Thank you, I appreciate that! This was an odd one to write because as soon as I went to the festival, I badly wanted to write about it, but like you said, to capture a moment that is painful and bizarre and also full of love, and not necessarily to make a point. At least I confused the AI ;)
Thank you, too, Sarah, for the color photos attached here.
I greatly loved the ways in "Last American Road Trip" you kept all the weird, freaky, lusciously local juices going on your family's outings -- along with the dark shadows and other reverberations coming from so much criminality in U.S. high places.
Keeping them paired like that may be best antidote to the worst of our worst getting, as you say, as you dread, "normalized."
So much of this, as usual for you, expands my soul. And this opens my heart to joy - "Fried Oreos are the morels of junk food: they must be found in the wild to be enjoyed." Thank you for pouring out your heart.
I don’t understand the line “boomers bought the ticket, we took the ride”. I am hoping you can clarify. As someone who has spent a lifetime fighting for access to birth control, abortion and more equal opportunities for women and minorities, I hope you don’t mean that those efforts were somehow bankrupt and ultimately fucked younger people over. Feels bad enough these days without having to take the rap that those efforts were somehow meaningless.
No, no -- that line is a reference to a Hunter S Thompson quote and to the structures held by *Boomers with power* that have locked out future generations since the Reagan era. Those structures also locked out most Boomers in the end, since most Boomers don't have political or corporate power either! But there was more of a sense of opportunity and freedom in earlier decades. This trajectory is not unique to Boomers -- there's a huge gap in the opportunities I had as a kid and that my children have. Gen X had it easy compared to Gen Z. Each decade gets harder. Basically, it's a downhill road, and I'm only referring to Boomers in that line as the generation that raised and disproportionately shaped my generation.
I have a huge amount of respect for the protests and fights older generations waged for justice. I also know you did not have it easy either, particularly in the Vietnam War era. In no way do I blame the average person of *any* generation because I know too well how corrupt and complex the state crimes are. I blame the wealthy and depraved. Also Boomers are the folks most likely to share my music tastes so please, Boomers, stick around!
It’s all a frame of mind! Some people my age have now become “the man”, which is gross to see. It may be worse to have “the man” come from the generation that burned down Woodstock in 1999 than from the generation who attended Woodstock in 1969…my generation’s got a mean streak that’s been there from the jump…
I’m 74 and just said to my partner yesterday how disappointed I am in so many of our generation. I know but don’t “know” what happened to them. Maybe many were only play acting at caring about peace and equality, etc.
I was horrified watching the Woodstock 99 documentary. Though in reality, I think it was my generation that put on Woodstock 99 in such a deplorable location to make profit.
I won't claim to speak for Sarah here, but as a Gen Xer, I've seen the manner in which the Boomers' "Don't trust anyone over 30" was then turned into "Don't trust anyone under 30" — I've been documenting the manner in which the Baby Boom generation has waged generational warfare against anyone outside of their oversized 20-year cohort. (If you don't believe that the Boomers invented generational warfare as it is currently understood, find a copy of Margaret Mead's book Culture and Commitment: On the Generation Gap, which does a fine job of teasing out the foundational aspects of it.) The Boomers have maintained a stranglehold on culture for decades now (how many Bob Dylan hagiographies do we need?) and have reengineered the American workplace to ensure that they're rewarded for their longevity while clogging up positions; the downstream effect of this means that it is impossible to move up — leading to an ongoing series of lateral moves for the succeeding generations in an attempt to get ahead.
I'm sure you're a lovely person, and I'm willing to take you at your word that you've "spent a lifetime fighting for access to birth control, abortion and more equal opportunities for women and minorities" — I have Boomer friends who've done the same, and yet bemoan the manner in which their generation has wreaked havoc upon those of us who came after — but I also can't help notice that access to birth control, abortion, and equal opportunities for women and minorities are under threat. Perhaps it's not that you yourself didn't fight hard enough; perhaps it's that enough of your generation didn't fight hard at all.
“The Boomers have maintained a stranglehold on culture for decades now “—-
—how about replacing “The Boomers” with Neoliberalism? “The Boomers” is a generation of highly individualistic folks living under Neoliberalism. Neoliberalism exploits everyone who isn’t abundantly wealthy through end stage capitalism and White Supremacy. Please place blame in the right place. If blaming helps.
