🗳️✨The Nexialist #0092
🗳️✨The Nexialist #0092
Lula, explained | honest gov ad | the state of democracy 2022 | imillaskate | the queer code | success isn’t linear | hot mess | i drink wine
welcome to another week of the creamiest internet smoothie, The Nexialist
hello, folks! i hope this e-mail finds you fabulous. this past week i was sad to learn caroline polachek had canceled most of her tour 😢 at least i got to do nothing, which i was also missing sometimes. next weekend i have the second round of Brazilian elections, so i’ll do my part of the pro-democracy campaign here in the nexialist today. also, there is some delicious entertainment at the end. so please, buckle up and enjoy the ride. 🫀
1 year ago » I was taking a much-needed break 😁
❤️Lula, explained
vox is always giving us presents with their explained series. this time they explain how Lula got here starting from his days as a factory worker and union leader: all the times he ran for president and lost, how he won and had record approval rates, going to jail (then the process being annulled) to now. i want to be hopeful he takes the green and yellow sash, but as we know, it will only be won after all the votes are in… fingers crossed.
So even if Lula goes on to win the presidency... he'll face a stronger opposition than he ever has before. Lula has made a lot of commitments. It remains to be seen how he will be able to implement that. This is a force that has to be reckoned with.
🇧🇷honest gov ad
this video makes me giggle, a very Brazilian thing to do: “laughing at our disgrace,” as we would say. if you want to understand a little bit of the context in my homecountry, press play.
🗳️the state of democracy 2022
This year’s Democracy Index report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), is one such attempt to apply a score to countries based on how closely they measure up to democratic ideals.
According to EIU, the state of democracy is at its lowest point since the index began in 2006, blamed in part on the pandemic restrictions that saw many countries struggling to balance public health with personal freedom.
In this year’s report, the EIU reported a drop of the average global score from 5.37 to 5.28, the biggest drop since 2010 after the global financial crisis. This translates into a sobering fact: only 46% of the population is living in a democracy “of some sort.”
of course, it is difficult to grade worldwide complex systems and turn them into a number, but still, it is helpful (and dreadful) to see this global scenario.
🇧🇴imillaskate
this is the kind of thing that gives me hope and makes me smile. such powerful and fresh images that made me want to stop and learn more. isn’t it just so beautiful to see a piece of tradition being used as resistance? i’m their fan already!
the Bolivian “polleras”, bulky skirts commonly associated with the indigenous women from the highlands, were for decades a symbol of uniqueness but also an object of discrimination. Now, a new generation of women skateboarders in Cochabamba, the country’s third largest city, wear them as a piece of resistance.
read: imillaskate: an indigenous Bolivian skateboard collective – photo essay | Bolivia | The Guardian
🏳️🌈the queer code
Green carnations, peacock feathers, hanky code, nautical star tattoos, the lambda symbol, the lavender rhinoceros, the pink triangle… i learned so much about secret languages of lgbtq+ art from this video.
From the 30s to the 60s, a vernacular slang called 'Polari' was used by gay men. Polari is a form of a slang language, which took words from lots of different places. There was around 500 to 600 words documented from Yiddish, from slang terms used by circus performers, wrestlers, apparently merchant sailors too. And it was adopted by gay circles particularly a gay men communicating with each other without risk.
🪜success isn’t linear
this piece by choreographer yoann bougeois resurfaced on twitter and reddit this week, and i think it is so delicate and genius. reminded me of picasso’s quote: “Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” this play with gravity, falling, lightness, coming back gracefully. it gives this other visual vocabulary to deal with these moments when we (think we) fell down and messed up. there’s more about his work below:
🔥hot mess
i didn’t know who dodie was, but for some reason, i clicked on the video and i don’t regret it. i loved the raw cozy simplicity of the film and the songs, even when there are little breaks, this kind of breaking of the fourth wall… nice music to calm down.
🍷i drink wine
You better believe I'm trying (trying, trying)
To keep climbing (climbing, climbing)
But the higher we climb
Feels like we're both none the wiser (ahh)So I hope I learn to get over myself
Stop trying to be somebody else
adele has this power of being multiple things: singer, songwriter, beauty and simultaneously making us laugh. i’m always very impressed with her level of charisma.
see you next week, smoothies🫀
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