RSA Garcia's Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200 is a delightful short story about a grandma on a farm who needs some help with her planting and her ornery goat, and finds both assistance and friendship in the form of a determinedly helpful robot.
My thought was, what if the singularity arises due to an empathetic purpose, like the desire to help and be of service to those in need, instead of data mining an Internet that’s basically a repository of our worst impulses?
This is the quote that hooked me from this interview in the same issue of Uncanny.
i immediately became best friends with all of the characters. even the ones who kinda made me roll my eyes a little. everyone was so warm and vibrant and alive that i connected to all of them in some way almost immediately, and so, i really felt it when their stories were recounted. or when times got tough.
there was commentary on the welfare system in the 90s. there was some moralizing, and there were some shots at a system that seems determined to hurt and kill people. but, rather than get bogged down in frustration, the novel expresses this angst and frustration through occasional outbursts from lish. little bits of an insane response while living through insane circumstances of poverty and life on the dole. which is great, because it's hard not to become frustrated or even angry about how cruel and absurd being on welfare is. but the …
i immediately became best friends with all of the characters. even the ones who kinda made me roll my eyes a little. everyone was so warm and vibrant and alive that i connected to all of them in some way almost immediately, and so, i really felt it when their stories were recounted. or when times got tough.
there was commentary on the welfare system in the 90s. there was some moralizing, and there were some shots at a system that seems determined to hurt and kill people. but, rather than get bogged down in frustration, the novel expresses this angst and frustration through occasional outbursts from lish. little bits of an insane response while living through insane circumstances of poverty and life on the dole. which is great, because it's hard not to become frustrated or even angry about how cruel and absurd being on welfare is. but the novel remains largely focused on the stories it tells, of lucy, of lish, and of the other women at half-a-life. and it mostly treats the hypocrisy and incongruity in the system with a quick joke for a cheap laugh. which contributes to the warmth in lucy's narrative.
it was also a loving tribute to poor single motherhood. to the joys and the hardships of surviving and taking care of your kids. the dedication of the mostly young mothers. the adversity they just kinda shrug off and live with to protect their kids, time after time after time. the stigma of being on welfare, and the consequences of that stigma in how men treat them. but also the joy in the little weird things kids do. grass tipping from dill's head and confusing him, as he leans down to pick more grass, to put more grass on his head. the little noises and quirks. lish's precocious kids absolutely loving to learn, loving school, and putting on little performances and playing games as they grow up.
this was a wonderful novel to get absorbed into and i'm very lucky that my girlfriend was sweet enough to lend it to me <3
Harm Reduction is one of the most important interventions of the 20th century, and yet …
origins and structures of harm reduction thought
4 stars
i feel like i have a better understanding of the roots and origins of harm reduction. especially the contributions of queer Black and Indigenous folk.
i found a sense of kinship in ethical considerations with shira hassan and many of the contributors who she interviewed for this work. it also gave me some hope. there are ways to push back against the cruelty of the society we live in, by choosing life, and without choosing violence.
For just a moment, things seem to be under control for the soldier known as …
i'm highly invested in this series and i'm only like 30 pages in, but it's already bit into me. i'm excited to see how everything plays out in the last book of the trilogy
Harm Reduction is one of the most important interventions of the 20th century, and yet …
looking to read up on harm reduction, in part due to personal interest, and in part due to wanting to find volunteer and/or paid work in practicing harm reduction. the rosario dawson afterword advertised on the cover kinda threw me off but i decided to start this one anyway and i'm glad, so far, that i did.
The first of William Gibson's 'Sprawl' trilogy, Neuromancer is the classic cyberpunk novel.
More information …
i got really hung up for i think ADHD reasons. i found myself having trouble placing settings in the story. i kept having to flip back to internalize where things were happening. i just couldn't keep track of details. i'd finished neuromancer in the past and this was an attempted re-read, so i decided to let it go and move on to more Ancillary series stuff!
The first of William Gibson's 'Sprawl' trilogy, Neuromancer is the classic cyberpunk novel.
More information …
i've read this before, but it was a long time ago and i don't really remember of it. my perspective these days is also very different. i'm excited to start!
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing …
neat exercise in perspective and cool worldbuilding
4 stars
writing a protagonist who is several different people wrapped into one consciousness, and is for some part of the story, not necessarily reliable as a storyteller, feels like it would've been a challenge, but ann leckie made it seem natural
the worldbuilding is, typically for good sci fi, brilliant. i felt absorbed into it. the constant surveillance within the radch is disturbing and feels connected to the real-life present. the colour and the characters are lovely.
i also noted that this is ann leckie's first full length novel and i'm super impressed.
i'm eager to read the next 2 in the series, though i'm going to read something else in between so i don't get series burnout!
