The Trend Report™: Awe Full
The Trend Report™: Awe Full
A reminder of all the things that make the world so special, which we often forget about.
Pregnant Woman in HOV Lane Raises Legal Questions Post-Roe
“This is a headline”
10-year-old should have had baby
“10 year olds are not women”
Pregnant Women Can't Get Divorced in Missouri
Welcome to the can of worms we call our reality.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as she fights for abortion access
If those five were the shot, here’s your chaser. Go Gov. Gretchen!!!
“the sound of children screaming has been removed”
Everything about this is foul.
Amazon admits to giving Ring videos to police without permission
"where cops can go to request Ring camera footage"
If you have a Ring doorbell, you are actively helping the cops. Throw that shit away! No one wants a surveillance state!!
half of Gen Z is using TikTok for search instead of Google
A fascinating story, which sounds ridiculous but isn’t: the way you (A Millennial or older.) goes to YouTube to look up “how to fix toilet” is what younger people do on TikTok, which is what older people do on Google. But, really, we all use each of these the same and differently, which is to say: take this with a grain of salt.
GLAAD’s 2022 Social Media Safety Index
"make it a bad business decision to publish LGBTQ books"
Two bad LGBTQ+ news items.
"@EU_Commission has announced it will sue Hungary"
And one good one!
"your line of questioning is transphobic"
Also: I don’t know if this “did” anything, in the real world, but Prof. Khiara Bridges is brilliant and this own of Josh Hawley is first class.
“hey @DrOz 👋”
An incredible dunk, that uses Cameo in the most genius of ways. If you don’t know about this stupid saga, it’s because Dr. Oz is running for office in a state he doesn’t live in.
"still have no idea who or what is safe"
"shameful incident and the death threats made against Pramila"
A live look into just how poorly politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez get treated, only for them to be gaslit and their experiences trivialized. Someone is going to harm her and other representatives like her!
Manchin Pulls Plug on Climate and Tax Talks
How One Senator Doomed the Democrats’ Climate Plan
Someone needs to punch this man!! The planet is literally boiling!!
Poll Shows Tight Race for Control of Congress as Class Divide Widens
"among Latino Catholics, 75% say abortion should be legal"
Some very interesting takes on the midterms, identity, and big issues this week.
Sore throat now the most common symptom
omicron subvariant is more vaccine-resistant
The BA.5 Wave Is What COVID Normal Looks Like
LA Raises Covid Alert Level
time to start paying more attention to Covid-19 again
Did you hear? Covid is back!! The first article is interesting because, when I had it, the sore throat was my canary (symptom) in the cold mine (my immune system) – and has been the case for so many friends. Also the last article and title is so fucking lol because…Covid never left! We should have been caring about it all this time!!! Who are the people who no longer care? Suck it up, morons.
"You're not putting on enough sunscreen"
Fun fact: you’re supposed to put on a shot glass of sunscreen.
“I have seen stuff,” Demi Lovato told Mark Rober about aliens, while chatting on their Jimmy Kimmel appearance this week. “It blows your mind. It kind of shatters your reality…This universe is so big!”
As bad as these times are, as much as Europe is boiling and prices in America rise, we all have the opportunity to be like Demi, to embrace the undercurrent trend that we are living in a time of awe, a time of knowledge, a time when we are able to experience so many instances of wonder that no other humans have been able to experience. Every day, there is news that could open the third eye of a recent high school graduate – and yet these stories do not dominate our feeds. Instead, the bad floats to the top, obfuscating the glorious, intriguing, curious depths beneath. I’m fall prey to this (And propel it, a la: the last three Trend Report™ essays.) but I want to shine a light on the things that make us go hmmm, all the bigger-than-big things that remind us of how incredible this life is. This is a time of awe! Every day is an age of enlightenment. How are you choosing to light up your dark?
You could gaze into the many views from the James Webb Space Telescope, to see the seemingly infinite galaxies around us. You could go outside and pick edible plants, communing with nature while finding interesting, free, left-of-center foods awaiting you. You could appreciate the color blue, which is so scarce in nature because it comes from reflecting light (versus coming from food ingested). You could learn how to make vegan leather, which makes kombucha byproducts into fashion. You could dig into time crystals, a newly discovered phase of matter that Finish scientists are playing with in the hopes of potentially being a futuristic source of power in our future. You could attempt to eat a monstera deliciosa, which is like a banana covered in hexagons that tastes like something between a pineapple and strawberry.
