Chandlersweb.net

Author: Chandler Webster

From Player to Customer
While I’m only 30, I increasingly feel like I’m in a nursing home, complaining to my grandkids about how things used to be as they lead me to the bathroom because I shit myself.

“Kids, when I was your age, video games used to be products, not services,” I tut. “You’d buy a game and own it outright; none of this DLC crap.”

“Sure, grandpa…” my granddaughter says after cleaning me up. “Let’s get you back to bed.”

Video games were an integral part of my childhood, and I have vivid memories of walking to Target with my dad to buy titles like The Sims 2, Fallout 3, and Mass Effect — all for PC DVD-ROM. After running home and installing whatever I’d bought, I’d then immediately start playing. I owned physical copies of these games, and even if I’d leave them out of their cases, causing the discs to get scratched (as I often did), they were mine.

In the early-to-mid 2000s, series like The Sims began to gradually increase the number of expansion packs they released. While I found this frustrating (as my dad did too; he, after all, funded my gaming addiction), these expansions generally added exciting new features to games. My Sims, for example, went from living in sprawling mansions and perennial summers to apartments with pets, as the seasons changed and they danced at clubs every night. During this era, video game companies — including larger corporations — seemed genuinely interested in making fun products for their customers, and the love for their creations shone through in the final products.

But as I blinked and two decades flashed by, something changed.

While I still enjoy gaming, every title I play today I launch through Steam, which, while convenient, means I don’t technically own my games. Instead, I purchase licenses to play them — something that Valve could yank away at any time. (Amazon did this exact thing to Kindle users when it removed, of all titles, 1984.) My custom-built computer doesn’t even have a DVD drive, and microtranscations from the frivolous to the insulting have infested series as distant as The Sims and Assassin’s Creed.

Often, this desire for profit is evident not just in bloated menus clogged with advertisements, but in the quality of games themselves. While digital artists continue to pour their hearts into their creations, executive boards frequently push studios into releasing half-baked, buggy titles that feel lightyears away from being customer-ready. Series like The Sims have shifted from products to services; from something you purchase once and enjoy to something designed to extract ongoing investment.

Today, many games have entire portions of content locked away, only to be sold back to customers in subsequent DLCs. Depending on the title, players can expect to invest hundreds — and sometimes even thousands — of dollars to play games in their entirety. And while some releases are so abhorrently barebones that companies are forced to grunt out half-hearted apologies, many seem content to screw people over.

Why? Because they can.

As Cory Doctorow explains in his book Enshittification:

Companies don’t treat you well because they’re “good” capitalists, and they don’t abuse you because they’re “bad” capitalists… Companies abuse you if they can get away with it.

Companies like Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, and Embracer Group have been allowed to gobble up competitors, mistreat their workers, and erode trust with loyal players. EA, in particular, stands as a bleak example of corporate greed — the company went from funding innovative titles to ruining longstanding series like SimCity. As of writing this, EA is poised to be acquired by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2026. If the deal proceeds, the $55 billion buyout would give the despotic regime ownership over 93.4% of the company, with the remaining 6.6% going to Silver Lake and Affinity Partners — the latter of which was founded by none other than Jared Kushner. (And notably, the PIF is already a “significant investor” in both firms).

As a longtime video gamer, all of this is depressing, but you don’t have to look far to find other industries where corporate ghouls are living out their wettest, wildest, and most exploitative dreams. Digital design software paywalling color packs; tech giants fighting tooth and nail against Right to Repair legislation; streaming services that now have ads unless you pay more. Enshittification is ubiquitous, and it’s forcing us to spend money on purchases and subscriptions that would’ve seemed absurd just a few years ago.

In protest, I’ve begun making the shift back to physical media wherever possible. While making space for boxes of video games and Blu-ray discs is far from enjoyable, I see it as a necessary evil — I’d rather create clutter than give another cent to the companies hollowing out what we used to enjoy. And while drawing a line in the metaphorical sand feels empowering, it’s crucial to recognize that individual choices alone won’t impact the powers at play. EA, after all, is being acquired for 55 thousand million dollars.

