Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Activism, Gonzo Notes, and Journalism
Asking you to hold onto joy is hardly revolutionary, but it’s what I’m going to tell you to do now anyway. Go for a bike ride. Join a book club. Look into an animal’s “weird little eyes,” to quote Robert Evans. Sit under a tree and listen to music with a friend.
Posted in Austin, Journalism, and LGBTQIA
The 89th session of the Texas legislature is underway, and thousands of bills were filed before the deadline earlier this month. But only a few will actually reach the governor’s desk.
Currently, over 100 of these bills directly target LGBTQ+ rights. These include almost every aspect of life as a queer, or especially a transgender person, in our state — from health care to just generally being ‘out’ in public.
But the Texas legislature only meets for a handful of months every other year. During that limited window, lawmakers contend with a wish list of bills from the governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house. This agenda gets first priority, and can eat up a lot of time. Out of the 10,000s of bills that are introduced each year, only a tiny fraction pass. While the governor can, and does abuse his authority to call an “emergency” session from time to time, doing so costs the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It’s valid to feel afraid — the Republican Party is open about its desire to erase LGBTQIA+ people from public life in the U.S. However, only a small portion of the bad bills will even reach committee this year, much less have a chance of becoming a law. I think it’s important to know which bills are most likely to move, because it shows us where we should focus our efforts to fight back. If we stop bad bills this session, it might be harder to pass worse ones next.
Posted in Austin, Austin Free Press, and Journalism
Reporter’s Notebook: Kit O’Connell reflects on pro-Palestinian protests on UT-Austin’s campus last spring. Their commentary is accompanied by a video of the incident never before released to the public.
On a blistering April day I arrived at the University of Texas at Austin last year, after receiving a tip that more Gaza protests were breaking out at UT’s South Mall. I didn’t know then that a well-regarded professor whom I previously interviewed was about to have a life-changing altercation that would land him in jail and end his UT career.
Five days before, students had gathered in that grassy, open area to oppose Israel’s bombing campaign. Dozens of Department of Public Safety State Troopers, under orders from Governor Greg Abbott and with support of then-UT Austin president Jay Hartzell, had aggressively broken up the protest. Then, on April 29, the students were back; this time, they planned to pitch tents and form a protest encampment.
Posted in Activism, and Journalism
You’ve probably heard someone say ‘Don’t platform nazis.’ It means don’t publish fascist garbage uncritically on your platform. It’s usually directed at journalists, influencers and others with a big audience.
But here, I’m highlighting smaller ways well-meaning people accidentally spread fascist propaganda. These are some ways I see people inadvertently giving a platform to the worst among us:
Posted in Deceleration, Journalism, and LGBTQIA
In the face of a terrifying crisis, LGBTQ+ Texans must draw on all their decades of experience at mutual aid and building community in order to survive.
Almost every day the federal government seems to launch new attacks on the rights of transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming and intersex people, leaving many of them frightened for their future: their ability to work, attend school, receive medical care and to exist openly in public spaces. At the same time, trans Texans are watching the Texas Legislature with trepidation, as it hashes out its 89th session. The Transgender Education Network of Texas has identified 114 bills filed in the lege which target the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the state, mostly trans folks. Right now, it’s unclear which of these have a chance of hitting the Governor’s desk, noted Landon Ritchie, policy coordinator at TENT.
“We are seeing pretty much attacks on or attempted attacks on queer and trans Texans in every aspect of public life and we’re expecting to see a lot more, but we’re also grounding ourselves and reminding community that not all these bills have equal chances of becoming law,” he told Deceleration.
Posted in Audio, Austin, Journalism, Occupy Wall Street, and Video
Last weekend, I talked with photojournalist Zach Roberts of VisuNews about my recent essay on why we need to stop protesting at empty buildings and become more strategic about our activism.
We also talked about our work as journalists, and our involvement with past movements like Occupy Wall Street.
