• “In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.” (Anatole France, 1894)
• Here’s a headline from Christianity Today: “Transgender Students Battle Christian Universities.” Here’s a more accurate headline for that story — and one you will never, ever see at Christianity Today: “Christian Universities Battle Transgender Students.”
• Here’s everything you need to know about the current trajectory of white evangelicalism in America:
Any questions?
• Black people voted in Brooks County, Georgia. Prosecutors swept in with felony charges to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
• Katie Heaney’s piece on “The ‘Mystery’ of the Ouija Board” is a good excuse to, once again, share My Ouija Board Story. Heaney covers most of the bases — including the ideomotor effect and Chevreul’s pendulum — but she does it well. I especially liked this bit:
I placed my fingertips on the little plastic triangle, and so did he, and then we waited.
“It doesn’t work,” I said.
I didn’t realize then that what makes a Ouija board “work” (barring, of course, divine intervention) is an eager, jittery, and possibly sugar-high pack of participants, all of whom are willing to be guilty at the same time they swear on their innocence. Perhaps because I’ve always loved it too much, I’ve never been able to lie, to others or myself, about experiencing the supernatural. Lying about it would mean closing off whatever small part of me thought it was really possible.
• I like the new Jenny Lewis song, and I like the video too (although probably not quite as much as Mallory Ortberg does):
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