01.31.17 Beyond civil disobedience: Why we need bridge-burners to smoke out Washington’s monsters
Earlier today, I read a Tweet from editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden that said, in part, “Protests are great and should continue but shaming the unshameable isn’t a plan.” He’s right. And we’re going about this all the wrong way. Part of the problem – the true cognitive dissonance many of us have been feeling since…
Read More01.23.17 Kick out the White House press corps? Oh, please do!
The Orwellian playbook the new White House administration has been using now has a new phrase: “alternative facts.” That’s how spokesperson Kellyanne Conway characterized new press secretary Scott Spicer’s assertion of attendance at Friday’s inaugural of the new POTUS. But she also had this gem to add, speaking to “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd:…
Read More01.11.17 Where to find me: Boston in January! (Aka: Arisia)
For those of you who are intentionally or not-so-intentionally heading up to Boston for the long MLK weekend, I would like to invite you to check out Arisia, the biggest science-fiction and fantasy convention in the Northeast, and visit me at one of five, count ’em five, panels! While the whole convention is terrific and…
Read More1.3.17 ‘I would like to be who my mom has been – not afraid to be a little weird’
I never did get to speak with the late Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds (more’s the pity) but I hear they were cracking gals. The pair died within a day of one another last week, which sent a lot of us into a tailspin, once again shaking our fists at the craptacular way 2016 presented.…
Read More12.26.16 All respect to George Michael, who helped me find my tribe
Take me back in time maybe I can forget Turn a different corner and we never would have met I owe George Michael so much. And the first time I saw him, I wasn’t even sure he was a boy. * I was in 10th grade in the fall of 1984, in my brand-new high…
Read More11.28.16 ‘All actors love having a death scene’
“The producers said I had too much blood with her, and they said it’s unrealistic. But two female actresses came forward and said, ‘This has happened to me and it’s three times as much, leave it alone.’ That was pretty powerful.”
Read More11.12.16 ‘I’m done with you people’
I saw a headline this morning that read something like “Mike Pence doesn’t accept evolution, and here’s why that matters,” here was my reaction: I’m done with you people. Utterly spent, completely done, worn down, nothing but raw bone showing. I think I’ve been done since I went to bed in tears around 11pm on Tuesday…
Read More11.08.16 In which to no one’s surprise I out myself as a big honkin’ liberal
When I was 10, Ronald Reagan got elected. The Washington Post published a whole section devoted to the man. I still remember the picture of his lined, determined face, of the white hat on his head. He’d warned: things are bad. And he’d promised: I will make them better. He appealed to me. Bear in mind,…
Read More10.24.16 A warning to others (or) how not to get published in an anthology
This is my favorite Demotivational Poster: As a writer, there are any number of ways to break into the business. The best ones involve sales of stories and books and notice and applause by the world. But all writers have at least one of the other kinds of stories. The kind where even as you’re living…
Read More10.10.16 Berry, flashin’ those high beams
We all deserve the same level of treatment, the same level of respect. And if I could guarantee that no one would ever give me a pass again for whatever superficial element of my appearance might make them decide to do so — so that everyone else’s appearance would also not matter when it comes to violations of the law — I would happily pay the fine.
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