Xismosa Xit

Hello all,

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by the sun still being out at 7:20pm. Also, my excuse for not sending out anything for June is that I was just SO busy for PRIDE month. I, personally, have a gay agenda. See?

It’s even lavender!

As for July, I was busy for…. Wrath Month?

Happy Belated Pride Month!

(Is Brooklyn 99 Copaganda? Probably. Do I still possess the critical thinking to like it and know not to listen to the characters and their lessons as cops? I hope so.)

However, not too late for:

• Happy Belated Cancer season! Cry with me! Cry! Cry!!

• Happy Belated Leo season, my moon sign! Shine with me! Shine! Shine!!

• Happy Virgo season! Organize! Organize!!

Prose and Poetry of the Week

Gospel of Love

I think I finally feel ready to share this. The past few weeks I’ve been working on a piece that I’m probably trying to do WAY too much with, but one of my general motifs/lines of thinking in that non-fiction piece is the center of this fiction story as well.

100 Word Stories

I have now published at least six 100 word stories, right under your noses! You have to see them on Colochos de Flores, where one day I WILL be organized enough to actually put them on a page to be easily accessed together. I’ve been enjoying them because it’s forcing me to cut to the chase, play around with word choice, and actually be brief. Wild time.

Rabbitholes

Things I’ve learned, laughed about, and/or obsessed over

• will it blend

• How did I get here? I’m…………. not sure.
• superdeterminism in physics as an possible anti-thesis to free will
• “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world” – Frederick Banting on the sale of the patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for $1
• Knife sharpening. I have learned what a “burr” is. I just want my kitchen and pocket knives to be unbelievably sharp, is that so bad? 
• The history of the Christian god, AKA Yahweh a minor Sumerian warrior god. See Book Búho below. 
• Sunset color palettes for my room
• Cleaning Timelapse video compilations. I am only human.
• Crocheting videos. I am only ancient.

Book Búho

What I’ve been reading/listening to bc audiobooks let me do both. Yes, comics count.

• not me trying to organize what order to read my audiobooks in bc I legit checked out too many at the same time; I get overexcited and overambitious. 
• The President and the Frog by Carolina de Robertis, read by the author – A magical realism-ish take on democracy, fun to listen to and thoughtful!
• This Town Sleeps by Dennis E Staples, read by Karpov Schwab – an Indigenous gay man wakes up a spirit of a dog and has to solve a mystery, all while dealing with an white lover. It’s always a white lover.
• God: An Anatomy by Francesca Stravrakopoulou, read by the author – going through the history of how the Judeo-Christian idea of God morphed from a local storm god to what we are familiar with today.
• The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload by Daniel J. Levitin, read by Luke Daniels – I thought it would be more about mind palaces and how to get organized, but the second half of the book was more about “thinking straight,” or as I like to call it, “thinking queer,” since it calls for critical thinking, which I tend to see more in the queer community anyway. He gives advice on HOW to think critically, and how our minds work with digital things; they don’t like to.
• Montessori for Every Family: A Practical Parenting Guide to Living, Loving, and Learning by Tim Seldin and Lorna McGrath, read by Alana Maria – listen, I’m just someone who wants to take care of childrens’ and inner childrens’ wellbeing as much as possible, AKA also learning how to care for my own inner child.
• Meander Spiral Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison, read by Bernadette Dunne – literature theory? She theorizes and gives examples on how stories are best when they meander, spiral, or explode radially. 
• Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD, read by Marguerite Gavin – TLDR: Everyone needs therapy. 
• Carve: A Simple Guide To Whittling by Melanie Abrantes – I just want to make little animals.
• Steal Like An Artist Audio Trilogy by Austin Kleon, read by the author; includes Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going – gives good tips on how to keep your creativity up! We love lists.
• The Postmortal by Drew Magary –  WOW, this kept me HOOKED. I don’t know why I liked it so much, since I recognized almost all of the human selfishness and ugliness in it, but I’m always a sucker for world building, especially for the future. The narrator was an asshole, and the last romance was annoying. 
• It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror edited by Joe Vallese – do I watch horror movies? Hell no. Was this still incrediably intriguing? Yes. I’m sure this would be just that more impactful to queers who actually like horror, but I still loved this anthology.
• American Gods graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, and Glenn Fabry – this is my third time reading American Gods and I loved the illustrations helping me to make sense of everything. FINALLY, I get it. I guess I slowed down enough as I enjoyed the graphics….
• The Premonitions Bureau: A True Account of Death Foretold by Sam Knight, read by –  I thought this would be more about the possible of science of premonitions, but it ended up being more about the history of the men that ran the Premonitions Bureau, which wasn’t even relevant.  
• The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, read by – this is more about the treatment of women in a society transitioning over to Christianity from “the old ways” and prejudice against indigenous people than it is about queerness. There is still some pining, but in a way where they don’t really know that attraction between women is “possible.” There is also a bit of not-that-graphic marital r*pe, bc what kind of historical fiction would it be without it (please read this question with dripping sarcasm)?
• When The Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen, by – this is about the horrors of slavery coming back to haunt a plantation wedding. The violence that white people enact on Black bodies are the main part of the horror, but also the reality of the treatment of Black people (mostly about the incarceration of Black men and the lack of attention paid to Black women) today and how those overlap. However, the pace was awkward where the beginning was too slow and the ending was too fast. I did see a comment from a Black reader saying that they’re pretty sure this was written without centering a Black audience. 

Playlist of the Quarter

“Apparently,” I listen to my short playlists for a “wildly long time”

• Focus, Ariana – ah yes, when I should actually be single-tasking on what I’m doing

Personal Chisme

chisme = gossip

• migraines!!!! 😡 😡 😡
• Target discontinued my face wash so now I’m looking into recipes to make my own. might be putting yogurt on my face, will report back.
• I’m in my late 20s! Shite! Love it! Unironically excited for 30! First time working on my birthday in years!
• New morning rituals, once again, which include my alarm clock being annoying and forcing me to stand up to snooze it, which is right next to my drawers so I MIGHT AS WELL get dressed. 
• A trip to British territory, I couldn’t say no to the opportunity  I was going to be brave and go diving, but I am not allowed to because of my ear. Oh well, lounging on the beach it was!
• I made Lala and El Vaquero stickers in preparation for Lala’s quinceañera!! 

The Void Shouts Back

If you would like to respond but don’t know what to say, answer the question below. If you don’t want to, just respond with keysmashing or send me a hug with your thoughts. If you don’t want to do that either, that’s okay too.

• what age are you unironically looking forward to?

I hope this was worth the wait! If not, just let me know, i won’t begrudge you. I asked for it. If it was worth it, then you can find more at Colochos de Flores!

Abrazos and/or high fives,

Ariana

Get it? Because aliens are real but we still have to pay rent while millions and billions in profit is stealing our wages?