1/31/20 review of the book We Were Eight Years in Power, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Here is the link to my January 31, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/29/20 review of a 2020 Women and Families Wednesdays lobby day

Here is the link to my January 29, 2020, Twitter thread review of a lobby day I attended at the Colorado State Capitol with Women and Families Wednesdays, on behalf of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/28/20 review of the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my January 28, 2020, Twitter thread review of the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/28/20 discussion of notes I'd found for my story Summer Azure

Here is the link to my January 28, 2020, Twitter thread discussion of some notes I had found -- interestingly, while I'd been doing some research for this blog -- for my lesbian- and Lolita-themed amateur novel Summer Azure.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/26/20 review of the Bolshoi in Cinema performance of Giselle

Here is the link to my January 26, 2020, Twitter thread review of the Bolshoi in Cinema performance of the ballet Giselle.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/25/20 review of a 2020 Denver Dems Central Committee meeting

Here is the link to my January 25, 2020, Twitter thread review of a Denver Democrats Central Committee meeting.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/25/20 review of the PROTECT Kids Act

Here is the link to my January 25, 2020, review of the PROTECT Kids Act, another act aiming to change the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by raising the "internet age of consent" to 16 from 13.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/23/20 review of the book The Fear of Child Sexuality, by Steven Angelides

Here is the link to my January 23, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book The Fear of Child Sexuality: Young People, Sex, and Agency, by Steven Angelides.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/22/20 analysis of a state fair photo to illustrate American sex paranoia

Here is the link to my January 22, 2020, Twitter thread discussion about a photo I found in the book The American State Fair, by Derek Nelson.

This photo showed how one of the state fair attractions was essentially a "live girls" show that was made to look like an exposé of white slavery.

I analyzed what this photo said about the fantasy of "white slavery" and how it is subverted in order to drive the paranoia of sex trafficking and youth sex, which, in turn, drives so much of the bad legislation we see in the United States today.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/19/20 review of the book "Baby-Pros", by Dorothy Heid Bracey

Here is the link to my January 19, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book "Baby-Pros": Preliminary Profiles of Juvenile Prostitutes, by Dorothy Heid Bracey.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/19/20 second review of James Kincaid's book Erotic Innocence

Here is the link to my January 19, 2020, Twitter thread, which is a second review of James Kincaid's book Erotic Innocence, as I felt my first review really hadn't done a good job of hitting the big, main points of the book.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/18/20 review of the book Erotic Innocence, by James R. Kincaid

Here is the link to my January 18, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book Erotic Innocence: The Culture of Child Molesting, by James R. Kincaid.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/15/20 discussion about Moms 4 Housing

Here is the link to my January 15, 2020, Twitter thread about the group Moms 4 Housing.

I should mention that my thread is a lot about my own, very capitalistic, ideas about housing fairness and equitability in housing affordability. They don't reflect the views of Moms 4 Housing.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/14/20 review of the Radical Teacher article "Minor Eruptions," by Catherine Lord

Here is the link to my January 14, 2020, Twitter thread review of the 2003 Radical Teacher article "Minor Eruptions: Lesbian Accused of Promoting Pedophilia," by Catherine Lord.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/13/20 discussion about labor exploitation as depicted in US law

Here is the link to my January 13, 2020, Twitter thread about why I don't think US laws really reflect the different between things like human trafficking and labor exploitation, and why I think, because of this, all of our US labor exploitation laws, but especially the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and FOSTA-SESTA, need to be completely reassessed.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/12/20 review of President Obama's 2012 Clinton Global Initiative speech

Here is the link to my January 12, 2020, Twitter thread review of President Barack Obama's 2012 speech to the Clinton Global Initiative about addressing human trafficking in America and abroad.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/11/20 review of the Urban Institute's 2014 labor trafficking report

Here is the link to my January 11, 2020, Twitter thread review of the Urban Institute's October 2014 report Understanding the Organization, Operation, and Victimization Process of Labor Trafficking in the United States.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/10/20 review of the article "Wouldn't a Boy Do?" by Don Romesburg

