Read Paranatural and Watch Emara

Specifically I am thinking about how this can be exended to understand phenomena like July 4th. Many have already called attention to the horribly misguided way in which "progressives" will adopt a patriotic posture to claim "this isn't what America [sic] is really about", but there's another type of patriotism I see from people who otherwise don't care about American Values™--who may even believe that they hate the US--but who will engage with the holiday as a sort of kitsch. In Tumblr terms, we could call this the let people enjoy things type of imperial chauvanism, as they tend to respond to criticisms of what the day is celebrating with statements like "I'm just here for the burgers and fireworks." For many people in the US, July 4th is the day where USAmerican flags lose their conservative, white trash signification and become a national costume--in a bizarre way, they appear depoliticized!* July 4th gives such people the license to be patriotic without having to be patriots. I think that many are being honest when they say that they only came for the fireworks; what they miss is that they are only able to enjoy the fireworks because they materially benefit from US imperialism.

if you would like to spite the really mean people even more today, consider donating to raices con voz. they're a student-led organization in los angeles, who deliver food and essential supplies to immigrant families who can't leave their homes due to the ICE raids. More information about them here

in keeping with tradition, here is a link to unicef's fund for emergency health supplies and services for survivors of the venezuela earthquakes.

here is another link for manos in action, an organization that delivers supplies, such as food and childcare items, to latin american immigrants in central florida. I've participated in one of their local food drives; they're great. if you're not local to central florida, you can always donate money.

I used to work at a TV station in Ohio. On weekends, we only had an 11pm news broadcast. Not much happened on weekends, ya know? I worked Monday-Friday 9-5, but someone on the weekend shift quit, so I also had to come in at 9pm on Sat/Sun to work the 11pm news. It was brutal. I worked seven days a week, even if two of them were ~3hrs.

This was a particularly bad winter. One Saturday, we had a level 2 snow emergency: That means you should only travel if you absolutely must. Like, it's not uncommon for cops to pull you over in level 2 emergencies to ask where you're going and why. It is genuinely dangerous to drive in that much snow.

I told my boss as much, how I almost crashed on the way home at 12:30am after a news broadcast. I told him I would need to call off if there were a snow emergency again during a night snow.

He told me, point blank, "If you ever call me about the goddamn snow, I will take it as a call of resignation."

And that was that! The very next Saturday, snow fell again. It was a level 2, but would become level 3 by sunup. Level 3 means driving is literally illegal except for ambulances and snow plows. I stared out the window, watching the snow, and I had to make a choice.

"Will I die for this? Will I kill myself to keep this job?" I made $11/hr.