I read a lot. This is a selection of what I read the past two weeks (4/5/2021 through 4/25/2021) that I think you should read, too. I took a week off because I was sick. I read less than I usually do because I was sick.
Articles
*Foster Kamer’s If Y2K-Era Movie Theater Carpets Could Talk for A24: …They’d say a lot about how they were designed to hide stains and be easier to clean. No, really. Those blacklight carpets with wacky designs of squiggles and spaceships had a utility to them beyond just being aesthetic as hell.
*Beckett Mufson’s A Short History of Long Furby for Vice: Aloe didn’t set to create a sensation across the Furby fandom, but a sensation happened all the same. Long Furby is exactly what it says on the tin: a Furby refashioned to have an extremely elongated body. Fans and crafters alike love the creative, silly interpretation of a nostalgic, comforting character.
*Derek Robertson’s Manufacturing Happiness: How ‘Brain Candy’ Made Kids in the Hall Comedy’s Greatest Cult Band for The Ringer: The making of Brain Candy!
*Sa’iyda Shabazz’s Music Artists Don’t Exist To Be Role Models To Your Kids — Don’t Project Your Morality Onto Them for Scary Mommy: The unwarranted outrage over L’il Nas X’s brilliant video for “Montero (“Call Me by Your Name)” dredged up a much-needed discussion about the responsibilities of artists who make content enjoyed by kids. Specifically, they have none. Creators should be allowed to make whatever they want for whatever audience they want. Parents need to be the ones looking at what media their children consume and deciding their boundaries if they’re so concerned.
*An Tran’s How a Poetry Collection Masquerading as Buddhist Scripture Nearly Duped the Literary World for LitHub: Matty Weingast pulled a scam on the Buddhist community and readers by pretending that he released a new translation of the millennia-spanning Therigatha, an important text featuring writings by the first cloister of Buddhist nuns. Despite having no background in translating from the liturgical language Pali, his publisher still elected to publish the book… only for clergypersons to notice no similarities between the original and the “translation.” Turns out he published his own poems inspired by Therigatha, usurping the original womens’ voices for his own personal promotion.
*Understanding Houston’s Exploring the Legacy of Redlining in Houston: Houston brags about how it is the most diverse city in the United States, but it still isn’t an equitable city. This extensive and necessary piece looks at the city’s extensive history of redlining the Black community, which leads to challenges with housing, access to opportunities, employment, poverty, transportation, and even climate. If you live in Houston or have business ties here, this is required reading. Don’t neglect the problems.
Comics
As always, my weeklies/weeklies-ish:
*Huda Fahmy’s Yes I’m Hot in This
*Phylecia Miller and Jules Rivera’s Hi, Phylecia!
*Taejoon Park’s Lookism
*Jules Rivera’s Mark Trail
*Linda Sejic’s Punderworld
*Jessi Sharon’s The Sea in You
*Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus
*Sensaga’s Ham and Mat
*Steenz’s Heart of the City
Writer Aya Khalil and artist Huda Fahmy recently published an informative comic (now a free print for the teacher’s lounge!) detailing how teachers and administrators can do right by their students currently celebrating Ramadan. Definitely share this with all your educator friends!
See you next week, fellow bookish buffs!
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Love the artwork for this feature? That’s all from the magical mind of Jules Rivera. Support her on Patreon.
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