On the one hand, hurrah, lots to write about. On the other hand, it feels like a real struggle to produce work that takes on nuanced, critical positions that don’t simply pretend that everything that’s happening is part of a new horror.
Current mood. Unstaged photo courtesy of Gautham Reddy.
I’m running on empty and have been for a while now. The Trump presidency is awful for a number of reasons that I don’t have to go into, but it’s been a boon for anyone writing about current events. If you’re like me, and critical of both the left and the Trump-wallahs, though, it’s a mixed blessing. On the one hand, hurrah, lots to write about. On the other hand, it feels like a real struggle to produce work that takes on nuanced, critical positions that don’t simply pretend that everything that’s happening is part of a new horror. Apparently, liberals in particular are shocked, just shocked, for instance, that border security guards board Greyhounds and Amtraks to check on people’s papers. That’s been happening for a very long time, actually, and I’m rapidly becoming more pissed off about the current framework of legibility that liberals and lefties are choosing to engage. But more on all that later.
I’m struggling to breathe (metaphorically). But in great news: This last week, I put out two pieces on the website, and will continue to do so. I’m running ragged and really, really need a break soon before I collapse. Hopefully, that will be soon. Until then, I’m likely to be crabby and uncommunicative, so please forgive me if I don’t respond right away to anything but the most urgent queries.
I wrote this, on the left’s sanctimony and its insistence that we change each other as people, “Saints Alive!: The Left Wags Its Finger And Nothing Change.
I also wrote this, about Milo Yiannopoulos, “From Queer to Gay: The Rise and Fall of Milo.” I think you’ll find it’s a uniquely different piece from everything else that’s been written on him.
Nathan J. Robinson generously mentioned me in his piece, “What We’ll Tolerate And What We Won’t.”
I’m really proud to have been included in The Baffler’s first newly redesigned issue. You can read an interview with Lindsay Ballant, the quarterly’s art director about the process. She mentions the fantastic artwork by Sarah King that accompanied my piece, “Rights Make Might: The dystopian undertow of Hillary Clinton’s elite feminism.”
I’ll be speaking at a couple of events in March.
On March 3, I’ll be on a panel at Northwestern’s Evanston campus, at “(Re)Conceptualizing Fascism in the Post-Civil Rights Era.”
March 8, I’ll be a speaker at the International Women’s Day March in Chicago.
I hope to see some of you there!
As always: Many thanks to new and ongoing subscribers! Your contributions make my work possible.
Till the next.
Don’t plagiarise any of this, in any way. I have used legal resources to punish and prevent plagiarism, and I am ruthless and persistent. I make a point of citing people and publications all the time: it’s not that hard to mention me in your work, and to refuse to do so and simply assimilate my work is plagiarism. You don’t have to agree with me to cite me properly; be an ethical grownup, and don’t make excuses for your plagiarism. Read and memorise “On Plagiarism.” There’s more forthcoming, as I point out in “The Plagiarism Papers.” If you’d like to support me, please donate and/or subscribe, or get me something from my wish list. Thank you.
