Belligerence, Birthdays, Beads, Beats

Belligerence

This recent post from Oksana Potapova, describing her 36-hour journey fleeing Ukraine, helped to put a single human face on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here is her full post.

I’ve been following this international crisis mostly via a fairly centrist source (NYT). But I’m seeing reactions from the deeper political poles, too (those on the far right who admire Putin and those on the far left who oppose US imperialism). So I’m also feeling grateful to Oksana for sharing this short read from another Kyiv-based historian and activist, Taras Bilous, “A Letter to the Western Left from Kyiv.” Taras acknowledges the deep flaws of NATO and the UN, but makes the very reasonable argument that the world needs a Leftist reformed UN, rather than a dissolved UN. Please read the whole thing. 

Sorting accurate reports from inaccurate from disinformation is a hard job we all have to do everyday. But if there’s one thing we should all be able to agree on, it’s that Joe Rogan continues to be awful. 

    […scroll to the roundup of headlines…]

In addition to my steady news partner, I’m checking AllSides for a broader snapshot of coverage, and Poynter for tips on good sources. 

I caught David Remnick’s quick explainer on Apple Podcasts and found it helpful. I’ll be doing periodic news-filtered searches for Ukraine at Listen Notes because audio is a great format for me (that’ll be in addition to the ambient NPR listening I always do). 

For longer-form context on the conflict, I’m consulting LitHub and NYT’s lists of books on Ukraine. Between the two lists, the common titles are: 

• The Gates of Europe by Serhii Plokhy (local shops, online and audio, libraries)

• Midnight in Chernobyl, by Adam Higginbotham (local shops, online and audio, libraries)

• Red Famine, by Anne Applebaum (local shops, online and audio, libraries)

Washington Post and NPR have roundups of relief agencies taking donations. I’ve just donated to the GoFund Me promoted by the Kyiv Independent to support journalists who are relocating; Razom, which is working on distributing medical supplies; and Voices of Children, which supports psychologists working with children in Ukraine affected by the war.

Birthdays

Last week I finished my 41st solar lap. With the world feeling very much on the brink, I feel incredibly grateful, and I also feel activated. My birthday reflections this year are centering on ways I can bring my daily behaviors into greater alignment with my values, and refusing to let fear of doing things the wrong way stop me from trying. I’m not running a birthday fundraiser, per se, but see my links above to relief organizations supporting Ukraine. (Need a little levity? here’s a good laugh about birthday fundraisers from the always dependable McSweeney’s.)

This is a baby step, but it’s one I feel VERY strongly about: I’ve switched my music streaming service from Spotify to Tidal. If you’re also considering alternatives to the Joe-Rogan-AI-drone-funding machine, here are a couple roundups from The Verge and CNET.

I chose Tidal primarily because, at least for the time being, it seems to compensate artists better than any other platform. This might change, and I view this as one part of supporting musicians (in addition to direct purchases from artists). I also like that Tidal allows me to set preferences for different bitrates depending on whether I’m on cellular or Wi-Fi. In our family, we have music going pretty much everywhere all the time. It’s ever present and intimate. So it’s important to make choices around music that feel good, or at least don’t feel 100% Faustian. I’m still in the process of migrating my many playlists into Tidal, but there’s a tool to make this process fairly painless (and free for up to 500 tracks). And yes, I do realize I’ve traded Daniel Ek for Jack Dorsey. We’ll see. If all else fails, anyone want to start an internet radio station with me??

Beads

Today is Mardi Gras. It’s a holiday Trevor and I continue to feel oddly nostalgic for, although our time living in New Orleans was short, and in spite of not identifying with the religious/cultural aspects, and with deepening discomfort over the celebration of masked fraternal organizations. The time we spent in New Orleans was eye-opening, exciting, and eventually heartbreaking. Since our move to San Francisco, Mardi Gras mostly means buying a few king cakes per season from the bakery in town that makes them, foisting said cakes on anyone around us, making strings of purple, green, and gold beads, and listening to music from New Orleans. And though it’s a terrible and terrifying time in the world, it feels worth remembering what it means to miss New Orleans.

The holiday and the beads and the birthday also have me reflecting on the transaction of boobs-for-beads at Mardi Gras and the trope of the young spring-breakers living hedonistically in a sin city. I’m on the hunt for meaningful writing on this topic, and the search results in Google Scholar are… illuminating, but also lacking (I’m sure there’s excellent conversation on this topic I just haven’t found yet). Here’s a small selection from stodgy Dr. Scholar:

1996 – Ritual Disrobement at Mardi Gras: Ceremonial Exchange and Moral Order [link]

2013 – Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition [link]

2015 – The Presence of Halogenated Flame Retardants and Heavy Metals Suggests Electronic Waste Recycling in Mardi Gras Beads [link]

2020 – Naked and Unafraid: Nudity in Reclaiming Witchcraft Rituals [link]

2021 – Masking COVID, Crafting Community [link]

2022 – Aging Bodies in Paradise: A Feminist Analysis of Key West’s Fantasy Fest [link]

Beats

Circling back to music: In Oksana Potapova’s post about leaving Ukraine, she describes a moment when a taxi driver tells her she can play music in the car, and she selects Joni Mitchell. I’ve been listening to Joni Mitchell a bit more recently, along with India Arie and Neil Young, all who pulled their catalogs from Spotify recently. I’ve also been revisiting a playlist Trevor and Joško curated to accompany a favorite Cold War-themed  boardgame of theirs (Twilight Struggle). And of course, that New Orleans playlist. It’s a weird and imperfect soundtrack, but it helps me feel and question and want to know more.

