June 15, 2021
"A trans anthem, right now, is for a trans person to create"
On the following pages, we've compiled 37 songs that fit that description, written by trans artists. But it's important to note: We wouldn't exactly call them "trans anthems." After all, there's not a universal "trans" experience shared by all trans folks, and there are so many identities across the gender galaxy. All of the trans, genderqueer, nonbinary, two-spirit, and gender-nonconforming musicians listed here write about so much more than gender and adversity within their bodies of work. - The Advocate in 2014 archive link [more inside]
There is no more important rule than to wear these ... Safety Glasses
The New Yankee Workshop site has 153 episodes of the show (with more to come) available for free viewing. Via.
Thunder, Thunder, Thunder
I was blown out of the atmosphere when [Grateful Dead drummer] Billy Kreutzmann said he wanted me to take a crack at writing the music to these lyrics by the late great Robert Hunter [previously]. I cried like a baby for like an hour after I hung up the phone.Bluegrass phenomenon Billy Strings [previously, previously] premiered Thunder in Louisville, KY last May.
"I Have Always Dwelt in the Shadow of My God"
The Silt Verses is an audio drama about Carpenter and Faulkner, two members of a destroyed cult returning to the religion's former epicenter to look for remnants of their faith. They must deal with horrors (both familiar and welcome but also hostile and decidedly not) as well as the suspicions of townspeople and police investigators. Also, the pair are not too fond of each other. [more inside]
Some of the First Visual Framers of African Surf in Popular Culture
What The Endless Summer Gets Right—and Wrong—About African Surf Culture by Kunyalala Ndlovu from Afrosurf via LitHub [more inside]
Getting Reconciled to It
While a bipartisan group of Senators is trying to reach agreement on a budget package, progressive Democrats in Congress are signalling opposition to the likely outlines of such a deal, and White House officials have now told House Democrats to prepare to go it alone on infrastructure. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer also announced that Wednesday he will begin the process known as reconciliation, to allow Senate passage with simple majority votes.
An Old Idea Making Cities More Affordable
Before being zoned out of existence, boarding houses gave less privileged city dwellers a place to live. Some places are bringing them back. In Reasons to be Cheerful, Diana Lind writes about a new law in the State of Washington. [more inside]
“This was meant to be a powerful curse”
"Today, chickens are perhaps most often associated with comfort foods like soup and roast dinners. In ancient Athens, however, the owners of a 2,300-year-old ceramic jar containing the remains of a dismembered chicken appear to have used the animal for something far more sinister: a ritual designed to paralyze and kill upward of 55 people." (Smithsonian Magazine) [more inside]
Stephen King: Are you afraid of the dark?
"A very calm game...with mystery and conflict"
Gorgeous and inspired by, among others, Le Guin, Book of Travels TMORPG (TINY Multiplayer... for small numbers of player per server) reaches early access on August 9 on Steam.
Practice until you get it wrong every time
The Mistake Waltz - a short ballet choreographed with intentional and comical errors that can't help but make you smile. (via Kottke)
Biographies of early medieval English women
Florence H R Scott (@FlorenceHRS, 06/13/2021): "My aim with my newsletter is to eventually have written a biography of every single woman we know existed in England between roughly 500 and 1100" [ThreadReader; "Some clarification ..." and ThreadReader for it too]. The newsletter: Ælfgif-who? Issues to date: Cynethryth: Mercia's Forgotten Queen?; Breguswith: Portents and Pendants; Godgifu: The Bare Truth Behind the Lady Godiva Legend; The North Elmham and Fairford Women: Two Black Women in Tenth-Century England; Judith: The First Crowned and Anointed Queen of Wessex... At Twelve Years Old; Æthelflaed and Ælfwyn: The Women who Ruled Mercia in the Viking Age; Hugeburc: The Earliest English Woman Writer, Who Hid her Identity in a Secret Code; and Hild of Whitby: Politician, Religious Leader, Teacher, Saint.
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