I’m thinking about
I finally cracked open the December 2020 Vanity Fair issue with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the cover. I had seen the pictures online the day it dropped but had to close the tabs when the discourse started. I hate when the discourse is lazy.
The person above thinks they’re making a point about socialist hypocrisy but actually, they’re just parroting ugly capitalist dogma. Namely that poor people don’t deserve nice things because, you see, being poor is a personal failing, and deprivation is the way to atone for that failing.
I noticed people pointing out in the replies that photo shoots are fantasies and that socialists should get to enjoy fantasies sometimes too. I cannot disagree with that but I found that counter also lacking because there is merit in interrogating a powerful person’s fashion shoot. I don’t want my reflexive response to be “well actually, the clothes are borrowed!”
I have been invigorated and deeply moved by Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez more than once. Her colleagues do not deserve her. I want her to achieve everything she sets out to do. I think she looks amazing in the VF spread particularly in the Grace Wales Bonner polka dot number but what I really wish we were discussing is how to think and talk critically about a politician on a magazine cover. This is top of mind because I am still making my way through Michelle Obama’s husband’s memoir and being confronted anew with the disappointments of that presidency: drones, Syria, Keystone XL pipeline, not closing Guantanamo, compromising on healthcare, failing immigration reform, leaving DREAMERS hanging, lecturing black folks on race, the yearly spectacle of the thanksgiving turkey pardons while being stingy with pardons of actual human beings and not doing more to reform criminal justice, THE TAN SUIT! Take your pick.
It’s normal to be disappointed by politicians, even ones we like.
It’s also a good thing to take a look in the mirror and examine how much we enable the cult of celebrity in our politics. I would love to live in a world where we stop trying to make politicians celebrities and stop trying to make celebrities politicians. No crossovers. That would be great but it’s too late.
There is a celebrity culture in our political process and that means that we have celebrity politicians. Idolizing celebrities is almost always a huge letdown. Writing or talking about politicians in frivolous ways— as often happens in fashion magazines par example this or a fancy photo shoot, contributes to them being treated as celebrities, held up by meaningless aesthetic gestures.
I’ve found that the way to stay vigilant and to lessen my own disappointment is to not put the politicians I like on pedestals or refuse to think critically about the ways they use the publicity machine. It definitely makes it a little easier to hold them and myself accountable.
I’m reading
Speaking of AOC, she is also very beautiful and it really bums me out that we as a society are not equipped to speak about her attractiveness and how it affects how she is perceived. We also routinely fail to understand beauty as an institution worth examining. This criticism applies both to sexist scumbags and to those people who gnash their teeth when we analyze the looks and fashion choices of women in public life. Tressie McMillan Cottom, patron saint of abolishing lazy thinking has written a smart thing about this.
“She was their Beyoncé.” African moms love Princess Diana!
Meanwhile, African aunties are my own Beyoncés
“Morons are generally not thinking about the infinitude of the universe.” One of the greatest musicians of all time is also unsurprisingly a very perceptive human
ATTN socialist-minded millennial heirs who are trying to live their values by getting rid of their money: Let me assist you in eliminating your trust fund. Résumé available for serious prospective clients.
“During the summer of 2020, I spent countless hours helping irate customers cancel their orders of popular anti-racism books.” on selling books to white “allies.”
"The virus has created its own clock..." Once/day I panic because I feel like I’m in that movie Arrival and time makes zero sense.
I’m listening
I don’t watch award shows because it’s basically like going to someone else’s holiday party. Sounds fun maybe if it was my job or I were a +1 on a hot date and there was delicious food and an open bar and a good DJ but why would I watch that shit from home?! I guess it makes sense if you’re trying to work there or figure out how to get your own employee award title but honestly it all seems very tedious to me. Love to hear the party reports the next day but I do not need to be at the party. That said, I am thrilled for my girl Dua Lipa and her Grammy nominations sweep. Future Nostalgia was the first major album release in the quarantine era. This relentless upbeat dance record might have seemed tonally discordant with the times back in April but it was obviously what we needed. Long live Dula Peep!
I’m watching
My earliest sports memory is watching the Italia ‘90 world cup. I have a vivid memory of Pavarotti belting out Nessun Dorma and Roger Milla shaking his hips. It was an exciting world cup in my house because for the first time, a team from sub-Saharan Africa, Cameroon had advanced past the group stage, and, for the first time, an African team had reached the last eight.
It was also the first time I heard about “the hand of god,” Diego Maradona’s goal in which he punched the ball into England’s net during the Mexico ‘86 quarterfinals. The Argentinian Maradona cheekily referred to this illegal handball as “la mano de dios.” This is a big deal because using your hands to score in football is cheating. Thirty four years later, it’s fair to say that the English press is still very vexed by it all. The war over the Falkland Islands (las Islas Malvinas) between Argentina and the U.K. just four years before that fateful match supplied a very specific revenge fantasy dimension to the whole thing.
People have strong feelings about Maradona but his place in football history is undeniable. I was sad to hear he had died this week. He was an outrageously talented footballer, but also a flawed individual, and Asif Kapadia's wonderful 2019 film, Diego Maradona perfectly captures both the light and the darkness of his personality. Even if you don’t like “sports,” this is a worthwhile documentary. “Sports” is sometimes a useful lens to understand power and to understand the world.
Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime and probably any other streamer you use.
Hang in there
There is no chance that we will fall apart
There is no chance
There are no parts
Poem Number Two on Bell’s Theorem, or The New Physicality of Long Distance Love by June Jordan
See you Wednesday. Until then, let’s try our best not to fall apart.
what do you MEAN the tan suit was a disappointment to you.... my only disappointment was that he didn’t wear it again 😔😔
also future nostalgia is amazing, one of my favorite albums of the year. i used to be one of those people who felt embarrassed to admit they liked pop music and tried to force myself to listen to only the acclaimed alternative experimental and now i laugh!! levitating remix by thebaby is also an highlight.
i find it so hard to talk about soccer and major football players who are v talented but also suck somewhat. coming from a society where soccer is like a religion and cristiano ronaldo the pope, it’s hard to reconcile being someone whose best day in my life was seeing my country win the europe cup with him playing but also his very flawed actions and character. if there was a degree on “how to talk about flawed and problematic people who also happen to be geniuses in their area of expertise and have shaped our whole society” i would be the first in line to take it!