gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
I think this is the first 4th of July that I've gone to a protest. Today's Los Feliz protest was smaller than the No Kings one, but still sizable and raucous. Many motorists honked their support. (At one point there was an "ICE OUT! LET'S GO!" chant to the tune of "Blitzkrieg Bop.") I'm so glad I went. Afterwards I stopped in at Skylight Books, which had a signboard outside reading: "BRING THE HEAT. F*CK ICE."

Now I'm listening to X's See How We Are, as is my 4th of July tradition.
gwynnega: (Leslie Howard mswyrr)
So glad I went to the No Kings protest in Los Feliz (a couple of blocks away from Skylight Books). I'd gone to Glendale for the April protest and had seen photos of that Los Feliz protest, which looked fairly sedate. Today it was huge, festive and joyous. Friends of mine were there, but it was too massive to spot any of them. Lots of great signs, lots of "ICE GO HOME!" chanting. L.A. at its best.

I stayed about an hour, and would have liked to stay until the end, but I was getting too much sun. It did me a world of good to be there.
gwynnega: (Default)
Last night as I contemplated the end of the Trump administration, all I felt was crushing grief at all the suffering and death Trump caused, and how it didn't have to happen. I remembered how, when Trump was elected, I thought he would start a nuclear war, and how, although I was wrong about the specifics, I was right about the suffering and death.

Last night I worried about what might happen today at the inauguration. But thankfully, the inauguration was beautiful, and I cried for joy when Kamala and Biden were sworn in. I don't think it has quite sunk in that the Trump administration is over. We have to dig ourselves out of the devastation they wrought, but still. What a vast relief.
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
Oh what a stressful week. But Georgia! That happened this week too, though it feels like it was weeks ago.

Also on the positive side, today's mail brought my contributor's copy of the new issue of Not One of Us. It includes my werewolf pantoum "they keep resurrecting Larry Talbot," plus work by Sonya Taaffe, Alexandra Seidel, Francesca Forrest, Jennifer Crow, and much more. I look forward to reading it.

This month Miriam Hopkins is TCM's Star of the Month. Tonight they're showing Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Maybe I'll attempt to de-stress by watching some of them.
gwynnega: (Leslie Howard mswyrr)
People started cheering in my neighborhood after the networks called the election, and they're still honking their horns hours later.

I feel like I can breathe freely for the first time in four years.

story sale!

Feb. 5th, 2020 11:37 am
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
I'm delighted to announce that my Gothic tale, "The Two Mrs. Mansfields," will appear in a future issue of Not One of Us, one of my favorite magazines. It's my second fiction sale of the year. I like this trend.

(Meanwhile, Mitt Romney just announced he will vote to convict and remove Trump from office. Just one Republican, yet I find it heartening.)
gwynnega: (Default)
My "weird Brady Bunch" poem, "family (a form somehow must)," is up at the new issue of the Mithila Review. There's audio of me reading the poem, as well. The issue focuses on visual arts, and it looks beautiful.

Just as I had begun to post about the above, it was announced that the U.S. has dropped a giant bomb in Afghanistan, I assume because our so-called president wanted another jolt of accolades like he got after bombing Syria. I am horrified; I also feel very tired.

(This is the first Dreamwidth post that I will not be cross-posting to LiveJournal. I still haven't deleted my LJ, but I will once I've resolved some import issues.)
gwynnega: (Default)
I am hennaing my hair on a cool, overcast LA afternoon. (Rain is coming tonight. We've been having way more rain this winter than we've had in ages.)

Trump has been our so-called president for just over two weeks, though it feels like a lot longer. I am heartened by the pushback against his agenda, both in the streets and in the courts.

I've been playing this song a lot.
gwynnega: (Default)
It is Henna Day, on the warmest, sunniest day we've had in awhile. (We're supposed to get more rain and cool temps this week.)

Yesterday I saw the long-awaited Hidden Figures at my local movie theater. It made me cry a few times. As Lisa Bolekaja said on Twitter, the film "shows how racism (plus sexism sprinkled in) holds America back. Although a historical drama, it's really talking to 2017." The film seems more necessary than ever just now, with Trump's inauguration (I can barely type the words) less than two weeks away.
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
My poem "family (a form somehow must)" (my "weird Brady Bunch" poem) will appear in the April issue of the beautiful Mithila Review. It's my first sale to this publication, as well as my first writing sale of the new year, and I'm very pleased about it.

Meanwhile, this morning the GOP caved to public pressure and reversed its attempt to gut its independent ethics office. It's just one battle, but a heartening development nonetheless. In this uncertain time, I am all for heartening developments.
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
I am hennaing my hair on an autumnal LA afternoon. The political situation continues to evolve in alarming and surreal ways. It's shaping up to be a very strange holiday season.

