And with that, I'm off for the week. 🫂 (Meeting nerves.)

The world is so big and so full of pain, and the hardest part of sentience is that we're *just* self-aware enough to feel frustrated by the limits of our agency in it.

We take it out on ourselves.

We take it out on others.

We try our best to act with integrity from our subject-positions--and we screw up all the same, because our subject-positions are never the full picture.

It is enough that we're still here, though--and still trying.

😂 I've said this before, because the trial scene in THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is excellent for describing the whims of the crowd, but hot dog: Dostoevsky had social media *down pat* long before our current tech.

I first read NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND as a teen, when the self-loathing protag best sings out to self-loathing youth, but I've always loved this chapter, and its description of how even educated humans will sometimes make a public spectacle of pain just to regain some agency over suffering.

I've always loved this quote, because of how seamlessly it transitions from the innocuous to the dangerous.

It starts with "instrument". It ends with "weapon". But it can be difficult to trace the shift from one to the other in the text.

I think I'll be writing on Murrow's speech next week. 1958, and yet it feels like yesterday.

We don't change as much as we think we do.

But we have to live through our moment like everything *can* change. Maybe, just maybe, this time it will.

#MediaLiteracy

I love when a thunderstorm here is so intense you can see the storm-clouds move in vertical waves horizontally, as they roll across the landscape.

Mountain valley living! You can just *feel* the thunder in your heart. 💛⛈️

Just a few of my favourite things...

Wifi for my laptop acquired, though!

And the view ain't too shabby.

Now, we work.

#Colombia

Today in Genders Weirder Than The Ones Stigmatized By Right-Wing Politicians:

Lil buddy got super lost (I live high up), but now we get to hang for a while. They're currently playing dead and I'm currently playing sane, so it's a good match.

#Nature

Hanging with the crew before class.

#Nature #OneOfTheseThings

Some schools of therapy talk about us having an "inner child". Mine is the kid from The Hours.

Sometimes, when I'm having a tough time getting through a simple task, I hear little Richie looking up helplessly at his mum trying to make a cake and barely holding it together.

That fragile, small-voiced

"Mommy, it isn't that difficult" and her answering "I know, sweet pea. I know it isn't difficult. It's just..."

gets me every time.

Some days it really is hard, though, to make the darned cake.

WHEW.

😂 A little backstory before sharing this link. Haaretz used to be the dominant pub in Israel before Netanyahu's rich buddy bankrolled a daily free pub that could promote Likud talking points, so there is NO LOVE LOST for Netanyahu in this institution of a paper, which hosts POVs across the spectrum but definitely skews left of centre.

You could've guessed that, though, from the title of its lead editorial today:

"Passover in Israel: The Ten Plagues of Netanyahu"

https://archive.ph/LwbTO

#War

There's a lot of pain that comes with seeing relentless news of people dying.

That pain is worsened when our countries play very public roles in suffering.

No one should feel ashamed to express dismay at the loss of human life.

No one in a *democracy* should feel they have to shut up about concerns with respect to state actions.

And if people are learning now how complicit we've always been in suffering? Good. That will ideally lead to better praxis in general.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israeli-strikes-southern-gaza-city-rafah-kill-13-109471596

It's a strike day. More trucks just arrived, flashing Colombian flags and operating in collective protest for a number of grievances. This is going to be VERY NOISY for the rest of the morning.

Well, so much for recording. I'll finish a Patreon post instead, and try again early tomorrow. #Colombia

Or... not.

For some reason the taxi and truck drivers are tooting today. Another strike? On a Sunday? When ciclovía promises the closest we get to a little quiet?

This is my fault for not being ready to record pre-dawn, but ugh. Let's see how long this goes on for. A strike, or maybe they're gearing up for a funeral procession. Either way, they might do laps along my stretch of highway. I have to wait and see.

Three times in my life, a fellow has deigned to watch a beloved older film for the first time - and not because anyone forced them to! - then come to me with the words "Actually, it's not nearly as good as it's made out to be" before proceeding to try to tell me why it's no good, for no darned reason.

Not the same dude, mind you!

But reader, the films for which this has happened are:

Blade Runner (non-voice-over cut)
Alien

And just now?

Road House ('89)

So you can understand my reaction. 🙃

"Now, as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper.

Until, one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any men, not even himself.

He couldn't love, or feel loved.

He was sick with experience.

He began to die."

🖤🕊️

Okay. It is time.

#CoSoFilms

#MediaLiteracy #Health

You might see more news like this for a bit.

1) The mortality rate *is* high for human infection, and

2) it *is* spreading in other mammals, but

3) there's no human-to-human transference yet.

So how can we empower ourselves with this news?

We can advocate locally to reduce industry pressures on livestock management and to invest more in medical facilities.

We should also always promote best practices when ill.

Otherwise? Hang in there, gang. The polycrisis sucks.

Lovely choice, CoSo! Thanks for your help!

I felt rather nervous about this, but I submitted Children of Doro for consideration by this year's Ursula K. Le Guin Award.

It *does* have a good claim for consideration, because it shares the same point of inspiration Le Guin used for "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". But I don't have high hopes, since it's indie published.

Still--if you published/loved a book last year that you think would do Le Guin proud, consider nominating that one, too.

#WritingCommunity
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/prize-nomination-form