Category: Athenae

Athenae, COVID-19

I’d Been Wondering What the Strippers Were Doing

Allison Hantschel

The LA Times, with the news we need right now:  Co-founded by Gabrielle, Reagan, Coco Ono (real name Kayla Tange) and Kitty, the Stripperina (real name Kelly Vittetoe), the show has given the strippers a new sense of agency and empowerment in an industry that is notorious for taking advantage of women. Although they emphasized that Jumbo’s is a supportive environment run by women, other strip clubs can be exploitative. I’ve never been germophobic. It’s hard to be and ride public transportation, or really live in a city at all. You just … come to terms with a certain amount … Continue reading I’d Been Wondering What the Strippers Were Doing

Athenae, Current Affairs

Marmalade Jars

Allison Hantschel

Show me the lie: When I say these people are fucking furious to the point of wrecking the country because They took the racist caricatures off marmalade jars, I’m only mildly exaggerating. https://t.co/LOsLmj4JQw — Flying_Rodent (@flying_rodent) September 27, 2020 And, like, I don’t UNDERSTAND the stupid culture war shit over stuff like this. Even the pronoun nonsense makes more sense than this, and it makes no sense. At least then you might be talking about something you might actually do, or say, or have to change. You can still buy the damn rice. If you didn’t think about racism before … Continue reading Marmalade Jars

Athenae, COVID-19, Elections

Start Tearing the Old Man Down

Allison Hantschel

It’s getting colder. I made two and a half quarts of soup on Sunday morning, before the rain started and the wind picked up. We have a chest freezer now. We have a store-room full of apples. Every day I peel, chop, bag, so we can use them in baking or stews. Kick and I tried to grow potatoes. We planted too late, when it was already cooling off, and damp, and they rotted in the ground, but everything else went wild, took over the small patch we planned. We’re saving seeds — tomatoes, peppers, squash — from this year’s … Continue reading Start Tearing the Old Man Down

Athenae

Not Everything Sucks

Allison Hantschel

Geo Soctomah Neptune exists. Neptune ran for the school board after being urged by community members and tribal youth, who were familiar with their work as an art teacher in an after-school program. Of the three candidates elected, Neptune received the most votes — about half. “To almost stand up and say that they’re embracing me in this leadership role as a Two Spirit was incredibly affirming,” Neptune told Maine Public. “I feel very lucky that I live in a place where my community accepts me because a lot of trans people don’t have that. Warning: incredibly loud and annoying autoplay … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks

Athenae, Religion

Anti-Catholics

Allison Hantschel

Sure, that’s the real problem here:  The scrutiny focused on Ms. Barrett’s beliefs has provoked allegations of old-fashioned anti-Catholicism on behalf of her Democratic critics. A good amount of febrile nonsense has indeed been floated regarding Ms. Barrett’s spiritual life, such as the notion that People of Praise inspired Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a charge that is reminiscent of 19th-century myths of nuns kidnapping good Protestant girls to force the faith upon them. People keep pointing out the absurdity — the Democratic presidential nominee is a Catholic, the Speaker of the House is a Catholic, THE ONLY CATHOLIC PRESIDENT WE’VE EVER ACTUALLY … Continue reading Anti-Catholics

Athenae, Law/Justice1 Comment

She’s Dead, and Life is Possible. She Made It Possible.

Allison Hantschel

We had built a fire in the backyard on Friday because it was the first night it seemed cold enough to do so. It took forever to get it started. The wood was cold and a little damp from sitting in the garage all summer. The butane lighter was starting to run out of juice and we didn’t have any matches. We snapped sticks for kindling, crumpled up paper and scrap cardboard, lit it over and over and over again. When the logs finally caught, we sat back in camp chairs, roasted marshmallows. I’d been telling myself and Mr. A … Continue reading She’s Dead, and Life is Possible. She Made It Possible.

