Cryptid Crossing

I wish I had come up with the idea for this flyer. Or at least taken the picture, but it is something I found. The sentiment is perfect to capture a bit of the moment. Many similar things are being spread with conviction right now. So similar this could be real instead of parody, though most serve a much more sinister purpose.

BIRDS AREN'T REAL

Wake up!

🐦 = government surveillance drone

birdsarentreal.com

I need to spend a bit of time at this website, because it looks like they've developed the conspiracy marvelously. Though I'm disappointed that it seems the main purpose is to sell merchandise.

This is my third post of the day. Instead of throwing everything into one long mix of clashing topics, I decided to break a couple of things out.

"Turbulence" is where I put items related to the fractured political landscape and decaying state of our union. See there for more conspiracy theories.

Weird is where I put some updates about my kids, particularly the start of the virtual school year.

I could say more about the pandemic, race relations, and work, like I sometimes do, but instead I'm designating this space to one of the ways I cope with all of that anxiety: words, books, and nonsense.

The Train to Impossible Places

Treasure

I try, InspiroBot, I try.

A few posts ago I showed the results of a Facebook experiment where I asked friends to leave a single word as a comment and then combined them into something whole. I tried again, asking for short phrases or sentences, but haven't yet been up to the task of combining. Here's the list:

No

Off we gooooooooo....

the thing is

What the...?

Tufted titmouse

Tempus Fugit

Why? Oh Why? Oh Why?

Okay, in my talk I will...

their sons were built for chaos

something was going to burn

that was untrue

silence is an extinct word

be music

my head hurts

loyal, brave, true

Remember, whatever you do, don't

I am more than

Not me

and then they danced

fuzzy green windows

declined severence package

are you a potato

I am here

The five italicized ones in the middle I added, borrowed from the first few chapters of Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater, which is excellent. I also like epigraph page from it.

And this:

Magic. It's a cheap word now. Put a quarter in the slot and get a magic trick for you and your friends. Most people don't remember what it is. It is not cutting a person in half and pulling a rabbit out. It is not sliding a card from your sleeve. It's not are you watching closely?

If you've ever looked into a fire and been unable to look away, it's that. If you've ever looked at the mountains and found you're not breathing, it's that. If you've ever looked at the moon and felt tears in your eyes, it's that. It's the stuff between the stars, the space between roots, the thing that makes electricity get up in the morning.

One of my local grocery stores is undergoing renovations. They've stripped the floor of the material that had been there--I can't remember what it was--and exposed the concrete underneath. One would think that was the bottom layer, but in one place they stripped away so much that you can see tiles under that. I wonder how many layers deep things go.

From another book, Little Worlds:

This blog is a bit of mine.

I've recently encountered the wonderful poetry collection Space Struck by Paige Lewis. I want to buy my own copy so I can revisit these words again and again. Here are a few excerpts. I'm preserving the line breaks, but not paragraph breaks or indentations--these are quick samples of her words, but not of her full art. I definitely recommend finding a copy of the book and reading them in their entirety.

From "Normal Everyday Creatures"

Soon you'll have enough to open a zoo,

and people will visit because it's not every day

they get to see everyday creatures in cages.

Oh, of course your zoo will have cages!

Otherwise you've just got world around you

and who's going to pay for that?

From "On the Train, a Man Snatches My Book"

If he'd ask me how I'm

feeling, I'd give him the long version--I feel

as if I'm on the moon listening to the air hiss

out of my spacesuit, and I can't find the hole. I'm

the vice president of panic, and the president is

missing.

From "The Terre Haute Planetarium Rejected My Proposal"

Lately, I've been feeling betrayed by names:

the king cobra isn't a cobra, the electric

eel isn't an eel, and it turns out my anger

was fear all along.

From "Where I'm from, Every House Is a House with an Obstructed View"

Oh, we are boring and superstitious

in my city. We believe tides are caused by millions of oysters

gasping in unison.

From "You Be You, and I'll Be Busy"

I'm hard at work

writing my presidential acceptance

speech: A dartboard in every garage!

A prison sentence for anyone caught

explaining magic.

From "I've Been Trying to Feel Bad for Everyone"

When my brother had another episode

and stabbed his wife, I said to my beloved,

disorder, genetic, and he never yelled at me

again.

From "The River Reflects Nothing"

We are only remembered as cruel when

what we harm does not die quickly.

A couple of found pictures. This one is perfect in the ambiguity of its spacing, completely open to interpretation as having one column or two.

Happy Road is a dead end.

I go by the moniker "Cryptid" on Facebook. This was shared as indicating a cryptid crossing.

From Outside In:

Okay, one topical share from my work and pandemic worlds. My library closed entirely six months ago. We partially reopened during the summer, with reduced staff, hours, and services. Patrons can browse the collection and check out what they need and they can make use of our computers for one hour a day. Use our resources and leave, to limit contact between people. We have no available seating or furniture, no meeting or study rooms, no "space" for studying or hanging out. And we definitely have our share of vulnerable people who are suffering for it.

The pandemic is transforming how Americans use public libraries, parks, and streets — and it's depriving vulnerable people of space when they need it most

Found jelly smear on the counter