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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Significance of the Derek Chauvin Verdict</strong> - The New Yorkers Jelani Cobb discusses the trials outcome. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-significance-of-the-derek-chauvin-verdict">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Forgotten History of the Purging of Chinese from America</strong> - The surge in violence against Asian-Americans is a reminder that Americas present reality reflects its exclusionary past. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-forgotten-history-of-the-purging-of-chinese-from-america">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How 1.5 Degrees Became the Key to Climate Progress</strong> - The number has dramatically reorganized global thinking around the climate. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/how-15-degrees-became-the-key-to-climate-progress">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trump Administration Is Over, but the Trump Crisis Is Not</strong> - Many Republicans are acting like the Capitol insurrection never happened, and much of Washington is fine with it. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-trump-administration-is-over-but-the-trump-crisis-is-not">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Bitcoin Is Bad for the Environment</strong> - Cryptocurrency mining uses huge amounts of power—and can be as destructive as the real thing. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-bitcoin-is-bad-for-the-environment">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>How to help kids catch up after a year of pandemic learning</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hSMPJNTXxChVVoeAKWGp_SAmUA4=/0x0:2667x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69174451/GettyImages_1232327663.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Kindergartners are back in class for the first time in a year at the 9th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles on April 13. | Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This strategy could help Americas schoolchildren make up for lost time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tB7JJY">
The moment of truth for Gregory Heights Elementary School came last June.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="93jGqP">
The school in Burien, Washington, had closed its buildings in the spring when the pandemic forced lockdowns around the country. That meant students — about 50 percent of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and about 40 percent of whom are learning English as a second language — traded classrooms for worksheets and Zoom meetings, and saw their teachers a lot less than before. After a few months of this, “we began to just think about how many hours of lost instruction we had,” principal Robin Totten told Vox. “Going into the next year, if that didnt change, what were we going to do?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CaCF7N">
One option was remediation: taking kids back and redoing everything theyd missed. But <a href="https://www.crpe.org/thelens/what-post-katrina-new-orleans-can-teach-schools-about-addressing-covid-learning-losses">research from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina</a> showed this approach didnt work well — students got bored doing work below their grade level and didnt make enough progress. So Gregory Heights, along with its district, Highline Public Schools, tried something different: acceleration, in which students keep doing grade-level work but get targeted help catching up when they dont understand something. Instead of going back and redoing everything with students, its about “just giving them those little scaffolded pieces, so that they can tackle the grade-level standard lesson,” Totten said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LfHYQ">
Its still early, but the results have been encouraging: “From fall to winter we saw really great growth” in student learning, Totten said. And the approach could be a model for other schools now trying to help kids rebound from not one but two school years deeply marked by the pandemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dK3RjM">
Ever since schools around the country closed their buildings last spring, educators and families alike have been worried about how the shift online would affect kids learning. Early research was concerning: A <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/covid-19-and-student-learning-in-the-united-states-the-hurt-could-last-a-lifetime">June 2020 analysis</a> found that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/coronavirus-education-lost-learning.html">the average student could fall seven months behind</a> due to the pandemic, with Latinx students losing nine months and Black students losing 10. <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/01/938048852/some-good-news-student-reading-gains-are-steady-while-math-slows-down">More recent studies</a> have been more encouraging, showing students losing ground in math but not in reading. However, researchers are concerned that many students of color and those living in poverty arent being captured in the data.
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZliYmAfUPPabrSpDumA4gEtVIbo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22460787/GettyImages_1232295910.jpg"/> <cite>Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</cite>
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Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner gives kindergartener Isabella Hernandez a new backpack. Some LAUSD schools have reopened for in-person classes, with safety standards and mandatory Covid-19 testing of students in place.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PgljNt">
Now, with many schools likely to <a href="https://www.vox.com/22368320/schools-covid-fall-reopening-cdc-2021-vaccine">reopen full time in the fall</a>, districts around the country are facing the challenge of figuring out how much their students have missed and how to address it. Some are planning a remedial approach, even holding students back a grade so they can repeat all the material they missed. But some experts say that approach could actually widen educational inequity by depriving Black, Indigenous, and other students of color of access to grade-level work. Whats more effective, they say, is what Gregory Heights is doing: keeping kids moving forward, even if they need a little help to stay on track.
</p>
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“Our tendency as a system has been to go backward and meet kids where they are,” Bailey Cato Czupryk — vice president of practices, diagnostics, and impact at TNTP, an education nonprofit that advocates for acceleration — told Vox. But “you dont close the gaps we see in performance by holding a subset of kids back and deciding they dont get to try grade-level stuff.”
