Literature and Empathy :: Essays On Attention Paid

Who knew that “fondle” was loaded with male, heterosexual-lizard-brain, sensibility? When I related this particular insight to my wife, she instantly said she hated the word. I never knew. I was more deeply stuck in the culture of male heterosexuality than I had imagined.

… a lot of breaking news on the 45 front… 45 has received notification of target of investigation in J6 coupe attempt from DOJ… the indictment is imminent… 45 will go full ballistic political… already is… the Republican party thankfully tied to his feet as he stands on a platform of lies and innuendos with a rope around his neck… the door will open and the whole republican authoritarian thing will perish… at least that’s how i hope it goes… then perhaps we can go back to arguments about policy…

From this morning’s walk…

View down a street in the early morning with trees on the left and utility pole and wires on the right side and the hazy outline of rounded mountains in the distance.

Image of a white flower, pine cone shaped, with hundreds of florets open or opening. Plant foliage in the background.

Picture of a metal plate with a hinged rectangular access panel at the top, slightly off center, and faded graffiti.

Woman’s sundress, green/brown with beige circular graphic flowers, gathered at the hips and again at the bust, with broad brimmed woven hat on a mannequin. Shot looking up the length of the dress with sky and building reflection on the shop window overlaid.

The morning sun reflected off the smooth surface of water in a stream, the drop off of a damn on the upper right side, ripples in the water on the bottom foreground, dark foliage and trees running up the left side and across the top.

The right arm of a mannequin on a wooden floor surface running from the shoulder in the lower right to the hand in the upper middle.

So, it’s a “chew gum and walk at the same time” sort of thing?

Chalk board sandwich sign with a picture of a bowl of ramen taped to the top portion, a drawing of a bowl of ramen below the picture and the words “EAT RAMEN & DRINK ALCOHOL AT THE SAME TIME” written in capital letters below that.

Love is messy…

Irregular white paint patch on brick paving with “I LOVE YOU ALWAYS” stenciled onto it in black.

Read: Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici 📚 An astonishing book about the rise of capitalism in the midst of feudalism and its effect on the lives of women. The best testament I can give to it is that I literally underlined half the book. Do not buy the Kindle version. It’s unreadable.

Read: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston 📚 testing… yesterday I posted that I had finished reading this book, which I have, and I loved it. But I think I posted from my Reading list, instead of my Read list, so it’s not showing up as progress towards my goal this year. So, lets see if it does now.

Literature and Empathy :: Essays On Attention Paid

When I put my piece out into the public, I believed it was plausible, respectful, and well written, but, it felt risky. I was conscious of tackling subject material beyond my direct experience, and acutely aware of the male sexual voyeur perspective it was easy to fall into. I worried about grossly misunderstanding what an intimate physical relationship between two women would feel like to those women.

A target of the investigation… another shoe is about to drop. Let’s hope we get this done before the election.

Finished Reading: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston 📚

Loved! Couldn’t put it down. Fantastic beach or summer read if you like well written romance novels. It reminded me in some ways of Time and Again by Jack Finney. Not quite as much a historical novel and from an LGBTQ+ frame. Highly recommend!

So far as I can tell, the #2024 #election is about whether we want #authoritarian rule or not. I wish it were about other things. But we have to settle the authoritarian question first.

Literature and Empathy :: Essays On Attention Paid

One of the very interesting things that happened as I worked on it, read it, worked it, read it, and worked it some more, is that physical intimacy between women shifted towards physical intimacy between human beings. It started to seem natural that women could engage in a profound and satisfying physical and emotional relationship and that I could identify with that empathically. I started to be less the voyeur, and more a compassionate witness.

Poster for Beacon Open Studios event.

No Labels has already lost one of its co-founders, William Galston, over its push for a third-party ticket; Galston resigned in protest this spring over the possibility that the bid could tip the election to Trump. Democratic members of the No Labels–backed Problem Solvers Caucus in the House have disavowed the effort for the same reason. The moderate Democratic group Third Way is adamantly opposed to the idea, and a new bipartisan group is forming to stop it.

Joe Lieberman Weighs the Trump Risk

Missouri Republicans Are Going to Absurd Lengths to Stop Voters from Having Their Say on Abortion – Mother Jones

Since then, the fiscal note has been at an impasse: Bailey won’t certify it, Fitzpatrick won’t cave, and there’s no other route for the process to move forward. “The law doesn’t even contemplate that we’d be in this situation,” says Tony Rothert, advocacy director for the ACLU of Missouri. “And what has happened is, no one has done anything.” In May, the ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit against Bailey, trying to get a court to force him to approve Fitzpatrick’s original estimate. Last month, a lower court agreed, ordering Bailey to certify the fiscal note. Yet when Bailey appealed, he was allowed to wait for a state Supreme Court hearing, which is set for July 18. “As long as I’m Attorney General, my office will continue to use every tool at its disposal to protect the unborn,” Bailey said in a press release earlier this month. “Our children are worth the fight.”

Україна Yelena Yemchuk | Conscientious Photography Magazine

If you wanted to, you could divide the world into two parts. One part would contain all those people who are able to control the narrative that surrounds them and who for that reason are in charge of their own destiny. The other part contains all the rest of the people whose story is largely defined by those other people. From what I can tell a much larger fraction of the world is part of the second group. Despite (or rather because of) their enormous privilege, the first group resists changing this situation.

From this monring’s walk

Right turn arrow painted on a sidewalk, chainlink fencing in background.

Plant and seating through a shop window.

Wires and utility pole against early morning sky. Silvertone photo effect.

Street, sidewalk, white and black pavement patching above and below painted yellow lines running horizontally through scene.

Violent rapids in creek after rains in the northeast US.

Metal ice chest outside a convenience store with the ice printed on it three times in red with snow capping the letters.

Silvertone image of construction scaffolding.

… women’s clothing…

Blue and yellow halter top, blue jeans, hat on a mannequin in a shop window.

Beige floral print halter top on a female bust in a shop window.

Dinner was Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin and this:

Ingredients for Fava Beans with Mushrooms and Crispy Pancetta.

Chestnut mushrooms and lava beans sautée in the pan.

… i used chestnut mushrooms…

July 17, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Because all the institutions of our democracy are designed to support the tenets of democracy, right-wingers claim those institutions are weaponized against them. House Republicans are running hearings designed to prove that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice are both “weaponized” against Republicans. It doesn’t matter that they don’t seem to have any evidence of bias: the very fact that those institutions support democracy mean they support a system that right-wing Republicans see as hostile.

New set of cloth produce bags. One more source of plastic eliminated.

… well, i have a new workflow for getting thoughts down (Drafts) and collecting them in a daily journal (Obsidian) via an action that exports from Drafts to Obsidian… so far, smooth as ice… we’ll see how it holds up over time…

Bleak Records Keep Coming: Heat Waves Are Smothering the Planet – Mother Jones

The grim records keep tumbling: This June was the warmest month on record. This weekend, Death Valley, California, could tie or set the record for the hottest temperature reliably recorded on Earth. In Canada, record-breaking fires continue to burn.

… my wife and i are doing what we can, solar on our roof, composting, little flying, little driving, getting plastic out of waste stream, voting for politicians that might do something about it… i swear at every pickup truck and SUV passing… not enough, but something…

Siena Cathedral Uncovers Breathtaking 14th-Century Mosaic Floors

… wow!… now i want to go to Sienna…

The Wondrous Birds of the Himalayas and the Forgotten Victorian Woman Whose Illustrations Rewilded the Western Imagination – The Marginalian

Elizabeth Gould

#nature #birds #illustration #artists-women