A Letter to J K Rowling

 

You’re being a lot nastier than you think you are.

Your trans posts, this post, and even your scraps with Donald Trump all come across as you trying to puff yourself up at someone else’s expense!

This is not how you started. Even now, there is still an idealism glowing within your earlier work. It still has the potential to encourage people to be strong in the face of danger.

What you’ve been doing in the last decade… runs contrary to that.

I had some sympathy for you, because I know all too well how fear and pain change people. Getting mad at people who’d threatened you and endangered you is understandable. Working through anger and pain isn’t easy. That being said…

You still have a responsibility to NOT take things out on innocent people.

Failing to distinguish between the asswipes who hurt you and innocent people is a slippery slope. First you were angry at the people who threatened you. Fair enough. Then you called out what you saw as abuses of power. Sometimes, you were right and sometimes you were wrong. Again, fair enough.

But then, you shifted your anger to ALL trans people for even existing.

Now, you’re going after people like me. As far as I know, we asexuals did NOTHING to you.

Not. A. Single. Thing.

You used to know the difference between an instigator and an innocent.

Out of respect for the good your writing once did, and out of respect for the good you used to do, I send this warning:

You are destroying your own legacy by punching down so much. Whoever suggested this particular post is NOT your friend, and most likely envies the blessings you gained by your work.

Letting it Go

Lots of people have fallen in love with this song. It's beautiful, well-written, and powerful. It also doesn't hurt that the original is sung by Irina Menzel, who also voiced Elphaba from Wicked. I've had this stuck in my head for awhile, ever since looking up Frozen trailers back in December. The animation is stunning and the theme is a bit unusual, singing about someone who had been required to conform to a very rigidly defined role, and finally was free to give rein to her natural abilities and to delight in them. (Although, I'm no princess or queen, the theme really spoke to me; there was a fan group Mom and I left years ago that tried entirely too hard to dictate my interests. Certain of them mocked, "shunned", lied about my work to the groups they didn't approve of, and did worse... while Mom and I were busy looking after Dad in between operations. Needless to say, it was obnoxious and came at a VERY bad time. Thankfully, the bullying seems to have mostly stopped) Now I'm curious about the context of Elsa's break from her past. (didn't get to see it in the theaters, so I'm waiting for the dvd release) However, there are some gorgeous alternate takes on the iconic theme of Frozen to enjoy in the meantime!

As ever, the Piano Guys did a great job! In this case, they blended it with Vivaldi's Winter, making a driven theme appropriate to an action sequence.

How about the version Alex Boyé did that went viral? Although the audial cultural mash-up is a bit of a head-scratcher, the arrangement is well-thought out and the performances are smooth. Mr. Boye’s voice and the drums offset Lexi Walker’s voice and the choir very nicely, making a rich song with several layers of depth. I think it’s as much the beauty of their performances as much as the reinterpretation that helped this song go viral. Congratulations! For once, something that went viral is actually beautiful!
Incidentally, both of them made their videos in the same place - Midway Ice Castles.

Alice in Wonderland

This looks promising! Many folks easily forget just how madcap(pun intended) Lewis Carrol's stories really are. However, I am hoping that Tim Burton will keep in mind that these stories were written to entertain a child.