SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWSLETTER: VOTE: Kendrick Lamar on “How Much A Dollar Cost”
Friends,
With less than eight weeks (eek!) until election day, we’re focused voting for the necessary shifts in how our money, government, and financial structures shape the world we want.
What can you do to help? Join Vote Forward to be part of the effort to send 10,000,000 letters to likely voters in swing states. #FundYourHeroes by supporting the organizations ensuring we ALL have the ability to vote. The Movement Voter project can allocate your donation by tiered priority or you can browse grassroots organizations for a direct gift.
Onward together, in solidarity,
Georgia and Team Modernist
Investment Insights: When Voting Blue
Folks in the U.S. tell a persistent money story that Republican Party administrations are more likely to create a flourishing economy and stock market. Not true.
⚡️ACTION: Check out our recent article on the topic and a recent New York Times opinion piece on the data proving that Democrats are better stewards of the economy and the U.S. stock market.
Or get up to speed on the markets. In our September 2020 client letter, we share the principles behind our investment strategies and the importance of sticking with your plan.
Modernist Takes It Outside
Georgia’s been busy! She contributed to Farnoosh Torabi’s recent piece in Bloomberg Opinion on how to ask for a raise during a pandemic recession.
Read a free excerpt here. You can listen to her recent co-hosted podcast episodes with Farnoosh here and here.
Also a recent article from London’s Financial Times discussed children and parents turning to each other for financial assistance, including a quote from Georgia.
Art Break: Take Your Time
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time-Based Arts Festival, lovingly known as TBA. This year's theme is TAKE YOUR TIME and is a mix of virtual and socially distanced in-person events.
We love these inspiring words about the event:
“We perceive time by noticing change. As we move from the past into the future, the artists in TBA offer new ways of noticing, making, gathering, and surviving"
Read the full digital catalog and get your tickets at pnca.org/tba.
A Song That is Really About Money
A fan’s homage to Kendrick Lamar’s song “How Much a Dollar Cost” aka Barack Obama's 2015 Song of the Year
Georgia recently completed a close-reading of Ta-Nehisi Coate’s The Case for Reparations taught by local artist Donovan Smith. He paired Coate’s essay with a close-reading of Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly. Lamar is one of America’s greatest living poets, even the Pulitzers agree.
The album centers the changes Kendrick experiences as he becomes successful (pimping the butterfly that grew from a caterpillar). The lyrics in "How Much a Dollar Cost" dig deep into the question of how we respond to people living in poverty. When do we help other folks who have less than we do? It’s an essential question for 2020.
He said, "My son, temptation is one thing that I've defeated / Listen to me, I want a single bill from you / Nothin' less, nothin' more" / I told him I ain't have it and closed my door /Tell me; how much a dollar cost?