alphabets: hiragana in Japan, bopomofo in Taiwan, pinyin in China and hangul in South Korea. Then I returned with my family to the United States in 1999, and I found that even reading was political: Republicans endorsed phonics, so I was expected as a good liberal to roll my eyes.
The early critique of phonics in part was rooted in social justice, trying to address inadequate education in inner cities by offering more engaging reading materials. The issue became more political when the 2000 Republican Party platform called for “an early start in phonics,” and when President George W. Bush embraced phonics with a major initiative called Reading First.
For liberals, Bush’s support for phonics made it suspect. That had some basis: The Reading First program was not well implemented, and careful evaluations showed it had little impact. It died.
I became intrigued by the failures in reading after listening to a riveting six-part podcast, “Sold a Story,” that argues passionately that the education establishment ignored empirical evidence and unintentionally harmed children.
“Kids are not being taught how to read because for decades teachers have been sold an idea about reading and how children learn to do it,” Emily Hanford, a public radio journalist who for years has focused on reading issues, says in the first of the podcasts. She told me that the podcast has had more than 3.5 million downloads.
One of the targets of the podcast is Lucy Calkins, a professor at Columbia University Teachers College who has a widely used reading curriculum. Calkins has acknowledged learning from the science of reading movement and from Hanford, and she told me how she has modified her curriculum as a result — but she also says that phonics was always part of her approach and that media narratives are oversimplified.
As Calkins and others revise their materials, skeptics worry that curriculums still aren’t fully committed to phonics but layer it onto other strategies, leaving students befuddled.
It’s easy to be glib in describing these reading wars. Everyone agrees that phonics are necessary, and everyone also agrees that phonics are not enough.
“Yes, phonics matters, but how you do phonics matters, too, and the rest of the stuff matters as well,” said Madden. She runs a nonprofit, Success for All, that is one of the most evidence-based organizations for improving reading, and rigorous evaluations have shown excellent results. (Success for All was one of the nonprofits in my 2022 holiday giving guide; huge thanks to my readers for donating more than $6 million to them.)
What’s clear is that when two-thirds of American kids are not proficient at reading, we’re failing the next generation. We can fix this, imperfectly, if we’re relentlessly empirical and focus on the evidence. It’s also noteworthy that lots of other interventions help and aren’t controversial: tutoring, access to books, and coaching parents on reading to children. And slashing child poverty, which child tax credits accomplished very successfully until they were cut back.
By Colbert I. King Columnist|Follow Washington Post February 11th 2023
In this second week of Black History Month, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) reintroduced their bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to approximately 200,000 African Americans who served with the Union Army during the Civil War. My great-grandfather Isaiah King of New Bedford was among them. He was a soldier with Company D of the Fifth Massachusetts (Colored) Cavalry, having enlisted at age 17 on Jan. 16, 1864.S
Those brave Black soldiers served with honor in a system that paid them less than it paid White troops and under adverse conditions, including the risk of enslavement and torture if captured by Confederate forces. Their valor is largely unrecognized or unappreciated.
Getting a pension was another ordeal. It took Great-Granddaddy King 13 years to finally get his pension.
With that as a backdrop, I enter into this year’s observance of Black History Month. It’s a step that I take without warm feelings.
Yes, I join in paying tribute to accomplished Black trailblazers and their contributions to the building of America. I have been doing that since grade school in the 1940s, when the celebration was conducted under the banner “Negro History Week.” It was important then, as it is now, to show that Black contributions extend beyond the fields of sports, entertainment and military service. This country is also a commanding figure on the world stage because of the fight for human rights by the descendants of enslaved Black people — a struggle that inspired independence and anti-colonialism movements around the world.
What stays with me, however, is the reason for continuing to set aside a special time of the year for this observance.
Renowned historian and author John Hope Franklin said Carter G. Woodson, who founded Negro History Week in 1926, always believed that the day would come when there no longer would be a need to set aside such a time, because the history of African Americans would become an integral part of American history to be observed throughout the year. Until Woodson’s death in 1950, Franklin said, he continued to express hope that Negro History Week would outlive its usefulness. It hasn’t. But not for the best of reasons.
The observance served a necessary purpose for Black youngsters in my generation. We needed to hear about the role of Black people in the making of America because we were being told by White people of our day that there was nothing about us, or our mommas and daddies, or other people who looked like us, that White people were bound to respect. And that disdain was expressed in tangible ways.
I’m not talking about Black experiences learned from reading a book or classroom lectures, or from tales told by elders. I lived that history — that long, darkened slice of life that affected my heart and mind in ways unlikely ever to be undone. Those experiences will be with me until my dying day.
Try living with knowledge that White Washingtonians have given the sanction of law to prevent Black-skinned children from attending their schools and our parents, preachers and teachers from entering their theaters and restaurants. Try growing up in a city that, by custom, denied Black people the chance to try on clothes in department stores or sit at drugstore counters; try having to tolerate a racial etiquette in which White men and White women were always addressed by “Mr.,” “Mrs.” or “Miss,” while first-name usage was reserved for Black men and women — regardless of rank, station or age.
