Let’s start with what harvestmen are not. They are not men, nor do they harvest; they probably get their name from the time of year they’re commonly spotted, in late summer or early fall. Though eight-legged, they are not spiders, but they are part of the broader arachnid group, which also includes ticks and mites. And despite some truly slanderous rumors, they are not venomous and pose absolutely no threat to us who walk upright.

Last week, Senate negotiators released the text of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal. For the first time since the deal was announced in June, we can actually see what’s in it.On its face, this isn’t a climate bill. It invests significantly in a federal road and highway system that encourages fossil-fuel-based travel in private cars and trucks.

In just a few hours, Americans will start reading headlines announcing all the lessons learned from today’s Democratic primary in Ohio’s Eleventh Congressional District. Political writers will treat the race as a parable: a warning for progressives or an admonishment of the Democratic Party’s establishment wing. Twitter pundits will publish threads about the winning candidate’s strategy to woo working-class voters.

In May, I stood in the rear galley of an airplane and watched as a line formed to berate the flight attendant next to me. We were at a gate at LaGuardia, our flight half an hour delayed, and the air inside the cabin was acrid with the aromas of anxiety sweat and bags of fast food procured at the gate.

The first time I heard there was a problem, I was hanging out in a leather bar.A friend texted with news that Provincetown, Massachusetts, the queer beach town where I’d been vacationing, had experienced a spike of COVID-19 cases among vaccinated people. He asked about the mood in town. I looked around the room and saw burly guys—it was Bear Week—chatting over beers.