Cool off, give [your husband] a break. – cop, just before woman’s murder
Since the Taliban doesn’t want anyone to hear these women play, it is my great pleasure to share the video as a big “fuck you”. The links above it were provided by Ryan Marino, Walter Olson, Nun Ya, Popehat, IncarcerNation, and Ryan Marino again, in that order.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
A Hennepin County [Minnesota cop was rewarded with a paid vacation for]…sexual[ly assaulting a woman while drunk]…Jared Sprunk…[was out drinking] on March 1…when the…[victim foolishly] invited him [along with a group] to a friend’s house…he [started acting up]…but [was too drunk] to drive…[so] she and her friends helped Sprunk into a bedroom downstairs so he could “sleep it off”…[he repaid her kindness by] clos[ing] the bedroom door while [she] was still inside…and…tried to [rape her. The friends responded to her]…screaming for help while pounding the door….they…escorted Sprunk upstairs and pushed him [outside]…after Sprunk a[ttacked one of them]…Sprunk…denied…[every]thing [to cops], despite [also] saying he [was too drunk to remember]…
…Walker County, Alabama…Sheriff Nick Smith…[presides over a chamber of horrors]. About 100 feet from [his office, screws]…jeered as [Anthony] Mitchell shivered in his own waste…A short walk from that cell…a g[ang] of [screw]s beat a man until one of their uniforms was soaked with his blood…In the infirmary down the hall, [screw]s pummeled a man so hard they broke bones…none of it has come back on Smith…despite…20 of his employees — nearly half the jail staff at the time of Mitchell’s death — [being] indicted in a sweeping federal investigation…13 [have already] pleaded guilty…One of the [thug]s who a[bduc]ted Mitchell [after his cousin Steve Mitchell foolishly called 911 on him] stomped on his groin as he lay handcuffed on the ground, telling him, “This is how we treat seizures in Walker County.” A [screw] tased Mitchell as he shivered in his cell…they [intentional]ly [denied] him [water and refused to allow him]…medical care…for two weeks. When they finally took him to the hospital, he was unconscious in]…the final stage of hypothermia…On Facebook…[Smith crowed that his thugs torturing a severely mentally ill man w]as a brave win….wh[ile] the…office [staff]…lied…to…his mother and sister [that] Mitchell was safely detoxing…
Google’s gluttonous [“]AI Overviews[” have wrought havoc on]…online media publications…[whose] web traffic…has dropped off significantly …At their peak, the media companies brought in 112 million site visits per month from Google users in the US. By January of this year, that number was down to a little under 50 million…Mashable fared the best, losing a grim 30 percent of its web traffic…Wired…lost 62 percent…[and] HowToGeek, The Verge, and ZDNet…each lost over 85 percent…[worst hit] is…Digital Trends, which went from 8.5 million clicks a month in March 2024 to a heartbreaking 264,861 in January 2026…a drop-off of 97 percent of US web traffic from Google…
You may remember that this started with “adult” and “mature” websites (such as this blog) being “downranked”, but as I repeatedly say, such attacks only start with those the Establishment demonizes.
Indonesia is [attempting] to block teenagers from social media apps, [try]ing [to] prevent anyone under 16 from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox…Dozens of other countries around the world — including…Canada, Germany and Brazil — have either banned or are considering bans on social media for [young adults using spurious]…reasoning [supported by buzzwords such as “]pornography[“]…and…[“]addictive algorithms[“]…Spain said it would ban anyone under 16 from using messaging apps…France also wants to ban [people] under 15 from social media, with President Emmanuel Macron blaming it for youth violence, and the United Kingdom is also mulling a…ban…in the US…Florida has a partial ban for [people] under 14, and California and New York are trying to regulate “addictive feeds.” Utah, Texas, and Arkansas have tried to require parental consent for minors to have social media accounts.