Imagine, if you can, what it’s like as a young teen looking for a job to open your morning newspapers and see job advertisements for Whites only. To know that the key reason you could not work inside a bank, a department store, a downtown office building or in a service station, drugstore or restaurant — except for menial jobs — is that you were born Black.
Try knowing, even as a child and young adult, that you were receiving that kind of treatment because White people in our nation’s capital wanted to instill in you a sense of inferiority.
That was my world.
Legalized racism is now off the books, albeit not voluntarily, but by court orders and federal laws. Few employers, store and shop owners, public school leaders or neighborhood citizen associations of my day stopped, looked around and said, “Naw, I don’t want to do that anymore. Let’s do the right thing.” Law, not conscience, made the changes.
Negro History Week, now Black History Month, seeks to refute racial denigration. But that the observance is still needed speaks volumes about where we are as a country. To think: Some states are banning teaching about the impact of racial bias in the pursuit of democracy under the guise of eliminating critical race theory. African American history is American history with all its warts. Period.
…”Perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem.
And so we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. And so we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would hardly live on the same block in Chicago. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor…”
Black History Month is a time to celebrate the rich cultural heritage and immense contributions of Black individuals throughout history. It is a time to reflect on the struggles and triumphs of the Black community, and to acknowledge the incredible impact they have had on shaping our society. This month-long observance is a reminder of the incredible strength and resilience of Black people, and it is a time to show gratitude and appreciation for their contributions to our world.
Here is a collection of videos, books, and articles you can share freely with your teams to support their learning journey. There are an infinite number of resources, and these are ones I curated.
Books:
Ibram X Kendi his book Stamped from the Beginning
Isabel Wilkerson her books Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns.
Maryland’s historical legacies of opportunity and openness to diverse immigrants continue to characterize Montgomery County, as a third of its residents are foreign born and over forty percent speak a language besides English. Concurrently, Native peoples and the descendants of colonial settler families continue to be part of the fabric of the county.
What is it like to live with the chronic fatigue of long covid?
It feels like dragging your body through wet cement, says Judy Schaefer, 58, a once avid hiker who lives in Seattle.
It’s knowing that simple tasks, like showering or cooking dinner, will be exhausting, says Alyssa Minor, 36, a physiotherapist in Calgary.
It’s trying to exercise and instead, landing in the ER, says Harry Leeming, 31, of London.
Judy Schaefer, 58, at her home in Seattle, Wash., was an avid hiker before developing long covid after an infection in 2020. (Jovelle Tamayo/ forThe Washington Post)
Experts say the extreme fatigue experienced by many long covid patients has a name: myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), a condition previously known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers estimate that abouthalf of people with long covid have developed ME/CFS.
There is no known cure for ME/CFS, but some experts say a complicated lifestyle change can help manage some of the symptoms.
It’s called “pacing.”
Pacing is an “activity management” strategy, which requires people to carefully limit their daily activities, reduce their energy expenditureand track their symptoms.
But pacing is difficult. It often requires scaling back on mundane tasks that most people take for granted, like rinsing dishes or chopping vegetables. And it means finding ways to reduce energy expenditure and effort — such as creating water and snack stations around the house to reduce trips to the kitchen. Even showering or picking children up from school can be debilitating for those with ME/CFS.
Schaefer at home with her dog while she meets with a group of other women with long COVID via Zoom. (Jovelle Tamayo for The Washington Post)
While pacing can make a huge difference in quality of life for someone with long covid, it also comes with a cost. Pacing often means cutting back on both work and favorite activities like cooking, walking the dog or socializing with friends. And it can represent a challenging reversal for people who, until very recently, have been accustomed to leading busy, active lives.
“I tell people to figure out what they can do every day without struggle,” explained Ravindra Ganesh, a physician and medical director of Mayo Clinic’s Post-COVID-19 Care Clinic.
People with long covid who have tried pacing say it has helped them return to a semblance of normalcy.
Daria Oller, 38, of Lincoln Park, N.J., said that after getting covid in March 2020, she felt winded all the time, and the fatigue sometimes left her unable to get up or even speak.
Daria Oller, 38, who has long covid, takes a break on a gymnastics mat in her living room in Lincoln Park, NJ. (Evelyn Freja for The Washington Post.)
To cope, she started using a pacing strategy to manage her activities and energy level. She gave up running and regular dance classes and scaled back date nights with her husband and outings with friends. She also scaled back at her job as a physical therapist, giving up clinical work and now leads education sessions.
She plans her clothing for a week at a time, to minimize effort later. These and other pacing strategies have reduced her symptoms, and leave her with just enough energy to keep working and enjoy the occasional fun activity.
“My symptoms weren’t constant anymore whereas I previously had been short of breath almost all of the time,” Oller said. “It helped to give me a little more sense of control.”
