It’s Christmas and I’m on vacation! We had a nice Christmas at home and I don’t have to go back to work until after the new year, so I’m feeling good about my life right now. Kirk and I like to keep Christmas low key so I didn’t really feel I was missing out on much because of the pandemic. I hate Christmas travel, so I don’t do it. That said, I am missing my family and friends. It’s hard to believe that the pandemic here has dragged on for nearly the whole year. A friend of mine who lives in Thailand told me that, after the initial wave of the pandemic, life there went mostly back to normal for much of the year, even though they’re going back into a lockdown now. Must be nice.
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read or watched.
Books and Other Words
Lost Islamic History
The Unreality of Memory
I rarely write about books I didn’t finish but I read half of Firas Alkhateeb’s Lost Islamic History: Reclaiming Muslim Civilisation from the Past and I have opinions. My first thought: lost for whom? I kept waiting for some “lost” history to show up but it didn’t happen. To be fair, I may not be this book’s intended audience; I have a bachelor’s degree in near eastern civilizations. I thought most of the information in the book was pretty basic middle eastern/Islamic history. Might I have learned something if I read the second half of the book? We don’t know. I had to return it to the library today and I made the decision to triage my loans and not finish this one.
In books I did finish (and that are due to the library today) is The Unreality of Memory: And Other Essays by Elisa Gabbert. I don’t even know how to describe this essay collection, but it’s really good. She wrote it before the pandemic, but every essay feels like it’s from the present moment. Gabbert deals with a Trump presidency, disasters, climate, and how it feels to live right now, in what we all seem to agree seems like the end of the world. These are really well written and proactive essays. I highly recommend it.
Defund the Crime Beat via NiemanLab. From the article: “This should be the year where we finally abolish the crime beat. Study after study shows how the media’s overemphasis on crime makes people feel less safe than they really are and negatively shapes public policy around the criminal–legal system. And study after study shows that it’s racist and inhumane.”
TV and Music
We watched all three of the “How to Train Your Dragon” movies this week, which neither us of had seen before. They were cute, but I, as is my custom, have a lot of questions. Like: if dragons are an apex predator, how can there be so many of them? If it’s that easy to tame a dragon, how come no one (well, almost no one) had done it before? For that matter, why are they violent at all? They seem like big, flying cats. Who provoked those dragons? I’ve also concluded, based on the events of the last movie, that these events took place before recorded history, since (spoilers?) all the dragons disappeared until humans are responsible enough to interact with them without being assholes. Does that mean we will have dragons when (if?) we achieve world peace? Is that a real incentive? Introducing dragons to humanity seems like a quick way to disrupt that newly minted world peace.
Sidebar: I recently made an account on letterboxd, which is an app for logging movies you watch. I’ve been trying to watch more movies and thought noting what I watch would be fun—it works for me for reading. If you want to follow me, you can find me as linzomatic. I like movies but I usually don’t want to commit to watching a whole movie. I like watching TV because it comes in short chunks. However, I often end up watching multiple episodes of a show at once, so I might as well watch a movie.
Making Things and Doing stuff
homemade ballet barre
My dance studio is, of course, taking a break for the next few weeks. With that in mind, and the feeling that we’re going to be back to online-only class for a while (thanks, pandemic and everyone being shitty about it!), I decided to make my own barre! I’d been using the back of a chair when practicing at home and it is not very satisfying. There are a few tutorials out there for making a barre from PVC pipe—I liked this one the best. It was pretty easy to do and only cost me about $40 in materials. The hardest part was getting all the right size connectors. For now, I’ve got the barre in my office so I can get in a few pliés when I’m bored during meetings.
Knitting and Crafts
I was so pleased with how the gnome socks came out! They look wonderful. Unfortunately, I knit them too tight and Kirk cannot get them on his feet. I’m distressed! I think, for this kind of color work, you have to keep the knit very loose and I didn’t. I’m not actually sure though since this was my first time.
finished gnome socks!
gnome sock detail
gnome socks: Brooklyn Tweed Peerie yarn
My next knit is a shawl because, as much as I love socks, I need a break (there will be many more socks in the future though since Kirk got me the 52 Weeks of Socks book for Christmas). My mom bought me a cool knit-a-long (a kit where you get yarn and a pattern that’s released a little bit at a time) last Christmas, but I didn’t knitalong, I saved it all for when the full pattern was released. The yarn is very soft and it seems like a fun knit. I’m looking forward to chilling out and knitting it this week.
the next knit
appropriate project bag
Kitchen Witchery
After spending the last few weeks making Christmas treats, I was a little low on baking energy and interest for Christmas itself, which was totally fine. I did bake a loaf of rye bread to accompany the clam chowder we had on Christmas eve (a tradition from Kirk’s family. If I had my druthers we’d be eating enchiladas, but marriage is compromise). On Christmas itself, Kirk made Swedish meatballs, which is the Christmas dinner tradition we’ve chosen to adopt. I made a chocolate cream pie for dessert (recipe from the Kitchenista Holiday Recipe Collection). It was so good and a welcome change in the holiday dessert rotation.
rye bread!
low-key christmas dinner
chocolate cream pie with graham cracker-pistachio crust
messy cross section
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves. The kitties got a crinkly tube for Christmas. I was expecting zooming but so far they mostly seem content to chill in it. They also got a heated bed, which neither of them are interested in sitting in. Naturally.
We are embracing Christmas this year, not the least because I am highly invested in putting up lots of lights. We finally got some lights to put up on the outside of the house, which I have wanted but we had struggled with the logistics. Kirk finally found a solution he was happy with and now we have delightful outside lights. We decorated our tree too, although it took us a week from getting the tree to decorating it. Life in the pandemic moves at its own pace. Life in the pandemic is also a lot of being in and around my house, so it might as well by shiny.
outside lights!
christmas lights seen from inside
kirk putting up lights
this year’s christmas tree
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.
Books and Other Words
The trouble with skipping a week on the blog is now I have to remember what happened in all the books I read the previous week (in a surprise twist, I haven’t read anything since last weekend. My brain is tired). I had so many thoughts about them, but didn’t write them down, so you’re getting the abbreviated version today.
Thick and Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. This was great. Cottom frames this as a series of personal essays, explaining that the personal essay is one of the only genres of opinion afforded to black writers. She talks about race, capitalism, politics, and how they all intersect. She writes about being the wrong kind of black and “knowing your whites.” This collection will give you plenty to think about.
Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest by Zeynep Tufekci. This is technically a narrow topic—how protests and twitter come together—but there’s so much to be said about how different movements have used twitter to organize and hold power to account. Tufekci focuses on the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the Gezi Park protests in Turkey and the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S. I like seeing a serious discussion of twitter, often considered a frivolous application, being used in serious, world-changing ways. I also really appreciated the chapter on power and how we build it and hold politicians to account. Recommended for anyone looking to better understand the politics and realities of protest movements.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. This was a quick read but had some cool world building for something so short. Court intrigue, wandering scholars, and a coup. It was fun and I’m definitely going to read the next book in the series.
Thick!
Twitter and Tear Gas
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Meanwhile, on the internet:
The real reason local newspapers are dying via Men Yell at Me. The argument here boils down to newspapers not giving people what they need, so why would people pay for the paper? If a newspaper acts as a PR machine or only represents the interests of a rich owner, people don’t want it. Journalists are supposed to speak truth to power, and that’s happening less and less.
The Wife Glitch via The Baffler. On women’s work, compensating that work, and tech companies. From the article: “How strange and predictable it is, then, that wages for housework have, at last, become widespread—but in the form of our subscription to digital services and gig economy labor. This work has become concretely valuable at the precise moment its value can be effectively captured by a small cadre of men sitting at the top of the tech industry.”
TV and Music
We’ve started watching Star Trek: Picard, which is fun. Kirk (my spouse, not Captain James T.) says it’s not really a Star Trek show. It’s the equivalent of the Star Wars franchise calling something “A Star Wars Story.” You get a character you know and love but doing something entirely different and with a new cast of characters. I’ve been thinking of it as “Picard Solves a Mystery” more than anything.
Rampant Consumerism
making flossing fun?
Sometimes targeted ads show me something that I actually buy. In this case: cocofloss. I do not love flossing—but then, who does? One thing I hate about flossing and brushing my teeth is the flavor. I don’t like mint so I have this extra level of not wanting to do it. So I was really excited about cocofloss because it has alternate flavors. So far I’ve tried the coconut and it smells really pleasant. I also like that you can order “refill” floss and keep using the little case.
Setting up the new Twinkly lights
Much more exciting: lights! I hang colorful lights in the living room for Halloween and Christmas. Kirk discovered these programmable lights from a company called Twinkly. You can set them to different colors using a phone app. They have preset patterns you can use or you can make your own designs. It’s really cool! We just put them up this afternoon and I love them already. I posted a video on my instagram so you can see some different effects.
