One thing I do not miss about Anglo-Western culture: the devil's advocacy, & related "let's toss around hypotheticals that conveniently minimize harmful behaviour & uphold the status quo" nonsense that can consume even idle conversations.

Thankfully, I only ever have to deal with bad faith argument when touching base with certain North Americans. It's not a common mode of discourse here.

But... we in the West are *very* good at weaponizing debate to avoid sincere reflection, I tell you what. 🙃

#Nature, though, is always a great pick-me-up. 👌

#Colombia #CoSoNature

Still going. It's been rolling around that mound of mountainside for the last few days - slow and steady.

I've got to admit: there's something quite soothing about having my own, homegrown reminder that the world's on fire.

#CoSoNature

Yesterday, an essay of mine went live at The Deadlands, a lovely publication for speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction around death. My piece is a reflection on "nonhuman thanatology". In it, I question the human baseline that we often lean upon when wondering whether other animals "understand" death.

Do we? Consistently? Universally?

A little humility goes a long way in the cosmos.

Happy Friday, CoSo. 🖤🌌

#Death #CoSoNature

https://thedeadlands.com/issue-21/nonhuman/

Still catching up on messages in the park, but what a view! 💛

Whew! 😅 Morning CoSo!

Who needs an alarm clock? Woke up to notice of this year's rent increase - 13.1%! I knew it was going to be a bit steep this time. Here in Colombia, rental protections aren't as strong, but I was also keen to see how hard inflation would hit this year. And now I know!

So it goes. Going to *try* for my first run in almost a month. The body is creaky! The mind? Oh yeah, pretty creaky too. 🙃

The mountain's been burning today. Fifth time since I moved into this building. There's something rather grounding about watching the destruction of thick underbrush, and the renewal that comes after it.

All things end. Some things, while others are in the flush of life, or just getting started.

We have such strange, brief flickers of consciousness - and spend so much of them worrying about how we measure up to arbitrary human notions of value.

Such silly little critters we are.

#CoSoNature

*cleanly. Silly typos. The least of our problems, really, but still such pests.

(I meant to get a lot more done today, but this really knocked me off my game. Will try to bypass The Sad with an early bedtime, and reboot tomorrow morning. One step at a time. Night, CoSo!)

Today was unfortunately derailed by the nuisance issue of insurance not kicking in cleaning for César's family. He started work today. The kids are affiliated as of February 15. But... we discovered *emergencies* are covered on the 15th. Routine medicines? Not 'til March 1.

That means the rest of the month's oxygen is out of pocket.

(WHY IS BREATHING NOT AN EMERGENCY?)

I had a few hours of hope today, then felt defeated all over again. Privatized healthcare is one of our cruellest inventions.

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I heard someone so happy to be working. César voice-messaged on lunch break to process his first-day shock - a good delivery driving job, with benefits, after begging for almost two years on the street and almost losing his son.

We are *so* fortunate.

(There's another nuisance hiccough with insurance for oxygen, but I'll let that stress me out later. César & his boys are safe, & the boys are so proud their dad is working. That's enough for now. 👌 )

And now, over a coffee break, I'm going to brainstorm a project I want to make with my hobby Python practice this year. I've downloaded some resources, but I'm not at HELLO WORLD level - just massively rusty - so this year... maybe I'll try to make the language-learning tool I need for the next step in my Arabic studies? Or one for English that would be *expressly* geared to Spanish speakers, to go with a theory-of-language book I want to publish for locals in 2024? 🤔 #Options!

(#Coffee first.)

Okay, CoSo. Hope your Feb 1 is faring splendidly. 🕊️

Today for #OnlySky, I've got a news brief that covers some of the recent local and global violence that's already shaping the world's affairs for 2023.

There's lots of retributive action, tons of escalation, and plenty of cruelty in need of redress.

But do we need to give over to fatalism as we face the threat of fuller wars?

Must we gamify death?

Or does #Humanism require seeing the peace work possible even now? ⬇️
https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-worlds-wars-in-2023/

Morning CoSo. 💫

Still can't exercise, but I'm off for a walk in the park to listen to and answer messages dated as far back as January 18. Cry/Laugh/Sigh.

New month, new arbitrary opportunity to reboot health, wellness, and hope - although February is also going to be a clear grief for the world.

We're almost in our second year of Russian war in Ukraine.

Christofascism's rising close to home.

What a *weight* there is in all our social contracts.

Lean in where you can to something more. 🕊️