in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha
Apr. 22nd, 2025 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
musesfoolToday's poem:
I Have News for You
There are people who do not see a broken playground swing
as a symbol of ruined childhood
and there are people who don't interpret the behavior
of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought process.
There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool
and think about past pleasures unrecoverable
and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.
I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings
do not send their sinuous feeder roots
deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives
as if they were greedy six-year-olds
sucking the last half-inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;
and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without
debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.
Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?
There are some people, unlike me and you,
who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as
unattainable as that moon;
thus, they do not later
have to waste more time
defaming the object of their former ardor.
Or consequently run and crucify themselves
in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.
I have news for you—
there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room
and open a window to let the sweet breeze in
and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.
--Tony Hoagland
*
I Have News for You
There are people who do not see a broken playground swing
as a symbol of ruined childhood
and there are people who don't interpret the behavior
of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought process.
There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool
and think about past pleasures unrecoverable
and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.
I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings
do not send their sinuous feeder roots
deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives
as if they were greedy six-year-olds
sucking the last half-inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;
and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without
debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.
Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?
There are some people, unlike me and you,
who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as
unattainable as that moon;
thus, they do not later
have to waste more time
defaming the object of their former ardor.
Or consequently run and crucify themselves
in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.
I have news for you—
there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room
and open a window to let the sweet breeze in
and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.
--Tony Hoagland
*
If anyone could use a morale boost
Apr. 22nd, 2025 05:17 pmrydra_wonghttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/04/protests-erupt-across-the-uk-after-supreme-court-ruled-against-trans-rights/
Many many pictures.
Also, more protests yet to come, apparently, with ones scheduled for Oxford and Cambridge.
Many many pictures.
Also, more protests yet to come, apparently, with ones scheduled for Oxford and Cambridge.
this picnic is no picnic
Apr. 21st, 2025 06:08 pmmusesfoolMonday miscellany:
- So what are the odds we get an antipope this time in addition to a pope?
- Sepinwall gave season 2 of Andor a good review (minor spoilers, I guess) - the first 3 episodes drop tomorrow and it sounds like they are doing 3 episodes a week for 4 weeks, as each one comprises a mini-arc. Trying not to get spoiled on the internet is sure to be a nightmare.
- I haven't done the AO3 stats meme regularly since 2018 because not much changes in my top 10. In 2021, however, I made note of some up-and-comers in the 11-20 slots, and it turns out that as of 4/20/25, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (i.e., the one where Dick convinces Jason to stop killing through the power of hugs) has crept into the top 10 by hits - it's number 9! (It looks like Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough) (the Steve/Bucky remix AU where Steve finds Bucky working as a barista) is the one that fell out of the top 10.)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc also made inroads into the top 10 by kudos, landing at number 5! Additionally, 2 Star Wars stories also found their way into the top 10 by kudos: There's Still Time to Change the Road You're On (in which Anakin time travels to the post-RotJ era and meets his kids) at 6, and deep as a secret nobody knows (AU where Leia tells Vader she's Padme's daughter and it changes everything) at number 8!
The 3 Avengers stories that dropped are again, Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough), plus Even a Miracle Needs a Hand (Clint/Darcy fake Christmas boyfriend), and with the lights out, it's less dangerous (Steve/Bucky, then and now).
According to these posts, I did not previously do the full list by comments, but I will note the appearance of deep as a secret nobody knows at number 3 on the comments list, and another Vader-and-Leia AU, Just a Little Bit of History Repeating, at number 10, with the VMars/Avengers crossover we travel without seatbelts on sitting pretty at number 7.
So I guess given enough time, these things CAN change.
- Today's poem:
Nothing Will Warn You
by Stephen Dunn
Nothing will warn you,
not even the promise of severe weather
or the threats of neighbors muttered
under their breath, unheard by the sonar
in you that no longer functions.
