weekly brain dump — Erin Averill

soundwaves

I listened to the new Blood Orange album yesterday. In general, I’ve been listening to a lot of “chill” music lately and I would describe Angel’s Pulse as a superb “chill” album. A few minutes in, I thought to myself, “huh, this has some Toro y Moi energy.” Ten minutes later I looked at the features and saw the third track does, in fact, feature Toro y Moi. Like I said, incredible “chill” factor. Dev Hynes brings a lot of depth and creativity to said chill factor. Additional noteworthy features include Kelsey Lu, Project Pat, Gangsta Boo, and my fav diva - Arca, among other gems. Anyways, definitely recommend.

each week I will share with you a song that has been stuck in my head. this week’s jam:

shopping cart

buy here/fund the revolution

don’t buy/still fund the revolution here

wtf

Watched The Florida Project last week. For those who don’t know/haven’t seen, it’s a film directed by Sean Baker, seen through the eyes of a child residing in a budget motel with her single mom just outside of Disneyworld in Orlando, where many of the residents live week-to-week in stifling poverty. This story is based on the lives of people who really do live there. The actor playing said single mom is actually playing herself. Incredible and devastating breakout performance.

There are a lot of things that can be said about this movie, but one moment that kept replaying in my mind was a point where you learn that these people were paying $1000 per month to live there, many of them fitting entire families in the single room. For comparison, you can rent a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house nearby in Orlando for $900 per month. I couldn’t stop thinking about how fucking expensive it is to be poor in America. Without funds to put down for a security deposit, far too many people find themselves in similarly overpriced housing situations where the living conditions are subpar or dilapidated. This burden plays itself out across a lot of things we have to pay for as members of a profit-driven society.

Earlier that day, I registered for one of those overhyped technical bootcamps and had to review financing options with an admissions advisor before securing my spot. One of the payment options made me feel...itchy. If you’re able to pay the amount in full upfront, they give a $1000 discount on the overall cost. The fuck? Compare that to student loans, which charge up to an absurd 7% interest on your payments. It’s expensive to not have money. The rich keep getting richer while everyone else is left struggling to come up with that same $1000 to pay their rent at a shitty Florida motel.

meanwhile, in philanthropy: