Sara -
The night before George W. Bush announced the invasion of Iraq in 2003, you and I were in Chicago, about to go on stage at Double Door. We watched the news conference backstage about the invasion and then we used black masking tape from our tour pack to tape the words NO WAR to our clothes before we started our set. I don’t recollect if anyone noticed in the audience or if we talked about what was happening in Iraq on stage, but I imagine both things must have happened. We were so young and naive, and I remember thinking that the act of taping NO WAR on my clothes was bold (insert eye roll).
As artists I feel like you and I have always felt compelled to speak out, and for the most part that seems to have drawn people to our band, not driven them away. I always wondered if because we were queer we were given more space to speak outside the acceptable lines of what a straight artist can typically say. Still, I feel like we struggle about when to speak out and about what. It’s been easy over the years — since social media infiltrated our lives — to be overwhelmed by the staggering amount of heartbreak and outrage and injustice one can learn about in a day and how much of it to amplify on Tegan and Sara accounts on social media. The internet made the world smaller, but also infinitely more complicated. I feel like you and I have spent so much time figuring out the balance. How much do we use our social media for music posts versus amplifying other artists versus social justice posts versus world politics posts? The pressure to speak out is often so great, but our knowledge on every important topic is often not.
This newsletter feels like a place where we could talk a bit about that — a few nights ago I was thinking about how most of us — me and you included — didn’t sit around the TV with our family to learn about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on the nightly news. We saw it is trending on Twitter, or on our For You Page on TikTok. Coverage of this war, this terrible and scary conflict on the other side of the world, was sprinkled in with cat videos and dog training tutorials, tips for cleaning your hot tub, and a dad snoring during the movie Moana. I’m not the first person to point out how dangerous it seems that entertainment and news are intertwined on the same feed, creating a numbing effect, not to mention an unbelievable amount of false information and distrust. Where does a post by Tegan and Sara fit? Does a post by us mean anything? Does it do anything? I can swipe past an influencer telling me how to put on eyeshadow just as easily as I can a citizen update about the explosions in Kyiv. The mixing of news and entertainment and politicians and musicians and soccer moms and influencers must be doing something to our brains, our hearts, our compassion? Right? I’m sure you could insert an article or two here that would back up my suspicions. I just have this Tweet:
The same day Russia invaded Ukraine, Texas passed a law that will effectively treat parents, teachers, health professionals and therapists as child abusers for assisting trans youth in their journey to being themselves. We’ve been learning about this onslaught of right-wing attacks on trans kids since we started the Tegan and Sara Foundation five years ago. There are bills like this up in many other states. A war against trans people has been raging in the senate and courts across this country for years. Seeing the news, my hands shook, even now writing this I am livid. The fixation on gender and sexuality in America is dumbfounding. We’re on the precipice of world collapse from climate change, still dealing with an ongoing pandemic that killed millions and decimated people’s lives and entire industries, and we are watching a literal war start in Europe, but lawmakers across the country are fighting their own people instead of banding together to save them.
As I type this, people are gathering in major Russian cities, protesting their country's invasion of Ukraine, while people in Ukraine are fleeing their homes, and others are banding together to fight for their country. I saw a video of regular people in Kyiv standing in line for firearms, creating citizen brigades, preparing to fight. It could be anyone, from anywhere. It’s so scary. And sad.
People have been protesting and marching all over the world. In Calgary I saw city hall flying Ukraines flag in solidarity. World leaders are organizing their response to Russia’s invasion, and imposing sanctions to deter further conflict.
While in America, people are raising funds to protect trans youth, rallying to fight in other states where similar bills attacking trans youth are coming. There’s talk of some people boycotting the Austin Texas music festival SXSW, applying pressure on corporations to take a stand the way so many did in North Carolina when Republicans passed their hateful “bathroom bill,” which targeted trans people. So much is happening at once. I feel like mentioning all this in the newsletter is something worthwhile. Maybe including some links, if people want to help, donate, file complaints?
In conclusion, you messaged me earlier that our job is to make music, to entertain people, to connect and build community. I agree. Like a lot of people, I swipe away from things that make me feel bad, and go search for something that makes me feel good. I want this newsletter to make people feel good, and I think our scheduled post for today would have done that. It’s sweet, and I can’t wait to post it next week, but I feel as musicians and public-facing people we’d be remiss not to say something, even if it’s just this, about what’s happening in the world. We aren’t experts in any of this, but we’re humans on a planet that’s suffering. And acknowledging that feels right. We could encourage people to drop more links, and ways to help in the comments? Start a conversation here?
We could also share this video I just watched where a woman wipes tears from her face with her pet hamster. Apparently it’s a trend on TikTok. Maybe you should make a video where you wipe your tears with Holiday? She’s cuter than a hamster. I think that might make people feel good. Though I imagine Holiday would hate it.
Oh, and I thought your cover of Crowded House was really beautiful. Eerie too because the same night you recorded that song I went out for dinner and my Lyft driver was blasting the original on the way home. #twins
Tegan
No War