Hope is a four letter word

NYSM textposts pt. 7

1. i don’t like Imagine Dragons’ music and i think it is arguable that much of it’s a commercial product, but their members are, as stated above, more or less ex-Mormon.

the lead singer, Dan Reynolds, has discussed his active struggle with his faith and the cult of Mormonism. leaving a cult--especially one that practices shunning--is extremely difficult and can take years. and yet, despite this, he’s made it his mission to help combat issues affecting the LGBT+ community, including conversion therapy, LGBT+ youth suicide, and LGBT+ homelessness.

he has been a consistent and active ally to the point that he has an annual music festival called Loveloud that is dedicated to raising awareness about LGBT+ issues, featuring and promoting LGBT+ artists, and raising money for several charities. he has also donated his own money to LGBT+ organizations and gave his $1 million childhood home to Encircle, an LGBT+ advocacy group in Utah.

the guitarist, Wayne Sermon, has also given talks at conferences dedicated to assisting Mormons in leaving the cult and healing from their trauma.

2. the Lumineers have a history of holding shows solely so they can donate all profits to various charities and causes, including Planned Parenthood in Texas after Republican efforts to defund PP, Dakota Access Pipeline protestors, and LGBT+ charities in North Carolina following the passing of anti-LGBT+ legislation. a lot of their music that doesn’t make it to the radio focuses on issues like poverty, the working class, addiction, and trauma.

3. Marcus Mumford has explicitly stated that he doesn’t actually identify as a Christian, despite using Christian imagery in some of his songs. a person’s parents being Evangelical conservatives should not be an indictment on them. he and the other band members also kicked out their guitarist when he started spewing alt-right talking points and supporting Andy Ngo. i’m still not totally sure i trust his politics--he strikes me as pretty centrist--but good lord, he’s not an Evangelical.

do y’all not realize that you’re allowed to dislike music for purely surface level reasons? like that it doesn’t have to be that it’s made by terrible people--you can just seriously not like how it sounds?

and I abruptly remembered how there was a tumblr post where a bunch of people decided that Imagine Dragons was regressive cult propaganda music that was only popular because of a malicious political agenda

an advisor humiliated me in front of an entire lab group because of a call I made in his place when he wouldn't reply to my e-mails for months

he later delegated part of my master's thesis work to a 19-year old male undergrad without my approval

a male scientist at a NASA conference looked me up and down and asked when i was graduating and if i was open to a job at his company. right before inquiring what my ethnicity was because i "looked exotic"

a random male member of the public began talking over me and my female advisor, an oceanographer with a pHD and decades of experience, saying he knew more about oceanography than us

things that have happened to me since becoming a man in STEM:

being asked consistently for advice on projects despite being completely new to a position

male colleagues approaching me to drop candid information regarding our partners / higher ups that I was not privy to before

lenience toward my work in a way I haven't experienced before. incredible understanding when I need to take time off to care for my family.

conference rooms go silent when I start talking. no side chatter. I get a baseline level of attention and focus from people that's very unfamiliar and genuinely difficult for me to wrap my head around.