Sigh.
It's been an intense week.
I maybe might need a break from the news, it just feels like the world is absolutely bonkers these days and there's not much I can do about any of it, and it's starting to get to me.
I will say it again, though: I'm glad and honored each and every one of you is part of my virtual life while WW3 or whatever tf all this is breaks out around us. I mean it.π
After classes tonight I'll be watching this cheerful gem. No, not the MST3K episode (one of the series' more contentious outings, because most consider Marooned / Space Travelers to be undeserving of mockery). Just the movie on its own merits, as a reminder that being stuck in the *right* company is everything.
Also: apparently CuarΓ³n watched this dozens of times while making Gravity, so if it's as good as I've heard I'll have more reason to side-eye its high-budget inheritor. π #CoSoFilms #SFF
π€ Two hours before evening classes to... work on a new story?
π₯π#ClimateEmergency
So much is happening, both wonderful and terrible β and it matters how we tell it. We canβt erase the bad news, but to ignore the good is the route to indifference or despair
βThe change is revolutionary, but the revolution was too slow to be visible to most.β Yet dystopia is easy to believe, and so many of us keep missing the wins and delving on the failures.
by Rebecca Solnit
Shameless self-promo time....
NOW ON SALE FOR $2.99
Does being the clone of a toxic progenitor mean making the same malign choices?
Mike Martiniere wrestles with that realityβ¦even as he becomes aware that his progenitor has a not-very-good fate in mind for him and those he loves.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X1RX4MZ
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1219870
https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1554688159
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-heritage-of-michael-martiniere
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heritage-of-michael-martiniere-joyce-reynolds-ward/1138870594
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-heritage-of-michael-martiniere-joyce-reynolds-ward/17201819
@Alfred if I had a Valentine's Day date with Conan the Barbarian, what would be some good activities for us to do together?
π I'm glad I started today with #NudiPics, because it's been pretty grim posting ever since.
#Crime #Trafficking #Exploitation
Just got a notice today confirming a rule in place for the last two weeks in MedellΓn: curfew on children and teens in certain tourist-laden areas where child sex trafficking has surged.
It's one of a few efforts to crack down on this scourge, so if you see news items about MedellΓn seeming scary to foreigners, just remember: folks here are Not Happy with foreigners dropping by to rape children. I hope they can catch the major network operators soon. π
Because so many important news stories are teetering on the brink, I decided to write a different kind of "brief" today.
Here, we review a few difficult situations - in war, in climate change, in electoral politics - to come to the deeper danger in news cycles like these:
Giving over to the politics of fatalism. Allowing oneself to believe that everything getting worse is inevitable.
We can't change world events - but we can better fortify ourselves for local action.
https://onlysky.media/mclark/resisting-the-politics-of-fatalism/
And for the fifth, a little fun thrown in to round out three fierce, phenomenal women:
@phase2
@LiseL
@thewebrecluse
@Alfred
Alfred's nudi is as artificial as the algorithm, of course. Also, Phase, I couldn't help myself with yours - the nudi looked like it was doing its best impression of a coffee mug!
Ladies, you carry your strength and deep feeling through worlds of BS. May you always feel honoured for it where it counts. Have a day even half as brilliant as you.
Fourth set!
@cjtownsend
@Mauve_matelot
@Merlin
@OldDude71
Another diverse range of nudis for a wonderfully wide-ranging group of human beings. Thank you for keeping this place as grounded as reality allows.
Be good to yourselves today!
Third round!
@Valkyrie_D
@stueytheround
@Kinnison
@stephen_a_allen
Here's to some warm and generous people indeed - including a birthday boy in the mix! Two of you didn't sign up for cards, but I just wanted to extend well-wishing on the day all the same. π€
Next up:
@WordsmithFL
@daniel
@cmskiera
@bmacmixer
Gents, you bring a wide range of joys to this place. Thank you for your presence! Thank you for being ever so true to your respective senses of humour, too. Have a lovely one!
First up:
@Kaysymmetry
@Graci
@NiveusLepus
@MelissaHDavis
Four fabulous ladies who carry brightness with them wherever they go. π€ Happy day, lovelies!
Happy V-Day, weirdos. π
We all know the world's a dumpster fire, so why not make use of every chance to celebrate a kinder glow?
#Valentines below, for CoSonauts who put their names in and a few more besides. They're grouped in five posts of four, so I don't flood the feed. #NudiPics abounding!
And on a serious note: hug your loved ones as often as you can, and tell them what they mean to you.
Be good to your own weary hearts, if you can't.
Life's too short to be callous where it counts. ποΈ
Writer (SFWA), translator, humanist, general odd duck β’ π¨π¦n in π¨π΄ β’ avoids pronouns, they/them if key