The best paragraph I read this week
The Sternal Journal
It's a really good paragraph
Sternal Journalists!
How was your weekend? I fell down some steps yesterday. It was hilarious. I am fine (but just injured enough for it to be hilarious. imho you don't get a really funny slip 'n fall without at least a couple bruises).
Separately from that, this will be a shorter Sternal Journal because I started writing what I thought would be a short one to throw away and turns out I have a lot to say and, well, don't want to finish it tonight!
I will *tease* to you that it's titled "Children's Book People are the Coldest Motherfuckers Alive" and that should be enough to keep you waiting patiently by your inbox until next week.
Anyway, the paragraph I read this week was in a New Yorker article by one of my favorites, Susan Orleans, about rabbits and epidemiology (content warning: there are a lot of people who care about rabbits in the story, but many of the rabbits don't fare too well).
Specifically, the story focuses on a virus that is ruthless to rabbits who apparently can die seemingly out of the blue because they're able to appear healthy even when sick as a sort of reverse possum situation.
There's a whole lot of winky relevance regarding asymptomatic carriers and bumbling governments (and an exploration of the fascinating fact that rabbits exist in a unique grey zone; it's as customary in the US to keep them as pets as it is to eat them for dinner, whereas keeping a chicken is twee and eating a cat is frowned upon).
BUT Sternal Journalists, the star of this article is the union of capital-S's-Serious-Stuff with RABBIT NAMES.
So (content warning one more time) here is that paragraph:
"A few years ago, a lawyer named Natalie Reeves, who volunteers at a rabbit shelter and has lectured on rabbit law at the New York City Bar Association, was having trouble untangling the hair of her pet long-haired rabbit, Mopsy McGillicuddy. She found an Internet group for long-haired-rabbit owners, and posted about Mopsy’s hair troubles, expecting tips on conditioners and brushes. On the site, she noticed that a common response to similar problems was to kill the rabbit and start fresh with another."
Chilling stuff. But also? Mopsy McGillicuddy. There's even a sort of Anthony Fauci of rabbits, and does she have a rabbit? She has multiple. One of them is named Captain Larry. Get out of here. Go read it!
I'm realizing now I think I said there would be an update on Hot Dog on a Train in this one, and that has also been postponed.
But I would like to recommend to you, in addition to The Adventures of Mopsy McGillicuddy and Captain Larry, the original 80s/90s episodes of Supermarket Sweep now on Netflix. It is glorious. I am tired.
And I still(!) have budget to match a donation to BLM to one lucky (lucky because of their white privilege) person who buys a book educating themselves about race and policing! Go on! Be the person!
Okay, bye! Love you! Don't fall!
Julian