The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces
The Weird Times: Issue 123, September 18, 2022 (V3 #19)
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.”— Isaac Asimov
“The turning of the courts into a tool for partisan advantage has been part of the Republican project since 1986, when Reagan’s attorney general Edwin Meese vowed to “institutionalize the Reagan revolution so it can’t be set aside no matter what happens in future presidential elections.””—Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American
‘Sadistic lie.’ Venezuelans flown to Martha’s Vineyard search for a way off the island, Bianca Padro Ocasio, Miami Herald, 9/16/22
to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you down like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
—Ellen Bass
Books, Art, Music
“In Your Mind”: A Deeper Look at Yoko Ono, Eoghan Lyng, Culture Sonar, 9/3/22
On Eve of Banned Books Week 2022, ALA Says Challenges Are Rising, Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly, 9/16/22: For a calendar of events check the Banned Books Website here.
My Literary Education with Elizabeth Hardwick: She didn’t consider herself a teacher. But, through warm, sometimes ruthless attention, she made people writers, Darryl Pinckney, The New Yorker, 9/19/22: “She told our class that there were really only two reasons to write: desperation or revenge.”
100 Years of Mavis Gallant: Her stories are about the cost of living and the cost of love. It’s why they still endure, Heather O’Neill, The Walrus, 9/15/22: “Gallant is always concerned with the cost of living, which includes the cost of love.”
Was It Ever Possible For One Person To Read Every Book Ever Written (in English)? Randall Munroe Provides a Serious Answer To a Very Hypothetical Literary Question, Randall Munroe, LitHub, 9/13/22
The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books: How a best-selling series gave young readers a new sense of agency, Leslie Jamison, New Yorker, 9/12/22: “The second person was less like a mirror and more like a costume.”
When Art and Technology Collide: How AI Is Changing the Conversation Around Art, Rex Woodbury, Digital Native, 9/14/22: “It feels like we’re on the cusp of a new era—one with many unforeseen consequences lurking around the corner, but one that will unleash new levels of creativity.”
‘Sacred Nature’ Review: Back to the Garden: Karen Armstrong plumbs religious history for insight into the split between humans and the living world around us, Dominic Green, Wall Street Journal, 9/16/22 (no paywall) Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World
Beyond Grievance: Though it may be a potent political tool, grievance can also maintain our investment in our own oppression, Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents, Summer 2022: “Many millions of dollars are being poured into a Jewish politics of fear; it’s not so far-fetched to imagine how curricula of healing could be institutionalized and dispersed instead.”
What Rituals Across Cultures Reveal About the Human Condition: On the Healing Properties of Risky Behavior, Dimitris Xygalatas, LitHub, 9/14/22: “The fact that ritual does not have a direct impact on the physical world does not mean that it has no impact at all.”
The Banquet of Life: Some of the Finest Advice on Growing Old, Growing Young, and Becoming Your Fullest Self, Maria Popova, The Marginalian, 9/17/22: “This truth is that, in all matters that can be analyzed and known, Youth starts life on the shoulders of Age, and therefore… sees farther and is actually more likely to be right.”—Jane Ellen Harrison
To study ancient seafarers, researcher built a replica ship — and sailed it, Dave Kindy, Washington Post, 9/17/22
I am the Land: Native Islander Uses Ancestral Wisdom to Help Return Puerto Rico to its Indigenous Roots, Josee Molavi, Palabra, 9/10/22: Film “I am the Land”
I think about a world to come
Where the books were found by the Golden ones
Written in pain, written in awe
By a puzzled man who questioned
What we work here for
All the strangers came today
—from “All the Pretty Things,” David Bowie
Politicks
The radical legal theory that could upend the 2024 election, Judd Legum, Popular Information, 9/21/22: “The idea that the intention of the Election Clause is to allow state legislatures to violate the state constitution is absurd.”
Idaho’s Far Right Suffers Election Loss to 18-Year-Old Climate Activist: High school senior Shiva Rajbhandari won elected office in Boise, defeating an incumbent school board trustee backed by local extremists, Robert Mackey, The Intercept, 9/13/22
Special master ruling shows Trump’s takeover of courts has started to sting: Aileen Cannon, who Trump nominated in 2020, granted his wish over the Mar-a-Lago search – a maverick decision that is the thin end of the wedge, Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, 9/18/22: “Trump, advised by the Federalist Society, chose ultra-conservative, very young lawyers who can shape the legal landscape for decades to come.”
