Hugh: picked him up from Tina (at the tip shop); bought him a pogo stick. Voyaged with us to Cygnet to pick up a cast iron bath from Freecycle. I sent him a link re our ongoing conversation about white supremacist memes:

Spent extensive time learning to jump on his pogo stick, including quite a bit of time interacting with Dan. Helped me cook dinner. Watched Angel with Daddy.

Dan: doing more research into the supporting cast of Hamilton; discussed whether someone’s sexuality was being erased after a letter they’d read with homoerotic overtones was introduced as “We don’t know about his sexuality”. I discussed that the historical importance of the homoerotic friendship, and the fact that the homosexual identity was not invented until the late C19th/early C20th, means the letter can’t be read by itself as evidence of a sexual relationship. Also cautioned against trying to understand people in the past through the lens of modern understandings of sexual identity; and discussed the basics of the theories behind “histories of the self”: that “the self” is not a static, unchanging, universal thing but a socially-mediated construct which changes in time and across cultures. Saw a snake next to the courtyard fence while letting Q have some outside time. Helped me weed the raised bed.