White women who don’t graduate from high school have seen their life expectancy decline by five years over the past 18 years. As Monica Potts explores in a fascinating long-read at The American Prospect, that’s a big effing deal.

There are lots of racial, educational, and economic disparities when it comes life expectancy in this country (this biggest gap is between the most educated white and least educated black folks), but one thing that’s held true almost across the board is that it has been on the rise–drops in life expectancy are super rare. But women like Crystal Wilson of rural Arkansas–whose life and death Potts explores in the piece–are now unlikely to live as long as the generation that came before them.

Everything about Crystal’s ...