be brave, my sage little toaster!

books
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. 2020. This is a PHENOMENAL book. It compares the racial caste system of the US to the caste system of India and also Nazi-era Germany. Best, it's maybe 6% memoir at most, and those incidents illustrate the point she's making. A++ highly recommended!

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, Angela Davis (Contributor), Mirron Willis (Narrator). Audiobook (bc the ebook had 42 holds on it). 1971 (text)/2018 (audio). With deepest respect, Mirron (pronounced Myron) Willis is far too young to sound so much like Sidney Poitier. That aside, this is a profoundly wonderful history of Africa, esp given that it's 55 years old and was written when Rodney was still in his twenties. I'm so angry that he was assassinated (it was for his activism). Actually, this is decidedly the best book on African history I've read so far! The audiobook is free on YouTube, if anyone's interested.

Tower Hill: A Plantation on the Edge of Rebellion by Alan Taylor. 2026. This is far more a biography of the slave-owning Blow family than history of the Nat Turner rebellion; however, the Blow family archives apparently contain info on the Turner Rebellion not found in other sources. As for the book: it's poorly organized, with irritating editorializing. I hated all the white people, except the wife who went insane, and was rooting for the slave rebellion, doomed or no. Which I feel weird about, since they murdered a ton of innocent children. Fucking slavery.

currently reading: Slaving States: From West Africa to the Ancient Mediterranean by Elizabeth Fentress, Adam Thomas Rabinowitz. 2026. I've been looking forward to this book, which is a scholarly archaeological view of slaving states. At 47%, I'm up to Scythia.

( everything else )

#resist
October 17: No Kings: Vote Early! They're encouraging marches, protests, rallies, caravans to voting locations, etc. to bring out everybody to vote in the midterms.

Happy Equinox (yesterday)! It's still full summer here; I'm hoping it'll cool off before Halloween this year. For a change. I hope you're all doing well! <333

books
Babylonia by Constanza Casati. 2024. I do NOT understand why Casati used, "Semiramis", the Greek version of the heroine's name, until the tag end of the book when she finally uses her actual Babylonian name, "Shammuramat". A really weird writing decision. But otherwise a very good novel about a woman of color who becomes Queen of the Assyrian Empire on her own terms.

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi. 2026. Issues: El-Arifi chooses to make Cleopatra speak Arabic instead of Aramaic "for the sake of familiarity". SMH. Super clunky narration. Ranges too far into romance tropes for my present comfort in profic. (tbf, I'm just not in the mood for romance atm.) Sanitizes the Romans & reduces so much of Pharaoh Cleopatran history down to a domestic drama.

Lestat 1.6/IWTV 3.6
*AMAZING* EPISODE. And no one saw that ending coming. Jeebus.

Lestat 1.7/IWTV 3.7
Season finale! HOLY SHIT. What a cliffhanger! I loved it so much and I'm so impatient for the next season. Which we won't get til next year, woe.

yarning
failed to go again, this time I was dressed and ready to show up late. I just didn't go. Sigh. (Fuck you, ADHD.)

healthcrap
Allergy shot today. Sleep disorder still controlling my life. I have a late morning appt this Friday & I have no idea HOW I'm going to get over there in time. I mean, I'll do it, somehow, but I don't know how yet. Re cyclospora: I'm so grateful that I can't eat lettuce. I do eat arugula (in sunflower pesto), but I nuke it to thaw it from its ice cube blocks. Also, Covid is apparently staging a comeback. And measles never stopped. Such HHS fail.

family
as mentioned last week, the surgery was cancelled due to the torrential flooding for fear of roads and bridges being washed out along the way. Apparently they didn't wash out (THIS TIME), just got flooded, so that's a win. Anyway, we'll try again at the end of August, when we'll probably get a hurricane. (Please no.)

astrology
Mercury retrograde ends tomorrow! Jupiter entered Leo and is opposing Pluto. Saturn is stationing retrograde in Aries (cue war failures!). There's a huge solar eclipse in Leo (visible to Europe and parts of northern US & Canada) on August 12. In the US political chart, this is BAD news for leadership. I'm hoping it will lead us to the end of the orange menace -- except for the other part of me which wishes him a complete recovery and a long miserable life in an orange jumpsuit in maximum security. I want justice, goddammit.

