I've got the latest Horizon and Bitch Planet waiting for me at my LCS, but saving them, I think, for my return from Wisconsin next Friday. I'll probably need them.

Better than I was much of the week; I learned that something which had been worrying me was nothing to worry about and I also have cause for veeeery cautious optimism regarding my trip to visit my mom in small-town Wisconsin on Monday (she's made anti-Nazi posts recently and, though I had hoped my grandfather's WW2…

I just remembered today at work (thinking about my reply and my irritation with these friends) that the college professor friend kept making "well, that's it. Trump's our dictator. We're a fascist state. Authoritarianism USA" (that last "phrase" was verbatim) posts something like every week on Facebook for months…

Nice! The Chola are fascinating; though grad studies were of mainly modern East and South Asia, it was hard not to let the older stuff bleed through, and their dominance in maritime South India and parts of Southeast Asia was remarkable for a pre-modern empire (especially trans-oceanic; dominating the Mediterranean…

My one friend keeps calling out people for not paying attention to the right things. Everything people get het up about is a "distraction," etc., from the real problem, etc. When she says "Nazis aren't the problem, structural racism is" (wording vastly simplified) she's half right, but Nazis are still a problem (to…

This; maybe you can double or redouble your efforts outside of work in some kind of progressive or resistance volunteering in compensation. In this case I think self-care applies as much to livelihood as it does, say, mental or physical health, and you want to be in a position where you can still help others who need…

Good to see you back, by the way, here and at the TIF. ;)

Really sorry to hear that, lady. Best wishes and I hope things pick up soon (and good luck on the date!).

I really enjoyed Soul, and given the even tiny levels of hypocrisy involved in eating just about anything, I think your decision's appropriate (I doubt I would at this point, either, and probably for similar reasons as described by Montgomery).

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

I decided to avoid pretty much as much direct contact with his image or voice as possible, and access what's going on through others' reactions. I figure I've been a political junkie long enough to deserve the aesthetic break, and I'm not gonna be good to anyone if I'm as depressed as I likely would be through…

I came up with an octopus comic idea a year ago… oh, August 2016, you were both joy and reclamation, and now feel a century past… and noticed this on my LBS shelves not long afterward. Hoping to work in some history but once my present webcomic is done (hopefully next autumn) I'm planning to have that in motion.

Seconding the Book Nook recommendation; one of my favorite Avocado rituals. :)

Hi, Judge Holden!

I've got a couple of subs in at my LCS (I think Paper Girls and Horizon?) but am thinking about leaving them until next Saturday. I want to return to a home that has everything for which I care, even love (which means friends, books, and a six-pack of Bell's Two-Hearted waiting in the fridge; I'm thinking of putting a…

Likewise; everyone wished (I think) we could have had a more diverse crowd, but it was encouraging (and instructive) that there was so much fight, not just against the obvious foe but against some of the more insidious forces at work (I left before the mayor was heckled, and really wished I'd stayed now).

I'm on there already as The "Paper Chase" Guy (and will likely start haunting AggroCraig's Comics Threads); the open threads can be a little intimidating but there are plenty of dedicated alternatives (Comics, Book Nook, etc.).

What Are You Reading?

I have mixed feelings; August is usually one of my favorite months because all the goofy festivals we have in town are over with and there's a pleasantly sleepy vibe that takes over before the students come back. Then there's college football season, and then winter. I have big plans for this one, if we all make it…

For some reason I read that as "barking" first. Heh.