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Here are links to my latest work, Daily Posts from the archives (June 9-13) in case you missed them, and articles, old and new, from around the internet. My aim is not to give you up to the minute news, but a historical understanding of our current times—too many people see everything going on as uniquely special to the current moment. You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook (I am not accepting new friends on the last platform, but you can use the “follow” option).
Hello, hello.
It has been a bad and tiring week, but also an oddly energising and clarifying one. My brain feels like it’s made out of a combination of silly putty and cotton candy, and that someone is sticking their fingers in and pulling the strands every which way. I think everyone feels just as tired and exhausted in these strange times. There is news almost every hour, it seems, and almost all of it is bad.
But not all of it, perhaps. I don’t know.
There is a chance I will take at least a fortnight off around July 4, as a summer break, and you’ll get a bumper crop of links when I return.
A lot has been happening, and I’ve been working on essays that explore single ideas or concepts concisely but fully. In all the chaos that reigns these days, the left in particular is still trying to understand what, exactly, it should stand for. In future works, I’ll expand on specific topics like abortion, with the goal of providing a blueprint of what I think an actual leftist agenda should be (hint: no compromises, free, on demand, no questions). I’m sick and tired of the constant reframing of abortion as a personal matter: it’s an economic issue and the left has failed to treat it as such. More in the coming weeks.
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NEW WORK!
I wrote “On Coal Miners, Welsh or Otherwise.”
And “Compromise or Surrender?: Leave No One Behind.”
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FROM THE ARCHIVES!
“The Masalafication of Everything“
“From Queer to Gay: The Rise and Fall of Milo”
“Jason Momoa, Aquaman, and the Queer Art of Friendship”
“The Secret History of Gay Marriage”
“On Prey And The Burden Of Indigenous Representation“
“Yasmin Nair: beyond Illegal vs. Undocumented,” a podcast.
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ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB!
Here’s a great interview with Ralph Nader, in Current Affairs. Many/all of us are alive today because of this man and the consumer protections he fought for.
USC has created a hotline to help migrants who can’t attend in-person hearings.
William Justice, on how “Being a Black Man in Medical School Takes a Toll.”
There’s long been an oft-repeated story that Trump hates wars. Mitchell Schyler writes that “The Antiwar Trump Was Always a Myth,” in Truthout.
Also in Truthout, a shocking report that prison slavery is far from over.
I don’t often link to New York magazine, but this is a deeply important piece, “Crimes of the Century How Israel, with the help of the U.S., broke not only Gaza but the foundations of humanitarian law.” Let me know if you can’t access it (it should be unpaywalled for now).
“The Battle for Immigrant Los Angeles,” by Suyapa Portillo Villeda, provides a fresh perspective on what’s going on.
Nate Bear writes about manufacturing consent on Iran.
A Michigan State University study found that removing school mask mandates contributed to 22,000 Covid deaths in just one year. Let me know if you’d like a pdf version of the L.A Times article.
Caspar David Friedrich’s 1817 painting Wanderer above the Fog is one of the most reproduced works of art: nearly every series of classic novels or works of philosophy uses it on at least one of its volumes. I used it recently to illustrate a post on Facebook, and my friend W. linked to this critical essay on the work, “Out of the Fog,” by Gianluca Didino.
Birds are doing well in Germany’s solar parks.
Here’s the Bee Gees, with “New York Mining Disaster 1941.” (“Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?”)
Stay well, dearies. Don’t let the nightmares get to you. Life sucks, a lot, and things are probably worse for others, yes, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking care of yourself. Remember: if you’re not well, you can’t help others. Cuddle a cat, or a dog, or just your blanket.
If you like this, please support my work.
You can find previous Updates here.
I will see you next week.
Image: Sylvia Gosse (1881-1968), England, Industrial skyline at night, 1909
