Let us see, I was sickly on Thursday.
I was far better on Friday. Where I was shivering in the heat of my apartment, I was quite fine in the cold and snowy outdoors. I did my group therapy, then went over to the Imaging Center. Since they did not have a current order for my x-ray, I had to go home with that undone. Open Door called when I was back here with the news that their fax was broken. Since there was no way to get the order and make it to the dedication of St. Barnabas of Indiana Church, I let them know this week would be fine.
The dedication was an interesting affair. I doubt it is something that is not done very often. The bishop came down from Illinois, and there were a few Greek priests up from Indiana and the contingent from St. Nicholas in Indianapolis. We now have an Orthodox Christian church in Muncie, Indiana, thanks to the Serbian Orthodox Church.
MW called, and we talked for a while about a case for her.
From El Pais: Judith Butler, philosopher: ‘If you sacrifice a minority like trans people, you are operating within a fascist logic’. The full context was:
Q. It wasn’t just Trumpism. Some Democratic voices say it’s time to move beyond the issue of trans rights in areas like sports, which affect very few people.
A. You could say that about the Jews, Black people or Haitians, or any very vulnerable minority. Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?
From The Times (that is the original bog 'un from London): These billionaires really get us — unlike the ‘metropolitan elite’. Satire that bites over here, too, but it does raise the issue of why Kamala Harris is more elitist than Donald J. Trump.
I have read only a very little of Anthony Trollope, but I liked what I did read. Therefore, The Hedgehog Review's The Way We Don’t Live Now: The Social Harmonies of Anthony Trollope by David K. Anderson interested me. Mr. Anderson makes a good case for reading Trollope - one that I did not know of - his reasonableness.
This is not to say that, by nineteenth-century standards, Trollope’s prose is archaic or his views unenlightened. His untimeliness, rather, appears in his genial, charitable attitude to the world and its inhabitants. Ours is a lonelier, more atomized society than Trollope would have thought possible, and while this loneliness has any number of causes, one of them might be that we inhabit a culture that prioritizes hard, fast opinions. It rewards partisanship and goads us into silos. Each of us is incited to be a hanging judge, observing behavior and forthrightly pronouncing indictments of character.
Character, in several senses of the word, is Trollope’s abiding concern. “I have never troubled myself much about the construction of plots,” he admits in An Autobiography with no false modesty, going on to assert, “I have lived with my characters, and thence has come whatever success I have obtained…. I know the tone of the voice, and the color of the hair, every flame of the eye, and the very clothes they wear.” The obsession must have come naturally to this man who spent his adult life swimming deeper than most in the great sea of humanity: the countless rail journeys undertaken as a postal administrator, the fox-hunts, the literary salons. Amid it all, he pieced together a strategy for social harmony: Don’t expect too much from others; be grateful for what good there is; strive to understand them; laugh at them and then laugh at yourself.
Saturday started off well enough, I was up around 6 am and spent the first two hours looking at one of my stories. Around 10, I went down to the Quaker church for a food pantry. I was 47th in line out of a crowd I estimated as around a 100. This took about 2 hours out of my life.
Have I mentioned there are people living in tents along the White River along the wooded southern side? I have seen only about a half dozen tents, but that seems too many for Muncie.
I carried my box of canned goods back to the apartment. A nap was indicated, the apartment was overheated, and what was to be an hour turned out to be several.
Saturday evening I spent doing dishes and writing. I think I started the last season of Suits. Noise in the background that would not disturb my working on my stories. No phone calls, no visitors (the PO is my only regular visitor and I have not seen him in 2 months.)
I closed out the night with Elizabeth Kaye Cook and Melanie Jennings's The Big Five Publishers Have Killed Literary Fiction (Persuasion)
Rev. Dr. Andria Saria's Justice in a Polarized Tbilisi (Public Orthodoxy)
The Church’s theological mission demands a radical form of solidarity—a commitment to walk with those on the margins, to confront the abuses of the powerful, and to seek peace rooted in justice. Just as Jesus walked with the oppressed and denounced the hypocrisy of religious and political elites, so too must the Church embody this mission today. It must move beyond calls for restraint and neutrality and toward an active commitment to justice with love.
Giselle Donnelly's China’s Getting Ready to Throw Its Weight Around (The Bulwark)
The growth in the size and sophistication of the report reflects changes in both American domestic political attitudes and Pentagon thinking, beginning with a clear-eyed reckoning of Beijing’s strategic goals. To the Chinese, international politics is not simply a competition among great powers but a “clash of opposing ideological systems.” Beijing wants a “leading position” in creating a new, less liberal international order. To that end, the PLA is increasingly capable of long-range power projection not just in the Western Pacific but on a global scale, particularly in key locations such as the Gulf of Aden, conducting combined military exercises not only with Russia and Iran but also Saudi Arabia, and developing overseas bases and access agreements.
Sunday, I was up at 6 and did some reading before I went off to Fishers for church.
Polostan by Neal Stephenson review – jazz age thrills | Fiction | The Guardian
The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor review – the tragic lives of Richard II and Henry IV
Almost clickbait, but since I grew up on Jonny Quest, I did it anyway: Why ABC Canceled The '60s Cartoon Jonny Quest After Just One Season . It cost too much. Why has this not become a live-action movie?
From The Conversation: Bob Dylan and the creative leap that transformed modern music. A decent recap of Dylan's start.
Democracy under fire and libel supremos — the best law books for 2025 (London Times)
Sunday afternoon, I managed only an hour's nap. Even small successes are successes. I went to the convenience store before turning in at night, but otherwise, it was another day of solitude. Trash went out, and dinner was cooked. I went to work on changing the format of a play. That occupied time I intended to spend submitting stories.
I did another reading of "The Psychotic Ape" and began submitting it tonight: Penumbric Speculative Fiction Mag, and Writers of the Future Contest.
Same Faces Collective got "Problem Solving" even though I am sure it will be rejected.
Speaking of rejections:
Thank you for sending Road Tripping. Our editors have read it through multiple rounds, but ultimately decided to pass on this manuscript.
We received a large amount of quality submissions during this open reading period. While we wish we could accept more work, we are a small operation and can only publish a few titles a year.
We wish you best of luck in finding a home for your manuscript.
Sincerely,
The people of Long Day Press
The science fiction magazines do not take simultaneous submissions. I revised "Napoleon Bonaparte Dreams" to meet their demands.
I started Enola Holmes with great trepidation. See, I have been more than partial to Sherlock Holmes for most of my life. Henry Cavill does a good job as Sherlock. Mycroft comes across as an ass. He is also thin.
Monday morning, I got up and started filling in the blanks in this post. It may be a good day. I need to get groceries, do my laundry, and see CC - she was coughing up blood on Friday.
Trump is running his mouth again, making an ass out of himself to the world: Trump says US could retake Panama Canal as he rails against 'rip-off' shipping fees. Who better to know rip-offs?
Fortune Magazine is predicting icebergs: This is America’s ‘fatal flaw’ as the US bubble gets ready to pop, market expert warns.
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