No One Dies of Longing by Anjali Sachdeva

 

"No One Dies of Longing" by Anjali Sachdeza

What I love about this short story is its unsettling tone. Shruti raises flowers in a desert "where they have no business growing." 

Shruti, a witch, is able to grow flowers in the desert, but some part of the land resists her. 

She came of her free will and thought that the project was worthy of her magic. Soon, however, it becomes clear that she is a prisoner along with "a battalion of women in clean, blue uniforms."

The power reversal is fascinating. At first the power resides entirely in Mr. Qadir's hands. The garden is shaped by his commands, and he roams the garden like a "caliph."  

Though she is a witch, it becomes evidence that Shruti has not had a gratifying life. She states, "No one dies of longing. I'd have died long ago."

Shruti has no power at this point. She even says she is beneath Mr. Qadir "as the soil is beneath a tuft of grass." She is not paid as much as she was made to believe she would, and she cannot leave. Mr. Qadir has her passport in an iron box. 

Iron has long been known to repel a witch's power, and it does here in this story, until Shruti circumvents its power. 

To see how she does this, read "No One Dies of Longing," in Strange Horizons. 

https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fiction/no-one-dies-of-longing/

Sachdeva has also published "Arbitrium"(2022) and the short story collection, "All the Names They Used for God."

The Power of Small Daily Improvements

"Small daily improvements over time lead to stunning results."

            Robin S. Sharma.

"Bird, Bath" by Edward Carey.

 Source: Edward Carey. 

Another essay I found in Conjunctions is "Bird, Bath." I first read this author many years ago when I was still a librarian. The novel was the strangely captivating, Alva and Irva: The Twins Who Saved a City. The novel, which is set in the fictional city of Entralla is gothic and uncanny.

Carey has many other novels, but his essay, "Bird, Bath," caught my attention again because it is so completely different from his fantasy and gothic fiction. Carey celebrates many types of birds, especially the grackle, which is common here in Texas.

This personal essay relates changes in his life, by the changing landscape and bird habitats. To calm himself, when he found himself in unfamiliar surroundings, he drew birds. 

When he moved to Austin, Texas to teach Literature, he learned to love the grackle. Originally from England, he also mentions the wonderful qualities of the magpies, swifts, swallows, and cynets.

Edward Carey's latest novel is Edith Holler (2023) that was listed as one of NPR's Best Book of the Year.  
  

   

"Moon Fairy" in Conjunctions' The Monster Issue

Conjunctions: 74. The Monster Issue.

I can't stop thinking about "The Moon Fairy" in Conjunctions: 74, The Monster Issue. 

"The Moon Fairy," by Sofia Samatar conflates oncoming madness with supernatural occurrences. After someone is "moonstruck," they report seeing strange beings.

In Sylvie's case, a "moon fairy" that looks remarkably like her consumes her life. The being is small and sits on her shoulder. 

Sylvie stops thinking about college to give the Fairy her full attention. Though she devotes her life to it, the small fairy begins to betray her: "One day... the small Moon Fairy bit her finger."    

Samatar wonderfully foreshadows what will happen to this girl and this family. Underneath the girl's bed is a discarded book by an expert on moonstruck cases. 

The story perfectly captures how mental illness can transform the afflicted.  

Samatar has also written a hybrid memoir, Monster Portraits, that explores Otherness using American, European, and Somali folklore. 

Monster Portraits by Del Samatar and Sofia Samatar. 

While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger

While You Were Out is a poignant story of a family facing a common, yet rarely, openly discussed problem: severe mental illness. 

Investigative journalist, Meg Kissinger, examines her family's brush with mental illness with acuity and grace. 

The memoir discusses suicide, two of her siblings committed suicide. Part of the memoir focuses on how her family coped with trauma with smart alecky humor. The real problem, mental illness, was taboo and could not be discussed.

The next part of the memoir focuses on how Meg devoted her life to mental health reporting. Meg investigated the terrible housing conditions that most mentally ill patients face. In 2013, she won the George Polk Award for medical writing. 

Help Students Find Their Voice and Power

                                                                Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Osamu Dazai who wrote fiction in the 1930s and 1940s, felt completely alienated and disconnected.

He wrote, "I lived so carefully, thinking someone was watching. But the stage was empty, the audience never came." 

No one--neither children nor adults- want to feel this way. 