A Hennepin County [Minnesota cop ran amok]…in…a hospital [maternity ward]…in February. Dillon Field…was [estranged from]…his wife [due to prior abuse, but she foolishly allowed him to visit while she] was preparing to give birth…He started yelling at [her, so she]…asked that he leave, and his mother-in-law went to get a nurse…Field shoved her and tried to lock himself in the bathroom with his wife. [When] nurses responded…Field [fled]…and…the hospital…[was put] into lockdown. He…[was] charged with…domestic assault [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…
A diabetic Norwegian woman [married to a US citizen] who was a[bducted from her green card interview on November 17 by ICE thugs nearly died in a filthy cage because]…her requests for insulin were repeatedly ignored. Hanne Daguman…was advised by multiple immigration attorneys that [her visa expiring] “would not be an issue” due to [her marriage, but thugs ambushed her at her] green card interview…[dragged her away in chains and stole] her Continuous Glucose Monitor…she…could not safely eat without insulin…yet [was denied both insulin and contact with] a doctor until November 20…[at which point a] glucose test…[showed her blood sugar] was 508…[but was still given] insulin in [incorrect] dosages [and in]consistently…[despite becoming] severely ill…the available food was carbohydrate-heavy (such as rice, pasta and oats), which requires careful insulin dosing before and after. As that was not provided, Hanne lost 10 pounds in just nine days…she was [finally]…released on November 25 and was required to wear an ankle monitor until her court hearing on January 26. The case was [then immediately] terminated [because there were no grounds to arrest her in the first place]…
…Many have quickly embraced a term for [Facebook surveillance] devices that’s presumably sending…Mark Zuckerberg into paroxysms of fury: “pervert glasses”. “I’m taking a brave stance that may get me canceled: there is no reason for the pervert glasses to exist,” one user wrote. “Glad people are settling on the term ‘pervert glasses,’” another agreed. “Bonus points if you also say it while posting a picture of Mark Zuckerberg or call them Mark Zuckerberg’s pervert glasses”…Yet another [wrote]…“I would prefer technology to make it more difficult to skeez, creep or perv on the world. I would like tech to protect me from creeps, not smooth the runway for them”…
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Regular readers know that every Friday the Thirteenth, I ask those who aren’t sex workers to stand up for us. If you’re one of them, you already know the sorts of things I’m going to say; if you aren’t, you can simply go back and read the essay for the August 2021 occurence, which contained quotes and links for every occurrence of this particular day and date combination. And if you value all the work I’ve done fighting for sex workers over the past 16 years, a concrete sign of that (via continuing subscription or one-time donation) would not only be deeply appreciated, but also provide vital resources for the continuance of that work.
The first prohibitionist laws date to the late 19th century, but it was in the 20th that the concept…penetrated the minds of the general public so thoroughly that most took it for granted that for governments to tell people what they could consume, what they could own, and even what thoughts they could have…was not only normal, but desirable. – “Leaving the 20th Century”
If you find an article interesting, infuriating, or whatever, you can follow the thread of references back through similar articles, often for years, while marveling at the obsessive lengths and depths to which my librarian’s brain will go to impose order on chaos. – “Rabbit Hole”
Copsucking reporters waste considerable space quoting boss pigs oinking about how typical and representative cops aren’t really typical or representative. – “Creepy Coppers (#1418)”
I have never broken a promise to [Grace] in the past and I’m not going to start now merely because she’s not in a position to remind me. – “Diary 766“
