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The shots stopped as quickly as they had started. The man disappeared between some buildings. Chest heaving, hands shaking, I tried to calm my crying daughter, while my husband, friends and I all looked at one another in breathless disbelief. I turned to check on Hunter, a high school intern from Oregon who was staying with my family for a few weeks, but she was on the phone.
“Someone was just shooting on the beach,” she said, between gulps of air, to the person on the line.
Unable to imagine whom she would be calling at that moment, I asked her, somewhat indignantly, if she couldn’t have waited until we got to safety before calling her mom.
“No,” she said. “I am talking to the police.”
My friends and I locked eyes in stunned silence. Between the four adults, we hold six degrees. Three of us are journalists. And not one of us had thought to call the police. We had not even considered it.
We also are all black. And without realizing it, in that moment, each of us had made a set of calculations, an instantaneous weighing of the pros and cons.
*
I am here for The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Let’s talk!
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An interview with Monica Jones.
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The Boston Globe on the shooting of Dr. Michael Davidson.
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Tags: feminism, link roundup, the internet
Guys. Here’s a pic of Congressman Lewis after his first screening of the movie Selma : https://www.facebook.com/avaduvernay/posts/101553… (if someone knows how to pic link, feel free to do that)
He’s truly remarkable, you guys!
Oh boy, that Concessionist column. Just…I empathize because I understand that urge to self pity but…still.
The “if I can’t be the best why be anything at all” attitude is a terrible thing to have. I couldn’t even read the whole letter. the advise is good though.
That article about Michael Davidson is heartbreaking. His poor family. That question from his kids? “My children asked why this man killed Daddy when he got to have his mother his whole life and they only had their Daddy for a short time.” All the feels. 🙁
The day of the shooting we were terrified the victim was our good friend, since the news reports were only saying it was a male cardio thoracic surgeon at B&W, a description which fit him precisely. I felt so guilty being relieved it was just a dear colleague of his.
I’m so glad this was included in the Link Roundup, it was so upsetting and made me feel really unsafe, and then it was pushed out of the news so quickly by the Patriots. Reading the link is upsetting and heartbreaking, but I’m heartened that the story was followed up on, you know?
I saw The Babadook on Saturday. I am just going to sit very quietly on the floor until I forget all about it. You’re welcome to join me.
A friend of mine does a terrifying cosplay of The Babadook himself and I can’t even look at him when he’s in the costume it scares me so. 🙁
I watched it back in January and I still sometimes freak myself out thinking about it! It was rough last month when my husband was out of town and I was alone in my apartment, trying not to imagine that thing popping up. Gah.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic movie, but I haven’t had something unsettle me that much since the time I tried to read House of Leaves.
I ordered the Babadook book! It should show up on my doorstep at some point and freak my wife out.
I still haven’t seen it, much as I’d like to, because horror movies freak me out in direct proportion to the degree to which they intrigue me, and this one looks awfully good.
oh jeez this is so true of me! I’d never thought of it like that before. I always read the last few pages of horror/thriller books while I’m cataloguing them, just to find out the worst think the author can think of to happen. But I’d never read the whole book, you know?
Also I never get to the actual watching of horror movies, because I very much know my limits, and they will not stretch to that.
A+ link roundup, Nicole.
Thank you. It is my calling.
Kimmy Schmidt! I had no idea this was coming until it was already on Netflix and I’m so sad I watched the whole in the two days but SO HAPPY. I love Ellie Kemper and I love Tina Fey and the whole thing was so much fun. Only Tina Fey can make me laugh out loud like that. I guess I have nothing substantive to say at the moment but geez did I love watching it and I hope there are lots and lots more episodes.
I’m only three episodes in but it’s amazing and I can’t remember laughing out loud this much
It’s soooo good! I really enjoy the way Ellie Kemper plays Kimmy, and I love Kimmy and Titus’s relationship!! There are so many laugh out loud moments in the show, which is such a relief because I had high hopes for this one!
I thought it was AMAZING and far too short. The theme song has been stuck in my head for days.
I loved it! I took my life in my own hands and watched the entire series in one go! Kimmy Schmidt made me laugh so hard and sort of made me sad sometimes. But not in a bad way! I was afraid it was going to be like Broad City, which I approve of but don’t quite identify with. I totally identify and get Kimmy Schmidt and that whole cast of characters.
Tangentially related (because it’s also TV) I am here to discuss the pilot and any future episodes of Poldark.
I binged watched it this weekend because I was feeling kind of down and it was a glorious antidote. Even the credit sequence cheers me up.
“Like if you can’t be Mallory Ortberg…then what’s the point in even doing this?”
