Tired of writing into the void
An experiment and update on what I've been up to and where to find me
Hello there subscribers. Remember me? It’s been awhile. Does this newsletter mean I’m back on Substack? No, not exactly, but I am going to try something... we’ll call it an experiment in “using the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house” type of thing. I still don’t want my essays to exist on Substack (I don’t trust they aren’t feeding everything into an LLM, for one), and I definitely don’t want to help them monetarily, but I’m testing out using the platform to drive subscribers to off-platform essays.
Will this violate Substack’s Publisher Agreement? Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t give a shit anymore. I’m tired of following the rules when following the rules means the bad guys keep winning. (And make no mistake, this platform is a tool by the bad guys, for the benefit of the bad guys.) What are they gonna do? Ban me from the site I already chose to walk away from? Doubt I’ll even register on their radar tbh…
So, what have I been up to? I’ve been keeping very busy these last several months, including writing, seemingly into the void, when I have the spoons. Yesterday, I was inspired by a John Oliver video to share a personal history of my encounter with the Alliance Defending Freedom (some of the biggest bad guys, who give zero fucks about playing by the rules, but keep winning anyhow). In the opening paragraph, I mused about how, “I exist in a state of tension between wanting to fade into obscurity, but also having awareness that doing so willingly serves the aims of those trying to erase people like me by force. Why should I do their job for them?”
And that thought led to me sharing this update with you here today. I’m tired of writing into the void. I’m tired of feeling like I’ve made myself smaller… quieter… less of a nuisance… more invisible. As Nemik said in his manifesto in Andor, “Even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.” Doing all I can to be heard when others would silence me is one small act of insurrection.
It’s a case I also made in this essay about Eurovision and the importance of queer visibility in the anti-imperialist fight. I’m aware of the ways my arguments for queer visibility at Eurovision and my arguments against writing on the Substack platform may seem at odds. I can’t yet articulate how I hold both these beliefs in my head at the same time, and I’m starting to feel more at ease with contradiction. But at the end of the day, I want my voice to not be silenced, especially by my own willing retreat.
Anyhow, for the time being, I’ve been posting new (and some old) content at the atproto blog service White Wind just so that it exists somewhere. Much of my content that used to exist on Substack has yet to be republished because I haven’t had the energy. By request, I recently re-published an essay related to the role of DEI in a capitalist system when a reader contacted me about it. It was the second time in a single day someone reached out to me personally with a request because they knew of me via Substack, and I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. I love hearing from my readers!
That said, I encourage you to leave any comments you might have on the essays I’ve linked to here on the White Wind blog rather than on Substack, but you know, do whatever is easiest for you. I don’t know how hard it might be to leave a comment on White Wind if you don’t have a Bluesky account? Let me know! Also, I’m not sure if I get notifications in the Bluesky interface when people do comment on them. The blog service is still in dev, so features are improving all the time though.
Other things: the podcast I did with musical talent Pussy LeBouton is on YouTube now. I may eventually host more podcast or video essays there. We’ll see. I’m also still writing and curating content for SolarPunk Stories. And I’m also helping U.S. LGBTQ folks and their loved ones navigate the process of figuring out where to go and how with Trans World Express. I wrote a wiki about Portugal. If this is something of interest to you, feel free to get in touch with me. My wife and I (oh yeah, we finally got married last month!) have been doing consultations with people interested in relocating to Portugal, helping with the househunting process and meeting people for scouting trips, and helping integrate new arrivals with queer community here. We have a relationship with an excellent and inclusive immigration attorney for any who need a recommendation.
Where to find me: I’m more active on Bluesky than anywhere else these days, sharing my thoughts on the state of the world and articles and whatnot that I think are interesting and important. Find me there! I also have a Linktree.
Finally, here are my latest essays on the White Wind blog with a little teaser of what they are about. I hope you’ll check them out. And let me know your thoughts on this experiment. I don’t know whether I’ll try this again or not, but your feedback helps me know whether its a worthwhile use of my time and limited mental energy.