Athenae, JOEY B SHARK3 Comments

Please, They Already Have My Vote

Allison Hantschel

Mitch McConnell tries to have phone sex with me: MCCONNELL: "After they change the filibuster, they're going to admit the District as a state. They're going to admit Puerto Rico as a state. That's four new Democratic senators in perpetuity. Once they get a hammerlock on the Senate, they're going to then pack the Supreme Court." — Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) September 18, 2020 Donald Trump makes me want to vote for Biden twice: Trump Tweets Faked Video of Biden Grooving to NWA’s ‘F— tha Police’ https://t.co/uSgKVxLVSq — Variety (@Variety) September 16, 2020 Joey B. Shark is an enormous dorkwad on his … Continue reading Please, They Already Have My Vote

Athenae, COVID-19, Education, Kids Today5 Comments

Maliciousness

Allison Hantschel

I’m never one to credit evil as an explanation where stupidity will do nicely, but as this post points out, this is starting to surpass the “wishful thinking” phase:  You pushed faculty to offer in-person classes or classes that could at least have an in-person component. Classes that drew students to campus and put butts in classroom seats were valued. You created all sorts of untested hybrid options with the idea that some personal interaction was better than none. Faculty objected and students went with online options when possible, but still you persisted. You created pokazukha websites and plans and fliers for … Continue reading Maliciousness

Athenae, COVID-19, Kids Today1 Comment

The Cannon Fodder Objects

Allison Hantschel

My first newspaper:  As more than a quarter of Wisconsin’s record-breaking 1,547 new daily cases came from UW-Madison students on Thursday, the situation in Madison is increasingly worrying. Continued spread among off-campus communities endangers all of Madison and Dane County, jeopardizing lives, local businesses and any return to normalcy. This doomed attempt to reopen will ultimately saddle local authorities with an outbreak that continues long after campus facilities close. In short, what we all had feared — what we knew would be inevitable — has come true. The exponential growth of COVID-19 cases, the lockdown of campus dorms, with the misdirection of faulting individualistic … Continue reading The Cannon Fodder Objects

Athenae, COVID-191 Comment

So Far, So Good: Pandemic Edition

Allison Hantschel

You ever hear the joke about the optimist who jumped off a building? Every floor he fell, he said, “So far, so good.” You ever hear something else? “You can do this during the day or not at all.” It worked. My mom is still furious because it would NOT have worked if she had said it, because it’s almost impossible to change a dynamic in an existing relationship, and surprisingly easy to be different for a new partner. — Nicole Cliffe (@Nicole_Cliffe) September 7, 2020 I thought of both of those when I read this: So basically America has … Continue reading So Far, So Good: Pandemic Edition

Athenae, Economy5 Comments

It’s The Money, Stupid

Allison Hantschel

Yeah, we have known this: The problem is with the governance structure of the corporation. CEO pay is most immediately determined by corporate boards, who largely owe their jobs to top management. Furthermore, keeping their jobs depends almost entirely on keeping other board members happy. Board members who are nominated for re-election win well over 99 percent of the time. Since these jobs typically pay several hundred thousand dollars a year for a few hundred hours of work, board members generally want to keep their jobs. One sure way of pissing off other board members is asking questions like, “Can … Continue reading It’s The Money, Stupid

Athenae, Stupid Everything Tricks1 Comment

Threatening the Crafters Now

Allison Hantschel

For God’s sake, it’s like they WANT to lose: At first, Guzman-Rhea sewed masks for her family, but as cases started to be identified across the state later in March, she connected online with other Wisconsinites who, like herself, were itching to feel productive. They were motivated to contribute to an urgent need during a period of deep uncertainty and stress that left many Wisconsin residents homebound and feeling helpless. Guzman-Rhea quickly found herself organizing a regional crew of crafters as part of a massive statewide group that has coordinated the donation of hundreds of thousands of homemade masks to frontline workers … Continue reading Threatening the Crafters Now

Athenae, Campaign Notes, Do Something, JOEY B SHARK

What Joe Biden Hasn’t Done

Allison Hantschel

Hasn’t condemned looting and property damage that follow protests. Hasn’t put the flag in the background of the Democratic Convention or in any commercials or campaign events. Hasn’t mentioned God and/or took God out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Is going to take away people’s guns. “You are actively trying to amend your Second Amendment right and take away our guns,” the man said. “You’re full of s—,” Biden replied, adding that “I support the Second Amendment.” Opposes law and order.  Hates police. I can do this all day, you know. I can line-by-line refute what’s being shared around various … Continue reading What Joe Biden Hasn’t Done