You'll be expecting blue skies, perhaps
a picnic at which you'll be anticipating
a reward for being the best handler
of raw meat in a county known
for its per capita cases of salmonella.
You'll have no memory of those women
with old grievances nor will you guess
that small bulge in one of their purses
could be a derringer. You'll be opening
a cold one, thinking this is the life,
this is the very life I've always wanted.
Nothing will warn you,
no one will blurt out that this picnic
is no picnic, the clouds in the west
will be darkly billowing toward you,
and you will not hear your neighbors'
conspiratorial whispers. You'll be
readying yourself to tell the joke
no one has ever laughed at, the joke
someone would have told you by now
is only funny if told on yourself, but no one
has ever liked you enough to say so.
Even your wife never warned you.
***
- So what are the odds we get an antipope this time in addition to a pope?
- Sepinwall gave season 2 of Andor a good review (minor spoilers, I guess) - the first 3 episodes drop tomorrow and it sounds like they are doing 3 episodes a week for 4 weeks, as each one comprises a mini-arc. Trying not to get spoiled on the internet is sure to be a nightmare.
- I haven't done the AO3 stats meme regularly since 2018 because not much changes in my top 10. In 2021, however, I made note of some up-and-comers in the 11-20 slots, and it turns out that as of 4/20/25, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (i.e., the one where Dick convinces Jason to stop killing through the power of hugs) has crept into the top 10 by hits - it's number 9! (It looks like Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough) (the Steve/Bucky remix AU where Steve finds Bucky working as a barista) is the one that fell out of the top 10.)
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc also made inroads into the top 10 by kudos, landing at number 5! Additionally, 2 Star Wars stories also found their way into the top 10 by kudos: There's Still Time to Change the Road You're On (in which Anakin time travels to the post-RotJ era and meets his kids) at 6, and deep as a secret nobody knows (AU where Leia tells Vader she's Padme's daughter and it changes everything) at number 8!
The 3 Avengers stories that dropped are again, Our history is just in our blood (history, like love, is never enough), plus Even a Miracle Needs a Hand (Clint/Darcy fake Christmas boyfriend), and with the lights out, it's less dangerous (Steve/Bucky, then and now).
According to these posts, I did not previously do the full list by comments, but I will note the appearance of deep as a secret nobody knows at number 3 on the comments list, and another Vader-and-Leia AU, Just a Little Bit of History Repeating, at number 10, with the VMars/Avengers crossover we travel without seatbelts on sitting pretty at number 7.
So I guess given enough time, these things CAN change.
- Today's poem:
Nothing Will Warn You
by Stephen Dunn
Nothing will warn you,
not even the promise of severe weather
or the threats of neighbors muttered
under their breath, unheard by the sonar
in you that no longer functions.
You'll be expecting blue skies, perhaps
a picnic at which you'll be anticipating
a reward for being the best handler
of raw meat in a county known
for its per capita cases of salmonella.
You'll have no memory of those women
with old grievances nor will you guess
that small bulge in one of their purses
could be a derringer. You'll be opening
a cold one, thinking this is the life,
this is the very life I've always wanted.
Nothing will warn you,
no one will blurt out that this picnic
is no picnic, the clouds in the west
will be darkly billowing toward you,
and you will not hear your neighbors'
conspiratorial whispers. You'll be
readying yourself to tell the joke
no one has ever laughed at, the joke
someone would have told you by now
is only funny if told on yourself, but no one
has ever liked you enough to say so.
Even your wife never warned you.
***
Face the Dragon, by Joyce Sweeney
Apr. 21st, 2025 11:59 amrachelmanija
In this YA novel published in 1990, six fourteen-year-olds face their inner dragons while they're in an accelerated academic program which includes a class on Beowulf.
I read this when it first came out, so when I saw a copy at a library book sale, I grabbed it to re-read. It largely holds up, though I'd completely forgotten the main plot and only recalled the theme and the subplot.
