Want to join in? Respond to our weekly writing prompts, open to everyone.
Want to join in? Respond to our weekly writing prompts, open to everyone.
from Roscoe's Quick Notes
My goodness, where did the weekend go?! Wife and I both agreed earlier this evening that it had just flown by so fast!
posted Sunday, Feb 9, 2025 at ~8:09 PM #QNFEB2025
from Jon B. Carroll
Pete Shelly’s place, Tumbleton Alabama
from Kroeber
A entrevista de Curtis Yarvin ao New York Times é reveladora. Yarvin é uma espécie de anti-Yuval Noah Harari. O historiador israelita fala de forma simples, projectando uma ideia de sinceridade ao apresentar ideias do mundo académico ao grande público. Já Yarvin é absolutamente banal, intelectualmente medíocre, e usa referências históricas e distorções para ofuscar as suas ideias. Escutar o seu discurso é ouvir as baboseiras de um tech bro que se leva demasiado a sério, que procura emanar as vibrações de um pensador marginal. Há pouco tempo, andava Silicon Valley enamorado de Yuval Noah Harari. O seu humanismo era um talismã que os gigantes tecnológicos queriam por perto, como se a personalidade bem intencionada e humilde do historiador poudesse colar-se à sua imagem. Agora as coisas mudaram. Já não são só Peter Thiel e Patri Friedman que publicamente mostram as suas ideias mais extremas, que lembram as distopias anarco-capitalistas de livros do Robert Heinlen. É Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk. Este último numa cruzada muito espalhafatosa contra a democracia e as instituições. Os senhores tecno-feudais não só não rejeitam a crítica de Yannis Varoufakis, como a encarnam com orgulho. Venha a monarquia tecnológica, haja uma ditadura com um CEO coroado, destrua-se o estado. Todas estas ideias chegaram ao mainstream. Não só estão a ser aplicadas, como foram anunciadas. O caos que Elon Musk está a trazer alia-se perfeitamente ao plano que estava delineado no Project 2025. Vivemos tempos perigosos. É tão estranho estar a assistir em directo à história. Chegámos ao ponto em que duvidamos que daqui a quatro anos hajam novas eleições nos EUA. Como é que as coisas se tornaram tão más?
from The Epic Blog for Epic Wares
I’ve been so busy since the inauguration, I’ve thankfully not been able to look up much. People are big mad and sharing it through their buttons. My little side business that I hoped could one day support my family is supporting my family right now. I keep thinking things will slow down a bit as everyone settles into resistance again, but it has not. I have consistently had anywhere from 50-70 open orders at a time.
People are either reacting with messages of safety and love and support for those affected by the bigots tearing apart democracy or with hate and condemnation for the people doing the tearing apart and anyone who supports them. Sometimes both in the same person. It’s keeping me distracted and alive.
Here’s a few new designs that have come about from customer requests. ❤️
“Safe With Me” in Spanish – Seguro Conmigo
Also by customer request, I bring you ‘I Will Go With You’, a common refrain spoken to trans and nonbinary people trying to navigate an increasingly hostile public bathroom ban. I’d had this on my list to do, but hadn’t gotten to it yet. It’s great to get customer requests, as they give me reason to carve out the time. 😁
Until next time, friends. In the meantime, stay sane and remember… Nazi lives don’t matter. 😉
from Hunter Dansin
“How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action is no stronger than a flower?”
— Shakespeare, Sonnet LXV, found in Another Country by James Baldwin
“I must believe, I must believe, that the heavy grace of God, which has brought me to this place, is all that can carry me out of it.”
— James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room
My plans were quite shattered this month, by the flu, by life, by myself. Nothing dramatic, but enough to keep me away from my goals. I know that with young kids I shouldn't have any expectations, and that it won't last forever, but the pace is grueling, especially when you get sick. It seems cruel that one of the sweetest seasons of parenthood is also one of the most physically draining. My mind says, “savor, enjoy, celebrate this,” but my body says “sleep, escape, comfort yourself.” I must believe.
I have decided to query my book, which means I will have to take it down from sale. If you want to get a “pre-release” copy please order it by the end of this month, since I plan to start querying in March. It is a step that I think I have been preparing unconsciously to take for a long time. I don't think I was ready when I self-published it, but now I am. I have never really had sales, and I will never have what it takes to drive those sales, so therefore I need a publisher if I ever want to make writing more than a hobby, and good God how I want it to be more than a hobby.
I think I will leave Part 1 of the audiobook up on YouTube, but I will probably freeze work on Part 2 for now while I get ready to query. Life is just too busy right now.
Thankfully I have still been playing and practicing, and you can check my YouTube channel later tonight for my Tiny Desk submission if all goes to plan.
I picked up James Baldwin for Black History Month and have not been disappointed by Giovanni's Room and Another Country. I still like Go Tell it on the Mountain the best, but it has been very humbling and enriching to read these books. They have a lot of sex and a lot of angst, which would normally put me off, but Baldwin writes with such humility, boldness, and honesty that I bear it willingly for the expansion of my experience. I feel as though I've been in his skin for a little while, which I suppose means he wasn't entirely successful with the novels, since I am very conscious of him as a narrator — but such is the nature of fiction that “success” depends not so much on the work as on the reader's definition of it. To me, Baldwin is just as successful as Steinbeck, and maybe even more successful if growth of soul is the definition of success. I can't recommend Go Tell it on the Mountain enough. It is truly a miracle of a book.
Oh, and for anyone who cares, I made an account on Bookwyrm, a decentralized Goodreads alternative, so that I could track my reading and write reviews. They are highly opinionated and rather slapdash, but that's what the internet brings out of me.
And that's it for this month. Stay safe out there.
#update
Thank you for reading! I greatly regret that I will most likely never be able to meet you in person and shake your hand, but perhaps we can virtually shake hands via my newsletter, social media, or a cup of coffee sent over the wire. They are poor substitutes, but they can be a real grace in this intractable world.
Send me a kind word or a cup of coffee:
Patreon | Music | Podcast | Mastodon | Bookwyrm
from The happy place
Hello. 🙋♂️
Please hang in there.
Okay.-
👌 It will get better.
ok I’m at home since a few days. That’s the best part of travelling, to come back home. It’s not perspective or anything, because I know all this (that’s why avoid it). I have that perspective. Maybe for the dogs then (if they need some perspective): they were very excited to see me, and I was happy to see them too. I love them. and I’d bought some cool goth stuff for my daughter which I was excited to show her. I love her too. It was this cool pentagram t-shirt and some necklaces with coffins and such stuff. Really cool. The people in the store looked very cool too with a goth style and were very friendly. And of course it felt great to see my wife too. We were all happy to see each other. Except the cats, they didn’t care one way or the other.
Speaking of which:
My Polish friend is jealous that I get to read all of the Witcher books for the first time, and I am happy for that. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s really great.
i like Kellerbier.
The other best thing about travelling is to take the train home, listening to Wind Rose and reading those books, with a coffee right there on the table and the land starting to get more and more familiar. And the darkness out there with the moon which I cannot see through the train ceiling, but which is there nonetheless. And the land out there, as it gets darker becomes also hard to see but I know what it is: snow on trees on either side and sometimes a house or two (with snow on too): I’m home.
And now it’s Sunday, what the duck? Like ok ok but what if I’m not ready for another week yet?
I guess there’s no getting ready for Mondays really, I’ll have to wing it.
Ok thanks for reading and 🙏 keep fighting!