Books & the Arts / August 5, 2023

Our Names

Yaccaira Salvatierra

Sometimes, when everyone is asleep,
we rise quietly.

We open our windows, remove screens.

Bike. Skateboard. Ride into the night.

We meet in alleyways,
behind industrial buildings,
beneath highway underpasses.

Tonight, our backpacks are our shadows.
Tonight, spray paint,
an extension of an arm.

We are echoes passing through tunnels.

We are tree roots eating through dirt,
breaking through concrete.

All we want is the quietude of dignity
& our own names.

Whatever beauty exists, exists for us too.

StarsOcean.Wings of a dragonfly.

Tree bark.Wet earth.Breeze.

Whatever beauty exists, also exists
in our names:

de la Torre. Cabrera. Salvatierra.

[  ].        [  ].     [  ]…

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Yaccaira Salvatierra

More from The Nation

The heirs of the Boston Tea Partiers are fighting to block data-center projects.

We Were Founded on Anti-Monopoly Principles We Were Founded on Anti-Monopoly Principles

The premises of the American democratic vision must be applied to the economy if we are to be free in all alreas of life.

Feature / Zephyr Teachout

The Knife Edge trail, not far from the Maine’s North Woods, which shaped Henry David Thoreau’s ideas about nature.

How America Became the Progenitor of Environmentalism How America Became the Progenitor of Environmentalism

From Indigenous practices to the Green New Deal, our country has always focused on prioritizing our planet.

Feature / Bill McKibben

The founding father included a recipe for abortions in The American Instructor, his 1748 reprint of a popular British textbook.

Abortion Has Always Been an American Tradition Abortion Has Always Been an American Tradition

More than one founding father knew that to be truly free, women needed control over their reproduction.

Feature / Regina Mahone

Why Amazon Ditched Its Prestige Sam Altman Biopic

Why Amazon Ditched Its Prestige Sam Altman Biopic Why Amazon Ditched Its Prestige Sam Altman Biopic

Artificial had a roster of premier talent and a topical subject—but it no longer fit in with Jeff Bezos’s financial ambitions.

Ben Schwartz

Americans Want to Impeach Donald Trump

Americans Want to Impeach Donald Trump Americans Want to Impeach Donald Trump

So why aren’t Democrats doing something about it?

Chris Lehmann

President of the French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) Jordan Bardella (R) reacts as president of the RN parliamentary group Marine Le Pen speaks to the press during their visit to the Paris International Agricultural Show on February 26, 2026.

It’s Jordan Bardella’s Party Now It’s Jordan Bardella’s Party Now

With Marine Le Pen facing a critical court ruling on July 7, leadership of the French far right is passing to her 30-year-old lieutenant.

Harrison Stetler