Content Consumed: June 30

Goooood afternoon! Today’s all about getting shit done. A mammoth cup of cold brew and it’s time to grind—work, laundry, errands—so this long weekend can be so, so sweet. It’s hard to think too much and continue to lose faith in humanity if you’re productive enough!!!

In today’s Content Consumed:

• The Chris Pratt Rebrand: Not religious! Sort of. (Variety). “Really, I’m not a religious person,” Pratt claims in this month’s Men’s Health profile. “Why are they coming after me?” he whines. Here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with being religious. What’s wrong is his past affiliation with the culty, anti-LGBTQ Hillsong Church led by sex abusers and his current weekly visits to its equally-problematic offshoot, Zoe Church. He denies having ever been to Hillsong, despite literal photos of him going to it. You can’t deny being a very religious person when you’re taking golf trips with your homophobic pastor, preaching in your award acceptance speeches, posting giant hand-carved crosses on your Instagram… This rebrand just isn’t going to work and doesn’t make sense. It’s okay to be religious! But accept the faults in your religion-based choices and your places of worship!

• USC and UCLA are likely to leave the Pac-12 in 2024 (LA Times). All it took was one push notification to absolutely shock my family group chat today. How could UCLA (my father’s alma mater) and USC possibly leave the Pac-12 (home to my alma mater, the University of Oregon—sco Ducks—and my brother’s, CU Boulder)?! Could the conference split altogether if this happens? The Big Ten is swallowing the two LA schools into its network, perhaps in retaliation for the SEC’s Texas-Oklahoma acquisition. But it’s not official… but it kind of is.

• Creators address burnout at VidCon (Hollywood Reporter). Hold your judgment, because I definitely agree with what TikTok stars, IG girlies, and the Twitter-famous are saying about burnout in the field of content creation. I can’t imagine my life being my job, always-on, 24/7. Always chasing the next trend, the next big thing must be exhausting. One creator compared the careers of content creators to professional athletes — again, hold your judgment — because most last about 5 years or less in their prime.

• We’re all just gambling on air travel right now (CNN). The main issue is staffing. Too many experienced people were let go during the pandemic and the airline industry hasn’t hired, trained and qualified enough people to replace them—especially with an all-time surge in travel this summer post-pandemic. One solution comes from Bernie Sanders: The Department of Transportation should fine airlines that book too many flights they’re unable to staff.

Te amo,
Casey

More serious content I’m consuming:

• The planet is burning and SCOTUS just made it even worse. Also, is this a judicial coup? What does “judicial coup” mean?
• Oregon gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson called Portland “a city of roaches”—which she later attempted to clarify, saying she was talking about roadside/sidewalk litter, not unhoused people.
• NYT’s The Daily Podcast: Inside 4 Abortion Clinics The Day Roe Ended