A problem the rest of us non-Mallory Ortbergs have to live with every day.
I’ve watched four episodes of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt so far. I like it! Particularly how the writers and Ellie Kemper have kept Kimmy from coming across as being unbearably sunny and naive, despite the fact that she is incredibly positive and is literally 15 years behind the rest of the world.
Except for that one day when we were all Mallory Ortberg because of some WordPress glitch, which I thought I had a screengrab of but I apparently do not.
We need a sort of Being John Malkovic setup, but for Mallory’s consciousness instead of Malkovic’s.
Start searching your offices for passageways, people and hope that Mallory never enters into it!
“Ortberg! Ortberg! Ortberg! Ortberg!”
“Orberg!”
“Ortberg!”
I really like Kimmy Schmidt! Both the unfailingly persevering character and the show. I watched 9 episodes this weekend (the last one being the birthday episode), and so far, the thing that jumps out most is how revolutionary (SPOILERISH STUFF) it feels to have an Asian guy who, while admittedly in possession of some nice guy (TM) characteristics, is presented as a better romantic option than a white billionaire, who has a rather charming accent but is otherwise rather unbearable.
I’m also very curious as to the weird sex stuff that happened in the bunker, but I feel appropriately shameful about that.
He made her a bike!
Both their names mean penis THEY ARE CLEARLY SOULMATES.
“the industry is in great shape because you get free shit, never get fired, traffic is always going up, and the money never ends”
This cannot be for real. No actual adult believes this is an accurate description of any business, or remains true for more than like, two months? THE ROLLER COASTER ALWAYS ENDS. The wilder the ride, the swifter and more abrupt the end.
Cringing so hard over that “letter that encapsulates the Millennial age” sub-heading, because NO NO NO, WE ARE NOT ALL THAT BLINDED AND COMPLETELY LACKING IN COPING MECHANISMS AND SELF-BALANCE. Don’t you dare imply otherwise.
I seriously don’t get the fawning over Buzzfeed. You do realize they had to delete thousands of posts to clean up their image, right? Because those posts were plagiarized from other sites, the way a lot of clickbait content around the internet is.
I dunno if he really has Nice Guy TM characteristics; he just tells her he likes her and can’t just be friends with her, and extricates himself from the situation when she says it’s not going to happen. That’s what an actual nice person does instead of clinging to friendship hoping that one day she’ll pick him instead.
I am least gratified that no one here takes that meme seriously.
Ooof, this Link Roundup was a gut punch in so many different ways. I need to answer some work emails but first have to put my soul back together.
THEY ALIVE, DAMMIT
FEMALES ARE STRONG AS HELL
(I currently exist in a Kimmy Schmidt theme song loop because it’s everything)
I’ve had it stuck in my head all day now. It’s a miracle!
I skip the theme song to every show I watch on Netflix – except this one. I *want* this song stuck in my head. Females are strong as hell, dammit!
The theme song is currently my ringtone. Best decision ever.
And now every single time some dude refers to “females”, I’m going to sing back “ARE STRONG AS HELL.” I may need a gif of that.
Extended version on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYNbp0u8WjA
Kimmy Schmidt has been my whole weekend, and I’ve watched most of it twice and I am SO GLAD that it got a second season. SO MANY AMAZING CAMEOS OH MY GOD. The last five episodes were sheer perfection, I just love everything that the show chooses to be.
Ahhh I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who binged the whole thing and then went right back and started watching it again from the beginning. I LOVE IT. I love it so much.
I was not expecting to love UKS as much as I did but I’m so glad it’s part of my life now. Titus is my everything (still losing it over Pinot Noir tbh) and I don’t want to wait for season 2 for more of him!!
Hahaha thank GOD Pinot Noir was stuck in my head for like two days. Truly a gift from on high.
I legitimately loved it.
Speaking as a fellow Old (fellow to the Concessionist), the sub-head says the Millennial age, not each person in the cohort.
Is a second season of Kimmy Schmidt at all a possibility? Because I gobbled it up this weekend and now I NEED MORE!
Not just a possibility but a GUARANTEE. It was part of the deal when Netflix bought it from NBC.
Oh yay! I need to know what happens! And I need more theme song! And I really want Kimmy to get her GED!
This is the best news.
My Google skills are insufficient for me to know when the second season is possibly coming to Netflix 🙁
I NEED TO KNOW.
Also I was delighted that Xanthippe’s middle name was Lannister.
As long as she never gets married!
It’s 100000% happening, we just have to wait until next March!
