Wait where am I again?

So what have I been up to since January?

Well I went to some protests (so many crowds), signed some internet petitions (do those even do anything?), scolded some people (inappropriate), got scolded (karma), got sick (should have seen that coming), got some supplements at Whole Foods (#thingswhitepeoplelike) and got better (but it might have been the placebo effect*).

I’m still trying to figure out how to manage a generalized anger and how to use it without going crazy all of the time. I started by sending faxes. I try to send them weekly but sometimes I don’t. I use faxzero.com which is free. I don’t even mess with attachments I just write everything in the cover letter. I’ve learned that pretty much everybody has a fax number even though no one talks about it: senators and congresspeople, obviously, but also mayors, sheriff’s offices, and the LPGA.

My roommates and I started composting. I’ll admit that sometimes I wonder if the city secretly mixes the compost with the other garbage and that these compost bins are provided so we citizens will stop making such a racket about it. Anyway are we composting because it’s really helping or are we doing it just to feel better about ourselves? Am I doing anything that is really helping or am I just doing it to feel better about myself? It’s probably mostly to feel better about myself but anyway what is the alternative…do nothing?

One thing that I don’t have doubts about is reading. I read less “news” and basically I try not to read anything that Trump has to say. Instead I read stories. I read fiction and nonfiction but the important thing is that it’s all written by real people. I like catapult.co and medium.com. Also I got a Queens library card which changed my life. I’ve been reading so much that when people ask me what I’ve been up to I say: “Nothing really…but wanna hear about this really cool book that I’m reading?” At which point the person probably regrets ever having engaged me in conversation.

Some good ones: Evicted, which follows several families in Milwaukee though evictions and apartment searches. Cure, about the magical ways in which our bodies can fix themselves without medication. (The book is not political, but it was a gentle reminder of how deeply messed up our health care system is. Like, I don’t think the Democrats, or Republicans, or even  Bernie Sanders can fix it. It’s, like, really really messed up.) And if you find that overwhelming there’s The Ends of Worlds–I haven’t finished it yet but it seems to be building a case for our possible imminent extinction.

*Cure explains how the simple belief that you are receiving treatment for your ills has the power to heal you, making the treatment itself negligible.