Something Different
Some weeks a post just doesn't come together properly
I started writing a post this week, but it turned out extremely snippy and not very helpful. This is not how I want to engage with the world, and probably more symptomatic of me having a hell of a week than anything about the topic. Since that’s not how I want this substack to read, instead you get something else.
Here are some good or at least interesting things that have happened recently:
I have one more of the Hugo best novel nominees left to read (The Ministry of Time), and have finished the rest. I have the last one on hold at the library, but the line is super long, so I might just cave and buy it. So far, my pick is Someone You Can Build A Nest In, but they’ve all been pretty good.
The raccoon rabies vaccination program I became obsessed with when researching DOGE seems to be proceeding on schedule. You can view their progress in a nice dashboard if you want. These are the folks who are responsible for airdropping raccoon vaccine treats into forests to make sure your local dogs and cats are safe, which is bizarre and fascinating and seems very important.
I read this piece by Stephanie Murray of Family Stuff talking about wages for housework (or more specifically, wages for childrearing), one of my favorite extremely interesting ideas that I am unsure of in practice. It has made me no more certain that this is a good policy idea, but it’s a useful thought experiment to poke at the idea of what labor we compensate.
I’ve been trying out waxing cloth to make it quasi-waterproof. This turns out to be heinously messy and strictly worse than using modern waterproof materials, but it is really fun to watch the wax soak in. Plus the final product smells strongly of beeswax, which is nice.
It’s summer (ish) now, which has meant more going for walks and less being inside staring at my phone. Plus, vitally, it is maple creemee season.
I’ve felt that Substack responses and counter-responses have captured some of what I missed from when Twitter was good. It’s nice to write something and see people responding to it in good faith and with interest. That positive vibe is part of why I’m doubling down on just nuking posts if I don’t think they’re useful. Twitter still feels like any post has a real risk of getting used as discourse-ammo, which is not what I want.
I finally got around to making a jacket out of a pretty toile print thrift store curtain I have been hoarding for *years*. Anyone with a fabric stash will know the feeling. Have I finished hemming it? Absolutely not, this week has been very busy.
Have a good weekend!
Charlotte