Memorable Stuff I Read This Week

It is day infinity
of everyone wanting me dead. People are having fun
bringing lemon squares and automatic artillery to the anti-trans community meetings.

— Jackie Sabbagh / “Having a Great Time Being Transgendered in America Lately”

Hurricane Beryl claimed at least 22 lives in the Houston area. Recent additions to the list include 11 people who died from hyperthermia, or overheating, after sitting without power for days in homes pummeled by a feverish Texas summer. At the height of the outages, CenterPoint, Houston’s main power distributor, had over 2.26 million customers with no electricity . . . Beryl’s official death toll will likely continue to climb, but experts said the final number is expected to have major gaps, especially among those found dead in powerless buildings with triple-digit temperatures.

— Rebekah F. Ward / “Hurricane Beryl killed at least 22 people in the Houston area. More than half were heat-related deaths.” / Houston Chronicle

I’m not certain which is the correct version, but what stays with me
        is the leaving, the cry, the country splintering.

— Chen Chen / “First light”

Monday was the hottest day ever measured by humans, beating a record set the day before, as countries across the globe continue to feel the heat, according to the European climate change service . . . Climate scientists say the world is now as warm as it was 125,000 years ago because of human-caused climate change. While scientists can’t be certain that Monday was the hottest day throughout that period, average temperatures haven’t been this high since long before humans developed agriculture.

— CBS News / “Monday was hottest day ever measured by humans, beating Sunday, European science service says: ‘Uncharted territory’”

I used to think my body craved 
annihilation. An inevitability, 
like the slow asphyxiation 
of the earth.

— Ally Ang / “Masculinity Ode”

I’ve not attended a protest or done a goddam thing for anyone save a distracted vote or a self-serving donation.

I am a fucked-up citizen of a fucked-up country.

— Eugene Lim / “What We Have Learned, What We Will Forget, What We Will Not Be Able to Forget” / New Yorker

If you love where you’re from
god help you stay there.
Here in the heat

is where I need to be.
This world is frightening;
I’m trying to enjoy it.

— Jessica Abughattas / “Eureka!”

What I’m Listening To:

You were my oxygen
The thing that made me think I could escape
This is a “Thank You” song for Les and Ray

— Le Tigre / “Les and Ray”