Elizabeth Bonesteel's Blog, page 9

Dear White Women Of A Certain Age

I’ve tried, in the last month, to amplify different voices, to promote, to the extent I can, the views and positions of people who are too often drowned out. But as a white woman—someone who’s wandered through her life with most of the privileges our society offers, if not all of them—I have to consider it’s possible I have a perspective that other white women might listen to. None of us can change the whole world, but each of us has the chance to alter our little corner of it.

Buckle up, lad...

Dear Mom

A pre-blog note to make some things clear: my mother is entirely healthy, apart from her brain, which has been shrinking for some time now. Shes been diagnosed with Alzheimers, and her scans show atrophy in the parts of her brain that process language. In some ways, its not showing much yet: she can hold an entirely normal conversation, although now and then she cant bring to mind the word she wants to use. But shell have the same conversation with you a few minutes later, just as interested,...

Jason Mendoza Was Right

Playlists for everything discussed here linked at the end of the post.

Some years agobefore I was married, before I was a mom, before the company I was working for was absorbed by a behemoth that began digesting all the good things about ita co-worker loaned me a CD. Its been a long time, he said, since Ive heard something that moved me like this.

Music endorsements are a touchy thing. Music, like every other artistic medium, exposes tremendous divisions in how we interact with the world....

Chaos Theory

If I told you my days had settled into a sort of routine, would you believe me?

Oh, thats good. Because its totally a lie.

In general, I try to write in the mornings, and Ive decided, randomly, that blogging counts. To that end, I spent half an hour this morning recoloring that image at the top of the post. (Its originally from Vectorstock.) Im not completely happy with the colors. It strobes a bit, although with all the patterns I suppose it would.

I thought about making my own header image,...

Random Thoughts, Part 3,451,002

Routines, it turns out, are thick and viscous, changing slowly even when theyve been completely upended. Ive only recently let go of this is all temporary and am stretching into figure out how to make this work long-term. Somewhere ahead of me is new normal, but I cant see it yet, so I dont know what it looks like.

When I was The Kids age, we had the Iranian hostage crisis. My parents had the news on every second they were home. I registered the tension more than anything else, but it didnt...

Changing Rituals

I was going to call this post Pandemic Bites, but that seems too flip.

Years ago, before I was married, Id take staycations a lot. Id take a week off worklonger, if I could arrange days off around long weekendsand I would be home, free of obligations. Id sleep in, watch what I wanted on TV, not worry about what I was eating or when. This was largely pre-internet, but I had a computer I could play games on, and if I felt like it I could connect to Usenet for some on-line socializing.

It was...

Little Things

And so the world goes on pause.

My first real Moment in all of this happened a week ago, when I did the grocery shopping. (No delivery around here.) Took hand sanitizer in the car (its an old bottle, but it still smells like alcohol, so I figure its better than nothing). Wiped down the handle of the cart. Carried my purse slung over my shoulder instead of putting it down. Did my best not to touch anything I didnt then put in my cart, although Im sure I failed now and then. Forgot, and asked...

Dear Fellow Pandemic-Related Shut-Ins

How is everybody?

I know Im not the only one who finds this whole situation deeply surreal. I work from home. Spouse works from home. Ive spent many days home with The Kid, from weekends to holidays to days when shes under the weather.

But now were all here because we must be, and itsweird.

Up-front confession: my household is extraordinarily lucky right now. For one thing, weve always had the inclinationand the spaceto stockpile mundane necessities. Were good on toiletries; we were before...

Survival Tactics

Today is the 4th anniversary of my first published book, so to celebrate I made an ebook. SURVIVAL TACTICS includes all my short stories to date, and (since they were all available for free on the web) it’s a free download. There are ePub, MOBI, and PDF versions to choose from. (You can download it directly from the web site, but there’s a Google Drive link as well.)

Me being me, there’s swearing in all of them, from a little to a lot. A few more specific content warnings are noted in the...

Review(ish): STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (Season One)

Oh hey, y’all know the drill. SPOILERS:

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I am late to STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Having been burned (and maybe burned out) by ENTERPRISE years ago (I quit sometime during Season Three), I was wary of a new series. I loved Abrams’ 2009 film, but INTO DARKNESS was recycled and derivative, and BEYOND was just a chaotic mess.

Oddly enough, it was INTO DARKNESS that eventually led to me giving in and watching DISCOVERY, despite my reservations. One of the most egregiously manipulative parts...