A double page to fit it all in (the first half only appeared in print). Do you remember those huge UPS things you’d have to sign? They look impossibly archaic now. It has the sort of the name I’d give something, “the DIAD IV”.
The CDC reports an estimated 31 million people in the United States are bitten by a tick annually. The Onion examines the myths and facts surrounding the common parasites.
MYTH: Ticks only live in the woods.
FACT: Many ticks enjoy the more cosmopolitan feel of a park or garden.
MYTH: You can easily feel a tick bite.
FACT: You didn’t notice that popcorn kernel in your teeth for a whole day.
MYTH: Only deer ticks are dangerous.
FACT: By far the most dangerous species of tick is the Northern Deviously Clever Tick Who Covets Your Family Fortune.
MYTH: Ticks survive solely on blood.
FACT: They also enjoy tapas.
MYTH: Tweezers are the best way to remove ticks.
FACT: Tweezers are a last resort and should only be used if diplomacy fails.
MYTH: You should dispose of a tick by flushing it down the toilet.
FACT: Ticks should be cremated and their ashes scattered over the Grand Canyon per their burial wishes.
MYTH: One tick bite can put a person off eating red meat.
FACT: True but one bite from a cow can put them right back on.
It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are five updates from past letter-writers.
There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.
First of all, thank you so much for your initial response. It was very helpful, basically making me realize that I wasn’t being crazy and this was in fact a ridiculous situation.
Overall, the company hasn’t changed much. We’re still losing clients. Eddie, the sales manager, is still being wildly ambitious. Jack, the COO, is beginning to panic, asking me to do more to placate his cousin Eddie, while complaining about costs. Eddie continues to float his impractical plans. An example of how this place is run: We finally closed down a minor product line when the last client cancelled. One of the salesmen asked me to continue producing it anyway because he has been giving it away for FREE to his church. I didn’t even bother responding.
What has changed is me! I am doing my job but I realized I can’t make these people happy or save the company, so I’m no longer spending excessive time or energy on it. I am being more forthright: when I’m given a new task, I say, “Okay. I will do Task Y but that means I have to cut back on Task X.” It frustrates Jack, but ultimately he gives in.
Best of all, I told Jack that with all the extra work I’m going, I needed a raise. He grumbled but gave me a good raise. I think deep down he knows he can’t afford to lose me. I’m in my early sixties and we have lots of savings and my wife’s pension, so if this job ends it’s not a disaster. Thanks again.
I took your advice and told my direct report that I noticed the spot, that it looked similar to something I had, and that my doctor recommended that I get it checked out. Turns out he already knew that it might be something but never bothered to go to the doctor and ask.
He thanked me for my concern and said that would be the nudge he needed to go do something about it. He ended up putting in notice a month or so later for completely unrelated reasons (a combination of RTO and his partner accepting a job across country) so I haven’t been able to find out what became of it.
I’m hoping he actually did go to the doctor and it ended up being nothing! He and I were pretty close, so if it ends up being an issue I’m sure I’ll hear about it. But no news is good news as far as I’m concerned.
My update is that I was never reimbursed. Your recommendation was to call, which was good advice, but I never actually called. I tried one more generic HR email and no one responded and I just let it drop. Soon after I sent in my letter, I quickly began interviewing for multiple jobs and that became all-consuming. I received an offer and became too busy settling into my new job to worry about it anymore.
I knew my emails weren’t going to spam because I was replying to email threads sent to my personal address with documentation after I was laid off. It felt very intentional and just another reflection of how dysfunctional and toxic that workplace was. I also had no desire to ever communicate with my manager there again.
Some commenters mentioned I should not have agreed to pay out of pocket to ship my laptop back but that didn’t feel feasible at the time. I was forced to sign a very strict NDA. I very much needed my severance pay and did not feel like I was in a position to negotiate anything.
All’s well that ends well though — I am very happy in my new position and very, very glad to no longer work for that dysfunctional place. You often say that it’s hard for people in a toxic environment to recognize it and that’s very true. I never would have left on my own but now that they forced me out I am so thankful. I’m really okay with losing $30 and have moved on.
Your advice was very helpful! I decided to take the first path — “pointedly cheerful” and “pointedly unconcerned” — with my passive-aggressive coworker. He stopped asking questions and making comments about my work location. It hasn’t prevented him from stopping by my desk to complain or point out “problems” he has discovered at work. I have gotten into the habit of answering these interruptions with a blunt, “I’m busy right now and can’t talk,” which doesn’t deter him. Your advice did help me handle what I found to be his most irritating (and creepy) characteristic, though, so I consider it a big win.