…Prison counselor Richard MacLeod…repeatedly [raped] Andrea Nielsen…at Illinois’ Logan C[age Stack]…But…when her cellmate reported the abuse to prison investigator Todd Sexton and Warden Margaret Burke, the pair “formulated an outrageous plan to use her as unwitting ‘bait’ to try to catch MacLeod in the act…Sexton [would] stay late a few times, crawl around in the ceiling above the room MacLeod used to sexually assault Nielsen, and wait to jump down and intervene”…The plan [required]…MacLeod [to attack when Sexton was in his voyeur position, so of course it failed]…A jury found [Burke, Sexton, and MacLeod] all…liable and ordered them to pay Nielsen $19.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages…[but] the 7th Circuit…partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered a new trial on damages…for Sexton and Burke…to [reset the amount of damages]…MacLeod [coerced] Nielsen…[by threaten]ing [to deny] her calls with her 6-year-old daughter…he…[would] subject her to…[unprotected] vaginal and oral [rape when she came to his]…office [for the calls]…he [also]…threatened [to destroy her mail] and [put her in solitary confinement]…if she reported [him]…
In order to [ma]ke a b[ig social media show]…of its attack on Iran, the U.S. military [used a chatbot combined with]…Maven Smart System…built by…Palantir…to [pick victims] in Iran…Embedded into the system is Anthropic’s AI tool Claude, a technology that was banned by the Pentagon [on orders of the lunatic Secretary of Defense] last week…As planning for a potential strike in Iran was underway, Maven, powered by Claude, suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise location coordinates, and prioritized those targets according to importance…Claude has also been used in [inventing imaginary] terror plots and in the raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. But this is the first time it has been used in major war operations…Hours before the bombing in Iran began, [the mad emperor belch]ed he was banning government agencies from further using Anthropic’s tools…be[cause] the company [didn’t want]…the tools [used for] mass domestic surveillance and [murder robots]…The military will continue using its technology as it waits for a replacement to be phased in…
…the “Tillyverse” [is a cartoon] world [imagined for cartoon character]…Tilly Norwood…to [exist in with other cartoon characters who will “]build artificial acting careers[“]…Particle6…the [software company behind]…Tilly Norwood and its universe…has…recruited Amazon Executive Mark Whelan from Prime Video…and [the delusional nitwit cabal already imagines their cartoon as]…“a future global superstar”…[with “]humour[“, a “]daily life[“, “]career choices[“, and “]fans”…[in response to] SAG-AFTRA…[correctly pointing out] that Norwood is…“a character generated by a computer program”…Particle6…[developed an unnerving tic, spastically belching out nonsense buzzwords including] “rapid acceleration”…“AI talent”…and…“cultural spark”…
H.R. 7661 t[ies]…federal education funding to restrictions on certain books and educational materials…[in order to] pressure…schools to remove titles that discuss identity, history, and lived experiences…politicians [dislike]…This is…about whether the federal government can use its power to narrow the range of…perspectives available to students…It is about whether educators and school librarians will feel forced to self-censor to protect their budgets. And it is about whether young people will grow up in classrooms shaped by political fear instead of free expression…Once the government begins deciding which viewpoints are acceptable, every reader’s freedom is at risk…as we’ve already seen in [individual] states…
…The bipartisan effort to censor and deanonymize the internet for everyone…[is behind] a dozen “child online safety” bills…[intended to] force social media companies to enact invasive identity verification measures…[which would permanently link every] user’s offline identity…with their online behavior…constitut[ing] one of the most sweeping rollbacks of civil rights in recent history. It would allow for unprecedented levels of mass surveillance and censorship, endangering the most marginalized members of society. Whistleblowers exposing corporate wrongdoing…[or] government employees speaking out about illegal behavior or bad policies could face [retalia]tion, and activists organizing protests could be identified and surveilled before ever setting foot on the street…Already, the U.S. government is flooding social media platforms with subpoenas seeking to unmask hundreds of anonymously run anti-ICE social media accounts. These laws would make it all the more easier for the government to target and prosecute those who dissent…and [the Quisling party has]…become integral to advancing these proposals, falsely claiming that surveillance laws will crack down on Big Tech or curb [nonexistent] social media addiction…The laws would create a massive new market for third-party identification vendors, [which is why psychopaths]…such as Peter Thiel…Elon Musk…and…Mark Zuckerberg [support these and even worse laws]…
