#tressie mcmillan cottom

[tomorrowusa]

I also keep my eyes on the South because the Republican strategy of disenfranchisement is a state-by-state strategy. It looks like judicial rule where they cannot win. Where they cannot win by judicial rule, they will rule by procedural theft. Where they cannot convince voters to vote for them, they will convince the candidate they voted for to become one of them.

Tressie McMillan Cottom at the New York Times.

A great summing up of the GOP strategy to cling to power at all costs. And this strategy is certainly not limited to Southern states.

She’s quite right about this being a state-by-state battle. Keep up with state government. Start by learning who your state legislators are.

Find Your Legislators Look your legislators up by address or use your current location.

[fanhackers]

During the pandemic, we, fans, have been able to rely on some of our already existing coping mechanisms to deal with the increased strain of our mental health due to the global crisis. Participants in a study about the mental health of PhD students during the pandemic responded that their coping strategies mainly included social interaction and recreational activities. Furthermore, 

Lower scores of depression and anxiety were predicted by the strength of the overall social network (…) NAUMANN, SANDRA, LENA MATYJEK, KATHARINA BÖGL, SCHOLAR MINDS, AND ISABEL DZIOBEK. UPDATE ON THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS IN ACADEMIA: EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS’ MENTAL HEALTH AND SATISFACTION WITH PHD TRAINING, 2022. 

In another survey, this one about Philippine BTS fans, social interaction and recreational activities were  both listed as ways that fandom supported participants’ mental health.

Despite being isolated from one another geographically due to the lockdown, the fans felt that BTS was with them throughout the pandemic, through their music, live videos, tweets, pictures, and even the mere thought of them. VANGUARDIA, MARC. “LOVE YOURSELF, BTS ARMY: PARTICIPATORY FANDOM AND AGENCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.” PHILIPPINES COMMUNICATION SOCIETY REVIEW, 2021, 229.

These digital  networks of intimacy allowed for comfort, happiness, and healing to be conveyed and received across miles in the physical realm and created imagined yet profound connections that acted as safe spaces for ARMYs online. VANGUARDIA, MARC. “LOVE YOURSELF, BTS ARMY: PARTICIPATORY FANDOM AND AGENCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.” PHILIPPINES COMMUNICATION SOCIETY REVIEW, 2021, 231.

By seeing other ARMYs and interacting with them on various social networking sites, the (survey) participants felt less lonely as a part of a community of people who shared not only the same interest and admiration for BTS but also similar experiences regardless of their cultural, linguistic, gender, and other identifying background. (Participants) pointed out that relationships were formed not only as fans of the same idols but as individuals who were included in each other’s support systems. VANGUARDIA, MARC. “LOVE YOURSELF, BTS ARMY: PARTICIPATORY FANDOM AND AGENCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.” PHILIPPINES COMMUNICATION SOCIETY REVIEW, 2021, 241-242

The individual activities and actions that the participants engaged in as fans of BTS served as a distraction from the bleak reality of the pandemic. By being occupied with tasks such as streaming, voting, and getting updated on the fandom over stan Twitter, the fans were able to focus on accomplishing things instead of dwelling on their problems and concerning themselves with the situation of the world around them. By being able to control something they found an anchor that was constant, and had a sense of agency in a time of almost complete uncertainty. (…) The participants exhibited a high level of consciousness of the positive effects and potential drawbacks of their engagement in the fandom. They recognized the various ways that their actions could affect their well-being, and adjusted accordingly by putting themselves in conducive situations that would provide them the greatest benefit. VANGUARDIA, MARC. “LOVE YOURSELF, BTS ARMY: PARTICIPATORY FANDOM AND AGENCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.” PHILIPPINES COMMUNICATION SOCIETY REVIEW, 2021, 239-240.

Fandom might be seen then, as a culture that adapted well to the pandemic. It would be tempting to characterise academia as also not needing to change drastically in a world in lockdown.

Drawing a parallel between these two is not a new statement.

In some cases, we argue that academic research interests paralleled fannish passion. HAYASHI, AYA ESTHER. 2020. “REIMAGINING FAN STUDIES IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 AND BLACK LIVES MATTER.” TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS AND CULTURES, NO. 34. HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.3983/TWC.2020.2029.

However, both fandom and academia have their  issues, which were  not only carried over into  the pandemic but might have been amplified by it . As McMillan Cottom explained  in a roundtable about the state of higher education,

Overall, most college leaders saw COVID-19 as an opportunity to do more of what they had already been doing. Schools that had wanted to respond to inequality doubled down on that. School that had been trending toward profit-seeking especially under the guise of a public institution-like Purdue and Arizona State -doubled down. SHENK, TIMOTHY, MAGGIE DOHERTY, NILS GILMAN, ADAM HARRIS, TRESSIE MCMILLAN COTTOM, AND CHRISTOPHER NEWFIELD. ACADEMI AFTER THE PANDEMIC: A ROUNDTABLE ON HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES. OTHER. DISSENT, 2021. 

