Thursday Murmurings
Birds of a feather, flock together
Photo by James Crombie
Greetings and Happy Thursday, you wonderful people.
I’ll dive right in to the things that have caught my eye or been on my mind this week:
Sigh. Well, I sincerely hope that not all my Thursday Murmurings will begin with news that made my heart sink. It’s impossible not to be appalled/saddened/angered/scared/upset/hurt and a great many other things by the news this week of yet another mass shooting in America, this time in Atlanta, specifically targeting Asian American women. According to the gun violence archive, there have been over 100 mass shootings in the States so far this year. That is absolute insanity. The rise in anti-Asian hate crime the world over in the last year, triggered by Corona Virus and no doubt a certain former President’s insistence on referring to it as the ‘China Virus’, has been abhorrent. To be a journalist in America and have to constantly cover these events must be horribly sad and frustrating. To be Asian and living with a heightened sense of fear and the sadness of your community being targeted in this way - well, I’ve pondered for a few minutes on how to finish that sentence and it would appear, I quite literally can’t find the words. I could certainly go off on an endless rant here about guns, racism, misogyny, white supremecy, why white men are never referred to as terrorists etc etc. But what I’d prefer to do is acknowledge the victims, say their names, let them sink in. While now, they will forever be known as victims of this awful attack, up until that fateful day, they were just regular every day people like you and me. Humans living full, enriching lives, working, taking care of their families, maybe they had a sitcom they were really into or a pair of shoes they loved and wore all the time and a million other little things that made them who they were. And all those pieces of their lives matter. Hopefully those are the bits their families will remember, rather than the vicious way their lives were taken. Delaina Ashley Yuan, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue. Read their names a few times. Support and protect your Asian friends, now and always.
I found this article about how brands are speaking to us like children to be really interesting. The piece is from 2016 but is most definitely still relevant and is a trend that only seems to have grown since then. It’s quite a deep dive and since reading it, I’ve been noticing this weird infantalising language being used everywhere.
If you haven’t watched the Britney Spears documentary yet, it’s certainly worth a watch (though in my opinion, it should’ve been a multi-part series or something, because there’s entirely too much that has happened over the course of her career that deserves a much deeper analysis). Anyhoo, this week, a documentary series about the singer Demi Lovato was released on YouTube. Disclaimer here: I honestly don’t think I could name a Demi Lovato song. I’m not familiar with her work, but have heard various rumblings over the years of her struggles with drug addiction. I haven’t watched the documentary yet, but likely will because I’m always intrigued at how young women are framed in these pieces, especially when the director is male. However, without having watched the doc yet, I found this piece in The Atlantic, discussing (among other things) whether Lovato’s extreme openness about her struggles is a help or a hindrance, to be a really good read that gave me lots of food for thought.
I came across this on Twitter last week and am surprised I’d never heard this story before. Have you heard of Marianne Bachmeier? I hadn’t either. But you know when people say ‘if anyone ever messed with my kid, I’d kill them’? Well, she actually did. She killed the man accused of murdering her 7 year old daughter, right in the crowded courtroom where he stood trial in Germany in 1981.
And just because all of that was a bit heavy this week (I’ll find some upbeat stories for next week, I promise!), I wanted to end with a giggle. To know me is to know I’m a total nerd for stand up comedy (my brother and I speak to each other practically exclusively in Seinfeld quotes at this point) and this bit by Tig Notaro never fails to give me a good chuckle.
And of course, I leave you with the joy of my pup Biggie Smalls revelling in a good belly rub.
Until next week, smile at strangers, spread good vibes, be nice to people.
