Most of the people I know in the US have lived their entire lives after the War on Drugs started. John Ehrlichman, Counsel and Assistant to President Nixon: The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We […]
Getting Past the Attack Narrative
When does something become an “attack” online? Serious question. Let’s say that two people, Jane and Cait, are both authors. Jane says something that involves Cait, only she uses a word incorrectly. Cait responds that, hey, that word used that way and applied to me in that context is offensive. And Cait’s right. Why is […]
My Comment Goes Viral, Escalates, and I Apologize
tl;dr: A comment I made 2-1/2 weeks ago got tweeted, escalated, and lots of feelings were hurt. As two people have made statements about my motiviations, this post is about context from my perspective as well as apologies for my part. Backstory, Before Eastercon 2015 If you’d asked me who Kari Sperring was, I’d have […]
Fundraiser for Former Ellora’s Cave Editor Bree
Bree was an Ellora’s Cave editor for twelve years before being laid off (along with all other freelance editors) in August. Here’s a quote from the fundraiser: It’s no secret that the EC editors’ unexpected layoffs on Aug.18 have adversely affected editors’ finances. In the case of one of our colleagues, Bree, her 12-year full-time […]
My Day in Federal Court
After my first husband died, my credit files got mixed. That and my identity was stolen. On top of that, there is about a year during that time where I was lucky to remember my name. Some balls were legitimately dropped, and I was also taken advantage of. I got involved in a web forum […]
Privacy Via Doxxing Defense
Computerworld has a rather excellent guide on Doxxing Defense, aka removing your personal info from data brokers. Even if you have no fear of doxxing, this may be a good thing to do. Up to you. (Note that it’s not, as writer Ken Gagne points out, a one-time thing. Unfortunately.) I was very surprised, when […]
100 Countries (and Territories)!
As of today, I’ve completed one of my travel life goals: to visit 100 countries and territories from the Traveler’s Century Club list. In short, you can’t join the club as a full member until you’ve been to 100. Sure, they are liberal in what they count (their list totals 324 countries and territories, where […]
Coping With Depression
Robin Williams died, apparently of suicide. He’d been through a recent rehab program; he struggled with both addiction and depression. For many years, I didn’t realize I struggled with depression. When I became involved in Scientology, the depression got worse, and the costs of admitting I had it rose. I left Scientology in 1989, but […]
Model View Culture / Bigger Issues
Elizabeth Spiers’s article about the magazine and its founder Shanley Kane has a great quote relevant to the art vs. artist debate of yore: But important work gets done every day by flawed people, sometimes even by assholes. No one should be more aware of that than people who work in the tech industry, where […]
Birthday Reflections: Favorites from the Last Year
I thought I’d go over some of the things I’ve discovered or loved in the last year, in no particular order. Johnny B. Truant’s essay, The universe doesn’t give a flying fuck about you. It’s an interesting head trip: by making everything you could possibly do look small, it help reduces fear for the consequences […]
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