The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces
The Weird Times: Issue 103, May 1, 2022 (V2 #51)
“Rather than treating climate as a siloed issue, we must take concrete and immediate steps to prepare for its full scope of consequences, especially when it comes to pandemic preparedness and other serious threats to public health.”—Sean Casten (D-IL)
“Vladimir Putin is learning a truth that has endured through the centuries: If you take too big a bite on the battlefield, you die. There are no Heimlich maneuvers in war.”—Lucian K. Truscott IV
“The cost of failing to stand up to violent aggression in Europe has always been higher than the cost of standing firm against such attacks.”—President Joe Biden
There’s a theme here…
Democrats Need to Stand Up for Themselves: Humans are drawn to narratives, but too many politicians struggle to use storytelling to find common ground, Molly Jong-Fast, The Atlantic, 4/26/22
Joe Biden’s message drowned out by beat of the Republican culture-war drum: Democrats struggle to tell a good-news story, raising fears of midterm losses in November, David Smith, The Guardian, 4/24/22
Inside the Creation of Trump’s Stolen Election Myth: Internal emails and interviews with key participants reveal for the first time the extent to which leading advocates of the rigged election theory touted evidence they knew to be disproven, disputed or Doug Bock Clark, Alexandra Berzon, Kirsten Berg, ProPublica, 4/26/22
Major corporations quietly funnel millions to national group behind regressive state laws, Judd Legum, Tesnim Zekeria, Rebecca Crosby, Popular Information, 4/28/22
Nazi Billionaires, Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 4/27/22: on David De Jong’s new book, Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties
Opposition to abortion doesn’t stop some Americans from supporting friends and family who seek one, Tricia C. Bruce, The Conversation, 4/22/22
The supreme court’s coming abortion ruling may spark a new era of US unrest: There’s a strong risk that the case will spark anger and violence – whether the court overturns Roe v Wade or not, Stephen Marche, The Guardian, 4/27/22
Think Bigger About Remote Work, Adam Ozimek, Noahpinion, 4/28/22: “If we are too pessimistic, and continue the trend from the past few decades of declining dynamism rather than take advantage of the new momentum unlocked by remote work, we may fail to capture the profound benefits that are possible.”
Capitalism’s Endemic Shortages: Oil to end Russia’s stranglehold on Europe? Creating enough semiconductors? Only publicly owned companies can deliver those goods, Harold Meyerson, American Prospect, 4/28/22
Escalators and Quagmires, Lawrence Freedman, Comment is Freed, 4/29/22: “The best course is for Ukraine to stick to its reasonable objective of expelling Russian troops from its soil and NATO to support them in that endeavour.”
Aleksandar Hemon on What’s Different About the War in Ukraine: A conversation with the author about nationalism, displacement, and the importance of dancing, Carol Schaeffer, The Nation, 4/27/22
In
Ukraine
Living
is framed
by dying
as stillness
is framed
by motion
with each
breath
splitting
the closing
difference
—Beau Beausoleil
Science and Environment: Big News
UN Report Says Humanity Has Altered 70 Percent of the Earth’s Land, Putting the Planet on a ‘Crisis Footing:’ Agriculture is the biggest degrader of land, the authors say. Transforming farming practices could restore billions of acres by 2050 for less than is spent on developed-world farm subsidies, Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News, 4/27/22
Devouring the Rain Forest, Terrence McCoy, Júlia Ledur, Washington Post, 4/29/22: “If the Amazon is to die, it will be beef that kills it.”
For Gen Z, Climate Change Is a Heavy Emotional Burden: Britt Wray is a leading researcher on the mental health impact of climate change. In an e360 interview, she talks about the rise of climate anxiety in young people, how social media exacerbates this, Richard Schiffman, Yale Environment 360, 4/28/22
Yale study identifies causes of cancer, Yale School of Public Health, Eurekalert, 4/26/22: “Public health intervention targeted at minimizing exposure to these preventable signatures would mitigate disease severity by preventing the accumulation of mutations that directly contribute to the cancer phenotype.”
