Reading List: Happiness Is A Great Novel And The Look On A Terrible Person's Face As Their Attorney Backs A Dump Truck of Evidence Up To Opposing Counsel's Door (A Love Story)
Poppets! It’s been a week, my dears, one full of great talks with colleagues, kind and helpful friends caring for my furry dependent and mercifully tiring her out whilst I’m in an office (insta recap here), and an emergency declared over YET ANOTHER TERRIBLY INFECTIOUS DISEASE. In the old internet parlance, TL;DR I just can’t right now.
And I haven’t been writing as much this week, dear readers, something I know I posit to you on occasion. In addition to the world being the IRL illustration of that Community gif, recovery from my second round of COVID has been slow going, with ongoing fatigue, brain fog, inability to focus, and need to sleep a ton, which is hard because research / writing / editing / using my noggin is my personal making of widgets for sale in late stage capitalism. Now, are my challenges COVID recovery or burnout? Burnout from work, or burnout from the constant deluge of catastrophic news? And if burnout from the constant deluge of catastrophic news, how does one go about writing a used-to-be-daily newsletter centered on news in the wee hours of the morning?
Well, darlings, we write what we can in the evenings, and we write as much as we can in the morning, and we hope it’s enough to cobble together to shove in your inbox and make you chuckle a bit (today, it’s also a bunch of random tweets because why the hell not.) And if we feel like we cannot write, lest we drain the intellectual energy needed for the job that pays for my dog’s trips to the beach, we listen to ourselves and sleep in a bit, or take said pupper for a walk, or check in with our family. As everyone is doing with everything we have in our lives right now, we do what we can to get through everything around us.
(Btw, I was listening to the Conspirituality podcast and they mentioned that using “we” in communication that goes out to an audience can evoke the tactics of high control groups (i.e., cults) so, ummm… yea?)
But let’s roll into this weekend together, shall we?
Paul Tremblay, A Head Full Of Ghosts - I am continuing the summer of horror novels, and this one is a doozy - so much so that I have had to renew it from the library because I scare myself reading before I go to bed. But it’s so good!
The Editorial Board, A Cynical Low for the Democratic Party (The New York Times) - It disgusts me that Democrats invested in a “a cynical political strategy to support pro-Trump candidates in Republican primaries, on the theory that they would be easier for Democrats to beat in the fall general election,” because I would much rather have common sense Republicans in solidly red states than risk electing fact-denying proto-fascists to national office. Bah humbug, jerks, be better already - this isn’t about us putting Ws for the donkeys on the board, it’s about protecting democracy.
Jerusalem Demsas, The Billionaire’s Dilemma (The Atlantic) - Am I surprised by this piece on very wealthy individuals who publicly espouse progressive ideals being revealed as NIMBYs who oppose multi-family housing zoning in their posh towns? No, of course not. Does it still make me super angry? You’d better believe it.
Claire Suddath, It’s Getting Harder to Be a Woman in America (Bloomberg Businessweek) - Sooooo there’s no way in hell I am reading this without plenty of sleep, a meditation session, and a pillow I can punch.
Charlie Warzel, Alex Jones Can’t Pretend His Way Out of This Reality (The Atlantic) - Was the best part of my day yesterday the video of on-the-stand Alex Jones learning that his attorneys had accidentally sent allllllll of his data to the lawyers representing the parents of murdered children suing him because he turned their greatest tragedy into food for the ravenous alt-right wolves and weirdo creatine supplements sold at a premium? You know the answer, you’ve been reading these things long enough. May that ghastly man forever have burrs in his socks and lemon juice in his paper cuts.
You’re awesome. Drink that water, get some fresh air, and be kind to yourself, won’t you?
xoxo Amy
Oooh, one more tweet I liked this week:
