There are times when I don’t feel like writing a weekly column. This is one of those times. So let’s talk about that. I’ve had a bunch of writing students over the years, and I’ve found that teaching writing makes me a better writer. For one thing, when you’re helping people out of their writer’s…
Category: A Piece of Our Minds
PrEP Under Threat
A judge in Texas recently ruled that a company with a religious founder does not have to pay (through its choice of insurance plans) for its employees to use Truvada or Descovy as PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis against HIV). This is obviously part of a long list of recent legislative and judicial attacks on the rights…
Books that Matter (Caturday Questions)
Big Cat, Little Cat Reader Responses and Books that Matter What’s an example of a book that hollowed you out? You got to the good part and you just… couldn’t put it down, but you could barely bring yourself to keep reading. Maybe the emotions were too painful, too close to home. Do you seek…
Ashes
I wonder what it would be likeFor my ashes to be scatteredNo, for me to be scattered as ashesFor all the memories I can’t rememberTo come to the surface (becauseI’m all surface now). Eyes closed,I can see Davey’s living room. Grey carpet,Computer on the table towards the backStaircase on the right. Such a blandFirst memory….
Not Just a Phase?
I’ve written about the first time I kissed a girl. I’ve written about how much it would have meant to me to have queer role models. And I’ve written about why it was really important for me to have access to queer books as a teenager. I’ve never really talked about the “not just a…
Finish this Chapter (Caturday Questions)
Little Cat is reading his favorite book. He knows he said he’d go for a walk but he just wants to finish this chapter. And maybe the next one. Okay it’s not technically a book. It’s a catalogue from the local pet store. Little Cat thinks a “catalogue” is a book full of pictures of…
Thank you for your Support
Dear 2 Rules Readers, Friends, and Followers: As you know, we make a big deal about self-care here. It’s so important to our work as writers and teachers, but also to being ourselves, and being able to be the best versions of us that we can. And a number of weeks back, some things happened that…
Bach & Beethoven: Oops I Made Rock Music
I have this friend I really like messing with. He’s brilliant in his areas–math, economics, music, athletics, computer pro… He has a lot of areas. But I can still occasionally find ways to put one over on him. One of our overlapping interests is music, but he is much more into rock music than I…
Lazy Weekend (Caturday Questions)
Normally, I Tie the Comic to an Essay on a Literary Theme. For Example, I Could Tie this to Character Motivation or the Untapped Potential of the Lazy Weekend in Most Works of Literature Not this time. Have a good lazy weekend, everyone. Unless you work in food or retail in which case I just…
The Sandman and Cultural Appropriation
I’ve probably read the Sandman graphic novel series a dozen times. The last time I went through the whole thing was easily a dozen years ago. But if you ever have half an hour or so, we can sit down and I can tell you almost page for page what’s in it. Even the weird…