</p>
<h3 id="FWCjxd">
Were just starting to find out how the pandemic has affected kids learning
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IiQ25i">
When schools moved their classes online in the spring of 2020, teachers and parents had lots of reasons to worry. First were <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/9/21200159/coronavirus-school-digital-low-income-students-covid-new-york">basic issues of access</a>: In a <a href="https://www.newsday.com/business/technology/internet-schools-homework-computer-1.32096937">2019 analysis by the Associated Press</a>,<strong> </strong>about 17 percent of students nationwide lacked a computer at home, and 18 percent lacked broadband internet access. Low-income families and families of color were especially likely to be without these resources, according to the AP. That meant a significant number of students simply couldnt attend remote classes, although many school districts sent iPads or laptops to students homes in an effort to remedy the problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dOnOwf">
Then there were the pressures online learning put on families: Remote lessons often require a parent or other adult to help the student with technology and staying on task, especially at younger ages, and that simply wasnt possible in many households, whether because parents were working during school hours or because they had limited English fluency or other barriers. Again, low-income families were more likely to face obstacles in helping kids with online school, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/9/21200159/coronavirus-school-digital-low-income-students-covid-new-york">experts said</a>.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="x0KjX1">
<q>“Every student will have experienced this period differently, and theres a large risk, from an equity standpoint”</q>
</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BYDqE4">
On top of these challenges has been the trauma of the pandemic itself, during which millions of people have lost jobs, countless families have fallen into poverty, and nearly <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-04-07/nearly-40-000-children-have-lost-a-parent-to-covid-analysis-shows">40,000 children have lost a parent to Covid-19</a>. Learning new material under such circumstances has been, for many students, difficult, to say the least.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2jgosv">
Given all that, recent research on learning during the pandemic is, in some ways, reassuring. In fall 2020, the nonprofit NWEA studied students performance on reading and math assessment tests, and compared it to scores for students in the same grades in fall 2019, before the pandemic began. In math, the 2020 students scored about 5 to 10 percentile points lower than the 2019 group — a “moderate” drop, NWEA research head Beth Tarasawa <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/01/938048852/some-good-news-student-reading-gains-are-steady-while-math-slows-down">told NPR</a>. But in reading, students this fall scored about the same on average as they did before the pandemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lXNxve">
The group also measured individual students performance over time, comparing their test scores in early 2020 with their scores in the fall. “We saw, on average, students showed growth in both math and reading across the grade levels in almost all grades,” Tarasawa told NPR. “Most students made some learning gains in both reading and math since COVID started.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AKrwD4">
But amid the positive news, the researchers also found something deeply concerning. About a quarter of students never took the assessment tests this fall, meaning theyre not represented in NWEAs analysis. And those students, the group found, were more likely to be Black, Indigenous, or other people of color, or to attend high-poverty schools — essentially, the groups that experts were already concerned about with regard to remote education.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Cqj3gef1ebxuKTyyLIRi__i6o78=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22460810/GettyImages_1312861034.jpg"/> <cite>Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Sabrina Werley works with fourth-grade student Jeremiah Ruiz at Cumru Elementary School in Cumru, Pennsylvania, on April 14.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="333Sbi">
Some students might not have taken the tests because they lacked internet access, while others may have stopped going to school entirely. Indeed, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/us/coronavirus-schools-washington-dc.html">chronic absenteeism</a> has been a serious problem during the pandemic, with hundreds or even thousands of students missing from classes in some districts. Miami-Dade County public schools, for example, opened with more than 10,000 fewer students than in 2019, <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article249722423.html">according to ABC News</a>. The district sent <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article249722423.html">teams of social workers</a> to locate and help the students, but as of March, about 1,000 remained unaccounted for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3dCUj2">
“We believe that these were the students who were in crisis prior to the COVID-19 crisis,” Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/thousands-students-reported-missing-school-systems-nationwide-amid/story?id=76063922">told ABC</a>. “These were probably poor students, probably English language learners, learners who may have had a disability, may have had home insecurity, food insecurity, and may have had a fragile immigration status.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LRMYyS">
Overall, the missing test scores in the NWEA are yet more evidence of something thats concerned educators since Covid-19 first hit: It seems to be having the biggest impact on students who already faced inequities at school.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RiZKT6">
“We already knew that Black and brown students werent getting the support that they need even before the pandemic,” Kayla Patrick, a senior data and policy analyst at the Education Trust, told Vox. “And then the pandemic made all of that worse.”
</p>
<h3 id="JCHHHr">
Some places are responding to the pandemic by holding kids back
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VeOJLL">
Now, the question is what schools and districts should do to address the impact of the pandemic on students in ways that shrink those inequalities rather than widening them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qanohp">
Some districts are likely to treat 2020 as something of a lost year, Czupryk told Vox. Those districts basically take the view that “you should take kids back to where they were in spring 2020 and do all the stuff they would have done,” Czupryk said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NSViiQ">
At the extreme end of that approach would be actually holding kids back a grade. Eighteen states have laws on the books requiring students to repeat third grade if they dont meet certain literacy standards, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/repeat-school-year-482336">Politico reports</a>, most inspired by a Florida law passed in 2002. The latest such law is Tennessees, passed in January in an effort to address the pandemics impact on learning.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uboz77P1kwYKO9oNGjYRtke9PMc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22460832/GettyImages_1310181902.jpg"/> <cite>Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
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Second-grader Michelle Sharp, 8, arrives for the first day of partial in-person instruction at Garfield Elementary School in Oakland, California, on March 30.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e2XzlY">
But experts say having students repeat a grade can backfire, pointing to research showing that the practice <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/repeat-school-year-482336">stigmatizes students, harms their self-esteem</a>, and makes them <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/texas-lawmakers-consider-giving-authority-to-parents-to-have-students-repeat-a-grade-due-to-pandemic/">more likely to drop out of school</a>. In particular, “I dont want to see retention policies really target Black and brown communities and have only those kids having to repeat a grade,” Patrick said.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YS2Oam">
More broadly, some say theres a danger in simply assuming that particular kids have lost ground academically because of their race or family income. Thats because if schools overestimate students learning loss, they may fail to give them grade-level work, pushing them even further behind, Chase Nordengren, a senior research scientist with NWEA, told Vox. “Assumptions are really a threat to equity, because they limit the kinds of experiences that students have access to.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="byXGFa">
Even as we acknowledge inequities in access, Nordegren said, its important to “understand that every student is different, and when we come back this fall, every students individual level of proficiency is going to need to be understood really well.”
</p>
<h3 id="iAVp2h">
But experts say the better approach is “acceleration”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qdEA4a">
And for students who have missed out on a lot this year, experts say theres a better way to help than just making them repeat material. The best approach, they argue, is to keep kids at grade level but give them specific help when they face an obstacle due to something they missed, a process sometimes called targeted remediation or “just in time” learning.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gajo1S">
At Gregory Heights Elementary, for example, third-graders are learning double-digit multiplication right now. But some of them dont have their single-digit multiplication facts down yet. Rather than holding them back or putting them in a remedial class, teachers can pull them into small Zoom groups to figure out what their specific challenges are. When teachers worked with one student individually, they found that she actually only had trouble multiplying sixes and sevens. So the question, Totten said, was, “what could we do with sixes and sevens to help her learn those more quickly?”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="ODsuYy">
<q>“Its not like we had an exceptionally just, equal, or equitable education system before the pandemic. These gaps existed before.”</q>
</aside>
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Another student, who has special needs, is still working on being able to spell and handwrite letters. But his grade is working on five-paragraph essays. Rather than keep him from working on essays until his handwriting is perfect, teachers have him use Google Translate to dictate his work into a computer. “He can still look for the organization, like his class is doing, he can still develop his theme, he can still develop his claim,” Totten said. “We know that we still have to work with him on actually writing himself and being able to do the spelling piece, but using a strategy, hes able to do the work at his grade level.”