The teacher's job is to invite students to learn. Students come to class with different interests, abilities, preconceived notions, and challenges.  

The one thing they have in common is that they want to belong. They want to be affirmed and validated. They want their perspective to be valued.

 They want to believe that what they learn is useful and has purpose. 

They want to believe they can create change.

The teacher can do this by helping students find their voice and their power. 

Idea Spark Podcast, "Learning is Intrinsically Fun. Seriously."

 Ascd.org has a podcast called Idea Spark where I ran into Joseph Baird's talk. He is President at Third Rail Games and teaches at IU. 

One of the truest things I've heard in his podcast: "You can't innovate if you don't have constraints."

The topic of his podcast was that learning can be intrinsically fun -- even assessments. 

Give students a good reason to learn what they are learning, he said. 

https://ascd.org/podcasts 

What Ravens Do (A Documentary)

 A documentary about two pairs of ravens, What Ravens Do, will make viewers realize how complex and rich the ravens' lives are. 

 

       What Ravens Do (2024) by Vance Crofoot

Ravens mate for life. The film follows raven pairs Jack/Anna and Terry/Teresa

Heart of Learning: Why Passion is Essential to Education by Elizabeth Corey

 

Critics voice contrary opinions about the current state of liberal arts. Some believe the liberal arts, the humanities, are more important than ever, given the threat of AI, while others assert they are in decline. With the value of higher education under attack, with some bemoaning its cost or lack of utility, Corey’s Heart of Learning offers an essential counterargument. 

Elizabeth Corey’s defense of liberal education in The Heart of Learning is remarkable even if somewhat partial to a Christian humanistic point of view. Erudite and widely read, she quotes Christian luminaries such as John Henry Newman and Michael Oakeshott, as well as liberal theologians, philosophers, and atheists. Throughout the work, she argues that universities should be more than the dispensers of vocational skills.  

Corey believes universities should offer humanistic learning that leads to self-knowledge, vision, and understanding. While acknowledging that STEM and vocational training are important, she insists that fields of study should be more than collections of empirical research. She believes, as John MacMurray does, that emotions and sensibilities can be refined through guided instruction.

 Unsurprisingly, Corey argues for the importance of mentors in shaping and guiding student thinking. The first chapter, “My Story,” details the positive effects of a mentor in her own scholastic life at Oberlin College. Corey, a political philosophy professor at Baylor University, teaches, among other classes, “What is Liberal Education.”

The Most Innovative Country in the World

                                                                        Image by rawpixel.com

The Global Innovation Index ranks Switzerland the most innovative country in the world.

The Global Innovation Index ranks countries using over 80 indicators, including R&D expenditures.

Sweden and the United States rank second and third.

Source: List of economies in the Global Innovation Index 2026

Other countries, however, are rapidly catching up. Korea, China, and Japan lead the rest of the world for number of patents produced by their citizens. 

China is ranked #1 for its R&D spending. 

 

The Feathered Forest by Marina Richie

 

Feathered Forest: Aloft with Birds in Ancient Trees

Marina Richie

ISBN 9781645022954

Marina Richie, author of Halcyon Journey: In Search of the Belted Kingfisher, examines the birds of Cascadia, where she lives.  The Marbled Murrelet is possibly the most mysterious of all the bird species she covers. 

The Marbled Murrelet is a seabird that nests in trees, a fact that was unknown until the 1970s. Richie blends ornithology, conservation, and refugia with personal memories of growing up in wild spaces. 

The daughter of two scientists, Richie often lived in or near National Parks, a fact that clearly inspired her work in conservation and nature writing.  Throughout the book, Richie develops an extended analogy between birds and forests, linking the forests’ overstory, midstory, and understory to layers of bird plumage. 

Just as a bird regrows feathers after its molt, the forest has its own way of renewing itself. Forest fires, both natural and man-made, attract new life--fire beetles and woodpeckers. Richie writes about the natural world’s complexity in a way that inspires and comforts, offering hope even as she discusses difficult environmental truths, e.g., declining natural habitats.

Ghost in the Machine (Documentary)

 

Ghost in the Machine (2026) , by PBS and Independent Lens, takes a hard look at artificial intelligence. The documentary looks at what the term means, how it originates, and where it may be leading.

The documentary suggests that AI developed from the Eugenics movement in the late 19th century. The founder, Francis Galton, and his protégé, Karl Pearson, were each obsessed with measuring intelligence. 

