We’re down to the penultimate month of the weirdest year of my lifetime, and it’s gonna be a doozy.

Boris Johnson (finally) announced what we all knew was coming: Lockdown the Second is coming. COVID stats are now exceeding the “peak” in many metrics and once again a lot of powerful people are having to mumble miserably about this lasting longer than is politically convenient for them.

Meanwhile: America. Perhaps my cynicism is just out of control at this point, but anyone who thinks this week is going to bring some sort of resolution is delusional. If Trump wins, we get four more years of the corruption and ignorance that’s making all our societal problems worse. If Biden wins, he’s entering office in a hostile environment during a crisis.

Trump and his ilk aren’t just going to go quietly into that goodnight. He’s in office until January (and going to receive security briefings for the rest of his life, please remember) and since attention is his currency, he’ll continue to wreck havoc on Twitter and whatever his next grift is. My bet is a media company. And that’s before the actual militarized radicals and QAnons react which could span so many outcomes (and so many of them bad) that it makes my head spin.

Either way, if you’re thinking of Election Day or December 2nd (the end of British lockdown 2.0) as some kind of deadline…don’t. I know we’re all desperate to mark the passing of time, to reintroduce some sense of seasonailty to give us closure to various moments, and its exhausting that time has become a flat circle. But things are not going to be magically fixed, vanished, somehow put back “the way it was” if that’s something you want, or somehow magically institute your preferred ideal future. We need to keep going.

SO. This November, do what keeps you healthy and comforted. We’re streamlining the things that need to be done so that you can accomplish what you need while preserving your energy. If you’re still at home, make it as pleasant a place to be as possible. That food, makeup, wine, clothes, gift certificate, or whatever that you’ve been saving for a special occasion? This is it, pumpkins. Eat it, slap it on, gift yourself or someone else responsibly.

In closing:

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Vote. But know that regardless of the outcome, the work STARTS on November 4. There is an escalating pandemic, more entrenched inequality than before, rising tides of (in some cases justified) anxiety and fear, economic instability, and some of the worst aspects of our society well and truly mobilised. The real goal is to keep the renewed sense of civic engagement, community responsibility, and political self-examination going. If you think you can stop caring (whether out of a sense of moral victory or anger/despair) drop that thinking NOW. Citizenship isn’t something we do every four years.

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Stay prayed up, kittens. Next week is going to be trippy in the extreme. Wear a mask. Look after other people as well as yourself and your own. Accept that life is tough right now and maybe doing the right thing is inconvenient, but do it anyway. Don’t confuse discomfort for oppression. Don’t give into bad faith attempts to draw you into conflict. Don’t argue or debate with people who aren’t actually concerned with hearing your POV and giving it a measure of respect. Save your energy. Wash your hands.

Deep breath.

And how I’m looking forward to it.

Friend of the Blog Caitlin’s latest piece on Americans choosing to move or live abroad in this day and age. Topical.

Amazing that such a historically documented (and still important in pop culture) event still has some secrets!

Why you may not “get” all the Hunter Biden “news”: you’re not supposed to unless you already live in the very specific media world it’s intended to appeal to. And as we have seen with QAnon and others, they will do the work of constructing the narrative they want for one another.

Alexa, show me irony.

Because this is the world we live in now.

Which is why actual journalism, with standards and verification credentials is more important than ever. It’s quite literally what separates it from tabloid gossip and propaganda.

Honestly, I’m living for the Duke of Sussex’s ability to speak personally and openly on difficult topics. I imagine it’s freeing. But I also appreciate his ability to apply nuance to his public statements, not least of all because he’s very open about how insular and unusual his perspectives are.

This news had Jeff riveted (he’s a Jazz man).

Dwight Schrute was a warning.

Finally, I have been obsessed with following this saga and there is a new chapter. First your refresher on the nuttery of Omegaverse, various copyrights related thereto, litigious authors…and a misfire!

And now, the exciting conclusion. Hopefully?

