Thank You, George Michael

And fuck you, 2016.

It tried and failed to get Carrie Fisher, so this terrible year took George Michael from us instead.

Faith was one of the first albums I ever owned. I didn’t understand a lot of things back then, but I vaguely understood that George wasn’t actually singing most of these songs to women. It’s hard to put into words, but I feel somehow that people like him were the reason I didn’t end up homophobic. His struggles with love and loss and faith resonated. They didn’t need a hetero context to be valid or true.

And his music, his voice, everything about him was so incredibly beautiful. He was one of those singers who, even long after I’d lost my taste for pop music, I could still listen to with reverence. Continue reading “Thank You, George Michael”

Thank You, George Michael
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Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps

So, one of Donald “Chitler” Trump’s first acts was to appoint a real live white fucking supremacist as his chief advisor. People, when the KKK and their terrible friends are thrilled with a pick, you know he’s bad. How bad? This bad. This is really fucking bad.

So, it’s time to speak up and let everyone know: this is not okay.

We don’t want an America founded on racial hate. We don’t want an America run by hate groups. We don’t want this shitstain anywhere near the levers of power in this country.

How are we going to let people know? Well, outside of linking this post on your social media feed with words like Fuck No Stephen Bannon, here’s what to do: if you have the ability, call your representatives. Here is a post with handy scripts and links to getting their numbers and everything. Continue reading “Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps”

Ban Bannon – Call Your Reps

To The People Trying to Claim We’re Not Racist Because We Voted for Obama

I’ve seen some very oblivious white people in my Facebook feed claiming that this election couldn’t possibly have anything to do with race, because people voted for Trump who voted for Obama. Why would they vote for a black man and then a white supremacist??

Gosh, fellow white people, I dunno. Why don’t we stop denying we’ve got racist as fuck tendencies and start thinking of the reasons, eh? It’s actually pretty simple.

CN: racial slurs, racism, bigotry

You can vote for a black man and still harbor racist thoughts and tendencies. Trust me. I know white people. I know conservative white people – I was raised in a house and community full of ’em. And I know how they think. They’ll swear they haven’t got a racist bone in their body as they call their Iranian coworker a sand n*gger. They’ll claim they’re not at all prejudiced in one breath while they bleat about all those foreign brown people sneaking into our country and taking  our jerbs – complete with slurs like w*tb*ck and ch*nk. They’ll all have that one black friend, but they’re super nervous around black people and steer clear of black neighborhoods, because everybody knows that’s where the thugs live.

Even those of us who have friends of color and really try not to ever use racial slurs and are pretty embarrassed by our more openly racist relatives and really admire a select few people of color are scared of what’s going to happen to white people when the brown folk outnumber us. And we may not admit it to ourselves, but we think affirmative action means some lesser human is going to get the job we deserve, and that more brown people getting college educations and entering the workforce means fewer opportunities for us, and so we’ll support policies that keep that from happening. We may not consciously realize we’re doing that. But we’re doing it all the same. Continue reading “To The People Trying to Claim We’re Not Racist Because We Voted for Obama”

To The People Trying to Claim We’re Not Racist Because We Voted for Obama

“Democracy Didn’t Stop When the Polls Closed”

My friend Michael Klaas is usually pretty laid back, but this election and its aftermath brought him out roaring, and he is so, so right. He’s given me permission to share his Facebook post with you.

I’ve been silent on the election so far. Obviously I’m upset, and I have many thoughts, but I simply must address something I’m seeing a lot of from my well-meaning liberal friends:

Many of you are posing things about accepting the results. Giving Trump the chance to lead. Making peace with our new government so that it can get things done.

Friends… THAT IS NOT HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS. It’s always the liberals who make that mistake. Right-wingers get it. They get that democracy is an all-the-time effort, not just something that happens on election day. They’ve stood in opposition to our president for EIGHT YEARS vowing to stop *any* action he chooses to take. The media tutted and dispassionately admonished them for doing this, but ultimately this tactic got the Republicans everything they ever dreamed of. Dems are out of power at ALL LEVELS, from statehouses to the three branches of our federal government.

Continue reading ““Democracy Didn’t Stop When the Polls Closed””

“Democracy Didn’t Stop When the Polls Closed”

New at Rosetta Stones: The Geology Behind the Rio Olympics

At long last (and before the Games are over, even!), I have got the story about the geology behind (and beneath, and over) the Rio Olympics. Rio posed some interesting challenges to the engineers and architects tasked with making the Olympic Village come to life in time for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Go check it out!

New at Rosetta Stones: The Geology Behind the Rio Olympics