Reshaping Reality

July 6, 2021

My Open Letter to City Designers

I originally wrote this email for the Des Moines City Council. For the past year, I’ve adjusted the verbiage to reflect what I’ve heard in their City Council Meetings with the Public. I also adjust the bullet points and actions I (and others) wish to see them take. Otherwise, most of the letters are verbatim Continue reading

activism, Author, disability, Race, transgender

ableism, access, accessibility, Accessible Cities, disability, disability justice, Disability Pride, Fight Ableism, Homelessness, No More Ableism
August 16, 2015

Update

I am in the midst of a move, so it’s been hard to finish some of the posts I have planned. There’s a couple of posts I hope to finish writing concerning philosophy, identity, and world-building. I also have a post on music and writing, and a post about life in general. I just need Continue reading

Author
July 27, 2015

Expressing oneself is a revolutionary act

My partner, who is an artist, discussed with me the other day the types of artists. There is the artist who is creating art with an agenda, who is often a political activist and their medium is art. But then there is the artist that simply creates art to express themselves. My partner discussed how Continue reading

Art, Author, Philosophy

activism, art, art theory, expression, identity, philosophy, Race, racism, revolutionary
July 26, 2015

There is an unspoken epidemic

There is an unspoken epidemic in our country. Since January 1, 2015, there has been sixteen trans people, fifteen of them trans women, murdered in the US and one in Canada. Majority were trans women of color. Both race and gender play a factor in the deaths. The media often presents them as a novelty Continue reading

Author, Feminism, Writing

discrimination, LGBT, LGBTQ, suicide, trans women, trans women murdered, trans women of color, transgender, transphobia
July 15, 2015

News from Pluto!

The New Horizons spacecraft has reached pluto and is sending back data! Here are some articles that highlight some of the more interesting photos to be released as of today (7/15/2015): NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-spacecraft-displays-pluto-s-big-heart-0 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ Missions Operator Manager (MOM): http://www.themarysue.com/alice-bowman-new-horizons/ Neil Degrasse Tyson and Stephen Colbert: http://www.themarysue.com/colbert-pluto-neil-degrasse-tyson/ Bad Astronomer: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/07/15/pluto_and_charon_the_first_close_up_images.html This is pretty exciting news Continue reading

Author, Blogging, Physics, Science

astronomy, charon, NASA, new horizons, New Horizons spacecraft, pluto, solar system, space, space exploration, space mission, space program
July 4, 2015

E. Pluribus Unum — Out of Many, One

It is Independence Day where I am, and I reflect on the original motto of the United States. It holds a bit of hope, where the idea that we are all one people and yet we are many. Acknowledging our differences and similarities all in one phrase. So why do our seals and currency no Continue reading

Author

Freedom of religion, United States of America
June 17, 2015

Book Review: The Telling

The Telling by Ursula Le Guin Published by Ace Books in 2000. Sutty comes from a tumultuous time in Earth’s history, where religion has bombed libraries and universities. She comes the planet Aka as an observer in hopes of studying a world of rich history, where equality is paramount. Except by the time her Continue reading

Books, Reviews, Writing

book reviews, reviews, science fiction, The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
May 25, 2015

The Lines of Poetry

Sometimes when I sit down to write a poem, I struggle with shaping the lines. Part of the issue is that I have a lot more freedom to play around with sentences, phrases, fragments, and words in of themselves than I do in prose. This freedom will often leave me wondering what works best for Continue reading

Poetry, Writing

end-stops, enjambment, lines, pacing, poetry, poetry theory, stanzas
May 10, 2015

Personal Narratives

We all have our own personal story, which is how we explain to others our past and who we are. In the writings of Paul Ricoeur’s Time and narrative, volume 3 (University of Chicago Press, 1990), “narrative theory is a theory of personal identity rooted in the stories we tell about ourselves.” Think for a Continue reading

Author, Philosophy, Writing

Battlestar Galactica, gender identity, identity, Narnia, narrative disruption, Narrative theory, personal narrative, philosophy, PTSD, Sexual Assault, transgender
April 21, 2015

Let’s Write: Horror Elements

Horror can sometimes seem difficult to write, but the best horror is often distilled into several elements that comprise the major plot points of a story. Elements Pain As humans, we often abhor excessive amounts of pain, and when confronted with it, we tend toward the path of least resistance. This avoidance of pain can Continue reading

Aliens, Writing

high stakes, horror, horror fiction, lovecraft
April 5, 2015

Reflections in Time

Life slips away like the autumn leaves, fading into the dirt, crumbling to be made anew in spring. Our memories leave this same trail of forgotten moments, fragments — pieces that fit nowhere. Wondering all we’ve done, this deja vu, over and over– why can’t we see our past in full technicolor detail? The emotions Continue reading

Author, Poetry

life, memory, poetry