Join us tomorrow night at 6 pm PST / 7 pm PST for this special literary event celebrating the release of MOTHER! by Summer Stewart, which is a genre-defying collection of poetry and essays that interrogates what it means to be made—and remade—as a woman, dismantling the idea that identity is self-determined, revealing instead how it is shaped through expectation, silence, and survival. This virtual event is FREE & OPEN to the public, and you can join here: https://csupueblo.zoom.us/j/92761376436
The house is cold, always. I pile on afghans, comforters, my small body weighted to the bed. When I close my eyes, my mother’s voice: "We’re living in the last days.” When I close my eyes, my father somersaults into darkness, erupts into flame, evaporates until only his wide green eyes remain as true believers watch from the sidelines of paradise. Then the scent of Pall Malls drifts up the stairs, extricating me from the cinema of destruction. I reach my hand through the hyperborean air, stretch my fingertips high enough to graze my mother’s prayers and my father’s exhalations.—"Armageddon" by @darcischummer in case you missed it #armageddon #house #cold #mother #lastdays #father #truebeliever #flame #pallmall #destruction #micromemoir
Another successful weekend of being a lifer: Dead Pioneers at the Steel City Music Showcase, and Clusterfux, Deathwish (WI), and DRI at Black Sheep. Good times with friends from CO and WI.
Kitchen remodel = nearly complete. I did NOT do this myself, except for the paint, the shelves, and then coordinating the project, which honestly felt more exhausting than doing the work itself at some points. Some things I learned:
-DO NOT hire @loweshomeimprovement to remodel your kitchen. Their designers are not well-trained, and when you need help, you won’t know who to ask because you’ll just be dealing with a bunch of different subcontractors. The cabinet installers told me that their designers routinely make design errors, which is what happened to me. The installers spent 12 hours at my house blasting a variety of butt rock, pop country, and classic rock while trying to Tetris the cabinets into some logical order. (They are heroes, imo.)
-DO make sure you realize the project will take longer than you think. I started this in June 2025.
-DO have a clear plan for functioning without a fully functional kitchen.
-DO advocate for yourself & what you want. These projects are expensive, and speaking up if you aren’t happy is important.
It turns out that heaven is filled with women calling themselves CASTRATOR playing anti-Christian old school death metal. I was surprised but not. I always knew I’d end up there one day, too. Also, Panopticon, Chat Pile, my friend Mike Zucollo and me, and Blood Incantation! Solid metal Friday in Denver. Plus I got the new Tower LP at Chain Reaction Records, the local punk/metal store.
We had the BEST time at What’s Left Fest this weekend. There were so many awesome bands. Highlights for me were Castle Rat, ACxDC, Saintbreaker, Deathgrave, and WI friends Retox AD and Deathwish. The transition back to real life has been awful, and I am holding on to my neck pain as a special heavy metal souvenir.
