Actually crying. I love you, the-toast.

Oh, the shoes essay! I spent the entire winter after my mom died wearing her sweaters. They weren't really my style: too shapeless, colors too muted. But they made me feel safe. They let me carry her with me for a little while longer. They let me show her to the world, and maybe show my grief too. Now, after 4 years and 2 long-distance moves, they're sitting in the back of a drawer and starting to smell musty, but I don't think I'll get rid of them anytime soon.

Yes, you are spot on about all of this. Clinton is a complete badass to have stuck around and accomplished so much. I will be thrilled to vote for her in the general election if that's where we end up (as we probably will). If Sanders doesn't change his tune, and do something like, I dunno, commit to a race and gender equal cabinet, or make a good VP nom, I will vote for Clinton in the primaries too. But I am FRUSTRATED at stupid people on the internet and at the fact that I have to choose between two compromise candidates. I know this is just how things are, and I should probably just let it go, but I want to do something! I will make my stupid little stand and then maybe I can relax a little.

Some of the bros are definitely out of touch with reality and just loathe women and minorities. I may be naive, but I hope that there's a "silent majority" of Sanders supporters who are reasonable, but are just being blindly optimistic and uncritical. I'd like to make them think and defend the right side of things rather than let the ugly side take over. The socratic thing has worked among my carefully-curated set of irl friends who I talk politics with, but maybe Twitter is stupider and less nice. In any case, Sanders himself will probably disappear, but the bros might not, so I figure let's yell at them a little while we can?

If she gets the nom (she probably will), no doubt! And I very well might vote for her in the primary. But the berniebros are going to stick around for at least a little while, so there's no harm in yelling at them a bit (or being politlely critical, whichever).

I totally understand your comments. In '08 I was an Obama supporter, but honestly, I wasn't paying super close attention to the dynamics of the campaigns (I was a youngun), so you may be totally right. But my thoughts don't have much to do with Clinton right now. I don't think anyone in the world is saying she's anything other than a corporate-linked, hawkish, white feminist. If I thought she were any better than Sanders, I would just go quietly vote for her. But Sanders is getting people excited in a way that Hillary's campaign is not. I think the grassroots coalition he's forming is more important, in some ways, than what he'd actually get done as president (if he should get there). I don't want that coalition to be controlled by one sort of voice, or we'll risk the progress we're making on race and gender equality. Policy matters, but so does the popular discourse - things will only change if people change. (I also have some thoughts about how Clinton's not as bad as she was/seems, and about how disappointing incremental change to the status quo is preferable to the wrong sort of dramatic changes, but those are not even fully convincing to me, so I'm not going to push there. But believe me, if she does get the nom, I'll pressure her from the left too.)

I haven't finished reading it, but I looked at part of it earlier this week. It's really well done.

This sounds accurate. Your boy is very discerning indeed. :)

Me too! Though based on rumors I've heard, I can imagine why you don't want to get into it.

This is very good advice, thanks!

I think I'm trying to indirectly target the way the conversation happens by pretending like I only care about policy? As a form of strategic self-tone-policing? Maybe that doesn't make sense. But if you directly criticize the berniebros, they just get madder and more insular. So maybe asking polite questions on the issues would make it harder for them to react superficially and defensively, while also getting them to think a bit more. I don't actually expect Bernie to listen or change his message unless the audience starts doubting it first. Maybe having both hashtags would help?

Warning: If you are uninterested or upset by American Democratic politics, look away now!

So, I don’t want to unnecessarily provoke anyone or be self-promoting here, but I want to see if I can get an idea to take off. I started a hashtag on twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/bernbetter?src=hash

I’m concerned that Bernie Sanders's calls to bring “the people” together might really mean “bring together angry middle-class white men.” He has a decent record on race and gender issues, but I think he sees them as separate and secondary to economic justice issues. This seems short-sighted and overly simplistic to me; hierarchies of class, race, gender, sexuality, and nationality are inextricably enmeshed. If he’s unable to take an explicitly intersectional perspective (or is pressured not to in order to maintain the “unity” of his base), I think women and POC and other multiply-oppressed people could become collateral damage in his war against the economic/political "establishment." Of course, economic reforms are also key to helping those groups; that’s why I prefer the strategy of pushing Sanders to improve rather than dismissing him entirely. Clinton is certainly far from being a perfect progressive candidate. Perhaps we can push back against the condescending berniebros(=/= all Sanders supporters) that have been harassing anyone who dissents, and open the Sanders movement to a more inclusive set of progressive voices? My (possibly futile, who knows?) goal is to provide respectful but firm constructive criticism to Sanders and his followers. If you think that’s at all reasonable, I’d love it if you could RT me or add your own questions/comments to the hashtag.

(I hope I’m not doing this all wrong! I’ve never really used Twitter, and I don’t have much of an activist history.)