{"version":"https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1","title":"Take on Rules","home_page_url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/","description":"Recent content for Take on Rules","feed_url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/feed.json","favicon":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/favicon.ico","author":{"name":"Jeremy Friesen"},"items":[{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/27\/local-library-programming\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/27\/local-library-programming\/","title":"Local Library Programming","date_published":"2026-02-27T08:12:48-05:00","tags":"personal, poetry","content_html":"<p>As I understand it, in mid-<time datetime=\"2025\" title=\"2025\">2025<\/time> the topic of personal curriculum started\nemerging on TikTok.  Jenny, then working at a small local library, sought to add\na Personal Curriculum segment to the library programming.  The schedule up until\nthe turn of the year was packed.<\/p>\n<p>So they scheduled a session for January; but due to inclement weather, postponed\nthe inaugural session until <time datetime=\"2026-02-26\" title=\"2026-02-26\">yesterday<\/time>.<\/p>\n<p>There were five attendees with Jenny facilitating.  She introduced the concept\nwith a presentation, a mix of examples and videos, highlighting the breadth of\nwhat others had considered as well as how to write a curriculum:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>topic<\/li>\n<li>learning objectives and tangible outputs<\/li>\n<li>secondary outcomes<\/li>\n<li>potential resources<\/li>\n<li>schedule of activity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jenny emphasized that the topic should be of interest, one in which you have\nsome basic knowledge, and identifying a goal to achieve.  Everything else was in\nsupport of enriching a personal interest.<\/p>\n<p>Jenny gave her example: Color Theory.  With a list of weekly activities.  And a\nfinal outcome.<\/p>\n<p>The others of us shared our ideas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bassoon reed making<\/li>\n<li>Mushroom foraging<\/li>\n<li>Either ancient history or true crime<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For myself, I came with a list of possibilities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>poetry<\/li>\n<li>standing up a media server<\/li>\n<li>reading chonky books<\/li>\n<li>doodling<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And while we were discussing our topics, I began narrowing mine.  I knew that I\nwanted to avoid technology for my first foray; after all I\u2019m on a computer all\nday.  I looked to my other topics and narrowed poetry to haiku and chonky books\nto <cite data-id=\"works-don-quixote\">Don Quixote<\/cite>; with secondary sources.<\/p>\n<p>We had a great shared conversation, I asked the young patron about their\ninterest in ancient history.  And knowing she was a young mother, made mention\nof Dan Carlin\u2019s <em>Hardcore History<\/em>.  Something she could listen to in those\nmoments between parenting.<\/p>\n<p>As the session wound down I settled on a 4 week exploration of Haiku.  We also\nagreed to meet in 4 weeks to check-in and report back.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"started-a-personal-curriculum-haiku\">STARTED A Personal Curriculum: Haiku<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Outcome:<\/strong> Assemble a small haiku zine (8 or so)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Secondary Outcomes:<\/strong> Read classic haikus.  Read on writing haiku.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Timeframe:<\/strong> 4 weeks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Throughout:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Write with pen and pencil on paper; one goal is to disconnect from my\ncomputer.<\/li>\n<li>Always carry a pen and paper.<\/li>\n<li>Seek to always carry <cite data-id=\"isbn-1400041287\">Haiku<\/cite> and read from,\ninstead of glancing at my phone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Schedule:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Week 1: Read <a href=\"work:how-to-haiku-a-writers-guide-to-haiku-and-related-forms-by-bruce-ross::author\">\u00abHow to Haiku\u00bb by Bruce Ross<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Week 2: Read introduction and excerpts of <cite data-id=\"isbn-9784805318454\">S\u014dseki Natsume&rsquo;s Collected Haiku<\/cite> translated by Erik R. Lofgren<\/li>\n<li>Week 3: Review past haiku\u2019s written to find samples.<\/li>\n<li>Week 4: Assemble hand-written haiku zine pamphlet, reproduce 20 copies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1 id=\"the-morning-after\">The Morning After<\/h1>\n<p>When we got home from the library, I started reading <cite data-id=\"isbn-9781462916757\">How to Haiku<\/cite>.  I wrote a\nfew in pencil.  We went to bed early, and around 5am <time datetime=\"2026-02-27\" title=\"2026-02-27\">this morning<\/time> I found myself\nwaking, a short poem at the tip of my thought.<small class=\"side-container\">\n  <span class=\"side-label\"><span class=\"hidden\">(<\/span>Sidenote<span class=\"hidden\">:<\/span><\/span>\n  <span class=\"side\" role=\"note\"> Not some <em>Kubla Kahn<\/em>, just myself parsing out a haiku.<span class=\"hidden\">)<\/span><\/span>\n<\/small>\n<\/p>\n<p>I needed to capture that moment:<\/p>\n<p class=\"verse\">\nquiet early morn<br \/>\ncommuter cars growl on by<br \/>\nold dog curls on chair<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>From which I found myself awake, and thinking of Don Quixote, and of <cite data-id=\"03083A4E-4FEA-4E30-811D-700CE2EB071A\">Borges and Me<\/cite> by Jay Parini, and of Terry Gilliam; and a dawn readying itself to burst upon a still frozen lake.<\/p>\n<p>My phone rattled, I had a before the dawn text from my father.  <time datetime=\"2026-02-26\" title=\"2026-02-26\">Yesterday<\/time> he had\nsold off his entire wood working setup; he\u2019s moving and downsizing.  His whole\nlife, fixing things has been his identity, and the wood shop his means of\nbecoming.  The morning text being a follow up, saying that he has had to get\ncomfortable with reading during daylight hours.<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/10\/a-poetry-handbook-by-mary-oliver\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/10\/a-poetry-handbook-by-mary-oliver\/","title":"\u00abA Poetry Handbook\u00bb by Mary Oliver","date_published":"2026-02-10T19:33:35-05:00","tags":"poetry","content_html":"<p>I\u2019ve been reading more poetry, and scratching out efforts at poetry.  <time datetime=\"2026-02-10\" title=\"2026-02-10\">Today<\/time> I\nfinished reading <cite data-id=\"a-poetry-handbook-by-mary-oliver\">A Poetry Handbook<\/cite> by Mary Oliver.  A compact guide into the\nwriting and reading poetry; describing the basics, presenting a few examples,\nand most importantly giving bits of advice.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>If one must choose between reading poetry and attending a workshop, choose\nreading.  (Though consider a workshop)<\/li>\n<li>A poem must be complete; that is it contains all that it must and is atomic,\nthough may reference\/allude to other things.<\/li>\n<li>The process of writing a poem is vulnerable to interruptions; flow state is a\ngood thing.<\/li>\n<li>Revise and revisit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In reading, I haven\u2019t gotten beyond subvocalization.  That is I say \u201cin my mind\u201d\nthe words I\u2019m reading.  This, I think, helps in my read of poetry.  Because I\ncan almost imagine the breaths.  But subvocalizing poems, when I have the option\nto read aloud, does a disservice.  I don\u2019t feel the flip of my tongue, nor the\nbreath leaving.<\/p>\n<p>Mary Oliver\u2019s <cite data-id=\"a-poetry-handbook-by-mary-oliver\">A Poetry Handbook<\/cite> provides this and more, delving into\nphilosophy.  I read the following and my mind cracked open:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote epigraph\" data-id=\"literature-is-the-apparatus-through-which-the-world\">\n<p>\nLiterature is the apparatus through which the world tries to keep intact its\nimportant ideas and feelings.\n<\/p>\n<footer>&#8213;Mary Oliver, <cite>A Poetry Handbook<\/cite><\/footer><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes, this definition of literature excludes the reality of oral tradition, which\nI think is unfortunate.  But a quick substitution of \u201cstory\u201d for \u201cliterature\u201d\nand we hit at the heart of things.  And by cracked open, I read that passage as\nputting words to a known truth.<\/p>\n<p>We write, narrate, and tell tales to convey that which we find important.  And\nthe act of re-telling and reading and listening is engaging in that\n\u201cpreservation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Poetry is my present fascination, wrestling with the sound, shape, and shadow of\nwords.  The books that bind these poems I keep close, filling the cherry\nbookshelf made by my father.  Throughout the days, I pull a book out, thumb to a\nrandom page, and read a poem or three.  With 7 or so linear feet of poetry, I\nfind this to be a wonderful and sustaining grazing.