HELLO and welcome to the 297th installment of Things I Read That I Love, wherein I share with you some of the longer-form journalism/essays I’ve read recently so that you can know about BH90210!!! This “column” is less feminist/queer focused than the rest of the site because when something is feminist/queer focused, I put it on the rest of the site. Here is where the other things are.
The title of this feature is inspired by the title of Emily Gould’s tumblr, Things I Ate That I Love.
“Are You The One?” Proves Soulmates Aren’t Really A Thing, by Natalie Adler for Buzzfeed News, September 2019
I can read these takes all day! Watch me go!
The laughable self-importance of the refrain “for the first time in Are You the One? history” elides what queer theorist José Muñoz called the limited, pragmatic politics of “the here and now.” What the queer season of this show teaches us about queer love is that its supposed failures are part of queer world-building — they suggest a future, a “then and there” on the horizon, where we have more options available to us than the set track of heteronormative milestones. “Queerness and the politics of failure are linked insofar as they are about doing ‘something else,’” he wrote, that “something else” being a gesture toward a possibility not yet named, difficult to imagine because of how utopic in scale it could be and how limiting the inhibition of heteronormativity is on our imaginations.
The Wisdom Of Never Leaving Your Hotel Room, by Yonatan Raz Portugali for Popula, August 2019
In my first two days of seclusion in the hotel, I lived on room-service salad and tomato soup and focused on finishing a long-delayed article while Toony worked at the gallery. My confinement caused me to enjoy Berlin for the first time: not going out into it, I couldn’t be disappointed, frustrated or cheated. From the hotel room, the city seemed so full of potential for adventure. Through the window, everything looked so interesting!
The Gospel According to Marianne Williamson, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner for The New York Times Magazine, September 2019
This was a real journey!! I didn’t really know what this woman was about and now I do and wow. I feel like this week I read a lot of stories about things i did not know anything about and therefore have nothing to say about them besides INTERESTING STUFF, FOLKS!
Joe Exotic and His American Animals, by Robert Moor for New York Magazine, September 2019
There’s a lot of wild stuff in this article but also… I had no idea that petting tiger cubs in the mall was like, a thing?
The Niche Celebrity Satire Of “BH90210,” by Emily Nussbaum for The New Yorker, September 2019
It’s me, I’m the niche who is here for this program, it’s me!
Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery Has Brought Chaos and Carnage To America’s Streets, by Caroline O’Donovan and Ken Bensinger for Buzzfeed News, August 2019
This investigation has already prompted three senators to call for Amazon to actually do something about the situation and I wonder if anything will come of that.
What College Admissions Offices Really Want, by Paul Tough for The New York Times Magazine, September 2019
Despite alleged diversity initiatives, “who can pay full tuition” and “who has good SAT scores that’ll up our U.S. News rankings” remain the two most crucial factors of all.
“Trump” “SoHo” “Hotel”, by Emily Flouton for Tin House, August 2019
Honestly her bio at the end is a true finale to the piece. Also! This is Tin House’s last issue, which is sad.
The Death and Life of America’s Lesbian Bars, by Meghan McCarron for Eater, September 2019
It’s so interesting to read about this from the perspective of lesbians who turned 21 and were like “wait, there are no lesbian bars here?” as opposed to my perspective which is “ah, my fellow lesbian dinosaurs, dost thee remember when there were lesbian bars here?” It’s good, this new energy! The future! Also I personally am eagerly awaiting the launch of this bar, so.