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media1 Comment

Trump’s Illness Isn’t an Illness

Allison Hantschel

Look, even if this shit was effective (and it’s not) it would still be hot garbage: There’s something wrong with Donald Trump. He has trouble speaking, walking. He’s weak. Why aren’t we talking about this?#TrumpIsNotWell — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) August 29, 2020 Trump is not a bad president because he can’t walk very fast or needs to use two hands to drink water or occasionally slurs his words. He’s a bad president because he’s appointed bad people to every job in the land and is spouting white supremacist nonsense every single day. If he was doing it from a … Continue reading Trump’s Illness Isn’t an Illness

Athenae, Stupid Republican Tricks4 Comments

Who Thinks Like This?

Allison Hantschel

I hate horror movies. (I am still watching Lovecraft Country, because Lovecraft + racial reckoning + OMAR COMIN’.) However, I will not watch all five SAW movies. I will not watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I will not watch any of the Halloweens and I only saw one of the Friday the 13ths at a sleepover like 100 years ago and none of the others nor that one ever since. People tell me I should watch the Haunting of Hill House because SHIRLEY THEE JACKSON but I cannot. I got 20 seconds into The Ring and shut that shit down. … Continue reading Who Thinks Like This?

Athenae, Diary3 Comments

How To Lose 25 Pounds in Quarantine*

Allison Hantschel

First, and this is critical, plan ahead. Like ideally four years ahead, the point in the past at which your country can elect a neon-colored asshead cheeto bigot. You’d think that wouldn’t be important later, as you’re intimately versed in how awful political losses are, but this one acts slow. First there’s the shock and fear, then the profound disappointment, then the anger. Skip bargaining and acceptance, they’re bullshit. Sometimes dabble in depression but mostly allow each day — with its particular indignity, executive order, general embarrassment, or outright attempt to murder those you love — to return you to … Continue reading How To Lose 25 Pounds in Quarantine*

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media2 Comments

Local Journalism

Allison Hantschel

Whenever someone’s shrieking about SAVE LOCAL JOURNALISM I think of things like this, wherein apparently nobody could Google anything [loud annoying autoplay live feed at link because no journalist has ever considered UX in any way at all]:  GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A peaceful protest against human trafficking in Grand Rapids brought a frequently forgotten criminal business to the forefront. Wherever there are people, there is the potential for human trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department says thousands of cases are reported every year, though many cases go unnoticed. It’s a cause that compelled the … Continue reading Local Journalism

Athenae, COVID-19, Propaganda, Stupid Republican Tricks1 Comment

On Unity

Allison Hantschel

I’ve been done since March 20th with shaming individual people for decisions that should have been handled by the institutions we task with such things. Mad at kids partying in a club? Live from Stillwater, Oklahoma tonight ladies and gentleman. This is how #OkState students are complying to off campus social distancing guidelines. pic.twitter.com/zKQu1PyMP1 — Ryan Novozinsky (@ryannovo62) August 16, 2020 That’s not on “college students,” who make terrible decisions, news at 11. It’s on the city, county and state, and the presumed adults who own and operate that club, to shut that shit down. We keep acting like people … Continue reading On Unity

Art, Athenae1 Comment

Not Everything Sucks

Allison Hantschel

People are still making art, public art:  A new grant program in central Wisconsin will employ artists to paint murals in rural parts of Portage County. It’s inspired by New Deal-era employment programs, and designed to help put artists who’ve been affected by the pandemic back to work. “Paint the County” is a new project by the nonprofit CREATE Portage County. They’ve identified five sites for the murals so far, and have opened applications for artists interested in creating them. Over the next year or so, CREATE will use grant funding of between $50,000 and $100,000 to pay the selected artists to create the murals, said … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks

