6.24.2025
So I'm reading on the metro like I often do. I thought being so far away from things and sleeping in a basement at the bottom of a cul-de-sac would further isolate me but it's now clear that's not really possible and anyway I still make the commute to Mile End every day and find a corner in the office space to work on whatever it is I do these days and one benefit to this is that I have about thirty minutes each way to read, which adds about an hour of book time to my already pretty bookish days, and it's good for my brain and blood pressure in a way that reading the news on the phone is not.
I've been keeping notes for a while on the art I consume with the idea I'd put together an essay or something, not really being into criticism, not really sure it's a field whatever they tell you when you're getting a liberal arts education, with the way things are changing all the time and the frames of reference and the individual taste and imposition of rules and standards on everything being such factors that contribute to the burning of the world, such as it is, but then I came across this passage in Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler, a quote from a presidential candidate whose supporters have been known to burn witches:
'Leave your sinful past behind, and become one of us. Help us to make America great again.'
Don't worry, this takes place in 2032. Total fantasy.
Octavia E. Butler