Making Things and Doing stuff
The December of Rare Household Tasks continues apace. I’ve dusted the bookcases and beaten back their chaos. I ran the self-clean on the oven for the first time ever. I know intellectually that all an oven can do is be hot so I don’t know why it surprised me to learn that the oven’s self-clean function is just … getting really hot. So, I ran that but then still had to wipe it down with some vinegar. These are the tasks that no one tells you about when you become an adult. We finally replaced the light bulbs in our bathroom too. Four of the eight had burned out so we replaced the lot of them with some of those cool bulbs with a spiral filament. This is a lot of words to say: we’ve been adulting pretty hard over here. I even cleaned the windows.
newly cleaned bookcase
new bathroom lightbulbs, same kind of weird fixture
Moving It
I was delighted in my ballet class today because we spent about half of it learning a short choreography to “Let It Snow,” which we then danced for our own pleasure with no audience. It wasn’t much but it was satisfying to put a few moves together after six months (time flies! and also crawls!) of ballet lessons. We have a break from class for the next couple of weeks because of the holidays, which is good but ballet has been my only out-of-the-house experience lately, so I’m a little bummed out. Maybe I will feel feisty and do some extra practice at home.
Kitchen Witchery
You may recall that, before Thanksgiving, Kirk held a pantry intervention and made me clean out the spice cabinet. That lasted for all of five minutes before I got some new things that didn’t fit. Fortunately, I have now solved the problem by buying some of these organizer bins. I’m super happy with how this looks! Now I can’t lose anything to the back of the pantry. Like sprinkles. Apparently I just keep buying sprinkles and then they disappear to the back of the shelf. They have their own bin now.
newly organized spice cupboard
a surprising quantity of sprinkles
I’ve been doing a lot of holiday baking because I’m going full mom this year and delivering baked goods to a few friends. My cookbook club is doing a cookie exchange tomorrow and I have made “million peso shortbread” (this recipe, but add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the shortbread and about a 1/4 tsp of ancho chili powder to the chocolate) and toffee (not pictured). I had fun trying these sesame blossom cookies, which have tahini in them, and another fudge variation, featuring dulce de leche. I haven’t only made cookies (just mostly). I tried this chicken gnocchi soup recipe and it was quite tasty. It’s going into my rotation of things to make again.
chicken and gnocchi soup
tahini blossom cookies
dulce de leche and pretzel fudge
the return of million peso shortbread
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
It’s December, which is exciting for me because I love advent calendars. Starting my day with a piece of chocolate is great and we should do it year round.
Less thrilling: it’s become Rare Household Tasks Month here. This week I cleaned and dusted our laundry room (and made Kirk vacuum up all the dryer fuzz trapped behind the machine) and cleaned the hard water deposits out of the shower head (link in case you, too, require this knowledge). Obviously we’re not cleaning in anticipation of guests—what guest would dare to criticize a laundry room anyway—but I’m trying to set myself up to actually relax later this month. I’m planning to take vacation between Christmas and New Year’s. Since both holidays are on a Friday, it equates to ten consecutive days without work for the low, low price of only four vacation days. I know myself and if I don’t get some household stuff done before I’m on vacation, I’ll fill all my time up with things like cleaning the windows instead of the relaxation I want, need, and deserve.
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.
Books and Other Words
Empire of Gold
This week I read the third and last book in the Daevabad trilogy, The Empire of Gold. It was so good! I love this series. It has been the perfect escapism lately. I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil anything for people who want to read the series.
Meanwhile, on the internet:
Aubrey Gordon on Dealing with Aggressive Fatfobia via Lithub. This article is heavy but accurate in describing the experience of being fat in the world. I thank the author for giving us the term “fatcalling” because I’d never had a good word to describe the phenomenon of random people shouting at me because they object to my fatness.
Scented candles: An unexpected victim of the COVID-19 pandemic via Kate Petrova on twitter. Negative reviews of scented candles claiming that the candles have “no scent” have correlated to rises in coronavirus cases. Fascinating. (note: one symptom of coronavirus is losing your sense of smell or taste).
Also on the internet: newsletters. I’ve been subscribing to a bunch of them via substack. It’s all the fun of blogs except it comes to your email. Here’s a selection of some really good ones from the last week:
Small Data, Big Implications from Zeynep Tufekci. A close look at a small study that examined just a few cases of people who got infected with coronavirus in a restaurant. This isn’t a newsletter just about ‘rona, but I thought this particular entry was very interesting.
Essay: The King Herself from Mona Eltahawy. I love the power in Eltahawy’s essays. Rage, hair, embracing yourself, and a fat dose of fuck the patriarchy come through in this one.
Here’s the real danger with the “to hell with Trump voters” argument from The White Pages. This newsletter is about the work of white people helping other white people to be less racist and how this is really a problem of community. This particular installment gave me a lot to think about in regards to the unglamorous labor of bringing fellow white people around.
The Mom Does It from Anne Helen Petersen. I’ve shared Petersen’s work before; everything she writes is a gut punch of truth. This essay is about the work of “moms” (actual mothers or people who take on the “mom” labor for their group) and the holidays.
TV and Music
We watched the new season of Animaniacs this week and I’ve had the theme song stuck in my head—dueling with the original version of the theme song. It somehow feels exactly how I remember it while poking fun at contemporary topics from Trump to designer donuts. I read an article about how the animators redesigned the characters to modernize them. This is interesting to me because the show to a non-expert in animation, seems exactly like the 1990s version. Yet, it’s not.
I also felt compelled to watch Happiest Season on Hulu because lesbian Christmas movie. I went into this having already been warned by lesbians that it was not, indeed, the happiest. But did I listen? No. I watched it and yelled at the TV/into the void for the whole thing. Kristen Stewart was good and Dan Levy’s classic anxiety gay character was, obviously, delightful, but this is not the lesbian Christmas movie we deserve. If you want to read about it and skip watching it, I recommend this article (also recommended if you watched it and need to process).
Rampant Consumerism
new baby
I’ve had my eye on this air purifier since fire season two years ago when the sky was sepia-toned and it seemed the world would end. After this year’s apocalyptic repeat, I finally womaned up and bought the damn thing. It’s the Coway Airmega and it was 20 percent off after Thanksgiving. So far, it seems good. It’s fairly quiet and it’s “smart” so it doesn’t have to run constantly. I’m hoping it will spare us some pain next time there’s a big fire nearby.
Making Things and Doing stuff
I’ve been embracing being festive for Christmas this year. I am liking Christmas more and more every year because I have realized I can do whatever I want and that there’s nothing wrong with liking cute stuff if it makes me happy. My (now ex-)step-mom was a real tyrant about Christmas and doing shit her way, which was not my way and I didn’t particularly enjoy the mandatory fun aspect of it all. Adulthood is all about remaking your life into what you want, so that’s what I’m doing.
festivities intensify
Languages
In the beginning of November, I took a lot of comfort in studying and using it as a method to avoid election doomscrolling. I had a really good routine going for a couple of weeks and then lost it again, but such is life (and studying). In any case, Spanish is moving along as always. I have been reading books and chatting with my teacher regularly. French is going okay but I need to start thinking about how I want to it to be interesting for me in terms of figuring out what to read or look at in the language so it’s not just textbook life.
November Spanish
November’s French
Knitting and Crafts
I’ve finished yet another pair of socks (everyone is getting socks for Christmas, in case you haven’t guessed). This is the Luminary sock pattern knit in yarn from A Homespun House. I was fun to knit once I got into the rhythm of the pattern, which took me a little while. This pattern was also a good lesson in recognizing that “knit” and “knit through back of loop” are, in fact, not equivalent.
luminary socks
luminary sock detail
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d be making Kirk these gnome socks for Chistmas. So far the pattern is a lot of fun and very cute. Since this picture, I’ve turned the heel and started on the gusset, but this is enough to appreciate the pattern. I’m not trying to hide them from Kirk because we’re home constantly and it takes a long time to knit. He seemed surprised and delighted by the choice, so I am happy.
In non-knitting news, I made a table Christmas-themed table runner. I feel that my younger self would find table runners highly unnecessary and uncool, but here I am, 34 years old, sewing table runners. If I’m going to be home forever, I want something to look at.
gnome socks in progress
Christmas-themed table runner because why not
Kitchen Witchery
It’s interesting to me to go back through the week’s photos and see which foods I actually took a picture of. This week: treats! I made fudge for the first time using a recipe on a card I picked up at Nugget. The result was a success. On Saturday, we got a Christmas tree (not yet decorated so no photos yet, mom) so I decided to go high-key festive and make sugar cookies. Kirk requested Christmas tree shapes. Who am I to say no?
