Yippee!

The place I'm currently working through 5/22 invited has invited me to join them on another project starting 6/3!

No to Capitalist Censorship!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/02/facebook-bans-extremist-leaders-including-louis-farrakhan-alex-jones-milo-yiannopoulos-being-dangerous

It's unacceptable that powerful, unaccountable corporations are using their property "rights" to decide which ideas we can discuss. They should be nationalized and brought under workers' control so that the First Amendment governs their platforms.

A Day in the Park: There's a Science to It

Saturday I went to Clark Park, where I'd volunteered to petition to put Olivia Faison, the Green Party's candidate for Philadelphia Council at-Large, on the November ballot. The sign-up sheet hadn't described the nature of the event, but what I found was Science in the Park, part of the Philadelphia Science Festival. So I led my pitch with the fact that Olivia is a retired scientist, and gathered 28 signatures in an hour. Then I spent 45 minutes selling One Step Away and made $25.75.

NAACP Puts Democrats Over Democracy

The president of the national NAACP has just attacked the democratic rights of his members to appease his politican friends.

https://blog.simplejustice.us/2019/04/28/naacp-to-missouri-black-men-your-lives-dont-matter/?fbclid=IwAR1cnuoRD0oVg2fO-tgo8GJOznpVkljx62jhTuvYwqHIlYR_Rc6v8_XDnwo

Open Democracy Still Not Open to Diverse Viewpoints

Our friends at Open Democracy have shown once again how closed their minds are with a story about the role of the "manosphere" in Donald Trump's election.

They do have a comments section and I tried to use it, but I just got an error message no matter whether I logged in with Disqus, Facebook, or Twitter and regardless of which browser I used. So instead I posted my comment with Gab's Web commenting tool Dissenter. Below is a link to what I wrote.


https://gab.com/stripey7/posts/eHl4K29vVFc4TnlVaEZMTSs0MWdtUT09

Thank You, Mindy Brudno

As part of a job application today, I was asked to write about one of two topics. The one I chose was, "Describe the most important criticism you've ever benefited from. Describe the event and explain how it changed you."

When I was 16-17 years old I was part of what I now regard as having been a political cult. Perhaps the most critical moment during my membership was when I stood alone in objecting to a proposed change in line on an upcoming ballot measure. All of the other ten members of the chapter were ready to vote for it.

The group was nominally democratic, but didn't really encourage independent thought, and I was already struggling with social anxiety. And so, despite having just argued that the proposed line change was unprincipled, I found myself saying I would abstain on the question. Immediately thereafter, another member leaned over and whispered to me that if I thought the line change was unprincipled, I should vote "no" on it, not abstain. I realized she was right and, fortified, voted no.

Looking back on it, I recognize this as the moment when I was in greatest danger of losing my intellectual and emotional freedom. I thank Mindy Brudno, wherever she is.

I Will Be Reading Again at the Upcoming Erotic Literary Salon

http://theeroticsalon.com/category/press-release/

In addition to my reading, I will use the opportunity of the intro to inform people of my new project writing a screenplay based on Hbrushed's short story, "Poor Beth."

I performed two song parodies at the salon in March, which got the biggest applause of the evening.

Today I attended my first meeting of the Philly Writers meetup group. I was hoping to get tips on writing my screenplay, and I wasn't disappointed. Based on what one of the other members said (which was, in turn, based on a book she's currently reading, Writing the Breakout Novel), I realized I have to add a couple scenes prior to what I'd initially conceived as the first, in order to make the protagonist sufficiently sympathetic and get viewers emotionally engaged with her.