Hello all,
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by being called “eclectic,” so thanks! And supporting Indigenous resistance, obvi.
NEW FEATURE ALERT: I’m testing a table of contents! I would love if people read through as much as they can, but I understand skipping to your favorite part. So, I’m making it easier to do so. Also at the end of each section is a link to bring you back up the top 🙂 Please let me know how you like it!
At The Top
I’m The Top 🤭
🖊️ Prose and Poetry of the “Week”
Prose and Poetry of the Week
This section is more specifically sponsored by:
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This piece was inspired by a drive I took one night on Mulholland drive and it was foggy and I enjoyed it more with no music. Also, La Luna. And thinking about evolution.
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I got runner-up! This was inspired by all of the moon goddesses (plus another link), the majority of whom are portrayed as young women even though the moon is older than we can imagine. Plus, I include a line or two in there about how the moon is drifting away from the earth.
Jackalope Burrows
Things I’ve learned, laughed about, and/or obsessed over
- Frankenstein (2025) dir. by that one Mexican who obsessed over making a fish’s ass look good.
- Upon finishing the movie, I M M E D I A T E L Y said “I can’t wait to talk about this for the next three days.”
- Suffice to say, it’s been more than three days. You’re welcome :3
- No context spoilers:
- Viktor Frankenstein really said #deadbeatdadrights
- Frankenstein and the folly of fathers: OR, Men wanna be pregnant so bad
- And yet, the RESPONSIBILITY OF LIFE
- “[Viktor’s] desire to create life without a woman’s involvement. the figurine becomes a symbol of the natural, maternal power he tries to control and surpass. in attempting to usurp the role of the mother, victor’s ambition reveals a deep misogyny, his belief that intellect can replace the body, and creation can exist without love or nurture.” – @mary1goore on tumblr
- “Viktor created life as if it were a godly feat and not something women have been doing since the dawn of humanity, and then he abandoned that life as deadbeat dads do. And that abandonment is what created a monster out of an innocent souls who could have become a beautiful being had it been nurtured.” – @medusas-daughter on tumblr
- *In-context spoilers* Also: the love between Elizabeth and the Creature, although real, also feels like an Oedipal complex thing since he was essentially an infant who was learning to speak when she met him, and then only saw each other again when he had matured. She was so happy to see him, but she would have no idea how he had grown. Had she fallen in love with an infant????? Yea, I see all the fan art and it’s beautiful, but I don’t truly see/agree with the romantic part of it.
- did that tree just move? 👀
- I thought this was a caterpillar 🙃
- Would you like pistachio chocolate for $17? How about quail eggs for $11? Did you think quail eggs would be more than pistachio chocolate? Because I certainly did.
- Ah yes, me and also my brother:
- Caracoles
- Do y’all remember history of the entire world, i guess? Well, I looked at his website billwurtz.com and the bio is immaculate
- only in LA, huh?
- soooooo uhhhhh was looking for a supercut of the memes in the Twilight Saga movies and this was suggested instead:
- A few minutes earlier, I had said: “I was Team Edward because I like to win” and I knew they were going to be endgame.
- ^Still haven’t found a supercut…
- my
rabbitholejackalope burrow into language trees that all started with wanting to know what ancient Egyptian sounded like and lead to a brief explanation of the world’s language families, to different labeling of kinship systems, to tracing English as far back as possible, to the Tower of Babel vs Linguistics which brought me back to, you guessed it, Biblical and religious studies (no links here, that would be too many) - Esnupi
Indigenous Resistance
Special Edition
- I searched “indigenous” in giphy and was luckily introduced to:
- ^This is Haunani-Kay Trask. The first gif is from her speech delieverd at the ʻOnipaʻa Commemoration on January 17, 1993, at ʻIolani Palace. The video recording is: here. She focuses on SOVERIGNTY.
- See also this journal article focused on her and Indigenous Pacific feminism
- che jim on YouTube
- His personal opinion on reconnecting to Indigenous heritage
- Since 1492
- “Maybe you’re not a language keeper” by Prestin Mercredi-Fleming
- I’ve posted this before and I’ll post it again: Me in the afterlife fighting my Spanish ancestors in front of my few Indigenous ancestors bc my beef with colonization is forever.
- Related: my piece Perfect Foundation vs The History of Mexico
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 Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth by The Red Nation
- “The Red Deal is not a counter program to the [Green New Deal]. It’s a call to action beyond the scope of the U.S. colonial state. It’s a program for Indigenous liberation, life, and land – an affirmation that colonialism and capitalism must be overturned for this planet to be habitable for human and non-human relatives to live dignified lives.”
