Back Down the Rabbit Hole…

I'm not going to repeat anything RFK Jr said about autism, but I'd be remiss if I didn't comment. I saw someone say that fixating on his language was petty, but his language dehumanizes people. Crimes against humanity always begin with dehumanizing language. It's happened to the autistic community before.…

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Reality Bites: Literary Woes

An ongoing issue in the literary community is people weaponizing the language of social justice to excuse wrongdoing, which is not only tacky, but it minimizes real problems and weakens the language needed to discuss them. NaMoWriMo released a statement supporting the use of generative AI, and accused critics of…

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Reality Bites: Seeing Orange

If your adolescence was anything like mine, Saturdays were all about the orange couch. I'm talking SNICK - Nickelodeon's primetime line-up geared at then-preteens (now tweens) and teens. It opened with Clarissa Explains It All. She was funny and dressed in crazy outfits like Stacy and Claudia in The Babysitter's…

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Barbenheimer: Pink & Violence

A son who enjoyed the movie raised his eyebrows and said "wut?" when I asked if it hurt his feelings. Amazingly the thirteen year old boy who loves rats, Fortnite, and the color pink did not identify with any of the characters, least of all the dolls, but understood the social commentary because he's confident and perceptive. Seems to me people feigning offense on behalf of men should give them more credit because the real offense is pretending this gentle hug of a movie attacks them. Kenough already.

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