Carl B. Latro

 I keep intending to be better than a once-a-week blogger, but here we are on another Wednesday.

What am I doing with my life? Still much the same. I've added A-Ihsan mosque to the places I patrol, since, as discussed in previous posts, things drag on relentessly and so we are losing more and more volunteers. Very reasonably? As I told the folks at the Food Communists the other day, the only reason I'm still here is because I don't have a life to get back to!  

I did intend to tell you all the story of the day I was stalked by a drone as I watched over school children getting off buses. 


Image: A distant and blurry shot, but very clearly a drone.

It was maybe last Tuesday? But some time last week, I was at my usual spot waiting for the several buses that stop near my location to do their thing, when I noticed a drone buzzing around. I alerted dispatch and promised to try to get film or a still picture. Friends? I have now learned that it's a good thing that the resistance did not need me to be its archivist. This was the BEST shot I got despite the fact that at one point it hovered directly in front of me for several long seconds. Did I hit record? I thought I did! Instead, I was just pointing my phone at it. I now know that while I do have the presence of mind and wherewithal to have my camera pointed mostly in the right direction, I am, in fact, much more likely to take crystal clear video of the sidewalk than the clear and present threat. Sheesh.

In fact, I initally thought that all I got a picture of was something that looked like I took a picture of the sun. Luckily, I found this picture with a tiny dot on it that, once enlarged (like the picture above), you can clearly make out the shape of the drone.

Do I think it was ICE or the cops? 

I can't say for sure.

There are hobbiests out there with a poor sense of where to fly these things, but the reason I stand at the corner I do is because there is a very large concentration of Somali families that live in the nearby apartments.Also? That moment it chose to drop low and hover directly above and slightly in front of me was weird. I can't explain it, but it definitely exuded threat. Maybe it was a hobbiest trying to make sure I got a good look and thus would know that it was NOT a threat, but it "stared" at me until I waved. Then it finally flew off, like it wanted me to know that we saw each other.

Our various rapid response groups try to keep track of drones, because people think they see a lot of drones--though usually at night. I am pretty confident that I can spot the difference between an airplane, a helicopter, and a drone even at night, but, when it's just lights in the dark, I wouldn't swear to it. This was broad daylight, and there is no mistaking this for anything else. My picture isn't great, but it's a picture of a drone. Who it belongs to? Uncertain. But it was in a vulnerable neighborhood and spent a lot of time circling me and the school bus drop-off area.

Otherwise, despite a few lulls and the Food Communists trying to figure out a sustainable schedule that doesn't exhaust its volunteers or its funds, I still spend an hour or two packing groceries pretty much every day that they're open and in operation. Food is still flying out the door. Food insecurity is real? But, also there are plenty of people who are still trying to recover from Metro Surge, wages lost because of it, etc.

I did manage to read a couple of things, though!  Shawn needed me to go to the library pick up some Minnesota-centric cookbooks to be donated to the history center and, since I was there, I decided to peruse the manga section. I brought a bunch home. But, in the last couple of days I read  A Man Who Defies the World of BL by Konkici (Volume 1) and My Oh My, Atami-kun by Tanuma Asa. Both are lightly humorous, the first largely being a send-up of all the yaoi tropes. I actually like My Oh My, Atami-kun better because... well, largely because I'm a tough sell on comedy, generally, and part of me felt like A Man Who Defies the World of BL was asking me to lean into the supposed hilarity of trying to avoid catching Teh Gay and so it ended up feeling a touch homophobic. This sense was made worse by watching the first episode of the live-action TV show by the same name. My Oh My, Atami-kun also plays into the stereotypes a bit, by having Atami being the kind of gay who is constantly falling in love at first sight. But, there's a lot more found family stuff that's taken very seriously and some really great straight + gay friendships that are continuing throughout (I read the first volume that I got from the library and then immediately tracked down everything that's on the pirate sites. Whcih, shame on me, but I liked it that much.) 

My Thirsty Sword Lesbians game ended up being canceleld for the second time in as many months, but people were sick and some were travelling and had thought they could videocall in, but couldn't after all. Alas!

So, that's me. I'm just keepin' on keepin' on in the resistance and life. How's by you?