#7: The one that was like a week late

Actual Updates

Time is just continuing to occur, isn’t it! Apparently it’s July now! Who asked for this??

So, ok. A month has passed. Protests are still occurring, albeit without the attendant surge of COVID cases people expected, because - shocker!! - when people wear masks and do their bests not to come in close contact, they’re less likely to catch it. But what has been accomplished? On the one hand, a lot; some police departments are being defunded (not ours, though! City council just approved a budget with a paltry 2.5% reduction in police budget, rather than the 10% some councillors were asking for), some police departments are being removed from schools, a vanishingly small number of police departments are being disbanded entirely, and all of the police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd were fired, arrested, and charged… eventually. But on the other hand, this is a lot of “some”s and “eventually”s, and one of the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor in her bed was fired but not arrested or charged, and the other two are still copping merrily away like nothing has happened. And this doesn’t even begin to touch on other cases, where nothing has been done at all. And look. I’m all for tearing down statues of old dead racists who trafficked in human beings. I think taking racist caricatures off food packaging is a great idea. Can’t rename streets and buildings that were named for Confederate generals fast enough. But those are surface level improvements that don’t address why it was “fine” to name the buildings, put up the statues, and use the caricatures in the first place, and without doing more, it will just all happen again.

So how do we work towards making real change that makes a difference, not aesthetic change? Voting is one way - and you can believe I know exactly which city councillors here in Boston voted for or against the city budget as it stands; I’ve written it down and magneted the list to my fridge so I’ll remember when it’s city election time! - but voting is increasingly inaccessible to many people, so we can’t just say “go vote!!!” and call it a day. In my specific wheelhouse, some of my best avenues to create change are to have arguments and to raise my little white kid to have a diverse set of cultural inputs (books and other media with Black protagonists, toys that don’t just look like him, etc, although currently most of his toys don’t look like him as he is not a truck). I’m a mouthy bitch who gets satisfaction out of well-deployed words, which helps with the first, and I don’t know that I’m any good at parenting but it is a job that I have, so it’s my responsibility to do the second. What can these 2 things do? I can try to change minds, and I can try to ensure that my kid won’t stand for racist behavior and will use the privilege he has as a white boy to stick up for other kids if they’re being treated unjustly. And, hopefully, I won’t saddle him with too much bullshit that he’ll have to unlearn, laboriously, as an adult. Also, of course, since I have some disposable income, I can donate to helpful nonprofits and I can use my purchasing power to support Black-owned businesses and products (and books! There are so many books I want to buy! As soon as business settles down for Frugal Books and they’re in a position to take new orders, I’m going to go on an internet shopping spree). So that’s what I’m best-suited for. But I love seeing everyone playing to their strengths: friends who are immersed in the beauty world promoting Black-owned beauty companies, friends who work in wine or brewing elevating Black voices in those fields, designers making printable protest signs… it’s lots of individuals making concerted person-sized efforts that will create societal change, because society is made up of individuals.

Air guitar friends have also gotten the chance to help in a way specific to our weird little subculture. This article recently made the rounds, and it’s about how Sean Worsley, who is Black, was driving through Alabama and stopped to get gas, and was air guitaring to some tunes while he did so, and a cop saw him and didn’t like the volume of his music. This set off a whole hideous chain reaction that ended with him imprisoned and his wife struggling financially with precarious housing (in a pandemic!!), medical bills, and 2 kids. We’ve been trying to help her out; they’re part of the air guitar family (even if they didn’t know it at the time), and if you’d like to send a few bucks her way as well, her Cashapp tag is $EboniWorsley.

I haven’t got other news; we’re still staying home, although not everyone is; Massachusetts is in the middle of a gradual reopening, and some people have taken that as license to go koo koo bananapants and have full-on parties, cozy up with their friends, and get on the internet to say things like “first post-quarantine ___!” as if it’s over. It’s not over! We’re down to new-case-per-day numbers in the 100 range! That’s still 100+ new people per day getting diagnosed! Put your mask back on!

Some Links

Hahaha, I have not at all kept up with links to share this month. July really crept up on me, what can I tell you; you may have noticed (although you probably didn’t) that I didn’t do a discussion post this past month, and that is because it was several days later than when I usually send it that it occurred to me. So here is a quickly thrown-together and quarter-to-half-assed link list that I have probably shared several of in other venues already. Also, a note, these are going to lean towards the frivolous or nerdy, as in months past - at this point, if you’re not already reading up or read up on stuff relating to the Black Lives Matter protests and systemic racism in this country, I have to assume you weren’t just waiting for me to share it (uh, but if you were, please do let me know, I have lots).

You know I read Go Fug Yourself religiously (and may in fact find some of the links I share in their own link roundup posts, shhh), but for once I am sharing an actual post that they did. Look at these old Cosmopolitans! Some of these articles have me shrieking with rage, some… just shrieking. These Old Cosmopolitan Issues are REALLY… Something

This was in my notes with no link as just “the bird thing (twitter)” which was EXTREMELY HELPFUL, PAST ME, thank you!!! Anyway, I found it, through the exercise of my Sherlock-Holmesian investigative powers of scrolling back through my Twitter likes. Canadian Sparrows Ditch Their Old Song for Catchier Tune

Here’s a pair of articles dealing with the same bullshittery as each other, where Black people have been required to be sufficiently grateful for the opportunity to have their jobs, with extremely shitty consequences if they did not. These are two people who wrote pieces about it; you can imagine how many people are out there with similar experiences who did not! Also, did you know your employer could have you committed?! How to Know You’re Not Insane (And How a Cards Against Humanity Staff Writer Was Fired) and On Performing Gratitude

Here’s a thread of sexy statues all over the world (from the inimitable Whores of Yore Twitter account).

This seems fine!!! Titan is Drifting Away from Saturn 100 Times Faster Than We Thought

Some tunes I’ve been listening to lately

So on the day that would have been our neighborhood’s Porchfest, Matt and I might do a little Facebook live and play a few songs. This is one of them, and I’m going to do a significantly less good job of it than the original! Also he hasn’t figured out the bridge yet so we just skip it when we practice, which doesn’t make me nervous at all! I love playing shows!! (I actually kind of do love playing shows but they destroy my sanity)

This is a song I recently got back into after being moderately obsessed with it a few years ago. This band is good, and another of their songs has a Lizzie MacGuire reference in it, so what I’m saying is you should listen to more Upset.

Give me a medal for parenting because I recently served my kid chicken nuggets while singing “Good nugs” to the tune of this song. Also the legendary McNallica did an air guitar routine to an edit of it several years ago and it’s still one of the ones I send out to show people what the sport is all about.

This Month’s Top 5: Reasons This Newsletter Is So Late

1. I didn’t realize it was already the end of June and I hadn’t written anything, not even notes

2. Then the first few days of July passed extremely quickly because… holidays? Who knows.

3. Turns out I can’t get any work done even when I have a day off from WORK work, because I am doing my other job (parenthood)

4. Also time isn’t real

5. What month is it even right now? Oh, is it? Prove it - you can’t!

So… how are you doing?