Men cannot be trusted and I know women too, but I believed you

[sovay]

It feels longer than two days since the election. Possibly this is because of the fourteen-hour migraine that started to hit me shortly after midnight on election night (I cannot claim it was the shifting barometric pressure of American bigotry; it turns out I'm allergic to Febreze) and rolled over into yesterday afternoon, during which time I did not sleep. More likely it's because there's been so much going on in the last forty-eight hours, mentally, emotionally, conversationally, because the changes in the world feel too huge and vast and all-swallowing to have happened so recently. But it's only Thursday. It's not yet Armistice Day. I still have a poppy on my coat.

We have a new stove. All four burners light without matches and it's safe to turn the oven on. We broiled chorizo verde in it for dinner and I re-baked some apples for dessert. My cousins came over with their son, the three-and-a-half-week-old Fox whose sparse, soft baby hair right now is as red as his internet namesake. Hestia stayed in the bedroom even after Rob got up from his nap, having dived under the bed the moment she heard the doorbell, but Autolycus came out and made spooked curious forays in the direction of the very small human and allowed himself to be petted by gaudior and rushthatspeaks and intermittently ran back into the kitchen. I found out that a person I had considered a friend on the internet for years killed herself because of the election results and what she feared they meant for her continued health and safety. I finished listening to a Yiddish cover of "Hallelujah" and Rob told me that Leonard Cohen has died.

People who are living, make art. Make protests, phone calls, donations, petitions, invitations, acts of kindness and defiance and protection, but also art.

Comments

[lilysea]

Possibly this is because of the fourteen-hour migraine that started to hit me shortly after midnight on election night (I cannot claim it was the shifting barometric pressure of American bigotry; it turns out I'm allergic to Febreze)

This was darkly/snarkily witty/funny and elegantly/eloquently put. ^_^

I know this election result is fucking tragic, and I'm truly sorry you had a 14 hour migraine,

but god-damnit I admired your turn of phrase and you made me smile wryly. ^_^ <3

[kore]

HOLY FUCK WHAT. Tam? Jesus no.

[sovay]

but god-damnit I admired your turn of phrase and you made me smile wryly.

Thank you. Even or especially when the world is imploding, I think that's important.

[sovay]

HOLY FUCK WHAT. Tam? Jesus no.

This is not what should follow elections.

I miss her.

[yhlee]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[sovay]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Thank you. There are other people who were closer to her than I was, but she still leaves a hollow space and I do not like it.

[dhampyresa]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[umadoshi]

I didn't know tam_nonlinear at all, but lots of people I know did and are grieving. I'm sorry for your loss. ;_;

[sovay]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

[sovay]

I didn't know tam_nonlinear at all, but lots of people I know did and are grieving.

She was a major figure in the community. I didn't quite realize how many of my friends and friends-of-friends knew her. So I know she will be well remembered, but I would still prefer her to be here.

[gwynnega]

It can be easy to forget at such times that making art is more important than ever.

I'm so sorry about your friend.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

People who are living, make art. Make protests, phone calls, donations, petitions, invitations, acts of kindness and defiance and protection, but also art.

This.

Her memory for a blessing.

Nine

[pameladean]

I'm so sorry. I barely knew her, but I knew some of her work, the website, and it was amazing and useful and good for hours of diving down research rabbit holes. She will leave such a large emptiness where she was.

P.

[sovay]

It can be easy to forget at such times that making art is more important than ever.

I think so.

I'm so sorry about your friend.

Thank you. I found out from the announcement of a memorial for her. It has been a strange evening.

[sovay]

Her memory for a blessing.

Yes.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

I am going to swear a lot because I am angry at the circumstances around your friend's death and I don't know what else to do. It is not directed at you; I'm grateful you told me what was up.

I only found out about her fucking existence during the last couple hours, after I saw that she'd killed herself and you and aedifica started telling people what had gone on. She was EXACTLY my kind of ballad fan, capable of seeing them as literature and as pop songs and all the other shades in between. I love her static website and enjoyed reading back on her LJ/DW/tumblr (well, apart from the suicide note and the painful plea for someone to take care of her cats). I have no idea whether I would have liked her personally, but I suspect so. I would love the chance to find out, and I'm not gonna get that chance now.

