A Response to “When Children Say They’re Trans”
Talk About “Abortion”
It is more crucial than ever to speak about “abortion rights,” not choice. The word “choice” is meaningless and always has been a running-scared retreat from the real matter of bodily sovereignty for females. Biological determinism is a social idea. Just like social Darwinism, capitalism, and religion.
A Fascist Fashion Statement?
Historical analyses of FLOTUS’s fashion statement, such as one below, are being shared on social media…
This sort of analysis prompted Ty Geltmaker–a student (and ex-Professor) of modern Italian History–to dig into his own archives. Geltmaker comments below…
A Crime Against Humanity
Have the majority of Americans reached their tipping point? The trials of so many of Trump’s accomplices have yet to get under way and it will be months before the final report by Robert Mueller and his investigators is published. (Does anyone have any idea how many lawsuits against Trump and his policies are working their way through state and federal courts? The cumulative fees will be staggering by the time the cases are decided.) Patience may be a foundational democratic virtue but what if we’re in the midst of a cold civil war? Maxine Waters seems right on. The time for civility-mongering is past.
Razzle Dazzle: Alison Stone’s New Poems
Alison Stone has been a vital voice in First of the Month‘s mixes for nearly 20 years. The following poems from her new collection, Dazzle, testify to her undimmed instinct for happiness inside the dailiness of life. Not that she’s Ms. Beamish. Stone often gives First first shot at her more engagé poems. One of them recently got up Facebook’s nose.
On the Block II: Excerpt from Gilbert Sorrentino’s “Crystal Vision”
What follows is a swatch of Crystal Vision (1981)–a novel of almost pure dialogue by the late Gilbert Sorrentino.
Hooking Up: Benjamin DeMott on Tom Wolfe
Benjamin DeMott published this summative review of a late collection of Tom Wolfe’s work in 2001. It makes a good case for the reviewer (whose own work has seemed fresh to pundits lately).
On Waller-Bridge
When asked (by your editor) if she enjoyed Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s shows, Laurie Stone replied “I am a huge and maybe the hugest admirer of Fleabag and Killing Eve…She is brilliant, and brilliantly alternative, food for the starving.”
Our Developer President: A Dialogue Between Samuel Stein and Rachel Weber on Real Estate, Cities, and Trumpery
There’s a certain kind of person who sees real estate everywhere they look — someone who walks around a city and thinks not just, “who lives here?” but “who owns this, who’d they buy it from, and where’d they get the money?” Some think this way because they’re in the property racket, or hope one day to be. Others with this mentality are just perpetually pissed off at the ways land and housing have been hyper-commoditized, turning cities into luxury products. We are definitely in the latter camp, and as such have quite a bit to obsess over these days. The following dialogue, between two urban planners and property scholars (one in New York City and one in Chicago), ruminates on the meaning of the Trump presidency and the relationship between property development and governance.
John Berryman On News We Can’t Use
Who can keep up? It wasn’t so long ago that we were concerned because the print press couldn’t keep up with the 24/7 news channels, which had scandals and disasters on the air while they were still in progress. Now, the 24/7 news channels can’t keep up with themselves: by the time they’ve assembled a panel of Wise Ones to analyze the most recent infamy, another one has unfolded. Or two. Or three. There is no pause, no day without too many tales to tell, let alone to tell well.
Which is why John Berryman’s 1939 poem “World-Telegram” has new currency. It is about the weight of headlines, of leads, of information that can barely be understood, let alone borne.
Gangsta Rap
Bruce Jackson isn’t too far removed from news of the day. H/t to him for finding this faux-news photo on Facebook…B.D.
