In this last week, a number of very significant things have been happening, and I have been trying to make sense of them, as one, single, tiny observer.
The first of these has been the anxiety and distress seen amongst the people of Los Angeles who have been made homeless by the wild fires. We don’t get huge detail of this news in the UK, but there is enough to indicate an enormous amount of suffering for a huge amount of people. My thoughts are with all of them, and I hope the coming week brings the beginnings of how they might re-build their lives after such tragedy.
David Lynch died on 16 January. There will be many people who are far more able to do so than I am who will write some great words to commemorate his life, and they will all be welcomed by me.
I won’t try to do that for the reasons stated, but I will just mention some of his work, which I personally found to be inspirational in its artistic treatment of the darker side of life, challenging the status quo in the making of films and TV.
The films and TV I remember are ‘Eraserhead’ (1977), ‘The Elephant Man’ (1980); Dune (1984); Blue Velvet (1986) and the original TV series of Twin Peaks (1990-1991). Of course, there was a lot more, but these were the creations that really dramatically turned everyone’s head, including mine.
So, I am just bowing my head in respect for a moment to mark the passing of a creative genius.
Another thing that hit my radar, and I guess the same holds true for everyone on Medium was the suspending of multiple accounts attempting to game the system, immediately followed by the apparent crashing of the Member Partnership Programme.
These events were followed by multiple voices bemoaning major loss of income as a result. Whilst I think it likely that Medium will eventually resolve this problem, or replace the MPP with an alternative system, it may come too late for both the individuals and long-standing publications currently planning their exit to Substack, if they have not already left. I will not be one of those, as I feel like that may turn-out to be jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but it does make me wonder about continuing to pay the fee for ‘Friend’ of Medium, the renewal fee for which left my bank account days before these events.
It isn’t the first time that Medium members have faced disruption of income, and it probably won’t be the last, but this particular change seems to be drawing a lot more anger, and with a bigger silent response from Medium management. For the time being, my actions will be limited to ‘watch and wait’, before asking the question of whether I am a rat on a sinking ship. Unfortunately, many are trying to forge a career and a reliable income, and may not be around by the time the ‘fix’ comes along.
So, now, there are the tentative steps towards the implementation of a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza strip. The world waits with bated breath for both the cease-fire to actually take place, with all that entails, and whatever follows for all the people affected. The hopes of many of us around the world are bound-up in the crossed fingers we all have.
Given that President-Elect Trump drops the “-elect” tomorrow, the world is also bracing for that, and what follows, too. If nothing else, there is unlikely to be a shortage of things to write about – no matter where in the world you live.
In the meantime, in my little world, university continues, I finish reading ‘Olive Kitteridge’ by Elizabeth Strout (I gave it a score of ‘8’ out of ‘10’). And I started reading ‘The Innocent’ by Ian McEwan, and continued listening to ‘Citizen’ by Claudia Rankine and ‘Kafka on The Shore’ by Haruki Murakami.
I also went to see ‘Moana 2’ in the cinema, although I am still wondering what possessed me to do that. The best score I could manage for that was ‘4’ out of ‘10’. It had way too much singing and ‘noise’ in it, for me. The plan is for ‘Babygirl’ tomorrow. I am hoping for better.
The other thing I did was to learn how to create better AI prompts….and I hasten to add that I do not now, nor will I ever, use AI to write anything at all, which hopefully reassures both Medium and university.
I did, however, do something that improves my writing workflow, which I have never done previously. That thing was to dictate some of my handwriting on to the screen. I am still not a fan of it, as I edit whilst transferring by typing, but I was a bit overwhelmed by volume, and it did help remove that problem.
I was able to check-in with three of my children this week, and I really liked that, especially as they were all expressing happiness with life, despite the challenges. There were also mountains of dishes and domestic tasks piling-up, but I finally caught-up enough with that. I am definitely in the middle of a teaching block, and more of that ahead in the next week. Onwards and onwards.
I am hoping for a degree of peace and stability for all of us in the week ahead.
Fraser
January 2025