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Gregory Heights started using the approach in September, and so far educators are pleased with the results, at least as measured by assessments students took in fall and winter. Students began returning to school buildings on a hybrid schedule in March, and the district has not yet announced a schedule for the fall. But whatever happens, Gregory Heights plans to continue and refine the acceleration approach, helping teachers identify what skills are the most important to teach in a limited amount of time. “If Im truly going to accelerate,” Totten asks, “am I going to do every one of these lessons, or am I going to cut out some of these lessons and spend more time on other lessons?”
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District-wide, the real test of the method may not come until next spring, when Washington students are likely to take their next round of statewide tests (the tests were paused this year due to the pandemic). But <a href="https://opportunitymyth.tntp.org/choosing-the-opportunity-gap">previous research by TNTP</a> has found that when students who have fallen behind are given grade-level work along with stronger instruction and higher expectations, they catch up more quickly than those who dont get grade-level assignments. The group has seen what students “are capable of when we as grown-ups let them try, rather than deciding before they even get up to the plate that theyre not going to get a hit,” Czupryk said.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_8ki7KO3LCoX5VFveGSjiGGS0Tw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22460845/GettyImages_1310181524.jpg"/> <cite>Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
First-graders Kiara Morris, 6 (left), and Tatiana Morris, 7, sanitize their hands as they arrive for the first day of partial in-person instruction at Garfield Elementary School in Oakland, California, on March 30.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YBYUsu">
Districts from Alabama to California are taking such messages to heart and planning an acceleration approach to help their students catch up after the past 18 months, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/03/15/pandemic-school-year-changes/">according to the Washington Post</a>. And the Department of Education <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-2.pdf?utm_content=&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_name=&amp;utm_source=govdelivery&amp;utm_term=">recommended an acceleration approach</a> to address pandemic learning gaps in a reopening handbook released earlier this month, which also noted that funds from the American Rescue Plan can be used for tutoring or summer school programs to help support acceleration.
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The increased interest in the approach could help districts address the longstanding inequities that have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. For example, in <a href="https://opportunitymyth.tntp.org/">a 2018 report</a>, TNTP found that classes composed predominantly of students from higher-income families spent twice as much time on grade-level work as classes with students from lower-income backgrounds. An emphasis on acceleration could help districts examine what they offer their students and make sure theyre giving every student the opportunity to excel.
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“Its not like we had an exceptionally just, equal, or equitable education system before the pandemic,” Czupryk said. “These gaps existed before.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Breaking down the 2021 Best Picture nominees</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XokqpeAldFoWjYBMiNMnwa0l2po=/100x0:1700x1200/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69113602/headshots_1617909999945.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Daniel Kaluuya in <em>Judas and the Black Messiah</em>, Alan Kim in <em>Minari</em>, Gary Oldman in <em>Mank</em>, and Anthony Hopkins in <em>The Father</em>. | Warner Bros; A24; Netflix; Sony Pictures Classics
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The merits, demerits, and awards chances of each film in a weird year at the Oscars.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O9qI1Y">
The most prestigious award at the <a href="https://www.vox.com/oscars">Oscars</a> is the Best Picture trophy, and every year, between five and 10 movies compete for the prize. What makes the contest interesting is that there arent any set rules about what constitutes a “best” picture. Its just the movie (for better or worse, depending on the year) that Hollywood designates as its standard-bearer.
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The film that wins represents the American movie industrys view of its accomplishments in the present and its aspirations for the future.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p3pzZw">
In this strange, strange year — with a pandemic wreaking havoc on the film industry and big questions looming about the future of theaters and streaming — it is perhaps surprising that the eight <a href="https://www.vox.com/22331513/best-picture-oscars-2021-nominees-streaming">2021 Best Picture nominees</a>, on the whole, are pretty great.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u6fFWJ">
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/12/4/22150234/mank-review-netflix-fincher">most-nominated film overall</a> is about the politics, business, and history of Hollywood — no surprise, since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the professional organization that gives out the Oscars) tends to love movies about movies. Two films center on characters who are struggling to retain part of themselves in the midst of <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-father">memory loss</a> and <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sound-of-metal">hearing loss</a>, respectively.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qpiRD0">
Two more films explore the politics and activism of the late 1960s, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21515051/trial-of-the-chicago-7-review-sorkin-netflix">one focusing on a court case</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/22272309/judas-black-messiah-review-hbo-max-black-panthers-kaluuya-stanfield">one on a state-sanctioned assassination</a>. Theres a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22205072/promising-young-woman-review-carey-mulligan">biting and satirical revenge thriller</a> in the mix. And finally, two films explore the promise and peril of the American Dream: one about <a href="https://www.vox.com/22274856/minari-review-yeun-chung">a family of Korean-Americans in 1980s Arkansas</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/22289457/nomadland-review-zhao-mcdormand-streaming-hulu">one set in the contemporary West</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FZ4uLd">
In the run-up to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22213752/oscars-2021-coronavirus-date-streaming">delayed-by-two-months Oscars on April 25</a>, the Vox staff is looking at each of the Best Picture nominees in turn. What makes this film appealing to Academy voters? What makes it emblematic of the year? And should it win? Well publish a roundtable discussion for each of the nominees as we approach these most unusual Oscars, in a most unusual year.
</p>
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<em>— Alissa Wilkinson, Vox film critic</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b0pP73">
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="ef6PgM"/>
<h3 id="MQLGf1">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/22363939/trial-chicago-7-aaron-sorkin-oscars-best-picture-roundtable"><em>The Trial of the Chicago 7</em>: Our mixed feelings about the movie and its director Aaron Sorkin, explained</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L1bHRC">
The historical courtroom drama seems like a classic Oscar film. And for better or worse, its peak Sorkin. Will it win?
