ephemera:

not writing, not not writing, but a secret third thing

letting my stories spin around my head like a microwave

they're starting to dry out

The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind. Especially when we don’t know what’s going on. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022) dir. Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

Niall Naessens Digital drawing 95 x 95 cm. Graphic Studio Dublin

May you live an existence that doesn’t require constant resilience.

‘I must have flowers, always, and always.’ –Claude Monet

Rose quartz sinks. x

Mountain bluebird, Birdchick

Times Square, 1970

By Mike Depetris

— Anne Sexton, from All My Pretty Ones; Flight.

HUMA QURESHI in SHIKAYAT for GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali (2022)

They’ve found the cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Babies who die of SIDS have a significantly lower level of an enzyme, the purpose of which is to rouse the baby from sleep if necessary (such as the baby stops breathing). This is extremely huge science and medicine news. There is a biological reason. It’s not random.

Here’s a link to the study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396422002225

From the introduction: “BChEsa, measured in dried blood spots taken 2-3 days after birth, was lower in babies who subsequently died of SIDS compared to surviving controls and other Non-SIDS deaths. We conclude that a previously unidentified cholinergic deficit, identifiable by abnormal -BChEsa, is present at birth in SIDS babies and represents a measurable, specific vulnerability prior to their death.”

From the conclusion: “decreased BChEsa was a biochemical marker that distinguished infants who succumbed to SIDS from date of birth- and gender-matched (surviving) controls and from infants with known causes of death. We hypothesise that this is evidence of an altered cholinergic homeostasis. This is the first study to identify a measurable biochemical marker in infants who succumb to SIDS, during their newborn period while they are still alive, and one that could plausibly produce functional alterations to an infant's autonomic and arousal responses to an exogenous stressor leaving them vulnerable to sudden death. Further work investigating this area needs to be undertaken with urgency, to determine if specific activity of BChE could potentially be used as a biomarker to identify and prevent future SIDS deaths.”

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Yeh Ladka Hai Allah