I did an interview today on The Readdicts to help get the word out about my crowdfunding campaign to publish the novel Identity Theft. I ended up talking quite a bit about the business of publishing and why, I think, we’ve reached a tipping point where it makes more sense for career-minded writers to publish […]
A couple of stories have crossed my radar lately that have led me to ask this question. University of Maryland sociologist Philip N. Cohen dissected the argument of the amicus brief filed by Hawkins and Carroll in Utah’s attempt to ban same sex marriage in that state. The brief makes the following assertion: Traditional, gendered […]
A follow up, of sorts, to my first article on tradition. When you start to read books on the history of Christianity it becomes clear that many of the ideas and approaches that seem non-traditional and novel are actually as old or older than the approaches considered “traditional.” I have read many a 19th century […]
The opening sequence of the film (and the play) Fiddler on the Roof features Tevye joyously and unforgettably celebrating his culture’s traditions. On the surface, Fiddler on the Roof is about a Jewish community in early 20th Century Czarist Russia. More essentially, however, it is about the conflict between tradition and change. Which traditions are […]
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a panel on the Dian Rehm show discussing same sex marriage. One of the panelists, who opposed legal recognition of same sex marriage, explained that those who are in favor of legal same sex marriage tend to frame their arguments in terms of rights while those […]
Over the past couple of years in this space I have talked about how our desire to have history conform to a notion of linear progress has obscured the achievements of people who were supposed to have gained social rights only later. Two years ago I put it this way: It is much easier to […]
“…both Oscar and myself are merely ordinary people who are very fond of one another and very anxious to live peacefully joyously and happily, and without scenes and tragedies and reproaches and all that sort of thing.”-Lord Alfred Douglas, letter to his mother 1894 Lord Alfred Douglas’s mother was worried. In 1894 she read Wilde’s […]
For some reason, I don’t know why, I am on the e-mail list for the National Organization for Marriage, the organization that opposes same-sex marriage. I know I did not sign up, and I can only assume someone else signed me up to influence my opinion? In any case, today I decided to click through […]
An article came to my attention today through my social media feed. It is written by Kameron Hurley and has the title Traditional Publishing, Non-Compete Clauses and Rights Grabs. In it, Hurley takes exception to certain standard contract terms offered in publishing contracts. In particular, she feels that non-compete clauses prevent authors from making a […]
A friend of mine shared his Facebook meme this morning. it is a well-written appeal for a wider sphere of compassion penned by Karuna E. Parikh who has a personal connection to Beiruit. I would like to talk about my subjective emotional response to this appearing in my feed this morning. I lived in France, […]
