Pivoting and reading
Well, it’s been a couple of weeks and I miss blogging. I’m feeling somewhat refreshed. More than that, though, I’ve realized as burned out as I am with this project, I feel a little purposeless without it. So I’m going to give the blog another shot. Meanwhile, I’ll be on the lookout for a new project that fits our schedule and gives me a similar sense of meaning.
For now, I’m going to pivot toward writing letters to newspapers in support of federal funding for cellular-agriculture research. Assuming my email addresses aren’t disabled and I’m able to publish letters with some regularity, I think that is currently more effective than picketing my representatives. So I’ll probably start letter writing next week.
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. I’ve been reading a lot of books lately. Here are the titles.
Book — Dirtbag by Amber A’Lee Frost. The author is perhaps best known as a cohost of the Chapo Trap House podcast. This is a funny memoir of her involvement with Democratic Socialists of America, Occupy Wall Street and the Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns. Frequently her cynicism feels counterproductive.
Book — Virtual Cities by Konstantinos Dimopoulos and Maria Kallikaki. The title is a first-of-its-kind atlas of video game metropolises. I was a little surprised how few of the cities covered I was familiar with. Clearly, I’m not as much of a gamer as I thought! Dimopoulos is responsible for the text and Kallikaki provided the art.
Book — Vegetarian Christian Saints by Holly Roberts. The text is primarily made up of brief sketches of individuals canonized by the Roman Catholic Church who abstained from meat. It’s not clear to me how many of these figures were motivated by concern for animals, as opposed to asceticism. Still, I enjoyed the book.
Book — I Will Abolish the Bow by Matthew King. This is a brief, informative case for animal rights from a Christian perspective. The author is a friend of the blog. Personally, I’m attracted to a more perennialist approach, however I learned a good amount. I’ve yet to actually read the Bible or even the New Testament as a whole.
Book — The Long Patrol by Brian Jacques. I was a huge fan of the Redwall series as a kid, but I haven’t revisited it since then. So this was a lot of fun. Someone should write an analysis of the animals Jacques typically casts as evil and how that tracks with human views of pest species.
Book — Animals in Irish Society by Corey Lee Wrenn. The text is an initial attempt to incorporate animals into Irish history and culture. It’s a little academic for my taste, however the book expertly manages to mix together anti-speciesist, feminist and socialist perspectives. I wish I could write like this.