- Mentions the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A Manual for Humans Rights Institutions (which the US has, historically, not been)
- The 2024 draft of the Procedures for the Inclusion and Application of Indigenous Knowledge in the Actions of the Department Handbook for The Department of the Interior
- Emphasis on recognition of Indigenous science should be recognized as prevalent as Western Science
- Negotiating Indigeneity: Fostering Indigenous Knowledge within LIS Curricula by Nicola Andrews and Jessica Humphries at the Information School, University of Washington, Seattle
- Suggestions for more curriculum that centers on Indigenous perspectives from students in the program
- UW is the best MLIS curriculum I’ve seen so far that centers Indigenous teaching and knowledge systems that I’ve seen so far, but even sometimes the best is still not enough
- Also, not that affordable ☹️
- Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez, Ph.D.
- I am an hour and a half into the audiobook and her main lesson so far is “Nature will take care of you if you take care of nature,” and that non-human beings are relatives too.
- Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang
- Emphasis that the word “decolonization” should not be used as a stand-in for social justice movements; it means Land Back
- then, Slavery Is A Metaphor by Tapji Garba and Sara-Maria Sorentino as a response to the above which argues for more collaboration and recognition between Indigenous an˜d Black studies and communities
- How Indigenous Knowledges and Knowledge Systems Are Centered in Research: An Indigenous-informed Realist Review Protocol
- Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
- not finished, but already well related to the above. Different yet overlapping perspectives from relatives.
Finished:
- Black Hole Blues and Other Songs From Outer Space by Janna Levin
- This book is funny to me because it was published in 2016 which is the same year evidence of gravitational waves was announced, and I was afraid that this book was published JUST before that and that I would be listening to a interesting-yet-outdated human-interest story of the scientists who worked into making LIGO possible. But it wasn’t! The epilogue was about the official discovery! Ultimately, it was satisfying.
- The human-interest part was funny though bc there was a lot of personal drama between scientists
- AND I have another person who agrees with me about “the uninformative numerical system for MIT’s buildings”
- AND this is where I confess my beef with my college physics professor:
- Picture it: 8:55 AM EST, February 11th, 2016. I am in my 106 physics class and we all KNOW that the National Science Foundation will be hosting the official announcement of the discovery of gravitational waves at 9:00 AM EST. I – brave, nerdy – asked our professor if we should turn on the projector to watch the announcement at 9am. He said “there’s always a few minutes of acknowledgements, they never start on time.” AND YET!!! He finally turns it on at 9:05 AM and THEY’RE HALFWAY THROUGH THE EXPLANATION. I WAS LATE TO A HISTORICAL ANNOUNCEMENT BC HE DIDN’T BELIEVE ME!!!!!!!!!
Update: My reading list is the d e f i n i t i o n of (quantum) insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result).
In my Libby app (or, where I avoid admitting that I do not have the time or intellectual energy to get through these in a timely manner):
- Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread – The Lessons from a New Science by Alex Pentland
- When I was attempting to double-major in Sociology and Physics, my math professor suggested I look into sociophysics. So here I am, 10 years later, looking into it!
- Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli
- Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity by Carlo Rovelli
- Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend
- Bones: Inside and Out by Roy A. Meals, MD
- When They Severed Earth From Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber
- Buy Youself The F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life by Tara Schuster
- It’s been a little helpful so far!
- However, disclaimer: I don’t trust anyone whose role model is Coco Chanel
- Single: Living a Complete Life On Your Own Terms by Nicola Slawson
- Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots by John Markoff
- I guess I’m trying to deal with my non-irrational fear of AI
- However, on the other hand: Blood In The Machine: The Origins of The Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant
- I don’t mind being called a Luddite
- There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness by Carlo Rovelli
- Astrología y Literatura: Diálogos Cósmicos by Claudia Aboaf
- para praticar 🙃
Plus, what I checked out from the library because I’m delusional and in denial and I SWEAR to myself that I pick up physical books before bed 🙃:
- The State of Fire: Why California Burns by Obi Kaufmann
- An Indigenous People’s History of the United states: for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- I guess there’s a young adults one too that I need to find now
- Latin American Folktales: Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions by John Bierhorst
- you know what, I’m not sure why I checked this out, since it uses the word I hate (Hispanic) (Indian is not great, but a lot of Indigenous people still kinda use it), AND it’s a edited by a white man 🙃
- 1491: New Revelations Of The Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann
And also: Batman: Wayne Family Adventures by CRC Payne + team on Webtoon (It’s all about family 😭💜)
I was introduced to it on Tumblr with a snippet of Episode 77: Suit Up. Highly recommend 😎
Quotes Quail
I’m always listening 😈 y’all are funny
You know, the funny thing about this section is that is was inspired by the favorite parts of magazines: the quotes sections. And it’s kinda fun that so many of you have said it’s your favorite part too! See if you can find yourself 👀
- in toxicas we trust 🙂↕️
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- “It’s important to make friendships deeper than gossiping, drinking, and going out. Make friends you can cry with and get breakfast with. Make friends that support your life goals and believe in you” – @savvchristensen ‘s mom
- Essentially, make satisfying relationships; not just dessert, but a full meal.
