It's a weak little flame, it's all we got to our name

[sovay]

I am sicker than I was the day after Arisia. More coughing, more exhaustion, less brain. I resent it. I understand perfectly well what happened—I attended a convention over the weekend where, if I really wanted to fight this off, I should have stayed in bed—but I still resent it. I would like to be writing, but I'm not, and I have to leave the house for an unrelated doctor's appointment this afternoon. I spent most of yesterday on the couch with Dr. Autolycus in my arms, firmly and medicinally purring. I recognize there are worse things to do with my time.

1. Courtesy of selkie: longsword and archery and Gluck.

2. These poems particularly caught my eye: Marion McReady's "Ballad of the Clyde's Water," Sandra McPherson's "Sitting on a Desk," and Durs Grünbein's "The Doctrine of Photography" (trans. Karen Leeder).

3. The Guardian's redesign is driving me crazy, but I found this article by Jill Filipovic useful: "When we haven't yet agreed that female pleasure and clear enthusiasm are prerequisites for a sexual encounter, we lack the ability to peel back the layers of sexual experience, and we end up with two bad options: accept sexual inequity as just how sex is (or just how men are) or wedge truly bad sexual experiences into the category of sexual assault . . . Feminists have been on the forefront of tackling these knottier issues of sex, consent, pleasure and power. And so it's up to us to lead the way in confronting the private, intimate interactions that may be technically consensual but still profoundly sexist."

4. I still don't like the redesign, but I love the evidence of 4500-year-old metalworking and engineering found on Keros in the Cyclades.

5. Courtesy of handful_ofdust: James Cagney restores antiques and Gal Gadot needs to play either Bond or Viola or both right now.

I have nothing eloquent to say about Dolores O'Riordan having died; I heard the news and my reaction was a flat what the hell. She was an even less reasonable age for dying than the usual part of the landscape. "Zombie" (1994) was one of the very few music videos I saw when it aired; I was at the house of my best friend who followed contemporary music and she had MTV on and I had never heard anything like that breathless, breaking voice—or seen anything like the video's flip from mud-spattered black-and-white war games to gold-drenched tableaux, although the latter looks to me now like a director who might have glanced off Derek Jarman. The children's mouths opening, silent gold and screaming. O'Riordan a mourning fury. It still gives me chills.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I know (and like) the song "zombie," but I'd never seen the video before, and wow. It's *very* powerful.

Really loved "Ballad of the Clyde's Water," especially the first third--sipping saltwater to help my body cry, and the repeated "who will remember" and the repeated "Because" lines. Thanks for sharing. I'll read the next two next.

The conversation happening about sex... it's so *big*. So much to say. One thing I think is, whatever the narratives surrounding sex that a culture has, and regardless of how comfortable you are with those narratives (and regardless of whether you should be comfortable with them), there are people who enact their role happily and those who don't, and those who enact their role well (whatever that means--depends on the narrative) and those who don't. ... Where do I want to go with this. I'm not sure. I guess maybe I want to say there are plenty of places for things to go wrong, and part of what makes the discussion so tangled is that people talk across all these different levels, trying to make themselves understood. ... ugh, I feel like the kid at the end of this video.

[asakiyume]

PS. From Autolycus's purring to your healing--> prayer.

[yhlee]

Oh man. I hope you feel better soon.

[moon_custafer]

I liked the photos of Cagney restoring antiques in his garage – he looks so SRS BZNZ. I knew he raised horses and was generally very interested in agriculture. Now I’m picturing him and Daniel Day-Lewis hanging out and making stuff.

[isis]

Purring is indeed medicinal! Feel better soon.

[dhampyresa]

The music video for Zombie is amazing.

[gwynnega]

I love those photos of Gluck.

I hope you feel better soon, with the help of Dr. Autolycus.

[thisbluespirit]

I am sicker than I was the day after Arisia. More coughing, more exhaustion, less brain. I resent it. I understand perfectly well what happened

Aww. Indeed, but I hope you feel better soon. I'm glad you have Autolycus in the meantime! <3