YOUTUBE CONTENT CREATERS QUITTING YOUTUBE : OPINION BY CHRISTINE TRZYNA

eI don't so social media.  Blogging can be social media but I turned the comments off on this blog long ago and rarely comment on other people's blogs.  I simply do not have the time to be all and do all.  I've put a great amount of time into this blog as well as some other projects I've worked on.  I hope other people will benefit a bit from my Writing Workshop posted here or enjoy the same music I do, but other than that, I do this blog for me.  To me it's like a scrapbook.

I walked in - late because there had been no prior notice - to a speaker at a library who was talking to a room of hopeful content creators who were determined to get as many hits as possible with as little dedicated time as possible.  I mentioned I blogged and the speaker pretty much laughed me out of the room.  "You still blog?" he said, with ridicule.

So I spoke up.  I said that I did so and that I never had done it for hits, but because I love my subject.  If just a few benefited from my work, that as good for me. 

I listed to a number of fairly recent YouTube videos of Big Shot content creators who are quitting. They were burned out.  They were unhappy with Adsense.  One woman in particular exhibited her anger and explained blow by blow about how her Adsense payout jumped around; she had taken screen shots.  Her complaints were dealt with by someone in another country who could only follow a script and not her complaints.  Many said that they had lost the love of the process or their subject was no longer of interest.  I admit to some anxiety when I feel that I have not posted as often as I would like because, as they say, "life is what happens to you while you're busy making plans." However, I also think that  a feeling of obligation to my readers when it comes to creating content has also been good for me, keeping me writing, keeping me thinking, and especially allowing me to express myself beyond my real-life relationships.

A major problem for the serious YouTube content creators is that the shorts have been prioritized. I find them distracting.  I'm the person who likes long episodes of deep concentration and hunts for videos on subjects that interest me that are longer.

I have long felt a concern when it comes to copyrights.

I feel that musicians and artists are always getting ripped off.  I seek out videos to post that do not have ads, comfortable for me is the long ago start up spirit of contributory and no charge.

But I benefit by being able to listen to songs I remember or discover without an investment in purchasing.

The chronic ads get to me.  I have never bought anything because of an ad that comes interrupting a video.  

Recently Google/YouTube decided I was male based on the music I was listening to and pitched ads for me also for erectile disfunction-type medications. I had a laugh with friends over that.  I have also discovered "oldies" I never knew about and have honed an appreciation for some newer artists.

I think the urge and need for hits in order to monitize, YouTube video creation as a chore rather than a joy is what has gotten to these content creators.  

I think they do need to move on and others will try to take their place.

For the viewer, YouTube video watching can become an addiction.

A decade or more on a subject is a whole lot.  Let's say goodbye to them with sincere well wishing.

Christine Trzyna

C 2024 All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

YOU'RE A CRIMINAL IF YOU .... BRYAN KOHBERGER EXPOSE!

The following content has appeared on time-wasting "News Stories" that include YouTube videos that feature True Crime, as well as in the actual Media, where paid journalists and researchers attempt to convict a person before the American legal system does just to entertain you and keep up their ratings. NewsNation is especially guilty. I've given time to listening to these over the months since Bryan Kohberger was arrested and I take it he's the only suspect. Over 30 organizations and individuals have filed legal papers to have the Gag Order repealed so they can find more to report upon. In the meantime every possible tidbit of information from unnamed sources is used by him, her, and them to produce "news."

Some of what is seriously reported is really LOL yet extremely worrisome in what it means to me and you.

I have learned that you are a criminal if you...

Wear Rubber Gloves to deal with garbage which might contain all sorts of filth and disease.  (Get that gook under your nails!)

Sort your garbage.  (We not only have to sort recycled items from regular trash and greenery but also separate food scraps for composting. We are advised that some items such as electronics, batteries, spray paint, house paint and nailpolish, should never be put in regular garbage but should be bagged in plastic and taken to toxic waste sites.)

Put garbage in your neighbor's bin.  (We do this all the time when we have no more room in ours. The only provision is that one waits until the night before or morning of trash day.)

Wear a mask or own a mask, even though Covid-19 is still a problem and wearing a mask is still required in some governmental and nonprofit settings, some schools, as well as highly advised in places where you have contact with many other people and social distancing is not possible, such as while riding a public bus. For the record I own two black cloth masks and a couple colorful ones and am still, per situation, wearing the papery give-aways.)

