No church this day.
And not much from either. I got up at 6 Am and was productive until around 11.
The morning's missives:
Thank you for the opportunity to read Agnes. While we did not find a place for it in our upcoming issue, we wish you well in your writing and hope that your work will be a perfect fit for another publication.
Sincerely,
Dakota DeFiore
I read a short story. A bit of a wind up, then boom! Sometimes Women Find It Strange (The Stinging Fly). Why I hated, hate, and will continue to hate dating. Besides all that, this is an effing brilliant story that starts straight enough and then takes a swerve and then takes a deep dive back to where it started - sort of.
Side dishes from the 70s probably will seem a strange interest, only my memory is fading, and I am trying to get in touch with my history. Listening to the following video, I recall eating three bean salad and ambrosia; I recall layered salads. I think Anderson delis still had three bean salad in 2009; certainly long past 1980.
Okay, English pub food was just pure curiosity.
Watch both and see if you agree with this statement: these foods disappeared because they were not healthy.
Readings from email part one!
Don’t argue with strangers… and 11 more rules to survive the information crisis (The Guardian)
I think the following is incontestable: the only way to get rid of all opinions that are different from yours is by carrying out unthinkable human rights atrocities. (And this doesn’t actually work: there are still, in fact, both Catholics and Protestants.)
We can already see how this type of thing becomes more common during an information crisis because we’re now in another one. We’re overloaded and overwhelmed by information. We don’t have the social and informational structures in place yet to manage it. My suggestion is that this enormous information wave makes us anxious and angry.
How? All this information introduces us to all the things we don’t know, all the ways in which we’re not experts. We might end up expressing an idea online that we’ve heard many times in our social circle only to be jumped on by 50 people who know more and tell us that our ideas are stupid, old-fashioned and even prejudiced. If this ever happens to you, it might make you feel profoundly unsettled, frightened, out of touch. That might be a good thing. It’s also an emotionally destabilising thing. It works the other way around, too. When we can see everyone else’s opinions, it turns out that someone we really liked may hold an idea that we find stupid, old-fashioned or even prejudiced. It’s the “I used to like Uncle Bob until I saw his posts on Facebook” syndrome. We’re left wondering who we can trust and whether we’re actually surrounded by upsetting idiots. All this can leave us feeling isolated and misunderstood, unsupported, frightened, worried and angry.
Which may - or may not - explain the reactions I got out of my group last Friday when I was talking about Trump The (Worthless) Businessman.
I should read Jon Fosse - or more of, as I think I read a short story long ago, and reviews like Vaim by Jon Fosse review – the Nobel laureate performs a strange miracle (The Guardian) only reinforce this opinion.
Then I fell into the trap of napping. That lasted not the planned hour but closer to 3 hours. Even then I had not much energy. A hot shower got some of the kinks out of my back. Still, I could not get motivated to go to the art show at Minnestrista or go up Wheeling for supplies, or to get my writing started.
I walked down to Reserve and University around 4:30. Then I walked back to the apartment because I had left behind my debit card. I talked to K on the way down and into the convenience store. Another trip down and back with my bottle of Coke and Lucky Strikes. That was my only trip outside.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said there was no basis for a transfer to federal prison and said he would “strongly oppose” any such efforts.
“Any scheme to prevent her from being held accountable under Colorado law is outrageous,” Weiser said in a statement.
His office is also opposing an effort by Peters in federal court seeking to be released from prison while the appeal of her state conviction plays out.
Even worse: Massie says Trump’s Epstein investigation might be 'a big smokescreen' (POLITICO)
And absolutely the worse: Maxwell's lawyer denies commutation bid claims (The Hill).
The Monday letter from Raskin outlined a number of alleged perks given to Maxwell since she was quietly transferred to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan shortly after sitting for a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss Epstein’s criminal acts and relationship with President Trump.
Beyond customs meals and access to staff areas, staff described unusual treatment of her guests, with Democrats relaying the creation of a “special cordoned off area for visitors to arrive, as well as an assortment of snacks and refreshments for her guests.” Her guests have also been allowed to bring computers, which is something not typically allowed for visitors.
Maxwell was also taken by escorts to the prison gym outside normal hours, allowing her to work out alone. Democrats allege she was also “allowed to enjoy recreation time in staff-only areas.”
An inmate who trains service dogs was also instructed to give Maxwell time with one of the puppies, even though the dogs are not supposed to be pet during training.
Scipio Africanus for a change of subject:
And The Neverending Ills of Gary, Indiana, which is a pretty good documentary on Gary. I was in Gary back in 1987. I thought it a scary place and was happy to be in the police department, like a ghost town, and was happy to leave.
I cooked dinner - leftovers. I worked on this post, and on my email. From the emails, I read the following book reviews.
Bread of Angels: A Memoir, by Patti Smith review – a wild ride with the poet of punk (The Guardian)
The post-pandemic flood of artist memoirs continues, but Patti Smith stands apart. The poet who wrote punk into existence before pivoting to pop stardom then ghosting fans to raise a family has, in the 21st century, leaned into literature and music with such vitality it has become hard to say which medium suits her better. It hardly matters. At 78 years old, Smith lives and breathes both.
As I have gotten older, and after living for eleven years within the range of Philadelphia radio (Smith being from the area), I have come to appreciate Patti Smith far more than I did back in the Seventies. Pay attention to her.
I think the second movie I saw with TJ was Magic, T2 and I went to see Silence of the Lambs, and the first movie I saw with CC was Meet Joe Black. Anthony Hopkins has been in my life for a very long time. Therefore, I read We Did OK, Kid: A Memoir by Anthony Hopkins review – a legend with a temper (The Guardian).
Whoever disliked Michael J. Fox? Future Boy by Michael J Fox review – secrets from the set of a definitive 80s movie (The Guardian).
I started reading ‘It’s notoriously hard to write about sex’: David Szalay on Flesh, his astounding Booker prize-winner (The Guardian), then I skimmed a little, and finally stopped when I started berating myself about not having done any work on my fiction.
I end where I started with a rejection, but this time it is for “No Ordinary Word”:
Thank you for submitting your writing to Passager. We are sorry that your work was not selected for publication this year. This reading period we received thousands of pieces and we loved far more submissions than we are able to publish.
The editors must agree on all acceptances unanimously. Sometimes our decisions are based on how the issue is coming together, or what we published most recently, and not a reflection on the quality of your work.
Best of luck with your writing—we always hope you keep us in mind.
Sincerely,
Rosanne Singer, Mary Azrael, Asher RuckPassager Editors
Song for Sunday:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment