Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

"Collective effervescencecollective feelingis vital; feel all the manic euphoria perhaps you feel. But feel all the depressive realism and whatever else, too. Feel it about the Trump years with kids, and forced hysterectomies, in the cages that Obama and Biden built. Feel it as we, perhaps finally, begin to mourn the dead. Feel it allgrief, sadness, anger. Pessimism: . . . even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he is victorious. And this enemy has never ceased ...to be victorious. Feel it not to internalize toward guilt or as another one-quick-trick-to-fix your lifewrong life cannot be lived rightly after allbut to open up to that depressive realist realization: it’s not you; it’s the world, and there is something you can do about it. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired, Fannie Lou Hamer once quipped. I think you may discover a lot of people are, if only we don’t Disnefy our politics." See more

Practical Criticism | Episodes 1 - 36 now available for as little as $1 | Music, aesthetics, critical theory, and more with hosts Rebecca Ariel Porte and Ajay Singh Chaudhary. | Each week our hosts surprise each other with a piece of music and discussion, analysis, and practical criticism ensues! | From the Talking Heads to Charles Mingus, soundtrack music to madrigals, metal to R&B, Radiohead, Phish, Henry Cowell, Laura Nyro, CHVURCHES, Ligeti, Taylor Swift, Billie Holiday, Slayer, Tori Amos and many, many more | Come join the conversation:

Practical Criticism, a Podcast from the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research | Episodes 1 - 36 now available for as little as $1 | Music, aesthetics, critical theory, and more with hosts Rebecca Ariel Porte and Ajay Singh Chaudhary. | Each week our hosts surprise each other with a piece of music and a spontaneous session of practical criticism ensues. | In addition to all back episodes, subscribers will receive access to the special year end content! | Subscribe here:

"Euripides: Myth, Grief, and Tragedy" starts Thursday, November 19th! | BISR Online Courses | Enroll here:

"Frantz Fanon: An Introduction" starts Tuesday, January 26th! | BISR Online Courses | For more information and to enroll:

"In the thirty-sixth episode of the Podcast for Social Research's "Practical Criticism" series, Ajay Singh Chaudhary surprises Rebecca Ariel Porte with a triple feature: Radiohead, The Pogues, and (and closing bonus: Marc Ribot). They contemplate sounds for the end of 2020, shimmering distortion, pain and numbness, Keats, Yeats, catharsis, digital effects, Christmas music, fairy tales of modern life, fairy tales of New York, tradition and subversion, and the next life here on earth."

"Euripides: Myth, Grief, and Tragedy" starts Thursday, November 19th! | BISR Online Courses | For more information and to enroll:

"The Book of Job: Punishment and Reward" starts Wednesday, January 27th! | BISR Online Courses | For more information and to enroll:

The Election Returns: a Discussion and All-Night Watch Party