Neoliberalism hasn't been what's propped up the mouldering corpse of the Beatles for 60 years. That's been the Boomers. But if you want to deflect blame from your generation, sure, neoliberalism is as good as anything else for you to pick. I don't honestly care. It doesn't change what I've experienced.
Sadly, Michael, Scott Galloways has extensively elaborated on your claims here.
That is, he has documented (in print in his books, and on YouTube video) the many ways younger American generations have many fewer federal programs aiding them in accessing wealth and other benefits.
And now along comes boomer Trump with his massive increase in federal debt simply to shower more wealth essentially to fellow boomers, though criminally, too, to many billionaires in Silicon Valley, and on the various social media platforms whose algorithms so regularly spew hate.
Sadly, too, here: Sarah keeps apt focus on how so much of this hate gets normalized.
I've generally been cynical or indifferent about July 4th, but this year's celebration meant something to me because I remembered your vision of America in "The Last American Road Trip" and this newsletter. Our family (me, husband, mom-of-choice, 13-year-old son) went to the nearby U Mass Amherst campus for the brass band concert and fireworks. There were families of many ethnicities and food trucks to match. I thought, this is a Sarah Kendzior moment -- the best part of America is ordinary people sharing community in diversity. We won't let our government define what love of country means.
Your writing is so eloquent - I live not far from where you describe, got your latest book at my St. Louis county library. Your reflections are spot on!
Your words carry so much power they routinely make me weep. It is not that they innately overwhelm me I think it is akin to why some people seem to spontaneously cry when touched at a massage… my body and spirit are carrying so much pain somehow your words provide a safety to weep and to examine the wound before bandaging it up and begin pushing forward again. I thank you for that moment of unburdening.
Thanks. It's not anything I set out to do, but if it helps, I'm glad it does. I've got playlists of songs I listen to just to have a good cry. Sometimes I think I've created the prose version of that, but it has its purpose and reflects the times. Eyes clouded with tears see better after they fall.
It’s good you were to be a kid for a while , enjoying family time building memories. It’s disturbing that no matter which way you look you will see whacko examples of a couple of people that are brain damaged to consider a child deserves pain and suffering!
Please try to Wash that from your thoughts and let all of us weep with them and their loved ones and know it’s not normal.
Thanks for the picture of the fried Oreo. I couldn't imagine. And Colter's story. Discovered the corn dog, eh? Gunshots v fireworks? Developed that skill, telling one from the other, in ghetto CA. Can even give you calibre. What a world in which we live.
I was hoping you would say that about corn dogs. My fave, and I was thinking how did I miss that piece of trivia? Can't wait to try a fried oreo. I thought the piece was beautiful and had a wonderful point, which is that the *real* America does exist as you pointed out. And we should cherish it while we can.
Just wanted to repeat some important excerpts for me.
"There is something soul-shattering about seeing people enjoy the suffering of a child. You hope that such hateful people are not real, that they are bots or operatives, but they often are not. They are people who believe the worst cruelty is so normal that they can express it without social penalty."
"Unspeakable tragedy,” people used to say, meaning sadness so deep it cannot be expressed. But we must speak of tragedies as tragedies, and of cruelty as cruelty. When we don’t, it becomes 'normal' — or even celebrated. Early 20th century postcards depicting Black babies being fed to alligators are circulating on the Trump-era internet."
Thom Hartmann has been writing about the Republican death fetish for a couple, three years now. One column you may be interested in reading is“How Come Everything the Republican Party Stands for Involves Other People Dying?” https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-come-everything-the-republican-66c
“These are death cult days. What was I celebrating on the Fourth of July? Life, outside of this inhumane version of America. Life, in a version of America as vibrant and real as the sadist nightmare that seeks to suppress it. Life, while we have it.”
I find myself reflecting on the recent interviews with Naomi Klein where she talks about the tech bros and the Heritage foundation merging into one death cult where they don’t expect humanity to survive their policies and they are almost giddy at that.