My recollection of the book was that the six teenagers are inspired by class discussions on Beowulf to face their personal fears. This is correct. I also recalled that one of the girls was a gymnast with an eating disorder and one of the boys was an athlete partially paralyzed in an accident, and those two bonded over their love of sports and current conflicted/damaging relationship to sports and their bodies, and ended up dating. This is also correct.
What I'd completely forgotten was the main plot, which was about the narrator, Eric, who idolized his best friend, Paul, and had an idealized crush on one of the girls in the class, who he was correctly convinced had a crush on Paul, and incorrectly convinced Paul was mutually attracted to. Paul, who is charming and outgoing, convinces Eric, who is shy, to do a speech class with him, where Eric surprisingly excels. The main plot is about the Eric/Paul relationship, how Eric's jealousy nearly wrecks it, and how the boys both end up facing their dragons and fixing their friendship.
Paul's dragon is that he's secretly gay. The speech teacher takes a dislike to him, promotes Eric to the debate team when Paul deserves it more (and tells Eric this in private), and finally tries to destroy Paul in front of the whole class by accusing him of being gay! Eric defends Paul, Paul confesses his secret to him, and the boys repair their friendship.
While a bit dated/historical, especially in terms of both boys knowing literally nothing about what being gay actually means in terms of living your life, it's a very nicely done novel with lots of good character sketches. The teachers are all real characters, as are the six kids - all of whom have their own journeys. The crush object, for instance, is a pretty rich girl who's been crammed into a narrow box of traditional femininity, and her journey is to destroy the idealized image that Eric is in love with and her parents have imposed on her - and part of Eric's journey is to accept the role of being her supportive friend who helps her do it.
I was surprised and pleased to discover that this and other Sweeney books are currently available as ebooks. I will check some out.
Easter happened AT me this year.
Apr. 21st, 2025 01:07 pmajI feel mildly disrespected by the Christian high holy day.
Honestly, I did have a nice weekend. I got to hang out with my niece's kids (and my niece and my SIL), and when you actually get them talking, they are just cool little people who are becoming more themselves as they grow. They both had a lot of questions about their genetic lineage, which. Y'all. How I know THIS MUCH about people I'm related to by marriage when they themselves know almost zero is kind of boggling. Kiddo #5 was DEEPLY confused that they have Eastern European (Russian) ancestry. I very much cracked up when they yelled "But! I'm Russian Jewish, not RUSSIAN."
On a related note, I got to inform them that Christopher Columbus was a horrible person, and both Kiddo #5 and #6 asked their grandma (my SIL) to remind them to look up Christopher Columbus' journals when they turned 18. I also told them to watch the OSP video about the myth of El Dorado because they've got indigenous Mexican heritage, and fuck Spain.
We also all went out for Mexican food for dinner and peletas for afters. 12/10, Chicagoland Mexican food be doin' it, you know it's FR when they have fresh giardiniera on the table. ESPECIALLY w/the big bits of carrot and cauliflower. Also found out they opened a Tortilleria Atotonilco in comfy distance of mom's, which is my absolute favorite Chicago brand. El Milagro and Nueva Leon are wider loved, but Atotonilco always delivers fresh to my store (they are WARM when I get them!), so <3
As for Easter inconveniencing me, after brunch the crew headed home and I caught the Metra downtown. I was supposed to pick up a library book on Saturday, but PLANNING to leave my home at 8am and ACTUALLY leaving my home at 8am on a Saturday are two very different realities. I drove over when I got home on Sunday, but NOPE. INCONVENIENCED BY EASTER. I guess it makes sense as Chicago is like, CATHOLIC Catholic, but BOO. Luckily, the pet store is owned by heathens, so the girls got their food. I remain a little sad that pepper and egg sandwiches will be mildly harder to source, but whoo, bye, Lent.