Here is the link to my January 10, 2020, Twitter thread review of the Journal of the History of Sexuality article "Wouldn't a Boy Do? Placing Early-Twentieth-Century Male Youth Sex Work into Histories of Sexuality," by Don Romesburg.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/9/20 discussion about a book I'd like to see made

Here is the link to my January 9, 2020, Twitter thread discussion of a book I'd like to see someone make one day called I Want Condoms, which would have to do with young people's access to birth control.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/8/20 discussion of what I wish people would discuss more regarding sex work and other labor

Here is the link to my January 8, 2020, Twitter thread discussion about some of the issues related to sex work -- and labor of all kinds -- that I wish people would talk about more when they talk about human trafficking.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/6/20 review of the book Coal People, by Rick J. Cline

Here is the link to my January 6, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book Coal People: Life in Southern Colorado's Company Towns, 1890-1930, by Rick J. Cline.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/4/20 review of the book Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty, by Dan Jones

Here is the link to my January 4, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty, by Dan Jones.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/3/20 comparison of William Shakespeare's and Dan Jones's characterization of King John

Here is the link to my January 3, 2020, Twitter thread discussion about William Shakespeare's King John versus the King John depicted by historian Dan Jones in his book on the Magna Carta.

I don't think I totally agree with everything I've said in this thread. And, also, while I definitely don't agree with everything Dan Jones has said over the years, I also really don't think I was being fair to him in this thread.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

1/1/20 review of the book How I Photograph Myself, by Bunny Yeager

Here is the link to my January 1, 2020, Twitter thread review of the book How I Photograph Myself, by Bunny Yeager.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/30/19 review of the novel Aquamarine, by Alice Hoffman

Here is the link to my December 30, 2019, Twitter thread review of the novel Aquamarine, by Alice Hoffman.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/29/19 review of the film Cats, directed by Tom Hooper

Here is the link to my December 29, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Cats, directed by Tom Hooper and adapted from the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/28/19 list of most memorable movies for me from the 2010s

Here is the link to my December 28, 2019, Twitter thread listing of the movies I saw and found most memorable that were made during the 2010s.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/27/19 review of the Disney Descendants trilogy

Here is the link to my December 27, 2019, Twitter thread review of the Disney Descendants trilogy, directed by Kenny Ortega.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/27/19 Christmas with my family

Here is the link to my December 27, 2019, Twitter thread talk about how I spent Christmas with my family.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/23/19 review of the film Christmas in the Clouds, directed by Kate Montgomery

Here is the link to my December 23, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Christmas in the Clouds, directed by Kate Montgomery.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/22/19 review of the novel Desert of the Heart, by Jane Rule

Here is the link to my December 22, 2019, Twitter thread review of the novel Desert of the Heart, by Jane Rule.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/21/19 review of the novel A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L'Engle

Here is the link to my December 21, 2019, review of the novel A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L'Engle.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/20/19 review of the film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, directed by J.J. Abrams

Here is the link to my December 20, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/18/19 survey of books I found most memorable from the 2010s

Here is the link to my December 18, 2019, Twitter thread list of the books I read and found the most memorable that were published in the 2010s.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/17/19 review of Love of Art and Art of Love: Tullah Hanley's Autobiography

Here is the link to my December 17, 2019, Twitter thread review of the book Love of Art and Art of Love: Tullah Hanley's Autobiography.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/15/19 discussion about voting for, versus criticizing, Democratic candidates

Here is the link to my December 15, 2019, Twitter thread discussion -- in reaction to a Washington Post editorial by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards -- about the need to vote for Democrats while also remaining critical of each Democratic candidate and official's political platform.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/14/19 review of The Outline of History, Volume 2, by H.G. Wells

Here is the link to my December 14, 2019, Twitter thread review of the second volume of The Outline of History, by H.G. Wells, and revised by Raymond Postgate.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/14/19 discussion about different kinds of history

Here is the link to my December 14, 2019, Twitter thread discussion of history which uses some kind of philosophy as a basis, versus history which really looks at the material aspects of the times it surveys.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/13/19 discussion about US Senate seats up for election in 2020

Here is the link to my December 13, 2019, Twitter thread listing of the websites for the state democratic parties in the states with Senate seats up for election that were currently held by Republicans.