Speaking of which:
Man investigating says 115 people who attended or worked at one New Jersey high school have had rare brain tumor, Caitlin O’Kane, CBS News, 4/25/22
Elegant Six-Page Proof Reveals the Emergence of Random Structure: Two young mathematicians have astonished their colleagues with a full proof of the Kahn-Kalai conjecture — a sweeping statement about how structure emerges in random sets and graphs, Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta, 4/25/22
Researchers develop a paper-thin loudspeaker: The flexible, thin-film device has the potential to make any surface into a low-power, high-quality audio source, Adam Zewe, MIT News, 4/26/22
Two Wyo rivers under restrictions due to low snowpack, drought: Irrigators on the Tongue River were notified of possible restrictions, while their counterparts on the North Platte under order to curtail irrigation, Dustin Bleizeffer, Wyofile, 4/26/22
Fishermen and Scientists Probe Phosphate’s Connection to Florida Red Tides: A new nonprofit connects fishermen and scientists to determine whether the state’s phosphate mines are linked to the harmful algal blooms, Jonnah Perkins, Civil Eats, 4/26/22
The climate bystander effect is real. But these leaders are out on a ledge trying to fight it: BlocPower’s Donnel Baird and Stripe’s Nan Ransohoff talk about why we can’t sit back and assume other people are trying to solve climate change, Connie Lin, Fast Company, 4/26/22
How to Decolonize Conservation: Drawing on examples from existing conservation projects and their own experiences, Indigenous researchers are unpacking what a decolonized approach to environmental protection should look like, Erica Gies, Haika, 4/25/22
California’s Terranova Ranch is getting ready for large electric farm equipment: The ranch is investing in charging stations and taking other steps to prepare for an all-electric future, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 4/27/22
The Strange Appeal of Garden Lawns: Many of us create or maintain lawns in our gardens without giving it a second thought. But could these innocent patches of greenery be a colossal waste of space? Josh Sims, BBC, 4/28/22
A Quiet Revolution: Southwest Cities Learn to Thrive Amid Drought: Facing a changing climate, southwestern U.S. cities such as San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas have embraced a host of innovative strategies for conserving and sourcing water, providing these metropolitan areas with ample water supplies to support their growing populations, Jim Robbins, Yale Environment 360, 4/26/22
Outdoor Poop Etiquette Is Changing (You’re Probably Not Going to Like It): A growing body of research suggests that it’s no longer sustainable to bury our waste in the wilderness, Krista Langlois, Outside, 4/25/22
Denim set to be disrupted by ecofriendly indigo dyeing: Sonovia and PureDenim announce a strategic collaboration to develop revolutionary process to reduce water and energy usage, improve durability, Abigaill Klein Leichman, Israel21C, 4/24/22
Rural electric co-ops face barriers to going renewable: Member-owned co-ops provide electricity in many rural areas, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 4/26/22
Meet the power plant of the future: Solar + battery hybrids are poised for explosive growth, Joachim Seel, Bentham Paulos, Will Gorman, The Conversation, 4/25/22
What Dinner Will Look Like in the Next 100 Years, According to Scientists (and Sci-Fi Authors): Avocados might cost $20 a pop, Alex Beggs, Bon Appetit, 4/26/22
Researchers Have Identified The Diet to Follow if You Want to Live as Long as Possible, Mike McRae, Science Alert, 4/29/22
New book says Indigenous knowledge is key to fighting climate change: Jessica Hernandez, author of “Fresh Banana Leaves,” says Indigenous communities are already taking steps to heal the environment, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 4/29/22
In the Battle Over the Right to Repair, Open-Source Tractors Offer an Alternative: Proponents say an open-source farm equipment ecosystem is key to a future of more innovative, repairable, and environmentally adapted tools, Greta Moran, Civil Eats, 4/27/22
A stark future for ocean life, Malin L. Pinsky, Alexa Fredston, Science, 4/28/22: “…runaway climate change would put ocean life on track for a mass extinction rivaling the worst in Earth’s history.”
It’s Not Too Late to Stop Mass Extinction in the Ocean: A quarter of a billion years ago, rising temperatures emptied the oceans of life. The planet now faces a similar threat, but the outcome is in human hands, Matt Reynolds, Wired, 4/28/22: ““There are quiet extinctions that are happening almost certainly in the oceans that are not being detected right now. And that wave of undetected extinction is going to become a tsunami if climate change is allowed to advance.”
‘Potentially devastating’: Climate crisis may fuel future pandemics: ‘Zoonotic spillovers’ expected to rise with at least 15,000 instances of viruses leaping between species over next 50 years, Oliver Millman, The Guardian, 4/28/22
There’s No Scenario in Which 2050 Is ‘Normal:’ The two paths to avoid the worst of climate change would still dramatically change the world as we know it, Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 4/27/22
Secrets of the Moon’s Permanent Shadows Are Coming to Light: Robots are about to venture into the sunless depths of lunar craters to investigate ancient water ice trapped there, while remote studies find hints about how water arrives on rocky worlds, Jonathan O’Callaghan, Quanta, 4/28/22
Books and Kulchur
Article of the Week: ‘It’s like being a therapist’: the highs and lows of an independent bookstore: In new documentary Hello, Bookstore, a small Massachusetts shop is observed over an extended period as Covid-19 threatens to close it forever, Veronica Esposito, The Guardian, 4/28/22 (Ed. Note: this film is about Matthew Tannenbaum, who has owned and operated the extraordinary “The Bookstore” in Lenox, Massachusetts for nearly fifty years. He is a dear friend and known to many poets and writers who have spent time or visited the Berkshires. See it if you can.)
John Darnielle Wants to Tell You a Story: The Mountain Goats front man and novelist discusses art as labor, the value of religious faith, the beauty of Chaucer, and, more or less, the secret to happiness, Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 4/24/22: “A song is something you take possession of. You own it, and you carry it with you—you as a listener. A book, I think, is much more sadistic, in the sense that you have freedom, as a reader, to read it as you like, but you have to live inside my brain while you read my book.”