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two white men in a courtroom in suits and ties, one standing, one sitting." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xUt5AIMIF-Kr9eAx8oc6gfEBnxc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21961811/C7_02912_CRr.jpg"/> <cite>Niko Tavernise / Netflix</cite>
<figcaption>
Mark Rylance and Eddie Redmayne in <em>The Trial of the Chicago 7</em>.
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Bc2ko">
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="wdOUTb"/>
<h3 id="KffYGo">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/22363995/mank-best-picture-roundtable-fincher-oldman-citizen-kane-netflix"><em>Mank: </em>Should the most-nominated film at the Oscars win Best Picture?</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2sWR4Y">
David Finchers complicated movie about Hollywood and the making of <em>Citizen Kane </em>may be the least “popular” of the Best Picture nominees — whatever that means in this weird year — but its also the most-nominated film by a long shot.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A black and white image of Amanda Seyfried playing Marion Davies, in a circus-inspired costume with a big hat." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SNLgcpD9NAH7gBrow-0b_5Gn_0g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22430176/mank.jpg"/> <cite>Netflix</cite>
<figcaption>
Amanda Seyfried in <em>Mank.</em>
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="giYU9R">
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="VFMsMt"/>
<h3 id="3TUaoA">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/22364056/promising-young-woman-oscars-best-picture-roundtable"><em>Promising Young Woman</em>s explosive ending and Best Picture chances, explained</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nfYoLE">
Our critics have wildly differing opinions about Emerald Fennells much-discussed darkly comedic revenge thriller starring Carey Mulligan. Will the Oscars?
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A young white woman with rainbow-striped hair in a nurses costume stares grimly forward." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/z_um4GKbgeLHOTuizwvK1xdMyjY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22203951/promising_young_woman.jpg"/> <cite>Focus Features</cite>
<figcaption>
Carey Mulligan in <em>Promising Young Woman.</em>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3mtwz5">
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="JfG4SF"/>
<h3 id="Lr01Nl">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/e/22128147">Dont sleep on <em>The Father</em>, one of our favorite Best Picture nominees</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OTA9l1">
The film, which stars Anthony Hopkins, is a heartbreakingly brilliant adaptation of an award-winning play about a man and his daughter dealing with his dementia.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A middle-aged white woman and her father sit in a living room, talking to one another." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mz5isBPOBNBS-e_upXyHvanXmuQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22430204/thefather.jpg"/> <cite>Sony Pictures Classics</cite>
<figcaption>
Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins in <em>The Father.</em>
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</figure>
<h3 id="07WTqW">
</h3>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="eFor6O"/>
<h3 id="THg719">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/e/22128089">On <em>Nomadland</em>, the Oscars, and that Amazon question</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SE5g10">
How the Best Picture nominee depicts grief, gig employment, and the American heartland.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A white woman stands against the backdrop of the Badlands, with a small smile on her face." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jVGs5Ljid3EEqv8gGI9hxKNV3QY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22314916/nomadland_01anomadland_rec709_100nits_239FF_still_01_20200723_R2_rgb.jpg"/> <cite>Searchlight Pictures</cite>
<figcaption>
Frances McDormand in <em>Nomadland.</em>
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</figure>
<h3 id="liZKxD">
</h3>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="xb0Q7I"/>
<h3 id="wG42n9">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/22364083/sound-of-metal-review-best-picture-oscars-roundtable">Why Best Picture nominee <em>Sound of Metal</em> resonates</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xs5LYp">
Great performances and fascinating technical choices power the riveting drama starring Riz Ahmed as a drummer whos going deaf.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A man wearing headphones." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/adxgnSRbKx144Q01EQvK-M65DaQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22430379/soundofmetal.jpeg"/> <cite>Amazon Studios</cite>
<figcaption>
Riz Ahmed in <em>Sound of Metal</em>.
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</figure>
<h3 id="MCWIZ1">
</h3>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="djJa4u"/>
<h3 id="kqYSNO">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/e/22128014">How Best Picture nominee <em>Judas and the Black Messiah</em> questions the meaning of freedom</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aTnrm6">
The powerful drama about the assassination of Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton presents moral queries that rhyme with the present.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A Black man stands in a beret." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Rl3nKIrO7-5Ma99Yhi7PXLlcXSc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22430382/judasblackmessiah.jpeg"/> <cite>Warner Bros.</cite>
<figcaption>
Daniel Kaluuya in <em>Judas and the Black Messiah.</em>
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</figure>
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<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="0407fU"/>
<h3 id="7zeoVq">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/e/22128064"><em>Minari </em>is America</a>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YmS2Qh">
Why we love this Best Picture nominee.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A Korean man and a woman stand in an embrace." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JKv0CGJv3F7F-bsb347GAuIkUSM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22297160/MINARI_02964.jpg"/> <cite>Josh Ethan Johnson/A24</cite>
<figcaption>
Yeri Han and Steven Yeun in <em>Minari</em>.
</figcaption>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M4xq92">
The 2021 Oscars will air live on Sunday, April 25, on ABC.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Minari is America</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A father and son look into the distance together." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xdM0mIx2PtyG1xLl2WTW18QewjE=/0x0:1816x1362/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69174328/49105867006_4bbc0a1a72_k.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Alan Kim and Steven Yeun in <em>Minari.</em> | Courtesy of Sundance Institute
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Why we love this Best Picture nominee.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="94xNzW">
Eight films are in the running for Best Picture, the most prestigious award at the <a href="https://www.vox.com/oscars">Oscars</a>, this year. Thats a lot of movies to watch, analyze, and enjoy. So in the days leading up to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22213752/oscars-2021-coronavirus-date-streaming">April 25 ceremony</a>, Vox staffers look at each of the nominees in turn. What makes this film appealing to Academy voters? What makes it emblematic of the year? And should it win?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kWZxce">
Below, Vox film critic Alissa Wilkinson, senior culture reporter Alex Abad-Santos, identities reporter Fabiola Cineas, and critic at large Emily VanDerWerff talk about <em>Minari</em>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1818032/">Lee Isaac Chung</a>s vibrant family drama about a Korean American family living in the Ozarks in the 1980s.