<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/08\/prairie-poor\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/08\/prairie-poor\/","title":"Prairie Poor","date_published":"2026-02-08T10:22:07-05:00","tags":"poetry","content_html":"<p class=\"verse\">\nMy ancestors carried with them a lowland language,<br \/>\nFrom flat Frisia to the banks of Mot\u0142awa,<br \/>\nlater amongst the golden fields of Ukraine,<br \/>\nthen, with treasured seed in tow, the prairie of Nebraska.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nListening to my father, aunt, and uncle speak<br \/>\nTheir low German, I hear my poverty revealed.<br \/>\nThis past year, I recorded them one night;<br \/>\nVisions of zweibach and veranika danced in my head.<br \/>\nTheir accents and cadences invoking<br \/>\nthe first of three spirits visiting that old miser,<br \/>\n<br \/>\nThey were telling tales of yore,<br \/>\ndredging as only the Dutch might,<br \/>\nlaughter from the depths of half an age ago.<br \/>\nMischief that spoke of simpler times<br \/>\n(At least that\u2019s what nostalgia would have me say).<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAs paternal lineage goes,<br \/>\nI\u2019m first generation English-as-a-first-language.<br \/>\nRaised on the prairie, fed a new language too,<br \/>\nI see now, as second generation, a privation<br \/>\nOf language and lore.  I learned the simple new words<br \/>\nof these not-so-simple folk.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nYet, old Scrooge and I, we\u2019re much the same.<br \/>\nWith our impoverished lexicon, near bankrupt<br \/>\nas we fail to name much more<br \/>\nbeyond accounts and ledgers.<br \/>\nWere that I had the native tongue,<br \/>\nI might know more than corn fields and cricks.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nThese days I read poetry, hoping to learn the song<br \/>\nI know still and once sung.  Reading Heaney, Shepherd,<br \/>\nand many others, I feel again my poverty.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nI\u2019m too new to this language<br \/>\n(though it is my only one),<br \/>\nthe one not of my father,<br \/>\nbut of a land fed on red, black, and brown blood.<br \/>\nA language (and land) that borrows, robs, and steals.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAn\u2019 I wonder, to which (or whom) am I cognate?<br \/>\nMe, a settler adrift on these amber waves.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/06\/inverness\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/06\/inverness\/","title":"Inverness","date_published":"2026-02-06T15:11:24-05:00","tags":"poetry","content_html":"<p class=\"verse\">\nI sit and ponder this canopy of evergreen,<br \/>\nPainted the long year prior;<br \/>\nBringing a sense of summer amongst the trees,<br \/>\nEven in this stick white winter<br \/>\namidst the perma-cloud,<br \/>\nMuting all color, joy, and\u2014dare I say\u2014hope.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nInverness, the green so named.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nEchoing<br \/>\n<br \/>\nThat city atop the British isles.<br \/>\nA place I\u2019ve never been, save for<br \/>\na neighboring Shepherd\u2019s tale;<br \/>\nOne of dancing amongst mountains,<br \/>\nalive and free.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nYet I am rooted here, and travel seems so distant<br \/>\nIn this wintry discontent.<br \/>\nWhen brother stands vigil over encroaching ice.<br \/>\nAnd I call to those who will not listen.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nHere, amidst this canopy,<br \/>\ntree that I am; Witness<br \/>\nto a forest fell-tide. Unmoving,<br \/>\nyet not unfeeling, waiting for:<br \/>\n<br \/>\nan axe to fall,<br \/>\na wedge to split,<br \/>\na fire to lick.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nKnowing a paralytic dread as winter grinds on,<br \/>\n<br \/>\nbiting,<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;clawing,<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;raging.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nThe loon heralds a coming spring when:<br \/>\n<br \/>\nIce will melt,<br \/>\nBuds will burst,<br \/>\nLeaves will unfurl,<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAnd life anew shall begin again,<br \/>\nas hope arriving; a gentle morning glow,<br \/>\nBathing this room of mine,<br \/>\nWhere I sit each day,<br \/>\nAnd ponder.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/05\/serendipity-and-verse\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/02\/05\/serendipity-and-verse\/","title":"Serendipity and Verse","date_published":"2026-02-05T19:25:06-05:00","tags":"personal","content_html":"<p>I\u2019ve been enjoying narrative verse, poetry, myths, and legends.  <time datetime=\"2026-01-11\" title=\"2026-01-11\">Recently<\/time>, I\nfinished <cite data-id=\"isbn-9780763659394\">Yvain<\/cite> by M.T. Anderson.  I felt the thrill of\nstory and primacy of archetype.  I found the artistic style deeply textured and\nenchanting.  It interwove with my reading of <cite data-id=\"A6B3DC34-C462-46BC-8CD7-D89BDC31D6EB\">The Once and Future King<\/cite> and <cite data-id=\"DF694105-1DA3-40C9-9F63-EE9BB0E89D8C\">The Book of Merlyn<\/cite>; adding to my personal Arthurian canon.<\/p>\n<p>While perusing a local independent bookstore, I picked up <cite data-id=\"ISBN-9780316420747\">Fierce Fairytales<\/cite> by Nikita Gill.  <time datetime=\"2026-02-02\" title=\"2026-02-02\">Today<\/time> I started reading, and\nfelt the invocation\u2014an echo of Genesis.  From which Gill offers clusters poems\nrelated to a story; each of those poems digging behind the fairy tale to offer\nperspective of the characters in the story.<\/p>\n<p>Not to absolve the wicked step-mother, but to walk with her on a path\u2014one of\nmyriad\u2014that she traversed in donning that mantle.  Or, more correctly, one in\nwhich the mantle was forced upon her by the systems of oppression: poverty and\nmisogyny.<\/p>\n<p>This lead me to look for additional books by Nikita Gill\u2014I added a few to my\n\u201cshopping list.\u201d  Then I stumbled upon an interview with Gill, and learned of\ntheir collaboration with Anoushka Shankar on <cite>Sister Susannah<\/cite>.<\/p>\n<p>I gave a listen; I very much loved it.  I read more about the song\u2019s origins\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/livewire.thewire.in\/livewire\/sister-susannah-shattering-the-silence-around-abuse\/\">\u2018Sister Susannah\u2019: Shattering the Silence Around Abuse<\/a>).  And then spent time\nlistening to a few other of Anoushka Shankar\u2019s songs.  Now I\u2019m neck deep in\nsitar music; feeling such freshness move through me.  A fresh yet ancient force,\nthat draws upon the ancient echoes I also heard in <cite data-id=\"2CC8C24E-8223-4BE8-B47F-84709D6DB2BF\">Geek Sublime<\/cite> by Vikram Chandra.<\/p>\n<p>Years ago, a friend of mine, now since departed, journeyed to England.  His\ngoal: to see something truly ancient.  He started on a well trod tourist path,\nand at the first destination, he took it in and then asked the locals, \u201cWhere\nmight I find something even more ancient?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They obliged and pointed him down a path.  Upon arrival, he took it in, then\nasked these other locals again where to find the ancient.  And they pointed him\nfurther.  He followed the local memory until he arrived at an ancient forge,\nhere he felt the world of myth touching upon him.<\/p>\n<p>That story hung with me, because of my friend leaning on local memory, one that\ncould continue to point further back in time.<\/p>\n<p>That is what I feel when I read these epics and retellings; most often in verse.\nI feel the author touching on something far older.  And both bringing it forward\nin time and transporting me backwards.<\/p>\n<p>This is the magic of <cite data-id=\"ad1e6319-b4f2-4f00-b94f-1ac0834018ab\">The Hobbit<\/cite>; in which we start in the familiar and\nprosaic, then soon find ourselves on an adventure with fairy tale logic.<\/p>\n<p>It is present in Heaney\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryinternational.com\/en\/poets-poems\/poems\/poem\/103-23607_THE-TOLLUND-MAN\">The Tollund Man<\/a>.  And in a way Rukeyser\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/murielrukeyser.org\/2019\/12\/29\/the-soul-and-body-of-john-brown\/\">The Soul and\nBody of John Brown<\/a>; itself not ancient nor regarding antiquity.  Yet as much a\npart of mythology, due to the complexities and nuance of the titular character.<\/p>\n<p>And then there is Borges; one who writes of myth, riddled with lies most true.<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/01\/17\/does-one-call-oneself-a-poet\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/01\/17\/does-one-call-oneself-a-poet\/","title":"Does One Call Oneself a Poet?","date_published":"2026-01-17T12:26:19-05:00","tags":"poetry","content_html":"<p>I wonder, what makes one a poet?  And perhaps not the general case, but the\nself-centered case.<\/p>\n<p>Am I a poet?<\/p>\n<p>I write poetry.  I am an adept conjurer of analogies and metaphors.  I have an\nabove average command of the English language.  I write poems, scratching out\nwords to find the best (in the moment) forms, sometimes returning to prior\nphrases.<\/p>\n<p>At our local library, next week we\u2019re kicking off a Personal Curriculum series.\nI had been considering poetry as mine\u2014though ham radio just joined the\nconsideration.<\/p>\n<p>My bedroom bookshelf is packed with poetry.  