Not as much reading done this week mainly because I had covid (still out there, friends). It was mild in the sense that my only symptoms were shortness of breath and heart palpitations, but it turns out those two symptoms make doing a lot of work pretty fucking difficult.
Updates on my dog, for those who have expressed concern: what I assumed was renal failure may not be renal failure but we're still not sure what it is; after exhausting various channels of less-invasive testing she is undergoing exploratory surgery this week to get biopsies done. After that we should have more clarity on what the treatment options are for her. She is in good spirits despite all this, but please keep her in your thoughts. I love her so much. Here is a picture of her telling me to get off the computer and play with her.
He says that there is no such thing as a cat—it is just a shape that all manner of imps, hobs, and devilkins like to put on, to gain easy entrance into the homes of men.
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
Submitted by Ranjit.
One way of understanding Israel that I think should not be controversial is to say that it is a machine for the conversion of grief into power.
"On Mourning and Statehood: A Response to Joshua Leifer", Gabriel Winant for Dissent
It has been an extraordinarily bleak week, and one where hurt continues to produce more and more hurt. My political position—which is that ethno-states are death cults, designed for genocidal outcomes, and all pursuits of them are fucked—feels frankly tables stakes to me and yet I entirely expect to be scolded for it.
In general anyone talking about the correct way to grieve is walking into a hornet's nest (individuals experience grief as a process, not a tactic, regardless of how nation-states choose to weaponize that grief), which is in part why I think some people had a very visceral negative reaction to Winant's essay. I think some of that reaction was reading it in pretty bad faith, but the point I want to make here is that none of the negative responses I've seen have really disputed the sentence above. And it's an important sentence worth sitting with because I think it is central to why so many treat Israel as the apartheid state of exception.
There is room for all at the banquet of culpability.
"Water Carriers for the Abyss", Suzanne Schneider for Type Slowly
Grazer could not be immediately reached for comment, as she is a wild animal living in a remote national park in Alaska.
"2023’s Fat Bear Week queen is 128 ‘Grazer’", Natalie B. Compton for The Washington Post
Submitted by Jason.
Meanwhile, in the overflow of explanation grows the profound loss: everything we accrued by not giving others the chance to speak.
Wayfinding: Phase 1 audio guide, Chloe Bass
Via Chloe's Instagram.