Work I Wrote, or Was Mentioned In
September 9: I wrote this for Daily Dot: “Kim Davis Didn’t Deserve to Go to Jail.”
September 6: I published this: “Are Private Prisons Really the Problem?”
August 29, 2015: Matt Bruenig kindly mentions me in his piece: The Problems of Identity Policing and Invisible Identities for Identitarian Difference.”
On October 13, I’ll be speaking at a Platypus event, “Women: The Longest Revolution,” along with Margaret Power and Brit Schulte. Please join us if you can, and help spread the word. This link is to the Facebook page, and details are here:
Tuesday Oct 13th at 6pm
Regis Hall Multi-Purpose Room
North Shore Campus
Loyola University
What I’m Reading
Ari Friedlander wrote this, for the Washington Post, about the myths surrounding William Shakespeare. Who knew he was a grain-hoarder? Still a genius, though.
The Trauma Care Coalition and others have been been fighting for a trauma centre on the South Side of Chicago, where I live. They finally saw a significant victory, and their response is here. A news report is here.
Freddie DeBoer wrote yet another great piece, this one on “Why We Should Fear University Inc.”
R.L. Stephens wrote “Cultural Appropriation is Dead, Long Live Cultural Appropriation.” I agree with most of it, but I still can’t stand white people with locks. I may have to write about that sometime.
To my great surprise, Dan Berger’s book, The Struggle Within: Prisons, Political Prisoners, and Mass Movements in the United States is on Kindle Unlimited, so free for members. His latest book is Prison Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era. I treated myself to a KU membership because I have really long commutes now, and read a lot on the train (mostly Young Adult) but the search function is crap. And you should know that looking for “mass incarceration” or “prisons” yields an interestingly large trove of a genre titled “Stepbrother Romance.” And “Prison Romance.” I’m sympathetic to the latter, but confess to being bemused by the former.
I just asked for and am eagerly awaiting my copy of Kalindi Vora’s Life Support: Biocapital and the New History of Outsourced Labor.
I finally got my copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. Subscribers can expect a review of both books.
Scott Long wrote this deeply moving piece about his cat Oliver’s death, “Oliver: Thoughts on Love.”
The web, despite its fondness for cats, now insists that they cannot love humans. To which cat lovers say, “Piffle.” But you should read the report on the un-loving nature of cats anyway. The actual study is here.
September 11 was, well, September 11. This line from To Die For seems particularly apt:
“It’s nice to live in a country where life, liberty… and all the rest of it still stand for something.” You can hear it here it at 1:54.
From the Archives
September 7 was the one-year anniversary of the death of Mo the Surly Cat, dearly missed companion to one of my best beloved friends and comrades, Karma Chávez. Mo died of cancer and wrote this blog in his last weeks; it’s hilarious and poignant. And if you’re one of my Mo Plan subscribers: yes, that is the Mo.
My friends over at Moratoriums on Deportations Campaign (MDC) wrote this last year, “The Border Is the Problem: Resisting the “Humanitarian” Solution to Child Migration,”
about child migrants, and it seems especially relevant today.
And in case you missed it, last week’s roundup is here.
Finally, here are some Capybaras with other animals on their heads, courtesy of John Emerson.