Wear Black. In Central and Southern California, people wear black, which might seem odd to people in other parts of the U.S. where sunshine is associated with bright and loud and colorful clothing (i.e Florida and Arizona) and many people can only think Blue Jeans. I cannot think of anyone I know who does not own and wear some black. I personally still associate with some people who wear black T-shirts, sweats, and other black items like a uniform. Obviously waitresses and hairdressers who wear black are especially suspicious people.)

Own or wear "tennis" shoes. (Ditto!  Casual, rubbery or foamy supportive shoes have replaced formal, leather shoes, even in the workplace, except it seems for truly corporate types, such as bankers.)

Hair is found in your apartment, home, or on your belongings such as the interior of your vehicle.  (Considering that hair loss experts say that humans loose about 200 hairs a day each, I'm surprised there aren't tumble weed sized hair balls rolling down the freeways. Hair sure does block up our tub drains! Especially mixed with tooth paste!)

Are up in the middle of the night.  (All those people who meditate mid-morning like gurus and Whitley Strieber, the UFO abductee, or get up to go to the toilet or suffer from overactive minds are clearly criminal. Let's face it that if you are not buying some sort of remedy for hair loss, you probably are buying some sort of "sleep aid" be it prescribed drug or herbal supplement or melatonin.)

Wear PJ's in the middle of the night.  (Apparently it is better to fall asleep in your day clothing then get comfortable. Then you'll be appropriately dressed for your arrest. Leave your shoes on!)

Underline passages in books. (Before you bring home any book, be it from a book sale, the library, a garage sale, be sure that it is without any underlining that anyone else did. That could get you in real trouble. Also be careful of what sort of books you own or borrow as you are leaving a trace that a mere interest in, say, witchcraft, could really mean something! There is no such thing as an adventurous mind.)

Mention in passing to a neighbor a local murder, shooting, or other crime event.

(Even though it's all everyone is talking about, especially because of all that media coverage, and you're glad you were not there and wonder if your neighbor was. This kind of talk used to be called "small talk" and was the only talk considered safe socially, unlike religion or politics. My dad used to say, "Talk about the weather!" On the list of things that are potentially not safe to discuss with neighbors, strangers, and people at church and work now is the weather (because of climate change controversies) and also diets (because you can be singled out for abuse by Vegetarians and Vegans if you still can afford to and eat meat.)

***

Cruise to find others attractive, especially not where so many attractive people are, such as at college campuses.  (I'm suspicious of all those college lecturers and professors who have hankerings for their young students - ages 18 -21, year after year, as they get older and more decrepit themselves. You know professor there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and realize you are just too old for them, and 40ish is about that time.)

Look at Facebook and other websites where people post photos of themselves, attractive and sexy (a little tempting cleavage), having fun, drinking and drunk, bragging, attempting to prove themselves popular. (If you don't want International Fame or Infamy, set it on private. On the other hand, if you do not social network you are clearly a weirdo!)

Go shopping or to restaurants or bars or visit with friends within a half hours driving time of your own home.  (Where you live is B O R I N G !)

***

Get nervous when pulled over by the police while driving.  (I got caught in a speed trap once, unknowingly, and was shocked that the police wanted ME to pull over. I was shaking. As I had been in a row of cars behind a red light and was just starting to gain speed, I still think the police officer was shit from boots to cap in claiming I was speeding.)

Plan a road trip or vacation with your very own parent(s)!  (Sadly, this is more suspicious than if you plan a road trip or vacation with your friends, room mates, or coworkers!)

Want company on a long, possibly exhausting, road trip rather than drive all by yourself.  (Don't you want to fall asleep at the wheel?)

Drive rather than fly. (Do you really want to check out the scenery from earth level?  Or pee at a rest stop?  Or eat trucker food?  Consider your flight options!)

Plan to sell your car. (Obviously, anyone who sells a car, especially an older model used, is trying to hide evidence.)

Wash a car that has just been on a long road trip and has so much dirt on it that someone might write "Wash Me" on the back windows with their finger! (Innocent people love their dust, dirt, and grime!  They keep their dogs stinky too!)

***

Have a flashlight and use it!

Vacuum your carpets at home or the interior of your car.  (Using a broom is so much more efficient even if it doesn't suck the dust!)

