The Mandelbear's Musings

It's been a crappy week. Not for me, personally, but for the US. It doesn't come close to canceling out. So, crappy. Friday was a total write-off, and yesterday wasn't a whole lot better. You'll find lots of useful references in the links.

The fact that I made a s4s post doesn't really count on the the plus side, because it was the third time I've had to signal-boost Cat Faber's Underground Rail. Only partly compensated by seeing that siliconshaman posted Regarding Roe v Wade being overturned. with a link to the version from the concert that N and I performed (as Lookingglass Folk) ten years ago. Just minutes before I did.

( Notes & links, as usual )

CONTENT WARNING: pro-choice activism, protest music, politics. If you think this might be triggery, please click here, skip to the end and move on. If you're offended by anything in here, you're probably not in my target audience.

a little space

It's time to reprise catsittingstill's song "Underground Rail". Back in 2012 when I wrote the previous S4S post about it, and founded the underground_rail community here, it really looked as though it wouldn't actually be needed, at least not for its original purpose (there's still this thing called "abuse"). Right. That was back before the country I live in was taken over by the Trump and his gang of billionaires, jackbooted thugs, Russian agents, religious nut-jobs, and sociopaths. Before things like Alabama and Oklahoma. Ireland is worse, but maybe not for long.

This song is more relevant now than it was when Lookingglass Folk performed it in our 2012 concert. I wish to hell it wasn't.

[ogg] [mp3]

I thought about putting a bit of a history lesson under a cut. I'm old enough to remember the time before Roe v Wade. Apparently there are "coat-hanger deniers" (my phrase; feel free) out there who claim it wasn't as bad as people say. It was worse. But I'm too tired and too angry, and I don't have enough spoons for the amount of vitriol it would take to do it right. Later.

I'm not going to cut-tag the notes, either. They're a mixed bag.

Notes & links:

  @ What to Know About Self-Managed Abortion Care | Literary Hub (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ “Please, I Am Out of Options” - PopConnect
  @ The Return of the Coat Hanger Abortion
  @ Along the Old Underground Railroad, One Photo at a Time | Literary Hub (ysabetwordsmith)
    THROUGH
    DARKNESS TO LIGHT: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad [2002 - 2016] — Jeanine
    Michna-Bales | JMBales Photography    Project Photographs
  @ mdlbear | Songs for Saturday: Underground Rail
  @ mdlbear | Songs for Sunday, too: Lookingglass Folk at Conflikt 5
  @ Songs of the Underground Railroad - Wikipedia
  @ underground_rail
     note that //undergroundrail.livejournal.com has been purged - that's okay
    -> set up undergroundrail.org;
       starting an s4s post, will signal boost on the community 

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end of post.