Feeling Salty

I have been cranky this week, which is an awful way to feel in the midst of a revolution. But here I am.

I've had a number of queries about when my library is re-opening to the public (currently unknown, which is exactly what the website says) and my plans for teaching in the fall (currently unknown, as the university has not made its mind up on what to do yet). When the first round of these came last month, my response was "I'll let you know as soon as I know more" and I've gotten follow-ups from people and I want to be like "Did I stutter? I'll let you know when *I* know!"

(Scott: "There's no reason to be mean!" Me: "I'd never actually reply that, but FFS, between the pandemic and revolution maybe they could read the damn website?!")

It's also CFP season and a lot of orgs/conferences are optimistically putting out calls for in-person conferences for next spring. Some of them acknowledge they are optimistic. I'd much prefer a show of pragmatism. Like, even assuming its going to be safe to physically travel next year, who is realistically going to be able to afford to do so with cuts going on left and right? Did we not just learn that video-conferencing software can be easily used for a large number of participants? Maybe plan on doing THAT.

A Book a Day: Who Fears Death

 Every day I'm posting an image of a book I like. Imma close out this week with another near-future novel about the evil inherent in oppression. In this case the oppressed are the women and the dark-skinned peoples of the Sudan. Onyesonwu is the child of a rapist, born in the wake of another ethnic genocide, and this is her coming-of-age story as she learns to harness her magical power and goes on a mission of liberation. Heavy CW as this book is frank and at times graphic about rape, FGM, ethnic cleansing and trauma.