They’ve got their apocalyptic bunkers and their big plans and the way the Trump administration is defending education, vaccines, and all other social safety nets, it seems that is indeed the goal. No sense in investing in the next generation if you’re hoping everyone dies.
You have written how much music means to you. The Traveling Wilbur's did a cover of a song written by Cy Robin and Mel Free (plus I believe George Harrison added a new verse) called Nobody's Child. Here are the words
"Nobody's Child"
As I was slowly passing, an orphans home today
I stopped for just a little while to watch the children play
A lone boy standin', and when I asked him why
He turned with eyes that could not see, and he began to cry
I'm nobody's child, I'm nobody's child
Just like a flower I'm growin' wild
No mama's arms to hold me no daddy's smile
Nobody wants me, I'm nobody's child
In every town and village
There are places just like this
With rows and rows of children
And babies in their cribs
They've long since stopped their cryin'
As no-one ever hears
And no-one there to notice them or take away their fears
Now I'll have to find out if you can find fried Oreos - preferably on a stick - at the Minnesota State Fair. Heaven knows we have everything else served that way, and the Powers that Fry won't want to be one-upped by Missouri! 😉 I'll ask a friend; I'm even less a crowd person as I age than I was when I was younger.
The administration's transparent use of ICE as a paramilitary end run around limits on the use of the armed forces against civilians is the most blatant and frightening development in the fast shift to dictatorship. I don't know how anyone can fail to see it at this point.
You’ve captured this moment, this abnormal dressed up in stars and stripes impersonating normal while we plot our escape or our redemption.
Thank you, I appreciate that! This was an odd one to write because as soon as I went to the festival, I badly wanted to write about it, but like you said, to capture a moment that is painful and bizarre and also full of love, and not necessarily to make a point. At least I confused the AI ;)
Thank you, too, Sarah, for the color photos attached here.
I greatly loved the ways in "Last American Road Trip" you kept all the weird, freaky, lusciously local juices going on your family's outings -- along with the dark shadows and other reverberations coming from so much criminality in U.S. high places.
Keeping them paired like that may be best antidote to the worst of our worst getting, as you say, as you dread, "normalized."
So much of this, as usual for you, expands my soul. And this opens my heart to joy - "Fried Oreos are the morels of junk food: they must be found in the wild to be enjoyed." Thank you for pouring out your heart.
As always Sister Sarah, your writing gets my neurons firing.
I don’t understand the line “boomers bought the ticket, we took the ride”. I am hoping you can clarify. As someone who has spent a lifetime fighting for access to birth control, abortion and more equal opportunities for women and minorities, I hope you don’t mean that those efforts were somehow bankrupt and ultimately fucked younger people over. Feels bad enough these days without having to take the rap that those efforts were somehow meaningless.
No, no -- that line is a reference to a Hunter S Thompson quote and to the structures held by *Boomers with power* that have locked out future generations since the Reagan era. Those structures also locked out most Boomers in the end, since most Boomers don't have political or corporate power either! But there was more of a sense of opportunity and freedom in earlier decades. This trajectory is not unique to Boomers -- there's a huge gap in the opportunities I had as a kid and that my children have. Gen X had it easy compared to Gen Z. Each decade gets harder. Basically, it's a downhill road, and I'm only referring to Boomers in that line as the generation that raised and disproportionately shaped my generation.
I have a huge amount of respect for the protests and fights older generations waged for justice. I also know you did not have it easy either, particularly in the Vietnam War era. In no way do I blame the average person of *any* generation because I know too well how corrupt and complex the state crimes are. I blame the wealthy and depraved. Also Boomers are the folks most likely to share my music tastes so please, Boomers, stick around!
This boomer isn't going anywhere.
Thanks for the clarification, as a boomer, I’m tired of being blamed for all of this. Im from the never trust “the man” generation.
It’s all a frame of mind! Some people my age have now become “the man”, which is gross to see. It may be worse to have “the man” come from the generation that burned down Woodstock in 1999 than from the generation who attended Woodstock in 1969…my generation’s got a mean streak that’s been there from the jump…
I’m 74 and just said to my partner yesterday how disappointed I am in so many of our generation. I know but don’t “know” what happened to them. Maybe many were only play acting at caring about peace and equality, etc.
