Things We Learned in the 90s
The good old days
Remember the 90s? I do. It was the best of times. Saved By The Bell was on our tv’s, Mall Madness was the Saturday night game of choice, rollerblades were everywhere. We learned a lot in the 90s, then again, apparently not enough.
N’SYNC > BACKSTREET BOYS- Don’t @ me, don’t comment, this is an objective fact. JT forever.
E Coli is bad- Does anyone else still shudder when they pass a Jack in the Box?
Tying work requirements to social assistance does not work and is cruel- I thought we’d learned this lesson after the ‘96 welfare reform debacle massively increased deep poverty in America but apparently not, because the new debt deal is bringing back the old Clinton Special and increasing work requirements for senior citizens. We know for a fact that far from getting people off welfare because their socioeconomic status improved that, in fact, the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act” (how Orwellian is that name) actually reduced the incomes of the poor and increased the percentage of people living below 50% of the poverty line. And now, in this time of personal and familial economic scarcity, when inflation is absurdly high, incomes are stagnant, and the rosy employment numbers hide a truth that anyone who is currently looking for a job is experiencing on the ground, our government, in all its wisdom, thought that now is a great job to force seniors to go back to work to avoid a debt limit default that is purely a political chess game. Did Logan Roy come up with this?
ONE MORE THING
The administration is crowing about the fact that this deal expands access to SNAP for veterans, the unhoused, and former foster youth. Great. Except you have to have an ID to get SNAP and guess who doesn’t have ID? Veterans, the unhoused, and former foster youth. Three guesses whether or not access to documentation is mentioned at all in the bill. It’s easy to understand why so many people believe in conspiracies.
What to do
Watch:
Sky Castle (Netflix)- You haven’t been getting newsletters from me because I was on a vacation that was so fun that I was too tired to write. I went to Tokyo (my favorite place) and Seoul (my first time!) and while it was amazing it did get me addicted to K-Dramas which is a big problem. Sky Castle is an over the top and yet apparently all too realistic telenovela about the things upper class Korean parents will do to get their kids into a good college. Make an appointment with your therapist for when you’re done bingeing.
Sanctuary (Netflix)- While I was in Tokyo I went to a Sumo tournament and it was the best day of my life. It is now my third favorite sport. In a future post, I will list my favorites and explain why I am right. For now, watch this show, it goes a little off the rails towards the end when they go too far with anime-style humor but it is so worth it to see what modern Sumo is like and how closely it adheres to the origins of this 1500 year old sport. Also the opening credits are incredible.
House of Hammer (HBOMax- I REFUSE TO CALL IT MAX)- We all remember where we were when we found out that Armie Hammer was a cannibal but to see the whole thing laid out is… a lot. I won’t be recommending the Jared from Subway docu on here because nobody needs to see that and I’m only including House because I think the story of generational paternal sadism is important to air in public but honestly you may not want to do this to yourself.
Read:
Lethal White by Robert Gilbraith- Continuing down the CB Strike rabbit hole and even though I am INCENSED at one particular storyline that I saw coming this is still just a super fun detective series worth getting sucked into.
Speaking of private detectives, don’t hire this one.
Finally, Gen Z is doing something right.
Listen:
Flipping The Bird (podcast)- It’s probably too soon but this pod about Musk’s Twitter takeover was still a great refresher.
Bad Seeds (podcast)- People doing crimes! For plants! Who knew!
Future Now: The Education Myth (podcast)- You’ll be shocked to learn that America is not a meritocratic society in which education solves all social and economic ills.
TikToks:
I love that young Brits are fully admitting that their ancestors were garbage.
This one is for every Type A kid who did all of the group project work.
This was horrifying and I need you to be traumatized with me.