Maybe this was the easiest thing in the world to predict, but I still can’t believe we’re 18 months into a pandemic that exposed every single weakness and cruelty built into our system, and as a people we’ve learned nothing and will change nothing. Too many believe that caring for others is un-American. That freedom and fairness are only possible through self-reliance. That helping people rewards laziness and cheating. That retribution is good, and trumps basic human dignity. That all suffering is probably deserved, anyway.

Month after month of blatant, widely-reported voter suppression.

The media, while votes are literally still being counted: “Democrats have got to be doing some real soul-searching about their voter outreach tonight.” Months of reporting about the expected ‘blue shift’, why it would happen, and how it would play out over the first few days.

The media, while waiting for precisely those votes to be counted: “Democrats have got to be surprised to find themselves in such a close race tonight.”

Okay, I know it’s been a while, but I can’t stop thinking about the ending of Game of Thrones. How it broke the thematic promises the early seasons made, and how it abandoned the questions it set out to answer. A lot went wrong. But nothing went as wrong as King Bran. 1/21 From the beginning, we were shown a nihilistic world where politics itself was the enemy. Where power always led to suffering and ruin. Where the only people who prospered were the ones who realized that power could be gained by breaking the rules everyone else followed. 2/21

*Stares directly at the camera*

When the show’s “Previously On” montage has to quote earlier seasons to remind you that Dany has a dark side right before she turns to the dark side, you did not do the dark side story correctly.

#GoT #GameofThrones I finally understand. I am the Hound. Game of Thrones is the Mountain. Let us go out together.

#GoT #GameofThrones

There’s a big reason I’m worried about tonight’s episode of Game of Thrones: the dynamics of gender and political power. /1

#GameofThrones #GoT #WritingCommunity Even though the show has been foreshadowing Daenerys’ villainous turn since season one, the pacing and colliding character arcs are in danger of turning a dramatically interesting twist into one heck of a sexist letdown. /2

Want to know why Game of Thrones *feels* so different now? I think I can explain. Without spoilers. /1

#GameofThrones #GoT #WritingCommunity It has to do with the behind-the-scenes process of plotters vs. pantsers. If you’re not familiar with the distinction, plotters create a fairly detailed outline before they commit a single word to the page. /2

[1] If you’re concerned when trans and non-binary folks report feeling unsafe in your profession, your target is a particular interpretation of gender identity that excludes trans and non-binary folks. Your target is not women - no, not even the women who hold such views. [2] If you suggest that tone-policing the anger of vulnerable folks shifts moral attention away from why they were angry in the first place, you are not thereby agreeing with everything they said in anger. You are pointing out a way conversations go wrong under oppression.

I’ve never witnessed anything quite like Seattle grocery stores when locals are preparing to brave 4-5 inches of snow. Like, people are stocking up on emergency tomatoes and leaving water jugs on the shelves.