Hello again! Here's a feast of cool links
And a mini-report on what’s ahead
I’m back from hiatus! I hope you enjoyed the backlog of podcasts and slacker movie analyses over the last couple months. I’m still getting re-orientated and planning what to bring you in the next months of BQE. Here’s an short “state of the blog”:
I’m excited to get back to reading and reacting to antiwork “canonical works,” maybe my favorite posts though they’re also the most labor-intensive
To the delight of some of you (and the chagrin of others), there are still a handful of slacker film analyses left to go, along with a roundup of overall conclusions. After that’s done, I’ll post more regularly about progress on our own slacker film
I’ve really enjoyed recording conversations with “friends with Big Quit Energy” around the world. I don’t have any on the docket, so we can in a sense say that “season 1” has concluded. After the holidays and all that good stuff, I’ll get to recording up a new batch of conversations (if you’d like to be on it, let me know!)
I’ve also got at least one reflection to share from my time away and, as always, will sprinkle spontaneous musings, stories, and art in the mix.
I’ve also, in small pockets of time and at a leisurely pace, been working on more designs to add to our swag shop–they won’t be ready in time for the holiday, though. Sorry boss!
As far as cadence, I’m happy to have (more or less) consistently posted weekly for the last year, but I’m reflecting on whether I’ll continue that pace moving forward. It’s been rewarding, but it may have burned me out a little bit–not to mention, it makes it less likely that I’ll want to take on one of those meatier, labor-intensive posts. For now I’ll commit to not going more than three weeks without posting, while still aiming for a weekly pace.
In the meantime, while I get my shit together, here’s some cool stuff from others that I want to share with you!
The hilarious tragedy of brainless optimization
A delightful article by
over at Experimental History on how our corporate-brained insistence to establish and optimize against “key measures” often leads to sketchy behavior (in this case, among America’s leading universities) and highly ineffective but performative work-humping. I love the example of spending an inordinate amount of time at the library so you can be seen “studying.”If nothing else, “any measure that becomes a target ceases to be a good measure” is a great lesson to take away.
“I don’t dream of labor” seen through a Black lens
I’m a couple years late to this, but if you were planning on scrolling or watching youtube for 45 minutes, I highly recommend you spend them on F.D. Signifier’s analysis of the “I don’t dream of labor” movement and why it doesn’t fit with the experience of a lot of Black Americans…even if being subject to systematic exclusion from labor opportunities arguably made them pioneers in “not dreaming of labor.”
In truth, I don’t share his definition of what the “I don’t dream of labor” movement is. But that aside, his media analysis is very insightful. (Also, I had no clue about the John Henry folk tale and how fucked up the Disney version is, so that alone was worth my viewing time.)
Some resources to help out in Gaza (for all levels of energy and commitment)
While I was gone, both Devon Price and Marta from The Spiral Lab published great lists of resources and small (or large, if you’re inclined) actions that you can take to support people in Gaza. While I don’t necessarily agree with every recommendation, they’re both great places to start.
An admission: as everything jumped off while I was away, I used my hiatus as an excuse to avoid engaging on the issue. Part of it is that I don’t feel like I have anything valuable to add to the discourse. Part of it is that I have a history, dating back to the Obama administration but most intensified during Trump and George Floyd, of going really hard about issues that rile me up, to the point of fracturing friendships and relationships, which always left an awful taste in my mouth. I’m not sure it was worth it or constructive, in hindsight.
With all that said, if you believe that humans shouldn’t take away each other’s agency–which, as a reader of this blog, chances are you do at least in the context of bosses and employees–then the total-population scale at which that’s happening (let alone the violence) in Gaza likely feels too outrageous to ignore. If you feel so called, you can use the lists above to add your grain of solidarity, as will I.
If Martin Scorcese needs to grunt out commercials for corporations, you don’t need to feel bad about not living off your art
While Scorcese may not actually need the money from commercials, this look at his “second career” as an adman is a lens into the fascinating reality that most directors–even famous ones–can’t live only off their film projects and often need commercial work to stay afloat in between projects.
Does America’s culture segregate children and parents from everyone else?
Another
essay, a really thoughtful meditation on her apprehension around taking her children to many public places. In it, she mentions a broader context of thinkers that compare America’s attitude toward children in public to other societies. She poignantly (but accurately, in my opinion) concludes that “we don’t treat children like members of society who are entitled to take up space.”This resonated with me because, in my time away, I was also struck by how other cultures integrate children so well into their day-to-day lives. The fact that America doesn’t makes the process more expensive, lonely, and overall more terrifying.
Thank you as always for your continued readership of Big Quit Energy!
Awesome reflections and recommendations. Glad to have you back!