On occasion\u2014though not often\nenough\u2014I find myself grabbing a book and reading a few poems.  Life pours from\nthese works, bathing me in warmth.<\/p>\n<p>We were driving back home, and as we were passing a wooded area that chirps and\nwhistles in spring from the tree frogs.  At that moment, while driving in\nsilence, Jenny asked me what I was thinking about, I responded: frogs.<\/p>\n<p>That spot along with the neighbors saying that a large bullfrog had come out of\nhibernation earlier this month; when we had 55\u00b0 Fahrenheit weather (and rain).<\/p>\n<p>Which inspired the following haiku:<\/p>\n<p class=\"verse\">\nAmidst icy woods<br \/>\nNew moon hiding snow and branch<br \/>\nIn the thaw, frog song.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/01\/07\/bolstering-against-the-permeating-llm-language\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/01\/07\/bolstering-against-the-permeating-llm-language\/","title":"Bolstering Against the Permeating LLM Language","date_published":"2026-01-07T18:46:59-05:00","tags":"personal, poetry, responses","content_html":"<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.henrikkarlsson.xyz\/p\/being-creative-requires-taking-risks\">Being creative requires taking risks<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote  class=\"h-cite\">\n\nChildren will say stuff that will shock you, because you can see where they are\ncoming from, but it\u2019s just not the thing you say. They\u2019re not yet collapsed. But\nwe are collapsed. We end up revisiting the same thoughts. We end up saying more\nand more of the same stuff, and the learning rates go down.\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>This requires further thinking and discussion.  Why?  These last few days I\u2019ve\nbeen actively and assertively deconstructing and mitigating deeply internalized\npatriarchy\u2014staring at a 50th birthday a half-a-year away; feeling the\nreverberations of pivoting from ever darkening days to those of light\u2019s return.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m also reading further in the blog post, and fucking hate the permeation of\nsemantics describing <span>Large Language Model<\/span> (<abbr title=\"Large Language Model\">LLM<\/abbr> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cLarge Language Model\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cLarge Language Model\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-LLM\">&#128214;<\/a><\/small>)\n phenominon that are then projected onto the act of\nbeing human; I\u2019m not a fucking computer nor mathematical model.<\/p>\n<p>I am a human being, always arriving into a present in which I seek orientation,\nwonder, beauty, poetry, and art.<\/p>\n<p>A present in which I\u2019m busy practicing to write better haiku, <span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emacs\">Emacs<\/a><\/span> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cEmacs\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cEmacs\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-EMACS\">&#128214;<\/a><\/small>\n <span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lisp_(programming_language)\">Lisp<\/a><\/span> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cLisp\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cLisp\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-LISP\">&#128214;<\/a><\/small>\n, love\nnotes to my wife, and read chunky books.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the last 9 days, I have watched only a fragment of something\non \u201ctelevision.\u201d  Most everything else I\u2019ve pursued is tactile: a book printed\non paper, dishes in the sink (so many), colored pencils scribbling on paper, and\nmore.  (I have had days of work in which I needed to clicky-clacky on the\nkeyboard to make the code behave).<\/p>\n<p>So, when I read a post in which \u201cthe human\u201d condition is mapped to the language\nof <abbr title=\"Large Language Models\">LLMs<\/abbr>\n, I think \u201cbro, get out, touch some dirt, read an older book of fiction,\nand watch a sunrise.\u201d  We are each, and all, more than that lingual effort to\ncollapse us into an ever simplifying model.<\/p>\n<p class=\"verse\">\nWarmth of mid-winter<br \/>\nI fear you most as herald<br \/>\nOf hell-blasted hate.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/01\/01\/fallacy-of-record\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2026\/01\/01\/fallacy-of-record\/","title":"Fallacy of Record","date_published":"2026-01-01T10:02:43-05:00","tags":"responses, technologies","content_html":"<p class=\"verse\">\nWe cross the line, who pushed who over?<br \/>\nIt doesn\u2019t matter to you, it matters to me<br \/>\nWe\u2019re cut adrift, but still floating<br \/>\nI\u2019m only hanging on to watch you go down, my love.<br \/>\n<br \/>\n\u2014 U2, *So Cruel*<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeremycherfas.net\/blog\/printed-is-not-the-point\">Printed is not the Point<\/a>, I encountered the following quote:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote  class=\"h-cite\">\n\nWhat record are we leaving if the printed word is not the most interesting\ncreative work being developed?\n\n<footer>&mdash;\n<span class=\"p-author h-card\">Naomi Duguid<\/span>\n<\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>I question that the \u201cprinted word\u201c has ever been much of \u201cthe most interesting\ncreative work being developed.\u201d  Consider the interesting and ephemeral [saucy]\npuppet show, street protest, poetic recitation, dance routine, or concert.\nThough perhaps \u201cwork\u201d is carrying the burden?  As in the toil expressed?  Or the\nconcept enclosed?<\/p>\n<p>But then again, the word \u201cinteresting\u201d is one of those \u201ceye of the beholder\u201d\nwords.  The printed word\u2019s super power is one of slow moving transport: across\ntime and space.  Ideas bound and encoded for transport\u2014of atomic symbols\ncreating molecules with which we create a transport of cultural DNA.<\/p>\n<p>I read the lamenting question as one of the shift from analog to digital; in\nwhich digital preservation requires far more resources of active attention than\nanalog\u2014which itself requires more space than digital.  As though there is some\nuniversal constant that expresses the cost of sustaining memory: in physical\nspace, archival processes and systems, and\/or calories to maintain biological\nbrains\u2014though can a book or hard-drive be called \u201cmemory?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And then to turn to \u201cWhat record are we leaving,\u201d implying a collective and\ncoordinated effort.  To join in the grandeur of cultural preservation and\nheritage; to belong to a line\u2014constructed\/fabricated\u2014connecting from antiquity\nto the days ahead.  We carry that ever accumulating baggage, as though an honor,\nand one we hope to add a little and bestow upon successive generations.  Do we\ndemand accretion? or is composting adequate?<\/p>\n<p>One record we will leave is the death rattle of capitalism<small class=\"side-container\">\n  <span class=\"side-label\"><span class=\"hidden\">(<\/span>Sidenote<span class=\"hidden\">:<\/span><\/span>\n  <span class=\"side\" role=\"note\"> Perhaps <span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kyriarchy\">Kyriarchy<\/a><\/span> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cKyriarchy\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cKyriarchy\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-KYRIARCHY\">\ud83d\udcd6<\/a><\/small>\nis more appropriate?<span class=\"hidden\">)<\/span><\/span>\n<\/small>\n and its\nescalating ravages against the world.  Perhaps those ravages shall transform and\npass into myth, a Scylla and Charybdis of parched earth, nuclear waste, acidic\noceans, and eroded wastelands.  How might one notice any other record?<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/31\/the-books-of-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/31\/the-books-of-2025\/","title":"The Books of 2025","date_published":"2025-12-31T08:15:42-05:00","tags":"personal, reading","content_html":"<p>This year, my partner and I are participating as a team in our local library\nreading \u201cchallenge.\u201d  The goal is for the team to read 100 books.  Thusfar we\u2019ve\nread 150 or so books; me having read about 50 and my partner over a 100.<\/p>\n<p>What have been the stand-out books?  And more importantly, why?  Not all of\nthese are ones that I very much enjoyed (e.g. a 4 out of 4 rating), but they are\nones that stuck with me.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"fee4ffa7-1d45-46e7-86f1-af203b92f54b\">Aflame<\/cite> by Pico Iyer:<\/strong> a flowing memoir of solitude and retreat so as to\nre-e**ngage with the world.  To find energy and capacity in quiet communion\nwith both others and nature.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"817193e6-0ae6-4183-9c1b-87733e8a7eca\">Annihilation<\/cite> by Jeff Vandermeer:<\/strong> we listened to this audiobook throughout\na single day.  And found ourselves wondering what was happening.  The richness\nof language and imagery paired with withheld information drew me in.  Leaving\nme both wondering while also knowing that I won\u2019t find out.  Much like I won\u2019t\nknow how \u201cclimate change\u201d or \u201chistory\u201d <em>ends<\/em> .