Read & Learn
Pick a topic or section. Read the articles. Maybe learn something. The PowWow Read & Learn page is an attempt to give readers easy access to articles we find educational, factual, and interesting. We know it’s difficult for many to dig through the vast apparatus that is American media. While there’s certainly a lot of junk, there’s also an impressive pool of talented, high integrity journalists and reporters who are dedicated to fact finding and honest educating. We’ll try and seek them out and post links to relevant work, enabling readers to select a topic and quickly access reputable content with ease, all in one place. We’ll also post current and past writing from relevant political and social players and important historical figures. Feel free to email us through the PowWow page and suggest articles, publications, topics, or writers, we’re not covering.
What's Hot
Uplifting Reads
Lebron James opens elementary school, guarantees college tuition to graduates
August 4th 2018
By Ursula Perano and Nadeem Muaddi
PowWow Commentary
The school, a project of the LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron Public Schools, provides students with a slew of awesome perks.
Favorites
The tender, terrifying truth about what happened inside the Trader Joe’s hostage siege
August 3rd 2018
By Robin Abcarian
PowWow Commentary
About halfway through the three-hour siege at Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake, the wounded gunman, Gene Atkins, looked at one of his hostages, MaryLinda Moss, and told her it was all over for him. “I just shot at a cop,” he said.
The Cost of Reporting While Female
Winter 2018
By Anne Helen Peterson
PowWow Commentary
You begin by teaching yourself what you can ignore. Rot in hell. You’re a cunt. Maybe you wouldn’t be so mad if you weren’t so ugly. They arrive as replies on Twitter, a line dropped into a DM, comments reassuring in their lack of specificity. The reasons they arrive are not always clear. The first time I was told I should go die a slow and painful death, it was because I had written about Kristen Stewart. I’d posted on a small WordPress blog, and a female fan had disliked the way I’d analyzed her star image.
Letter From Birmingham Jail
August 1963
By Martin Luther King Jr.
PowWow Commentary
The Letter from Birmingham Jail, also known as the Letter from Birmingham City Jail and The Negro Is Your Brother, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts. Responding to being referred to as an “outsider”, King writes: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Education
Voter Suppression Is Still One of the Greatest Obstacles to a More Just America
June 12th, 2020
By David Daley and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson
PowWow Commentary
America’s streets are filled with protesters because we no longer believe that our voices are being heard.
What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?
July/Aug 2015 Issue
By Katherine Reynolds Lewis
PowWow Commentary
Negative consequences, timeouts, and punishment just make bad behavior worse. But a new approach really works.
Philosophy
Race
Why we capitalize ‘Black’ (and not ‘white’)
June 16th 2020
By Mike Laws
PowWow Commentary
AT THE COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW, we capitalize Black, and not white, when referring to groups in racial, ethnic, or cultural terms. For many people, Black reflects a shared sense of identity and community. White carries a different set of meanings; capitalizing the word in this context risks following the lead of white supremacists.
Civil Rights
Criminal Justice
Law
Voting
How Republicans Tried To Rig An Election
September 6th, 2019
By Jay Willis
PowWow Commentary
It’s been nine months, and the district still doesn’t have a congressional representative. But voters head to the polls again soon.
Voting By People of Color is up, but so are Barriers Built by Republicans
January 15th, 2020
By Stacey Abrams and Eric H. Holder Jr.
PowWow Commentary
At the core of our American democracy is the belief that the people should elect the leaders who give voice to their values and ambitions. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, yet over the past decade, partisanship has overtaken patriotism in the political process.
Campaigns and Elections
Healthcare
Environment
Small farms in the Midwest can heal the environment and prosper with ‘Green New Deal’
February 04, 2019
By Robert Leonard and Matt Russell
PowWow Commentary
It’s been a tough year for farmers here in Iowa and across much of America. After several years of low commodity prices, President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a partial government shutdown have rocked the markets.
Nutrition
Abortion
The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate
December 2019 Issue
By Caitlin Flanagan
PowWow Commentary
Why we need to face the best arguments from the other side.
Obama’s Forgotten Plan to Reduce Abortions
January 15, 2017
By Michael Wear
PowWow Commentary
The issue of abortion has roiled American politics for decades because the issue raises potent political ideas and values: life, liberty, privacy, autonomy and power.
Economy
Athletics
Comedy
Music
Foster Care and Adoption
Society
President Obama
American History
World History
Corruption
Trump
Trump’s Mysterious $50 Million Loan
November/December 2019 Issue
By Russ Choma
PowWow Commentary
Donald Trump’s massive debts—he owes hundreds of millions of dollars—are the subject of continuous congressional and journalistic scrutiny. But for years, one Trump loan has been particularly mystifying: a debt of more than $50 million that Trump claims he owes to one of his own companies. According to tax and financial experts, the loan, which Trump has never fully explained, might be part of a controversial tax avoidance scheme known as debt parking.
The 10 Episodes Mueller Investigated For Obstruction of Justice
April 18, 2019
By Emily Stewart
PowWow Commentary
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report contains 10 instances where President Donald Trump potentially committed obstruction of justice. Now that the report has been released, we know what they are.
Social Services