Long goodbyes, cultural cannibals, hope springs eternal
Weekend reads for March 21, 2025
Happy Saturday, Ink Readers!
A world at war, climate out of control, a federal government continuing its downward spiral into chaos — it might have escaped your attention that yesterday was the spring equinox. But winter’s over in the Northern Hemisphere, and we’re at the season of renewal, with Nowruz, Passover, Easter, a springtime Eid, and countless other festivals offering a reminder that after the worst the year has to offer has passed, it’s time again for growth. Plus, the fact that people around the world are unified in recognizing this as a time to look with hope at the future is something worth taking seriously in these times. It’s a perfect time to catch up on other things you may have missed, so we hope, as we do every Saturday, that you’ll read along with us. Among the great writing and thinking you’ll find in today’s edition of Weekend Reads:
Can saying goodbye let us understand one another?
How did big tech deny us the future we deserved?
Was it ever worth being cool?
How did song competitions become a new Cold War?
What do religious scholars make of Peter Thiel’s obsession with the Antichrist?
Did cultural cannibalism finally win the Civil War — for the South?
As people wake once again, what was “woke”?
And an ice-melting improvising set from Weird of Mouth
We do what we do at The Ink to help you understand these times. If this community keeps you sane, join us today. It’s your support that makes this happen.
The long goodbye
I knew that you would grow up and out and away from me. By now, you must have seen how unequiped I am for separation.
As you say, one’s past, one’s childhood, one’s growing up is always there to be revived, is always there to be made apparent in one’s current life. There is no “de-experiencing” as it were, there is only “cover-up”. How well we do it, and how well we camouflage what we don’t want to live with in ourselves, is our way of going on with life. [The Paris Review]