<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9780199567690\">Babbitt<\/cite> by Sinclair Lewis:<\/strong> a book written in the 1920s that seems almost\nimmediately applicable to 2020s; plus this was part of a community read, so I\nhad a fantastic conversation with community members.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781250776297\">Bea Wolf<\/cite> by Zach Weinersmith:<\/strong> I love reading Beowulf, each time a new\ntranslation.  And this one, while not a translation, is instead a retelling\nthat brought me absolute child-like joy.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"fb15e51e-3050-4d09-ab79-f6b6b1f916a8\">Being Peace<\/cite> by Thich Nhat Hanh:<\/strong> it had been years since I read a Thich Nhat\nHanh book, and this was a natural read after <cite data-id=\"fee4ffa7-1d45-46e7-86f1-af203b92f54b\">Aflame<\/cite>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781644452110\">Black and Female<\/cite> by Tsitsi Dangarembga:<\/strong> these essays hit home the absolute\nvileness of apartheid, as applied in South Africa, but also in the Jim Crow\nera that the present regime is angling to restore and expand.  As an added\nbonus, Dangarembga was the first Zimbabwean author that I\u2019ve read.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"f346e9c4-e904-417f-8c4c-4722727d8dd9\">The City of Saints and Madmen<\/cite> by Jeff VanderMeer:<\/strong> the language and imagery\nof <cite data-id=\"817193e6-0ae6-4183-9c1b-87733e8a7eca\">Annihilation<\/cite> captivated me.  And one day, while waiting for my partner to\nfinish perusing the bookstore we were visiting, I cracked open the\n<cite>Ambergris<\/cite>omnibus, and started reading <cite>Draden, in Love<\/cite>.  And found myself immediately transported into the chaotic streets\nof Ambergris.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"1254A3B2-19CC-4EA7-AA80-39B70CD21F5D\">The Creative Act<\/cite> by Rick Rubin:<\/strong> a book to keep on hand, flip through and\nfind a bit of inspiration.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"87f4018e-a675-44a7-9c95-b1183384affd\">The Dispossessed<\/cite> by Ursula K. Le Guin:<\/strong> a speculative work on how community\ncan move past capitalism, yet also understand that it would be hard to fully\nescape it, while also knowing that governance is invariably a political and\npersonal affair.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"c51d973a-21c0-406e-86cd-c334769cfc59\">The Empusium<\/cite> by Olga Tokarczuk:<\/strong> Tokarczuk writes to expand and enlarge the\npast through which we invariably construct and sustain an ever narrowing view.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"252e3dc9-f174-41fe-a10f-7bcb13f6d0d5\">The Fellowship of the Ring<\/cite> by J.R.R. Tolkien:<\/strong> a\npassion project, in which Phil Dragash narrated and voice acted a production\nof the <cite data-id=\"B716B561-9CFB-4712-B247-848A312BE175\">The Fellowship of the Ring<\/cite>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"55348AB8-9909-4E68-878A-5458701F87E1\">Freedom is a Constant Struggle<\/cite> by Angela Y. Davis:<\/strong> articulating so clearly\nthat Palestine, the military industrial complex, petro-carceral state feed\ninto each other; and have created the conditions in which we find the United\nStates.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"1779d578-85b3-4c27-881d-a56a4a77dabc\">Hope in the Dark<\/cite> by Rebecca Solnit:<\/strong> I had trepidation about this; it felt as\nthough I might be thinking \u201cOh Sweet Summer Child\u201d of the grim days of yore.\nBut I instead found this collection of essays a timeless reminder that\nunpredictable positive events and situations arise from times of tribulation\nand uncertainty.  Importantly, Solnit provides receipts for past achievements\nand successes that we may have forgotten.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781945492600\">I Who Have Never Known Men<\/cite> by Jacqueline Harpman:<\/strong> a philosophical dystopian\nread in which one invariably will think about purpose and meaning of life.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9780385550369\">James<\/cite> by Percival Everett:<\/strong> a great book in its own right, that\ndelivers a fantastic additional narrative perspective to the events told by\nHuck Finn (himself unreliable).  This book did double duty, rekindling\nmemories of reading <cite data-id=\"8EDAF156-FD70-48D5-8E92-D1C675F2C49A\">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn<\/cite> and seeing Big River.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"C5494904-CE49-4456-8E29-E3F94B72A593\">The Life of Poetry<\/cite> by Muriel Rukeyser:<\/strong> such lyricism and exposure to aspects\nof history and thought lost in our march to forget the lessons of facing and\novercoming fascism.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"1f28328c-be96-453d-a9a8-9b921c39fd8a\">The Little Book of Solitude<\/cite> by Joost Joossen:<\/strong> a collection of\nmini-biographies and quotes that lead me to to Pico Iyer\u2019s <cite data-id=\"fee4ffa7-1d45-46e7-86f1-af203b92f54b\">Aflame<\/cite>; it was\nalso amongst the first library books I checked out from our local library.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"75095d6c-cbe7-4a38-a6da-549678d4ed5e\">Men Explain Things to Me<\/cite> by Rebecca Solnit:<\/strong> this has been sitting on my\nshelf, partially read, and I sat down to read it.  Solnit always provides a\nreminder of the misogynistic structures and cultural behaviors that course\nthrough the world in which we live.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"b1aaa6b7-baee-4d8f-8a63-94bb8f812777\">Open Socrates<\/cite> by Agnes Callard:<\/strong> as with other philosophy books, this is one\nI\u2019ve added a hefty dose of marginalia.  Considering how to better approach\nlove, death, and politics.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"55a32435-c012-4892-be9a-ac00b5b17204\">Piranesi<\/cite> by Susanna Clarke:<\/strong> this one will sit with me for a very long-time.\nSlow-moving, playing with memory.  I highly recommend reading this in close\nproximity to <cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781945492600\">I Who Have Never Known Men<\/cite>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"effcc954-310e-4b76-bf18-6919eb075832\">The Player of Games<\/cite> by Iain M. Banks:<\/strong> an interesting bit of speculation on\nhow a complex game can be used to constrain a society, and how the rules and\nlanguage of the game impose upon the society.  And how diversity can be a\nmighty advantage.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"da435b3f-87a2-49bb-802f-acf81815a488\">Prairie Songs<\/cite> by Lauren Friesen:<\/strong> my uncle wrote this, and I learned a\nlittle bit more about him and my family history.  And my uncles poem about\nsurviving polio ending with: \u201cand beside my bed \\ they spun, \\ an iron\ncocoon.\u201d  Goosebumps.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"4b6ca2f0-8e70-40b4-b18e-fe87b643b3e6\">Pranksters vs. Autocrats<\/cite> by Srdja Popovic and Sophia A. McClennen:<\/strong> I have\nrecommended this book to many people looking for hope and action.  Evidence is\nthat humor wins.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"C2F8BF31-362C-4F0D-A4F2-8F6B1927CB1A\">Slowness<\/cite> by Milan Kundera:<\/strong> this was one of my question books, due to its\nquote: \u201cThere is a secret bond between slowness and memory, between speed and\nforgetting.\u201d  I found this book for a reasonable price and read it that\nevening.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"588d8c62-e79a-4ffe-99f3-a73aba315a8e\">Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird<\/cite> by Henry Lien:<\/strong> on a lark I picked this up,\nand it opened my awareness to other narrative structures, ones that I now look\nfor as a change of pace.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"isbn-9781534431003\">This is How You Lose the Time War<\/cite> by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone:<\/strong> Jenny\nborrowed this via inter-library loan; read it and thought I might enjoy it.\nShe was right.  I appreciate the myth building through symbols; the language\nof thread, needle felting, and sleeping beauty (herself a wolf hungry for\nlittle red riding hood).<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"5dd8020b-640b-420d-ae24-84169585038c\">To Fight Against this Age<\/cite> by Rob Riemen:<\/strong> I <cite data-id=\"72C7CC81-C6CD-4ECD-B8AF-EDF939B56094\">Farenheit 451<\/cite>liked the title\nand subtitle, and found a philosophical memoir that reinforced the need for\nhumanism and conversation.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"d334ef0c-4398-479f-ad82-4d8b9e993d2c\">The Trial<\/cite> by Franz Kafka:<\/strong> Having never read much of Kafka, yet knowing the\nfoundational nature of his work, then reading references in <cite data-id=\"5dd8020b-640b-420d-ae24-84169585038c\">To Fight Against this Age<\/cite> and eyeing <cite data-id=\"kafka-on-the-shore-by-haruki-murakami\">Kafka on the Shore<\/cite>, I had to read it.  And I was\nhooked.  Forget Cthulhu, existential dread is mindless bureaucracy.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"isbn-9781250213587\">Upright Women Wanted<\/cite> by Sarah Gailey:<\/strong> not normally something I\u2019d read, but\nthis let the Wild West tropes do quite a bit of work, and then subvert those\ntropes and tell a unique story about resistance.