Happy Juneteenth folks! I know not everyone that reads this blog is an American. I also know that not every American gives a shit about Juneteenth. Honestly, I haven’t done a whole lot to celebrate it either. But on June 19th, 1865 some Union troops officially announced freedom for the enslaved people of Texas. See, freedom from slavery didn’t apply to everyone all at once at the same time. Just because Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 doesn’t mean all the slaves in the Confederate states were automatically freed. There needed to be a way to implement it, and that’s hard to do while the Confederates still controlled their territories. But when the Union won the war the freedom needed to reach all corners of the country, Texas included. So Juneteenth marks the day when freedom reached the stragglers. Or at least, a significant step in reaching those stragglers, I imagine there were still some enslaved people somewhere after Juneteenth. Let’s be real, there are still enslaved people to this day. But if they’re prisoners or in a distant country it’s all good right? Sureeeeeee.

All is not well for Black people in America. Or much of anyone in America really. I’d say the billionaires, or fucking trillionaire in Elon Musk’s bitch ass case are doing well, but are they *really* doing well? Are they really fulfilled? Or is nothing ever going to be enough for them? I’m thinking the latter. But it’s certainly not the best of times to be Black in America. Our glorious Supreme Court decided that the VRA requiring majority minority districts is racist against white people or whatever the fuck. So RIP a bunch of Black political representation just like that. Its also been less than a week since some cops in Mississippi shot a one year old Black boy to death. His mom was accused of shoplifting, and she drove away from the cops. So they shot at her car with a baby onboard. Or if you believe the police reports she drove in their direction supposedly. How the hell is shooting a driver supposed to save you from getting run over any way? Even if you believe the cop’s likely bullshit story it’s still fucking stupid. Will that officer get any meaningful accountability for shooting a one year old to death? Probably not, it’s fucking Mississippi. And cops barely ever get accountability for anything even in the not-South. The legacy of the Confederacy lives on.

But you know what? It’s Juneteenth and this is a day where we can relish in the freedom we’ve gained and the hope that our condition can improve moving forward. Because shit, things may not be all hunky dory now but at least we don’t have people being legally owned and worked to death on a plantation. Whips aren’t cool any more unless you’re in kink spaces. Now we just do economic coercion to keep people working to death. But still, man is it nice that the kind of slavery you saw in the 1840s isn’t around any more. Not like it was any way. Gotta be thankful for that. It’s Juneteenth after all. I probably wouldn’t even exist if 1840s style slavery wasn’t abolished.

You probably wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at me in person, or reading my usual blog post, but I have some African-American heritage. I have a Black grandfather, or had, as he’s not alive anymore. Never got to meet him. May he rest in peace. If that side of the family was never freed they would still be stuck in the South. He wouldn’t be able to meet my grandma in Chicago. My mom would’ve never been born. Downstream of that, I obviously wouldn’t have been born either. Downstream of that, this blog would never exist either. Guess I got to give a formal Cosmia blog thank you to Abraham Lincoln. Not to say I endorse every single thing he’s ever said or done, but I don’t think this blog would’ve existed without him. Thanks dude! Also got to thank my unknown enslaved ancestors for enduring whatever untold bullshit they had to deal with to pass on their legacy. Thank you too!

I don’t think my ancestors were ever in Texas, but whatever. Juneteenth is a day for freedom for everybody. Because nobody’s free until we’re all free. Yeah. Though going by that line of reasoning we’re still not free. Fuck. Any ways, I intended for this to be a simple update post to keep y’all in the loop of how things are going under the hood with the Cosmia blog. Then I saw what day it was and I couldn’t resist talking some shit. Freedom! Yeah!

So let’s see how we stand. The year is 2026 and since the start of the year until now we’ve had… two blog posts. And only one of those was written by me. Off to a lightning start! I could give a long list of excuses as to why this is the case. Are there other things going on in my life? Of course. Not so much that it’d make it impossible to post here more often, but there are definitely other things going on nevertheless. I make negative money on this blog. When I’m not working I’ve got other hobbies vying for my time. So prioritization is certainly part of the issue here. But it’s also just getting into that writing flow and seeing it through to the end. The drafts sure are getting crowded. I’ve had some stuff I started but didn’t like where it was going. I’ve had some stuff I started, liked where it was going, but had some reason or another to put on pause. Sometimes I write stuff that won’t be a blog post at all. This is all to say I’ve been writing more often than my activity on this blog indicates.

Even so, I think this site needs some more love. I’m not going to suddenly start pumping out a blog post every week or whatever, but I’ll make damn sure the second half of this year shows more activity. We’re nearing the Cosmia blog’s fourth year anniversary (August 2nd folks). Can’t let it have less posts this year than I published in 2022. To that end, here’s a preview of some of the stuff I’ve been working on/intend to get done before the year’s end:

I won’t give a 100% guarantee that all of these will get published this year. Maybe one of these will fall to the wayside and a secret fifth thing will take its place. But let it be known: they’re in the works. I also know a certain Spartan’s got some interesting things cooking up for you guys too. Much to look forward to. Assuming you have any interest in the niche topics we discuss. If you don’t then I’m not sure how you found this blog in the first place. Whatever. See you soon! Or maybe this is the last time you’ll ever read a blog post on this site ever and I’ll never see you again. That would be unfortunate but peace be with you regardless. By the way, you can put your email in this little form box thing here if you want to keep updated on this blog. That way you won’t miss whenever the Next Thing comes out.

Alternatively, you can like, not do that. Whatever works for you. I’ve pretty much run out of things to say and I don’t know how to end this post so… uh…

HAPPY JUNETEENTH YALL