(…) participatory culture of affiliation in the BTS ARMY fandom can be ambiguous at best in its effect on fan mental health. VANGUARDIA, MARC. “LOVE YOURSELF, BTS ARMY: PARTICIPATORY FANDOM AND AGENCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.” PHILIPPINES COMMUNICATION SOCIETY REVIEW, 2021, 243.

Notwithstanding the positive impacts of involvement in BTS ARMY? The participants generally agreed that some other ARMYs can be very “toxic”, or overly competitive, intense, or aggressive in their way of supporting BTS and engaging in “fan wars” with fans of other groups. To address this problem, some fans distanced themselves from stan Twitter altogether, avoided “toxic” fans by curating the accounts they were following or accounts following them, or decided to temporarily leave or stayed only to focus on ARMY common goals true to the ideals of BTS: The process if compartmentalization of personal and fandom life and interactions between online ARMY friends and personal/in-real-life friends that some participants reported as coping mechanisms for their mental health were a steady reality in network society where inclusions and exclusions always came together. VANGUARDIA, MARC. “LOVE YOURSELF, BTS ARMY: PARTICIPATORY FANDOM AND AGENCY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.” PHILIPPINES COMMUNICATION SOCIETY REVIEW, 2021, 243.

In a world so changed by the pandemic, looking forward, we cannot accept neither the idea that we can go back to normal, nor the idea that we have moved toward a digital utopia. Harris says,

During the protests and reckoning over systemic racism in American life over the past year, students have been a major part of the national energy. But they haven’t had the chance to be on campus, to be in spaces where they can organize. A lot of college leaders, particularly at predominantly white institutions, are very concerned about what is going to happen when students come back. I think a lot of energy that has been pent up over the last sixteen, seventeen months will reveal itself on campuses. SHENK, TIMOTHY, MAGGIE DOHERTY, NILS GILMAN, ADAM HARRIS, TRESSIE MCMILLAN COTTOM, AND CHRISTOPHER NEWFIELD. ACADEMI AFTER THE PANDEMIC: A ROUNDTABLE ON HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES. OTHER. DISSENT, 2021. 

We have to reflect on how to adapt to this world, possibly, how to use our current opportunities to change. 

What practices can we introduce at conferences that don’t tokenize BIPOC scholars? (…) Let’s diversify editorial boards and conference planning committees. (…) Let’s create alternative funding for conferences and journals, to transform these practices from unremunerated service activities to activities where labor is honored. HAYASHI, AYA ESTHER. 2020. “REIMAGINING FAN STUDIES IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 AND BLACK LIVES MATTER.” TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS AND CULTURES, NO. 34. HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.3983/TWC.2020.2029.

[living400lbs]

The American Diabetes Association developed the term “prediabetes” to bring attention to slightly elevated blood sugar levels in some Americans in 2001. Over the next two decades, the organization expanded the definition of the condition, so that by 2019, as Charles Piller reported for Science magazine, 84 million Americans had prediabetes, “the most common chronic disease after obesity.”

There were no drugs specifically designed for prediabetes, so doctors often relied on off-label treatments, a common medical practice. But because off-label drug interventions coincided with the wholesale expanded classification of millions of people with a novel condition, a new market boomed.

This shift broadened the consumer language for medicalizing weight loss as a preventive strategy to treat not only diabetes, but also supposed — though not always proven — diabetes risk. It armed a wellness machine with the medical terminology of “insulin resistance” and “insulin sensitivity,” without the medical expertise to screen for diabetes risk indicators. People could soon buy an astonishing array of apps and devices to self-diagnose insulin efficiency. Enter Ozempic and Wegovy, perfectly designed for our highly developed consumer palates.

Given all these changes, I wondered what Dr. Richard Kahn, the former chief scientific and medical officer at the American Diabetes Association, who helped establish “prediabetes” as a term, now thought about the phenomenon.

When we talked, Dr. Kahn told me that he regrets his role in developing “prediabetes” and its associated grift, but his giddiness about GLP-1 drugs was palpable. He said that encouraging weight loss through lifestyle changes was an “abject failure.” Now, Ozempic offers patients light and hope.

The problem with these drugs, he said, “is that they cost an enormous amount of money.”

From Tressie McMillan Cottom

Oh, fyi: I weigh about 400lbs. I do not have diabetes or prediabetes.