Plus, I guess I get to go on an adventure tomorrow? The library branch I'm picking my book up at is just a bit further down the Metra line than my normal stop, and is open til 8 on Tuesday. There's also a bus back home, so there's tomorrow's adventure set.
Last, but not least, I have ordered the last of this year's Tax Refund Splurge. I ordered two CTA t-shirts. I am currently wearing the CPL life-long learning t-shirt. OH! And if any of y'all are interested in supporting the Chicago Public Library, they're having a sale right now! T-shirts are $14!
Honestly, I did have a nice weekend. I got to hang out with my niece's kids (and my niece and my SIL), and when you actually get them talking, they are just cool little people who are becoming more themselves as they grow. They both had a lot of questions about their genetic lineage, which. Y'all. How I know THIS MUCH about people I'm related to by marriage when they themselves know almost zero is kind of boggling. Kiddo #5 was DEEPLY confused that they have Eastern European (Russian) ancestry. I very much cracked up when they yelled "But! I'm Russian Jewish, not RUSSIAN."
On a related note, I got to inform them that Christopher Columbus was a horrible person, and both Kiddo #5 and #6 asked their grandma (my SIL) to remind them to look up Christopher Columbus' journals when they turned 18. I also told them to watch the OSP video about the myth of El Dorado because they've got indigenous Mexican heritage, and fuck Spain.
We also all went out for Mexican food for dinner and peletas for afters. 12/10, Chicagoland Mexican food be doin' it, you know it's FR when they have fresh giardiniera on the table. ESPECIALLY w/the big bits of carrot and cauliflower. Also found out they opened a Tortilleria Atotonilco in comfy distance of mom's, which is my absolute favorite Chicago brand. El Milagro and Nueva Leon are wider loved, but Atotonilco always delivers fresh to my store (they are WARM when I get them!), so <3
As for Easter inconveniencing me, after brunch the crew headed home and I caught the Metra downtown. I was supposed to pick up a library book on Saturday, but PLANNING to leave my home at 8am and ACTUALLY leaving my home at 8am on a Saturday are two very different realities. I drove over when I got home on Sunday, but NOPE. INCONVENIENCED BY EASTER. I guess it makes sense as Chicago is like, CATHOLIC Catholic, but BOO. Luckily, the pet store is owned by heathens, so the girls got their food. I remain a little sad that pepper and egg sandwiches will be mildly harder to source, but whoo, bye, Lent.
Plus, I guess I get to go on an adventure tomorrow? The library branch I'm picking my book up at is just a bit further down the Metra line than my normal stop, and is open til 8 on Tuesday. There's also a bus back home, so there's tomorrow's adventure set.
Last, but not least, I have ordered the last of this year's Tax Refund Splurge. I ordered two CTA t-shirts. I am currently wearing the CPL life-long learning t-shirt. OH! And if any of y'all are interested in supporting the Chicago Public Library, they're having a sale right now! T-shirts are $14!
Catching up on various shows
Apr. 21st, 2025 06:19 pmselenakDaredevil Reborn: overall, good finale. I'm not shipping anyone on this show (or its predecessor), but I was amused, given that Luke Cage managed to make "coffee" a synonym for sex back in the Netflix day for all the Marvel shows, that Frank expressed the wish for coffee with both Matt and Karen. (Not at the same time.) On a more serious note, the finale evidently went for an Empire Strikes Back vibe in that ( spoilery stuff happens )
Wheel of Time S3 finale: speaking of Empire Strikes Back vibes... Though in this case just in one plot line. Okay, two, technically. (The second one being Team Elayne, Matt, Min and Nyneave not gaining what they wanted to, but what Nynayve did get was so important that I hesitate to equate this with the goings on at the White Tower.) This, too, is based on a book series written many years ago, and was shot way back when yours truly hoped the world would be less insane in 2025 than it actually is, but can't help but feel extremely on point with its ( spoiilery stuff )
Doctor Who ?.02: amusingly weird, technically impressive, everyone looks gorgeous in their costumes. But Fourth Wall Breaking stories are not really my thing, and so I can't say I loved it.
