I've spoken in vague terms because I don't want to stumble into spoiler territory. But I definitely recommend the book. I'm still shuddering over it.
The treatment of race here is wonderfully subtle, smart, twisted almost into a reversal at times. But even the way she is waited upon is a form of bondage. And the implications of the fate in store for her parallel certain aspects of slavery in chilling ways.
That's not to say that Orabella is passive. She's simply a Black woman in a context where her identity can be weaponized against her in so many ways that she has to go along, acquiesce, at least openly.
Orabella's lack of options is part of the horror. She's trapped and she knows it, but she's determined to make the best of it right up to the end, when things tip over into a climax precipitated by but not caused by her.
What's really happening in the moldering, isolated country manse where Orabella is installed becomes clear only gradually, and is wisely never fully spelled out. And at every point where I thought "You need to get OUT of there," my immediate answering thought was "Where can she go?"
I should say that this is firmly in Gothic territory, complete with the this-feels-off romantic beats, which alternate with stretches of what feel like the kind of fever dream that you would wake up from gasping and sweating, and not in the good way.
I finished MIDNIGHT ROOMS by Donyae Coles (okokno.bsky.social). I don't read a ton of horror, but I found this book deeply creepy and unsettling. Set in England during the early Victorian era, it follows a young Black woman married off to a strange man by her disinterested uncle.
This is why I will never use this shit. AI is not the natural technological progression of society, it’s the degradation of it. It ruins our environment, kills art & culture, and costs lives.
Let government and hospitals use it for medical research and ban it everywhere else.
Not a particular fan of the calm before the storm
I'm still doing regular updates on places hosting fundraisers/fundraising events around the Twin Cities, with a focus on mutual aid and rent relief efforts. bringmethenews.com/minnesota-li...
“Fuck! I’m dying!” during a press conference. “Fuck! I’m fucking dying! Oh God, it hurts! Ahhhhhhh!” Trump said in response to a question about the ongoing war in Iran
Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers.
I didn't care about the videos but now I want to see the videos
Proof positive that Minnesota is truly and properly a province of Canada!
So many folks at the Aldi right now I heard they're bringing in staff from the German consulate
Listen this is my regular household shopping time so ima need all the snow panic shoppers to grant me priority status in the checkout lines, thank you for your understanding
The paella stand at the State Fair knew what was up
Mar Espinar, Spain’s PSOE deputy, on Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s support for Trump:
“Take your mafioso chief of staff, go to Mar-a-Lago, and leave us here — because we are more like the brave ones from Minnesota”
also super cool: they’ll slow down to take your photo if you’re just walking down the street near them! Super cool that the sheriffs started doing The Stuff The Nazis Are Doing.
REI also outfitted ICE in Minneapolis this winter, in case you need another reason to stop shopping there.
The thousands of feds were easier to spot at first because they very obviously weren't dressed for the cold, and that stood out. Then, they went shopping, and REI was happy to sell to them.
They did what?
Don't make me tap the song
Minneapolis WE KEEP IS SAFE t-shirts/stickers site is NOW LIVE: we-save-us.cheddarup.com The shirts honor everyone who resisted ICE; all $ after shipping/making costs go to Lucy Laney school mutual aid in N Mpls. Buy as much as you want; you have to add shirts to cart 1 at a time (sorry). Please RT!
As with everything that is going wrong you can blame billionaires and Trump
If you're frustrated about the uncertainty of how much snow that we'll be getting in the next 36-48 hours please know that because of DOGE's budget cuts at NOAA there is a dead zone on the Western Great Plains where weather balloon launches have been cut and very little data is available
Imagining the family gathering around the wireless anticipating a cozy little message from FDR, BUT THEN
Seen on a utility pole in Salt Lake City today.
As someone who spent every day trying to protect my community from ICE, to the point where I was personally assaulted, I’m so disappointed Mayor Frey vetoed this bare-minimum policy that would show that he could move beyond cuss words & take real action to provide material support for our neighbors.
All the AI bros believe this to be true. This by design. This is the goal.
Is this worth a few extra commits per week to you?
Honestly hard to know which second of the 30 or so after he returns that I would pick as “the absolute weirdest second I’ve seen of a Trump official (aside from Trump) on camera,” but at least five of these seconds are in the top 10.
Minneapolis mood.