</p>
<h3 id="FrvhPQ">
<em>Minari</em>s specificity is what makes it so appealing
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0zpESE">
<strong>Alissa Wilkinson: </strong>I first saw <em>Minari </em>in a different world: at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, on a huge screen in an auditorium filled with ecstatic audience members. The filmmakers were there, and the reception was rapturous. I remember just being so happy to watch it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Te3nLB">
Turns out its the only one of the Best Picture nominees I saw on a big screen (boy, it hurts to say that), and Im delighted the movies buzz persisted into awards season and that so many people have found it so incredibly meaningful.
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There are a lot of entry points to <em>Minari</em>. Theres the experience of immigrants and their children, people of Asian descent in particular. Theres the feeling of what its like to grow up in rural America, especially if youre not white and the dominant community around you is. Theres the oddities and quirks of American religious communities. Theres the battle to maintain a youthful dream and a marriage in difficult times. And a lot more, too.
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I know all of you found your way into this film from different directions. What spoke to you?
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qTjgHR">
<strong>Emily VanDerWerff: </strong>I love stories that draw you in with their specificity. <em>Minari</em> is “about” a lot of things, if you want to pull back to the thematic level, and it has a ton of elements its mixing together in its plot. But two key ingredients that the movie nails are its depiction of running a small family farm and its depiction of rural evangelical Christianity.
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After watching this movie, I jokingly remarked to Alissa that it was a surprisingly accurate portrayal of agricultural policy in the 1980s. While I dont think <em>Minari</em> will teach you how to run a farm in the 1980s, it does offer an overview of both the pitfalls and benefits of getting into agriculture at a time when banks were loaning money to small family farmers and the US government was doubling down on farm subsidies, but also at a time when the specter of corporations driving smaller family farms out of business loomed large. What is Jacobs (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3081796/">Steven Yeun</a>) struggle to find anyone to buy his vegetables about but the way the market suffocated operations like his, slowly but surely? Okay, Jacobs struggle is about way more than just that. But I appreciated how <em>Minari</em> got its details about farm life in a rural area right without really overstating them.
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The film takes a similar approach to Christianity. Jacobs hired hand, Paul (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001599/">Will Patton</a>), practices a version of Pentecostalism that he seems to have largely invented himself, which involves speaking in tongues, praying over the crops, and hauling a cross down the road every Sunday. <em>Minari</em>s depiction of Pauls faith is in addition to how it shows the Yi family joining a nearby church and encountering microaggressions — both well-meaning and not so well-meaning — from its many white congregants.
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What I like about these details is that the movie doesnt particularly feel the need to comment on them. <em>Minari</em> succeeds because it stays firmly rooted in the point-of-view of young David (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10910136/">Alan Kim</a>), so when his parents are on the verge of splitting up but ultimately seem to resolve their differences, we understand their story only as much as he does. Yes, as adults we can likely fill in the blanks better than he can, but <em>Minari </em>is careful to never overplay its hand.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vz77RS">
That approach creates a movie where I remember individual moments and images more than I do the storys overall sweep, but maybe thats the point. Maybe were meant to think about this movie like we would our own childhoods — as a series of islands of memory, surrounded by vast oceans of what we have forgotten or never really understood in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VpanoG">
Also: Shoutout to Soon-ja (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0950926/">Youn Yuh-jung</a>), the best onscreen grandma in ages.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An older Korean woman smiles, with a background of lush green treees." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/thTzF7MNTgeGC7a5Makxwiip2gI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22459617/minari.jpeg"/> <cite>Courtesy of A24</cite>
<figcaption>
Youn Yuh-jung is the first South Korean actress nominated for an Oscar.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wfWasP">
<strong>Alex Abad-Santos: </strong>There are two very authentic things about how this movie captures growing up Asian American in the 80s: The first is how Soon-ja does whats known as the Asian squat, and the second is how the family, like my family, loves its soda pop. Everyone in my family can Asian squat, though my mom absolutely hates the look of it, and growing up, my parents always had soda stocked in the fridge.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Td1WgI">
But beyond the “Oh my gosh, is that a sliver of my life on screen?” moments, I loved how <em>Minari</em> was a story about a family trying to survive. Its about parents doing what they think is best for their kids; about the life-affirming connections we have with our mothers and grandmothers; the way we will move mountains, maybe even causing friction with our spouses and significant others, for our parents; and how survival is its very own kind of love.
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One of the scenes seared into my brain happens when Soon-ja arrives and starts pulling all this stuff, stuff you can find only in Korea, out of her suitcase. Her daughter, Monica (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3680658/">Yeri Han</a>), crumbles with joy at the sight of her haul. Its such a brief scene, but it gets across not only how much Monica misses her mother and her home — everything she gave up to move to America — but also how well Soon-ja knows her daughter, understands how lonely she is, and brings these items to nourish Monicas soul.
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And thats just one moment of countless others.
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<strong>Fabiola Cineas:</strong> I cant stop thinking about little Davids expressions, particularly the moment before he commits the biggest mischief of all — serving Soon-Ja, his grandmother, a teacup of his pee. As soon as the camera focused on his face, allowing us to see his eyes gleeful with malintent, I knew something bad was going to happen. The close shots of Davids face were some of the most authentic moments in this film for me because he perfectly captured what it feels like to be a first-generation immigrant growing up in a country where your parents werent born but are fighting to survive.
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My family came to America in the late 1970s from Haiti, and its surreal how much of our story is wrapped up in <em>Minari</em>. Though we didnt grow up in a rural part of the country, no matter where you are, the immigrant experience is about isolation, pushing your way in, and carving out space for your culture and journey.
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All of this is to say I saw myself in David, from being suspicious of the “foreign” grandparent who urges you to eat stale treats to grimacing at the fact that your grandparent smells like a faraway land. Other moments: David having to go fetch a stick for a beating (been there!), and being immigrants at a white church. The way Soon-ja watches wrestling — narrating every kick and blow — has inspired me to investigate the connection between immigrant women and wrestling. This is the same way my mother has watched wrestling for decades. Its something Ive never been able to understand or explain. I have recorded it on camera, though.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RtsriV">
I appreciate how <em>Minari </em>didnt have to force any narratives or include any extreme plot points to draw people into this story about a Korean family trying to make it in America. Whats fascinating is how normal the story is.
