18 July 2025 @ 10:59 am
The only antidote I may have to Trump’s election
is in a small ferry to Robben Island
one that shuttles you to the former prison
where those who fought against apartheid were held
The only answers may be in one wool blanket
a basin
toilet
cell
and the tiny windows of  Robben Island
in the discarded artillery
the rock and the limestone yard
where many were blinded
driven mad
Now the survivors former prisoners
give tours
their faces carved like tree roots exposed
The only answers may be in the surrounding peaks of Table Mountain
its Twelve Apostles
all now standing as testament to what
through years of struggles
can be defeated
overcome


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15 July 2025 @ 07:27 pm
is when an organization feels the urgent need to say something both in officialese and also everyday talk. I can think of three very relevant examples in NYC:

1. Every time you do your taxes or do almost anything that involves interacting with the state government, you'll have to pick your county, and if you live in Brooklyn or Staten Island that means they list the county with the coterminous borough in parentheses.

2. If you have a kid in school, every year they send you a form reminding you to fill out your Emergency Contact Card, and every year they include the phrase "Blue Card" right afterwards. Because that's what we all call it. Because they're blue.

3. And here's one I haven't thought about much since adolescence, but if a job is apt to hire teens then they will ask for their Employment Certification and then, inevitably, add "Working Papers" right afterwards, again, because that's what everybody calls them.

There must be other examples I'm missing, as well as non-NY examples. I sometimes wonder if it'd be easier for them to just cave to the inevitable and start listing the everyday term first and then list the "real" term afterwards.
 
 
17 July 2025 @ 07:09 pm
Gosh it's thunderstorming out there!

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16 July 2025 @ 02:35 pm
Nonstandard and informal are not synonyms. Dialectal and informal are not synonyms. Regional and informal are not synonyms. You can speak formally even if you're speaking a nonstandard regional dialect.

Everybody needs to stop saying that dialect words are, ipso facto, informal.

Edit: On a different note, omfg this dude.

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15 July 2025 @ 04:45 pm
but it turned out to be a big bag of dog food.

This is... not so great, really.

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and completion of orientation. They really are taking anybody with a pulse, as judged by the extremely detailed list of instructions for appropriate behavior during orientation. I'd be more insulted, but that's good for me, I really need a job. If they had higher standards they would hire somebody with formal work experience, or at least an associate's degree.

(Don't think I've stopped applying other places, mind you, but I'm really not in a position to be picky, either.)

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Well... if you're interested in reading a book about how living in an over-privileged Connecticut town is terrible and nobody should ever do it (especially if that's going to intersect badly with their terrible childhood) then this is a book you'll like. I preferred Dreadful - the realism : magic ratio in this book leaned a little too realistic, also, I just do not believe that the only school choices are a. fancy schools for wealthy overachievers that have massively high standards and high stakes testing b. xenophobic schools with very low standards and c. homeschooling. Even if there are no public school options there still have to be artsy fartsy schools for wealthy people who know that their kids cannot do the pressure cooker thing starting in kindy.
 
 
12 July 2025 @ 01:52 pm
Adrian Tchaikovsky is amazingly hit-or-miss for me, but this looks like it's coming up "hit". The sapient arthropods are a swarm of bees. If there are any spiders, I haven't met them yet!
 
 
"Why work here?"

"Weekly pay!"

Yup, that's why I would like to apply for any and all jobs!

(On a side note, A has been sending me a lot of job links today. I'm a bit inundated, but I somehow don't think that "Great, please don't send them to me, just fill them out with my resume for me" is going to go over very well.)

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09 July 2025 @ 11:57 am
Asked where I lived, was concerned that the answer is "Staten Island". FFS, it's not Siberia!

I need to start telling people I'm moving in with a friend in Tribeca. Just straight up lie.
 
 
Just went through the website and applied to everything I meet the minimum qualifications for, for what good it may do.

They could, in theory, save my information from one application to the next. They don't do that. They could also not require me to answer "where did you hear about this?" every time - but the joke's on them. "I went to your website and clicked on every job where I meet the minimum qualifications" is not an option, so I've just been lying and saying "hiring event" because that's the first choice. They will get no useful data from me, no thank you!

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is the constant whiplash between panic and popcorn.

Right now I'm hovering over "popcorn" - new political parties? With added drama and infighting? LOL, okay, let's see how that works out for you!

(Look, I need a break from panic now and again, and I will take my fun where it appears.)

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08 July 2025 @ 07:54 am
Eirenicon: A proposal to resolve disputes and reconcile differences in order to advance peace, strengthen or establish unity, or foster solidarity.

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06 July 2025 @ 06:43 am
Though, upon reflection, it's surprising that this hasn't happened before in 30+ years of menstruation )

I'd say that was the worst thing to happen this weekend, but then I glanced at the news, and how do things keep getting worse? I thought we might at least get a reprieve over the holiday weekend, Congress would all go on vacation and not pass any terrible bills in the interim, but I guess not.

I'm not linking to it, not today. I know how to take a break, even if they don't. Take this article on amenorrhea instead.
 
 
05 July 2025 @ 07:29 pm
Moonpie's foot looks better, we didn't end up having to take her for an x-ray at all.

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