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"BAEA3D15-DA6C-4699-9DCC-3F424B515740\">We<\/cite> by Yevgeny Zamyatin:<\/strong> I love <cite data-id=\"works-1984\">1984<\/cite>, <cite data-id=\"30C81F03-C944-488E-9C81-CFC7E632A95E\">Brave New World<\/cite>, and <cite data-id=\"72C7CC81-C6CD-4ECD-B8AF-EDF939B56094\">Farenheit 451<\/cite>; and <cite data-id=\"BAEA3D15-DA6C-4699-9DCC-3F424B515740\">We<\/cite> is the spiritual ancestor of those stories.  The dystopian\nover-reaching state in which so much energy must be spent to sustain the\nsystems of oppression and coercion.  It felt a bit derivative, but as it came\nbefore, must be viewed with a freshness of thought relative to others.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"95cc0be8-ed94-44c5-a193-696c32426e72\">When No Thing Works<\/cite> by Norma Kaelok\u016b Wong:<\/strong> an important reminder that it is\nnot enough to resist, but to imagine a future in which we are along moving\nalong the path of restoration and restitution.  Naming what that future looks\nlike\u2014in details.  The dishes one brings to celebrations, the evidence of how\nimprovements manifest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Then synthesizing all of these things: subvert tropes as this fosters further\nimagination of possibility.  And from there, action becomes possible.<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/31\/the-books-of-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/31\/the-books-of-2025\/","title":"The Books of 2025","date_published":"2025-12-31T08:12:40-05:00","tags":"personal, reading","content_html":"<p>This year, my partner and I are participating as a team in our local library\nreading \u201cchallenge.\u201d  The goal is for the team to read 100 books.  Thusfar we\u2019ve\nread 150 or so books; me having read about 50 and my partner over a 100.<\/p>\n<p>What have been the stand-out books?  And more importantly, why?  Not all of\nthese are ones that I very much enjoyed (e.g. a 4 out of 4 rating), but they are\nones that stuck with me.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"fee4ffa7-1d45-46e7-86f1-af203b92f54b\">Aflame<\/cite> by Pico Iyer:<\/strong> a flowing memoir of solitude and retreat so as to\nre-engage with the world.  To find energy and capacity in quiet communion\nwith both others and nature.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"817193e6-0ae6-4183-9c1b-87733e8a7eca\">Annihilation<\/cite> by Jeff Vandermeer:<\/strong> we listened to this audiobook throughout\na single day.  And found ourselves wondering what was happening.  The richness\nof language and imagery paired with withheld information drew me in.  Leaving\nme both wondering while also knowing that I won\u2019t find out.  Much like I won\u2019t\nknow how \u201cclimate change\u201d or \u201chistory\u201d <em>ends<\/em> .<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9780199567690\">Babbitt<\/cite> by Sinclair Lewis:<\/strong> a book written in the 1920s that seems almost\nimmediately applicable to 2020s; plus this was part of a community read, so I\nhad a fantastic conversation with community members.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781250776297\">Bea Wolf<\/cite> by Zach Weinersmith:<\/strong> I love reading Beowulf, each time a new\ntranslation.  And this one, while not a translation, is instead a retelling\nthat brought me absolute child-like joy.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"fb15e51e-3050-4d09-ab79-f6b6b1f916a8\">Being Peace<\/cite> by Thich Nhat Hanh:<\/strong> it had been years since I read a Thich Nhat\nHanh book, and this was a natural read after <cite data-id=\"fee4ffa7-1d45-46e7-86f1-af203b92f54b\">Aflame<\/cite>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781644452110\">Black and Female<\/cite> by Tsitsi Dangarembga:<\/strong> these essays hit home the absolute\nvileness of apartheid, as applied in South Africa, but also in the Jim Crow\nera that the present regime is angling to restore and expand.  As an added\nbonus, Dangarembga was the first Zimbabwean author that I\u2019ve read.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"f346e9c4-e904-417f-8c4c-4722727d8dd9\">The City of Saints and Madmen<\/cite> by Jeff VanderMeer:<\/strong> the language and imagery\nof <cite data-id=\"817193e6-0ae6-4183-9c1b-87733e8a7eca\">Annihilation<\/cite> captivated me.  And one day, while waiting for my partner to\nfinish perusing the bookstore we were visiting, I cracked open the\n<cite>Ambergris<\/cite>omnibus, and started reading <cite>Draden, in Love<\/cite>.  And found myself immediately transported into the chaotic streets\nof Ambergris.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"1254A3B2-19CC-4EA7-AA80-39B70CD21F5D\">The Creative Act<\/cite> by Rick Rubin:<\/strong> a book to keep on hand, flip through and\nfind a bit of inspiration.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"87f4018e-a675-44a7-9c95-b1183384affd\">The Dispossessed<\/cite> by Ursula K. Le Guin:<\/strong> a speculative work on how community\ncan move past capitalism, yet also understand that it would be hard to fully\nescape it, while also knowing that governance is invariably a political and\npersonal affair.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"c51d973a-21c0-406e-86cd-c334769cfc59\">The Empusium<\/cite> by Olga Tokarczuk:<\/strong> Tokarczuk writes to expand and enlarge the\npast through which we invariably construct and sustain an ever narrowing view.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"252e3dc9-f174-41fe-a10f-7bcb13f6d0d5\">The Fellowship of the Ring<\/cite> by J.R.R. Tolkien:<\/strong> a\npassion project, in which Phil Dragash narrated and voice acted a production\nof the <cite data-id=\"B716B561-9CFB-4712-B247-848A312BE175\">The Fellowship of the Ring<\/cite>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"55348AB8-9909-4E68-878A-5458701F87E1\">Freedom is a Constant Struggle<\/cite> by Angela Y. Davis:<\/strong> articulating so clearly\nthat Palestine, the military industrial complex, petro-carceral state feed\ninto each other; and have created the conditions in which we find the United\nStates.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"1779d578-85b3-4c27-881d-a56a4a77dabc\">Hope in the Dark<\/cite> by Rebecca Solnit:<\/strong> I had trepidation about this; it felt as\nthough I might be thinking \u201cOh Sweet Summer Child\u201d of the grim days of yore.\nBut I instead found this collection of essays a timeless reminder that\nunpredictable positive events and situations arise from times of tribulation\nand uncertainty.  Importantly, Solnit provides receipts for past achievements\nand successes that we may have forgotten.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781945492600\">I Who Have Never Known Men<\/cite> by Jacqueline Harpman:<\/strong> a philosophical dystopian\nread in which one invariably will think about purpose and meaning of life.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"ISBN-9780385550369\">James<\/cite> by Percival Everett:<\/strong> a great book in its own right, that\ndelivers a fantastic additional narrative perspective to the events told by\nHuck Finn (himself unreliable).  This book did double duty, rekindling\nmemories of reading <cite data-id=\"8EDAF156-FD70-48D5-8E92-D1C675F2C49A\">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn<\/cite> and seeing Big River.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"C5494904-CE49-4456-8E29-E3F94B72A593\">The Life of Poetry<\/cite> by Muriel Rukeyser:<\/strong> such lyricism and exposure to aspects\nof history and thought lost in our march to forget the lessons of facing and\novercoming fascism.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"1f28328c-be96-453d-a9a8-9b921c39fd8a\">The Little Book of Solitude<\/cite> by Joost Joossen:<\/strong> a collection of\nmini-biographies and quotes that lead me to to Pico Iyer\u2019s <cite data-id=\"fee4ffa7-1d45-46e7-86f1-af203b92f54b\">Aflame<\/cite>; it was\nalso amongst the first library books I checked out from our local library.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"75095d6c-cbe7-4a38-a6da-549678d4ed5e\">Men Explain Things to Me<\/cite> by Rebecca Solnit:<\/strong> this has been sitting on my\nshelf, partially read, and I sat down to read it.  Solnit always provides a\nreminder of the misogynistic structures and cultural behaviors that course\nthrough the world in which we live.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"b1aaa6b7-baee-4d8f-8a63-94bb8f812777\">Open Socrates<\/cite> by Agnes Callard:<\/strong> as with other philosophy books, this is one\nI\u2019ve added a hefty dose of marginalia.  Considering how to better approach\nlove, death, and politics.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"55a32435-c012-4892-be9a-ac00b5b17204\">Piranesi<\/cite> by Susanna Clarke:<\/strong> this one will sit with me for a very long-time.\nSlow-moving, playing with memory.  I highly recommend reading this in close\nproximity to <cite data-id=\"ISBN-9781945492600\">I Who Have Never Known Men<\/cite>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"effcc954-310e-4b76-bf18-6919eb075832\">The Player of Games<\/cite> by Iain M. Banks:<\/strong> an interesting bit of speculation on\nhow a complex game can be used to constrain a society, and how the rules and\nlanguage of the game impose upon the society.  And how diversity can be a\nmighty advantage.