Oct 24

Oct 24 Weekly Roundup #2: A ghost and a monster

This was a week of exasperation. Exasperation over another sexual harassment case. Exasperation over women having to prove themselves as victims, like anyone WANTS to do that. It's just, ugh, I'm so tired of it all, but I know we're not even close to where we need, or should, be. I would love for my future children to listen, wide-eyed, as I tell them how I used to walk down the street scared or how women's right to their own bodies was disputed, or how women and the entire LGBTQ community are seen as second class to men. Likewise with any race other than white. I'd love to them to be wide-eyed because that seems like such a foreign concept. But, as far away as having children who will understand stories like these seems, equality seems so much further with our current administration and society's views.

On a happier note, I got $6 tickets to a Judah & the Lion concert the day of so my boyfriend and I had a spontaneous city date night, which was itself really fun, but those dudes put on an awesome show. I encourage everyone to see them at some point!

Reading

#MeToo, Twitter.

Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro Once Wrote A Screenplay About Eating A Ghost, NPR.

The Danger of President Pence, The New Yorker. I've been saying this since the beginning. He is a MONSTER.

Why Would This Time Be Any Different?, Deadspin. "I can’t count the number of times I have been out on the street, harassed by a random man until he sees that I am with another man—any man; simply a friend—and backs off, not wanting to interfere with another man’s property. I walk free of harassment when I am out with my boyfriend. (Our walks together amount to nearly three years being routinely free of the daily hums and calls of men.) Then I go outside, go for a walk, go to the post office, alone, and there it is again." How often do people really need to be reminded that women are humans of their own right, not just property?

The Story Behind Today's Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle: Exclusive, Billboard. "And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be than here in my room dreaming about you and me."

Malta car bomb kills Panama Papers journalist, The Guardian. Raise a glass for Daphne Caruana Galizia, a badass woman.

Goodell: NFL players aren't trying to be 'disrespectful to the flag', CNN Money. Something else I've been trying to say forever. It's not about the flag, it's about racial injustice and the platform these players have to speak out against it.

Bowe Bergdahl Pleads Guilty To Desertion, Misconduct, NPR. Anyone listen to Serial Season Two?

Why We Ended Long-Term Solitary Confinement in Colorado, The New York Times.

She Met Her Prince (for Real!) at a D.C. Nightclub, The New York Times.

Students Walk Out After Teacher Orders: Speak ‘American’, NBC News.

Astronomers Strike Gravitational Gold In Colliding Neutron Stars, NPR. "What scientists managed to spot was a pair of neutron stars that likely spent more than 11 billion years circling each other more and more closely before finally slamming together about 130 million years ago." I mean...it just blows my mind. We're so tiny in this great unknown.

McKayla Maroney alleges past abuses by Larry Nassar as early as age 13, ESPN.

Twelve days of silence, then a swipe at Obama: How Trump handled four dead soldiers, Chicago Tribune.

The Source of America's Divisiveness Isn't What You Think, FEE.

I went public with my sexual assault. And then the trolls came for me., The Washington Post. Can we just banish all slut-shamers, victim-blamers and trolls to the seventh circle of hell?

Listening

Judah & the Lion, Going to Mars Tour, Irving Plaza. Go listen to their biggest hit, Take It All Back, right now and tell me you don't want to explore more of their music. These guys kill it live.