…crisis pregnancy centers [are] organizations that advertise free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds but dissuade women from pursuing abortions and contraceptive options. Since the [rogue SCOTUS] ended national abortion access in June 2022, the centers have seen an infusion of taxpayer dollars in many Republican-led states….[even though they] endanger public health by “causing delays in accessing legitimate health care”…Twenty-one states funneled…$491 million…to [these scams] between fiscal years 2022 and 2025…not includ[ing] millions some states diverted from federal programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families…Yet that largesse hasn’t been matched by corresponding regulation…[even though the centers regularly lie]…about their services…[and] promote [dangerous pseudo-]treatments like abortion pill reversal… the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists…[says] “they operate outside of ethical principles and best care practices”…
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
It’s chick time again! I used to get my chicks at Tractor Supply, but they do first come, first served and a lot more people are buying chicks in the past few years than there used to be, so now I’m ordering them from the feed store over in the county seat. This year I got four Rhode Island reds; regular readers know I rotate the colors to make it easy to keep track of their ages (because chickens only lay for 2-3 years). Technically, last year should’ve been reds, but at the time I still had two reds and only one white, so I got whites last year (and the last one died a few months ago). Our last red died just recently, so it worked out almost perfectly; next year should be some dark color, though these blacks turned out to be disappointing layers, so I’ll need to do a little research on which dark-colored breeds lay as well as the reds and whites. But one way or the other, chick season always makes me smile every time I go into the bathroom where they live, and sometimes when it’s quiet I can hear their peeping through a closed door and all the way in the living room.
“Boy kibble” is one of the hottest food trends on social media today. Fitness influencers are cooking up a simple combination of ground beef and rice for a quick, low-calorie hit…Some men on social media admit to eating the meal up to seven times per week as a cheap way to build muscle…The simple and bland boy kibble diet is the newest entrant in the protein craze…
Cooked meat with rice has been a working-class staple in south Louisiana for centuries, where it’s called “dirty rice”. It’s not “kibble”, it’s not only for “boys”, and it’s only a “trend” because 21st-century Americans are largely herd animals who think meals should be exercises in either orthorexia or box-checking. My mother used to make it with ground beef, but I’ve seen people prepare it with everything from chicken livers to Italian sausage. There’s not really any “right” way to make it, though if your version is “bland” I wouldn’t try to feed it to a Louisianan if I were you. There is, however, a lesson here about how little difference in effort there is between palatable meals and something that could be called “kibble”, so I’m going to share my simple recipe. I’ve been making it this way for roughly 20 years, since the time my wasband told me he’d have liked it better if it had more gravy. It’s so simple, in fact, that it doesn’t even need to be broken into steps. First, cook a cup of rice in two cups of water. While that’s simmering, make two cups of beef bouillon; if you’re pathologically lazy, I think they have brown gravy mix in envelopes, in which case you can skip the flour in the next step. Then brown a pound of ground meat in a large skillet over medium heat; you can add chopped onion if you like, but I generally don’t. I add a tablespoon of Tony Chachere’s to the browning meat, but if you have a Yankee palate and can’t handle spices you could just use a half-teaspoon each of salt & pepper. When the meat is done, add a quarter cup of flour and stir until it is absorbed (less than a minute), then add the bouillon and stir until it starts to bubble (it won’t take long), then for one minute more. Turn off the heat, dump the rice into the skillet, and mix well. Total cooking time (discounting the rice), maybe ten minutes; easy enough for any incel to cook, and good enough that not even a sniffy “lifestyle” journalist will be tempted to compare it to dog food.