Athenae, Stupid Everything Tricks1 Comment

RBG’s Fanclub Isn’t The Problem

Allison Hantschel

Jesus tits, the world is on fire, imagine thinking people making Etsy pins are the problem here:  This national death watch is an absurd and distressing phenomenon. And yet Ginsburg’s physical frailty is central to her pop-cultural cachet. The whole appeal of her little-old-lady archetype is that it situates her as an underdog and makes for a heady contrast to her intellectual might. In a sequence from the 2018 documentary “RBG” that has been sliced into GIFs and pasted around the internet as tribute, she wears a “SUPER DIVA!” sweatshirt as she heaves teensy hand weights over her shoulders. Even … Continue reading RBG’s Fanclub Isn’t The Problem

Athenae, Music1 Comment

There’s Some Whores in This House

Allison Hantschel

Everyone was clowning on The Virgin Ben yesterday which I’m glad we all had fun with, we desperately needed it: 😩😂😂😂 https://t.co/BoMFEkk0IG — Cardi B (@iamcardib) August 10, 2020 I am just super done with white people freaking out about Black women’s music, and Black music generally. I grew up in the Tipper Gore/2 Live Crew era and even as a white kid it was fucking embarrassing that these were our adult public figures acting as if hearing grown-ass people recite the lyrics to “Me So Horny” was any less traumatizing than half-hearing them sung by their progenitors. This made … Continue reading There’s Some Whores in This House

Athenae, Television

Not Everything Sucks

Allison Hantschel

Doom Patrol still exists:  Not only do I need to know what happens to my favorite crew of screw-ups, I need more of them working through their trauma and growing. The thing I adore about Doom Patrol is that no one on the show is static. Miranda mentioned in the episode that she wanted to keep Kay and all her personalities moving forward, and even though she was maybe evil when she said that, she’s right. It’s a weird show about broken people healing each other, which is always my jam, and found family, which is also always my jam, and YES … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks

Athenae, Do Something1 Comment

Another Mutual Aid Thread

Allison Hantschel

All right. It’s pretty definitively up to us, right?   America’s prodigious infection rates are also a testament to our own national failure — and therefore a source of existential ghastliness, of sheer perversity: Why on earth were so many of us sacrificing so much in these past four and a half months — our livelihoods, our social connections, our safety, our children’s schooling, our attendance at birthdays and anniversaries and funerals — if it all came to naught? At this point, weren’t we expecting some form of relief, a resumption of something like life?   We did this back at … Continue reading Another Mutual Aid Thread

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media

We’re Gonna Get a Really Bitchin’ Book Out of This

Allison Hantschel

Just STOP: https://twitter.com/RachelFeltman/status/1290627181547323393 God, political journalism is so stupid right now. Between grownass people yelling SCOOOOOOOOOP at the beginning of all their tweets like goddamn children, like anyone cares, like if it’s really that big a revelation it’ll speak for itself, and now this nonsense courtesy of HBO and its wee Hannibal Lecters who think their role is to describe the foam in which they deliberately flip, it’s no wonder people are mad and scared and susceptible to ridiculousness on the internet. Ten minutes of morning news and you understand in a visceral way why people vote Republican, much less … Continue reading We’re Gonna Get a Really Bitchin’ Book Out of This

Athenae, Campaign Notes2 Comments

Just Shut the Fuck UP Until November

Allison Hantschel

Sweet summer child has a point: If you’re a supporter of Joe Biden, one option you have is to NOT talk to reporters about his VP selection. In fact, I’d argue it’s the best way to show him your support! — Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) August 1, 2020 I’ve been saying for a while that Joey would have walked to the nomination if he’d kept his trap shut, like talking isn’t helping here, and I think the same thing applies to everyone who works for him and WANTS him to win, and him as well, and I don’t know why he’s … Continue reading Just Shut the Fuck UP Until November

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media, Sports

Enough Money

Allison Hantschel

AMAZING:  He said he was optimistic because readers have become accustomed to paying for online content, noting the sports fans who subscribe to The Athletic. He added that vendors like Pico, Stripe and MailChimp have made it easier for media companies to outsource business functions. In addition, he said, the thinning of newspaper sports sections, the dissolution of ESPN the Magazine and layoffs at Sports Illustrated may have created a vacuum. Defector staff members said they did not expect the kind of growth coveted by the venture capitalists who have increasingly dominated online journalism. Rather, they said, they hoped to … Continue reading Enough Money