A Chasing After Wind

Al the fanfiction that I've written under this identity.

( Fanfiction )

If they get control of voting we're fucked.

Kendall spends most of American Decides torn between what he knows is right, and his own ambition. That is his conflict. But when he decides to join Roman in calling it for Mencken, it's not because his ambition won out over his sense of right and wrong. It's because his sister hurt his feelings.

Feel free to take, just comment and credit.


( Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony )

In the Succession finale, it is revealed that Kendall is infertile.

Well, not exactly.

( Dad's view was yours weren't real. )

The first time I re-watched Succession, I was surprised to realize the bear hug was Kendall's idea. I had completely forgotten. This is partly because Kendall lies about it repeatedly. He lies to his siblings when he says "I was forced into this position against my wishes". He lies to his father when goes along with Logan's assumption that "they" approached "him".

(Actually it's pretty interesting that Logan made that assumption in the first place. He wasn't there for Ken's lie to Connor/Roman/Shiv, although he may have heard about it from them later. But then again, Shiv and Roman clearly thought Kendall was lying, so why would they have taken it seriously enough to report it to Logan as fact?)

I listened to a couple of early Beach Boys albums and it really struck me how some songs I've heard a millions times, and some I've never heard before in my life.

I'm re-watching Succession.

I'm reading a book entitled The Maid and the the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone. It's a non-fiction book about Joan of Arc and and a woman I had never heard of: Yolande of Aragon, queen of Sicily.

I've also started Squee from the Margins: Fandom and Race, by Rukmini Pande.

I'm still listening to selected episodes from Dan Snow's history hit podcast. The 7/30/2024 episode about Holocaust survivor Maxwell Smart was the first episode to make me cry.

I'm reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. As an ex-vegan who has always been skeptical of PETA, I was interested in reading his defense of the organization:

"They are effective. When PETA targeted fast-food companies, the most famous and powerful welfare scientist in the country, Temple Grandin […] said she saw more improvement in welfare in one year that she had seen in her entire thirty-year career previously.[…]They call their revolution 'animal rights' but the changes PETA has won for farm animals[…], while numerous, are not victories for the animals rights so much as animal welfare: fewer animals per cage, better-regulated slaughter, less-cramped transport, and the like. PETA's techniques are often vaudeville-esque (or tasteless), but this over-the-top approach has won modest improvements that most people would say don't go far enough.[…] Ultimately the controversy around PETA may have less to do with the organization than with those who sit in judgment of it - that is, with the unpleasant realization that 'those PETA people' have stood up for values that we have been too cowardly or forgetful to defend ourselves."

I'm watching a movie in German without subtitles, even though I don't speak German. This is because I didn't realize it didn't have subtitles until I was pretty far into it. In fact, I didn't realize it wasn't a silent film until pretty far in. The movie is the 1933 film Ekstase, and although it is a talkie it has long segments without dialogue. I'm watching it for Hedy Lamarr, because I've never seen a movie with her in it and I decided I wanted to.

I'm reading a dense local history: A Union Against Unions: The Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and Its Fight Against Organized Labor, 1903-1947 by William Millikan. The subject matter is very interesting but as I said, dense.

One song I am really enjoying lately is "Because I Liked a Boy", by Sabrina Carpenter.