Second
Thoughts
A home for personal meditations, critiques of art and literature, politics, sketches, and deconstructions that dive beneath the surface of thought. Experiment with form here, relate with current events, read and talk about a book you’ve never read or perhaps want to read, and criticize something, anything, everything.
What Happened to Euphoria?
When Euphoria ended, I wasn’t only left wondering why every storyline hadn’t been resolved. I was left wondering when the series had become so different from the one that had first drawn audiences in years earlier. Not because its characters grew older — that was obviously forthcoming — but because somewhere between its glitter-soaked dreamscapes and final chapters, the series exchanged one emotional language for another.
Why Everyone’s Obsessed with Obsession
The worst of Bear comes in his interactions with Nikki after he makes the wish. He continues to sleep with Nikki, even though she isn’t herself anymore. As they have sex, the camera focuses on Nikki’s face, devoid of any emotion, staring off at the wall as she goes through the motion of moaning and making sex sounds. The one time Nikki recovers her agency enough to talk to Bear and she begs him just to kill her to free her from the wish. All Bear can say in response is, “What would be so bad? What's so bad about being with me?”
Lessons Learned from Edward Crankshaw’s ‘Gestapo’
There’s a particular history lesson from school that has stuck in my mind. Imagine a 1930s Germany, still reeling from its losses during the first World War. Then imagine a political party, led by a radical politician that finally breaks through the family radio. He promises redemption for your failing country, massive economic and political gains. Finally, someone to enact real change, someone “finally able to finally do something active and bold to rehabilitate [your] shabby life.” All he needs is your vote.
The Art of American Consumerism: American Bulk by Emily Mester, A Review
Published in November 2024, American Bulk: Essays on Excess includes essays on American consumerism. Hinging on different connotations of excess and consumerism, and digging into her personal and familial dynamics, habits, and experiences, Emily Mester covers an impressive amount of ground in American Bulk.