But this is important
Sorry not sorry for the politics
Every four years, the United States1 has a presidential election. This comes directly after a holiday upon which children go out into their communities and ask for food (if you consider jack-o-lantern-shaped Reese’s peanut butter cups to be food). So it’s interesting (derogatory) that so many people in this country want to vote for a party that would prefer that a significant number of those children go hungry so that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk don’t have to pay income tax.
I mean, if you are Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, I understand why you would vote this way! Though people vote against their personal interests all the time. I do it myself, because I want to live in a society where we have things like roads and libraries and where people can get pregnant without worrying that they’ll be denied medical care if something goes wrong.
Look, every election feels dire and high-stakes. And every four years, we’re like “This one’s different though.” But I kind of feel like this one is! We have one candidate who could be coming out a lot stronger against genocide. And we have another who loves the idea of sticking people in camps (sorry, “staging grounds”) and siccing the military on Americans who disagree with him. There are no perfect choices here, but one is clearly more dangerous.
I’m not going to be all disingenuous like, “I don’t care who you vote for, just vote!!!” because I actually do care. If you’re thinking about voting for Trump, please do your neighbors and descendants (or your neighbors’ descendants) a favor and stay the fuck home. And if you are voting for Harris, please know that voting alone is not “completing the assignment.” If you don’t like talking to strangers, at least prod your friends and family about whether they’ve voted yet and who and what they are voting for.
I was talking with a friend who is unenthused about Harris because of Palestine, and I completely get it. This is not the SAT; you’re allowed to leave that question blank. I know I’ve done this in the past with “Shall Judge Herminator Chucklepants of the 69th District Court of Appeals be retained in office?” type items. I will say that I don’t think voting third party or sitting out the election in protest is particularly helpful here. Sara Nović (whose novels are wondrous) lays out the reasons for this more completely and succinctly than I can.
But everyone has lines they cannot cross, and if you can’t bring yourself to fill in that Harris/Walz bubble, state and local elections and amendment issues are also extremely important in our daily lives. School boards have gained outsize influence with the issue of book bans, which is close to my heart for obvious reasons. My home state of Florida is voting on Amendment 4, which aims to protect abortion rights in the state constitution. The campaign faces an uphill battle and has been fraught with intimidation and misinformation from Republicans (who control the state government, even though less than 40% of registered voters in Florida are Republicans). Abortion rights are also on the ballot in many other states.
Every vote will matter. Your vote matters. Please make it count.
Author updates
I am in the depths (heights??) of revisions/rewriting on my third novel. It’s going well! I think! Talk to me after the holidays lol.
Weird thing I am researching
I’m a sucker for stories about subcultures or “the hidden world of [X].” It’s been fascinating learning about people who make an income as healthy subjects for pharmaceutical trials, and how inequality shapes their decisions and the safety and effectiveness (or not) of the drugs that end up on the market.
Reading/watching/listening
In these uncertain times, romance novels continue to be my mental health MVPs and I have been quite literally LOLing at Megan Bannen’s The Undermining of Twyla and Frank. This is the second book in Bannen’s Tanria series, which is full of whimsical world building, quirky and charming side characters, and hot yet really wholesome?? spice (which I haven’t gotten to yet in this book but I’m using The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy as my yardstick, all puns intended). I love that this is a book about characters in their fifties (including a postmenopausal woman whose “whole purpose” is not helping with child care!!!) and I really need to read more of those.
AGATHA ALL ALONG! AGATHA ALL ALONG!
Z Berg’s original motion picture soundtrack to Strange Darling on repeat. I don’t enjoy serial killer content so I haven’t seen the film, but the musical vibe is pastoral and weird (always a selling point with me!) which almost makes me want to watch the movie.
If you enjoy my ramblings, you might like my books!
The Other Me, which PopSugar called a “Black Mirror-esque rabbit hole,” is an inventive page-turner about the choices we make and the ones made for us.
When I’m Her asks the question: How far would you go to get even with the woman who ruined your life?
This newsletter issue is very “America First” and I apologize in advance if you’re elsewhere! Feel free to skip to the bottom where I talk about books and music.
Thank you for standing up for the right side on this election. I am nauseatingly optimistic.