Charles Spearman, an eugenicist, tried to justify that some races are less intelligent. His theories led to race sterilization laws in Indiana and California at the turn of the century.

The documentary takes a hard look at the Silicon Valley, especially the role of William Shockley, a eugenicist, in building it.  

Ai hype is leading more companies to create what they call AGI (artificial general intelligence) and ASI (artificial superintelligence). More and more people, such as tech workers in 3rd world countries, are being used to train AI models. 

Construction of Ai data centers are causing havoc in communities. Worse, some want federal lands opened up for data centers.  

More dangerous still is possible use of Ai by the military.  

 If nothing else changes the public's mind about the dangers of Ai, this documentary will. 

Age of Microbes: A Blueprint for a Habitable Earth by Steven Allison

Unlike most books on climate change, Age of Microbes by ecologist Steven D. Allison casts a hopeful tone. Allison maintains that the smallest of Earth's inhabitants—its microbes—may be key to solving problems such as droughts, rising sea levels, food insecurity, and the energy crisis.

 Written for lay readers, the text does not dispute that dire climate changes are coming. Allison asserts, however, that new agricultural techniques can offset some of the upcoming climate disruptions. 

Plants and microbes in the soil capture 30% of the world’s greenhouse gases. By using better soil management practices, biofertilizers, cover and range planting, an additional 5% of greenhouse gases could be banked. To combat drought, soil microbes can be engineered to help plants thrive in higher temperatures with less chemical fertilizer.

 The most inspiring chapter, “From Jungle Rot to Jet Fuel,” explains how microbes can be used to generate an earth-friendly fuel. Allison explains that every solution must be well-examined. After all, some climate interventions, corn ethanol, have led to unintended consequences.

Everyone interested in the environment should read this book. Allison presents sound microbial solutions that are rarely addressed in other climate crisis literature.

Best quotation for someone grieving

A friend sent me this card to me after my daughter's death and its honestly one of the best comforts:

"In one of the stars

I shall be living

In one them

I shall be laughing

Ad so it will be

as if all the stars 

were laughing

when you look

at the sky at night."

--the Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

I had forgotten this quotation. I'm so grateful for friends in this time of deep sorrow. 

Court of Thorns and Roses

 

In A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre does more than save herself. She saves her beloved Tamlin, her family, and the Fae of the seven courts of Prythian.

Feyre undergoes an arc of epic proportions. In the beginning, she is the practical but least favorite child in a poor human family. She does the work her father and sisters will not do. After they became impoverished, she hunts with bow and arrow to provide them with food and clothing. 

After she kills a wolf, Feyre's world is turned upside down. Unlike in a typical hero-or-heroine story, she is not called to adventure. She is taken against her will by Tamlin, one of the Fae who, to her knowledge, have terrorized humans for generations. 

Feyre seeks adventure by leaving the protective borders of Tamlin's manor in the Spring Court. She faces and defeats enemies with the aid of mentors. In that respect, the heroine's path follows the typical plotline. But her story diverges from the typical plotline when she returns to Prythian.

In the typical plotline discussed by Joseph Campell and later by Christopher Vogel, the hero faces ordeals that transform him or her. They are rewarded and then return to the ordinary world. Feyre's story differs because she passes into the extraordinary world twice.

Not only does she go to the Fae's magical world but she also visits a version of the Underworld. Like classical heroes, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Orpheus she bravely enters the land of the undead, Amarantha's realm "Under the Mountain." She retrieves Tamlin, who, diminished at Amarantha's side, is spiritually dead. 

Like Psyche, Feyre faces three impossible tasks before she can triumph and become immortal. Feyre never expects to become immortal. She merely wants to liberate her beloved and others enslaved by Amarantha.

While Feyre's story can be seen as version of the hero's story discussed by Joseph Campbell, in some ways, her story is even more intriguing. She is a human who rescues immortals by going into two extraordinary worlds before returning "home."

      

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Shusterman takes would could be a depressing dystopia and turns it into a tour de force. Unwind, which was first published in 2009, sounds as fresh and relevant today as ever.  

After a civil war, known as the Heartland War, throwaway kids are being unwound. By signing an order, parents can doom their teenagers to a surgery that forcibly removes their organs.

Resisters, Conner, Risa, and Lev, are at the heart of the story. They come from different circumstances, and one is technically a tithe, but they are united by the belief that human life matters. 