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"da435b3f-87a2-49bb-802f-acf81815a488\">Prairie Songs<\/cite> by Lauren Friesen:<\/strong> my uncle wrote this, and I learned a\nlittle bit more about him and my family history.  And my uncles poem about\nsurviving polio ending with: \u201cand beside my bed \\ they spun, \\ an iron\ncocoon.\u201d  Goosebumps.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"4b6ca2f0-8e70-40b4-b18e-fe87b643b3e6\">Pranksters vs. Autocrats<\/cite> by Srdja Popovic and Sophia A. McClennen:<\/strong> I have\nrecommended this book to many people looking for hope and action.  Evidence is\nthat humor wins.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"C2F8BF31-362C-4F0D-A4F2-8F6B1927CB1A\">Slowness<\/cite> by Milan Kundera:<\/strong> this was one of my question books, due to its\nquote: \u201cThere is a secret bond between slowness and memory, between speed and\nforgetting.\u201d  I found this book for a reasonable price and read it that\nevening.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"588d8c62-e79a-4ffe-99f3-a73aba315a8e\">Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird<\/cite> by Henry Lien:<\/strong> on a lark I picked this up,\nand it opened my awareness to other narrative structures, ones that I now look\nfor as a change of pace.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"isbn-9781534431003\">This is How You Lose the Time War<\/cite> by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone:<\/strong> Jenny\nborrowed this via inter-library loan; read it and thought I might enjoy it.\nShe was right.  I appreciate the myth building through symbols; the language\nof thread, needle felting, and sleeping beauty (herself a wolf hungry for\nlittle red riding hood).<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"5dd8020b-640b-420d-ae24-84169585038c\">To Fight Against this Age<\/cite> by Rob Riemen:<\/strong> I liked the title and subtitle, and\nfound a philosophical memoir that reinforced the need for humanism and\nconversation.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"d334ef0c-4398-479f-ad82-4d8b9e993d2c\">The Trial<\/cite> by Franz Kafka:<\/strong> Having never read much of Kafka, yet knowing the\nfoundational nature of his work, then reading references in <cite data-id=\"5dd8020b-640b-420d-ae24-84169585038c\">To Fight Against this Age<\/cite> and eyeing <cite data-id=\"kafka-on-the-shore-by-haruki-murakami\">Kafka on the Shore<\/cite>, I had to read it.  And I was\nhooked.  Forget Cthulhu, existential dread is mindless bureaucracy.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"isbn-9781250213587\">Upright Women Wanted<\/cite> by Sarah Gailey:<\/strong> not normally something I\u2019d read, but\nthis let the Wild West tropes do quite a bit of work, and then subvert those\ntropes and tell a unique story about resistance.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"BAEA3D15-DA6C-4699-9DCC-3F424B515740\">We<\/cite> by Yevgeny Zamyatin:<\/strong> I love <cite data-id=\"works-1984\">1984<\/cite>, <cite data-id=\"30C81F03-C944-488E-9C81-CFC7E632A95E\">Brave New World<\/cite>, and <cite data-id=\"72C7CC81-C6CD-4ECD-B8AF-EDF939B56094\">Farenheit 451<\/cite>; and <cite data-id=\"BAEA3D15-DA6C-4699-9DCC-3F424B515740\">We<\/cite> is the spiritual ancestor of those stories.  The dystopian\nover-reaching state in which so much energy must be spent to sustain the\nsystems of oppression and coercion.  It felt a bit derivative, but as it came\nbefore, must be viewed with a freshness of thought relative to others.<\/li>\n<li><strong><cite data-id=\"95cc0be8-ed94-44c5-a193-696c32426e72\">When No Thing Works<\/cite> by Norma Kaelok\u016b Wong:<\/strong> an important reminder that it is\nnot enough to resist, but to imagine a future in which we are along moving\nalong the path of restoration and restitution.  Naming what that future looks\nlike\u2014in details.  The dishes one brings to celebrations, the evidence of how\nimprovements manifest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Then synthesizing all of these things: subvert tropes as this fosters further\nimagination of possibility.  And from there, action becomes possible.<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/30\/yuletide\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/30\/yuletide\/","title":"Yuletide","date_published":"2025-12-30T10:30:07-05:00","tags":"personal, poetry","content_html":"<blockquote class=\"quote epigraph\" data-id=\"20221009T120354\">\n<p>\nMyth is a tear in the fabric of reality, and immense energies pour\nthrough these holy fissures.  Our stories, our poems, are rips in this\nfabric as well, however slight.\n<\/p>\n<footer>&#8213;Jay Parini, <cite>Borges and Me<\/cite><\/footer><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yule-tide, the twelve days between Winter Solstice and New Year\u2019s Day.  <time datetime=\"2025\" title=\"2025\">This\nyear<\/time> those days coincide with my (paid) time off of work.<\/p>\n<p>I stumbled a bit, thinking what the common weekday name I would give <time datetime=\"2025-12-30\" title=\"2025-12-30\">today<\/time>.  It\nfelt very much like Sunday.  Much as <time datetime=\"2025-12-29\" title=\"2025-12-29\">yesterday<\/time> did.  Perhaps there\u2019s that sense\nof holiness that burns through these yule-lit days.<\/p>\n<p>Not holy as we might conflate with communion and sermons, but in those fissures.\nIn which a true light shines through, that of communal memory and myths\nconstructed around firelight.<\/p>\n<p>I think to those gatherings at Grandma and Grandpa Friesen\u2019s house.  We\u2019d be\nthere together for what felt like several days.  Time made little sense, as the\n15 of us stuffed into that small ranch house in Nebraska.  Laughter tumbling\namidst Low German and English.<\/p>\n<p>The younger cousins and I would play at grandpa\u2019s pool table.  Endless hours in\nthose pre-electronic entertainment console days.  Later I\u2019d learn that it was a\nshoddy thing, warped and uneven.  But in those days, the green felt felt\nenchantingly rich.<\/p>\n<p>In later years, there were those days in which we\u2019d pack up after Christmas and\ndrive to Vermont.  Late nights of laughter as we\u2019d play fishbowl around the\nhearth.  Yule-tide, is for gathering.  For catching glimpses of the sun\u2019s\nreturn.  Sharing in that joy of togetherness, when the world outside, at this\nlatitude at least, is grinding ice and howling wind.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I gather with Jenny and our dogs Lacey and Ollie.  Me writing (poetry and\nLisp, as though there were a difference) and Jenny reading.  Lacey curled up\nbeside Jenny and Ollie wedged into his lounging chair.  We\u2019ll go outside for a\nbit, and stomp through the fresh powder of yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>But Yule-tide is now a fragile thing, at least in these States of America.  Each\nyear, I claim some of my employer benefits: paid time off.  Yet not all of my\nchildren have benefits that provide paid time off.  Others must budget time off\nfor visiting their fractured families.<\/p>\n<p>Where is the sacred?<\/p>\n<p>I want to write \u201csacrificed to the maw of capitalism\u201d, but that is an\nindirection.  Capitalists, lets name them not their system, demand our time and\ntalent to extract and enrich themselves.  The sacred, cultural memories and\nechoes, is something to be shattered, rended, and in their flattening-mind,\nforgotten and\/or perverted.  Replaced with consumption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"verse\">\nYule-tide, yule-tide, a wave of night<br \/>\npassing through mists of time<br \/>\nwaxing toward growing light.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nThis yule-tide let pop the cork<br \/>\nand decant drought of warding warmth,<br \/>\nand celebrate family and friends<br \/>\nand home and hearth.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/29\/lake-effect-snow\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/29\/lake-effect-snow\/","title":"Lake Effect Snow","date_published":"2025-12-29T16:40:38-05:00","tags":"poetry","content_html":"<p class=\"verse\">\nOut windows, white flakes<br \/>\nDancing, twirling, falling hide<br \/>\nAll past nearest shore\u2014<br \/>\n<br \/>\nWhat darkening winter keeps<br \/>\nCurtains drawn our secrets near.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/29\/that-time-in-between\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/29\/that-time-in-between\/","title":"That Time In Between","date_published":"2025-12-29T08:27:55-05:00","tags":"personal, poetry","content_html":"<p class=\"verse\">\nFolly is to name the days between Christmas and New Years.<br \/>\nThere\u2019s hardly enough daytime to warrant such.<br \/>\nInstead, let us embrace these long winter\u2019s night;<br \/>\nWhere story presses against the glass,<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;breath hot, frozen fog forming crystalline lace.<br \/>\nNo logs split nor tallow lit, that once did dance.<br \/>\nInstead, light sits steady and flat,<br \/>\nAnd the only flicker that of picture panes.<br \/>\nThis is a moment when little sense does our time make.<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>I embrace <a href=\"https:\/\/ruk.ca\/content\/romjul\">Romjul<\/a>, that period between Christmas\/Boxing Day and New Year\u2019s Eve.\nFor most of my life, the time between Christmas and New Years has been one of\nholiday.  