{"id":2051,"date":"2021-03-12T20:17:51","date_gmt":"2021-03-13T04:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?p=2051"},"modified":"2021-03-12T20:17:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T04:17:51","slug":"two-weeks-in-the-life-march-12-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?p=2051","title":{"rendered":"Two Weeks in the Life: March 12, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had very good intentions of writing last week until work got in the way of my whole existence. I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were working hard on a big proposal but management told us to stop. Well, management changed their damn minds and told us to start up again with just a week before the proposal was due. Neat. We have been understaffed, so I was doing 1.5 jobs last week. I worked late basically every day and worked all day last Saturday. Fortunately it is over and I’m now taking a four-day weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In more exciting news, we closed on our mortgage refinance! Since this is pandemic life, the notary came to our house with all the paperwork. We all wore masks and she brought new pens for us to use that no one else had touched. I think notaries should always come to me. It’s much nicer than going to an office. In any case, the mortgage is official, and our house will be paid for in just 20 short years instead of 26 years from now as it would have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consuming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are some things I’ve recently read, watched, or bought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books and Other Words<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last week I finished Soulstar<\/a>, the final book in C. L. Polk’s Kingston Cycle. This was another great read. It’s the most overtly political book of the three, which in a way takes me out of the fantasy but that’s on me as a reader, comparing it to real life, since this story is in a completely fictional world. I don’t want to give away what happens, so I will just say that you should read this series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In non-fiction reads, I must recommend Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents<\/a> by Isabel Wilkerson, although Oprah has already recommended this book and I don’t imagine I can add much to that, but here I am. Wilkerson takes a look at the status of Black people in the U.S. and concludes, based on quite a lot of research, that we’re actually living in a caste system, much like that of Germany during the Third Reich or India during forever. Even though I read a lot around race and history in this country, I still learned (and was horrified by) many new things. This is a well-researched argument rounded out by a journalist’s sense for when to weave in personal experiences from many different people. I think this is a really good book for anyone who thinks that they’re not racist or they shouldn’t have to feel bad about being white. I’m not saying this to disagree, but Caste gives a different way of framing this issue instead of racist\/not racist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n