Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my post-election ennui. Now I'm doing something about it.

Today is #GivingTuesday, and regardless of how you feel about the proliferation of Thanksgiving holiday adjuncts (Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, etc.), there are many opportunities to amplify your donations today and this week due to other people and organizations matching funds.

And sure, those folks could just give their money freely instead of digging a hole in the ground, but it's their money. Anyway, the point of matching funds is to spread awareness and encourage others to give as well.

I'm taking the advice of many wiser people and setting up monthly donations to support causes I believe in. I can spare $100 a month—that's $10 to each group, in case you're counting—and here's where it's going:

1. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - not tax deductible, FYI.
2. Planned Parenthood (PPFA) - tax deductible "to the fullest extent allowable," because laws matter, goddammit.
3. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) - "fully tax deductible as allowed by law, less the fair market value of any substantial gifts received."
4. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) - now based in Portland, Oregon!
5. Black Lives Matter - "IDEX provides services such as fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to Black Lives Matter. IDEX is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization for both federal and state purposes. Our federal tax identification number is 77-0071852."
6. Native American Rights Fund - not just because their acronym is NARF.
7. National Immigration Law Center - because immigrants, we get the job done.
8. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - "a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3)."
9. Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - "a 501(c)(3) under federal tax guidelines. TAX ID: 77-0646756"
10. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) - the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization in the United States.

So. Tell me. What are you doing to fuck shit up?

We Can Be Heroes

Hello. This is my post-terrible-election blog. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

I've had a lot of thoughts and feelings over the past week. I haven't been very productive, writing-wise. But here, I think, is some much-needed perspective:


https://youtu.be/SHG0ezLiVGc

To wit, nobody should be surprised to learn that America—overall, historically, demonstrably—is racist as fuck. Non-white minorities have always known this. If you look like any kind of brown person, it's something you have to deal with every single day. (I could tell you stories. Oh boy, could I tell you stories. But later.)

So. Racism wins: not that surprising. Still devastating, yeah. Many of us hoped for better from our fellow citizens. But we are ready to face this.

Remember back in the year 2000, in DC Comics, when Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States? That's right, evil supervillain Lex Luthor. And that motherfucker was a straight-up murderer.

That storyline had some logic issues, as pointed out in the article linked above, but my point is: we've been imagining dystopias for, well, ever. 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale, is any of this ringing a bell?

This situation is nothing new. We've been seeing it for years, in fiction and in other nations' oppressive regimes. The difference is that now, we get a chance to fight for real. We are the Rebel Alliance. We are the Maquis. We are the Green Martians.

So fight, if you haven't already been fighting. Fight for the oppressed. Fight for those who are weaker and less privileged than yourself. Donate money if you can. Volunteer if you have time. Fight for truth, justice, and the goddamn American way. Because this is where heroes are made, in the crucible of change.

And never forget—this is important—always remember, we are stronger together.

We all have a choice: to kneel before Zod, or to rise up with Alexander Hamilton.

What will you choose?



P.S. If you don't know where to start, HOLY FUCK THE ELECTION might help.

Friday Flash Fiction: "Now and Later"

For the record: Guns don't murder people. Fucked-up assholes murder people, and they don't need guns to do it. But firearms do carry a lot of psychic freight.

Read "Now and Later" at 512 Words or Fewer

Friday Flash Fiction: "Back to School"

Hey, anybody remember that "Jack & Bobby" show from a few years back? Yeah, neither do I.

Read "Back to School" at 512 Words or Fewer

Friday Flash Fiction: "Unanswered Questions"

This week's story was inspired in part by Breakin' It Down with Catherine Reitman and the Occupy Oakland clusterfuck.

You might not think those two things go together, but they are both Halloween-thematic: Ms. Reitman is the daughter of the guy who directed Ghostbusters, and what happened in Oakland is pretty damn scary.

ETA: DeeAnn points out that I may have also been influenced by Cowboy Bebop. She is, as usual, correct.

Read "Unanswered Questions" at 512 Words or Fewer

Why Everyone Should "Write The Other"

I've been downloading TED talks in iTunes, since they make for good, quick, off-line viewing, and are generally entertaining and/or educational. We watched this one over breakfast today:



Being a minority writer myself, I feel some of the same pain she describes. In many ways, I'm always writing the other, because I rarely draw upon my own life experiences for my fiction--like Laura Anne Gilman, I believe that "Write what you know" means learn more, not write less. I want to use my imagination. I don't just want to be a reporter (though those skills are very useful, craft-wise); I want to create.