Something I put a lot of effort into but didn’t take a photo of is this pumpkin tart, which, on paper, sounded delicious. I seriously hated the results though. It didn’t seem to taste of anything and it felt like all the textures came out wrong. Ick. To cleanse my savory tart palette, I’m thinking of going back to a recipe in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat for a butternut squash and blue cheese tart, which is the flavor I want but, you know, actually good.
festive baking
first time making fudge!
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
Thanksgiving was this week! I like Thanksgiving but, as others have said more eloquently than me, I like the food but I don’t give a damn about no pilgrims. I know a lot of people were upset that they couldn’t visit family, but I love having quiet holidays at home, and that goes for any holiday to be honest. I was able to prep almost all my dishes during the week so I spent Thanksgiving itself mostly relaxing, followed by a couple hours of moving things in and out of the oven. A++ would recommend.
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.
Books and Other Words
Kingdom of Copper
I said last week that I was reading the Daevabad Trilogy and this week I read the second book, The Kingdom of Copper. Last week when I meant to restart the series, I accidentally started on this book instead of The City of Brass. I got about one-fifth into it, spending the whole time thinking, “wow, I really forgot more of this book than I realized” before I finally double checked the series order. So I stopped reading, went back to the first book then re-started Kingdom of Copper afterwards. I know the pandemic has worn down my ability to respond emotionally to things because I got really upset over this. Despite this minor chaos, I liked this book a lot and how it built on the first one. I’ve just started book three and will report back.
22 ways to make Thanksgiving into your own weird, perfect holiday via Vice. I loved this. I laughed so hard. Much like getting people to go back to work in an office and wear pants, I think it’s going to be difficult to convince people they have to do holiday shit they don’t like after this year of anarchy.
TV and Music
Great outfit or greatest outfit?
We fulfilled our plan of watching all three Bill and Ted movies this week. I’ve been a fan of the original for a while, but I realized I had never seen the second movie all the way through. Excellent Adventure was as joyful as I remembered it and Bogus Journey was really fun too. I loved the new movie, Bill and Ted Face the Music. It kept what’s great about the original—Bill and Ted’s friendship, time travel hijinks, a love of music, and general goofiness—and layered in some great stuff, including their deeply cool children. On a related note, I am obsessed with the outfit Billie Logan wears in this scene. I am inspired.
twitter wanted this essay to be real
Rampant Consumerism
This might actually be the opposite of consumerism, but I’m putting it here anyway. Now that I’m a person with disposable income, I’ve made a tradition of donating to Native American groups during Thanksgiving. If I’m going to enjoy a holiday that presaged their genocide, then literally the least I can do is give some money to the survivors. Something nice this year is that my corporate overlords are matching up to $500 of donations that any employee makes, so I made all my donations through the corporate site. Double donations! Here were my choices:
Nevada City Rancheria. Last month I shared an article about the Nisenan tribe here in northern California. This is the tribe’s organization. They use the funds to fight for federal recognition of their tribe and for various cultural heritage projects.
The Cultural Conservancy is a group based out of San Francisco dedicated to “cultivating foodways throughout Turtle island.” They work to revitalize native plants, improve the health of community members, and work on environmental justice. Thanksgiving is a great time to donate to preserve native food practices and I like that this is a local(ish) group.
Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. The Wampanoag people are the native people featured in the story of the first Thanksgiving. This organization is working to revitalize their native language.
Endangered Language Fund. This organization works to preserve endangered languages around the world. Languages are so amazing and I want them all to survive.
Elk Grove Food Bank. Not all of my donations were for native groups. I highly recommend donating to your local food bank, especially given how coronavirus is impacting so many people.
Since we’re here, these are some other indigenous causes you can donate to that I bookmarked this week. Some weren’t available through my corporate donation site (for various reasons, including that many aren’t registered charities) and unfortunately I have limited funds, unlike Jeff Bezos. I’m sharing these as much for myself as anyone else. I’m hoping I’ll be able to do another round of donations later.
Navajo and Hopi Families Covid-19 relief fund. Indigenous people played a big role in winning Arizona for Biden. If you want to say thanks, chip in to their coronavirus relief fund.
Camp Mniluzahan and Creek Patrol: Part of the Land Back efforts for this branch of the Sioux tribe, this fund helps house indigenous people and provide food and supplies.
K’é Infoshop: mutual aid for the Navajo/Diné, helping them live autonomously and get people supplies.
Warriors of the Sunrise, to quote their website: “a group of Indigenous women from the Shinnecock Nation, and their allies are currently engaged in a nearly month-long encampment along Sunrise Highway in the Hamptons.”
Sacred Generations is working against educational inequity and mass incarceration in Native communities, and is taking on climate injustice.
If you need even more resources, here are two lists of native groups to donate to from Pure Wow and Bustle.
Making Things and Doing stuff
A lot of my free time this week went to cooking, so there’s not a lot of things and stuff to talk about this time around. Please enjoy this photo of my garden.
winter garden progress
Moving It
Something I’ve learned about myself in the last few years is that, while I do like exercise, I like it in the service of a larger goal. It was easy to work out and want to be strong while when I knew it would improve my roller derby game. I’ve had a hard time this pandemic with motivation to exercise (like many people, I expect), but taking ballet is starting to change that for me. I’ve been taking ballet for five months now, and I’m starting to see where I want to develop more strength and flexibility. I am getting more consistent about getting in some exercise to build up my ballet game, which I am happy about.
Kitchen Witchery
Thanksgiving is, perhaps, my favorite holiday because it’s about making and eating food and there is no weird, vestigial religious component (-side eye to Christmas-). I did most of the cooking, but Kirk made the all-important mashed potatoes, plus some asparagus and a sweet potato pie (a new addition to this year’s menu). I made a few of my usual dishes and upgraded some others. I spent five worthwhile dollars on the Kitchenista’s Holiday Recipe Collection ebook. I had only made one of her recipes before (this amazing mac and cheese), but she dispenses a lot of good advice on twitter so I wanted to check the book. It was a great investment! There’s a lot of information about how to plan for thanksgiving and what you can prep ahead so you don’t make yourself insane.
This year I made a chicken instead of a turkey since it was just me and Kirk. I dry brined it with the Kitchenista’s recipe but then cooked it according to this recipe. I also used her recipes for candied yams, roasted carrots, macaroni and cheese, and gravy. Kirk gave her sweet potato pie recipe a try and it came out really good. I used a few of my regular recipes too like my favorite butternut squash soup (which we had for dinner earlier in the week, then used leftovers on thanksgiving), this simple stuffing recipe, and crescent rolls.
is it even a holiday without cheese?
thanksgiving starter: butternut squash soup
Thanksgiving chicken
pecan pie
Thanksgiving sides
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
Sometimes I feel like I have missed out on important information. Lately I’ve been mulling over how to be an involved citizen. It’s clear that letting democracy run on auto-pilot was not a good strategy, but what can an ordinary person do to nudge the steering wheel? I’m 34 years old and just now starting to figure out how this works. Meanwhile, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is three years younger than me and she’s serving in the House of Representatives. I wouldn’t even know how to run for city council.
What I have learned recently is that the city and county have committees that people can just … join? Or at least anyone can tune into a public meeting. Apparently if you hang around enough you could potentially get appointed to the committee. At least, that’s my sense of it. A lot of committees say that a county supervisor appoints the members. But how would you get on their radar? I still have many questions.
One of my questions: why is this so hard to understand? Another: why does this feel like secret knowledge? I took a class on “government” my senior year in high school, but we focused on the three branches of federal government and their checks and balances. We had a creepy male teacher who seemed to have a thing for the Asian girls. He taught us that “federalism is like a marble cake” and when I took the AP government test that year, I had no idea how to respond to a question about federalism and I drew a cake instead. (Note: I still eked out a passing score on the exam).
As part of my lifelong pursuit to make the things I encounter easier to understand, here are some things you can do to get involved or at least keep an eye on your government people:
Subscribe to newsletters for your elected people at the city, county, state, and federal level. If you’re in California and want to know who your Assembly Member and State Senator are, you can use this site to look them up.
If you use twitter, make a “list” of all your government people. When you’re ready to read up on what’s happening, you can look at your list, meaning you’ll only see tweets from all your government sources and you won’t lose track of it in the deluge that is the twitter feed. Here’s my list. I’ve also added the local news and a few other local organizations. I started working on it today and I’m sure I’ll be adding more.
Look up your county’s board of supervisors and figure out which one is yours. For those of us in Sacramento County, you can check who your county supervisor is here. All of the county supervisors have newsletters, but you have to scroll to the bottom of their page to find it.
Sacramento County has a bunch of public meetings that you can attend. The good thing about the pandemic (sorry) is that everything is online now. I think it should be online forever because it seems pretty rude to limit government involvement to the people who can make it to downtown Sacramento on a weeknight, but what do I know?
There are a lot of county boards and commissions to join. Here’s the current list of openings. I’ve decided to keep an eye on the Southeast Area Community planning Advisory Council since that’s for “residents of the area” (that is, District 5, where I live) and members are appointed by the District 5 supervisor.
