sundries

Still tired and useless and trying to decide if I'm people-yes or people-no. I'm hoping today will be a lot more productive.

Anyone have any recs on where I can find the best prices on SJA box sets? I need to pick up all of it for that chapter I'm working on.

Today is World AIDS Day. We still need to have urgency about fighting this disease. For those of us in the US, in the UK, in Europe who remember its emergence, it's easy to think that we've kind of have it under control now since the drugs work better now, more people use condoms, and, for those of us in certain communities whole generations of loss, are now just part of history. For younger people who don't remember the emergence of AIDS, it's easy to see it as really bad, but not catastrophic, because you didn't see whole communities wiped out. But AIDS is still wiping out communities, harming marginalized populations, and continues to spread because of fear, stigma, poor policy, the desire to blame, and people still not giving enough of a shit about gay men, people of color, women, trans people, sex workers, drug users and the poor. And that's just in the US, the UK and Europe. Africa has massive infection rates and not even remotely enough medication to go around. India and China are also seeing significant rates of infection along with social stigma and massive barriers to treatment. AIDS is still a crisis that feeds political and social instability, underscores the gross inequalities of our global and national economies, and highlights too often the people and places we think of as disposable. If you don't need the change in your pocket to get by today, consider please donating to an AIDS-related charity, and please boost the signal. While you're at it, have some history: 30 Voices. 30 Years.

55 years ago today, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. For those of us who weren't even alive then, the significance of that action may be hard to imagine, but it's important that we try. The work continues.

The dueling beauty pageants of Colombia and what they say about money, class, race and beauty.

The tram rides again.

I fricking hate celiac disease. Sometime in the last 36 hours I ingested something that got me. Choices: cross contamination in the gluten-free Welsh cakes; the gluten-free meal (chicken tikka!) on British Airways wasn't really gluten-free; trace gluten on the cats from the cat food. That I even have to think this way: Ugh.

Meanwhile, there's some health stuff going on with my father that has, FINALLY, gotten me to convince my parents to get him tested for celiac. So we'll see where that goes.

Are you in Boston this weekend? Rogue Burlesque brings you a night of superhero-themed burlesque. It makes perfect sense really: all that ripping off clothes so as to look sexier while fighting crime.

ellen_kushner's The Man With the Knives is now available to read online for free and is being reprinted in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year. I know there were people who couldn't afford or otherwise access the limited-edition chapbook, but now everyone can read it! And I can finally talk about why the chapbook is so cool as a thing in light of the plot of the story. But! I'll give you a few days to read it first.

Yesterday spiderine recommended this Sherlock fic: The Whore of Babylon Was a Perfectly Nice Girl, and now I'm recommending it to you. ( Read more... )

D&J stuff

Erica and I talk about Dogboy & Justine with a cool music blog. I think I've covered most of my end of things here, but if you have questions, this may answer some.