Friday Flash Fiction: "I Disagree"

Why, yes, I do watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Thanks for asking!

Read "I Disagree" at 512 Words or Fewer

Do You Know What Yesterday Was?

Really, now. Did you think I'd forgotten?



It was also this year's Free Comic Book Day--more on that later--and, apparently, a good day for political protests in Portland. Not that there's any connection between those two, but as long as we're talking about it, it wouldn't hurt you to check out the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

It Makes a Fellow Proud to Live in Portland

D and I read about this guy in our local newspaper a few weeks ago, and now the story's gone national:



Yup. Welcome to PDX.

The title of this post is, of course, sarcastic. Allow me to educate those of you unfamiliar with the great Tom Lehrer:

#protip of the day

Do not engage in public debate with a professional stand-up comedian. You will lose. As shown here:


http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-20-2010/bernie-goldberg-fires-back

For those of you still unclear on the concept, John Rogers ("Mr. Leverage") explains:

I still have a lot of gut instinct left over from my stand-up days. You do not "reach common ground" with a heckler -- you destroy a heckler, or anyone else who threatens the fragile emotional suspension required in a successful stand-up show. Destroy them, or suffer the consequences. A thousand people's night will go wrong based on one person's selfishness or idiocy -- and your failure to control same on a split-second's notice.

That is all.

Friday Flash Fiction: "Xenotypography"

Just last year, this might have been considered a fantasy story, as it features a Commander-in-Chief who knows about carbon dating and understands the scientific method. Now it's just science fiction! (Rimshot.)

Read "Xenotypography" at 512 Words or Fewer

Money for Nothing

D recently received a mysterious $250 direct deposit from the VA into her bank account. Upon further investigation, she determined that it was an "economic recovery payment" to eligible Veterans, implemented as part of ARRA. It's apparently also tax-free, and separate from the disability settlement she received a few years ago (long story). So, hooray for free money!

We're living off our savings right now, and it feels weird to fill out surveys and list our annual income as "less than $15,000," but it's technically true. Our only actual income is from bank interest and investments; the bulk of that comes from the index fund, which is still paying about $1,000 in dividends every quarter.

Including the bank interest, our total income this year will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. (Which, incidentally, is how much Ed Helms' character in The Hangover had in savings--and he was supposed to be the most stable of the four protagonists. D was quite appalled. But that's another story.)

I also made about $300 back in May for three days' work as an extra on Leverage. It was literally a minimum wage gig, and I didn't do it for the money; I had fun being on set and rubbing elbows (sometimes literally) with the cast, crew, and director.

So far, no actual money made from writing, but I'm hoping that'll change soon.

~CKL

The Stigma of Self-Publishing, Part 2: Scratch Beginnings

Scratch Beginnings is not a well-written book. To his credit, the author--Adam Shepard--admits in the introduction that he is not a good writer. But someone telling you he's an awful cook won't make the meal taste any better.

I became interested in this book based on the description of the author's recent visit to Powell's. I didn't attend the event, having learned of it after the fact, and that's probably a good thing; I might have been tempted to actually purchase the book, and I would have suffered some serious buyer's remorse around page 12. (I later found it at my local library.)

The gimmicky high concept of Scratch Beginnings--which is a good hook, I'll admit--is a recent college graduate's personal experiment to bootstrap himself out of poverty. He selected an east coast city at random, traveled there by train, and debarked with only $25 to his name. His goal was to go from homelessness to having an apartment, a car, and $2,500 in the bank by the end of one year.

I'll save you the pain of having to read the book: he succeeded. To be honest, I never doubted that he would; I was curious about the details of his actual experience. And the stuff about the homeless shelter was interesting, but his frequent use of sentence fragments and constant self-aggrandizement got old real quick. Several sections could have been summarized thusly: "Dear diary, today I did cool things and made people like me. Because I am awesome!"

Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, but it really does get that bad at some points. I'm pretty sure "Shep" is one of the "white people" from Stuff White People Like.