Fuck the election for rousing her sucidal urge, fuck despair, fuck the current state of healthcare and the projection that the upcoming regime have for what they're going to do to it, and fuck everything that happened to her to make her feel she had no other recourse. I always hate to hear anybody else is in this club with me -- the huge, mostly-silent club of people who have suicidal urges -- but I am in a great rage at this loss. I never even got a chance to comment on her work and talk with her.

[sovay]

I barely knew her, but I knew some of her work, the website, and it was amazing and useful and good for hours of diving down research rabbit holes. She will leave such a large emptiness where she was.

I knew her website years before I knew her, but then I knew her and I liked her. I miss her already. We should not have the kind of elections that leave people in such despair.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

People who are living, make art. Make protests, phone calls, donations, petitions, invitations, acts of kindness and defiance and protection, but also art.

Amen.

[sovay]

I am going to swear a lot because I am angry at the circumstances around your friend's death and I don't know what else to do. It is not directed at you; I'm grateful you told me what was up.

Thank you for the disambiguation. I suspect I could have guessed, but it's nice to have it clear.

I always hate to hear anybody else is in this club with me -- the huge, mostly-silent club of people who have suicidal urges -- but I am in a great rage at this loss.

It's terrible and I hate it.

Death notices are a bad way to meet someone.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Death notices are a bad way to meet someone.

Ain't it the truth.

*hugs* if welcome.

[zdenka]

I'm very sorry for your loss, and for the world's loss of your friend.

"Make art" is good advice.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you have a functioning stove: a piece of good news in dark days. Making food is a subset of making art.

And thank you for 'Hallelujah' in Yiddish: his memory and his songs are indeed for a blessing.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I will stop making art when I die and it doesn't matter who is president or who is whipping up extrajudicial killing squads.

I also had this idea to ruin the Muslim database by flooding it with names from fiction.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Is it editable?

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Agreed, and further hugs if welcome.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I think the idea is that Muslims will be required to register themselves.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Oh god.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I got a phone call about it, and spent a chunk of the evening comforting dine of her friends. I wish I'd know her better.

[drwex]

I am sorry to hear of your loss; may her memory be a blessing to all who knew her.

Saturday we were at a memorial service for a friend; Monday another friend's partner posted to FB of her unexpected passing. Then Tuesday happened.

Then Leonard Cohen died, and I am reminded never to think that it can't get worse.

[sovay]

I got a phone call about it, and spent a chunk of the evening comforting dine of her friends. I wish I'd know her better.

I'm sorry for the loss of the chance.

Do you have people who are comforting you, in all this?

[sovay]

I'm very sorry for your loss, and for the world's loss of your friend.

Thank you.

I think art is important.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Do you have people who are comforting you, in all this?

It is largely mutual and communal comfort, plus a close friend is in from Israel and that's helping with perspective. I appreciate you asking. I am trying to do self care and am mostly succeeding.

*sending hugs*

[sovay]

Agreed, and further hugs if welcome.

Thank you. It is upsetting and weird.

[sovay]

Amen.

And that includes you!

[sovay]

I am so glad you have a functioning stove: a piece of good news in dark days. Making food is a subset of making art.

Thank you. It makes our apartment feel more like a home and it will enable me, in a few days, to roast a chicken and make chicken soup out of its carcass and then we can have some real comfort food around here.

And thank you for 'Hallelujah' in Yiddish: his memory and his songs are indeed for a blessing.

You are welcome. Yes.

[sovay]

I am sorry to hear of your loss; may her memory be a blessing to all who knew her.

Thank you. The same for your lost friends.

[sovay]

I will stop making art when I die and it doesn't matter who is president or who is whipping up extrajudicial killing squads.

"Art till you die" is a good motto no matter the circumstances.

[sovay]

Oh god.

It's a terrible week.

[sovay]

I am trying to do self care and am mostly succeeding.

I'm glad there are people helping you do it.

*hugs*