Yum & Yuk

Wonderful. On comics, alcoholism, honesty, winding paths. The Fart Party's Over by Julia Wertz

Image: source. Love this, love my mom.

I haven't raved about my favorite podcasts recently, but Pop Culture Happy Hour continues to be great, and Extra Hot Great has returned, much to my glee.

Last night I finished "Flight Behavior," by Barbara Kingsolver. This was the first of her books that I've read, and came to me highly recommended by some and hesitantly recommended by others. This book drew me in quickly with beautiful language and evocative descriptions of the protagonists loneliness and longing. Really, the first page alone is worth a read. However, at about 100 pages in is became a bit of a slog - which was especially intimidating given that it's over 400 pages in length. By the end, I was pushing myself just to finish it. I have no qualms about quitting books, but partially because I bought this one (I usually check them out of the library), and partially just out of sheer curiosity and stubbornness, I wanted to push through to the end of Flight Behavior. I finished it frustrated. Heavy handed characters and conversations and parables about climate change, cringe worthy cliches, and about 6 pages of dialogue less text on ewes left me exasperated. I love a lot of what Kingsolver does and is trying to do - she has some absolutely beautiful text, and her passion for biology and the environment and exploring the desires of humans (self harming, planet harming, or otherwise) all come through. But being hit over the head every page of these 400 pages by endless metaphors about global warming and down home characters with hearts of gold and folksy wisdom is killing me. Believe it or not, I would be curious to try another Kingsolver, since she does seem to be so beloved, and there were wonderful passages, but would probably go into it slightly hesitantly.

"Trans as plot device, trans as twist ending, trans as morbid curiosity — we’re not deemed worthy of respect in life or in death. Trans as inherently fraudulent creature, trans as con artist, trans as fake — we’re not real." Parker Marie Molloy's take on the Grantland article on Dr. V.

Oof: “We can’t hate ourselves into a version of ourselves we can love.” (from this short article: 7 Things to Remember When You Think You’re Not Good Enough) I cannot stop thinking about that statement!