The ‘Sleeper’ Senate Battleground Dems Are Overlooking: It could turn out to be the closest Senate race in the nation—and the one that could determine control of the chamber, Sam Brodey, Ursula Perano, Daily Beast, 9/16/22: “It’s North Carolina, where Democrats have one of their very best chances to flip a GOP-held Senate seat—even if the party’s biggest donors and outside groups haven’t yet acted like it.”
Wonton Killings, Gazpacho Police, Peach Tree Dishes: Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene Make the Case for Congressional IQ Minimums: As a reminder, these people are in charge of making laws, Bess Levin, Vanity Fair, 9/14/22
Malerba sworn in as 1st Native American in US Treasurer post, Fatima Hussein, AP, 9/13/22
No, the U.S. is not "a poor society with some very rich people:” We're a rich society with some very poor people, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 9/17/22: “America’s middle class has higher living standards than almost any other country’s middle class.”
Why Is Elon Musk Having So Many Kids with So Many Women, Tomas Pueyo, Uncharted Territories, 9/13/22
Zugzwang - are we on the brink of a central banking paradigm shift? Adam Tooze, Chartbook, 9/16/22: “Without radical structural reform we are prisoners of decisions taken in the 1990s.”
Attentive, Scott Galloway, No Mercy, No Malice, 9/16/22: “The leaders of American media platforms don’t suffer from immorality but amorality — indifference and dissonance about the damage their companies do. When it’s raining money, your vision gets blurred…”
These corporations are backing the sponsors of a national abortion ban, Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, Popular Information, 9/14/22
What Happens When a Party Rejects Humanity? Sarah Jones, NY Magazine, 9/16/22: “The GOP can’t be reasoned with, not at this moment and perhaps never again. The party’s transformation into a thoroughly inhumane entity threatens to become permanent, and it should spell the end of the bipartisan impulse.”
Sarah Kendzior on Trumpland’s Criminal Distortions of American Reality: “Fighting corruption is not a matter of changing hearts and minds but of accumulating leverage,” Sarah Kendzior, LitHub, 9/13/22: “Conspiracy is not only a matter of how many people are willing to stay silent, but what tactics can be used to keep them that way.” From They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent
Yvon Chouinard – the ‘existential dirtbag’ who founded and gifted Patagonia: Self-proclaimed craftsman built outdoor clothing company to help climbers and offer ‘enjoyable’ working conditions, Rupert Neate, The Guardian, 9/15/22
Ukraine Holds the Future: The War Between Democracy and Nihilism, Timothy Snyder, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2022: “The war is fought to control territory but also wombs and minds—in other words, the future.”
You're still breathing but you don't know why
Life's a bit and sometimes you die
You're still breathing but you just can't tell
Don't hold your breath but the pretty things are going to hell
—from “All the Pretty Things Are Going to Hell,” David Bowie
Science and Environment
Where Thick Ice Sheets in Antarctica Meet the Ground, Small Changes Could Have Big Consequences: Scientists say their models suggest that big tracts of East Antarctica’s ice sheets could become a significant new source of sea level rise with just a little bit of warming, Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News, 9/14/22
After the collapse: checking for vital signs on a fading Arctic icescape: At the extreme northern tip of the world, a team of scientists battles time and weather to ponder the aftereffects of a giant ice shelf collapse at Milne Fiord, Dustin Patar, The Narwhal, 9/10/22
The meandering waves that connect jet streams to global warming, Jim Shelton, Yale News, 9/12/22
A Very California Lesson on Just How Weird Electricity Is: The state’s record-smashing heat wave is a window into the future … and it’s okay, Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 9/13/22
Switching to renewable energy could save trillions – study, Jonah Fisher, BBC News, 9/14/22
San Francisco restaurant turns food waste into pizza: From off-cuts of meat to spent-oats in the crust, food waste is used in all stages of pizza served at Shuggie’s Trash Pie, YCC Team, Yale Climate Connections, 9/12/22
Warming Trends: A Comedy With Solar Themes, a Greener Cryptocurrency and the Underestimated Climate Supermajority: A column highlighting climate-related studies, innovations, books, cultural events and other developments from the global warming frontier, Katelyn Weisbrod, Inside Climate News, 9/17/22
