I actually have no idea what is going to happen to Twitter, but this title seemed very funny to me. Hopefully it will not die? I feel very sad at the prospect of its dying; I feel like Obi-Wan Kenobi sitting in the Millennium Falcon feeling the deaths on Alderaan. So yeah, idk, here are some links.
Nauru is a very tiny island nation that I learned about in the book How to Hide an Empire (which was good). Here is an article about the current state of things in Nauru. The villain is colonialism all along!
“’I was a little shocked by the dead bodies, I thought there would be a warning. But I love that stuff,’ said Monica, who really took it in stride for someone who–I’ll say it again–did not know this was a Gone Girl–themed cruise.”
“Complete with title so maudlin it preempts all mockery” is a very good pull quote to represent the tenor of this extremely satisfying review of John Boyne’s latest book.
Stephen Elliott is suing Moira Donegan for his inclusion on the Shitty Media Men list. Here’s the breakdown. Also, fuck that guy.
For Culture Study, Michelle Cyca (Plains Cree) talks about the problem of Pretendians, including the recent discussion around Sacheen Littlefeather.
This is an absolutely wild piece about diet culture ruining marriages.
Linda Condega goes long on Interview with the Vampire‘s decision to explicitly depict domestic abuse, the fan reaction to that decision, and what it all means.
If you haven’t been following the Supreme Court case that’s endeavoring to overthrow ICWA and gut Native American sovereignty, here’s a good place to start. Rebecca Nagle does incredible work.
“Ordinary people are the conscience.” Clint Smith examines German efforts to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust.
I love to watch rich people implode their businesses, so I have desperately wanted to understand what is going on with FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried. This is difficult for someone who has, up to this week, steadfastly refused to learn anything about cryptocurrency except that it’s a scam and Ryan from The OC has dedicated several years to making sure people know that. In case you are in a similar boat, here is an explainer of what’s going on. Once you have read that, read this absolutely wild piece about how Sam Bankman-Fried hopped into a Vox reporter’s DMs to confess to a bunch of lies and ?crimes?. I don’t really understand any of this still, but I love it. Please link me any additional information sources for people who don’t get any of this.
“American Horror Story craves our attention, but it doesn’t love anything.”
I do not know what to do about the floods that have struck Pakistan and Nigera this year. Nor about the Ukrainian war, nor the ongoing Afghan refugee crisis. Here is a piece about what fiction can and can’t do.
Have a great weekend, friends.