June 27, 2022

Hello Everyone,

How are you feeling? Since Friday's overturning of Roe v. Wade, I have seethed and despaired, but have not felt surprise. I live in California where, for now, I have more bodily autonomy than my sisters in other parts of this country. I am of a race and wealth that were I to live in a state with a trigger law, I would have the ability to travel to a place that had not slid back in time. I'm lucky. It shouldn't be about luck. The phrase "I can't imagine" no longer seems to be relevant when talking about the Supreme Court. Recommendations for how to fight back: What You Can Do Right Now.

BOSLady meetings will be on hiatus for the remainder of the summer. You will still receive the (semi) weekly letters, but attendance has been low this year and summer is historically the time when most people are away. We will be brainstorming ways to spice up BOSLady and increase attendance for the return.

The Weekly Three

1. Something about a neurodivergent main character: Andrea recommended Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and I haven't read a book like it. The main character Keiko has worked in a convenience store for 18 years. It's the first and only place that she has felt comfortable, a place with a handbook to describe how every interaction should be, rules, predictability, a uniform that acts as an equalizer. The other characters in the book question why she has worked there for so long, has no real career or husband. One of the themes in the novel is that if you are different, society feels free to dissect you. There is no privacy or normal etiquette towards the outlier. If you are an oddity, you are to be examined and probed and morphed until you're "normal" and everyone can feel comfortable around you again. Check out this review from The New Yorker and get a bit of the discomfort.

2. Something about writing concisely: This article on writing concisely from HBR was a suggested article for me today. Ironically, I will not be using them to edit this letter.

3. Something about the Umwelt concept: To close things out on a positive note, here is A beautifully written opinion piece. If you can't read this article, email me and I'll give you my login.

"By thinking about our surroundings through other Umwelten, we gain fresh appreciation not just for our fellow creatures, but also for the world we share with them. Through the nose of an albatross, a flat ocean becomes a rolling odorscape, full of scented mountains and valleys that hint at the presence of food. To the whiskers of a seal, seemingly featureless water roils with turbulent currents left behind by swimming fish — invisible tracks that the seal can follow. To a bee, a plain yellow sunflower has an ultraviolet bull’s-eye at its center, and a distinctive electric field around its petals. To the sensitive eyes of an elephant hawk moth, the night isn’t black, but full of colors"

Thank you for taking the time to read,

Amber