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

Commenter: "Your writing betrays a much more ordered mind - capable of extracting and retaining a massive amount of detail on a lot of different subjects."

My mind: 🙃

I have to laugh sometimes at news media web design.

The current front page of The Guardian, for instance, is filled with a whole whack of stories about human greed, indifference to suffering, and outright cruelty... and then there's one hanger-on in the bottom right corner, which 100% doesn't belong but was put there to try to "offset" the bleakness of the rest. 🙃

#NiceTry #MediaLiteracy

Always wrap your 🐓s, especially if they show up unannounced on your feed! #FloodTheFirehose

I feel as though a lot of folks here might resonate with this one, especially but not limited to our* Buddhists.

#Poetry

*Not that anyone *owns* a Buddhist. Kind of antithetical to the theory and practice.

You guys. 💛

#MediaLiteracy #SocialMedia #Canada

"Since Meta blocked links to news in Canada last August ... right-wing meme producer Jeff Ballingall says he has seen a surge in clicks for his Canada Proud Facebook page.

'Our numbers are growing and we're reaching more and more people every day,' said Ballingall, who publishes up to 10 posts a day and has some 540,000 followers.

'Media is just going to get more tribal and more niche,' he added. 'This is just igniting it further.'"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/meta-block-news-1.7174031

One more nice note, @BipolarArtist, from the other fellow I reviewed today. :) I posted the video in my SFF forums. Fingers crossed that others see it, too!

#War

Still no official word on the 10-year-old Bedouin girl hit in the head by shrapnel in the desert (last official notice, on national EMS pages & related news, was that she'd been taken to hospital).

Regional action is ongoing because there are still potential aerial devices in play (despite no further contributions from Iranian territory), but this notice in the Times of Israel is a good sign of things winding down.

War threats whip us into a frenzy. Take good care of your hearts tonight.

🤦 Tonight in "Sometimes I Am Not The Sharpest Knife in the Drawer":

I've been looking up possible causes for a painful skin symptom for the last hour.

I'd gone *deep* into Dr. Google, hashing out possible immune diseases and musing over next steps...

Before it occurred to me that I'd been out in the direct sun for 30 minutes today without sunscreen, and I looked in the mirror.

Is the burning on my cheeks a sign of disease?

Nah. Just my own stupidity leading to a sunburn. 🙃

#NotMyBestWork