Misc.

Re-read: Alyssa Cole’s Can’t Escape Love (Reluctant Royals #2.6)

Re-read: Alyssa Cole’s A Prince on Paper (Reluctant Royals #3)

Don’t miss the epilogue from the teddy bear’s POV.

Podcast: Therapy Ghostbusters

After reading Stephanie Foo’s What My Bones Know, I heard her do an interview with Esmé Weijun Wang where she mentioned this topic. I’m thrilled she was able to explore it in podcast form. Transcript here.

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TV

Bee and Puppycat S1

At long last the full season! Also Netflix better not cancel this, because I cannot wait another 8 years for a second season. T_T

Nadiya’s Fast Flavours

Re-watch: Steven Universe S1

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Music

Get Down & Six (Live at NPR’s Tiny Desk)

I Don’t Need Your Love (Live on Opening Night)

Ari Lennox & Summer Walker’s Queen Space

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Articles

Jim Downs’ The Pandemic Isn’t Over

“A focus on the overall number of cases may fail to attend to the fact that those who are continuing to get infected are typically the most marginalized.” The author looks to how smallpox continued to devastate Black communities despite being “over.” Or as the web heading says, “Pandemics end when we stop caring about their victims.”

Zeynep Tufekci’s There’s Terrific News About the New Covid Boosters, but Few Are Hearing It (in Spanish here)

An overview of why you should get the latest Covid booster, and addresses common concerns too.

“For the first time, the United States is rolling out Covid vaccines updated to match variants that are currently dominant, as well as the original strain. This bivalent character will provide a better response to the most threatening variants today but probably to future variants, too, because when the immune system faces different versions of the same virus it generates broader protections overall.

This is terrific news, and there’s more. Not only will a booster with the new vaccines decrease the likelihood of infection and severe illness and help reduce transmission of the virus; it could also decrease the likelihood of developing long Covid.

The bad news? The boosters are getting so little fanfare, and so much unfounded skepticism, that too few people might get them, and lots of people who need not get sick, suffer or die will get sick, suffer or die.”

“Despite common claims to the contrary, vaccines still help dampen spread, and boosters can further reduce transmission of the disease, including by reducing infections in the first place, and thus help protect especially the more vulnerable.

Another survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about a third of people who got vaccinated but not boosted said they had “not had the time to get it” as a reason. That response was highest among Hispanic adults, with 41 percent citing it. About another quarter of respondents mentioned side effects.

Paid time off following vaccination campaigns in workplaces, combining flu and Covid vaccines, could overcome this obstacle. Jha tells me that the administration is already asking employers to carry out such steps, and it remains to be seen how many step up.”