> 188: safe through the generous fields
For the Americans among us: my organizer programming means I physically can’t stop myself from reminding you that voter registration deadlines are coming up, including a few on Monday. My bold opinion: American fascism is worth avoiding. TYSM!
Here's some art, internet, and ideas for you:
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Fresh Air, on sitting on a beach in Dakar where tourists frolicked in the same place slave ships once launched: “It felt like I was at a funeral, and everyone else was at a wedding.” His unwavering, clear-sighted description of apartheid in Palestine is like finding a cask of water in a media landscape parched of morality.
I am really enjoying Sally Rooney’s newest novel, Intermezzo, about two brothers in Dublin. It is so poetic and lyrical and pleasant. Everyone is handsome and someone is always taking a clear damp glass down from a shelf. Here’s a good recent interview with her.
A history of fashion on the internet.
Have you heard of wind phones? It turns out there is a This American Life about them, of course. (Via Val Monroe)
Look at a Hiroshige print for 10 full minutes, countdown timer included.
“We have learned that there is an audience that is happy to pay for fearless journalism and fun blogs that are written by real human journalists who prioritize the interests of their readers, not search algorithms and AI bots. And we have learned that a small team can hold companies that are worth trillions of dollars to account if the investigations are good enough.” 404 Media on their first year.
Movie recommendation: “Rebel Ridge.” It’s about race, policing, civil asset forfeiture, addiction, systems that try to crush good people, and people who refuse either to be crushed or to turn into the worst version of themselves. Once you’ve watched, here’s a good piece on the director explaining the ending.
Jason Schwartzman’s "Things I can’t live without” column for the Strategist is an instant classic. He is a Wes Anderson character in real life, too.
in the dream of foxes
there is a field
and a procession of women
clean as good children
no hollow in the world
surrounded by dogs
no fur clumped bloody
on the ground
only a lovely time
of honest women stepping
without fear or guilt or shame
safe through the generous fields.
— Lucille Clifton, “A Dream of Foxes”
Bye,
Laura
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