Graphic titled “Mateo’s Moodboard”, featuring cutout images of Mateo Nube (a Latino man wearing a fedora), Arundhati Roy (an Indian woman with short curly grey hair and wearing a green scarf against an orange background); an album cover for Los Nadies entitled “Tiempo de desembarcar”; a news headline that reads “The point of politics is to convince people, not grandstand” by Ben Burgis, with an image from a protest with a person holding a sign that says “abolish the police”; Okan, a musical duo of Afro-Cuban femmes smiling with lush flowers in front of them; a book cover for “Playground” by Richard Powers.
There are excellent provocations in this Jacobin article by Ben Burgis titled The Point of Politics is to Convince People, Not Grandstand. I particularly appreciated the way Burgis reminds us of the need to think and act in terms of “maximum programs, or ambitious long-term horizons, and minimum programs, or proposals for short-term steps in the right direction.”
Okan is one of the best new bands I’ve come across in the past year. Their music is rhythmically fierce, melodically luxurious, and emotionally compelling. I saw them live last fall – their show was off the hook. If you are in the Bay, catch them at the SF Jazz Center Sept 27 & 28! (They’ll be in Brooklyn in October.)
What do you get when you mix the best of poetry and anti-fascism? Arundahti Roy. Her lucidity is a true guidepost, in these difficult times. Describing her creative process in a recent episode of The Interview podcast , she says,“… you can’t do it as a manifesto, hitting everybody on the head with some ideological hammer. You’ve got to do it beautifully. Somebody told me the other day, “Oh, the reason I like your writing is because you write as though they’ve already killed you. [Laughs.] You don’t hold back.” The Interview podcast episode can be found here: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music or the New York Times Audio app.
Playground is the novel I am most excited to read next. Richard Power’s The Overstory rocked my world some 5 years ago, with its deeply lyrical and quietly revolutionary rumination on Ecology and humans’ role within it. It sure sounds like he’s outdone himself again with this new book on AI, oceans, human existence, and much more.
One more thing: The band I am in just put out an album. Two years in the making, Los Nadies is excited to offer the world Tiempo de Desembarcar. Enjoy!