Readers know I have mixed feelings about the “always already” trans narrative, but it does say something that my favorite movies as a teenager were “Some Like It Hot” (musicians fleeing the Mafia have to cross-dress to hide in a women’s dance troupe) and “Dead Poets Society” (boarding-school boys read poetry to each other in
July Links Roundup: Live Poets Society Read More »
Time for some more hard-hitting poems about war and American manhood from my friend The Poet Spiel, a/k/a the artist Tom W. Taylor. Watch this space for news of our collaboration on my next poetry book! returnee: commandments 6 and 3 on his knees, in reverse of the sacred thou shalt commandments, first taken to
The Poet Spiel: “Returnee” Series Read More »
Welcome to 2022, readers. Let’s start the year with the energy of this Oregon crow who befriended a class of fifth graders: [Education assistant Naomi] Imel said the bird wasn’t aggressive at all and seemed to love the kids. “It landed on some people’s heads,” she said. And, she added, it spoke. The bird could
January Links Roundup: As the Crow Flies Read More »
The time has come “to give a reason for the hope that is in me” (1 Peter 3:15). Since March 2021, I’ve been a Year One student at the Temple of Witchcraft. Co-founded in 1998 by Christopher Penczak, Steve Kenson, and Adam Sartwell, TOW offers online and in-person courses in magical training and personal development.
Happy (?) November, readers. My mood continues to be “living my best life in the end times”, hence the question mark. This post’s title references an article I will shortly mention, but also a realization that sometimes gives me hope and other times makes me feel more helpless than ever. I grew up thinking that
November Links Roundup: Inequality Isn’t Magic Read More »
Happy (almost) autumn–the witching season! Self-described “normie Satanist” blogger Stephen Bradford Long followed a similar trajectory as mine, from anguished gay Christian to student of occultism and Tarot. In a provocative post from July, “The Satanic Practice of Learning from Demons”, he explains why he bothers to engage with authors like Jordan Peterson, notwithstanding the
September Links Roundup: Learning from Demons Read More »
We went to Salem. This Massachusetts coastal town has made a peculiar tourist industry out of the fact that it executed 19 people (and two dogs) on charges of witchcraft in 1692. Four others died in prison or under interrogation. All respect to Giles Corey, the crotchety octogenarian who let himself be pressed to death
Tomorrow will be my 49th birthday. Closer to 50 than I like to think about. Midlife musings: Do I have enough hair to be worth dyeing, or should I emulate Quentin Crisp and accentuate a youthful face with gray hair? Are 71 button-down shirts really enough? Are some life paths foreclosed to me because I
More Than Their Worst Act Read More »
When my parents sold the Lower East Side apartment we’d had since 1974, I was sad that I’d never again see our familiar kitchen linoleum. We had painted the whole room bright orange and egg-yolk yellow to match it. (Like I said, it was 1974.) Thanks to Twitter last month, I discovered that this classic
June Links Roundup: Floored Read More »
As February is Black History Month, let’s start our links roundup with a nod to 20th-century African-American historian Edgar Toppin (1928-2004), who persuaded President Ford to institute this official commemoration in 1976. Never heard of him? Well, that shows why we need to teach more Black history! I discovered his story at the progressive politics
February Links Roundup: Exorcising America Read More »