ruthkanda forever
how can I make this about me?
Hi!
Thanks for opening this email / reading this post.
The links start coming and they don’t stop coming:
Happy Black History Month! A fascinating read on the fat black women who paved the way for others, without the reverence they deserved. Western history is inherently patriarchal and it’s not a coincidence that even the dissenters and disruptors we choose to memorialize often fit neatly into an idealized white box.
I’ve been watching a lot of tornado TikToks, so maybe that’s why this essay on surrendering to the current of life hit so hard.
The state of Georgia (a place with nearly twice the incarceration rate of the national average) is disrupting the slave labor industry by creating a new bill that would require cash bail for a slew of new offenses and also makes cash bail funds illegal. This reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses, when Jesus said to his followers, “stop being poor.”
Since the start of the new year, I’ve been served these insane graphics that are like, “The Books That Will Change Your Life,” but the books in question are almost entirely self-help garbage that teaches you how to be a shittier, more selfish person. Literary critic Maris Kreizman has also been haunted by these glorified listicles and has a sharp assessment of the trend.
Let’s play a game: is this something I said to shock people in my 20s or is it a Peter Thiel-backed business?
Tunes to start the week with:
It is the Kim Gordonnaissance! My queen has made music for the kids, they’ve found it, and they seem to really like it. It’s funny to feel the pull of the “I knew her first” urge versus the glee of something you love being shared and loved by others. And not only is she cracking open the gate to 30+ years of great music, it even appears she’s helping Gen Z cope with their mortality (sometimes old people are cool). The new track is linked below, with some other Kim tidbits for good measure, because she means so much to me!
New track: Bye Bye
Kim & J Mascis, Abstract Blues (serious shredding here)
SYR5 - a project with Kim, DJ Olive and Ikue Mori from 2000 (abstract, tense, cool)
Murdered Out - a track that would have been as big as “Bye Bye,” if TikTok existed when it came out
Baby Kim in 1983, off of Confusion is Sex, going insane on a “I Wanna Be Your Dog” cover
And finally, “Kool Thing” - a fountain of inspiration and a transformative listening experience for young Liz, it’s just so angry and righteous and loud, one of the best songs EVER
xx