Phoenix Rambles

When I was 19, I voted in my first election. After so many years of growing frustrated with Bush 2: Electric Boogaloo, I was proud to cast my vote for Barack Obama because I was tired of society validating the harm the Republican Party has done to the country for most of my lifetime. I was naive then, and I knew it. I was wary even then of trusting either party as I worked to discover my political identity. And while I flip-flopped on my party affiliation over the years, I worked out that I couldn't stand with bigotry, theocracy, or showing political favor to the rich over the rest of society. I voted for Obama because he promised change. Four years later, with almost no fundamental change to speak of, I voted for Obama again. I didn't do this because I believed the change he promised was being withheld through no fault of his own. I did so because I feared what would happen if we allow Mitt Romney to set back the progress Democrats made with the Affordable Care Act. But whil...

What follows is obviously going to be a very general discussion of psychological triggers. I'm not going to bother listing them as I'm not even sure my words are specific enough to warrant it, but any readers with triggers might do well to prepare for them or click away just in case. I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject. I'm just really tired of indulging people who know even less. Today, an acquaintance of mine whose shit I'm getting tired of decided to share a really delightful meme with me on Facebook today. I don't know if I've made it clear enough that I'm a feminist (in theory) so he could be forgiven for assuming I'd find a joke that dunks on feminists funny. Whatever. That's not what I'm annoyed about right now. The meme did remind me that I have had a canned rant about the use of the term "triggered" for quite some time. It's not really something that's important to me, but I did threaten the guy with a...

Dear Gutless Hypocrite, What in the fuck is wrong with you? Did being bullied your whole life just deprive you of any empathy whatsoever? I know you like to believe that you're a good person who would never hurt anyone who didn't ask for it, but keeping your bullshit concealed beneath the surface doesn't make it go away! You always act like you are so fucking woke that you don't have anything to learn about women, people of other races, and especially queer people. But here's a secret: you are a naive asshole who takes way too much comfort in your ignorance. It's not enough to say sexism, racism, or homophobia is bad, you have to understand what these words mean and why they're not just bad, but something to be actively opposed.  But how could you do that when the boys' club at your school has taken over your identity? You can't blame your so-called friends for the anger with which I'm writing to you, but you certainly didn't go out ...

When I first heard of "Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma" I was ecstatic. I have always loved shonen anime for it's over the top interpretation of just about everything, from sports to playing Justice League with your classmates . I could go on for an entire post about my favorite tropes from that genre, but I really just want to talk about this one show for now. You see, picturing something I really enjoy doing (cooking) through the lens of shonen anime was an attractive prospect, so I was excited to check it out immediately when I first heard of it. When I did, though, I had a lot of thoughts getting in the way of the show itself. What do I mean? Well... (CW: Rape, Spoilers Ahead) The first word of the entire show is DISGUSTING! Apparently the protagonist, Souma Yukihira made a ridiculous cooking choice, pairing squid with peanut butter sauce. How anyone with functioning taste buds could think this is a good idea is beyond me. Maybe this character is terrible at ev...

Welcome to the first post of my new blog, in which I'll cover any social commentary that occurs to me. This blog won't be updated nearly as often as  the fiction blog I share with  my good friend Volt , but this will be the place to read what I think about almost anything else besides Comalan. As I used to on Tumblr, I'll try to be witty and incisive in everything I post. As a reader, I ask you to keep an open mind. This blog is meant to be a completely separate entity from World of Comalan, so if you disagree with something I say here, but love Comalan, don't give up on it! I feel this is especially important to say because, while Comalan is meant to be an inclusive project, this blog is not. I will say things that people will likely disagree with, and I don't take back my words unless I think they were wrong. To anyone who's been paying attention, it's no secret that the U.S. Congress has just put a tax bill to vote that is not only painful to everyone e...