Like I said, the tootening goes on. 🙃

#AlmostOverThough
#IThink
#LetsSeeWhatFreshHellTomorrowBrings

Well today was a bit of a mess. Class was cancelled, work was reduced to getting the newsletter out (no chance of even tackling a second project), and I definitely didn't make my aspirational goals for leaving the house this morning.

Going to tool around with the Zine and answer a few messages until another attempt at an early bedtime (didn't work out last night, and the tootening is still going on outside), then try again tomorrow.

Silly bodies.

I'd throw rocks at this one, but I live in it!

Today for Tough Times Tuesday, we go through some recent news out of West Africa, and reflect on how democracy lives or dies by the strength of our regional alliances.

Even if you and I can't reach those suffering in this part of the world right now, we can absolutely pay attention to causal factors for this latest democratic disaster, and strive to apply lessons from it wherever else we still can.

#GlobalHumanism #Democracy #International
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/on-the-new-military-junta-confederacy

Today's piece is still in process, but I just stumbled across something in my readings that made my brain whir. You'll see soon enough, but when I read up on histories of institutions broken by design, it just... whew. It does something to me.

Anyway, more later, but boy howdy, do we humans find some interesting ways to make things worse while ostensibly trying to make them better!

#AmWriting

Had to print some documents at a tienda with all kinds of random junk for sale. I can't figure out what kind of party this weird assortment of favours is supposed to be for, though. I see... a sanitary napkin, a plastic woman's torso, a plastic butt...?!

Also, here's a typical decked out taxi for the day. Most cabs and non-integrated busses are flush with Catholic iconography on most days (plus giant protection prayers in the busses). This is just a lil' extra, for special occasions. #Colombia

Still trying to get public wifi to work (going through all the usual troubleshooting steps), but if it doesn't after these last two efforts to get the login page to open, I'm just going to finish drafting today's newsletter offline, then send it out after the tootening ends (either before or after evening classes).

One "good" thing about the world's awful news: it reminds me that my problems are itty bitty.

Still here. Still in good health.
Everything else will take whatever time it does. 👌🏻

Also, did anyone else wake up with someone living rent-free inside their head?

I woke up arguing with someone in my head, and I still am hours later.

Not good. Post that eviction notice. Kick the sucker out of your head canon.

Make room for head candy today instead!

The tootening begins.

(Just out the door.)

#Colombia

I didn't finish Zine tasks or all my correspondence, but I'm calling it a night and hoping to be *up* at 4:20, for 15 minutes of yoga before I head out for a run.

Tomorrow the highway is going to be untenable for working at home. It's Día del Conductor! There'll be massive lines of decked out cars, taxis, trucks, and busses... and even a Virgin Mary or San Cristóbal statue!... parading up and down the roads for hours.

TOOT. TOOT TOOT TOOT.
TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT.
🚚🚗🚌🚕

I'll be working at the mall. 🙃

Just heading into class, but I wanted to mention that on my walk today, I ran into a friend who met up with us yesterday, & got some sad backstory for her life. 5 years ago she lost her 16-year-old to violence when he was at a fútbol training camp. Caught in a line of fire for another target, 4 bullets, 4 hours in coma.

It is a strange thing to walk with grief on a beautiful sunny day.

So if you're here? Whatever you're doing to keep being here *is enough*.

We'll work on the rest together. 🕯️

🧐 All right. Roll call:

How did you fight the power / patriarchy / Borg / feeling / good fight today?

(We can start small if it helps.)

Oh, and even if you don't watch the series, it's got great Trek music. This main theme is just so lovely (second half is the title music). If it's not abundantly clear from the above post, I feel pretty chuffed about kids getting introduced to Trek through this series.

#CoSoMusic

https://youtu.be/1VcV9f5wUz0

This week, I am taking on *no* new projects. I just want one week to go normally, hitting all benchmarks with all projects already on the go.

And if I can submit a story in the middle of that? Great.

But a friend pointed out that I've given up on the agent hunt, and he's not wrong. I have to decide what I want to do.

Write the full series and pitch it as a tome? Indie-pub it as a trio? Focus on writing *another* book--lit spec, to find a better agent? No idea.

Back to basics this week first.

A lighter Monday Media Review today. We're talking about a TV show directed at children that has more maturity in one key way than a lot of other storytelling around our broken world. What Prodigy gets right is its refusal to shy away from how awful things get, and how many mistakes people make, while still providing forward momentum. We still have to keep going, and strive to find a way to contribute better to our surroundings, no matter what.

#StarTrek #SFF #CoSoTV
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/what-a-very-good-trek-series-highlights

Also, @Graci, I was HOWLING at today's Strict Scrutiny. Have fun with it! They read Josh Hawley's book and reflect in general on the exceedingly selective histories used to frame moral righteousness - like conveniently forgetting the story of Hagar to make a dig at liberalism as ruining marriage!

(We'll cry again at how grim this all is for society - but Kate Shaw, Melissa Murray, Leah Litman, & guest Jonathan Van Ness make it possible to laugh while we do. It's all the fault of "self-care"! 😅)

(I'll do a write-up on it for a future Monday Media Review when it's finished, but for now it's raising a huge storytelling question. I understand that the aim is to tell this history in a way that's accessible; the question is simply whether this comes at a cost to agency. Are people listening to learn neat historical facts? To have a cool conversation piece at a dinner with friends? Or is the structure going to lead to a sense of civic empowerment at the end? A way forward? We shall see!)

As much as I enjoy and am learning from Rachel Maddow's Ultra Season 2, which explores rampant antisemitism/Nazism in 1940s & 1950s US politics (up to and including the Chicago Tribune, WaPo, NYT, etc giving credulous coverage to a Nazi plot at Nuremberg to turn the blame on Jewish-US soldiers)...

There's something about the narrative format that makes the whole thing feel like a cosy whodunnit. But it's *not* just a "good story". It's a reminder that we've been fighting the far right forever.

😬

Rats. Now that Copa's over I have to think about the rotten old world again, huh?

For the newsletter this week:

Prodigy for Monday; the new African confederation (the Alliance of Sahel States: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso) for Tuesday; a GamerGate retrospective for Wednesday (ten years this August!); and a rumination on what our digital world could have been for Thursday.

Plus catch-up tasks for Patreon and BookTube.

But mostly, I just want to fast, reboot a proper sleep schedule, and run. 👌🏻

@LiseL @cmskiera @Boyceaz

Okay, but for all his theatrics tonight, I'll give Messi his tears. Those, he's earned!