House of Venus in a Shell, Pompeii (personal collection)
Peace y’all,
Yesterday, I entered the chat of the ominous “Immigrants Built This Country” rhetoric that was front and center the Grammy’s broadcast the previous night (and many other places). I recorded and posted a video on my Instagram account that combined a critique of award-winning artist Shaboozey’s acceptance speech, with statements made by TV host, author, and model Padma Lakshmi, who at a recent protest said to the crowd, “We are here because we want our country back!”
Unable to sleep through sunrise lately, I saw each of these clips while scrolling Instagram in the wee, pre-dawn hours. I didn’t bother with reviewing the existing discourse. I punched out a couple of comments to IG, then began talking to myself—my typical first approach to forming a public statement or essay of my own.