We are building a harm machine.
The harm machine is growing, and it is hungry. It needs people. It eats them.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Stories
Untitled, 10/9/25
I feel sick. I know what my country is facing. I know what is happening in my home, my homeland, my America. I see this administration wielding the truncheon of “law and order” eagerly, craving any response that will let the insecure and desperate men at the top (and all the way down) feel like big fucking heroes as they club down their fellow Americans for daring to disagree. I see them chasing those who aren’t white, who aren’t Christian, claiming that they’re chasing those who aren’t “American” while they draw an ever smaller circle around what it means to be American.
My family comes from all over. Most of them are American citizens. I know that won’t matter when the administration’s circle slips a little tighter again, like a noose around our country’s neck. They’re going to go after my family, sooner rather than later.
Continue readingMore cat, 09/25/25
I write this as my baby snores beside me. I don’t know how long his nap will last. Every time today that I’ve tried to do something else while he’s napping, he’s woken up within minutes. Sometimes he wakes within seconds. I’m in a curious state of very cute, very attention-consuming limbo.
Since I didn’t prep a post earlier in the week, I’m left with offering you another picture of Alex. I hope you enjoy it. With some luck, perhaps I’ll have something more substantial for you next week.
Videos from Schnee, 9/18/2025
I’m still recovering but I have videos for you from Schnee, a YouTuber whose analysis of stories I really appreciate. The first is an intriguing exploration of feminine rejections and explorations of femininity (GREMLIN MODE), and the second of these videos (How to Write MASCULINE SHAME…) feels deeply connected to my posts on masculinity and gender (Are Boys The Problem? and Making Monsters).
I hope you enjoy engaging with these videos as much as I did.
Making Monsters
You’re a monster. If you’re a good monster, you’ll be able to resist your terrible urges for a long time. We like good monsters! You should be one. But eventually you’ll do something unspeakable and hurt those around you, those you love. Because you’re a monster. We all knew it would happen sooner or later. We were just waiting, dreading the day when you’d reveal how awful you truly are.
But there are other monsters out there who tell you that you aren’t a monster. None of you are. Just like them, you aren’t evil. Maybe you could use a better attitude, some self-improvement. Your new friends have lots of advice about that. But those others who tell you that you’re a monster? Lies. Jealousy. Those lies are sick mind games meant to control you, to trap you, told by liars trying to profit while you suffer.
You don’t have to listen to those lies. You just need to be stronger. You need to be harder, and faster, and better. You need to understand that those people who say you’re a monster, their opinions don’t really matter. They don’t really matter. You can do better without them. If you really want people like that in your life, make sure that you’re the one in control—not them.
After all, you’re the man.
Or maybe you have some other privileged identity, and the people telling you that you aren’t a monster are spinning a slightly different story. That’s not the important part. What really matters is that there are people who tell you that you should feel bad, and others who tell you not to worry about it. Which ones feel better to listen to? Which ones give you hope?
In case you couldn’t guess, this is a follow-up to Are Boys The Problem?
Continue readingLess brain more cat, 7/24/25
Here’s an oldie but a goodie. It turns out I do not have the brain (nor the time) to continue last week’s thoughts today. I will come back to that when I’m next able. Until then, I hope you like pictures of Alex the Cat. She’s a very good cat.
Are Boys The Problem?
A reddit thread has been living rent free in my brain and scattering its gross leftovers all over the couch of my cortex.
Last week, while I was prepping my post about Some Desperate Glory, I read a post on r/newparents from a first time mother wrestling with her cognitive dissonance around having a son. She described herself as a feminist who no longer believed that all men were bad (she cited her husband as a good example), but who still struggled to reconcile her fear, animosity, and resentment towards most men with the idea of raising a young boy. She said (I paraphrase) she was trying to understand how to raise a young boy to be a good man with positive models rather than negative ones. She asked for help and advice.
I was immediately awash with thoughts, with so many ideas that I wanted to share. I wanted to lend my perspective as someone socialized male, as a camp counselor working with teens, and as a new father. Yet as I read on through other’s replies, I despaired.
The post has since been deleted. I’m not surprised that the post was deleted. I’m not happy about it either. I’m caught between wishing I’d replied faster and being glad that I didn’t stick my neck out. You might be able to guess why, but let me explain.
Continue readingSettling in, 6/26/25
I live amidst a sea of boxes. At least Alex has a comfy spot on the sofa (when she isn’t yowling in the middle of the night). Surely someday soon I will have the capacity to tell you more about books and games and stories. If anybody suggests that you should move while you have an infant, laugh in their face. If you must move while you have an infant, you have my deepest sympathies.
Moving! 6/19/25
Good morning! Here is a sweet little roll of a cat.
I’m moving again. I hope I’ll be back to longer posts here soon—maybe even next week!—but I won’t make any promises. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your Juneteenth.
Alex the cat, 6/13/25
The busy-ness will continue until morale improves. Or maybe that’s until baby gets much older? Either way, I missed my usual post here yesterday and I’m here to offer you a cat.
I did read Stuart Gibbs’ first FunJungle book in the last week, Belly Up. It’s great. It is a neat distillation of the noir-ish detective story reinterpreted for a middle grade novel, and set in a zoo. There’s a whole series of these books, and I’m itching for a go at the next one. Maybe when I’m more awake and have more time I’ll give you more in depth thoughts, but now the baby is waking and I must feed him.
Fistful of Wits 