I did not tell my boss about my insurance drama (although I did notify the head of benefits), and I did receive full reimbursement (to tune of just under $7,000) for my prosthetic eye on second-level appeal. It was a several-month process, and they actually processed the actual reimbursement wrong (marking it as experimental) after overturning the denial at least four times, and I applied the returned money towards buying a house last spring!
To anyone dealing with insurance, I would recommend (1) checking out ProPublica’s information request tool and (2) simply continuing to follow up on issues, in writing, as far as you need go.
It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are five updates from past letter-writers.
A few months after you posted my letter, things came to a head between me and the two of them. They wanted me to cover for them and hide the fact that they were going on vacation together. I told the former assistant I was very uncomfortable with this and at that point she came clean to me about the situation: they started a relationship a few months before her promotion (although I have a hunch it was even earlier!) and the reason for the promotion was so that there would be no conflict of interest in the reporting line. They didn’t want the office to know but she admitted they did a bad job of hiding it.
After she told me, they became even more comfortable talking about their personal lives at work (they live together, travel together, etc.) and although people continue to be uncomfortable, there is really not much to do about it since he is the CEO.
I continue to work here despite how uneasy I am. It’s hard because there is obvious favoritism and the former assistant can’t seem to let parts of her former role go. Things are extra complicated at the moment because I just found out I am pregnant and am not in a position to leave my current role/find another role. So my plan is to bide my time until the baby comes and see what makes sense at that point!
I appreciate you posting my letter. Your advice to continue to push for what I need to do my role effectively is sometimes hard to follow through on, but it gave me the confidence knowing I am not the one out of line in this situation!
I followed the advice to not say anything and continued to say nothing. A month after writing in, the organization underwent major restructuring and I was reassigned to a new manager.
My former manager apparently did something weird (unclear if related to tongue flickering), leading to HR interviewing several of us on the team about alleged inappropriate behavior towards another male colleague. I wasn’t given any further details than that. Another male colleague told me my former manager yelled at him and walked away shouting profanities but he decided not to report it.
Other than that, my former manager seems increasingly unwell and has admitted to experiencing AI psychosis. He often talks about wanting to replace people’s jobs with AI despite his role being particularly vulnerable to AI. I will say that he’s stopped sticking his tongue out in meetings though. I hope he finds peace.
As several of your readers (and I) predicted, Sam was promoted and is now our supervisor. They skipped her several levels up the hierarchy to promote her. She was the only person to apply for the job — word about the morale, or lack thereof, at our office is well-known in our industry. (I applied for the same job in the past and turned it down twice, because the unrelenting schedule and miniscule pay raise, combined with the switch to nonexempt status, equated to a massive pay cut and no personal life. I am very happy with my choice.)
Upper management continues to be dazzled by Sam and has not asked anyone in my department how things are going, nor are they open to hearing any such concerns. Sam continues to overstep and to believe she knows everything. I interact with her as minimally as I can while remaining pleasant. It is clear she wants a social relationship with us, but others in the department are just as annoyed by her one-upmanship, talking over people, answering questions that are not directed at her, and giving unsolicited advice to others. She pries for details about people’s medical appointments, gives unwanted parenting advice, and badgers us for the details of our weekend plans. She has suggested we do team-building events at her house, and even though she bragged about getting a private office, she has come into our workroom literally saying, “I’m lonely, include me.” In addition to her personally off-putting behavior, most of us prefer to avoid close friendships with our managers as a matter of course. Being the supervisor has introduced a natural separation that she is unhappy with, but one that she also can’t really push back on. So, nobody on our team really socializes with her to the extent she wants.
Because Sam is now the supervisor, we all feel less able to be blunt when she talks over people or gives wrong information. I do politely speak up when she tells new employees incorrect info, because I am senior in my department and the information is independently verifiable. Sam has also been fact-checked many times by other middle managers in other departments. She will never publicly admit she was wrong about something, but new employees tell me she has had to backpedal hard on some of the (incorrect) processes and rules she has taught them. The newer employees have all gathered that Sam is often incorrect and use their own judgement or ask other senior staff for guidance. When Sam barges into social conversations, we do feel more free to ask her please not to interrupt, or to pointedly pause, give a knowing look, and continue, “So as I was saying…” She is pushiest with the newer staff, and has realized she will not get any traction with those of us who are senior. It’s exhausting, but for various reasons I cannot change jobs at the moment, so I am making judicious use of headphones and cherishing my few work-from-home days.
Thank you so much for your advice. It was really reassuring to me and I kept it in my back pocket my entire honeymoon. However…
About a week into my honeymoon, I emailed the hiring manager to remind her that email would be the best way to reach me because I was traveling internationally. She said thank you, and then I was ghosted for probably over a month? And then their HR followed up with me to let me know they had interviewed several people but had decided not to hire anyone for the position because they didn’t know what they were looking for.
