My Many-Tentacled Mini-Empire

“Colossal Octopus,” 1828–1840, by Orra White Hitchcock, one of America’s first female scientific illustrators, on view at the American Folk Art Museum.Credit...George Etheredge for The New York Times. (Thanks KC)

Dear Friends:
I appreciate that the title of this newsletter is a little obtuse. I explained it my first post this way:

The name of this newsletter, The Octopus and The Ant, is taken from my two tattoos, which are, well, you can probably guess. The Octopus, to Aristotle, was a universal form embodying the mind (the head, also the phlegmatic humor), the five senses, and the three other humors (eight legs; the melancholic, choleric, and sanguine humors). At least, that’s what I deduced in college, inspiring me to get an octopus tattoo. The Ant represents hard work and service to one’s community.

I only had three subscribers then so it’s understandable if you missed this explanation. Recently one of kids told me that I had made up these tattoo explanations even if I am corny enough to do something like that. Can’t please everyone, I guess.

I think the octopus is also representative of the many many projects I am constantly working on. I talked about this a couple weeks ago in this post. The downside of that habit is that I am spread a little thin. The upside is that I have lots of other content to draw on when I am stumped about what to write here. I thought I would share some of the other stuff I have written recently in case you don’t read all my newsletters or aren’t in my favorite group chat (“My Coven”).

Over at The Pushback, I wrote about the mystery of the missing labor movement and why I think unions should be further along (i.e. start) on a plan for challenging the Trump administration. I also wrote about my great idea for rescuing our democracy: a new package of Constitutional amendments. Let me know what you think, here or there.

On Champions of Conflict, I wrote about “Free” Speech and the Workplace. That is, I give an overview of whether you can be fired for the stuff you say online. It has some relevance right now, I hear.

Finally, in the group chat, a friend shared an article from W Magazine “Long May They Rock: Nine Trailblazing Women Who Rewrote the Rules of Music,” that I had a sort of negative reaction to. I didn’t completely disagree with it; I just thought of so many other women who should be on that list. They told me to make my own list, so I did. I also started a playlist. I don’t love every artist on this list so some of their songs on the playlist are just their most popular or the ones I like the most. List below in no particular order, Spotify playlist in further down. Let’s argue a bit in the comments, shall we?

• Dolly Parton (if I haven’t already recommended it, Dolly Parton’s America is a must-listen)

• Joni Mitchell

• Joan Baez

• Polly Styrene

• Kathleen Hanna

• Kim Deal

• Lita Ford/Joan Jett/The Runaways

• Jenny Toomey

• Carrie Brownstein

• Amy Winehouse

• Chaka Khan

• Patti Smith

• Nina Hagen

• Siouxsie Sioux

• Lydia Lunch

• (Probably Laurie Anderson but I really really don’t like her)

• Yoko Ono

• Erykah Badu

• Janet Jackson

• Exene Cervenka

• Lauryn Hill

• Sade

• Shonen Knife

• Belinda Carlisle

• Courtney Love