MalonE-Mail Strikes Back!
Surprise! I originally intended this to be a triumphant return. Out of nowhere, completely unprompted, I wanted to jump back into your arms (or, fine, your inboxes) in a joyful explosion of warmth and exaltation that hey, maybe things aren't TOTAL garbage! I wanted to come back here to this newsletter because I had good things to share.
But then things changed. A hateful minority voice in this country has spoken and all but declared war on the rest of us. Friends and colleagues have been attacked, both online and physically, in person. Every new piece of news feels like another panel of potential trauma and devastation on this massive disco ball of horror we now call a country. Now it feels like a sad, dark mandate: MalonE-Mail is back, if only because I need some way of reaching people like you directly, some way of forming a meaningful connection, something that feels more real than a Facebook post. Because if I learned anything in 2016, it's that the concept of reality is far more precious than I ever could have imagined.
What I wrote (some recent highlights—it's been too long!):
For Vanity Fair, I wrote about Black Mirror's place in a world where we face dystopia every day, as well as a socioeconomic examination of the context clues Westworld's first season gave us about the world beyond the theme park. Also re: Westworld, for Vice, I wrote about how the violence in the show differs from that of Game of Thrones. And for MEL, because I'm a masochist, I went and saw Doctor Strange and then yelled about seeking immortality as a lazy, clichéd plot device.
What I've been reading:
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly and The Mothers by Brit Bennett. Hua Hsu on normalization. This and every piece Masha Gessen has written in the wake of the election (seriously). All the features that Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote this year on school segregation. Ijeoma Oluo on how to fight back in 2017. How one of white supremacy's favorite sons saw the light. A coastal city-dweller from the Midwest on how rural America, not the cities, is the real bubble. Teju Cole on Ionesco's Rhinoceros and the importance of resisting the flow. Lindy West on what women lost. This terrifying Gideon Lewis-Kraus feature on Google's powerful A.I. Angelica Bastien on the age-old problem with female androids in pop culture. Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Obama White House, obviously.
What I listened to:
The Hamilton soundtrack—finally saw it last month! Also: More Perfect, Radiolab's miniseries about the Supreme Court (extremely dorky, but also fascinating, and really useful information, given the times). A lot of This Spotify playlist I made recently as a morning alarm but which is excellent for morning listening in general. (Also, "Sinnerman"—and all Nina Simone, frankly—is pretty much the anthem of the next four years, no?)
What I watched:
Black Mirror season 3 (duh), Westworld (also duh), Ava DuVernay's documentary The 13th (absolutely required viewing!), Pitch (Kylie Bunbury is a gem, and Mark-Paul Goselaar is a thick dude with a beard now, hallelujah), Catastrophe (if only for Carrie Fisher—RIP, my queen—and her brilliant dog Gary), and the Brazilian Netflix dystopian show 3% (it's like all the best YA franchises rolled into one, with 50% fewer white people! Make sure you watch the subtitled version and not the dubbed, though).
As for movies, Fences, Moana, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story all made me weep like a baby. And I'm seeing Hidden Figures this week, which I've been dying to do for months now. Prematurely recommending that one too (although as I mention above, the book is quite excellent and should be required reading).
P.S. (Parting Shot):
This year I'm signed up for $5/mo donations to the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Planned Parenthood, and I'm going to be continuing my volunteer work with 826, a wonderful organization founded by author Dave Eggers that works with kids of all ages on literacy and creative writing skills. (I volunteer for this program they do called the Young Adult Book Project, which involves helping teens write personal essays.) Have you decided what organizations you'll be supporting on a monthly basis this year? How about the nonprofits you're going to be working with? Do you have your state and national representatives saved as contacts (or even better, on speed-dial) in your phone?
Because surely you can afford to part with ten bucks or a handful of hours a month or your phone anxiety to help combat the institutional social injustice that's threatening to tear your country and your neighbors apart, right? (Pro-tip: I recommend subscribing to One Small Thing, another Tinyletter written by A.V. Club managing editor Laura Browning—it's chockfull of ideas for small acts of resistance in the dark days ahead.) Good luck and godspeed out there, comrades. Talk to you soon!
(illustration by Edith Carron)