Wheel of Time S3 finale: speaking of Empire Strikes Back vibes... Though in this case just in one plot line. Okay, two, technically. (The second one being Team Elayne, Matt, Min and Nyneave not gaining what they wanted to, but what Nynayve did get was so important that I hesitate to equate this with the goings on at the White Tower.) This, too, is based on a book series written many years ago, and was shot way back when yours truly hoped the world would be less insane in 2025 than it actually is, but can't help but feel extremely on point with its ( spoiilery stuff )
Doctor Who ?.02: amusingly weird, technically impressive, everyone looks gorgeous in their costumes. But Fourth Wall Breaking stories are not really my thing, and so I can't say I loved it.
UK people: disability benefit cuts
Apr. 21st, 2025 09:48 amrydra_wongRebellion is growing among Labour MPs, so if you have a Labour MP, now is a VERY good and important time to write to them to protest the proposed PIP and other cuts:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/20/the-whole-policy-is-wrong-rebellion-among-labour-mps-grows-over-5bn-benefits-cut
(If you have a non-Labour MP, hassle them too and see if they can be persuaded to do something vaguely useful.)
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/20/the-whole-policy-is-wrong-rebellion-among-labour-mps-grows-over-5bn-benefits-cut
(If you have a non-Labour MP, hassle them too and see if they can be persuaded to do something vaguely useful.)
Easter Wells 2025
Apr. 20th, 2025 01:53 pmselenakEven Darth Real Life is not able to keep me from my annual Easter Well sight seeing, or the pic spam based on it. Happy Easter to all who celebrate, and hopefully good holidays to everyone:
( More Easter Wells await beneath the cut )
( More Easter Wells await beneath the cut )
FIC: Third From the End (Star Trek: Alternate Original Series)
Apr. 20th, 2025 12:29 pmanrThird From the End (1029 words) by anr
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Christine Chapel/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Characters: Christine Chapel, Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Additional Tags: 5 Times, Touch
Summary: When his fingers catch hers and hold, she smiles and doesn't pull away.
(aka, Five times McCoy and Chapel touch.)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Christine Chapel/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Characters: Christine Chapel, Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Additional Tags: 5 Times, Touch
Summary: When his fingers catch hers and hold, she smiles and doesn't pull away.
(aka, Five times McCoy and Chapel touch.)
Happy Saturday
Apr. 19th, 2025 04:20 pmcofax7Hey folks!
Still alive, still employed! Booyah.
Not loving the job right now: it's never boring, but I had never intended to be a manager of people, and it's really quite stressful. Plus, you know, ::waves vaguely:: the omnishambles of everything is not helping.
But I did take the Tornado out for a 7-mile hike this morning, and she behaved quite well, and we just did some agility practice, and she got six weave poles in a row! Five times! So great. (If you have never seen dog agility, it looks like this, although that's one of the top dogs in the UK, and the Tornado is just beginning her agility journey.)
I call her the Tornado because she is Very. High. Energy. (And tends to knock things over.) I fear she will be one of the dogs barking all the way through the agility course.
Anyway, I'm planning some vacation time this summer, although it feels a little weird to be planning an international trip at this time. I plan to do some judicious app-deletion before coming back through Customs, because that's the world we live in right now.
Currently very excited about both Andor and Murderbot! I've already gotten a tiny bit spoiled for Andor, so I think I will have to lock down my browsing for the next few days. I understand the next Star Wars animated show (after Underworld) is also going to be about Darth Maul, and I'm kind of dubious, but maybe they can do something interesting with it. Myself, I would rather have learned more about Omega's adventures in the Rebellion.
I'm halfway through this month's book for book club, but it's heavy going: Therese Raquin, by Zola. I have liked Zola: he's very grounded, very vivid. Not at all romantic. But these characters are really very unlikeable. I may end up skimming a lot to finish by Tuesday.
