(and a recipe for breakfast burritos)
Hi there!
Because this is the first ever post on this blog, I feel obligated to explain what the hell I’m doing, what you can expect if you read these writings, etc., before I actually get into the post proper. So here’s the deal: I love to write. About politics, philosophy, tech, theology – I’m an eclectic kind of gal. The posts here are going to be all over the place. However, they’re all going to have at least one thing in common, because I also love to cook. At the bottom of every post, there’ll be a recipe I love making. And because I’m not an asshole, around the top of every post, there’ll be a link that lets you skip the blog post part and just get to the recipe.
If you want to skip to the recipe for my Arapahoe County breakfast burritos, click here.
Ever since I can remember, science fiction has had a special place in my life. When I got my first TV and VCR – an old RCA set from a literal dumpster – I watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan often enough that I wore out three VHS tapes of the movie. (I only went through 2 tapes of The Voyage Home, if you’re wondering.) My bookshelves have always been packed with a range of sci-fi novels, from Banks to Leckie, LeGuin to Jemisin.
A good bit of sci-fi does something special: using an imagined future, it paints our present in new colors, exposing the cracks in our society. Not every sci-fi book, movie, or TV series has to do that, of course. For every Octavia Butler, there are a dozen Kevin Andersons. But it’s the Butlers of the world, the LeGuins, Bankses, and Leckies, that stick with you. Because the best works of science fiction don’t let you walk away unchanged.
The anime series Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is one of those works of sci-fi that didn’t let me walk away unchanged. In the first season of Gundam 00, a group of high-tech rebels decide that war and armed conflict aren’t allowed on Earth anymore. Using their superior technology and firepower, they “intervene” in any armed conflict that starts, killing anyone on any side that doesn’t retreat and stop fighting. “Peace through overwhelming force” is an inherent contradiction, and one the series doesn’t simply ignore as the plot barrels forward.
In the climactic battle that concludes the first season of the show, Gundam 00‘s protagonists get what they want… sort of. The three major power blocs of Earth join forces, ending the three-way cold war that had been the status quo for years, to focus on eliminating the protagonists’ organization, Celestial Being. The Celestial Being forces lose the battle – badly. One of the four main protagonists is killed, and as he bleeds out in orbit over Earth, his last words are aimed at the planet below.
“All you people down there, are you really satisfied with a world like this?” he asks, knowing nobody can hear him. “As for me, I hate it.”
It’s just a couple minutes of television, but it’s stuck with me for years. Every time I see someone give up on their dream in advance, every time I hear the phrase “It is what it is,” those words come back to me. So much time and effort is spent convincing people that a better world isn’t possible – or worse, that a better world is impractical.
In the wake of the 2024 presidential elections here in America, we’re already seeing it. Despite Kamala Harris running with Bush-era conservative talking points, despite her campaign trumpeting endorsements from Dick “literal cartoon villain” Cheney, the pundit class is already saying Harris’ campaign was too “woke”. The call is ringing out from the offices of the New York Times and from the blogs of milquetoast centrists everywhere:
Throw queer people under the bus. Be harder on migrants. Stop banging the abortion drum so hard. Don’t call your opponents fascists. Lean right. Appeal to Republicans.
Or, in so many words, This is the way the world is. Learn to live with it.
Despite all the evidence showing the exact opposite, there are powerful voices trumpeting the idea that we just don’t live in a world where people want their neighbors to have human rights. That the American public, and the public of a lot of other countries, just wants cruelty, and who are we to stop them from getting it?
The world that the “centrists” among the Democratic party and the media establishment believe in is simple: Democracy is a failed experiment, human rights are a technicality, and catastrophic climate change is inevitable. The best they can think to give us is a softer blow, a kinder suffering. A spoonful of sugar to make the hemlock go down smoothly.
I don’t think that’s the world we live in. Truly, I don’t. But even if the sneering “anti-woke” pundits blaming Democrats’ election losses on pronouns were right, the conclusion wouldn’t be that we should just give up on trans people. Even if Democrats lost because they were too woke on the border, the conclusion wouldn’t be that we should support mass deportations.
Even if trans rights, abortion, climate resiliency, degrowth, freedom of and from religion, and multiculturalism were losing battles – and I don’t think they are – they’d still be worth fighting for.
I don’t know what the future looks like for America, or for trans people like myself, or for immigrants or refugees. There are a lot of battles ahead for all of us, in the courts and in the streets and in the state houses and city halls and police precincts. There’s a distinct possibility that we try our best to make a better world and fail.
But all you people out there, are you really satisfied with a world like this?
Personally, I hate it.
Arapahoe County Breakfast Burritos
Ingredients:
- Chorizo, 8 oz
- Important: use hard sausage chorizo, not the stuff that has a paste-like texture.
- Shredded potatoes
- If fresh, two medium-sized Russetts
- If frozen, 2 cups
- Green chiles, 1 can
- 8-inch flour tortillas, 8
- Large eggs, 5
- Queso fresco, 8 oz
- You can absolutely substitute a “Mexican 4-cheese blend” or similar.
- Powdered onion, 1/2 tsp
- Powdered garlic, 1/2 tsp
- Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, 3/4 tsp
- Black pepper, 1/4 tsp
- Smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp
- Curry powder, 1/4 tsp
- Canola or peanut oil
Directions:
Heat up a frying pan to medium heat and add the shredded potatoes in an even layer. Add canola oil until the top of the layer of shredded potatoes barely peeks out, then season the potatoes with Lawry’s salt, black pepper, powdered onion, powdered garlic, and curry powder. Stir to ensure even spice distribution.
Let the potatoes crisp up, about 8 minutes, then flip them and cook another 8. While the potatoes are frying, in a small bowl, crack the eggs and scramble them with a whisk until they have an even yellow coloring. Slice each link of chorizo in half, then peel the meat out of the casing. Take a knife and dice the chorizo into pieces about a quarter of an inch on each side.
When the potatoes are cooked to a crispy dark brown color, drain the oil from the pan and pour the oil-less potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
Keep the pan on medium and add the diced chorizo. Let it cook down for about 3 minutes, then pour in the scrambled eggs. Stir the eggs gently until they’ve cooked solid, then remove the pan from heat and pour the chorizo and egg mixture into the mixing bowl with the potatoes.
Add the green chiles from the can, mix the contents of the bowl thoroughly, and set out your tortillas.
In the center of each tortilla, spoon out about 1/3 cup of the burrito mixture, then sprinkle your cheese on top. Fold the sides of the tortilla in and roll, until your burrito is completely wrapped.
This recipe typically makes between 5 and 8 burritos, each of which is a complete serving.