- Perhaps related: Don’t set yourself on fire to keep another warm. You can be a blanket instead.
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- “All a girl needs” – not a gurl, while reading the ingredients of Welch’s fruit snack gummies
- “Yea, why do you think I look as good as I do?” – me
- “The corn syrup?”
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- my luv sent me these and i fuckin died
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- the fruit platter for Halloween
- I want you all to remember that I predicted this 🙂↕️
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- Speaking of the World Series:
- “Voy a llorar” – Residential Blue Jays Fan, the daughter
- “Pues empieza.” – Residential Dodgers Fan, the mother
- During game 7 of Dodgers vs Blue Jays when the Blue Jays started to lose/tie 😂😭
- “I’m gonna cry”
- “Then start.”
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- “Your brokenness will help more people than your pretend wholeness ever will” – Jonathan Decker licensed therapist on one of Cinema Therapy’s KPOP Demon Hunters episodes (13:03)
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- “bye love you!” – was told this over TWO calls in ONE night with the SAME cutie!!! 💜😭🥹🥰
- GOD i’m a slut for love
- especially platonic
- …ironically
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- “Isn’t it funny how we exist separately when no one else is home?” – El Vaquero’s mother to El Vaquero when anyone (1) gets near her
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- “I didn’t want to be on my simp shit in front of them” – friend trying to avoid talking to an (alleged) cutie on the phone while her friends are around
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- “I still haven’t recovered from this time change”
- “I haven’t recovered from kindergarten”
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- “Are you gonna be mad all winter” – my parents after my RANT about the STUPIDITY of switching for daylight savings
- The answer is:
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- “YOU CAUSE DIAPHRAM SPASUMS!!!” – he hiccupped before he was able to say hi to me and it was all my fault. Obvi.
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- “You said you don’t drink!” – me
- “I don’t drink!….. well, that was Monday.” – she says as she pulls out a bottle of tequila
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- “Do you even know you’re real?” – said to a dog
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- “Crayola skin color” – my father about the following car:
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- “She became my fairy dyke mother” – this is what happens when you come out to your queer middle school teacher that you reconnect with as an adult
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- “He revenge-pees” – about a dog (who wears a diaper in the house) if he’s not getting enough attention
- why yes, how did you know it was a weenie dog?
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- “Well the new year is coming, but you can always start now” – about getting better at healthy habits (such as keeping your phone charged before you head out of your house and will be out for a few hours)
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- “I’m a very burpy boy at times” – about drinking so much f*ckin sparking water
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- “NOOOOOOOOOOO WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME” – inviting my favorite beaner to a cool place but then telling him that he is not allowed to talk politics (womp womp)
- I even warned him! “I’m going to invite you to something exciting, but then I’m going to say something that will make it not-exciting.”
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- Do you know the actor Glenn Powell?
- and then I saw Juni (Daryl Sabara) a couple of days later!
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- “He bullies us!” – about my nephew bullying my parents to have their vitamins FOR HIS ENTERTAINMENT
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- “I wanna do the whitest thing ever and go see lighthouses in Maine” – co-cutie #1
- “That’s not the whitest thing you’ve said though” – co-cutie #2
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- “You think I can plan my period??” – me
- “The Catholics think you can” – ex-catholic-with-no-uterus
- shoutsout the rhythm method
- (there’s an app for that)
- to my catholic readers: #sorrynotsorry
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- “It’s not a normal plate. It’s a frog!” – Chef Giuseppe Iannotti (in his Italian accent on Knife Edge: Chasing MICHELIN Stars on Apple TV) and IMMEDIATELY putting the frog to his mouth
- An Ally 🙂↕️
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- “The rain is cold, why is it cold???” – desert rat #1
- “Because it’s not Arizona” – desert rat #2 (me)
- Just a couple of desert rats complaining
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- “in terms of processing my emotions/life, you’re one of the most valuable people in my life” – a lovely
- “Nooooo why am I crying at the club right now” – me
- “Why are you at a club at 11am?”
- Later in the conversation:
- “I’m scared of stagnation, and talking to you assuages that fear” – a lovely, again
- I love calibrating calls once per month 💜
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- “Men fall asleep so quickly” – me
- “That’s because they don’t worry about anything” – a sleep tech
- It’s not that they don’t HAVE anything to worry about, it’s just that usually they don’t take on the emotional labor that keeps some of us up at night
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- “Dang you’re bright!” – co-worker #1 about my dress
- “I’m always bright!” – me, defending myself
- “No, you’re the Las Vegas strip at night, usually you’re the Vegas strip in the day” – co-worker #2 colluding against me
- it wasn’t even that bad! I could be worse. I could be B R I G H T E R!
