@janallmac

For a little more context: a *lot* of people don't even have a computer here, and the different apps used to manage data and money transfers can feel very confusing and absolute, if you don't know which ones can be swapped out and which are essential - or analog workarounds.

This kid literally has the money but didn't know how else to pay for his replacement card, if he didn't have a specific app that needs the ID he's paying for, simply to sign up. So, lessons will be shared soon.

@janallmac had a really good post today about how we share knowledge.

Was thinking about it while setting up a help session with a street friend I've known for years. Today I realized what was keeping him from formal employment: a lapsed ID & his lack of digital literacy, to replace it. So we've set up a 2-hour window where we'll get him the photo he needs, pay for the ID, & update & print his resume.

But it's easy to forget: digital literacy is a *skill*. Share it with respect, where you can.

Well, my mind said work, but my body said sleep, so today took a different direction. 🙃

Another walk and novelette session now.

Gorgeous late afternoon light gilding the mountains right now. Hope you had beauty in your weekends, and days.

Today's plan is:

BookTube
Novelette writing (picked a "trunk" story to redo, working on it from scratch)
More #Zine layout (8 pages blocked so far; still waiting on some content but I'll share progress when I have 16 more or less prepped).
A good long walk

Of course, my brain is already trying to draft Rewind Wednesday instead (on some tough histories of antisemitism in Christianity, following from Thursday's post), but I've got my comically large ACME hammer ready to whack it back into focus.

The streets on the way home are full of song. 🙂 And I am about to be full of soup, and moved to write into the night.

Happy weekend night, you incorrigible dreamers and beautiful rotters. 💛

And... the happy conclusion! 🥳😊🇨🇴

#Colombia #Copa
#NowMaybeICanWrite 🙃

🙂 Made the "mistake" of going for a pace-and-think while everyone's getting ready for the 5pm Colombia-Panamá quarter-final for Copa América, so now I'm pre-writing this novelette in the best of happy, boisterous company out in public, with TVs everywhere rarin' to go. #AGoodDay 🇨🇴 🇵🇦 #SportsBall

*To be super clear, "invited to submit" is not the same as being guaranteed a sale. I know I'm in competition with a group of others for a single slot, which is why I feel okay about submitting to this semi-closed call. 👌

In my industry, the best way to approach any submission is with this simple mantra:

"It's a rejection until it's an acceptance."

No expectations, no disappointment when they pass on you and choose someone else!

(But at least I'll get back into the rhythm of submitting too!)

Woo! I've been invited to submit a novelette, if I can dust something off that fits the theme, and finish it in nine days. 🤞

I was *wondering* how I was going to get my writing mojo back (weird thing to say, as someone who publishes at least four essays a week, I know). I did submit to Imagine 2200, but I also stared at a notebook yesterday to no avail, having forgotten the first thing about writing stories. 🙃

Time for another pace-and-think while I scheme around a "trunk" story! #AmPreWriting

Every now & then, there's an article about the latest uplift project in a "barrio popular", a cluster of haphazardly built homes of brick, corrugated metal, & clay tile where the poorest citizens live.

Medellín has many such neighbourhoods, where to improve fellow-feeling & boost chances of tourist income, folks living in these places collaborate to paint their homes brightly and invite graffiti artists to do their work.

Community uplift takes many forms.
Quite a few start at home.

#Colombia

Technically, I still have 2 hours of volunteer work to finish this morning/noonish, but... eh...

The world is so pretty out.

Going for a walk in the park first.

Will gossip with the trees about the lot of you - but only "good" things, I promise! 😘

I just want to give a big ol' hug to anyone having a rough time with the abundance of sordid, brutal acts being bandied about on social media in a futile effort to shock & shame supporters of Awful People.

As someone who's been through double-plus-bad assault scenarios, I'm pretty inured to a lot of stuff (see: all the footage I sift through to assess war claims, too), but it still sucks to be reminded that whole cultures protect such offenders from consequences.

Tread carefully as you post. 🕯️

Chapters 5 & 6 are now up, in audio and text alike, for Patreons following A FERTILE SOURCE OF RUIN, my wartime space opera inspired by Thucydides.

As we go along, each post not only includes a quick summary of where we left off, but also reflections on the history of the Peloponnesian War, political science concepts, and key historiography, as they relate to elements in my tale of dodging war and nationalism (in space!).

#SFF #AFSR #Reading #Novel #WritingCommunity

https://www.patreon.com/posts/fertile-source-5-107604047

Related #RandomQuestion:

Imagine you *have* to have something named after you when you die.

What do you want your name slapped on?

(And so help us all if someone here chooses a combination Kentucky Fried Chicken / Taco Bell / Pizza Hut. You're going to the bad place, is all I can say.)

🤔 I seriously wonder about this notion of "making your ancestors proud".

I'm pretty sure a lot of my ancestors were jerks. Even the heroic ones.

On top of which, plenty would be confused if I even *tried* to explain our problems today, and strategies we're using to surmount them.

Best we can hope for from our ancestors is probably, "Child, I understood maybe every third word you uttered, but I also see you made it to adulthood, so you must be doing something right. Keep doing that, I guess?"

Weekends always find more need on the street.

Tonight, one fellow hurried off after I gave him coin, because the ~$0.75USD I'd given him was the last bit he needed to buy medicine for his son.

Then I ran into someone in pain. I didn't exactly wash his feet, but I know how to help when a street person is struggling with debilitating infection, to improve quality of life.

So, today was a good day.

Thank you to everyone here, for helping me be present with all the need that exists out there. 💛

Offline for the rest of today's work - but again, all caught up, so no stress from here on out!

Be well, do good crimes, forgive yourself for living in awful times, and for the love of what little sanity remains in our world, turn off your news feeds every now & then. 💛

(Unless you have the magical ability to change the world by doomscrolling? In which case, for the love of Dog, scroll on!)

I am SURELY TEMPTING FATE by saying this, but...

*looks to the left of me*

*looks to the right*

*whispers, so the universe can't catch me with my drawers down*

...I'm all caught up!!! 🎉