The Bluestocking, vol 114: The mole man
Happy Friday!
This week I wondered how far from Gilead we really are, and argued the toss with people about impartial journalism and social media outrage. There's no intro to the newsletter this week because I have done nothing but get on trains and watch Mindhunter when I haven't been at work.
Now I'm off to pack for Lib Dem conference . . .
Helen
The white black theatre director
And so began his fifth, and happiest, incarnation – as Anthony Ekundayo Lennon. He returned to the theatre, working largely for black-led companies, and segued from acting to directing. For two decades, he lived easy in his skin – a man with white parents, unknown African ancestry, and many friends, none of whom questioned his right to be who he said he was. When I ask if he ever considered he might not meet the criteria for the Talawa award, he says no: “To doubt my eligibility would be akin to doubting my existence.”
This is a very empathetic, nuanced piece but there's a gaping hole where there should be a consideration of self-defined gender as a counterpoint to self-defined race. (These responses to the piece give an idea of where the debate might go; I would also recommend Adam Rutherford's piece on race as a social construct.)
Watching Trump’s children appear on Fox News, one gets the sense that they’re still auditioning for their father’s affection. Ivanka speaks in dulcet tones about how proud, so proud, she is of her dad. Don bashes the “fake-news media” with performative force. Eric, the least camera-ready of the three, clings to talking points, lavishing praise on Trump whenever he gets stuck. (In an interview earlier this year, Eric repeated variations of “He’s the greatest guy in the world” in such reverential tones that even Sean Hannity seemed uncomfortable with the obsequiousness.)
Trump watches these segments from the West Wing and offers a running commentary to whoever is around, according to a former aide. His attitude toward each of his adult children on any given day is shaped by how they are playing on cable news. Ivanka tends to draw rave reviews, while Don’s are more mixed, with the president muttering things like “Why did he say that?” and “He doesn’t know what he’s doing.” Recently, though, his perspective on his two oldest children seems to have shifted.
God, imagine being one of these people.
Who Really Wants to Cancel Dave Chappelle?
If a subset of progressive culture critics all seem to be speaking the same rarefied language with regard to Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K. and cancel culture in general, and to have implicitly agreed on a specific set of rules that don’t seem to be based on any sort of real reflection or deliberation — who ever agreed that comedians can’t “punch down”? Many of the most popular comedians and funny films and standup specials ever include a ton of punching down! — it could be because journalism consists, more and more, of people from privileged backgrounds.
Feels a bit Inception to recommend another newsletter, but here we are. Jesse Singal is a consistently thoughtful writer on culture wars, and he's always worth reading. (GIF from the undisputed king of Dave Chappelle's sketches, Charlie Murphy's Hollywood Stories)
For House Republicans, My Baby Born at 23 Weeks Was A Political Prop. For Me, It Was A Life
Despite the hospital where I was being treated having a standard protocol that they would not offer resuscitation until the 23rd week of fetal gestation, the pediatricians in the neonatal intensive care unit offered us the option to aggressively intervene, as we only were one day away.
This is where we reach the most important part of my family’s story.
Being a parent, at its core, is just making a series of decisions you think are in the best interest of your child. Sometimes those decisions are small: what kind of car seat is safest for him or what should he wear today? Sometimes they’re big: how do we teach him to be kind and what values should he have? Under normal circumstances, being a parent is an aggregation of a lifetime of these choices.
A very tough read on how "pro life" measures ending up causing collateral damage to women who are trying to have wanted babies.
Quick Links:
Found myself unable to listen to these audio recordings from 9/11, but just reading the transcripts brought that incredible, horrible day right back.
"Living alone can be liberating, and most of my friends have, at some point, told me they are jealous. If the sunset is right and I am holding a glass of rosé in one hand, my new freedom can seem downright exhilarating, but when the sun sets, it’s just me in the room—which is why I’ve taught myself to cork that bottle. I ate sautéed vegetables for dinner last night, and I did not clean up the kitchen until early this morning; but I would rather have had Jeff here to nag me about the dishes." A 9/11 widow whose daughters have just left for college comes up for air.
Can you stop a mass shooting before it happens? I'm always whiffy about stories which go so hard on the cloak-and-dagger, but this is still interesting.
Another Richard Madeley supercut. I cannot get enough of these.
"Oh yeah," you think, "as IF a man can sense where moles are under ground with his hands". Then this happens.
Guest gif:
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