For the Weekend Warriors, Weirdos & Whackjobs - Issue #138
Further correspondence.
Howdy!
This week, out to all was “Leopard keeps spots.”, the first part in a coveted Some Lawyer rabbit hole. Our story starts with the murder of an 18-year-old National Guardsman in Boston, the wave of violence that supposedly followed it, and the years of reporting that contradicted the original story. The Warriors, the "Cobblestone Killing," and why one of the media panics of the twentieth century may tell us less about violence than it does about our need to explain it.
In paid inboxes was Congratulations, You Read the Abstract from Kennedy. The internet loves to parrot a shitty statistic with no real context. Somewhere between a 2010 CDC report and a TikTok comment, a nuanced finding about intimate partner violence became "proof" that lesbians are uniquely abusive. We traced the citation chain to see where the research ends, where the myth begins, and what we can learn about contextualizing data.
What Kennedy Recommends
I’m about eight years late to this recommendation, but I just rewatched Sharp Objects and remembered why it lodged itself in my brain the first time. So much so that I found myself listening to Engelbert Humperdinck on repeat.
If you somehow missed it, it’s a limited HBO series based on Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name, following a crime reporter, Camille, who returns to her hometown in sweaty Missouri to cover the murders of two young girls. It’s ostensibly a crime mystery, but that’s sort of beside the point. The underlying story is about family dynamics, generational trauma, memory, self-destruction, and how people learn to survive.
Amy Adams is phenomenal, Patricia Clarkson is terrifying, and the entire thing has this humid, claustrophobic feeling that makes you want to get in the shower after every episode.
And if you’re a reader, pick up the book. I’ve loved everything she’s published. Flynn’s writing has the same uncomfortable intimacy, and while the series is excellent, the novel gives you something TV never can.
Get an ice cold bev and sit yourself next to a swamp cooler.
Enjoy.
Love,
Your Bullshit Hunting Crew