AMLO All Along
Obradorismo was nationalist austerity governance under the pretense of left-wing populism
On the Virtues of Ingratitude
Gratitude hurts our critical capacities by forbidding dissatisfaction with a scale that tilts, albeit by chance, in one’s favor.
Escapism and Art For Lonely People
On some level, probably the first and most immediate level, all art is fantasy.
The quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be life hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.
Excerpts from a Conversation with David Foster Wallace
There are four trillion bits coming at you, 99 percent of them are shit, and it’s too much work to do triage to decide.
We May Draw Two Conclusions
We may draw two conclusions, at least tonight; later we can change our minds.
The Art of Promotion (1)
We here at James Brown Enterprises are deeply concerned about our youth. We are not only concerned with them doing the right things but also making the right decisions in life.
Demoting Beauty
Our response to beauty is our heart volunteering us for the gentlest form of domination.
Power and the Pickup Artist
Rather than establish a spontaneous, open-ended and reciprocal relation with another person, the pickup artists want to assure that interpersonal exchanges follow a rigid script that culminates in sex
An Exile from the Real World
An exile from the real world, Elvis Presley built his own world
The Art of the Interview (3): Harvey Pekar
Harvey Pekar cramps David Letterman’s style in 1988.
Life is Born Out of Force
Life is born out of force and denial at the hands of one’s intimates. This is knowledge to be taken in manfully. In fact, the taking in of this knowledge is precisely what has always been called manful.
"A State of Mathematical Grace" (How to Begin)
Rereading Enduring Love, I’m struck again by the simple perfection of its opening
I have no right to understand anything
I have no right to understand anything. It is not my fault. Ideas come and settle in my mind by mistake, then, realizing their mistake,…
Writing about the past and the trick of memory
I opened L. P. Hartley’s The Go-Between to find an Introduction by the author that is really a wonderful little piece of literary criticism.
And It Felt Like A Kiss: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Specter
Rock and roll has no morals. Of course, that’s much of what is and has always been attractive about it. But maybe there’s something legitimately chilling beyond where lawlessness and rebellion are sexy.
Bail Bloc 2.0
Our work on immigration, ICE, borders, and detention
Liquid Border
An excerpt from The Law of the Sea by Annalisa Camilli
United States v. Scott Daniel Warren
The criminalization of humanitarian aid at the border enacts a fantasy of desolate individuation. Scott Warren’s felony trial reiterates the necessity to keep reaching out.
Abolish the ICE Prison Complex
A recent Supreme Court decision reminds us that the law has no interest in lifting the veil that covers immigration prisons
Border Theories
What would it look like to put a power structure on trial? Interweaving visual narratives of the Mexico–United States border show the uneasy relation between objects and people.
Soft Borders
The soft patriotic trust in Canada's softly administered border is fully compatible with the logic of restriction.
Fash at Sea
The end of Defend Europe’s fascistic campaign to block migrants’ boats in the Mediterranean doesn’t mean the threat is over
Operation Streamline
The border’s dream is for undocumented immigrants to be its most reliable missionaries. But the immigrant who crosses the border is the affirmation of a life that transcends it.
In the Water
An immigrant in the water is a story or a lesson, but an immigrant on land is our responsibility--they might become our neighbor
Cross-Border Operations
It is no longer plausible to describe the state’s borders as geographically fixed or the state as distinguishable from capital or “markets.”
Empire Records
Guantánamo Diary's missing passages connect it with the US empire's deeper history of far-flung capture and detention networks