Oller keeps essential items close by to conserve her energy. (Evelyn Freja for The Washington Post.)
A lesson from longtime sufferers
While pacing is a new strategy for those with long covid, it’s been used for years by people who suffer from ME/CFS. The cause of ME/CFS is not understood. Experts believe the disease can be triggered by illness, infection or stress.
Before she learned how to pace correctly, Kaia Arrow, 32, of Toronto, often needed to stay in bed and could rarely leave the house.
Arrow has lived for 12 years with ME/CFS, which was triggered by a post-surgical infection. She said that over the past few years she has gotten better at pacing, and now she can usually leave the house a few times a week and has started cooking again every few weeks.
“Pacing made it so that I could predict what I could do, like on a small level for the first time in over a decade,” said Arrow. “I can cook for my husband. I can cook for my friends. Not frequently. But, that’s more than I could do before.”
Kaia Arrow, 32, has lived with ME/CFS for 12 years. Scaling back activities and conserving energy has helped her live a more normal life. ( (Chloë Ellingson/For The Washington Post)
The evidence for pacing
“Pacing is being active when you’re able, and resting when you’re tired, rather than pushing through symptoms,” said Jaime Seltzer, director of scientific and medical outreach at #MEAction, a nonprofit advocacy group for people with infection-associated chronic illness.
The effectiveness of pacing for long covid patients with ME/CFS hasn’t yet been widely studied. But the World Health Organization recommends the strategy for long covid patients who experience a worsening of symptoms after activity, which is known as post-exertional malaise.
While pacing is gaining acceptance, patient groups and doctors say more study is needed, and some experts remain divided about the best treatment approach. One of the largest studies to include pacing, published in the Lancet, found that cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy may be better options for some patients. Graded exercise therapy involves a gradual increase in activity over time, but some doctors think it’s too risky for ME/CFS patients.
For people with ME/CFS, even holding a phone can be a struggle. Arrow wears finger braces to give her hands more support. (Chloë Ellingson/For The Washington Post)
The study has been widely criticized for its methods. Another analysis of 18,000 survey responses showed that pacing had the highest reported benefit (44 to 82 percent of patients,) while cognitive behavioral therapy helped less (8 to 35 percent). Graded exercise therapy had the highest negative response (54 to 74 percent).
Peter White, the lead author of the Lancet report, said that he stands by the results of the study. He noted that studying recovery or improvement in ME/CFS patients can be difficult because it often relies on subjective criteria. Another issue, he said, may be that some patients aren’t receiving therapy that has been correctly tailored to patients with ME/CFS.
Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated their guidance in the past decade to remove graded exercise therapy as a recommended treatment for ME/CFS.
A wheelchair customized with details such as a pink heart sits near the entrance to Arrow’s apartment. (Chloë Ellingson/For The Washington Post)
Rethinking what recovery looks like
One of the biggest challenges of pacing is that it contradicts popular thinking around recovery. For many people with an illness, the goal is to rebuild stamina through physical therapy and gradually increase activity levels over time.
But experts say that approach can result in a debilitating “crash” that leaves patients in even worse condition.
The fatigue that Minor, the Calgary physiotherapist, experienced after she caught a mild case of covid in January 2021, was so bad that she couldn’t get through a single shift at work without feeling like she was “hitting a wall.” Simple chores at home left her feeling exhausted and dizzy.
The post-exertional malaise she described is a defining quality of ME/CFS. Even minor levels of activity can cause a worsening of symptoms, or “crash.”
Arrow keeps a foldable stool in the bathroom to minimize the time she spends standing. (Chloë Ellingson/For The Washington Post)
In one small study of 22 people with ME/CFS, researchers tested people’s capacity for activity by measuring oxygen intake and how hard they could pedal while they pushedthemselves on a stationary bicycle.
In the study, participants cycled to the point of exhaustion, then repeated the exercise test 24 hours later. On the second test, the researchers found the participants could not match the performance they had put in the day before, even when putting in maximum effort. And their bodies’ ability to use oxygen and deliver it to cells had declined significantly.
These tests, called cardiopulmonary exercise tests, have been performed on people with long covid as well, yielding similar results.
Oller sorts through a box of clothes she needs for the week, including compression socks. (Evelyn Freja for The Washington Post)
The culprit seems to be a dysfunction in the body’s aerobic energy system, which is responsible for providing long-term energy to the body and relies heavily on blood flow to deliver oxygen, according to Todd Davenport, professor and vice-chair of the physical therapy program at the University of the Pacific, who has studied ME/CFS.
When a healthy person runs up a flight of stairs, for instance, they may breathe heavily because the body can’t distribute oxygen to the cells fast enough to keep up with the body’s demand. A healthy body with a well-functioning aerobic energy system can recover quickly.
But someone with moderate ME/CFS experiences a shortage of energy more easily, even after minor activity, and takes longer to recover. And, if they continue to push themselves, they risk permanently lowering their body’s ability to perform various activities, said Davenport.
