M. Le Grouch Clark 🕯
- Humanist
- Global / Big-Tent
- abZurd Magazine
- https://linktr.ee/abzurdmagazine
- Newsletter
- https://mlclark.substack.com
Writer (SFWA), translator, humanist, general odd duck • 🇨🇦n in 🇨🇴 • avoids pronouns, they/them if key
Joined Apr 2022
All right. Starting my next round of work tasks a little late, but I had an English class reschedule last-minute for Friday evening instead, so now I can work straight through from 5-10 before calling it a night.
Have a good one, play nice, and remember: even if J does call this a sandbox, he's looking for CASTLES from us, not chunks of feral scat in the sand. 😘
(This is a VERY long read, but the comprehensive analysis of Russia and China--among other sites of state oppression--is followed by some potent commentary about MAGA and key efforts to protect US elections and general democratic society that will matter greatly to many readers. It's too thoughtful a read to be captured well in screencapped quotations, so... if you're a weirdo on lunch break with the time for it, do enjoy the whole!)
On a powerful date in democratic history, historian Anne Applebaum has an excellent #essay on today's authoritarian psyops.
"This tactic—the so-called fire hose of falsehoods—ultimately produces not outrage but nihilism. Given so many explanations, how can you know what actually happened? What if you just can’t know? If you don’t know what happened, you’re not likely to join a great movement for democracy, or to listen when anyone speaks about positive political change."
https://www.anneapplebaum.com/2024/06/04/the-new-propaganda-war/
Humbling lesson while doing project prepwork today:
Sometimes the internet gives us *such* a misguided sense of access to full knowledge. I remember a time when the internet didn't have "everything"--and it still doesn't.
The novel I'm going to be... exorcising?... next week draws on a mostly oral culture *not* well recorded online, because its people rarely use this tech to archive their customs.
It's wild to realize how much we're missing. Our world contains more multitudes than we know.
Oh, world. Thankful for my health and opportunities today, as always. 🕯️
"Gunmen have killed the female mayor of a town in Mexico just hours after the country celebrated the election of Claudia Sheinbaum as the nation's first woman president.
Yolanda Sánchez was shot in the town of Cotija, which she had governed since September 2021.
She was the first woman to be elected to the post."
#Mexico #Politics #Violence
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/mexican-mayor-killed-hours-first-114357188.html
M. Le Grouch Clark 🕯
boosted
Y'all might wanna start paying attention to the #water situation in #Atlanta. Our #infrastructure is crumbling and it won't get upgraded anytime soon. Starting making plans now.
Mexico today, South Africa tomorrow, and India on Thursday.
🙃 One of these weeks I'll remember to take smaller bites when trying to tackle world news. But for now--
Today for Tough Times Tuesday, we look beyond the initial glow of Mexico's latest presidential contest to consider the depth of the challenge that lies ahead for this climate scientist in office.
When juggling the urgency of climate change mitigation alongside the inevitability of other political priorities, can Claudia Sheinbaum reverse course in time, or will middle-of-the-road solutions triumph again?
#ClimateCrisis #Politics #Economics #International #Mexico
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/the-policy-wonk-presidents-big-challenge
Today's sociopath pod is a deep-dive into how many businesses are sneaking price surging and "personalized pricing" (including slippery ways to prey on vulnerable populations) into their apps.
I'm sure most folks here already know to avoid those apps even if they dangle discounts at the outset, but forewarned is forearmed! Let your circles know to be warier with their data, too.
Good morning, good morning, to you~!
Woke with great energy to the news that a dear friend has just given birth to a very lucky baby. It aways makes me happy to know that a child's going to be raised in love, and this one definitely will.
Off now for a wee run before today's writing and *much* more fastidious editing tasks.
Happy good new day to all of you. 😊
Quick stretch and pace mid-work-window, but ¡hot fudge sundae!, sometimes I feel like I am actually *very* good at what I do.
Maybe tomorrow my brain will tell me that everything stinks again, but NOT TODAY BRAIN!
Today is one of those days when I feel spectacularly competent in one of my many writing roles, and it is G R E A T.
I wish you all many good brain days, too. 😘
Okay, not satisfied with my Patreon post just yet (it's got a standalone essay for public viewing), but since today's a holiday here my evening class has cancelled, and I'm entering a nice long 6-hour working block for other projects.
So... we shall revisit that post after today's other paid tasks!
TTFN, you beautiful rotters.
Stay shiny and chrome.
A recent Bloomberg piece on Pixar's changed strategy of "universal" content isn't just a statement about the studio's decline. It should serve as a reminder for writers, too: publishers may also choose what is "safe" over your richly crafted, heartfelt, and personal tale.
This says nothing about the quality of your work.
Keep pursuing the stories that feel truest to you.
We'll make 'em fit in, somehow. 💪
M. Le Grouch Clark 🕯
boosted
~
Just want to say--as time passes, various CoSo folks have fallen into difficulty and have asked for support from the community--for food, medical care, housing.
It's really really hard for most people to ask for help--which is too bad when you think of how harsh the world is and how vigorously systems work against the well-being of most people.
I don't always have the resources to aid, but I never mind the ask.
The world is better when we look after each other.
I have plans to write on Modi/India this Thursday for the newsletter, but @ecksmc has a brilliant thread of important links tying together key aspects of this mad, cruel story of authoritarianism up to and through the latest election.
Definitely don't miss it. We have *such* a powerful brain trust here, of folks watching many different corners of the world, and sharing what they see from the subject positions they hold. *That's* how we keep democracy alive.
I've seen some folks post fears for Mexico's new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, based on abundant reports of violence against Mexican politicians.
It's absolutely true that many local leaders are murdered by gangs and cartels - but most of those deaths happen in towns deep in gang terrain. The capital is a different story. Here's a nifty map breaking down cartel activity in different zones this year.
Danger always exists, but differently than the news suggests.
M. Le Grouch Clark 🕯
boosted
I would never be a part of any group that had a fence, a gate, a membership card that could be revoked, or authentication tests. That's fucking psychotic.
We are more than what the world tries to tell us we are.
We are more than what our respective "cultures" and "religions" and well-groomed and utterly brainwashed elders say we should be.
We are more than what our selfish parents tried to make us into.
We are individuals.
We are who we decide we are.
That's all that should matter.
Just a wee media reflection today, near the start of June and #Pride Month, on the underlying pain of a life made political. Should it come as a surprise that an everyday episode of legal-drama TV gets to the heart of what makes the politicization of queer experience so cruel?
Or is this a reminder that everyday people know what really counts--and it's the cynical political actors who keep trying to drive us to unkind and undemocratic extremes?
#LGBTQ #Law #TV #Humanism
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/whats-so-queer-about-being-here
M. Le Grouch Clark 🕯
- Humanist
- Global / Big-Tent
- abZurd Magazine
- https://linktr.ee/abzurdmagazine
- Newsletter
- https://mlclark.substack.com
Writer (SFWA), translator, humanist, general odd duck • 🇨🇦n in 🇨🇴 • avoids pronouns, they/them if key
Joined Apr 2022