Quote of the Week: “Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.”― Angela Davis. As you all find meaningful ways to honor Black History Month, perhaps contemplate Black present and Black future, too. Today, for me, that is considering mass incarceration and how we can fight it.
Drinking: A lime Polar seltzer.
Grateful for: These gorgeous tulips from Valentine’s Day. I hope everyone had a relaxing, love-filled day with themselves, their lover(s), their friends or family, etc. Etta James didn’t want a Sunday kind of love for no reason.
If you’ve seen my apartment, you may note the temporary removal of the faux cowhide rug. Mousse has a habit of digging into the plants beside it, so it was becoming a pain to vacuum piles of dirt all the time.
Currently Reading: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell. I’m only two chapters into this spectacular body of research and anecdote and I’m already moving through the world a little differently. I want to share a salient point/passage that made me think:
“But beyond self-care and the ability to (really) listen, the practice of doing nothing has something broader to offer us: an antidote to the rhetoric of growth. In the context of health and ecology, things that grow unchecked are often considered parasitic or cancerous. Yet we inhabit a culture that privileges novelty and growth over the cyclical and regenerative. Our very idea of productivity is premised on the idea of producing something new, whereas we do not tend to see maintenance and care as productive in the same way.”
This is not to undermine the importance of personal growth, but to help reframe it as something natural and anti-capitalist. Our entire lives need not be monetized and optimized. Remember “DTF?” I propose everyone text their crush “DTDN?” (Down to Do Nothing?)
Feeling: Like having a puppy is a full-time job. This is not a complaint, but merely an acknowledgement of the seizure of personal time I am currently navigating. I’m also doing my best to balance sharing Mousse stories with not letting “dog mom” become a personality trait. Not because I don’t think it is one, or that the role of parent of any living thing isn’t the most important role in the world, but because I am desperately scared of annoying people.
Thinking: About last week’s piece on kink. I hope you will read it if you haven’t yet, and feel free to email feedback to dia@brokebutmoisturized.com. This one was a little uncomfortable (maybe in a good way?) even for me, so I’m happy to gauge folks’ thoughts.
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