Hey there, Meteor readers,

We are off tomorrow to partake in the celebration of America having cast off its oppressors, only to turn around and oppress in return. Or July 4th for short! Either way, it’s a day off to spend with your loved ones and wonder what’s up with Joey Chestnut. Or sit alone and do some fun feminist reading, Whatever’s clever, babe.

But before we sign off for the long weekend and before we spend all our brain power fretting about the Big Beautiful Bill becoming a reality, we’re taking an optimistic stroll through the news to find the good happening around the country. Plus, we talk to some of our friends about patriotism.

Waving my little flag,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON (GOOD-VIBES-ONLY VERSION)

• Nearly a decade after the discovery of one of the worst water crises in the country, the city of Flint, Michigan has finally replaced its lead water service lines. The replacement is five years behind schedule, but that it happened at all is a testament to the persistence of the residents of Flint. “[They] never gave up fighting for safe drinking water in the face of government indifference, mistruths, and incompetence,” said Melissa Mays, founder of Water You Fighting For. “I’ve been angry that officials poisoned the drinking water in my home and community. But I will always be proud that Flint inspired a federal rule requiring that every lead pipe in the country be replaced in the next decade. Flint changed America, for the better.”

MICHIGANDERS BUILDING A WALL OF PLASTIC BOTTLES TO “WELCOME” DONALD TRUMP IN 2016. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

• The Land Back movement, an Indigenous campaign to reclaim sovereignty over stolen lands, has seen historic gains over recent years. And last month, in a major step, the Yurok Tribe reclaimed ownership of 47,097 acres surrounding the Klamath River in California. That’s a modicum of overdue justice for tribes that were robbed by the government and it’s a net positive for the climate. Wow, it’s almost like the planet will reward you for doing the right thing?

• The children aren’t just the future, they’re the right now. Despite this being the third-oldest Congress in U.S. history, more Millennials and Gen Zers are answering the call to run for office. After 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral primary win in June, 6,000 people signed up for Run for Something, an organization that supports young Democrats who want to run for down-ballot offices, the group said. And it makes sense: “The average age of Congress is 20 years older than the average American,” Kat Abughazaleh, a 26- year- old running for a Congressional seat in Illinois, pointed out to NPR in April. “Most of our lawmakers didn’t have to deal with school shooter drills growing up…They don’t have to worry about out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy.” But young people do, and you know the saying: The people closest to the problem usually have the solution.

• And finally…America’s pastime. Next year, for the first time since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League shuttered in 1954, women’s baseball is going pro. In preparation for its spring 2026 inaugural season, the Women’s Professional Baseball League will be holding its tryouts next month. More than 600 players are registered, and those who make it through training camp will compete during a live game this August. And they won’t have to play in dresses.

THEY REALLY ATE IN THOSE DRESSES, THOUGH. MAYBE WE BRING THEM BACK FOR AN OLDIES NIGHT GAME. (VIA GETTY)

When, If Ever, Do You Feel Patriotic?

(You’re allowed to answer with a middle finger.)

THOSE STRIPES DON’T RUN BECAUSE THEY ARE SECURED IN PLACE WITH AT LEAST THREE KNOTS. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

On an Independence Day only a billionaire could love, and in a time when many Americans feel less free than ever, we asked seven women their interpretation of patriotism.

There is something in the American psyche that urges us towards problem-solving and exuberant creativity. We celebrate innovation and resilience, and capability in all forms. I feel pride when I see a person from my nation excel because of their indomitable spirit and resilience. But patriotism is also the bittersweet understanding that I love my place of birth and the culture that accompanied it, despite every instance of it not loving me as it should. It is a reminder that love is an unselfish end in itself.
—Dawn Porter, filmmaker 

Patriotism has always been an odd concept to me. Maybe it’s the Indigenous in me, but pledging loyalty to a government (which is how I view patriotism) always seemed a bit cultish. Particularly as an American, I’ll never understand the desire to put my life on the line for a governing power that provides nothing in return (no healthcare, no education, no childcare, no right-to-a-life-of-dignity-or-safety, should I keep going?). I always thought that patriotism was a “if you love this place, let’s make it better” type of thing, but from 2017-now, I’ve learned I’m on a minority-populated island on that one. How am I supposed to feel patriotism for a country that abandons, betrays, imprisons, and kills its patriots?
—Jenan Matari, Palestinian-American author and content creator 

I see patriotism through the same lens as James Baldwin—a profound love for America that requires constant critique, improvement, and accountability. But I don’t feel patriotic, because I don’t always trust that America will love me back.
—Rebecca Carroll, editor at large, The Meteor

As a person who thinks in transnational feminism, patriotism is really complicated. I can’t see the word outside of its roots in father/fatherland beliefs and values. Patriotism requires borders, policing, control, and exclusion….It has always been tied to supremacist ideals and patriarchal violence, even in defense of positive values, like democracy. Now more than ever, we have to recognize the critical necessity of solidarity beyond borders, of caring for the displaced and the fugitive…And we have to use new words. We’ve had millennia of patriotism. Maybe use, as so many have suggested before us, matriotism, a love of each other and all living things, rooted mutual care and responsibility, guided by the refusal to glorify war and violence.
—Soraya Chemaly, Bahamian-American author, activist, and feminist

If the definition of patriotism is devotion to one’s country, then one has to love that country even when she is on her knees. That’s when you have to be loyal the most – when she’s hurting. False patriotism waves flags and indulges in jingoistic mantras and empty pronouncements. True patriotism looks upon a nation with eyes wide open and loves her enough to  “criticize her perpetually,” as James Baldwin wrote….Yet being a patriot in dark times isn’t easy. When you are born in Puerto Rico, as I was, an island invaded in 1898 by the United States, called trash by its colonial masters, and fighting for self-determination, you understand that. True patriotism doesn’t hide in a corner; it doesn’t die a coward’s death. It grows strong enough to change the course of history.
—Susanne Ramirez de Arellano, journalist 

My patriotism is my people: It lives within each of us. It thrives when we protect one another from the violence of the state. Patriotism is not allegiance to power—it’s love for those who are targets of the state. It’s the courage to care for each other, especially when our government does not.
—Paola Mendoza, author of Sanctuary and Solis

My only childhood memory that could be categorized as patriotic is this: My grandmother—a second-generation Eastern European who voted in every election from the late 1920s to 2008, when, tired of “that fucking Bush,” she delightedly cast a vote for Obama—would drive me every summer to her home in the Catskills. And when her creaky Oldsmobile crested the hill and the mountains and fields came into view, she would break into “America the Beautiful.” (It lasted forever.) She clearly didn’t mean the government. She meant the literal place she lived: the land and its people, the community she was part of. That seems like as good a definition of patriotism as any to me: to make the place you live, where you have neighbors, live up to its promise.
—Cindi Leive, co-founder, The Meteor 

FOLLOW THE METEOR

Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend?
Sign up for your own copy, sent Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[email protected]