Notices by that one JNL (jordinn@zirk.us), page 2

Trying SO HARD to merge 'need to get things done' with 'only want to sit on the porch.' I am being thwarted .25 by mosquitoes, .25 by inner indolence, and .5 by the telos of porchness which conflicts with this entire project

A thing that seems historically demonstrable: this current wave of fascist creep and repression of civil liberties will not last forever

A corresponding historically demonstrable fear: the currently-rising order seems likely to do catastrophic harm to bodies and to communities, and to take a lot (A LOT) of lives between this moment and whenever a widely-shared peace and expanding context of collective well being next takes hold

I am not convinced that people did not resist Hitler early, given what I see these days. I imagine that the (early, non catastrophic) resistance stories simply got lost to time and to the real and widespread catastrophe that followed. It seems very likely that people noticed, spoke out, took risks, said and did what they could.

We assume that everyone was all in because thinking of Germans and then the world as dupes simplifies things vs. assuming there was a struggle, which lost.

I have come to believe that the biggest enemy to meaningful resistance within liberal civil society is the discomfort (and thus the unappealingness) of cognitive dissonance combined with 'peaceful relations' as a personal and collective value.

Things I am zero percent convinced anyone accounted for in climate change forecasts: the impacts of war (carbon costs of aerial campaigns, destruction of greenspace, weapons production), Canada's entire boreal forest burning over a 10 year period, AI water and energy usage

Y'all continue to really underestimate how immediately and truly life-threatening it feels to people to cut against their own belonging in extremely visible ways. Even people who DO feel at risk aren't going to mask rn, for the most part, and it's literally because of this. Those of us who are willing to walk into a gathering and put a mask on and be the only one are FEW and my hunch is, we can do this because of constant muscular practice (including of the self-justifications behind it).

Academics, have you ever been accepted to give a talk about something you're not yet sure that you know enough about? (To present your early research thinking, for example?) After having a minor heart attack, what did you do next?

The people we bought this house from were downsizing to get more from their retirement years amid a hard situation (he had been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's). What actually happened: his illness progressed quickly and he ended up in round the clock nursing care, and this winter, at 70, she unexpectedly died.

We didn't know each other well- just trading e-mails and cards- but they lived here 40 years and my brain is struggling with 'there will be no more answers, about anything, EVER'

Ok. If you are A US CITIZEN (if not, this question ISN'T FOR YOU) and are not voting for Biden, I would like to hear (explain it to me like I'm five) what, in your view, this will accomplish.

Edit: If you ARE voting Biden, please shhh.

I will not argue with you; I'm genuinely interested in what you think the outcome can or will be from your own and others' non-vote.

After I learn this, I will be deleting this Russian troll-bait of a post, though those I am talking to are not that.

Thanks!

Two decades ago Greg Dening described 'history' as a politically tenable telling of events; I read this last week and haven't stopped thinking about it since

Huge shout out to the Israeli people who, like many everywhere else, have totally had it and are now out in force demanding a ceasefire, blocking traffic, disobeying their government, trying to bring hostages home, and generally saying ENOUGH.

Every one of them is putting themselves in grave danger from an unhinged regime. GO, brave Israeli peace movement- we are cheering for you, too.

realizing that 'All of This is Fine, Actually' is what we can expect from international media along the entire 21st century journey

War: fine
Intensifying inequality: fine
Fascism overtaking social democracy everywhere: fine
Climate change: fine

This isn't a glitch

I'm grateful to have finished my coffee before reading this e-mail.

It's easy to make it sound like I chose to come here on a whimsical lark. It's equally and honestly probably more real (it is at least why I came here a year ago to see what was up) to say that I chose this place because it's the only one I'd found that seemed to be doing solarpunk-style future building alongside a toothy critique of capitalist land relations.

Sometimes that second thing comes through rather strongly.

It seems possible that the PROTESTS aren't the problem

Germany arresting the entirety of Jews against Genocide in the name of [checks notes] protection of Jewish personhood and freedom is one of the absolute weirdest forks on an already batshit timeline

@emma In fact, you will be blamed for your own death, shamed for your vulnerability or demonized for your resistance to your oppression. This is necessary so that others can look away in peace.

the middle schooler: then I installed linux on my [school] chromebook

me: um are you allowed to do that?

middle schooler: I asked our tech teacher and he doesn't know what linux is so I decided yes

If people talking about genocide is bothering you more than people dying from genocide, we are probably not good mutuals at this point.

There can be all kinds of reasons in this moment and in your life why the talk is the bigger problem on your end. It very much is not the bigger problem on mine.

There are people I care about in Gaza. They are being asked to pay their own ransom at the border for prices north of $20k per person to save their own lives. Or starve.

It's desperate. Now.

My favorite poem about choosing in all its mixed blessings

We could make college tuition free, like in much of Europe!

NO

We could forgive student loan debt, as Elizabeth Warren suggested and Biden attempted

NO

We could address spiraling tuition costs far outpacing inflation by reining in administrative bloat and expansionist 'on spec' building projects

DEFINITELY NO

Ok, in that case let's add three more middlemen, some venture capitalist tax writeoffs, a slick website, and a gamified application process

PERFECT YES

https://bold.org/about/