Yes, it feels like the world is falling apart. Yes, you may be terrified by the state of the world. Yes, you could “doombinge” through terrors. But also know that mysterious radio signals are coming from space, that CERN has discovered “exotic” particles, and that a rare comet recently made a cameo in our night’s sky. I mean…just think about the concept of time! Or that staff at a national park in Thailand saved an elephant mother and child. There are so many things to take in and feel, like you are a piece of sand in the best way possible, to take just a fraction of the goodness this world has, to remember that, despite the thorns, you hold a bright rose, so marvelous and so full, this incredible example of beauty at this specific moment in this life, in this time, in this world. There’s so much to appreciate! Why not indulge?
Barcelona, I'm Yours
Some personal news!!!!
Internet enamored by a 14-year-old’s captivating 'I Voted' sticker
The only story about voting that I care about right now.
One Small Step for Democracy in 'Live Free or Die' Town
An incredible story about local politics and what happens when people don’t show up for local townhall, etc. meetings.
Golden Goose's Pitch: Don't Toss Old Sneakers
Cobblering is so in right now. Always repair! Never throw your shit away!!!
the ethics around white producers sampling Black music
A very smart piece on white DJs sampling works by Black artists, many of which contain the N-word. This reminds of the conversation about using (or, rather, over-using) GIFs of persons of color when you are not. Good read!
Guggenheim Painter Accused of Ripping Off Black Artist
Speaking of appropriating Black artists, this story is wild (made worse by the museum’s idea of “handling” this situation). How awkward it must be for the ripped off artist, dayday, to have gotten a note that an artist was having displayed work at an international museum that was a rip off of their work? What a scandal!
Ghostly self-portrait of Van Gogh discovered
Find you a man who paints himself underneath the painting of someone else, only to be discovered over a hundred years later because of technological advances. (Watch a video about it here, if the paywall blocks you.)
female truckers in the US – in pictures
There’s something so nice about all these images and stories!! I loved this collection of portraits.
Getty opens access to 30,000 images of black diaspora
This is cool!! And it’s categorized in different ways, covering the topics of “politics, hair, education, female empowerment and LGBTQ+” among many others, I’m sure.
Parthenon Marbles—carved by a robot—to go on show in London
The vibes on these creations are very off.
“J.Crew has finally got my attention again”
Olympia Gayot you say? Obsessed. Also, I feel J.Crew is in their pre-comeback stage. Watch this space.
Meryl Streep’s One Weird Trick
A really fun piece on Meryl Streep, the visual semantics of public figures and glasses, and why this prop is so delectable and stupid.
Every Black Woman Experienced What Mo'Nique Has Been Through
I missed this story but found it by way of Samantha Ware talking about Lea Michelle and really sat with Mo’Nique’s near twenty year experience being disrespected by Hollywood, peers and executives alike. Keep getting ‘em Mo’Nique! Here’s a fuller clip of her appearance with TS Madison.
"RAVE TO THE GRAVE"
I want to keep raving when I’m old, not that I’m raving right now but I like to have the option.
Jeanette
And, if you’re in Los Angeles, my dear friend Maris’ new documentary about a queer, Puerto Rican survivor of the Pulse shooting is playing at Outfest on July 20!! I saw an early cut and it was so good.
Jerrod Carmichael is such a genius. If you haven’t seen his latest work, Rothaniel, it is perhaps the best comedy and or television special of the year. It’s truly special and touching and, yes, it deserves to win the two Emmys nominations that it received this week.
I digress though. I wanted to take a moment to think about truth and sex and society, via an incredible interview the comedian recently did with New York Times Magazine, where he reflects on Rothaniel, the nature of celebrity, and what it means to put truth in the world. One of the biggest items of truth mentioned is the nature and value of sex in this world, particularly when it comes to validating – Or invalidating! – the experiences of queer lives. Not to spoil Rothaniel, but he’s speaking about coming out and how his family reacted to the news. There’s something so wise in his answers that had me thinking for days. Bold italics emphasis my own.
What’s the thing you most need to hear from your family?
