Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
Nicki Minaj. Photo: Instagram
Going Way Too Deep Down the Rabbit Hole With Nicki Minaj’s Recent Bar Mitzvah Appearance – by Rembert Browne, Grantland
“This picture is all about dreams coming true, excitement, and then panic. It’s a moment that was never supposed to happen, a moment you’ve long been waiting to have happen, a moment in which you have no idea what to do. This picture should not confuse you. Because every single thing happening makes perfect sense. First off, Nicki. Look at Nicki. There are three 13-year-old boy #SQUAD hands on her body, while she holds one #SQUAD boy’s face and daintily holds the hand of a cool eighth-grader. Just hands everywhere. And interestingly enough, it’s extremely confusing to determine whose hand belongs to which member of the #SQUAD. You think you know at first, but you quickly realize you have no idea.”
Nonviolence as Compliance – by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
“When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is "correct" or "wise," any more than a forest fire can be "correct" or "wise.””
Steve Braunias on the Week’s Most Profound Television Interview – by Steve Braunius, The Spinoff
“What to do with Krishnan Guru-Murthy and his TV interview with Robert Downey Jnr? What to think, what to learn? What, above all, to make of that lamp? It’s more than a lamp. It’s like the corner of Ponsonby Rd and Jervois Rd: it’s three lamps. A lot of sand died for those lamps, whole families of sand ripped from a beach and taken away to a place where it was turned into glass and then fashioned into a lamp of supreme and ingenious ugliness.”
Bruce Jenner and the Modern American Family – by Tessaly La Force, The New Yorker
“It’s true that a lot of the appeal of the Kardashians has been their excesses—they wear too much makeup, take too many selfies, and buy too many things. But the family’s reaction to Jenner’s announcement was startlingly progressive. “I am at peace with what he is and what he’s doing,” his mother, Esther Jenner, said in a separately filmed portion of the two-hour segment. “I never thought I could be more proud of Bruce when he reached his goal in 1976, but I’m more proud of him now.” Kim Kardashian tweeted, “Love is the courage to live the truest, best version of yourself. Bruce is love. I love you Bruce. #ProudDaughter.” … In this unconditional and unquestioning way, the Kardashian and Jenner clans are defining what it means to be a family today. They may be superficial, but their support for Bruce is notable for its candid demonstration of acceptance.”
The Boxer and the Batterer – by Louisa Thomas, Grantland
“It’s hard not to be a little cynical about the commonplace way stories refer to Mayweather as a very bad man — as greedy, arrogant, disrespectful toward women. It’s hard not to see it as a quick acknowledgment that lets them get back to the business at hand, as a way of bracketing the badness to marvel at the greatness — or at least the richness — of the man. And it’s also hard not to be a little cynical about the periodic waves of outrage, the stories that review the horrifying details of his alleged serial abuse of women and call for his fights to be boycotted or his license to be suspended. It’s hard not to think, We know this already. Welcome to sports in 2015.”
Why Mental Health Disorders Emerge in Your Early 20s – by Hanson O’Haver, Vice
“There's a reason the image of the floundering, scared, shaky post-teen struggling to enter adulthood is a cliché. Between moving out of your parent's home, going to college and getting a job, lack of sleep, drugs, and unrestricted access to alcohol, becoming an adult is fucking hard. So it's no wonder that this period is popularly associated with having a mental breakdown. But is there any truth behind the pop culture trope? What about kids from wealthy families who don't have the stresses the rest of us do in early adulthood, or people whose most trying times come in their 30s or 40s? Is the appearance of mental illness in young people a matter of environment or biology?”
Drake, Kanye, 1D and The Rise of Emotional Men – by Anne T. Donnahue, Pitchfork
“Considering public displays of emotion tend to create a dissonance in any situation (even among us mere mortals), to see four of music’s most powerful pop stars emoteauthentically is huge. Yes, they defy the notion that boys aren’t in touch with their feelings, but they also give permission for the next generation of up-and-coming male pop stars to follow their lead.”
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