The Fracture: February 2024, Part 2
Willing to listen and learn, Bono as the Joker, an actual broken clavicle
This world is heavy. A lot of love and loss. These are the things that made me sit, ponder, and crack during the second half of February.
The links
Nex Benedict should be alive. In her guest essay, Margaret Renki captures a detail many of us are sure to miss about the story. Even if we don’t understand people’s choices and changes, we live in a better world when we’re willing to listen and learn.
Which brings me to… The Coddling of the American Mind is a movie! I read this book (everyone should) before the pandemic. This New York Times best-selling book hit society hard as it exposed us to major flaws in how we rear younger generations. Inspired by the book, this documentary is a first-ever “Substack Presents” feature. We’re losing the ability to have healthy discourse in our country. We label, we cancel, and we isolate ourselves into like groups which has detrimental effects to the mental health of young people. Unfortunately, “The Great Three Untruths” are alive and well. Watch the trailer here.
Someone very special inspired me to post about voice notes. (She’s pretty big on them and has influenced me.) But she shared this today which reminded me that if it’s not a “Fuck yes,” it’s a “Fuck no.” Self-worth. Self-worth. Self-worth.
Apparently, we can end a sentence with a preposition. Grammar is a fun topic to get feisty about.
The music
I remember seeing the music video for U2’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” as a middle schooler circa 1995 and thinking I want to live in this odd world.
They want you to be Jesus
Now go down on one knee
But they want their money back
If you're alive at thirty-three
And you're turning tricks
With your crucifix
You're a star, Ooh child
Of course you're not shy
You don't have to deny love
Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me
Hey, want another song about how love can destroy you? Coming right up! “Please Take Me Home” from The Bird and the Bee is just shameless surrender. (They have SO many good songs like “You’re a Cad,” referenced in a previous Fracture post. Phenomenal for a burlesque routine.) Note the similarities between this song and the U2 one.
Tell me how you missed me while you kiss me
I've been gone for much too long
Going crazy, making babies keeping house and singing
Fill me, fill me, fill me With all the love I'd ever need
Kill me, kill me, kill me I would kill myself to please you
(Uh, not really. That seems extreme. Remember we just talked about self-worth.)
So when I went to Portland earlier this month, a group of us conference attenders went to a lesbian bar, and “Don’t Call Me Baby” from Madison Avenue came on. I screamed “I know this song!!!” because I had just rediscovered it on my music stream during a Walmart trip a few weeks earlier. The lyrics are stupid, but who cares? I love the turn of the millennium vibes with a dash of flirty girl power. Remember self worth, right?
You and me we had a opportunity
And we could make it something really cool
But you, you think I'm not the kind of girl
I'm hear to tell ya baby I know how to rock your world
Don't think that I am that strong
I'm the one to take you on
Don't under estimate me
Boy I'll make you sorry you were born
The art
Without going into too much detail, I work for a tribal entity, so advocating for and supporting the tribe is paramount. I recently viewed Nayana LaFond's heart wrenching Portraits in RED exhibit, offering an intimate look at missing and murdered indigenous people. Her exhibit has traveled around the PNW and is/will also be displayed in cities in New England. I plan on viewing the exhibit again soon.
The random
Practicing “Angel” over and over just to master one five-minute routine. Still wondering where my hands go on my body, but it’s really all in the face. Or it at least starts there.
Wind that hijacks your inhalation.
Intention versus perception.
The perfect cartwheel. Falling and again. Not straight and again. Round and round.
Talking to a guy who actually broke his… clavicle. Adorable. Just for me. 😍