#resist
...? Okay, granted, it's too fucking hot to march, but that's no excuse for not doing Other Things. Where the hell are our organizers? Augh!

I hope you're all doing well and staying safe! We may be getting some sprinkles from TS Bertha this weekend. But, like, our decade long drought is OVER now. The aquifer-caves are FULL! We don't need anymore rain! Send it up to Canada, right? <333

books
America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin. 2025. FINALLY finished, though I skipped the notes bc I was just done with the book. It's a very thorough and sharply critical history of the Americas, and I loved the first half. The second half is mostly a deep dive into intra-hemispheric politics, most of which I've already studied in detail. I do wish it had started BEFORE the Conquest, rather than at it, but the book's 768 pages as it is.

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan. 2026. Started reading just before the Independence Day weekend and just now finished. A chore to read, tbh, bc there's so much orange menace in it, and I hate him. But it confirms gvt by the inept following a plan framed by the vicious. I have been angry at H&S for sitting on so much of this info for up to 3 years, rather than releasing it to the public. But the timing now is good. It's fresh in voters' minds for the midterms. And we certainly won't have an impeachment before the new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd.

iwtv 3.5/tvl 1.5
Holy shit. This show is SO GOOD.

yarning
The cat scarf halves are stitched together & now I only have to weave in five million ends before mailing it out Friday. Didn't make yarn group again bc I slept too late. Stupid sleep disorder.

healthcrap
allergy shot yesterday. I need to remember to make a mammogram appt, though. Also, pain clinic appt. Oops.

wildlife
There's a(n o)possum living in my back porch laundry room. I don't know if it's a nesting female or not. It had diarrhea on top of my washer lid. Which is dried on and vile. (Cleaning it up is my project for maybe tomorrow.) I replaced the burned out light bulb today (and left it on) and left the door open, so maybe it'll vacate the premises on its own. I can call maintenance about relocating it. I just haven't yet. I thought about bombing it with peppermint or something, but peppermint is toxic to cats, and the stray cats use the laundry room for shelter in the winter, so that would suck for them.

#resist
? (I'm still waiting to see an announcement of a new march. Granted, it's hotter than hell, so maybe that's the delay? IDEK.)

I hope you're all doing well! <333

books
still reading: America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin. 2025. Fantastic book so far. Next up is Regime Change by Haberman & Swan, though I'm pissed at the NYT for holding all this info for a book rather than releasing it to the public where it could be used to impeach the orange menace. May he live to be convicted of war crimes.

yarning
got the brown and gray bunny in the mail on Monday. Redid all the stars yesterday and am starting getting them stitched onto the flag balls. Have a commission for a cat scarf where the third color of yarn won't arrive til Monday. Haven't gone back to yarn group since that one time, doh.

healthcrap
my sleep cycle is SO BORKED. I'm so frustrated. Gotta get up before noon tomorrow for an endocrinology visit. Labs look pretty good, so it should be quick. He's gonna tell me to exercise more, and I'm going to pretend to say yes. SIGH. (It's too fucking hot.)

music
So, I was watching the Opening of the Obama Center & wriggling around in all the great music, and suddenly, I noticed that I had music playing in my head. There hadn't been music in my head since Prince or Bowie died. It's been a long time. But, thank you Stevie Wonder for giving me back my inner tunes.

media
this past week I watched the old old movie Sneakers, which I last saw in the theater, and what a cast. Also saw The Vampire Lestat/IWTV 3.3, and holy shit. No spoilers, but it is beyond amazing.

astrology
Mercury stations retrograde on June 29 and stations direct on July 23. And on July 4th,
Mars and Uranus are conjunct in 2* of Gemini, a thing that only happens in things like the American Revolution, the US Civil War, WW2, etc. So, uh, I have concerns.

#resist
June 27: All of Us 250, organized by Get Free, a #50501 affiliated project.