I had the same reaction. Once I remembered my friends had moved to MGH, out of harm’s way, and were no longer at B&W, I was so thankful that they were ok, but then they weren’t ok because their friend had been shot, not to mention the ensuing fear of just doing their jobs. Dr. Davidson was one of the few willing to take on tricky patients despite the increased risk of lawsuit.
What a weird and sickening article. The killer’s family seems so deluded.
Yeah seriously. I know I made an extreme “what the fuck” face when I read that his brother didn’t (doesn’t?) consider him to be mentally ill. Like, what must his definition of “mentally ill” be if it doesn’t include shooting doctors?
I couldn’t believe this news when it happened – just so tragic.
I’m not sure why you think this article was weird and sickening? It seemed like a very thorough recounting of events leading up to an enormous tragedy, and thus very sad.
It’s always easy after a murder to say the killer’s family was deluded, but who ever thinks their brother/nephew/cousin/whatever will do something like this, even if he is vindictive and angry? There’s no reason to castigate his family members.
Gah, what a horribly sad tale. I didn’t think the killer’s family sounded deluded though. It sounds like his mother enabled him his whole life, and they’re now left picking up the pieces after what he did. The sister in particular seemed devastated by the whole thing.
Sorry if this is an annoying thing to post in a Link Roundup, but I’m helping out some friends who are gathering petition signatures to challenge a really offensive art exhibition going on in LA. They’re calling this cross-country billboard exhibition “Manifest Destiny” while barely acknowledging that Manifest Destiny means genocide, and a lot of the artists (many of them very prominent) are saying nonsense like “I feel like there’s a real outlaw attitude that goes along with Manifest Destiny”. And they’re selling Manifest Destiny perfume. It is gross. So if you have a second and could sign this petition, I’d really appreciate it!
https://www.change.org/p/land-los-angeles-nomadic…
Manifest Destiny perfume
In a just world, anyone who bought that would smell like garbage.
All of those links are amazing and I maybe cried a little while reading the President’s speech, because holy wow it is lovely and also great to hear the POTUS acknowledging the important work of all kinds of people in shaping America.
I watched the first three episodes of Kimmy Schmidt this weekend and I overall enjoyed it, but I think I have some issues with how race is dealt with in this and similar TV series- when the main character is white and the jokes are largely about white people being clueless about race? Like I get the joke is “lol white ppl…” but it’s still white people who are central to the punchline and in control of the story (whereas I think Brooklyn 99 usually does a good job of writing comedy about race that doesn’t just rely on that, even though the main character is white). I thought this review: http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/unbreakable-kimmy-sc… did a good job of explaining why I felt uncomfortable with Jacqueline’s reveal.
it also upsets me viscerally that characters keep losing sums of money to passersby ($13k?? SURELY BANKS EXISTED BEFORE YOU GOT CAPTURED KIMMY) but that is my own issue and I’ll get over it eventually.
Hmmm, that is interesting and I think the article makes a good point about it maybe not being cool for Jane Krakowski to play a Native American. But, I feel like even though the main character is white, I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the jokes are largely about white people being clueless about race; I actually think that by and large the show is representing a real diversity of race and class backgrounds and having them interplay in really interesting ways. Kimmy and Titus get almost equal screen time in many of the episodes, but also I think it’s more crucial that the main characters are a lower-middle class white woman; a poor black gay man; a poor white woman (the landlord); a wildly rich Native American white-passing woman and her white rich step daughter; and a recent immigrant. I see all those characters as being vital to the story and in control of it at different times, rather than the story being fully controlled by Kimmy.
I do agree that it is nice to have a variety of class/race representations in the series (and no white men as main characters). Maybe my criticisms are only because I watched the first few episodes, but from those episodes the series relies needlessly on stereotypes for some of its characters. Why is it the only Hispanic women in the first three episodes are a cleaning woman and a maid(?) who either only speak Spanish or speak with a heavy accent (and also seem to only exist to make fun of the white characters)? Titus may get similar screen time to Kimmy, but I think it’s fairly clear Kimmy is the main character- it’s her struggles we learn the background of (partially because she was underground in a bunker for 15 years and that is far more interesting/confusing to us than the struggles of a gay black man), Titus just seems to be broke and unable to get a job, his “outsider” status isn’t really explored in the same way.
30 Rock’s attempts to confront race also always made me uncomfortable. It was also rife with occasionally troubling stereotypes (particularly with people in service positions- rachel dratch as a hispanic maid, jack’s west indian nanny, the indian janitors). It seems to me to be a vehicle for Tina Fey to confront her own unconscious biases, but it often plays as straight racism.
I feel like very few people acknowledge Tina Fey’s problems with race… I’ve been rewatching the entirety of 30 Rock and there are so many issues! Sometimes they’re acknowledged but they’re still there.
