PicoBlog

Earlier this month, as I tried to tuck my unwell mother into bed, I turned on the TV to watch Notting Hill for the nth time. My mother doesn’t fully understand English, but over the years has grown familiar with the visuals of some movies that make me endlessly happy. Drugged, and sleepy, she nestled in with me and watched the movie, our friendship quietly blossoming from a cliched love-hate mother-daughter relationship to a meaningful connection that’s refreshing and constantly evolving.

Back in high school, I played a lot of Risk. Hours and hours and hours of my life were spent with friends around a Risk board on various surfaces. A bed, a table, the ground — anywhere we could fit that thing, we played a game. We made custom maps — my favorite was a map of the U.S. that totally flopped mechanically, but it made for some truly memorable experiences. (The key: control the Canada territories.

The Last Kingdom was a great historical fiction epic - up there with Vikings. I loved Vikings - with Vikings Valhalla currently strong too. Though incidentally, I prefer The Last Kingdom because it’s more historically accurate, and is more Anglo-Saxon-centric. I was sad of course to see The Last Kingdom end, but then eagerly looked forward to Seven Kings Must Die. I finally saw this on the day of release, and my thoughts on it are below:

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Last Saturday marked the seven year anniversary of me getting sober. It’s an occasion I like to mark, but not one I celebrate. I don’t feel particularly proud about it. I still feel ashamed that I allowed my drinking and drug taking to get so out of hand . But, as I have written before, I am also strangely grateful because, through the experience of addiction and recovery, I discovered a new way of living that is so much more pleasant.

I am not going to give you a recipe for marmalade today. I do love Seville orange marmalade, but I only need to make it every 2-3 years because we don’t eat masses of it. Plus, it is one of those things that people give to me, knowing how much I love all things citrus. I am always grateful for these gifts, not least because although I am happy to make marmalade, there are about a million other things that can be made with Seville oranges which are all faster, less faff (and let’s face it, less sticky).

NOTE: There are lots of quotes in this article. All bold type is added by me. Also note that some of the links are not appropriate for children. *See Part 2 of this series. And here is Part 1. Thank you to SDMA Board President, Charlie Schneider, for submitting the following statement for publication. Schneider is one of the candidates on the ballot Tuesday. “I’d like to respond to “What is in those Library books”, as a board member I need to say that the opinions expressed herein are mine and only mine, not those of the board.

I am on 500 deadlines and everyone in my household is or recently was sick and I have no time but I cannot help myself. It has long been my sense that sexual adventurousnessas a category is something only used in reference to women. That there is no such thing as a sexually adventurous man, because this is what is referred to as a man. Not that all men are sexually adventurous, even in their own minds, but it is the assumed default state for men.

Let’s talk about sex. Specifically, let’s talk about the bizarre dynamics of how sex is policed in the Islamic Kingdom that is my homeland. Morocco’s government is explicitly religious — there is no such thing as separation of Mosque and State. The constitution establishes the King as Amir al-Mu’minin, the supreme commander of the faithful. Morocco isn’t alone here, as Muslim countries are notable not only for formally adopting a state religion but for regularly using government violence to enforce pious conduct among their populaces.