Any novel that wins the Booker Prize will be worth reading. Not all literary prizes reflect quality, but the Booker Prize carries a lot of weight. So when a debut novel wins a Booker, that is a singular achievement. Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart, was the recipient of the 2020 Booker
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wmtc: "you guys" revisited: further thoughts on the language police
If you know, you know. In October 2020, I wrote a post about the expression you guys, and whether or not using guys as a gender-neutral term excludes transgender people: “you guys”: change language, do no harm, but can we please leave space for learning and growing? In that post, I
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: like other girls: best youth fiction i’ve read in a long time
A girl wants to play football. That’s all. Well, not quite all. Mara wants to be herself. And that self wants to play football, among other things. Mara isn’t trying to make a statement. She doesn’t want to be political, and although she knows she’s gay, she doesn’t want to
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: sometimes you have to lie: the life and times of louise fitzhugh, renegade author of harriet the spy
Until very recently, I didn’t know anything about Louise Fitzhugh and had not thought about her at all. Of course, as a child I read and loved Harriet the Spy, Fitzhugh’s iconic and groundbreaking children’s book. For a good portion of my life, I dreamed of writing a similar book.
Continue readingwmtc: wondering what to do with all that privilege and surplus good luck? try #write4rights 2020
Here we are in the middle of a global pandemic, and I feel (to paraphrase my favourite baseball player) like the luckiest person on the face of the earth.* I’m healthy, my partner is healthy, and no one in our extended families has gotten covid. Thanks to my union, and
Continue readingwmtc: first celebrate, then organize: good things that happened in the 2020 u.s. election
United States Vice Presidents After the positive result in the US election, so many of my fellow leftists refuse to find joy in the occasion. They seem determined to not admit that something good happened. The worst president in the history of the United States has been handed his walking
Continue readingwmtc: "you guys": change language, do no harm, but can we please leave space for learning and growing?
First reactions: the language police I’ve recently learned that calling a group of people you guys may be considered insensitive to transgender people. My first reaction to this was an inner eye-roll, and thoughts along the lines of, “Oh come on, that’s going too far.” The same reaction I had to
Continue readingwmtc: ruth bader ginsburg, rest in power
These highlights of Ginsburg’s decisions and dissents on the SCOTUS are a joy to read. I used two sources, and decided to keep the overlap. Many highlight the reason she was affectionately known as the Notorious RBG. United States v. Virginia, 1996 In United States v. Virginia, Ginsburg wrote the majority
Continue readingwmtc: the deadliest organized-crime and terrorist enterprise in the history of humanity: the catholic church
In the entire history of human beings on this planet, has there ever been a criminal enterprise more devastating — to as many people, over as long a period of time — as the Catholic Church? The largest empires of the world — Roman, Spanish, Dutch, British, American — lasted
Continue readingwmtc: rest in power, larry kramer
We activists like to paraphrase the legendary labour activist Joe Hill by saying “First mourn, then organize”. Larry Kramer, who died yesterday at the age of 84, defined the phrase. He taught a generation — he taught an entire culture — how to use grief as fuel, how to channel anger
Continue readingwmtc: three thoughts arising from a focus on the housing crisis
Today I attended a working meeting that included almost all the service providers in the region. These service providers were brought together by the Mount Waddington Health Network to build a coalition that will deal with the housing crisis. I was there mainly to stay informed and to network, and
Continue readingwmtc: thank you megan rapinoe!
I have a list of topics I want to write about, and I’m not finding any time when my brain is working to write. So on this topic I’m taking the easy and totally lame way out and posting a Facebook share. And that’s fine, because no matter how much
Continue readingwmtc: update: the gay cop on barney miller comes out, plus an adorable child sex worker
About a month ago, I wrote about an episode from the late 1970s-early 1980s sitcom “Barney Miller”, in which the squad discovers that an officer from their precinct is gay. To my surprise, Officer Zatelli returned to Barney Miller — and he came out, right there in the squad room.
Continue readingwmtc: ancient tv history: a gay cop on barney miller
Watching my comedy-before-bed daily dose of Barney Miller last night, I was surprised and pleased to see an episode about a gay cop. This remembered this post — turns out it was 10 years ago! — about a gay character on Dallas. Both episodes aired in 1979. Officer Zatelli, played by Dino
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: giovanni’s room by james baldwin
James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, a landmark in LGBT literature, is one of our library’s current “Raves & Faves”. The 1956 novel takes place in Paris, narrated by a young American man who is trying to come to terms with his sexuality. In the past, this was said to be a
Continue readingwmtc: things i heard at the library: an occasional series: #23
Girl: Do you have this book, something like, “keeping a secret about you”? Me: Let’s take a look in the catalogue. [Stalling for time while scrolling through titles in my mind.] Hmm, do you mean Keeping You a Secret? Girl: Yes! I took a bus all the way from the
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: four realistic youth novels
Young-adult publishers’ mania for series, with the emphasis on fantasy, has finally ebbed. There are still plenty of fantasy series to go around, but the new crop of youth novels is chock full of individual titles in the realistic mode. (In YA land, “realistic” means the opposite of fantasy: set in
Continue readingwmtc: bernie sanders, the pope, and the politics of amnesia
I see a lot of excitement online, in places like Common Dreams and The Nation, and in my Facebook feed, about Bernie Sanders, supposedly remaking US politics, and Pope Francis, supposedly remaking the Roman Catholic Church. About Sanders, I shake my head and wonder why long-time Democrat voters do not
Continue readingwmtc: some thoughts on the u.s. moving a bit closer to equality (#lovewins)
At last, it has happened. With Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage has been declared legal and constitutional in the United States. Same-sex couples can legally marry, just as opposite-sex couples have always had the right to do. Most importantly, laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are now unconstitutional.* For some years on
Continue readingwmtc: my feminism includes trans people. all women need to listen to each other.
The continuing liberation of transgender people is a marvel to behold. We are witnessing history, as trans people and their issues become part of the mainstream. From Chelsea Manning to “Transparent” to Laverne Cox, and of course Caitlyn Jenner, transgender people and issues have never been so front and centre.
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