Ducklings, how are we all doing? I ask because we’re moving into month eight of some version of social restrictions here in the UK and staring down the barrel of an increasingly grim winter season as infections continue to rise. The States…well, I’m glad I live where I do. But yeah, 2020 continues to be A Lot.

I’m personally coming off two back to back weeks of significant work projects which were very satisfying to complete but rather stressful to get over the line. Not a small portion of my job involves media monitoring, prep, and response which – again, in 2020 – is not conducive to remaining calm or thoughtful.

And so, a casual reminder that it’s okay to not have all your shit together or an answer to the huge amount of complex issues we face as individuals and collectives. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed by work, isolation, family, boredom, economic anxiety, existential threats, and common everyday irritations. These are not normal times, it’s okay to have weird reactions or coping mechanisms.

Just remember that these times are not going away soon. It’s comforting to look at set deadlines like elections or year ends as some sort of arbitrary goal to be reached after which Things Will Be Different, but I’m convinced that’s a mistake. We need to be able to think about hard things and times in the long term, so we can build the resilience we need to navigate it. If you are lucky enough to have the time or money, donate to causes you care about and make a plan to stay involved in issues long after the media spotlight turns away from them. Stay engaged and informed in difficult topics. Stay prayed up, as the kids say.

And look out for everyone else trying to do the same

PS – If you’re American, VOTE GOD DAMN IT. Just don’t mistake November 3rd for some kind of endgame, regardless of the outcome. Our problems didn’t begin in 2016, and they’re not going to end in 2020.

Let them love!

While we’re in this mental space…

Good.

Hoo boy, this is a news story to watch for a lot of reasons.

What a dumb timeline this is.

IT’S. A. CULT. (…a super weird cult…)

The disinformation storm we live in frightens me. It frightens me more how many people I know believe actual conspiracy theories.

And while we’re being grim, it’s not going to get better if Mr. Trump loses. Do you think he’s just going to fade away? That his Twitter feed will go dark? That his scions won’t position themselves in the media or political landscape for the next election cycle? And as for the most cultish of his advocate, do you think they’re just going to vanish into the night? As much as I hope Trump loses, I don’t mistake that for actually fixing so many of the things that got him elected and allowed people to build an actual god damned mythology around him in the first place.

This is BIG religious news.

I cannot imagine the strength and grace that allowed him to arrive at this position.

MY BODY IS READY. (My wallet is not…)

How pleasing is this story of that rare thing: a perfectly harmless hobby!

So it’s worse than we thought. Great.

This whole news story is a trip. But it’s also also the stupidest thing imaginable. (ETA: IT GOT WORSE.)

RIP, you ridiculous, doomed idea.

If you’ve seen #endSARS trending and had to catch up on the topic, Marie Claire has a good piece for you.

Someday in the foreseeable future presidential debates will take place on Twitch and there will be nary an old white dude in sight. I’m looking forward to it. Unironically.

It’s the end of an era.

Natalie is here to deliver a lecture – on why Twitter isn’t real life, why “both sides are bad” discourse isn’t just unhelpful it’s not even correct, why we are not anywhere near socialism and everyone can calm down about that, why we need allies whether your goal is incremental change or violent uprising, and imperfect allies are all we’ve got. The hard right has a plan, and the hard left has a pipe dream. Vote accordingly.

I did not watch the Coney Barrett hearings this week, and I only read recaps of the town halls. We sent off our ballots for early voting (I complain a lot about Utah but they have a great election system with copious public information resources for voters, and a robust and trusted system for remote and mail in voting).

Just over two weeks to go.

Admittedly I was a hormonal mess this week, but this kind agony aunt letter made me feel better about weight that I’ve put on during quarantine.

Bow, peasants!

My semi annual reminder as to why any wealth I accumulate will go to cystic fibrosis research and public broadcasting on my death.

Toxic masculinity kills men.

We stan this chonky king!

What the fuck?!

