Why some people care what time AOC was born

I kind of care about astrology. I don’t really believe in it, but I am more than 0 percent invested in my sign (Aries, my birthday is next week; update your calendars accordingly) because I like feeling seen. I like the thought that there’s some order to the universe; that I’m bossy and loyal and impatient because of some cosmic alignment, and not just because a random assortment of synapses fired in a given sequence. Still, I don’t pay attention to natal charts or moon signs or anything beyond the 101 level, and so I was deeply fascinated to read Rebecca Jennings’s piece about [astrologers who use the practice to make inferences about politicians](. There was apparently a resounding triumph in the astrological community when one member got ahold of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s birth time (politely, with permission), while others have tried in vain for years to deduce whether Hillary Clinton was born at 8 in the morning or the evening. It seems like their reasoning is much the same as mine: We seek out this extra ineffable layer of information in order to feel like we have some small amount of control, that we can know the unknowable in a genuinely wild time. [—Alanna Okun](, deputy editor at The Goods Why astrologers study politicians’ birth times [AOC]( Jim Bennett/WireImage We, the people, officially know Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) exact birth time. It’s 11:50 am. For most of us, this is a largely insignificant piece of information, but for some, it’s the final piece in a puzzle that could hold the clue to understanding one of the rising political firebrands in the country. That “some” includes members of the astrology community, for whom birth time, as well as the exact longitude and latitude where a person was born, is crucial to determining their natal chart. Most Americans have at least a passing knowledge of their zodiac sign, which is assigned according to one’s birthday, but [natal charts are much more complicated](, and purportedly can offer clues on someone’s entire personality and life story. The person who found AOC’s, meanwhile, is Arthur Lipp-Bonewits, an astrologer, medium, psychic, and constituent in AOC’s district. He reached out to her office, informing them of his intentions to share the time within the larger astrology community, and [his resulting tweet went minorly viral](. According to Lipp-Bonewits, AOC’s chart makes total sense. “AOC is a fiery, passionate personality ... Aries, her Moon sign, and Sagittarius, her rising sign, are both fire signs,” he tells Vox. “Sagittarius rising puts Venus, the planet of beauty and charisma, in her first house — I’d expect that from someone known for their charisma. People with Sagittarius rising are also prone toward verbal gaffes, which she is.” An [explainer on Allure]( also says that her chart shows she’s a great teacher and coalition builder. But the fact that [millennials are super into astrology]( (astrology memes, anyway) isn’t the only reason a tweet about AOC’s birth chart went viral. Astrologers have been studying the birth charts of politicians and other public figures for years, in an attempt to prognosticate their impact on the world. [Read the rest of the story >>]( Meet the baby influencers wearing Air Jordans and Supreme [a fashionable baby and father]( Chris Brook [Here is 6-month-old Archer Brooke](, in a teeny pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers and shredded jeans, sitting next to a basketball for size reference. [Here he is again](, dressed head to toe in a bandana-print sweatsuit, swinging between his father’s enormous kicks. [Here he is one more time](, captured in what must be mere weeks after his birth, enjoying a catatonic newborn rest. Above him is a photoshopped Peanuts thought bubble. Inside sits a crisp Nike high-top, an omen for things to come. Chris Brooke, Archer’s photographer, stylist, and father, estimates that his personal sneaker collection sits around 50. It’s an obsession that started in the mid-’90s on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Chris’s father (and Archer’s grandfather,) would make VHS tapes of the Chicago Bulls games that were broadcasting late into the South Pacific night, so that Chris could watch and obsess over them again and again. “I wanted to be like Mike,” he recalls. “So shoes were a big part of that.” It only made sense that he’d break his first kid into the family tradition. Chris’s Instagram, “The Sneakerhead Dad,” stars Archer and his rapidly growing streetwear wardrobe. For the uninitiated, the terms “streetwear” and “hypebeast” generally refer to the loud, jagged, juvenile designs pioneered by skater and skater-adjacent clothing brands like Supreme, A Bathing Ape, and Off-White. (“Sneakerhead” is slightly different. That word is used to describe anyone who collects a lot of athletic footwear.) Aesthetically, streetwear is a concoction of hip-hop cockiness, ecstasy dealer sleaze, and a little bit of name-brand athleisure, all cranked to their most profane. The style toiled in relative obscurity for years until around 2016, when bona fide superstars [like Kylie Jenner](, [Bella Hadid](, and [Justin Bieber]( started weaving the look into their ’fits, (short for outfits, the universally agreed-upon label for any streetwear ensemble). Today, streetwear is about as mainstream as fashion can get, to the point that it’s trickling down to multiple generations. There are plenty of kids who’ve gathered huge Instagram followings for [book reviews](, [dances](, and [local activism](, and now some of the youngest hypebeasts on the planet have followed suit. Originally, Chris describes his Instagram as an easy way to blow off some creative steam, but Archer looked cute enough in his sweats, sneakers, and tailored jerseys that stardom was inevitable. Today, “The Sneakerhead Dad” hosts 30,000 followers, which means that Chris has been injected into an insurgent community of mothers and fathers who double as the managers for their own streetwear icons. [Read the rest of the story >>]( More good stuff to read today - [Can a brand pull a prank?]( - [America’s new recycling crisis, explained by an expert]( - [Teachers often have to crowdfund for classroom supplies. Some districts are banning the practice.]( - [The emerging 737 Max scandal, explained]( - [What the 2020 presidential candidates’ logos tell us, explained by design experts]( - [Why does Anna Delvey, the fake German heiress, look so fashionable in court?]( Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving emails from Vox Media. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.