If it’s a line drawn, then say that. It’s the timidity that bothers me. I’m looking to not be ignored. My family’s echoing that sentiment of, “All right, but why we gotta talk about it?” Sex is so important to all of our lives. My mom babysits my brother’s kids. She babysits his sex! I can’t bring anybody home, but you have babies? It’s absurd. I’m getting over wanting them to come to me. Why do I always have to be the one to find the treaty? It’s unfair. I’m being stubborn. It’s simultaneously devastating and makes me want to throw up and then sometimes I feel free.You’re trying hard to tell the truth these days, but aside from what’s going on with your family, does committing to honesty present problems in your day-to-day life?
It’s not easy to be fully honest with everyone. Oh, people get mad at you. I was searching my name on Twitter and people were mad because I said that [Dave] Chapelle should talk about himself. I don’t like that but I know that’s a part of telling the truth — the reaction isn’t consistent. I used to lie to keep a consistent reaction, which was all about Like me, like me, like me. It’s easier to lie or be quiet. I told the truth about who I am and now there’s a rift with my mom. I was lying because it was more pleasant.
Two big things here. First, people who are conservative or Christian or anti-queer, those with a myopia to say that our “personal preferences” are not something to be discussed, are prioritizing the validity of expressed sex via the heterosexual. Love grandchildren? Celebrating a pregnancy? That is acknowledgement of someone’s sex. How is that different from acknowledging sexuality? I’ve faced this in my own life, the validity of my queerness eclipsed by those who are straight-sex-having – and his thoughts emphasize the absurdity of this situation. It also clarifies the hullabaloo around abortion, this obsession with sexual validity. You had sex! Now bear this weight that is proof of your sex. You have to keep the sperm as a pet. It’s absurd.
Second, it reminds of truth and the ease with which uncomplicated truths are embraced. As Kamala Harris recently said so wisely (Surprisingly!), we see certain issues like abortion as “just settled” when they are clearly not. This is a fantastic truth, that we indulge fictions to ignore reality, to prevent us from doing the work. If there is any lesson of the 2010s and the 2020s, it’s that fantastic truths, that these pleasant lies, keep the world going. Why else are we living through 120º F heat waves that set the world on fire, driving cars, throwing away trash, eating meat and drinking alcohol, smiling as if we aren’t enabling this environmental decline? No, we shouldn’t wallow in self-flagellation – but we should recognize truth, instead of indulging the lie or the quiet.
Anyway. A lot of lessons are to be learned from Jerrod Carmicheal, both from Rothaniel and from this interview. Certainly he is one of the year’s best performers! (That said: he is a brilliant mind, yes, but also not a philosopher. I’ll leave his thoughts on performers-as-philosophers in the interview for you to encounter on your own.)
“Little Miss”
“Little Miss is me”
“All gays are at least 7 of these”
The Little Miss memes are about to pop.
“would i survive?”
“would i survive”
Hate cars, but love the trend of people watching those wild computer car crashes to say if they’d survive or not.
"context please"
"Kehlani speaks"
The Christian-Walker-Versus-Kehlani feud is my favorite feud of the moment. Also: this was blocks away from my old apartment and in a popular-but-pretty-chill part of LA! (But my favorite scandal? Easily Ricky Martin’s.)
"Howie Mandel posts a prolapsed anus"
So you know: the TikTok was not edited, when originally posted. Just wild stuff. Celebrities are great!
“Piracy. Its a crime.”
I hope this becomes a new trend.
"Idk what’s better"
This may be about non-profits, but also feels like academia and the arts.
“Zelda love”
I don’t think we give enough credit to train guy about his impact in this area of camera POV!!
"goodnight"
I gotta say: when people respond with one word messages, I do think they are mad – or they are at least communicating in a very poor manner!
“Walmart needs to be stopped”
All brands need to be stopped! Don’t use language that isn’t authentic to your brand!!
“bored youth summertime vandalism at its best”
And what are they doing? Turning the lights off in an energy crisis!! Good kids!!!!!
“my dead dad’s ashes”
Putting them in the right place, I see!
"You've just ordered Pizza Hut."
Honestly? This is a horror story.
"i introduce our new logo"
The only way to get me to watch ESPN.
“outfits i would wear”
And they all are perfect for every date. No notes!
"Holy crap this is wonderful"
Who is the moment? Emmanuel the Emu is, that’s who.
And, finally, something I will not be applying for.
Give a tip & subscribe to The Fox Is Black.