Global ‘Stilling’: Is Climate Change Slowing Down the Wind? As carbon dioxide levels rise and the Earth’s poles warm, researchers are predicting a decline in the planet’s wind speeds. This ‘stilling’ could impact wind energy production and plant growth and might even affect the Gulf Stream, which drives much of the world’s climate, Jim Robbins, Yale Environment 360, 9/13/22
‘Timber Cities’ Might Help Decarbonize the World: New research suggests that using wood for construction could avoid 100 gigatons of CO2 emissions through 2100, but building skylines of timber requires careful forest planning, Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News, 9/12/22
The Mystery of Why Some People Don’t Get Covid: A small number of people appear naturally immune to the coronavirus. Scientists think they might hold the key to helping protect us all, Grace Browne, Wired, 9/12/22
How One Rust Belt College is Transforming Its Local Food System: In Michigan, Kalamazoo Valley Community College has built a rare model aimed at connecting people through growing food, supporting local farmers, and educating a wide variety of community members, Douglas Haynes, Civil Eats, 9/12/22
Scientists hail autoimmune disease therapy breakthrough: Study finds CAR T-cell treatment sends lupus into remission, raising hopes it could be used to treat diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Ian Sample, The Guardian, 9/15/22
Chaos Researchers Can Now Predict Perilous Points of No Return: A custom-built machine learning algorithm can predict when a complex system is about to switch to a wildly different mode of behavior, Ben Brubaker, Quanta, 9/15/22
The Mysterious, Vexing, and Utterly Engrossing Search for the Origin of Eels: To save endangered eels, researchers have been working for decades to figure out where they reproduce, Christina Couch, Hakai, 9/13/22
Talking to whales: can AI bridge the chasm between our consciousness and other animals? Speaking to animals has long been a fantasy. But now a dizzyingly ambitious project is harnessing all the power of modern science in an attempt to understand what whales say – and then hold conversations with them, Patrick Barkham, The Guardian, 9/18/22
Memory
Memory is not in the head
only. It’s midnight,
you existed once, you exist
again, my entire skin
sensitive as an eye,
imprint of you
glowing against me,
burnt-out match in a dark room.
—Margaret Atwood
Birds
Fever-ridden, I wobbled out to join the warblers, Miriam Darlington, The Times (UK), 9/2/22: “Out in the street, a bat chased a huge moth around a streetlight, both of them swallowed into the darkness.”
The Bird Migration Explorer Lets You Interact With Nature’s Most Amazing Feat: With this revolutionary new tool, anyone can follow hundreds of species on their epic journeys and discover challenges they face along the way, The Editors, Audubon, 9/15/22
Protecting birds during migration season, Zachary Eanes, Axios Raleigh, 9/14/22: “Turn off lights at night, especially upward-facing ones. Close blinds and curtains. Install automatic motion sensor lights when possible. Ask employers to turn out exterior upward-facing lights and interior office lights at their office buildings from 11pm until dawn.”
At the Great Salt Lake, record salinity and low water imperils millions of birds: Drought spurs efforts to restore shrinking lake’s water supplies, Eli Kintisch, Science, 9/9/22
An Arctic Ptarmigan Takes Flight in the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year Competition’s Winning Capture, Kate Mothes, Colossal, 9/9/22
Genes responsible for red coloration in birds found, Bob Yirka , Phys.org, 9/13/22
Flight of the Condors: Once pushed to the brink of extinction, condors are soaring in Northern California skies again with the help of an Indigenous tribe and a team of scientists, Alice Li, Kasha Patel, Melina Mara, Washington Post, 9/15/22
Shameless self promotion: My latest podcast just posted at Writerscast.com is with Beatrice Hitchman, a wonderful UK writer. We talked about her excellent novel All of You Every Single One. I hope you will give a listen.
Oh, these days it's so hard to relax
You gotta hold a gun to my back
To make me smile
To make me smile
And the only way I seem to cope
Is by trying to hold onto hope
If just for a while
—from “Here to Forever,” Death Cab for Cutie, by Benjamin Gibbard/ Zachary S. Rae
Gibbard has it right - in these times, it is so hard to relax. We’re all on edge, waiting and watching as a new world emerges from the one we’ve known—for better or worse— all our lives. And there is so much to claim our attention. Staying engaged and working for a better world while still maintaining our love for each other is just not easy. But so we must. Onward — and much love to all. —David
“You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart.”—Louise Erdrich, from The Painted Drum