Shut your cell phone off.  (The battery never needs to recharge.  You never need to restart it, download apps and restart it, and your phone never crashes.  Take it from me, someone who used to own a phone that connected to Las Vegas Nevada in the middle of the night - several hours away! - despite a ping tower a quarter mile away.)

***

And also...

If you laugh out loud, taunt law enforcement or your fellow inmates, you're crazy and dangerous, like Jim Morrison of the Doors.  But if you keep your mouth shut, are too quiet, keep your thoughts to yourself, well... crazier!

If you SHOW INTEREST in what's being televised about your case (such as that the Media has convicted you),  if you SHOW INTEREST in your own defense, then that proves you're guilty!  (Never mind that there is nowhere to go and nothing else to do but watch TV.)

And if you grew up in a Catholic family and went to a Catholic College, and a Catholic priest comes to give you a private Mass once a week, and Holy Communion, well, you're headed strait to Hell or you just did your Last Confession before you're put to death by firing squad.  (Probably there is no chance, Thank God, that Bryan Kohberger is going to become a Born Again, "Saved" Christian in prison, and follow in the footsteps of so very repentant Doreen Virtue.)

Oh, and I forgot to mention, that if you are of an ethnic heritage and have genetic ROUND eye, which is often most associated with White People, clearly there is something hinky about you. Unlike people with eyes that slant or are small or squinty there has been a parade of ROUND EYED CRIMINALS lately, which includes Elizabeth Holmes... the former biotechnology entrepreneur.

***

I could go on, but it's clear that this case rests on DNA evidence, from which blood, bodily fluids, or, yes, hair, is the essential evidence.  But in the meantime be especially careful about the books you read and watch that underlining!

Just remember, there are unique and perhaps ironic things about this case that has captured the imagination, but about 35,000 people in the U.S. are murdered each year, meaning there are about 35,000 murderers, give or take the Mass Shooters, and rarely does a case get the expertise, money, and notice that this one has. Did they really have to fly a helicopter around the Kohberger home for hours before the arrest and then shock the whole family with a break in? Or was that for dramatic effect?

Keep the Gag Order.  Even if it does not apply to the family members. I don't want to hear about how the victims all wore angel wings from Kaylees's family or the family attorney.

Think about it.  If you were accused or arrested, would you not want LEGAL PROCESS, a FAIR TRIAL, and to be CONSIDERED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY?

C 2023  Christine Trzyna

ENOUGH ALREADY! STUFF I CAN LIVE WITHOUT : HOW ABOUT YOU?

Food Trucks.

I want to sit down in a restaurant - or the outdoor patio - and eat a meal. I suppose an event may be more appealing if food is available that might not normally be, for others, but I don't want to juggle paper plates and bowls, tissues and foils, plastic forks and spoons, and find somewhere to sit that doesn't have filth, for the price of a civilized sit down restaurant meal. 

Football.

Good background noise for cooking and keeping other people - mostly men people - out of my way in the kitchen. Half-times (with the exception of Prince) are also increasingly spectacles that I think I might not want children to see. (See Jennifer Lopez below.)

Religiosity.

If your walk doesn't match your talk, then walk on by.  (I've been bombarded with invitations to churches and religion has even been as a condition of friendship over the last few years like never before.)

Camping.

I'm just not rugged enough. It's not that I'm posh. Maybe next life I'll see Yellowstone. I'd like a good mattress in a decent hotel and, oh, a professional massage after I walk -not hike - in nature. 

Fireworks.

So glad I don't live near Disneyland or in Monaco. Neighborhoods that tolerate illegal fireworks are abusive to dogs, for starters. 

Disney.

I've had enough of the monopoly on cartoon characters and theme parks. Maybe it was the Disney character socks I saw in adult sizes that finally made me realize Walt's precious characters are exploited for money every which way.  Can you raise a child and not expose them to Disney?

Jennifer Lopez.

One of several celebrities who seem to be extremely overly covered in the media.  Have never understood her appeal and do not care about her love-life. Sorry. 

Loud Parties, Loud Bars, Loud Concerts

I have excellent hearing. If I can't hear what someone is saying to me and they can't hear what I am saying to them. is that a good time?  If I want to hear music but if it's so loud it's ruining my hearing, ah, I don't get that. It seems to be an oxymoron.

Beer

I've never liked the taste and see no point. (I'm more of a wine person, but I rarely drink.)

