After 17 years of a very intense relationship, I discovered that N shares my love for creamy coleslaw. Why this never came up until now is a mystery. I’m off to the store to buy a tub.
Month: September 2024
Uncontrolled Migration
“Released” means “released into our country.” This is the inevitable consequence of processing immigration cases of illegal migrants on the territory of the US. There is simply no money and space to keep all border crossers locked up while their applications get processed. So they are allowed to roam around freely while they wait in line for their case to be heard.
We hear about immigration a lot these days but one thing we never hear is that this problem could be solved cheaply and immediately by simply not processing any of these immigration applications inside the country. Let’s take a break from the joys of political partisanship that are costing us everything and ask, “why does nobody even mention this possibility?”
The election is a month away. If there is ever a time for us to get something we want is now. But we’ll get nothing whatsoever besides the feeling of being part of a team. These teams are an utter and complete fiction used as a pacifier to keep us on mute while we are being dispossessed. But we embrace the lie, so whose fault is it? The politicians simply pursue their rational self-interest. We are the ones who don’t.
Robert Glenister
There’s an actor called Robert Glenister. I’ve never seen him in anything but he narrates the audio versions of all the Cormoran Strike novels by JK Rowling. He’s incredibly talented. These novels are 1,000-page doorstoppers with a large cast of characters each. Glenister makes every character sound distinct. He makes women sound female. JK Rowling loves regional accents, and he does every one. He switches between all the voices so easily and integrates all of the “side Irene with a scoff” or “Matt sighed” into how the characters speak.
An unbelievably talented actor. I’ve listened to a few audiobooks where a talentless actress murdered the story, and JK Rowling books are much more complicated. They’d be easy to mess up. Glenister, though, really brings them to life.
It’s very enjoyable to see people who are excellent at what they do.
Q&A about Menopause
Everybody is different, of course, but I have a friend who just turned 75, and it’s still going strong for her. It’s kind of getting tedious, to be honest, because we can barely settle down at a restaurant before she starts hitting on everything that moves. I feel like an exasperated mother of a flirty teenager around her.
This is not the same 75-year-old friend who’s gotten romantic with a 26-year-old handyman. These are different people. Sexuality isn’t tied to fertility, as I said before. One of these women has 5 grown children. The other never had any.
Yes, I love hanging out with friends in their seventies. They are fun.
So, I guess, once it switches on, it doesn’t need to go off.
Book Notes: Victoria Kielland’s My Men
I’m very conflicted about this novel by the young Norwegian writer Victoria Kielland. It’s beautifully written. Kielland is a major talent. At only 39, she delivered a seriously impressive work of art.
However, there is something that is giving me serious creeps about My Men. It’s based on the life and experiences of the first known female serial killer in the US, Belle Gunness. And it’s not just loosely based or vaguely inspired. The main character is called Belle Gunness, and all the relatives and victims and events are like those of the real Belle.
I’m probably a major prude but I can’t get over it. Imagine if somebody wrote a novel about Ted Bundy, portraying him as this sad, tender, wounded, misunderstood victim who didn’t really want to murder anybody but he was kind of provoked into it against his will. We’d all be repulsed. But then why is it less repulsive to romanticize a woman who chopped up a couple dozen men and children all over the Midwest?
As I said, brilliantly written, major talent. And I do understand that Kielland is trying to show that even the worst piece of garbage evildoer perceives herself as a long-suffering, sweet little lamb. I get it. But I can’t get over, this bitch left behind a pile of corpses and you are making it sound cute? I’m probably a bad literary critic if I can’t place myself completely above these mundane considerations and value art above all. It is what it is, though. I loved the writing but quite hated the book.
The Why of amor in Un Amor
Here’s a question for those who are reading Un amor.
Why does Nat fall in love with Andreas? What makes her so attached to him?
Sore Trials
Not only did I have a public appearance in Ukraine on Tuesday (37,000 views so far, yay!) but I was also invited to give a conference talk today. I was certain that I was expected to speak in Ukrainian, and I had written out my whole talk, quotes, bibliography, everything.
Twenty minutes before the talk I discovered that they wanted me to speak in Spanish. It’s easier for me to speak off-the-cuff in Spanish than in Ukrainian at this point but I had prepared! My tendency to be rigid is experiencing sore trials, indeed.
Un amor and the Neoliberal Dream
In Sara Mesa’s novel Un amor, Nat escapes the complications of her professional life in a big city by moving to a small, remote village. Except for a few elderly people, everybody in the village is from somewhere else. “It’s a village where no children are born any longer,” people say.
Nat is living the neoliberal dream, moving around with complete freedom, changing careers at whim. She’s completely unburdened by family, relationships, friends. No ties bind her, no societal structure oppresses her, she very freely chooses what to do with her body and nobody gives a toss – it’s gotta be great, right?
But no, it’s not great at all. Young women are supposed to be the greatest beneficiaries of neoliberalism but as Un amor shows us, reality is different.
Asking for a Friend
Seriously, a friend needs this for a serious purpose.
Who do you think is more relatable, JD Vance or Tim Walz? Which group would find either man more relatable?
Also, do people perceive Vance as elitist because he went to Yale?
I have my answers but I might be completely wrong about it because I’m a poor judge of relatability.
This is for a friend from another country (not Ukraine).
The Adams Corruption Case
Is anybody following the charges in the Eric Adams corruption case? I’m overwhelmed at work and can’t look into it in detail. Is it true he’s charged over airplane ticket upgrades back in 2018-19? Or anything else?
I detest corruption but is this real corruption? Or political persecution?
I don’t like Adams, obviously. But I’m interested in what’s actually happening.
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