Ah, we meet again!
I did not write a newsletter last week and this one is late and I’M SORRY even though you probably didn’t notice unless you are my mom (hi mom!!). I made a whole list of excuses to give you and even though WHO CARES I’m going to give them to you anyway:
Ahahahahahha
WHO CARES!!!!!!
I am tired
So fucking tired
And I have developed full-body eczema (!)
That last part is not a joke
I mean none of it is a joke but
I wish I was kidding
Never in my life have I had eczema before
Until three weeks ago when it took over my entire being
It fucked up my sleep schedule HORD
And sitting down to write felt dumb
Because all I could think about was how itchy I was
Idk my body is rejecting 2020
Perhaps I am allergic to BEING ALIVE!!!!
I am doing a little bit better now and am seeing a doctor today, thank you for maybe asking yourself in your head. And no, it’s not “COVID rash.”
I’ve been focused on healing and distraction. I spent this past week mostly slathering creams on my skin and watching Rupaul’s Drag Race season 6. I have stopped eating gluten and dairy and sugar and drinking coffee, which is a bummer, but on the plus side I’ve perfected this cassava flour pancake recipe and now I eat pancakes for breakfast and sometimes dinner and also dessert (never lunch!!). I have even done a couple of enemas (I am now the proud owner of my very own “enema bucket” thank you very much!! AMA). I slept a lot because for very scientific reasons I figured sleep would help my skin somehow (yes this makes sense??). But also (with the exception of the last two nights thank god), I did not sleep through a single night for the last two weeks. (I am sure many of you have been experiencing that yourself, rash or not.) Needless to say, it’s been a fuckin’ party y’all!!!!!
Anyway, the more I talk/think/write about this stupid fucking thing the itchier I feel, so I’ll just leave it at that. Just know that I will spend this week watching Drag Race season 8 and then season 5 and then All-Stars season 2 and season 5 and also all of Untucked. If you’ve got recommendations for other distractions, I’d love to know.
vive la révolution!
I wanna talk about Chicago for a second. Not sure what you’ve heard, but I’m sure it’s probably not the whole picture.
I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that I understand exactly what is happening here. I don’t. And I know it’s not being presented very accurately, either. But in any case, this is my understanding: On Sunday, police officers shot a 20-year-old black man (who is recovering but was arrested and is being held on $1 MILLION bond) in Englewood. The community mourned and gathered in anger, and in response, the mayor sent approximately a fuckton CPD officers to the neighborhood and tensions escalated. Late Sunday evening, stores in the Loop, around the Magnificent Mile, and along the Clybourn corridor were “looted.” CPD arrested about 100 people downtown. There were other protests and marches and rallies on Sunday, and as far as I have read, were all completely separate from the “looting” that took place.
(I hate calling it “looting” because I think that word has strong implications but I don’t know what else to call it hence the “snarky air quotes.”) (I have seen posts/articles suggesting that folks in Englewood “sent” people to “destroy” downtown as retaliation for the shooting. I’ve seen folks suggesting that the protestors left their rallies to “loot.” Worth noting for those who don’t know that Englewood, the Lincoln Park protest I went to on Sunday, and where all the “looting” took place are all pretty fucking far from each other!! I can’t even get them on the map at the same time.)
This image alone should make it incredibly clear that the actions taken by the mayor and CPD are only meant to protect certain people and certain neighborhoods (re: rich, white). Chicago is HUGE, and the South and West sides are wildly over-policed and under-resourced.
I see scenes like this and I honestly don’t feel bad at all. For what? The MOD Pizza? Um, no. The reason I don’t feel bad at all is that I know it’s just glass and shit that can be fixed or is insured. And also because I know exactly where this is. It’s by North/Clybourn where iO (the comedy theater) is/was/lays in her grave. This neighborhood today is mostly empty stores and chain restaurants, even before COVID. But this neighborhood used to be affordable housing. And there were black and brown families who lived there, and those literal thousands of people were displaced so that an enormous Forever 21 could sit empty 99% of the fucking time. So no, I don’t feel bad about the damage this neighborhood faced over the weekend. I do, however, feel bad about the damage that neighborhood has sustained for decades at the hands of profit-hungry businessfolk and politicians :)
This phenomenon of the displacement of black and brown people in Chicago is not new. It happened to the Puerto Rican community of Lincoln Park, and it is happening in Logan Square today. CPS Stewart Elementary was shut down in 2013 and is now…loft apartments. Uptown in general. Lathrop and other housing projects. Cabrini-Green. The destruction of Bronzeville’s businesses. Black and brown communities have been pushed into the South and West sides for decades and generations, and then those areas have been systemically ignored and in many cases actively sabotaged.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has done virtually nothing to address the needs and demands of her constituency, especially over the last few months but certainly throughout her tenure so far. This inadequacy (to put it mildly) also extends well beyond Lightfoot, of course, and frankly, Chicago’s elected officials have systemically and consistently been robbing Chicago’s communities of resources and support for generations.
I know this city is complicated. I know my experience in this city is incredibly privileged. But I also know that Chicago gets misused by the media and politicians, painted as a “war zone,” used as a pitiable statistic. I know Chicago and its people are deserving of so much more. Last I checked, Chicago is still one of the most segregated cities in America, we have more police than cities of comparable size, and police spending per capita has nearly tripled since 1964. Needless to say, that has not made Chicago safer for many people.
new phone (background) who dis
john’s joke of the week
This part of the email is brought to you by John Jennings Randall.
I took my partner’s last name in marriage. I feel bad – not sure what she’s going to use.
postscript
I do not regret telling you about the enema.
And I do not regret repeating it here.
Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!