You can sign up for newsletters for a lot of these boards and other topics from the County here. I feel like you should get a welcome packet when you rent/buy a place in Sacramento that explains how to access county government information. How did people even do this in pre-internet times? I am mystified.
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.
Books and Other Words
It feels like all I’m doing lately is lying around and reading. Not to complain—it’s a perfectly good use of time, but it does make it seem like I don’t have much to write about.
Republic of Lies was an interesting book to be reading on/around the election. It’s a non-fiction book about Americans and our propensity to believe in conspiracies. It also makes the point that a lot of really wild and fucked up things, like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, did actually happen, so there’s a certain logic to believing in conspiracies.
I don’t have a lot to say about Transcendent Kingdom other than it was good and I recommend it.
The Language Hoax is a retort to the popular Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which posits that the language we use shapes the way we see the world. It’s a cool idea that people who speak a certain language are perhaps more attuned to direction or color, but John McWhorter shuts it down as basically colonialist bullshit. It’s a salty read for those of us interested in linguistic theory.
I’m reading S. A. Chakraborty’s Daevabad Triology, which is about a society of djinn and all their drama and politics. I read the first book, City of Brass, a few years ago and am currently re-reading it before reading the two books that have since been published. I love this book a lot and am excited to read the next two. It’s really fun to read fantasy set somewhere new. We have an abundance of European-influenced fantasy in the canon. There’s nothing wrong with that but, like, it’s fantasy. Can’t we get some variety in what we imagine? Another thing I really love about reading this is it’s waking up all that Arabic I learned in college. It’s cool to be able to recognize the things characters are saying when Chakraborty drops a little Arabic into the text (Don’t worry, you don’t have to know Arabic to read this book. It is, after all, in English). Maybe once I’m done re-learning French (lol), I’ll start back up with Arabic.
Republic of Lies
Transcendent Kingdom
The Language Hoax
City of Brass
Meanwhile on the internet:
When users get mean, these chatbots sass back via Experience Magazine. Why should we let people be assholes to AI customer service? Sure, the AI doesn’t have feelings, but you can’t just let assholes practice their rampant, unchecked assholery all the time.
We finished watching Silicon Valley. The show was fun but I was having less and less patience for the increasingly unsympathetic protagonist. Kirk reminded me that this was the point, but I did find it hard to watch at the end.
Tonight we are planning to watch Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I bought a three-movie set of the Bill and Ted movies so we could watch the new one. I have insisted to Kirk that we must watch the first two before the new one so we can maximally enjoy it.
Rampant Consumerism
In my ballet class, we’ve started learning how to turn. It’s just quarter turns for now, but I can sense it takes a lot of practice to get this skill down. My teacher recommended getting a spin board. They’re not expensive so why not. It’ supposed to help you improve your stability. I’m curious to see how it goes. If nothing else, it’s something else to fidget on while we weather the pandemic.
Making Things and Doing stuff
never getting up
It is cold and I did not want to get out of bed this morning. However I did get up because I also wanted to go to ballet class. Once I came home, I got back in bed and fell asleep for three hours. Seasonal tiredness? Fighting a cold? You decide.
Other than spending lots of time being cozy in bed, I’ve been knitting away at my Christmas gifts (no new completed projects to show yet) and chilling for the most part.
Kitchen Witchery
Las week, Kirk held a pantry intervention. He said my spice cupboard had gotten out of control and he was not wrong. He took everything out of the pantry, lined it up on the table, then told me to choose what to get rid of and to throw out expired stuff. Afterwards, he put everything back in the cupboard (with my input on what goes where) and put any extra jars of what I had behind the open jar “just like the grocery store.” What a gem.
pantry intervention
After the pantry intervention
I haven’t made a lot of new things lately so I don’t have a much to show. I usually don’t take pictures of something if I’ve made it before. However this week I did make a banana pumpkin bread. I had ordered two plantains from the grocery store and those colonizers brought me two bananas, which I did not want or appreciate. I don’t like bananas but I will accept banana bread. Of course, I said banana bread but make it fall so here we are. I also baked these M&M bars (and forgot to take a picture). We bought a mixed bag of candy for Halloween, but obviously no one came to our house, which has left us with the burden of consuming it all (oh no). No one ever wants to eat the plain M&Ms, so I took matters into my own hands. We didn’t have quite enough M&Ms to fill out the recipe, so I supplemented with chocolate chips. Quite tasty.
banana pumpkin bread
banana pumpkin loaf cross section
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves. It’s sleeping-on-blankets season.
This has been the longest (and most meme-filled) week of my life. I have many thoughts about the election and what comes next, so my post today will focus mostly on that, but I’ll include some of the usual stuff at the end—I know you’re only here for the cat photos.
Election Thoughts
I’ve spent pretty much this entire week staring into the abyss with my internet friends on twitter. Sharing memes and talking through it all on election twitter really helped me get through. We were worried on Tuesday night, laughed about Nevada memes on Wednesday, cheered for Philly on Friday, and switched from doomscrolling to joyscrolling on Saturday.
A Biden/Harris Victory
On Friday, when Biden’s win seemed like a sure thing, I heartily enjoyed all the Philadelphia and Gritty memes making the rounds. It’s maybe a little unfair that the last states counting votes get all the credit for winning the election, but I can’t be mad at Philly when they’re out there in the streets grooving in support of democracy. You love to see it.
liberté, egalité, gritté
I found out that Biden and Harris won around 8:30 Saturday morning. My friend Mike was the first to message me about it and I had to check the AP to confirm because I was in shock that the election finally ended. I spent most of Saturday slack with relief. I kept sighing and, as the day progressed, I felt less and less tense. I was getting rid of strain I didn’t even know I had and I think I’m still not done working through these emotional callouses. I almost cried last night watching Biden’s “we did it” speech. Biden is a perfectly average, competent politician, but I was so moved with relief that we’re going to have a president who isn’t a sociopathic asshole and a leader who I can stand to look at and listen to. The bar is super low right now. I feel like we’re getting out of an abusive relationship. America needs someone nice and stable for a while.
I know that Biden as president isn’t going to solve all of our problems, but it’s going to make our fight a lot fucking easier. The Biden campaign has announced that they’re going to start passing executive orders to right some of Trump’s wrongs as soon as he takes office. Thank god.
The “Four Seasons” Press Conference
Plenty of other people have already covered the hilarity that is the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, but I am compelled to comment on it for posterity. It’s the hardest I laughed in four years. If you missed it, the Trump campaign apparently set out to hold a press conference at the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia but, through some sort of mix-up, ended up holding the press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
never have I laughed so hard
somehow, this is real
It’s the perfect, bizarre ending to what has been an insane presidency. The catharsis of laughing at this has been wonderful. How perfect that this would-be authoritarian is closing out his tenure in front of a garage plastered with campaign signs. I will laugh about this for years to come.
This is now part of our cultural vocabulary
Republican Hypocrisy Strikes Again
It took about five minutes after Biden was declared the winner of the election before conservatives started telling Democrats that they need to be nice. I seem to recall in 2016 that conservatives were telling us to “get over it” when we were distraught about what four years of Trump might bring. On Tuesday, when it looked like Trump would win, conservatives were already tweeting shit like “cry more, libs.” That’s not how this works. You don’t get to tell people to empathize with their abuser—and what has Trump been as a president if not an abuser. Furthermore, what have conservatives lost other than the right to gloat? I know this will sound condescending to conservatives, but I mean it sincerely: I want policies that will improve everyone’s lives. That’s where the Democratic party should be heading. In contrast, Trump’s and the Republican Party’s policies since 2016 have worked to tear people apart and make lives worse. We’ve seen a ban on people coming from majority Muslim countries, families separated at our southern border, an an absolute unwillingness to slow the spread of coronavirus. Our lives are worse after four years of Trump, but conservative pundits have the audacity to lecture us about compassion? Can you imagine the reverse? Of course not.
motherfucking consequences!
Instead of encouraging Democrats and progressives to pretend everything is fine now, we need to have consequences for the people in charge who spent the last four years tearing down the country and the people who let them do it. As Sarah Kendzior has said, Biden “needs to spend four years identifying every official who was complicit in the Trump admin corruption. They have to be named, outed, and permanently banned from power. they can’t let it go.” If not, we’re going to be sucked into another round of Trumpism (with whoever ends up being his ideological successor). Americans need to see their lives improve. That’s not going to happen if we don’t root out the people who have caused this suffering.
Worries for the Immediate Future
I wrote two weeks ago that the right would be unwilling to accept the election results. That seems to be true. They’re out there protesting where votes are being counted, shouting that we need to stop counting or continue counting, depending on how things are going for Trump. In Sacramento, trumpistas are out protesting in front of the capitol. This seems like an extra-strange choice given that Biden beat trump by a gigantic margin here, but I don’t think most of these people are living in the same reality as we are.
fold it in!