</p>
<h3 id="rOpK9T">
<em>Minari</em> challenges Hollywoods attitudes about what is “American”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lzizKZ">
<strong>Alissa:</strong> Yes! Youre all pointing to something I think conventional Hollywood movies sometimes forget — that movies become more interesting to viewers when they lean into specificity, rather than trying to appeal to a broad audience by being more vague or general. Not every detail of <em>Minari</em> is familiar to every audience, but some details are, and I think thats what has made it work so well for so many people whove seen it.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a7tEE5">
At the same time, its undeniably an Asian American story. A lot of conversation about the movie — thanks to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/28/movies/minari-foreign-language-film.html">Golden Globes designating it a “foreign language film”</a> — pushes back on ideas about what counts as “American” and what makes something “foreign.” Its a matter that movies have run into before, even recently (see also <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/7/9/18761355/farewell-review-awkwafina-lulu-wang"><em>The Farewell</em></a>), and taps into big and very important questions.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ApvVgs">
<em>Minari</em> is a story set in America about people living in America, produced by an American company, written and directed by an American based in part on his own childhood memories. The Oscars wont file it under <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/4/21042912/international-oscars-foreign-film-rules-language">the “international” film category</a> for all of those reasons, but theres still a sense that a movie in which a lot of the dialogue isnt in English might be seen, by some, as “foreign.”
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This might be too big a question, but I want to hear what you think: Are we past the point where its valuable or even advisable to think about “foreign films” at all? And for you, what category <em>does</em> <em>Minari</em> fit into? How would you characterize the film to someone if youre encouraging them to see it?
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A family stands together." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KP6-URzs9r7HkWl2-9v1YQiRVs0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22297175/MINARI_01590.jpg"/> <cite>Josh Ethan Johnson/A24</cite>
<figcaption>
The ensemble cast of <em>Minari</em> makes it shine.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2NAXDP">
<strong>Fabiola:</strong> So glad you brought up that Golden Globes controversy, Alissa. Can any of you help me understand why, under the Golden Globes rules, a “foreign language film” cant compete in the awards<strong> </strong>Best Picture categories? And how did they decide that at least 50 percent of words in English = American? Why not 60 percent, or 80? It all seems so arbitrary and a clear sign that this is just a way to “other” films and filmmakers like <em>Minari</em> and Lee Isaac Chung. <em>Minari</em> is as American as it gets, and so is Chung. Its past time for these rules to change, to stop forcing (typically) nonwhite filmmakers to go through extra levels of scrutiny just to be judged alongside what this country has deemed the norm — whiteness.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="whPnjF">
Every time a controversy like this happens, people start trying to investigate how American the filmmaker is. In <em>Minari</em>s case, even though the Oscars have more readily recognized the film as American, Ive seen people attempt to unnecessarily overexplain how Chung is from Denver or that he went to Yale as a way to make viewers feel comfortable. It shouldnt matter where he was born or where he went to school. Dear white people: Stop making Asian Americans jump through hoops as a form of repentance for being great.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="liOI65">
<strong>Alex:</strong> This gets at my problem with the Oscars. On the one hand, I feel like, who cares what these people think (see <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/2/25/18239309/oscars-2019-green-book-best-picture"><em>Green Book</em> winning Best Picture in 2019</a>)<em> </em>in the grand design of things? These awards shouldnt be a mark of quality, especially when they reward mediocre movies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eLLkIs">
On the other hand, if <em>Minari</em> wins, I will be so happy that it got recognized for being the beautiful film that it is. Itll be a sign of filmic justice: A splendid movie wins for being the best movie of the entire year (which also happened last year with <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/2/10/21131004/parasite-best-picture-oscars-2020"><em>Parasite</em></a><em>)</em>. And yes, that is a testament to how idiotic the Oscars are and their power over me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UqVHix">
I do think a Best International Film category should exist at the Oscars, but only because the Academy can be so myopic in its vision of what “good” movies look like and are (though the organization is trying to fix this by <a href="https://www.vox.com/22332389/oscars-academy-diversity-membership-2021">being more inclusive in its membership</a>). I know that increases the potential for siloing international movies, but without an international category, would they get recognized at all? (Like, how does the renowned Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar only have one Oscar nomination for directing, ever?)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="icGGEk">
I think the entire debacle at the Golden Globes was based on an uncomfortable reality: that Asian and Asian American experiences still arent considered American. And I cant think of a more “American movie” about the proverbial American dream that touches upon American ideas of religion, class, and family than <em>Minari</em> this year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="scJ1ea">
Meanwhile, Glenn Close can do some <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21547862/hillbilly-elegy-netflix-explained-rural-vance">hilariously horrendous poverty cosplay in <em>Hillbilly Elegy</em></a> and generate buzz and think pieces about what that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/30/how-hillbilly-elegy-tries-and-fails-to-show-the-real-america">movie</a> and <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fculture%2Fcultural-comment%2Fthe-lives-of-poor-white-people&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22364023%2Fminari-oscars-best-picture-foreign-international-american-roundtable" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">book</a> say about “real” America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dpOTPF">
<strong>Emily: </strong>Its fascinating that the stodgy Academy seems to be moving in the right direction on this, recognizing more and more films in a language other than English (and even giving <em>Parasite</em> Best Picture last year) and correctly recognizing that movies like <em>Minari</em> arent “foreign films,” since theyre made right here. And as thats happening, the Golden Globes is moving ever more toward stodginess in this and many other matters. (The Globes, after all, got the <em>Green Book</em> and <em>Bohemian Rhapsody</em> awards train running a couple of years ago.) Its the reverse of what you might have expected even 10 years ago.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bhSVk6">
But I think its a telling example of how the Academy has started to think about cinema as a global enterprise — even if the Oscars will probably always think of that enterprise as being centered on the United States — while the Globes are so intent on not seeing past these shores that they cant even recognize movies made <em>here</em> in a language other than English. In the big picture, this doesnt really matter, but it is kind of surprising to be a critic saying something akin to, “Well, you gotta hand it to the Oscars!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mraVR7">