I was horrified watching the Woodstock 99 documentary. Though in reality, I think it was my generation that put on Woodstock 99 in such a deplorable location to make profit.
Hell yeah, brother.
Ditto!
I won't claim to speak for Sarah here, but as a Gen Xer, I've seen the manner in which the Boomers' "Don't trust anyone over 30" was then turned into "Don't trust anyone under 30" — I've been documenting the manner in which the Baby Boom generation has waged generational warfare against anyone outside of their oversized 20-year cohort. (If you don't believe that the Boomers invented generational warfare as it is currently understood, find a copy of Margaret Mead's book Culture and Commitment: On the Generation Gap, which does a fine job of teasing out the foundational aspects of it.) The Boomers have maintained a stranglehold on culture for decades now (how many Bob Dylan hagiographies do we need?) and have reengineered the American workplace to ensure that they're rewarded for their longevity while clogging up positions; the downstream effect of this means that it is impossible to move up — leading to an ongoing series of lateral moves for the succeeding generations in an attempt to get ahead.
I'm sure you're a lovely person, and I'm willing to take you at your word that you've "spent a lifetime fighting for access to birth control, abortion and more equal opportunities for women and minorities" — I have Boomer friends who've done the same, and yet bemoan the manner in which their generation has wreaked havoc upon those of us who came after — but I also can't help notice that access to birth control, abortion, and equal opportunities for women and minorities are under threat. Perhaps it's not that you yourself didn't fight hard enough; perhaps it's that enough of your generation didn't fight hard at all.
“The Boomers have maintained a stranglehold on culture for decades now “—-
—how about replacing “The Boomers” with Neoliberalism? “The Boomers” is a generation of highly individualistic folks living under Neoliberalism. Neoliberalism exploits everyone who isn’t abundantly wealthy through end stage capitalism and White Supremacy. Please place blame in the right place. If blaming helps.
Neoliberalism hasn't been what's propped up the mouldering corpse of the Beatles for 60 years. That's been the Boomers. But if you want to deflect blame from your generation, sure, neoliberalism is as good as anything else for you to pick. I don't honestly care. It doesn't change what I've experienced.
Sadly, Michael, Scott Galloways has extensively elaborated on your claims here.
That is, he has documented (in print in his books, and on YouTube video) the many ways younger American generations have many fewer federal programs aiding them in accessing wealth and other benefits.
And now along comes boomer Trump with his massive increase in federal debt simply to shower more wealth essentially to fellow boomers, though criminally, too, to many billionaires in Silicon Valley, and on the various social media platforms whose algorithms so regularly spew hate.
Sadly, too, here: Sarah keeps apt focus on how so much of this hate gets normalized.
This is so freaking good.
Thank you!
I've generally been cynical or indifferent about July 4th, but this year's celebration meant something to me because I remembered your vision of America in "The Last American Road Trip" and this newsletter. Our family (me, husband, mom-of-choice, 13-year-old son) went to the nearby U Mass Amherst campus for the brass band concert and fireworks. There were families of many ethnicities and food trucks to match. I thought, this is a Sarah Kendzior moment -- the best part of America is ordinary people sharing community in diversity. We won't let our government define what love of country means.
Thank you, I am happy to hear that!
How is it that your writing fills me with melancholy and gives me a serotonin boost at the same time? You are so gifted Sarah.
Your writing is so eloquent - I live not far from where you describe, got your latest book at my St. Louis county library. Your reflections are spot on!
Thank you!
Your words carry so much power they routinely make me weep. It is not that they innately overwhelm me I think it is akin to why some people seem to spontaneously cry when touched at a massage… my body and spirit are carrying so much pain somehow your words provide a safety to weep and to examine the wound before bandaging it up and begin pushing forward again. I thank you for that moment of unburdening.
Thanks. It's not anything I set out to do, but if it helps, I'm glad it does. I've got playlists of songs I listen to just to have a good cry. Sometimes I think I've created the prose version of that, but it has its purpose and reflects the times. Eyes clouded with tears see better after they fall.