I hope you're all doing well, staying cool if it's sweltering out, and staying toasty if it's cold. Take good care of yourselves, y'all. <333

I have watched The Vampire Lestat ep 1 & it was SO FREAKING GOOD, omg! I haven't been on Tumblr in the last few weeks, so I have no idea how the fandom responded, but I loved it. Looking forward to the new ep Sunday. (I need to make a new icon.)

books
Dark Olympus #10: Shattered Gods by Katee Robert. 2026. Kind of a disappointing end to the series, tbh.

The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government by Barbara McQuade. 2026. Rather long, but a thorough manifesto of things that need to be fixed.

1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World by Liaquat Ahamed. 2026. Not as accessible as I'd hoped. Also, far more Euro-focused than I'd hoped.

yarning
I have a commission for seven US flag catnip-silvervine balls and I am so blocked. There's no excuse for this, except ADHD and chronic pain. (Drat.) And today I got a commission from my cousin for another bunny. Gotta do the balls first. Sigh.

healthcrap
2 nights in a row now without taking (1mg) melatonin and still sleeping at a semi-reasonable hour. I had slightly more energy today. I'm ready to start feeling better any minute now?

#resist
June 14: Anti-Trump concerts across the country.
June 27: protests

I hope you're all doing well! <333

( books: Allchin et al, Wells, Weissmann, Vo x 3, El Sayed )

media
so I watched Good Omens 3 via a source that will give no money to that fucking serial rapist Neil Gaiman. And it was okay in places and really weird in others. The ending was sweet? It's just a very bittersweet feeling, though, given all the givens. We should have had another 6 eps, we should have ethical creators. Also, I want vastly more Tennant and Sheen, but this time without a sex offender involved.

Texas Primary Runoff
I was stuck at home all afternoon yesterday waiting for a medication delivery, and THEN it rained torrentially, so I didn't vote in the Dem runoff for AG, Lt Gov, and 4 more downballot races. I didn't have super strong opinions on the candidates, so I'm only somewhat annoyed that I messed up and arranged the delivery for today. I'm looking forward to voting in November, though.

yarning
Yay and Hooray!!! I went to yarn group for the first time since January!! It was SO GOOD to be among real life lovely chatty sweet humans again. It was the first time I've left my house NOT to go to the grocery store or a doctor's appt in over four months, and it was wonderful. Also, while there, I installed a zipper into a bunny in less than half the time it usually takes me. (No idea how!) But I have a commission for 2 bunnies this week, so that's what I'm working on. Also, with The Vampire Lestat/IWTV season 3 coming on June 7, I need to start planning for S3 dolls! Ack! (Assuming my hands cooperate. Hrm.)

healthcrap
I had a realization. For reasons that made sense at the time, I stopped taking L. Rhamnosus GG (20 billion CFU) a couple of months ago and grew progressively more miserably in pain. Last weekend, though, I researched it and learned that it's a powerful anti-inflammatory, in addition to the gut stuff it helps with. So I've started taking it again. Hopefully it won't take long to work. It's also time to take a break from Rhodiola and resume Adderall, so hello insomnia week. Left hand is still somewhat borked, but movement appears to help.

#resist
June 27: No Kings 5, #50501.

I hope you're all doing well! <333

( books (Wells x 11, Condemi & Savatier, Wyman, Mukherjee, Chakraborty) )

healthcrap
Left hand is so borked. Allergies are worse than ever. Still not resting.

yarning
some lovely someone bought out nearly all my remaining cat-shaped ornaments today. And another lovely someone commissioned a purple bunny. I've rested the hand for a month, so maybe I can do this.

#resist
June 27: the next #50501 protest

I hope you're all doing well! <333

gnu MinoanMiss/RubyNye's Online Memorial
Go here to sign up & get the zoom link to Ny's Memorial for this Sunday, April 12th at 1pm EDT. I'll be there & I hope you will, too.

books
The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East by Andrew Scott Cooper. 2011. Edition with the 2015 preface. Not great, but some interesting details of the Nixon-Ford years.

