The Woman Ending Harassment at the Grand Canyon
Plus, the Leadville 100's representation problem and Yosemite reckoning with its discriminatory past
What I’m reading
The Woman Ending Harassment at the Grand Canyon: For decades, the staff of Grand Canyon National Park has lived with a culture of bullying and harassment. Can the park’s first female superintendent heal the old wounds? [Annette McGivney for Outside]
The Leadville 100 Has a Representation Problem: Women represented only 9.2% of the 1538 finishers (out of 1561 starters), and that’s a problem. [On CTS]
Yosemite Finally Reckons with Its Discriminatory Past: Pioneers, the government, even John Muir helped kick out Native Americans from their homes on national parks. But in Yosemite, the Miwuk Tribe is getting its village back. [Jake Bullinger for Outside]
Bethany Hamilton Is What Unstoppable Looks Like: The surfer lost her arm to a shark 15 years ago. If you think that’s slowed her down, you don’t know her story. [Susan Casey for Outside]
My Life and Death on Opioids: In November 2017, The Walrus started working with Chris Willie on a memoir about his fentanyl addiction. While writing the article, Willie died from an overdose. This version of his story is published with his family’s approval. [Chris Willie for The Walrus]
Afghan Climber Hanifa Yousoufi Just Made History: Despite nearby Taliban attacks, the 24-year-old reached the top of 24,580-foot Mount Noshaq—the first woman from her country ever to do so. [Mary Turner for Outside]
Other Reads
Manifest Destiny-Lite With Souvenirs: Why Assholes in Turquoise Are Flooding the Southwest, by Anna Merlan.
“It’s the commodification of culture,” says Christina Castro, the activist who’s part of the Three Sisters Collective. “That’s part of the patriarchy. Because what is valuable in the patriarchal construct or Western capitalism is only in relation to money, to what generates revenue. And I see Native women’s lives have no value. That’s why missing and murdered Native women, nobody looks for them. That’s why fracking and extractive industries always seem to be around Native reservations, around the Tar Sands and Chaco Canyon, trying to frack around our sacred sites.”
It leaves her feeling, Castro says, that “Native lives don’t matter and Native women’s lives don’t matter because there’s no marketable value to them. Our aesthetics, our jewelry, what we can produce that’s worth selling—a Diné rug, Santo Domingo jewelry, that’s worth something, but our lives aren’t.”
Last but not least
Here’s a story about what it took for me to appear on MSNBC this morning for five minutes to talk about my front-page story in the NYT. Or: Why it is so hard for working moms to have it all. (Thread)
August 21, 2018