I finished Howard Jacobson's What Will Survive of Us and I cannot believe that he made Lily stop having sex with Sam because of VAGINAL ATROPHY. Dude, estrogen cream, laser therapy, and FREQUENT SEX helps the condition. Did you even consult a gynecologist when you wrote that?!?!?!
I'm reading What Will Survive of Us by Howard Jacobson. What an odd novel. Yet it's made me laugh out loud in places. #HowardJacobson #WhatWillSurviveOfUs #reading #contemporarylit #novel
Why is it that the only way to show someone how cool you are is by ignoring them?
I still don't know how to use this site. But Twitter has become a cesspool of racism, misogyny, and overall stupidity. I'm not sure how to access the zeitgeisty convos here though.
But cancellation can feel like an execution. It should be saved for the worst offenders, those who wilfully and knowingly seek to cause harm. Not everyone deserves the death penalty on the Internet.
We all have our blind spots and biases. We tire of explaining them, of the responsibility of educating other people how to think of and speak about us. Discrimination can feel like a whip on an already scarred back.
Racist terminology has become a kind of shorthand so that people don't have to explain what they mean when they notice someone's other-ness. It takes a while to become aware of this, even when you are not white. When you see it, you can't unsee it.
Did the publishers of Some Kids have anyone non-white even read the book so they could pick up on things that would not occur to Kate as offensive? I read how the editors/PR folks she met with hadn't even read her book.
Perhaps the writers that called her out for her cluelessness assigned a malice to her that was born out of their own anger at being discriminated against, in culture and in society. Twitter in those days gave power to people who couldn't raise their voices against a powerful industry.
I'm three episodes in to Anatomy of a Cancellation.
Kate Clanchy's intentions are so good but she does come across as unaware of how her words might affect non-white people, immigrants, etc. She did not deserve to be bullied for that, just educated. #anatomyofacancellation #podcast #kateclanchy
Beautiful Kaak Asawer (Palestinian date ring cookies)
I think I better start getting active here again. Anyone been listening to Anatomy of a Cancellation?
Meta stole my novel to train its AI.
@johncusack.bsky.social do you still have hope? Asking for a friend...
Unpopular opinion: no, I don't think your writing is any good.
I want to open a coffee shop for older women called "It's Not Too Latte"
There's a piece of AI "creative" metafiction floating around on social media. Let me tell you that piece of writing is not good writing. There is not one ounce of human emotion in it -- it's like writing behind a glass wall, in a museum of the future, where aliens are laughing at us.
Happy to tell you that The Monsoon War, my novel about militant feminist resistance and sequel to Before She Sleeps, won the Getz Pharma English Fiction prize at the Karachi Literature Festival this past weekend. Looking forward to hearing what you think of it!
I bragged about not being married in the national newspaper. I really hope my mom doesn't read my essay.
A picture of the author Bina Shah wearing a red shawl from Pakistan and red sunglasses. She's standing on the balcony of her Karachi home with neem trees and blue skies in the background.
My Diane Keaton era is starting in 2025, I feel.
At the bookstore. Sales person sees me come in, hastily brings a few of my books down from a dusty top shelf and puts one half-heartedly on a display. The glamor of being a successful novelist.
Tired of 2024.
I'm glad to meet you. Somehow doctors and medicine keep showing up in my work. I'm interested in the field of narrative medicine as well, and in how doctors and medical professionals are portrayed in fiction.
Need to get this guy a license plate that says A55H0L3
Wrote what I think is the first page of a new novel on Sunday. I'm too scared to look at it now, it's the point of no return. Anyone else know how that feels? #writing #novel #firstpage
I still have that dimple! And the scarf.
Almost 21. Taken at Wellesley College for my senior class photo, 1993.
You're taking me here in February
"But who was really eating it up there?" I asked. "Baby Grok!" he said, as the girls hid their faces muttering "Oh my GOD". "No cap?" I said. "Baby Grok had the most rizz, huh?" #GenZ #Teaching #GenX #translation #communication
