Odds and Ends

Sinéad and Sneakers and Sulfasalazine

Hey there!

I wanted to share a reel that I made with CapCut, as I try to get better about social media. The sound is weird; there’s music when I posted it to TikTok, but that apparently doesn’t export. Martha Bayne and I are excited about the paperback release of our anthology, Nothing Compares to You: What Sinéad O’Connor Means to Us, and she wrote a wonderful update piece, “No Other Troy,” with links to the essays that are available online.

I am enrolled in a book promotion class this fall with Leigh Stein, who is amazing, and you should check out her Substack, which is so smart and helpful. I’m trying to learn to promote books, but selling things is about as pleasant as asking for money. When I used to do nonprofit fundraising, a smart trainer said that asking for a donation was giving the potential donor an opportunity to be involved, to learn, and to feel good. I’ve also been in awe of what Lu Chekowsky is doing to promote her amazing book, Don’t Buy What I’m Selling (and which I blurbed). And there’s the weirdness of seeing my face on video, which I guess is not really different from reading my own writing over and over. Anyway, I am slowly working on just doing it anyway. I think for me the core thing is that I don’t want to annoy people. Is that just a reflection of my desire to be liked by everyone, all the time? That’s misguided, Sonya. So ON I GO TO ANNOY. Maybe I will stare into the mirror creepily every morning and tell myself, “I have things to say.” Ewwww. I blame capitalism, but also, even in another economic system, I would still have to stand up and say, "Read this!” Or don’t, I don’t care. (hahahaha)

Things Making Me Happy

1. I have a piece, “An Essay Broken, Open,” in Disability, Access, and the Teaching of Writing (open source). https://wacclearinghouse.org/books/swr/disability/. Edited by the Disability, Access, and the Teaching of Writing Collective: Stephanie K. Wheeler, Tracy Ann Morse, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Molly E. Ubbesen, Craig A. Meyer, Elizabeth Brewer, Lauren Obermark, Bre Garrett, and Dev K. Bose, WAC Clearinghouse, 2026.

2. And… I am grateful every day for Sulfasalazine, an older disease-modifying drug, which comes in sort-of large orange pills that apparently fell out of favor because of their size. After I take them, my fingers are orange, and I find orange splotches on the walls around the house because I will grab the door jamb on my way to washing my hands. I love those orange splotches. I’ve been taking this pill for about four years, and it really helps relieve pain and has really added to my quality of life. The molecule is apparently “too big to be absorbed in the small intestine. Bacteria in the colon cleave the azo bond and liberate the active compound 5-aminosalicylic acid,” which as my rheum doc explained, means that it doesn’t wreck your stomach. Instead your friendly bacteria make it into a drug in your lower intestines!

3. I have switched to the Vivaldi browser from Chrome, and it’s cool! I’m still learning but it has ways to save all of your tabs into different “Workspaces.” Bonus points that it’s an independent company in Iceland and Norway that blocks trackers and takes privacy seriously.

Sneaker Recycling

I’ve written about how lovely this quiet summer has been, partly because I’m doing long-delayed things around the house, trying to organize and toss things. I go through so many pairs of sneakers because I try to walk a lot, so I was glad to find two outlets that will accept and re-use/recycle tennis shoes; 300 million pairs go to landfills each year!

Sneakers for Good: Just go to this site and request a free mail-in bag, and you can send them 6-8 pairs of sneakers that are still in good condition and wearable, and they will make sure they get a second life with someone who needs them by reselling them in shops run internationally; this program “supports over 4,000 families in our network across 21+ developing countries.” Proceeds from sneakers also support a charity that you can choose on the website, or you can contact them directly to design a fundraiser for a nonprofit in your community.

GotSneakers: This free mail-in bag will accept sneakers of good and iffy quality, and you can get paid for the sneakers that are still in good condition, which are “re-used in second hand markets.” The sneakers that can’t be reused are separated into raw materials “to create new products—from countertops and shelves to insoles, laces, and footwear.”

And really, anything I can do on an average day to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem is good for my heart and my head.

xoxo

S