Unless you’re an actual — and Western-based — doctor, please don’t write to me to ask what I have and to diagnose my conditions without seeing me, or to tell me which magical Eastern plant or some hour-long cooking regimen and meditation really worked for you; I’m really not interested (using a Neti pot is what gave me an ear infection that lasted for nearly two years, so you’ll understand my irritation with “natural” remedies).
Greetings, this week of May 22.
First: I don’t want to freak anyone out, but I’m not always well these days. My healthcare is awful, so I’m not going to get the care I need. I suspect — I dearly hope — that everything I’m going through is mostly stress-related. In the meantime: I also have a lot to get done and if I’m not scrambling for cheques, I’m trying to get work done on several different burners, and also working on many big changes. I will not be very good at responding to emails unless they’re work-related (and I’m sometimes bad even at those).
But, please understand that I’m often sick, beset by headaches along with my usual and ongoing issues, and my primary concern right now is forging through the discomfort and pain, taking care of Frida, and working on what needs getting done. Unless you’re an actual — and Western-based — doctor, please don’t write to me to ask what I have and to diagnose my conditions without seeing me, or to tell me which magical Eastern plant or some hour-long cooking regimen and meditation really worked for you; I’m really not interested (using a Neti pot is what gave me an ear infection that lasted for nearly two years, so you’ll understand my irritation with “natural” remedies). And please don’t tweet or Facebook me to tell me how and why I’m wrong about your remedies: One of the effects of being ill a lot and not having a lot of time is that I don’t tolerate annoyance and annoying people. Mostly, I’m trying to get the word out that I’m sick and tired a lot, and also sick and tired of being sick and tired a lot; please bear with me and please don’t inundate me with home remedies. Just understand that I’m not always as responsive as you need me to be.
My constant un-wellness does not dull my senses and thinking, even if it does slow things down a bit. I have a lot of projects in the works, and I can’t wait to post them/about them. In the meantime, here’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to and, as usual, news and bits from around the world.
If you missed the last update, the Grandmother of them all, here it is again.
I wrote this, “Complicity, Not Tyranny,” on the backlash to a conservative op-ed on abortion published in the New York Times.
I was part of the Hoodoisie podcast, set in Bronzeville. I’ll post the link when it goes up. For more on the podcast’s founder, Ricardo Gamoboa, see this.
From the Web
Remember that slightly frightening story about cat poop and our brains? Scientific American explains that a bit more.
Here’s an update to that story about YIMBYs I posted last time.
Michael Johnson, criminalised for being HIV-positive, needs our financial help
Here is a long piece on what happened.
Here is a trial update.
Here’s Bela Lugosi as Dracula because, why not?
Nathan Heller, writing in The New Yorker, asks, “Is the Gig Economy Working?”
This classic video, of two cats chatting with each other, will cheer you up. Or creep you out, as you realise they’re plotting to overthrow us.
Tom Cruise, who’s in many of my favourite movies, runs, a lot.
Roger Ailes is dead.
Chris Cornell of Soundgarden committed suicide. Here’s Black Hole Sun, a formative song and video of the time. And here’s culture and music critic Keidra Chaney’s homage and take on his career.
Chelsea Manning is out of prison. She posted this photo on Instagram, revealing her new look.
Here are “21 Tweets for Millennials Who Are Just Tired of Bullshit.”
This piece, critiquing the constant barrage of criticism of, well, fun, is timely and, bonus, really funny. Here’s Nathan Robinson’s “In Defense of Liking Things.”
“Across the Board,” in South Side Weekly, is about Chicago’s chess legacy.
Also from the South Side Weekly, this fascinating compendium of coverage of the South East Chicago Commission, which recently cut most of its ties to the University of Chicago, a key gentrifier in the area.
If you’ve used those cheap dollar store shower curtains, you know the feeling of reliving that shower scene in Psycho, as the sheets move in to engulf you. In this 2011 piece, Scientific American tells you why this happens.
In Electronic Intifada, Rasma Odeh writes, “I Will Continue My Struggle.”
I love reading about business models: what works, what doesn’t. Here’s Matthew Trammell on “Richard Russell’s XL Recording Empire” (XL is the force behind Adele and Frank Ocean).
From the Archives
In 2014, I was interviewed by Hypocrite Reader for what would become two of my favourite interviews. Here’s Part I, “There’s No Rescuing the Concept of Equality.”
Here’s Part II, “The Ideal Neoliberal Subject Is the Subject of Trauma.”
Speaking of healthcare, here’s my “Gay Marriage Hurts My Breasts.”