You try hard to go easy on yourself

[sovay]

Rabbit, rabbit! A Warren canvasser just rang our doorbell and startled the cats. Fortunately I could tell him that he did not need to evangelize to me and that he should stay warm on his rounds. The cats were warily prowling when I returned upstairs and were rewarded with treats for being so brave and honest.

1. The Brattle is running a series of religious horror. It's mostly Christian, but I haven't seen any of the movies except for the double feature of The Witch (2015) and The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015), which I should very much like to be healthy enough to attend. Some of the rest look fascinating.

2. I am delighted by Yoon Ha Lee's The Phoenix Recursive: A Combinatorial Experience (2020). Technically it's a classically black-and-white photocopied minizine, but it's also a beautiful little lo-fi semi-poetry chapbook and it could win a Rhysling any day, I'm just saying. Huzzah for Deuce of Gears Press.

3. Courtesy of handful_ofdust: some cute role-reversal leap year cards.

I think I am actually furious about the coronavirus. About the dismantling of protections and preparations. About the denial of reality-responsibility until it is too late to do anything but wring hands and blame scapegoats. It is one thing to die for reasons beyond anyone's control; it's another to die for the insecurity, stupidity, and malice of those in power who laid the groundwork for what will be worse. I don't want to lose my family. I don't, for that matter, want to join the mortality rate myself. In terms of what can and can't be tested for, the situation feels medieval to the point that I am disappointed in the absence of traditionally masked plague doctors. I would like to be able to look back on these thoughts as overreaction. I spend so much time working to stay alive.

Comments

[yhlee]

I'm glad you enjoyed the zine! It was ridiculously fun to make. :)

--excuse me, I THINK MY CATTEN JUST DIPPED HER PAW INTO MY TEA WTF CAT

Stay safe/healthy. *hugs if wanted*

[sovay]

I'm glad you enjoyed the zine! It was ridiculously fun to make.

I love it. I also appreciated the inclusion of the mockup; it's a neat extra.

--excuse me, I THINK MY CATTEN JUST DIPPED HER PAW INTO MY TEA WTF CAT

TEA IS A DELICACY WHEN STIRRED BY PAW. CATTEN HIGH SOCIETY SAYS SO.

Stay safe/healthy.

I am doing my best! I feel physically awful, which makes apocalyptic news harder to take. [edit] I should be clear that when I say "doing my best," I mean that I am treating myself as I would for the usual hell-cold and have also taken all the currently recommended precautions for a household in the event of pandemic, plus some additional paranoia because I come from a family with a long-haul mentality. I am hoping the irony of the apotropaic umbrella will apply and because I have more than a month's worth of all meds and an infinite quantity of lentils in the cupboard, nothing very much will happen at all.

*hugs*

[yhlee]

It's actually a color printout of a digital collage of my rough draft! XD I could have just photocopied in b&w, but I thought people would be entertained by the UNICORN VOMIT of my fountain pen ink colors. XD

*support support support*

[sovay]

I could have just photocopied in b&w, but I thought people would be entertained by the UNICORN VOMIT of my fountain pen ink colors.

I like your unicorn vomit coloring scheme!

(I think this comment belonged to your art post, but it is cheering, so please don't relocate it.)

[kore]

We re-upped the prescribed meds we get for three months, because altho we don't have drug insurance we get them at Costco and that's really cheap. (Of course it also means travelling on the bus. Hi ho.) We also got a ton of black beans and brown rice. That's a pretty simple and nourishing meal, and not that hard to dress up....every kind of medical mask and over the counter disinfectant and alcohol wipe was gone, though. Even the little ones for cleaning reading glasses.