12/19/2024
As we look toward the New Year, here’s a look back at some pieces we’ve loved this year—our baker’s dozen.
We might need a new story. We’re staying strong. We’re looking for something beautiful out of the darkness. And looking for lessons in a fig library. We’re putting on a pop, err, country song. We’re confronting the afterlives of Jim Crow. We’re getting creative about voting rights. We’re making a space for all of us. We’re thinking about memory and mothers. And power and democracy. Plus a benediction.
Wishing you peace this holiday season, and happy reading.
*Articles accessible via link in bio
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1. Detail from Calling the sun to work, by Lindsay Adams, 2024. Oil on canvas, 48 × 72 in., as featured in Sojourning.
2. “I Might Need a New Story” by James Harrison, photo by Aliese Harrison
3. “stay strong” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, photo of Audre Lorde by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images
4. “Something Beautiful out of the Darkness,”
Jesmyn Ward & Regina N. Bradley in conversation, photo by Kennedi Carter
5. “Lessons from a Fig Library” by Katy Clune, illustration by Miriam Riggs
6. “‘Pop Stars Don’t Die, They Move to Nashville to Record’” by Amanda Marie Martínez, illustration by Laura Baisden
7. “Confronting the Afterlife of Jim Crow” by Brian Palmer, photo by Brian Palmer
8. “Sewing for Voting in Post-Jim Crow Mississippi” by William Sturkey, photo by Doris A. Derby
9. “A Rooming House for Transient Girls” by Jovonna Jones, illustration by Nancey B. Price
10. “A Visual Dispatch” by Colony Little, illustration by Shefon N. Taylor
11. “Captive Maternal” by Kennedi Carter, photo by Kennedi Carter
12. “There Has to Be Power,” Sherrilyn Ifill & Errin Haines in conversation, illustration by Nancey B. Price
13. “The South’s New Democracy Struggle Reaches New Urgency” by Benjamin Barber, photo by Kate Medley
14. “Benediction” by Meg Day, illustration via Alamy