dog>chicken>dog>chicken

 A video to bless your timeline. Dog and chicken playing keep away. (Sound off, it's 100% better without the little kid giggling.)

seen in the ID

I noticed this set of murals on a recent walk through the International District. Each one features a prominent Black woman with a vivid portrait and key facts.

The nearby door proclaims: black trans femme gnc nb womxyn lives matter 

Ade’/Ade’ Connere

Ernestine Anderson/frosty.the.artist

Marsha P. Johnson

quarantine stats

As happy as I am about last week--the safe inauguration of a new president and our first woman, Black, South Asian vice president--I'm still having trouble sleeping. The moment I turn off my lamp my heart rate speeds up.

I'm doing all the things insomniacs are supposed to do--I don't read in bed, never look at my phone. I stop screen time an hour before I want to sleep. I drink a lot of water, sometimes I take an allergy pill to knock me out. I keep the room dark and cool and run a noise machine.

Still, I lie there awake, electric, hot, worried. I don't fret about it--I can't--but it's not very restful. 

The events of 1/6/21 aren't over. We still don't know the full story of who plotted this, who attempted to carry it out. There's not much time to legislate tighter voting laws and bring to justice those who were violent. I wonder about my part in re-imagining this world and hope I can make some changes to my own life, soon.

In the meantime, I reflect. 

11: we're on month 11 of lock down in my state. (Innocently, I asked a friend in Seoul something about their lock down and they said, not unkindly, "We never had one. People here wear masks.") I don't qualify for a vaccine yet, but I know others who have gotten theirs--a friend in their 70's, friends and family who are front line medical workers.

17: the number of Zoom chats I've had with my sisters. We actually talk more, one sis pointed out, than in pre-pandemic times. This isn't counting the family and coast-to-coast family chats.

800: face masks sewed for a mutual aid group. 

12: pounds lost. I can't eat when I'm stressed and this year has been the most stressful in quite awhile. Also, being on the bus scares me, and so I walk, if I can. Some days, two and a half or three hours, to get where I'm going. My family jokes about my love of a death march but they don't realize that walking a long way helps immensely with anxiety. When you're tired, when you're moving, you can't worry so much. 

1: covid-19 tests. So far, negative.

and now a word from tik tok

@theejoshneal

What’s wrong with my brain 😩😩 ##fyp ##foryou ##dontletthisflop ##foryourpage ##foryoupage

♬ original sound - Joshua Neal

more de-colonizing my bookshelf

One of the few joys these past few months has been reading. A million thanks to the Seattle Public Library for their robust e-book program. I hadn't realized that libraries license many e-books, instead of outright buying them as they do print editions. Sometimes they're not allowed to even do this until a certain amount of time has passed since publication. A lot of this has to do with greedy ass publishers like McMillan's. So the fact that my own SPL is having to massively bump up its e-book lending without a corresponding increase in funding, is pretty amazing.

I've been reading my way through several brilliant detective series, written by Black women authors. Rachel Howzel Hall, who I mentioned in September, and her LAPD protagonist who is by turns witty, bad-ass, thoughtful and frustrated in love.

And, the incredible Attica Locke. Her series featuring Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is a  thorough exploration of being a Black law enforcement officer in East Texas. She adds in lovely and passionate diversions into the blues music and performers of the area. 

I've also begun reading Celeste Ng. Hulu's adaptation of "Little Fires Everywhere" left me frustrated. The script didn't give the luminous Kerry Washington much to do. The book however is wonderful. 

My sis gave me 2 collections of historical Black writers, so I'm looking forward to digging in there, too.

Read on, y'all.

seems kinda sus

Seen in a condo window along South Lake Union.

 

black lives matter

 

Central District, Seattle, WA

creative time

How do you stay creative during pandemic and political stress? 

I think the answer is probably different for each of us. Some folks--especially those figuring out how to pay rent and buy food and not die--have shut down temporarily, others have been prolific. I'd guess most of us are somewhere in the middle probably? We won't know the after effects of all of this tension for a long time, I don't think.

