Revolution, honey
Last week, I was talking with a friend (Tolly, that is—again I say: subscribe to her zzzexy newsletter!) about this project right here and how I'm running out of fresh ways to say "Hi. I want to acknowledge that sh!t remains bad out there and I'm trying to meet it head-on, but also (and precisely because of that), here are some small connective pleasures to refuel us." She was like, "What about a permalink disclaimer? Like, a sign you can tap whenever anyone's all, "BUT YOU KNOW SH!T'S BAD, RIGHT?" and I thought, "Huh, what an obviously sensible idea," and then we ate some salty, salty french fries because sometimes that's just what you need.
So, by next week, you'll see an unobtrusive "What's with these calm little lists while the world is burning?" link somewhere on the homepage and/or in these intros. But for now, here's the last time I'll over-explain in so many words:
Hi. I want to acknowledge that sh!t remains bad out there and I'm trying to meet it head-on, but also (and precisely because of that), here are some small connective pleasures to refuel us.
This week's beauties:
- Did you know community college is now free for a lot of graduating high school students (and some grownups) in a lot of places around the US? It's through a(n admittedly convoluted and largely siloed) constellation of state and local bills and ordinances, but in more than half the states in this country, there are considerable pathways to free associates' degrees or professional certificates. Amid all the horrors going on in higher ed right now, at least there's this. Here's a story about Austin Community College's free ride pilot program, and here's a link to a state-by-state breakdown (although ACC isn't mentioned, so it's incomplete). I'm a graduate of both a state university system and a community college (shoutout TCC), and I will sing the latter's praises forever. Folks at community college are there to make those grades and get that dingdang piece of paper, and of the three higher education institutions I've attended to date, the students there were by far the most serious. So if ever I catch you turning your nose up at a place like that, it's detention for you, bub. Grow up!
- Hey did you also know there's a book club in Austin that's been reading Finnegan’s Wake* by James Joyce for well over a decade? They don't get it any more than anybody else does, but they're keeping at it anyway. They read one page per meeting, every two weeks, and spend like an hour or something trying to figure it out. Bless 'em. Bless 'em all. What a bunch of sweethearts.
- You're either gonna love or hate this: Patti Smith covering Smells Like Teen Spirit with her own spoken word at the bridge. Something tells me Kurt would've been into it. Can something be cursed and blessed at the same time? Discuss.
- Speaking of books, get this one on your TBR list: Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline. The author is also a visual artist whose work I experienced in person a couple years ago at The Met. Specifically, her sublimation print, "Summer Azure," is featured in Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room, which debuted a few years ago (and which anchors a chapter of the book I'm perpetually working on). That work is also a tribute to Marsha, the iconic trans activist, she of the words "Thank God the revolution has begun, honey," whose work and DIY ethos is as important today as it ever was, and I cannot wait to read this book. You can order it here and support an independent bookstore (this is important!) in the process.
- Bookstores bookstores bookstores, beautiful old bookstores. Yum.
- Speaking of even MORE books, what if you (:::looks left, looks right:::) ...wrote one? Or maybe some poetry or journal entries or whatever else you want? The great Jami Attenberg's biannual (or biennial? I never remember the difference and I don't care enough to look it up) project, #1000words, starts back up this weekend. It's free to participate. She'll send you an email every day encouraging you to write your ass off, and let me tell you, this fantastic woman (and her fantastic writer friends) can give a pep talk like whoa. There's a whole community built around this thing. You can use it to revive an old project, start a new practice, or just shake the cobwebs out of the way you've been thinking about something. Tell a story. Scribble nonsense. Document life as it is right now, describing all the little details you'll someday forget if you don't. Write out your rage, your hopes, your petty grievances, the things that made you laugh last week. Nobody has to see it but you, but wouldn't it be cool if you shared it with somebody? Anyhow, get into it. I'll see you there.
- And apropos of nothing, to play us out, here's a largely forgotten VH-1 jam that somehow got lost in the sands of time but honestly still slaps.
*oops: in the newsletter version of this post, I wrote Ulysses instead of Finnegan’s Wake. I’ve read neither (bad English major—bad, bad), so I’m equally in the dark about both. My apologies to the ghost of James Joyce.
Get back out there and do stuff that would make Marsha proud, y'all. Love you.
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world. And then you read."
—James Baldwin
28 May 2025
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