updates, jonah and the giant fish + some commentary about religious stories I should probably read soon

Babes and bots, 

I know how much I suck. Really, I do. I'm so painfully aware of the length of time it has taken me to update this blog that I'm almost embarrassed to write another post. Maybe I'll let it disappear into the ether. And, yet, this is not the longest I've ever gone without posting! How strange the blog life is. Does this reflect poorly on my capacity to write for a living? I ask myself this question all the time. 

updates 

It's December and my, oh my, it's gotten cold here in sunny Fort Collins! I have letters I've promised to three people and have not written, and the grad school finals season is sliding down an icy pipe. My students are stressed, I'm stressed, covid is still alive and breathing, and I learned how to do cool things to my car this weekend. My personal sex appeal increased by at least ten points, which means I'm now a 20/10 (this is what I tell myself when my self-confidence is low...works every time if you call that "working"). 

I just finished Voice of the Fish by Lars Horn. It was awesome. I'm also reading Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Big Girls by Mecca Jamila Sullivan, and Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams (still, yes, it's been a while). Here's my biggest confession: I never finished that Susan Hertel book, and I brought twelve books with me over the Fall Break that never left my backpack. In fact, I brought 13 books back! 

So, here we are, December 4th, 2022, eating milk chocolate from an advent calendar and canned green beans, a roommate I don't want to talk to anymore, actively crying about my problems, and pants consistently unzipped. But here's all the good shit: 

My mom is awesome. 

The water inside my water bottle, which was inside my car, froze and, when I went to retrieve said water bottle this morning, I filled it up. Inside was a nice slice of ice. The whole experience was refreshingly cold. 

I went to an informal workshop tonight with other writers from the program and remembered why I'm here. 

I'm seeing a new therapist on Thursday. She has a dog. And she does art shit. 

I started a new painting that I'm super stoked about. I called my mom and told her about it, said it was both a cave and an anus. She had her own thoughts I suppose. 

My dinner pasta tonight was delicious, and I made an oil-free coffee cake with blackened bananas and apple sauce that officially rocks. The crumble was not oil-free because that would be sacrilegious. 

I had a thought: how is satan's mistress worse than satan? 

I recommitted myself to matching scarf-and-hat sets. 

I researched depictions of Jonah and the whale (from the Old Testament and the Torah and the Quran, yeah?). Turns out, the whales looked very interesting to artists back in the day. 

wild depictions of (jonah and) "the whale" 

This motherfucker is on the wall of a Greek Monastery built into the side of a massive rock. You can tour it but you might die. From the Byzantine Empire (i.e. sometime before 1453). 

And then we have Book of Jonah by Pieter Lastman from 1621 and this whale is about to enjoy a very wealthy piece of cloth with his naked body-builder meal. 

"Jonah and the Giant Fish," or "Jonah and the Whale" ca. 1400, by "a Compendium of Chronicles." The angel in this one wants to make sure Jonah is dressed for the occasion. 

Why is it that these whales look like gator-trout? Turns out, I am not the only one to ask this question. Do you know what is even more sacrilegious than oil-free crumble? Questioning the historical authenticity of a gator-trout. 


You know, it might do me some good to actually read the text that has informed the dominant culture of my family and upbringing. This is what I found so far: 

Gilgamesh attached rocks to his feet and sunk himself to the bottom of the ocean to retrieve a super special plant. Upon bringing that plant to shore, it is eaten by a worm.  

A man named Daniel who prays three times a day is thrown into a lion's pit but the lion just wasn't hungry. 

Lots of people are sentenced to prison and decapitated, usually because they didn't like following rules. 

And then there's the question of which translation to read. Which book? In which context should I immerse myself? All valid questions, all suggestions are welcomed! 

Anyways, thanks for taking a bite out of the sandwich with me. Watch out for whales. 

xoxo BLT

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