RIP HARRIET MCBRYDE JOHNSON. A truly eloquent disability-rights activist–here she is in full force. Via Megan McArdle. Read more

BLOG/RELIEF: RIGHT TURN ON RED. JWB donated to disaster relief, and asked for five ways of completing the sentence, “I am a conservative because…”. [lightly edited for clarity] First, some caveats: 1) Yes, I could also do five ways of completing the sentence, “I am a liberal because…” and maybe at least three ways for, “I am on the Left because…”. (Maybe.) Those would probably be more boring than the conservatism answers, for a number of reasons: I’m liberal in... Read more

MEMORIES OF THOSE SWEET YESTERDAYS, SPENT WITH SQUID: Oh hey! My short story, “Retroactive Continuity,” is online! Read more

BLOG/RELIEF: “And if you don’t know what a friend of Dorothy is, ask a policeman–or one in five Tory MPs.” Noli Irritare Leones gave to disaster relief, and asked for five gay-lit books you haven’t read, but you should. My criteria here were kind of sketchy, so I ended up making a list of thirteen-ish books in all. The first five are books I’ve never discussed in depth on the blog. The next batch are ones I’ve written about before,... Read more

A LOT OF QUESTIONS NOBODY EVER ASKED: (a.k.a. the Queer No One Reads!) So I’m completely addicted to two features of the Washington Blade: Bitch Session (guilty pleasure #214c, and no you don’t get a link), and Queery. This latter is a newish thing where they ask the same relatively well-chosen questions to different people every week. And I find myself desperately fascinated. So… I can’t stand this any longer… I will answer, in the hopes of exorcising the obsession.... Read more

Part of it felt good, like a normal conversation you’d have with someone you met at a party or with a new neighbor. But also it was like there were four different people there. The two people having the normal conversation and the person touching the body with the salve and the person with the body with the sores.–Rebecca Brown, The Gifts of the Body Read more

BLOG/RELIEF: BACON LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON. So far, I have only gotten one taker for the blog/relief posts, perhaps because I posted after most people had already given to relief efforts. However! Lots of places still need money, so if any of these ideas intrigue you, donate & let me know and I will still comply with your wish. (And thanks to Noli Irritare Leones for linking to the list….) So, MSB asked for recipes involving bacon. Mmmmm bacon. Here... Read more

THE LAST HORROR ROUNDTABLE. Nooooooooooooo! You can still get all the old ones, though, here; there’s some possibility that my weekend will be tanked by that link. Read more

The acknowledgement of the sexual aspect of living beings is an acceptance of lack (where the recognition that “I am sexed” stands for “I am not everything”); it is a sign of both our limitation and communality. Sexual difference thus reveals that we are neither universal (i.e. sex-less) nor singular.–Joanna Zylinska, On Spiders, Cyborgs, and Being Scared: The Feminine and the Sublime (via) Read more

SCHRODINGER’S SQUID IS THE GAYEST SQUID. I have a short story, “Retroactive Continuity,” in the current issue of Doublethink. It’s the one about the netsuke squid. (Inspired by an anecdote from Maggie Gallagher’s Abolition of Marriage, by the way.) The story doesn’t seem to be online, but I’ll let you know if that changes. (something vaguely resembling an explanation of the post title here) Read more