#War

This is an Israeli op-ed on having lost what could have been an opportunity for real change, thanks to Netanyahu.

The grief work & shame that many in the US had to cope with in the '00s, amid relentless Jingoism that springboarded from one "mission accomplished" to the next, is ongoing today in Israel.

Do you remember how state lies then made Western military and civilians alike complicit in ignominious history?

That's what we need to heal from now--*together*.

https://archive.ph/6hAz2

The stabbing in Sydney is awful, and I don't want to detract from the trauma.

The phrasing in a CNN article about it, though, shows how bizarre media standards are when it comes to talking about cause and effect.

Referring to the officer who arrived first:

She shot the offender when he raised a knife at her.

“She discharged her firearm, and that person is now deceased,” Cooke said.

🤨

I use such evasive writing in my classes, though, so kudos to the media for that!

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/13/australia/australia-multiple-people-stabbed-intl-hnk/index.html

One plus: I have had no trouble hopping out of bed before my alarm all week.

Another run today? Don't mind if I do~!

I know we all know how utterly unjust our world is.

But articles like this just really rub it in our faces, no?

"The wealthy are building these 'passport portfolios'—collections of 2nd, and even 3rd or 4th, citizenships—in case they need to flee their home country. Henley & Partners, a law firm that specializes in high-net-worth citizenships, said Americans now outnumber every other nationality when it comes to securing alternative residences or added citizenships."

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/10/rich-americans-get-second-passports-citing-risk-of-instability.html

I don't know what kind of spud you all are, and I wouldn't dare to hazard a guess at what other taters you all eye (if you all eye other taters at all!).

But whether you like a good roasting, are just down to mash, or are looking for someone to stew with for a long while...

It's been a bushel of fun to share this strange little shelf with the whole cool lot of you--you utter #potatoes, you.

Keep your skins up, and carry on. 🥔💛

@Minholkin offered some wise words earlier today, about grace with people in hard moments.

As a writer, I know how easy it is to think that we need to Use Our Words when someone says something that upsets us.

In these awful times, I see people saying *many* false and hurtful things.

But their statements have another linguistic purpose: not to inform, but to establish who's "safe" and who's not.

We can answer that bid in other ways. Arguing with people in pain is almost never the right one. 🕊️

3.5 hours for book readin' before evening classes. Time to focus!

My playlist brought up a Colombian song I haven't heard in years, but which I used to play all the time while preparing to move. It was *so* hard to sing back then, while first learning Spanish, but years later I know the words by heart. The lyrics are about earnestly learning how to love someone. The video features people showing kindness to one another, even when everyone's struggling.

I ached so much to learn from Colombia.
I most certainly have ever since.
#CoSoMusic
https://youtu.be/OukQDrJ7QRQ

(I also love that I thought for even a moment I'd actually turn my brain off on a walk. Nice try, silly. Back to work!)

#Colombia has pension problems, too, but the causes are so different:

Right now, only 2 out of 10 seniors are receiving an allowance at all.

According to the head of a pension oversight group, the crux of the problem is that 58% of the working population earns less than minimum wage.

Worse yet: 80% of the 20% with pension plans make between 1 and 2 times min wage, and are only in pension programs for 9.1 years when they need 30 years for a full payout.

Piecemeal private solutions don't work.

Don't know why my next reply lost connection to this thread, but here's the closer to this train of thought:

https://counter.social/@MLClark/112258973679112765

Less brain now. More walk.

But the tough part is remembering that our aim here is *coexistence*.

We're never going to be fully understood by those around us - or CAN be - because we all have different communication and conflict resolution styles.

Some of us can hold different views in tension. Some of us cannot.

And yet still, somehow, here we are, getting by together one day at a time.

It is not easy.

We screw up often.

Nonetheless, what a mark of our tenacity, when we keep trying to bridge the unbridgeable divide.

My lack of direct attacks will always make me seem untrustworthy or unsafe to some - especially folks like my old roommate, who see shouting and direct, even personal attacks for a brief blow-up as "more honest".

Conversely, people shouting at me or going for the jugular with personal attacks will always be no bueno for me.

(It's been joked that I can handle pretty much anything as long as no one raises their voice in the process. My experiences with violent assault show that to be true!)

+

--the key to becoming a better adjusted adult wasn't simply avoiding heated exchanges entirely, because down that path lies relentless *fear* of others' hostility.

(And if you knew me in my late teens and early twenties, you'd know I was relentlessly afraid of making people angry. Always apologizing, and always making people angry *with* my constant apologies!)

Growth has instead required learning to hold in tension the fact that conflict and *safety in conflict* look different for us all.

+

One other Friday musing.

In uni, I lived with someone who believed arguments should be loud, blunt, and fierce. She didn't "trust" people who argued differently - it seemed dishonest to her not to get into a good clean shouting match. That's how her family argued, and there was clearly enough love around it that the behaviour worked for them.

I, however, grew up in a household where cut-throat raging was the parental norm, without assurances of underlying love. Direct attacks feel awful. BUT--

One of the hardest parts of watching people lose bodily autonomy rights in the US is that one really doesn't need to look to the past to see what happens when XXs are viewed as less important than their pregnancies.

Today, a friend told me about some of the girls/teenagers in his village and family who died or suffered brutal complications from pregnancy as early teens.

It's still a fact of life in the world today.

And one some people won't stop expanding until every XX knows their place.

Hot diggity dog, a new paid subscriber! 🎉

I'm always a bit shocked when people who don't know me personally (or see how ridiculous I am on social media) support the work.

Call it imposter syndrome or what-have-you, but any time *the work itself* seems to earn high praise from an internet stranger, I'm left wondering what alt-universe I just slid into.

(At this rate, if another multiverse portal does open up, I might not hop through!)

Today's main work (outside two classes and a translation I need to send off) is reading two books for this weekend's BookTube: one indie published and one small-press-published. "Straight" horror isn't my usual genre, though, so I reflected a touch in the park on how strange it is to read curated horror in a world where so much runs free.

Watch your noggins.
Mind your hearts.

#YouTube #Reading
https://youtube.com/shorts/a2U33bwKabQ?si=h5Ff6AeMSGlejuK6