lauren, that's not very heterosexual of you.

also apparently this rock art dates across multiple periods spanning thousands of years? but i couldn't find much detail on that so i can't give specifics

but yeah, this isn't just a memory of giraffes, but of giraffes now absent encountered by people just 2000 years (the difference between the late roman republic and today) out of the ice age, in a climate unfamiliar to any of the hundred billion people born since the desertification of the sahara drove the ancient egyptians to the nile, near the start of the agricultural revolution

the time between this and the birth of the sahara was nearly as long as the time between the birth of the sahara and now, in which all recorded history is contained, and all languages we can recognise at all - the language and culture of these people would be totally alien to current libyans, twice the difference between the oldest european language and english, predating all but libya's mountains!

nothing groundbreaking but it’s fuuuuun

✅ list one or two favorite lines you’ve written and explain why they’re your favorite

🧮 what are you working on? describe it in 20 words or less

🎶 do you write with music? does the music you’re listening to influence your writing?

💕 whats your favorite part of your writing process?

😠 whats your least favorite part of your writing process?

🎀 how do you decide when something is done?

🌅 do you typically known the ending to something before you start writing it?

🔚 have you ever completely changed the direction a piece was going?

🤔 why do you write fic?

⛔️ whats something you try to avoid in your work?

📚 do you ever read similar works while writing, or do you intentionally not read them?

🦉 give yourself a piece of writing advice

😊 say something nice about your writing

😭 what’s something you’re currently struggling with?

The Dixie Chicks (now just called The Chicks), a genuinely good country band that you should try if you haven't, made a big public stink in 2003 about how the USA picking a fight with Iraq was a terrible idea and George W. Bush was doing a bad job as President. They were right, and they were right to say it, but their fanbase had a lot of Bush stans, not to mention The USA Can And Should Pick Fights With Whatever Country It Doesn't Like This Month stans, so their sales took a hit.

The big record labels, who care only about Profit Go Up and always have, freaked out. Ever since then, they have been carefully screening new country acts to make sure they don't sign anyone who's going to say -- or sing -- anything even remotely controversial.

But the thing is, the good shit in country music has always been right next door to the blues. Listen to some Johnny Cash, some Emmylou Harris, and then some John Lee Hooker and T-Bone Walker back to back. They're all of them singing about how the world is broken and often the best we can do is live one day at a time tryna not make it any worse. Maybe we'll find some beauty in the cracks if we're fortunate.

If you're never going to sing anything controversial, you're never going to sing anything meaningful, either. And that's why, if you tune into a country station today, you'll hear nothing but extruded patriotism product, unless maybe they decide to spin an old Cash single once in a while.

Eva Stratt: