Today's Liberal News

A Pandemic Guide To Anime: Non Non Biyori; Azumanga Daioh

Welcome back to our impromptu and sporadically scheduled pandemic guide to anime. If you’ve missed any of our earlier entries, you can find them all here; for our introductory post you can go here.

Having run through many of the most famous choices and most popular genres, it’s now time to switch things up.

‘I Am a Writer Because of bell hooks’

listen little sister
angels make their hope here
in these hills
follow me
I will guide you
(From Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place, by bell hooks)
For all the things that bell hooks was—one of the foremost Black intellectuals in the world, renowned feminist, author of more than 40 books, revolutionary cultural critic—and all the places she lived, she was still Gloria Jean Watkins from Hopkinsville, daughter of Rosa Bell and Veotis.

Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald & Chris Hedges on NSA Leaks, Assange & Protecting a Free Internet

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Glenn Greenwald and Chris Hedges discuss mass surveillance, government secrecy, internet freedom and U.S. attempts to extradite and prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. They spoke together on a panel moderated by Amy Goodman at the virtual War on Terror Film Festival after a screening of “Citizenfour” — the Oscar-winning documentary about Snowden by Laura Poitras.

The Beloved Filipino Tradition That Started as a Government Policy

My mother and I spent an afternoon unfurling my lola’s apartment a few days after she died, back in 2017. In her closet, my grandmother had stored a big cardboard box with an address in Manila written on the side in thick marker. Inside the box were neatly arranged cans of food, bags of rice, drugstore makeup, and clothes she had bought on sale.

The Surreal TV Show That Rewrote Emily Dickinson’s Story

In Dickinson’s third and final season, the titular poet (played by Hailee Steinfeld) travels forward in time and meets the author Sylvia Plath (Saturday Night Live’s Chloe Fineman). Sylvia, it turns out, has a deep knowledge of her predecessor’s legacy. Apparently, Emily Dickinson lived a “miserable life,” should be considered “the original sad girl,” and, Sylvia whispers scandalously, “was a lesbian.

Five of the Best Books of 2021

Much of 2021 has been filled with a dull sense of déjà vu as the coronavirus pandemic has continued to shrink social worlds and batter morale. Many of the books our writers and editors were drawn to investigated failure, grief, apocalypse—resonant themes at a time of constant rupture and regression. Others helped jolt readers out of routines, and stretched the imagination.

Insecure Was So Much More Than a TV Show

Sitting in a New York City hotel room with a plastic flute full of prosecco and strappy black Manolo Blahnik heels resting near her bare feet, Issa Rae looks like the kind of woman who would have petrified an earlier avatar of herself.

News roundup: Trump and two of his stooges are fighting the Jan. 6 committee, and more

In the news today: Jim Jordan isn’t keen on appearing before the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 to explain his role in coordinating a coup with Donald Trump. Fine, lock him up. Michael Flynn lost his latest attempt to keep his role in the insurrection under wraps. Lock him up, too. And completing the trifecta of assholery, Donald Trump wants the Supreme Court to block the release of documents related to Jan. 6 to the House committee. This one? Lock him up and throw away the key.

Leading anti-vaxxer vows to make citizen’s arrest of Louisiana governor for inoculating kids

For the past two years—and especially since we all got access to the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines—I’ve felt like Luke Wilson’s character in Idiocracy trying to explain to relatives and acquaintances why they should irrigate their plants with water instead of sports drinks. It’s hard to get through to them, though—without an actual cranial saw, that is.

I can only imagine how Dr. Anthony Fauci feels.

Ted Cruz still appears to think he’ll be president one day

Oh, hey, Ted Cruz still wants to be president! Of course he does. The “breaking” part of this news is that he still seems to think it’s possible. Though, to be fair, Ted did snag a lot of primary votes in 2016—and that was before the beard. Imagine the mojo he’s got workin’ now!

Of course, Ted is universally loathed among warm-blooded vertebrates, so he’s forced to run as a Republican.

How Far Can Marvel Keep Pushing Its Own Success?

In its opening weekend alone, Spider-Man: No Way Home became the highest-grossing movie of the year. On pace to be the only billion-dollar film of 2021 and already setting the record for biggest December opening ever, Spidey does impressive numbers.And as No Way Home is the third Tom Holland entry, the ninth overall Spider-Man movie, and the 27th release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, its numbers are also testament to the enduring popularity of superhero movies.

Joan Didion Was Our Bard of Disenchantment

In 1988, Joan Didion joined a scrum of reporters on the tarmac of the San Diego airport to witness the writing of the first draft of history. The assembled journalists were trailing the Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. She was trailing the journalists. Didion watched as a baseball was procured, a staffer tossed the ball to the candidate, he tossed it back—and as the cameras dutifully captured the exchange.