A lot could happen between now and the inauguration in January. As I mentioned earlier, this is like an abusive relationship. Right now, we’re in the most dangerous part: the abuser knows we want to leave. We don’t know what he’ll do to try to stop us or hurt us on the way out. As much as I would like to put my mind at ease now that Biden and Harris have won, I can’t completely do it. We still have a lot of people who were fed a media diet of Trump’s inevitable victory. Let’s be extra careful and look out for each other for the next few months.
too many days!
What Next?
One positive outcome of the Trump presidency is we have learned to be active citizens. We know now that you have to participate in democracy and fight for the future you want. So here are some things on my radar that I’m going to push for. I encourage you to join me.
Georgia senate runoff: Both senate seats in Georgia are going to face a run-off election in January. This is important because right now, senators are tied 48 to 48 for Democrats and Republicans. For those of us outside of Georgia, we can provide support. Outside of donating to the campaigns, you can support Fair Fight, which is working to get more Georgians to vote. I also saw a suggestion that supporting Atlanta Mutual Aid and the Atlanta Community Food Bank can help. People aren’t going to care about voting if they are worried about being hungry or other basic needs.
Abolishing the electoral college: So far, officials have counted over 75 million votes for Biden and just 71 million for Trump. There are four million votes between these candidates, yet we were kept in suspense all week to make sure our arcane system of choosing a president would have enough states to go for Biden. This is stupid. We need to get rid of the electoral college and establish a National Popular Vote instead. This campaign is something I plan to read up on and put some of my energy into in the coming months.
Keep pestering the Democrats: We’ve done the initial harm reduction of getting Biden and Harris elected, now we need to keep them accountable to do what we want and need them to do. Biden has said he’s going to put a lot of great policies in place and I hope he does. We can’t let him give up and “compromise” with Republicans without even trying to do progressive things first, especially when we’ve seen how much Republicans are willing to comprimise when they’re in charge (read: not at all). I started making a monthly donation to ResistBot to remind me to keep speaking up. It’s the quickest and easiest way to contact my elected officials.
Local community work: A big part of what made this election a success for Democrats is the work people have put into their local communities to get out the vote. One organization I’m going to start supporting is NorCal Resist. They do a lot of good mutual aid work locally. If anyone knows of other organizations worth supporting or working with in Sacramento, I’m interested.
Books and Other Words
Piranesi
The Space Between Worlds
Sombras de Reikiavik
I am running low on energy after this week of election madness, so here are some quick thoughts on the books I read this week (somehow I found the will to read despite it all):
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. This book got a lot of good press but I thought it was just okay. It was an interesting concept and I kept reading, but by the end I was like “what did I just experience.” It’s been a week and I still don’t know what to say about it.
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. I liked this a lot. Alternate universes, inequality, finding your place in the world. All the good stuff.
Sombras de Reikiavik by Anthony Adeane. I am not normally interested in true crime but I read this because I saw it on the library’s “new book alerts.” It’s in Spanish and it’s about Iceland so I thought it would be fun. Turns out I’m still not really interested in true crime when it’s in Spanish and set in Iceland. I tried.
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
never thought I would be so happy to have Biden be our next president
Happy Halloween and happy Día de los Muertos! We didn’t do much for Halloween, what with the ongoing pandemic, but we did leave out some candy for any trick or treaters. We have a bird bath in front of our house that was here when we bought the place. I decided we should fill it with candy, so we did. That said, I don’t think anyone actually came by. So now I’ve got a costco-sized bag of Halloween candy. Oh no.
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.
Books and Other Words
Mill Town
The Once and Future Witches
Beowulf
Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Aresenault was an interesting read. It’s part memoir, part history, part investigative journalism, and part case study. Arsenault’s narrative focuses on her hometown of Mexico, Maine, which is known for its paper mill and extremely high rates of cancer. I struggle to describe this book because it contains so much. That said, it is definitely worth reading. It’s a window into small town, blue-collar life and how corporations don’t really give a shit about the people or environment around them.
Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches is a battle cry. Harrow starts with the premise that witch stories are really allegories about women and their power. The story takes place in the late 19th century where our protagonists, the Eastwood Sisters, each overcome the patriarchal bullshit of their time to find out how to exercise their power as women in the world. Of course, since this is a book about witches, they literally exercise supernatural power. They also do the hard emotional work of reconciling after being pitted against each other by their abusive dad and set about liberating knowledge and power, spreading it to other women. I really liked the magic system in this book; to do a spell you need the words (what you say to work the spell), the ways (accoutrements like herbs, candles, or other artifacts of witchery), and the will (the raw insistence that the world must change around you). It also turns out that the ability to work magic isn’t preordained by fate or genetically inherited—thus avoiding the slippery, uncomfortable slope of magic eugenics—but belongs to anyone with the will to work it. What better metaphor for women seizing their power? We don’t have to wait to be born to the right parents or for someone to give us permission, women see a need and work their will. Real witchcraft.
Finally, Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation of Beowulf was on my reading list this week. I admit I had never read any translation of Beowulf before this one even though it seems like something I “should” have read by now. I liked Headley’s translation a lot. It felt vibrant and it was fun to read. It skips trying to sound old or overly poetic and instead chooses colloquial language and incorporates some rhetorical devices, like alliteration and kennings, to preserve some of the feel of the original. If you’ve ever wanted to hear medieval warriors addressing each other as “bro” and telling each other they had better “come correct,” this is the Beowulf for you.
Meanwhile on the internet:
A shadowy AI service has transformed thousands of women’s photos into fake nudes: ‘Make fantasy a reality’ via The Washington Post. This is scary and gross and another reminder that women don’t ever get to let their guard down. Messaging app Telegram has some kind of add-on that makes fake nudes out of women’s photos. Great. You may recall that I was not long ago looking into non-facebook messaging apps. I’m very glad I went with Signal and not Telegram.
Kirk and I have been watching Silicon Valley, which, we have discovered, is really funny. The way the characters interact is perfect. Recommended it you want something to laugh about while you’re trying to get your mind off current events.
Last night we watched the new(ish) Disney/Pixar movie Onward. It was quite cute and entertaining. We are continuing with our theme of light entertainment since real life is such a trash fire these days.
Rampant Consumerism
It is perhaps a little early for such things, but now that we can’t fully trust the mail to run on time, I’ve been buying things in advance of when I want them. Long story short, I bought this hot cocoa advent calendar. Advent calendars are a lot of fun and it gives me something to look forward to (life after the election?) so I went for it. I cannot yet comment on the quality of the cocoa, but I am hoping it’s good!
Making Things and Doing stuff
winter garden 2020
I mentioned last week that we bought some plants. We got them planted last weekend now here they are. It’s apparently a little late in the season, so what we bought was already halfway grown, which is okay with me. We have some returning crops that we successful last year like the spinach and broccoli. We also planted lettuce, onions, and some herbs.
Moving It
Despite not doing a lot lately, my hip flexor has been bothering me this week. I’ve dealt with this problem before, but not outside of actively playing derby and lifting heavy objects. I don’t understand what could have strained it and I am annoyed that, even when I’m barely doing anything, I can have issues. It mostly hurts when I go from sitting to standing—the act of unfurling my body is a source of discomfort. I almost didn’t go to ballet class yesterday because of it, but I figured I’d be more upset if I didn’t go than if I went and couldn’t do everything. Fortunately, once I got warmed up, I felt fine and I was able to do everything without any trouble. Conclusion: bodies are weird and annoying. I’m also glad I didn’t skip class because we started learning how to pirouette! We’re doing quarter turns for now but it is fun to learn something that’s a really recognizable ballet move.
Kitchen Witchery
I’ve been using the weekends to do some time-consuming baking. I’ve got nothing better going on and I’m trying not to let my anxiety get the better of me (-rueful laughter-). Last weekend’s baking took the form of empanadas. I made pumpkin empanadas from the Decolonize Your Diet cookbook, which came out really good. Although I did get frustrated with making a bunch of tiny-ass empanadas and eventually starting making what was basically a pop tart. Kirk suggested that some kind of chocolate topping would only improve them and I said “you right” and whipped up a chocolate ganache for dipping. Highly recommended. I also made carnitas empanadas, since I had made a large batch of carnitas and had a bunch of meat. I used the dough recipe from the Gran Cocina Latina cookbook, but just winged it on the filling.
pumpkin empanada
pumpkin empanada cross-section
carnitas emapanadas
You may notice that my empanadas are not especially beautiful. I tried to follow Gran Cocina Latina’s crimping driections, but they were not super helpful. Could I have looked for a video online? I have no doubt. Did I? No.
oh, is that all
very that
Empanadas aside, Kirk’s birthday was this week so I made him clam chowder. I also made white chocolate macademia nut cookies but forgot to take a picture. I’m sure you can imagine it though. Since the weather has cooled off, I made beef stew, which I always enjoy. I use the recipe from How to Cook Everything, but transfer it to a crockpot after browning the meat and onions.
