Memorable Stuff I Read This Week

My parents took me to Red Lobster to tell me they were getting a
divorce. Parents always take you to Red Lobster when they need to
tell you something awful and important, like failure. They figure if
they’re going to ruin a restaurant for you, it should be somewhere
lame, like Red Lobster or Olive Garden.

— Richard Siken / “Albondigas”

In the midst of life we are in death.
In the midst of the service station we are in death.
In the midst of the service station we are in
life.
In the midst of death we are in the service
station.
In the midst of death we are – we are.
We are.

— Samantha Harvey / The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping

For most of this century, Israel and its allies have fought desperately to avoid any comparison with apartheid-era South Africa, recognizing that such an association would harm Israel’s standing in the world. For all its sins, however, the Afrikaaner government was never accused of fomenting a genocide. Israel’s government now risks being lumped together with Rwanda’s Hutu regime, Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, Mao’s China and, yes, Nazi Germany.

The question to ask is whether, in a world of dissolving norms, the genocide label matters anymore. But however you answer it, the very fact that the discussion is taking place is a sign of a significant shift in political tectonics that should be worrisome both for Israelis and American supporters of Israel.

— Daniel W. Drezner / “Americans Are Changing Their Views of Israel. That’s a Problem.” / Politico

The cicada’s dry monotony breaks
over me. The days are bright
and free, bright and free.

Then why did I cry today
for an hour, with my whole
body, the way babies cry?

— Jane Kenyon / “Three Songs at the End of Summer”

Targeted rumours that spread like a virus across France in 1789 were at the heart of the ‘Great Fear’ — a period of panic and upheaval among peasants that laid some of the groundwork for the French Revolution. Using documents from the time period, researchers used modern epidemiological models to trace how false stories about roving gangs of bandits spread from one location to another. The team found that fearmongering deliberately targeted areas where peasant uprisings would be more consequential and that those with higher levels of literacy were more likely to be ‘infected’, which suggests that the false information had rational, not emotional, roots.

— Jacob Smith / “Fearmongering fuelled revolution in France” / Nature Briefing 

Why not just go on into Canada? someone said.

It was how the border had appeared so quickly when my experience was

that the roads that were the way over were

always further north than I had figured when I’d set out.

In my experience—waking

life—nothing had readied me for such an arrival.

— C.S. Giscombe / “Second Dream”

After the 2016 presidential election, many of my artist clients said things like, “Maybe I should quit making art,” “It’s kind of selfish for me to focus on my art now,” and “I should help people in a more effective way.” These are expected grief responses to the shock and horror of our times, but I beseech you: DO NOT STOP MAKING ART. I need it profoundly.

We all do.

— Beth Pickens / Your Art Will Save Your Life 

What I’m Listening To:

Ain’t got a cow, but I’m still a boy
I love my friends, and I love my toys
Mother says she misses me
She don’t get my life is poetry

— Ty Segall / “Another California Song”