Note: I wrote this earlier in the month, but I've been so consumed with life that I never finished it! So the essay is on old news, but the links below will all be stuff from the last month that I've been meaning to share with y'all. Enjoy!

Who Tells Our Story?

America has often had a complicated history with the truth. I can't say if this country has been uniquely prone to deception or intentional forgetfulness, but it has mastered the art form. The last decade has demonstrated what it means when the truth is seen as a flexible thing. Some of those moments allowed us more nuanced views of existence, as when Nikole Hannah-Jones encouraged journalists to consider how journalistic "objectivity" benefits those in power and prioritizes their viewpoints as truth. But oftentimes it came from folks like Donald Trump, a man who bends truth to be whatever benefits him in the moment, then leads a trail of sycophants to affirm his retellings. History has always been written by the victors, but when I joined this field in 2018, I hoped to speak truth to power and share stories that weren’t being heard. This is why so many people get into journalism: to inform the public and act as truth-tellers. But even when I began this journey, Pew Research was already reporting that 25% of local newsrooms in the U.S. had shut down in the last decade. My soon-to-be heroes were already scrambling to find security in a job market that was crumbling under them. They heard tales of writers getting paid $2,000 per essay, but they were left waving their Net 30 contracts at dysfunctional newsgroups that didn't even care to give up the paltry $200 they’d offered for the work. But at least they knew that they were part of a legacy that spanned back to this country's origins, with the singular mission to tell our stories.

Now I sit at a computer in 2026, and I watch newspapers that have existed for centuries fall to ash. The Washington Post, a publication that has been here since the birth of America, was slowly enshittified by a billionaire with a fragile ego. The New York Times is a front for barely-liberal Zionism. Local papers are getting bought out by megacorps that pay the journos pennies and lay them off every two years. Or worse, they're just getting AI to do the job at the risk of misleading the public with false information. And here we have the Associated Press, the backbone of the newspaper industry, falling to the trends of AI optimization and speculative markets. America hasn't been around that long, and in just a few years, we have lost so much of our journalistic history to fools and tyrants. It's this tragedy that has pushed me to write this column and to share news from all around the internet. There are so many important stories to be told, and these newsletters are just a tiny sample of all the stuff that should be news. Even just in central Illinois, there are so many more stories to be told, investigations to be done. A community with a strong and well-supported journalism ecosystem allows for newsrooms that pay people enough to survive and speak truth to power. It allows us to attend the city council meetings so you know what's happening. It allows us to keep up with bad landlords and the dysfunctional government committees. It encourages us to ask more of our community. So read news, pay to get past the paywalls (even if that means sharing a login with a friend if you can't afford it alone!), share the stories, comment if you can. Journalism is an industry, and just like every other industry, it can die. And it will die if we don't support it while it's alive. This isn't a plea for you to support The Lavender specifically, I mean literally any newspaper or news site. A rising tide lifts all ships, so for the love of god, read the news! <3

News to Know

Local

Champaign County Board approves 1-year data center moratorium (Illinois Public Media): Great news for anyone who wants to be more cautious with the data center sprawl in our area. With luck, this next year helps the county learn if data centers really serve our community or not.

State

The great American data center divide (Ars Technica): A national article with a local focus! This is a story on how data centers are targeting rural communities, highlighting the story of a farmer in Tazewell County and the Meta data center being built just outside of Dekalb. I found this especially useful because it tells you what exactly a closed-loop system is, which is a term that comes up a lot in data center talk.

National

AP says it will offer buyouts as part of pivot away from newspaper-focused history (Associated Press): AP was once the gold standard of journalism; it was a stalwart force to be reckoned with. Oh, how the mighty fall.
Sam Altman is “the face of evil” for not reporting school shooter, says lawyer (Ars Technica): It really is wild seeing these tech companies try to convince you that the wealth of surveillance data they have of you is worth it, because at least you'll be safer; it's just not true. I am very pro-privacy, but it's ridiculous that even in a world without privacy, Big Brother cares more about getting their monthly fee than actually stopping something like this mass shooting.
In Indiana, a Campus Newspaper Adviser Fights for the ‘Soul of Our Country’ (Columbia Journalism Review): This is a story of the eternal back-and-forth of a university that values saving its skin over having actual values. Rodenbush's case will be one that student newspapers will be watching across the country, unless they are smartly unaffiliated with the university they cover, such as the Daily Illini. But they'll probably be keeping track, too.
Canva Admits Its AI Tool Removed ‘Palestine’ From Designs, Apologizes for Any Distress It Caused (Gizmodo): This is a reminder that tech is not objective! It takes on the biases of its creators. It's not a blank slate.
I'm a WNBA player. Don't use athletes like me to exclude trans women. (USA Today): This essay is a great model for straight women to follow in this world of transvestigation, particularly in light of the most recent IOC decision. Being clear that you do not want this done in your name helps show the real motivations behind policies like this. These decisions aren't made to support women, only to punish them.
The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine (Wired): Surveillance culture will always target the vulnerable and counterculture first before it spreads. Let this be a reminder of what happens when too much power is centralized to one weird guy.

Lavender Vibes

My Strange Dysphoria (Vulture): A beautiful essay by “The Pitt” star Supriya Ganesh. As a genderweird Black person, much of my gender-nonconformity is directly related to growing up as a person of color in this country, and the way that whiteness and femininity are synonymous. That contradiction is often only discussed in intimate conversations with QTBIPOC friends and academic papers, so it's great seeing this topic emerge in a major publication. - Jada
Dear Black men, we’re killing Black women (Andscape): A great essay reflecting on a rash of Black men killing their wives/partners and children in these last few weeks. It's a really vulnerable read that takes seriously the fear women deal with due to trauma from men, even the men in their own community. - Jada

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