Memorable Stuff I Read This Week

There were not one but two American revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century: the struggle for independence from Britain, and the struggle to end slavery. Only one was won.

— Jill Lepore / These Truths: A History of the United States

Cats don’t quit after one yowl, and neither should you. Keep speaking up, keep demanding what’s right, and don’t let anyone convince you that you’re asking for too much.

You’re not.

Whether it’s food, fairness, or freedom, you have every right to demand it—preferably in a tone that makes it clear you won’t be ignored.

Fascists, for all their posturing, are hilariously bad at handling assertiveness. They think they’re the ones in charge, but the moment someone yowls back at them, they’re completely thrown off their game.

— Stewart Reynolds / Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism

The snake never shuts its eyes.
The mouse sits tight.

— Mary Oliver / “Evening Star”

“Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, a billionaire backer of the president,” he wrote. “The president’s international policies and his support of ICE make it impossible for me to ignore his actions. If you feel as I do, I strongly recommend that you do not use Amazon. There are many ways to avoid Amazon and support individual Americans and American companies that supply the same products. I have done that with my music and people who are looking can find it in a lot of other places.”

— Andy Greene / “Neil Young Trashes Amazon, Gives His Complete Musical Catalog to Greenland for Free” / Rolling Stone

It’s all about sex and territory,
which are what will finish us off
in the long run.

— Margaret Atwood / “February”

. . . the global average temperature over the past three years has surpassed 1.5 ℃ above pre-industrial levels — an increase that nations pledged in the 2015 Paris Agreement to prevent. It is “hard to describe just how serious the risks to humanity are, as we rapidly take ourselves out of the climate our entire agriculturally based civilisation is based on,” says atmospheric scientist John Marsham.

— Jacob Smith / “ 2025 shows Earth is getting hotter, faster” / Nature Briefing

I now understand that
hope cannot be bought;
it is passed around,
like cutlery. Hope is not
abstract. It is solid, and
unbearable. It wounds.

— Billy-Ray Belcourt / “Childhood Triptych”

What I’m Listening To:

I’m stuck in my old shoes waiting
For that finger feelin’
Come on over me

— Ty Segall / “Squealer”