Books

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin (Great Cities #2)

For whatever reason, I didn’t like the first book in this duo, but I adored The World We Make. I laughed, I hollered, and I shed a tear or two too.

Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai

I’ve been following Rai since her indie days, and this is the first of her trad pub novels that I think captures the magic of her indies.

The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau (Donut Fall In Love #2)

Representation I didn’t know I wanted or needed.

Other Ever Afters by Melanie Gillman

My heart!

---

Music

Durand Bernarr’s Boundaries Featuring Tired & Exhausted

Durand Bernarr’s Mango Butter

Janet Jackon’s Rock With U

Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope

---

Misc.

Re-watch: Howl’s Moving Castle, dir. Hayao Miyazaki

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, dir. Ryan Coogler

I actually saw this twice. Also, the entire cast is Too Beautiful, but especially Tenoch Huerta Mejía.

Podcast: The Amelia Podcast

Special shoutout to the Royal Shakespeare Company episode, ep 54 (on your podcast platform of choice, transcript here). Also Alan Burgon when he’s playing himself in Part 1 of the Anniversary Episode (transcript here), and Hemi Yeroham’s voice is very nice. Patreon here.

---

Articles

FDA COVID test expiration dates

Did you know your at-home COVID tests might still be good despite the expiration date? Check what company made your test, click the link, and then search by lot number or expiration date to see if your test is still good.

People’s CDC’s Safer Gatherings Toolkit

The linked slideshow has some great suggestions towards the end.

Kelly Hwang’s Should you mask or test for Thanksgiving? Here’s how COVID experts are handling the holidays

Joshua Kosman’s At the S.F. Opera, masks are still required — and thank heaven for that

“Personally, I am always delighted when a presenter such as the San Francisco Opera demonstrates that basic investment in the protection of its audience members. It’s evidence that the foolishness of “We’re so over COVID,” without considering whether COVID is over you, has not yet taken root everywhere.Do I enjoy wearing a mask during a performance? Don’t be ridiculous. Do I imagine that masklessness is a form of “freedom”? That would be even more laughable.Happily, I’m not alone, or even in a minority. Shilvock reports that even though some patrons grumble about the continuing mask mandate, 85% of respondents to post-performance surveys express satisfaction with the policy.”

Anne Helen Petersen’s A Shortcut for Caring for Others (and Being Cared For Yourself)

An article (with multiple examples!) of how to create a guide on how you want to be taken care of during hard times.

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Abled-Bodied Leftists Cannot Abandon Disabled Solidarity to “Move On” From COVID

“But internalized ableism is real. A lot of people have had a brush with what it’s like to live a disabled life these last two years, and a lot of them want to forget it as quickly as possible. They’d rather expose themselves to all kinds of harm than continue to be disabled like us — mask, discuss risk, stay home, pass public policies for the safety of all. Unfortunately, this puts us all, but especially us, at risk. So many abled people — including abled members of the left; including abled queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and/or People of Color on the left — want to forget disability. “Author’s Patreon here.

Kim Tallbear’s A Sharpening of the Already Present

The Pattern of Pretendianism, Michelle Cyca interviewed by Anne Helen Petersen

“Because what I learned at Emily Carr, and what is obvious from every other Pretendian story, is that people are able to perpetuate their deception through leveraging the power and protection of institutions. That’s why they’re so hard to call out, and why they can evade consequences for so long. It’s not just someone sneaking into a university and taking a job that wasn’t meant for them; it’s that university choosing to look the other way for as long as they can get away with it.” “In terms of larger stakes, I think the group that is most directly harmed by race-shifting scandals are those Indigenous people who are trying to reconnect. Every time someone is revealed to have fabricated their Indigenous identity, it’s Indigenous people who face more scrutiny, particularly those who don’t have easy and straightforward answers about their identity— who come from families affected by the Sixties Scoop or the Indian Adoption Project, whose parents or grandparents lost their tribal status through assimilation policies, or who may have grown up not knowing their Indigenous parent. Black-Indigenous folks are particularly harmed by this atmosphere of suspicion, as anti-Black racism exists in Indigenous communities too, and many have been excluded from federal recognition of their Indigenous identity.”