Often, by the time people learn about pacing, they are already caught in a boom and bust cycle, where they feel better, push themselves to do too much and crash again, said Seltzer. Sometimes a crash occurs 24 hours or longer after the triggering activity, she said.
Arrow’s cart includes craft supplies, drinks and snacks, and garbage and recycling bags, among other things. (Chloë Ellingson/For The Washington Post)
Schaefer, the hiking enthusiast in Seattle, developed long covid after an infection in July 2020 and still struggles with knowing what she can’t do. She started pacing in early 2021 based on advice from her doctors at the University of Washington’s Post-COVID-19 rehabilitation and recovery program.
Every day, Schaefer said she tries to do only one or two things, such as vacuum the floor, do laundry or go for a walk around the block. Sometimes, the activity she chooses is still too much and she can’t get off the couch.
“It’s a learning process that takes months or years to realize what you need to do or need to not do,” she said. “If I wasn’t pacing, I would probably be worse right now with the fatigue. It’s this bone crushing fatigue that I can never push through.”
Oller takes a break and elevates her feet at her New Jersey home. For people with ME/CFS, pacing includes taking frequent rest breaks. (Evelyn Freja for The Washington Post.)
How to start pacing
The hardest part of pacing is determining the correct level of activity. People with ME/CFS who have been pacing for years say it is often difficult to prioritize what to do and not do.
“You have to convince yourself to say no to a lot of things that you really want to do,” Arrow said.
To start pacing, use a blank weekly planner or a scheduling app like Daylio to plan each day’s activities.
Start with the goal of making about half of your waking hours “rest time.” Rest does not include any activities that require mental energy, such as going on your phone or reading a book.
Schedule your “must-do” activities, and try to plan small breaks between each activity — it may be necessary to rest between basic tasks like showering or eating breakfast.
If there is time left, add in activities that you would like to do (You probably won’t be able to include all of them.)
Avoid scheduling activities that would cause your heart rate to rise significantly.
Record your symptoms daily to determine if you are pacing yourself correctly. Try categorizing your days as green (feeling good), yellow (feeling okay or needing more rest) and red (feeling bad).
If symptoms don’t improve, keep cutting back activities and resting until they do. If you begin to feel better, you can try adding more activities into your routine, but remember to take frequent breaks.
For many people, pacing may mean reducing work hours, working remotely or stopping work altogether. Other strategies include delegating household tasks to loved ones, using meal delivery services instead of cooking, and breaking up bigger tasks into smaller ones with rests in between.
For example, Seltzer, who herself has ME/CFS, will chop vegetables and toss them in a freezer on one day; then she’ll cook the meal on another day.
Other ME/CFS patients say they use a chair while showering or cooking, since sitting down during tasks can help save energy.
Some people use timers to be sure they don’t forget to rest.
Tracking exertion
Another way to practice pacing is to keep track of daily physical exertion.
One method is to record how many hours each day you spent on your feet. For instance, if five hours a day on your feet is too much, scale back until you find the right amount of time for you.
Some ME/CFS patients track exertion with a heart rate monitor, Davenport said. Start by calculating your average morning resting heart rate over seven days. Try to stay within 15 beats per minute of your resting heart rate. The longer you spend above this threshold, the greater the risk of a crash later, he said.
Experienced pacers also learn to monitor their heart rate variability, by measuring the amount of time between beats, which can vary by fractions of seconds. It can also be a way to predict future energy levels, said Davenport.
A free app called Visible allows you to place your finger on your smartphone camera for one minute and check heart rate variability and resting heart rate. The app is still in beta testing and has been designed specifically to help people with pacing. It was created by Leeming, the British man who has long covid, in collaboration with several researchers.
Leeming said that once he realized pacing helped him feel better, he decided to create an app to make it easier.
“Even if I think I should go slower, having that extra bit of information like, ‘Yes, you’re making the right decision’ has been really helpful,” he said.
Whitney Dafoe, 39, of Palo Alto, Calif., is an award-winning photographer who has lived with ME/CFS since the age of 21. Pacing helps him conserve enough energy to use his phone and computer and to take self portraits that document severe ME/CFS. But he is unable to leave bed and is fed through a tube. He responded to questions by email.
People with ME/CFS should think of pacing as a way of life, he said. “Pacing is how you survive,” he wrote.
By Amanda Morris Amanda Morris is a disability reporter for The Washington Post on its Well+Being desk. Before joining The Post in 2022, she was the inaugural disability reporting fellow for the New York Times. Twitter
“Most of my rebellions are against mediocrity,” the writer Anais Nin said. In that spirit, then, let me rebel: When it comes to the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., America loves to conjure up half-assed banalities in the name of “social justice.”
