News and Updates

1. I’m trying to figure out how to write a post in response to the latest mass slaughter of the innocent that is so commonplace in the US these days (and you don’t know which one I’m talking about, do you – there are so many after all – which is a big part of the problem right there) without getting all of my social media accounts banned and receiving a visit from humorless men in dark suits, because while a deeply disturbing number of Americans find mass murder acceptable as long as it’s done by white men with AR-15s the powers that be do get upset when those of us who disagree express the righteously incandescent anger that is appropriate when confronted by such immoral and unholy actions, possibly because there’s a fair amount of overlap between those groups. What can I say? Sometimes the sheer unbridled arrogance and soulless evil of the ammosexuals in this country just pisses me the fuck off. I do not apologize for this.

2. Give us a number, though. At what point, ammosexuals, do we draw the line on the wall that says “HERE is where the pile of bodies is high enough that we’ll do what every civilized nation on earth has already done”? Or is your thirst for blood so unquenchable that you’d rather drown in it than restrict access to your precious shiny boom toys?

3. In the meantime, life goes on. At least it does for those fortunate enough not to run into yet another limpdick white male with military-grade weaponry taking out his shortcomings on his betters, which so far describes me. One must take one’s victories where they are, I suppose.

4. My semester has finally ratcheted down to a close, nearly two weeks after the last final. This is what happens when there are leftover projects and classes that never end and paperwork for all of that. I’m spending today doing as little as possible, which isn’t nearly as little as I’d like but so it goes.

5. We went to see a movie last night, a late showing in a town thirty minutes away at highway speeds which is another way you know you’re in America where such things are considered unremarkable. For those of you considering seeing Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, it’s a remarkably entertaining movie if rather an assault on the senses. Definitely worth seeing, though, particularly for those of us who are parents – for all of the multiverse SF martial arts action, it is at heart a domestic drama between generations. Also, there is an extended sequence with rocks that is disproportionately funny in a quiet sort of way. This may have been the first movie I’ve seen in the theater since before the pandemic, and at the same theater as well. Right up until the previews started it looked like we’d have the place to ourselves.

6. I spent most of last week getting the taxes for my mom’s estate figured out. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania wants its cut, and while the answers I got weren’t always the ones I was hoping for I am very thankful to my friend Sean for letting me borrow his legal skills and time and steering me in the right direction. There’s only a couple of bits left to complete before the whole thing can be put to bed, and that will be a good feeling.

7. In the past two weeks we have gone from heat to air conditioning to heat to air conditioning and it’s a good thing the climate isn’t shifting because otherwise I’d be worried. What?

8. On that note, I’m reading a new novel by Claire North, one of my favorite authors recently, which is set in a world centuries removed from the multi-faceted ecological catastrophe that looms over us these days. It’s a good book as all of hers are – melancholy, richly textured, with complex characters and interesting situations, though she doesn’t quite know how to end books so we’ll see how that turns out – and I knew I was going to buy it as soon as I saw her name on the cover. But I read the reviews on Amazon anyway and I cannot tell you how much fun it was to read the complaints from the butt-hurt climate change deniers shouting about how she was being unfair to their nonsensical views. What can I say? I can be petty too.

9. My summer is filling up with projects. I have two classes I want to revise (one of which I’m getting paid for), an office I have been meaning to shovel out for three years now, and several long-term archival projects that I should get back to someday soon. This is on top of whatever projects others find for me to do.

10. On the other hand, the summer is also filling up with visitors and other pleasant things as well, so we’ll see how things go. At some point I will actually learn how to make a decent cacio e pepe. Hasn’t happened yet. Could, though.