In recent weeks, I’ve found myself increasingly fleeing to The Guardian for clear thinking, fresh writing, writers with whom I have no history, and something different from the New York Times.  For a while I would drift there and, in the flurry of skipping across the surface of the internet, never had time to make connections between consistently good material and that outlet.  It wasn’t until I read Glenn Greenwald’s account of the Snowden leaks, where he favorably talks about his time with The Guardian, that I started to pay attention.

That transition ended with me subscribing (I actually wrote donating money first – how’s that for an internet era insight?) and getting a tote bag.  Twice during a weekend in the country, the tote prompted a conversation about how The Guardian has become a sanctuary, a newsy happy place.  I was reminded of this today, when I noticed how many great pieces are coming out from women and women of color with crisp, intelligent, passionate critiques of US politics.

• A piece from a woman who was a senior Trump executive documenting his shift from being somewhat forward thinking about women (at least at the time) to the raving whatever he is today.  Probably the first piece I’ve read about Trump in months with some texture and insight into the person.
• A terrific piece about Beyonce’s Lemonade, which I should just quote rather than characterize:  “We are the women left behind. We are the women who have cared for other women’s children while ours were taken away. We are the women who work two jobs when companies won’t hire our men. We are the women caring for grandchildren as our sons are taken by the prison industrial complex. We are the women who march in the streets and are never marched for. We are the women expected to never air our grievances in public. We are the women expected to stay loyal to our men by staying silent through abuse and infidelity. We are the women who clean the blood of our men and boys from the streets. We are the women who gather their belongings from the police station.”
• Another great piece about Beyonce and HRC.  By a dude, but it feels fresh, doesn’t have the knowing or “I just noticed there’s more to popular music than we thought” vibe of the NYT (or me).
• Another piece taking HRC, Sanders, and Democrats to task for making any claims to progressivism based on their record on race (correction: also by a man, forgot to flag this one).  The writer ends the piece with the clearest, sharpest, most astute summary of opting out that I’ve read:  “This is not apathy. This is not a threat. This is an acceptance that Hillary Clinton and the rest of these morally challenged politicians will politically value our black lives as much as they value our black votes when, and only when, we courageously cease being electoral accomplices in our own political death and destruction.”
• And one other piece that attempts to unpack the US media’s portrayals of one candidate as having more African-American support (and therefore being better on race) than the other.  In this piece, even the caption is great:  “There’s no reason to doubt that black endorsements are sincere, but they’re not being used as sincerely as they’re being given.”

I can’t quite yet put my finger on the secret sauce – perhaps it’s proximity to to those who have proximity to Orwell’s blue plaque – but there’s so much voice there, I find it refreshing and inspiring.