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Did you know that there were four famines in India in the 19th century and that coniditions were so bad families had to resort to cannibalism? Reading history textbooks by the certified leges below made me realize how easy it is to appreciate the everyday and see the line that goes from the past to the present. Also made me a huge Gorbachev head -- one of the most earnest figures in history who also starred in a Pizza Hut commercial in 1997
Check out John Merriman (A History of Modern Europe is an easy PDF find online), Eric Foner (Give Me Liberty! is a gorgeous read), Richard Bulliet (The Earth and Its Peoples)
Feb 5, 2024
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Like so many people, I never cared for history. It was always just a bunch of dates, cause-and-effect relationships, and names I had to memorize last minute before an exam. Now that I’m so many years separated from all that, I’ve finally found that I’m entering the pro-history phase of my life. I mean, it’s just so interesting. There’s such finite details available about everything, and sooo many different little niches with tons of resources equally as available as the obvious stuff. oh and it’s true, which is both terrifying and cool.
Feb 1, 2022
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was vv lucky to have had some amazing teachers. i still firmly believe it’s one of the most important school subjects and is severely underrated.. obviously part of the reason it’s so horrifying to see so many lawmakers trying to control and censor the way teachers discuss it in the classroom..
reading, learning and speaking about history (esp. for my fellow americans) is so important, now more than ever! big appreciation for all of the teachers willing to talk about and touch on the real, uncomfortable, and terrible parts of history.. kinda radicalizing a generation of young people ✌️
Apr 27, 2024
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In retrospect horrible people, but a product of their times. However reading first person accounts of the ongoings of those days are truly awe inspiring.
Jan 15, 2025
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this was the epitome of the Obama administration
Feb 19, 2024
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Not a rec but a trend I noticed in music.
In Hayes Code Hollywood (puritanical production mandates against things like sex, violence, swearing in movies), there were musical numbers that took otherwise innocuous songs and added eroti./BDSM undertones. we had “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The big dance sequence in Minnelli’s The Pirate, where a woman is transformed into a donkey/bunny(? I forget) on all fours (I think?) while Gene Kelly gyrates around her in tight, low cut leather (this is crystal clear).
Fast forward (I’m skipping many steps - an amateur at this sort of thing) to the late 2000s/early 2010s. The latent BDSM becomes more explicitly lyrical in songs Like “Bad Romance” and (obviously) “SM.” However, these songs have erotic purchase - they chart desire ( “ I want your revenge” “Chains and whips excite me”) without the context of the body. The instrument and the lyrics let the listener construct titillation/lust.
Then, in the latter 2010s, we get total assaults of the physical experience of pleasure in Songs like “WAP” artists like Cupcakke, etc. so explicit that they undermine eroticism. At the same time, there’s also artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, who wax about yearning in a mystical, spiritual fashion (that im sure Jia Tolentino wrote about somewhere).
still working out why, but I think this change speaks to how rabidly we want sensation (not contemplation) from art but also (bc we get most of our art electronicall) technology and (still Working this one out) religion?
i told my friend about this and he said, “Sex Positive Accelerationism.”
Feb 26, 2024
The following photos are examples. another instance which belongs only to memory: I was teaching kindergarten on the UES at a point in my life which seemed to have no point but one morning I was walking from 86th street where they have enormous lavish dogs who look like they have a 401k and the sun was coruscating like entire streets were orange and I strolled past this Platonic piece of dog shit that was sculpted like a soft serve and the shit had this gleaming halo from the sun and stopped and stared at it for like 5 minutes
This song from the legend of Zelda always plays when I see these: https://youtu.be/qtCWgWUhA8s?si=f13382M560HRzX6B
Feb 4, 2024