Mornin’, y’all,

Make sure you find a clear view of the sky tomorrow night, because six planets will be visible, four of them with the naked eye! It’s what’s known as a planetary parade, where planets appear to line up in the sky at the same time. You’ll be able to look up and see Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. With a telescope or binoculars, Uranus and Neptune can be spotted, too. 

Here’s what to do:

Find a spot away from buildings and trees and look up at the western sky. (Your phone’s compass feature can tell you which way is west. 😉) Mercury, Venus, and Saturn should be sitting near the horizon, and Jupiter will be a little farther up.

How do I know if it’s a star or a planet? 
Stars twinkle, but planets don’t.

I want to see this, but I’m busy tomorrow night.
You should still be able to see some in the following nights, although their positions might change.

Happy planet-gazing!

P.S. Don’t forget to vote today or make a plan for Election Day on Tuesday. Let’s break the record for voter participation in the primaries! 🇺🇸

(Shutterstock)

By Angel Carroll

This year marks 100 years of formally celebrating Black history in the US—a century of honoring our ancestors and naming our contributions across science, education, culture, politics and more. And yet the disconnect between celebration and reality remains: even as we uplift Black history, Black political power is still treated as optional, conditional, or inconvenient.

Like many who came before me, I beat the odds. I was first arrested at 10 and moved through foster care and detention facilities across Texas. I wasn’t convicted of any crimes, but the system had nowhere else to put me. I had to petition the courts just to remain stable long enough to finish high school.

Today, I am part of the 4% of former foster youth who earn a bachelor’s degree, and on track to join the less than 1% who obtain a master’s degree. That makes me an outlier, but that’s not an achievement I celebrate, nor am proud of it. My story isn’t one about resilience. It’s a story about broken systems deciding who makes it and who doesn’t. That reality is why I push against systems that were built to harm people like me.

🍣 Sushi in the “middle of nowhere”: Regulars say the Bristol General Store, right outside Ennis, is the best place to get sushi in North Texas. The former owners, a couple from South Korea, originally wanted to open a restaurant in Collin County but couldn’t afford it, so they pivoted. (WFAA) Should I go try the sushi for one of my future Don’t Sleep On features?

📵 Phone ban = book boom: It’s been six months since a state law banned cellphones in classrooms. Since then, a Dallas high school says students have been checking out books at a rate triple that before the ban. Hear from students here. (NBC 5)

👑 A culinary great: Meet the late Fort Worth woman who was an early player in the culinary industry, training hundreds of chefs between North Texas and her alma mater, Prairie View A&M, and she’s remembered in the Evans Plaza Hall of Fame. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Joi Louviere with reporting by Angel Carroll. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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