“Nothing burns like the cold.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
This week the president offended first nation peoples (while generally being a dick with his usual nickname schtick), retweeted racist British nationalistic and Islamphobic propaganda (quite literally creating and perpetuating fake news), and vilified a news organisations (resulting in their international significant reporting on slavery being undermined). ALL BY WEDNESDAY.
Meanwhile a troll tried to plant a rape story, a war criminal literally drank poison and died at his trial, the Secretary of State might be getting fired, and yet another Dude On Television was fired for sexual assault allegations. ALL BY THURSDAY. The poison story was barely a blip.
And on FRIDAY, this news broke, all while the conservative faction is trying to rush through a tax vote because after all, that’s why they’ve tolerated this administration and its garbage. I’m publishing this post now because one more news cycle will officially make this links post about a mile long. Good god, I even forgot the launch of another missile by North Korea…
I loved this article on when “vintage shopping” really kicked off in the 20th century and why it was so radical. Though I wept to see the photography. Jeans for $2.5o… (Sidenote, I’ve read The Cut for years, but it really is knocking it out of the park recently with its redesign and reporting.)
A short documentary on the history and development of Japanese horror cinema. The YouTube channel it comes from is also nicely interesting (and not all quite as, er, horrific).
Here, have a read of a MUCH better profile on a Nazi. Their satire is pretty good too.
Oops. Idiot. The latest stunt by O’Keefe, who has a history of shooting himself in his wannabe-sting-operator food, would be a hilarious self-own…if not for the hideousness of his plan. To wit: pay someone to pretend she was raped, in order to undermine and discredit actual sex crimes victims for the explicit purpose of getting an accused sex offender elected to the highest representative body in the nation.
Hm. Are we excited, guys? I think I’m excited, but this is an enormous cast and I wonder how they are going to keep the story together.
He is a national embarrassment, and embarrasses me as a citizen abroad every day...
Let us please remember that as so many of these men are brought to the account they deserve, there is collateral damage for other people.
The whole debutante tradition is strange to me, is there a place for it in 2017?
“That the legacy of the first black president could be erased by a birther, that the woman who could have been the first female president was foiled by a man who confessed to sexual assault on tape—these were not drawbacks to Trump’s candidacy, but central to understanding how he would wield power, and on whose behalf.” Read the whole thing. Every last, awful word.
Fire him. And yes, Coyner too.
Mariah has a lesson for all of us.
THANK GOD FOR SOME HAPPY NEWS THIS WEEK.
Here. Have one more heartwarming thing. God knows we need it.
Small Dog Syndrome 
I find it difficult to deal with the realisation that I identify not a whit with my place of birth and upbringing, in fact I now despise it, to the depths of never wanting to go back, if I can help it. Yet I still have family who I love who are there, who are good people. I want things to turn around for their sake. But I feel like I can never feel at home there again.
I can’t tell you how hard your comment resonated. I’ve been a third culture kid my whole life and while I feel American, I’ve never felt like a “normal” American at all. Being an expat in adulthood has only exacerbated this, and the past couple of years has compounded it. Jeff and I sometimes play the What If Game: what if we moved back to the States? Where would we want to go, where would we live, what would we do? These days we honestly can’t fathom doing so. Britain has it’s problems too, I’m not blind to them but I love it here. I too have beloved friends and family in the US, and I don’t doubt for a moment that people there remain fundamentally decent as a whole, but what I am witnessing on a macro level from my country actively frightens and upsets me.
All I can say is, as a long time military brat and expat, I learned at a very early age that once you step away from any place for a long time, it’s never quite “home” again; you really never can go back. That’s okay, I think, even if it’s hard to experience. I’ve learned to define home in different ways, more internal ones, and that has helped with the vertigo. And it means what when places or people disappoint you, you are still able to love them and respect them–which is critical in the necessary work of making those people or places better for everyone. I’m trying hard to follow my own advice these days because I doubt we citizens will or should be allowed complacency in the years to come.
Good luck, from one stranger in a strange land to another. x
as god is my witness there is always a place for cotillion! but in all seriousness the number of times i have said, “if only his/her parents had sent him/her to cotillion classes…” is…rather high. yes there’s some quaintness in the tradition, especially if you look at debutante balls out of context, but if we’re talking about classes (starting years before “debut” age) that teach etiquette, carriage, etc–i do think they have a huge amount of value, especially in an age where there are fewer formal events and less of a focus on “social graces,” if you will. learning how to comport yourself well, behave graciously, and make good conversation is valuable for any child and will serve him or her well in relationships, business, and social settings throughout adult life. if i ever have children, they will definitely be enrolled in cotillion classes, whether or not they debut.
xoxo, your junior league friend (and yes i know you posted this weeks ago. i’m fashionably late)
Never fear, I typed this as a girl whose parents totally sent her to cotillion classes, and I’m pretty sure we lived in Texas when it happened (for my sins). I’m actually all for the social graces and lessons to enforce them if needed, so I heartily agree with you on the need for etiquette, as old fashioned as some people think it is. But I absolutely question the idea of a “debut” for girls. The differentiation of when one is “out” in society or not are all but vanished so I don’t see the need (apart from, ya know, the usual feminist ranting on my part).