[writerlunawinters]

Title: Thick: And Other Essays

Author: Tressie McMillan Cottom

Genre: Nonfiction Essays

Published: January 8, 2019

Rating: 5/5

Tressie McMillan Cottom is a public intellectual and author of Lower Ed. Thick is her debut collection of wit, wisdom, and Black Twitter snark on race, beauty, money, and more. It dissects everything from beauty to Obama and pumpkin spice lattes, and serves up clever prose and southern aphorisms in her own style.

McMillan Cottom's essays are a refreshing and necessary addition to the nonfiction genre. Her writing is smart, funny, and unapologetically Black, tackling topics that range from the personal to the political. She weaves together her own experiences with broader societal issues, making each essay a unique and thought-provoking read.

Thick is a must-read for anyone interested in intersectional feminism, race, and class in America. McMillan Cottom's writing is accessible and engaging, making complex ideas easy to understand without sacrificing nuance.

[llendrinall]

I knew a lot of the anger had to do with my critics’ being Extremely Online, a condition where social media compels us to read thinly, strip out all context and get to the part where we can be insulted as efficiently as possible. - Tressie McMillan Cottom

This, oh my, what a way to put it. To be able to be insulted, because that's the end goal. To feel attacked.

From a NYT opinion here

[sazzyartist]

Tressie McMillan Cottom 'In the Name of Beauty'

[lima-norte]

Las claves de la independencia periodística #AGSulzberger

✨ El acontecimiento. Con eje en la relevancia que tiene la independencia periodística, el editor del New York Times, A. G. Sulzberger, dictó esta semana la Reuters Memorial Lecture 2024: se trata de nuestro evento principal de cada año, en el que un destacado colega ofrece su visión profesional. Hemos traducido su discurso al español y a continuación te detallamos tres de sus principales…

[wellconstructedsentences]

The families that can hoard do, and the neighborhoods in which they live benefit.

Thick and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

[thatstormygeek]

McMillan Cottom: It goes much deeper. You call it populist rage, Patrick. I’m not against that description. But it doesn’t quite capture that the other side stokes that rage. The reaction is a defense of one public who is at odds with the interests of another public. Markets create moral economies. Whether you call it crony capitalism or just an unfair economy, the market sets the rules for which lives matter. We have set up a system of interlocking ninth circles of hell for all of our basic needs. Housing is a noose of landlord interests, developer exploitation and rising costs. Transportation is a Gordian knot of failing infrastructure and limited vision that traps us in neighborhoods and lifestyles that make us sicker and meaner. Our moral economy is trash. Healy: And how does the health care industry fit in here, Tressie? McMillan Cottom: Nowhere is the perverse nature of our moral economy more evident than health care. It is not just expensive. It is often tied to jobs people either cannot get or cannot afford to leave if they want to be able to see a doctor. Health care is one of the biggest reasons that Americans file for bankruptcy. The incentives are to put profit over people. We know this and yet we also gaslight millions of Americans. We tell them that the system is fair and meritocratic, that their quality of life is not deteriorating and, if it is, then they did not work hard enough. Scam culture makes everyone a mark. The moral economy of a scam culture says that everyone deserves to be a mark. That is dehumanizing. ... McMillan Cottom: No one is under the impression that murdering a health care C.E.O. will make insurance more affordable or accessible. Some people are relieved to see their experiences reflected and to see the moral rot of our system exposed. That is a public response to a social problem that pits one public’s needs against profit. Is it unfortunate that this happens because of a terrible crime that will certainly impact a family? Certainly. It is also unfortunate that we do not see the pain and illness and death of millions of people as a crime against our moral economy.

NYT gift link

[nerdynatreads]

☆☆YouTube | Tumblr | Instagram | Storygraph ☆☆

book review || Thick & Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

video review || Happy Women's Empowerment Day -- Feminist Reading Vlog issue 3

From the first chapter, I knew I liked the author’s writing, because she takes the time to explain why the issues she’s discussing matter and their importance to her. It made it easier to connect with her as an author, meaning I’m more engrossed in her writing and taking more time to understand what she’s saying. On one hand, her writing feels pretty relaxed, it flows seamlessly between the connecting thoughts, but it still feels academic and complex. It’s a hard balance, but she’s managed it well, while still getting across her passion for the topics. What I’ve been most impressed with is the author’s beautiful utilization of an extended metaphor.

Particularly the essay, In the Name of Beauty, made me rethink my own perspective. Specifically, around the racism in beauty standards, a section of intersectional feminism that I’d never thought deeply into, but almost immediately, I understood and wanted to know more. The author actually even calls out The Beauty Myth, a book I have on my owned TBR after picking it up randomly at a Half Price Books, for the total lack of intersectionality between race and beauty standards. I’m still intrigued by the thesis of the book, but am glad to have this knowledge going in so that I can be more aware of the blind spots and biases. This essay was also reinforced in a more fashion-focused way in Fabulousness, which I thought was clever and well presented, even if not a new topic to me.

