Staunchly, vol. 86: Why Do Nazis Love Shredded Cheese So. Much?
2/21/19
I’m baccck.
Ok, relax, it’s only been 17 days. I wish I had a good explanation for my midwinter hiatus. The truth is, I’ve just been feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, and creatively blocked. I’m struggling with discipline and with putting myself in an emotional space where I’m excited to write. I’m listening to a lot of Lorde.
I’ve also been wading through some weird friendship situations that have zapped my energy. As rich and life-sustaining as female friendship can be, it can also be messy, confounding, and uniquely painful. I’m working to protect myself and honor my value without closing myself off completely, much like an imperiled kingdom city in Game of Thrones*—an indie little character-driven show I finally started watching this week.**
Anywayss, have a big batch of Deep Reads for you tonight. Next week we’ll return to our regularly-scheduled Staunchly programming and all will be gravy. Well, at least in this little corner of the internet. Definitely not in the world.
xo
(*Not the most feminist show I’ve ever seen.)
(**Most of the people in my life who have seen the show all the way through have told me that, in terms of my approach to power, I am a Cersei, which as I am to understand it is not a compliment.)
A Huge Climate Change Movement Led By Teenage Girls Is Sweeping Europe. And It’s Coming To The US Next. by J. Lester Feder, Pascale Mueller, and Zahra Hirji (BuzzFeed)
“If you’re a victim of a system of oppression, you’re more affected by the climate crisis — that goes for women,” she said. “Nobody is going to hand us this. We have to step up and raise our voices.”
This piece destroyed me. Girls are everything.
There’s now an official Green New Deal. Here’s what’s in it. by David Roberts (Vox)
This is a great explainer on the components of a Green New Deal, especially helpful for anyone who, like me, isn’t a policy wonk (bet I had you fooled). It gets into specifics but also makes a good overreaching point about the importance of freeing our climate policy (and our lives? and our government? and our everything policy?) from the shackles of neoliberalism.
Inside The Largest And Most Controversial Shelter For Migrant Children In The U.S. by John Burnett (NPR)
Immigrant advocates fear that America’s prison-industrial complex is now expanding into federal child custody.
A look inside a for-profit detention center for migrant children in Florida. The network of child prison camps at the border should keep us all up at night but a private shelter that makes money off the backs off traumatized young immigrants and isn’t regulated by any state child care or education standards should draw out the most unrelenting outrage.
The Racists On Gab Are Sharing Obscene Advice For Cooking Pasta by Andy Campbell (HuffPost)
Honestly it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the meals prepared and socially documented by racist anti-Semites are as revolting and idiotic as their ideologies. What is kind of surprising, however, is how hilarious their #foodie content is. Slippery lubed-up pasta. Creamy cabbage steaks whiter than the snowy meringue of brow on David Duke’s underbaked skin. So. Much. Shredded. Cheese. There is some small delight to be had in the knowledge that the very worst humans among us are indeed consuming the very worst possible combinations of textures and flavors.
Why the Brazilian Far Right Loves the European Middle Ages by Paulo Pachá (PS Mag)
The Brazilian far right, through its indigenous and African erasure, obsession with Portuguese imperialism, and idealization of all medieval history and bloodshed in the name of Judeo-Christian “values,” is attempting to fuse itself to some very fake, whitewashed idea of a unified euro heritage. Again, very fake. Very bad. This piece is a good read and a good reminder, as Pachá writes, that the whole “idea of Western civilization is a recent political construct designed to legitimate specific political and historical processes, imperialism and colonialism among them.”
Speaking of the Middle Ages..........
(Hard Pivot)
Medieval Nun Faked Her Own Death to Pursue ‘Carnal Lust’ by Opheli Garcia Lawler (The Cut)
Nuns be horny!
Seduced by indecency, she involved herself irreverently and perverted her path of life arrogantly to the way of carnal lust and away from poverty and obedience.
Goals.
Lightning round! Here are some other pieces I’ve read and enjoyed and learned from over the past few weeks:
- How a Trans Soldier Took On the Jail That Denied Her Medication, and Won by John Leland (NY Times)
- Straight People: If Jussie Smollett Lied We Don't Owe You an Apology by Amanda Kerri (The Advocate)
Critical.
For every victim of a hate crime you hear about, there’s no doubt in my mind that there are four more you don’t.
- Why Senator Bernie Sanders Lost My Support by Isabella Gomez Sarmiento (Teen Vogue)
- Ryan Adams Dangled Success. Women Say They Paid a Price. by Joe Coscarelli and Melena Ryzik (NY Times)
But for Ava, the idea that she would be objectified or have to sleep with people to get ahead ‘just totally put me off to the whole idea’ of being a musician, she said. She never played another gig.
- Meg Ryan on Romantic Comedies, Celebrity and Leaving It All Behind by David Marchese (NY Times)
- Sex Scenes Didn’t Kill Meg Ryan’s Career. Being a Woman in Hollywood Did. by Christina Cauterucci (Slate)
- Lee Radziwill and the Cinderella Trap by Rhonda Garelick (The Cut)
…press coverage of Lee Radziwill’s death starkly illuminates a far larger problem: our tendency to view womanhood as a zero-sum game.
- Heavy Metal Confronts Its Nazi Problem by Colin Moynihan (New Yorker)
- Hiding Homosexuality on the Cover of America’s Magazines a Century Ago (Messy Nessy Chic)
- What Went Wrong at New York City Ballet by Joan Acocella (New Yorker)
Answer: Men. Men is what went wrong.
[ The Chase Finlay quotes in this piece reminded me that two things in the world are indestructible:
1. Cockroaches
2. The nauseating braggadocio of trash men who have never made a woman orgasm. ]
Ok have a great weekend!