@Alfred draw me like one of your French girls.
Caught in an afternoon downpour on a muggy bus, listening to a deeply compassionate episode of Past Present Future about Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.
Had a great meeting with my editor (who was sick for a month! mystery solved).
All is very well. Health first.
Everything else will follow. 👍🏻
Just sold a copy of #CoSoCookbook&Cocktails!
First one in a long time.
The CoSoCookbook&Cocktails has
33 contributors
66 recipes
34 photos
Family favorites and internet surprises
Costs $6.
All funds go directly to supporting CoSo.
To purchase
-Go to our Donor Box
https://donorbox.org/countersocial
-Donate $6
-Screen capture your receipt
-Send to [email protected]
-Include your CoSo name & email address with your receipt.
I'll send your pdf via return email.
Your purchase helps with our CoSo costs.
Scientists declare July world's hottest month and warn future will be worse
https://www.axios.com/2023/07/27/july-hottest-month-global-climate-record
P.S. They passed quality control. :)
Slightly different bake with margarine, alack, but butter keeps wavering between unavailable and costly. We also saw *huge* downshifts in local beer production due to the cost of raw materials and shipping. Club Colombia usually has three varieties but it's down to one everywhere, and my favourite craft brewery seems to have reduced operations to in-house only.
We can *really* feel economic pressures from war and inflation sneaking in.
But still - cookies!
While baking I was listening to Behind the Bastards on "the other Hitler", Julius Streicher, & I still can't get over the fact that in 1922 claiming children had been kidnapped for blood rituals by Jewish citizens led to an actual sentence of jail time (reduced on appeal to a fine, but still).
It's a striking reminder that we never *needed* brutality on a mass scale to know that defaming people was wrong.
And also, that the lesson is never fully learned.
A century later, how much has changed?
After months of delays, my podcasts are finally ready, so it's off to the office today--with 🍪, because I enjoy treating folks there.
This has been a year of many projects failing, flopping, going silent, or changing direction. It's been A Lot. I self-published past work because my industries are floundering and I don't know what comes next. I thought if I had those books out, I could at least walk away if need be.
And... I still don't know what comes next.
But for now: cookies. And podcasts.
Man, there is nothing quite like touching base after a long spell, and feeling that knot of worry fall away.
One person very dear to me is away for the year working so hard that there's only time for brief weekly check-ins.
Another family, with 2 nephews-of-the-heart, is so busy living their best lives (yay!) that we went a few months without being able to hang out online like we used to weekly. But oh! What joy to touch base again at last.
& what a *relief*, to know they're all doing well. 💛
🚨 I continue being in an unbearable, unsustainable situation of hardship and I realize that the only way I am going to be able to make it home, to my family and to my own place where I won't be a few dollars away from ending up evicted *every month* , is with HELP. The toll on my mental health is so great, I often feel like it's time to give up on life.
Please help with and if you can, and please share with anyone that you believe is in a position to help.
#MutualAid
I've been staggering content releases all week, but I'm really looking forward to the #SFF collection I'll finally have for you in review-form tomorrow.
Here's a gorgeous segment I read in the BookTube video.
Hope everyone is feeling deeply moved by something good amid the fray.
#Newsletter time!
This week in #BetterWorldsTheory, we dip into The Beatles on film, VCR case law, and contemporary crises in the business of art.
Is it weird that The Yellow Submarine represents both an aspirational freedom for artistic expression *and* a tricky history for corporate involvement in the creation of beloved art?
Nah. Not weird. 🙃
Just the price of doing business in our creative fields.
But maybe it's a price we're not as willing to pay anymore?
https://mlclark.substack.com/p/making-all-our-nowhere-plans-for
What a difference a few days of keto make for this nutter. 🙂 I woke feeling *well* this morning. Capable, full of energy, calm. First time in a while. Couldn't do keto in Canada - too expensive, when I was essentially living on rice & lentils - but I live where giant avocados are fairly cheap. Avocados, eggs, with a bit of tomato, onion, and garlic? Perfect meal for my needs. No notes.
Morning, CoSo! Hope you're finding your balance this week. 💫
At the heart of Jewish teachings lies Rachamim, which goes beyond mere sympathy. Compassion, entails the ability to empathize with the feelings and experiences of others. Rachamim reminds us of the interconnectedness of humanity, urging us to break down the barriers that separate us from others. By cultivating compassion, we open ourselves to the struggles and suffering of marginalized communities, transcending the ignorance that often perpetuates racism.
https://open.substack.com/pub/rabbisandra/p/fighting-racism-with-jewish-values
Welcome new people here. Just a rule of thumb: this isn't Twitter/X. If your intent is to use this place to make money; wrong platform. If it's to rabble rouse and cause and farm outrage; wrong platform. If it's to talk about potatoes and cats, welcome aboard.
This is the place were you can shed decades of shoddy Internet learned behavior and start anew. If you can't, we have tools here to make you disappear, and we use them. Same goes for me.
Now that the sunscreen is on, I'm reframing the laptop errand into a wee adventure. I haven't left my neighbourhood in... months.
Park + Mall across the street + Apartment building + Folks working on the block. = My life for the last while.
This is a good forced excuse to hop on the Metro, touch base with the rest of beautiful Medellín, and return renewed (with a functional laptop!) for the writing and week ahead. 👌
All about that mindset. ☀️💪
Writer (SFWA), translator, humanist, general odd duck • 🇨🇦n in 🇨🇴 • avoids pronouns, they/them if key