HELLO and welcome to the 213th 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 OJ Simspon! 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.
LIPSTICK LIBERATION:For a New Breed of Lesbians, Birkenstocks, Holly Near and Political Angst Are Out. Madonna, Stiletto Heels and Erotica Are In, by Lindsey Van Gelder for The Los Angeles Times, March 1992
This is an absolute time capsule! What a VESSEL. Please keep in mind that it was written in 1992 so there’s no point getting offended by any piece of it since that’s already been hashed out by lesbian feminists who came before us and that discourse, I’m sure, has brought us here today. It’s fascinating, though, because this appears to have been written at a time when lesbian-oriented businesses were popping up like crazy and doing really well. Also Jenny Shimizu shows up in a totally different context than we know her now.
The new breed, sometimes known as “lipstick lesbians,” are usually feminists by most definitions of the word, although many of them wouldn’t accept the title. But they’re rebelling as much against the restraints imposed by the more rigid dos and don’ts of feminist ideology as those dictated by the larger society–the endless processing, consciousness-raising, life-seen-through-a-political-prism that dominated lesbian/feminist culture for decades.
Our Fancy Foods, Ourselves, by Malcolm Harris for Eater, July 2016
I could listen to descriptions of Fancy Foods forever, it turns out.
Why Men Love War, by William Broyles Jr. for Esquire, November 1984
Oof.
Ask me, ask any man who has been to war about his experience, and chances are we’ll say we don’t want to talk about it–implying that we hated it so much, it was so terrible, that we would rather leave it buried. And it is no mystery why men hate war. War is ugly, horrible, evil, and it is reasonable for men to hate all that. But I believe that most men who have been to war would have to admit, if they are honest, that somewhere inside themselves they loved it too, loved it as much as anything that has happened to them before or since. And how do you explain that to your wife, your children, your parents, or your friends?
The White Flight Of Derek Black, by Eli Saslow for The Washington Post, October 2016
This is the very true story of a white supremacist who went to college and just as the conservative humans probably feared all along, got exposed to all that liberalism and changed his damn mind!
Star Tours: The Stellar Story Behind the Ride That Changed Disney Parks Forever, by Brian Krosnick for Theme Park Tourist, October 2016
If you thought I was done reading Theme Park Tourist, you were dead wrong.
On Coupling: An Inventory, by Melissa Matthewson for Guernica, October 2016
After reading this I checked to see if she and her husband were still married and they are so I hope they were able to give each other what the other needed, in some way.
I become convinced I should live as other famous women have lived, that I should construct a marriage in which I can come and go as I like, pursue the interests of many men, maybe women, all the while keeping my husband there to chase off loneliness, insecurity. To maintain a family but to live independently. I want both: marriage and lovers, freedom and security. I want my husband to say yes to this. Everywhere I go, I wonder about the men I encounter. I judge the nature of married couples, believe they aren’t subversive enough, their lives too ordinary. I want to stretch what is acceptable. I circle around the idea that to be a writer, an artist, a real woman, strong and fierce and smart, I must live in a fashion that subverts expectations, that experience can only enhance my life. I don’t want to admit this, but this too is a platitude, ordinary in itself.
The Case of OJ Simpson, by Lorrie Moore for The New York Review Of Books, October 2016
I mean, Lorrie Moore writing about the ESPN O.J Simpson documentary which was apparently really well done? Did you know O.J Simpson had a gay father? I didn’t. If you read this post, you’ll learn cool things like that. You’ll maybe even want to watch the documentary, or read everything Lorrie Moore has ever written.
Dress for Success, by Chavie Lieber for Racked, September 2016
A feature article about the very successful non-profit that you are probably familiar with but certainly could know a little bit more about!
Why I Let Him Touch My Hair, by Tyrese L. Coleman for Brevity Magazine, September 2016
I fought him, at least tried. We never played together. Yet he chased me around the gym, cornered his prey. We were children, just children, and maybe to him, that was what children did. But there was authority to his touch, an exerted right, his God-given right to me. Because I was pretty. He said I was pretty. For a black girl.
