a day for presidents
because they didn't get enough attention when they were running the country
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Sifting through the discourse for these gems:
Just in time for Black History Month, Rachel Dolezal loses her teaching job for having an OnlyFans.
The Cut had three viral personal essays last week, one about a rich lady getting scammed out of $50k, one about a rich lady contemplating divorce, and another about a rich lady trying to buy her way out of hating her partner. Champagne problems are always going to get people riled up (thank God), especially in our violent, unjust world. However, my take away doesn’t have much to do with the navel-gazing, Slate-of-the-early-aughts neoliberalism that outraged most readers, but rather, that these are some of the more powerful people in journalism saying some pretty tone-deaf, useless shit. I’ve recently felt kind of turned off by the insular, post-Gawker writing fraternity that dominates the internet and publishing houses. And while it’s easy to shout from the rooftop that boomers pulled the ladder up behind themselves, it certainly can be said for our Buzzfeed-bred intellectuals as well, as they jump from masthead to masthead with the same exact crew of people as before, hoping for a different outcome. Wouldn’t it be neat if creatives were just a little more…creative?
If only the first rich lady had converted her cash to Chili Bucks, she’d still have her $50k (in bottomless chips and salsa).
I somehow missed this last month, but I present to you: the worst Vows in the history of the United States.
And if covering that wedding wasn’t punishment enough, here’s the NYTimes being absolutely read to filth by a Harvard student who asks, “why are you so obsessed with me?”
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D, age 78) and Marsha Blackburn (R, age 71) have a new bill that they believe will make the internet safe for children. And by “safe” they mean, a state’s Attorney General can ban information on things like climate change, gun violence or sexual health, and more easily monitor adults’ presence online as well. Coming from a country that doesn’t care if kids are shot in the head or starve to death, I feel the tiniest bit skeptical.
Tunes to start the week with:
Pretty sure I’ve shared this before, but I love this playlist of tracks from the Black Power movement (think Gil Scott-Heron and Alice Coltrane). As someone who’s into modern noise and dance music, I find it to be so fun to listen to things and have the below reaction the entire time, recognizing different samples and inspiration used today.
As for new stuff, Brittany Howard has an excellent new album that’s earthy, jazzy, lovely, and Little Simz dropped a banger.
xx