📚
I was very late to learning about the visionary brilliance of Octavia Butler. I embarrassingly had never heard of her even though the local ICA had an entire outward facing wall wrapped with her image and a quote. Sometimes tunnel vision can really lead you astray so it’s always best to be searching with an open mind. I’ve had a hard time with reading since quarantine, I think it has something to do with an exorbitant amount of screen time destroying what was left of my spreading diminished attention span. I trudged through book after book this past year not being able to sink my teeth into anything until I found Parable of the Sower. This book has made me fall in love with reading again. Instead of rewatching the Sopranos for the millionth time, I look forward to my time each day with the book’s chronicler, Lauren Olamina, and her Earthseed musings. A novel fraught with dystopia that feels more like today’s news than the science fiction label it got when published in 1993. I haven’t finished it quite yet, but I have been telling everyone they should read it, truly inspiring and makes me want to approach each day with more empathy and hope no matter how much despair we are hit with each day. God is Change.
Related Recs
📚
I just finished reading this book and i really enjoyed it. I think everyone who is interested in community building should read it. It’s a dystopian novel written in the 90s taking place starting in 2024. Octavia Butler was a brilliant writer ahead of her time (rest in power).
Jan 2, 2025
📖
I read this a few months ago but with the LA fires being prophesied by Butler and talking about Earthseed with my new roommate Maddie. I've never felt so seen by a book before. I'm an Earthseed convert and I finally got the second book on hold at my library, I am so so so so excited to continue my journey.
All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.
Jan 10, 2025
📖
It’s hard to articulate why because it’s so rich (not dense, just rich with meaning) that I really need to read it again to find better words for it, but one big reason I love it is for its narrative voice! Butler just knew what she was doing and it’s brilliant. 💯
Jun 4, 2024
Top Recs from @jason-s.
💅
I spent years destroying my body and so now I try to work double time taking care of it. Self care is key. I go through these phases where I read dozens of “Best of” lists for skin products and toiletries. There is some link there between the complete self-debasement of my past and wanting to experience the bliss of fancy salves, lotions, creams, and oils but this is my first time ever analyzing it. What I do know is that out of all the skin care products I’ve tried nothing compares to Everyday Oil. As they say, “everyday, all over”. I particularly like using it in my hair. It smells great and its from Black Mountain, NC…shouts out Ray Johnson.
Mar 25, 2021
🗞
I don’t know how to stop receiving the actual Uline Catalog. For some reason, I get multiple copies and a little part of me dies every time I throw them in the recycling bin…you can recycle them, right? Anyways, Calvin LeCompte’s Uline Catalog is one of my favorite things on the internet. A monthly show on NTS that consistently brings all the pop, folk, werido, cosmic hits you’ve never heard. Each month, LeCompte provides me with a new favorite song. I do not understand how he finds so many ultra rare yet absolutely perfect songs. Go check out his archive on NTS.
Mar 25, 2021
🔈
I love books and can be quite obsessive when it comes to collecting them. Jesse Pearson who I believe did a lot of cool stuff with Vice or at least I think that is how I became familiar with his work started putting out Apology Magazine some years ago. A magazine that combines all the things I love with contributions from a lot of artists I greatly admire, how could it get any better? Well, the podcast extension of the Apology empire is hands down my favorite podcast, sorry Acid Horizon. In each episode, Pearson, who is a fellow book freak, talks with a friend of his about the books they love and the books they are reading. 1-2 hours of book talk with brilliant people like Eileen Myles, Hamilton Morris, and Will Oldham, then Jesse puts up show notes that gives you plenty to fill you Abebooks cart with.
Mar 25, 2021