Yes, my old post, Rape Fantasies, is disturbing to read. Because yes, rape is not a topic anyone looks for, yet here we are, I will not say again, for abuses are happening continuously to women, and children, and they will continue for the foreseeable future because, well for starters, we have a convicted felon in the White House who publicly bragged, “Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” Despite his obvious perverse and vile character, he was elected, twice, primarily by men (55% of men voted for Trump in 2024). His presence alone can’t be responsible for the fact that “Nearly half of all U.S. women (45.1%) have experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetimes. Additionally, reports compiled by the CDC indicate that 1 in 4 women experience severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lives” (CDC). Where do we draw the line if this mountain of abuse towards women is ever going to change? Cornell, maybe, is about to find out…
I know what you are thinking
I know what you are thinking: Is she really going to post about her debut novel, Crazy String, that was published in July, again? Well yes, maybe, simply, because it was 7 months of back and forth emails and notes and suggestions and edits and rewrites and font decisions and cover designs and everything that goes into this act of publishing that is far far away from the solitary hours and years and imagination that formed around my initial ideas when I first met the core characters and felt their angst, their sorrow, their loves, their struggles but also the overwhelming crazy strings that held them together even when they were hellbent on getting clear across the continent and as far apart as possible. Yes, for all of that.
A Perilous Fight, indeed
I originally posted this blog in 2018, our first time around with a man hellbent on dismantling everything decent about our country. As unfathomable as it is, our lives are far worse in his second term, in terms of, well everything sane and productive and healthy. In the ten years since Kaepernick knelt and the NFL subsequently blackballed him, the questions his protest raised have not gone away. And while I feel powerless to halt the downward spiral of what might be called white nationalism (but that is just being polite because we can all see it is clearly racism and xenophobia and a clinging to old power structures that have excluded everyone who is not a white Christian male), I derive a glimmering hope from those who keep on fighting the good but perilous fight. Hope you do too.