The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran by Andrew Scott Cooper. 2016. Utterly misleading title. By and large, this is NOT HISTORY. This is a fawning, one-sided biography of the Pahlavi family. I mean, I'm sympathetic to Farah and the kids, but there's no need to write an apologia for the shah's actions. :(((

Decoding Iran’s Foreign Policy: Strategic Interests, Power and Influence by Ross Harrison. 2025. I'm just sitting here wondering what it would be like to have a president who's smart enough to read books like this one. It's been a while.

currently reading: Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer. 2006. Imperialism is so gross.

yarning
Made the mushroom. Got the blue bunny put together and both in the mail. Waiting for more sales. Need to resume social media self-plugging. Here's something cute: Kitten Academy kittens doing a Statler & Waldorf on their mother's kickbunny:


healthcrap
Had Botox for migraines Friday. Usual doc wasn't there, and I couldn't recall the alterations we make to the standard protocol, so we'll see how this round works in their absence. Major cold front with torrential rain came in Friday night and knocked me flat for days. Had a much belated allergy shot Monday, which knocked me flat again.

#resist
I am utterly furious at the orange menace, Netanyahu, and their toadies.
May 1: No Kings 4 + general strike.

#astrology
Mars enters Aries on May 10, completing a major traffic jam of planets in Aries, sign of war, which has me exceptionally worried. Praying for peace.

I hope all of y'all are doing well and staying safe and sane and healthy. <333

gnu Ny
minoanmiss/rubynye's obituary is here.

The GoFundMe for Ny's burial costs is 88% funded at this writing. Please help get it to 100% if you can spare a few $$.

books
- A Ghastly Catastrophe (Veronica Speedwell #10). 2026. Dracula. Utterly ridiculous. Also: 2 books about evil gays in a row, WTF!? :(((
~ Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Vera Wong #1) by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Cute, though the ending is so slapdash.
~ The Crow Moon (Crow Investigations #10) by Sarah Painter. 2026. The end of the series.
+ King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution—A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson. 2025. The US is so very bad at dealing with Iran.
currently reading: Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany. 2022.

Iran war
I am so very pissed off at: the Trump Administration, the Netanyahu regime, and the Iranian clerical regime. I've read SO MANY books on Iran and its culture, pre-Revolution. This is not how effective regime change works.

yarning
Missed yarn group yet again, though I was dressed and ready to go. Just couldn't get out the door. Made an ADORABLE tarbasaurus for my cousin's son's third bday. Made 3 catnip-silvervine snakes to restock the shop. Sold the brown and tan kickbunny (finally), which I need to arrange pickup for.

healthcrap
The vertigo is much better, which makes me think it was a viral inner ear thing. My sleep is shattered. I've been sleeping til noon, despite turning the light out at ten. Healthcare renewal appt #2 is tomorrow afternoon.

#resist
Mar 28: No Kings Protest #3
Never start a land war in Asia.
RIP Robert Mueller.

I hope you're all doing well! <333

( books (Ghattas, Raybourn) )

yarning
Made and sent 2 catnip-silvervine hearts (to the same customer who has ordered about nine of them now). Missed yarn group due to cold, torrential rain, and DST. Made and sent 2 multicolored kickbunnies. Finished the turquoise kickbunny for kitten academy's current momcat (her kittens are 2 weeks old and adorable!), but haven't gone to the post office yet. Continued Easter carrots after messaging the customer to confirm the number and cost (so stressful!). Now they just need smiles and hanging loops.

healthcrap
I loathe springing forward. Still can't get up at a decent hour. Daytime vertigo is now coming randomly. In the night, it's mostly connected to lying in bed/rolling over/getting up to go to the bathroom. Fun times. I do feel a bit better overall. I got all my healthcare coverage renewal info uploaded and am impatiently awaiting a telephone appt. Tongue still has a hole in it, but it's shallower than it was and is slowly healing...if I can just keep from biting it. Had to start a new tube of benzocaine.

#resist
+ Check locally for anti-war protests. I'm finding Reddit and Instagram to be fairly good sources if you check often. (Last Saturday was a national protest, but I didn't know about it until just a couple of hours beforehand. Doh!)
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3

Thanks for the kind comments on recent posts. I've been terrible at replies. I hope you're all doing well! <333