As Doctorow highlights in his book, escaping the depths of enshittification hell will require a combination of four factors:
1. A return to staunch antitrust enforcement (something we briefly saw under FTC Chair Lina Khan)
2. Strong competition that keeps companies innovating, instead of abusing
3. Empowered workers that can restrain executive overreach
4. Interoperability that lets us own, repair, share, and do whatever the fuck we want with the products we purchase
We’ll never be able to convince the handful of ketamine-addled sociopaths wrecking society to care about us. Instead, we need to demand it through legislation and worker power. And while things in the United States may seem bleak at the moment (Trump is almost certainly the embodiment of political enshittifcation) the movement to check corporate greed is growing across many parts of the world.

I’ll always be a gamer, and despite disappointing trends, I’ve still been able to find incredible titles that have made me feel like I was a child again, unopened copy of a new video game in-hand. But I look forward to the day when video game companies — and corporations in other industries — are forced to show us the dignity we deserve.
December 19, 2025
As the Establishment Poses, the Left Builds

If there’s one takeaway Americans should have in 2025, it’s that establishment Democrats are incapable – and, evidently, unwilling – to meet the moment. This year, in particular, has been rough.

As fascism seeps deeper into the country’s foundation, leading Democrats have responded by embarking on Sorry I Lost book tours, snapping plastic crowns, and putting on rhetorical performances. At the same time, they’re posing with war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, short-circuiting when asked about AIPAC donations, and acquiescing to the same policies they’re decrying.

Fortunately, while the rot is clear, so too is the path forward.

A year ago, Zohran Mamdani was an unknown figure, polling at 1%. This past week, he was elected mayor of New York City and has become one of the most recognizable faces of a movement determined to resist the pervasive hatred, greed, and ignorance of our times. His victory confirmed what many on the Left already knew – that the path forward isn’t through theater masquerading as politics, but through a relentless, grassroots fight for the betterment of the working-class. A movement grounded in material benefits – not symbolic gestures – is one built to win.

And while Mamdani is an inspiring figure, his success isn’t the only victory worth celebrating from this past week. In Atlanta, Kelsea Bond’s campaign for District 2’s City Council seat similarly built up enough grassroots energy to win a commanding victory.

The Fight for The City in a Forest

Bond’s platform shares much in common with Mamdani’s, with both centering the building of a liveable city through affordable housing, sustainable infrastructure, and an expansion of workers’ rights. Like Mamdani’s, Bond’s campaign knocked on thousands of doors and received endorsements from the Working Families Party, local unions, and numerous other organizations and figures.

Bond’s platform is also rooted in urgency, as the past several years have been difficult for Atlanta. Despite fierce resistance from organizers and over 100,000 residents calling for a referendum, city leaders approved Cop City (officially the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center), and the facility opened this past April. On top of such blatantly undemocratic decision-making, citizens have also been dealing with an affordability crisis as local rent prices soar and wages stagnate. This has forced long-term residents out of areas like Bond’s District 2, while Atlanta’s fractured transportation network and abhorrent traffic – the fifth worst in the country – have made their exodus permanent.

Community Building Through Resistance

On the Wednesday before their victory, Bond’s vision came into focus during a panel with Daniel Aldana Cohen, coauthor of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal, and Elise Joshi, a fellow activist and organizer. Throughout the hour-long conversation, Bond spoke on their motivations and articulated how their platform seeks to connect climate action to housing, public transit, and civic power.

“For so many young people in Atlanta, [Cop City] really demonstrated the lack of democratic processes that exist in Atlanta politics,” they said. “People can see the contradictions that exist in the Atlanta government, and that’s contributed to the energy around our campaign.”

While city councilors fight for local change, the issues they combat often mirror national dynamics. Bond spoke to this, highlighting how establishment politicians often work together to protect capital, regardless of party.

