October Favorites: Lenny Letter

My October favorite is Lena Dunham's and Jenni Konner's Lenny Letter, a weekly newsletter dedicated to feminism, health, politics, style and literature. The project debuted in late September this year and has already become a regular highlight of mine. Its contributions are a mix of political information, personal essays, advice columns, interviews and book reviews, along with quirky artwork and beautifully drawn illustrations. Dunham compares this latest brain child of hers to an "over-sharing Internet friend", which perfectly captures the essence of Lenny Letter: Everything we need to know as young, confused, regularly overwhelmed, yet dedicated, politically-minded, and empowered women in the 21st century, and then a bit. 

The first issue of Lenny Letter, featuring an interview (and a flawless selfie) with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

USA Network’s Mr. Robot: I Hack, Therefore I Am – or Am I?

By Mario Rader

Picture found here

American fiction is replete with signature openings. “All this happened, more or less” from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is a case in point; “I am an invisible man” jump-starting Ralph Ellison’s eponymous novel is another. And what about that most iconic of introductions “Call me Ishmael,” as featured in Moby Dick? All three lines attract our attention since they break with the aesthetic illusion and the conventional semantics generally associated with storytelling. It is in this line of tradition that we are introduced to what is arguably the biggest televisual happening of the year:

"Hello, friend. Hello, friend? That’s lame. Maybe I should give you a name. But that’s a slippery slope. You’re only in my head. We have to remember that."

Angela Davis at the University of Vienna: The Tyranny of the Universal

On October 5th, activist, author and scholar Angela Davis gave a talk at the University of Vienna on the occasion of its 650th anniversary. The initiative "FrauenUniJubel" (roughly translates as "WomenUniversityJubilance"), dedicated to introducing a feminist perspective into the celebrations, heightening the visibility of female scientists, and presenting contributions from women and gender studies for a sustainable societal development, invited Davis to talk about her life and work. The lecture entitled "Life between Politics and Academia" tackled a dazzling diversity of periods, issues and concepts, all held together by Davis's incomparable rhetoric and exceptional energy. 

Photo: Angela Davis,  FrauenUniJubel website

Davis is one of the very few people, especially among those cultural icons still alive and thriving, who deserve the epithet "inspiring". After decades spent in political struggle (and several years on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List), she has lost nothing of her fervor and passion. While others would have grown cynical, disillusioned or merely disinterested with progressing age, Davis is as radical in 2015 as she must have been in the late 1960s and early 70s. Her talk in Vienna is nestled safely somewhere between academic lecture and political propaganda speech, a position she is more than comfortable with: To accomplish their respective work, politics and academia require each other, as Davis reminds her audience by way of introduction.

Book Launch Party: The New Formula for Cool

I'm thrilled to reveal what I've been cooking up the last couple of weeks: My book, The New Formula for Cool: Science, Technology, and the Popular in the American Imagination (Bielefeld: transcript, 2015), is finally out and will be officially launched on November 16th at 7:00 p.m. at Lane & Merriman's, Spitalgasse 3, 1090 Vienna. Join me for an evening of literary pleasure, live acoustic music and delicious cocktails to celebrate - everybody is welcome!

Read on for a synopsis and more infos on the party!