Nothing to add on my end!

There comes a time in every office job when you hold a meeting that, as the prophecy foretold, could have been an email. More recently in human history, we’ve been holding these dreadful affairs through web interfaces like Zoom, so we don’t even get the satisfaction of physical embodied experiences with coworkers anymore.

Towards the end of such ordeals, one often finds themself with truly nothing to say. The meeting leader calls out for additional opinions or closing thoughts, perhaps even naming you specifically. You snap back into reality, reach for the unmute button, don a reserved smile, and make your sole contribution—“Nothing to add on my end!”—before swiftly re-muting. Maybe this is because you’ve been dissociating throughout the entire meeting, but usually it’s because you have complete confidence that things are progressing at the pace they should be and that everyone knows their next action items. And so, the meeting ends and everyone shuffles off to the next thing.

That’s what I’m feeling lately. We all know what’s going on, and we need to do next. What’s the point of even writing about it anymore? (A dangerous concept coming from an intellectual/educator, to be sure, but it’s just what feels emotionally true right now.)

We live in oversaturated times. I often wonder how historians of the future will talk about our present moment. There are usually experts in entire centuries of world history, but so much is happening—or we have more data points about what’s happening—that I fear it may become impossible for a human being 100 years from now to put together, never mind process. Will there be professionals in the field of “2026 Studies”? Will there be entire college courses like “January 2026” where students bemoan having to attend lectures consisting of hour-by-hour recaps of the events that made up the fall of the American Empire? Will PhD-level scientists boast about the difficulty of their research by saying “Yeah, well I’M doing my thesis on January 24th, which is WAY harder than January 23rd.” In many ways, because it takes so long to accurately describe even one event, cultural criticism is becoming less and less possible. I hope to articulate this in a future, more robust essay. But for now, I’m just tired. Tired and angry. And I have nothing to add on my end.

What do you want me to say? Abolish ICE! I echo the calls to organize made by thousands of others on this platform and others. In Massachusetts, LUCE is a network to be made aware of for ICE spottings. There are assuredly others in your state/county/city that you can look up. You maybe already have. If so, go find out how to contribute. If not, this Kai Cheng Thom post is a good starting point.

Stay focused. Remember that scrolling on a platform, even a “radical”, “decentralized” one, isn’t challenging power. Take care of yourself, but remember that seclusion is only one tool in your self-care toolkit, and being with your community will heal you even more. ICE abolition is popular; there are more of us than them. America’s problems are solved problems; look at how the rest of the world lives and know that this could be us too, if we fight for it.

There is an old Bahá’í prophecy written about the 21st century. It describes how humanity is like a bird with two wings, one male and one female, and how the masculine wing has been fully extended (thus overworked, driven by aggression and dominance, flapping about just to keep humanity in the air) while the female wing (representing compassion, nurturing, intuition, wisdom) has yet to be extended. We’ve been flying in circles for centuries with the male wing out of control. In the 21st century, though, the female wing will finally extend, allowing the male wing to relax and come into balance and allowing humanity to finally soar and progress into a new, equal era.

Get out there already!

Currently Reading

• On similar exhaustion.
• On caring for the severely mentally ill.
• On what really motivates MAGA men.
• Two readings on the absolute state of gender.
• I just finished A Short History of Trans Misogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson. Strongly recommend!

Watch History

• A stunning debut essay on the relationship between gaming and poverty.

Programming Note

• It’s becoming increasingly clear that weekly posts are becoming unsustainable. I would like to make my subscribers aware that I will be shifting to a biweekly-ish model where I post when something is done and ready. I promise that this will result in an overall increase in the quality of my work. Thank you!

And now, your weekly Koko.

That’s all for now! See you next week with more sweet, sweet content.

In solidarity,

-Anna