Winter is... You know.

a custom DNS resolver that blocks access to Fox News and other right-wing propaganda outlets

a keylogger to capture the admin password for your router so you can disable parental controls

a VPN or a virtual machine running the Tor browser to bypass access restrictions and age verification checks

your own "parental controls" browser extension, set up to send you notifications if your parents visit websites that indicate they might be spying on you (e.g. Life360)

a userscript that adds a fake virus warning popup to the donation pages of fascist political parties

have fun! make sure to do loads of reading and learn how things work so you can break them safely and effectively!

I feel like people get so distracted by the tragedy and the love stories (typical allos 😝) that they don’t see there was deliberately a hopeful result of Orpheus’ trip to Hadestown. This is something not part of the original myth, an intentional expansion of the story for this adaptation.

True, Orpheus failed in his central goal, which was to bring Eurydice back from the dead. But by just TRYING to do that, there were unintended positive consequences. The workers started to wake up and question the justice of the system they were working for. And Hades and Persephone seem to start to come to a new understanding, a possible mending of their relationship.

Of course we don’t know the full ramifications. Maybe the workers rise up, maybe not. Maybe Hades stops coming early for Persephone, maybe not. But the potential is there, and in that potential I see a central hopeful message in the story.

Fast forward to six weeks ago—I receive an email from her husband, explaining he broke the mug (lol) and asking if I’d be willing to take on a commission to replace it. He reiterates how she has arthritis but also shares she used to make pottery, herself, but can only really paint, now. I say of course! Come to find out, he wants a WHOLE SET of mugs to replace the broken one. Even better! I end up making the whole set twice (I wasn’t satisfied with the first attempt), but finally get them packed up and sent off across the country.

I just received the kindest message from the husband, saying “It is not often in today's world that someone does 100% of what they have promised,” thanking me profusely, and sharing that his wife is already happily using the new mugs.