I'm particularly proud of this thread.

As I've discussed in previous posts, I was really worried by the fact that, through 2019 and 2020, the Democrats were so focused on the presidential elections that they seemed not to be paying attention to any other races -- in particular all the races for Congress.

While I, like everybody else, knew that the presidential race was of the utmost importance, I wanted to inspire people to think a lot more about down-ballot races.

I chose one thing to focus on, which was flipping the US Senate from Republican to Democratic control. And I figured the best way to start to inspire people to do this was by pushing the state democratic parties in states where US Senate seats could be flipped from Republican to Democrat.

I myself donated money on a monthly basis to some, but not all, of these state democratic parties. Also, on and off throughout 2020, I retweeted as much stuff as I could from these state democratic parties, in order to keep giving these states more exposure.

As I've also mentioned before, my fears didn't really play out as badly as I thought they would.

The Democrats definitely hemorrhaged a lot of seats in the US House. And that was simply due to the fact that they weren't paying good enough attention to those elections. However, the Democrats kept control of the House, if only barely. Also -- I didn't push for more visibility and thought on the House elections, simply because even I didn't think they were in terrible danger.

Also, even though people really didn't pay attention to US Senate races, the Democrats essentially still won control of the Senate -- though the story of how that control was eventually won was really complex and did, eventually, happen because Democrats nationwide pitched in on the runoff effort in Georgia.

In my home state of Colorado, we did flip our Republican seat to a Democrat. The only other seat the Democrats won, however, before the Georgia runoff, was the Arizona seat -- which, strangely, I neglected to mention at all in this thread, and which, therefore, I really never mentioned at all throughout all of 2020!

I have said this in previous posts as well. But my big fear is that in 2022, the Democrats aren't going to be as prepared as they need to be, not only to defend every Democratic seat in Congress, but to do their very best to flip every Republican-controlled seat in Congress. Because if we don't flip every Republican seat in Congress in 2022, there's a very good likelihood, each of those seats will become controlled by an ultra-conservative, white-supremacist Republican. And that could spell very bad news, if not a total collapse, for democracy in America.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/10/19 discussion on the Hatch Act, James Comey, and the 2016 elections

Here is the link to my December 10, 2019, Twitter thread discussion, as a kind of final word on the subject, about James Comey being exempt from the Hatch Act, Comey's extremely negative influence on the 2016 elections overall, and the history of the Hatch Act.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/8/19 review of the film Meet Me in St. Louis, directed by Vincente Minnelli

Here is the link to my December 8, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Meet Me in St. Louis, directed by Vincente Minnelli.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/8/19 thoughts about mining and history

Here is the link to my December 8, 2019, Twitter thread -- which I wrote after starting to read the second volume of H.G. Wells's Outline of History -- wondering whether anyone has written a history of the world that starts, and then moves outward from, the history of mining.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/7/19 survey of stories about young girls in love with each other

Here is the link to my December 7, 2019, Twitter thread discussion about young girls in love with each other, as seen in novels by Judy Blume, poetry by femi babylon, and a film by Elizabeth Allen.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/6/19 discussion of influences on my story Miss Cult-fan America

Here is the link to my December 6, 2019, Twitter thread discussion about my 2010-2014 fetish fanfiction novel Miss Cult-fan America -- which I'd thought about as I'd read the Tommy Orange novel There There.

This is a strange thread, to say the least. Some -- including myself -- might even call it a paranoid and racist thread.

