September at From The Forests of Arduinna

Updates and this month's digest

It’s a funny thing. September is my favorite month. I tell myself this, and I tell others this, because it’s true.

Yet what is also true is that every September seems somehow to slip by so fast that I immediately miss it, wonder where it went, and especially wonder why I always say it’s my favorite.

I frankly don’t know. Perhaps it’s because it’s always been the shift from the heat of summer to the cold of autumn, a shift that this year happened almost overnight. Everything was dry and often too warm, then suddenly everything was wet and surprisingly cold, and damn if I can’t remember how that happened.

I think it’s also when I bury myself deeply into projects, finishing things and planning for new ones. I get so busy doing this that I do little else, yet maybe it’s that busy-ness itself, that sense of occupation and purpose, that makes September always seem to be my favorite. Perhaps I like myself most when I’m working, even if it’s too much, because I like what I create.

As I mentioned earlier this month, much of my time was directed towards finishing a book to be published next year. I finished those edits and sent them to the developmental editor, so now I can breathe a bit more again.

By the way, that book now has a title, and a subtitle, and even a release date. It’s called Here Be Monsters: How to Fight Capitalism Instead of Each Other, and it will be released in September, 2023. (As I said, September is my favorite month…).

I’ll of course have more information for you once the publisher has released publicity and a cover in November.

Speaking of books and updates, the collection of my recent writing called The Secret of Crossings will be released 1 December, 2022 through Ritona. I’ll have a post for you with pre-order details in the next few days.

That book is able to happen earlier than I expected because I was able to find a gracious copy-editor willing to work on such a short deadline. In fact, I received almost 20 emails from copy-editors who read my request. I think I responded to all of you (sorry if I somehow missed your email), and I should say that I’m both honored and embarrassed so many trained editors are reading me despite my relentless spelling errors on these posts. Thanks for your patience, and I hope the dentistry bills from grinding your teeth at my mistakes are not too costly…

Essays this month at From The Forests of Arduinna

Now that I can focus a bit more on other things, you’ll see a lot more writing from me here again. Thanks for your patience with my short break.

Here’s what I posted here this month.

4 September: Soap Has Always Been With Us, and Longer Still (Paid)

This essay was a delight to research and write, and I think my favorite part about it was that so many people told me they went out to buy “real” soap. My husband actually threw away all the other soaps he was using after reading it and asked me if he could use my Aleppo soap. He now has his own block of it as well.

Because of the many great reactions it got, I’ll be re-releasing it as a public essay in October.

6 September: September Letter From The Forests of Arduinna (Free)

I write these occasionally, and especially whenever I get a large influx of new readers as I did from Substack featuring an essay of mine from last month. I tell you something new about myself each time, so those of you who’ve been reading me forever don’t get bored of me.

9 September: The Cyborg (Paid)

This is an early and short version of one of the new chapters I wrote for Here Be Monsters. The final version of that chapter is one of my favorites in the book, as I continuously play with the Cyborg and other hybrid forms throughout to underline not just the dead-end of identity politics but also the historical forces that led us to favor identity over class.

I’ll be posting another short excerpt for paid subscribers early in October on one of the other monsters.

11 September: The Art of Excess and the Excess of Art (Free)

I don’t do enough essays with videos and images, and I intend to change that. I think this is one of my favorite posts ever, because it was also one of my favorite moments ever.

23 September: Maybe, Another Vein (Free)

Everyone around me is talking about energy prices. Everyone in the world is, I think. Of course, all these crises will just lead us towards trying to find ways to sate our gluttonous hunger for electricity. We’re all addicted, we’re all junkies.

A darker note about this piece is that it was also inspired by too many incidents I witnessed as a social worker. When you inject drugs repeatedly, eventually you cannot easily get at the same veins and have to find new places to inject. Keep going and you start injecting in places you would never imagine.

Much love to you all, and thanks for understanding about my need for a short pause.

This Month’s Question

Instead of a poll this month, I’d like to ask for comments on a question that’s really been stuck in my head for quite some time related to the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

As you probably heard, there were several mysterious attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline recently. The Western media is all pointing to Russia as the culprit, but of course this doesn’t make any sense. Why would Russia sabotage their primary delivery system for the gas that ties European survival to them?

On the other hand, seeing as the US had made odd threats in February about stopping Nord Stream, there’s of course good reason to think the US had something to do with it.

There is a larger question here, which is what’s happening to the European Union and its economic stability. Inflation is going crazy, heating prices are skyrocketing, and there are increasing protests against governments related to these issues. Some of these protests are starting to make connections between European support for Ukraine and the economic instability occuring (as they should).

This could mean some really intense months ahead.

Anyway, what’s your take on what is happening? Is the US trying to maneuver Europe into economic instability, or is this just a side-effect? What is going on with those leaks? And what do you think this will all look like over the next year?