Hello, friends and enemies. I’ve gotten back into Scrabble this week. I read an article about a man using Scrabble to help him deal with going sober. It was a very good essay and an interesting exploration into some people just needing something for their brain to do all the time. But what I really got from this article was the link to a website where people play Scrabble (https://isc.ro/). This is just a regular, old-school website, not a stupid app like ScrabbleGo or Words with Friends. I like Scrabble but their app annoyed me on many levels! It made playing the game feel more like hitting the slots at a casino. Random men were always trying to use it as a way to hit on people (and by “people” I mean me, even though my profile photo was a cat). So far, no one has tried to hit on me on Internet Scrabble Club and I appreciate the low-tech nature of the site. I am having fun! I’m playing too much Scrabble because I can’t do anything without really doing a thing. If you want to play with me, let me know! My screen name is linzomatic.
Current Events
Hey, so, I’m really worried about Trump telegraphing the fact that he intends to be dictator for (the rest of his) life and that he is presumably planning to install an autocratic regime. He told a crowd that they “won’t have to vote anymore” if they vote him into office this time. I don’t think he’s being hyperbolic; I really think that’s his goal. We’ve already seen the ways that Trump-aligned Republicans are trying to suppress the vote and sway the upcoming election in his favor, so I see no reason not to take him literally. I’m sitting here grimacing trying to think of what to say. I think we can all agree that no one wants this future.
As everyone knows by now but I must reiterate to introduce my paragraph, Kamala Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate. This man has a certain wholesomeness to him that is borne out in a lot of his policies. He signed a bill into law to provide free meals at schools and another that provides free menstrual products to students. Those things alone make me want to vote for him. He is, obviously, not perfect because no one can be in this political system. While he does seem to be a big climate proponent, he also allowed a “new tar sands pipeline to pass through [indigenous] treaty-protected lands—after explicitly promising he wouldn’t.” Unfortunately, like nearly every politician in this country, Walz is a pro-Israel guy. I’m so deeply conflicted about this election because so many people are saying that voting third party is the only way to show politicians that we are not okay with financing a genocide. Harris doesn’t seem inclined to hear pro-Palestinian protesters out and hasn’t shown any movement in that direction (even though, according to an analysis by the IMEU Policy Project, more voters would show up for her “if she pledges to stop weapons to Israel” or “if Biden secures a ceasefire”). On the other hand, Harris would absolutely be a better president than Trump and we might actually get some decent governing out of her. She recently announced some big policies that sound really great and she is certainly the candidate that will be better for the LGBT community. I don’t want to vote for someone who is still supporting a genocide but where are the alternatives? Our system is broken.
Books and Other Words
I read Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots and I enjoyed it even though it wasn’t exactly what I expected. I thought it was going to be a wacky, mad-cap, Venture Brothers-style take on superheroes but it was a little more Watchmen/The Boys. The main character starts out as a temp worker for super villains—because someone has to do all the administrative work of professional aggression. After a super hero breaks her leg while she’s serving as an extra during a villain’s press conference, she becomes very interested in the cost of all this caped crusading. She starts a blog and tallies up how much it costs every time a hero knocks down a building during a fight, for example. Eventually, this gets her picked up by a major villain and she gets a full-time gig running what’s basically a team dedicated to psychological warfare against heroes. It’s an interesting story and I’m curious to see what happens in the next book.
Moonbound by Robin Sloan is essentially a hero’s journey set over 11,000 years in the future where all animals can talk and beavers are the stewards of the earth’s climate and there’s a college built around a worm-goddess who lives at the bottom of a well (yes, really). I thought this book was really cool. I love seeing ideas for how society can be completely re-imagined (especially after catastrophes) and it’s especially interesting to consider that over such a huge time scale. The book mentions entire civilizations that rose and fell between the humans of today (known as the “Anth,” which I assume is short for “anthropecene”) and the story’s present day. This book has questing, dragon slaying, wizards, a sword in a stone, and a whole city that runs on recycled materials—and none of those things show up in the way you think they might.
Meanwhile, on the internet:
- U.S. Athletes Are Taking Full Advantage of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village via SI. Can’t afford health insurance? Have you considered qualifying for the Olympics instead? This is like a dystopian short story except it is real life. I’m glad these athletes are getting health care and taking advantage of what’s available at the Olympics but for fucks’ sake, could this country consider taking care of its citizens?
- Newsom threatens to take money from counties that don’t reduce homelessness via LA Times. Gavin Newsom is big mad about homelessness and not in what I would consider a normal way. Since the Supreme Court said that cities can basically criminalize homelessness, Newsom has been really aggressive about removing homeless people. I, too, would like to see a reduction in homelessness but people need somewhere to go. They can’t afford to live anywhere! Private equity firms are buying up a lot of houses and inflation is kicking us all in the ass. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, “As many as 40%–60% of people experiencing homelessness have a job, but housing is unaffordable because wages have not kept up with rising rents.” People can be working and still not afford a place to live. And now Gavin Newsom is out there personally clearing out homeless people. What is he trying to do? Look tough so he can run for president in 2028? No one is impressed!