That is: not working for my employer, but instead spending time with\nfriends (both present and tome-bound).<\/p>\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/23\/serializing-somewhat-large-emacs-alists\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/23\/serializing-somewhat-large-emacs-alists\/","title":"Serializing Somewhat Large Emacs Alists","date_published":"2025-12-23T08:47:49-05:00","tags":"emacs, programming","content_html":"<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/git.sr.ht\/~jeremyf\/mythic-bastionland.el\">my Mythic Bastionland Emacs package<\/a> I\u2019ve been populating an <span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emacs\">Emacs<\/a><\/span> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cEmacs\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cEmacs\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-EMACS\">&#128214;<\/a><\/small>\n <code>alist<\/code> with\ninformation related to the state of the map for my Forged from the Worst\ncampaign.<\/p>\n<p>I have 14 top-level keys in that <code>alist<\/code>: <code>barriers<\/code>, <code>curses<\/code>, <code>dwellings, escalations<\/code>, <code>hazards<\/code>, <code>holdings<\/code>, <code>known-hexes<\/code>, <code>locations<\/code>, <code>monuments<\/code>, <code>myth, omens-revealed<\/code>, <code>rivers<\/code>, <code>ruins<\/code>, and <code>sanctums<\/code>.  Most of those entries have 3 to 6\nassociated elements, with <code>rivers<\/code>, <code>locations<\/code>, and <code>barriers<\/code> having more.<\/p>\n<p>Along the way, I found that when I went to persist the <code>alist<\/code> to a file, I was\ngetting trailing <code>...<\/code> characters in a few places.  The process was truncating my\ndata.  Which meant data loss when I went to load the persisted <code>alist<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p>No worries, due to the nature of the package, I could rebuild the map data and\nit would be true to the state of play (though the non-revealed information would\nbe different).  However, I wanted to solve this persistence issue.<\/p>\n<p>I spent an evening searching and exploring the use of <code>prin1<\/code> and <code>(setopt eval-expression-print-level nil)<\/code> but Emacs seemed to insist that when I went to\nprint the full variable out, it would truncate.<\/p>\n<p>So I set about writing out chunks of the data.  Then reassembling those chunks.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"writing-the-data-out-in-chunks\">Writing the Data Out in Chunks<\/h2>\n<p>Below is my <a href=\"https:\/\/git.sr.ht\/~jeremyf\/mythic-bastionland.el\/tree\/6e9688a0ab8782a005e70c47fe64eb3627c91033\/mythic-bastionland.el#L463-509\">mythic-bastionland-map-write function available at Sourcehut<\/a>.  What\nthe code does is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create a feature called <code>mythic-bastionland-map<\/code>, which we\u2019ll write as a\nloadable package.<\/li>\n<li>For each association in the map:\n<ul>\n<li>Chunk that data into groups of 8 and write each sub-group into a variable\nwith name based on the association\u2019s <code>car<\/code> and incremental suffix.<\/li>\n<li>Store those incremental variable names in another variable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Store the name of each association\u2019s <code>car<\/code> rendered in yet another variable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<pre><code class=\"language-emacs-lisp\">(defun mythic-bastionland-map-write (&amp;optional map)\n  &quot;Write the MAP into a re-loadable format.\n\nEmacs is truncating things so I need to jump through some hoops.&quot;\n  (setq mythic-bastionland-map (or map (mythic-bastionland-map)))\n  (with-temp-buffer\n    (let ((features nil))\n      (insert &quot;;;; mbm ---  -*- lexical-binding: t -*-\\n&quot;)\n      (cl-loop for (feature . values) in mythic-bastionland-map do\n               (let (;; In my experience somewhere around 10 elements\n                     ;; and we start seeing truncation.  So let's be\n                     ;; under that.\n                     (size 8)\n                     ;; This will be a list of the variable names that,\n                     ;; when reassembled, will be the values.\n                     (segment-names nil))\n                 (cl-pushnew feature features)\n                 (dotimes (i (+ 1 (\/ (length values) size)))\n                   (let (;; Name of variable that will hold a segment\n                         ;; of the values.\n                         (segment-name\n                          (format &quot;mbm--data-%s-%d&quot; feature i)))\n                     ;; Track this segment's variable name.\n                     (push (intern segment-name) segment-names)\n                     ;; Grab a subset of values for this segment and\n                     ;; store it in the variable with name that is the\n                     ;; value of the segment.\n                     (insert (format &quot;(defvar %s '&quot; segment-name))\n                     ;; Yes yes, this is likely less effecient as I'm\n                     ;; always reading the list.  But it was quick\n                     (prin1 (seq-take\n                             (nthcdr (* i size) values) size)\n                            (current-buffer))\n                     (insert &quot;)\\n&quot;)))\n                 ;; Now track all of the segment names associated with\n                 ;; this feature.\n                 (insert (format &quot;(defvar mbm--data-%s-list '&quot; feature))\n                 (prin1 segment-names (current-buffer))\n                 (insert &quot;)\\n&quot;)))\n      ;; Last track all feature names so we may reassemble them.\n      (insert (format\n               &quot;(defvar mbm--features \\&quot;%s\\&quot;)\\n&quot;\n               (mapconcat (lambda (e) (format &quot;%s&quot; e))\n                          features &quot; &quot;))))\n    (insert &quot;(provide 'mbm)\\n&quot;\n            &quot;;;; mythic-bastionland-map.el ends here\\n&quot;)\n    (write-file mythic-bastionland-map-state-file)))\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2 id=\"reading-the-data-back-in\">Reading the Data Back In<\/h2>\n<p>I use the <a href=\"https:\/\/git.sr.ht\/~jeremyf\/mythic-bastionland.el\/tree\/6e9688a0ab8782a005e70c47fe64eb3627c91033\/mythic-bastionland.el#L519-545\">mythic-bastionland-map-read<\/a> to reassemble that segmented data.  When\ndone I call <code>(unload-feature 'mbm)<\/code> to remove the fragmented variables, leaving\nonly the <code>mythic-bastionland-map<\/code> variable.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"language-emacs-lisp\">(defun mythic-bastionland-map-read ()\n  &quot;Load the unduly complicated encoding of the map.&quot;\n  (unless (f-file-p mythic-bastionland-map-state-file)\n    (user-error &quot;No file found at %s&quot;\n                mythic-bastionland-map-state-file))\n  (require 'mbm mythic-bastionland-map-state-file)\n  (let ((map nil))\n    ;; Our serialized map has a variable mbm--map-features; we use that\n    ;; to start our loading of data.\n    (dolist (map-feature (s-split &quot; &quot; mbm--features))\n      (let* ((values nil)\n             ;; The name of each of the variables that houses a segment\n             ;; of the feature's data.\n             (segment-names\n              (symbol-value\n               (intern (format &quot;mbm--data-%s-list&quot; map-feature)))))\n        (dolist (segment-name segment-names)\n          (dolist (value (symbol-value segment-name))\n            (cl-pushnew value values)))\n        ;; Now that we've reassembled (in reverse order) the values for\n        ;; this feature, add them to the underlying map.\n        (cl-pushnew (cons (intern map-feature) values) map)))\n    ;; With all features and their values loaded, we assign the map to\n    ;; something more durable.\n    (setq mythic-bastionland-map map))\n  ;; And last clean up all those variables we used for reassembly.\n  (unload-feature 'mbm))\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<h2 id=\"perhaps-another-way\">Perhaps Another Way?<\/h2>\n<p>It seems a bit odd that this is how I could reliably read and write the data.\nAnd I\u2019m open for other approaches.  However, I felt it worth sharing this\nbespoke method as it might help others.<\/p>\n<p>If you know of another way, <a href=\"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/contact-me\/\">please contact me<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"structured-data-and-iterating\">Structured Data and Iterating<\/h2>\n<p>While working on <a href=\"https:\/\/git.sr.ht\/~jeremyf\/mythic-bastionland.el\">my Mythic Bastionland Emacs package<\/a>, I have been very pleased\nwith the malleability of the <code>alist<\/code>, and their ease of testing; in part because\nof the <span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Read%E2%80%93eval%E2%80%93print_loop\">Read-eval-print loop<\/a><\/span> (<abbr title=\"Read-eval-print loop\">REPL<\/abbr> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cRead-eval-print loop\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cRead-eval-print loop\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-REPL\">&#128214;<\/a><\/small>)\n but also because of the nature of Lisp.<\/p>\n<p>I can easily grab a portion of the syntax tree and reliably mash on that in the\n<abbr title=\"Read-eval-print loop\">REPL<\/abbr>\n.  