a bright idea for life on earth

2tbsp of peanut butter. a splash of rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup. some chili flakes, some sesame seeds. a splash of water to thin it out. now you put in your noodles (cooled!!!! boiled and rinsed so they’re cold!!) and then some chopped up cucumber or carrot or avocado or cabbage or any crunchy vegetable. i just used cucumber

This is a documentary by PBS and Independent Lens about the conflicting histories of Natchez, Mississippi, and the ways that Black historians and museum workers and independent tour guides are fighting back against white narratives of antebellum romanticism, and as of the time of this post it has less than 300k views on YouTube. It covers both the white historical societies' ideas of what preservation and historical education look like and the opinions of the Black community in and around Natchez.

I do in fact think that if you're someone who's at all interested in American history, you should watch this, particularly if you've never lived in the south and haven't experienced how deeply ingrained the Confederate apologia and racism are. It's slow-paced with no narration, and it takes some time to get to the points that it's making, but it's absolutely worthwhile.

Pretty heavy trigger warnings for antiblack racism as expressed by a lot of the white people involved - no explicit violence, but a lot of microaggressions and mask-off moments and a pretty serious racist rant at the end with a censored slur. There's also a haunting and deeply grim psychological horror to all of this, a feeling of being profoundly unsafe, particularly in today's climate of restored voter suppression and racism. I think this video is geoblocked but VPNs and YouTube downloaders will help.

1. make a syllabus for yourself - books, media, places, recipes

2. complete 40% of it