August Recommendations

from one content consumer to another

I will be publishing a subscriber piece later this week on finances. I don’t mean me commentating on the economy (boring and I am not qualified!), I mean my relationship with money. I mean cracking open the taboo around my wallet and directly talking to the people that help ensure there is something in it (thank u subscribers!! ). As someone who doesn’t ‘come from money’, it has always been a very sticky source of shame and fear. However, I want to talk about that. I want to get into the weeds of the last couple of years of self-employment and how it has shaped my relationship with freedom, security and spending. Subscribe to get it at the end of the week.

1. The Privilege To Fail: How Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn’s Olympic Routine Made Breakdancing A Global Joke

   by Stacey Patton

   I read this article on Sunday night after a friend sent it to me. Patton speaks of cultural theft, white privilege and appropriation. I had seen so much discourse online in the form of short tweets and Threads posts but this article allows a longer form exploration of the critique of Dr Rachael Gunn that I highly recommend reading and sharing widely. Here is just one quote from Patton to leave you with:

   “So, what is it about white women desiring access to Black experiences? It’s the power to opt in and out of identities, to wear Blackness as a costume when it suits them, and then discard it when it no longer serves them. It’s the audacity to redirect the media spotlight to their farfetched stories, to dramatically defend or chastise themselves before the world, and in doing so, to appropriate not just a culture, but the very struggles that define it.

   Rachael Gunn is no different.”

2. The Interview with Vince Vaughn

   The New York Times

I was raised on Vince Vaughn movies. Which is to say I grew up with a dad who let me watch any R-rated comedy. I was exposed to disgusting jokes, topics and themes from a young age. Too young. I was six or seven years old watching Wedding Crashers, Dodgeball, etc. Most people will be confused by this recommendation: an American white conservative comedian interviewed for the New York Times? Check Hannah’s pulse.

BUT, this is one of the strangest interviews I’ve ever listened to. Vince is not only surprising, but takes the helm in a way I’ve never experienced as a consumer, an interviewee or an interviewer. I think it’s vital that we do listen to content like this, because Vince articulates many views I am opposed to, in ways I found compelling. There is no better challenge for me than to listen to someone who I find measured, interesting and entirely different from me. He surprised me. I don’t agree with much of what Vince says - but I sharpened my brain and was thrilled by how distinct this was from any other interviews I’ve listened to recently. The only way to test our own beliefs is by engaging with those we disagree with, and having healthy discussions in which all parties are open to changing their mind. Also, what a strange cat VV is.

3. All I Ever Wanted Was To Be Hot

   by Lucinda Price (AKA Froomes)

My bias is showing here.

I endorsed this book, written by my good friend Froomes (the best Instagram follow you’ll ever execute). It’s about Western beauty standard, almond mums, desirability, pop culture, diet culture, cosmetic procedures and beyond. Most of all, it’s honest. I have never read a book so honest in it’s exploration of our fight to be perfect, to meet the ideal and to feel like a failure until we do so. As someone who is chronically online, I can often see how people try try try to be authentic, but how that in itself is performed. What Froomes has produced is, I would argue, one of the only personal pieces I have ever seen that feels truly genuine, transparent and vulnerable in it’s exploration of the modern experience. You may not agree and it may not reflect your world, but fuck - it still slaps.

source: Pantera Press

AIEWWTBH comes out on September 3 and I’m hosting the launch in Sydney (I believe it has sold out). Yes, this is me plugging a friend. But more than that, I’m plugging something I found fun, complicated and fresh.

4. A state is not a parent: Why the child welfare system fails

TedX talk by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

In preparing for my own talk next week, I have been re-watching one of my favourites TedX talks of all time - from the brilliant advocate Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts. Vanessa is a proud Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman, she is also a lawyer, an author and the Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.

Vanessa talks about her experience as a survivor of the family policing system. She is one of the most powerful speakers I have ever met. This is imperative viewing.

5. Stardust

I’ll plug it once I’ll plug it a hundred times. Stardust is my go-to menstrual cycle tracking app. I log everything. It tells me how I’m going to feel, it sends an alert to my partner every day with a guide to what is happening with me. It has bleeding options like ‘crime scene’ and feelings/actions to log including ‘impulsive haircut’. If you link seven friends you get a year of their premium subscription for free (but I have not noticed a difference between free and premium since achieving that level). I lurve it.

6. Unaired

   Hozier’s new EP

I am a Hozier stan since day dot. I truly have been in love with this man since I was in high school. A poet. A man written by a woman. I love him and I am seeing him twice in November. He often disappears into the woods for years at a time but my ears have been blessed by him recently. If you are new to Hozier, I wouldn’t suggest starting with this EP but with these five songs: (my favourites in order) Work Song, From Eden, Unknown/ Nth, Jackie and Wilson, Shrike.

7. A Shattering Secret on the Path to Motherhood

   By Arielle Giusto

This one is from the New York Times’ Modern Love column. An emotive piece on relationships, secrets, parenthood and shame. Not giving anything more away, but worth a read if you enjoy things that aren’t the news (I have an obsession with ethical dilemma columns personally and I should get into sharing them more with people).

artist: Brian Rea

---

See you later this week, drop something you’ve enjoyed in the comments if you’d like!

H.