personal
September 12, 2016

Trauma. Recovery is A Never-Ending Fight.

Note: If you’re one of the parties mentioned in this ongoing drama, just stop reading my site. This post is about my recovery, and I share it in the hopes that it might help someone dealing with Trauma feel like they aren’t broken. Or help loved ones understand what someone is going through. I’ll be sad to miss one of the 10 regular readers of this site, but you really aren’t going to find what you’re looking for here. I’m not going to out anyone. I just need to work through this stuff. Last night, I had a weird freak-out.…

personal
September 11, 2016

I’m Tired.

This is a big weekend. Lots of people remembering 9/11 with a solemnity and fervor that I simply can’t muster any more. I won’t ever forget it, but I can’t dwell on it. The lessons that we as a nation have taken from it weren’t the right ones. Instead of coming together, recognizing extremism (which we did for a far too brief period of time), we’ve punished anyone who is Muslim or might look like they’re Muslim – ignoring the truths about a religion that is peaceful. Just being shepherded world-wide by extremists and fear. (I’m mostly talking about our…

entertainment Geek Mom personal Pirate representation matters
August 19, 2016

TRAILER: HIDDEN FIGURES (and raising a kid who asks tough questions)

So one of the downsides to raising socially aware children is that they’re going to ask you uncomfortable questions. The Oldest Kidlet is going through a massive space phase (though I get the inkling that this isn’t a phase, but a calling). Where I wanted to be an astronaut at his age, he wants to put people in space. (If you have a space minded kid like mine, our two favorite games are Universe Sandbox – where you can create your own solar system, and Kerbal Space Program – where you can build your own rockets, shuttles and rovers, and…

entertainment Geek
August 9, 2016

When “Mad Love” is Abuse.

Confession: I haven’t seen Suicide Squad yet. I was at a conference last weekend, and work’s been crazy busy. But what I have been is a fan of Harley Quinn since she was introduced in Batman: The Animated Series. So I was not surprised to hear that Harley & Joker are still in an abusive relationship. However, I am sad, upset and disappointed that so many people are trying to claim that this is a romantic ideal type relationship. Or find ways to excuse abusive behavior as being deviant, not abuse. (I’m not surprised – I stopped being surprised when…

personal Pirate
August 1, 2016

Allies: Don’t Pretend to Come Out.

Over the weekend, Tyler Posey posted a video to his Snapchat. He was at Gay St and said, very happily. “That’s me. I’m gay!” People waited for confirmation that he was in fact, coming out, and in the end – they got an apology from Posey. Because he was attempting to make a statement of love and support, but went about it in an extremely ill-advised way. He’s as heterosexual as they come. And honestly, it did hurt a lot of fans – because Teen Wolf has prided itself on being very inclusive when it comes to depicting sexual orientation.…

personal writing
July 1, 2016

The problem with Ilvermorny (as world building)

You easily find a lot of posts discussing JK Rowling’s latest expansion into the Harry Potter universe – Ilvermorny, the North American Wizarding School. Most centering on the cultural appropriation that the school is built on. (And from better sources than me) But here’s the cliffnotes version – it’s a British Colonialist’s dream – Young Irish girl leaves England (on the Mayflower!) and eventually founds the first magic school. The ONLY magic school. The houses picked by two children, day dreaming about what a school might be like – each named for a favorite magical creature…. most of which came…

personal
June 29, 2016

Every time. Why there’s no need for heterosexual pride or white pride

On the internet, trending today, I saw something about white history month and “Heterosexual Pride Day”. Any time there’s a marginalized group celebrating themselves, out come white or straight people to wonder where the day is that they get to celebrate themselves. I’m going to be blunt. That’s every day. You can turn on a TV or go to a movie and see any type of story being told about you. You can buy books that tell your story or tell the story of people just like you. In fact, in school, history books are biased towards telling your story…

personal Pirate politics
June 13, 2016

When do we say that enough is enough?

My heart hurts. I don’t say this because it’s what is being said… I say this because those people who died in that club in Orlando? Those are my people. (I didn’t know them, but those were still my people – both LGBT and Latinx) There were nearly two more attacks on Pride events this weekend – stopped, and not nearly talked about because both the attackers are white. It’s so easy to focus the attention on what may have been an extremist Muslim (though his own family were quick to say he wasn’t religious, he was just homophobic), when…

entertainment fandom Geek movies personal Pirate racism representation matters sexism
April 27, 2016

The Ancient One is… Celtic?

Marvel, seemingly responding to critics about casting Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, released the background for the character. Saying that this embodiment is Celtic. Well here’s the statement: Marvel has a very strong record of diversity in its casting of films and regularly departs from stereotypes and source material to bring its MCU to life. The Ancient One is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character, but rather a moniker passed down through time, and in this particular film the embodiment is Celtic. We are very proud to have the enormously talented Tilda Swinton portray…

personal
April 22, 2016

Prince and Me.

Much like David Bowie’s death, Prince’s sudden death threw me for a loop. He meant so much to me. While I don’t have a first hand story about Prince, I do have second hand stories about him (which I can’t really share). The one common thread in those stories is that despite his eccentricities, he was someone who really cared about other people. He was so beautifully contrary – the man who wrote beautifully filthy lyrics, yet apparently informed a DJ he didn’t get dressed up to hear swearing. I first became acquainted with Prince as a little kid. My…