Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
The central, overarching conflict of the first six Star Wars movies is that a democratic republic devolves into an authoritarian dictatorship. A key part of that political coup is Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side and becoming Darth Vader. The way the story is told implies that the fall of the Republic and…
After Americans elected Donald Trump — whose racist campaign rhetoric targeting Muslims, Mexicans, and black Americans emboldened racial violence and white outrage — researchers report that white people need to join the fight for racial justice for it to be the most effective, according to Quartz. Specifically, political scientist Cullen Hendrix, a professor at the University of Denver argues that…
For weeks, he cried constantly. He had lost whole patches of memory. When he finally healed, after about a month, he had a thought about life — or, rather, the afterlife. The thought was: There is no afterlife. “After the bike crash,” Campolo says, “I was like, ‘A, this is it, and B, you don’t…
A member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir says she has resigned from the famed group over its decision to perform at next month’s inauguration of Donald Trump, a performance she said would be an endorsement of “tyranny and fascism”. She added: “I only know I could never ‘throw roses to Hitler.’ And I certainly could…
Amidst the media storm about the pressure to perform at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, one dancer breaks rank for an exclusive MarieClaire.com interview about the turmoil behind the scenes. by KAITLIN MENZA Dec 27, 2016 31.7k The dancer next to Mary was crying. Tears streamed down her face through all 90 minutes of their world-famous…
Illustration by Angelica Alzona. In 2001, when I was about 14 years old, my male friends invented a game that went like this: one of them—and it was always the same one—would sneak behind me, slap me—and it was always me—on the ass and run away as I sputtered, angry and humiliated. It was a…
My resolutions for 2017 are pretty straightforward. I want to listen more. I want to live more in a state of action than reaction. I definitely want to limit my tunneling into Twitter rabbit holes of outrage. And based on how this week’s been going, I’m not going to wait till January 1 to get started….
Days after the 2016 election, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that “we simply don’t yet know how much racism or misogyny motivated Trump voters.” That’s not entirely true. Trump’s election provides an important case study in exploring how racism and misogyny galvanized support for an authoritarian populist — and how progressives can fight back against these…
This post was originally published on makiahisms.com. I haven’t been to church in over a year now, and I’ve been pondering how I should address what I’ve discovered along the way. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably could’ve never guessed that I would end up here. I never imagined…
The internet has become a powerful tool in igniting new movements from generations-long conversations and political activity. Online hashtags and teach-ins, tweets, blog posts and inventive use of new media have forced attention on interpersonal violence issues including campus sexual assault, untested rape-kits, street harassment, and domestic violence. But these discussions, educational efforts, and organizing…