Just tidying up that nonfiction review to send off to Strange Horizons.

I went from being super excited, to grumpy about the extent to which the book relies on lazy academese, to excited about the opportunity to distill the best ideas from academese, to debating whether the book merits such a generous treatment of material with such gaping argumentative flaws hidden behind its language.

Long story short:

Academia: Not! Even! Once!

It does things to your brain you don't even want to know. 🙃

Humanist Book Club returns!

Save your comments on the terrorist parts of KSR's The Ministry for the Future:

Today, I want to talk about protest & direct action more generally. (It's more than a bit sketchy to lump general protest in with extreme violent resistance.)

Whether we plan for protests or they emerge spontaneously, we face consistent struggles when trying to advocate on the streets for change.

What lessons can we take away from this highly democratic chaos?

https://onlysky.media/mclark/how-do-we-make-protests-work-for-climate-change-reform/

Because it's a holiday Monday, the fruit vendors are setting up for another day of exercise on the highways. Usually these stalls only go up on Sundays for ciclovia, but in a country with many holidays there's always an excuse for cycling the length of the city, and always a need for fresh fruit and juice if one does. :)

This headache is a nuisance but we'll see how the run goes.

Early morning run time. Hoping a bit more exercise will be the ticket for staving off the stress possibly underpinning my tension headaches. 🤞🏻 (With hydration of course.) Good Monday to you, CoSo!

The next issue will be free to read, of course - and it's going to introduce you to a literary scene and conversation that you probably haven't heard about. It should be a fun one, though! We often get it into our heads in the West that we're the only game in town - and miss out on a lot.

--

Next up: Humanist Book Club! Round 2 of KSR's Ministry for the Future.

First, though: My headache only eased up a few hours ago, so I'm going for another walk before more screen-time. TTFN! 🚶💫

Today’s #Newsletter is for paid subscribers - the first of my more technical deep-dives, which I hope to keep developing via Substack.

But thank you to everyone who subscribes, whether in free or paid mode! As the topic today illustrates:

We have a serious need for more nuanced reporting - and it starts with remembering to suspect sensational reports about international affairs.

Wherever you lean into deeper discourse, you’re helping to make a change.

#GlobalHumanism https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/the-struggle-to-think-globally

The other funny part of a persisting headache is that when I have one I try to reduce screen-time (obviously), but this often means putting on informative podcasts that just leave me burning to write more about X topic. 😂 Not helpful.

Going to try stepping out again before trying to finish *yesterday's* work. I'd really hoped to be up early enough to do this in the cool dark calm of the predawn, but eh. Bodies gonna body.

Take care of yourselves. Rest. Hydrate. Adjust expectations accordingly.

One more key document. Lots is discussed! Many important initiatives advanced. But pay attention to the gaps - in players at the table, in commitments being made, and even in how the document describes what's causing the problem in the first place. A whole industry is being sheltered from direct obligation for reform.

And all the nations that reside in Canada, along with the rest of the world affected by Canada's climate change actions, will suffer for this oversight.

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/national-adaptation-strategy/action-plan.html#toc2

Canadian friends:

While climate change impacts are most pressingly felt, this is a very good time to review Canada's commitments to adaptation, & share them widely.

If you read this, you'll see that the priority is reactive & local: informing citizens of risks, building data, shoring up protective infrastructure, conserving carbon sinks. What's *missing*? A top-down commitment to changing energy systems.

It's not enough. Inform your circles & push your MPs for more.

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/national-adaptation-strategy/full-strategy.html

I posted a YouTube short on my way out, essentially saying that if you're struggling with the balancing act & necessary "delusion" of so much of our work in this big ol' hurting world, you're not alone.

Sometimes the smallness of what we do & overcome is just felt... so acutely. But the propulsive myth of our struggle's value is necessary: whether through grand cosmology or something personal.

For better & for worse, these are our times.

What we do & overcome matters--for us & others in them.

Heading out for a wee walk. Persistent low grade headache has been making computer work a challenge the past few days.

Not sure where it's coming from. I hydrate! I eat healthily! I work out! I rest with a decent sleep hygiene routine!

Whatever the source - silly body, changing the user manual on me without so much as asking if I accept the new Terms of Service. 🙃

(Reader: I do not.)

Discourse about the carceral state is pushed to the backdrop of this article on a way that people have coped with being abandoned to it, but it's still a deeply humanizing read.

"This is significant for Frank, because when he was sentenced at age 22, he was not someone who brought people much joy, he says, nor was he someone who felt good about himself. “I was someone who people looked up to when it came to bad things that we did in my neighborhood,” he says.

#CoSoKnits
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a44808779/life-while-incarcerated-is-dehumanizing-crochet-has-made-all-the-difference/

The other benefit to putting aside fiction after this novel MS (barring some fluke where it sells to a major press) is that I'm leaning into the idea of studying writing at much more of a distance for a while.

So who knows? Maybe 20 years from now, I'll return to fiction and be stunned at how much my voice has changed.

Certainly feeling that way while paying closer attention to nonfiction forms now.

(Newsletter almost ready, for paid readers. Just need to clear my head before a final read.)

@WordsmithFL

Stephen, I know you have tinkering to do with the first chapter (fiddly technical matters to further shore up the visuals / chronology, mostly: nothing major), but as for the large-scale stuff? The ability to set a scene, bring all the moving parts to bear on a story without getting in the weeds of the wrong details, and encapsulate sweeping cultural movements in actionable concrete terms?

You're *so* very much on point. This is going to be a terrific text once finished.

Folks with an interest in space, engineering, US geopolitics as they relate to space missions, and next steps for exploration...

Are really going to have a treat coming for them when @WordsmithFL finishes his current WIP. 🙂

We have *such* talent here on CoSo. Still, the attention to detail necessary for such a project is in fine hands with this storyteller, who knows how to write with precision and scope.

(So please rap his knuckles when you see him here, & tell him to finish his MS already!)

A family member had a tough year: his lovable goof of a cat wasn't cared for properly by the people he lives with, who let it out and probably led to its death by coyote.

This past week, he opened his heart to save a critter on the chopping block: a Scottish Fold with FIV and osteochondrodysplasia (painful bone deformities from inbreeding).

She seems to love her new life, but she also *always* looks so surprised. 😅 Constant shocked face. So meme-worthy.

So... happy #Caturday #CatsOfCoSo!

For me, the closest thing to a "holy" or "magical" experience comes with a changed environment - drowsing on an intercity bus and waking to the new sounds at my destination; rousing from a nap into the altered light and chemistry of a given day.

In those moments there is a quiet in my mind that makes my thoughts feel like a crust of untouched snow.

My first words, whatever they might be, powerful enough to transform everything.

I've never had a word for this.
But it is so precious every time.

Today for #OnlySky, I have that "evergreen" overview of misleading information I mentioned earlier!

Misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, truthiness, and just-so stories: the "Fab Five" of false forms that - sometimes by accident, and sometimes by ill-intent, make it difficult for us to acquire the accurate information we need to improve human agency and strengthen our democracy.

(Complete with ways that you can help reduce the spread of misleading info! 💪)

https://onlysky.media/mclark/meet-the-fab-five-of-misleading-information/