Sea Food

The ocean (and other waterways) is/are another world - a different atmosphere - sharing space on the same planet. In my opinion, the oceans are more important than space exploration. I think we should allow all the creatures in it to eat each other. They should go through their life cycles without humans disturbing the ocean ecology which is what fishing does. (Thousands of dolphins killed in nets.)  And as for "farmed" fish, I've heard some nauseating stories about how this is done. Overall, I can go through the rest of my life without another taste of seafood and it would not be a sacrifice.  (My dog loved salmon.)

Hot Peppers.

I suspect that the "fire" hides the taste of horrible food, rotting or tasteless food that should have been thrown into the garbage, and that there is also macho involved in being able to actually ingest, stomach, and poop peppers. Other than the benefits of vitamin C, which can be had in not-hot peppers, in cabbage, in citrus, and so on, I see no point. I never want hot peppers in my food, not even the sprinkles on pizza.

Surprise! You're On Camera!

Events where they take your photo or film you without your permission.  Some of them post a sign that if you enter the event area you agree and damn it, you already traveled there without knowing this in advance. Worse, some don't. There's a person on stage reading poetry... Don't bait me to your event and then turn me into content or steal my image, you rude, ignorant, privacy invading content providers. 

DNA Testing Reveals on YouTube. 

I'm not entertained or shocked that you just found out your mother was raped or you father has secret children or that you're Italian and not Polish, or that you're an Arab and not a Jew, or that you just found out you're Black. That's supposed to be your private family business, so why does the world need to know via YouTube? Oh I get it, you might make some money if you get enough hits since we're supposed to be 'shocked' along with you.

People who you just met who invite you to check out their Facebook page. Where, you can get a load of their PR and won't have to spend any time getting to know the real them.

Snobs.

There seems to be an overpopulation of people who are not only snobs, but are so low class (even though they have lots more money than me) they feel they have the right to be openly snotty too. They are raising children who also feel entitled to be openly snotty. Guess what?  If you're so great everyone will know it and you won't have to tell anyone!  And I am not impressed that your mummy and daddy paid your college and still pay your rent and make your car payments.

People who blame women for abortions who don't seem to have a problem with the men responsible. This is the ultimate sexism. Since men go around saying "We're pregnant" the stats should be reported as X number of men and women have had abortions. But someone is likely to argue that maybe the stats should be reported by gender and we'll never get an accurate count of the theys and its.

C 2022  Christine Trzyna

THE SHIPS NOT COMING IN

There are over a hundred ships full of containers waiting to get into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  There are trains backed up 35 miles into Chicago.  Truckers with empty containers and nowhere to put them are dumping the containers on streets in Wilmington - even blocking driveways. 

Tied into this is that Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only Stores can no longer stick to their nothing- over- a -dollar price policy; sadly this is also effecting the pricing of food that they started selling when they got sensitized to the fact that millions of Americans rely on some form of food money from the U.S. government. 

Yesterday a woman told me that at her son's school each child has been given a card with a $300 food benefit.  No questions asked.  No income verification needed.  

When I took my dog for a walk this morning we went past a school and saw that some children had dumped their plastic bags full of food onto the street. These contained yogurt, sliced apples, a tiny burger, chips, and a couple other snaky items. As children they do not have to earn the money to buy these things and neither do their parents who cannot afford to feed them. We the People are trying - some of us anyway - to take care of our own.

I think those ships waiting to come to port are full of junk and mostly plastically easily breakable throw-away junk that will be in our land fills for hundreds of years, crap that people do not need, but I know they are also containing food.  Canned food, including cat and dog food which does not have to bear the place of origin on the can, is also coming from China. 

On my way home from work I stopped in at these stores looking for some inexpensive canned vegetables and there was none.  But I noticed there was meat and fish - protein - at Dollar Tree while the shelves had not one can of beans.

I have to admit I never much thought about one of the nations largest ports being in Los Angeles County or how that factored into the economy here.  It's still a mystery to me.  I know this, however, all that incoming means that the American economy is depending on factory production elsewhere and those manufacturing jobs were exported too and that is the fault of both Democratic and Republican administrations.

I met a Longshoreman recently.  He has spent his life, it seems, driving vehicles off ships, but he owns a house because of it. He can barely stand to do the last few months before he retires and keeps stalling them out, not sure what is next for him.

