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In this week’s newsletter, I’m adding a component inspired from Harper’s Magazine’s monthly Index. It’s one of my favorite literary snacks in my media diet. First published in 1984, editor Roger Hodge described the single page read, “a statistical poem.” A list of meticulously researched stats and figures - sometimes linked thematically to one another, sometimes standing on their own - the Index features forty factoids a month ranging from the variously amusing, eye-opening, and outrageous. Take, for instance, the leading entry on the inaugural Index: Total hours of television watched in American households in 1983: 213,000,000,000.
The Index was the brainchild of former editor Lewis Lapham who observed that many newspaper articles are built around a number. In this approach, the worthiness of the story isn’t the headline, but the facts—something that we are seemingly seeing less and less of in today’s newsfeeds. The Indigenously Index will aim to maintain the spirit of the Harper’s Index, inviting intriguing data linked to current tribal affairs that over time will reveal a hodgepodge of trivia as the collection grows, such as: Number of Sovereignty Hobbyists behind Oklahoma’s McGirt negotiations: TBD (for context, see this week’s Quote, below)
While forty stats and figures a week may be a tall order for Indigenoulsy to deliver, starting with fifteen seems about right. Have fun.
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