I’ll be presenting about radical fiction alongside Madeline Ffitch at the Black Cat Book Fair in Belfast, Maine this Saturday (August 23rd, 2025) and tabling with Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness all day, so come say hi.

I just signed up to take an online six-week memoir class from Raechel Anne Jolie, because I like her writing and she’s an experienced teacher and memoirist. I believe there are still spots available for that, and maybe will interest you too.

We Know Who Our Enemies Are

“Deescalate all conflict that isn’t with the enemy.”

That eight word slogan is, most likely, the most widely circulated thing I’ve ever written, and I don’t hate that. To be clear, it’s actually me sort of rewriting a tweet written by MC Sole, who announced awhile back that his new year’s resolution was to “deescalate every conflict that’s not with fascists” or something to that effect, and the idea stuck with me. I wanted it more generalized though. I have enemies who aren’t fascists.

The main thing I’ve seen people argue about, as regards that quote, is who counts as “the enemy.”

Today, as an example, I heard about someone who quoted me (with attribution) to say we can’t get mad at the Democratic governor of California for evicting homeless encampments and destroying people’s lives. I suppose the logic here is that since Gavin Newsom isn’t a republican, he isn’t “the enemy,” and therefore it would be wrong to see ourselves in conflict with him.

First and foremost, of course, I would like to say I was happier when I thought Gavin Newsom was the lead singer of the mediocre 90s radio rock band Bush (it turns out that more than one mother has looked at her child and thought “I shall name him ‘Gavin,”’ and maybe it’s even some kind of common name and I just never knew that.). But beyond that, it’s just… astounding to me that someone would look at a politician who systematically destroys people's lives, murdering the most vulnerable people in our society, and not think “that man is my enemy.”

It likely won’t do any good for me to clarify this point. People will continue to misuse my words, and I will continue to find sorrow in the imperfection of language as a tool for communication. I will write uncountable words in my lifetime, but I will ...