the yak occidental

Thinking about privacy, women's work, and being heard not seen.  Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola c. 1559 by ANGUISSOLA, Sofonisba Musing over these quotes together as I remember time and time again that I'm obsessed with work and a shameless introvert. The first two came to my attention first in the Summer of 2021 , and the third from my recent read of the brilliant book This Woman's Work: Essays on Music edited by Sinéad Gleeson and Kim Gordon. Lastly, some thoughts from Danyel Smith on Ella Fitzgerald. Emphasis mine on all quotes. She [Emily Dickinson] recalled hearing the faraway sound of an ax being brought down long after a farmer had swung it. What stayed with her was not the action or the farmer. What remained was the lingering sound. Emily wanted to be like that: heard but not seen . from These Fevered Days by Martha Ackmann  But the most humbling lesson I have learned by digging into Meg's story is that an artist who has already given so much...

Considering some quotes from bell hooks and Miriam Toews. Jimson Weed, Georgia O'Keeffe 1936 I've been pondering these two quotes from two different books and I don't think they can be reconciled; that hooks' definition or description of love in action can be the same thing as what Toews talks about. To be fair, it's a non-fiction ( hooks' book ) and a fiction work ( Toews' book ) I am comparing here, just something to think about I suppose. Why does the mention of love, the memory of love, the memory of love lost, the promise of love, the end of love, the absence of love, the burning, burning need for love, need to love, result in so much violence? - from Women Talking by Miriam Toews When we understand love as the will to nurture our own and another's spiritual growth, it becomes clear that we cannot claim to love if we are hurtful and abusive. Love and abuse cannot coexist. Abuse and neglect are, by definition, the opposites of nurturance and care....

Here is my favourite music of 2023 including songs, albums, and songs not from this year that nevertheless got a lot of play. My fave albums of 2023 GOOD LUCK by Debby Friday Did you know there’s a tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard by Lana Del Rey Safe to Run by Esther Rose Time Ain’t Accidental by Jess Williamson  Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) by Yves Tumor  Javelin by Sufjan Stevens Anarchist Gospel by Sunny War  My 10 fave songs of 2023 My Top 10 Songs of 2023 A&W by Lana Del Rey SO HARD TO TELL by DEBBY FRIDAY Time Ain’t Accidental by Jess Williamson  Chet Baker by Esther Rose I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy Fader by Róisín Murphy* Don’t Let the Devil by Killer Mike Name of God by Mustafa Morning Light by Dilly Dally In Spite of War by Yves Tumor  *I'm going with 'death of the author' here given Murphy's transphobic comments ; I still love this song. Songs not released in 2023 but I listened to a lot Midni...

Here is a list of all the books I read in 2023. Bolded are the books I read October-December 2023. You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh Heaven by Mieko Kawakami People Person by Candice Carty-Williams Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza The Woo-Wo: How i survived ice hockey, drug raids, demons, and my crazy chinese family by Lindsay Wong Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu Self-Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka Ogadinma: Or, Everything Will Be All Right by Ukamaka Olisakwe Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri Emily’s Quest by L.M. Montgomery (re-read) Emily’s Climb by L.M. Montgomery (re-read) Night of the Living Rez: Stories by Morgan Talty The Heart Aroused: Poetry and Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America by D...