Think about other programming languages, if you want to use a portion of\nthe inner logic of a function, what steps do you need to take to use it?<\/p>\n<p>Due to the primacy of the <code>alist<\/code> there are fantastic functions for working\nwith them.<\/p>\n<p>Segmenting the data was a bit odd, I was hoping to simply dump the <code>alist<\/code> to a\nfile.  However, with the problems I encountered, I started exploring other\noptions.  Maybe write to JSON and load from JSON.  But then I would\u2019ve needed to\nestablish a mechanism for describing that transformation.<\/p>\n<ins aria-labelledby=\"section-update-2025-12-23\" class=\"update\" datetime=\"2025-12-23\"><h2 id=\"section-update-2025-12-23\"><time datetime=\"2025-12-23\">Dec 23, 2025<\/time> update<\/h2> <p>\nReader\u2019s rallied and submitted some options.  The following refactor works in\nplace of the previous implementations.\n<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"language-emacs-lisp\">(defun mythic-bastionland-map-write (&amp;optional map)\n  &quot;Write the MAP into a re-loadable format.&quot;\n  (setq mythic-bastionland-map (or map (mythic-bastionland-map)))\n  (with-temp-buffer\n    (let ((print-level nil)\n          (print-length nil))\n      (prin1 mythic-bastionland-map (current-buffer)))\n    (write-file mythic-bastionland-map-state-file)))\n\n(defun mythic-bastionland-map-read ()\n  &quot;Load the persisted map.&quot;\n  (if-let ((file mythic-bastionland-map-state-file))\n      (if (f-file-p file)\n          (progn\n            (setq mythic-bastionland-map\n                  (read (with-temp-buffer\n                          (insert-file-contents file)\n                          (buffer-string))))\n            (message &quot;Loaded mythic-bastionland-map from %s&quot; file))\n        (user-error &quot;No file found at %s&quot;\n                    mythic-bastionland-map-state-file))\n    (user-error &quot;'mythic-bastionland-state-file is nil&quot;)))\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/ins>\n\n"},{"id":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/21\/game-procedures-as-bridges-from-potential-to-actual\/","url":"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/21\/game-procedures-as-bridges-from-potential-to-actual\/","title":"Game Procedures as Bridges from Potential to Actual","date_published":"2025-12-21T11:07:13-05:00","tags":"reflections, rpgs","content_html":"<p>I\u2019ve been playing a solo game of <cite><a href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/en\/product\/514996\/mythic-bastionland?affiliate_id=318171\">Mythic Bastionland<\/a><\/cite> <small><a class=\"ref\" rel=\"tag opener\" aria-label=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cMythic Bastionland\u201d\" title=\"Other site-wide references of \u201cMythic Bastionland\u201d\" href=\"\/site-map\/glossary\/#abbr-dfn-GLOSSARY-MYTHIC-BASTIONLAND\">&#128214;<\/a><\/small>\n, tracking the story in my\nForged from the Worst series.  This morning <a href=\"https:\/\/gnomestones.substack.com\/p\/ep-4-gnomereign-mythic-bastionland\">Ep 4: Mythic Bastionland Solo\nCampaign<\/a> rolled through my feed.<\/p>\n<p>And I noted they were using different procedures.  Which lead me to <a href=\"https:\/\/gnomestones.substack.com\/p\/tension-tables-and-faction-development\">Tension\nTables and Faction Development in Mythic Bastionland<\/a>.  Very interesting and I\ncan see cribbing that encounter table procedure.<\/p>\n<p>In one of the comments, Jack Edward wrote:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote  class=\"h-cite\">\n\nIt&rsquo;s funny, I&rsquo;m always curious about how to work other kinds of play into Mythic\nBastionland \u2014 particularly other themes and dimensions of play \u2014 just reworking\nthe random encounter table to include more stuff is one of the most elegant ways\nI&rsquo;ve seen of doing it!\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>And this is something to poke at more.  At the end of <a href=\"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/2025\/12\/20\/forged-from-the-worst-session-5\/\">Forged From the Worst:\nSession 5<\/a>, Sir Beatrice learned of The Lich.  I the referee and you the reader,\nhad known that the Lich was likely going to enter into the fiction.  Yet, as the\nplayer of Sir Beatrice, it was news to me.<\/p>\n<p>The fiction is what happens at the table: revealed random encounters, actions\ntaken, words spoken, tests passed and failed etc.  The potential is the random\nencounter tables, rumor tables, morale checks, reaction rolls, and backstory.\nAnd we use procedures, implicit and explicit, to transform potential into\nactual.<\/p>\n<p>In that moment between potential and actual, we gain glimpses.  When a referee\nand player negotiate task, intent, and the consequences of success and failure,\nthe game enters a liminal space.  There is visibility into the potentiality of\nsomething that will not occur (the failure consequences when the test succeeds).<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, when a player has visibility into the random tables (and procedures\nfor using them) they have access to more than what is\u2026they know what can be.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"swapping-procedures\">Swapping Procedures<\/h2>\n<p>At a few sessions into <cite>Mythic Bastionland<\/cite>\n, I\u2019m looking at the Gnomestones\u2019s\nrandom event table.  The table and procedures mean that their game will involve\nmore consideration for weather and factions.<\/p>\n<p>I find the ability to swap out subsystems a compelling reason for these analogue\ngames.  And as these procedures are performed \u201cby hand\u201d there\u2019s an incentive for\nthem to be concise.  Which helps in their portability.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t like that your players are always escalating to combat?  Introduce the\nReaction Roll?  See that the players are always leaning into the Reaction Roll\nbecause of high charisma?  Require that in order to gain the Charisma bonus the\nfirst action of the encounter must be Parlay; which might leave them\nill-prepared for an attack.<\/p>\n<p>I think it is important that you shouldn\u2019t significantly change procedures\nbetween sessions\u2026unless an Age has passed.  As in, if you are fast forwarding to\na time in which world events would change, consider the swap out.<\/p>\n<p>Thinking of Mythic Bastionland, how might we start shifting towards the \u201cInto\nthe Odd\u201d era (if we wanted to)?  What procedures might change?  How might I\nalter my random tables or procedures to move in that direction?<\/p>\n<p>Or how might I give more focus to the Factions?  I\u2019ve created the lever in the\nprocedures for entering a Holding, and when the current Age ends, perhaps I\u2019ll\nadjust the procedures to reflect the game I\u2019m seeing or wishing to further\nexplore.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"building-forged-from-the-worst\">Building Forged from the Worst<\/h2>\n<p>These days, I eschew writing back story, instead spending time having that\nemerge in play.  I might seed situations, but most often that\u2019s through random\nprocedures.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/series\/forged-from-the-worst\">Forged from the Worst<\/a> I did spend time rolling up relationships and\nconflicts, but only in service of seeding an Escalation Table for one of the\nrelationships.  And I\u2019m doing that in a just in time manner.<\/p>\n<p>Below is the relationship graph.  It\u2019s one where I\u2019ve thought a bit about each\nrelationship, marveling at some of those random rolls and how they compounded on\neach other.  But only the Escalation Table for the relationship between Prentise\nand Yelena carries any fictive reality; in that I\u2019ve now once rolled on it.<\/p>\n\n<figure ><figcaption><p><a href=\"\/2025\/12\/20\/forged-from-the-worst-session-5#just-in-time-locations-and-relationships\">Relationship graph between Holdings and Rulers generated in Session 5 of Forged from the Worst<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n  <img src=\"\/images\/forged=from=the=worst--relationship-map_hu_f47c6573698a745a.png\" alt=\"A relationship graph which was detailed in a prior post.  For more information read the image caption to link to the text description of the relationships.\" data-original-url=\"https:\/\/takeonrules.com\/images\/forged=from=the=worst--relationship-map.png\" width=\"770\" height=\"951\" data-width=\"770\" data-height=\"951\" \/>\n<\/figure>\n\n<p>Further, in solo-play it seems absurd to spend much time on back story.  If I\u2019m\ndoing that, I might as well write a novel.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>I first started playing Dungeons &amp; Dragons in Second Edition era.  It was a time\nwhen backstory and story plot became vogue.  Amongst my local gaming groups, and\nthose that ran games, I remember derision towards random encounters \u2014\nself-included.  Yet now, I consider much of this required for the types of games\nI\u2019ll enjoy running.<\/p>\n<p>First, when I\u2019m running a game, I too want to experience surprise and wonder.\nWith procedures generating random situations, I\u2019m surprised first in the\nsituation I present and then in the response of the players.  Which I find far\nmore enjoyable than presenting the next plot point then being surprised by the\nplayer responses.<\/p>\n"}]}