That was kind of a bummer, and I wanted to write back to you when I had better news. So, good news! My last day at my current job is this Friday. I’m good to go on documentation because I wrote up so much in case I had to quit during my honeymoon. And I’m excited for what’s ahead! Thanks so much for your advice! And your book was so helpful for preparing for my interviews. Thank you!
I did end up turning down the counter and taking the new job. My previous employer reached out to me weekly asking if I would come back — offered me even more of a pay increase and a full hybrid schedule. When the practice manager found out about it, she was livid and jealous that he was offering this to me without her knowledge and she ended up conducting interviews and hiring somebody else behind his back (I wasn’t going back either way). From what I hear, the person isn’t doing so well, but no longer my problem. I definitely dodged a bullet, and I couldn’t be happier with my current company.
1. My family says I shouldn’t criticize my field because I’m paid well
I am a woman in my thirties working in academia in a European country, I have 10 years of experience (so not new to the workforce), and my current salary is higher than my country’s median salary — not rich but enough to live comfortably.
In my country, researchers are involved with universities in one of two ways: we can either be directly employed by the university, in which case we get paid more, have access to occupational healthcare, and accrue more PTO, or we can be funded with personal grants, in which case we get much less money, don’t get healthcare, and accrue less PTO. Many people switch between the two categories several times during their career. While personal grants technically mean that we are not bound by any employer, in practice many people continue to report to the same principal investigator, doing the same work with the same equipment, etc. I see the two “tiers” of researcher positions as a structural inequality in my country, and I am transparent to other researchers about my previous salaries, benefits, etc. so that they can be better informed when planning their careers.
I was recently talking about this with my family and their response caught me off-guard. They said that since I am now paid so well, I should not criticize the inequality in the system — either at work or outside of it. They also said that I should be grateful to have a job at all, and that because of my negative attitude I would be among the first to get laid off in case my employer had to reduce the workforce. They basically implied that I should be a happy employee and not bring up any major issues, or otherwise my employer would see me as “difficult.”
Am I off-base in thinking that my family is giving me poor advice? I am diligent at work, meet deadlines while producing high-quality work, and regularly receive good feedback from my boss and coworkers. I do voice my opinions at work, but never in a rude manner, and I don’t make mountains out of molehills. This is not the first time that I think I’m getting bad advice from my family (for example, they told me not to ask about office culture and work-life balance in job interviews because the interviewer would see me as difficult and combative), but I still wonder if I might be in the wrong here. Should I just accept my privileges and not speak up?
With the caveat that I don’t know the norms or practices in your country and am answering through an American lens: your family is giving you terrible advice. You’re extremely well-positioned to critique the practices in your field because you’re in your field and because you’ve been on both sides of two-tier divide and now are using your positional power to advocate for people with less of it.
It’s of course true that you need to think about internal politics when you raise issues at work — how much capital you have, how much capital you’re willing to spend, what else you might want to use it on, how much you can push before you’re written off as just annoying, and how much you can push before people won’t want to work with you at all. But there’s a ton of space between “never raise any issues with your field” and “don’t harp on it so blindly that you alienate the people you need to succeed.”
2. My boss and grandboss assign me conflicting work
My boss (Christie) likes to tell me to work on things that aren’t her boss’s (Julia) priority.
I am responsible for completing a routine review project at the start of every quarter. The review is large. I’ve expressed this to both of them. Last quarter, I was berated for not getting them done on time, so I explained that I was not able to work on it but I left out the part where Christie explicitly told me to work on other things at various points.
Julia told me to block off my entire calendar for July to ensure the project is completely done on time next time.
Christie was in this meeting and did not protest, nor did she point out how often she took me off task. I get the sense that Christie resents having her employees take direction from Julie and tends to check out when Julie gives direction to me.
I blocked off my calendar for July and then sent an email to both of them, confirming I had blocked off July. Then I requested that if priorities shift, that be put into writing where both of them can see it.
I had my 1:1 with Christie, where I tried to preemptively explain my written request as Christie tends to perceive putting things in writing as an act of aggression. I said, “Hey, so I am doing as I am instructed and I’m putting it in writing so that if things go poorly, I’m not blamed for it.” Christie nodded and said she understood. Five minutes later, she told me to start working on a different project, in July. I responded, “I’m not doing that in July, I’m working on the user access reviews.” To which she said, “Oh, as long as you do it around then.” How do I deal with stuff like this?
Well, first, if you have a repeat of that meeting with Julia where you’re asked why you didn’t complete something, you need to give her an honest answer: “Christie asked me to work on X, Y, and Z during that time.” You’re putting your own standing with Julia in jeopardy by letting her think you’re ignoring tasks, rather than letting her know that Christie is assigning you to work on different things.
