Post-Thanksgiving Reads
Prison Culture: We Don’t Know Where We Will End Up…
A year since the 2024 election.
We aren’t superheroes, and we cannot individually stop all suffering. The most we might do is to lessen it for someone else. And often this feels insufficient, so why bother? For me, staying focused on the ways I can lessen suffering that are within my actual control provides grounding and some peace. It’s the best I’ve got. Well that and remaining committed to “doing” rather than “thinking about doing.”
I Should Read... Nov 28
Boston Review The Claims of Close Reading Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical. (Learning close reading as an English Lit major was probably one of the most useful skills I've ever picked up.)
It's Nice That Has Judging a Book by Its Cover Gone Too Far? From genre-homogeny to data-backed design decisions and marketing trends, book cover designers have to battle to create something risky and unique. Designers Na Kim and David Pearson wade in on this neverending tale.
ProPublica What We Know About U.S.-Backed Zero Units in Afghanistan Deadly night raids. Faulty U.S. intelligence. A “classified” war loophole. Reporter Lynzy Billing’s investigation offers an unprecedented insight into the civilian casualties of Afghanistan’s Zero Units.
Reuters Meta Buried ‘Causal’ Evidence of Social Media Harm, US Court Filings Allege “To the company’s disappointment, “people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison...”
Forever Wars Sarah Hurwitz Profanes the Holocaust Holocaust education has worked too well for the Obama speechwriter, since when she rationalizes Israel’s genocide, “I sound obscene.” Maybe sit with that, Sarah.
The Verge Large Language Mistake Cutting-edge research shows language is not the same as intelligence. The entire AI bubble is built on ignoring it.
The Guardian Meet the AI Workers Who Tell Their Friends and Family to Stay Away From AI When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say
Mother Jones Turns Out Fighting Fascism Helps You Live Longer Retirees are mobilizing to defend democracy—and the benefits literally show up in their DNA. (My local Indivisible group is run by a group of retirees who started out as a book club.)
Dan Sinker Whistle Up “The whistle has been an effective weapon against the occupation of Chicago... In the spirit of getting whistles out to people, I thought I'd share some notes and resources on whistles so you can start stocking up wherever you are.”
Book Recommendation:
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
I bought How to Do Nothing a few years ago and it sat unread until I happened across it on the shelf this week while looking for something else. Maybe it was just waiting for the right time to hit my mind, in the wake of a five-week course on the foundations of Zen. While the book makes only oblique reference to Chinese philosophy (mainly Taoism), the idea of being a “businessless person” with “nothing to do” was a proposal for life advocated by the Zen teacher Linji (Rinzai in Japanese). And despite being written pre-covid, in the early stages of Trump's first administration, it speaks directly to the need to resist both corporate and fascist power that's only ratcheted up in the intervening years. I'm about 1/2-way through and heartily recommend picking it up.
Until next time, luminous beings.