Automated updates: 2022-01-22
This commit is contained in:
John Colagioia
parent
f8d5234cca
commit
e5d98f939b
|
|
@ -56,9 +56,11 @@ Since this wasn't entirely about the money---though I'll obviously happily save
|
|||
|
||||
**Update, 2021-12-16**: I can no longer recommend (or use) BillFixers in good faith. While I don't yet have all the facts, they appear to have "protected" my account with a PIN, not given it to me, possibly lost it, and then blamed my "refusal" to provide it to them for their delay. Or they're lying about the need, since the provider website doesn't list a PIN. When I requested a change to my Internet package, in addition to the PIN, they asked me to provide priorities---rather than targeting the specific package---because they bill on *intent*, rather than overall results. And when I pointed this out, I received a snotty non-apology about how sorry they are that I "feel that way," and how the problems have all been my responsibility to solve. Therefore, I now believe that you're better off looking up how to negotiate bills for yourself and setting aside the time to do so, since the company will take you almost as much time *and* charge you for the privilege *and* may cause you grief along the way without claiming responsibility while they change their story.
|
||||
|
||||
**Update, 2022-01-22**: Having since investigated on my own, I should note two things, before never thinking about BillFixers again. First, I was easily able to confirm that BillFixers lied; there was no PIN required to access the account, though the technician encouraged me to set one. Second, because of their delaying tactics, BillFixers actively put work into failing to secure more than $1,500 in incentives for me on this task. I want to be clear that they didn't cost me any additional money---unless I choose to pursue the requested changes on my own, in which case I'll need to pay over a thousand dollars over the next year---but their unprofessional stance caused me to miss a significant opportunity. I could have made the call myself, of course, but on the basis that I can make these calls on my own, I *also* should never have worked with BillFixers in the first place.
|
||||
|
||||
Anyway, through their recommendation, I also shifted half of my electric bill to [Arcadia](https://arcadia.com/referral/?promo=john80854), which offsets my power usage through some magic juggling of now-cheaper renewable energy somewhere else in the country. It's the same price (slightly more, if I decide to replace my full bill), but ideally, it'll register with my electric company to invest in renewable energy and ultimately pulls some money from petroleum companies.
|
||||
|
||||
Those are referral links, by the way, in case anybody feels the need to bypass them. But you also won't hurt my feelings if you help me pay my bills by using their services...
|
||||
Those are both referral links, by the way, in case anybody feels the need to bypass them. But you also won't hurt my feelings if you help me pay my bills by using their services...
|
||||
|
||||
**Update, 2021-12-16**: I no longer understand what Arcadia is doing. After visiting their site this month (December), they appear to now want to charge me to manage my payments to my power company, and are even *vaguer* about what they actually do. I sent them an e-mail asking for clarification, since paying them a fee to pay my electric bill seems silly, if there isn't more to the model, and the absolutely do not transmit electricity generated in Texas to my home in New York, for a variety of physics and regulatory reasons. If they're just buying cheap [Renewable Energy Certificates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_Energy_Certificate_%28United_States%29) in Texas, that might not be worthwhile.
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
layout: post
|
||||
title: Free Culture Book Club — For the Fragile Muses...
|
||||
date: 2022-01-22 07:09:12-0500
|
||||
categories:
|
||||
tags: [freeculture, bookclub]
|
||||
summary: Discussing For the Fragile Muses
|
||||
thumbnail: /blog/assets/fragile-muses.png
|
||||
offset: -26%
|
||||
proofed: true
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
This week, our [Free Culture Book Club]({% post_url 2020-05-02-freeculture %}) reads *For the Fragile Muses...*
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
To give this series some sense of organization, here are some basic facts without much in the way of context.
