the slow and unyielding march of time | episode 17
I rarely rewatch videos on youTube; the one exception to that rule is the Tiny Fuppets, a bizarro Portuguese parody of the Muppet Babies. There's only a handful of episodes, and they're but a few minutes long, and the English translations are extremely surreal and funny and weird. In particular, I like "A Modest Wish"; it's Kormit's birthday, and via song, he tells everyone what he most desires. (Like Skee-lo, he would like to be a little bit taller.) My favorite thing about the episode used to be a moment where Kormit proudly proclaims "Another year has passed without trauma!"
My birthday is coming up once again (the slow and unyielding march of time will get ya!) and of course, even if next week's election goes the way I hope it will, this year has obviously not passed without trauma, and of course, no year does unless the only thing you define as trauma is "your own death."
But I think we're all pretty tired of thinking exclusively about trauma, and I'd like to fill my birthday with positive connection from people I love. June gave me a really excellent suggestion the other night when I was musing about how to celebrate.
Those of you with the time *and* the energy *and* the desire; will you do a little art project with me? For my birthday, I would love it if any of you would be kind enough to spend a little bit of time envisioning what a better world would or could be like, and create something around that. Maybe just a few written words, or a drawing if that's your thing, or a lil website or a recording. That's what I'd like most for my birthday. (Which is November 10th, for those of you who don't have it memorized.)
It's totally okay if you don't feel up to this; I know you didn't sign up for a newsletter for homework assignments! It's truly enough to know that you're reading this and thinking about me occasionally; you don't need to do cheesy work on top of that if you don't want to!
Debris:
I started my new job! I work for the federal government now, which is strange, but I think it will be a good fit, despite the current state of ... all the branches, really. I start my first project next week; I'm going to be researching and prototyping a risk-management framework for agencies that want to open source their data. I am not sure what a risk-management framework is! Wish me luck!
I started watching the Great British Baking Show and it is wild how everyone fucked up their brownies during chocolate week! Everyone needs to chill out and stop doing the most. The Bachelorette has also returned, so I guess I am deep in the throes of reality TV seasons. (If anyone is watching the Bachelorette and wants to talk about it HIT ME UP.)
The weather is starting to get bone-chillingly cold, which makes me very nervous. Please give me advice on how to stay warm outside my apartment.
I'm thinking about doing National Novel Writing Month! Although I have not outlined or even thought about a plot and November starts tomorrow, so ... we'll see. Ideas and encouragement are welcome.
I voted! I hope you have as well; if not, I encourage you to make a voting plan. Your voice matters.
I bought some Halloween candy because I am sure the kids in this building are going to pound on my door but oops I developed a real bad KitKat habit someone send help.
What I'm Reading
Currently:
Magic By Liars by Sarah Gailey:
Is it required by law that all noir-y books start with some general dark musings about fate and choices? It kind of feels like it. Ivy is a private detective; one morning, the headmaster of the elite high school for mages (NOT wizards -- they hate it when you call them that) appears (literally, the door's locked) in her office. A teacher's dead -- cut neatly in half in the library -- and the official story is that she accidentally killed herself while attempting some tough magic. But the headmaster thinks she's been murdered, and she asks Ivy to investigate; she's the perfect person, cuz she's a private detective and her sister is a teacher at the school, so she won't freak out about magic. Another magic school! (See below.) In this one, students use magic to permanently grafitti "SAMANTHA IS A SLUT" on the hallway, so you know it's like Hogwarts, but GRITTY.
Recently:
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite:
Korede's beautiful, flirtatious sister has been murdering her boyfriends. She tells Korede that they're abusive monsters, that was in danger, but after she's helped her sis clean up after the third one, she starts to wonder if she should turn her sister in. But you know, family's thicker than water. But then Ayoola visits her at work and catches the eye of the handsome, kind doctor that Korede's not-so secretly in love with. This book was weird as hell and stressed me out! I really liked it; a really different vibe and plot from most things I've read, while highlighting themes of trauma and violence in honestly a kind of breezy way?
Lobizona by Romina Garber:
Manu is a 17-year old undocumented immigrant from Argentina, living crammed in a small apartment with her mother and Perla, an elderly Argentinan woman who took them in. She knows no other life; her mother fled her father's family when she was just a baby. But one day, Perla falls down and has to go to the hospital; the same day, the underground clinic that Manu's mother works at gets raided by ICE and Manu has to go on a journey to discover who -- and what -- she is. At a magic-school for witches and werewolves. This book had *so* many cool, interesting ideas (though the magic school is very Hogwarts-esque), but it felt like Garber didn't develop any of them quite enough. I really liked it, though, and will definitely be reading the next in the series. I read an actual hard-copy of it, and what a joy that was! I think it helped me sleep better.
Caraval by Stephanie Gerber:
This is a re-read because I read it a few years ago, enjoyed it, forgot about it, and then recently came across it in a list and realized that the next two books in this series were published in the time that I forgot about it. This is EXTREMELY common for me, and usually I just plunge into the next one without rereading and then spend the first half of the book feeling extremely lost. It's not the best reading experience, and Caraval was available at the library. ("Available" is the theme in my reading choices these days.) Anyway, Scarlett and Tella's father is an abusive piece of shit who won't let them leave the island that he's the leader of. For years, Scarlett longs to go to Caraval, a week-long game of sorts in which there is magic and adventure, and she writes letter after letter to Legend, the Caraval creator and master. He finally writes back and invites her ... a week before she is set to be married to a count she has only met through letters. She decides to ignore the invitation, because her marriage is the less risky way to protect her and her sister, but Tella and a handsome sailor she's met have a different plan. This book is kind of a mess but it's a really fun mess!
Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu:
Listen, it's not my fault that Lu's novels are extremely consumable and have, until now, been extremely available at the public library. The first two books in this series, Legend and Prodigy, maps a distant future in which the Republic exists where the west coast of the United States used to be. June starts off as a gifted student (she's the prodigy) who basically was the first person to ever score an 1800 on her SATs and went through school early; she's being groomed to be a high-ranking soldier in the war against the Colonies. Her brother is seemingly murdered by the country's most-wanted criminal, Day (He's the legend!) and she's graduated early to lead the search for him. Turns out, the government is lying and nothing is quite what it seems, *and* Day secretly also scored an 1800 on his SATs! In the second book we find out that the country split over climate refugees; the southern and eastern parts of the country all flooded, and as people fled west, there wasn't enough infrastructure and so they uhhh built a wall. The east coast seems like it's going to be a paradise, which it is, but for rich libertarians who want to privatize everything; for everyone else it's a huge bummer. Unfortunately the final book in the series was not immediately available so I have to wait for the exciting conclusion. (I bet they will Lead A Revolution)
I know you're all doing as well as you can. The world is so much these days; remember to be kind to yourself. I love you all so much, and will be thinking of you much in the next few weeks.
<3
davida