This week I spent some time at a cabin in the woods with no electricity and no indoor plumbing.  You know - that kind of scene that white people think is special treat and a privilege and some people of color think of as just being what it’s like it to be real stinkin’ poor, and therefore not a “vacation”.

Anyhow, no wifi, no distractions beyond the occasional mosquito left me plenty of time for reading, so I wanted to share with you about two books I read this week.  The first is The Thirty Names of Night, by Zeyn Joukahadar (Zain Jhou/Zhu-ha-dar).  I read about it in The Atlantic, but when I was looking for things to listen to that would help me be sure to pronounce Joukhadar’s name correctly I discovered that I could have just as easily found this book listening to NPR.  I know - so many white ways for me to learn more about the world...  The second book is Halfway Home: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Dr. Reuben Jonathan Miller…  It’s a personal look at what happens to people who have been incarcerated after they get out of jail, particularly for people with felony convictions on their record.