Emma Stone won, but Lily Gladstone didn't lose

The Academy Awards were full of sure-things, long-awaited anointments and easy predictions. That puts even more focus on the category that was hardest to call: best actress. Emma Stone's win over Lily Gladstone was a difficult to define result. It wasn't exactly an upset. Stone’s performance, equally favored, was too good to call it that. And it still stung, particularly for Native Americans watching across the country. Gladstone would have been the first Native American to win an Oscar. But one thing you couldn’t call it, was a loss for Gladstone. Throughout awards season, Gladstone flawlessly carried the hopes and dreams of a people with a rare grace.