Oh my yes, I am not in my early twenties anymore. 🙃 *Some* middle-of-the-night voice work completed, along with a writing submission. Now I will brew a brew, do a Spanish crossword with my vendor-friend, and... *try* to finish a writing task before a much-needed nap.

If what I eventually finish and post looks like this, though, please cherish it as much as Marge did all the same. 😄

Okay. Four hours of sleep, then middle-of-the-night recording. 🤞🏻 Only way it's going to get done! Have a beautiful one, all you strange and wonderful creatures, in bodies that both surprise and betray us all. 🕊

Oh! 😂 But I shouldn't be too hard on Steel Magnolias. It *technically* has a genderqueer character, too: they used a baby named Clara Gabrielle to play Jack Jr. ... because a baby is a baby is a baby!

Relatedly, this is also why I adore the film Carol. Director Todd Haynes is extremely thoughtful in his portrayal of queerness. There are no "coming out" scenes, because even in the historical era under exploration, the idea of queerness *was not new*. People have always known human experience to have a range. That's why the Hays Code existed - to try to suppress it. To write it out of media, when early cinema proved "too" open about human range. (Watch Marlene Dietrich in Morocco if in doubt!)

Pursuant to an earlier chat, this is one of the people who leapt out of my early cinema experiences as a kindred spirit. Idgie from Fried Green Tomatoes. No labels, just vibes.

Today I was thinking about how many films of that era, like Steel Magnolias, normalized a stark gender binary that always felt more like SF than actual SF to me.

But there have always been liminal characters. *People* have been nuanced in every era. Current discourse sometimes forgets this & tries to reinvent the wheel.

*with you all. 😅 I must have a subconscious aversion to saying mean things to you beautiful people even in jest.

Okay, with all our claws a-click-clacking over silly/brilliant adaptation ideas, I'm now 10 minutes late for my next writing window.

To shell to you all! 🦀 (Happy Saturday!)

#AmWriting

This is an important piece on the impact (or lack thereof) of retracting scientific papers when a field is plagued by research paradigms that allow whole careers to be spent churning out papers on studies more likely than not to fail on replication attempts.

What's to be done about psychology?

#MediaLiteracy #Science #ScientificLiteracy
https://open.substack.com/pub/experimentalhistory/p/im-so-sorry-for-psychologys-loss

Every now and then I see a silly fiction call that would be PERFECT for a wee writing exercise, at the very least.

This is one such call.

250 words! No more!
With some fantastic element.
And...

It has to have crabs.* 🦀😂

3 cents per word for an accepted entry - but mostly, just do it for fun.

So have at 'er, if you need a wee little writing prompt today!

*They don't specify what type, but I assume the bodily variety won't be a winner.

#CoSoWriters #WritingCommunity
https://crabtalesmagazine.com/submissions/

That last post brought to you by:

This morning's egg run!
After yesterday's egg run with a different dude pulling a similar stunt!

And to be clear, it's not just a Colombian thing. In Canada, I used to work at a bookstore where I was alone for the final hour. You bet your bippy that I was not *actually* alone in the store for that final hour most days.

My dudes.
We need to build better communities of care.
This is not the way to heal the loneliness in so many hearts.

Also, I have to stress how exhausting it is to have randoms try to hit you up for a date when you're just going out in ratty sweats for - in my case - 4 eggs, a tomato, an onion, and a bag of cream.

I understand that we live in a lonely world, but folks really don't seem to realize how lonely they can make a person feel by trying to make a stranger feel bad for not giving their number / going for a coffee".

Leveraging another's desire to live in peace in one's neighbourhood is a shitty tactic.

Morning, CoSo! 💫

I’m a strong believer in writing from wherever the day’s feelings find you. This week, they found me frozen, while reviewing the news and wondering how on earth to use our impoverished media spheres to build a conversation strong enough to meet our global needs.

I have no set answers in this week’s first #Newsletter - but I wanted you to know that you’re not alone with the questions.

#BetterWorldsTheory
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/grief-work-at-the-end-of-a-media

I am never more basic than when a thoughtful lit or history podcast drops a new episode. I have no shame at bursting into a good "Ooooo!" when one shows up... even when I'm in line, in public, like right now, and everyone just looks at me a bit oddly. 😅

(New month, new New Yorker Fiction, baby!)

I am never more basic than when a thoughtful lit or history podcast drops a new episode. I have no shame at bursting into a good "Ooooo!" when one shows up... even when I'm in line, in public, like right now. 😅

(New month, new New Yorker Fiction, baby!)

Good new month to you all. 🕊

Who's got a lock on what challenges they'll be facing these next few weeks?

Anything you're looking forward to?

(The joke in Medellín is that Navidad starts today, because after Feria de las Flores is over, the next big holiday here is Christmas. I should see decorations/trees in stores soon. In Canada it was exhausting if it started before Nov 12, but here it's kind of adorable. Nov 30 fireworks *really* start the local holiday, but there's a long lead-up!)

Blondies, baby! 😋

Off to the office. Happy day, youse!

Be good.
(And kind with yourselves either way.)

Annnnd let the cooling begin. 🙂

Blondies Can-Colombiana style.

1/2 for the office tomorrow.
1/2 for a baptism party the neighbours are throwing.

(I licked the spoon and nibbled on the nuts and chips that didn't make it in. Starting a new eating plan tomorrow, so I shall live vicariously through mis conejos / taste testers on this one. 😉) #CoSoBakes