So much for to-do lists, there's an entry to post!
I have this easily digestible list of things I want to get done today, but now that I look at it, none of it looks very fun. (It's stuff like breaking down paid freelance work, novels and other projects in 25-minute chunks, or organizing piles of random ephemera I've carried through at least three moves, or figuring out how to use up some ingredients I bought for one recipe.) The one thing I've been trying to let happen all weekend is baking bread, and let me tell you, my respect for GBBO contestants is through the roof right now. I started out trying to follow this recipe, but then I didn't realize until late in the process that it doesn't actually include instructions for baking the damn thing. Meanwhile, I had to leave the dough in the fridge overnight, and this morning it doesn't look like there's been any gluten formation at all. I've got about two balls of dough, and I'm going to bake them each to see what happens, but I anticipate a large, inedible cracker for the first one for sure. Keep your fingers crossed all the same?
Yesterday was good homebodying stuff. I got Betta Barnes a new tank accessory, a nice plastic plant with lots of leaves for him to hide and lounge in. He always gets so pissy when I clean his tank, but everyone's happy now, especially me, since the guy at the fish store confirmed that the janky piece of driftwood was what was tinting the water this gross, sickly yellow. I also repotted a bunch of plants, which it turns out were in pretty dire condition in the roots -- definitely overgrown, but also full of weirdo spores. Sorry, plants! Please be happier now. I also tried this butternut squash and goat cheese sauce pasta with some trepidation -- my kitchen management skills continue to be best described as "slapstick," but the recipe came out really bland, which was disappointing. If I try it again, I'm definitely roasting the squash in cubes with plenty of spicing. (I also confirmed, by taking not one but two Lactaids, that I am in fact lactose intolerant as hell. UGH, ethnicity and age!)
I skipped Things I'm Verbing this week, due to overwhelm, and it was a relief, honestly. I'd been too busy to really find good links, and I really just needed the week off. However, some good stories have come my way in the meantime.
Margaret Atwood on The Handmaid's Tale in the age of Trump
Between Great Fires, about crossing the border from Mexico, h/t 
wendelah, thank you
Two different pieces by well-known opinion writers have compared intersectionality to religion this week. First, Andrew Sullivan, who is sometimes apocalyptic but not always wrong, and then Frank Bruni; both turn their ire to college campuses, spurred by the recent chasing off of Charles Murray at Middlebury (explained in both pieces). What they're really mad about is political purity politics, with religion a better metaphor than actual model, but they can't see outside of a "coddled millennials who can't handle hard truths and nuance" narrative. I'm not actually sure that shutting down "bad people" is the right move every time; often students come just as ready to question and rebut the speakers, which could be powerful. (But see also: Peace-promoting Israelis and Palestinians, or just involvement of Hillel at all, even tangentially.) Regarding the college campus angle, PEN America has written a report on it.
Meanwhile, if you're angry about that bullshit 10 Most Beautiful Women in the World, According to Science article (link goes to my Twitter debunking), listen: 1) There's no science, just a plastic surgeon in London claiming to use "ancient Greek philosophy" and the Golden Mean to determine facial symmetry. 2) Which means that every share, outraged or credulous, is just free advertising for the dude, just like Trump in the election. 3) The Cosmo article hat-tips another source, which hat-tips another source, which hat-tips another source. In other words, it's lazy and diminished journalism to drive clicks and fill an onerous daily post quota in a rush.
Okay, time to put this mess of flat, sticky dough in the oven. Wish me luck!
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!
Yesterday was good homebodying stuff. I got Betta Barnes a new tank accessory, a nice plastic plant with lots of leaves for him to hide and lounge in. He always gets so pissy when I clean his tank, but everyone's happy now, especially me, since the guy at the fish store confirmed that the janky piece of driftwood was what was tinting the water this gross, sickly yellow. I also repotted a bunch of plants, which it turns out were in pretty dire condition in the roots -- definitely overgrown, but also full of weirdo spores. Sorry, plants! Please be happier now. I also tried this butternut squash and goat cheese sauce pasta with some trepidation -- my kitchen management skills continue to be best described as "slapstick," but the recipe came out really bland, which was disappointing. If I try it again, I'm definitely roasting the squash in cubes with plenty of spicing. (I also confirmed, by taking not one but two Lactaids, that I am in fact lactose intolerant as hell. UGH, ethnicity and age!)
I skipped Things I'm Verbing this week, due to overwhelm, and it was a relief, honestly. I'd been too busy to really find good links, and I really just needed the week off. However, some good stories have come my way in the meantime.
wendelah, thank you
Okay, time to put this mess of flat, sticky dough in the oven. Wish me luck!
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!