However, that became a trend for me in the later essays, they no longer felt like new topics or new points of view about them. I was still moved by Dying to be Competent, which discussed medical racism, **and Black Girlhood, Interrupted, which discussed how black women are so often discarded when there’s any question of value. Both are disgusting realities that have been proven time and again. The utilization of big-name celebrities, in the latter, such as R. Kelly and Charlamagne tha God, was also a smart one in that she was able to showcase examples of this, but also address the toxic thought process that because these black men have become celebrities, that somehow absolves them of the terrible things they do to black women.

The author interweaves her personal anecdotes with her discussions and references in a clever way, appealing to your empathy before diving into the meat of her theories that will make you think. It’s awful that she’s experienced so many of these things, but what’s worse is the reasons that they’re happening and continue to happen, because of societal stigmas and historical biases. She’s also not afraid to make her readers uncomfortable, but that’s the perfect opportunity to ask why and take what’s given as a jumping-off point for change in your own thoughts. While each essay isn’t long, the topics themselves are thick (pun intended) and sometimes analytical.

This ended on a low note for me, though. The last essay was interesting in the discussions about the publishing industry, but it felt more like a rant, and the evidence utilized did not seem to tie in with the main point she was arguing.

4 / 5 stars

[mswyrr]

I agree on the idea that verbal abuse and division is a problem in online progressive spaces. But "just be nicer to men" ignores the fact that Harris did important gestures on that front! Quote from Tressie McMillan Cottom:

A lot of men don't want nice or to be treated equally. They want the temptations Trump offers: to dominate and subject women. To control their bodies and not care how many bleed out in hospital rooms because their doctors can't legally give them life saving care.

There is a problem with the media ecosystem. There is a problem with verbal abuse in online progressive spaces. But there's also a problem with how tempted many men are by being able to dominate and subject and control and hurt women. To be our superiors not our beloved equals.

[writerlunawinters]

Being too much of one thing and not enough of another had been a recurring theme in my life. I was, like many young women, expected to be small so that boys could expand and white girls could shine. When I would not shrink, people made sure that I knew I had erred.

Tressie McMillan Cottom, Thick: And Other Essays

[alanshemper]

And I'm sorry, if you actually read what he is saying and don't simply shut off at seeing a critique of "wokeness" and "transgenderism", you'd see that it is not as unreasonable as others might lead you to believe.

He is critiquing inclusionary capitalism, not the existence of trans people. Could he benefit from doing more scholarship here and talking with trans academics? Absolutely. Is he a bigot or a transphobe or a """clown"""?

No. I don't think so.

Compare what he's saying to Tressie McMillan Cottom's concept of "predatory inclusion," for example.

Norman Finkelstein is not a grifter. He's extremely well researched and correct on some topics and is unfortunately wrong about others. His life has been legitimately ruined by the Israel Lobby, and he has a better reason than most to have an opinion about "cancel culture". He doesn't take money from sketchy right-wing money sources (looking at you Jimmy Dore and Glenn Greenwald), and he generally seems to live a simple, somewhat monastic life of books and writing. He cares deeply about things, but by his own admission, he has a poorly developed moral instinct. (In a recent interview he admitted that he had leaned heavily on Chomsky for moral clarity for much of his adult life, and they no longer talk. This has been difficult for Norman.)

Somebody needs to get him a copy of Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson.

[jkottke]

Tressie McMillan Cottom: “Whether you call it crony capitalism or just an unfair economy, the market sets the rules for which lives matter. We have set up a system of interlocking ninth circles of hell for all of our basic needs.”

[skatehepburn]

9 5 books for 2025

thank u @kshaar for the tag!

THIS IS WHERE I CONFESS:

i am not a good reader anymore. in between being a technology addict, reading more fanfiction than anything, and developing MS a few years back my capacity to sit with a book is... not great these days. (i know audiobooks count! but as someone who loooves quiet when i'm not driving i'd rather rebuild my capacity to read as much as i can)

BUT! We moved this summer, and i got a new library card and i have at least STARTED my first physical book in years. So i will make an aspirational list of books I want to check out and books that are sitting in my house, untouched after moving with us.*

Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia, By Elizabeth Catte

Let This Radicalize You, by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba

Modern Chronicles of Reaper's Coast, by "Cranley Huwbert" aka Divinity: Original Sin 2 lorebook which I am devouring in hopes of finishing a fic idea lol

Disability Visibility, ed. By Alice Wong

THICK, by Tressie McMillan Cottom

*(In the interest of making my goal achievable, I am making a shorter list <3 )

Tagging @lingerbythecranberries1993 and @electric-eccentricity bc they have good brains and i would like to know what feeds them