When we were hiking in Yellowstone, we passed a couple who were focused on something on the trail and the man turned to us and whispered, with an Eastern European accent, “Weeldlife.” So now I say that in my head when I see weeldlife. Here is the weekend with various wild encounters:
1. If yesterday’s Judiciary Hearings left you incandescent with rage, well, you’re not alone and I don’t have a good way to fix it. (Although my deadlifts were FLYING up last night.) This is a letter I sent to Orrin Hatch (a lost cause and a withered asshole) yesterday, via Resistbot:
Dear Senator Hatch:
Today’s hearings have shown us Brett Kavanaugh is too emotional to serve on the Supreme Court.
Also: MERRICK GARLAND.
Sincerely,
Karen Kaminski
2. Did I mention rage?
Tfw you’ve never been held accountable for your actions pic.twitter.com/20qOsUTZa8
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) September 27, 2018
3. Why our stories matter, which we have to keep telling ourselves: When The Muzzle Comes Off
There may not be a legal or political outcome that is satisfying: The perpetrators may not face real repercussions. But part of what #MeToo has always been about — despite the obsessive focus on the consequences faced by men — is what happened to the women (and to the men who’ve spoken out about their own abuse). It’s been about the exposure of their realities.
The telling of the stories, the raising of the voices, does its own political work and reveals things that we may have known at some level but have never been able to see so plainly: the connection between policy—the desire to control women’s bodies via restricting and policing their reproductive autonomy—and the personal treatment of individual women. The connection between a desire for legal or political domination—over workers’ ability to bargain, citizens’ ability to vote, black people’s ability to walk the streets without fear of being indiscriminately accosted by the police—and the drive toward personal, physical domination.
I realize Instagram is still Facebook (and probably about to get a lot more like Facebook) but it’s my preferred way of getting sewing inspiration, or regular inspiration, or serendipitously learning about art movements like the Transcendental Painting Group.
Which is a long lead in to say I just found Carissa Potter Carlson’s account and if you, too, are feeling discouraged or overwhelmed (MY GOD THE NEWS I can’t talk about it or I’ll want to start fires) this is a good account to look at:
One Day
One day after another—
Perfect.
They all fit.
-Robert Creeley
Since September’s been unseasonably warm (this week it’s “only” 75, after being 90 for most of the month) I was able to get the eighth project on my Make Nine list finished while I can still wear it.
This is the StyleArc Blaire shirt, which I made last year in oxford. This has the same mods (one piece front, no overlay) and I figured out that I needed to hem it BEFORE I sewed the side seams and apply a decorative triangle to finish the edges, like so:
I don’t look very thrilled in the modeled shot (it was the end of the day) but I’m really, really happy with how this turned out. The shirting fabric was beautiful to work with and that square shape gives off strong art teacher vibes. I had a coworker ask me if it was a Madewell shirt, so I definitely got the look I was going for.
Now that the equinox has passed I guess I can say the “F” word… Fall is coming, whether we like it or not, so read your favorite passage from Cold Mountain and go see the leaves starting to change.
1. This exploded across the internet over the last few days, so you may have already seen it–but it deserves to explode. Weight hasn’t been a struggle of mine (I got mental health and bad skin in the draw instead) but this was a revelation. I don’t feel very generous towards the entire medical establishment right now and this didn’t do anything to foster better feelings.
Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong
A few years ago, on a routine visit, Andrew’s doctor weighed him, announced that he was “dangerously overweight” and told him to diet and exercise, offering no further specifics. Should he go on a low-fat diet? Low-carb? Become a vegetarian? Should he do Crossfit? Yoga? Should he buy a fucking ThighMaster?
“She didn’t even ask me what I was already doing for exercise,” he says. “At the time, I was training for serious winter mountaineering trips, hiking every weekend and going to the gym four times a week. Instead of a conversation, I got a sound bite. It felt like shaming me was the entire purpose.”
2. Google is celebrating Mr. Rogers today and it’s really great:
It’s my brother’s 42nd birthday today!
Like I wrote last year, he is extremely curious, extremely knowledgable, and extremely talented in the kitchen (he makes hamburger buns from scratch!), but what I’ve been thinking about this year is how strong his sense of “right” is–that moral compass you wish more people had.
Honestly, if you are prone to (over)thinking like a novelist, considering how one could see things this way OR that way, his sense of rightness can almost be overwhelming. He can’t understand why people don’t see it as clearly as he does; he just knows how things should be and whenever possible, he makes them that way. For example:
When my house was being built, we visited the site one evening. The general contractor had left a raccoon trap set. We both saw it, but before I could even start to wring my hands, my brother picked up the empty trap and tossed it into the construction dumpster.
I, who liked both the contractor AND the raccoons, worried that maybe the contractor would get in trouble with his boss and have to pay for losing the trap? Maybe we could just disable it? And the words weren’t even fully out of my mouth before he said, “No, Karen, traps are awful. It doesn’t matter if he gets in trouble, he shouldn’t have set it.”
And he was right.
He is strong and opinionated and has been right many, many more times. I’m proud that such a good man is my brother. Happy birthday, Alan. I love you.
Via Kottke, here is a charming and amazing short story by Robin Sloan, set as a book proposal for a book that will make Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson president. Wait, what? You just have to read it. The meditations on The Rock, and America, and the description of the book that will do this–I think Robin Sloan needs to work on actually making this happen, because it is compelling. Worth a read.
Proposal for a book to be adapted into a movie starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson
Here is the meager gift tucked into the disaster that is Donald Trump: now, anyone can be elected president, so anyone will be elected president. We might never have another lawyer in that office again. Donald Trump broke the seal, but Dwayne Johnson will fulfill the prophecy.
I bought this yarn over a year ago with the plan to work on some socks for me during the Big August Vacations. I did just that and, since there was a lot of driving/knitting time in Yellowstone, these are done and might be the fastest socks I’ve ever made:
The pattern is your standard 64-stitch sock and the yarn is self-striping, from Must Stash Yarns. I find the colorway name–“Kama Sutra”–really cringeworthy, because 1.) there is nothing erotic about handknit socks and 2.) these are CLEARLY Rainbow Brite socks :