But those are just records our parents owned

[sovay]

My day has been unexpectedly rocky. Have a string of links.

1. Three poems that got my attention: Amit Majmudar's "Newsquiz," Jack Mapanje's "Skipping Without Ropes," and Sandra McPherson's "Spill."

2. An article I found useful in discussing police abolition without assuming that at step two a miracle will occur: "Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop." "The question is this: did I need a gun and sweeping police powers to help the average person on the average night? The answer is no."

3. I was not sure I had heard of Lotte Laserstein, except then I recognized her self-portrait with cat. I like her style.

4. I had definitely not heard of Louise Page, but I am fascinated that she wrote a stage adaptation of Margery Allingham's The Fashion in Shrouds (1938), since that's the one Campion novel I actively dislike, intellectually mitigated only by my knowledge of the circumstances of its writing. I hope Page's version is produced; I would love to know what she saw in it.

5. According to the Globe, our fireworks problem last night [edit: tonight] is a popular one, right down to the boom-spooked cats: "With so many illegal fireworks going off in Boston, who you gonna call?" I hadn't realized fireworks were wholly illegal in Massachusetts. I still miss sparklers.

Comments

[kathmandu]

Mass doesn't allow sparklers? Connecticut allowed sparklers, just nothing more likely to spread. And we had really great public fireworks several times a year.

[sholio]

I came across a link to that article you linked to as #2 yesterday and found it a thought-provoking read; it's much more concrete and realistic, and less "?????? .... PROFIT!" than a lot of the discussion I've seen of police abolition around the internets.

[cmcmck]

They are not wholly illegal here (thank you, Guido Fawkes) but many of us wish they were!

[poliphilo]

Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop is tremendous.

[moon_custafer]

I really like the Newsquiz poem, both in itself and because I’m fond of works that experiment with format like that (there was a Hugo nominee a year or so back that took the form of a set of game rules).

The store clerks at No Frills wear black t-shirts with stick figures and the words “6 ft” on them in yellow; they also have the image of a smiley face with the eyes X’d out, which is surprisingly punk for the Loblaws chain.

[asakiyume]

I really like the first two poems--I can't say which one I like better. The third one is a bit of a mystery to me: I need to try to read it in the morning when maybe I have more brain. I like the feel of it but can't quite "get" it.

I hope today had less rockiness than yesterday.

Re: The Fashion in Shrouds

[nodrog]

This MAY be a mere coincidence.

https://pulpcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/10-Story-Detective-April-1949.jpg

Or it's an understood cultural reference that I would not have even suspected were it not for this entry of yours.