Sex Strikes + Allyship
| This Week In Mash-Up America |
The week of May 18, 2024 was ayahuasca for our health; enjoying the bananas-ness of Megalopolis; and bowing to Queen Cardi. You ARE that bi$%h!
THE MASH-UP AMERICANS:
Exciting news: The Mash-Up Americans is a 2024 Becoming America grantee! The Becoming America Fund “supports pop culture for social change practitioners to immerse millions of Americans in narrative oceans of pop culture content that ignite passion, curiosity, and faith in our ability to create something truly visionary, together: a just and pluralist society.”
As part of its “Democracy & Society” narrative network, we’ll be rounding out our previous two seasons — Grief, Collected and The Ultimate Guide to a Mash-Up Life — with Tikkun Olam: Our Season of Repair, a new season coming this summer. Everyone loves a good trilogy!
MASH-UPS IN THE NEWS:
Mitzvah Night Is Cancelled
THE CUT
When one ultra-Orthodox woman couldn’t get her abusive husband to grant her a divorce, other ultra-Orthodox wives went on sex strike all around the world to get their men to do something about it — and it worked.
The Food Blogger Cooking Through Gaza’s Hunger Crisis
PORTSIDE
Bless this man for bringing positivity (and much-needed internet eyeballs) to his people in crisis: “In a refugee camp, Hamada Shaqoura turns aid packages into pizza wraps, curry, and “Gazan style” tacos, gaining internet-wide attention, offering the world a glimpse into the scarcity and ingenuity that define Palestinian survival.”
Inside The Epic Search For Philly’s Next Tuba Master
PHILADELPHIA
When a music school only accepts one new tuba student at a time, the stakes for everyone involved are high. In a year that saw 43 applicants — the most they’ve ever received — the selection process is particularly nerve-racking.
After A Borderland Shootout, A 100-Year-Old Battle For The Truth
THE WASHINGTON POST
The story about a 1920 incident at the Texas–Mexico border changes depending on who tells it. Which begs the question: whose story is remembered when it comes to the ugly chapters of Texas history?
A GOP Texas School Board Member Campaigned Against Schools Indoctrinating Kids. Then She Read The Curriculum.
THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Surprise, she found nothing to support her claims. Follow what happened to Courtney Gore, the aforementioned school board member, after she disavowed the far-right platform she campaigned on.
A British Nurse Was Found Guilty Of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?
THE NEW YORKER
We may never know if she really did it, though the writer sure is poking a lot of holes in the evidence. But one thing that’s crystal clear: We love to vilify a woman, whether or not she’s actually a baby killer.
Volunteer Social Workers Take To The Subway To Help Migrant Candy Sellers
DOCUMENTED
Leave no one behind. “An Ecuadorian migrant mother and her 2-year-old son spend their days selling candy on the streets and subways. A newly formed group of volunteer social workers is trying to reach families just like hers.”
Lauren Southern: How My Tradlife Turned Toxic
UNHERD
It’s a cautionary tale about the far Right’s idolatry of the “tradwife” as well as a look at the overlap between tradwife-escapees and radical feminists — but it’s also a reminder that these only-slightly-reformed extremists are still a danger to women, because this.
How Los Angeles County Became Home to The Biggest AAPI Communities In The Country
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Or an alternative title, why Angelenos have the best Costcos. This detailed, data-intense timeline of the birth and growth of LA’s various Asian immigrant population offers interesting context for anyone curious.
America Is In Its Insecure-Attachment Era
THE ATLANTIC
Narcissism rates are increasing among Americans and empathy is decreasing, and “a larger proportion of college students today agree that they are ‘comfortable without close emotional relationships.’” But experts say there’s hope.
Albuquerque Is Throwing Out The Belongings Of Homeless People, Violating City Policy
PROPUBLICA
This is an atrocity, straight up. “It’s the equivalent of having your house burned down multiple times a year — just over and over again, you’re losing everything and starting from scratch each time.”
