Firebee Dispatch #12: We are all just dead air

I made it to a dozen dispatches! Let's see how longer I can keep this up.

• What I'm Up To
• Recommended Reading & Current Events
• Mass Media Musings
• Firebees
• Julie's Cooking Corner
• Miscellany
• Cuteness

What I'm Up To

• Work is still pretty busy, but that should end after this week. FREEEEDOOOOOM!
• I made more homemade applesauce. I may have an addiction to applesauce. I LIVE FOR THE SAUCE. CAN'T STOP THE SAUCE.
• I have been continuing with yoga 1. I find it really helpful for giving my brain a break.

Recommended Reading & Current Events

• White men by Sara Ahmed at Feminist Killjoys. Yes, yes, everything about this post. Sara Ahmed's writing is so good. Seriously, read the whole thing.

You come against a system when you point out a system. When there is a system those who benefit from the system do not want to recognise that system. You might be heard as dismissive as if you are explaining away their personal achievements. They might not recognise the walls, because to recognise the walls would also expose how an upward trajectory is not simply a matter of volition but is dependent on being supported and enabled; dependent on the uneven distribution of support.

White men = a support system.

And I call upon white men not to keep reproducing white men; not to accept history as a good enough reason for your own reproduction.

It takes conscious willed and willful effort not to reproduce an inheritance.

• Pregnant, and No Civil Rights by Lynn M. Paltrow and Jeanne Flavin at the New York Times. This is so terrifying to me as a person capable of becoming pregnant.

Anti-abortion measures pose a risk to all pregnant women, including those who want to be pregnant.

Such laws are increasingly being used as the basis for arresting women who have no intention of ending a pregnancy and for preventing women from making their own decisions about how they will give birth.

• San Francisco's gay culture is dying by Samantha Allen at The Daily Dot. This is really depressing, but not surprising. This is part of why I will not move to SF. I don't want to contribute to this any more than I already am by working for a large tech company.

San Francisco as we know it is dying and the closing of the Lex is nothing but the most recent warning sign that the city is being consumed by wealthy white heterosexual culture.

San Francisco’s LGBT homelessness problem is driven by two distinct but interrelated phenomenon: First, queer people drawn to San Francisco because of its progressive reputation find themselves unable to afford shelter when they arrive and second, queer people who already live in the city are being evicted as rent and home prices soar.

As subcultures, countercultures, and just plain culture are drained from the City, San Francisco is becoming a high-tech dystopian playground for rich white people.

• The Dads of Tech by Astra Taylor, Joanne McNeil at The Baffler. #NoDads

While early techno-utopians envisioned “cyberspace” as a place where Internet users could invent new selves, liberated from oppressive real-world constraints, Internet discourse routinely, and forcefully, transports women back into their offline bodies.

In the end, an Internet built by Dads, for Dads, sells most of us short. The stereotypical Dad, insulated from divergent perspectives, lacks the necessary understanding of how social problems and power inequities persist—and how these problems get amplified in a networked society.

In the News

• 9 Not-Terrible Things That Happened in Last Night’s Election from Autostraddle.
• Conflict Kitchen closes after death threat from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Conflict Kitchen is a restaurant in Pittsburgh that only serves food from countries the US is in conflict with. Previous countries have included places like North Korea, Cuba, and Iran. Their current offering of Palestinian food has led to a lot of (in my opinion, unreasonable) backlash. They are currently closed because of death threats.
• #pointergate may be the most racist news story of 2014 by Shaun King at Daily Kos.
• If Twitter Won’t Handle Its Massive Harassment Problem, These Women Will by Samantha Allen at The Daily Beast.

Mass Media Musings

Film

I used to be a huge film nerd, but the soul-sucking tech community destroyed that for a few years. Thankfully, my excitement about movies is starting to come back. I am hoping to try my hand at writing more about film in the future. Stay tuned!

Snowpiercer

I watched this over the weekend. I am planning to do a standalone review, so keep an eye out for that some time soon.

Television

Gilmore Girls

I just finished season 3. As usual, silly bullet points and there may be spoilers.

• “PACK YOUR CHASTITY BELT, GILMORE! YOU’RE GOING TO HARVARD!” – Paris
• Fiiiiiiight! Watching Jess and Dean beat the crap out of each other was enjoyable. I can't stand either of them. No more shitty boyfriends. DEATH TO SHITTY BOYFRIENDS!
• Poor Dave trying to read the entire bible. Lane's mom is bananas.
• “I’m so glad I had all that sex.” – words to live by from Miss Patti
• We've reached the part of the show where they try to start a spinoff on the CA beach with Jess and his deadbeat dad. This is stupid.
• Apparently Paris' middle name is Eustace.
• Rory graduated. Next stop, Yale!

Shondaland

I continue to be bored with Scandal this season. I hate Fitz more than ever before (and there was a lot of hate previously). He's so fucking gross. Can they just kill him and somehow make Mellie president? That's a show I want to watch.

How to Get Away with Murder continues to intrigue me and keep my attention. Viola Davis continues to be amazing. How to Get Away with Dynamic Black Women Leads by Corinne Gaston at Bitch Flicks has an interesting writeup about Viola Davis' character on the show.

Firebees

New comic: Actually.

Julie's Cooking Corner

Welcome to the section of the dispatch where I tell you about what I've been cooking. I am not an experienced cook, and I just started really cooking again after a long dry spell. I suspect some of my readers are equally inexperienced, so hopefully this will help you.

I need to get a better lit location to take pictures of the food. Sorry these look a little drab.

Ramen with smoked salmon

I was in the mood for ramen and needed to use up some smoked salmon, so I decided to combine the two. It was a little different, but tasted good to me.

One of my friends mentioned it looks a little bit like sushi ramen. I may try to add some nori strips next time to better fit that name.

Ingredients

• Ramen noodles (I usually use one of the cheap brands. Flavor packet doesn't matter---you're not going to use it).
• Miso paste (I use a brand called Minute Miso I got at Whole Foods).
• Green onions.
• Diced garlic.
• Veggies of your choosing (I used broccoli this time).
• Sesame seeds (I used garlic flavored ones).
• Smoked salmon.
• 1-2 cups of water (depends how much broth you want).

Directions

• Put the water in a pot and bring it to boiling. Chop the green onions and veggies while you're waiting for the water to boil.
• Add the noodles for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add your veggies at the appropriate time based on how long they need to cook (or steam them ahead of time and dump them in at the end).
• Add miso paste to taste. If you don't have miso paste, soy sauce also works well. If I'm in the mood for spicy, I also add some sriracha.
• Add garlic, green onions, and some pepper. Stir.
• Put the soup in a bowl.
• Top with smoked salmon.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds over everything.
• Enjoy!

Waffles with homemade applesauce

I don't really have a recipe here. I just wanted to share how delicious this is. Syrup is a little too sugary and sticky for me sometimes, so I made waffles and topped them with warmed homemade applesauce. It is delicious, and I highly recommend it.

See dispatch #9 for my homemade applesauce recipe. I used waffle mix, so nothing special there.

Miscellany

• Dispatch title from "Dead Air" by CHVRCHES from the upcoming Mockingjay soundtrack [youtube].

Cuteness

I present you with pictures of my cats in both upright and curled positions.