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Current Curiosities
[Reading] Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir by Jeremy Barlow and Takeshi Miyazawa [Listening] "I Wanna Be A Cowboy Sweetheart" by Ruby Leigh [Watching] The Real Housewives of Orange County THE WRITING LANDSCAPE I’m a huge fan of Field Notes notebooks. (I used to be a Moleskine gurly, but the paper quality is meh.) I like the simplicity of Field Notes - the sturdy pocket-size kraft paper covers with thick paper, and three simple staples. (Staple Day, the day you reach the middle of each notebook exposing the bent staple legs, is silly and fun to observe each month.) Also, they fit perfectly into and hold up to the wear and tear of pants pockets! I'm partial to the graph (not lined, blank, or dotted) editions because the little boxes contain my all-caps writing with Sharpies and smooth cursive with fountain pens. Speaking of writing utensils, the paper holds up relatively well against the wetter, more diffusive inks of Sharpies and fountain pens. Again, it's the simplicity I appreciate. Like, I'll never be a Traveler's Company notebook user (no judgment) even though folks swear by them. I just do not like being constrained by a particular system with proprietary refills and endless accessories. It's too much. And the only real Field Notes accessories are book darts and rubber bands (to gather my Sharpies, post-its, and lip balm). Recently though, I tried something new with my notebooks. Nearly all Field Notes are portrait style (like most notebooks), but the other day I went rogue and turned mine landscape (like a check register; Gen-Z, google it). It was life changing. Now, there’s more room to write on one line, to continue thoughts without text-wrapping or carriage-returning as often. When open, I put post-it note to-do lists and other ephemera on the backs of the upper pages and write on the lower pages (because Sharpies and fountain pens do still bleed through depending on the speed of my writing). My Field Notes notebooks are less formal journals, more commonplace books. I brain-dump and to-do list, brainstorm and record. I try to complete at least one notebook per month, which can be daunting as I have small yet neat handwriting (even with a Sharpie). Occasionally, I'll take my Field Notes to a coffee shop and cosplay Harriet the Spy. I'll observe the other patrons, practicing description or dreaming up backstories based on scant visual clues. In college, I had a peculiar writing professor who assigned the class this activity as a weekly exercise. The first few times, it was uncomfortable, but eventually I relaxed and realized there's always more to the story, always room for curiosity. As a teacher, I had my own students do a variation on this activity, requiring them to investigate a subculture they did not belong to. I wanted my students to combine different kinds of research (interviews, observations, and databases) and situate themselves as active participants in their projects instead of relying on the passive and pretensive objectivity of the sciences. During this project, I encouraged my students to keep a little notebook to record observations and insights, note questions and curiosities. Some did. Some didn't. Analog isn't for everyone. These were always my favorite projects to grade. As a reader, I learned about beekeeping and bellydancing and the campus quidditch team,* and as a teacher, I witnessed my students' curiosity inform in their writing. My Field Notes are a landscape of thoughts and lists and curiosities and bits of horoscopes and post-its and kitschy vinyl stickers. My Field Notes are one way I exercise curiosity and explore the world around me. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite Field Notes editions: Thank you very much for your time. If you have recommendations or curiosities, please fill out this nifty contact form. Sending y’all supportive, well-caffeinated vibes, Creighton Today’s Pen(cil): Herbin Fountain Pen with unknown blue cartridge * Yes, that terfy ÜberKaren inspired an adorably nerdy campus sports club.