This year, the city of Boston added its own twisted contribution to the Disneyfication of King’s legacy. On Friday, the city unveiled “The Embrace,” a $10 million, 20-foot-high bronze sculpture in Boston Common. “The Embrace” features the disembodied arms and slender hands of a woman and the sleeved arms of a man in what is meant to be a hug. The arms are supposed to be that of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
The $10 million, 20-foot-tall bronze sculpture was inspired by a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, embracing after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. “ (Steven Senne/AP)
From one angle the sculpture shows the arms interlocking in a way that evokes a heart, clearly the intent. But from another, shown in photos that are firing around the internet, the sculpture could be mistaken for something a bit, uh, NSFW.
As I wrote on Twitter, when I first saw “The Embrace” I felt a visceral discomfort that lingered for a few days. Public art and the processes around it are always political. Even more so in a nation that has few public monuments and statues of Black people.
A number of thorny vines get tangled in the politics of “The Embrace” as a universalist representation of King’s legacy.
First of all, one would not immediately know that the statue, a work of public art that is meant to be an homage to King, and by extension to his activism, depicts the Rev. Martin Luther Jr. and Coretta Scott King at all. The sculpture appears to not have any indication of race; these could be anyone’s hands. Sculptor Hank Willis Thomas said that he took inspiration from a photo of the two embracing after Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He wanted, he said, for the sculpture to be a universal symbol of love.
Let’s unpack that.
It’s bad enough that a casual visitor would need to see the reference photo to understand the intent of the sculpture. But beyond that, these static arms and hands don’t really show emotion. For all we know, it could just as easily show two people embracing in mourning or in a casual greeting among relatives. The embodied joy and love between Martin and Coretta were in their very Black faces. But here their heads have been separated from their bodies, leaving floating body parts that only form a heart if seen from the right angle.
“The Embrace” also evokes America’s compulsion to butcher King’s fight against white supremacy. The statue reinforces how White America loves to see King not as the radical who was murdered for fiercely challenging capitalism, imperialism and white supremacy but as a man who used feel-good, interpersonal love to overcome the racist violence of America’s institutions. That reduces racism to an issue of people not being nice to one another, not one of systems and institutions that perpetuate anti-Black violence and inequality.
This is why institutions like the FBI — which surveilled King and continues to surveil Blackactivists — have the audacity to tweet about King’s example. Politicians across the country have used King’s messages about love and judging people not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” to justify laws whitewashing the history on race that is taught in our nation’s schools — some even have proposed dropping from the required curriculum MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech that articulates that very concept.
So dismemberment of Martin and Coretta by “The Embrace” to form a superficial representation of love is both safe and grotesque.
On one level, considering that Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, there is something violent about creating a tribute to him out of disembodied body parts.
On a deeper level, this dismemberment represents the misremembering of MLK’s legacy. Simply put: The deliberate forgetting of America’s history plays a crucial role in the self-understanding of White Americans. It makes them feel safe and innocent. It absolves them of the need to feel guilt, anger and empathy — all of which can be necessary emotional catalysts for change. Reducing activism to fuzzy feelings of love and niceness prevents the hard work of disrupting the vestiges of the white supremacy that continue to endanger Black lives and hold the country hostage.
And to answer one point raised in response to my Twitter thread about these themes: Some argue that “The Embrace” has nothing to do with White America — because the sculptor, Thomas, is Black.
C’mon. As contributors to the public discourse, Black writers, artists, intellectuals and critics need to be able to publicly engage with each other’s ideas, to look at them critically. The context of creation matters. And in the heavily White art world, one can understand that “safe” art about the struggle for social justice will easily find backers — and is more likely to end up on prominent placements like Boston Common. Let this be a reminder that representation alone is not the same as progress.
If you think I’m wrong about “The Embrace,” let me know, and tell me why. Regardless, I hope one day White America will stop cherry-picking MLK and actually embrace its responsibility to end white supremacy. But right now, sadly, that feels like a pipe dream.
Do you have questions, comments, tips, recipes, poems, praise, or critiques for me? Submit them here. I do read every submission and may include yours in a future version of the newsletter.
Black history is Washington’s history, every month of the year. The city is home to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but numerous museums showcase Black excellence. The Mall bore witness to important events, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the inauguration of America’s first Black president, but the streets are rich with stories: Frederick Douglass, Carter G. Woodson and Mary McLeod Bethune all lived in D.C. Duke Ellington and Charles Drew were born here. Howard University was founded here. Black Broadway thrived here.
In February, the nation’s official Black History Month, there are ample opportunities to celebrate historical figures and walk in the footsteps of great men and women, both famous and unheralded. “Black Resistance” is the theme of this year’s commemorations, and it’s a through-line connecting many of the events around town.
The occasion also serves as a chance to learn more about the art being created by neighbors and the history in our own backyard. It’s a chance to acknowledge the contributions of remarkable Black Americans and come away inspired to carry their legacies forward.