Even though Scratch Beginnings and Daemon are touted as self-publishing success stories, it's important to note two things:

1. They are the exception, not the rule; and
2. both authors took pains to disguise the fact that they were self-published.

Daemon was put out by "Verdugo Press," a company created by the author and his wife for the express purpose of marketing the novel. Scratch Beginnings came from "SB Press," whose business address is a condominium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Guess where Adam Shepard's family lives? Yup.

Scratch Beginnings has since been acquired by the Collins imprint of HarperCollins and reissued in hardcover--hence the book tour. Isn't it interesting that the ultimate goal of most self-published authors seems to be getting an actual book deal from a real publisher?

Anyway, here's a half-hour interview with Adam Shepard from a Triangle-based public access cable show. He seems like a nice kid, and I hope he enjoys his fifteen minutes:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz_BNXuBgq0

~CKL

Change of Plans

I meant to write about GameStorm, and some of the things I thought about after spending an entire weekend playing games.

Instead, I came home and caught up on my reading. This article scared me: "The Quiet Coup" by Simon Johnson (The Atlantic, May 2009)

Mostly, I don't think about the financial crisis. It's too big; there's not a whole heckuva lot I can do to fix it. And it's not affecting me personally right now. In a pinch, CKL and I have enough money for a few years (barring hyperinflation or other horrors), so we can just concentrate on spending within our means without changing our lifestyle much.

The only real change I made was to set up a recurring donation to a couple of charities each month. I figured that if I have a recurring deduction each month for fun stuff (Netflix, Xbox Live), I can match that money for charity.

So, that's me. I don't think about the financial crisis. It doesn't bother me. Until I read an article that hits me hard enough to actually write to my elected officials.

It's a long article, with a lot of important points, but this was the one that hit me hardest:

[The banks] don’t want to recognize the full extent of their losses, because that would likely expose them as insolvent. So they talk down the problem, and ask for handouts that aren’t enough to make them healthy (again, they can’t reveal the size of the handouts that would be necessary for that), but are enough to keep them upright a little longer. This behavior is corrosive: unhealthy banks either don’t lend (hoarding money to shore up reserves) or they make desperate gambles on high-risk loans and investments that could pay off big, but probably won’t pay off at all.

I know this problem. We all know this problem.

In my case, it looked like this: my brother asks for a few hundred dollars to tide him over until payday. I give him the money.

Months later, I get another call. Now my brother needs a thousand dollars. Times are tight. We have an uncomfortable talk, and eventually I give him that money too.

Months later, I hear from my sister that my brother is in a desperate situation. He might actually lose his house. His kids could go hungry. And, finally, the whole sorry story comes pouring out: my brother had been using payday loans to finance his lifestyle for the better part of a year.

The money I gave him (that my mother, brother, and sister gave him) was never enough to pay off his debt. But it was always enough money for him to get deeper in debt. Until, finally, he was on the verge of collapse.

The consequences of doing too little can be worse than not doing anything at all.

The banks (and AIG) look an awful lot like my brother. And it looks like our government is acting an awful lot like me. Look at how many times they government has given BofA and AIG bailout money.

It's scary to think that our government might be doing what I did--giving a few dollars and compounding the problem--instead of actually providing a solution. Instead of making sure that those few dollars will actually help.

It's even scarier to think that our government is treating banks like family and not watching out for the rest of us. We're family, too.

Reflections on teh RaceFail

My somewhat entirely selfish observation about the whole "RaceFail '09" debacle is this:

I'm really glad I attended Viable Paradise last year, because this year's class experience is sure to be tainted--if not completely eclipsed--by this stupid thing. (Lucky XIII, indeed.)

Aside: I didn't even know about any of this until I caught up with my VPXII classmate Alberto's LiveJournal. Yes, I am a grumpy old man.

John Scalzi called it "discussion of [x]," and I agree. This particular thread has gone way, way off the rails and off-topic. A few cooler heads, including Scalzi and friends, have attempted to wrestle the conversation back to the subject of race, but the damage has been done, and any good that comes out of it at this point has come at an enormous and unnecessary cost.

This is all I have to say about [x]:

Issues of race (and, by extension, racism) are deeply personal, for people of any heritage. When you choose to make those issues public, well, thank you for sharing, but please be aware of what you're getting into.

