Slate just dropped this SCORCHER by Laura Miller which I dearly wish to break down word by word but am just instead going to link to and limit my commentary to the following:
Mark and Delia Owens first arrived in Zambia in 1986 after getting kicked out of Botswana, where they had made themselves unwelcome by criticizing the government’s conservation policies. The young couple sought out a preserve in Zambia’s North Luangwa wilderness, an area whose indigenous inhabitants had been expelled by the nation’s former British rulers. They were drawn to the region’s isolation and then dismayed to discover that poachers were devastating the local elephant population.
COLONIALISM 101, my good bitch! And then the horrible dialect usage, like, girl, you may be 70 but your editor and publisher aren’t! The literal whitewashing of her Wikipedia page! I MEAN.
I thought this guy was gonna pull a Kathleen Hale the whole way through and it made me EXTREMELY NERVOUS:
I explained how I wanted to write the definitive profile of the band, to tell their stories as individuals, to not only explore their experiences in the music industry, but also do them justice as real people with fears and joys and lives beyond music. Only trouble was, I couldn’t figure out how to contact them, and neither could any of my acquaintances in the music industry. The last time they had spoken to the press was in 2014, which was even more unusual because it wasn’t in Pitchfork or Rolling Stone, but in American Way, the American Airlines in-flight magazine. And although they indicated that they’d been working on new music, which caused various music-related publications to wonder if they were getting ready to release a new record, that was the last of the interviews. The feature was not the beginning of some new press or album cycle. It was just a single, anomalous blip, the last the public has heard from the Sundays for five years now.
In general, such a low profile would be a clear indication that a band places a high value on their privacy and does not want to be bothered. But for some journalists, in particular, this journalist, it’s a challenge, especially if the payoff is getting to communicate with my all-time favorite band.
Katie agreed to give me a hand.
I am exceedingly worried this woman will be killed or returned (which is just as bad, as Sheikha Latifa and her poor sister would tell you if they could:
Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum's wife, Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, is the third female member of his court to run away from the United Arab Emirates.
This month she was reported to be in hiding in London in fear for her life.
The UK court case centres around their children, with whom she fled.
Princess Haya asked the High Court on Tuesday for wardship of her children, as well as a forced marriage protection order and a non-molestation order.
According to the Gov.uk website, the first order protects people who are in forced marriages, while a person can apply for the second order if they are a victim of domestic violence.
The princess, who was born in Jordan and educated at private schools in Britain, is an Olympic equestrian and the half-sister of the current Jordanian ruler, King Abdullah II.
She married Sheikh Mohammed in 2004, becoming his sixth and "junior" wife. The 70-year-old sheikh, who is the billionaire owner of Godolphin horse racing stables, reportedly has 23 children by different wives.
sorry for invading your inbox a second time this morning but I had to!
love n
TUESDAY BONUS ROUND FOR WILD STUFF
Somehow I wasn't aware of Delia Owens or that novel but BARF. White women writing dialect in this day and age???? I would say I am embarrassed for her but she probably is too self absorbed to care. So instead I will say that as a southern native, I am deeply embarrassed by her and that Reese Witherspoon endorsed this book further complicates my already complicated feelings about her as well.
I was reading the Delia Owens piece and just kept thinking "Gosh I hope Nicole has seen this"