And the Oscars are right to embrace <em>Minari</em>, not just because its great (which it is) but also because its coming-of-age narrative is the sort of thing the Oscars have increasingly embraced as a way to honor all sorts of experiences that they havent really centered before this last decade. That everything from <em>Moonlight</em> to <em>Lady Bird</em> to <em>Minari</em> more or less fits the “coming-of-age period piece” genre Ive just described shows how versatile it is. Growing up, after all, is one of the few things all human beings have to do, and we can find commonality in it even when the specifics might be different.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VcEpdt">
But I also hope the Academy ventures beyond that genre when recognizing stories about communities that have rarely been at the center of “Oscar movie” discourse. Last years victory for <em>Parasite</em> — a wildly entertaining thriller that doubles as a critique of capitalism — bodes well in this regard, and I hope the Oscars keep moving in that direction.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A Korean man and a woman stand in an embrace." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JKv0CGJv3F7F-bsb347GAuIkUSM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22297160/MINARI_02964.jpg"/> <cite>Josh Ethan Johnson/A24</cite>
<figcaption>
Yeri Han and Steven Yeun in <em>Minari.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lo9dH3">
<strong>Alissa: </strong>Not to toot my own horn, but I did have a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22332389/oscars-academy-diversity-membership-2021">great conversation</a> with Walt Hickey, who writes about the awards from a statistics and data perspective, about how the changing makeup of the Academy hit an inflection point this year and starts to explain some of the shifts Emily points to above.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cV7Ypl">
Okay. So we all love <em>Minari</em>. If someone else told you they loved <em>Minari</em>, what might you tell them to see, read, or experience as well? Did it bring anything to mind for you?
</p>
<h3 id="k4bv1G">
What to watch and read after <em>Minari</em>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WP7F2k">
<strong>Alex:</strong> I mean, for me there are a lot of parallels with one of my favorite all-time movies, <em>Giant</em>, about Texas, race, society and identity, and James Dean being rude about oil<em>. Minari</em> and <em>Giant</em> are separated by decades and maybe dont look similar on the surface, but in terms of scope about the promises of American prosperity, the reality of said prosperity, and the future of the American dream, the two films<em> </em>speak the same language and are part of the same legacy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ekQ2tq">
I also kept thinking about the Netflix series<em> </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2015/11/8/9690904/master-of-none-netflix-review"><em>Master of None</em></a><em>. </em>That show, created by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2106637/">Aziz Ansari</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1520649/">Alan Yang</a>, was about a lot of things from episode to episode, but one of the throughlines were kids realizing their parents journeys. For Ansaris protagonist, Dev Shah, and Shahs friend, Brian Chang (played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0950515/">Kelvin Yu</a>), a few episodes focus on their coming to terms with their parents immigration to America and what that identity means.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MqJiGj">
<strong>Emily: </strong>I might recommend Apple TV+s <em>Little America</em>, a frequently terrific anthology series telling the stories of American immigrants who moved here from all over the world. (I should also point out that <em>Little America</em> is produced by Epic, which, like Vox, is owned by Vox Media.) Another TV series that tackles the immigrant experience, albeit from a wildly different point of view, is FXs spy drama <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-americans"><em>The Americans</em></a>. I dont know that its the most natural overlap with <em>Minari</em>, but its fantastic, and everybody should find an excuse to watch it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DtStrs">
In the world of film, there are a ton of amazing coming-of-age stories that might be enjoyed by <em>Minari</em> fans, but for some reason, Im drawn to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006249/">Satyajit Ray</a>s Apu trilogy, beginning with <em>Pather Panchali</em>. Rays films depict a young boy growing up in India amid poverty and other hardships in the early 20th century. Yet they capture a similar sense of the ways the horrors of our childhood are often understood by us as just how life is when were kids. Rays movies are among my favorites ever made, and if youre just looking for another movie with kids trying to adjust to tricky living situations, theyd be a great pick.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F6nSWo">
<strong>Fabiola:</strong> <em>Minari</em> brought a couple of books to mind that Id definitely recommend to someone looking for more. The first is Chang-rae Lees first novel <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fnative-speaker%2F9781573225311&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22364023%2Fminari-oscars-best-picture-foreign-international-american-roundtable" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Native Speaker</em></a>, which is about a Korean American man trying to assimilate in American society. And hes a spy (a connection to <em>The Americans</em>, Emily!), so there are many layers to the plot. Published a few years later (in the late 90s) is Mia Tuans <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fforever-foreigners-or-honorary-whites-the-asian-ethnic-experience-today%2F9780813526249&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22364023%2Fminari-oscars-best-picture-foreign-international-american-roundtable" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites?: The Asian Ethnic Experience Today</em></a>, which explores Asian identity in America more broadly, and what it means to become a “true” American.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V44Hw6">
For more recent works, Id point to Min Jin Lees <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fpachinko-national-book-award-finalist%2F9781455563920&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22364023%2Fminari-oscars-best-picture-foreign-international-american-roundtable" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Pachinko</em></a>, a powerful book about a Korean family that immigrates to Japan just before World War II (which weve covered <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/8/16552828/2017-national-book-award-nominees-reviews">here</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/28/16807326/best-books-list-2017">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/4/29/21241087/ask-a-book-critic-quarantine-reading-travel">here</a>). Lastly, a friend of mine recommended to me the essay collection <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fminor-feelings-an-asian-american-reckoning%2F9781984820389&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F22364023%2Fminari-oscars-best-picture-foreign-international-american-roundtable" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><em>Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning</em></a> by poet Cathy Park Hong, which explores Asian American consciousness and identity with some cultural criticism mixed in — its on my list.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EnUeZ4">
<strong>Alissa:</strong> I love that Alex recommended <em>Giant</em>! Id also direct people back to the 2019 movie <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/7/9/18761355/farewell-review-awkwafina-lulu-wang"><em>The Farewell</em></a>, starring Awkwafina. <em>The Farewell</em> is quite different from <em>Minari</em> — its about a Chinese family, and its set in the present — but has a similar tone and mood, of humor and love and mourning.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ef9MVk">
And I also loved <a href="https://gen.medium.com/minari-and-me-86ac49d763f6">this reflection</a> by writer Alexander Chee following his viewing of <em>Minari</em>. “Lee Isaac Chung said his family got his film mixed up with their own memories,” he writes. “I think a lot of us are having this experience.” And then Chee goes on to write about his own experiences. I was glad to see the movie through his eyes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8RYjNb">