At Vons, a local grocer not known for the lowest prices, I couldn't believe it when I saw some ground turkey for $6.99 a pound. I skipped the produce section entirely.

The woman with the son who got a $300 food benefit card at school tells me she just spent near $300 sending a box of things to her mother-in-law in Guatemala - including dried beans.  They don't have beans in Guatemala?  I suspect she is married to an "illegal" and there is some form of fraud going on there but I don't really know that.

Meanwhile, I follow what's happening with President Joe Biden, who is under attack because he is trying to do the right thing.  Yes, his age is showing, but then, so was Ronald Reagan's.  Not the constant crisis, the constant self promotion of Trump, who got us used to daily doses of anxiety and flash, Biden seems dull, but he has gumption and morality.  Remember that? Remember the Real Gospel - the feed, cloth, and shelter Gospel - rather than the "Prosperity Gospel?"

You have to have a fortune in the bank not to feel what has happened in our economy due to the Covid-19 shut downs. In recent years I've met more people who not only believe the End Times are coming but cannot wait to be raptured.

C 2021  Christine Trzyna

NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MONTH - THE IGNORANCE ABOUT WHAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCLUDES IS ASTOUNDING

I'm not sure of this, but I don't think I know of anyone who has not been involved in or affected by DOMESTIC VIOLENCE at some point in their lives.  

REALIZE THIS:

The stereotype is that domestic violence is Heterosexual man against Heterosexual woman, that domestic violence is PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, and that domestic violence is only among couples - who presumably are married, living together, partners, who are "romantic" or who have sex.  (And many programs and shelters including those funded by our government, only recognize this as well.) But DOMESTIC VIOLENCE includes parents who for years on end verbally demean their children without raising their voices, it includes gay couples and daters who live apart, It can be someone you went on a first date with AND MOST CERTAINLY INCLUDES DATE RAPE,  it includes entire families who pick on one family member - shunning or otherwise screwing them over - in a unified abuse.  There are many more examples I could bring up here, but the point is, it is an EPIDEMIC.

Consider THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD overhearing the horrible verbal abuse including the words "I'll kill you" heard many nights for YEARS ON END  that go on between an adult man in his 50's and his aunt - unofficially a caregiver - who has nowhere else to live. The man OWNS the apartment building - is that why he gets away with it?  The tenant above his apartment whose sleep has been disturbed for years has been overhearing this horror for over 20 years because she cannot afford to move. There are times when the yelling GOES ON FOR HOURS and you can also hear neighbors out there pleading with him that they need their sleep. Really this man is insane and needs to live in a mental hospital where he is strictly monitored.  He is angry and he is a danger. 

I've called the police on this man twice and they NEVER CAME OUT.  Another neighbor says she reported the situation on one of those TIP LINES including stating that she fears it will become physical and she has no reason to think anything happened as a result - no visits from Mental Health. The police have probably been called dozens of times, but they do NOT show up or REMOVE THIS MAN FROM THE PREMISIS, not for one night.  Adult Protective Services is not coming out to remove the aunt to another place - where is she gonna go? A homeless shelter where she'll be surrounded by dozens of abusers?

THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD takes this DOMESTIC VIOLENCE as simply a fact of life.  When I mentioned that this was informing and teaching the CHILDREN in the neighborhood that this is OK, normal behavior, a grandfather blanched.

I think collectively as neighbors we need to take notes, keep calling the police, and so on, but I'm reminded that mentally ill people may have more rights than those who are not. The aunt has been psychologically and emotionally murdered for years on end. Apparently no one cares about her and she has nowhere to run to.  Actually you could move and end up living in hearing range of yet another domestic violence situation as it is so common.

*

Consider also a once upon a time friend of mine.  He had not dated much when he met a woman who also had not dated much, a single mom years older than he.  She was a person who bit by bit managed to convert him to eating her way, and that was just one of the ways she CONTROLLED him. They'd have long conversations about things, sure, but in the end he always had to agree to do things her way or she'd allow him some choices - such as what to order for dinner or which shirt he wanted to buy - because being a unified couple was just so important.  She bit by bit by bit managed to find reasons to eliminate all his friends or get him to, in particular his woman friends. She ISOLATED him. Yep, he let her.  Was he that lonely that he didn't want to reclaim an independent life?  I knew he thought of himself as having been raised an abused child. Why had he not seen this relationship as the same? He'd had some trouble in his employment and finally found a decent job which held responsibility and in which he used his intelligence and skills but was convinced by her that the job was killing him and instead he had to let her support him. He LOST HIS INDEPENDENCE.