Photographer Dee Dwyer’s “Wild Seeds of the Soufside” is on view at the Phillips Collection’s Phillips at THEARC from Feb. 18 to May 13. Dwyer discusses her work at a Feb. 24 reception. (Dee Dwyer)
Art and film
Black Voices film screenings at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: A month-long program at the area’s Alamo theaters features films showcasing the talents of Black actors, directors and producers. The lineup includes such feature films as “Boyz n the Hood,” “Love & Basketball” and “Moonlight” and documentaries “Hoop Dreams” and “Wattstax.” Through March 1. Times and prices vary. drafthouse.com.
Artist Talk: ‘The Radical Voice of Blackness Speaks of Resistance and Joy’ at the Banneker-Douglass Museum: The Annapolis museum’s current exhibition includes paintings, photographs, videos and other works from prominent Black Maryland-based artists. Hear from Devin Allen, Wesley Clark and Chrystal Seawood, who have works included in the exhibit, during a discussion moderated by guest curator Myrtis Bedolla. The exhibition remains on display through Sept. 30. Artist talk, Feb. 18 from 1 to 3 p.m. bdmuseum.maryland.gov. Free; registration required.
‘Wild Seeds of the Soufside’ opening at Phillips at THEARC: Photographer Dee Dwyer’s images of people and everyday life in Southeast Washington are featured in a new exhibition at the Phillips Collection’s gallery at the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) in Congress Heights. Dwyer discusses her work at the opening reception; the exhibit is on view through May 13. Opening reception, Feb. 24 from 5 to 9 p.m. phillipscollection.org. Free; registration required.
Singer and banjo player Jake Blount performs at the Library of Congress on Feb. 23 as part of a celebration of African American folk music. (Tadin Brown)
Music
A2B at the Eaton Workshop: The Eaton’s A2B series, which finds musicians, DJs and journalists playing and discussing records that hold deep personal meaning, examines “Black history and future through music” in the hotel’s library throughout February. Sessions include filmmaker and former Post journalist Chris Jenkins covering Public Enemy’s “Fear of a Black Planet” on Feb. 9 and Panama Jackson of TheGrio delving into Erykah Badu’s “Mama’s Gun” on Feb. 16. Thursdays through Feb. 23. 7 to 9 p.m. eatonworkshop.com. Free; RSVP required.
Live! At the Library: African American Folk Music with Jake Blount at Library of Congress: Roots musician Jake Blount drew from historical recordings housed at the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center when creating his acclaimed 2022 album “The New Faith,” and Blount returns to the library for this after-hours party, where the gifted banjo player will perform and discuss how African American traditions have shaped Americana music. Before or after the event, visitors can also view the temporary exhibit on “Black Resistance,” which draws from library collections. Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. loc.gov. Free; timed entry passes required.
Soul and Blues Music Maker Foundation Showcase at National Gallery of Art: In conjunction with the exhibit “Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South,” the National Gallery of Art’s East Building hosts a day featuring live performances of blues, bluegrass and gospel. Feb. 26 from noon to 4:30 p.m. nga.gov. Free.
The southern leg of Alexandria’s African American Waterfront Heritage Trail ends at Jones Point, which is the site of the boundary stone marking the original southern tip of Washington. The trail extension launches Feb. 4. (Carol Jean Stalun/Visit Alexandria)
History and tours
African American Waterfront Heritage Trail extension in Old Town Alexandria: In 2021, the city of Alexandria launched the African American Waterfront Heritage Trail, a self-guided walking tour from the waterfront at King Street north to the Cross Canal neighborhood near Tide Lock Park. This month, the city launches a 19-stop extension of the interactive multimedia tour, which can be accessed on a smartphone, leading from King Street south to Jones Point Park, covering Black history from the 18th century to the present. Trail launches Feb. 4. alexandriava.gov. Free.
African American Voices tour at Washington National Cathedral: The Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr. delivered his final Sunday sermon from the pulpit of Washington National Cathedral; Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached there on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Learn more about the cathedral’s relationship with these men and other Black leaders and theologians during themed tours of the building. Feb. 4 at 10:30 a.m. and Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. cathedral.org. $25-$30.
Frederick Douglass Birthday Celebration at Capital Turnaround: Cedar Hill, the historic mansion that Frederick Douglass called home, remains closed for renovations, so the annual birthday party for the Lion of Anacostia is moving to the former streetcar barn across from the Navy Yard. The program includes period music from the Jubilee Voices of the Washington Revels, DC Strings, speeches from the student winners of the Frederick Douglass Oratorical Contest and a discussion about which city Douglass really considered his home during his lifetime. Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. nps.gov/frdo. Free.
After Emancipation walking tours in Rock Creek Park: National Park Service rangers lead this two-mile tour exploring sites associated with formerly enslaved people who lived and worked on land that’s now part of Rock Creek Park, including Sarah Whitby, whose now-vanished house was excavated by archaeologists. The walk begins near Picnic Grove 28, and no reservations are required. Feb. 12 and 18 at 10 a.m. nps.gov/rocr. Free.
