Just listened to a podcast that offered the painful reminder of how much 9/11 set into motion, with Alex Jones *on that day* declaring it an inside job and surging in fan base overnight.

A Certain Political Figure makes it easy to concentrate our democratic frustration, but even when he's finally out, there'll still be a whole underbelly of politicians who used him to pursue their own power, and everyday citizens *desperate* to embrace the next infotainment act that gives them license to hate.

When I'm all caught up, and my story submission queues are full, I have this ache to write a new book, completely different from all the work that lies in confusing ruins behind me.

My first 20-odd years as a writer have been littered with such a mess of failures, pivots, and restarts.

But the hope that I might yet write one good, true, meaningful thing that reaches a fuller array of strangers persists.

The daily mess of living first, but--

I'm coming for you, Next Big Work.

Soon soon soon.

Weekend #Ekphrasis prompt, for those engaging with #CoSoArt and/or our #WritingCommunity.

This photo is by Yannis Kolesidis. In Lidoriki, Greece, declining water levels are revealing structures submerged since 1980. This is from a "lost village", and the sharp reduction in water is a danger to nearby Athens. Maybe there's a juxtaposition in old & new homes facing ruin that will inspire a poem, story, song, or painting in you?

If so, feel free to share it in a comment on this post this weekend!

Woo! Landline came back.

All right, you wonderful weirdos. Time to quit this popsicle stand and return to the word mines! 😘 Have a glorious one!

🤔 If you were to create an alt-personality online, what would yours be?

(@AskTheDevil, I'm guessing, would go as a regular mortal - just for fun!)

I ask because there was a body of research a while back into online anonymity (using gamers especially), that illustrated how hard it is for us to mask our real personalities.

So when I show up in an alt-account as a cranky loner in a cabin, posting about the local porcupine and offering preservation tips...

Oh, you'll know it's me.
You'll know.

Landline has been down for hours, so I can't do half the things I wanted to today.

Ah well. That makes it easy to organize the rest of the day's to-do list! 🙂

*sorry, @IRNMKE3 - I had to delete and repost, because I had "week" instead of "year" at one part.

This country. 🙃

Clan del Golfo has had a strong presence in rural regions of my department for a while. Last year they went on "strike" by seizing small mining towns where locals were trying to protest. This week, the conflict is again at a high point...

But it's actually a conflict between the Clan and *other* groups - the paramilitaries ELN and EMC (an offshoot from FARC). And... the military of #Colombia is trying to keep the peace amid them.

Ongoing lessons in the nuance of war and peace!

So, funny #CoSo moment:

Bluesky is where the bulk of my writing industry is re-assembling post-X, and in the last few days I've had a *huge* uptick in followers there, because my name is in a "starter pack" of recommended SFF-industry accounts.

But are any of those new follows engaging with my actual writing or any posts that don't serve their own uplift?

Of course not.

Because it's still all about branding.

Here - for all our faults - we try to show up for each other as people. A gift. 👌

I have watched this silly little YouTube video too many times not to share.

May there be joy in the little things for all you rotters today - and may you always be surrounded by people who amplify that joy in turn.
https://youtube.com/shorts/78dY63emTtY?si=rriiPnV4FXHt6hwq

No nightmares. :)

Off for a Friday the 13th run!

Today's Thorough Thursday reflects on communities of inclusion and exclusion.

It's a broad topic, but with the help of a few trusty examples, including one from a recent report calling for greater international engagement in the climate crisis, hopefully you'll come away with a few more ways to think how we talk about who does and doesn't belong.

#Humanism #GlobalHumanism #Culture #Science #ClimateCrisis
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/two-ways-of-looking-at-community

Revision time for the newsletter, then bed and NO NIGHTMARES, so I can rock an early morning run before work tomorrow.

(I was so cranky today, after missing early morning exercise. 😬 Not around others, but just radiating bad vibes on my own. Some people need their beauty sleep, but I apparently need my "don't blow a gasket" sleep. Gaskets were blown!)

TFW the standards for common decency have been too damned low for too damned long. #News

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/granddaughter-of-mussolini-to-leave-brothers-of-italy-as-it-is-too-rightwing

This May 2024 Peacebuilding article is only tangentially related to today's newsletter, so it's not going to get the full treatment that it deserves, but it is a FASCINATING read: an exploration of feelings of intra-group betrayal, and the efficacy of two strategies (clarification and counter-critique) used to combat hostility from family members committed to war, when one is instead pursuing pathways to peace.

#Israel #Palestine #Peace #Science #Sociology #Humanism

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21647259.2024.2351716#d1e966

*With a shout-out to journalist Ronen Bergman for whistle-blowing here.

The one silver lining in cases of journalistic corruption is that it often also brings writers with greater integrity into the spotlight.

The very last thing we ever want is for the discovery of bad actors to disillusion us in our pursuit of better public discourse and information flow.

Trust, but verify.

Know the biases of an outlet going in.

Check your sources, and look at the sources others provide.

#MediaLiteracy

Quick #MediaLiteracy alert:

In Tuesday's piece, which touched on a campaign involving fake US accounts, I forgot to mention that Likud has a history of spreading disinfo internally.

This notice is related: false reports filed in the world's oldest Jewish paper to support Netanyahu's position.

But not new: Back in Oct, Likud was accused of planting a family member in victim talks, to give the impression of more pro-gov't war stances from within. Shameless stuff. #Israel
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/idf-investigates-claim-jewish-chronicle-published-stories-based-on-fabricated-intelligence