Me, I have narrowed my focus--no more videos for now, no gif's. I'm focusing on writing here at busysmartypants and elsewhere, and occasionally, I put together collages. A good pal is undergoing radiation treatments and every few weeks I get out my scissors, old magazines and flyers, tape, random bits of ribbon and thread and decorative paper, and get started. Here's the latest, a 2-sided collage.

now, the analysis

We are not out of the woods yet--far from it.

This Seth Abramson thread on Twitter is a sentence-by-sentence analysis of DJT's Insurrection Day (January 6) speech.

FLOTUS was apparently super busy that day with a photo shoot. 

Ronan Farrow seems to have ID'ed more of the armed, zip tie rioters than the FBI.

Also, The Atlantic: The Inaction of Capitol Police was by Design.

Locally, word that at least two SPD officers were present at the riot. 

And the snark.

 

 

one comedian's rundown

I haven't watched Stephen Colbert since he left The Daily Show but his January 6--Insurrection Day-- opening monologue was what I needed. Anger, defiance, comedy, analysis.

2 movies not to be missed

I've been working my way through a list of best-reviewed movies compiled by the Washington Post. 

Don't miss these two. First, The Forty Year Old Version.

Again Netflix fails as it did with Cuties, with a cover image that gives no insight into the delights within. I'll admit I wavered during the first few minutes of the movie too. Stick with it. The film is beautifully shot in black and white (except for key moments in color) and traces the star, Radha Blank, in a real-life tale of her struggles as a black woman playwright to get her work produced. The cast is a delight and the movie subverts and plays with expectations and tropes in a sly and funny way. I watched it twice in 2 days.

Second, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. I'm a huge Viola Davis fan but I will acknowledge that despite her chops, this movie belongs to Chadwick Boseman. It read, a little suffocatingly, like a play filmed for the big screen, but the performances are strong, especially Davis, Boseman and the band members, and most especially with the loss of Boseman a few months ago. Watching Viola Davis as Ma bossing around the white agent and production studio owner is a treat.

shame and trauma

Meme Week is hereby interrupted.

The events of January 6 have left me and every American I know feeling worried, tired, and angry. You can read about the insurrection at any number of excellent reporting sources, such as the Washington Post, CNN.com, and NPR. I spent a part of yesterday listening to CBS News.com, and some times staring in disbelief at my screen.

Why all the surprise among the media and commentariat? We knew this would be a violent day. We as in any citizen with eyes. We as in any person who has ever been threatened, brutalized, gaslit. 

I'm still disgusted. This image of a rioter holding zip ties makes me think it could have been far worse.

We won't survive 13 more days with the Current Occupant. Call your representatives. I called mine. He. Must. Go.

Here's a survey of newpaper front pages from today. 

Edited: see also Tom and Lorenzo's rundown.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The Guardian

Houston Chronicle

Kansas City Star

L.A. Times

Seattle Times

Washington Post

 

a fireworks jellyfish

 A fireworks jellyfish, courtesy of Open Ocean Exploration as well as E/V Nautilus.

y'all ever just

 

memewhore

meme week!

Happy 2021.

We made it.

I have to say, this particular new year feels sort of like rolling up on a hotel in the middle of the night. You haven't stayed here before. The reviews were good but what does that really mean? You get your room key and walk up carpeted stairs and cautiously open the door, taking your time so you don't trip, feeling for the light switch, wondering huh, what's that smell.

Let's take our time before we flip on the switch.

In the meantime, it's still a quarantine and I'm still clocking double-digit hours on the computer. Please enjoy the first annual busysmartypants Meme Week. A sampling, a smörgåsbord if you will, of memes and videos I've seen, smirked at, and enjoyed. 

*

First up, from tumblr, a sleeping octopus--dang how I love this magnificent creature--changing colors while dreaming.