thinking of marcus aurelius in the reign of commodus

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"PSA for everyone freaking out about this coronavirus:

A country that YouTubed itself into a 21st Century measles outbreak does not get to talk any shit about anyone else's health practices." --@ElliottKaybooks

"It’s a grimace that somehow sums up American nihilism at the end of the American century..." (via @JoyceCarolOates)

The Games cannot be said to have gotten meaner
Yet they seem, somehow, to be less & less
A fragrance on the tongue. Perhaps it is
The fraud too plain, the readiness to fall
Too managed, as the crowd’s great cry goes up.
Long have I thought upon it. Bread grows dear,
And still we have not seen an honest fall.

Preview of Gwyneth Jones's new Joanna Russ bio. (thread)

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