horrified, anxious, sad (compliment)
"VOTE HARDER!"
first off
Sometimes I get postcards in the mail from a Democrat in California or New York, “safe” “blue” states whose Democrat voters think they know what’s best for the rest of us, and they’re always urging us to VOTE BLUE or reminding us that abortion access is on the ballot and speaking in platitudes because our choices have real consequences for the rest of the country. I always feel like an object when I receive one of these postcards. I’ve never felt that most of those postcard writers care how I vote, because if my state votes for the wrong candidate, then I am to blame by default.
Wisconsin has a big Supreme Court election coming up, and living in a red area of the state, I mainly see yard signs and advertising for the Republican-aligned candidate, Brad Schimel. I had to look up the Democrat-aligned candidate’s name recently — Susan Crawford — because I realized I had yet to come across it organically. What are the out-of-state left-leaning activists I come across online up to? Telling us how urgent and important the election is, shouting into the void that “if you’re in Wisconsin, you should vote!”, and never saying Crawford’s name. Supreme Court nominees don’t officially have a party affiliation — we can’t just walk into the voting booth and pick the person with the “D” next to their name. And it is infuriating that these people who are putting the health of this dumpster fire of a country on our shoulders are sticking with “VOTE HARDER!” instead of putting in the minuscule amount of effort it would take to even inform us which candidate can effect the change they desire (but lol Democrats, so).
Anyway, fellow Wisconsin voters, MyVote Wisconsin has everything you need to make sure you’re all set to vote for Susan Crawford on Tuesday, April 1!
one rec
The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman
I read a lot of short fiction submissions in one of my roles at Okay Donkey, and one way a lot of good writing suffers is taking too long to get to the point. I’ll read an entire story submission and my primary critique will be, “I wish this was half as long, specifically the second half.” I’m new to Fredrik Backman and decided to dive into his shorter works before committing to a full-length book, so The Deal of a Lifetime was my first. Maybe this is obvious because Backman is a prolific and well-loved author, but this guy knows how to start a short story. I wasn’t simply hooked from the beginning — I was horrified, anxious, sad. All this was amplified by knowing there were only so many pages left for all these feelings to be resolved. Also, Alice Menzies’ translation is phenomenal.
wholesome scroll
Back to this: Here are items 51-75 of a list I wrote in 2010 of 100 things that make me happy, with occasional commentary. (1-25) (26-50)
Playing music for others
Having something come easily to me
Flash mobs of the epic variety
What a distillation of the way too many of us talked around this time.Really really hot (gay) tenors
This is so specific, it has to have been an inside joke.Knowing someone cares
Free stuff!
I spent a not small part of my sophomore year of college giving my address to whatever company would send me something for free. Sometimes it was useful things like lotion samples. Usually it was not useful things like 10-minute educational DVDs.Hating on Republicans
Actually finding a school that’s right for me
Can you tell I’d just started the process of transferring?Acapella singing
Being a fairly good speller
Not being a complete idiot
Leonard Bernstein’s tone clusters
Hello, finale of West Side Story.My ghetto iPhone
Lots of people just used “ghetto” to mean anything, huh? What was I referring to here, a two-year-old iPhone suffering from planned obsolescence?The smell of gasoline
Whole numbers
Come on, you’ve got 35 left, you can’t already be at “whole numbers”???Sparkling apple cider
Itzhak Perlman
Yellow, blue, black, orange
These are just colors!!!When plans work out perfectly
Hatchet murdering essays
There’s a story to this, but what I mean is being an aggressive (but fair!) editor.Never having to take math again
The Olympic Games
The Simpsons Movie
Parkour