Second, going forward, if Christie gives you work that conflicts with things Julia has asked you to do, you need to let Julia know right away. You’re not throwing Christie under the bus here; you’re updating Julia with something like, “Just a heads-up that Christie asked me to do X so that will push back the Y project — if you don’t want things prioritized that way, would you let her know?” if you think Christie will respond badly to you doing that, then it’s time for an in-person conversation with Julia where you explain what’s been happening and ask how she wants you to handle it, being clear about the fact that you’re concerned about Christie’s response if she knows the two of you talked about it. (In fact, you might do that regardless.)
3. How do I navigate a second job, with both jobs?
I started at a full-time job about six months ago after years of freelancing in my field. While the job is not exactly the type of work I’m formally trained in, I’m adjusting really well and I love it. There is one issue though. This job only barely pays a living wage for my area, and I have student loans/credit card debt I’m trying to deal with. I’ve been trying to pick up some freelance work here and there, but it’s so erratic that I can’t rely on that, so I’ve been trying to find something to fit around my full-time hours.
I happened across a posting for a remote support position for a piece of software (let’s call them Company B) and they are specifically looking for folks with significant real-world experience that I have. It’s part-time, 20 hours a week, and would more than double my yearly income. The posting seems to imply they’re especially interested in folks who can work outside of regular business hours (which I would need to do anyway).
How do I approach the idea with Company B (if at all) through the interview process that their work would be a high priority, but still a smidge below my full-time job? How do I broach the topic tactfully with my current manager (I’ve read enough of this website to know keeping a second job a secret is a Very Bad Idea)? Obviously I would be very careful not to work on one job while at the other and be cautious about conflicts of interest (I’ve referenced my current employee handbook and confirmed just doing a second job generally in the industry is not forbidden). Am I insane to think this could work, and how do people handle scheduling one job around another?
You don’t need to spell out for Company B that they wouldn’t be your first priority; instead, you’d talk about it in terms of availability. Be clear that the hours for your full-time job are 9-5 (or whatever they are) but that you’d be available outside of that, and ask what hours they’re ideally looking for. If they say, “Oh, that’s fine, you could do all of this after 5 pm,” then ask whether there are ever times when you would be needed to work during the day and if they indicate it could occasionally happen, be clear that it’s not something you could do.
With your current manager, you could say, “I’m considering taking on some outside work doing X. It would be completely outside of my hours here and I don’t think it presents any conflict of interest, but is that something you want to be aware of?” Normally I’d say you wouldn’t necessarily need to mention it proactively (unless your company has a policy that requires you to) but because it’s in the same industry, it’s smart to find out now if they’ll have a problem with it.
4. A GoFundMe for a boss with health problems
My boss, who is the owner of the small business where I work, has had some significant health problems lately. Someone started a GoFundMe for her and it was sent to me with no pressure, just a “for you to see and share as you want.” Part of me wants to donate, and part of me feels like it’s kind of inappropriate for an employee. What do you think?
You shouldn’t be pressured to donate money to your boss, period. The power dynamics inherent in the relationship make it inappropriate, because of the worry that your boss will know who did and didn’t donate and could treat those who didn’t less favorably than those who did or, even if you don’t really think your boss would do that, that you’ll still worry about the optics if you don’t donate.
5. Why would an organization choose to use an executive search firm?
Is there a standardized reason an organization chooses to use an executive search firm? The leader of the organization I am at has decided to use one for a role that is not an executive, and I’m wondering if there’s a standard range or reason. There’s more context here about why it is not landing well (seemingly the snub of internal candidates, a bad experience last year, and cost) but maybe there’s something I’m missing to understand if this will help. The org hired a (very expensive!) firm last year that took over nine months to fill the executive role and it was not an easy time.
Typically it’s because they think it will be a ton of work that it would be more efficient to outsource, or they think the search firm will reach stronger candidates (or a wider range of them) than they could on their own, or they don’t think they have the right expertise to assess candidates for this particular role themselves.
PENSACOLA, FL—Sensing the perfect opportunity to duck out and get a head start on some scrubbing, local mom Sandy Pagano reportedly took advantage of a movie’s hushed monologue Monday to go to the kitchen and wash five pots. Family sources said that during the relatively quiet moment of the film, Pagano eased herself off the couch and disappeared from the living room, and moments later the sound of water spattering against metal could be heard throughout the house. According to reports, after a few minutes passed and she detected that the movie’s louder action had not yet resumed, Pagano proceeded to reshelve some plates to make room for a saucepan in the drying rack, scrape vigorously at a burned-cheese-encrusted baking dish, and grind a wad of carrot peelings in the garbage disposal. Sources later confirmed that Pagano, rapidly drying her fingers with a dish towel, trotted out of the kitchen at the sound of a car crash and said, “Oooh, what just happened?”
