The Lights You Make

Some stories are not written with words.

They are carried by the wind, hidden between forgotten pages, and woven into the fabric of memory.

Perhaps we are all collecting fragments of ourselves along the way—pieces of dreams, places, and moments that refuse to be forgotten.

It's MORE important to note, that if a Kentucky Senator is unable to serve, a special election to called to replace them. Unless they die/are fully unable to serve after August 3rd, then it does not happen. Then, he is not replaced.

It is likely they will keep him Technically Alive until August 4th to stall and avoid this election.

The EVEN BIGGER thing to note is there has been a very, very large string of MASSIVE absences by many, many (often older) congressmen and women that have normalized this type of disappearance and silence.

One was found in a care home with dementia after not reporting to work for months. One disappeared for FOUR MONTHS because he was "depressed" but also was doing sports betting and investment work while gone. (He got paid sick leave that he voted against for everyone else, btw).

McConnell has been in hospital for a MONTH and we are just finding out now it was cardiac arrest and he's still in the hospital (likely braindead but that's inference, not a released statement).

This behaviour has been normalized in this country. Every example listed is a republican BUT democrats have had their share of congressmen and women with dementia being puppeted by their staff, which is on the same level as shit this.

if you've ever watched a movie with your film buff friend and chatted about it afterwards, that friend might have pulled hours more of conversation out of the same 90 minutes of screentime, and wondered how the fuck they did that - it's not raw intelligence, it's a skill that's been honed. And I learned a lot about film from talking to friends who knew about film, and reading critique by film scholars

literature works exactly the same. so if you want to get more out of your reading, there are things you can do to train that. Find a book or short story you think you've got a pretty good grasp on, preferably from a widely read & respected author like Ursula K Le Guin or Ray Bradbury (if you're new at this don't swing for the Toni Morrison or the Samuel Beckett yet unless you feel very comfortable with the complexity of the text - the point is to develop a complicated new skill on good foundations). Then go to JSTOR, create a free account, and look up criticism on the story you've chosen. Find something that looks readable to you and at least somewhat interesting. Read that article, and look at what that writer got out of the same story you've read that you didn't get. Do you see the critic's points? Did they teach you something about the text? Go reread that story and see if the criticism has changed how you read it. Are you seeing more? Are you thinking about the implications of a line that you hadn't noticed before? Does the story feel richer now?

you don't have to read more deeply if you don't want to (but i'd recommend it, i genuinely think it makes you a better person)

if you want to learn to read more deeply, the resources are out there. try to find critical literature (that is, academic writing that analyzes the text) on works your familiar with so you can get a sense for how to do that analysis too

learning to deep read literature can help you deep read many areas of your life

Public libraries purchase and display books based on popularity and demand. The more queer material taken out, the more inclined public libraries are to add more queer material.

This is also a reminder that libraries often carry DVDs and TV shows if you don’t want to physically read a book.