I watch a lot of Hulu, right? Lately we’ve been binging all of Scrubs, which means that generally if the television is on in my house and there isn’t some sort of childrens’ programming on that’s probably what we’re watching. Hulu’s been promoing this program lately that appears to be about a fat old rich white guy who gets accused of rape.
Be it known to the world at large: at this particular point in my life I find it really fucking difficult to arouse any sympathy for old rich white men accused of rape, and I sure as shit am not interested in watching television programs that cast said old rich white men as the victims. Can I just fucking watch Scrubs, please? Maybe advertise other light comedies? And not this show, like, ever again? Thanks.
A warning: this part of the post is going to be kind of ill-formed and unfinished, as it’s still a work in progress in my brain and I’m not at all sure how I feel about any of it, so don’t expect me to come to any conclusions. I had a dream the other day where a former student (and I am one hundred percent certain that she will both see this and know who she is) sat across a table from me and lectured me about representation and cultural appropriation in my work. I’ve been reading a lot about both issues lately (the recent spate of articles about the whitewashing of Nnedi Okorafor’s The Shadow Speakers is only the newest example) and as someone who has actually written a science fiction book and deliberately made sure to get the black woman on the cover it’s kind of an important issue to me.
So, yeah, here’s the thing: I’ve got two books in the works right now featuring women of color as the leads. The lead race in my fantasy series is matriarchal. And my short stories tend to feature non-stereotypically-western cultures. I’m not good enough about writing LGBT+ characters but when you come down to it there are precious few straight relationships in my books either for some reason.
I do not write this to be awarded cookies. I don’t want cookies. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if I’m approaching all this the right way at all. Do me a favor, and go read this, and then read this.
I’m torn as hell on this and still thinking about it. But it’s on my mind at the moment.
I leave for Denver in, like, three days. I am still not looking forward to it. At all.
I am still not at all looking forward to my visit to Denver, which is now barely over a week away. The picture is probably overstating things, as I have nothing against the town itself other than not wanting to go there but whatever. My regional manager mentioned to me the other day that he’d see me there, and once I confirmed that was true he told me that “everything I’d heard about altitude sickness was true” and told me to expect a solid week of headaches, dehydration, sore throats and getting out of breath every time I exert myself a little tiny bit. This from the guy who wanted me to be excited about the trip.
I have guest posts set up for the next several days (and if you’ve sent me something but haven’t heard back yet, don’t worry, you’re in) but per my usual MO it’s extremely unlikely that I won’t find time to put some posts up while I’m running my brother’s wedding. At least some pictures. I’ve had a pretty full day already; I had a job interview this morning that I think/hope went quite well, and ran three or four other errands before coming back home and letting my wife run out to take care of the several errands she needs to do. Then packing and putting final touches on my speech and putting together the “final” version of the booklet I’ll be using to make sure I don’t call the bride by the wrong name or anything like that during the ceremony.
