The impacts of protests are often profound but unpredictable Boston with its environs in 1775 & 1776 The scale of the protests against police violence and systemic racism over the past few weeks is unprecedented. Demonstrations are happening in all 50 states, even in small conservative towns with mostly white
We look back on this chapter in history with self-congratulatory warmth, but loathed it as it happened The Monk by the Sea (German: Der Mönch am Meer) by Caspar David Friedrich 1808-10 Last year, a person you might remember named Barack Obama was addressing a group of wealthy
Things that do a better job of solving problems we currently entrust with men carrying tools that cause death and pain Epomops francqueti. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. One time I was interviewing someone at a foundation that funds climate work and he posed to me this question:
The things that are deemed acceptable and not acceptable during the pursuit Fauna boreali-americana, or, The zoology of the northern parts of British America :.London :John Murray,1829-1837. Even speaking as someone who likes to go on and on about the potential speed and power of social movements,
'A lot of folks are tired of that. They’re not going to take it anymore.' March to the BPD station today This is going to be short because we decided to go to a rally and march this evening organized by Mass Action Against Police Brutality. It
When people show up, you don’t have to compromise The Zoological journal. London: W. Phillips, 1824 If you know the name Erica Chenoweth, it’s probably in relation to the Harvard professor’s widely cited “3.5% rule,” which poses that no government can withstand a challenge from 3.
People buying stuff near constantly and when they stop for even a few weeks things start to crumble Still Life with a Golden Goblet, Pieter de Ring, 1635-1650 It really struck me just how fragile capitalism is, in this particular go round of economic meltdown at least, when the
Living on the brink of oil stained societal collapse, everything going wrong in 20 different directions Christopher Wood, Zebra and Parachute, 1930, © Tate, CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 I’m going to write about William Gibson today, for the second time in this newsletter, because while he is best
Listening to the hull of the ship groaning and creaking under the pressure outside HMS Erebus and Terror in the Antarctic by John Wilson Carmichael (before the fatal Franklin expedition) Last week I was wondering whether we might be learning to live a smaller, slower way of life during all
In an effort to expand our reach across the planet, we have cornered ourselves Vanitas still life with a globe, sceptre, a skull crowned with straw, Hendrick Andriessen, c. 1650 One of the big ideas echoing around the world right now, because we live in this weird time when everyone
Things are breaking too easily, and in all the most predictable ways Vanitas Still Life, n.d., Herman Henstenburgh As the scope of the pandemic was becoming clear, Shamar Bibbins, a senior program officer at climate funder the Kresge Foundation, was on a call with a public health nonprofit they
It’s been hard to force both catastrophic threats to live inside my skull at the same time Vanitas Still Life, Pieter Claesz, 1625 Not very long ago, like pretty much everyone, I was living in a world in which Covid-19 was not my problem, and then all of