It’s good you were to be a kid for a while , enjoying family time building memories. It’s disturbing that no matter which way you look you will see whacko examples of a couple of people that are brain damaged to consider a child deserves pain and suffering!
Please try to Wash that from your thoughts and let all of us weep with them and their loved ones and know it’s not normal.
Thanks for the picture of the fried Oreo. I couldn't imagine. And Colter's story. Discovered the corn dog, eh? Gunshots v fireworks? Developed that skill, telling one from the other, in ghetto CA. Can even give you calibre. What a world in which we live.
Fried Oreos are awesome but I was kidding about Colter! He *wishes* he discovered the corn dog.
I was hoping you would say that about corn dogs. My fave, and I was thinking how did I miss that piece of trivia? Can't wait to try a fried oreo. I thought the piece was beautiful and had a wonderful point, which is that the *real* America does exist as you pointed out. And we should cherish it while we can.
Ahhh. Gotcha. It wasn't noted in his stele, so I wondered about that, especially with the corn dog wagon right behind him!
What’s that word for something so beautiful, true and painful at the same time?
That’s your writing.
I have to ready for the deep emotions to read it.
Thank you.
Thank you!
Just wanted to repeat some important excerpts for me.
"There is something soul-shattering about seeing people enjoy the suffering of a child. You hope that such hateful people are not real, that they are bots or operatives, but they often are not. They are people who believe the worst cruelty is so normal that they can express it without social penalty."
"Unspeakable tragedy,” people used to say, meaning sadness so deep it cannot be expressed. But we must speak of tragedies as tragedies, and of cruelty as cruelty. When we don’t, it becomes 'normal' — or even celebrated. Early 20th century postcards depicting Black babies being fed to alligators are circulating on the Trump-era internet."
"These are death cult days. "
Thom Hartmann has been writing about the Republican death fetish for a couple, three years now. One column you may be interested in reading is“How Come Everything the Republican Party Stands for Involves Other People Dying?” https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-come-everything-the-republican-66c
Thanks.
“These are death cult days. What was I celebrating on the Fourth of July? Life, outside of this inhumane version of America. Life, in a version of America as vibrant and real as the sadist nightmare that seeks to suppress it. Life, while we have it.”
I find myself reflecting on the recent interviews with Naomi Klein where she talks about the tech bros and the Heritage foundation merging into one death cult where they don’t expect humanity to survive their policies and they are almost giddy at that.
They’ve got their apocalyptic bunkers and their big plans and the way the Trump administration is defending education, vaccines, and all other social safety nets, it seems that is indeed the goal. No sense in investing in the next generation if you’re hoping everyone dies.
Thank you for another amazing article
You have written how much music means to you. The Traveling Wilbur's did a cover of a song written by Cy Robin and Mel Free (plus I believe George Harrison added a new verse) called Nobody's Child. Here are the words
"Nobody's Child"
As I was slowly passing, an orphans home today
I stopped for just a little while to watch the children play
A lone boy standin', and when I asked him why
He turned with eyes that could not see, and he began to cry
I'm nobody's child, I'm nobody's child
Just like a flower I'm growin' wild
No mama's arms to hold me no daddy's smile
Nobody wants me, I'm nobody's child
In every town and village
There are places just like this
With rows and rows of children
And babies in their cribs
They've long since stopped their cryin'
As no-one ever hears
And no-one there to notice them or take away their fears
Nobody's child, they're nobody's child
Just like a flower they're growin wild
No mama's arms to hold them, no daddy's smile
Nobody wants them they're nobody's child
Nobody's child, they're nobody's child
Just like a flower they're growin wild
No mama's arms to hold them, no daddy's smile
Nobody wants them they're nobody's child
Nobody wants them they're nobody's child
Now I'll have to find out if you can find fried Oreos - preferably on a stick - at the Minnesota State Fair. Heaven knows we have everything else served that way, and the Powers that Fry won't want to be one-upped by Missouri! 😉 I'll ask a friend; I'm even less a crowd person as I age than I was when I was younger.
The administration's transparent use of ICE as a paramilitary end run around limits on the use of the armed forces against civilians is the most blatant and frightening development in the fast shift to dictatorship. I don't know how anyone can fail to see it at this point.