Thursday, June 30, 2022

Three Interesting Things

1.  This long piece addressed some of the work being done to broaden traditional publishing
2. I am not working in employer benefits these days, but it doesn't mean I wasn't curious about how employers could cover abortion - or any other medical procedure an employee needed to go out of state for, this piece addressed some of the logistics if you are benefits admin curious.  
3. Sometimes something that could be stunt. protest, or prank just captures attention, and this tale of a radio station that played a single song yesterday was fascinating.  

Monday, June 27, 2022

This Is Us

The book America, that the Daily Show under Jon Stewart put together had asterisks and footnotes. Because there are lots of times throughout US history that they say everyone should have something, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, free speech, and so on, but, by everyone they meant like rich white dudes, or dudes with property, not the people who had been declared property of course. Growing up and living in DC it becomes clear a little more easily the asterisks. 
Our local laws are regularly challenged by Congressional folks for funsies. We have been repeatedly denied access to Congressional representation, and yet, still required to pay federal taxes, a particular thing that is true nowhere else in the US. 
People try to attack our city because of those nationally elected folks, and yet they go home, and all the various surveillance set up to track them, tracks us. 
But it just means more work to be done. Just looking at Supreme Court precedents alone, we have had many terrible ones. There are ones I consider terrible still in place. And others that were later changed. It's sometimes exhausting to daunting to discover things, rights, even back on the to do list, when they seemed done. 
But well, history books show us that terrible decisions can get fixed. They just kind of skate over all the work. It's a lot of work. But the good news is there are a lot of us. 

Friday, June 24, 2022

Over on the Newsletter

Hey folks, I know today is a day. 
In news that has very little to do with current events, the next scene in the "How May I Help You? story I am serializing went out to newsletter folks earlier today. 

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Three Interesting Things

1. Some local residents started a plant coop for folks interested in finding native plants.  
2. I am very very biased about this, but I enjoyed author Andie J. Christopher's post on how dating apps feel like a variation on diet culture
3. The ship that locals had been talking about for so long, it inspired "The Goonies" among other things, has been located

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Thinking a Lot About Clothes

I am doing the 100 day challenge. This is not really promo, I like the dress and the company offering this so far, but there are variations of this (10 x 10, project 333, etc) that I have been meaning to try for a while. 
There are various studies that most of us wear a small portion of our closet. That we tend to machine wash more frequently than we need to. And that honestly, most people don't remember what you wore yesterday anyway. 
One of the things trying to wear the same dress for 100 days has shown me is how lazy I've gotten about spot cleaning. Or hanging up stuff that I wore that day. 
I also have reached a point in my life where I have plenty of clothes that fit, but I don't wear.
Or I do, but then they go in the laundry and the laundry piles up and I forget they exist. I hate getting rid of things that work, but also if I have more things than I can keep track of, then it isn't really helpful. 
I'm still in the early days of this, and so may find as I run out of leggings, and scarves, and necklaces to accessorize with, my interest in this wanes. Okay, I won't actually run out of scarves. But we shall see. 
I think whether you do this officially or just on you're own, there's something to the ease of knowing just what I'll be wearing tomorrow. 

Friday, June 17, 2022

"Good Luck to You, Leo Grande"

I had a chance to see an early screening of "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande".
Early in the movie it occurred to me that Nancy, the character Emma Thompson is playing, is reminiscent of the character she plays in "Love Actually", where textually she seems very buttoned up and yet because it is Emma Thompson you see the hidden depths there too. In fact, in my humble opinion, if you consider this basically a bonus chapter to "Love Actually" you might enjoy it more.
This is not to say the movie doesn't stand on its own. But it does operate in the way of many what I call conversation plays. Plays that introduce you to a slice of a few characters lives and then the idea is you and your friends all get to talk about what it means. This is an excellent way to entertain oneself. 
Also, because it's on streaming and I know some folks might pause, it seems worth noting, in a choice that I'm sure is intended to have meaning on multiple levels, the amount of each character we see physically grows larger, so if at the end of the first encounter you think, hmm, your patience, in that sense at least, will be rewarded.
Content note: While the consent for sexual situations is firmly positive throughout, there is an incident of boundary crossing that occurs.

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Three Interesting Things


1. A Hawaiian chef won a James Beard Award!  As did the local DC Dish CIty Podcast!
2. Before he was a Tony winner, DC Theater Arts talked to Marylander Myles Frost
3. Can I resist a man stops for lone kitten and discovers 13 story?  No, I cannot. 