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Current Curiosities
[Reading] Star Wars: Darth Maul - Black, White & Red [Listening] "The Trees Saw Everything" from Vibe Check [Watching] Widow's Bay (Matthew Rhys - swoon) A CASE STUDY IN ALLYSHIP On 18 April 2025, Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan confronted ICE officers, there to arrest undocumented immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, by referring the immigration agents to the chief judge's chambers because their administrative warrant wasn't adequate to arrest him. Flores-Ruiz was in court to face battery charges, and ICE used his attendance at the hearing as a trap to detain and deport him. Judge Dugan's actions allowed Flores-Ruiz to slip out of the Milwaukee courthouse, ensuring his right to due process. I am not defending Flores-Ruiz's alleged crime of battery. Rather, I am acknowledging the importance of the rule of law (when ICE, CBP, and the Trump Administration behave lawlessly every day) and highlighting what real allyship through action looks like. Judge Dugan placed her body between Trump's ICE thugs and their target. Judge Dugan put her career and her reputation on the line to defend the rule of law and to protect a member of a marginalized community actively targeted by Trump's violent white supremacist policies. Judge Dugan demonstrated more than allyship through her actions. Indeed, Judge Dugan exceeded basic allyship becoming an accomplice. Basic allyship requires little personal or professional risk, which is why (cishet white women) allies* are often deeply disappointing. Being an accomplice requires risk - risk to person, risk to profession, risk to reputation - in order to disrupt the status quo and ensure liberation for marginalized communities. The ACLU of Kansas succinctly analogizes the difference between allies and accomplices: [A]llies are more like cheerleaders, rooting for [marginalized groups and their liberation] from the sidelines without significantly participating [but] accomplices are out on the field, playing the game with members of the community and taking action to further the cause of [marginalized groups and their liberation]. We don't need more cheerleaders. We have enough. We need more fellow players. We don't need more allies. We have enough. We need more accomplices. In these dark Trumpy times, it's not enough to be an ally - you need to be an accomplice. CODA For her actions, Judge Dugan resigned her position and was tried and found guilty. Though she was spared jail time, Judge Dugan was fined $5,000 for her actions as an accomplice. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, showing his pre-Boomer agèd cards, said Judge Dungan was a good person who made a bad decision. But we need more good people, more accomplices like Judge Dugan who are willing to make bad decisions if we are all going to survive the next two and a half years of Trump and his goon squad. Thank you very much for your time. If you have recommendations or curiosities, please fill out this nifty contact form. Sending y’all supportive, well-caffeinated vibes, Creighton Today’s Pen(cil): Metallic Sapphire Sharpie** * I am calling out cishet white women specifically because A) they often claim to be allies without actually doing the work of allyship; B) their proximity to cishet white patriarchal power often overrides their alleged allyship; and C) cishet white men will never truly be allies because their power is always already corrupting. Cishet white women are where we can see potential movement; that is, cishet white women will become accomplices only when they renounce their blind allegiance to white patriarchal power. (I believe I'm now firmly in my Magneto era.) ** Uff da, I'm really on a Sharpie kick lately, which means I'm probably seeking stability, permanence in the chaos of our current political moment. Current Curiosities [Reading] On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Graphic Edition by Timothy Snyder + Nora Krug [Listening] "Unchained Melody"/"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Unrighteousness Brothers [Watching] The Mystery of the Wax Museum Roamin' and Ramblin' into the New Year I can't remember when I first stumbled across Woody Guthrie's 1943 list of New Year's resolutions or which Instagram account had posted it. Before the 2016 Presidential Election? After? Before the 2020? Honestly, aside from wanting to provide attribution, I suppose it doesn't really matter anymore how I found it, but that I did. When I maintained social media accounts, I would post Guthrie's handwritten resolutions, highlighting both his penmanship (a gorgeous mix of cursive and printed all-caps), his doodles, and particularly his twenty-seventh resolution: HELP WIN WAR - BEAT FASCIM.  I added the blue box highlighting Resolution 27 whenever I initially took this screenshot. For more than a decade, we've witnessed a rise in fascism in the United States and abroad. And perhaps by the time I've uploaded this post, we will be at war with Venezuela. Though, the word war is misleading, as the violence is one-sided and the actions of a demented bully wielding the world's strongest military. So it seems, once again, we too are faced with war (on several potential fronts) abroad while confronting fascism at home. Happy 2026, I guess??? HELP WIN WAR - BEAT FASCISM Anyway, the other day, I finished reading Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny, and one thing that struck me, aside from the parallels between our current moment and twentieth-century fascist and totalitarian regimes, was how small interpersonal acts and decisions can flaunt tyrannical control. Indeed Snyder suggests make eye contact and small talk (Lesson 12), practice corporeal politics (Lesson 13), and establish a private life (Lesson 14), among others. Now, I have never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. Resolutions are black and white, pass or fail - or to paraphrase Yoda resolutions are do or do not; there's not a lot of room to try.* That is a lot of pressure to put on yourself at the start of a new year. So instead of resolutions, I am setting intentions for 2026. For me, intentions provide space for missteps and mistakes, for reflection and learning, highlighting progress and process over perfection. HELP WIN WAR - BEAT FASCISM So as I consider the one ahead, I thought I would frame my intentions for 2026 through the lens of Snyder's lessons. My 2026 Intentions