Black History Tours from Off the Mall Tours: Off the Mall Tours offers a collection of walking tours covering subjects as esoteric as Civil War madams and the birth of D.C. punk. For February, topics include Queer Black Broadway (Feb. 25), an LGBTQ tour of U Street sites in conjunction with the Rainbow History Project, and the History of Black Georgetown (Feb. 26). Feb. 12-26. Times vary. otmdc.com. $25.
Families can explore the Underground Railroad Experience Trail during Black History Month Family Day at Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park in Sandy Spring. (Marilyn Stone/Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission)
For families
Community Day: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of ‘The Lion King’ on Broadway at the National Museum of African American History and Culture: “The Lion King” debuted a quarter-century ago, with its innovative masks and staging and a soundtrack proudly featuring authentic African music. The production changed the face of Broadway and became the highest-grossing Broadway musical ever. This month, “The Lion King” will be celebrated with a family festival on the Mall, which includes workshops with Disney “theatrical teaching artists” and family activities across the museum. Feb. 20 at 10:30 a.m. nmaahc.si.edu. Free; registration required. Separate registration for workshops required.
Culture Queen Kids Hour: Magnificent Monuments at the Anacostia Community Museum: One of the most dynamic and joyful children’s performers around, Culture Queen empowers audiences while also educating them, thanks to songs such as “I Like the Me I See” and “I Am the Future of Black History.” Her monthly visits to the Anacostia Community Museum feature crafts, stories and fun, and for Black History Month, participants will discuss people they admire before building monuments to them. Feb. 4 from noon to 1 p.m. anacostia.si.edu. Free; registration required.
NMAAHC Kids Learning Together from the National Museum of African American History and Culture: Animated movie and TV heroes serve as the inspiration for online Zoom programs sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Feb. 21 is based on “Doc McStuffins,” so kids can meet a real doctor and learn about staying healthy, while the Feb. 10 event celebrates Frozone of “The Incredibles” and features a figure skater and a science project about ice. Registration is required for each session, and participants will receive information about craft supplies by email before the event. Various times and dates, beginning Feb. 4. nmaahc.si.edu. Free; registration required.
Black History Month Family Day at Woodlawn Manor: Sandy Spring’s Woodlawn Manor, home to Montgomery County’s Underground Railroad Experience Trail and a museum with exhibits about free and enslaved Black communities, is open for self-guided tours and take-home activities. Feb. 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. montgomeryparks.org. Free.
Black Aviators Tour at the College Park Aviation Museum: Learn about the exploits of Black pilots, such as Eugene Bullard, a member of the legendary Lafayette Flying Corps during World War I, and Gus McLeod, the first man to fly over the North Pole in an open-cockpit biplane (on display at the museum), during this tour designed for ages 12 and older. 11 a.m. Feb. 4, 11 and 25 as well as 1 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday through Feb. 26. pgparks.com. Free.
During the campaign, Moore proposed offering recent high school graduates a one-year opportunity to be paid for doing public service, either for the government or for another nonprofit. (The governor emphasized service during his first State of the State speech on Wednesday, calling on lawmakers to help him recruit the public into more volunteer work.)
His legislation would create a state agency to administer the program and broadly lays out how it would work: Young people work about 30 hours a week in a job focused on climate, education or health, earning $15 an hour and receiving a $3,000 stipend for completing the program, which would include a mentor who does career coaching and teaches financial literacy. Moore proposes to start with 200 participants in the first year and have 2,000 by the fourth.
Inside the gym at Paint Branch High School on a rainy Wednesday in January, hundreds of kids gathered during their lunch period in a distinctly pre-pandemic scene: Unmasked, they broke off into groups to play duck-duck-goose, musical chairs, jump rope and other playground games that they hadn’t experienced since the pandemic sent them home from middle school in March 2020.
The teens’ laughter boomed across the waxed floors and kids forgot about the ever-present cellphones in their pockets as they played. “This is our last year to be silly,” said Hanan Jazouli, a junior at the Montgomery County, Md., school, who bounced a rubber ball in a game of four square.
Letting kids be kids is one of the guiding sentiments for guidance counselor Felicia Kimmel, who spent the pandemic years worrying about how to help Hanan’s generation race to catch up on all they missed and cope with what they lost. The tension is taking its toll in Maryland and across the country as the number of teens who report feeling persistently sad or hopeless jumped to more than 44 percent, federal data shows.
Kimmel, 53, said her students have been struggling with resiliency, grit, persistence and perseverance. Teachers lightened workloads and let kids push deadlines during remote and hybrid learning, and students have since struggled to return to pre-pandemic demands of school work. But gradually increasing the workload and giving students academic leeway weren’t enough. She puzzled over what to do.
“Anything that’s hard, the kids seem to back down,” she said.
The dark-haired woman with red glasses and an easy smile is a legacy educator and 17-year veteran of Paint Branch. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, who taught English at a middle school in New York City where she mentored an 11-year-old who would eventually grow up to be rap mogul Jay-Z.
