Tunes for the week of February 3
I feel like I've lived four separate lives just during the month of January. The world feels scary when you spend a lot of time opening a magical mirrored device that is designed to capture your engagement. However, when you grab a bite with a friend, have a long talk with a co-worker, or dance with strangers at a bar, the world feels a lot less scary. Remember you are not alone and remember to take care of yourself as best you can right now.
Don’t get me wrong, the United States is in a very scary place and I would encourage everyone to donate to resources like the ACLU, call their local congressperson, and read up on ways to stay safe during these times.
Before I share some tunes, I want to share a couple of rabbit holes I've gone down recently.
Rabbit Hole #1 - Philosopher Martha Nussbaum
I recently read her essay on objectification, and it made me re-examine a lot of my implicit beliefs and behaviors. I consider myself to be a feminist, but this essay showed me that I still have room for improvement and things to learn in that area. I paraphrased some of my favorite excerpts from the essay:
The distorted upbringing of men in England who are taught that just by virtue of being male, one is entitled to violate half of the human race.
The lack of respect that much lovemaking displays is not a feature of sexuality itself; it is created by asymmetrical structures of power.
The remedy for this state of affairs is a gradual undoing of the institutional structures that lead men to eroticize power. Sexual harassment, domestic violence, and a certain kind of pornography are all different sides of the same coin.
If you are a man, a person with a penis, or anyone that considers themselves to be masculine in certain settings, this is a must-read in my humble opinion: https://www.mit.edu/~shaslang/mprg/nussbaumO.pdf
I also skimmed Nussbaum's "Capabilities Approach." The TLDR of this is: "All human beings have the right to flourish, and it is the task of governments to provide citizens with the capabilities to flourish."
Martha Nussbaum is incredible and I want to share her work with everyone I talk to these days.
Rabbit Hole #2 - Taiwanese Digital Minister of Affairs Audrey Tang
I have made TikToks and gotten on my soapbox about the current negatives of social media, but after reading and watching more of Audrey Tang, I am inspired by how profoundly positive social media could be.
Audrey Tang is Taiwan's first Digital Minister of Affairs and they are responsible for vTaiwan. The long and short of it is that vTaiwan has been built on crowdsourcing political views and ultimately finding common ground between users, which then turns into policy recommendations for local politicians. Super cool! It got me thinking about a social media algorithm/platform that prioritized consensus instead of engagement.
This article has a more complete explanation of Audrey's story and vTaiwan: https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/21/240284/the-simple-but-ingenious-system-taiwan-uses-to-crowdsource-its-laws/
Rabbit Hole #3 - Being More Emo-ish
I blame catholic school and other stressors in my life for making me feel like I needed to be a perfectionist, high-achieving politician in high school/early college. Friends that knew me during that time joke about the legend of "DECA Joe.” Golfer, School store manager, AP class taker, DECA and AMA president, 20-hour-a-week job haver. I look back and wonder what the hell I was on. The line from John Mulaney’s Kid Gorgeous come to mind. “When I walk down the street I need everybody all day long to like me so much. It’s exhausting. It’s like running for mayor of nothing.”
And you know what? I love that part of myself. He gets shit done! He can work a room. He’s smart and clever and wants to succeed. I can still turn that part of myself on from time to time when I need to. We live in a capitalist society (gross) and that part of myself is necessary at times. I have since of course embraced and tapped into other parts of my identity that are much comfier, but “DECA Joe” is still inside me.
However, I have been wondering lately what I would've been like in high school if I wasn't in such a high-strung state of mind. I think I may have just hung out more. I probably would've taken more naps and cried more than I let myself.
Maybe I would've done marching band or theatre or joined a creative writing club. Maybe I wouldn't have let the old voices of some of my catholic school peers make me feel strange for how much I loved cartoons, Pokémon, or Phantom of the Opera. Perhaps I would've listened to some more Pierce the Veil (s/o Mads for putting my living under a rock ass on lmfaoo) or 21 Pilots and not felt strange about it.
I've still got some wounds I'm trying to sort out from my hyper-competitive past, but imagining an alternate timeline where I'm a little more emo-ish makes me laugh and smile. The current state of the world has also inspired me to seek out more emo and punk songs than usual. If you have any recommendations for me in my delayed emo-phase, do let me know. (For the record, I’ve tried Midwest emo. I can’t get into it. Some of the guitar riffs are sick but I can’t get into the talk-singy bad vocals. If that’s your jam, go off.)
Anyway, here are some tunes that I have been vibing to lately:
King for a Day - Pierce the Veil and Kellin Quinn
Cradle The Pain - Morgan Nagler
True Religion - Shygirl, Club Shy, Isabella Lovestory, PinkPantheress