🔥 Destroy Everything Immediately 🔥
I didn’t know what to do last night, but I couldn’t stay inside any longer. Listening to the Kavanaugh hearings, I got so furious that I felt like I need to run a marathon. Instead, I went to the copy shop, printed out 100 posters that say “Believe Women” and then asked Ben to come with me to tape up posters all over the neighborhood. This wasn’t meant to accomplish anything in particular, it was just something to do with the extra rage bottled up inside me.
The thing is, it’s clear that it doesn’t matter whether Republicans believe women. It’s impossible to listen to Dr. Blasey Ford’s impeccable, vulnerable, detailed testimony this week and not believe her. She has no reason to make this story up and telling it has literally put her life in danger. They believe her. They just don’t care. They don’t care. And that’s what makes me so furious that the only thing that feels good is hammering a poster into a telephone pole.
When we got home, I just went to bed. I turned off the lights and turned on the audiobook I’m listening to—The Story of a New Name by Elana Ferrante. This epic detailing the lives of smart girls growing up in the oppressive, patriarchal environment of Naples, Italy feels like the perfect thing to listen to right now. As I lay there in the dark, one line from the story seemed written just for this moment: “If nothing could save us, not money, not a male body, and not even studying, we might as well destroy everything immediately.”
This Week’s Comic
STUFF I LOVE:
Bojack Horseman is back for season five and since this series digs more deeply into depression with every year, this is going to be a doozy.
Ordering custom rubber stamps (as noted above) is something I do when I’m feeling upset. You can get a stamp of anything!! And then stamp it everywhere!
This Flowchart by Aubrey Hirsch about all the impossible hurdles in the way of reporting sexual assault.
This Mashup Video of the Kavanaugh testimony by Travon Free.
SOMEONE TO KNOW:
Kisha Bari
I am in awe of the photos of Kisha Bari, a photographer who documents social justice movements—particularly the Women’s March and subsequent feminist protests. Her portraits this week from anti-Kavanaugh protests in Washington, DC are just heart-stopped.
SOMETHING TO DO
Leave a Review for a Book
The first review for Open Earth on Amazon was from someone complaining that the book (which is erotica) had too much sex in it. Hm. I badgered my friends who had read the book to leave reviews and its ranking improved considerably. Something nice you can do for any author you like is leave a review of their books on Amazon or Goodreads. If a book gets 50 reviews, the algorithm recommends it more often. Amazon is a scam, but authors might as well make money off it. This week, I left a five-star review for Archie Bongiovanni’s “Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns” (whose cover is cropped above).
I’ll write to you in a few weeks! In the meantime, keep in touch on Instagram and Twitter, okay? If this is your first time seeing this newsletter, you can subscribe here.