browsing brain
Welcome to Mommy’s El Camino.
I hope you’re taking deep breaths.
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I can’t tolerate too many browser windows open anymore. My attention is feeling pretty fractured—and you? Sometimes I leave a browser window open and then, if I haven’t looked at it again in a day, I just close it. Some windows I keep open to remember something.
I opened Annulet’s 2024 Year in Reading because my friend Andrea (AQ in my books) contributed and I want to read hers and all the contributors. Especially hers, though, because she wrote about one of my favorites of 2024, In & Out of Place by Gabrielle Civil. This is a book I also want to write about. I’m pretty sure that it was Melissa Gira Grant who mentioned this podcast I’ve been meaning to listen to. I mean, who hasn’t thought about this topic lately. The pod concept has crossed my social media feeds several times and this site includes a good introduction and material to look into about mapping and building one’s pod. Pretty sure this link came to me via Mia Mingus on Bluesky. Sectional slipcovers?? What! I mean—I needed those a long time ago. I’m having a hard time choosing. Measurements are involved, and I can’t remember to do them, and once I do them, I still have to decide. My cats have ruined our furniture, and we are just looking to hide the evidence.
Soft chair cover throws unfortunately take up a small portion of my brain. Soft cover chair throw equals comfort equals I need. Gotta hand it again to Melissa Gira Grant for the link to tree.fm. The first time I tried it the relief felt instant. Esther Teng wrote a great article that includes a list of orgs that are assisting with feeding people in Altadena in the aftermath of the fires and I keep it open so I can send money here and there as it’s possible. I think it was David Connerley Nahm who mentioned Red Rooms on Bluesky—and I read an article about it and want to watch it—but when? Did you notice I’m searching using DuckDuckGo? Fuck Google.
Last Monday morning as my partner and I sat in an exam room waiting for her doctor to come tell us whether the cancer was gone or not, I came across this video by Questlove that was making the rounds on my Bluesky feed. We opened it to watch, and got almost all the way through it before her doctor came in. The doctor told us my partner no longer has cancer! And it is this news that has been getting me through the week. I will come back to this video and finish it. Meanwhile, amid reports of a hostile takeover being conducted by a South African oligarch and a handful of his young goons, I stop to remember, She’s in remission, and I can’t help but smile. We are going to LIVE THROUGH THIS, even when they try to wish or imagine us out of existence. WE ARE HERE, MOTHERFUCKER. Will I or won’t I get tickets to Nine Inch Nails? In my proofing of the interior of Hollywood Notebook I lightly edited the scene of going to see NIN at Irvine Meadows in the early aughts. I don’t like that Trent Reznor palled around with Marilyn Manson. I can’t really afford tickets, seeing as how I promised the 14-year-old that we’d get tickets to a concert of her choosing, and it’s coming up. She said she wants to go in a mosh pit. I get it. I completely resent that I have to write and call my senators and representatives. I really do. I have written strongly worded emails and then it appears that these people, elected Democrats, are idling as sections of the CDC are disappearing, as deletions of references to trans and LGBTQ are occurring, as immigrants are being harassed and deported. It is batshit bonkers that we have to call about a government takeover. Do I need anti-inflammatory soups though? Because my joints hurt.
Simple Sabotage Field Manual? Interesting. My friend who sends me photos of her cats that further my parasocial relationship with them sent me an article to read about the Gabrieleño Indians. Someday, when I have time, maybe I will want to use this mostly public domain image search to make some art, some zines, or for flyers. As you can see I sort of rely on journalist Melissa Gira Grant for news and perspectives I always appreciate. Amid ALL THIS I’m ready to book my flight to Chicago for a bookstore event in May, details on that soon.
Sending you hope, strength, energy, for everything to come. Close your browser window, get some rest. We need you.
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