are we there yet?

A few non-book, non-fic things I've been reading:

• The Most Astute Analysis of American Politics in 2016? SNL’s “Black Jeopardy!” Sketch - Tucked into this six-minute sketch is a subtle and sophisticated analysis of American politics. It’s not that working blacks and working whites are unable to see the things they have in common; it’s that the material interests of the former—freedom from unfair scrutiny, unfair detention, and unjust killings—are in direct tension with the identity politics of the latter (as represented in the sketch by the Trump hat)


• If Women Wrote Men the Way Men Write Women - There is a particular look about a teenage boy that lets you know what kind of man he’ll be. A certain fullness of lips, a frank sensuality in his gaze. We all know what the word for that is, but it’s not polite to use it until he’s proven he’s that kind of boy.


• The Writer Who Was Too Strong to Live - Jennifer Frey drank herself to death. Goldstein came up from Houston to spend time with Frey as the end approached. For any old friends or colleagues wondering if things might have turned out at all differently had they done something to try to help or even just stayed in contact, Goldstein assured them that life hit Frey with a one-two punch—alcoholism and bipolarity—that she wasn’t going to overcome.
  
  “I got a glimpse of the girl I loved, the witty and fun and brilliant girl she was,” says Goldstein. “But the amazing writer, the amazing person, had been gone for a really long time.”
  
  Culpepper was among those grateful for Goldstein’s absolution.
  
  “I have no illusions about being able to fix things,” he says. “I just wish I’d sent more notes saying, ‘Hi, Jennifer. I love you.’”


• A collection of my favorite funny/adorable HRC emails - "On this new berry can I use smiley faces?"