“In an ideal situation, we would form a Big Tent alliance against fascism in the Trump regime,” Bond said. “Instead, we’re seeing the Atlanta establishment – traditionally centrist Democrats – aligning themselves with Republican City Council members and throwing progressives under the bus.”

In the face of such collusion, grassroots movements provide hope, but they also offer a less-discussed benefit. As the loneliness epidemic worsens and society, at large, fractures, organizing can help alleviate atomization. Bond addressed this, emphasizing that community-building was foundational to their campaign.

“I learned very early on in organizing that people will not stick around if they’re not having fun,” they said. “That’s why it’s been so crucial since the launch of our campaign to keep [our movement] fun and ensure that people are making friends and connecting with new people.”

Cohen agreed, quipping that phones are like tiny suburbs in our pockets – isolating, yet for many people, the only way they experience politics.

While extensive canvassing efforts helped propel Bond to victory, their campaign also hosted concerts and comedy shows to foster community. These helped break down social silos – which can often feel entrenched in Atlanta, due to its car-centric infrastructure – while working to tackle the city’s chronically low municipal turnout.

“I grew up in the DIY music scene in Atlanta, and I know they’re all left-wing. I know they’re all mad at our city government for Cop City. And so, we’ve really been trying to tap into those spaces to bring people in who otherwise wouldn’t see any reason to vote.”

Whether or not fed-up indie artists were the deciding factor, Bond’s campaign tactics proved more than just successful. 6,715 local residents voted for them, earning a 64% victory and avoiding a potential runoff.

And what did Bond’s supporters vote for? Density – not as a buzzword or a piece of urbanist jargon, but as scaffolding to help connect people to their communities.

“Every single person deserves to live close to where they work, not just to improve the quality of their life, but because it makes it easier to organize in your community,” Bond said. “It makes it easier to be civically engaged. It makes it easier to plan a meeting with your coworkers when you don’t have to drive an hour to meet at the same place.”

Beyond District 2

While Atlanta may not have a democratic socialist mayor (yet!), Kelsea Bond’s city council win is one the Left should celebrate. Like Zohran Mamdani, Bond ran an inspiring grassroots campaign, and their victory serves as a much-needed reminder that progressive forces can win when they fight for commonsense policies, work to repair fractured communities, and offer voters genuine hope.

At a time when national politics have rarely felt more hollow – when centrists pose and flounder against cartoonishly evil forces – Bond’s blueprint to success is one worth emulating.

November 7, 2025
Transit Dreams: A Diary

From Issue One of Alternative Webs, releasing soon.

Atlanta

I board the train, first taking in the smells. Old Spice and weed, most likely? It could be worse. A man sits near me, a full rotisserie chicken in-hand. That throws a new smell into the mix. We start moving as a static-garbled voice belts out our final destination.

The train passes over a highway clogged with commuters returning home. I try to calculate how many cars I’m looking at – 300? 500? I wonder whether the people in them drive to work every day. How much time does that eat out of their lives? I don’t have answers, and city planners probably don’t either. They should, though.

Early 2000s hip-hop plays through my headphones as I fly above the asphalt doomscape beneath me, ruminating. All the world’s ills, sittin’ on chrome 24-inch wheels. Numerous podcasts and audiobooks undoubtedly play beneath me, the drivers trying their hardest not to crash.

As the train approaches my station, I gather my belongings, double-checking that I have everything. Phone, wallet, keys – yes, all there. The doors open and I step out as another man steps in, dragging his entire livelihood behind him in a tattered blue IKEA bag.

I watch him disappear down the aisle as I walk away.

Nanjing

Air conditioning blasts throughout the car, fighting a fierce battle against the oppressive heat and humidity outside. As the lush greenery of Xianlin disappears behind me, I arrive at my transfer station. Three minutes until the next train – I’ll need to run. I make it, slipping through the doors with seconds to spare, and take a seat. The train begins hurtling towards the beating heart of the city.