|
||||
|
||||
* Full Title: *For the Fragile Muses...*
|
||||
* Location: <https://www.seattlestar.net/2017/07/for-the-fragile-muses/>, among other places
|
||||
* Released: Reports vary from 2012 to 2017
|
||||
* License: CC-BY
|
||||
* Creator: [D. Jason Fleming](https://blindslapstick.wordpress.com/)
|
||||
* Medium: Short story
|
||||
* Length: Approximately 2,500 words
|
||||
* Content Advisories: Implied violence, non-consensual drug use, blackmail
|
||||
|
||||
This should go without saying---even though I'm going to repeat it with every Book Club installment---but *Content Advisories* are not any sort of judgment on my part, just topics that come up in the work that I noticed and might benefit from a particular mood or head space for certain audiences. It's to help you make a decision, rather than a decision in and of itself.
|
||||
|
||||
## For the Fragile Muses...
|
||||
|
||||
Here's blurb for the e-book version of the story.
|
||||
|
||||
> Sometimes, the course of your life is set out firmly in your mind. Other times, it's set by the music you chance to hear in the middle of the night when you can't sleep. And other times...
|
||||
|
||||
And I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not get into the details on this one. Go read it now, if you haven't already. It's short enough to read in a sitting, and it's excellent.
|
||||
|
||||
## What Works Well?
|
||||
|
||||
The story of Jenny Wang is extraordinarily well done. I don't really have anything to say about that. I'm not speechless, but I'm fairly close.
|
||||
|
||||
Similarly, the plot twist turns this story from what could have been bland navel-gazing and reminiscing about some old classmate to what at least *could* be a much more adventurous story about someone protecting an entire community. It's also a character concept that I don't think that I've ever seen before, though there are at least echoes in Zen from [**if then else**]({% post_url 2021-11-13-else %}).
|
||||
|
||||
Honestly, while I'll quibble about some issues below, it's hard to say anything about the story, because it flows quickly, feels like something that should have already existed, and has the enormous plot twist that fits so well. So, while I talk a lot about the problems, the fact is, I'm utterly charmed by the story.
|
||||
|
||||
## What Works...Less Well?
|
||||
|
||||
While I love the premise of the story, and even a lot of the prose itself, it seems bizarre that we're being told the story of an Asian-American woman through...some self-absorbed white dude. To be fair, we're never *told* that he's white. But he starts his story talking about how he should've skipped college and worked his connections, because he has such a high IQ, and I assure you that nobody but white men talk like that.
|
||||
|
||||
More to the point, the story is really just listening to this guy talk. Again, the concept is great, but one side of a conversation doesn't *necessarily* mean that the guy is the hero he thinks he is. That is, because we never hear from Wang in her own words or actually see the "thought-criminal" do anything, it's almost as likely that this guy stalks musicians with a connection to his former friend and prevents them from getting deeper into the music industry, possibly violently.
|
||||
|
||||
## Opportunities
|
||||
|
||||
Fleming has published the story as an [e-book on Amazon <i class="fab fa-amazon"></i>](https://amzn.to/3FrDdFa), if you'd like to throw a dollar at him. At his blog---linked above, though there haven't been any updates in a few years---he also discusses other projects, and the blog itself has been released under a Free Culture license.
|
||||
|
||||
## What's Adaptable?
|
||||
|
||||
We seem to have a college referred to as "Northern Ohio University." I can't find a college or university by that name, so it's presumably original to the story, probably based on [Ohio Northern University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Northern_University). It's near Toledo and has a good reputation, though there are logistical problems, like the freshman dorms in North Quad being far from the main campus.
|
||||
|
||||
There's also the focus of the story, semi-famous pianist Genoa "Jenny" Wang. She mentors younger musicians, including the Sisters of Adversity.
|
||||
|
||||
And then there's our protagonist, of course, though he never gets a name. Whether he is exactly who he says he is or is thoroughly delusional is an open question, as I mentioned, but it's still a strong character concept either way.
|
||||
|
||||
## Next
|
||||
|
||||
Next week, we'll watch **Tex Montana Will Survive!**
|
||||
|
||||
While we wait for that, what does everybody else think about *For the Fragile Muses*? I'm obviously more pleased about this than I have about any of our other works in recent memory.
|
||||
|
||||
* * *
|
||||
|
||||
**Credits**: The header image is the [cover](https://www.deviantart.com/deejf/art/For-the-fragile-Muses-first-cover-650147531) of the e-book version of the story, by the author, released under the terms of the [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) license.
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue