What I Wrote or Was Mentioned In
March 13: I wrote “If I Cannot Snark at Your Revolution.”
March 14: I finally watched Mr. Holmes and wrote this, Mr. Holmes and the Case of the Aging Sleuth.
March 16: I miss magazines, and wrote about that in “All those Mad, Mag Feels.”
March 18: I went to see Hail, Caesar! and felt compelled to write about my fan feelings for the Coens, in “Hail, The Coens!”
March 17: In “Room: From Novel to Film,” I discuss the film Room in relation to the real-life story on which it was based.
March 17: I know everyone’s waiting for the Suey Park piece, here are some “Excerpts from ‘Suey Park and the Afterlife of Twitter.’”
My piece on Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, “Elizabeth Gilbert and the Pinterest Fantasy Life,” is now out in the first issue of Current Affairs magazine (not yet online). Copies are available everywhere, including Barnes and Noble. It’s spectacular in design and content, and worth checking out
I was honoured to be among those interviewed for Noah Berlatsky’s profile of my friend and colleague, the exemplary prison abolitionist and activist Mariame Kaba, who is leaving to return to New York.
I was generously quoted in this piece about the DREAM Act, by Gabriel Arkles and Pooja Gehi,
“Dreaming, Telling, Occupying, and Destroying: Interest Convergence between Militarism and Social Justice in the DREAM Act and the Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” It appears in Scholar and Feminist Online, in the “Navigating Neoliberalism in the Academy, Nonprofits, and Beyond” issue.
What I’m Reading/Watching
Anita Alvarez is gone, and the team behind #ByeAnita talk about why they’re not endorsing Kim Foxx.
A group of University of Illinois at Chicago professors wrote about “Setting the Record Straight: Five Misconceptions about the Trump Rally in Chicago.”
And contrary to what some Berniebots were saying, that Sanders supports brought it about, this explains who really worked on the cancellation of the Trump, “How black, Latino and Muslim college students organized to stop Trump’s rally in Chicago.”
Steven Salaita writes about “The Native American Model of Palestine’s Future” in Electronic Intifada.
Amy Bradley has a long-form piece on blacklisted director Mary Virginia Farmer in The Awl.
The comb jellyfish poops through its anus and not its mouth, and “Why Watching Comb Jellyfish Poop Has Stunned Evolutionary Scientists” explains why this is actually really, really important to know.
Literary critic Geoffrey Hartman is dead.
Steve Rhodes writes about how “Michael Ferro Is Killing Chicago Journalism.”
Michael Miner writes about the turmoil at Chicago magazine.
US government sets record for refusing to find files.
Jared Fogle, the Subway spokesman in prison for pedophilia, has been brutalised, and there was, sadly, celebration everywhere. This satirical StarWipe captures the problems with all that.
Richard Brouillette writes about “Why Therapists Should Talk Politics.”
Illinois cuts funding for its universities.
Comb Jellies don’t poop through their mouths, and this is bigger news than you think.
Tulsi Gabbard is in this commercial endorsing Bernie Sanders, and it’s time to remind people of her record, as explained in this Alternet piece. There’s also this Quartz piece.
Hyderabad Central University in the midst of protests, and 15 people were arrested for supporting their fellow students.
This provides a chronology of events.
This is an ongoing series of posts about the situation.
The University is referred to as a war zone, in this article.
My friend and colleague, the queer filmmaker Moses Tulasi was among those arrested a few days earlier. Trikone Chicago has a statement of support; it is so far only on Facebook.
Eric Stanley wrote this, “The Foundational Violence Underlying North Carolina’s Attack on Trans Women,” for Truthout.
The Jian Ghomeshi trial has ended in a not-guilty verdict.
The Hulk Hogan trial ended in a colossal amount of damages for the plaintiff.
The trial is discussed by a defendant, Nick Denton, owner of Gawker.
I watched A Serious Man again and this is my favourite scene.
Garry Shandling has died.
Helaine Olen writes about the costs of divorce.
T. J. Tallie writes about the problems with describing gay rights issues with the rhetoric of Jim Crow.
Patrick Barrett asks, “Can We Change the Political System? Strategic Lessons of the Bernie Sanders Campaign” in Truthout (I’ve got it bookmarked for later reading).
Astra Taylor has written a piece, “Against Activism.”
There are 21 German words that we need in English.
Dominic Frisby writes about why we should fear living in a cashless economy.
There are entire, uninhabited Chinese cities.
Chile lifts some restrictions on abortion.
Seaworld ends live breeding of Orca Whales.
This article discusses the possibility of paying academics for peer review.
From the Archives
I wrote “On the Scent of Cum, Steam, and Gentrification,” a few years ago (I just realised I never dated it).
I wrote “On Malayalam and Melancholia” in February, 2014.
Here’s my piece, “Is Your Reading Ethically Sourced?” In May 2014.
I wrote about the necessity of porn, in “When XXX Doesn’t Mark the Spot,” in December, 2013.
Here’s my 2007 review of Christopher Lane’s book, Shyness: How Normal Behaviour Became a Sickness.