26 Comments

wonderful essay, really wishing you luck with the beetles.

also, just wanna say it means the world as a trans person to see support from others. really appreciate it. things are rough rn.

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Overly arty and blurry. Ah 25

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Entomologist here. Were my University of Idaho Integrated Pest Management page not forever in a state of construction, I would direct you there for boxelder *bug* management tips. University of California's sound advice should do, though. In addition to the sanitation measures you are taking, you may consider removing any boxelder trees, especially female (pod-bearing) trees. An alternative to dispatching any arboreal offenders would be vigorous sanitation of fallen seeds beneath and near said trees: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74114.html

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Until you can follow the guidance of Erik the Entomologist, perhaps spreading diatomaceous earth on the perimeter of the shop would help deter them.

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About the beetles, maybe try Oxiclean. Seems to work on live, as well as not live, organic material.

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I've been reminiscing through my early 90s music catalogue with a glorious wistful abandon as of late. I have to admit that I never got into Liz Phair....not for any judgy reason.....her music just never made it into my listening universe at the time. That said, Nashville is a great song and I will be giving the whole album a thorough listen.

For me, the song's pacing has similar energy to the song "Honeychain" from the album The Real Ramona by Throwing Muses (absolutely in my top 5 favorite albums from the time period). The lyrics: "My dress hangs here for you to wear out. I walked in beauty too, till I met you"....still kills me.

Anyway, thanks Colin, for igniting these kind of memories.......20-something was such shimmery time of creative potential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPhdQHoqeqM

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I’m glad you mentioned whip smart, because there are some good songs on there and I haven’t listened to it in a long time. It seems to start out strong but kind of degenerates into filler material. I still prefer exile in guyville.

I was a little bit surprised by your closing comment regarding an alleged spambot. I didn’t spot any, just somebody who cares for humanity. I am not against people who are confused about their gender identity. I am for disseminating awareness of the agenda of the Cabal that reigns over humanity, and showers us with fake events like Covid, Charles Manson, the Unabomber; and which has an agenda which basically wants to eliminate humans and turn them into human/machine hybrids. It is the trans-humanism agenda that is driving the Globalist promotion of the transgender movement. I do not claim that there are not individuals who are born as a biological sex-type who later fantasize about being another one, but rather that it is the Globalist media which is encouraging this type of confusion and uncertainty In order to advance the idea of surgical intervention into the idea of what constitutes a human, with the goal of undermining the very existence and definition of humans.

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I had an infestation of box elder bugs years ago. They gathered on my front porch (I read somewhere that it was for a bug orgy) and seemed to fill into our entry way no matter how much we tried to fill the cracks as well. I tried to get the cats to help, but box elders must not taste great or the cats are more lazy than murderous since they had no interest in helping out. Eventually the bugs left on their own, presumably because they were done getting it on, and then never came back 🤷‍♀️.

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Just listened to that track on my expensive Bang & Olufsen phones and can confirm that that’s one super deep bass. Sounds like synth to me.

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Whip Smart was part of the soundtrack of driving every weekend I could to Santa Cruz to get away from the boredom of the Central Valley. There was a lot of Yes, Dinosaur and local stuff mixed in too (Horcata FTW!). I had a Ford Club Wagon with home speakers in the back and a fat amp hooked to a Radio Shack car cd player (no radio) and the bass would just THUNDER in the cavernous space. Threw in a matress and drove a gaggle of punks and hippies to a Skankin Pickle show in Oakland one night and Liz was not a popular choice - but driver chooses!

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Sarah, Uncle Alvarez is a favorite of mine too. Imaginary accomplishments - love it. It was on Whitechocapolstespacegg - my first and favorite Liz Phair album.

Thank you Colin for another entertaining and insightful read.

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Whip Smart has my favorite Liz Phair song, too, but it's not Nashville. For me that award goes to Uncle Alvarez. Love the swimmy murkiness, and (having studied folklore) discussing how we memorialize family members after they are gone speaks to my heart.

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Odd for /Whip-Smart/ to present itself to me twice today. Earlier I was listening to a mix of '80s songs and heard one that made me stop and think, huh, isn't that in that Liz Phair song? So I looked it up and learned that the chorus of "Whip-Smart" is adapted from a song by Malcolm McLaren called "Double-Dutch". Obviously I'm quite late to that realization! Then Colin's newsletter mentions the album. Apparently /Whip-Smart/ is in my own personal zeitgeist today.

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Wha???? You went to U of O???? Me as well!

Exile is one of the greatest and I feel unreasonably proud that my 16 year old daughter has just discovered it on her own.

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founding

My dad bought Whip Smart when I was a kid, and I heard it way before Exile. In fact, I sought out that record because I loved Whip Smart so much. Nashville is a perfect song, but I think Shane is just as great, that chanted "You gotta have fear in your heart" at the end sends chills down my spine.

Either way, this was a great read.

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Thanks Colin! And thanks for being an ally

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