We’ve nearly made to the end of another week of #pandemic life. Console yourself and welcome the weekend by getting your mental corn popping.

Tarannum Kamlani: The Book of Negroes is more relevant than ever as Black lives matter takes centre stage. I watched the mini-series and I’m reading the book. Marvelous! CBC

Emmanuel Acho talks with Carl Lentz about race and religion. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

Isabel Wilkerson reveals America’s “untouchables” and the silent power of the caste system. The Guardian

Josh Jones: W.E.B. Du Bois devastates apologists for confederate monuments and Robert E. Lee (1931). Open Culture

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Natasha Hinde says, you can still burnout while working from home. The Huffington Post

Kate Starbird shares some lessons from the pandemic: disinformation campaigns are a blend of truth, lies, and sincere beliefs. The Conversation

Amy McKeever lists the covid-19 vaccine developments to follow. National Geographic

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Joan Donovan explains why Congress should look at Facebook and Twitter. MIT Technology Review

Cait Munro explains how black and white photography became a complicated symbol of female empowerment. “This kind of vague hashtag activism also recalls the great black square debacle of a few months ago, in which a bunch of people posted black squares alongside #blacklivesmatter in supposed solidarity with the movement, only to drown out important information about nationwide protests by flooding feeds and relevant hashtags with, basically, nothing. The black square then became something of a symbol for performative wokeness, and now is mostly a punch line leveled against white people who do too much without really doing anything at all.” Refinery 29

Biological sex is a spectrum, too. Not new, but interesting. SciShow

Amelia Soth reveals the socially sanctioned love triangles of Romantic-Era Italy. JSTOR Daily

Carly Silver: this is how they wiped themselves in ancient Rome. JSTOR Daily

Kate Yoder considers the surprising reasons people ignore the facts about climate change. Grist

Matt Simon: mad scientists revive 100-million-year-old microbes. Wired

Veritasium explains how scientists found the missing matter (not dark matter) in the universe.

Jenny McGrath interviews Kate Greene about her four-month stay in a simulated Mars habitat and what she learned. Digital Trends

Jamie Carter explains how many people will be needed to colonize Mars. Forbes

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to took away something to inspire your next creative project.

As you might have surmised by now, my next chapter update will be a week late. It was unavoidable. You’ll find out why this weekend (I promise!).

Until then, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories.