september 1 etc
Happy Labour Day! I hope you are reading this while sitting somewhere comfortable enjoying the fruits of your (wait for it) labours after sleeping in. I myself am writing from bed because that seems to be what I do now (and wherefrom I do it) while jets performing at the Air Show roar overhead, traumatizing thousands of dogs.
People talk a lot about how much the world has changed but they don't talk enough about how they have changed ββ and how those personal, internal changes influence how they view all the other changes. "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are" wrote AnaΓ―s Nin.
When I was a little kid, I thought my parents knew everything, which, from time to time, morphed into a more dangerous thought: whatever my parents didn't know wasn't worth knowing. A lot of the world seems to think like that now, not only in re: their parents but also in terms of how they value and validate information. For a lot of people, apparently, not knowing something is proof positive that it isn't worth knowing, and not understanding something is proof positive that some nameless faceless elites have conspired to... something something.
We've all lost folks to these kinds of rabbit holes and though I think it's stupid, I kind of get it. The world is a big, complicated place and people who live in the world (myself included!) would prefer that it were simpler and more straightforward. Thing is, it isn't, and bad actors profit off fooling and weaponizing those people. To what end? Some kind of taupe fascism, it seems.
Over the course of my blogging hot streak (every weekday since August 11, baybee), I have really tried to not veer towards politics or the fear and frustration I feel in re: our current moment, choosing instead to nibble around the edges from time to time. Thing is, today is Labour Day, so it's probably important to remember how much of the world is built and maintained by everyday people like you and me and not the grotesque broligarchs and plutocrats who have never known (and will never know) love.
On y va!
ππ If I ran a bookstore I would do stuff like this but also change it all from time to time to keep my patrons on their toes. (Tumblr/et-in-arkadia)
π¨π¦πΊπΈ Speaking of books, parts of Canada seem to be importing bad faith book banning and pearl-clutching from our neighbours to the south, with "titles like The Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Perks of Being a Wallflower [set] to be pulled from library shelves at Edmonton public schools come fall." (CBC)
π¨π¦π Margaret Atwood had something to say about it but I'm not sure it's going to make a dent because Twitter is almost exclusively populated by bots, brands, and folks who have never met a point they couldn't miss. (Twitter/MargaretAtwood)
π€΅ββοΈπ€΅ββοΈ That said, as long as Derek Guy (the menswear guy) has an account there, I will occasionally stop by the hellsite to read things like this thread about summer menswear. (Twitter/dieworkwear)
πβ Butler University keeps a list of commonly banned books and the reasons they're banned. People over 40 will likely notice the presence of books that were considered essential when we were younger, and, like me, surmise that 1984 sitting the top of that list is ironic af considering, you know, America. (Butler.edu)
π€π€ I'm a big believer in the idea that creating and fostering community will get us through our problematic present, so I think this piece about bartering by a Lebanese-American writer who moved to Missoula, Montana, may be interesting to you. It's one of my gift links, so don't stress about the NYT paywall. (NYT)
π«π·π₯οΈ Since I've been adding songs, lately, here's a Camera Obscura classic to remind folks of a certain age of those halcyon days when you could go to a concert with three or four good bands on the bill for like $20. (Spotify)
π² gonna
πΌ go
π± touch
π³ grass
π· now
Be good to yourself.
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