The thread does discuss, in a pretty normal way, a lot of the sources of inspiration for my novel Miss Cult-fan America. And it discusses how I applied a lot of my own personal experiences with being biracial to the experiences one of the characters in my novel, Sasori, had of being a Hopi woman.

The thread also claims that some of the themes and narrative moments in my novel are similar to some scenes in the movie Crazy Rich Asians and Tommy Orange's novel There There.

I don't think it's crazy to make that claim. However, I then take the next step, and claim that both Tommy Orange and Kevin Kwan were inspired by my novel to write certain scenes in their stories. That claim is unfounded at the least, but probably more like cognitively dissonant, paranoid, and racist.

However, I still tend to feel like the things I say have more influence -- somehow -- than people really give me credit for. And this was what I was trying to express when I went off on what I now feel was a dissonant and racist rant -- especially toward Tommy Orange.

As you'll see, I bring up this same point when I discuss the Birds of Prey movie. There are some aspects of that movie, particularly the strange remaking of the Cassandra Cain character, that seem way too close to the elements of my story Paranoia Gotham to stop me from thinking my story didn't influence the making of that movie. And, in fact, if you watch some interviews with Margot Robbie, she'll say flat out that her team got inspiration for Birds of Prey from "fan forums," though she doesn't say more than that.

The fact is -- the professional art world lifts ideas from social media and fan forums a lot. For instance, there was a big scandal in 2020 when a woman claimed that Isaac Larian's company lifted a social media star's entire wardrobe to create a new L.O.L. doll, I believe.

It doesn't seem so awful to me personally when the professional art world lifts ideas for new stories and art from things like fan art and fanfiction based on characters that are already some company's intellectual property. After all, fan artists and fanfiction writers are lifting entire characters and universes from the companies.

However, in that case, it still would be nice if people could give a little more credit to fan artists and fanfiction writers when they get ideas from them. All some of us would really need is a shout-out. Nothing more. I'm honestly rather ambivalent about whether I'd even want a shout-out. But some little kind of wink or nod might be gratifying.

But I think there are some other kinds of shadings toward iffy-ness when professional writers and artists lift the ideas and artists of amateurs on social media without giving any credit.

For instance, I don't think it's any surprise that a lot of amateur novelists have done posts or thread on Twitter that show how their novels -- like, almost their whole novels -- have been completely rewritten, only paraphrased in some weird ways, and then re-sold -- sometimes by non-independent publishing companies.

When it gets to the point where you're making a buck off of repackaging someone else's labor, and you're not giving any credit at all to the person who are putting that labor out there to begin with, you're ripping someone off. That's not cool. At that point, I do feel that folks who feel like they are being ripped off -- like the woman who felt like her entire appearance was being used to make a doll, or for the novelists who feel like their entire novels were being repackaged and resold -- have the right to take whatever kind of recourse they feel is necessary.

I feel like people have ripped me off in this kind of way over the years, and especially on Twitter. But, again, my story isn't really unique. And it is by no means the worst kind of example of this situation.

I don't think we need to find more ways to write more copyright laws. And I don't think we need to become more punitive of people who probably are flat-out ripping people off.

But I do think we need to be more respectful of people who do the labor to put ideas out into the world. We need to be more respectful of the people. And we need to be more respectful or their ideas and their creative productions.

Nobody's going to lose their reputation by giving credit to other people who deserve credit.

But I think, even worse than this, what's happening right now is, people are taking other people's ideas -- including my ideas -- just flat-out ripping people off -- and then turning right around and abusing those people -- trying to bully and browbeat those people off of social media, trying to bully and browbeat those people out of public life, trying to bully and browbeat those people into becoming housebound, and, in many cases, even trying to bully and browbeat those people into committing suicide.

This needs to be talked about a lot more. Because it, like targeted stalking and harassment, is happening to a lot of people other than myself. People need to acknowledge that it's happening. And they need to figure out how it's happening. And we all, after that, need to figure out how we're going to redirect our actions, so that, instead of ripping people off and then turning around and bullying them out of existence, we are all giving each other the credit that's due to each other for our labor.

