Pollen Edition
22 March 2026
Many things are in bloom in this part of the world and with them, the pollen. I am glad that my reactions are not so bad as they once were, though my eyes get a little itchy after being outside for a bit. If I rinse my face off, it seems okay after that. How do you respond to plant sex?
Here are some buttons to push, if you are so inclined.
Monday
Nil: A Land Beyond Belief is a very stylish graphic novel by James Turner. The flat, black and white digital style with the typographic font seems suitable for this soulless world. Not that I believe in a soul per se, but the utterly cynical outlooks are kind of funny. Maybe it is saying that a desire to love and feel loved persists in spite of everything or maybe because of everything.
Tuesday
I do not eat out often, but I was invited to join a mini reunion when some friends from happened to be passing through town. Some in this group I have social media contact with, others I had not seen in decades. Some of them told me they read my comics, so they feel like they have been in touch with me, which perhaps validates my purpose in doing them. At a large table in a restaurant, it is tricky to catch up with everyone. Even after missing diseases or divorces or deaths, there is something about old friends that seems to linger, that feels comforting. My comic is overstating things a bit, since I did not have that much hair even then.
Wednesday
On days when I don’t really have anything to say, I just do something silly. In this case, I began with faces of different shapes and word associations. Maybe this turned out to be one of those personality archetype things. Even if I was tri-curious, I would probably just go with being square. How about you?
Thursday
The Phoenix Crown is historical fiction written in collaboration by two established authors, Kate Quinn and Janie Chang. They alternated between the points of view of an American born Chinese seamstress and an opera singer, with a story that interweaves four characters, beginning in San Francisco in the early part of the twentieth century. I was surprised that one of them was based on an actual botanist who was born in Toronto. The phoenix crown is a fancy head ornament looted from a Chinese court, possessed by an acquisitive tycoon in this story. It seems as though many historical fictions are written from a woman’s point of view, perhaps in response to tendency to emphasize all the men in power who get covered in "regular” history.
Friday
I watched a presentation online by elin kelsey on evidence-based hope for climate solutions. She happened to be one of the folks I met at dinner the other day. Although I don’t know her well, what I have known of her work has inspired me and I happen to be in the middle of her latest book, How to Be Hopeful, which discusses ways to deal with climate anxiety. To be honest, I am less anxious about climate than some potentially more imminent existential crises.
Saturday
Physicist Richard Feynman, whom I seem to quote perhaps too often, said, “I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.” Although just knowing the name of thing is not that interesting in itself, in biology, identification can help you find out many other things. I do have the Merlin app for identifying birds by their songs, which is quite amazing, but I do find that traffic noise can be disruptive. I could be learning more about so many things. When I used to do a science blog it was a good excuse to learn more about things I wondered about. Doing comics about science might scratch that itch, but would be much more effort than I feel up to at the moment.
Sunday
Another instalment from my graphic memoir in progress, Not Made in Japan, about my experiences studying marine ecology in southern Japan during the late 1980s. I had met these relatives before, when I first went to Japan with my family. It was interesting this time to visit by myself, having to test out my Japanese.
So that was my week. I hope you had a good one, with a better on to come.