#sekraptalks

Context: Me and my roommates moved into a basement apartment in late August. Our upstairs neighbor is an older woman, her elderly father, and their reactive dog. E, M, and T for anonymity sake

Over the last few months, we have built a really lovely relationship with our upstairs neighbors and I wanted to chronicle it all. I easily feel overwhelmed by all the cruelty in the world and it's so good to be reminded that there is friendship in odd places.

When we first moved in, E invited us to meet with her and T on a walk so T could get used to us and not bark when we walk to our door and has done a lot to make sure we feel safe around him even though he is an intimidating dog.

The first time I introduced myself to E, she pointed at me and said "you have what I have". We both have a pretty visible chronic illness and it was so sudden and funny but also there's just an odd comfort in the solitary you know??

Because we're in a basement apartment, mail carriers often leave our packages and mail on E's doorstep. She has never once complained and instead said she prefers it because she knows she can keep it safe inside until we have time to knock on her door and retrieve it.

M routinely prunes the little front yard of the house and keeps it looking beautiful. When I walk to the bus stop and compliment him he always smiles and bows and it's just so simple and lovely and I can't stand it.

Myself and one of my roommates travelled back to our hometown to see our families around Thanksgiving, but our third roommate had to stay in the city to work. When we got back, our fridge was stuffed with thanksgiving leftovers that E had given my roommate for the holiday <3

This same roommate soon had her birthday and I made her a coffee cake. At her suggestion, we brought E and M a few slices because it was HUGE and E sent us a big paragraph talking about how delicious it was afterwards. Definitely made me crumple a bit

E messaged us that a cop was looking at my car where it was parked on the street. By the time I had gotten my shoes on and found an umbrella, E was outside and arguing with the cop in the rain (which saved me a ticket) and let me park in their waaaay too small driveway for an afternoon or until the cops stopped caring about my very legal street parking.

My roommates and I recently adopted a cat (Biggles) and when E found out, she donated a bunch of cat treats she had bought for her mum's cat. She came to our door to drop them off and she and I chatted for like. twenty minutes about crazy dads and life changes and having pets. All while T was barking on the other side of the fence. E admitted she was angry about us moving in at first because she thought we would disturb her peace, but said that she likes having us as neighbors and is happy to help us out when we need it.

E invited us up for dinner at some point on the behalf of M which got us talking abt food and she offered to put us on her ugly produce subscription so now we're just getting really really cheap produce???

A friend left a bottle of wine in our fridge and we're not wine drinkers, so we gave it to E and M as a thanks for keeping our packages safe. I always give them some of the treats that I bake too since three of us can't eat the amount that I make lol

In response she gave us a printer???? A whole printer?????

My roommate bought T a dog toy shaped like a watering can since M is always gardening <3

M bought us bread and when I went upstairs to get it I was like. It will be just a nice loaf of bread which is so sweet. No. The man bought us a GIANT loaf of bread from the artisanal bakery I pass on my way to work--so I big I had to freeze half of it!

E noticed that I had taped a blanket against my window because my bedroom isn't insulated and therefore is freezing cold. She offered me a heater and insisted that I take it so now I'm not as cold at night ;') I get home from work when the night is coldest and it makes it so much easier to sleep at night

E also noticed my roommates using they/them pronouns for me and apologized for misgendering me. Mind you, I did not expect us to be so friendly and genuinely didn't care that she misgendered me here and there, but she chastised me for not correcting her sooner and told me she's going to try harder.

She just texted me that she and M bought me a whole entire window insulation kit AND that they're going to buy me an outlet pack so I can sleep with the heater on without fear of it overheating. I cannot explain how stressed I am abt money right now and it's just. such an unnecessary kindness you know? Tearing up typing this but whatever

Now I am baking them a sheet of cookies and not to brag but I'm a really good baker so once they're cool I'm going to go fetch the kit and give them the cookies and thank them a million times over

Long story short it's largely because mammoths died right when humans were becoming a major ecological player, and people love to point to mammoths as the first cardinal sin of human hunters. There's little evidence to actually tie human over hunting to the direct death of all mammoths, humans defintely played a role, but it was largely climate change. I wrote about it like mammoths serve as a window into previous human behavior. It takes a lot to kill/skin/ordament something that big, so the traces on their bones of human tools/activities are really valuable in tracking human social evolution. That obsession has kind of stuck where we see them in our modern media all the time, often tied to anti-Indigenous sentiments, and now some rich biologists are trying to "bring mammoths back". (Remember that dire wolf thing? Those guys.)

Now I'm reading The Dawn of Everything by David Wengrow and David Greaber (the David's, if u will), and chapters 4-7 have made a lot of my previous research work click together. They talk abt nonlinear evolution, particularly regarding sediment living vs nomadic living/farming vs foraging (which is a dumb dichotomy in the first place--a point they really stress). The book is full of really rich examples that mock what Western anthropology has held as the truth for a looong time regarding the Agricultural Revolution.

And my writing on mammoth-human relations have always kind of haunted me. How can I make the average person care abt the abuse of a long dead animal with my creative writing? Of invisible animals that are still alive today? And it's clicked. After literally years of wondering it has clicked and I have a plan and a general lay out and now all I need is a cast :,)