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Welcome to The Meteor newsletter, where we deliver enlightening, surprising, and (whenever humanly possible!) fun perspectives direct to your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. We promise to never send you junk, but to always bring you exclusive essays, interviews, and dialogue with The Meteor’s collective members—like authors Jennifer Finney Boylan, Rebecca Carroll, and Amber Tamblyn—as well as news, culture, the latest from UNDISTRACTED podcast host Brittany Packnett Cunningham, and more, all with an eye towards gender justice and bones-deep desire for a more equitable future.


Your Pride read, watch, and listen list

We’ve got recommendations for your summer downtime from The Meteor Fund’s "21 For ’21 Syllabus." Plus, the ACLU’s Chase Strangio is this week’s guest on UNDISTRACTED.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and more 21 For ’21 highlights

There's still time to watch our virtual gathering 21 For ’21: Visions For a Feminist Future, plus "Queen Sugar" author Natalie Baszile is this week's guest on UNDISTRACTED.

Real talk from Yvonne Orji, plus new speakers at 21 For ’21

If laughter is the best medicine, then this week’s episode of UNDISTRACTED is the drug we all need. Brittany Packnett Cunningham sat down with actress and comedian Yvonne Orji.

Join Gloria Steinem, Amanda Nguyen, and more at 21 For ’21

Come join us at 21 For ’21: Visions For a Feminist Future—a free virtual gathering on May 18 of artists and activists from different disciplines, all sharing their visions of the future for women, girls, and nonbinary people in 2021 and beyond.

Oscar nominee Andra Day on protest, power, and Billie Holiday

It’s been over 80 years since Billie Holiday first recorded “Strange Fruit,” about a lynching in the South, and yet in a week that saw multiple Black and brown people killed by police, the song—and the activism that Holiday brought to it—remains painfully relevant.

Are the new abortion bans “the last gasp of patriarchy”?

It’s only April, but state lawmakers have already introduced over 500 bills restricting abortion—500!—in 2021 alone. What’s the connection between these various assaults on human rights? Why are they escalating now—and how can we stop them?

Amber Ruffin on what’s so funny about racism

Need a laugh after the week we just had? (Or, perhaps, the year?) So did we, so for the latest episode of UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham sat down with Amber Ruffin to talk about the TV host’s brilliant blend of social justice commentary and comedy.

Lisa Ling on the movement to stop anti-Asian violence

You’ve heard the stats: Anti-Asian hate crimes are up, more than doubling over the course of the last year. And you may have seen the disturbing videos, since so many of the violent attacks have been captured on film. How did we get here? And how can we create a safer future for Asian Americans?

Rep. Ayanna Pressley: “The Squad is big, y’all”

Data is showing that white people are getting vaccinated at much higher rates than Black and Latinx people. How can we prevent the vaccine rollout from becoming yet another way systemic racism literally kills Black and brown people? Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) has a plan.

Raquel Willis on the future of feminism

President Biden may have signed new protections for LGBTQ people, but there’s anti-trans legislation being proposed in over a dozen states—and trans and gender-nonconforming people still face dangerous realities everyday.

The radical act of rest

This week feels like go time. “There is so much to get done in this new administration,” Brittany Packnett Cunningham says in this week’s episode of UNDISTRACTED. “Let’s get moving. Everyone is talking about what we need to get done in the first hundred days.”

Special: Brittany Packnett Cunningham & America Ferrera

It was a week of whiplash: the jubilation of victories in Georgia followed by the toxicity of a white-power insurrection at the Capitol. So if you’re trying to process it all—trying to figure out how much joy we can feel in the face of all this un-joyous madness—well, so are we.

Justice for Mothers in 2021: Come learn what’s ahead

The U.S. has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world, and Black and Indigenous moms are hit the hardest, dying at rates that are far higher than their white counterparts. The majority of these deaths are preventable...

Reproductive Rights and Justice in 2021: Come learn what’s ahead

The election is behind us—but abortion access, reproductive justice and maternal health are still on the line, and will be front and center in 2021. With a record number of recent conservative appointments to the federal judiciary and the most conservative Supreme Court...

Rebecca Traister on why we’re afraid of full-grown women

This week is heavy on contradiction. With news of a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, we’re facing a record surge in cases. As pie photos flood Instagram, food insecurity across the country is spiking, with women and children, particularly BIPOC families, hit hardest.

How Black women won the election

America has emerged from Election Week, and two things are clear: One, we saw massive, record, historic turnout with more people voting in this election than in any in over 100 years. (You did that.) And two, the victory for the Biden-Harris ticket—a ticket that breaks a 231-year run of white male…

Listen now to our new podcast: UNDISTRACTED

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