Things Got Heated [#126]

Examining heat inequity, the Secretary of State covers Muddy Watters, and how the elementary school parent group chat devolved into chaos.

Y’all.

I’m still shook after my first grade parent WhatsApp group chat (w/a dangerously large ~65 members) devolved yesterday into a mess of spurious claims and hurt feelings. The loudest voices in the room decided to put their teacher complaints on blast, complaining in epically long posts about the possibility of “emotional and psychological trauma” inflicted on kids because of a rigorous Mandarin curriculum. At one point another parent called for a petition against said teacher, who happens to be one of the most tenured, most beloved Mandarin educators at our elementary school. Efforts to stick up for the teacher were met with jokes about those who love her having Stockholm syndrome. I exited by having someone else remove me to avoid the chat announcement reading “Elise has exited the group.” Maybe I should have stuck around though, because as an art piece, I’d love to cast voice actors to read the texts aloud.

The episode illustrated a gnarly knot of modern issues: Millennial parents grappling with achievement culture. “Mom rage” as the natural result of patriarchal, capitalistic forces. Parent involvement (and over communication) utterly overwhelming teachers, driving burnout and turnover. How parental pressure on teachers is even worse at private schools. (But not as bad as in Korea, where bullying teachers has led to suicide and mass protests.) And my favorite: How group text culture is out of control (incidentally this story came out yesterday as my class group chat was descending into a passive-aggressive/agressive-agressive wasteland).

Reading

Congrats to the writers on an “exceptional deal,” ending a historically long strike against the studios. Just 11(!) adults are responsible for 60% of the requests to ban books in America. Extreme heat reveals “heat gaps” across society. And here we are on the cusp of another government shutdown, which among other problems, could deal a “double blow” to the nation’s already fragile air travel system. Abortion and trans rights cut to the core of what we mean by bodily autonomy. A voice of reason on all the recent calls for traditional marriage as a cure-all for societal ills. The naked dinner parties of LA (h/t Dr Jenn).

Werk Werk Werk (For new readers, this is the section for my writing, projects and/or upcoming events)

Talked through one of the fall’s best novels, Happiness Falls, on WBEZ’s Nerdette podcast. Weighed in on how acne is not a moral failing, for a UK publication. I’ll be at The Texas Book Festival in Austin on the weekend of November 9-11, but not sure when exactly the Flawless talk will be yet, so stay tuned. For LA folks, there’s a new Barnes & Noble opening in my neighborhood in Marina del Rey (it’s moving into the former Amazon space, natch), and I’m doing a grand re-opening signing event with them November 19th. Come on out!

Watch and/or Listen

Secretary of State Antony Blinken can play blues guitar and has a surprisingly solid singing voice, as exemplified in his performance of a Muddy Watters cover this week. THANK YOU C-SPAN for making this available!

Recommendations

• Great ways to repurpose those plastic berry containers.

• My friend

  Chris Duffy
  ‘s newsletter,
  Bright Spots
  .

• My partner Rob, a veteran of TV writer’s rooms, started posting nuggets of wisdom from writers rooms that we can all use in our workplaces.

• The novel Disorientation, which is set in the office-politics-laden world of academia, and examines the roots and implications of ‘Yellow Fever’ in incisive, hilarious ways.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival/Chuseok to all who observe! I’m going to be eating the shit out of the date-flavored mooncakes, and not touching the ones with the giant yolk in the middle. IYKYK.

Stay calm in those choppy group chat waters,

E