I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
—from “No Children,” The Mountain Goats, written by John Darnielle
Welcome to Janelle Monáe’s Dreamworld: In her new book, the artist and Afrofuturist icon conjures an apocalyptic—and hopeful—vision of the future, Mary Retta, Wired, 4/26/22: The Memory World
The radical power of sewing: the artist turning textiles into activism: A Los Angeles exhibit by Aram Han Sifuentes shows the connection between fabric and her passion for political action, Eva Recinos, The Guardian, 4/29/22
‘A legend at Ocean Beach’: Bill Hickey, one of the first San Francisco surfers at Kelly’s Cove, dies at 85, Amanda Bartlett, SFGate, 4/28/22
There is a bell hooks Book for Every Season of Life: On the Liberatory Possibilities of Sexual Experience, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, LitHub, 4/27/22
Author Margaret Atwood Wants Students to Envision Future Utopias—And Mint Them as NFTs: Atwood will teach a utopia-themed online class on learning platform Disco that includes Tezos NFTs co-created with students, Andrew Hayward, Decrypt, 4/27/22
The lost Jews of Nigeria: Until the 1990s, there were almost no Jews in Nigeria. Now thousands have enthusiastically taken up the faith. Why? Samanth Subramamian, The Guardian, 4/26/22
Public Libraries Are Making It Easy to Check Out Seeds—and Plant a Garden: Across the country, libraries are giving away seeds to encourage neighbors to plant food, spend more time outside, and build a relationship with nature, Bridget Shirvell, Civil Eats, 4/25/22
Prehistoric women were hunters and artists as well as mothers, book reveals: French book and documentary coming to the UK in September seeks to ‘debunk the simplistic division’ of gender roles, Daniel Boffey, The Guardian, 4/29/22
Coming Soon to the Guggenheim: Words, Words, Words, The Manhattan museum’s first poet in residence plans to fill the space with “poem signs,” panels, interactive experiences and pop-up readings, Laurel Graeber, NY Times, 4/27/22 (No paywall for this one)
Don’t Fear a Red Planet, Selections From the World’s Only Native American Comic Shop: A suggested reading list from Red Planet Books and Comics highlighting Native American literary work, Lee Francis, Hypoallergenic, 4/14/22
On Louise Erdrich and the Characters Who Haven’t Left Our Dreams: How a Novel in Stories Creates History Through a Chorus of Voices, Susan Straight, LitHub, 4/28/22
Robert M. Pirsig on the Book He Wrote (And the One He Didn’t): “Gradually, I began to discover that I was on to more than I had thought,” Robert M. Pirsig and Wendy K. Pirsig, LitHub, 4/29/22: “I wasn’t being separate from what I was doing; [the idea] was arising out of what I was doing.”
Q&A with Rita Benn, Julie Goldstein Ellis, Joy Wolfe Ensor, and Ruth Wade about The Ones Who Remember: Second-Generation Voices of the Holocaust, City Point Press, 2022
And the vernal equinox,
what is that but words
In an ancient tongue
changing everything
to tulips.
—James Lenfesty, from Prayer to Spring, The Urban Coyote: Howlings on family, Community, and the Search for Peace and Justice, (Nodin Press, 2021)
The Best Book Places in the U.S. (2022 Data), Taylor Candiloro, Clever, 4/11/22: Top three places to live for book people – Providence, Hartford, Boston
Birdland
Spring’s begun dividing her storks and cranes among us.” New Poetry from Ukraine by Natalia Beltchenko, trs by Amelia Glaser and Yuliya Ilchuk, LitHub, 4/26/22
If only I could, like a nighttime moth,
whisper to this moment, “stop”
and reach the light, crawl behind the backdrop,
as though it had never been winter.
Record avian flu outbreak is threatening North America’s birds. Is the virus here to stay? Farmers forced to kill millions of poultry amid worries for wild species, Erik Stokstad, Science, 4/26/22
Bird populations in eastern Canada declining due to forest ‘degradation,’ research shows, Oregon State Univ, Eurekalert, 4/28/22
Radar captures millions of birds migrating to North America: Millions of birds are making their way to the U.S. to stick with warmer temps, WTSP-Tampa, 4/26/22
Injury or Illusion? Why a Bird With a Broken Wing May Not Be What It Appears: Some species feign injuries to protect their nests from predators—a more common behavior than previously thought, new research shows, Jenny McKee, Audubon, 4/28/22
“The old camel
Gets to her knees,
Stands up,
Moves forward slowly
Into the new day” — from “August Third,” May Sarton, May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995
Another wave of COVID, war in Ukraine, dying oceans and rainforests, rising inflation, endless gun violence, ongoing attacks on democracy and the rule of law by a well-funded faux populist Republican party, and no meaningful messaging from any of the Democrats. Meanwhile we are watching a great president at work who is right now more unpopular (according to polls) than the criminally insane #45. Every sign indicates the House and Senate will be lost to the Democrats and we know what that will mean. WTF.
I’m generally an optimist, because there is no choice, but it’s getting more challenging by the day. But there is always hope and the commitment to make things better.
Love to all — David
As won't, tho they're not here, pass thru a hoop
Strayed on a manhole — me? Am on a stoop.
—from “A”-7 by Louis Zukofsky