#451: Creation of Woman
Plus: Articles on mewing, ultra marathons, and school segregation
Happy Fourth of July, loyal readers. I hope you’re spending the day blowing things up with friends and family. (Sorry, I was never a big fan of fireworks. 🧨)
This morning I’m inside enjoying the second week of my summer break. This means reading, relaxing, and getting ready to eat a hot dog — my first of two this year. 🌭 (The other hot dog will be eaten at a Giants game with my mom later this month.)
Even though you’re likely busy today, my hope is that you’ll find time to check out this week’s selections, because they’re good ones. I was particularly impressed with the two that explore the complexities of marriage: the lead article, “Creation of Woman: Evangelical And Transgender In The Bible Belt,“ and the third article, “The Extra Mile.” They’re both thought provoking and very well written.
If you’re not interested in articles about relationships, especially as they’re influenced by gender identity or random catastrophe, don’t worry. I’ve got two other pieces worthy of your attention. They are:
Article Club’s first-ever article on mewing (finally! 😀)
A collection of articles on the 50th anniversary of Boston’s “busing crisis”
If you appreciate one or more of the articles, go ahead, let me know. Or if you prefer, tell your friends and family to get off X and sign up for Article Club. (X is a bad name.)
⭐️ Join us for this month’s discussion of Southlake, by Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton. It’s a podcast about how a mostly-white community in a Texas suburb failed to respond to the harm that white students caused when they chanted the N-word in a video after a homecoming dance in 2018.
Instead of tackling the entire six-part series, we’re going to focus on two main episodes: “Just a Word” and “The Not-So-Silent Majority.” It’ll take a little over an hour to listen to the two episodes.
If you’re an educator, a parent, or if you care about issues of race and racism in schools, I encourage you to participate.
Interested? We’re meeting on Zoom on Saturday, July 20, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm PT to discuss the podcast. If this will be your first time, I urge you to take the leap!
1️⃣ Creation of Woman: Evangelical And Transgender In The Bible Belt
Lane Scott Jones grew up in North Carolina, spent most of her time at church, and dreamed of escaping the conservative lifestyle her family had planned for her. She loved trying on imaginary identities — a journalist, a visual artist, an author — and she saw herself living abroad or in New York City, enjoying the “breathtaking collective possibilities” of many feasible futures.
But when she met her husband (at church), Ms. Jones gave up on her fantasies and acquiesced to a life that promised certainty. She loved him. He was gentle. She writes, “It felt so easy to become the kind of woman I was supposed to be.”
The marriage begins well. But then her husband tells her he wants to explore his gender identity. He becomes they, then she. Once open and expansive, Ms. Jones feels territorial and possessive about womanhood and their relationship.
I felt a churning unease at the renegotiation of the terms of our marriage. Until then, we had played our roles perfectly: good Christian man and woman, husband and wife. Resentment tightened in my throat. I had sacrificed so much of myself to fit into this marriage. So why couldn’t he? Of course, we both felt claustrophobic. Of course, we both felt stifled, suffocated, desperate with grief at the parts of ourselves marriage required us to abandon. I thought that’s what we’d agreed to.
By Lane Scott Jones • Longreads • 16 min • Annotated Gift Link
2️⃣ Swallowing: I Was Mike Mew’s Patient
Yes, this is an article about mewing — the practice loved by looksmaxxing influencers and middle school students who like to torment their teachers. The piece is by Gabriel Smith, an actual former patient of the actual Dr. Mike Mew, the orthodontist who practices his father’s unconventional methods that promise to reshape our jawlines and rearrange our faces, thereby improving our appearance and self-worth. He writes:
Mike Mew is a small and bizarre-looking man. He has a perfectly square head which, when Mike was a child, his dentist father molded using prototypical orthotropic methods. He is very short, and very slim, which gives the impression of his skull being about the same width as his waist. The impression he leaves is of an almost total cubeness, like a minor antagonist in a PlayStation game. He undoubtedly believes that his own physical format is somehow inherently correct, and in what he is selling: he has made himself into an example of it. “Look at your lips,” he said in one session. “Too big, too droopy, ugly. Now look at mine.” He turned to my mother. “This is how lips are meant to look. Firm and tight. Attractive.”
An important note: Despite what TikTok says, nobody really knows if mewing works. Dr. Mew and his dad (still alive) insist they didn’t invent the term. If you’re looking for lasting changes to your appearance, you might want to try leg lengthening.
By Gabriel Smith • The Paris Review • 14 mins • Gift Link
3️⃣ The Extra Mile
You don’t have to be a distance runner to appreciate this article about a lovely couple who runs ultramarathons. Ever since a horrific car accident that impaled his left leg and mutilated his face, Todd Barcelona, 57, has felt the urge to run as far as possible. His wife Allison, 55, shares his enthusiasm.
The couple doesn’t fool around. They decide on running the Last Annual Volunteer State Road Race, a 10-day, 314-mile endeavor that begins in southeastern Missouri, continues all the way across Tennessee, and ends on a ranch in northern Georgia. Through rain, blistering feet, hallucinations, and very little sleep, “Team Barcelona” not only succeeds on its journey, but Todd and Allison reaffirm their commitment to each other. I hope you enjoy this feel-good summer pick.
By Maggie Gigandet • The Atavist • 32 mins • Gift Link
4️⃣ The Empty Promise Of Diversity
May was the 70th anniversary of Broad v. Board of Education. Everyone knows that landmark decision. But June was the 50th anniversary of another important but less-well-known case, Morgan v. Hennigan, in which U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity ordered Boston Public Schools to desegregate by means of integrated busing. While Brown theorized about integrated schools, Morgan made them a reality.
Until the white backlash came, of course.
This collection of five short articles gives an excellent summary of what happened in Boston in 1974 and the legacy of busing in general. Pieces include a first-person account of riding the bus, an analysis of why integration failed, and a critique on diversity as a goal in the first place.
By The Emancipator • Collection of 5 articles • 20 min
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The Mewing article is a geniusly written gem!