- The Google antitrust remedy should extinguish surveillance, not democratize it via Pluralistic. Here’s another good article from Cory Doctorow. Google lost its antitrust case! It’s officially a monopoly. The question of course is: what are they going to do about it?
- This disused mine in Finland is being turned into a gravity battery to store renewable energy via Euro News. This is really cool! The idea is that excess wind or solar power could life weights up the mine shaft, and the weights could be slowly released later on to generate power.
Languages
Inspired by my Wikipedia activities, I read El beso de la mujer araña by Manuel Puig (English version: Kiss of the Spider Woman), which was mentioned in the LGBT literature in Argentina article that I translated. I was only somewhat plagued by Argentina-specific Spanish words (Argentina’s Spanish is really something else) and fortunately I was already familiar enough with the country’s history to have some context for the story. El beso de la mujer araña is told almost entirely through dialog between two characters, Molina and Valentín, sharing a prison cell. A lot of the novel involves Molina narrating movies he has seen in great detail for Valentín to help pass the time. I don’t have any serious things to say about this book but I did like it and I am proud of myself for doing some more reading in Spanish, especially of a classic gay work.
Corporal Form
Last week I had a follow up with my GI doctor to talk about my liver health (previously discussed here, here, and here). She asked how my liver was doing, which … you can’t know how the liver is doing. That’s the whole thing. That’s why I had to do a biopsy. So I laughed and basically said, how would I know? It turned out she really wanted to ask me if I’d lost any weight. We went through our usual song and dance of her being like “lose weight … OR ELSE!” and I’m like “that sounds like an eating disorder but I’m making some healthy adjustments in other ways.” She did reveal that all my liver numbers are actually quite good and under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have been referred to her or done a biopsy and everything, so I’m not sure why she’s being so aggressive with me. It’s like she wants to be the one who magically inspired me to lose 200 pounds. Sorry, but it’s not gonna happen.
Relatedly, something that is kind of becoming my Roman empire is the link between microplastics and obesity. Short version: we are inadvertently consuming quite a lot of microplastics and there seems to be some scientifically documented connection between microplastics and the risk for obesity. I’m not trying to say here that microplastics are the only reason I’m fat. That isn’t the case. But I do think the whole idea of weight and losing weight is much more complicated than we like to pretend it is. There are people who are skinny no matter what they eat and people who are fat no matter what they eat. I’ve written before about my body image and reconciling some of my adolescent shame on the subject of fatness. Something I’ve also been turning over in my mind is the idea that I may be fat because of my many ailments, not afflicted by ailments because I’m fat (as the doctors love to suggest). One example: I didn’t get diagnosed with sleep apnea until 2018, when I was 32. I’m fairly certain I’ve had sleep apnea since I was a teenager, which means I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in at least 15 years. When you don’t get energy from sleep, the only other way to get energy is food. When you’re tired, it’s also very hard to plan ahead and make a lot of complicated decisions about what to cook and when. So, I don’t know. I’m not going to devote a whole essay to this subject right now, but I do wish people (including doctors) would develop a little empathy and curiosity and remember that there is very little about anyone’s physical form that anyone has consciously chosen.
Knitting and Crafts
Speaking of my many ailments. I’ve been trying to settle back down and work on my knitting. My hobbies always end up on a rotation because I have too many. Lately I’ve been studying my languages and translating Wikipedia a lot, which has eaten up time I might otherwise be knitting. I realized, however, that part of the reason I’ve been avoiding it is because of my carpal tunnel! Pre-carpal tunnel diagnosis, I was noticing that I couldn’t knit for very long before my hand got all tingly. Now I am aware that this is carpal tunnel. I am trying to be good about wearing my wrist brace and do my stretches and we’ll see if it helps. I am tired of ailments.
Kitchen Witchery
I know I have shared multiple pizza photos here but sometimes I make pizza and I’m like “wow, that looks perfect” and I have to share again. So here is my latest pizza.
The only new recipe I tried in the last two weeks is braised chickpeas with zucchini and pesto from Smitten Kitchen. It’s topped with burrata and it tasted really good. Kirk said he would like to eat it again so it’s on my list of repeat recipes now. By the way, if anyone ever needs recipe ideas, I am still maintaining my recipe spreadsheet and it continues to gain power.
Cat Therapy
Now that I have two cats to honor, I wanted to create a more elaborate display. I bought this really cool shelf and Kirk helped me put it up in the bedroom. It’s now home to Viola’s and Huey’s remains, plus their paw prints and some photos and other sentimental bits. Nothing feels like enough but this will have to do.
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
