Who I’m Reading Now

Right now, these are my go-to blogs when I want to escape the  heinously surreal world of President-Elect Trump (!!!!#$@&%*!!!!!) and the extreme damage he’s now positioned to unleash on the vast majority of us. Oh yeah and that includes, possibly, especially, the folks who were conned into voting for this fetid, rage-addicted, sociopathic, entitlement-mad, economy sized Oompa Loompa.

While, yes indeedy, I plan to stay well informed, resist and fight in every way that I can, I need a lot of escapist reading right now. Being in a flaming state of fury 24/7 ain’t healthy. Just FYI and shit.

Toward that end, I’ve regularly been tuning in to Michelle’s posts at Rubber Shoes in Hell.  She’s hilarious in an I-can-SOOOOOOOO-identify kind of a way. From My B Cup Runneth Over:

I could totally get behind some good old fashioned bra burning right now.

Not because of feminism.

I mean, I am 100% feminist, but I don’t need to burn my bras as an offering to the goddess of feminism. I want to burn my bras for another reason……

She also writes about growing up with a seriously untalented (to the point of being mentally unbalanced) parent. Narcissistic Personality Disorder: I Need Five Minutes is one recent post.

As a child, I listened to my father as he tended a running commentary. “My life would have been better without you in it. You should have been a boy. You embarrass me.”

I listened to him for years until I was able to remove myself from his daily abuse in my late teens. His voice lingered on as my own demon, pouring a stream of poison in my ear. The little girl who lives inside of me twisted and morphed into a contorted ball of springs and twine. She looks like a child created from a crayon scribble.….

I can relate, BIG TIME. Dunno if my mother was an actual narcissist but those refrains, "You should have been a boy. You embarrass me.” are all too fucking familiar.

And Michelle rants – politics and the general nastiness of humanity are frequent topics.

And then there’s the awesome John Scalzi. In his blog, he writes about science fiction novels, politics and life from a tremendously pragmatic, caring, thoughtful stand. Also, more often than not, he's wonderfully, archly amusing.

Four Weeks In is part of an ongoing Q&A (where he writes both the Q and the A). (There's also Two and Three Weeks In)

Hey, what about that GOP elector from Texas who says he’s not gonna vote for Trump because he’s unqualified to be president?

Good for him for voting his conscience. So that’s one down. You’ll need, I think, 38 more to deny Trump the White House via the Electoral College.

Think it’ll happen?

No.

But it could happen, right?

Sure. But there’s a lot of air between could and will. I think you should at least make contingency plans for if it doesn’t.

So you’re saying there’s a chance.

Yes. There is also a chance you will win the lottery when you buy a ticket. You shouldn’t have “win the lottery” as your retirement plan.

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He regularly posts about new sci fi/fantasy authors who strike his fancy. These come under the heading Big Idea. Yesterday he posted about Ruth Vincent's latest book.

Sometimes his posts are so YES, EXACTLY! that I've just GOT to share them everywhere I can. Repeatedly. You may well've already read one of these. Being Poor, The Cinemax Theory of Racism, Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is are three stunning examples. Well worth a re-scan.

Neither of these authors are all-acrimony-all-the-time. They’re also not all laughs and Hallmark moments. They both have a great balance of humor, warmth and sanity. Balance – it's what's for brekkie! I find it too damn easy to indulge my inner, monster Wrath Queen. I gotta leaven the heavy duty, keeping-up-with-the-insanity-du-jour, seriosa fare with humor and, ya know, cats, spaceships, art and...ummmm.....CATS.