This is the frustration underlying the thread I wrote. And I think my frustration is valid. But I don't think I chose the right topic on which to expression my frustration. And so this thread, in some of its aspects is misguided, cognitively dissonant, paranoid, and even racist.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/5/19 review of the novel There There, by Tommy Orange

Here is the link to my December 5, 2019, Twitter thread review of the novel There There, by Tommy Orange.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/3/19 review of the play The Winter's Tale, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my December 3, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play The Winter's Tale, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/2/19 review of the play Cymbeline, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my December 2, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play Cymbeline, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

12/1/19 review of the play King John, by William Shakespeare

Here is the link to my December 1, 2019, Twitter thread review of the play King John, by William Shakespeare.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/30/19 review of the film Aquamarine, directed by Elizabeth Allen

Here is the link to my November 30, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Aquamarine, directed by Elizabeth Allen.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/30/19 comparison of The Iliad and Le morte d'Arthur

Here is the link to my November 30, 2019, Twitter thread, wondering whether anybody has compared what I called the "democratic" narratives of Homer's Iliad and Malory's Le morte d'Arthur.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/29/19 review of the film Klaus, directed by Sergio Pablos

Here is the link to my November 29, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Klaus, directed by Sergio Pablos.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/26/19 review of the film Newsies, directed by Kenny Ortega

Here is the link to my November 26, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Newsies, directed by Kenny Ortega.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/25/19 review of the film Ice Princess, directed by Tim Fywell

Here is the link to my November 25, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Ice Princess, directed by Tim Fywell.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/24/19 review of the film Harriet the Spy, directed by Bronwen Hughes

Here is the link to my November 24, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film Harriet the Spy, directed by Bronwen Hughes.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/23/19 review of Met Opera HD Live screening of Akhnaten

Here is the link to my November 23, 2019, Twitter thread review of the Metropolitan Opera HD Live screening of the Philip Glass opera Akhnaten.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/22/19 review of the book Out of the Depths, by Barron B. Beshoar

Here is the link to my November 22, 2019, Twitter thread review of the book Out of the Depths: The Story of John R. Lawson, by Barron B. Beshoar.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/19/19 review of the book Public Sex, by Patrick Califia

Here is the link to my November 19, 2019, Twitter thread review of the book Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex, by Patrick Califia.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/18/19 listing of the plays I called Shakespeare's "sex work trilogy"

Here is the link to my November 18, 2019, Twitter thread of the threads reviewing the three plays I'd decided to call Shakespeare's "sex work trilogy" -- Measure for Measure, Pericles, and Timon of Athens.

I'm not totally sure I think this idea of mine was thought through very well -- when you consider, for instance, that Henry IV, Part 1, can essentially be seen largely to have taken place within a brothel; that a play like Taming of the Shrew can, in the relation between Christophero Sly and the boy hired to play his girlfriend, be considered to deal with sex work (say, as a kind of escort service); and probably numerous other examples I'm not considering right now.

While the three plays in what I call Shakespeare's "sex work trilogy" absolutely discuss prostitution, a lot of Shakespeare's works touched on the subject -- and with sympathy, at the very least.

As people say all the time, the stage and sex work are historically closely related. This shows quite well in Shakespeare's plays. And I think that someone who considers sex work as work, as a valid profession, could do well to do an analysis of the role of sex work in Shakespeare's plays.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/17/19 review of Bolshoi in Cinema performance of Le Corsaire

Here is the link to my November 17, 2019, Twitter thread review of an encore screening of the Bolshoi in Cinema performance of Le Corsaire.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/16/19 review of the film The Journey of Natty Gann, directed by Jeremy Kagan

Here is the link to my November 16, 2019, Twitter thread review of the film The Journey of Natty Gann, directed by Jeremy Kagan.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.

11/16/19 discussion of girls' films with women role models

Here is the link to my November 16, 2019, Twitter thread discussion about some films with a girl main character that also have a consistent woman role model.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy.