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I'm more than halfway, I'm more than halfway through
Today I got my contributor's copy of Heiresses of Russ 2016: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, edited by A.M. Dellamonica and Steve Berman. I am really pleased about this anthology and the inclusion of "When Can a Broken Glass Mend?" in it. I am looking forward to reading a lot of lesbian fiction tonight.
Also today, parts of East Cambridge were on fire. My mother and I ran an errand unknowingly on the periphery of the area around five o'clock in the evening—power out for blocks, fire hydrants open, blue-and-red emergency lights flashing everywhere. We assumed fire, but were not in a position to see flames and must have been upwind of the smoke, because otherwise I think I would have noticed it on the street. We thought perhaps a transformer had blown. I texted![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
derspatchel when I got back in the car and heard different. So far no one appears to have died, but dozens have been displaced and homes destroyed; firefighters and other first responders were coming from Arlington, Newton, Wakefield, Chelsea, miles. The Mayor of Cambridge has set up a fire relief fund, now accepting checks and online donations. I did not know there were such things as ten-alarm fires.
A few days ago I wrote to the Forward to express my disappointment in their otherwise fluff piece about the favorite kosher recipes of the Trump-Kushner family, because I don't care if Ivanka and Jared keep a kosher kitchen, the Forward has no business treating them like just another celebrity couple, and now it turns out the broccoli kugel recipe featured on Ivanka's website wasn't even hers and I just want to talk about why people are referring to this wholly unnecessary episode as "Kugelgate" because when I look at a panful of baked eggs, light mayonnaise, and broccoli, I might think "Frittata?" and also ". . . ew," but definitely not kugel. Are there noodles? Is there cheese? Do you want to step outside about the raisins? It's not kugel!
(I didn't know I had opinions about kugel, but it turns out I really do. I may have to make some in order to cope.)
These are the three political pieces that have stuck with me the most recently: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Now Is the Time to Talk About What We Are Actually Talking About," Moira Weigel's "Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy," and Masha Gessen's "Trump: The Choice We Face." I am not entirely sure how to classify the story of Heinrich Steinmeyer, but it is also sticking with me. It does sound like a YA novel. Sometimes that happens to people's lives. Anyway, now-dead one-time actual Nazi still behaving more classily than my country's president-elect.
I am not sleeping almost at all. I would like to write about things.
Also today, parts of East Cambridge were on fire. My mother and I ran an errand unknowingly on the periphery of the area around five o'clock in the evening—power out for blocks, fire hydrants open, blue-and-red emergency lights flashing everywhere. We assumed fire, but were not in a position to see flames and must have been upwind of the smoke, because otherwise I think I would have noticed it on the street. We thought perhaps a transformer had blown. I texted
derspatchel when I got back in the car and heard different. So far no one appears to have died, but dozens have been displaced and homes destroyed; firefighters and other first responders were coming from Arlington, Newton, Wakefield, Chelsea, miles. The Mayor of Cambridge has set up a fire relief fund, now accepting checks and online donations. I did not know there were such things as ten-alarm fires.A few days ago I wrote to the Forward to express my disappointment in their otherwise fluff piece about the favorite kosher recipes of the Trump-Kushner family, because I don't care if Ivanka and Jared keep a kosher kitchen, the Forward has no business treating them like just another celebrity couple, and now it turns out the broccoli kugel recipe featured on Ivanka's website wasn't even hers and I just want to talk about why people are referring to this wholly unnecessary episode as "Kugelgate" because when I look at a panful of baked eggs, light mayonnaise, and broccoli, I might think "Frittata?" and also ". . . ew," but definitely not kugel. Are there noodles? Is there cheese? Do you want to step outside about the raisins? It's not kugel!
(I didn't know I had opinions about kugel, but it turns out I really do. I may have to make some in order to cope.)
These are the three political pieces that have stuck with me the most recently: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Now Is the Time to Talk About What We Are Actually Talking About," Moira Weigel's "Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy," and Masha Gessen's "Trump: The Choice We Face." I am not entirely sure how to classify the story of Heinrich Steinmeyer, but it is also sticking with me. It does sound like a YA novel. Sometimes that happens to people's lives. Anyway, now-dead one-time actual Nazi still behaving more classily than my country's president-elect.
I am not sleeping almost at all. I would like to write about things.
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The most alarming part of this approach is what it implies about Trump’s attitude to politics more broadly. His contempt for political correctness looks a lot like contempt for politics itself. He does not talk about diplomacy; he talks about “deals”. Debate and disagreement are central to politics, yet Trump has made clear that he has no time for these distractions. To play the anti-political-correctness card in response to a legitimate question about policy is to shut down discussion in much the same way that opponents of political correctness have long accused liberals and leftists of doing. It is a way of sidestepping debate by declaring that the topic is so trivial or so contrary to common sense that it is pointless to discuss it. The impulse is authoritarian. And by presenting himself as the champion of common sense, Trump gives himself permission to bypass politics altogether.
....yeah.
Of all the terrible things he says, and is, I agree that's his most dangerous quality.
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I mean, my problems with kugel revolve around issues like canned pineapple.
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As of the latest news, astonishingly, it doesn't look like it. Lots of people who will need help with winter coming, however, which is why I'm glad the fundraising for fire relief is almost halfway there since last night.
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Thank you!
I mean, my problems with kugel revolve around issues like canned pineapple.
. . . what?
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I don't know if he doesn't understand or doesn't care how civil and political discourse are conducted, but I don't care: a person with no regard for anything but their own perceived supremacy is a person with no business in politics.
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My other theory is that someone who knew nothing about kugel made it with cottage cheese with pineapple, and that snowballed in some horrific way.
I made one once. It was terrible. Don't do that. Stick to raisins.
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That's horrifying. I've never encountered one. I didn't know I had to be grateful.
I made one once. It was terrible. Don't do that. Stick to raisins.
I don't even like raisins that much and it's no contest.
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Just to add detail: the British ended up setting up a scheme whereby German POWs could apply to remain in the UK rather than be repatriated, and nearly 25,000 did; one of my best friends is the grandson of one of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_prisoners_of_war_in_the_United_Kingdom
The British treatment of German POWs was not perfect (see, for example, deciding the Geneva Convention no longer applied after Germany's surrender), but it had its moments.
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That is neat and I did not know; thank you for the information.
Have you seen Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)? I was reminded of the character of Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, who is an entire war earlier, but follows a similar arc. (My review is very old.)
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I HAVE I LOVE THAT FILM SO MUCH. Theo Theo Theo.
(My love of Powell and Pressburger is indirectly responsible for the existence of a human being! I introduced one of my dear friends at university to P&P; several years later, he was e-mailing me about how he was bonding over shared love of P&P with this amazing girl he had met; a good 15 or so years later, they're still together and have a delightful small son. I like to take credit.)
Thanks so much for the link to the review; it's wonderful reading, and reminds me I haven't rewatched the film in too long.
and Churchill must have found it just another strike against Powell and Pressburger that the most perceptive character in the entire film is the German.
I'm sure. You know the story of him angrily confronting Walbrook over his involvement in the film? (Ah, I just saw
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Hooray.
(My love of Powell and Pressburger is indirectly responsible for the existence of a human being! I introduced one of my dear friends at university to P&P; several years later, he was e-mailing me about how he was bonding over shared love of P&P with this amazing girl he had met; a good 15 or so years later, they're still together and have a delightful small son. I like to take credit.)
That is an excellent matchmaking story. Congratulations!
Thanks so much for the link to the review; it's wonderful reading, and reminds me I haven't rewatched the film in too long.
You're welcome! I discovered Powell and Pressburger in 2007; they became instantly and remain some of my favorite filmmakers. A Canterbury Tale (1944) is in fact one of my favorite films. Have a linkdump below of things I wrote about them at the time and after.
A Canterbury Tale (1944) with follow-up
The Red Shoes (1948) plus I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Black Narcissus (1947)
49th Parallel (1941)
The Small Back Room (1949) and a lot of other stuff I was watching at the time
revisiting The Red Shoes
rediscovered diary from Canterbury, 1999
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
Contraband (1940) plus The Spy in Black (1939)
The Silver Fleet (1943)
R.I.P. Sheila Sim
Kugel
Mayonaise?!
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And the fire - oh, too much sadness in so many places.
Re: Kugel
I do actually acknowledge the existence of potato kugel; it just isn't the first kind I think of, my personal ur-kugel. I wonder if the starch is an essential component of the kugel experience.
Mayonaise?!
I know, right?
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Yes. The latest estimate is 89 people displaced, 15 buildings damaged or destroyed, no deaths—not even pets—and only minor injuries, which is amazing. It took five hours to get under control.
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I know! I tried to see if there was an actual YA novel about Heinrich Steinmeyer and the girls who took him to the cinema, but I couldn't find one. I was still very impressed.
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You haven't said it to me. Thank you. I have had chronic insomnia for a long time, mostly pain-based, but it is just ridiculous right now.
And the fire - oh, too much sadness in so many places.
I heard about the Oakland fire, too. My friendlist was full of people in two cities trying to check in on their friends. No one I know personally has been affected, but that still leaves a lot of people in the world!
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The Choice piece is hard to read but I generally agree. G-d help us.
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As far as questions go, I've also found David Roberts' "Everything mattered: lessons from 2016's bizarre presidential election" a valuable source of information and angles to think from, especially since it's interested in getting through the myths to the data, such as there is.
The Choice piece is hard to read but I generally agree. G-d help us.
People keep referring to that article as a difficult or painful read and I don't understand; I found it straightforwardly useful. What is it about the piece that bothers people? That it raises the inevitable specter of the reader's own capability for collaboration?
Lots of reasons
Partly it's a reminder that wrong choices can have terrible consequences. I believe there's no more important question than "what is (the) right action?" I am reminded of the times I've gotten it wrong, with less terrible consequences, but still personally painful.
Partly it's a reminder that good intentions won't save you, and maybe not anything else.
Partly it's reinforcing my sense that I'm living in Wiemar America.
Re: Lots of reasons
Thank you for sharing yours. Most of those are things that I also think about. (The family argument is the exception.) They don't make the article what I would consider difficult to read, but people process the same information in different ways, to different effect.