Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are about the same as usual. A thin veneer of normalcy covering a deep and enduring sense of impending doom. But let’s celebrate something good! Tomorrow (the 19th) is Juneteenth!
Juneteenth is the celebration of the end of slavery in the US. It took about three years after the Emancipation Proclamation for it to be fully enforced, with Kentucky and Delaware being the last to free slaves in December of 1865. So, why Juneteenth instead of December something? Because the earliest observations of the holiday were in Texas, which enforced the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19th of 1865. It’s been celebrated in some form ever since 1866. When black southerners were forced to spread across America in order to, you know, live… (the south was not/is not a great place to be for a lot of people), they took the celebration with them. So, even though it began here in Texas, all of the states eventually adopted the holiday in some form or another. It also became the first new federal holiday since 1983 (MLK Day) when Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law in 2021. Happy Juneteenth!
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are okay. That book review I was supposed to do today has been pushed back because there are issues. I don’t know. That’s between the author and publisher. When/If it gets a new release date, the marketing people are supposed to let me know so I can review it then. So, that means I have nothing to ramble about today. But I do want to say happy Pride month to everyone! I’ve seen a lot more hatred than usual on social media this year. It’s gross and disheartening. The MAGAts are out there, loud and proud. Stay safe and remember you’re loved and worthy of living your best life despite what they would have you believe. I’ll try to remember it too. Happy Pride!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I’ve been trying to think of things to blog about, but everything will either make me angry or sad. The administration and how they’re apparently taking blatant bribes (a fucking jet is a sus as hell “gift”) right there in front of everyone and the MAGAts are apparently okay with that (and so much worse). There’s also some cripple stuff I thought about sharing, but it’s depressing and no one wants to hear about that kind of thing except maybe other cripples who would appreciate knowing they aren’t alone (you’re not alone). I also briefly acknowledged (in my head) that it’s my mother’s birthday, but she’s dead and doesn’t deserve anymore emotional effort on my part to explain what a horrible person she was. So! I suppose I’ll just give you a list of books I’m going to read in the foreseeable future.
I currently have a review book for May that I’m working on, plus two books for June and one for July. Here they are:
1. The Whisperwood Legacy by Jo Schulte.
2. R.A.T.S. Revolutionary Army of Teens by Claudia Daher. This is supposedly due out the beginning of June, but apparently there are issues so there’s not even a GoodReads page yet and I can’t find an official cover release either, which is making me question if this book is even happening. We’ll see. I’m reading it anyway just in case.
1. A Magic Deep and Drowning by Hester Fox.
4. Murder at the Wham Bam Club by Carolyn Marie Wilkins.
I don’t usually plan ahead with my for fun reads, but I do have a few I will definitely get to soon.
1 and 2. Rogue Community College by David R. Slayton. The fourth Adam Binder book comes out later this year, so I figured I’d check this one out in case there is character crossover. I also have a second Slayton book (unrelated to this one) that is on my list. Dark Moon, Shallow Sea.
3. The Eternal Ones by Namina Forna. I finally read book two of the Gilded Ones a couple of months ago and want to finish the series.
Beyond that, I have a couple of other series I should finish and a bunch of cozy mysteries I’ve collected and never read, but it all depends on what comes out and if I’m forgetting books that I pre-ordered. What’s on your reading list?
Hello, hello! How’s everyone this lovely Wednesday? It’s super late and I have nothing to ramble about and I feel blah for no real reason except it’s another rainy, dreary day (Tuesday). So, I’m taking a lazy day and just saying have a happy May! I’ll figure out something to blog about next week. Ideas welcome!