Students returning home laugh and chat. Tired workers scroll on their phones. An older man boards the train halfway through the trip – I stand up to offer my seat, but he smiles and shakes his head.

I spend an hour decompressing, listening to Amy Winehouse and the Big Little Lies soundtrack. Halfway through the journey, Spotify stutters. I check my phone – what’s going on? Ah – VPN crash. I reset it, and the music resumes.

I think of my upcoming trips to Hong Kong and Thailand. Of the long day at work I’ll have tomorrow. Of being thousands of miles away from home.

The speaker chimes: “鼓楼站，到了。”(Now arriving at Gulou Station.)

Maybe I’m not that far from home.

Istanbul

The third iteration of the adhan, Asr, has just begun. The muezzin’s voice echoes across the city, reverberating across two continents and the gray waters between them.

Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah.

As the devout pray, I board a tram running through the center of the congested streets, struggling to stand amongst the throngs of people in the packed car. A group of fashionable teenagers in leather jackets and Adidas sneakers are on their way to a concert. They jostle for positions as we begin moving.

Ash-hadu anna Muhammadar-Rasulullah.

Over the heads of those around me, I watch a chilly breeze toss seagulls around the dark, late-afternoon sky. A solitary ray of sunshine breaks through, illuminating a portion of the twinkling sea beneath it.

The tram rolls forward as a man beside me mutters Turkish into his phone. The woman across from me clutches her headscarf. I stare out at the sea.

Somewhere behind the clouds, the sun begins to set. I’m disoriented – is it setting over Asia? Europe? Maybe it doesn’t matter.

The tram continues moving, as do I.

October 28, 2025
In the Presence of Giants

When I was nine years old, I traveled with my dad to visit an aunt and uncle who live on the Island of Hawaii¹. For most people, the words “Hawaiian vacation” connote images of luxurious, White Lotus-like accommodations. But far from staying in an opulent beachfront complex, we pitched a tent in the backyard of their cozy Hilo home.

Located on the windward side of the island, Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the United States. Suffice to say, while lucky travelers can catch moments of sunshine, it’s generally not the place to visit if you’re hoping for a sunny beach vacation. What Hilo does offer, however, is serenity. Every night of my trip, I would fall asleep to the soft pitter-patter of rain bouncing off our tent’s roof, while geckos chirped their nighttime chorus.

‘Akaka Falls, 11 miles north of Hilo. (2024)

Throughout the two weeks I was in Hawaii, I snorkeled through volcanic tide pools, saw sea turtles basking on black sand beaches, and explored some of the most rugged natural beauty imaginable. I also saw whales. Lots of them.

Where the Giants Swim

The warm Hawaiian waters house a cornucopia of marine life, but in winter and spring, they’re home to a special seasonal visitor: humpback whales. These gentle giants embark on annual voyages from their Arctic feeding grounds to the warm, tropical waters of Hawaii to give birth. Fittingly, these journeys have given whales important roles in native Hawaiian culture. Hawaiians call humpbacks and other large whales koholā and have honored them as ʻaumākua – spiritual guardians who can assume the shape of animals, plants, and various natural phenomena.

Hāpuna Beach, a popular destination for swimming, snorkeling, and whale watching. (2024)

By the time I was nine, I’d already been a whale fanatic for years and hoped to work as a marine biologist when I was older. To my utter joy, I lost count of how many humpbacks I saw within a few days of my trip. I remember driving along the coast and seeing them out in the sparkling blue expanse. At beaches, I would spot their tail flukes and flippers saluting me from a distance. And I even saw several whales breach – propelling their massive, 40-ton bodies out of the water and into the air.

