I mean I am 100% for seeing a movie with all kinds of swinging infidelity and scandals but Gene Hackman???? Eww!
Just finished Chris Hedges' American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America about the rise of christian nationalism, mostly discussing televangelists. It was okay, but shit is way worse than it was in 2007. Don't like his writing style, but it was a decent cautionary tale.
Just arrived and on my list for a 2025 read: Don't Go Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It "Multiple times a day, in cities across the US and beyond, a simple yet powerful message is repeated by the well-meaning, the ignorant, and the bigoted : 'don't go' -- avoid at all costs those Black and Brown disinvested neighborhoods that have become bywords for social disorder and urban decay. This book is a collection of stories and photos that uncover the hidden influence of both subtle and overt 'don't go' messages and the segregation they perpetuate in Chicago." https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S126C2614934
Just finished Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar. While it did not quite explain the world, it does a good job of explaining the US and its love affair with large plots of concrete that mostly sit empty and make everything cost more. Recommended.
Currently reading. From the intro alone, I can tell this is going to be one of the books that collects a lot of things I was already aware of, adds in a bunch of stuff I wasn’t aware of, and pieces them together in ways that enlighten and infuriate me at the same time.
Finished this up last week. As a read, it was a slog, honestly - the pacing was very slow and deliberate, mwhich it obviously needs to be on a subject as contentious as this that requires thorough documentation. So like, not a page turner or a “beach read” or anything like that. But still, an essential read for any American and Chicagoan, and something I wish every “back the blue” believing person was required to read. Annually. 4 stars.