D&F 6/5/22
Happy June, cool cats! The good news is the latest COVID wave has peaked again, but the bad news is everyone is going to pretend the pandemic is over until we have yet another wave of deaths and illness. As much as I try to have hope in humanity the complete and utter failure of the state and individuals to understand we’re gonna have to take this damn thing seriously one day is frustrating as all hell.
I swear, this newsletter isn’t just bummers this month—skip the next paragraph if you want to return to funville.
A few weeks ago Davos, aka rich person circle-jerk, occurred in neutral Switzerland. Surprising few, the old white men in charge of the global Oligarchy announced they weren’t fixing global warming. Look, I get it, if you spent your life playing a very sad, lonely game of collecting all the money why would you suddenly decide to care about other people, especially poor ones and the unborn. Instead, you can occasionally be clapped for by your rich friends and continue to doom the planet for anyone who lives past your Viagra and champagne-soaked twilight years.
Billionaires are all criminals, full stop.
Famous for her first pandemic book, Emily St. John Mandel is back with yet another banger of a time-jumbled speculative fiction. Though they’re not my favorites, Mandel’s books are always entertaining. One book that has stuck with me since I first read it, a few years into transition is back again with a hot re-release, and my friends are talking to each other about it: Nevada. I’ve gotten to hang with Imogen a few times, and Casey quite a bit more, and they are not only super sweet, but also immensely talented authors I’m grateful to know. If you haven’t read Nevada or one of Plett’s many books, pick one up this summer and strap in for a ride.
If you’re an eBook reader like some, you will probably enjoy this Kindle read-later service for when you’re trying to catch up on newsletters, blogs, and must-read articles. I’ve luxuriated in the smell and feel of paper during the pandemic, but when travel becomes a reality again I’ll be pulling out my Kindle for sure.
My drive up the coast last month gave me a chance to indulge in a favorite pastime: solo travel. When I fly to Japan or spend hours alone on my bike, I get the feeling people think I’m lonely or bored, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, I am thoroughly enjoying solitude. And sure, it’s not always safe or comfortable being in smaller towns or on the side of roads with big trucks and shitty dudes around, but there’s also a deep satisfaction and sense of adventure every time. I think Haley Moore captured some of the things I love most in this essay about her Doom FKT, or fastest known time. I’ve posted about Lael Wilcox’ records in previous newsletters, but there are so many other amazing women riding on and off-road these days and It warms my dang heart. I hope that the videos, essays, and attitude of myself and other female cyclists makes the sport/hobby more accessible because it’s truly one of the coolest things I get to do.
Links
- When I ride my bike in the woods, off-road, sometimes I smoke one of these strains:
Closing
It’s been a good week of PTO for me after a disastrous first new Japanese class wherein I prepped for the wrong thing and spent an hour in a state of embarrassed panic. This weekend, I think I know what to actually study, so hopefully Sunday and Monday will be fruitful instead of awful. I’m also excited that this weekend I got to ride with a pal from LA and do Three Bears for the first time. Soon, I’ll have yet another bike which I’ll be sure to show off when it arrives, to do more gravel adventures on. I hope you can get outside and smell some trees this week, but even if all you can do is binge Stranger Things, I support you, space cowgirls~