I apparently looked at my laptop's charger port (or adapter pin?) the wrong way yesterday, and after 24 hours of only charging when I taped one tightly to the other... no charge at all.

So... I guess I'm off to the tech mall across town for the rest of the afternoon.

Always something to get in the way of our working plans, huh? So much for tackling the novel. At least I can still run classes tonight on the phone if the laptop's a tougher fix than I hope it will be. 🤞🏻

#MoTechMoProblems

One link I didn't include is to this excellent podcast/video with the authors of Half-Earth Socialism. SRSLY WRONG routinely seeks to hold ideas in tension, and emphasizes that we need to hold different visions of the future in tension, too, to act better now.

#Activism #Environment #Utopia #ClimateCrisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxw7nqM9b-U

Morning CoSo. 🗺️☀️

Today for #OnlySky, something a little different.

In this piece on eco-activist thinking, I look at how resource-management gaming can remind us to hold ideas in tension, and that responsible climate change policy is far more complex than it can sometimes feel from our armchairs.

We need *huge* cultural changes--but how do we move the dial as everyday citizens, when our nations show so little will to act?

#Humanism #Environment #ClimateChange #Gaming
https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-to-be-a-better-armchair-activist/

Teaser for tomorrow's #BetterWorldsTheory newsletter in the pic below.

Why, yes, this film *does* have a lot to do with contemporary capitalist and tech crises in creative fields.

I just wish we were better at keeping our history front and centre when grappling with political and socio-economic challenges today.

Also, there'll be an OnlySky article on improving your eco-activism with PC gaming.

Should be a fun reading day!

For now... it's novel time. :)
#AmWriting #WritersOfCoSo

#Science #Philosophy #Essays

"Critique is seen as a nuisance and a reminder of our fallibility in contemporary science when it should be highly regarded as the cornerstone of the practice. ... The standing joke is that everyone hates Reviewer Number 2 because they provide the most challenging peer review, blocking the path to publication. It’s a good sign that we can joke, but we need to go further: We need to love our critiques."

https://www.discoursemagazine.com/ideas/2023/07/18/the-case-for-scientific-failure/

Morning, lovely people - #Trekkies especially. 🖖

Today for #OnlySky I reflect on a solid episode of #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds that does a *lot* of work around a classic Trek trope: the character who's having a subjective experience that others can't easily verify.

This is *such* a humanist concept. Phenomenology doesn't always account for how each of us carries a world within. How we show up for each other when words aren't enough is *everything*.

#Humanism #CoSoTV
https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-whats-lost-in-translation-can-be-found-again-in-empathy/

Finished my writing slate & BookTubes for the upcoming week, leaving me time to work on the novel between classes and one wee paid editing gig. So... time to pop on a movie before the new writing routine? 👀 I've been dying to see Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers for a long time. What's everyone else watching tonight? #CoSoFilms #CoSoTv

(Yes, SNW's latest review is in queue for tomorrow morning. Covered!)

I reconnected with some lovely street friends today. One is a man who cannot read (unnecessary on the farm where he grew up, or even for a career in driving), and who has the most jolly, thoughtful, perceptive personality.

He's a juice vendor now, and a great cook, and bursts with pride for all his family in professional fields from the fruit of his labour. When he reminds me that I'm doing a lot on my own, with people dear to me away for the year, I listen to his wisdom.

It's good to be seen.

One of my favourite novels is Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea: the story of a retired theatre director who cannot stop narrating his life as if he's at the centre of some grand, exceptional adventure, even at cost to others.

I think I love the work because it aptly describes a great personal fear: the I, I, I.

I cherish those moments when the ego disappears.

No wonder so many of us love dance, music, & moving through nature or crowds.

To lose oneself.
To find something bigger in the process.

Feria de las Flores this year is suffering from corruption, putting jobs on the line, and downscaling festivities that begin in a week. No parade of chivas (brightly coloured rural trucks). Fewer events in general. No feria for my nearby mountain this year, too. First time in 20 years it's been this bad, and folks blame municipal government. Amid inflation and with a huge uptick in internal displacement from violence in the northern departments... it's a tough time. #Colombia #BuyLocal 🌺

Pursuant to the above:

This is actually a huge relief.

As a "thinker" and writer, I have a tendency to rationalize every low state through existential crises. I must feel like X because nothing's going right with Y. Because I have no idea what the future will hold. Because of A or B that I'm still grieving.

But sometimes the answer is much simpler.

Sometimes it's just the body being a body.

& when I remember that, it's easier to let go of stories that do not serve.

Night, CoSo. Be well. 🌌

My 5k was... very poor tonight. Was struggling with a feeling that used to happen a lot before I went keto to ease bipolar symptoms. I've been off keto for budget, but I think I'm going to have to strategize a low-cost version.

This might be why I've been feeling so dysregulated as of late. And why I felt better for 3 weeks during my "food plan".

Sleep. Hydration. Exercise. Food plan for your biochem. Laughter & hugs, breath & quietude. The essentials for wellbeing.

Take good care of yours.

Today I'm finishing 3 articles, with 2 already queued for next week. With any luck, I'll have a 4th ready to submit to another pub on Monday, & 3 BookTubes out or queued to catch up.

And if all goes well? I'll then have the rest of the month to return to my Thucydides-in-space novel, & round out that MS.

(My podcast was also finally returned to me by my editor; launch date soon!)

I don't feel like myself right now, but sometimes we just need to keep the lights on--& hope the heart comes home.

Sometimes it hurts that I'll never fully fit in. Not with everyone, at least.

Last night, there was a friendly tease that *of course* I'm still a tourist even after 5 years. It came from the same source of ignorance that hurts many immigrants to Canada. Only, there's still racialized privilege in my experience: Presumed rich. A traveller.

Ultimately, such moments deepen my ache for how hard it is for so many.

Everyone just wants to feel at home.

But oh, does our world ever love to exclude.