117. The Week in Me

Another post of links while I catch up. I love you all, thank you all for being here with me. I think the above podcast episode with Sarah Rice (of MTV’s The Challenge) is the best work I have ever done on a podcast. I listened to this with actual pride in myself for once. I really like having these conversations about film and culture with new people who become friends, and if you have a podcast I’d love to guest on yours.

lmao

To read:

My friend Rob Sheffield’s new book, Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music. I always call Rob the nicest man in music. You will never find a more positive voice dissecting lyrics, sounds, and stories. This man has yelled "Getaway Car" in my face at karaoke. He is such a champion for women in music. He is the best. So are his books. And, to my total awe, I opened the book to find that Rob had thanked me in the acknowledgments. What a mensch.

Simone-approved.

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“Not everything needs to be replaced. The point of getting rid of something is not just to immediately fill its space with a new object. Sometimes what I want more than the object itself is emptiness. There is something fresh and sweet about the air that fills the spot where it used to be.

True of things, true of relationships, true of habits, true of ways of being in the world. Something seems immovable, a statue heavy in its permanence - and then! And then. It’s gone before you knew it was anyone’s to demolish. Somebody decided it was time. Maybe you decided it was time. Maybe he left. Maybe she said what you couldn’t. Maybe they concluded now was the moment. Either way, it was in your life and now it’s gone. Sweep up the rubble as best you can. You may cough up the dust for years, here and there, less so than you will at first.” -

Sara Benincasa

One Thing I Know For Sure, Maybe.

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“I wonder
                  where you are,
father, if anywhere

at all—
                  Does sleep
know you? Does day?” - “Hum,” by Kevin Young

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You MUST READ THIS

Wonkette

PIECE BY

Doktor Zoom

ON HARRIET TUBMAN. I didn’t know any of this about her and I can not stop thinking about her power.

Nice Abolitionist Helper Lady From Your 'Racism Is Over' 3rd Grade Textbook F*cked Plantations' Sh*t Up For Union Army

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My pals

Eden

and

Susannah

went to see Super Mario Bros.:

Trust the Fungus

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”Opening Theory,” a piece by Sally Rooney that is “drawn from” her newest work, Intermezzo. And an interview betwixt Rooney and Cressida Leyshon about the story.

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I want to interview

Michael Moore

so badly:

What Good Is an Election Rigger If They Can't Rig the Rigging?

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X Sues to Block California Election Deepfake Law ‘In Conflict’ With First Amendment

The lawsuit claims AB 2655 “will inevitably result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech”

Elon Musk is such a colossal hemorrhoid of a man. A Batman villain become sentient.

To watch:

Our potential and likely next Secretary of Defense, FOX News host Pete Hegseth, who was accused of sexual assault in 2017! Do you think Trump has just made that a requirement for the Cabinet?

This is literally just Simone:

howironicq

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This is literally just Lugosi when Mommy does lint roll (which is when I literally just lint roll him):

pig_lovers_of_insta

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Actually my babies:

Lugosi enters the bathroom every time I pee and makes me hold his little feetie. These are, for the record, the only two people who no not activate my footphobia.

Various and sundry:

lebanesee_societyy

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The most special person we have.

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This is my friend Gouda Bekele.

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@adrienneogOn the outside always looking in on god fr!!!!!! #evanhansen #wavingthroughawindowooooohhhhhhhh #halloween

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I recently met Kylie (small) and Shadow (the larger baby), who are the besties of my sweet friend Beth.

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I WHEEZED laughing. He hates that damn rock.

@chickenshopdateI shouldn’t have asked about Rocco… #elmo #chickenshopdate out now

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I wish this life for you.

healthycleanleanlife

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Love you bitches,

TG