Unsteady Topography
Pleiades
As wars go on, writes the Ukrainian-American poet Oksana Maksymchuk, civilians find moments of joy, but then….
poetry
My California
For the poet Beau Beausoleil, the war in Gaza drags on, no end in sight and distance offers no clear refuge.
tv
The One Thing Veep Captures Better Than Any Other Political Show
Vox
The year is 2023. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played VP Selina Meyer on the 2010s HBO comedy series Veep, visits the White House to meet President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “Veep!” “Veep!” the two women greet one another.
books
We Can Breathe!
London Review of Books
The fascinating history of how the antifascist movement of the 1930s created "the left" as we know it today. Joseph Fronczak shows how socialists, liberals, communists, anarchists, and others achieved a semblance of unity in the fight against fascism
books
The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule
LSE Review of Books
This book "explores the origins of patriarchy, debunking biological determinism and highlighting the role of nation building, social norms, and violence in embedding gender inequality into societies."
food
How the Potato Changed the Course of World History
Jstor.org
Historian William H. McNeill contends that the potato fundamentally changed world history. European armies marched on what they foraged locally even if it meant peasants starved to death as a result.
film
Fly Me to the Moon Crashes Back Down to Earth
Jacobin
Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson try to win the 1969 space race in Fly Me to the Moon. But its heavy-handed history lessons ruin the fun.
tv
‘Always Sunny’ Creator Rob McElhenney on His Pandemic Purchase: A Welsh Soccer Team
NPR
“[The show] is, at its core, a love letter to working-class people,” he says. “I wanted people to fall in love with the town of Wrexham. But most importantly, I wanted them to see themselves in the town of Wrexham.”
poetry
Voyage to Outer Space
Birmingham Poetry Review
Midwest poet William Trowbridge has a good eye for bargain real estate, perhaps a good reason to stay on Earth.
poetry
On Thin Ice
New Verse News
The poets says doomsday: climate heat is serious business, coming sooner than you think.
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