Issue 91: The Paradox of Admiration

Gutted by Joan Didion's misguided critique of the Women's Movement

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

— My boy Charles, describing my literal experience of reading Joan Didion

Y’all. I was EXCITED to open The White Album and read The Women's Movement essay. How ready for it I felt. How much I looked forward to seeing the movement that’s inspired so much of my adult life through the eyes of one of my favorite thinkers.

And how painful the betrayal I experienced when I finally did so.

How excruciating the disappointment of facing the writer who has taught me to trust what I see... in a scenario where they are almost willingly, alarmingly, determinedly blind.