You can't write and perform The Vagina Monologues without eventually becoming an activist. You can't write The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian without tapping into centuries of American history.

That's political. And politics is all about power and diplomacy. Unfortunately, on the Internet, both those dimensions are collapsed into a single channel--text--and sometimes, words alone aren't enough. You can't end a war with an aphorism.

And now for something completely different relevant:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3HaRFBSq9k

But seriously, folks:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc

You are not the work. This is something pro writers say, a lot, when advising baby writers. It means that you have to learn to accept criticism of your work by understanding that "this story sucks" is a fundamentally different statement than "you suck."

The line is much finer when it comes to blogs and comments thereupon. What you say is not who you are, but it is all that people see here. Your words are your actions in this space, and actions have consequences.

(My final remark below is not directed toward any particular person. I offer it as a general guideline for all.)

On the Internet, no one knows if you're a dog, but what other conclusion should they draw if all you do is bark?

~CKL

Happy Presidents Day

Check out the Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation and marvel at how far we've come since then.

~CKL

That Word Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

Photo from Wikimedia

Dear Entire Freaking World,

Please stop overusing the word "miracle."

You know what I'm talking about. Ever since US Airways pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger safely landed his crippled Airbus A320 in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew, you've been calling it a "Miracle on the Hudson."

Excuse me. Human achievement is not a miracle. If there were any Catholics here, they'd be giving you dirty looks.

And if you're thanking God for saving those people, you should also be cursing Him for putting those birds into the engine in the first place. Or maybe you believe it was Basement Cat who did the bad thing, or that Ceiling Cat just moves in mysterious ways?

Yeah, it's nice that you think every soul on the planet is just a pawn to be sacrificed in some mystical cosmic power struggle. I'll thank you not to devalue my entire existence.

That plane landed safely, and all the people aboard are still alive, because the entire flight crew was on the stick. Give some credit where it's due, for cryin' out loud. Show some respect for your fellow humans. You're going to have to deal with us a lot more often than you deal with any supernatural beings.

Hugs and kisses,
~CKL

P.S. Please calm down before the inauguration tomorrow. You know who you are.

Friday Flash Fiction: "The Coronation Will Not Be Televised"

This week's 512 Words: "The Coronation Will Not Be Televised"

You can also listen to the podcast and read the liner notes.

I'm sure various news outlets will make a big deal out of Monday being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Tuesday being the inauguration of America's first black President. That's fine. But we should also not forget that Ricardo Montalban passed away earlier this week. Is it too much to ask for a full week of mourning? My friend Gene doesn't think so:



~CKL

The Day After

A selection of this morning's Twitter messages:

Damn it, I have a headache! I thought electing Obama would FIX THINGS!
-- John Scalzi (eater of Schadenfreude Pie)

Prop 8 passed. Goddammit. I will continue to fight for equality for all people, and stand up against bigotry.
-- Wil Wheaton

and at least 4 was defeated. Abortions for all, miniature American flags for others!
-- Michaela Schlocker

Everyone on the subway is making eye contact and grinning. But there's also this look of shock, like none of us trust the fortune.
-- Mary Robinette Kowal

To recontextualize a phrase: AMERICA: FUCK YEAH!!!
-- Chang Terhune

Michael Crichton died?! :(
-- Felicia Day

On a related note, I will continue to buck the growing trend of using LoudTwitter to feed one's LiveJournal. A bunch of text messages strung together is no substitute for a coherent sequence of sentences, paragraphs, and ideas. Better to let your fields lie fallow than sow them with salt.

And my friend Ammy has some encouraging thoughts on The Battle, Not the War.

~CKL

Historic, Wot?

D and I watched the election results and speeches last night via BBC News's live Internet video feed. It was nice to get a more international perspective on the whole thing, and the uncooperative satellite connection to Kenya was amusing, but SRSLY, soliciting commentary from Gore "grumpy old man" Vidal and John "antagonistic blowhard" Bolton? Sometimes I feel like the British are still making fun of us.

The good news:


(image from Flickr, shout out to mschlock)

The bad news:


(Los Angeles Times)

I mean, come on. WTF, CA? Los Angeles county went yes on Prop 8? LA county? Where's the gay mafia when you need 'em?

~CKL