Aubrie Edmond, Contributing Writer

I’ve been feeling a little sluggish recently, bored and slow with the haze of summer. Things haven’t happened the way I’d planned, they often don’t, but I’ve been trying to make the most of it. I’m going outside most days, being prosocial, getting some sun. The sun in California just doesn’t feel the same as it does in Texas, it’s more like a pat on the head than a hug.

So much has been happening in the news recently. Step downs and shake ups, shootings and speeches. I don’t usually follow the news, theory is a bore, politics go in one ear and out the other. I recently read a little bit of The Society of the Spectacle, and other works by some Situationist-adjacent thinkers. I am not one to think about the abstract too deeply. I like things concrete and personal. Tangible. But I actually enjoyed reading this stuff, and though I was implicated in their critique, we all are. That’s probably the point.

I watched Love Island recently. I’m more of a Keeping up with the Kardashians type of reality fan than the dating shows, but recently I’ve been venturing out of my comfort zone. Something about watching a dating show that America has the chance to vote on makes me a little uneasy. The types of people that go on this show do not have the strongest mental fortitude (and if they do they often have the tendency to be grifters), and neither do most of the people voting. The fact that we as the masses have the ability to completely change these people’s lives just doesn’t feel right. But I did appreciate the friendship and camaraderie on this season. When you watch seasons of these shows from the early 2000s, the drama comes from the in-fighting and nastiness between the women or the men. I like this rebrand, more love and support, more growing up and moving on.