Written by Jackson Bird. 

This week, we’re learning about today’s most dangerous epidemic in US media, celebrating FRESH staff and speakers’ events, and reading about the power of Black mourning.

What we’re checking out…

Is this real life? Following his mistrial, Bill Cosby is planning to host town halls on sexual assault. And it is NOT OKAY.

On the topic, men everywhere continue to interrupt women — but women are fighting back, and men are getting their comeuppance.

Teen Vogue wrote on the current state of black women in the U.S., highlighting a major gap between their participation in politics and their representation in office.

This comic from Everyday Feminism has some excellent tips for making your activist event as inclusive and accessible to all people as possible.

For Father’s Day, Jay-Z bailed out a number of dads and wrote a piece for TIME about the systemic racism in the prison industrial complex.

reFRESHing Talk of the Week: Catherine Bracy explains why tech workers are important to the future of politics.

The latest from our speakers…

Ann Friedman and her podcast partner in Call Your Girlfriend, Amina Sow, sold out of their NYC show, so have added another CYG After Dark event. Get your tickets.  

For your west coasters, Ann is also interviewing the indomitable Roxane Gay on June 26th in LA.

Speaking of FRESH events, we hosted our first FRESH Talks pop-up workshop in New York City last week. Vanessa Valenti, Courtney Martin, and the amazing Tiffany Dufu shared their insights with attendees there to hone their public speaking game. Check out the hashtag for some highlights.

Since a bunch of our speakers were in town, we also did a Facebook Live interview with some of our 2017 class. Caroline Paul and Alaa Murabit joined speaker and FRESH Social Media Manager Jackson Bird to chat about life post-TED Talk.

Speaking of our new class… Zubaida Bai reflected on the lessons you can learn from applying to grants and awards, even when you don’t win.

Also, Sally Kohn got real about the fake news epidemic and we are so glad someone finally said it.

Mychal Denzel Smith wrote about the power and pain of Black mourning.

Jamil Smith reminds us to keep our chins up after Jon Osoff’s loss, and forecasts the tragedy that will erupt when Trump has to face his first natural disaster.

Lastly, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya let’s everyone off the hook for making a Plan B by explaining how back-up plans sometimes do more harm than good.

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