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I’m feeling very ranty. Well, it’s Monday as I’m writing this, so hopefully I’m feeling better on Wednesday, but I doubt it. Why am I angry, you ask? (I know you didn’t ask, but let’s pretend you did). The current administration. Why else? I mean… you saw what RFK Jr. said about Autistic kids, right? Sure, he tried to frame it as caring because he’s going to figure out the causes of Autism and fix everything. By September. My dude… how much of your brain did that worm eat? Low blow. I know. I’m trying my best to be civil here. Anyway! In case you missed it, these are the exact words he said regarding children with Autism:
“These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date, many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
If this is what the administration thinks about Autistic people, it’s what they think about all disabled people. It’s what they even think of you two, Hot Wheels (Abbott) and Musk. You’re not special to them. But I digress. This statement that RFK Jr. made is nothing new or original. It’s part of the ableism that’s so deeply ingrained in our society that people openly agree with this bullshit. If you’re not capable of being worked to death by your rich overlords, then you’re just a burden on society and your community and your family. You’re what the Nazis called a “useless eater” which meant you were a “life unworthy of life.” It doesn’t matter that nature or God or whatever you believe in fucked up your genes and made you this way (or that you were involved in an accident or just got old or any other number of things), it’s somehow your fault and you should suffer and anguish over being such a burden. It sounds stupid when I put it like that, right? And yet even disabled people themselves are trained to believe this nonsense. I struggle with it a lot. I know others who do too. But to have a government openly spew this vitriol is deeply concerning.
When you think about the Holocaust (at least I hope you stop and remember it from time to time), if you’re like me, your first thought is of the atrocities that happened to Jews. But in 1939 (approximately two years before Nazis started mass murdering Jews), Nazis implemented the Euthanasia Program which became Aktion T4. In the beginning, they required all doctors/clinics/hospitals/etc. to report any children (newborns to age 3) who showed signs of mental and physical deficits, then the Nazis would encourage the families to turn these babies and toddlers over to special institutions for care. What was the care they offered? A gas chamber. The age gradually increased to 17, then Aktion T4 was implemented which broadened the scope of the Euthanasia Program to include adults in both public and private institutions. This phase of the program is estimated to have taken 70,000 lives. However, the program kept going in secret after Hitler publicly ordered its halt. It expanded to include people who were simply too old and bombing victims and more. They stopped using gas chambers, opting instead for overdoses and the like. But it kept going throughout the war and conservative estimates are that 250,000 people were murdered because they were deemed to be burdens on society. And I’m not even going to get into the horrible experiments that the Nazis did on disabled people. But I truly believe this is where we’re currently heading under this administration. It starts out with innocent enough statements and promises of help and it turns into “let’s murder all the cripples!”. Then things just get worse from there for everybody else.
And none of this is to say America has been innocent of shit like that. We have our own Eugenics movement, which we’re honestly still struggling with in a lot of ways. Murder has been part of it. Forced sterilizations. A push toward the “perfect” family, but only if it’s a mommy, daddy, and 2.5 kids. Etc. Yeah. It’s not a great part of history for us either. I don’t know why we’re letting it get a foothold in our government once again. Okay. I know why (because rich dumbasses just want to make more money for themselves without paying taxes and poor dumbasses believed the hype and decided the rich ones could run our country), but I don’t know WHY… you know? These are openly horrible people. Racist. Sexist. Ableist. Transphobic. Homophobic. Only keep the poor around to work themselves to death in their factories (jobs… whatever) for money they’ll never have time to enjoy (if they even make enough to cover basics). Cry and throw tantrums when anyone even suggests they pay their fair share in taxes. But sure. They have your best interests at heart.
Personally, I’m not convinced that cripples are the useless eaters in this country. Politicians make ridiculous amounts of money for no reason. They don’t even work most of the year unless you count schmoozing and going to fancy dinners and golfing every weekend on the taxpayers dime. They never come to any agreements. They dig us further and further into debt, then blame the few social programs we have so it seems like cripples and regular old people are to blame. Instead, they could take pay cuts, make the billionaires pay their fair share, and eliminate a crapton of the national debt in the process. The fact that they all suck at their jobs and don’t do anything remotely productive kind of makes them sound like the useless eaters and wastes of space, but what do I know? I’m just a scumbag cripple who’s a burden on society.
And now I’m getting uncivilized, so I’ll stop there. I’ll be back next week with the regularly scheduled book review!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I intended to write a random post, but allergies and some extra hurtyness (nothing out of the normal range, just a bit on the high side of normal for some unknown reason) has me feeling blah. So, I’ll ramble about something next week (feel free to send me ideas).
