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Daily Archives: 19 Dec 2019
katydid bug
The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs!
Visiting Boulders Beach Penguin Colony | Cape Town
Cape Town has many things to offer in the city and surrounding areas. Simon’s Town is an easy day trip, and it is home to Boulders Beach. There are only a couple places to see the endangered African penguin, and Boulders Beach is the most well known. Having never seen these beautiful birds in the wild, the trip down was a must for us. Here we will provide tips for visiting and everything you need to know to enjoy your visit. So let’s get started!
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Things We Can Blame on Leonardo DiCaprio
Photo by David Riaño Cortés on Pexels.com
Earlier this month, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, blamed Leonardo DiCaprio for setting forest fires in the Amazon rain forest. “Leonardo DiCaprio is a great guy, isn’t he?” President Bolsonaro said facetiously. Bolsonaro went on to say that DiCaprio “donat[ed] money to set the Amazon on fire” for his own personal gain.
DiCaprio responded on Instagram by reiterating his support for the people of Brazil and for the continued protection of the rain forest.
But the whole incident got me thinking: What if we could just blame everything on Leonardo DiCaprio? What if all the bad things in the world—real or imagined— could just be attributed to him? Wouldn’t that be cathartic?
So in no particular order, here are the things—real or imagined—I intend to blame on Leonardo from here on out:
- He handwrites letters to children telling them there is no Santa…
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Is Doing Nothing the Same as Doing Something?
Photo by Simon Matzinger on Pexels.com
Sometimes I write short stories. Did I tell you that?
Well, here’s my latest:
A wife in an unhappy marriage gets caught in a freak snowstorm with her husband and sees the opportunity to end her “suffering.”
You can read it at After Dinner Conversations, a great new collection of short fiction and podcast episodes. Each story deals with an ethical or philosophical idea.
My story is about whether or not doing nothing to save someone from calamity is the same as contributing directly to that calamity. Let me know what you think.
An Outlaw Meaner than Krampus
Hey Kittens – in case I haven’t mentioned it, there’s what I consider to be a really sweet Christmas story in Bury Me Not called “Cowboys and Krampus.” Here’s a little sneak peek:
By suppertime, the snow was drifted halfway up the windows downstairs, and the hotel was full enough to bust. People had drifted in all afternoon like ghosts in thick coats dusted white—trappers, gamblers, a traveling preacher, even a couple of farm families with kids. Just as Mrs. Bhaer and her daughters were setting the table, the big doors opened again, and two men came inside, one carrying a fiddle case. “Hooray!” the oldest daughter hollered, clapping her hands. “Now we can have dancing!”
They put me next to Cade at the table for supper, of course, and by the time we tucked in to Clara’s special brandy pudding, we were managing to be civil. But when the…
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In Jo’s Image
Jeanna Kadlec | Longreads | December 2019 | 9 minutes (2,136 words)
Some stories get inside you in that way where, later on, it’s unclear if you’ve built your life out of the seed that was the art.
To grow up queer, especially if you don’t have the language or the worldview framework for understanding queerness, can be an isolating experience. It is profoundly strange, to feel unrecognizable, beyond language, even to yourself. This can create a gravitational pull toward characters who, for the first time, hold up a mirror and say, me: you’re like me. This phenomenon of first recognition has inspired an entire category of queer art, like the song “Ring of Keys” in the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home, sung by the child version of the protagonist (Young Alison) when she sees an older butch for the first time: “Someone just came in the door…
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Flaky Sourdough Discard Biscuits
Sourdough Discard Crinkle Cookies
The Possessed: Dispatches from the Third Trimester
Sara Fredman | Longreads | October 2018 | 11 minutes (2,913 words)
In the second season of Stranger Things a tentacled smoke monster forces its way into poor Will Byers’ mouth, taking up residence inside his body. When his mother draws him a warm bath, he refuses. “He likes it cold,” Will intones creepily. The demon inside is invisible to others but exerts its will on Will, who is himself but also something else. As I watch the story unfold, the human being growing inside my body moves frenetically, as if it is popping and locking to a beat I cannot hear. This flurry of activity makes my stomach look like a potato sack with several distressed squirrels stuck inside; this is likely due to the cookie-dough ice cream I have recently eaten. I, too, have something inside of me; it also likes it cold.
“Pregnancy has every element of…
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