Go Get Vaccinated

Welcome to the Stone Soup Weekly Digest! This is where I share what I'm up to and some of my favorite things from around the internet. Subscribe to Stone Soup to get this in your inbox every week.

I saw this today and thought of you, friends. 

I’ve been very sick this past week and a half or so. I’m still quite ill, but on the mend. I don’t have much to say about it, unless you’re one of the handful of people in my life who I periodically text to say I feel so bad and want to hear something gross? I have had much cause, during this interlude, to be grateful for the people who take care of me in all their various ways. 

That includes you, if you subscribe to this newsletter. We know each other like a dotted line. For some of us, the dots are so close together as to look like a single piece; for some of us, the dots are far apart. That doesn’t undo the line, though. Thank you for being here with me.

Go get vaccinated! You can get an updated COVID-19 vaccine, a flu shot, and a monkeypox vaccine. And you absolutely should get all three if you can. The new COVID variant is brutal; the flu is awful; monkeypox is in the continental United States and it has a 10% mortality rate and friends, it is not fun. 

• Find pharmacies near you and get help scheduling appointments
• Stay up to date on the latest information from the CDC
• Educate your communities with free educational materials

For the past several months, I have been sharing links and resources with you to support our neighbors in Palestine, who have been suffering a brutal and sustained attack by the government of Israel. In addition to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, violence is mounting in the West Bank. We have the power to help the people who need us right now. Here are a few ways you can do your part, and a few ways to help that remain evergreen.

• Support the United Nations relief efforts in Palestine here
• Donate to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) here
• Purchase from Palestinian-owned business – here’s 15 Palestinian brands, 8 Palestinian Etsy Shops, and a portal full of Palestinian goods 
• 6 ways you can support Palestinians in Gaza
• Gaza Funds, a website that gathers crowdfunding campaigns from people in need in Gaza
• Check out Operation Olive Branch, which helps fund medical evacuations
• Connect with Jewish Voice for Peace
• Use Resistbot to contact your representatives

Finally! You may be aware that in November, the United States will hold an election. If you are eligible to vote in this election, it’s absolutely vital that you confirm your voter registration status. Voter rolls are being purged and tampered with on a regular basis throughout the United States - 1.1 million voters have been purged in Texas alone - so being previously registered to vote is not a guarantee of your current status. 

• Click here to learn your current voter registration status
• Click here to register to vote in your state

Currently Reading: Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby

Earlier this month, Madeline wrote a wonderful essay for Stone Soup on genre and what it means to be more than one thing at a time. You should go read it. 

Luckily, those who survived have found a beautiful, fully-stocked private palace, with all the latest technological updates (though one without connection to the outside world). The house, however, has more secrets than anyone might have guessed, and a much darker reason for having been built and left behind.

Kristen, the hyper-competent "chief emotional manager" (a position created by her eccentric, boyish billionaire boss, Sumter) is trying to keep her colleagues stable throughout this new challenge, but staying sane seems to be as much of a challenge as staying alive.

Being a woman in tech has always meant having to be smarter than anyone expects--and Kristen's knack for out-of-the-box problem-solving and quick thinking has gotten her to the top of her field. But will a killer instinct be enough to survive the island?

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

 Featured New Release: HUM by Helen Phillips

In a city addled by climate change and populated by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. In a desperate bid to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance.

Seeking some reprieve from her recent hardships and from her family’s addiction to their devices, she splurges on passes that allow them three nights’ respite inside the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals flourish. But her insistence that her son, daughter, and husband leave their devices at home proves far more fraught than she anticipated, and the lush beauty of the Botanical Garden is not the balm she hoped it would be. When her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives as she works to restore the life of her family.

Barnes & Noble | Bad River Website | Local Library | Find an Indie Bookstore

If you’re a paying subscriber, drop by the Stone Soup Supper Club! I’m so sorry to have had to miss our coworking date, but we’ll see each other soon. In the meantime, tell me what you like to eat when you’re sick!

—Gailey