Minari<em> is </em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/showtimes/title/tt10633456"><em>playing in theaters</em></a><em> and available to digitally rent on platforms including </em><a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/minari/umc.cmc.5u7h6eurfrgcrmullqzj6heow"><em>Apple TV+</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Minari-Steven-Yeun/dp/B08WLY2G31"><em>Amazon Prime</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Minari?id=ft2C0LLXSGM.P"><em>Google Play</em></a><em>, and </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KcEVLcGvH0"><em>YouTube</em></a><em>. Its also playing in </em><a href="https://screeningroom.a24films.com/"><em>A24s Screening Room</em></a><em>. Find our </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/22374044/oscars-2021-best-picture-nominees-reviews-roundtables"><em>discussions of the other 2021 Best Picture nominees here</em></a><em>.</em>
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Coronavirus | Tokyo under emergency orders with Olympics three months away</strong> - IOC Presidents visit to Hiroshima amidst the pandemic crisis raises opposition cries.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Night Hunt for the feature event</strong> - Night Hunt runs with a good chance in the Bourbon King Handicap (1,300m), the main event of the races to be held here on Saturday (April 24).1. OOTY</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Soaring High lives up to its name in feature</strong> - R. Ramanathans ward Soaring High, ridden by P. Sai Kumar, won the Polished Chrome Handicap, the main event of the races held here on Friday (April 2</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Axar Patel recovers from COVID-19, joins DC squad</strong> - Axar was the second IPL player to get infected.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Virat Kohli becomes first batsman to score 6,000 IPL runs</strong> - The RCB skipper reached the milestone in 196 matches</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Makeshift hospitals to be set up soon: Sudhakar</strong> - Minister says Centres permission sought to import 2 lakh vials of Remdesivir directly</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>All Gujarat sectors working unitedly to tackle COVID-19: CM Vijay Rupani to PM Modi</strong> - The Chief Minister of Gujarat was speaking at a meeting held by the PM virtually with Chief Ministers of ten States with the most number of COVID-19 cases.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PM Modi raps Kejriwal for violating protocol of closed door meetings</strong> - Kejriwal livestreams part of CMs virtual meet</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Coronavirus | Empty oxygen tankers to be flown back by IAF planes for refilling</strong> - The Indian Air Forces special planes will be used for this purpose, says Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Make COVID-19 vaccination affordable, accessible through Jan Aushadi scheme: IMA</strong> - The association also demanded transparency in the vaccine pricing.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin opponent Navalny ends hunger strike in Russian jail</strong> - Alexei Navalny refused food in a Russian jail for 24 days but his doctors appealed to him to stop.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chernobyl radiation damage not passed to children</strong> - A study found no mutations associated with a parents exposure in the 1986 nuclear accident.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Black ballet dancer Lopes Gomes wins Berlin racism case</strong> - Berlin Staatsballett awards compensation after the ballerina complained of racism.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sarah Voss: German gymnasts outfit takes on sexualisation in sport</strong> - Sarah Voss defies convention by ditching the leotard for a full-body suit at the European championship.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Malta golden passports: Loopholes found in citizenship scheme</strong> - Investors rented empty properties to fulfil the one-year residence requirement, leaked files show.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NASAs bold bet on Starship for the Moon may change spaceflight forever</strong> - “It is transformational to degrees no one today can understand.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1757643">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Amazon bypasses New Glenn, SLS ready for Florida shipment</strong> - “Its extremely exciting to join with our partners to deploy new capabilities.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1759479">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Graphical Linux apps are coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux</strong> - Youll need to be on the Dev channel of an Insider build to see the new feature. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1759568">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Astronauts safely launch into orbit on a used rocket [Updated]</strong> - For a few days, 2 Crew Dragons will be docked to the space station. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1759486">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 vaccinations declining even though all US adults are eligible</strong> - With 50% of adults vaccinated, health officials begin tackling vaccine skeptics. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1759596">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The only joke I know.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How does a cow introduce his wife…?
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He says, “meat patty”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I am very sorry.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Deathmanliftbob"> /u/Deathmanliftbob </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mwkxbb/the_only_joke_i_know/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mwkxbb/the_only_joke_i_know/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I just memorized six pages of the dictionary…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I learned next to nothing.
</p>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YrNotYrKhakis"> /u/YrNotYrKhakis </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mwmmsu/i_just_memorized_six_pages_of_the_dictionary/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mwmmsu/i_just_memorized_six_pages_of_the_dictionary/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My Jewish friend says this is a non-offensive Holocaust joke</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A Holocaust survivor died recently. Goes to Heaven and upon meeting God, he decided to tell a Holocaust joke. Then God said “Thats not funny”, to which the Jew replied “Oh, I guess you had to be there”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ryhaltswhiskey"> /u/ryhaltswhiskey </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mw6r4x/my_jewish_friend_says_this_is_a_nonoffensive/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mw6r4x/my_jewish_friend_says_this_is_a_nonoffensive/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My parents told me I could be anyone I want to be.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But it turns out that identity theft is a crime.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ReasonReader"> /u/ReasonReader </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mwispj/my_parents_told_me_i_could_be_anyone_i_want_to_be/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/mwispj/my_parents_told_me_i_could_be_anyone_i_want_to_be/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife and I had two miscarriages last year, and I believe there should be more jokes about miscarriages so we talk about it more…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The only problem is most of the jokes die before you finish delivering them.
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—————————————————————
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>The title of the post is true and humor is how I deal with my pain</em>
</p>
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