I love you so much. Even more important, perhaps, I trust you completely and am profoundly grateful for every bit of yourself you trust us enough to share with us. Thank you for the beauty and power of your writing, and your heart. I will proudly stand at the intersection of F and U with you any time!
Why is it your writing leaves me feeling at once incredibly sad and wistful, but also buoyed and inspired? Another powerful newsletter Sarah, thank you.
I love when you write . I’m always learning when you do . When you write I’m forced to think . Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge and valuable perspective with us !
Beautiful writing, brilliant, thoughtful, with so much vision. Thank you for sharing. It reminded me how much we care for one another. Thank you for the newsletter, so nice to be out of the social media dumpster fire.
I am sustained by your writing. You literally saved my sanity in the beginning of the Trump era with your column "...This is How To be Your Own Light in the Age of Trump." I took to your advice and researched the wonderful stories of our ancestors who survived quite hard times so that I and my children and grandchildren are where and who we are. I am grateful to you for that column all the time. This piece, "At The Junction of F and U," is both moving and informative and emblematic of where we find ourselves October 2023.
'This is how to be your own light..' is a piece I have reread so many times. Thank you Sarah for being able to put into words how we should hang onto our humanity in times like these.
Oct 23, 2023·edited Oct 23, 2023Liked by Sarah Kendzior
I was able to find "The Day After" with a little sleuthing, over on a site called DailyMotion and also on Youtube. Plenty of adverts I am sure. It looked like the one I remember. But yes, I imagine it is hard to find on paying services.
About the same time in the UK, a variation on this called "Threads" was released, about a nuclear attack in Britain, in the city of Sheffield. The film is lighter on the cimematic spectacle of the thermonuclear detonations, but is focused on the impotence and helplessness of the population, rather than the Tom Clancy- style start to "Day After". It is this difference, expressed by the claustrophobic atmosphere, which was the UK experience to this period of the Cold War, that the war would start elsewhere, and would be entirely unexplained. After all, where I lived, we talked of the "four minute warning", which was all the local radar station would allow us. The warning would come from the station atop the North York Moors, and known as "God's golfballs" for the spherical, white housings for the dishes, visible for 20 miles in any direction. Anyway another difference is that "Threads" continues years, even decades into the future to catalogue the long-term effects of nuclear winter, and radiation exposure, where the true horror emerges.
"Threads" is rentable from Amazon Prime, if you care to hold your nose while clicking on the button.
Powerful and moving piece of writing.. The heartbreak tinged with a raw bitterness resonates…and so does the defiance. And all of it perfectly documented as always. Thank you.
So much to love about your writing. It is elegiac with just the right hint of one more FU for good measure. Mad respect and gratitude- you help me feel less alone.
We usually spend the night in Olathe on road trips between Texas and Iowa City where our daughter is in school. I will remember this history on every future visit. Thank you.
Phew...that just took my breath away. Also, thanks for bringing up THE DAY AFTER. In case you might be interested for your podcast, I had the opportunity to tell the story about the storytellers who saved us from the brink that one time. We may need them again...including you.
It is nauseating to be a citizen of a nation that is officially supporting genocide:
"The United States on Tuesday rejected growing calls to support a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas because such a move would only benefit Hamas, a White House spokesman said.
"The spokesman, John F. Kirby, said the administration supported pauses in the conflict to allow the flow of humanitarian aid. But he said civilian casualties were all but inevitable as Israel tries to vanquish Hamas in Gaza."
I watched a really good game, 49ers vs. Vikings, on Monday Night Football last night. During the commercial breaks I would toggle over to YouTube to listen to Norman Finkelstein dissect the ongoing siege of Gaza and compare what Hamas fighters did on 10/7 to the Nat Turner rebellion.
It -- this, what I did last night -- says a lot about the normalization, the broad acquiescence, of powerlessness and alienation in this country. Where do we go from here?
Seen on Ayman last night the death of innocence in the 3rd oldest church in the world, as an Israeli airstrike hit it and destroyed so many lives at same time, including infants and grandparents seeking shelter in a Christian Church. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/war-crime-israel-bombs-gaza-church-sheltering-displaced-people. War has reminded me of a song by The Who, I've Known No War, with the wonderful line, but when I do, it will be a flash in the sky. If you wish to have a listen...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP0YWt4o8HA. Thom Hartmann had a interesting article recently about Scientific Racism, racism is the main reason that America doesn’t consider healthcare a human right and provide it to all citizens, as does every other developed country in the world. Racist whites, particularly in the South, have worked for over a century to make sure that healthcare is hard for Black people and other minorities to get. At the center of the effort to prevent a national healthcare system—or any form of government assistance that may even incidentally offer benefit to African Americans—were Frederick Ludwig Hoffman and the Prudential Life Insurance Company, which promoted his “science based” racial theories to successfully fight single-payer health insurance. Mr. Hoffman would be a perfect candidate for Surgeon General should the GOP regain the white House, were he alive. Thanks for your articles. Have been too numerous places in Missouri, including James. Learned a few things about him and the original Q? from this article. Peace.
You never disappoint and thanks for sharing the raw truth and pain of today! So many are suffering! I would stand with you at the FU junction anytime! Peace and love!
I love you so much. Even more important, perhaps, I trust you completely and am profoundly grateful for every bit of yourself you trust us enough to share with us. Thank you for the beauty and power of your writing, and your heart. I will proudly stand at the intersection of F and U with you any time!