I totally agree. I watched all of the first season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in two days and I found myself cringing more often than laughing. And I really wanted to love the show. I think her use of race in her joke writing is lazy and at best borderline offensive.
Race, female body-shaming- sitting down with 30 Rock, the box- set, is a reveal on tone-deaf privilege. And I am waiting for someone to finally call Fey out on letting her longtime comedy co-conspirator Rachel, get dumped and the more comely Jane hired in her place. Rachel was a real gentleman about it, but interviews can’t cover up her stunned hurt. Fey’s grinding “Aren’t I pretty? I’m holding my breath in this photo!” Get a “not very pretty on the inside, Miss” from me.
There’s some A-level sketchiness in her book too. There was a questionable story justifying her Dad’s racial profiling of some black kids because it turns out they WERE trouble. Why include that in a book? Most people have a story or two in life about people who coincidentally fulfill some kind of stereotype, but including this in your book is just downright bizarre and simply comes off as an apologia for racial profiling. It reminds me of people who out of nowhere share stories like this, like the white person who tells random POC that she had a bad experience with a black boss or neighbour.
I, like The Concessionist, am also baffled at how super-humanly productive Mallory is (or appears to be? is it actual witchcraft?) while maintaining a hilarious twitter and lustrous shampoo-commercial hair.
But that’s probably why she is running The Toast and I am procrastinating doing anything and everything while reading The Toast.
(But really when do you sleep and what shampoo should I be using?)
Oof that concessionist buzzfeed letter was a surprising lesson in perspective. I think I have felt some % of that feeling for some other topic but seeing it magnified and for buzzfeed sort of made me question my own freak outs a little. That was oddly helpful for me but poor latter writer!
Hmmm, that is interesting and I think the article makes a good point about it maybe not being cool for Jane Krakowski to play a Native American. But, I feel like even though the main character is white, I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the jokes are largely about white people being clueless about race; I actually think that by and large the show is representing a real diversity of race and class backgrounds and having them interplay in really interesting ways. Kimmy and Titus get almost equal screen time in many of the episodes, but also I think it’s more crucial that the main characters are a lower-middle class white woman; a poor black gay man; a poor white woman (the landlord); a wildly rich Native American white-passing woman and her white rich step daughter; and a recent immigrant. I see all those characters as being vital to the story and in control of it at different times, rather than the story being fully controlled by Kimmy.
Not to mention that there are no white dudes in the main cast. You have to go down to Buckley and Logan on the cast list (5/13 episodes each) before you get to the first one.
Good point, I hadn’t even noticed that! All the white dudes are totally peripheral.
Also our boyfriend Chris Evans visited Seattle Children’s Hospital in the Cap uniform but with his beard. So God loves us all very much, is what I’m saying. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_hd06uWQAA0h2U.jpg:l…
ETA: I am shit at including photos in comments, apparently. Apologies
My favorite thing about it is that he, like…kinda half-ass shaved the beard? Enough that you could tell he knew that the beard didn’t really go with the uniform, but that he really didn’t want to shave it? I somehow find every tiny thing about him charming and ESPECIALLY this.
I’m amazed that Disney/Marvel let him appear in the costume with any facial hair. Disney’s pretty strict about how their characters are depicted, I would have thought it translated to their actors appearing in public in costume, too.
Not that I’m complaining! Bearded Cap is the best Cap, IMHO.
Thank you, Carly Rae, for that incredible video. 2015 is looking up.
Thing that makes me ashamed – the police in my city shot and killed an unarmed, 19-year-old black man named Tony Robinson on Friday night.
Thing that makes me proud – as I write this, local high school students are staging a walkout and marching to the state capitol building. University students have joined them, and adults are forming a human barricade around the student protestors. Excuse me, it’s raining on my face.
I believe Rachel Dratch’s maid character was meant to be Eastern European, not Hispanic, though I think overall this is a good point,
That said, I think sometimes there’s a question of avoiding stereotyping vs. accurately representing the ways racial injustice actually plays out in the world. I noticed this also when people were upset about Girls deliberately casting Caribbean and Latino women for the scene with a group of nannies. The vast majority of nannies in NYC ARE of Caribbean descent or Latino– representing that doesn’ t necessarily inherently suggest that all women of that descent are nannies. Showing a diverse group of men and women of different races as NYC nannies would seem to be pretending that a more just world that doesn’t currently exist, exists.
But then the problem with Girls was that it ONLY had people of color in service roles, which is not the case with 30 Rock or with Kimmy Schmidt. I’m not gonna say that Tina Fey has no issues with race, but I think it is fairly complicated and I also think it’s important to note that the show is not just written by or representing her.
