1. Turbulence
To say the past month has been turbulent would be a bit of an understatement. There was the passing of my wife’s father, the murder of George Floyd and the aftermath that followed, the suicide of LGBT activist Sarah Hegazy, and finally… the Warren Ellis thing (if you know, you know). If I had to guess, I’d say the latter only concerns… about 30% or so of the people subscribed to this here newsletter, but it concerns me quite a bit so I’ma get into it. If you fall outside of that 30%, you may want to disregard section no. 2 and jump ahead.
2. Bad Uncle
I’m not going to regurgitate what’s already been said, because that just ain’t my style. If you know me at all, you know I prefer to instead fill noticeable vacuums, and there is indeed a vacuum I’m noticing in the dominant narratives that formulate the current Twitterstorm in regards to the subject at hand .
But before I get into it: Believe women. That much goes without saying and shouldn’t even be up for debate.
In reading what Katie, Meredith, Jhayne, Zoetica, Theremina and others have said, it is quite clear to me that what they would really like more than anything is to make sure other women never have to deal with what they dealt with (and I sincerely hope I’m not putting words in anyone else’s mouth 🙏). To do that, what must be fostered are certain principals. Any decisions being made on the basis of “career” do not count as principled decisions, but instead champion financial gain as the prime motive which is an inherently corrupt motive.
What I’m seeing from Warren’s friends, peers, and alumni right now doesn’t strike me as principled as much as it is calculated. They are either:
a) Very quickly disassociating themselves from him.
b) Publicly dead silent, while privately siding against the women in question.
Neither is sincere in their actions, because the true motivation behind both is a preservation of career. And “career” was part of the problem to begin with.
Allow me to explain.
3. It Takes A Village
Created a window installation for Houston’s Moody Center for the Arts, effectively activating the building’s exterior. The Houston Chronicle has the story (along with a few pix).
Come Monday, Outspoken Bean will present an original poem in front of the installation, which will be broadcast live on Moody’s instagram at 7pm CST (8pm EST/ 5pm PST).
4. Radar
TYRANNY OF THE MUSE is a damn brutal webcomic on creativity, addiction, and maybe possibly romance? Written by Eddie Wright and masterfully illustrated by ink-heavy Dave Chisholm who I can’t get enough of.
Ron Miller’s never-before-seen concept art for Cronenberg’s TOTALL RECALL, before it was handed over to Paul Verhoeven - which is one of my all-time favs.
FUTURES: A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES won gold in the science fiction category in this year’s INDIES Awards! Huge congrats to my friends at Radix Media. Very much deserved!
That’s all I’ve got for you this edition. I’ll try to keep it regular.
Take care,
Ganzeer
Houston, TX