What month is it?

April? August? Christmas?

Aug 24, 2020

Good morning everyone. It’s another week in hell. Literally — coming from two people in California and Colorado, where there are insane forest fires right now. Our thoughts are with everyone affected, particularly the firefighters (including inmate firefighters) and agricultural workers in California.

FILM

Boys State - Apple TV+

This documentary by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year. The filmmakers documented Texas’ 2018 “Boys State,” which is an event held in every state (except Hawaii) where a group of over 1,000 17 year-old boys attempt to create a state government with one boy ending up being elected governor. Alumni include Bill Clinton, Cory Booker, Neil Armstrong, and Beau Biden, among others. There’s not much I can say without ruining the film, but this is an A+ recommend from me. The film is very divisive, and many critics found it incredibly cynical. I do not disagree.

-JW

Snowpiercer - Netflix

If you’re part of the BongHive you’ve probably already watched this, but if you haven’t… buckle up. The movie is set in 2031, 17 years after a global attempt to stop global warming by launching “C7” into the atmosphere catastrophically backfires and creates a new ice age. The only survivors are people who live on this constantly moving train called the Snowpiercer, which circles the globe and is built to withstand the cold temperatures. By 2031, the passengers on the train have become segregated, with the elite in the front compartments and the poor in back controlled by armed guards (if you liked Parasite’s commentary on classism and capitalism, you’ll like this). It’s provocative, action / violence-packed, and also has a bunch of big twists. It also stars Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton (who always plays creepy bad guys, does she not?), Ed Harris (from Westworld), Kang-Ho Song (from Parasite), Octavia Spencer, and weirdly Alison Pill aka Beth from Little Women. Some very mixed feelings about the ending, but this movie will keep you engaged and make you think!

-LR

BOOKS

Attention: A Love Story by Casey Schwartz

A non-fiction hybrid memoir / piece of journalism, Attention goes through what it means to pay attention and examines literature on the topic. Schwartz herself was addicted to Adderall, and that’s her way into the story. I did like this book, although most, if not all of the people she spoke about were men. She covers a lot of topics like big tech and psychedelics, but the biggest message I took from this was turn off your phone during the workday.

-JW

PODCASTS

Call Her Daddy - Miley Cyrus

Honestly we only got through 13 minutes of this while driving up to the mountains and it was only okay, but I plan on listening to the rest at some point because I’m still drawn to the celeb appeal of Miley Cyrus, even though I think Alex is kind of an annoying host.

Thirst Aid Kid - Jake Johnston

If you’re one of the many people who have re-watched New Girl during quarantine and subsequently re-fallen in love with Nick Miller, then you will be very happy this exists. I haven’t actually listened to it yet but plan to because, Nick Miller. Also Jake Johnston has a new animated show out on Netflix called Hoops?? Sign me up.

-LR

ARTICLES WE’RE READING

Listen to the Three Trans Survivors of a Hollywood Hate Crime - The Advocate

Videos Show 3 Trans Women Being Brutally Attacked And Mocked In Hollywood - Elle

TW/CW: Transphobia, violence against trans women

Both articles cover the horrific and hateful attack on three trans women of color that happened this past week in LA. The videos (recorded by the attackers and posted to social media) are incredibly hard to watch. Fortunately, because these three women have large social media platforms and bravely shared their story, they were able to raise public awareness about their attack and are currently working with the LAPD to find and charge their attackers. (For those reading who may have bristled at that part - I recognize that this is in tension with police/prison abolition and restorative justice and am personally still learning and trying to figure out how I feel about punishment, so if you’re unsure how you feel, you’re not alone.) But I do hope that these women are able to heal and that the people involved are held responsible for their actions. There are so many more instances of transphobia and violence against trans women, particularly trans women of color, that we don’t see. Here are few stats that are important to know, via the 19th:

The back-to-back slayings of black trans women have highlighted what the American Medical Association called an “epidemic” last year: the killing of trans women of color.
In 2019, advocates tracked at least 27 deaths of transgender or gender non-conforming people in the U.S. due to fatal violence, the majority of whom were Black transgender women. We say “at least” because too often these stories go unreported — or misreported.
The Human Rights Campaign reported that in 2019, black women represented 91 percent of murdered trans people.
In 2020, at least 26 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been violently killed, according to the HRC. Many of them were people of color.

Whatever your activism looks like, here are two resources I’d like to elevate:

This Instagram post listing funds and creative ecosystems that support Black folks, centering Black queer, trans, and nonbinary folks, and Black women.
The Next Generation Project, a community dedicated to distributing self care and mental health resources to Black and brown trans folks. You can order one of their fab t-shirts here. Mine finally came - I got the purple one in a Medium and I absolutely love it.

Housing will test white support for Black lives - Boston Globe

A look at the gap between white liberal’s support for Black lives and the willingness to allow affordable housing in predominantly wealthy white neighborhoods. One quote that stood out to me:

“Another reason housing reform has failed to gain momentum is that white residents want the physical characteristics of their neighborhoods to remain the same. Many of them worry that new developments will ruin the qualities that attracted them to low-density areas in the first place: the wide open spaces, the greenery, the direct sunlight, the easy parking. It’s easy to understand why homeowners would want to hold onto these benefits, but the problem is that they are almost always maintained at the expense of other people who don’t have the privilege of choosing where and how they live. As Brookline Select Board Member Raul Fernandez put it, “All of those creature comforts are more important to [homeowners] than someone else’s ability to be able to afford to live in whatever condition that is.”

Work Friend - The New York Times

Did you know Roxanne Gay has a work-life advice column for the NYT? Because I didn’t. Read the one I stumbled upon here.

-LR