For Halloween, we had roast chicken (not pictured), acorn squash, green beans, and the return of pumpkin knots. I tried this chicken recipe, which came out great in the end. I took it out of the oven too early though and let it sit for 15 minutes before realizing it wasn’t cooked. So we had a course of sides while we waited for the chicken to finish. After dinner, we had these pumpkin sandwich cookies because I love pumpkin and fall flavors.
clam chowder in a bread bowl
beef stew
vegetable course while we wait for the chicken to finish
pumpkin sandwich cookies
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
I voted yesterday! It felt really good to finally turn in my ballot after spending a lot of time researching the issues and writing my voter guides. Speaking of, if you’re looking for information on the election, here’s what I’ve said about it:
I’m stressed about the election (or rather, about what’s going to happen after the election), but I feel like I’ve done what I can by voting and helping other people vote. I am also cautiously (very cautiously) optimistic about the early voter turnout, which has in many states surpassed all early voting in 2016. Will this be enough to keep Trump from stealing the election? Hard to say.
I’ve been grappling with the fact that both the left and the right are not going to want to accept the election results. The right because Trump has been claiming the election is rigged and because the Republican party has been doing everything they can to rig it, like setting up fake ballot boxes in California. The left because we know that Russia interfered with the 2016 election and there’s really anything to stop them from a repeat performance. What troubles me about this is the false equivalency. It The left may dispute the election based on actual evidence. The right on conspiracy theory. It gives the appearance of everyone throwing a temper tantrum for not giving what they want, even though that’s not the case. The Trump administration has been shouting about “rigged” elections for years so that any accusations against him for rigging the election will look reactionary. I don’t know how we will ever repair this rift in what was a shared reality.
Consuming
Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.
Books and Other Words
I recently read some really good books, starting with Machine by Elizabeth Bear. This book is the next in the series (or perhaps I should say next in the universe since it doesn’t exactly seem to be a series) following Ancestral Night. It’s a far-future, space operatic mystery involving trauma doctors, sick AI, and space-faring people from Earth from an earlier age who haven’t joined mainstream society yet. Something I really like about this series is it imagines a culture in which everyone takes an active role in stewarding their mental health and in questioning their biases. This is, of course, one of the joys of science fiction: an opportunity to imagine the kind of society we want.
The more of C. L. Polk’s books I read, the more I love her. This week I read her new book The Midnight Bargain, which is basically a romantic fantasy. This book has it all: magic, fashion, women becoming best friends, and everyone smashing the patriarchy. The Midnight Bargain was fun to read and gave me everything I wanted. Go read it.
Finally I read Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, which talks about the human element of space travel. Roach brings her characteristic humor and research skills to the question of how space agencies get people to survive in space. It shattered any illusions I was secretly harboring about ever going to space. I’m convinced I’m absolutely unfit for space travel. Between the motion sickness, questionable food, and the difficulty of relieving oneself, I know I would be a fetid ball of misery.
Machine
The Midnight Bargain
Packing for Mars
Meanwhile, on the internet:
Self-help hacks at the end of the world via The New Republic. This piece talks about the toll the pandemic is taking on our collective mental health and the futility of individual “hacks” or solutions. It shouldn’t be on individuals to deal with the trauma and grief of all this through daily journaling or whatever. We need social change.
Facebook manipulated the news you see to appease Republicans, insiders say via Mother Jones. This is some heavy stuff that confirms what you might already suspect: Facebook’s algorithm favors conservative news outlets over liberal (or even neutral) ones. This information does explain why so many of our relatives are caught up in a conservative echo chamber and why facebook is so unbearable to use these days.
The California tribe the government tried to erase in the 60s via Vice. This article talks a bit about the Nisenan tribe, which lived where Sacramento is before Sacramento was here. I’ve lived here for almost 10 years and didn’t know a thing about the indigenous people of this region. This educated me a little and provided some perspective into their struggle for recognition.
The mad, mad world of niche sports among Ivy League-obsessed parents via The Atlantic. I’m sharing this because it’s weird and funny and sad. There are a lot of parents who are hustling extra hard to get their kids into a top school. They have decided that the best way to do this is to get them to be one of the best players in a sport like squash or fencing. The amount of grinding these kids are doing is insane and it made me think of the book I talked about a couple weeks ago, Can’t Even, and how kids are becoming walking college resumes.
TV and Music
Last night we watched the movie Hotel Artemis and, boy, was it mediocre. It looked cool. It said it was a near-future movie about a hotel/hospital for patching up criminals. It was an alright concept and it was pretty, but when it was over I was left wondering what the movie was trying to tell us. It seemed like it had too many characters it was trying to develop in too short a time. It was a moderate piece of entertainment with some good actors in it, but it wasn’t a great movie.
Rampant Consumerism
I have started doing some Christmas shopping, but of course I don’t want to divulge the details here. Instead, I will say that we bought some new plants for the garden. Our summer garden was not productive. We forgot to refresh the soil before planting and then I never wanted to go outside to water between the extreme heat and the smoke. We’re hoping for more success this season. We bought broccoli, spinach, and lettuce, among other things. We’re planning to actually plant it all this afternoon so I don’t have any exciting photos yet.
Making Things and Doing stuff
As usual, I have been doing a bit of everything lately.
Spanish
As you may have already guessed, I spent some time working on my voter guide translation. My teacher Olivia helped me refine it, but she said I had done a really good job . I was really pleased to hear that I was able to get my voice and style to come through when writing in Spanish.
Knitting and Crafts
I finished another pair of socks. This pattern is Cirrus Socks and the yarn is from Black Cat Fibers. When I was knitting it, I wasn’t sure I liked the pattern, but I’m happy with how it eventually came out, thankfully. I’ve also set up my yarn winder in the guest/craft room to wind up some of the yarn I bought recently. Normally I leave my sewing machine on the table (I try to keep the number of steps between me and a project low otherwise I’ll never do anything), so I’ve been on a winding bonanza to get everything wound and put away. This is a great activity for when I’m stuck on a conference call but don’t need to participate in any way.
cirrus socks
new socks
yarn winding
Moving It
I’m having a lot of fun with my weekly ballet class. Today we started learning grand allegro (I obviously look nothing like this yet), which is fun. The big, dramatic stuff feels more like what I expected ballet to be rather than the smaller movements and fundamentals we spend most of our time on. But I guess most physical activities are like that.
Kitchen Witchery
As for food stuff, last weekend we had a shark coochie (no coochies at this link, don’t worry) extravaganza in honor of Mandy’s birthday. I also made red velvet sandwich cookies and attempted to make snickerdoodle ice cream from the recipe in the Salt & Straw cookbook. Unfortunately, the recipe resulted in a horrible, gloopy mess that still has me traumatized. I’d already made the cookies so we spread them over some vanilla ice cream instead for more or less the same end result.
Birthdays aside, I want to show that I have perfected the chickpea-loaded sweet potato. I’m sure I’ve shared this recipe before because I make it a lot, but the last round it came out very attractive and tasty, probably in part thanks to getting a fresh pomegranate, instead of buying the prepacked seeds that always seem to be the edge of spoiling. I served it with a cauliflower recipe that I usually reserve for Thanksgiving, but you only pandemic once so why not. In the interest of trying more festive drinks, we also had this pomegranate cider spritzer, which was good but I think the proportions are a little off. It needs a bit more fizz and a little less cider. More experimentation is needed.
birthday “shark coochie”
red velvet sandwich cookies
congealed disaster
low-effort snickerdoodle ice cream
chickpea and tahini sweet potatoes with roasted cauliflower
non-alcoholic pomegranate cider spritzer
Cat Therapy
Finally, here are some cat photos for your nerves.
Finalmente, después del año/la pandemia/la campaña de elecciones más largo/a de nuestras vidas, ya es la hora de votar. En mis fuentes web he visto mucha discusión sobre la eficacia de votar. Soy pragmática: no podemos derrocar un sistema malo a través nuestros votos. No obstante, votar es una de nuestras herramientas y debemos usar todo la que tenemos. Votar es el método más fácil para hacer oír tu voz.
Esta guía es para votantes en California. Explico mis elecciones y mis porqués. Aquí están unos recordatorios y recursos para votantes en California:
Descargo de responsabilidad: No soy experta en la política ni el gobierno. Soy solo una persona quien tiene habilidades de leer y buscar información. Puedes usar esta guía como un punto de partida para decidir como quieres votar. Si ya estás agotado/a y confías en mi, puedes votar como yo voto. Si crees que soy idiota, puedes hacer lo opuesto como voto. Vota como quieras, pero por favor, vota.