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Bad Descriptions of Tony Nominees

All due respect to the delightful nominees, summarizing them shortly and badly amuses me. 
Clyde's, by Lynn Nottage - Sandwiches are important. 
Hangmen, by Martin McDonagh - It's tough being a hangman. 
The Lehman Trilogy, by Stefano Massini and Ben Power - Jobs are in jeopardy at the auto plant. 
The Minutes, by Tracy Letts - Banking is tough when there's a financial crisis. 
Skeleton Crew, by Dominique Morisseau - Local government, am I right?

Best Musical
Girl From The North Country - Two strangers show up and everything changes. 
MJ - It's about this guy, you may have heard of him, Michael Jackson.
Mr. Saturday Night - What if this old guy was still funny? 
Paradise Square - The Civil War makes it hard to be friends. 
SIX: The Musical - What if all your exes went on the same reality show?
A Strange Loop - Writing is so hard, and sometimes the muse choir is no help. 

Friday, June 10, 2022

The Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo Suggestions

Quick technical note, I've included some things that in my humble opinion are more women's fiction with strong romantic elements, but are currently being marketed as rom-coms. 
Also, there are some I currently don't have any suggestions for, so I skipped them.  I'll report back if I discover more in my reading this summer. And some of these are listed in multiple categories, if they fit. 
Second Chance: If You Love Something by Jayce Ellis
Amnesia - I know my giant list isn't only romance, but there's a lot of romance. 
Food on the cover: Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau, D'Vaugn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins, Battle Royale by Lucy Parker
Bicycle: Soulstar by C. L. Polk
Superpower: Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn, Not Your Sidekick by CB Lee
Mistaken Identity: The Stand In by Lily Chu
Dance: Kiss and Tell by Adib Khorram, Alexis Daria's Dance Off series
Made Up Country: If HQ Presents are your jam, there are many fictional countries. 
High Tea: The Duke Heist by Erica Ridley
College dorm: She Gets the Girl by Rachel Lippincott and Alyson Derrick, Loveboat Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen, Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao
Steampunk: Soulstar by C. L. Polk
Work Rivals: Today Tonight and Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon, The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese, Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jaladdin, The Spy in 3B by Nana Malone, also many reality show romances are going to qualify here.
Property Inheritance: Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon, The Hate Project by Kris Ripper 
Animal Shelter: Best Laid Plans by Roan Parrish 
Ghost: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas


Thursday, June 09, 2022

Three Interesting Things

1. I had not noticed the great tampon shortage, but it is apparently a thing.  
2. I find Margaret Cho fascinating, so enjoyed this chat with her
3. Embroidery that looks like vegetables

Monday, June 06, 2022

A Note for the Just Vote Crew

Hello there! As I write this, just dropped off a mail in ballot yesterday because its primary time in DC. (Fellow DC-ans, June 21st is the official day.) I have donated to voter mobilization. I have been known to ask my local friends what ward they are in and if they know what candidates they have to choose from. I'm a big believer in voting. 
I live in DC. Electeds I voted for* crafted the gun legislation that the Supreme Court struck down when they decided guns were basically people. Or better than people. I'm pretty sure the legalese boils down to that.
So my city council can make new laws, but my member of Congress doesn't get to vote. So if I somehow believed voting was the only way for me to push for change, I'd be pretty darn depressed right now. 
But, I believe in letting my feelings and wishes known to a large variety of people in power on a regular basis. 
I believe in pushing for things like more money towards initiatives that build better communities, like violence interruption, like jobs, and housing, and addiction care. 
And I also try to be regularly loud about my support for restricting guns. Whatever choices we make, reducing guns in this country is going to be a long process. But I'm for it. I'm old enough to remember when we had gun legislation in DC, when we had a federal assault weapon ban. Yes, there was still crime. But well, it didn't used to be more dangerous to be a school kid than a cop. And to be clear, I am in favor of less dead people all around here. 



*Okay, like technically, the initial law was crafted when I was a wee thing, but it got struck down after I had been of hating she for some time, so if we had wanted to change it, the option existed. 

Thursday, June 02, 2022

Three Interesting Things

1, Michael Waters review of Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington talks wonderfully about how Washington the government and Washington the city contain overlapping but distinct groups and how the power to enact change often comes from people no longer in the government.   
2. A. S. King spoke to School Library Journal about her interest in writing YA, and using fiction to be a truth teller
3. L. Morgan Lee's discussion about her Tony nomination and the journey she and the cast of "A Strange Loop" have been through is just wonderful.