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- “I don’t live in Southern California for the cold” – she says, weeping, when it’s rainy outside AND cold in the office
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- “All men are liars, just find the tallest one and go from there” – another single person
- oh, how can you tell we are in the pessimistic dating phase in life?
- (Y’all, one time out dancing THE TALLEST DUDE PRESENT wanted to dance with me. He was 6’ 7” MINIMUM. Why you tryna dance with someone a foot and a half shorter than you??????)
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- “I had something to tell you, but I can’t remember what it was” – me just trying to have a regular conversation
- “You’re pregnant! I’m gonna be at Tía!!” – she wants to be a tía so bad!!! Like I understand but:
- “No!!” – me
- and she KNOWS I have no prospects ANYWAYS
- Besides, I’m leaning towards rich-auntie goals, just trying to figure out the rich part
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- “How does a long-term relationship crumble like that?”
- “I forgave a lot I shouldn’t have.” – me
- “Really? I thought you’d be tougher.”
- “It’s funny what happens when someone breaks you down, but that’s why we’re building a backbone!” – me
- This is my advertisement: GET A BACKBONE. IT HURTS AND IT’S FANTASTIC.
- “The other funny thing about people that don’t take responsibility for their actions is that they will disklike you MORE when you DO take full responsibility for your own actions. When you’ve done everything you can and they still didn’t get the result they wanted, they want you to take more of the blame but that’s where your backbone comes in and you only have to take responsibility for what YOU did, not their mistakes.” – me to someone I am actively encouraging to get a backbone
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- “Both of them were both beautiful and smart, that’s not fair.” – co-worker about some clients
- “Some of us just have it.” – me
- “Some of US?” – he says, incredulous
- “Yea, me!” – me
- One day I decided I was hot and I became so 💅🏽
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- “See, you love my dog!” – co-cutie #1
- “In a tiny tiny tiny space in my heart. Don’t worry, she fits!” – co-cutie #2
- Why yes, this is about a small white dog!
- Some call them an abomination of nature
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- “I don’t scare you!” – me
- “Yes you do”
- “It’s the face isn’t it” – me
- “It’s not NOT the face”
- Damn, they really said I’m ugly with their whole chest 😪
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- “I came out here to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now” – me, sad
- “Then stop doing things that make me attack you.” – co-worker, vindictive
- “I just stand there!”
- “Exactly.”
- ;-;
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- “Can’t we just let a gurl just live her life” – me about me
- “Yea if she’s living her life well” – once again: co-worker, vindictive
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- “We don’t decide what’s impactful” – about teaching, but also in response to me complaining about a teenager not liking Wicked (2024) because it was too much singing even though she had insisted on seeing it
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- “I wanted to be punk in high school but my mom didn’t let me” – co-worker #1
- “You’re an adult, you can go back and be punk” – co-worker #2
- “No I like my New Balances they’re comfy.” – co-worker #1 making great points
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- “Dracula doesn’t run quickly” – new Twilight viewer confused as to why the vampires have superspeed
- “He skulks quickly” – veteran Twilight viewer
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(O)possum Playlists of the Quarter
Here, we scream.
And, “apparently,” I listen to my short playlists for a “wildly long time”
- Lil Boo Thang (me)
- Make Up Your Mind
- How Far Is Heaven (by Los Lonely Boys) Radio
- Top of 2021
- my classics, apparently
- Up and coming: Top of 2025!
Cuervos Chismoses
chisme = gossip. ”e” ending instead of “o/a” in Spanish for more gender inclusion
- I SAW A LITERAL!! PURSE!!! DOG!!!!!
- And pretty bougainvilleas!
- I’ve made moon bracelets for each month! Pictured here is September on the top, and then October and November. (You can see the inspiration if you swipe through –>)
- Y’all uhhhhhh ever go into Ulta with a friend so she can pick up shampoo and go a little crazy bc ✨g l i t t e r✨?
- El Vaquero just turned 6!!! 💜🐶💜
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.
- Whose ancestral land do you live on? You can search on native-land.ca
- Please consider donating to Indigenous-led community Land Trusts near you. I’m on Fernandeño Tataviam, Chumash, and Tongva land, so I’ll be donating the them. (I have previously mentioned the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.)
Which of you are reading this in Germany/Singapore/Sweden/China/Malaysia?
Also, did you find the Golden Girls easter egg? 🤭
Alsoooooooo just discovered that WordPress tells you how many words your post is and how long it takes to reaaaaaad 😅😅😅
This one says 20 minute read time…
Therefore:
THANK YOU for reading! If you want some cheap retail therapy to go along with it, please check out my stickers.
Abrazos and/or high fives,
Ariana
Xismosa Xit 
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