I learned after we no longer were friends that their arguments for all to hear in the apartment building where they lived sometimes went on for THREE DAYS and NIGHTS. 

The therapists they saw seemed to strengthen their individual and couple self righteousness and sense of entitlement about how they were to be treated by everyone outside their relationship.  Meanwhile they both appeared at poetry events reading love poetry to each other and so many listeners thought of them as so lucky to have that love that this couple oozed all over each other. People were charmed by how devoted they were to each other and to causes. Out in the world they had the reputation of being "peaceniks." 

*

So Gaby and Brian are now on the posters. How could their relationship come to what it did?  Do they not seem happy with each other - genuinely so - in those photographs and videos?  Well, I think LOTS OF PEOPLE KNEW - friends - parents - other family members - and neighbors - maybe also teachers. I wonder how many of them MADE EXCUSES FOR ONE OR BOTH OF THEM or just stayed out of it.  For while Gaby is portrayed as an angel - with WINGS - she too was involved in domestic violence with and to Brian.

WHY IS THIS SO OFTEN THE CASE?

PORTLAND STATE SOCIAL JUSTICE FACTORY : PROFESSOR PETER BOGHOSSIAN RESIGNS FROM PORTLAND STATE

LEGAL INSURRECTION : PROFESSOR PETER BOGHOSSIAN RESIGNS FROM PORTLAND STATE   One of many media sites with this story, I will excerpt from his resignation letter.

EXCERPT: Students at Portland State are not being taught to think, Rather, they are being trained to mimic the moral certainty of ideologues.  Faculty and administrators have abdicated the university's truth-seeking mission and instead drive intolerance of divergent beliefs and opinions.  This has created a culture of offense where students are not afraid to speak openly and honestly.

*************

I have to wonder what horrors creative writing students experience in my old writing program at a UC where 20 years ago they were on the cutting edge of indoctrination. I would imagine anyone not reflecting a professors bias would have a difficult time. I have to admit that when I wrote papers or stories that leaned into "what they wanted" it was always received well.  I also hate to think that characters I might design not to be subversive might be deconstructed as such.

SUPER MOON

 

WHITE PRIVILEGE IS NOT A THING by SYDNEY WATSON and other CENSORED SYDNEY WATSON OPINION YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Refound video April 2021

Well thought out, well said, I honor Sydney's right to have an opinion I might not agree with.  Though, surprisingly to me, I did agree with her on several issues.  If you want to be a well rounded person, you should seek out a wide variety of opinions and see where you sit with them.

Last night on my cell phone I bookmarked two of her videos.  One called I'm a Conservative and I've Had Enough and the other called White Privilege Is Not A Thing.  This morning, neither video was coming up on my computer when I searched YouTube for them to post on this blog.  I will try again and post them if I can.

Listening to Sydney I learned I'm a "Classical Liberal" as opposed to a Radical Leftist.  (What a relief!)

Free Speech is of supreme importance to me as it is to all writers - all creatives.

I've written in the past about Writer's Block. 

Fear is now creating Writer's Block in many who are afraid to accidently (or perhaps purposely) upset someone else in the world. It begins when you are afraid to admit who you are and what you think because the indoctrinaters are everywhere and people - including writers - out there are loosing their jobs, or quitting, even being bodily injured and maimed or killed. 

There is no longer a sense of humor or any love, kindness, understanding, or patience.  I feel that the anxiety and depression common due to Coronavirus-19 is part of that.

I dealt with this years ago when I went to a college that was so thick with political correctness (of that era) that I seriously questioned what a creative writing program was doing there.  Overall, in society, it has only gotten worse.

NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK OR SAY, these days there is someone who is going to POWER OVER YOU and be insulted.

So let me affirm that you can be against prejudice and bigotry and still want to distance yourself from the tactics of Black Lives Matter.

You are not a Radical Right Winger just because you want police to be retrained but not defunded.  (And know that riots in the streets and nightly gunfire as there is in parts of Chicago and Baltimore is not what you want in your neighborhood.)

That you were not a racist asshole when you bought Aunt Jemima pancake mix or Trader Ming's frozen dinners.

That Agreeing to Disagree as Gentlepeople is still an option.

C 2020 Christine Trzyna