In the complex landscape of American politics, messaging can be as subtle as it is powerful. Often, politicians use coded language or shortened ideas to get a larger point across. These shortened forms of the language are simply meant to convey a larger message more simply or succinctly, think “pro-life” or “pro-choice”, you can get across volumes of meaning by simply using these smaller terms. Sometimes those shortened forms have…
Speech is free. But so are the consequences of that speech.
I’ve spent time answering questions on Quora, but felt that many of them deserved longer answers than I could provide there. So I’m going to start turning those longer answers into posts here. Quora is a fascinating platform that offers a glimpse into diverse perspectives and lifestyles. However, it can also be a breeding ground for partisan biases, trolling, and disguised personal attacks. Recently, a question caught my attention on…
Critical Race Theory: Y’all don’t even know WTF you’re mad at
This pandemic has kept me within 10 miles of my house for the past year and a half. Not by choice…it’s just that my whole company has been remote since March 2020, and other than special occasions and holidays, I’ve really only gone to local stores and back home. One good thing that has come of this, is that I have gotten to know more of my neighbors than ever…
Missing Women: Keep that same energy
I know that everyone is shocked and saddened by the Gabby Petito case. As we should be. A 22 year old woman who blogged about her van life lifestyle, that was unknown to most of us just a few weeks ago. But, she was known and loved by her family. loved by her followers on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. By all accounts she was vibrant, she was happy. Watching her…
Where I’ve been and why I’m back
I’ve said a thousand times I would come back here and relaunch this blog. And not done so. This blog started as something funny….someplace to take the piss. It was in reaction to a society that was being influenced by reality TV and consumerist culture, a world that instead of choosing style over substance, which is bad enough, chose flashes of nothingness over style. But, the past few years have…
President Trump was great except for this SHORT list of things…
Borrowed from @EthicalAmerican: I owe my Trump-supporting friends an apology. I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency these last four years and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair President Trump wasn’t that bad other than…. – when he incited an insurrection against the government – mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans – separated children from their families – lost those children in…
As a white person, how can YOU help?
A few nights ago, I got a DM from a friend asking what she can do to help in the current climate. Now, this isn’t new…I’ve been both heartened and heartbroken by the white friends in my life who have reached out in this way. Heartened, because, it seems like we, as black people, are finally being seen. Heartbroken, because, I’ve lost a lot of friends over this. Some…
When did I know my blackness was a target?
Andreas Hale, a writer and senior editor at @sportingnews & @DAZN_USA among others, asked a question on Twitter the other day: “I want to see something: Black people, when was the exact moment you realized that your skin color was the reason you were treated different and your innocence was ripped away? How confused and hurt were you?” As I started to think about this, I realized it needed…
Just to be clear: You can’t have PERMISSION to say the N word
If you go to your friends house, and he says, “Make yourself at home! Grab a beer from the fridge!”, you know that doesnt mean you can go in ALL houses and grab beers from ALL fridges. You know that this permission extends just to that one fridge. In fact, in many cases it extends to just that one night…this isn’t forever permission. This is something we all understand, I…
Trump, the GOP and the violence of words
In a digital age filled with memes, DMs and quick hits from trolls, its easy to forget that words actually MEAN THINGS. We get so caught up in what was once called l33tspeak, with our LOLs and J/Ks and IDFWNWFWNIDFW, that we lose sight of paying attention to what people are actually saying, the words they use and the meaning behind them. Our news feeds these past few weeks…