@inthehands yes, that's when it's most powerful, when we can't even name it. I literally had someone (a friend, a decent person) say "why would she leave her boyfriend for Musk" and MAN rape culture goes deep. I named it for her and she was like... Oh... (Yeah)
If I gave a (free) online class with this title, who would be interested? I'm trial-running this today with a small group, but I'm also thinking of another one focused on solarpunk imagineering (more based on the classes I'm teaching later this month on Governor's Island).
A look back at the data seems like there's a summer surge and a winter surge, and we're still in the summer surge. FDA seems to think updating the vax once a year is sufficient, but I'm planning on getting boosted twice a year, hopefully timed with the surges (would be nice if the FDA didn't delay the new formulations; guess they're just ignoring the summer surges 🙄 )
Also: highly recommend (if you can afford it) the Metrix at-home PCR test — accuracy is much higher than the antigen rapid-tests that most people use. Metrix has a reader device and a test kit separate. They're sold out right now because of the surge, but when they come back in stock, that's when to grab one.
If you have to use antigen rapid-tests, then make sure to test 3x, every 2 days, to get that 80% accuracy for a negative test. Positive test accuracy is higher.
There's a lotta hope running around... I talk today on the pod about the 4 kinds of hope and how knowing the difference can help us understand what's happening in this astonishing political moment... and help build toward a better future.
BONUS: August giveaway still going with hopeful #climatefiction anthologies, notebooks, and a #solarpunk mug I designed myself!
The future is made of precarity and unpredictability — which is terrifying, but it's why I've been relentlessly focused on how to build system-wide resilience. That's the only thing that gets you through because you *can't* predict the future or rely on "tech will save us" or "institutions will save us" or any of that.
Shit is going to get weird. We have to build resilient systems in order to weather the literal storms (and political and economic ones) that are coming.
The next time someone tells you some tech is "inevitable" please laugh directly in their face. And then tell them that's been used as an excuse for exploitation forever, it's a red flag, and if they were smart, they'd avoid it, well, like the plague. But we know how well that's going.
"A smiling, accomplished biracial woman not only makes for a perfect symbol of the joyous mission of multiracial democracy, especially given that she has assumed the role of saving democracy. Her foil is a sour-faced criminal whining about how everything is “rigged” against him.
Kamala Harris, and the believers in America’s experiment of self-governance who she now represents, may indeed have the last laugh."
@seanbala to me (and I've said this on the pod), we're all co-creating solarpunk together, so I'm not (and really no one is) the arbiter of "what solarpunk is" — and I just as often call what I write (and hold up on the pod) "hopeful climate fiction" —I'm very uninterested in genre battles in general, but definitely with this. What matters is the work. @solarpunkpresents
A woman stopped at my book table. She was interested in my hopeful climate fiction & mentioned she makes her own clothes. I told her I had a favorite t-shirt but it was too baggy—I could sew a straight line but I was afraid I’d ruin it.
She proceeds to give me a step-by-step tutorial on how to tailor my shirt without fear &how to avoid mistakes. I totally think I can do it now.
I gave her a book in exchange for this valuable information.
I think it’s the most #solarpunk thing I’ve ever done.
She's the only candidate with any real legitimacy, including being on the ticket when people voted in the primaries. Everyone *should* back her as nominee.*
I will back whoever is the nominee, but I sure as hell hope it's Harris & she's the undisputed nominee & the "major donors" don't decide they want someone else.
*forcing out Joe was a hell of a risk & I'm still mad, but we need to BE LIKE FRANCE & pull together an unprecedented coalition to beat back the fascists.
When Trump was elected, I read Thomas Snyder's On Tyranny: he said DO NOT SURRENDER TO THE TYRANT IN ADVANCE.
I thought, "Well, yes, of course. RESIST."
Then I watched, horrified, as people rushed to surrender to the tyrant in advance.
WTAF
No
Tyrants are ALWAYS less powerful than they seem & rely on people rushing to surrender. You'll always have boot-lickers, but the folks who RESIST have the most power. Cuz they refuse to give up the power they have.
I also feel it's important to point out that none of this hurts Trump—fascism isn't hurt by violence and the fear it inspires, that's their entire modus. They incite it because fearful people turn to a strongman. It gives them power. Even more now that he's survived this attempt. So, in a very real sense, they don't care if it backfires, if they eat their own, if they call for hanging their own... they always benefit from it.
Speculative Fiction author, PhD Environmental EngineeringI write hopepunk climate fiction & solarpunk.Ally🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️| VP2022 | SFWABeing cozy/gentle/healing is radical & disruptive. Host: Bright Green Futures podcast, stories to build a better world (BrightGreenFutures.wtf)#books #writing #hopepunk #ClimateFiction #solarpunk #ScienceFiction #CliFi #ClimateCrisis"AI is a lying machine made out of crimes."--Alex FalconeNEW anti-AI stories: Closet Full of Time