Tell me it's going to be okay
I've been thinking a lot about the metaphors I use to think about our home country. I often think of our country as a partner or a parent, one who is intermittently abusive.
Hi everyone,
First things first, I am quite enamored of each and every one of you. You all are wonderful. Thank you for being here, for reading. We have to create art right now. If you are making it, send it to me. I'd love to see it. I'd love to round it up in this newsletter.
I got to interview the great David Rocklin at Air/Light, who tells, among other things, the story of how the EEG was created by a scientist trying to figure out what was essentially a magical experience. It was a phenomenal conversation. I'll be posting the whole video thing soon, if you want to watch more. It's relevant to the world right now in a sideways, fun kind of way.
This newsletter started as a way for me to think on and write about whether I want to leave the country. Apparently, 17% of Americans are seriously thinking about it. 5 % have a timeline. 2% have already taken steps. Even if it's just 2%, that's like the population of NYC, all moving away.
I haven't figured it out yet. It's going to depend on a lot of things — on Ashley, on what jobs are available, on how stuff goes in the countries I'm looking to move to. The good news seems to be that the president's off-the-wall actions are uniting the rest of the world against us, so maybe other countries won't take quite so authoritarian a path.
I'm terrified by what is going on at USC, where I'm finishing my PhD. The absolute cowardice of USC's administration is breathtaking. They're threatening students who call for banning ICE from campus. They're inviting Charlie Kirk on to campus while closing the campus to "protect" it from protestors. They're folding the DEI program into the "culture" program, taking all DEI employees off the website. They're removing scholarships from the website that serve underserved communities. They've removed funding from the student run newspaper The Daily Trojan, which is doing a better job than most American media right now. I'm so ashamed to be associated with USC right now. I never thought they'd be great, but I thought they'd at least put up a little bit of a fight, I thought they would preemptively go around enforcing Trump's anti-intellectualism. It's not a good look, for a school. I'm really hoping it doesn't all fall apart before I can finish my degree, but I'm not sure it's looking so good.
I've been thinking a lot about the metaphors I use to think about our home country. I often think of our country as a partner or a parent, one who is intermittently abusive. When I use this metaphor, there is no choice but to leave. Sometimes I think about the country as a sick loved one, who needs all of our help, or else it's going to take us all with it. When I use that metaphor, I want to stay to help it and the people around me. Sometimes I think about it as an addict, and there is little I can do but let it hit rock bottom. Sometimes I think about our country as an old car that never passes its emissions tests and gets crap mileage and keeps needing to be taken into the shop. In this case, I don't want to move, I just figure it'd be cheaper to get a new country. Sometimes I think about it as a sick dog, or an angry old grandpa, or a dying tree.
None of these really work. All of these work.
What I'm saying, I think, is that I need people to tell me it's going to be okay. I know it's not going to be okay. I'm not an idiot. But I need people to tell me so. Or at least find ways that it's going to be okay. Because I am burned out. Because I feel powerless. Because what a time to be alive. And it's only March.
xoxo send me good things, please!
Seth