CHAMPAIGN, IL—Shedding new light on the concept of voluntary behavior, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign contend in a study published this week that the existence of free will can be disproven by the fact that people repeatedly eat at chain sandwich restaurant Jimmy John’s. “Our exhaustive survey of over 12,000 regular Jimmy John’s customers revealed patterns of behavior utterly inconsistent with the idea of human autonomy,” said lead researcher Gina Smith, emphasizing that no person with functioning taste buds would continually subject themselves to a dry, flavorless J.J.B.L.T. or a cold, inadequate Jimmy Cubano unless their behavior was predetermined by a chain of causal events behind their control. “If people had the ability to act consciously in their own self-interest, they would never purchase, let alone consume, this food. The fact that Jimmy John’s sells over 700,000 sandwiches a day proves that we exist in a clockwork universe where every action is foreordained by the initial conditions established at the time of the Big Bang. Ultimately, free will, like the existence of alfalfa sprouts on Jimmy John’s menu, is merely an illusion.” At press time, the researchers announced that the deterministic cosmos had once again led them to purchase a 30-piece party box of Bootlegger Clubs.
LONDON – In the wake of Keir Starmer’s resignation as PM, Labour Party officials have announced a plan to select Canada’s Mark Carney as party leader and Prime Minister. “It’s obviously a huge honour and one I’m happy to say yes to,” said Carney. “Having spent the last 14 months in a similar, albeit much […]
Reruns commence tomorrow but I did draw a new cover for the story. My intention had been to reprint Murder She Writes this year, and the “15th Anniversary Edition” features many small changes (fixing slapdash lines and colouring done at high speed – nothing you’ll actually notice) and one filler page from the print edition where I made it into a proper page that could run online. You’ll be able to spot that one. See you here tomorrow. Comics will run Monday-Thursday for the next eight weeks.
15th anniversary edition, I know. This story is from 2011. Upsetting. It’s also the best selling self-published book I ever put out. I hope you enjoy reading it again.
This is part of a series of seasonal horoscopes inspired by works of art and informed by author Nancy Douthey’s performance and storytelling-based Table Top Tarot. Hear about Douthey’s interest in tarot as a creative future building practice here.
ARIES
Paws Tarot
Imagine when you open your eyes each morning or after a long nap; you dear Aries are the awakening. In the body you rule the head, eyes, and the brain — the spark of awareness, the birthplace of the powerful thought, “I AM.” Go ahead (pun intended) and set that alarm for 4:30 a.m. to remember who you are and call a friend before the world fully stirs, just to share that unmistakable Aries enthusiasm and zest for life — if you dare.
This season Aries you’re on the top, just like your physical placement suggests!
Your card of advice is the Six of Cups. You might be thinking about the past and the people that have influenced you, shared knowledge or a moment of an unexpected gift that symbolically holds the story and the feeling of love. Remember. And then pass something on this season of your own. Offer that special gift or share that wisdom-holding story that has been well earned. This season your generosity will be your legacy.
Dream-Gift: Imagine a beautiful box floating to you from the clouds. Open it. See what’s inside. It might just be a color you haven’t thought of in a while. Or a scene from that long ago vacation.
A work by Mel Chin in “Living Score” at PAC Art Residency
Art Experience Recommendation: Mel Chin, Living Score at PAC Art Residency, 1919 Whitney St., Houston, TX 77006
TAURUS
Paws Tarot
Taurus, take a moment to imagine the deep heavy breath of the bull. I love starting with your symbol because it holds all the information. You rule the ears, nose, mouth, and throat — the senses that allow us to savor life most intimately. Through you we take in the luxurious experiences of delight, never to be rushed. In fact, just thinking about Taurus energy has me suddenly craving ice cream. You too?
This season, Taurus, your card of advice is the Four of Wands. Another moment in time full of love and connection. Nurture the commitments in your life and celebrate the beauty and stability of your co-creating with that special someone or your entire community.
It might be wedding season. (Just stating the obvious, I didn’t pick the card!)
Dream-Bouquet: Go gather up flowers or a bunch of objects or food items and make a bouquet, a still-life, or better yet gather your friends.
Art Experience Recommendation: Marisol Valencia, No Longer, Not Yet at Art League Houston, 1953 Montrose Blvd., Houston, TX 77006
GEMINI
Paws Tarot
Gemini, Gemini — I say it twice because I know, you know. Two arms. Two hands. Two lungs: this is your rulership made physical. Your expressive communication is like the wind itself, moving through your voice and your hands. Like a bird, you create lift-off from imagination alone, translating fleeting ideas into conversations, creations, and connections.