This week’s music:

Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now

Cold War playlist

New Orleans playlist

Here’s the tough news, friends. I think you have to have a paid Tidal account to listen to specific tracks, otherwise it’s like a radio-ish experience, where you’ll hear “songs like.” So here are text versions of the playlists in case you want to do the manual work of looking the songs up in your preferred streaming platform. Highly imperfect and in flux. BUT, if you’re in the market for a new music streaming service, please do consider joining me. More playlist shares to come!

Cold War Playlist
Allarme – CCCP - Fedeli Alla Linea
Siberian Nights – Twilight 22
Dancing on the Berlin Wall (1981 Demo Version) – Rational Youth
We Didn't Start the Fire – Billy Joel
Radioactivity (2009 Remaster) – Kraftwerk
Stranger in Moscow – Michael Jackson
Wind Of Change – Scorpions
Two Tribes – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
United States of Europe – C.C.C.P.
Star Spangled Banner (Live at Woodstock)– Jimi Hendrix
Nuclear War – Sun Ra, His Arkestra
Carta al Che – Inti-Illimani
El aparecido (Remastered) – Victor Jara
Go West (2003 Remaster) – Pet Shop Boys
Russians – Sting
Ussr – Eddy Huntington
Nikita – Elton John
New Frontier – Donald Fagen
Bang – Gorky Park
2 Minutes to Midnight (1998 Remaster) – Iron Maiden
99 Luftballons – Nena
Burning Heart (From "Rocky IV" Soundtrack) – Survivor
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
Cult of Personality – Living Colour
Der Kommissar – Falco
Dominion / Mother Russia – The Sisters Of Mercy
Eve Of Destruction – Barry McGuire
Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears
It's A Mistake (Album Version) – Men At Work
Land of Confusion – Genesis
Leningrad – Billy Joel
New Year's Day (USA Remix / Kevorkian Remix / Remastered) – U2
Radio Free Europe (2006 Remaster) – R.E.M.
Right Here Right Now – Jesus Jones
Subterraneans (2017 Remaster) – David Bowie
The Fletcher Memorial Home – Pink Floyd
Four Minutes – Roger Waters
The Visitors – Abba
Weeping Wall (Instrumental; 1999… – David Bowie
When the Wind Blows (2002 Remaster) – David Bowie
State Of The Nation – Industry
Back In The U.S.S.R. (Remastered 2009) – The Beatles
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan
Bonzo Goes to Bitburg – Ramones
Atomic Cocktail – Slim Gaillard
This Cold War with You (1958 Version) – Floyd Tillman
I'm Gonna Dig Myself A Hole – Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
The Great Atomic Power – The Louvin Brothers
The Dawn of Correction – The Spokesmen
Holidays in the Sun – Sex Pistols
Breathing – Kate Bush
Nothing To Fear (But Fear Itself) – Oingo Boingo
Crawl out Through the Fallout – Sheldon Allman
Uranium Fever – The Hate Bombs
Orange Colored Sky – Nat King Cole
The End of the World – Skeeter Davis
Uranium Rock – Warren Smith
I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire – The Ink Spots
One Of Our Submarines (2009 Remastered Version) – Thomas Dolby
Uranium (2009 Remaster) – Kraftwerk
Spacelab (2009 Remaster) – Kraftwerk
The Ballad of Ho Chi Minh – H'ô Chí Minh
En Enkel Sang Om Frihet – Gro Anita Schenn
Vietnam (Single Version) – Jimmy Cliff
En Spennende Dag for Josefine – Inger Lise Rypdal
Cold War With You (2001 - Remastered) – Willie Nelson
Pà Leit – Biorn Eidsväg
Hammer To Fall (Remastered 2011) – Queen
Holiday in Cambodia – Dead Kennedys
Games Without Frontiers – Bob Holroyd
Siegerehrung / Abschied von der Zukunft – Kosmischer Läufer
Nuclear Apathy – Crack The Sky
Der Kommissar – Falco
YTOHYTb / Utonut' – Molchat Doma

New Orleans Playlist
Mardi Gras in New Orleans – The Original Pinettes Brass Band
Go To The Mardi Gras – Professor Longhair
Tremé Mardi Gras – Kermit Ruffins
Hurricane Season – Trombone Shorty
Knock With Me - Rock With Me – Lil' Rascals Brass Band
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Hot 8 Brass Band
Buckjump – Trombone Shorty, The Rebirth Brass Band, 5t Ward Weebie
Freedom (Live) – Rebirth Brass Band
Well, Alright – Kermit Ruffins, Irvin Mayfield
Going Straight Crazy (feat. Princess Shaw) – Galactic, Princess Shaw
Break-A-Way (Remastered) – Irma Thomas
Take Yo' Finger Off It – Lizzie Miles
Jelly Roll Blues – Sweet Emma Barrett
Hey Pocky Way (Live) – Irma Thomas
Right Place Wrong Time – Dr. John
Palm Trees in New Orleans – Zydeco Revelators
Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down – Meschiya Lake and The Little Big Horns
Get a Life – The Original Pinettes Brass Band
Theme from Game of Thrones – The New Orleans Swamp Donkeys Traditional Jass Band
I Live off You – Helen Gillet
Pagan Love Son – Sweet Emma Barrett
There'll Be Some Changes Made – New Orleans Helsinki Connection