I finally finished reading the wonderful Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, which I began before the election. I'm not sure what I feel like reading next, which is to say I'm not sure what will keep my attention off of politics for more than a few minutes at a time.

I probably should be watching a lot more horror movies.
gwynnega: (coffee poisoninjest)
I am hennaing my hair on an unseasonably warm Los Angeles November afternoon.

I keep composing blog posts in my head about the election and all its possible horrible ramifications, but I seem to have too much to say to say any of it at the moment. Yesterday I got my hair cut, and everyone at the salon (me included) was talking about the awfulness of the election. Then I went to the Iliad Bookstore, and the owner was talking with customers about the international implications of the election. As they wound up their chat, the owner said, "I was doing okay, but then you started talking." I know what he meant. At least I got to see the bookstore's two cats snoozing peacefully on top of cardboard boxes, and I bought Boris Karloff and His Films by Paul M. Jensen (1974).

I keep thinking of appropriate music for the moment--songs like "Save the Country" by Laura Nyro and "People Have the Power" by Patti Smith. But the music that seems to help me the most right now is Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Yoko's live version of "Don't Worry Kyoko" from Sometime in New York City (1972). I've tended to prefer Yoko's more melodic work, but now it's her screaming that resonates.

not okay

Nov. 9th, 2016 09:42 am
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
I slept badly last night after learning the election results. Today I have a headache and stomach ache, and I am full of despair and horror.
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
My poetry feature is up at Postscripts to Darkness. It includes two poems ("People Change: A Love Story," beautifully illustrated by Carrion House, and "Linda Blair Pantoum"), plus an interview I did with Sean Moreland, in which I talk about, among other things, poetry and horror movies and poetry about horror movies.

The election is tomorrow. I am veering wildly between apprehension and cautious optimism.
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
The "Animals" issue of Lackington's is out. It includes my story "The Hedgehog and the Pine Cone," with a beautiful illustration by Dotti Price.

We've been having a spate of lovely autumn weather--so of course we're about to have a mini heat wave. Meanwhile, this horrific election season is almost over. I've already voted for Hillary Clinton, and I'm a bundle of pre-election nerves (but it feels like that's been true for months).
gwynnega: (coffee poisoninjest)
It is Henna Day, in the midst of a spate of lovely autumnal LA days. (Another heat wave is scheduled for later this week.) Yesterday I baked pumpkin scones (from a Trader Joe's mix), and they are delicious.

The election is three weeks away, and I'm on edge, though at least the polls are encouraging.

I'm enjoying the new Shirley Jackson biography (Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin), which is full of amazing information, such as the fact that "Jackson tried to structure a story around a potato kugel recipe."
gwynnega: (Default)
I am so relieved and happy.
gwynnega: (coffee poisoninjest)
I voted by mail a week ago, because my polling place got switched from the convenient place across the street to someplace where I feared I'd have trouble finding parking. Driving to work I saw one polling place with a line out the door.

I have physical therapy this afternoon, and I'm glad there'll be at least one hour today when I'm not glued to Twitter, seeing horrifying things like this.

I hope Obama wins, of course, but I also hope it's a quick, clear-cut victory. This is going to be a very long day...
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
It is Henna Day on a vaguely autumnal day in Los Angeles (it's not broiling, anyway), and the wet henna is on my head. I'm still working on the finishing touches to this draft of the Jo book, but It Shouldn't Be Long Now. I hope.

George McGovern has died at age ninety. I remember watching Nixon's resignation speech on TV with my parents, then going outside and conferring with the neighborhood kids, all of whom said: "MY parents voted for McGovern!" (I also remember bumper stickers that said "Don't Blame Me--I Voted for McGovern.")

It is the anniversary of the publication of Harriet the Spy (link from Elizabeth Bear). Yay Harriet!
gwynnega: (books poisoninjest)
Signal boost for [profile] rose_lemberg: Stone Telling needs submissions for the Queer issue (deadline February 20th). Guidelines are here.

***

The Winter issue of Goblin Fruit is live!

***

I've been doing some research on mid-1970s U.S. feminism (for chapter 19 of the Jo book). I've made two happy discoveries: 1) I own a ridiculous amount of source material on this subject (most of which I'd collected in the '80s-early '90s but hadn't looked at in years) and 2) JSTOR has all of off our backs magazine in PDF form. I have thus been geeking out looking at the September-October 1975 issue, which includes such fascinating items as Ellen Willis accusing Gloria Steinem of being a CIA front, and the American Dental Association attempting to track down Patty Hearst via her dental records. I was ten years old in 1975, but sometimes it really seems like another planet altogether!

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