This season, Gemini, you have the Seven of Swords. You may be generating so many ideas, opportunities, and conversations that not every path can be pursued at once. Trust your instincts. You have your hands full while everyone else may be enjoying vacation views. Now is the time to make your moves. Keep going, Gemini; use your skills!
Dream-Expansion: Close your eyes. Imagine your lungs. Fill them up with pink air and empty them with purple. Expand. Contract. One minute.
Eduardo Portillo, “IC2948,” 2026, acrylic on shaped canvas, 32 x 22 x 5 inches. Image courtesy of Barbara Davis Gallery
Art Experience Recommendation: Eduardo Portillo, IC2948, 2026, acrylic on shaped canvas, 32 x 22 x 5 inches, on view at Barbara Davis Gallery, 4411 Montrose, Suite D, Houston, TX 77006
CANCER
Paws Tarot
You are the flow — the water of emotions and life itself. The mother embodied and expressed through the breasts, chest, and the pericardium, the fluid-filled sac in which our heart is suspended and held. You are the protective waters that guide us, even through tear-filled eyes. If anyone can hold the emotional tides of our time, it is you who will lead.
This season, Cancer, the Chariot card awaits and calls forth your inner leadership into outward expression. Not only will you lead, but you are the example of deep intuitive trust. You move through instinct and emotional intelligence. Don’t be surprised when others start to follow you anywhere you go, you’ve got the sensitivity it takes to hold the group.
Dream-Wave: Ride the tide. Stay awake through a full 24 hours and notice your ability to meet each moment as it comes. Practice being fully in your Cancer nature — make it a slumber party and invite a friend who “can’t relate.”
Art Experience Recommendation: Mark Flood, Props, on view at Cat Spring Collection, 4411 Montrose, Houston, TX 77006
LEO
Paws Tarot
I would say close your eyes, but, Leo, you don’t need to close your eyes to feel your spine or imagine the roaring sound coming from your own heart. You rule the solar plexus, spinal column, heart, and upper back. You likely feel it in your body just reading those words. Feel that power rise, bringing you upright and open. Stretch! This central fire is not just symbolic — the Leo heat warms us all.
And this season, the fire is fanned, fanned with the Lovers card.
Use this season to connect, express and be in LOVE. Spend time in the sun and receive its warmth. If you can’t feel it within, or with the person right next to you, get out there and remind yourself you still know how to sweat — it’s your natural inclination. Maybe even leave the sunscreen at home and burn, baby, burn. (For entertainment purposes only, I am not a doctor.)
Turn it up, Leo — you have another season where all your friends will roll their eyes, but you’ve got permission to glow!
Dream-Double: Close your eyes and imagine a lion. Give the lion a name. Greet it with your heart. Let it jump into your arms.
Vian Sora, “Hanging Gardens,” 2022, oil and mixed media on canvas
Art Experience Recommendation: Vian Sora, Outerworlds at Asia Society Texas, 1370 Southmore Blvd., Houston, TX 77004
VIRGO
Paws Tarot
Recall the complexity of being the ruler of the plants! Here you meet yourself again in the intricate systems of the body and internal flora of the intestines, ruling all things digestive while connecting deeply to the nervous system. Thankfully, it is your very nature to move through complexity with ease. Let’s break it down, shall we?
This gut check is our “second brain.” If you are reading for a Virgo and you are not a Virgo, listen to your Virgo friend — they can navigate nearly any blockage that comes their way. In other words, best to keep your Virgo friends close.
This season, Virgo, your card of advice is the Sun, inspiring your growth, and like a plant and all of life something we can’t live without. Spend time with things that literally light you up. And be aware: when you are not in hot pursuit of expansion, expansion may find you this season. Take time alone to enjoy your own company — or make that amazing chocolate cake recipe from scratch you’ve been thinking about. Think: bold bright moves, Virgo. Throw on that bold shirt in the back of the closet and shine!
Dream-Green: Lie in the grass with arms and legs spread like a star. Listen to the sky. Write for 10 minutes.
Paul Lee, “In Erosion,” 2026, wire mesh, acrylic paint, wire, sandpaper on black foil, silkscreen ink on wood panel, 20 x 20 x 45 inches. Image courtesy of David Shelton Gallery
Art Experience Recommendation: Paul Lee, In Erosion, 2026, wire mesh, acrylic paint, wire, sandpaper on black foil, silkscreen ink on wood panel, 20 x 20 x 45 inches, on view at David Shelton Gallery, 4411 Montrose, Ste. B, Houston, TX 77006
LIBRA
Paws Tarot
Libra, you are designed to bring balance to the world. This gift of equilibrium lives within the physical body through the kidneys, appendix, lumbar region, hips, buttocks, and the vasomotor system allowing the body to be steady and strong.
