Interview: Assigned Media's Evan Urquhart Explains Why We Need Trans Journalists
Lately I've been so grateful for Assigned Media (assignedmedia.org), a new outlet where journalist Evan Urquhart keeps track of transgender news, and...
Some Ideas for How to Save Short Fiction!
Hey, thanks for reading my newsletter! I don't charge any money to read Happy Dancing, but if you would like to support me, I would be super grateful if you...
I Was a Religious Icon for a Dozen Years (Part 2)
Note: You're reading the second half of this essay about singing in church choirs as an atheist... the first half came out last week, and you can scroll down...
I Was a Religious Icon (Part 1)
I was ten or eleven years old the first time I wore a frock in public. My parents had pushed me to join the choir at an Episcopalian cathedral in Hartford,...
What the Original Star Wars Teaches Us About Storytelling
I think one decent litmus test for any story is: is it about what it's about? This may sound kind of silly --- how can a story not be about what it's about?...
In Praise of Naive Tricksters
Issue #32 of New Mutants comes out on Wednesday, and I'm super proud of this one. (Above is a sneak peek from the four preview pages Marvel just released,...
Don't Just Create One Big Story, Build a Mosaic of Tiny Stories!
Lately I keep thinking about an odd metric for thinking about prose fiction: the amount of stories per story. I really like stories that have a lot of other,...
Not Another Think Piece About Twitter, I Promise!
Okay, I lied. Sort of. This isn't going to be a think piece about the slow decomposition of the birb app, days after everyone else has already written...
What is the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Two things happened around the same time recently. Marvel displayed a greater willingness to make fun of itself than ever before, with the robot K.E.V.I.N.,...
What If You Run Out of Funkadelic? Don't Worry, I Got You Covered.
Listening to Funkadelic is one of the most worthwhile things you can do with your life — which makes it utterly tragic that at a certain point, you're bound...
The Best Convention I Ever Went To
In the summer of 1985, my mom had a fellowship at Oxford University, so we packed and moved to a rental place in the U.K. I'd lived in Britain before,...
You Can Love Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Without Dissing Star Trek: Discovery
I swear this newsletter is not turning into a Star Trek blog or anything, but Star Trek has been on my mind quite a bit lately, for various reasons. And this...
Some Other Words That Trans People Should Destroy, Now That You Can't Say "Woman"
We did it, everybody! We totally got rid of the word "woman!" Nobody is ever allowed to use that word again*. (Okay, I just used it a moment ago, but that...
One Thing I'd Like To See From The Next Vampire Diaries Series
Ever since Legacies finished its run on The CW, I've been thinking a lot about what I would like to see next from the Vampire Diaries universe. The Vampire...
A Fun Surprise We Snuck Into the Marvel Pride Issue
Marvel Voices: Pride #1 (the 2022 pride issue) came out last Wednesday. I was meaning to write a newsletter to celebrate, but I was traveling to Arizona for...
The Sweetweird Manifesto
A spectre is haunting pop culture — an adorable and friendly, but slightly messed-up creature that beckons us into a world of kindness and surrealism....
We Need Heroes Who Can Remind Us That Heroism Is Fun
I wrote this newsletter last week and tried to send it out on Thurs or Fri. Not sure what happened, but apparently it got eaten? In any case, here it is now!...
I Helped To Create a New Marvel Superhero!
Now it can be told!!!! I have co-created a brand new superhero for Marvel Comics (along with her best friend!) Meet Shela Sexton, aka Escapade. She's trans,...
Captain Kirk's First Adventure Was About Choosing Between Two Friends
I recently rewatched the two pilots for the original Star Trek, in preparation for the beginning of Strange New Worlds, the latest Trek show starring Captain...
Absurdly Long Train and Bus Rides I Have Taken
1) As I might have mentioned before, I took a year off before college and went to Beijing to teach English and study Mandarin. I spent several months living...