Many characters learn this truth too late. Throughout the novel, the kids hear the urban legend about Humprey Dunfee. The story went that the boys' parents regretted the unwind and tried to stop it. The order, however, was carried out.

Connor learns that the legend is not a legend at all. Humprey Dunfee, real name Harlan Dunfee, was an actual person. He is the son of the Admiral who has been attempting to save him and the other Unwinds. 

 

Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon, Part 3

 

What is most impressive about Pirate Queen is that the novel depicts a woman who lives her life on her own terms. History remember Grainne O'Malley for the famous meeting between her and Elizabeth I. She is a folk hero for defending her lands, refusing to curtsey to Elizabeth, and stating that she, too, is a queen.

Lawhon makes sure readers know the heartbreaking reason the meeting takes place. Grainne has already lost one son and she does not want to lose another. The character is so well-developed that readers rejoice when Grainne is able to persuade Elizabeth I to grant the immediate release of her brother and son. She gains the right to retain her lands as well as the right to continue her maritime activities.

Pirate Queen--Part 1

Pirate Queen--Part 2

Ariel Lawhon's The Pirate Queen, Part 2

The narrative moves back and forth through time, showing readers Grainne as a child, as a young woman, and as a mature woman--which gives readers a multidimensional picture of Grainne. The narration alternates, in other words, from the point of view of maiden, mother, and matriarch.

By including the childhood scenes, readers can see how the young Grainne developed her passion for the sea. The more her father tries to dissuade her from following in his footsteps, the more she insists on becoming proficient in seamanship. Readers see the young Grainne cut off her hair in defiance when she is not allowed to go to sea. 

As a young adult, she goes to Rockfleet Castle for fosterage where she meets the dashing Richard Bourke. Grainne laments that she is not in charge of her own destiny. The young Grainne tells those who would marry her against her will:

 "I want Spain and France and Portugal. I want a boat of my own. And a life bigger than any tower house can hold."

Despite these protests, Grainne's beloved father marries her off to Donal O'Flaherty. Grainne suffers in this loveless marriage, yet she begins to gain acclaim as a leader. Her rise to Chieftain or Taoiseach was still far from easy. 

After her husband dies, Grainne fights off the Joyces to regain Castlekirk.  Afterwards, she has to battle Rory, who has taken over Bunowen Castle in her absence and declared himself Chieftain.

The mature Grainne has even more problems. She is waylaid and imprisoned by Sir Richard Bingham in Dublin Castle. Bingham kills many of her relatives, including her son, before, miraculously, Elizabeth I's spymaster secures her release.

To exact her revenge against Bingham, Grainne entices the Gallowglass, a mercenary Scottish army, to pursue his men. For the first time, she ignores the "Sense"--the ability to sense dangerous storms. This, unfortunately, leads to the loss of many of her ships off the coast of Ulster.

Pirate Queen--Part 1

Memoir Nation

 

I've joined Memoir Nation. I think it would me help to write my daughter's story. The point of memoir, I think, is not only reflection but to help someone else. My subjective experience, flawed though it may be, may reveal something undeniable to someone else.

When my daughter struggled with illness, I had no guides, no memoirs, or case histories that I could rely upon.  

So, I will start on the path. 

Memoir Nation: Find yourself in the story of your life.

Life That Glows

 David Attenborough's Life That Glows (2016)

Life that Glows is a thoroughly enjoyable documentary that illuminates one of nature's most fascinating mysteries.  Attenborough explains to audiences that bioluminescence evolved independently over fifty times. Scientists still debate the purpose of bioluminescence. 

Dinoflagellates, ostracods, brittle stars, emit light to protect themselves. Their light is, as Attenborough puts it, a kind of burglar alarm. Creatures can also use bioluminescence to attract mates, such as fireflies and ostracods. 

Creatures can also use light to prey on others. Luminous larvae in termite mounds in Brazil or in caves in Tasmania use light to attract prey. 

For other species, the reason the animal glows has yet to be determined. For instance, the exact reason a particular type of earthworm in France is unknown. 

Most living lights can be found in the ocean's twilight zone. Vampire squid, viper fish, and dragonfish are a few examples of the myriad life forms found in the mesopelagic zone.     

 David Attenborough's Living Light proves the world, especially the oceans, is full of luminous life forms whose secrets we are just beginning to understand. He explains, too, the technical difficulties of finding and recording their light frequencies.