The world is not getting safer for LGBT people, which is why activists are scared and things like lifetime appointments to positions of power matter. Theocratic based rule or ideology is on the rise in secular countries and it’s frightening.

Here, let’s balance out some bad news with some queer love history.

At least he’s consistent at being The Worst. (His daughter agrees.)

It’s a cult.

Here’s hoping because another four years of this will exhaust us all.

A palate cleanser!

A telling sentence in this piece about alt-right darling Lauren Southern could easily be applied to almost any woman who achieves prominence in the manosphere (or any hyper conservative, gender traditionalist, or fascist movement): “While the alt-right’s men were forever putting Southern in her place, they simultaneously venerated her as a goddess.” It’s not inherently feminist to succeed as woman within a patriarchal system, especially if you intend to use your power to uphold that system (cough Amy Coney Barret cough!). And patriarchy may like female spokespeople, but by its nature, it is antithetical to actual feminine power.

What a dumb week this was. That’s the thought I keep circling back to. The US president getting COVID? Dumb. Predictable and dumb. The ridiculous irony that he’s once again promising health care whilst his administration sues to remove Obamacare and protections for preexisting conditions in court, in the middle of a pandemic? Dumb. The spiking cases here in the UK? Completely avoidable and dumb. The debates? Exhausting and dumb. The racism and misogyny hurled at Senator Harris? Expected and horribly dumb. The looming Brexit smash up? Completely avoidable and dumb.

Why are so many people fighting so hard to get back to “the way things were” when it’s abundantly clear that the way things were wasn’t working? Not politically or economically, not socially or personally. We have a generational opportunity to think about how we might want society to work and push for it, and we’re mostly…dithering.

Dumb. Infuriatingly dumb. I’m fighting against cynicism by maintaining a sense of humor, but I’m more convinced than ever that so many of the challenges we face as a species are self-inflicted and perpetuating. Because we’re dumb.

To be fair, this comes after a particularly grueling week at work where I’m really pleased with my team’s professional efforts and simultaneously dispirited when I raise my gaze beyond my own sphere of influence. So as always, here are a few of the things that caught my eye on the interwebs this week. Share your notable finds in the comments!

“How do you adjust to an ever-changing situation where the ‘new normal’ is indefinite uncertainty?”

A love story for the ages.

Once again, we could have made, and yet could make, different decisions when it comes to media literacy and disinformation. We choose not to.

Though hopefully this may be changing? (The damage has very much been done.)

Because people are doing more of this shit.

Too many things are going backwards, and too much damage is being done. It’s not equivalent and the trends are not even across the board, so this summary of the World Bank report on the rise of poverty is useful.

Trolls are people too. But the damage they do is real.

“When no clear, authoritative source of truth exists, when uncertainty rages, human nature will lead many people to seek a more stable reality by wrapping themselves in an ever-tighter cloak of political, religious, or racial identities. The more uncertainty rises, the more alluring that siren call becomes. And some Americans are responding by seeking out exclusive, all-encompassing identities that are toxic and fragile—and hold the seed of violent extremism.”

He’s untrustworthy and financially suspect. He has been for decades. And no one in power seems to care enough to do anything about it or how it’s pushing us towards kleptocracy.

And in news that I cannot believe someone had to produce but is probably a good idea to share: what to do if illegal militiamen show up at your local polling station. Fuck.

“The forced intimacy of island life means no street corner is anonymous.” Loved this music star profile.

This too is my most prominent political fear.

“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”  David Frum, wrote in Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic. I literally think about that quote at least once a week.

She’s back!

This year has never been subtle but my god, this week. 

I feel you, parrot.

I also feel you, bears.

Goodness he’s bad at this…

Until we prioritize things that have become considered “women’s work,” like providing care (child, health, senior, you name it), education, service work, and more as work that deserves more pay and benefits and respect, any system shock is going to disproportionately affect women.

Is John Mulaney a prophet or…?