At the time of my trip, I also had a fascination with the animals of the African savannah, particularly with elephants. But my trip to Hawaii was the first time I came face-to-face with one of Earth’s great leviathans, a being I’d previously only read about. To call it a transformative experience would be an understatement: it opened my eyes to the wonders and diversity of life at a young age. I, a skinny 60-pound kid, saw 50-foot whales in their natural habitat. Today, the trip stands out as one of the first times I recognized the preciousness of life – all life.

Into the Mist

Over the following 20 years, I lived a whale-less life, until last summer when I visited the Pacific Northwest to see two friends. Alyssa, a fellow writer and creative who I met in China, has lived in Oregon with her partner Keegan for the past several years, but neither of them had explored much of the state’s stunning coastline. So together, we embarked on a road trip along the coast, regularly stopping to soak up the picture-perfect views. Our main destination, however, was Depoe Bay.

The rocky, mist-drenched coastline of Depoe Bay. (2024)

A sleepy town often covered in mist, Depoe Bay looks like something out of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels. But besides housing a collection of quaint shops and restaurants, the town is also home to a renowned museum and whale watching center, Whale Research EcoExcursions. Run by retired marine biologist Carrie Newell, the company specializes in introducing people to the migratory gray whales that pass by Oregon each summer. Throughout her career, Newell discovered key insights about the whales, including the fact that they come to Depoe Bay, specifically, to graze on local shrimp populations. Today, her company offers people the chance to see the gentle filter feeders up close – an opportunity we couldn’t resist signing up for weeks in advance.

On the morning of our tour, we listened to an orientation on gray whales before boarding a tiny inflatable boat and cruising out of the bay. Visibility is, of course, key when it comes to whale watching, so it was initially disheartening to begin the trip under a dense fog cover. While visual cues aren’t always as obvious as a breach, signs like hovering birds or distant spouts of water can also indicate a nearby whale. But we couldn’t see a thing. Fortunately, around halfway through the trip, another vessel reported spotting a whale, so we quickly rode over to try to find it. For the next half hour, we drifted through the dense fog bank, ears perked for distant splashes or spouts. We floated in silence, the ocean holding its breath along with us.

Eventually, our patience paid off. A juvenile gray whale named Creamsicle greeted us, emerging from the depths just feet away from our boat. The first appearance was quick, but we watched, entranced, as they surfaced again and again. While they never breached, their size, movement, and presence made the encounter not just memorable, but sacred. Eventually, they disappeared back into the gray expanse, and we made our way back to shore through the salty air. The fog began to lift.

Creamsicle the gray whale surfacing near our boat. (2024)

Following the Oregon trip, I had the chance to participate in another whale watching tour, this time in Seattle. While the vessel we travelled on was much larger than the inflatable we’d boarded in Depoe Bay, we still saw orcas, porpoises, and yes – a humpback, as we cruised around the Puget Sound. After the tour, I felt a quiet joy, as though I’d come full circle. I’d gone from being a nine-year-old kid who felt lucky to have seen humpbacks in Hawaii to an adult who had made whale watching into an annual pilgrimage.

Whale Watching, Responsibly

I’m still learning about the ecological impact of whale watching, but it’s clear that the noise pollution generated by boats can interfere with the ability of whales and other cetaceans to hunt and communicate. While many modern vessels claim to dampen the noise they generate, not everyone buys it, with some accusing whale watching companies of greenwashing. It seems the most responsible observation, then, is done from shore – ideally with a good pair of binoculars. At a minimum, if you join a whale watching tour, try to partner with a company mindful of its environmental impact, or with one that features tours led by a marine biologist, like Whale Research EcoExcursions.

Nevertheless, I’d argue that the benefit of seeing these creatures offers intrinsic value, particularly as human action harms them. This past year, I was heartbroken to read that at least 80 migratory gray whales starved to death off the coast of Baja, California, on account of disruptions to their Arctic feeding grounds. The same researchers also observed fewer calves being born, as well as a much higher frequency of emaciated adults. I firmly believe that if more people had the opportunity to observe animals in their natural habitats, understood the essential ecological role every species plays, and recognized how climate change harms them, collective movements would unite to end this madness. (As always, it’s worth pointing out that stopping the destruction of the biosphere is already technologically feasible – what’s lacking is political power.)