Consulta rápida
Para el votante quien tiene prisa y cree que soy una jueza adecuada, aquí está un resumen de mis votos.
Oficina o propuesta
Mi voto
Presidente y vicepresidente
Biden y Harris
14 (investigación con las células madre)
Yes
15 (impuesto a propriedades comerciales)
Yes
16 (acción afirmativa)
Yes
17 (restaurar el derecho de votar)
Yes
18 (los de 17 años pueden votar en las elecciones primarias)
Yes
19 (reglas de evaluar los impuestos a la propiedad)
Yes
20 (clasificar más crímenes de felonia)
No
21 (control de alquileres)
Yes
22 (derechos de los empleados de empresas de transporte y entrega)
No
23 (requisitos para las clínicas de diálisis renal)
Yes
24 (la privacidad de los consumidores)
No
25 (referéndum del sistema de fianza)
Yes
Presidente y Vicepresidente
Mi voto: Joe Biden y Kamala Harris
Nadie quien me conoce debe estar sorprendido que yo voto por Biden y Harris. Mucha de la discusión inicial alrededor de Biden se enfocó en conformarse con votar por Biden. Él no es el candidato socialista de nuestros sueños, pero está bien. Sus políticas (¡en español!) son buenas. Biden respalda una opción pública del seguro de salud. No cabe dudas que sería peor con cuatro años más de Trump que cuatro años de Biden. Un voto por Trump es un buen método de comunicar a todas las personas en tu vida quienes no son heterosexuales ni blancas que no te preocupas de sus derechos.
Una anotación sobre votar por un “tercer” partido: Estoy de acuerdo que este país necesita más opciones políticas. Desgraciadamente, esta elección no es la mejor oportunidad para tomar este riesgo. Tenemos que detener el sangrado. Me gustaría ver (y votar por), sin embargo, candidatos del tercer partido en elecciones locales y estatales. Dado a como el colegio electoral funciona, no vamos a tener un candidato viable de tercer partido por la oficina del presidente. Necesitamos empezar localmente.
Propuestas Estatales de California
California tiene 12 propuestas en la boleta en esta elección, empezando con Propuesta 14.
Autoriza bonos para continuar la investigación con células madre.
Un voto sí significa que el estado podría vender $5.5 mil millones en bonos de obligación general principalmente para la investigación con células madre y el desarrollo de nuevos tratamientos médicos en California.
Mi voto: Sí
El trasfondo de Propuesta 14 es que California autorizó $3 mil millones en bonos para financiar la investigación con células madre en 2004 a través Propuesta 71 (en ese entonces las células madre era un asunto controvertido), que también creó el California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (el instituto californiano de medicamento regenerativo). Un voto de sí por Propuesta 14 permitiría que el estado vende otro $5.5 mil millones de bonos para continuar financiar la investigación con las células madre. Tuve que pensar en esto porque $5.5 mil millones es mucho dinero pero la investigación con las células madre puede conducir a muchos avances científicos. La ciencia avanza poco a poco, y lo que se aprende aquí tal vez no tenga un uso inmediatamente hasta que alguien descubra algo nuevo y conecta las ideas. Se vale la inversión. Al fin, decidí que el dinero de todas formas es imaginario y además el solo donante en oposición a esta propuesta es el California “Pro-Life” Council (el consejo provida de California).
Aumenta las fuentes de financiamiento para las escuelas públicas, las universidades comunitarias y los servicios gubernamentales locales al cambiar la valuación fiscal de las propriedades comerciales e industriales.
Un voto Sí significa que aumentarían los impuestos a la propiedad sobre la mayoría de los inmuebles comerciales con un valor de más de $3 millones con la finalidad de proporcionar nuevos fondos para los gobiernos locales y las escuelas.
Mi voto: Sí
Los impuestos a la propiedad en California son actualmente calculados, basados en se lo que pagó para la propiedad. Si pagaste un níquel en 1910, sus impuestos a la propiedad hoy son basados en ese pago original de cinco centavos. Propuesta 15 cambiaría esa tasa por propiedades comerciales e industriales, pero no las residenciales. Significa que personas quien son dueñas de tierra comercial pagarían impuestos basados en el valor actual de la tierra. Por la mayor parte, solo dueños de más de $3 millones de propriedades comerciales e industriales serían afectados. En breve, Propuesta 15 gravaría a los ricos y yo lo apoyo completamente.
Permite la diversidad como factor en el empleo público, la educación y las decisiones de contratación.
Un voto de Sí significa que las entidades estatales y locales podrían considerar la raza, el sexo, el color, el origen étnico y la nacionalidad en la educación pública, el empleo público y la contratación pública en la medida permitida conforme a las leyes federales y estatales.
Mi voto: Sí
Propuesta 16 se trata de lo que normalmente es llamado como la acción afirmativa (esta propuesta usa el término “discriminación positiva”). La legislatura puso esta propuesta en la boleta para revocar la Propuesta 209, celebrada en 1996, que prohibió la acción afirmativa en el empleo público, diciendo “El estado no discriminará, o dará tratamiento preferente, a algún individuo o grupo de acuerdo con su raza, sexo, color, identidad étnica, o país de origen en la operación de empleo público, educación pública, ni contratación pública.”
Me parece genial no discriminar, pero la condición base ahora es discriminar (positivamente) a favor de los hombres blancos. Por ejemplo, aunque las mujeres son bien representadas en el empleo público, son infrarrepresentadas en los niveles más altos. Hasta que vivamos en una sociedad que verdaderamente promueve personas según sus méritos y no su raza ni sexo, creo que necesitamos la acción afirmativa. Reflexiona qué tan frecuente ves una junta de administración con mujeres o negro/as en su totalidad. Ahora: ves más frecuentemente una junta compuesta completamente de hombres blancos?
Restablece el derecho de votar después de cumplir la pena de prisión.
Un voto de Sí significa que las personas en libertad condicional estatal que sean ciudadanos estadounidenses, residentes de California, y tengan por lo menos 18 años de edad podrían votar, si se inscriben para votar.
Mi voto: Sí
Sabías que las personas encarceladas o en libertad condicional no son permitidas a votar? California tiene más que 100,000 personas encarceladas y alrededor de 50,000 en libertad condicional actualmente. Propuesta 17 concedería el derecho de votar a las personas en libertad condicional (las personas encarceladas aún no serían permitidas de votar).
Creo que es importante que la máxima cantidad de gente tener derecho a votar si queremos tener un gobierno que de veras nos represente. Cometer un crimen no debe significar que tu voz no cuente. Además, si personas encarceladas no pueden votar, el gobierno tiene un incentivo para encarcelar a su oposición política o encerrar a la gente que no quiera votar. Toma en cuenta que “En 2017 28.5% de los prisioneros del estado fueron afroamericanos—comparado con solo el 5.6% de los residentes varones adultos.” Cuando nuestro sistema guarda de manera desproporcionada ciertos grupos en prisión pero no otros, y niega a los prisioneros el derecho de votar, comunica claramente cuales voces tienen valor. Votemos para cambiarlo. Jo, sabes quien está luchando contra esta proposición? El Partido Republicano.
Enmienda la constitución de California para permitir que las personas de 17 años de edad voten en las elecciones primarias y especiales si cumplen 18 antes de la próxima elección general y son eligibles para votar.
Un voto de Sí significa que las personas eligibles de 17 años de edad que cumplirán 18 antes de la próxima elección general puedan votar en las elecciones primarias y especiales previas a la elección general.
Mi voto: Sí
Semejante a la Propuesta 17, tomo la postura que la ampliación del derecho de votar es bueno. En mi opinión, tiene sentido que los de 17 años quienes van a cumplir 18 antes de la elección en noviembre deben tener derecho a votar en las elecciones primarias. Esto permitirían que den su opinión en toda la elección, no solo el fin.
Recomiendo mucho que leas este argumento desquiciado contra Propuesta 18 por su valor cómico. Entiendo el argumento de que el cerebro no se ha desarrollado completamente a los 17, pero tampoco es desarrollado a 18. Si es el argumento que quieres hacer, cambia la edad de votar a 25.
Cambia ciertas reglas del impuesto sobre la propriedad de bienes inmuebles.
Un voto de Sí significa que todos los propietarios de viviendas mayores de 55 años de edad (o quienes cumplan otros requisitos) podrían ser elegibles para ahorros en el impuesto a la propiedad. Solo las propiedades heredadas usadas como hogares principales o granjas serían eligibles para ahorros en el impuesto a la propiedad.