CODA Queer and trans folks may be best positioned for Lesson No. 12 in which Snyder underscores the importance of observing your surroundings as a way of knowing whom you should trust or not. As LGBTQ+ people, we already do this on a daily basis, in new situations and old, with new people and old. This practice has protected us for generations against the radical and religious Right. So keep on keeping on, team. Continue being alert. Continue being cautious and critical of those in power. And continue protecting and supporting each other. [Lesson 12] HELP WIN WAR - BEAT FASCISM I wish y'all a safe, healthy, and happy 2026. Thank you very much for your time. If you have recommendations or curiosities, please fill out this nifty contact form. Sending y’all supportive, well-caffeinated vibes, Creighton Today’s Pen(cil): Sherpa Christmas Lights 2023 Limited Edition Pen Cover [Sharpie] *I prefer Kanan Jarrus' reframing of Yoda's maxim in Rebels: If all I do is try, that means I don't truly believe that I can succeed. My Postcolonial Brain Doesn't Have an Off-Switch
I'm hella late to this, but I'm finally watching Hulu's Shōgun, which I'm loving. I'd avoided the show for two reasons. First, I've always looked sideways at cishet white guys who fetishize Japanese culture and women. (Marvel and Star Wars have plundered Japanese culture for decades for mostly Western audiences.) Appreciation or respect is one thing, but fetishism or appropriation is another. I made assumptions about Shōgun based on experiences and observations of this particular kind of white cishet dude in high school and college and did not want to participate in their problematic aesthetics and politics. (However, I do adore Japanese stationery.) Second, after leaving academia, I found it hard to read for fun, and with Shōgun's subtitles, I was hesitant to watch, not sure I would have the focus needed. My mind now wanders to past experiences in the silence of reading. But this past week, I finally started watching Shōgun, and with two episodes left (I'm trying unsuccessfully to pace myself), I'm hooked. It's stunningly shot; the costumes are gorgeous; and the acting is brilliant! And yet, I cannot turn off my brain's need to analyze, to contextualize, to theorize about this fascinatingly complex show. While others may have already written on this (I have not checked, as this post is more reader response than researched essay), I was initially concerned Shōgun represents a sort of exoticism 2.0. The show is based on the novel by a British author. I'm generally suspicious of white men writing about the lives, experiences, and cultures of others. That one of the show runners is of Japanese descent gives me hope this is not another orientalist (in the Said sense) take on Japanese history and culture. Again, I do love this show. Anyway, Blackthorne's brutish behavior is rightly off-putting (though his behind is deeply engrossing). He's like an other-side-of-the-world John Smith to Mariko's Pocahontas. (That is truly a shit analogy.) I find Blackthorne deeply irritating. Though, perhaps as a Western audience, we need him as our in to the story and this particular period of Japan's history. I do like Blackthrone's unlikability. And in this way, he presents a more complicated, less mythic version of the prototypical English explorer. Protestant Blackthorne becomes slightly more likable when juxtaposed with the Portuguese Catholics, both faith leaders and merchants. It's not hard to turn historic Catholics into villains when for over two millennia the Church has pillaged and raped, enslaved and genocided all over the New World. And while English Protestants were equally as barbaric in their imperial enterprises, there's something more sinister about the Catholic Church actively participating in these practices, without atoning, to enrich its own coffers in the name of God, whatever that means. (This critique may sound harsh, but as a queer person, I have little patience for the Church's anti-LGBTQ+ practices and policies and the harms the Church has committed on generations of queer and trans people, again, without atonement.) The women of Shōgun are the most fascinating to me. For example, Mariko is caught between an abusive husband and Blackthorne as well as Toranaga and the remaining four regents. Mariko shows wisdom and strength and calmness in the eye of this powerful storm. As interpreter for Blackthorne and Toranaga, Mariko neutralizes aggressive sentiments, creating stability for this new shaky East-West alliance. Lady Ochiba's revenge-fueled rise to power confounds the patriarchal regents as she works to ensure her son remains the heir of the deceased Taikō. There's Usami Fuji, Blackthorne's consort, who overcomes the death of both her husband and infant. And there's Gin, the enterprising madam of the tea house, who argues in favor of the unionization and professionalization of courtesans to protect and lift up women. While the men tear each other apart, the women scheme for a better existence, a different world. Surprisingly, Yabushige became one of my favorite characters. I was ready for him to die after the first episode, but man, has he won me over. Did he boil a man alive??? Yes. Was it hella gross??? Also, yes. But is he funny as he attempts to survive the political power struggle??? Absolutely. I'm curious what's in store for him, Mariko, and the rest of Toranaga's clan in the remaining two episodes. And I'm happy to learn two more seasons are in the works! UPDATE: I finished the season. A little shellshocked. Uff da. Thank you very much for your time. If you have recommendations or curiosities, please fill out this nifty contact form. Sending y’all supportive, well-caffeinated vibes, Creighton Today’s Pen(cil): Lanbitou 3088 [Fountain Pen] | Monteverde Horizon Blue [Ink] |