Friday, July 15, 2016

Weekend Reading: The I Can't Catch Up Edition

Between the coup/coup attempt in Turkey and the horrific truck attack in Nice, I'm feeling pretty somber today. But I don't have anything profound to say about either of those things, so I guess I'll just post the links I have.

Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, both prominent conservative writers, have an op-ed in the NY Times about what they see as the way forward for the Republican party after Trump. I don't agree with all of what they're proposing for policy- but of course I don't, I'm a Democrat- but I sincerely hope the Republican party does some soul-searching and makes some real changes soon. I still think we'll manage to avoid electing Trump, but if the Republican party continues on its current path, we'll probably get another Trump-like candidate sooner rather than later, and eventually, one of them will win. That is a scary thought.

(Either that or the Republican party will completely implode and then some other second party will form, perhaps involving some sort of fracture in the Democrats and a regrouping with some portion of the Republicans... that sounds interesting in all the ways that make "may you live in interesting times" a curse.)

Here's Matt Yglesias on why congressional Republicans (and the rest of us) should take Trump's authoritarianism seriously.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on how excessive police violence puts the police at risk, too.

Josh Marshall on the fragility of the peace and stability we in the Western world tend to take for granted.

One of the interesting things Vox published while I was on vacation was a defense of the American revolution.

Here's another interesting article that came out while I was on vacation: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on the subtle sexism of some male minimalists.

This is a really interesting essay by Suki Kim about having her writing misbranded as memoir, and her struggle to be taken seriously.

Pamela Ribon on another side of Pokemon GO. Read the post she links to, too. A lot of people in my Twitter feed are playing Pokemon GO and some of them are Black, and everyone (so far) seems to be having a lot of fun. But some people have also pointed out that there aren't a lot of pokestops in Black neighborhoods. I think there's a lot to think about in this phenomenon, and I suspect augmented reality and the ethical questions it raises will only get more important as we move from the somewhat awkward interface of our phones to something less intrusive.

This has been another tough week. I like this advice:




And in that spirit, I'll tell you that the next Annorlunda Books release is available for pre-order. The Lilies of Dawn is a beautiful fantasy novelette by Vanessa Fogg, with an equally beautiful cover by Likhain.

Or, if you want to read some brilliant short non-fiction, this week's Tungsten Hippo recommendation is a really great one. I resisted this book, expecting to find it cliche or exploitative... or I don't know what really. But it is an amazing story and really well told.

And finally... not funny, but quirky: here's something I may try. I could rant on and on about the difficulty of buying sports bras, or really any bras, once you are larger than a D cup. I don't get me started about swimsuit shopping. Even living in San Diego, with its beach culture, I'm unable to shop in stores and try things on. I have to order online and cross my fingers I'll like how things look (or be willing to send things back). On the grand scale of problems, this is a minor one. But it is annoying.


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