HELLO and welcome to the 248th 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 essential oils! 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.
#CasperNights, by Sean Cooper for n+1, October 2017
This spoke to me about things I have been to, in some way, and there’s also a real genius paragraph near the end, it’s not the one I’m pasting here but it exists
I came to the museum to share in a moment with others who feel the creep of the internet slipping its way past the borders of work, commerce, and recreation and into the private space of thought and solitude. I had naively considered the possibility that in the spirit of an exhibit that spoke on paper about pushing against the nefarious elements of our favorite technology there would be a parallel spirit, in real life, calling out the brand sponsor as suckers. As if we’d so easily give ourselves over, congregate as consumers, pose for the photographs, product test the pillows for a video hit. I look around the patio wanting to see somehow someone saying all right, OK, I think that’s enough, look how far we’ve taken it, but once I hear the music and taste the sliced fruit I realize there are no words available to form that kind of resistance.
Dirty John Part 1: The Real Thing – Los Angeles Times, by Christopher Goffard for The Los Angeles Times, October 2017
The story of an epic asshole who took advantage of women with enormous capacities for forgiveness and lots of longing. Apparently The LA Times has also recorded this multi-part piece as a podcast, what a time to be alive.
A Life on the Line: Cecilia Lam by Vivian Ho for the San Francisco Chronicle, October 2017
Being aware that a victim of abuse will almost definitely lie about the abuse she’s experiencing when the abuser is present and there are no assurances that the police intend to arrest or remove him from the premises is PRETTY FUCKING BASIC. Reading this made me very irate. A woman died and it could’ve been prevented.
Parentage, Poolside, by Kelsey Ford for The Nashville Review, July 2017
I think you’ll get this from the vibe but this story involves references to sexual assault. It’s got such a great rhythm and the narrator’s whole world and the swimming pool is so clear and beautiful.
Mom is good at friends and her circle is wide – not many sink away once they are in. Sometimes she gets to glowing when there are many people and she is the truest limelight. Candy calls her a dish and I guess this means beautiful even though it’s something you eat from. Men at work started a Karen Scott fan club in her honor. I feel salty thinking about it – who are they to be her fans – but when she told me this lying on the couch in jean shorts, she was giggling and I understood because she was more beautiful than the prettiest picture I’ve ever seen, which is a photo of James Marsters leaning back on a chopper. Mom’s yee-haw can be nice. She lets me fly on the rope swing at the creek, even if the water is mostly mud, and is fine with me clopping around the house in plastic go-gos, even though I know the noise is a drag. But I am a soft and slow talker – why are you so serious? is what she asks me.
The Hugo Problem – Los Angeles Magazine, by Mona Gable for Los Angeles Magazine, March 2014
Don’t know if you’ve had your fill of male feminists who victimize women this week but if not, here’s Hugo Schwyzer for you!
Dear Olive Garden, Never Change, by Helen Rosner for Eater, October 2017
It is no secret around here that I am a former employee of The Olive Garden and therefore had an ethical responsibility to read this tour of Italy of tours of Italy. I did not regret this choice, it was marvelously written! A real delight.
The Last Days of the Leather Fortress, by Tina Horn for Hazlitt, October 2017
A former Kink.com performer visits the San Francisco armory that housed Kink.com for the last ten years and will cease doing so this year.
So in some ways, the Armory’s imposing physical presence has been a stalwart icon of a fading San Francisco, the queer mecca whose leather shops and dyke bars are shuttering under pressure of a thriving tech economy. Yet in other ways, they are leaving because they were never fully embraced there in the first place. Kink.com, then, finds itself between a neighborhood rock and an ideological hard place.
Here’s How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled White Nationalism Into The Mainstream, by Joseph Bernstein for Buzzfeed, October 2017
WELP THIS IS HORRIFYING. If you get far enough into it, you’ll learn that the gay male editor of Broadly was a secret ally to Milo, feeding him stories from Broadly that could be made fun of by alt-right dudes who think feminism is ridiculous and basically a non-stop abortion party! Real cool, real scary.
How Essential Oils Became the Cure for Our Age of Anxiety, by Rachel Monroe for The New Yorker, October 2017
Essential oils! Multi-level marketing! Lavender fixes everything! People who’ve gotten in trouble for practicing medicine without a license and even involuntary manslaughter are now major essential oil vendors! What about the environment! Also did you know that Utah has more multilevel-marketing companies per capita than any other state? I did not. However I got an omnihome essential oil diffuser for my birthday last year and it’s real good at making rooms smell real good, I recommend it.
Welp and here let’s be honest about the longform stories I spent the most time on this week, no real description necessary…