You regulate the body’s fluids, and this season your card of advice is the Moon, asking you to balance the emotions of the collective.
As emotional tides and cycles move through your season, prepare your well-equipped navigation system to be fully engaged! You will be in high demand to help people find their footing once again. Your harmonic inner nature is like a storehouse for good bacteria — a steady presence people instinctively seek when things feel uncertain or out of balance. The whole world wants what you’ve got.
With this moon card, drink lots of water as you talk others off the edge. Take time-outs, even if that means hiding away in the dark and pretending you are out of town. We understand.
Dream-Night: Go for a long night walk this season. Alone. Look up.
Art Experience Recommendation: House of Pies, 3112 Kirby Drive, Houston, TX 77098, Open 24 hours
SCORPIO
Paws Tarot
Sex & Death to the Age 14 by Spalding Gray rings the bell for Scorpio’s physical placement within the reproductive and excretory systems. As the sign of death and regeneration you hold the deepest mysteries of life itself — the cycles of endings, beginnings, and the passage into the unknown.
This season, dear Scorpio, you are reminded that no matter how powerful you become, the realities of being human remain. Holding the ultimate power with the Emperor card in your corner, you must still eat, sleep, drink water, and tend to your earthly needs. You are not a god — at least not yet!
Ground yourself in the imperfection of the journey. With your innate ability to see in the dark, you can illuminate the way for others with your perspective, insight, and wisdom. Use your power this season knowing it is the transformational gift we all need to create something new. People will gravitate towards you this season in unexpected ways. Be ready for the attention.
Dream-Courage: Pretend you are on top of the mountain that took weeks to climb. Feel the accomplishment. Make your victory move! Strike a power pose! Hold for 30 seconds.
An installation view of “Nomos” at Revolver Galería in Houston, 2026. Photo: Francisco Ramos
Art Experience Recommendation: Nomos, A Group Exhibition curated by Reynier Leyva Novo, at Revolver Galeria, 2012 Peden St., Houston, TX 77019
SAGITTARIUS
Paws Tarot
My centaur friends, you take us where we want to go. Like a trail of smoke, you are boundless, moving with freedom and ease. Your fiery energy rules the hips, hamstrings, quadriceps, sciatic nerve, and the femoral and iliac arteries. You are the hunter — always sensing the next horizon. Are you feeling that energy? Go for a walk. Go for a run.
If you have been going stir-crazy with restless energy, searching for a place to aim that arrow, this season with the Ten of Wands you will have found solid ground to build, build, build. Expect to be busy, inspired, and deeply engaged. And congratulations — you will finally get a good night’s sleep.
Take this season to gather, organize and move all the pieces that will construct your future winters. You are not just shooting for the stars; you are building the stairway for others to join you. Stay focused. This is a chop-wood, carry-water season, and when you get to the other side you will be stronger for every bit of heavy lifting.
Dream-Fly: Read a book that transports you to new worlds of imagination before bed.
You will need it, given your new found commitment to stay put. 30 minutes, nightly.
Mary Ellen Carroll, “No. 9 (My Death is Pending…Because.) Night of Destruction with Fireworks Demolition Derby” (production still), 2017. Photo: Michele Asselin
Art Experience Recommendation: Mary Ellen Carroll: How to Talk Dirty and Influence People at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston, 5216 Montrose Blvd., Houston, TX 77006
CAPRICORN
Paws Tarot
You, Capricorn, are the structure, the bones. The system that allows us to bend, move and endure. Think of the joints and knees that support every step forward. You connect us to ourselves and to the systems around us, giving us the ability to navigate with ease, purpose, and steadiness.
This season, Capri, your grounded nature is calling for a fresh perspective. You are the master of the material world, and with the Page of Pentacles, you are being invited to begin again. If you are settled into a routine or if life is starting to feel like the same old, same old, consider this your permission slip to take a risk.
Book a spontaneous trip to Vegas, dare I say join a group activity. Do anything that will give you a new perspective even if it is you wake up wondering what new thing will happen today!? Stay open in wonder.
Dream-Locate: Close your eyes and imagine where else you might be located. It could be in the world or another time or maybe in another dimension or as someone else all together.
Norwood Viviano, “Recasting Houston,” 2019, kiln-cast glass, 14 x 14 x 13 inches. Photo: Tim Thayer/RM Hensleigh
Art Experience Recommendation: Clutch City Craft at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
Custom Grilz by Alam Lalani, (Grillz by Prince)
AQUARIUS
Paws Tarot
Aquarius, you walk us into the future and lead us into the unknown, ruling the ankles and the lower legs. We can’t make it without you. Your natural urge to move forward is the energy that carries humankind into the future, circulating innovative technologies, ideas, and possibilities. In many ways, this reflects the circulatory system — constantly moving, connecting and sustaining life.
