Since deserting the ceasefire deal ten days ago to resume its genocidal campaign and takeover of Palestinian land, Israel has killed 896 Palestinians, bringing the death toll to 50,251, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. That’s 896 men, women, and children—nearly 2 percent of the total murdered since October 7, 2023—killed within a span of ten days, amid the most inhumane of conditions created by Israel and materially supported by the US. Humanitarian aid continues to be blocked, limited food and medicine are being deliberately targeted, while doctors are sounding the alarm on a monstrous pattern of children being treated for close-range gunshot wounds.

Spring is springing, for which I am eternally grateful. I enjoy taking walks around my neighborhood, spotting the occasional one-off bunch of flowers or bright green blades of grass shooting up from the cold ground. While above, trees are starting to bud, their naked branches tinged with color and texture promising happier, longer, warmer days ahead. And completing my early spring explorations is the omnipresent choir of birds, boisterous and fervent, heralding the change in season.

It wasn’t until “Toxic” came out in 2003 that my wall of resistance finally crumbled. Reluctantly, I admitted to myself and the world at large that yes, I was in fact a fan of the Princess of Pop. It was that damn 80’s Bollywood sample that got me—"Tere Mere Beech Mein". And after the glowy, beautiful, futuristic Blade Runneresque music video companion aired, well I was Britney’s for life after that.

Keeping up with the Trump administration’s incessant microaggressions is a Sisyphean task. But people do. And I am eternally grateful for their hardy resolve. Zeteo’s “This Week In Democracy” series, a day-by-day distillation published every Saturday, does a fantastic job at recapping the essential Trumpian chaos you may have caught, missed, or (if you’re like me) deliberately ignored in an effort to not spend the evening hyperventilating on the couch.

Overnight, Israel unleashed waves of heavy bombardment across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 400 Palestinians and injuring over 550 in their sleep—mostly women, children, and the elderly.

Israel's illegal blockade of the Gaza strip has entered its third week, continuing to deny entry of all food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies into the region. In case it needs spelling out, Palestinians, amid their decimated city, have been without food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies for three weeks. All the while, IDF soldiers continue to murder and maim Palestinian civilians and journalists in flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement and international law.

I don’t think I’ve ever dreamed about painting or mixing or laying down oils, but I found it very soothing, surrendering to the delicate sounds and smells and colors. When it comes to creating art in my waking life, I enjoy the individual parts much more than the sum itself. The process. The means. There’s a lovely line from Ursula K. Le Guin’s dazzling science fiction novel The Lathe of Heaven—about dreams, realities, and an unusual painting—that goes, “The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means.”

It bothers me when people call Trump voters “idiots”. More likely, they’re vile bigots. Or nasty xenophobes. Maybe they’re just poor. But they’re not idiots. I find the “idiot” label to be so wholly unproductive, dismissing both the person and quandary at large. Instead of looking at why or how right-wing leadership has literally gained momentum all over the world, the answer is simply written off as “this country is full of fucking idiots”. Idiots indeed.