I think everyone has their particular lines when it comes to feeling uncomfortable about how race is being portrayed, and to me, it does have to do with stereotypes. I think you are right, there is a way to show how racial injustice actually plays out in the world, but then, I think, the POC characters have to be at the center of the story. For me (and again, people have their own lines), FOB is an example of a show that succeeds in that regard because the characters are not an aside- they are telling their own story, they are the main characters.
Also, I get what you’re trying to say, but I’m tired of shows with white main characters “accurately representing” POC. It’s like if there was a show about a male-dominated industry with almost all women as only secretaries (*cough*Mad Men*cough*). Is the representation accurate?probably. Am I interested in watching it? no.
If Kimmy Schmidt can have a woman who was literally in an apocalypse cult for 15 years, it can have a Latina woman who is not a maid, or a Native American woman actually portrayed by a Native American actor. Non-stereotypical representation is important for so many reasons, and I just don’t think it’s that hard to do. That doesn’t mean this tv show isn’t making strides in other areas- as a majority female cast, for example, but it just makes it that much harder for me to watch despite the fact that I WANT to like it.
I guess I think in Kimmy Schmidt the characters of color are not asides and are telling their own stories. But we feel differently about Mad Men too– I think it does a great job of having badass women characters and showing how they navigate the fucked up world they live in, and portraying that world as if women had more opportunities wouldn’t make any sense to me. I agree that having two Latina maid characters right in the first episode was probably not a good call, though I still liked both of the characters and their jokes, and that having a white woman play a native American was not the best call.
It’s here!
http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/
Fair point about the maids, but you will see a lot more of Titus in subsequent episodes! She is definitely the main character, but the other plot lines are really substantial.
Obama’s speech was fantastic…he’s so great at highlighting a holistic understanding of our own history (and also great at making me wish I was more actively involved in politics. As the next presidential cycle gears up, I’m starting to wonder what I can do to help aside from just voting. ((and I know it’s not all about presidential elections, but I want to start somewhere. there is so much work to do here.))
Occasionally it's good to consider that most of the people you know on the internet are not actually your friends, at least in the sense of sustained, meaningful exchange. Twitter becomes a very bad place if you look at someone's timeline of bantering with John Darnielle or whoever and think that these people mean something to one another beyond the most perfunctory sense.
For most people Internet life is an escape from some other life. The rest of us have to approach it differently and be mindful, because you'll feel like a person who gives much to other people and doesn't get anything back from most of them. Be that person for any extended period of time and you'll become the LW, belligerently resentful of people for not thinking if you when they have little reason to.
I guess I think in Kimmy Schmidt the characters of color are not asides and are telling their own stories. But we feel differently about Mad Men too– I think it does a great job of having badass women characters and showing how they navigate the fucked up world they live in, and portraying that world as if women had more opportunities wouldn’t make any sense to me. I agree that having two Latina maid characters right in the first episode was probably not a good call, though I still liked both of the characters and their jokes, and that having a white woman play a native American was not the best call.
Both their names mean penis THEY ARE CLEARLY SOULMATES.
From that Black America article:
The fourth time the police called, she looked frightened. Her interrogator asked her, “Are you really trying to be helpful, or were you involved in this?”
I realize this is tangential to the main point (the main point being “cops are racist and also the worst”) but WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES THAT MAKE? She was involved in the shooting, and then she called the cops to report it? Sure. Story checks out. You are so great at policing.
From that Black America article:
The fourth time the police called, she looked frightened. Her interrogator asked her, “Are you really trying to be helpful, or were you involved in this?”
I realize this is tangential to the main point (the main point being "cops are racist and also the worst") but WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES THAT MAKE? She was involved in the shooting, and then she called the cops to report it? Sure. Story checks out. You are so great at policing.
I feel like that movie was so creepy in a way that was very unexpected, with most of the terror coming from the main characters themselves. I'm so sorry you and your husband had to go through that, though.
re: dream jobs: yes, massively overrated. I'm someone who thought I knew what my "dream job" was and I went for it and I achieved it. And now it makes me miserable and I feel like it's a bad idea for me to try to monetize something I really love (although I'm sure other people would love it). Owning a small business has produced so much anxiety in me that never existed before and it's metastasized into depression. Now I long for some nondescript boring corporate job where I'm not responsible for much of anything and my free time is my own. The experience has been really eye-opening and taught me so much about myself and for that I think it is priceless, but it's also shown me what baloney the concept of a "dream job" is, and I'm glad I only spent a little money (and a lot of blood, sweat and tears) making it happen, rather than a super expensive college education (like the LW paid for all that journalism schooling).