Don’t Put Me in a Box

Coca-Cola and peanuts in Tanzania, the “selfish” decision to not have children, the aftershocks of Japanese American incarceration, and more

Vintage Coca-Cola sign. Image credit: Dsdugan / Wikimedia CC4.0

History Is Personal

• “Coke revives my grandmother’s memories of being a single mother and a widowed dukawallah, a Swahili word that translated to “shopkeeper.” Pop and fizz. Two sweet sounds that engulf her memories of being thirty and working in her duka (Swahili for shop, much like a New York City bodega) to support her six children.” Shivani Somaiya explores an East African Asian experience in danger of being written out of history. (May 11, 2022)

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War Crimes

• Victor Tsilonis argues that the crimes against the civilian population of Ukraine require a special criminal tribunal—and that the International Criminal Court (thanks, in part to the Trump administration) may not be up to the task. (May 10, 2022)

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Art and Belonging

• Miko Yoshida reviews No Monument: In the Wake of the Japanese American Incarceration, an exhibition at the Noguchi Museum. “Each of the unique pieces of this exhibit stands on its own as art, as personal testimony, and as a political statement,” Yoshida writes. “Like much prison art, they are made from commonplace materials, each one representing the artists’ attempt to use what they had around them to express the inexpressible pain of displacement.” (May 10, 2022)

• “Indian artisans, called karigars, lie behind some of the most talented and creative fashion and accessory designers, yet they’re not as widely recognized as their white counterparts—several Indian ateliers are actually responsible for the embroidery, embellishments, and fabrics you see from prestigious fashion houses like Versace, Hermès, Christian Louboutin, Gucci, Prada, Dior, and more.” Shweta Nandakumar discusses identity and representation in Asian Americans in New York Fashion, a student-curated exhibition at the Museum at FIT. (May 9, 2022)

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The Right to Choose

• “Why was it that every time there was a holiday dinner, somebody asked me about having children? Or why, when I went to somebody’s baby shower and I told people I didn’t want children there was this . . . silence?” Filmmaker Therese Shechter talks to Jill Filipovic about her new documentary, My So-Called Selfish Life, and why women who choose to be child-free inspire so much ire. (May 11, 2022)

• The Past Present podcast team unpack the leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade. (May 10, 2022)

• “Memo to radical conservative activists: despite your wettest fantasies, ‘libs’ don’t cry at moments like this. We get angry, really angry. And we fight. Although we have had many reasons to come for you in the past five years, you just united us for the midterms.” Claire Potter takes on the radical Republicans bent on an abortion ban that most Americans don’t want. (May 3, 2022)