Irony is dead. Just fucking deceased. If this were a TV show, we’d all be screaming at Netflix about how this plot twist is just unbelieveable/on the nose and has totally ruined the show. What a stupid year this is. 

In my continuing quest to spread the word that any understanding of our current media, political and cultural moment requires a high degree of internet literacy, a very good piece in The Atlantic. 

“We were all standing there waiting on the photographer,” my father told me later on the phone. “And Mike said, ‘You know what she’s doing, don’t you? She’s going to wait until the three of us are dead and then she’s going to write about us. This is the picture that will run with the piece.’ ” My father said that the idea hadn’t occurred to him, and it wouldn’t have occurred to Darrell, but, as soon as Mike said it, they knew he was right. He was right. That was exactly what I meant to do. That is exactly what I’m doing now.

To the surprise of literally no one.

Meet the woman who should have been “China’s Matisse.”

Meanwhile, things here in Europe are going great, you guys. /sarcasm

I took the weekend off, kittens. There was too much bad news and my husband had his first non-working weekend in a month, so we watched a lot of TV, went out to dinner with friends and spent six hours eating, drinking and talking, and lazed about together. It was lovely.

But Monday waits for no man, so let’s get up and at it, team. The news is bad, our morale is hardy regardless. Here’s some reading to kick off your week:

“You can be intellectually woke without being awakened to the largest truth: that we are all connected, enemies and allies alike. The United States is teetering toward authoritarianism. Are you still lecturing strangers on social media? Are you still shouting at a family member that they’re wrong? How is that working out?”

This year is determined to kill off everything that once was good, isn’t it?

Except BTS, apparently.

ALLIE IS BACK, YOU GUYS!

Seriously, we’ve had four years to learn this and I’m shocked at how few people have: exposes don’t pose any threat to a tabloid figure. It’s literally their bread and butter. Failure to adjust accordingly has harmed us.

We’ve run out of humans to celebrate, so this is heroism now. Honestly, I’m fine with it. Hope he gets an extra large helping of cheese tonight.

Susan Orlean’s Twitter feed has been a source of lighthearted joy, and if you have no idea who she is, let me introduce you to the patron saint of pandemic drinking.

I’m really looking forward to AHP’s new book, and in her newsletter she talks about an area of burnout that I hadn’t even considered right now: the clergy. Like so many other professions, they are doing a 21st century job on 20th and sometimes even 19th century infrastructure and assumptions. What does that mean when you combine that reality with a sense of divine vocation?

This tale is a ride.

Sali Hughes on the pandemic, heels, age, and style evolution.

The New York Times got a hold of President Trumps tax information and are publishing a series of articles based on the investigation. Their opening piece is a summary of what information this does and does NOT give the public, and is a helpful primer. This is information that every other candidate offers willingly and his refusal has been a bone of contention for years. However the cynical part of me wonders what impact this is going to have. There has already been years of reporting about his losses, his confusing net worth, his shady business deals, more than enough to confirm to anyone paying the slightest attention that “he’s not a billionaire, he just plays one on TV.” This reporting delves more into some of these, but a lot of what’s laid out are known facts: bankruptcies, connections to foreign oligarchs with beyond shady ties, payments to family, write offs, facades to cover losses, and the fact that his political connections either from his campaign or now presidency are propping up his “empire.” Those who know, already know. And those who don’t care…don’t care. The more cult-y members of his base will dismiss any adverse information as false anyway, and too many of more establishment voters have already made their Faustian pact: put up with his hideous character and manifest unfitness so long as they get what they want out of him. This information doesn’t change that arithmetic.

Running a mask business.

The connection between loneliness and populism. This is a train of thought I hadn’t fully considered, but that makes perfect sense to me when you think about the demographics who are most likely to be populists (which come in both left and right varieties). We’re still only beginning to understand all the mental health concerns and psychology behind our cultural moment, but it’s not a coincidence that discussions of loneliness are a growing part of it.

Speaking of populism, history has a warning for us right now.

Related.

Rebecca Traister on the passing of RGB and female anger.