Weekly Round-Up March 17
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, if that’s a thing you observe. I have some Irish heritage, but it’s not a holiday I’ve ever gotten into much since I was in my mid-20s. I did have a wonderful March 17th when I lived in Paris, though, which has a surprising number of Irish pubs. I can’t say I actually remember too much of what I did, but I know I had fun, which seems about right for St. Paddy’s day.
Things are pretty heavy right now, with more attacks on LGBTQ+ folks via state legislatures around the country. Michael Knowles said the quiet part out loud, calling for “the eradication of transgenderism.” Let’s break it down, shall we? The entire quote is: "For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.” First of all, “transgenderism” isn’t a thing. People are transgender or cisgender, but there is no -ism. It’s not an ideology. You can find transgender people across the political spectrum, from all walks of life. But in twisting it into an ideology, conservatives can claim that they’re not attacking people’s identities, but rather their ideas. But transgender people have existed in the world for a very long time, and we have evidence even from the medieval era of people who lived as a gender other than what they were designated at birth. It is exhausting fighting constantly against this level of stupidity and bigotry, and it makes it difficult to focus on anything else, to be honest.
Several other states (including Iowa) are trying to roll back equal marriage rights and even anti-discrimination laws, so that it would once again be legal to fire and/or evict someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Florida HB 999 would ban Jewish Studies courses, majors and minors, Feminist Theory courses, majors and minors, Gender Studies courses, majors and minors, Centers and Programs for Black Students, Latinx Students, LGBTQ+ students, and AAPI students. It also takes on tenure, aiming to destroy the practice. I’m surprised that in a state with such a large Jewish population, politicians are getting away with openly attacking Jewish teaching, but the fact that the Florida legislators are being so blatant in their discrimination and attacks on higher education (and the fact that so many other states have explicitly said they want to follow his lead, including Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds) is horrifying. The fact that DeSantis is going to run for president and has a good shot at winning keeps me up at night. This is the road to fascism. It’s not only trans folks they want “eradicated” it’s everyone who isn’t a white straight cis Christian. They’d eliminate the women, too, if they didn’t need them for breeding purposes. They don’t even try to hide their bigotry anymore. And Moms for Liberty’s latest target is Social Emotional Learning, because it teaches empathy. They are openly lobbying against empathy. Because you can’t have empathy for other humans if you’re bent on destroying our lives. We are in the darkest timeline.
Sometimes I wonder how much wonderful art we’re missing out on because LGBTQ+ artists are too busy fighting for our lives to create as much as we’d like to. The silence of our allies is deafening, and the fact that so many cis straight people I’ve spoken with lately have no idea these things are even happening proves that we’re in this fight on our own. And I don’t know if we can win. Meanwhile, the toothless Democrats are doing absolutely nothing on the federal level to protect any of us, and I feel like screaming all the time.
Anyway. Here are some things to look at/read.
Austin Kleon, in his newsletter, talks about how “You have to really love your idea.”
In her newsletter, fellow Cedar Rapidian Lyz Lenz published a fantastic essay about being queer in Iowa by Molly Monk. I’m only a little bit jealous as a middleaged lesbian living in the same town but having zero local friends. The pandemic has (necessarily) made me a hermit, but it does make it harder to be here when all my friends moved away. But that’s beside the point. The essay is great, and Molly is a very nice human, who I know a little bit.
The horribly offensive and dehumanizing movie The Whale unfortunately won two Oscars, one for Best Makeup for THE FAT SUIT (ugh, omg) and one for Best Actor for Brendan Fraser. Everyone says he’s a very nice human, and seems happy for him, but he’s still complicit in making this steaming pile of crap that I struggle to believe anyone could actually think is truly a compassionate portrait of a fat person. Instead of subjecting yourself to that truly awful garbage, read Lindy West’s brilliant essay, and Kate Manne’s piece, which calls the movie, “not just cruelly fatphobic; it is irredeemably juvenile.” Seriously, at one point the characters joke that they could stab the fat character with a knife and he couldn’t even feel it. THAT’S NOT HOW BODIES WORK.
It’s almost Pesach and Easter, and this Episcopal Priest has a reminder that Christians should not hold seders.
On Wednesday, I posted Part 2 of my interview on the creative life with Julie Marie Wade. This interview series is available to paid subscribers only, and I have lots more great interviews to come, so upgrade your subscription to paid today!
“In Praise of Wonder” from Suleika Jaouad.
Really feeling this lately:
I’ve been re-watching Ted Lasso since the third season started this week, and it’s so good and wholesome, but also…it makes me sad that I don’t have that level of hope anymore. Sometimes reality is too real and it’s too hard to escape it, even when we need to take breaks for the sake of our resilience.
Sorry this is kind of a downer newsletter. I just have to be honest with you about how tough stuff is these days, and the fact that it is a struggle to create under these conditions. I also had COVID for 18 days, and I still feel so drained, which I know is affecting things.
So! Tell me one good thing in the comments section, if you would. And I’ll see you on Monday!
