This is a cute article about Medellín's green policies. It's not the whole picture, but it does correctly celebrate the tree-planting and bicycle path initiatives in this region, which joined with a concerted move to HEV metro busses has helped a lot.

Unfortunately, there are always new challenges from city traffic, so there's no resting on laurels here. It's an ongoing struggle to keep temperatures and pollution levels down in a large urban sphere.

#CoSoGoodNews
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/green-corridors-medellin-colombia-urban-heat/

Three notes on this before bed:

1) How *boring* is the modern version? What was wrong with "maketh"?

2) Oh, but now looking at the Middle English, I'm thinking "nothyng shal defailen to me" is way better than "I shall not want."

3) You know how in Who Framed Roger Rabbit we learn that no toon can resist the old "shave and a haircut"? I swear, find me an English lit major who *won't* start reading out loud if they come across text in Old English. 🙃

Night, all!
Be good, but not *too* good, eh?

So Canada's decision to block new military funding to Israel isn't an empty gesture; it's responding to a discourse that has not only been going for the last few months, but also for the last few decades.

Canadians tend to be raised on the belief that our legacy is as "peacekeepers", and the bravery of one of us against Rwandan genocide also keeps that myth alive.

But the country has also been part of the world's military actions, too - so there's a longstanding fight over identity here. 2/2

For folks curious about today's Canuck news:

Last fall, Trudeau issued 28.5 million in new permits for military exports to Israel, for classes of material ranging from bombs to vehicle components to electronic equipment and monitoring systems. Canadian parts also get shipped to the US to complete equipment sent by them.

This was a huge uptick for related spending, and it upset Canadians who've in the past protested Trudeau for supplying Saudi Arabia against Yemen. 1/2

https://www.readthemaple.com/trudeau-government-authorized-28-million-of-new-military-exports-to-israel-since-october/

Huh! I have either adapted to this Ramadan experiment or entered a manic phase, because today for the first time I forgot to eat when the sun went down. (Too busy writing, maybe?)

Well, even if I have no rumbly in my tumbly, it's time to refuel. 👍🏻

Two classes cancelled, because everyone's getting giddy over Semana Santa.

(It happens. Cancellations are always flying around Navidad, too.)

Well, I guess I'm going to be working on the novella tonight!

It is *very* muggy today for some reason, so why not share a little "steamy" #poetry (care of Anne Sexton) to add to the mood?

(@LiseL, I haven't forgotten our commitment to poems this year!)

Oh, and here's a wonderful read from Substack this morning:

Adam Mastroianni (a master of playful science writing) reflects on how easy it is to claim the End of Science if one is simply fixating on the sort of scientific hype that has junked up individual practitioners and maybe even a few sub-disciplines right now.

There is more to our scientific drive than a few mad operators.

(Even if they *are* really, really mad right now!)

#Science #Essays
https://www.experimental-history.com/p/science-will-only-end-once-weve-licked

Today's newsletter involves one of my favourite--and trickiest--kinds of writing: science literacy, wherein I try to make a concept as accessible as possible without losing vital details.

So today we talk about green energy and global economics. This includes a walk-through of basic battery theory to get to why lithium-ion batteries are the way they are, and need the elements they need...

Even though mining those elements raises whole new ethical problems for us all.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/getting-to-know-the-new-extraction

Had an amusing run-in this evening. I'm an odd sort with all kinds of useless knowledge about history and lit, so I'll slip easily into conversation about a wide range of historical eras...

And then sometimes (like tonight) have to stop when I realize I'm dealing with a Roman Empire Bro, a dude for whom a very specific depiction of key figures and major events is tied into their sense of masculinity.

🙃

There are SO many gender identities weirder than the ones people try to legislate against.

#AfternoonPaws

My brother is still alive and not in a Chinese prison yet, so after a bit of a radio silence, he sent along an hilarious English language exercise in his elementary school workbooks (gotta learn sometime), and one heck of an expression on his new cat's face, while held by a friend. Enjoy!

All right, back in we go.

#AmWriting #AsAlways

Watching Haiti, watching Sudan, watching Gaza, watching Ukraine...

It is very frustrating being just sentient enough to process the existence of so much trauma the world over, and not anywhere near powerful enough to do a thing about it.

Let's just say that I have notes about our species' schematics, for anyone thinking about how to design a better Homo sapiens sapiens 2.0.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/18/deaths-haiti-gang-violence-laboule-thomassin-neighborhoods

Hot diggity dog.

4,000 words this morning. This novella is coming along swimmingly with its new direction.

Now where in BLAZES was that pep in my fictional step the last two months? 🤨

#SillyBrain
#ReallyReallySillyBrain

All right.

Now the "real" writing day begins.

Have a good one, you beautiful louts and rotters. 💛

Relatedly, The UnPopulist had a good overview on Substack yesterday of the recent state freezing of assets for India's leading opposition party, amid its formal announcement of this year's election dates.

We're living in a real "normal one", eh?

Hold on to your democracies, if you can. 🤞
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/prime-minister-modi-is-disarming

🤦‍♂️ How bad a sign of the state of the world is it that, before scrolling to see the rest of this, I couldn't instantly figure out which country's history was being referenced?
#TooManyOptions

Monday Media Review *still* ended up diving into history, but for good reason:

I can't talk about American Fiction without talking about how old and storied the conversation is about Black representation in film and lit. So today we touch on Hughes, Wright, and Baldwin, look at TV and film around Spike Lee, and reflect on Everett's novel.

The bitter irony is that American Fiction, a story about untold stories, *also* holds back.

It's up to us to refuse the binary.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/american-fiction-and-the-stories

I don't know who needs park horses, but these were my friends on today's walk. (No morning runs this month, to conserve salt content during the experiment.)

#Colombia #Nature