Sick Days aka Forced Rest and Recovery During the Revolution

[lydamorehouse]

 
Image: a gorgeous lino cut of a much larger than is accurate loon attempting to drown a bald eagle in what I must assume is a Minnesota lake. She is pushing the eagle down with one webbed foot. The art is entitled "el pueblo unido" (the people united) by Jamas Sera Vencido. It is dated Feb 12, 2026.

I've been knocked out of the revolution by a head cold.

I tested, it is not COVID, but even so I don't want to infect the good people at the Food Communists so I have stayed home from the resistance. In fact, I have been face down since Friday.  So much phlem; so disgusting. I can not wait to get over this. Sadly, too, this cold is the WORST Valentine's Day gift I have given my wife in our 40+ years together. Do. Not. Like.

Instead, I spent part of today catching up on some correspondence. 

I am still struggling how to explain everything that's going to my Japanese pen pal because things here are sort of mundanely exceptional. Her last letter ended with the line, "I heard an ICE agent shot and killed a woman, I heard she was one of the members of the movement to get ICE out of town." 

True, but we all are, Eiko. We all are. Like, in a way that is almost unimaginable.

I can't even answer the question "what did you do today, Lyda?" normally any more. What did I do? I spent a couple of minutes sewing some hearts onto my high-vis vest. I got the idea from the other mom/protector at my school bus stop patrol. The buses we are guarding are full of largely elementary age kids and, you know, their lives are scary enough right now. Also, the corner that I've been assigned is next to a business where workers regularly wear reflective vests, so it makes us stand apart. I had already sketched "Legal Observer" onto the back of mine, but I decided the hearts are actually a lovely addition. Makes it clearer why we are there. 

I answered a Discord video call from the mutual aid folks who are doing laundry for people too afraid to use public laundry spaces or go to the laundromat. I signed up to be a driver and they have been going through the painstaking task of following up on the OVER SIX HUNDRED volunteers and vetting them all to make sure that they are real humans and are actually sincere in their desire to help. This is doublely important right now because ICE is weaponizing our kindness against us. After all, a bunch of plain-clothed shithead ICE agents pretended to have car trouble in order to lure a literal Good Samaritan out of their house in order to abducted them. These fucking fuckers. Also, their "worst of the worst" narrative kind of collapses when you are luring out helpers. Like, yeah, I'm sure there are some hardened criminals who would help you jump your car, but it's not a good look. It's right up there with kidnapping children to use for bait.

Then, fueled by my rage after having read about that, I spent some time trying to decide if I was well enough to go to the AFL/CIO MN protest at Stewart Park today. I decided not and then lay around coughing and miserable, regretting my choice in Signal code-name. Like this was my chance, y'all! Did I pick some deep Marvel cut? Or an obscure anime reference like the otaku I am? No. No, my code-name is really kind of dorky, even if I did choose it for a reason that makes sense for the people who met me in Real Life (tm). Ah well. We can't all be Mouse or Spider-Man. 

And this all sounds so crazy without context. 

It's going to be a weird letter, y'all.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I hope you're feeling better soon. You can't fight the revolution if you're spreading sickness.

Holy shit that's a gorgeous print.

I had to choose my Discord name really quickly and while it's not bad, I'm annoyed that it's not as good as the one I came up with a few days later for my Bluesky.

[lydamorehouse]

I really thought that you, in particular, would be very impressed by this art.

Now I have to go look on Bluesky for your name there...Ah! VERY Cool! I didn't even think to pick a different name for myself on Bluesky. I am so uncool.

And, yeah, it's also hard to bag beans when you're coughing up a lung. I would not have been much help to the revolution today, alas.

[offcntr]

Did you read the story about a real life battle between loon and eagle? As best as they can tell, the eagle tried to make off with a loon chick; the parent stabbed the eagle through the heart and killed it.

As a metaphor, I kinda approve.

[pameladean]

That's a beautiful loon, also very alarming.

I'm so sorry you're sick. Around the end of December, David got his first cold since 2019, and Cam and I masked up as if it were Covid. Even "just a cold" is horrible.

P.