Why is it your writing leaves me feeling at once incredibly sad and wistful, but also buoyed and inspired? Another powerful newsletter Sarah, thank you.
I love when you write . I’m always learning when you do . When you write I’m forced to think . Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge and valuable perspective with us !
Beautiful writing, brilliant, thoughtful, with so much vision. Thank you for sharing. It reminded me how much we care for one another. Thank you for the newsletter, so nice to be out of the social media dumpster fire.
I am sustained by your writing. You literally saved my sanity in the beginning of the Trump era with your column "...This is How To be Your Own Light in the Age of Trump." I took to your advice and researched the wonderful stories of our ancestors who survived quite hard times so that I and my children and grandchildren are where and who we are. I am grateful to you for that column all the time. This piece, "At The Junction of F and U," is both moving and informative and emblematic of where we find ourselves October 2023.
'This is how to be your own light..' is a piece I have reread so many times. Thank you Sarah for being able to put into words how we should hang onto our humanity in times like these.
I was able to find "The Day After" with a little sleuthing, over on a site called DailyMotion and also on Youtube. Plenty of adverts I am sure. It looked like the one I remember. But yes, I imagine it is hard to find on paying services.
About the same time in the UK, a variation on this called "Threads" was released, about a nuclear attack in Britain, in the city of Sheffield. The film is lighter on the cimematic spectacle of the thermonuclear detonations, but is focused on the impotence and helplessness of the population, rather than the Tom Clancy- style start to "Day After". It is this difference, expressed by the claustrophobic atmosphere, which was the UK experience to this period of the Cold War, that the war would start elsewhere, and would be entirely unexplained. After all, where I lived, we talked of the "four minute warning", which was all the local radar station would allow us. The warning would come from the station atop the North York Moors, and known as "God's golfballs" for the spherical, white housings for the dishes, visible for 20 miles in any direction. Anyway another difference is that "Threads" continues years, even decades into the future to catalogue the long-term effects of nuclear winter, and radiation exposure, where the true horror emerges.
"Threads" is rentable from Amazon Prime, if you care to hold your nose while clicking on the button.
An absolutely extraordinary post.
Co-signed. About to re-read.
Powerful and moving piece of writing.. The heartbreak tinged with a raw bitterness resonates…and so does the defiance. And all of it perfectly documented as always. Thank you.
So much to love about your writing. It is elegiac with just the right hint of one more FU for good measure. Mad respect and gratitude- you help me feel less alone.
We usually spend the night in Olathe on road trips between Texas and Iowa City where our daughter is in school. I will remember this history on every future visit. Thank you.
Phew...that just took my breath away. Also, thanks for bringing up THE DAY AFTER. In case you might be interested for your podcast, I had the opportunity to tell the story about the storytellers who saved us from the brink that one time. We may need them again...including you.
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781493079179/Apocalypse-Television-How-The-Day-After-Helped-Save-the-World
It is nauseating to be a citizen of a nation that is officially supporting genocide:
"The United States on Tuesday rejected growing calls to support a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas because such a move would only benefit Hamas, a White House spokesman said.
"The spokesman, John F. Kirby, said the administration supported pauses in the conflict to allow the flow of humanitarian aid. But he said civilian casualties were all but inevitable as Israel tries to vanquish Hamas in Gaza."
I watched a really good game, 49ers vs. Vikings, on Monday Night Football last night. During the commercial breaks I would toggle over to YouTube to listen to Norman Finkelstein dissect the ongoing siege of Gaza and compare what Hamas fighters did on 10/7 to the Nat Turner rebellion.
It -- this, what I did last night -- says a lot about the normalization, the broad acquiescence, of powerlessness and alienation in this country. Where do we go from here?
You're right. I don't know what to do with the pain. I can ignore it for a time. But then it ambushes me, just to let me know it's there, lurking.
By reading you, at least I don't feel crazy for a moment.
I moved from the Midwest to Oregon and I miss lettered country roads. It's all numbers over here. Thanks for your insights, as always.
Seen on Ayman last night the death of innocence in the 3rd oldest church in the world, as an Israeli airstrike hit it and destroyed so many lives at same time, including infants and grandparents seeking shelter in a Christian Church. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/war-crime-israel-bombs-gaza-church-sheltering-displaced-people. War has reminded me of a song by The Who, I've Known No War, with the wonderful line, but when I do, it will be a flash in the sky. If you wish to have a listen...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP0YWt4o8HA. Thom Hartmann had a interesting article recently about Scientific Racism, racism is the main reason that America doesn’t consider healthcare a human right and provide it to all citizens, as does every other developed country in the world. Racist whites, particularly in the South, have worked for over a century to make sure that healthcare is hard for Black people and other minorities to get. At the center of the effort to prevent a national healthcare system—or any form of government assistance that may even incidentally offer benefit to African Americans—were Frederick Ludwig Hoffman and the Prudential Life Insurance Company, which promoted his “science based” racial theories to successfully fight single-payer health insurance. Mr. Hoffman would be a perfect candidate for Surgeon General should the GOP regain the white House, were he alive. Thanks for your articles. Have been too numerous places in Missouri, including James. Learned a few things about him and the original Q? from this article. Peace.
You never disappoint and thanks for sharing the raw truth and pain of today! So many are suffering! I would stand with you at the FU junction anytime! Peace and love!