Off-duty disco balls

Been a minute. Sorry about that. Got some gentle creativity prods and glimmers of light for you, though.

Toot toot, heyyy, beep beep:

1. Ever wonder what disco balls get up to during the day? This design collective has thoughts. Tag yourself; I'm the one with too much pudge to fit through a basketball hoop but who's kind of enjoying the hang.
2. Speaking of dance floors, check out these divas.
3. Y'all know there's no rules anymore, right? Match your own freak. Live how you want. I mean, don't be a jerk, just do what you feel like doing. Pants on your head, go off, I approve.
4. About once a month, I think about a Berlin bookshop I once visited called Another Country, named after the James Baldwin book. The lovely soul at checkout told us how it mostly functioned as a library and community space with workshops and gatherings for the local LGBTQ+ and/or writing communities—lots of overlap—particularly those who'd moved from other countries or used English sometimes as a common language. When we stopped in, its owner, a local legend named Sophie, had passed about a year prior. The deed was kind of complicated, so the most fervent patrons had worked out a shift system, each of them spending a few hours a week volunteering to keep things running. At the time, and maybe still today, it was/is cash-only, with transactions figured out on an old dime-store calculator. Last I looked (this afternoon), it's still open, still run by volunteers. If I recall correctly, I bought a book on mutual aid there. I think it was a message from the future.
5. Meet Mercedes Lucy, an English artist whose gorgeous work called "In Her Steps" comemmorates the legacies of more than 400 women who did phenomenal things in the 19th century but who were largely excluded from public record. It's viewable on the artist's own front steps in a town by the sea called Margate. Here's a list of the women she featured.
6. In my writing program(me) in London, I'm working with some friends on a radio program(me) at Resonance Extra, a cool institution with all the weird-ass community radio shows you could possibly hope for. Stay tuned for our thing about birdsong and ecological knowledge, out this year, which will possibly feature a Kate Bush song in the intro and is definitely being made under the counsel of an engineer who's worked with Beth Gibbons (hi Joe!). Am I bragging a little? Yes. Are you gonna let me have this one nice thing since it's all just a bit of a lot? Please nod. (Do you want to listen to Beth Gibbons right now? Enjoy.)
7. I think it's been a while since I shared a recipe on here, so here's a quick dinner I've been making lately and urge you to, too, if you want.*
   1. Ingredients:
      1. one can butter beans (or navy/cannelini, choose your own adventure)
      2. couple glugs of olive oil (or whatever oil you like)
      3. 1-2 shallots, finely chopped
      4. 1 T garlic paste
      5. 1/3 cup white wine, chicken/vegetable broth, or water;
      6. 1 chicken or garlic & wine stock pot (or 1-2 sliced garlic cloves)
      7. generous handful of dill, chives, and/or parsley
      8. one lemon, juiced
      9. parm (optional)
      10. super salty garlic bread if you're here for a real good time
   2. Sweat the shallot(s) in oil in a wide pan over low heat; don't let them brown
   3. Add garlic paste, stir, deglaze with wine/broth/water, let cook off slightly
   4. Add stock pot or fresh garlic and extra splash of w/b/w, stir a few minutes
   5. Add hearty dash of salt and can of beans, mostly drained; stir to coat
   6. Add lemon juice and herbs, stir, simmer for 1-2 minutes, salt/pepper to taste, top with parm if ya nasty, enjoy with garlic bread for extra major bonus points, you little bon vivant

Above all else, hang in there. Love you.

*ideally in low light, barefoot, with "Sweet Thing" by Rufus ft. Chaka Khan playing in the background if you really want to do your nervous system a solid

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

—Arundhati Roy

18 March 2026

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