I wrote about some of Dr. Seuss's lesser-known books back in 2015, and if any of the people currently wringing their hands over Dr. Seuss being "cancelled" have ever read "Scrambled-Eggs Super" or "McElligot's Pool" I will EAT MY HAT.
I want to note for the record that it's also not "cancellation" when the people you've entrusted with your literary legacy think that it's in the interests of your literary legacy if some of the books you wrote are allowed to be forgotten.
It is, in fact, entirely normal for a famous and successful writer to have books that stay in print and books that do not. There's a lot of stuff that doesn't age well. Sometimes you can do revisions, sometimes you just let the book slide into obscurity.
I was pondering Internet communities and how certain portions can get really toxic and weird and was thinking about mothering dot com. This thread talks about the straight line that led a depressing number of people from "natural parenting" to QAnon.
When I was a new mom, in 2000, there was a store in St. Paul that sold breastfeeding supplies that I went to, and they also sold Mothering magazine, and I wound up subscribing briefly and finding my way to the discussion boards.
I was a regular poster there for a while. I don't actually remember how long -- after a few months I discovered another community that was a better fit, then moved on from there to a break-away community. (This was a super common experience for an online mom at the time.)
So since we're talking about music and Joe Biden can I tell you how much the Hamilton song "Wait for It" makes me think about Joe and also about Joe Biden vs. Aaron Burr.
"Death doesn't discriminate / between the sinners and the saints / it takes, and it takes, and it takes."
Weeks after Joe Biden was elected to his first term in the Senate, his wife and daughter died in a car accident.
Of his surviving sons, one went on to die of cancer.
The other, Hunter, has struggled with addiction. To try to hurt Biden during the campaign, someone released texts sent between Joe and Hunter while Hunter was in treatment.
I was pondering the fact that on Tuesday we're going to see 8 gazillion Les Miserable "One Day More" gifs and found this delightful flashmob performance from 2014.
I hope flashmob musical performances make a roaring comeback in 2022.
There are lots and lots and lots of Les Miz gifs for your use on Tuesday but there's also this one with Minions:
And if you want a slightly less ominous/more optimistic song from a musical, there's always:
There are actually a number of additional sites, they just make it very difficult to find them. Check out this page for the state you're in to see if it's recruiting:
I had a few more things to say about the whole "aspiring writers who cut their teeth on fanfic" thing. (I'm not QT'ing the original tweet because at this point that would REALLY feel like punching down.) I want to talk about the writing I did as a kid & teen.
One of the things that got cancelled due to COVID last year was Minicon, and one of the things I was REALLY looking forward to at Minicon was a planned event where a bunch of us were going to pull out our oldest juvenalia for a reading.
The oldest juvenalia I have is from 4th grade, when I had a weekly assignment that was "write 1 page of whatever." The story I spent most of the year working on is about a girl who goes to summer camp and meets a talking horse.