{"id":137645056,"date":"2023-10-13T12:30:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=137645056"},"modified":"2023-10-13T12:30:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:30:27","slug":"friday-links-colonizer-knowledge-almost-catches-up-to-indigenous-knowledge-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=137645056","title":{"rendered":"Friday Links: Colonizer Knowledge Almost Catches Up To Indigenous Knowledge Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

“But he can’t. The rest of the day was already happening, had already pretty much happened when Gabe kept looking downhill…” – Stephen Graham Jones, ‘The Only Good Indians’<\/h2>

But first, your weekly <\/em>Vine: Thursday was Chapter 30: \u201cWhiskey Lemonade In The Abundant Afternoon.\u201d<\/a> Today is Chapter 31: \u201cWise Fear.\u201d<\/a> The podcast is cooking along<\/a>, and don\u2019t forget to sign up for the newsletter<\/a>. Not to break kayfabe, but this 1950s stretch of the story is a series of good, solid, standalone flash pieces that were a lot of fun for us. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed writing them. <\/em><\/p>

This week, I went outside. Well, I have a five-year-old, I\u2019m outside all the time. No, I mean I went to a literary event! It\u2019s hard for me to get out\u2014blame the five-year-old, I happen to love him, tho\u2014but I was thrilled to go see Melissa Lozada-Oliva read from her new novel, Candelaria<\/a><\/em>. It was delightful, and I\u2019m very stoked for the book. Writers, if you come to Chicago and read at Women & Children First in Andersonville, there\u2019s a chance I\u2019ll be there. Whether that\u2019s exciting or a warning, I\u2019ll let you decide. <\/p>

What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong>Coupla bangers this week, lemme tell ya. Well, one and one-fourth banger, as far as I\u2019ve read. I\u2019ve not been able to catch up after taking two weeks<\/a> to read The Devourers<\/a><\/em>, but once again, I pre-set this spooky season schedule, and I\u2019m not straying from it. Not to mention, these two books pair super well with one another, telling stories of what happens when humanity\u2019s relationship to nature is broken. I\u2019m talking, of course, about The Only Good Indians<\/em> by Stephen Graham Jones and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau <\/em>by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. <\/p>

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The Only Good Indians <\/strong><\/em>by Stephen Graham Jones: <\/strong>holy bloodsplatter, Batman! Where to start with this one. I guess I should say CW for dogs (and other animals) dying. Any plot recap seems like it would do a disservice, so I will say: when the back of the book says this is \u201ca tale of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition,\u201d pay special attention to that last one. As the U.S. slinks closer to fascism and the world is threatened by climate change, I keep thinking about how the knowledge and practices and behaviors that have been so violently stripped away by forces of white supremacy and colonization is a tremendous loss, and we will be paying for those rat bastard \u201cexplorers\u201d sins for a long time. The inciting incident of this book? I don\u2019t even know how much non-Indigenous USians would even get<\/em> what the problem is. All that is to say, read this book, and think on it a bit. Plus, have I mentioned how bloody it is? <\/p>

The most breathtaking bit, to me, is a five-or-so-page stretch in the middle section, \u201cSweat Lodge Massacre.\u201d The whole section is setting up the sweat: we have two of our main characters and their history together, we have a father trying to set his teenage son on the straight and narrow by getting him to do something traditional, and we of course have our hellbent-on-revenge supernatural entity. All of this is multiple things at once: funny (the friends are joking around), contemplative (all the talk of tradition vs. contemporary cautionary tales), full of interpersonal grief (some of the cautionary tales are their homies), and ominous (the section is called \u201cSweat Lodge Massacre\u201d). Then, right in the middle, Jones brings a sixth character to the scene. Heretofore known only by other characters mentioning them, this newcomer is fully fleshed out, wholly made into a character<\/em>\u2014without interrupting the narrative\u2014in just a few short pages. It\u2019s a masterful stretch of writing. <\/p>

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau <\/strong><\/em>by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: <\/strong>I\u2019m still getting into this one, about 50 pages in. It\u2019s incredibly exciting so far, I have not stopped thinking about <\/a>Mexican Gothic<\/a><\/em> since I read it earlier this year<\/a>. There\u2019s gorgeous detail, and I\u2019m always going to be excited about anything taking place in Yucat\u00e1n. <\/p>

LINKS!<\/strong><\/p>

But first, something to jam out to? Y\u2019all, I have to admit something embarrassing\u2014I might like Weather Report. Evidence is inconclusive so far, but \u201cBirdland\u201d rips, and I really enjoy this Matteo Mancuso cover of \u201cHavona.\u201d <\/p>

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