Memories of America Dancing the Cha-Cha with Christian Nationalism
“Enter Kirsten Waggoner, the ADF's fundie baby voiced-CEO discussed at length in John Oliver's video. Back then, she was one of ADF's lead attorneys, using techniques honed by low-life ambulance-chasing lawyers to sniff out opportunities to enshrine a narrowly defined Christian privilege into the law. Having witnessed Waggoner's sickly sweet demeanor in action as she spun a manipulative and reality-bending yarn in the courtroom, the mention of her name still evokes revulsion and ire in me. I will always remember her as one of the most chillingly evil people I have ever shared walls and a roof with.”
LGBTQ+ performers at Eurovision and solidarity with Palestine
“Once again, despite ignoring performers' demands for Eurovision to exclude Israel from participating in the contest, an Israeli performer will be allowed to compete. While deeply disappointed in that decision, I am still looking forward to cheering (and voting) for the many queer performers anticipated this week. Queer performance at Eurovision is inherently in the spirit of solidarity with Palestinians because the queer liberation struggle is also an anti-imperialist struggle.”
Friends don’t let friends use Substack: The moral case and the business case for not hosting your content at the Nazi-bar
“I continue to run into people online and off who are still unaware of the problems with Substack, so I’ve decided to share the resources I used to successfully plead my case. I hope sharing my own experiences and these articles other’s have written will help spare your own sanity and your publication’s reputation.
“As many of the writers make the case for in the articles below, the leaders of Substack are cut from the same cloth as villainous tech kleptocrats like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Marc Zuckerberg. Substack receives a large chuck of its funding from the techno-fascist Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen. As you will learn, their business model is financially unsustainable, which should make you wonder what their true motivations are if not profit. Just as Uber operated at a loss for years so they could undercut and eliminate competitors and corner the market, Substack should be suspected of nefarious intent to dominate and control information, at the very least.
“If you or a publication you care about needs further convincing—whether you’re more persuaded by the “business case” or the “moral case”—there’s something here for you.”
DEI, fully realized, means the end of capitalism (and that's a good thing!): DEI is capitalism's Achilles heel
“So, let me be clear, my criticisms are not of the true intentions of these programs or, for the most part, of its practitioners. My criticism is, as I've written in my draft:
“The institutionally approved literature on DEI attempts to reconcile worker liberation with existing corporate structures—an approach that fails to recognize how capitalism creates the very conditions of inequity that DEI initiatives claim to address. As someone who has navigated the intersection of multiple marginalized identities working for “corporate influencers” claiming to champion diversity, I’ve witnessed firsthand how this contradictory approach to achieving equity and inclusion enables systemic oppression to maintain itself. With frustration, I’ve observed the rise (and current fall) of a profitable, but ultimately ineffective industry of corporate DEI publishers, consultants, and coaches, which has thrived by maintaining the status quo while paying lip service to progress.”
This last essay isn’t new, but it is new to White Wind. I recently discovered that the Harvard Store is selling a download of the PDF of an article I wrote for Harvard Business Review in 2022 for $12. Dear reader, let me tell you how mad this makes me. You see, HBR doesn’t pay their contributing authors. They expect us to be compensated in the form of “prestige” for being included in their influential business journal. That prestige doesn’t help this queer, disabled immigrant quite the same as cash though, so I’ve posted the content of my article for you to read free. Plus, this version includes a cute lil’ doodle I drew for it, because fuck generative AI “art.” If you’re willing and able, you can leave me a tip at the link at the bottom. Even $1 is 100% more than HBR paid me. Won’t that feel satisfying to know you paid a writer more than Harvard?!
Stop asking neurodivergent people to change the way they communicate: Neurotypical people can do more to close the communication gap
“The expectation that neurodivergent people must jump through mentally and physically demanding hoops to communicate "correctly" if they want to succeed in the workplace (or even be allowed a spot in the workplace at all) assumes that the way neurotypicals communicate is the only "normal" or "correct" way. It’s an outdated assumption that signals to neurodivergent people that their natural style is a deficit to compensate for, and it inevitably leads to misunderstandings. When this happens, barriers to full inclusion are upheld.”
All for now.
Welcome back!
Very good to see you back!