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are okay, I guess. Trump’s America is hitting super close to home (like next door kind of close) and I hate it. But there’s nothing I can do, so I’m trying to think about better things. Dad and I were chatting (I don’t even remember about what) and he mentioned piercings, but I don’t want any piercings (on other people they’re great, just not a me thing), so we somehow got onto tattoos from there. Anyway, I always told myself I’d get a tattoo when I got published for the first time (anything, not just a novel), but I never did. Then it became “I’ll do it when I get my first full length book published.” We’ll see if that ever happens. Now, maybe it will just be an “if I survive the dumpster fire that is the current administration” reward. Despite never doing it, I still have ideas, so I thought I’d share them with you. We should all take some time to think of something happy.
1. The kanji for sakura (cherry blossom) with some cherry blossoms. Something relatively small. I don’t really have much in the way of an actual design. I’d just let the artist come up with something.
2. A Sailor Saturn inspired image designed by my little sis (Jenae). It would probably need tweaked by the tattoo artist, so I might be better off finding someone who specializes in anime tattoos (they do exist), but this is all just daydreaming, so it doesn’t matter right now.
3. A Sailor Uranus inspired image designed by my little sis (Jenae). There are also versions for Pluto and Neptune if I get crazy.
I also wouldn’t mind something Gambit/Rogue related. But no idea what. What kind of tattoos would you want to get? Are you a planner or someone who randomly picks something? Someone who needs their tattoos to be meaningful or someone who just likes pretty things? As usual, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments and questions here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are about the same as usual. Took Mardi to get her yearly check up and shots. Other than being dramatic and whining about everything (if the van stopped at a light she cried, if the doctor’s parrot moved she barked, etc.), she was good. She’s a little chunkster (gained almost a pound). But she’s healthy and everyone thinks she’s so cute. Try to take a ball away from her and see how quickly she turns into a murderous demon dog, but I admit she’s still cute when she does. Anyway, this is just a quick post to say how awesome Dr. Thomas and everyone at Rodeo Drive Veterinary Hospital are!
Pretty sure most (if not all) of our animals have been to see Dr. Thomas throughout the years. She’s knowledgeable and kind and a fabulous doctor. All of her people are wonderful as well. Judy and Kandy are always cheerful and helpful. Michele is patient and always takes the time to answer any medication or procedure questions. Shauna is great and always answers my emails if we have random unurgent questions. And they all genuinely care about the animals they take care of. We never feel rushed or like they aren’t listening. It’s a great place with amazing people. So, if any of you are reading this, thank you from me and Dad and Mardi and Sophia and Bonnie!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are fine so far. As promised, I have pictures of Dad’s hydroponics garden! The bigger plants off to the right are herbs he started in a tiny countertop version he bought. The dill is being ridiculous and showing off, but we don’t really know what to make with it aside from pickles and fish. So if you have a dill recipe, feel free to share it! The smaller plants are various lettuces, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, and probably stuff I’m forgetting. He’s thinking about adding tomatoes and peppers in the future. They’d have to be grown in buckets and need another light, but the pump should be able to handle them. So, yeah. Our spare bedroom is a garden now. Also, bonus pupper pics. Mardi needs a bath and Bonnie runs from the camera. Sophia is absent because she’s in her kennel since we weren’t supervising everyone (yes, she still randomly pees in the house). Anyway, I’ll be back next week with the usual book review!
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are usual. I was going to show pictures of Dad’s hydroponics system and plants, but he’s busy and can’t take pictures right now, so I’ll do that next week. Today, since it’s women’s history month, I’ll share some books by women authors that I enjoy. I’ll try not to use repeats from recent posts. In no particular order, books by women!
1. The Library of Legends by Janie Chang. This is my current for fun book, but I’m about 75% of the way through and really liking it.
2. Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime by Leonie Swann. It’s the second book in a cozy mystery series, but I think it’s better than the first book.
3. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. An old book, but a lovely read.
4. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. A strange combination of horror and sci-fi and life in general that I found lovely.
What are some books by women that you recommend? As always, feel free to share your thoughts or questions here or on my social media pages!
