Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Mailbag

mailcall
 
Jobi e-mailed, "Just want to say, especially after Christmas edition, too much is pushed off on Ava and C.I."

We agree.  We didn't intend for it to got that way.  If you missed it, the last edition was Ava and C.I. and Stan, Ann, Rebecca and Trina joined in to help out.  We -- Dona, Jess, Jim and Ty -- planned to help.  Or intended to.  The problem was no one planned.  Ava and C.I. did what they usually do.  They started their piece on the media (that they do every week) early in the morning on Sunday and were done with it in about four hours.  (Researching on BILLBOARD and counting added to the time they spent.)  Then they said goodbye to one another (Ava's home is next to C.I.'s) and Ava went straight to sleep while C.I. got some posts for THE COMMON ILLS in the queue and then went to sleep.  They thought we'd be calling later that day.  We didn't.  (And Jess didn't care to.  Jess lives with Ava and their child.)  By Sunday night, Ava and C.I. thought, "Well, they're going to say something Christmas Day."  By Christmas Day Night, they feared we were going to propose working Tuesday night to which they say, "Oh, hell no."  So they started working on trying to do a quick edition.  We just spend too much time with family and friends enjoying the holiday and they got stuck with the edition.  We'll plan better next time.


Still on last week's edition, Rhonda notes all the music listened to while working on the last edition was Diana Ross.  

Yes, Ava and C.I. usually listen to Diana when working on their media piece each week.  That's why Diana always has at least one spot.  All Diana?  That tends to happen -- check the archive -- when Ava and C.I. steer an edition.

Bradley e-mailed, "Where are the book discussions?"  

We're not sure yet if we'll be doing those in 2024.  How it works is that a community member posts a review at their site and then Ava and C.I. speak with them for the book discussion here.  How it also works is that community members vote on the books of the year for Martha and Shirley's yearly summary.  Once ballots are out -- for the book you liked most in the year -- we stop reviewing.  
 

Which brings up the next question.  Colin e-mailed that he was glad Ava and C.I. noted Ryan Grim's book in "Media: The shell game continues."  "But where was the review of it?"

It ran in the Saturday before of POLLY'S BREW -- a community newsletter.  That was the last day for book reviews in the community because the ballots went out the next day.  Many book reviews appear in the community newsletters.  And Ava and C.I. write for everyone of the newsletter's (the gina & krista round-robin, POLLY'S BREW, HILDA'S MIX and LA PAZ) each week.  So there are topics they address there and they're also on a book review rotation for each one of those newsletters.  

Teadore writes, "Can you please up your music content?  Even if you're just reposting Kat's music reviews every time, I'd appreciate it."

We would too.  We've got a music feature planned for next edition.  We'll see if we can do one music feature each month in 2024.

What's the weirdest thing to you about the transdebate?


Ty, Ava and C.I. have noted how strange it is that 'concerned' people keep whining about trans women competing with women but that no one seems 'concerned' about trans men competing with men -- in football, in boxing, in whatever.  

Best e-mail address is common_ills@yahoo.com.