In no particular order, selected readings/listening from February.
- How capitalism atomized families and fucked us all over. I was led to Antonio’s Substack by his essay “the childless are ungovernable,” where he makes a case for how children, large populations, and poverty are essential to capitalists’ systems. And then I found this essay where he talked about the communal approach to raising children, and how capitalism dug the uncomfortable hole of population decline by itself. “This trend has governments and economists shitting their pants,” he writes. “After all, who’s going to buy all the crap we produce and pay into pension systems if we don’t keep pumping out new wage slaves?”
- January was Zinsser’s notes on writing. In February, my read for craft was Celine Nguyen’s how to start, where she gives some of the most brilliant analysis of writing styles of six canon essays. Celine puts words and structures to some of the most unexplainable qualities of good writing. Reading this made me look at many things I read after with a second, deeply analytical eye.
- On the intersection of masculinity, desire, and courting as it relates to socioeconomic dynamics. It tries to make a case for how the Western definition of gender empowerment is flawed and performative. “There seems to be a perception in the Anglosphere that women have to compete with men and in essence become a man, adopting all the traits perceived as masculine, to succeed in life. Being masculine is perceived as having power, and femininity as weakness and submission. Then there is the automatic assumption that women who enjoy traditional male and female behaviors are compliant and oppressed. Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe and Russia in particular, women hold 49% of leadership positions (data from 2017-2021).”
- I’m a social recluse these days and trying to reduce my social media footprint. Griffin on every relationship is parasocial is one read I relate with.
- Nikhil Krishnam’s essay on how our emotional range and nuance is usually grounded in the language and culture we find ourselves.
- Is there anyone better than Andy to write the story of Tigran’s experience in Nigerian prison? This particular story is perhaps the crown on a lot of effort Andy took to advocate for Tigran’s release. One of my goals as a storyteller is to take, and give, more than a stage. Andy does that; he genuinely cares about the people and ecosystem he writes about.
- This NYT essay on why corporate social responsibility is a farce. “More often than not, charities work to mitigate harms caused by business. Every year, corporations externalize trillions in costs to society and the planet. Nonprofits form to absorb those costs, but have at their disposal only a tiny portion of the profits that corporations were able to generate by externalizing those costs in the first place. This is what makes charity such a good deal for businesses and their owners: They can earn moral credit for donating a penny to a problem they made a dollar creating.”
- I loved how Kate communicates the state of (in)completeness in this piece.
- Just found Dwarkesh Patel’s podcast and it’s the best place to be if you’re looking to understand a little more on global science and geopolitics. I am currently enjoying his three-part series with Sarah Paine on global alte geopolitics and ideology. Dwarkesh has expert interviews for everything, from Nuclear warfare to AI(featuring Ilya), to oil, semiconductors, everythingggg. I would also say that I do not agree with everything being said sometimes, so I spend time thinking about that, so it ends up keeping me up, and so ends up on this list.
- I finish reading Murell’s The Age of Average at exactly 1:15 am on one Monday morning. In the days that followed reading this, I kept thinking about what I do, the way I write, cook, paint my room, text people, all of that; how much of it is born from trying to find an optimal appealing inoffensive style? spoiler alert, a lot. I think the way to escape the average is to strive for culture, but what does culture mean in a society that is obsessed with making every culture popular? Well, culture, as the word implies, is a cult. If it’s popular, it’s not culture.
- Picture me gnawing my eyes out as I read piece. I turn 25 this year and am coming to terms with the fact that anything I do now is going to be normal adult stuff. I am no longer the youngest in the room and while I know by logic that it does not make my achievements any smaller, there’s a reframing of the ego that’s needed to actually become that. Jared’s essay On Youth strikes a raw vulnerable nerve in me. “The years that pass eat up your margin for error until there is no margin left. The mistakes you make are no longer flaws of inexperience; they are flaws of character. To be young is to be constantly on the precipice of perfection – just a little further and you’ll get there – but you never get there, and suddenly you’re old, and find yourself in a permanent state of imperfection, which you must reckon with.”
