I’ve moved the newsletter here. I’ll be deleting this account soon.
I’m moving…to downtown Toledo in June. Very excited to live like a savvy city girl again. This small college town has been good to me, but I’m ready to break free.
Why? This grown-up got a grown-up full-time job. I don’t want to say much here to keep the separation between church and state. Yes, I will still be finishing my dissertation in 2022.
Speaking of moving…Substack is pretty terrible. I’m borrowing this from The Objective, which covers it:
Substack’s CEO, Chris Best, tweeting “defund the thought police,” a reference that both trivializes Black-led movements for community safety and parrots racist provocateur Candace Owens.
Using the paid “Pro” program to recruit writers that have made blatantly transphobic statements in the past and present See Glenn Greenwald’s bizarre rant that tries to arbitrate trans existence or Graham Linehan, who has been warned about harassment and banned from Twitter for repeated rule violations. Put differently: Substack has actively chosen the kind of writing they want to platform. They are not neutral, but aim to tip the scale.
All three of Substack’s co-founders insisting that none of its writers in the “Pro” program “can be reasonably construed as anti-trans.”
Trivializing and not substantively engaging with the critique they received over the last few weeks.
On Thursday, the company further retreated from its content moderation guidelines, narrowing its approach to hate and harassment.
Substack does not make money from little old me, but I’ll celebrate the free market by taking my business elsewhere. I’m not sure yet, but I’ll transfer my list so I won’t lose any of you.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share my Spotify writing playlist. I’ve tried soft classical music to write, but I find synth and electronica to be even better.
What is this? A semi-regular newsletter about culture and academia and academic culture with occasional creative essays.
Regular features: Showgirls: The Novelization, I Miss My MTV; Tales of Tenure Terror
“I just got my first dose today! Feel free to ask me any questions.”
“Woops! I double-booked a vaccine appointment. Must be Covid brain!”
“Vaccine selfie! This is Nora, she’s been working 14 days straight, but she was so nice and complimented my nails.”
“No seriously, ask me questions about it.”
“The medical staff couldn’t believe someone so young got to get vaccinated so early.”
“My morning!” [pic of vaccine papers and a Starbucks cold brew.]
“I’ll be live-streaming my vaccination for my Patreon supporters.”
“Anyone have any questions, I can answer them.”
*a Tik Tok video of the difference between boomers and Gen Z getting vaccinated.*
Bless the account gaysovercovid: (watch the full video)
What are you wearing to the vaccine red carpet?
What is this? A semi-regular newsletter about culture and academia and academic culture with occasional creative essays.
Regular features: Showgirls: The Novelization, I Miss My MTV; Tales of Tenure Terror
I was already skeptical about the Netflix documentary series Crime Scene: Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. Even the title tells you what you need to know. It’s the documentary of the crime scene, fetishizing conspiracy, and the excitement of true crime. It’s not about the victim, Elisa Lam*, the treatment of mental health, and the compassion and services needed for the homeless and recovering.
The film was made about the things that the filmmaker wanted it to be. That’s fine. But it’s part of a larger issue that I think about a lot: the trauma-tainment of true crime. As I constantly remind you in this, I am not condemning anyone who watches and enjoys true crime (I include myself). But they really did Elisa dirty. She was struggling with an episode that ended in her drowning, but let’s make it about the “haunted” Cecil hotel and the blights of Skid Row that surround it. The Cecil Hotel was home to criminals, but more than not, it was also home to people who were struggling and thrown away by society and had nowhere to turn.
The series tries to play the “we live in a society where…” angle where a man was trolled by people because internet sleuths pointed at him as the killer. His life fell apart, and I have empathy. But as he was crying, I was screaming WHAT ABOUT ELISA AND HER FAMILY?
I’ve been meaning to write something more about the true crime industrial complex, and its worst offender, Crime Con. Meanwhile, in my insomnia I fired up Canva and made this graphic, to be updated.
Is one quadrant bad? Do true crime properties owe anything to victims? Do these need to address social issues? Nobody needs to make anything and nobody needs to watch anything. But we can do better.
* I included this book in my roundup, but Gone at Midnight: The Tragic True Story Behind the Unsolved Internet Sensation (despite its title) is a thoughtful consideration of Elisa Lam and how she was caught in a fetishized mystery.
**I was also livid when I realized that this series was directed by Joe Berlinger, who, in fact, did make one of the best, and most thoughtful true crime documentaries, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. I don’t know what happened, perhaps this is what he thought would sell more these days?
What is this? A semi-regular newsletter about culture and academia and academic culture with occasional creative essays.
Regular features: Showgirls: The Novelization, I Miss My MTV; Tales of Tenure Terror
Questions I have after watching Christina Aguilera (featuring Redman)’s “Dirrty” video
Did someone on Christina’s team tell her she had to sex up her image or did she decide this on her own? Did she ever read Laura Mulvey’s “Cinematic Gaze” and this is her answer?
Did they have to blur out labia? I’m not asking facetiously. The spread eagle is not uncommon in music videos. But I remember it may have been the first to be done so dangerously close to exposure.
Why did Robin ever try to have two-tone hair like this?
What is the narrative here? She’s dirty, she’s an underground boxer in this post-apocalyptic world where she has custom chaps?
Did she know there is a child in the tunnel that Redman lives in?
Is she…in a bathroom? With urinals? With water all over the floor?...that came from URINALS?
I love nothing more than when a “clean” pop star decides they need to grow up and make their image edgier. Sometimes it’s great, and sometimes it’s quite awkward. I think I appreciate her effort, but the aesthetic is bad, but if she is trying to explore the idea of the female grotesque, then she nails it.
What is this? A semi-regular newsletter about culture and academia and academic culture with occasional creative essays.
Regular features: Showgirls: The Novelization, I Miss My MTV; Tales of Tenure Terror
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