Some changes, letters, and culture talk
Well, there’s a lot of change coming our family’s way, as my wife tries to launch a business and both our kids start in-person school for the first time. In anticipation of all that, I’m probably not going to be able to protest in Hartford for at least the rest of the month. We just don’t have childcare.
Part of me is relieved. Protesting Senator Blumenthal’s office has felt a bit like banging my head against the wall lately. But, on the other hand, this seems like a setback, as I haven’t gotten what I wanted from him yet. I’m just telling myself that hopefully things will slow down and I’ll be back in September.
So in the meantime I’m going to try to send out some letters. Again, I’m telling myself there’s a good chance more people will see those then will see my sign on the sidewalk. This week, I’ll probably just make the general, animal welfare case for cultivated-meat research. I invite you to join me in sending some letters:
Anyway, let’s go ahead with my favorite feature at Slaughter-Free America, (Cell) Culture Talk. These are some of the things I’ve been watching, reading and listening to.
TV: Switched at Birth. This is our current family show. I’m enjoying it. My wife has seen the series before, but it’s new to me. One of the main characters is deaf. I’m not sure how accurate the portrayal is, but I feel like I’m learning new things about that community, which is interesting.
Film: The Gray Man. It’s grimmer than I’d like, and maybe I’ve watched too many Marvel films, but I don’t really buy Chris Evans as a villain. Still, I thought it was well done. I’m not sure why the reviews are quite so bad. I gather the directors made some comments that came across as overly cynical and commercial.
Film: Michael Clayton. A lot of the critics I follow love this movie. For the longest time, I thought I’d seen it, but I think I was confusing it with Up in the Air. Well, I finally saw it and it’s good! I haven’t seen Erin Brokovich since it came out, but the film kind of reminds me of that. You know, lots of corporate malfeasance and espionage.
Book: Eden’s Diet by Samantha Calvert. I stumbled across this doctoral thesis online and ended up reading a big chunk of it. Very interesting history of modern Christian vegetarianism, covering everything from more obscure groups like The Order of the Golden Age (which I’d never heard of) to more well-known sects like the Seventh Day Adventists.
Music: Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar’s collaborations. When we first started dating, my wife used to play these for me when I was feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. I’ve been listening to them a lot recently. I wish these sisters made a whole album together, not just a handful of songs.