Quentin's Weeknotes 12/4/22-12/10/22
This Week:
- I listened with genuine enthusiasm to China Mieville on Chris Hayes' podcast, talking about his new book on the continued relevance of the Communist Manifesto. Hayes, who is most definitely on the left, is in the somewhat unique position of defending liberal social-democracy from the radical, communist critique. What results is a genuinely thoughtful conversation about Marx, politics, nationalism, and freedom. Recommended!
- I finally got Cathie Jamieson’s paintings back to her, after they stayed here for nearly a year, following the de-installation of the exhibit “dadibaajimo: two Mississauga Artists Share Stories”. Thanks to Luke Swinson (whose art was also in the exhibit) and August Swinson for picking them up in Buffalo and crossing the border!
- I finished reading Louise Erdrich’s gorgeous but incredibly bleak dystopia “Future Home of the Living God”, about an Ojibwe woman who describes the breakdown of the US into a totalitarian nightmare in letters to her unborn child. It’s not an easy read but it was powerfully affecting, especially as a parent myself. Recommended, if you can handle a horrifyingly possible glimpse of what the world could easily look like.
- I also read volume 1 of Garth Ennis and Goran Sudzuka “A Walk Through Hell”, a dark and creepy procedural about two FBI agents trying to track down a child murderer. Grisly and moody–well done!
