Open Thread: How are you coping with ... (well, you know)?
Plus: What are you reading and/or watching?
I have a piece in the hopper about the growing hype around a new generation of nuclear reactors — advanced, fast, small, modular, micro, etc. — fueled by data centers, of course. But it’s not quite done yet. And there’s other news to report, but it’s not that pressing, so I’m going to give y’all a chance to speak.
I’ve asked this question before, but since then, the horrors and the stupidity coming out of the White House, its primary occupant, his lackeys, and sycophants have only grown. It’s gone from being aggravating, to outrageous, to downright terrifying — and it’s all happened over just eight months.
So how are you all coping? Or, as the case may be, celebrating(?!?). Are you resisting? Or detaching? Or both?
Also, and this may be related, but what are you reading or watching these days?
I’ll go first: I’m coping by taking walks with dogs, making and eating pizza (I recently got a pizza oven which is a game-changer), and making things out of metal and various found items as I attempt to learn to weld).
Unfortunately my reading is almost totally confined to work-related stuff, which makes that sort of escapism nearly impossible. However, I do get a little time before sleep to read novels, and am looking forward to starting Jess Walter’s So Far Gone. I watched season 1 of Landman, which was better than I expected (I’ll write a review comparing it to other oilfield dramas soon). And I also made it through Eddington. I liked the first half — a tale of COVID-era politics in a small New Mexico town that is about to be home to a massive data center. But when it devolves into a machine-gun riddled bloodbath, it loses its nuance in a big way.
Also, neither Landman nor Eddington is exactly escapism, at least not for me. For that you should try F1.
Okay, it’s your turn! Go!
Jonathan: It is good to see that one of your coping mechanisms is metalwork. I, too, am a metal-mangler: one of my coping strategies is to lean hard into my (amateur) blacksmithing, which I've done lackadaisically for 35+ years but have pursued with more vigor this year. Mostly, these days, I use my skills, meager though they may be, to forge safe-surrendered gun parts into garden tools, small art pieces, and more. The ancient 'swords to plowshares' metaphor made very real. (ref: Rawtools.org)
Also, to help cope, I am doing more volunteering, trying to work with folks who are not of my outlook, color, and politics. In these fraught days, practicing common human decency is a radical act.
Reading: I find that I am reverting back to classic literature. There is good reason why they are called classics. e.g., the poetry of Robinson Jeffers (how long has it been since you read, "Shine, Perishing Republic"?) IMHO, more relevant today than it was in 1925. Also I find solace in the existential thinkers, particularly Camus. His essay on the myth of Sisyphus tells us why we cannot give up, and why there is joy to be found in not giving up.
Never give up.
Cheers-
Eric
I just reflect back to what Benjamin Franklin supposedly said and I do my best to follow his implied wise advice: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Hmmm…is this font blurry, or it is just me?