Personal

The stuff about me and my life. The “diary” side of blogging.

Privileged

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I have privilege as a White person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice about it…

  • I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
  • I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemJean and #AtatianaJefferson).
  • I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).
  • I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
  • I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
  • I can play loud music (#JordanDavis).
  • I can sell CD’s (#AltonSterling).
  • I can sleep (#AiyanaJones).
  • I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
  • I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
  • I can go to church (#Charleston9).
  • I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
  • I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
  • I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
  • I can get a traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
  • I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
  • I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
  • I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford).
  • I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
  • I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott).
  • I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
  • I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
  • I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
  • I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
  • I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
  • I can run (#WalterScott).
  • I can breathe (#EricGarner).
  • I can live (#FreddieGray).
  • I can ask someone to put a leash on their dog when it is required in the public park we are in (#ChristianCooper).
  • I CAN BE ARRESTED WITHOUT THE FEAR OF BEING MURDERED (#GeorgeFloyd).

White privilege is real. Recognize yours. Take time to consider a Black person’s experience today and every day. Find out what you can do to help. This is a start.

#BlackLivesMatter

Copied from a Facebook post making the rounds.

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📚 twenty-six of 2020: Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A smart aleck demon and its long-suffering keeper, quirky locals in a tourist town, and a touch of Lovecraft on the California coast. Entertaining and amusing, if not “laugh out loud” funny.

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📚 twenty-five of 2020: Star Trek S.C.E.: Foundations by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dillmore ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Trek “expanded universe” novel; three short stories and a framing story, all of Scotty’s interactions with the early S.C.E. and tying into TOS episodes.

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📚 twenty-four of 2020: E.T. the Extraterrestrial by William Kotzwinkle ⭐️⭐️⭐️

An odd adaptation, likely done from an earlier draft of the script. I never realized E.T. was quite so romantically enamored with Elliott’s mom! That got kinda weird a few times.

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📚 twenty-three of 2020: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1968 Hugo Best Novel

A neat blending of western SF sensibilities with the Indian pantheon of gods; enjoyed this one more than I expected given that I didn’t much like Zelazny’s prior Hugo winner.

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While there’s never a good time to have an internet outage, in the midst of a pandemic when both people in the house work from home and depend on ‘net access for both work and socializing is a really, really bad time.

In other news, after two days down, we’re back online!

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📚 twenty-two of 2020: Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp ⭐️⭐️⭐️

On its own, a fairly standard action thriller. But as the source material for Die Hard, it’s a fascinating artifact. Surprisingly similar, and all changes made for the film were for the better.

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📚 twenty-one of 2020: Matter’s End by Gregory Benford ⭐️⭐️

An average collection of short stories, some of which show their age more than others—especially one that starts with a riff on Mormon missionaries and ends with what comes across as (unconscious?) Islamophobia.

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Forty-seven! While I don’t really have any basis for comparison, so far, this quarantine birthday hasn’t been too bad.