It’s another Friday that feels like a Monday! Not in a good way! But this Friday-that-feels-like-Monday isn’t like the other Fridays-that-feel-like-Mondays, because today is Oscar Wilde’s birthday! Oscar Wilde’s birthday! He would be, let’s see, one hundred and sixty-six if he had not died tragically young of ?stomach cancer? and if he had also died of nothing else due to advances in science that allowed people to live to be sixty-six. Hooray!
I also watched an episode of Star Trek: Discovery and it was x-tremely enjoyable and I was in favor of it. I have not seen other episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, but I am in full support of two hot people running around fighting with and for each other and traveling in time. Anyway! Have some links!
Real comfort food is epitomized by the house meal, that one meal that’s too weird for company and you’re making it because you are the only person who needs to be pleased by it. (link)
Participating in Tolkien fandom while Black is a constantly reminder of the racism within the canon (and also, like, society). (link)
Tressie McMillan Cottam broke my heart writing about Breonna Taylor’s post-it notes. (link)
What does it mean for something to be called “a people’s history”? (link)
We learn the rules for being a good person by talking about them with others. That is what makes Am I the Asshole such a valuable internet space. Maybe. (link)
Very excited that Ashley Reese has taken the time to explain Snapewives to me, as I was not in fandom at the time of this weird fucking phenomenon. (link)
Kamila Shamsie contemplates cultural appropriation and the American observer of the world. (link) Tajja Isen considers the place of sensitivity readers in the (mostly white) publishing landscape. (link)
Indoor dining: Will we ever do it again? (link)
The podcast You’re Wrong About explores the way we misremember news stories, and why. Featuring Monica Lewinsky, the Satanic Panic, and Kitty Genovese. (link)
Tolkien’s notes and papers offer a fascinating glimpse into the moral development of Boromir. (link)
Peak TV is already behind us. What we have now is a lot of mediocre filler produced by a veritable kakistocracy. (link)
Here at the end of the post I’d like to report that — speaking of mediocre filler — I’ve been watching Married at First Sight and have strong opinions about the likelihood that each couple is going to stay together. Let’s not think about that too much. I make other choices that are indisputably good, such as I did laundry yesterday and Tuesday, and on at least one of the evenings this week, I washed the dishes the selfsame night I dirtied them. Wow. What an impressive person.