When Emerald Mine Wanker took over Twitter, I more or less gave up on the platform. It’s true you still see me there on occasion, but with the fraying algorithms and the growing cruelty of the platform’s hivemind, it’s no longer a home. At best, it’s a halfway house, a place to stop by when one is in need of a coffee, so to speak.
I’ve not been impressed with all the Twitter equivalents that had since sprung up and so haven’t bothered to join any of them. (I like Instagram, however, because it makes it so that even when people are trying to be shitty, they have to put in a modestly interesting picture.) But then came Substack Notes and I think I finally found something I like.
Notes feels a lot like a barebones Twitter right now, and I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to be using it for. I think for now it’s where I’m going to home my microfiction. If you’ve missed those, watch out for them on my Notes… whatever you call ‘em. Pad? Book? Whatever.
Where are the notes?!
Go to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Cassandra’s Newsletter, you’ll automatically see my notes. As with all social media-y things, please like/restack/reply as and when you wish.
Let’s see, what else happened last week?
I watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with some friends, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who truly adored it. As a movie, it was questionable. MacGuffins were everywhere as were easter eggs and a whole changing roster of characters. Everyone had terrible back stories. It was a Lot. But as the big budget reimagining of someone’s D&D campaign? My god, it captured the feel of that perfectly. It’s such a playful movie, winking merrily at its audience.
I also reread G.V Anderson’s gorgeous Waterbirds recently which explores the complex life of a companion robot, who is programmed to be unable to say no to humans and who learns to love despite the enforced people-pleasing. It’s not an easy read. There’s a fucking boor of a man who assaults the protagonist and while the assault happens off-page, Anderson does address the consequences in a succinct, elegant, and utterly brutal fashion.
But how beautiful that story anyway if you can stomach the CWs here. What a splendid representation of what it is like to navigate the world when you’ve been refused boundaries, when you must fight against your own programming, when you must claw your autonomy back, and what it takes to create space for that healing. Loved it. Read it with caution.
Anyway, a short update this week. I’ve been feeling a little low, despite being voraciously productive. I’ve been thinking lately of how privilege, particularly the privilege that comes with being part of the status quo, can affect people and shape their response to stress. But also I’m growingly certain as of late that there is no point in fretting over how some people cannot be what you need. Either they are or they are not, and the only recourse to these situations is to move forward. Life is too short for waiting on people to get their shit together.
As always, though, a cat photo