feature image via old tweener
HELLO and welcome to the 144th 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 read them too and we can all know more about Who Framed Roger Rabbit! 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.
American Horror In New Orleans (June 2014), by C.W. Cannon for The Rumpus — This is about a few things — American Horror Story is shooting on the author’s street, so he talks about horror, and ghosts, and ghost tourism, and then he talks about white people abusing and terrorizing their slaves (there’s also a shot of a wax museum scene depicting Madame LaLaurie’s attic where she tortured slaves, so prepare yourself if you want to read this piece!), and plantations, and well there’s a lot of things in here, is the thing.
Can We Break Free From The Fear of Missing Out? (May 2014), by Jacob Burak for aeon – “We all know the studies showing that end-of-life regrets centre on what we didn’t do, rather than on what we did. If so, constantly watching others doing things that we are not is fertile ground for a future of looking back in sorrow. A lively conversation at the other end of the table can give us the FoMO itch, just as can the dizzying array of shows, parties, books, or the latest in consumer trends pumped at us by social media.”
The Familiar Characters and Setting and Unfamiliar Character Team-Ups of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, by Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, Matt Singer, and Scott Tobias for The Dissolve – Oh man I loved this movie so much! This conversation gave the film a lot of context and made me want to watch it again.
The Warped World Of 1950s Marriage Counseling (September 2014), by Rebecca Onion for aeon – This has been making the rounds because it is truly gross that back in the day marriage advisors recommended women who were abused by their husbands think about what they could do better not to incite his anger! Women are SO silly!
The Not-So-Simple Life (December 2013), by Whitney Light for narratively –  “The farm-to-table frenzy has thousands of urbanites trading in their desks for the idylls of agriculture. But one eager young couple learns the hard way that organic utopia is easier dreamed than achieved.”
Teach for America has faced criticism for years. Now It’s Listening — And Changing (September 2014), by Dana Goldstein for vox.com – This is a really comprehensive look at a lot of the problems Teach For America presents and looks at how the program is trying to change to better serve the communities it enters, because teacher turnover is a huge predictor of school success and TFA teachers only stay for two years and don’t have a lot of training.
No (Spring 2008), by Bryan Doyle for The Kenyon Review – On rejection letters, given and received, and on editing, provided and received.  I liked this one.
The Midwest: Cities of the Plain (1980), by Edmund White for States of Desire Revisited: Travels in Gay America – Well this is just FASCINATING. It’s an excerpt from Edmund White’s 1980 book “States of Desire” (getting a reprint this year), in which he traveled all over the US documenting gay life in different places in the late ’70s. He was very disarmed by the situation he encountered when he visited Kansas, “which he found to be like “the Fifties in deep freeze,” reminding White of the attitudes and ideas of gay men during his own adolescence.”
Turning 14 In Cincinnati (May 2014), by Krista Ramsey and Cara Owsley for Cincinnati.com – “In some neighborhoods, 14 is the sweet spot between childhood and adolescence, a time of unguarded emotion and untempered enthusiasm. In others, it’s an abrupt introduction into a complex, confusing and sometimes even violent world.”
Who Gets to Graduate? (May 2014), by Paul Tough for The New York Times – This is about current attempts to identify and intervene with students who are more likely to drop out of college, a situation usually directly linked to their socioeconomic background. Pretty interesting stuff.