***
I feel like I'm running out of plotty time-travel fixit fics in which determined heroes (and heroines) go back in time and prevent the errors of their forebearers. I suspect I have not found the right tags on AO3...
In other news, I am listening to Mind the Tags, a charming podcast about fandom, specifically fic-writing fandom. And although the hosts are quite nice, they're so young, and I found myself talking back to them as they fumbled their way through a discussion of the early days of alt.tv.x-files.creative. They tried to talk about show-specific archives and auto-archiving and never even mentioned Ephemeral and Gossamer! There are plenty of us fandom Olds still around!
(Although, how cool is it that Gossamer is still up? WTF.)
Still, it's a very friendly and upbeat podcast full of enthusiasm for fandom and fannish institutions, so I encourage y'all to give it a try if that's the sort of thing you enjoy. I found them because one of the hosts got interviewed by Anne Helen Peterson on her Culture Study podcast, which is also great.
In other other news, I lined up a group of local pals to go see our local minor league baseball team next month! So that will be fun! I like minor-league baseball because it's cheap and low-stakes and you can sit outside and drink beer and eat corn dogs and it doesn't really matter except you're there with a crowd and it's just fun. And all the seats are good.
Still alive, still employed! Booyah.
Not loving the job right now: it's never boring, but I had never intended to be a manager of people, and it's really quite stressful. Plus, you know, ::waves vaguely:: the omnishambles of everything is not helping.
But I did take the Tornado out for a 7-mile hike this morning, and she behaved quite well, and we just did some agility practice, and she got six weave poles in a row! Five times! So great. (If you have never seen dog agility, it looks like this, although that's one of the top dogs in the UK, and the Tornado is just beginning her agility journey.)
I call her the Tornado because she is Very. High. Energy. (And tends to knock things over.) I fear she will be one of the dogs barking all the way through the agility course.
Anyway, I'm planning some vacation time this summer, although it feels a little weird to be planning an international trip at this time. I plan to do some judicious app-deletion before coming back through Customs, because that's the world we live in right now.
Currently very excited about both Andor and Murderbot! I've already gotten a tiny bit spoiled for Andor, so I think I will have to lock down my browsing for the next few days. I understand the next Star Wars animated show (after Underworld) is also going to be about Darth Maul, and I'm kind of dubious, but maybe they can do something interesting with it. Myself, I would rather have learned more about Omega's adventures in the Rebellion.
I'm halfway through this month's book for book club, but it's heavy going: Therese Raquin, by Zola. I have liked Zola: he's very grounded, very vivid. Not at all romantic. But these characters are really very unlikeable. I may end up skimming a lot to finish by Tuesday.
***
I feel like I'm running out of plotty time-travel fixit fics in which determined heroes (and heroines) go back in time and prevent the errors of their forebearers. I suspect I have not found the right tags on AO3...
In other news, I am listening to Mind the Tags, a charming podcast about fandom, specifically fic-writing fandom. And although the hosts are quite nice, they're so young, and I found myself talking back to them as they fumbled their way through a discussion of the early days of alt.tv.x-files.creative. They tried to talk about show-specific archives and auto-archiving and never even mentioned Ephemeral and Gossamer! There are plenty of us fandom Olds still around!
(Although, how cool is it that Gossamer is still up? WTF.)
Still, it's a very friendly and upbeat podcast full of enthusiasm for fandom and fannish institutions, so I encourage y'all to give it a try if that's the sort of thing you enjoy. I found them because one of the hosts got interviewed by Anne Helen Peterson on her Culture Study podcast, which is also great.
In other other news, I lined up a group of local pals to go see our local minor league baseball team next month! So that will be fun! I like minor-league baseball because it's cheap and low-stakes and you can sit outside and drink beer and eat corn dogs and it doesn't really matter except you're there with a crowd and it's just fun. And all the seats are good.