About a year ago, Brian Davidson spotted a crew installing a 14-foot pole in the middle of his neighbor’s well-manicured lawn. When he walked next door to ask what was happening, he learned that his homeowner association’s board of directors near Dallas, Texas, was installing automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in order to prevent crime. “[My neighbor] had no idea it was even done,” Davidson tells OneZero. “No one was given permission … they just stuffed it in there.”

Davidson’s neighbor asked the homeowner association, called Bedford Stonecourt, to remove the pole from his yard, and the crew did. The next day, they moved it onto the lawn of a West Point graduate, someone Davidson describes as “not to be f*cked with.” “He’s just like ‘get it out, get it out.’ So they removed it from his lawn,” Davidson says. …

Of the 328 million people in the United States, we’ve selected just two as contenders for one of the most powerful positions in the world. Most of us can agree that these man-children didn’t achieve such a feat based on some mythical meritocracy. A mixture of familial connections, personal wealth, luck and (most importantly)an allegiance to the ruling capitalist class propelled their careers forward.

Such an illusion of choice is tacitly understood, but it’s not usually blurted out loud. This year, as an increasing number of people aren’t voting for anyone, just against someone, the electoral process is nakedly exposed for what it is: a mechanism that ensures some people hold power over others in order to preserve the current racialized and economically stratified social order. …

This story was originally written for Stranger Stories, RI’s ‘flight’ theme. Then the pandemic happened.

I felt some apprehension as we lifted off in the two-seater. But, as I have obnoxiously told others wary of flight, it is more statistically probable to die in a car crash than hurtle into oblivion on a plane. So up we went.

The pilot was my best friend’s new partner, and he had already exhibited abusive tendencies. He knew I was wary of him. And, in his eyes, I was a threat to their relationship. My friend, who I will call B, wanted us to try to make amends or at least learn to tolerate each other. …

Viruses are constantly evolving through interactions inside “clouds.” Inside these swarms, they pick up traits from their neighbors, forming novel strains that more efficiently hijack cells or are harder for the immune system to neutralize. Essentially, they cooperate.

To fight the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe, scientists are also cooperating, and on an unprecedented level.

Ditching the normal publication process for research — which moves slowly and oftentimes offers access only to those who pay — more than 50 journals and publishers signed a statement in January pledging to share findings rapidly and openly and to make all of their publications related to Covid-19 and the coronavirus “immediately accessible” and licensable “in ways that facilitate reuse.” …

The atmosphere was commemorative, yet solemn outside of Culture House DC (formerly Blind Whino) on June 12, 2019, one year after the Metropolitan Police Department shot and killed 22-year-old Marqueese “Queese” Alston. Candles lit readily on the windless evening in Southwest DC, while about 60 friends and family members wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts formed a circle in remembrance of the man taken so young. Occasionally, white people walked through or around the gathering on their way to view an exhibit inside the Culture House, Shelter for the Next Cold War.

Kenithia Alston, Marqueese’s mother, radiated strength, hope, and love in a gorgeous red and gold skirt with a bright red BLM t-shirt. She thanked everyone for coming, read an original psalm written for Marqueese, and demanded that MPD release the body camera footage of his death. …

At the end of each year, we are momentarily encouraged to reflect on our lives. While the majority of us don’t stick with our resolutions, the deliberate disruption allows for an honest assessment of who we are and how we can be better.

Reflection, the practice of evaluating the self and the meaning of things, can help us attempt to gain control over our lives.

But what does it mean to “gain control” over our lives? In part, we are in control, when we are able to prioritize our time wisely by reflecting on what is and is not important or meaningful to us. …