Mi voto: Sí
Un saludo a Ballotpedia por ayudarme entender esta propuesta. Es otra propuesta de “grava a los ricos,” y sabes que me encanta gravar a los ricos. Propuesta 19 permitiría que personas de más de 55 años de edad, personas con discapacidades, o víctimas de desastres pudieran trasladar su fractura del impuesto a cualquier parte del estado hasta tres veces (el límite actual es una vez). Significa que, si compras una casa nueva del mismo valor (o menos) de su casa actual, puedes mantener la tasa actual de impuestos sobre la propiedad. Ahora, de gravar a los ricos: cuando alguien herede una propiedad que no va a usar como su residencia principal (es decir, una renta o una casa secundaria), se revaluaría la propiedad y el dueño nuevo gravará impuestos basado en el valor actual. Por ejemplo, si tus padres te dieran su casa de vacaciones en Lake Tahoe que compraron en 1975 para $40, no pagarías impuestos basado en el precio de $40, pero el precio de mercado actual de la casa—asumiendo que no intentarías vivir allí a tiempo completo.
Restringe la libertad condicional para ciertos delitos que actualmente son considerados no violentos. Autoriza sentencias de delitos graves para ciertos delitos que actualmente solo se tratan como delitos menores.
Un voto de No significa que no aumentarían las penas para las personas que cometen ciertos crímenes relacionados con el robo. No habría cambio al proceso estatal de liberación anticipada de la prisión para ciertos reclusos. La aplicación de la ley continuaría exigiendo la recolección de muestras de ADN de adultos solo sí fueron arrestados por un delito mayor o es necesario para registrarlos como agresores sexuales o incendiarios.
Mi voto: No
Debemos pisar con mucho cuido cuando se trata de permitir al estado clasificar más personas como felones. Ser condenado con una felonía significa que ya no votas, recibes beneficios sociales, ni haces empleos ciertos. Propuesta 20 es una reacción a unas iniciativas recientes que ha reducido la cantidad de personas encarceladas. Creo que esto lo resume:
“Cuando consideramos … una propuesta que aumentaría los castigos de infracciones de bajo nivel, en un sistema que ya es profundamente prejuiciado en contra de los Californianos Negros, Indígenas, y Latinos, creo que es claro que solo extendería el daño de nuestro sistema de justicia criminal,” dijo Washburn, atrapando “más y más Californianos en este ciclo, que es muy difícil de escapar, de entrar y salir las cárceles y los cortes y en la libertad condicional.”
Amplía la autoridad de los gobiernos locales para promulgar el control de alquileres en propiedades residenciales.
Mi voto: Sí
Aprobando Propuesta 21 modificaría las limitaciones de una ley existente, la Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (La Ley de Vivienda en Alquiler de Costa-Hawkins) que dice que control de alquileres no pueden aplicar a un hogar unifamiliar o viviendas nuevas construidas después de 1995. Propuesta 21 permitiría que las ciudades y los condados establecieran medidos de control de alquileres para casas de más de 15 años de edad (excluyendo los hogares unifamiliares cuyos dueños de solo una o dos propiedades). Lo importante es que esta propuesta no establece el control de alquileres, pero lo hace posible porque permitirían que las ciudades limiten cuánto un dueño puede aumentar la renta a la vez. Porque he vivido en departamentos donde la renta aumenta por 10% cada año, puedo imaginar fácilmente que la mayoría de gente daría la bienvenida al control de alquileres.
Exime a las empresas de transporte y entrega basadas en aplicaciones de proporcionar beneficios para empleados a determinados conductores.
Un voto de No significa que las empresas de viajes compartidos y entregas basadas en aplicaciones tendrían que contratar a los conductores como empleados si los tribunales dictan que una reciente ley estatal hace que a los conductores se les considere como empleados. Los conductores tendrían menos elección sobre cuándo, dónde y cuánto trabajar, pero obtendrían los beneficios y protecciones estándar que las empresas deben brindar a los empleados.
Mi voto: No
El Estado de California recientemente dio dictamen que las empresas Uber y Lyft han mis-clasificados sus trabajadores como contratistas, en lugar de empleados propios. La decisión de la corte dice que las empresas vulneraron Assembly Bill 5, que establece tres criterios para determinar si un trabajador es, de hecho, un contratista independiente. Por qué importa? Las empresas tienen que pagar impuestos sobre el salario y proporcionar beneficios por sus empleados, pero no por los contratistas. Esas empresas son invierten mucho en la campaña para no pagar a sus empleados. Ve esta lista de los donantes más grandes a la campaña de “sí”
los donantes más grandes a la campaña de “sí”
Me parece muy claro que Uber, Lyft, y los demás están desesperados para que sus trabajadores no sean clasificados como empleados. Pone un estrés a los trabajadores mientras las corporaciones se benefician.
Establece requisitos del estado para las clínicas de diálisis renal. Requiere personal médico profesional presente en el sitio.
Un voto de Sí significa que se requeriría que las clínicas de diálisis crónica tengan un médico en el sitio durante todas las horas de tratamiento de pacientes.
Mi voto: Sí
Aquí está una lista de que va a pasar si Propuesta 23 se aprueba, de Ballotpedia:
Requiere que al menos un médico licenciado esté en el sitio durante el tratamiento en clínicas de diálisis crónico; autoriza que el California Department of Public Health (el Departamento de Salud Pública de California) exime a clínicas de este requerimiento si hay una falta de médicos licenciados y la clínica tiene al menos un enfermero facultativo o médico asociado en el sitio.
Requiere que las clínicas reporten los datos de infecciones relacionadas a diálisis al gobierno estatal y al gobierno federal.
Prohíbe a las clínicas cerrar o reducir servicios sin la aprobación del estado.
Prohíbe a las clínicas rehusar tratar a pacientes debido al fondo de sus pagos para servicios médicos.
Me parece sensible, entonces me pregunté quién está en contra de esta ley. El oponente principal es Davita, Inc, que provee servicios de diálisis y ha contribuido casi $60 millones para oponer las regulaciones nuevas. Creo que una industria luchando contra sus propias regulaciones es una señal que la gente normal se beneficiaría de esto.
Un voto de No significa que se continuaría requiriendo a las empresas seguir las leyes existentes de privacidad de los datos del consumidor. Los consumidores continuarían teniendo los derechos existentes de privacidad de datos. El Departamento de Justicia del estado continuaría supervisando y aplicando estas leyes.
Mi voto: No
Esta propuesta es tramposa. Los derechos de privacidad del consumidor que la Propuesta 24 establecería me parecen buenos. Aunque, cuando vi que el ACLU opone esta propuesta, busqué un poco más. El Electronic Frontier Foundation (La Fundación de la Frontera Electrónica) tiene una explicación rigurosa de las cosas erróneas de Propuesta 24. El EFF está de acuerdo con el ACLU en oponerla. Aquí está uno de los problemas el más grande:
Propuesta 24 ampliaría planes de “pagar para la privacidad.” Específicamente, esta iniciativa eximiría “clubes de lealtad” del límite actual del CCPA a empresas cargando precios diferentes a consumidores quienes usan sus derechos de privacidad … Este cambio permitiría una empresa retener un descuento de un consumidor sino el consumidor permite que la empresa coseche data sobre sus hábitos de compra, y obtener ganancias de divulgar este data a otras empresas. Esta iniciativa también expandiría un tecnicismo actual (que permite “incentivas financieras” por algunas clases de procesamiento de datos) de la “venta” de estos datos y además de “compartirlo.”
Desafortunadamente, los planes de “pagar para la privacidad” presionan a todos los Californianos para rendir sus derechos de privacidad. Lo peor es que, debido a la disparidad flagrante de nuestra sociedad, estos planes van a acarrear, injustamente, a una sociedad de “poseedores” y “desposeídos.”
Referéndum sobre la ley que reemplaza la fianza de dinero con un sistema basado en la seguridad pública y el riesgo de fuga.
Un voto de Sí significa que ninguna persona pagaría fianza para salir de cárcel antes del juicio. En cambio, las personas serían liberadas automáticamente o en función de riesgo evaluado de cometer otro delito o de no comparecer ante la corte en caso de ser liberadas. A ninguna persona se le cobrarían tarifas como condición para la liberación.
Mi voto: Sí
Esta propuesta es un referéndum a nivel estatal de SB 10, que es una ley que los legisladores californianos aprobaron y el gobernador firmó en 2018. SB 10 reemplazó el sistema de pagar la fianza, en que personas pagar para librarse de cárcel mientras esperan su juicio, con un sistema que pone en libertad a las personas basado en su nivel de riesgo, no de cuanto dinero tiene. Por supuesto es un mejor sistema que antes, pero el ACLU dice que no está perfecto. Como siempre, lo más revelador en mi opinión es quien respalda esta legislación. Las personas quienes se van a beneficiar al máximo, empresas de fianza, son los que empezaron este referéndum y apoyan la campaña de “no.” El sistema necesita mejorar, pero reinstalar los pagos de fianza no es la respuesta.
Conclusión
Espero que esta guía te ayudara a decidir como quieres votar a las propuestas en la boleta de California. Si tienes preguntas o crees que estoy equivocada, escríbeme un comentario y voy a hacer mi mejor esfuerzo para responder.
