Join Odin for a Sepia September

This month, I walked through a tunnel of bubble-gum and applied for the new SAVE program of income-based student loan repayment. My MLIS program’s fall semester has started, and I’m fine-tuning my schedule between my two jobs as library specialist and as the editor-in-chief of San Jose State’s Student Research Journal.

The biggest part of August was a trip to Seattle to attend the wedding of one of Katie’s old friends. It was a short, crazy trip, but it was a lot of fun, and the wedding was incredibly touching.

Thanks for reading Halvorson Times! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Since it was Katie’s first week back to school, Katie taught for part of the day on the Friday we left. Then, I picked her up at noon, and we zipped over to our tiny local airport. While sitting in the airport lobby, I got us Seattle dinner reservations prepped, then it was a short two-hour flight up the coast.

We were super careful to wear our masks the whole time, but a couple across from us went a step farther: they brought portable HEPA purifiers with them to use while taxing on the runway! Since Covid and other illnesses are still a major problem we all need to be aware of, this was a really nice thing to see.

We went for dinner at a lovely outdoor rooftop space in Seattle called the Can-Can. It’s the most delightful LGBTQ+ burlesque restaurant of all time, and I cannot recommend it enough.

While there, we listened in on a ghost tour that had taken seats behind us, and got the lowdown on some of the creepiest and spookiest history Seattle has to offer. For instance; like the “health-craze” lady in the 1800s, whose fad diet of force-fed tomato broth ended up killing a dozen people. She eventually took some of her own medicine and joined her victims in the grave.

We spent the rest of the evening exploring Seattle, seeing more ghost-tours traversing the dim streets, and finding strange graffiti peppering the sidewalks.

And let’s not forget Pike Place Market, which is one of the fifty most visited places on Earth, and which boasts all sort of amazing hidden gems… like the alleyway that is literally covered in bubble gum.

Seattle is an incredibly art-heavy town, so there were dozens of beautiful hidden aesthetic surprises around every corner.

Then, it was an hour’s drive in our fancy rented Prius over to Bremerton island, where we crashed in our hotel.

Since the wedding was scheduled for later in the day, we spent our morning hopping on one of the awesome little ferries, wandering around Bainbridge island, getting tasty things to eat, and checking out the local farmer’s market.

The wedding itself was gorgeous, sequestered on a little specialty farm. Surrounded by greenery and water, it was beyond beautiful, and Katie and I spent the whole evening being silly and spontaneous on the dance floor.

Summer’s end

Our Seattle trip was a great way to experience the end of summer, and mark the beginning of a new period. Katie’s back to full-time teaching, and I’ve got a full-time Master’s program plus two jobs. We also have all our usual projects to attend to.

Speaking of which, we’re ramping up our projects for The Unenlightened Generalists, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel today!

We’ve been feeling somewhat stressed out by the world lately—fairly, considering that Canada is on fire, hurricanes and tornados are blasting different parts of the States, and there’s still a bloody plague floating through the air.

Late-stage capitalism is a pretty terrible time for everybody, let’s be real.

But, here’s the thing.

We’re taking our stress as a sign that we need to create more art and build more community. The crazier the world gets, the more we need to meet that insanity with love, creative energies, compassion, and raw human connection.

Projects

So, obviously, I’m going to be creating more content for the Unenlightened Generalists in the weeks ahead, but that’s not all that’s on my docket!

• I’m in a writing workshop with peers from my old MFA program.
• I’ll be recording an episode for Speculative Sandbox, the podcast I appeared on last year (Vickie Lan, the Sandbox’s host, also appeared on my podcast, Round Table Radio).
• I’ve been asked to lead a couple of private meditation sessions over Zoom.
• I’m working on my novel still! Whoo!
• I’ve got exercise goals I’m trying to meet.
• And I’m still working on building and promoting Round Table Writers (we have a new web hosting provider, and some other important background work has been taking place there).
• I’ll also be attending the virtual Surrey International Writer’s Conference next year!

So, just one or two things cooking in the old pot.

Published Writing

• Oh, Ye of Useless Class, Beware! How Yuval Harari’s “Useless Classes” of the future should learn a lesson from a secretive group of 1800s vandals.

Authoritarian Algorithms: Deconstructing Myths of the Future

Popular rhetoric from the likes of Yuval Noah Harari fails us in our most weary and desperate hour.

• Unbelievable Historical Military Facts Some of the weirdest, funniest, and most incredible events from military history.
• Covid-19 is Still a Problem, or: How Diseases Actually Work Can we prepare ourselves for the reality of our world?
• Long Covid: A Stark Reality, a Call to Action The pandemic isn’t over, and its effects will be with us for decades, but information is a pathway to hope and power.

The Next Pandemic or: how we can change habits in order to outlast and overwhelm the rich bastards who are profiting off our misery

In the face of overwhelming greed, it’s more important than ever to make a stand.

• General Safety Measures We Need to Normalize We’re all on the front lines of health and safety these days, so here’s what we can do.
• Biased Towards Unbiased Data Our biases can change, but first we have to recognize that they exist.
• How Can We Meet the Future with Compassion? For this pandemic, and all those to come, we must build the resilience of an open heart and mind.

The World

A lot of stuff has been happening in the world, as I’m sure you’re aware. But the public eye gets too easily coerced into obsessing over things like the Trump trial. While that’s important in its own way, none of us need to be following the reality-TV-ness of it all.

So, here are a few things I’m interested in:

• "SAG-AFTRA Gears Up For Possible Strike Against Video Game Industry As Board Approves Authorization Vote By Guild Membership"
• A new UBI study gave $7,500 to 50 unhoused people (each)—, and guess what? They used it to improve their lives.
• "Apple told a California legislator that it is formally supporting a right to repair bill in California, a landmark move that suggests big tech manufacturers understand they have lost the battle to monopolize repair, and need to allow consumers and independent repair shops to fix their own electronics."
• The efforts of sex work advocates are better invested, says Stabile, in campaigning for new laws that would make it illegal for banks to discriminate against sex workers on the basis of their profession, than in developing an alternative financial system.
• Ecuador passes a referendum to ban oil drilling in Yasuni National Park--territory of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation--and ANOTHER to ban gold mining in another ecologically sensitive region.
• A look at how AOC and the Squad’s List of Left-Wing Accomplishments Is Quite Long
• Proposed legislation would allow California residents to make a single request to delete their data that goes to multiple companies. Data brokers are trying hard to kill this, we need to fight for it.
• “I will always be on the side of the libraries”: A Conversation with Neil Gaiman

Montana loses fight against youth climate activists in landmark ruling

Emotional testimony leads to plaintiffs' win in first youth-led climate trial.

• In the hunt for minerals needed in electric car batteries, some companies are turning to the deep sea. But mining this ecosystem could threaten its very existence.

Both good and bad stuff in there, and all of it is important.

How do we prioritize the things that enter our sphere of awareness?

Who do we let choose for us what we are aware of?

What’s next?

Well, as you can imagine, the year ahead is going to be busy. But, I’m hopeful that this year sees me hit more of my goals than ever before. I want to reach new artistic heights, have more fun with friends, and sink my teeth into righteous fights against the systems that seek to oppress us.

There will certainly be unanticipated curves in the road, but I’m really excited to be walking it all the same.

So, go easy… and, if you can’t go easy, just go as easy as you can.

~Odin

Thanks for reading Halvorson Times! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.