Thing with feathers

The Future Is Like Pie #30

Author

Lisa Maria Marquis
October 12, 2022

Did I or did I not faithfully
deliver St Vincent to Lisbon. Safe trip, a bit of liver,
sniff, sniff, fabric softener, leather, railings melted
for bombs, bullets. Did I or did I not carry the hag
across the river. Shit not, did not. Sing song blackbird
automatic fuck-you-yellow, nasty, pretty boy, joke,
creak, joke, crech, joke. Patience.

A side effect of my lockdown houseplant habit is that I now have multiple water pitchers hidden throughout my home. One such pitcher is a clunky, off-white, ceramic number I inherited when my mother-in-law last moved; it sits on the bedroom floor, and I try to keep it full for impromptu waterings.

For some reason, this pitcher fascinates my dog, and she has developed a habit of drinking from it. To be clear, she has an actual water bowl, in the dining room next to her food dish. But she demonstrably adores the pitcher: she’ll follow me after I refill it in the tub, she’ll change floors just to drink from it. It’s a weirdly clear preference, which surprises me for an animal who seems as comfortable napping on blankets as on a mound of gravel.

Does the pitcher change the flavor of the water? Does the water from the bathroom tap taste better to her? Does she enjoy the acoustics of shoving her whole tiny head in a jar?

Or is it simply, as Mat put it, that everyone likes to drink from a fun cup?
 

Katel LeDû and I are once again hosting a free Authoring Q&A for any folks curious about writing and publishing. This time, we’re actually addressing a hidden question behind You Should Write a Book: what if you… shouldn’t? Or rather: how do you decide if writing a book is the right project for you? We’ll be chatting with speaking coach Bill Smartt, who recently decided not to write a book! Free via Zoom on Thursday, October 20, at 8 pm eastern—sign up today!

"Advertisers Don’t Understand Everything’s Just Posts Now"—This issue of Garbage Day succinctly got at one of the many, many, many problems with advertising right now:

The current growing malaise in the podcast world is because the advertising industry, and thus the entertainment industry, still treat different kinds of digital media on the internet as entire industries that are somehow separate from each other [...] lead[ing] to massive companies dumping jaw-dropping amounts of money to over-saturate what are essentially just different file types. But none of that means anything on the internet! Everything’s just posts and all posts, within reason, have the ability to go viral (or not). Regardless of how much money or time went into making the post. And as long as those file types are supported and they fit whatever the story or the idea that’s being rendered with them, they’ll do well.

"What does it mean to be ‘plastic’?"—This project by indigenous design students in New Zealand really resonated with me, a white Latina from the American suburbs:

[P]art of their coursework was to create a project using the theme “Design for Change”. The team’s campaign “What makes me plastic” was inspired by the shared experience of feeling unworthy of their own cultures. “The negative term ‘plastic’ has come about mostly from young Māori and Pasifika who don’t feel worthy, therefore, making them reluctant to identify with their culture,” the students explained.

"Budgeting is Diet Culture for Your Money"—This conversation between anti-diet culture writer Virginia Sole-Smith and personal finance writer Dana Miranda was imperfect, but very thought-provoking:

There’s this whole premise that we don’t question, which is that you must want to become as rich as possible. Just like you must want to become as thin as possible. But what if that goal is not relevant to you? What if that’s not a healthy goal for you to pursue? Or a realistic goal, which, for most people, it’s not. That completely changes the conversation about money.

"Who’s on Judge Mathis Today?"—My current favorite newsletter (known as bitches gotta eat! or books/snacks/softcore) is from writer Samantha Irby, literally and hilariously recapping episodes of Judge Mathis:

jessica is approximately 17 feet tall with a bun the size of a homegoods decorative pumpkin perched regally atop her head, and she’s wearing a royal blue shirt with a scalloped (??) hem and black pants, plus she’s wearing a pair of those black rectangular glasses that scream “i am thoughtful and smart.” one of the biggest mistakes i think i’ve made in my life is wearing unserious “fun” glasses, because when people meet me they’re like HI CLOWN and i’m like [surprised man blinking dot gif] and then i’m like “oh yeah, i have two electric teal satellite dishes on my fucking face” and that is very amusing but it also sucks, brb going to lenscrafters!!!!

I’d like to suggest donating to Haymarket Books, a fellow independent publisher (there are so few!) with a focus on social justice, solidarity, and community work. Supporting them supports writers, readers, and small publishers, as well as their Books Not Bars program, which provides books to incarcerated people.

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