What ICE is doing - tearing families apart at our borders - is unconscionable and horrific. This is America but it doesn’t have to be. On this Father’s day our local Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) organized a protest. I hope it was well attended. I wanted to join them but my doctor cautioned me against it. Yesterday I wound up at Urgent Care, again. My breathing problems haven’t improved. An x-ray showed my lungs are at low capacity. A nebulizer treatment may have helped but really it’s another burst of prednisone again that seems to be reducing inflammation. That and Atarax, a prescription antihistamine I had never heard of. I don’t even want to read the list of side effects. I’m finally being referred to a pulmonary specialist but I have no time to go see them, the way work has been going. Obviously I’ll have to make time. And, once again, I’m very grateful for the high quality health insurance plan provided by my employer. Maybe we’ll figure this thing out one of these days.
Also disappointing? Chris Hardwick. I had been a long-time fan. Watched his show @midnight, listened to his podcast, followed him on social media. No more. He seemed to be a fellow nerd who grew up at the wrong time, in the 70s, who was picked on for his interests. And as an adult he’s been in therapy to work out his shit and always advised his followers to “be nice to each other, goddammit.” I can relate to these things. But I believe his ex, Chloe Dykstra. Her allegations are awful yet unsurprising. This, not too long after Joss Whedon. Nerdy men who have created things I’ve enjoyed, who seemed like they would be allies, but surprise! Worlds of nope. And yes, women can be shitty and abusive and manipulative in relationships. Everyone can be. But the power dynamics have to be acknowledged. In the case of Chris Hardwick he was 17 years senior to his ex-girlfriend and in a more successful point of his career. When their relationship ended he had the influence to get his buddies to blacklist her all around LA so she couldn’t get work. Likewise Whedon preyed on young actresses whose employment depended on him. With the #metoo movement these types of situations finally have repercussions but this shit should never happen to begin with.
Let’s take a 180 for Five Good Things:
- This is incredibly cool and I adore Berlin: “raubdruckerin” is an art collective turning manhole covers, grids and street tiles into printing presses that capture the unique footprints of European cities. I’d wear that.
- A friend joined me for an impromptu screening of Ocean’s 8 and wow, representation makes a huge difference. I’m all for more women on the big screen. The Bechdel Test is such a low bar yet so many movies still don’t pass it these days. It’s inexcusable. Recently on twitter I suggested that imdb and rotten tomatoes should include a brief line of text with an inclusivity rating for a movie, right along with its runtime, filming locations, etc. I don’t want to bother watching movies that render women, people of color, or LGBTQ+ people practically invisible. Those movies have all been made already. It’s time for the film industry to reflect real world demographics.
- We Strange Girls are hosting a Summer Night Market at Modist Brewing. I had a rough day in my booth at Art-A-Whirl last month, which I wrote about. But the weather was working against us. And I hadn’t printed any new, smaller pieces to sell. Next month we’ll be indoors in air conditioning and I’ve already made photo magnets (how do they fucking work?) and photo gift cards that turned out really well. I have a good feeling about this.
- Tuesday night I’m seeing Denmark’s Iceage for the third time. I’ve really been enjoying their new album, Beyondless. And they’re always fun live.
- Queer Eye season 2 is on Netflix! And I may have binge watched it all too quickly. I did so much crying. “There are more tears and hugs and social commentary in the Queer Eye season two opener than there were in the entire first season.” For real.
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