Birthday-versary + Help Alberto + Cyber Truck Recalls + Hillside Villas + Sade Robinson 🕊️ + Asna vs USC + National Park Week

Thursday was my birthdayyyyy (👵🏾!) and yesterday was the one year anniversary of this here newsletter. It’s the only thing I’ve done consistently (consistently-ish) my entire adult life. Somedays it takes an hour to put together, others it takes all day. Today was one of those all day kind of days. Mostly due to the dog I now live with wanting all of my time, and me feeling guilty that I’m spending weekend hours the very desk I spend my week.

Here’s to a new year, um, trying to figure out routine.

I have one favor to ask. I saw a story this week about an assault that happened in West Hollywood and made a note to add it to my news rundown. The news came with an accompanying photo of the comatose male victim in the hospital, head shaved, eyes swollen, wires and monitors hooked up. I didn’t even recognize him as someone I knew. Alberto (“Albertico”) was someone I knew from my youth when I was more cultured and cooler. He was a bit John Waters, a bit Carlos D, and little bit Bauhaus. So kind and incredibly cool.

It was his story.

He was beaten outside of Heart in Weho earlier this month, reportedly by the club’s bouncer. He was found bleeding and unconscious in a parking lot, alone, with a cracked skull. The venue, Heart, was initially reticent to release security footage, for obvious reasons. The bouncer, who effectively left him to die, has since been arrested.

Albert is awake and talking, though he’s has had part of his skull removed and will most likely have a lifetime of recovery. His sisters and friends have launched a GoFundMe for him and I’d love it if you could donate.

<3

The fact that we started here and the mess is still going.

• Tesla Recalls All 4,000 Cyber Trucks (The Verge)

• Watcher Leaves YouTube and Goes Paid (Variety)

• David Bechkam Sues Mark Wahlberg (NYP)

• 700 More Laid Off At Nike (USA Today)

• Will Boeing’s Cover Up Culture Survive 2024? (Bloomberg)

• Justice For Hillside Villas Residents (LAPublicPress)

“I am surprised that my own university—my home for four years—has abandoned me.” — Asna Tabassum

Asna Tabassum, the valedictorian of USC’s current graduating class, has been barred from speaking at this year’s graduation. The university cites unspecified safety concerns as the reason for the speech’s cancellation, though, even as a courtesy for her own safety, they haven’t shared them with Asna. Asna practices Islam, and shared a “pro-Palestianian Tweet.

As reported by the New York Times, USC provost Andrew T. Guzman said the university removed her speech from the ceremony over “substantial risks relating to security and disruption at the commencement.” He said over the weeks approaching the May 10 date, “discussion related to the selection of our valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor.”

USC also cited concern from on-campus Jewish groups, like Trojans for Israel, as a reason to not let Tabassum speak. The outcry came after she shared a pro-Palestinian link on social media. (Variety)

The school’s decision to remove Asna was met with on-campus protests.

Read Asna’s full statement here.

MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas shared a powerful opinion piece this week about the precedent pattern of blacklist, cancellation, and professional retaliation targeted at those who stand firmly in opposition of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling like I just fell out of a coconut tree…

• 100+ Columbia University students arrested protesting Israel’s war crimes

• Former IDF soldiers who threw chemicals on Columbia students remain uncharged

• Harvard Students rally in support of their Ivy League comrades

• US imposes sanctions on Iran for retaliating against Israel (Israel remains unsanctioned, naturally)

• They say they’ll defy sanctions anyway

• TikTok gets closer to a US ban

• US gives Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan $95B in foreign aid funding

• Teachers get no money, BUT they might get tactical active shooter training

• Teaches will also get arrested for protesting against that as well

Who is in charge of autocorrect these days and why are y’all making up new words?

I’m tettifyibg-ed

It’s National Park Week — Hear me when I say there is nothing I love more than a National Park. Parks are the only arm of the government I don’t meet with scorn, and rangers are the only uniformed enforcers who don’t automatically get a lil ACAB sprinkled on them when passing by.

The week-long holiday is an extended celebration of Earth Day (4/22) and includes waived entrance fees, themed activities, volunteer opportunities, and educational events.

National Park Week runs April 20-April 29. Learn more at nps.gov.

A January moment in Joshua Tree, my favorite park.

Sade Robertson was just 19 years old when she was murdered on Apr 1 by a man she met on Hinge. Her date, Maxwell Anderson, 33, remains in jail on $5M bond. I don’t have the energy to go into the detail surrounding her disappearance and subsequent murder, because she was so much more than that. Described by family as “a loving daughter, a cherished sister, and a dear friend to many,” she was just weeks away from graduation.

A GoFundMe started in Sade’s memory can be here.

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