[Computer programs do] not understand “stakes” as humans perceive them. – Tong Zhao
When an especially-prolific musician dies, I often choose one of his lesser-known works as a memorial; this Neil Sedaka composition is quite different from the pop songs he’s known for. The links above the video were provided by Matt Welch, Popehat, IncarcerNation (x2), T. Greg Doucette, and Mark Bennett, in that order.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
[Texas politician] Tony Gonzales…faced growing pressure to resign…[because] he [raped] a staff member [and sexually harassed her so severely afterward that she committed suicide by self-immolation]…Gonzales…has denied [sending the texts, claim]ing…the[y]…were part of a smear campaign by his top rival in the race, Brandon Herrera[, apparently expecting people to believe that Herrera repeatedly spoofed his phone number]…
…Jonathan Puddle…had the audacity to take his teenage daughter to an Ontario coffee shop. When another patron saw the pair together—an older man with a teenager!—he…followed the Puddles to their car, questioned them, and then called the police…[who took] an image of the pair…from a security camera and [blasted it out] online…[to] tens of thousands of people as [though they were fugitives]…”See something, say something” started as a War on Terror slogan and eventually morphed into a mantra employed by the Department of [Father]land Security…in anti–sex…campaigns…so…large swaths of the public [now believe that]…spying on and reporting fellow citizens based on vague vibes is the key to keeping everyone safe…
…“Bossware” refers to the technology some managers use to s[py on] employees…The term was popularized by a 2020 report from the [EFF]…Managers have always sought to keep an eye on employees to make operations more efficient. But the rise of [machine learning systems]…has [made it more demoralizing, humiliating, and toxic]…In…trucking, for example, [computeriz]ed video tools can trigger real-time alerts if a driver looks [anywhere but straight ahead, and]…in some white-collar desk jobs…employers are using algorithmic and biometric tools to [micromanage employees]…The use of work-surveillance technology took off during the pandemic. As many people started working remotely, [nosy control-freak] employers began…tracking keyboard strokes, taking screenshots and monitoring pauses [because they were no longer able to lurk behind employees and breathe down their necks]…The goal of these tools is to [wring] more out of workers…but [they are typically poor indicators of]…how much work someone is actually getting done…Beyond the psychological toll, “bossware” tools…present “serious health and safety risks for workers,” including potential physical injury…
The town of Kenbridge [Virginia] and its [cop shop have been sued for]…$140 million…by Heather Burrow…[for] gross negligence among other claims…[because she] asked the police chief for protection from [her cop ex-boyfriend] Charles Aaron Stokes. Instead of providing protection, the chief [told]…Stokes [so he could retaliate, and he did so by shooting] her…multiple times within minutes of being told…Stokes is facing separate criminal charges [but]…is not named in the civil lawsuit…
California’s Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), signed by…Gavin Newsom in October…[demands that] every operating system provider in California…collect age information from users at account setup and transmit that data to app developers…with the law taking effect on January 1, 2027. The law’s broad definition of an “operating system provider”…pulls in not just Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, but Linux distributions and Valve’s SteamOS…Developers…are [thereby] “deemed to have actual knowledge” of their users’ age range under the law, [thus] shift[ing] legal liability for [enforcing politicians’ notions of] age-appropriate content…onto [people the state can more easily and profitably rob via fines]…up to…$7,500…Despite signing it, Newsom issued a statement urging the legislature to amend the law before its effective date, [thus allowing him to have his cake and eat it as well. Since politicians are too stupid to understand the concept of open source software, it should be amusing to watch their moronic flailing when they try to]…enforce…[their stupid law] against Linux distributions, [which]…have no centralized account infrastructure…
All unaccompanied immigrant [minors] who are pregnant, many by rape, are being [concentrated in] a single [camp] in Texas in order to avoid providing abortion services…Since July, more than a dozen pregnant [girls] have been [traffick]ed to…the [camp, near the] town of San Benito…[most are 15 to 16, but some] are as young as 13, and about half are pregnant because of rape, [though] in Texas, [that makes no difference]…When a pregnant [minor] is moved to Texas…she can’t access an abortion – without a federal official needing to deny [it]…Because of their young age, “many of them will be comparatively high-risk pregnancies” who need specialized care…[but] the south Texas [concentration camp has no such] facilit[ies and]…is hours away from [any] major cities…equipped to offer that care…
ChatGPT Health regularly misses the need for medical urgent care and frequently fails to detect suicidal ideation…[yet] OpenAI…promotes [it] as a way for users to “securely connect medical records and [health surveillance] apps” to generate health advice…The first independent safety evaluation of ChatGPT Health…found it under-triaged more than half of the cases presented to it…[in comparison with] three [actual] doctors…In 51.6% of cases where someone needed to go to the hospital immediately, the platform said stay home or book a routine medical appointment…[they] wouldn’t live to see…Meanwhile, 64.8% of completely safe individuals were told to seek immediate medical care…
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
A few years ago, in “The Sparkle of a Star“, I wrote: “When I last watched [Bewitched], in my late teens or very early twenties, I naturally identified most with Samantha. But on this rewatch, I found myself identifying with her mother, Endora…” But Bewitched isn’t the only show about witches I’ve loved, and Endora not the only no-longer-young woman character I find myself increasingly identifying with as I myself progress into cronehood. Obviously, this isn’t surprising, but I do find it amusing.
