On mourning the tiny ass moments too

The Sternal Journal

There's some journs in this Stern

Sternal Journalists,


We know the many things about this moment in history that are large and terrible. But of course there are silver linings.

But then also of course we know it is best to mostly ignore those silver linings, or at least put them in a corner to enjoy only privately or in small groups.

And so we find ourselves where? Mourning large things publicly, and celebrating small things privately.

And, as terrible as everything is, this is not the worst way to process everything being terrible.

However...

However.

However, I think about one of the inverses. No, there are not large things to celebrate. Maybe someone could argue there are. I cannot.

But there are small things to mourn. Truly small things.

Not the things that manifest small in our conversations, but are really, very massive (e.g. discrepancies between COVID death rates at community hospitals and medical centers in wealthier areas).

I mean the actual small, slice of life moments we're missing out on. And so, I present to you today:

A CERTIFIED MOMENT WE WILL NEVER GET TO EXPERIENCE:

1. When you are on a dancefloor

2. and the DJ plays Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's WAP, which came out 3 days ago,

3. so more people come to the dancefloor because it is the hottest song in the world at the moment

4. and exactly one minute and forty one seconds into the song, Cardi goes, "I don't wanna spit, I wanna choke, I wanna gag, I wanna gulp."

4B. Concurrent to the performance of those lyrics, everyone on the dancefloor looks at each other like, "Aaaaahhh! It's comin'!"

5. And then PRECISELY on "gulp," (because they've been listening on repeat since the song debuted), the DJ cuts out the music,

6. AND THE ENTIRE DANCE FLOOR ERUPTS INTO A BEAUTIFUL CACOPHONY THAT ROUGHLY SOUNDS LIKE:

"I WANT-YOU-TO TOUCH THAT LITTLE-DANGLY-THING THAT SWING-IN-THE BACK-OF-MY THROAT."

7. Release. Everyone hugs, high fives, celebrates. Nastily. Together.

Damn this virus.

That moment which we would get to be experiencing umpteen thousand times over throughout the world (were it not for this damn virus) is certifiably inconsequential.

It's tiny. Nobody will die because it didn't get to happen. But we should still mourn it. Because you can't buy or replace dancefloor euphoria.

Nobody is cataloguing all the blips of normalcy passing us by. They will be gone, and that's okay because it has to be okay.

But if you see one one of those blips, if you hear a new song and know that not only is this one of the greatest songs you've ever heard, not only is it the song of the summer if only we had real summer, but it would be even that much hotter to hear it in a scenario that is epidemiologically unethical, let yourself feel that. Let yourself mourn that.

Keep mourning the big things of now, but remember to respect the little ones too.

If you've read this far, know that when I picture that dancefloor and everyone saying "-DANGLYTHINGTHATSWING-," you're right there with me.

All the love,

Julian

P.S. Woah! DId you read this far without knowing anything I'm talking about? You should listen to WAP right now. It is filthy and wonderful and Cardi B and Megan Thee are two of the best rappers, lyricists, songwriters, performers of all time. Read this, too if only for the sentence, "The wetness of the pussy in that image is already a fait accompli."

P.P.S. "WAP" samples Frank Ski's "Whores in this House," which is a mainstay of Bmore Club, a genre I just learned about! I've been writing this Sternal Journal to this other Bmore Club classic and I highly recommend giving it a listen. I am always wowed by the cultural history of the places around where I grew up and intend to learn way more about them!