Some things for February

music, words

Books

Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes by Anne Elizabeth Moore
Come for the essay on the capitalist grift of menstrual disposal bags, stay for the jokes.

Zero at the Bone: Fifty Essays Against Despair by Christian Wiman
This is my Lent reading. It’s sacred, profane, heart-wrenching, and precise. I’ve been grateful to return to it each night.

The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World by Ajay Singh Chaudhary
I preordered this book so long ago I forgot about it! But I’m so glad to finally read it. I think we’ve all heard that climate survival is a matter of politics and economics, but Chaudary gets into what this means — for both leftists and the corporate right — and how to shape a new world.

Music

Life and Death (Steve Thorngate)
Editor-friend at The Christian Century, Steve Thorngate has new music out for Lent! I’ve used Steve’s Advent music in worship before and I’m enjoying this new set of songs.

English Rebel Songs (Chumbawamba)
In 1988, long before anarchist punk band Chumbawamba told us how they got knocked down and how they got up again, they produced an album of amazing English protest and rebellion songs from 1391-1914. The Diggers song is one of my favorites:

You noble Diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The waste land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name
Your digging do disdain and your persons all defame
Stand up now, Diggers all.

Podcasts/Webinars

I have been troubled with so much about Gaza but this month I’ve been especially attentive to my despair at seeing non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish practice and politics reduced to anti-Semitism and self-hatred. Here are few resources I've found to accompany me.

Israel Studies, New Books - Daniel Boyarin and The No-State Solution
Boyarin’s work on talmud and early Judaism is central to my academic life and formation. He’s recently published a book called The No-State Solution and this podcast interview gives a glimpse into the rich history of movements like Bund and doiakyt, as well as Boyarin’s imagination for thriving Judaism in its diasporic “hereness.”

On the Nose, Jewish Currents - Talking to Our Families
You’ve likely seen a generational divide over the response to Gaza, both within and outside Judaism. In this podcasts, Jews who oppose the decimation on Gaza and demand a ceasefire share about the pain and separation this has caused with family members. Heartbreaking wisdom abounds.

In Solidarity with Palestine: A Roundtable with the Critical Ancient World Studies Collective and Everyday Orientalism
I’ve been digging back into Santiago Sabadosky’s work in this new iteration of reckoning with the state of Israel. Sabadosky is a Latin American Jew whose work on decoloniality and barbarianism is brilliant. He’s a part of this roundtable discussion on the memoricide occurring in Gaza and the project of Western exceptionalism inherited by the state of Israel that makes all forms of violence permissible. Check it out.