Kimmel started her career as a teacher before becoming a counselor at Paint Branch, where nearly 60 percent of students are Black, 23 percent are Latino, and more than half qualified for the free and reduced meals servicein the 2021-2022 school year. Even before the pandemic began, students at Paint Branch High had stressful events to cope with. A student was shot while walking to school in 2018, and another brought a pellet gun to campus in January 2020. Since returning to campus, students have been in fights that end up posted to social media.
She described herself as “not always this hyper” as she speed-walked from one end of the gymnasium to the other and back again, watchful for any chance to help the kids keep the event running smoothly.
The stress-relieving recess was part of Kimmel’s ongoing wellness programming aimed at helping Paint Branch students readjust to full-time, in-person learning. Kimmel hosted occasional mindfulness programs before the pandemic, but she ramped up to weekly events this year to give kids a break from the sudden pressure of full-throttle classes and hopefully buck the increasing suicide and youth overdose rates that have been devastating communities across the country and in Montgomery County.
“I’m trying to give these kids coping strategies they may have lost during covid or may have never had,” she said. “If they can take them forward into the rest of their lives, I’ve done my small part.”
Every other Wednesday, she puts on a “coloring and tea” hour during lunch period so the teens can unwind and calm their minds. She has also organized opportunities for students to make “calming jars” filled with sequins, write about their favorite moments in gratitude journals, and spend time cuddling with Lila, a massive black-and-white Newfoundland trained as a therapy dog.
The tools are needed.One day in early 2020, Hanan, Aretha Were and Mistere Moges were working through their last semester of middle school and looking forward to the excitement of freshman year just around the corner. The next, they were sent home as the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools, businesses and other public spaces — not to return to a normal classroom for more than a year.
Now juniors at Paint Branch High School, the girls said this feels like their first real year of high school. They spent their entire freshman year in remote learning and endured hybrid classes for sophomore year at an unfamiliar campus that required constant masking and social distancing.
The adults are trying to figure out how to respond. Paint Branch High prominently features links to mental health resources on its homepage, as does Montgomery County Public Schools. Montgomery County last year allocated $8 million to launch an effort to create wellness centers at each high school in the county, and additional funds are set aside in the county executive’s proposed capital budget that is pending council approval.
Hanan, who loves her AP Chemistry class and wants to work in women’s health after college, said she feels like she is caught between still growing up — and in some ways catching up on the childhood moments she missed because of the pandemic — and starting to think about SATs, graduation, college and her looming future.
“We’re trying to figure things out in so little time,” she added.
Concerns about youths’ mental health predate the pandemic — data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that between 2009 and 2019 persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness among high school students significantly increased from about 26 percent to 37 percent. And a growing number of teens contemplated and attempted suicide during the decade before the coronavirus first emerged.
That mounting crisis rapidly accelerated in 2020 and 2021, as the isolation and stress of the pandemic weighed heavily on the shoulders of children and teens who were forced out of the classroom. Suicide rates among girls increased by more than 50 percent. And more than a third of high school students reported regularly experiencing poor mental health during the first year of the pandemic.
Many aspects of the pandemic negatively affected kids, according to researchers who identified fears related to covid-19, online learning difficulties, and increased conflict with parents as key drivers making mental health worse for young people.
Students also pointed to increased time on their phones scrolling through social media, less time socializing with peers and profoundly impaired confidence after being isolated from people outside their immediate families for so long. Not to mention the loss of more than a year that they would have spent making new friends and strengthening existing relationships if they had been in school.
“During the pandemic, you were home 24/7,” Hanan said, “it gives you a lot more time to look at yourself and just build on those insecurities that you might have already had before.”
Mistere, who plans to study biology and psychology in Maryland and eventually becoming a neonatologist, said she has noticed that her classmates seem more withdrawn and introverted now. After more than a year of finding connection through the internet, she said her peers are more likely to pull out a phone and scroll on social media when they could be spending time with friends
“It’s much easier to press a ‘friend’ button than to actually go out,” Mistere, 16, said.
Aretha — who one day hopes to incorporate her blossoming Spanish language skills into her studies and career — said she has noticed a major shift in her teachers, who are now paying close attention to how students are coping at school. Before the pandemic, the 16-year-old said, she had never done a mental health-related activity at school. Now, she has access to counselors, social workers, and even her physics teacher does a mindfulness minute in every class.
“It seems like teachers care more now about mental health than they did before,” she said. “I think it’s a really good thing to see and I don’t want it to stop just because covid is dying down.”
Kimmel said she has already seen a new sense of community forming between the students who get a chance to meet kids outside of class and offline at her events.
During playground games in the gym, Kimmel flitted between groups of kids to make sure they had everything they needed to play unhindered. As the teens raced and jumped rope and bounced balls, even the adults supervising got swept up in the fun, joining in on games and laughing with the students.
“That’s what was so great today,” Kimmel said, “looking around and seeing the joy.”
Posts by Paul Costello1
