rbratten.bsky.social
Editor and journalist residing in the Appalachian region of Ohio. Writes about religion, culture, justice issues. Raised to be a prepper / homesteader and lived in some religious cults. Now trying to survive in another one, on a national scale.
499 posts
1,123 followers
245 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
I'm afraid I just plant them with a whopping big serving of organic fertilizer. They always do great but I'm not sure if there's a balance that could make them do even better.
comment in response to
post
This is why they think anyone in government must be in it for wealth and power: they can't imagine simply wanting to represent the people and work for a better community for all.
comment in response to
post
The handsies that mocked them and the heart that fed!
comment in response to
post
Thanks Steven!
comment in response to
post
I think it's partially arrogance.
comment in response to
post
I get simply opting to forego treatment in many cases but when people do so because a grifter convinced them to, promising a miracle, and no miracle comes, and they die not only in pain but psychologically shattered - well, I think this should be grounds for prosecution.
comment in response to
post
Same with faith healers. They all have these amazing tales of people they cured but all I ever saw was folks dying because they'd been convinced they could reject conventional medicine and pray the disease away.
comment in response to
post
Over the years I've known many white middle-class practitioners of "alternative medicine" who claimed they could cure any number of ailments and either had "patients" die miserably on their watch, died themselves, or nearly died.
comment in response to
post
Oh God yeah. I need to plan an expensive trip to someplace warm and finance it by having a bunch of other people pay me for the privilege of tagging along.
comment in response to
post
Me, channeling Tevye: "so what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?" (i.e. that sweet, sweet $300 honorarium)
comment in response to
post
These are not people who can be trusted to evaluate reality accurately but I'm happy to work with them as long as they actually WORK versus just throwing hissy fits and calling it activism.
comment in response to
post
The cracks of his suffering remain visible. Like Japanese art.
comment in response to
post
This child really seems to think it's 1925 and writing about debauchery in European cities is still considered interesting.
comment in response to
post
Also the art in question:
comment in response to
post
He spent ten years BARING HIS SOUL we must respect this.
comment in response to
post
We can never outsmart him, ladies.
comment in response to
post
Connected with this: stories where people completely ignore political or social issues. I'm not saying writers should have their characters arguing about Occupy or discussing upcoming elections. Go ahead, write socially unengaged characters. But the writer should not be socially unengaged.
comment in response to
post
Haha I confess to enjoying a book on the beach myself but saving for a beach trip takes WORK so the book had best be a good one. Usually I take a Stephen King.
comment in response to
post
Not just with racial justice issues. The narrative of "oh geez I'm a failure as a feminist" can be great if it grows legs and walks somewhere but a lot of writers seem ok with just letting it lie on the ground and writhe and flail.
comment in response to
post
And then there's the "make a whole story out of white guilt" narrative. The protagonist Learns To Do Better. Or maybe doesn't, and her own failure becomes a story of its own. Because she's so INTERESTING and ADORABLE and she needs readers to assure her "yes yes you're still a good person."
comment in response to
post
Because of the reader demographic. The upper middle class white lady needs her beach read.
comment in response to
post
And the sexual awakening, or the personal liberation, or whatever it is sometimes involves a man who is much younger. Sometimes nonwhite. Sometimes Indigenous. Treating younger non white men as toys for the personal enrichment of the woman for whom spa days just won't do it anymore? Is racist.
comment in response to
post
The sexual awakening motif. It's so freaking thirty years ago but they keep on doing it. U go girl but does it merit a whole navel-gazing novel? No it doesn't. But if one is really really self absorbed one thinks it does. That self absorption connects with a refusal to be politically engaged.
comment in response to
post
Folks studying political history 100 years from now are in for a wild ride (providing there are still degree-granting institutions around). And I'm sure your updates will be a valuable source for those seeking understanding of these times (as they are for us living in them, too).
comment in response to
post
Thank you!
comment in response to
post
So she decided that just because she didn't enjoy birth control she needs to make sure every single woman in the US is deprived of the right to choose to take it?
Sounds like Republican material right there.
comment in response to
post
Not an issue since there are 75 million in the US alone who lack souls.
comment in response to
post
It is also terrifying that millions of Americans think this is genius.
comment in response to
post
I've turned a corner on this. I was sick of the Dem-bashing during Biden's and Harris' runs (especially from certain media organs) but now, as I see establishment Dems just sitting there while fascism rumbles in, I wonder if they've all had it too easy. We need folks who know how to scrap.
comment in response to
post
Plus they're so lazy: just paying celebrities to make stupid jokes about being celebrities. No good writing, no humor.
comment in response to
post
This was exactly what prompted this idea - rereading books I used to love and finding many of them a lot less lovable.
And realizing there was a connection between the books I read at a formative age and the fact that I had absorbed some really hateful, problematic ideas.