Welcome to the end of this wretched week
Welp. Thanks to Sen Flake, this wretched week of news will be stretching into another week of wretched news, with pundits continuing to shift the goalposts on their conditinal support of the right kind of sexual assault victims bemoaning the nonexistent consequences her abuser will suffer. On the bright side, that does mean that the feds will end up with more testimony than we got from that farce of a hearing. However, I don't think any amount of testimony, evidence, or expert witnesses will keep the GOP from confirming him. It's not just about confirming a self-perjuring conservative hack--they have a long list of those to choose from. They want to prove that they can confirm even the absolute worst person on that list because they can, empowered and emboldened by the self-perjuring hack currently soiling the oval office.
A sack of dicks, to be sure.
I posted about my assault on Facebook. Support has been unconditional, but there are a few red-hatters on my f-list who don't check in all that often, so it's possible that one of them could yet respond with obnoxiousness. Whill will of course result in them being permanently blocked. What's really surprised me is the number of folks who've contacted my via private message about their own assaults.
Yes, all women. And a rather horrifying percentage of men, too.
Fuck the patriarchy's contempt for victims. If I can be strong by being publicly vulnerable, then let me be for all of those who aren't able to.
Okay, enough of that noise.
On to much nicer noise.
Choir rehearsal last night was chock-full of loveliness. The other section leaders and I had to stay late, which was a slight boo, but only very slight because we were working on "Faire is the Heaven," which is the absolutely scrumptious a cappella double-choir motet we're singing tonight (text by Spenser, music by Harris). Super glad I worked on it. It's going to be beautiful, but it's no gimmee.
I have very important plans to sleep in tomorrow and snuggle with dogs. There will also probably be working on music (Willan West just sent eight pieces to prep for October 12th!) and possibly writing. Words are bubbling closer to the surface of my brain, thanks to some cool recent input:
Tomi Adeyemi's "Children of Blood and Bone," the first book in her Legacy of Orisha series, is YA epic fantasy set on a contenent based on Nigeria instead of a stand-in for medieval Europe with magic, gods, and a genocidal tyrant in serious need of defeating. So kind of Afro-past-isht/magical realish pastiche? It was wholly gripping with beautifully imperfect characters. Even though the story ends with a bit of a cliffhanger (grr, this is why I don't usually read unfinished serieses), I absolutely enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more. That said, the overarching plot felt sort of fantasy-standard: i.e., we have an artificially short timeline to find all three of these magical McGuffins that do plot-convenient things to help us along the way and must perform this ritual on this one day that happens every hundred years or all is lost forever. But still! Fasicnating and original world! Complicated and sympathetic characters! Realistic responses to horrific things like genocide and torture! There's a lot to admire about this book, and I'm hopeful I'll grow to love this series.
Maggie Stiefvater's "The Scorpio Races," a standalone YA fantasy novel, was entirely up my street: Irish mythology + Synge's "Riders to the Sea" meets Natonal Velvet with a bit of fateful romance thrown in. Plus Shakespearean names FTW. On the craggy/rugged isle of Thisby, powerful and carnivorous water horses, which hunt humans and livestock/pets in the wild, are caught by islanders and ridden in the annual Scorpio Races, in which riders and horses are often maimed. This book kept me guessing how it was going to end until I finished the last page, and it was an absolutely enthralling read. I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely deserving of its Printz Honor medal, and I absolutely loved it. Many thanks to gelsey for recommending it!
Right. Off to finish up some work stuff and put on my game face for tonight's service.
Smooches to All!
Mun42
A sack of dicks, to be sure.
I posted about my assault on Facebook. Support has been unconditional, but there are a few red-hatters on my f-list who don't check in all that often, so it's possible that one of them could yet respond with obnoxiousness. Whill will of course result in them being permanently blocked. What's really surprised me is the number of folks who've contacted my via private message about their own assaults.
Yes, all women. And a rather horrifying percentage of men, too.
Fuck the patriarchy's contempt for victims. If I can be strong by being publicly vulnerable, then let me be for all of those who aren't able to.
Okay, enough of that noise.
On to much nicer noise.
Choir rehearsal last night was chock-full of loveliness. The other section leaders and I had to stay late, which was a slight boo, but only very slight because we were working on "Faire is the Heaven," which is the absolutely scrumptious a cappella double-choir motet we're singing tonight (text by Spenser, music by Harris). Super glad I worked on it. It's going to be beautiful, but it's no gimmee.
I have very important plans to sleep in tomorrow and snuggle with dogs. There will also probably be working on music (Willan West just sent eight pieces to prep for October 12th!) and possibly writing. Words are bubbling closer to the surface of my brain, thanks to some cool recent input:
Tomi Adeyemi's "Children of Blood and Bone," the first book in her Legacy of Orisha series, is YA epic fantasy set on a contenent based on Nigeria instead of a stand-in for medieval Europe with magic, gods, and a genocidal tyrant in serious need of defeating. So kind of Afro-past-isht/magical realish pastiche? It was wholly gripping with beautifully imperfect characters. Even though the story ends with a bit of a cliffhanger (grr, this is why I don't usually read unfinished serieses), I absolutely enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more. That said, the overarching plot felt sort of fantasy-standard: i.e., we have an artificially short timeline to find all three of these magical McGuffins that do plot-convenient things to help us along the way and must perform this ritual on this one day that happens every hundred years or all is lost forever. But still! Fasicnating and original world! Complicated and sympathetic characters! Realistic responses to horrific things like genocide and torture! There's a lot to admire about this book, and I'm hopeful I'll grow to love this series.
Maggie Stiefvater's "The Scorpio Races," a standalone YA fantasy novel, was entirely up my street: Irish mythology + Synge's "Riders to the Sea" meets Natonal Velvet with a bit of fateful romance thrown in. Plus Shakespearean names FTW. On the craggy/rugged isle of Thisby, powerful and carnivorous water horses, which hunt humans and livestock/pets in the wild, are caught by islanders and ridden in the annual Scorpio Races, in which riders and horses are often maimed. This book kept me guessing how it was going to end until I finished the last page, and it was an absolutely enthralling read. I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely deserving of its Printz Honor medal, and I absolutely loved it. Many thanks to gelsey for recommending it!
Right. Off to finish up some work stuff and put on my game face for tonight's service.
Smooches to All!
Mun42