One other thing I'm going to use this latest downturn to do: keep working on separating my sense of worth from my situation.

Canada was exhausting, because I was surrounded by people who wanted to know why a person with my so-called intelligence couldn't find financial stability. Everyone want to figure out what was wrong with me, that I couldn't "make it" and still flew solo.

Here, though, there's no myth of meritocracy. You work hard--we all work hard--and there still aren't any guarantees.*

If anyone else needs a refresher, here are some unhelpful thinking styles we might fall into when something major goes wrong (or, you know, just because). I'm a real pro at all-or-nothing thinking, personalization, and fortune-telling, myself.

I'm also turning on my fridge tonight, electric bill be darned. I need start imagining what life would be like if things started going better for me again--& acting like they can.

Also: making soup, and going first thing tomorrow for a run.

We press on.

Another SCOTUS explainer today, this time breaking down some of the nuance in yesterday's oral arguments and the issues in contention around free speech and social media.

Can a private company grow big enough as a public platform that it loses its right to curate user experience through de-platforming certain content? Does it have First Amendment protections? Is it sheltered by Section 230?

And if not, what will happen to the many businesses currently operating online?

https://onlysky.media/mclark/social-media-free-speech-and-scotus/

Rats. And I'll be losing other income in March as well.

Not panicking, but I know myself well enough to know I need to knuckle down to redirect the stress.

If I finish this novella by month's end, I'll at least have something in queue to offer a financial buffer down the line.

So that's the aim between work M-W. Then we'll see what Thursday holds before further plans. No stress-dithering.

Newsletter & OS posts (& my Connections ladies!) but otherwise off 'til March.

Be good, but not angels!

Ho ho! The day is young, but we already have a good contender for "most blatant clickbait." I'm not sure what's more inane about this: the headline blatantly reframing a book about women in politics to talk about one man's horny statements, or the paragraph justifying this slimy media move by suggesting that the paper can't help but follow a news trend of disproportionately focusing on a tiny section of the whole book.

"But but it generated headlines elsewhere!" says the better-funded paper. 🙄

I feel like most everyone on CoSo knows how to make #potato-ade out of a situation, so this one's for you. G'night!

Sitting down to finish a book for review on the newsletter this week. Got a surprising uptick in followers this past week, and am hoping I can keep providing quality content.

Definitely tons of mixed feelings about Careers That Could Have Been while reading, but... life goes on! And lots of wonderful people are doing terrific work from better socioeconomic positions than I ever had, so I'm happy to see them flourishing where I couldn't.

What are you reading, watching, or listening to tonight?

We're already in a tight race between endgame scenarios, but hey! Always room for more competitors.

This novella really isn't working out. Still finding it tough to get back into the swing of shorter fiction, after losing so much heart around my industries last year.

I don't miss when I took it all much more seriously, though. I couldn't stand being surrounded by people who thought what happened in SFF was everything.

But I do need to submit stories again.
So, off to walk, then keep trying.

Also: I always get a chuckle when people act like lefties can't write longhand.

Heck yes we can!

Okay, folks. I was *going* to write about cool new science today, but instead we have to talk about media layoffs.

There are many articles sounding the alarm about all the lost jobs. I go one further than some, though, by highlighting that the quality of our news is *already* gutted. Today, I talk about some of the social directions (product reviews! AI content! gutted democracy!) we can expect until we pass policy that recenters news media as a vital public enterprise.

https://onlysky.media/mclark/downsized-news-media-ai-futures-and-democratic-losses/

Happiness is bar equipment all to myself after a warmup 3k. :)

Anyway, bedtime now, but here's a laugh from reddit that made me feel a bit better.

It's a perfect reminder that all learning can be weaponized to defend against real personal growth, if you want it to be. 🙃

@WordsmithFL, I already have you locked in for cake. :)

Everyone else needs to make their requests!

Now's a good time for a glimpse of my mountain post-fire damage. Two fires, actually: the upper left is still recovering from December, and the rest is from recent burning. (Screencapped the original photo, for those getting all antsy about Alfred, but if you find me, and visit, give me 4 hours notice to bake something nice!)

I *should* be disappointed by my last-minute cancelled class at day's end, but... I have a season finale to watch. 🎉

I've so enjoyed my time with Kali Reis (playing Evangeline Navarro, across from Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers). There was some good writing, too - especially in the Christmas episode, where everyone *tries* to be their best self but cannot help but fall back on hard-won routines of unkindness in the face of challenge and vulnerability.

Tough worlds make messy people, eh?

#CoSoTV

While I was going through brain stuff this weekend, I changed my laptop background to this winner from a fantastic episode.

Definitely helps me stay on task even in low, low moods.

Speaking of - back to work with me! Every second counts. 💪

Tough one today, folks.

For the last year, I've been trying to stress that the West deeply misunderstands Israel to serve its own mythic ends, then is shocked when this distinct state--with its own culture, politics, & aims--acts in ways that differ from expectations.

Two news items from Sunday shouldn't shock anyone: at least, not if we remember that we *do not have* an international consensus to be governed.

And building one--if possible--will take a long, long time.
https://onlysky.media/mclark/ethnoreligious-war-and-the-struggle-for-a-global-secular-commons/

Oh, there it is! 🚀

In today's news brief for OnlySky, I most certainly do *not* escalate nuclear panic, but I do offer a wee explainer around the extremely important issue of satellite warfare & orbital security that's been lost in this weekls talk of nuclear threats in Congress.

There *is* a danger in our skies--but it might not be the one you're thinking of, when the word "nuclear" comes to mind. We can't let fearmongering keep us from setting better policy in space.

https://onlysky.media/mclark/nuclear-panic-and-the-latest-in-satellite-wars/

A fairly new #graffiti #dog in the park.

Early morning in the park with my neighbourhood version of trash pandas.

They *do* graze, too, but they love cane sugar, and there's plenty of similar (cane stalks, juice stains) in these garbage cans.

Poor goofs.