I ran into another example of it recently when I decided to revisit Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Witch series. My own period of reading YA fiction was short, and largely confined to when I was 8 to 9; by 10 I was mostly reading light adult fantasy and sci-fi, mixed with some of the juveniles written by more typically adult authors like Robert Heinlein (Red Planet, Podkayne of Mars, etc) or those borrowed from the library by my younger siblings whose covers caught my eye (which is how I discovered one of my favorite books, Magic in the Alley by Mary Calhoun. And by 12 there weren’t many even in that category. So though I was of the right age to read Witch’s Sister when it was published in 1975, it never popped up in the Scholastic Books flyer we got at school, nor did I spot it in the library back then. In fact, I only discovered it in a rather roundabout manner, through my habit of scanning the new TV Guide magazine each week in search of anything I might enjoy (since in the days before home video, that was the only way to discover treasures). One week, in the spring of 1980 IIRC, I noticed a listing in the Saturday morning show Big Blue Marble (which I didn’t watch even before I gave up on Saturday morning fare) for a 6-part TV movie called Witch’s Sister. Naturally the title caught my attention, so I watched it and was immediately hooked; besides being an interesting story, I identified with both 10-year-old Lynn Morley (because I had a hyperactive imagination at her age also) and her 16-year-old sister Judith (because I was Goth before there was such a thing, and like her enjoyed spooking my younger siblings).
It only aired once or twice (I only saw it once) and I despaired of ever seeing it again, but during a short period when I had free premium cable in 1988 it turned up on Showtime as a unified TV movie. I of course taped it, and on a rewatch during my time as a librarian I noticed in the credits that it was based on a book; we had it in the library so I read and enjoyed it and its two sequels, which had been published in 1977 and 1978. Sometime later I transferred the movie to DVD and discovered several more sequels (published in the early ’90s) and bought them on Amazon, but never got around to reading them until recently. The reason was simple: after starting this blog in 2010 I had very little time for pleasure reading, and that only changed a year ago with Grace’s death. So for the past year, I’ve been scanning my shelves for books I own but had not yet read, and a couple of weeks ago realized I had never read those later books in the series. Since it had been over 30 years since I read the first three I started with them, and discovered to my amusement that while I still remembered feeling like Lynn as a tween and Judith as a teen, I now found myself more than a little sympathetic with Mrs. Tuggle, the elderly Englishwoman who was Lynn’s nemesis in the books! Though in the later books she was definitely a wicked witch, in the first (and IMHO the best) of the series that was portrayed with far less certainty (and in the movie which inspired my love for the stories, she was almost certainly not a real witch). So as I read, I started thinking about how I’d feel if a couple of nosy 10-year-old girls started making strange accusations, sneaking into my house to steal my things, and terrorizing my cat. And now I’m a bit wary of watching Bell, Book and Candle again.
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