Xismosa Xit

chill spring lofi to listen to while you read. Includes: frog.

Hello all,

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by frogs.

Prose and Poetry of the Day

The Ants Were Here First

Written a month ago, trying to put nature in a house into context.

It’s Tradition

Written after a conversation with a friend (cisman) that was just another in a string of similar conversations with other friends or foes who were also cismen. “Not all men” is true, AND there needs to be a recognition of “Too Many Men.” Still love him though, and all others willing to listen and learn.

Jackalope Burrows

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

• death is nothing

• My single-line art; could become earrings? Def stickers which I have not uploaded at the time of this typing

• Bright-ass pink

• “Kaiju evacuation route” poster as a bus stop [I couldn’t get picture in time so you’ll just have to believe me 😦 ]

Frogs

Special Edition

• Giddy up sluts

• Frogs “accidentally” nipping at each other and the accompanying comments

Book Búho

What I’ve been reading/listening to bc audiobooks let me do both. Yes, comics count. And sacrilegiously, I even learn from ones I didn’t finish.

• The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine: A History of Settle Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi
  • great to know history. Student protests are rarely on the wrong side of history.
• The Hurting Kind by Asa Limón
  • Poetry
  • Obsessed. Amazing. Heartwrenching. Beautiful. Throwing up. Sobbing.
• They Called Me A Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight For Freedom by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri
  • unfinished, not bc it’s not important, but bc I don’t need all the details to know that what is happening is wrong. This book is more for people who do need the details to know where they land. Let me know if you disagree.
• Gospel of John
  • the book that gives Gentiles more context of Jewish traditions in trying to reach out to them.
• Re-read of Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  • I’m in my The Locked Tomb shit again

Books I Keep Putting Off

(read: I keep renewing and/or putting on hold bc I hate to admit to myself that I find other things more interesting at the moment but I do think they’re important and/or interesting reads so I hope one of y’all reads them before me and tells me about it, please)

• The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs edited and compiled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
• Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
  • I’m just afraid I’ll forget to listen to this one while it’s light out
• Until August by Gabriel García Márquez
  • he didn’t even want this one published, his sons still did
• Deamon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling by Philip Pullman
• Magic Has No Borders: A Collection of Magical South Asian Tales edited by Sona Charaipotra and Samira Ahmed
• When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge by K. David Harrison
• Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh
  • supposed to be weird short stories
• Pulling The Chariot Of The Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping by Shane McCrae
• Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black: Collected Stories, new edition by Cookie Mueller
• The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy
• The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel
• Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul by Stephen Jenkinson
• The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
• We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth edited by Dahr Jamail, Stan Rushworth
• The Red Deal: Indigenous Action To Save Our Earth by The Red Nation
• Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh
  • About “The Troubles” in Ireland
• The Trouble with White Women by Kyla Schuller
• On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and The Price Women Pay To Be Good by Elise Loehnen
• Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Eieris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
• Western Attitudes Toward Death: from the Middle Ages to the Present by Philippe Aries
• Existential Physics: A Scientist’ Guide To Life’s Biggest Questions by Sabine Hossenfelder
• Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis
  • lesbians
• Conquer the Clutter: Strategies to Identity, Manage and Overcome Hoarding by Elaine Birchall, Suzanne Cronkwright
• The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
• and so many freaking more that I no longer have the energy to add!!

Quotes Quail

I’m always listening 😈 y’all are funny

• You can’t do all the good things all of the time – said a few times in many places but not heard enough
• Someone with long curly hair doing their hair in the car sitting in traffic with an infinity sprayer
• You don’t judge a system by who is treated the best, you judge a system by who is treated the worst – belief it or not at [29:15]
• It’s been perfect since the beginning and I should know bc I UNLOCKED IT – Me about my nephew’s pout because his first pout was AT ME, but that’s okay because I allow him to experience his full range of emotions ☺️
• You ate my piojos. A little extra protein! – my friend when I kissed the top of her head
• He looked like he wouldn’t know what to do if he had two brain cells and I said I want that one – my friend about her new cat
• Black cat running on orange cat software – my friend about her new cat, again
• Don’t scare me domesticator – my father about El Vaquero

• I’m on a landline right now. I mean my phone is plugged in – my favorite Gen Z beaner
• Every single person has the same worth – Cinema Therapy, 10 min into Devil Wears Prada episode
• Healing yourself heal the world – comment on Uncle Iroh Cinema Therapy episode
• They can’t stop us all – my father about security stopping the crowd from passing into the parking lot after a baseball game (go Red Sox!)
• there’s no one here to judge me – me to myself when I wanted to get cozy in sweatpants and a sweater
• It’s Beyoncé on helium – my father about ITS LOUISIANA track from Beyonce’s new Cowboy Carter album
• Queso de mentiras – my cousin to our grandmother about vegan cheese (cheese of lies)
• The delulu is the sululu – my cousin about having to gaslight ourselves into thinking “you CAN do this”
• My heart just orgasmed – me to my middle school friend I reconnected with and our shared excitement
• I was having a Matrix moment! follow the rabbit! – security guard at the grocery store about my tattoo

This fuckin interaction:

• [Picture it, The Dollar Tree, 2024]
• Her: Do you like Italian food?
• Me: *uhhhhhh-what face* Are you asking me on a date?
• Her: No.
• Me: Okay…
• Her: I just really love working there and want to tell people about it
• all of this with a woman who was standing in line behind me at Dollar Tree, NOT asking me on a date (thank goodness), but wanting to brag about her place of work that she’d been at for TWO WEEKS. I told her “Most people don’t usually like to brag about their place of work” (read: you weirdo)

(O)ppossum Playlists of the Quarter

Here, we scream.

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

• 24 hours of attention
• Toxic Femininity, to match the album on this website
• Savage daughter / Burn the witch
• Opossum “only-marsupial-in-North-America” pocket: podcasts
  • Misquoting Jesus (religious studies)
  • Smosh Mouth (improv)
  • LDS Discussions (religious studies)

Cuervos Chismoses

chisme = gossip. “e” ending instead of “o/a” in Spanish for more gender inclusion

• listening to audiobooks on my commute
• I CANNOT stop thinking about how sidewalk plants are punk

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.

• Have I mentioned I’m probably on the bipolar spectrum? Mood stabilizers are a great time for me personally. What stabilizes your mood? Store-bought is fine.

Thank you for reading! If you want to stay entertained, please check out the rest of the  Xismosa Xit website! If you want some cheap retail therapy to go along with it, please check out my stickers.

Abrazos and/or high fives,

Ariana