This season, dear Aquarius, you have the King of Swords suggesting you ground those brilliant wild ideas with details: dates, caterers, and lined up childcare with a clear plan. Yes, beauty is everywhere and the mystery is waiting to unfold, but this season calls for structure as much as vision. Chart your territory. And gather the right partners to help bring your ideas into reality.
Dream-call: Imagine the sound of a phone ringing. Pick it up!
Vargas-Suarez Universal, “Expedition 36 Extra Vehicular Activity 22.6 Hrs. 7 Min.,” 2013, aluminum oil enamel on polypropylene canvas, 40 x 60 inches. Image courtesy of Barbara Davis Gallery
Art Experience Recommendation: Vargas-Suarez Universal, Expedition 36 Extra Vehicular Activity 22.6 Hrs. 7 Min., 2013, aluminum oil enamel on polypropylene canvas, 40 x 60 inches, on view at Barbara Davis Gallery, 4411 Montrose Blvd., Suite D, Houston, TX 77006
PISCES
Paws Tarot
Pisces most of the time, people may perceive you as awe and wonder, fluid and sensitive and they wouldn’t be wrong. But remind them you rule the feet, connecting you to the deep listening of Mother Earth and the subtle shifts of the environment around you. This connection gives you access to unseen information, helping you navigate new territories with intuition and grace.
You also rule the lymphatic and immune systems, the body’s protectors that filter and defend against toxins.
This season, Pisces, you have the Ace of Pentacles. Gold seems to rain into your world — call it sunshine or coin but call it abundance either way. And with that gold comes something out of the blue, a surprise, and with your natural sensitivity you will know it before you see it! Pay attention!
Dream-float: Lay on land or water and feel yourself weightless. Let go.
David Kelley: I See No Sea
Art Experience Recommendation: David Kelley: I See No Sea at Basket Books & Art, 115 Hyde Park Blvd., Houston, TX 77006
Object permanence: MPAA blasted in WSJ; RFID skimmers; Post-Soviet inventions; "Farthing"; "Dirty, Drunk and Punk"; Dweb v founders' frailty; Tax cheating made simple; Oregon v corporate medicine.
Perhaps you've encountered the stories about Dialog, an extremely weird secret society associated with Peter "Antichrist" Thiel, whose membership data and details have leaked this week:
By all appearances, this is a comically creepy, awful talking-shop for the Epstein Class. It's not all that surprising, in retrospect, to learn that all these terrible people were in a group chat, secretly assigning ratings to one another, and periodically gathering to have tedious panels about, I dunno, "race science" or whatever.
I'm on the oligarchy beat, so stories about Dialog have been popping up in my RSS feed for the past week or so, but it wasn't until last night that I made a connection.
A year or two ago, I got an invite to speak at an event. This is normal, I get a lot of these and I do a lot of public speaking. I'm good at it, and it's a good way for me to reach people and get them energized about the issues I care about. Sometimes, I do these talks for free. Sometimes I get paid.
When I first glanced at this speaking offer, I thought, "Huh, I guess this is one to send on to my speaking agent," because the names the offer dropped were a bunch of rich people, and so I assumed that they were having some kind of summit and looking for a keynoter. Then I read a little more carefully and realized they – these billionaires and their lickspittles! – wanted me to pay them, thousands of dollars, so that I could shlep my ass to some luxury resort in order to have the privilege of speaking to them.
I came up as a science fiction writer, and at some point, every sf writer learns "Yog's Law," coined by James D Macdonald when he was running the science fiction forum on GEnie, under the screen name "Yog Sysop":
In other words, whenever you, as a creative worker, are approached by someone who wants to "help" you with your work, and they want you to pay them, they are a scammer, preying upon your essential human need to communicate with others. Run away.
Which is what I did. I deleted the email.
Then, I got another one a couple months later. Ugh. I wrote a mail rule that auto-deleted anything from that sender and promptly forgot about the matter. Until last night.
I just had a look at my Trash folder and yup, these people are still emailing me in hopes that I will give them thousands of dollars to join their weird secret society.
I don't know if everyone who joined Dialog got an email like the one I was sent, but if you want to understand how at least some of those people ended up on those membership rolls, well, now you know: they were schmucks who'd never learned Yog's Law.
"Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com.
"Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com
Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor.
"The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE.
"The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING.
A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING
This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.
Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.
"When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla
READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.
The paint is peeling from Washington's Reflecting Pool after the renovation ordered by President Donald Trump, and he is now alleging that someone damaged it intentionally.
ALT
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}