An Unofficial Ambassador For Gen Z

15 May 2017: "Feeling as though we don't even choose to intake all of this information, but it just happens. I remember seeing the Philando Castile live stream and not knowing what I was looking at. Somebody had tweeted it and I clicked on it. And just being like, 'Oh, that person is bleeding. Oh wow.' And I just remember that moment of freaking out and not knowing what to do and not knowing how to process what's happening...If you are just now coming of age in which you are an active citizen, how are you just going to be thrown into that world?" --Yara Shahidi, who plays one of the kids on Black-ish, talking on a recent episode of Code Switch about her generation and their response to being inundated with the world's news.

This entire episode is worth listening to--the first part features a conversation with Kenya Barriss--but Shahidi impressed the heck out of me. She's only 17 but so smart and interesting and engaged.

"Nate Parker's Past, His Present, And The Future of Birth Of A Nation"

28 August 2016: Today's good thing is this fantastic episode of Code Switch about the Nate Parker controversy. The panelists are so smart and thoughtful and, somewhat refreshingly, straightforward about their own attitudes towards seeing the film. I am still not sure if I'll see it...but this discussion gave me plenty to think about.