Stubborn Woman

Yeah, my brain is full for the day. Time to wind down & wrap work stuff up.

Everybody in this damn administration is evil as fuck. Miller, the Trumps, Bondi, Noem, Lutnick, the lot of 'em. There isn't any other word for it.

Also, Bondi is a fucking crazy bitch. Hands down. Evil as fuck.

It's absolutely mind-boggling. The levels of delusion are astounding. I mean if they weren't in positions of national leadership, they'd be 5150'd. It's genuinely that crazy.

& I don't use terms like "crazy" lightly.

Like, it isn't just that they're in this same world & just have different ideas about how to run it. They aren't even in the same reality at all. They've created a narrative & spun a cocoon of fantasy with their own set of (fictional) facts & that's where they live.

I have Bondi's White House presser on C-Span in the background as I work (because not only do I like to stay informed about current politics, I'm also apparently a masochist).

What strikes me every time I hear the MAGA crowd is that they're so clearly in a different reality from the rest of us.

UPDATE: I'm a week late, this actually expired last Thursday. All other commentary remains the same. Carry on...

We didn't fold thousands of paper cranes just to have this shit come back around 40 years on. Ugh, it's like going through puberty all over again.

It was shitty enough living under the constant tension of potential nuclear war as a kid - do we really have to do this bullshit again?

Putin wants to watch the world burn. Trump is his bitch. I don't know how much to worry or not.

So the START treaty expires on Thursday & I gather from the news that Agent Orange isn't planning to renew it. Which would mean that, as of Friday this week, we're back in an era of potential nuclear proliferation again. Just like when GenX were all still kids in the 1980s. Fuck.

a marshmallow man from the movie stay puft marshmallow man is standing in a parking lot Alt: a marshmallow man from the movie ghostbusters is standing in a parking lot looking up at the viewer

Somehow I rolled over onto my stomach while sleeping last night & woke up with my face hella puffy. Looked like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man.

(So sometimes memories get stirred up from the silt & I look at & process them.)

(Note that I am NOT currently in a relationship with DV or with an abuser; to the contrary, S.O. is incredibly healthy emotionally & psychologically, & it's the healthiest relationship I've ever been in - so I'm good, & in no danger. I just have a lot of scars from previous S.O.s.)

Just found this from a DV counselor elsewhere online:

"The most consistent shared factor for male abusers of women is whether or not they hold the three following attitudes/value systems: Superiority, misogyny, and entitlement."

Rings true, in my own experience. Looking for a further source.

& I love how colorful & joyful & positive the whole performance was. It was so much about the best things in ordinary lives: love, community, care, pleasure, connections. More of that, please.

Yeah this was pretty fuckin' awesome.

I don't speak Spanish. I'm a privileged white girl. I couldn't understand most of the words. And this whole performance was a beautiful tribute to the joy & love that can be found in ordinary communities throughout the Americas.

Anyway, here's the passage in question. Their conversation starts around line 291.
johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/iliad1...

Hera replies: "What if everyone sees us?"

Zeus basically says: "They don't call me Zeus Cloudgatherer for nothin'!"

And he grabs a golden cloud to cover them up, & they shag right on top of Mt. Ida.

Such a Zeus thing to do. And something one wouldn't find funny unless they're a Classics nerd.

And I always imagine Hera standing there listening to the list & being all "OK OK I get it, get on with it, I don't need the list of chicks you've fucked..."

Zeus eventually says he's so hot for Hera he wants to do her right there on the mountaintop.

Because first, Zeus compliments Hera by telling her she's more beautiful & regal than any of the other women he's had affairs with. And he goes down the list: "Baby, I've never wanted to fuck anybody more than you right now - not Danae with her sexy ankles, or blonde Demeter, or Leto, etc...."

Her seduction is successful: Zeus is distracted from the war & focuses on Hera.

The passages describing the whole scene are fucking hilarious, if translated somewhat casually.

Hera goes to Aphrodite to borrow the love goddess' magic girdle, which basically puts a glamor on its wearer & makes them extra beautiful & sexy.

Then she tarts herself up like nobody's business, & goes to Mt. Ida, where Zeus is watching the war.

& today I've got a passage from the 'Iliad' on the brain, in which Hera (Queen of the Olympians) seduces Zeus (King of the Olympians, & her husband) in order to distract him from what's going on with the Trojan War, so that the Greeks would get a fighting chance against the Trojans for a while.

To this day I love digging into mythology & Bronze Age history & archaeology & all that stuff. Recently, I picked up new translations of the 'Iliad' & the 'Odyssey', on the recommendation of me bestie. (GIRL YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, THANKS LUV <3 )

I'm a total sucker for learning about the Classical etymologies of various words & how they've evolved, & how the original Latin or Greek term informs the current meaning of any given word. It was Classics that also turned me on to learning about daily life as a focus of history.

Ok so in addition to being a Star Trek nerd, history nerd, etc. etc. etc., I'm also a Classics nerd.

I took 4 years (plus a quarter) of Latin & a year of Classical Greek in high school & college. Translated a big chunk of the 'Aeneid', along with other works by other authors (like Pliny Jr.).

There's a very fine line between advertising and propaganda.

😆😆😆

That was a very fun, joyous halftime show.

It feels like everyone in this game is being really cautious. #Superbowl