RACE, PART ONE: WHERE I’M CALLING FROM. I said I’d be writing a lot about race in America. I’ll be trying to look at it from a bunch of different angles, and it seems like it would be helpful to give people some idea of my own background, since it’s pretty obvious that it’s shaped my view of this stuff. When I was really young, I thought the majority of Americans were black–I basically thought the whole country had the... Read more

SYNNERS: After I completed the Re-read Angela Carter Project, I turned to another book I hadn’t picked up in ages–Pat Cadigan’s Synners. A while back, when I was first starting to blog, I’d re-read her Mindplayers, which is terrific (my review is here if you scroll down). I had a vague recollection that I’d tried to revisit Synners but had given up pretty quickly. So I thought maybe I should dip my beak in again. No. Sadly, Synners has pretty... Read more

I’m in the blogwatch it’s the one across the hall If you don’t answer I’ll just ring it off the wall… The Agitator: Garry Trudeau comes over to the Dark Side. Fukuyama slammed again: “In sum, we have two positions here. Position (A) advocates military restraint and the resumption of economic activity with Iraq. Fukuyama calls this ‘isolationist.’ Position (B) advocates bombing the hell out of Iraq, and continuing the ban on doing business with them. This, apparently, is ‘robust... Read more

“‘You are very superstitious and very drunk,’ said Marianne austerely, determined to put an end to this. ‘I am only in your bed by accident, anyway. It’s your good fortune if this accident happens to serve you as a focus for your moral guilt.'” –Angela Carter, Heroes and Villains (which is not as good as it was in high school, sigh) Read more

SLEEP. I took what was supposed to be a half-hour nap, but turned into a good three hours. Will be offline this weekend but will return to blogging Monday… no, really. Remember, it’s still Christmas! Read more

The soldier asked my name and did I come here very often Well I thought that he was asking me to dance In my blogwatch coat and hat and him in his red bonnet We’d have made a lovely couple but we never had the chance… Someone is back. From Matthew Yglesias I plucked this interesting if intro-level look at South American immigrants’ run-ins with the US’s very different racial classifications and tribalisms; and from Amygdala I snared CAPTCHA, tests... Read more

THE DESIRE FOR GENDER. My JWR column for this week–basically a tighter, more “pointful” version of this post. Read more

NO MORE BLOGGING UNTIL AFTER CHRISTMAS. On Thursday or maybe Friday, you’ll get all (or, uh, at least some of) the fun stuff I promised below under “Coming Attractions.” Read more

I SAW MOMMY KISSING THE BISHOP OF MYRA: Posts supporting my anti-Santa-myth position from Zorak and Cacciaguida. Zorak also offers advice on how parents who have already told their kids that Santa is for reals might break the news without disillusioning them or making them think that Christianity is all a bunch of fluffy nonsense. And here’s an email exchange in which I make my case: KairosMan: Two objections to your Santa post. (Okay, comments, since you didn’t quite draw... Read more

And after all this, won’t you give me a smile? The Agitator: Points out a site on globalization for the people. “What I like about the site is that it sings the praises of free trade, free commerce, and human freedom, but not in overly polemical rhetoric. Rather, it tells the story of globalization through positive examples, through reasoned argument, and most powerfully, through the voices of the third-world people who have benefited from it. It also provides direct links... Read more