This is the first update in a long while, and the first since the pandemic broke out.
Life has been strange, and it becomes stranger every day. I will have more on all that in the coming weeks, months, perhaps years.As you can see, I now have a new website, thanks to a generous supporter Pink Frankenstein, who kindly donated his time and energy to making this happen. You can read about the website here, my new About page is here, and if you’re new to my site, this, “Forty Pieces: A Sampling of My Work,” is a good place to start.
The website took an enormous amount of time and energy — it includes 533 posts, for now, and there are several dozens still forthcoming. Every single post had to be looked at individually and reformatted, and attention paid to links and any tics that might have migrated from the old website. Fortunately, Pink was able to transfer all the pieces from the old site to this one without us having to pluck each one individually, but that still left each piece to be individually pruned, as it were. And then, the pandemic hit, just as we (or rather, really, Pink) were about to migrate all the PayPal subscriptions over. PayPal actually has really good customer service, and I think that’s largely and ironically because (as far as I can tell), they hire people who have a really good sense of how the system should work — which means they’re short on people at this critical juncture. They’re not taking calls, at the time of this writing, and online queries take forever, which meant a further delay.
BUT: it’s here now, and there may be bits and pieces to smooth out, as is usual for any new construction, but I think the end result is amazing. As a WordPress site, this is much easier to navigate than the old Drupal one. Still, the old site also served me well for a long time, and many thanks to W. for setting that up and for so kindly and generously helping me to establish a web presence in the first place!
I’ve been producing a lot of work and been on numerous podcasts. I’ve honestly not been very good about thoroughly documenting all of it so details will come in the next update but for now, a quick summary:
- I’m honoured to be the second recepient of the Charley Shively Prize in Gay Liberation.
- I was, once again, on one of my favourite podcasts, The Nostalgia Trap, with David Parsons. Here’s his description of it:
Yasmin Nair is a writer and activist who always says what’s on her mind, and the results are consistently some of the most refreshing and challenging takes on modern American politics and culture. In this conversation, we talk about her most recent work, her outlook on the 2020 Democratic primary, the carceral politics of #MeToo, and why the U.S. left is often so hopelessly lost on issues of sex, race, and class.
You can listen to the episode here.
- I was also on the Ear to the Pavement podcast, with Allison Lirish Dean, about the book She Said, and the #MeToo movement.
Here’s Allison’s description of it:
In this episode, the first in a series about books related to #MeToo, we talk with Chicago-based writer, academic, and activist Yasmin Nair about She Said, the 2019 book by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Nair situates She Said within the current journalism economy, as well as within the messy politics of #MeToo, and provides trenchant analysis of the book’s strengths and shortcomings.
You can listen to the episode here.
- I’ll be writing a regular series on the pandemic, each with a one-word title. The pieces will be of varying lengths and consider different themes, broadly centred around this time we’re living in. The first one is “Grit” and you can read it here.
- My friend Wickett, a lovely and loving cat, died in March. I wrote an obituary here.
There is a lot, a lot more in terms of updates, but I’ll leave you with that for now.
Please enjoy the new website, and explore the pieces (the Categories section is especially useful). There will be dozens more pieces uploaded in the coming weeks, and I’ll keep you apprised.
In the meantime, you can expect an update every Tuesday (admittedly, this one is going up in the wee hours of a Wednesday, but I’ll be consistently posting on Tuesday from here on). And please, if you’re able, support me with a subscription or a donation (or something from my wish list). Details below the spider.
Don’t plagiarise any of this, in any way. Read and memorise “On Plagiarism.” There’s more forthcoming, as I point out in “The Plagiarism Papers.” I have used legal resources to punish and prevent plagiarism, and I am ruthless and persistent. If you’d like to support me, please donate and/or subscribe, or get me something from my wish list. Thank you.
Image: Daffodils, Berthe Morisot, 1885