Although the nine-year-old whale fanatic in me hates reading about gray whale starvation, the realist in me understands that doing so is essential. You can’t stop something you don’t care about, nor can you end something you don’t understand. In the years ahead, we’ll all need to channel both our inner child and our realist adult to foster meaningful change.

A Candle in the Dark

When I’m feeling nihilistic, it helps to remind myself of the wonders we share the planet with. Humpback whales that sing ethereal songs in the cerulean depths. Orca pods that have distinct cultures. Gray whales, like Creamsicle, that embark on 10,000-mile migrations across the sea. It’s hard not to be blown away seeing these animals in the wild, because even from a distance, their intelligence shines like a beacon. I believe the world would be a gentler place if more people went whale watching, but beauty is everywhere – and not limited to marine mammals – if you know how to look.

Earlier this year, my partner and I decided to spruce up our garden. While we couldn’t bring the tropical coral reefs of Hawaii to Atlanta, we did add zinnias, sunflowers, and several other plants to our small backyard. We now share the space with pollinators. Lots of them.

Fluttering hummingbirds now zip from bloom to bloom, fuzzy bumblebees somersault through bushes, and majestic butterflies spend entire afternoons probing for nectar. The world might often feel overwhelming, but I can still stand at my window and observe an entire playground of nature. So these days, I put my ear to the ground, listening for where I can make the most meaningful impact, while appreciating the other forms of life that are my neighbors. And, of course, by taking advantage of every opportunity that lets me see more whales.

An eastern tiger swallowtail in my backyard. (2025)

If you’re also feeling overwhelmed at this moment, look for whales. Plant flowers. And understand that this world is still worth fighting for.

While I have many role models, I find myself increasingly turning to the wisdom of Carl Sagan. From showcasing the wonders of the universe in Cosmos to providing us with eerily prescient warnings in The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, his words will always be both comforting and enlightening.

He says it best in Pale Blue Dot:

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

A photo of Earth taken by Voyager 1 in 1990, 3.7 billion miles from the Sun. (NASA)

1: In this essay, anglicized spellings such as “Hawaii” are used due to font limitations. In proper Hawaiian, these words include the ʻokina (ʻ) and kahakō (macron), which reflect the language’s pronunciation and meaning more accurately — e.g., “Hawai‘i” and “ʻaumākua.”

September 29, 2025
We Need to Build Viable, Third-Party Alternatives to the Corporate Duopoly

American democracy” has always been more myth than reality. The Founders were notoriously afraid of the masses and created systems like the Senate and the Electoral College to constrain their power. These systems have hardly evolved in the last couple of centuries, with some arguing that if the United States were to apply for entrance into the European Union today, the European Court of Justice would deny the application on the basis of these institutions.

Thought experiments aside, look no further than the 2024 presidential election to witness the embodiment of everything wrong with American politics. President Joe Biden, who promised donors that “Nothing will fundamentally change” in 2019, is now working to convince Americans that only he can lead us into the bright future of tomorrow. Despite historic levels of unpopularity, uncertainty surrounding his mental capability, and growing concerns from even the most loyal of pundits, the Party has decided to fully embrace Biden while doing everything in its power to ostracize the few competitors who’ve dared question him.

Then there’s Donald Trump, the former president who now has criminal charges against him on account of hush money payments to a porn star. From funding a genocidal war in Yemen to claiming that Democrats want to change the name of Pennsylvania, his policies and positions have ranged from the inhumane to the idiotic. While it’s fun to see a modicum of accountability come out of his recent legal troubles, hush money payments are the smallest of his crimes.

The two candidates, their policies, and the parties they represent showcase a grim reality, particularly as they remain united in funding the ongoing genocide in Gaza, despite majority support for a ceasefire.

The past several years have made it clear that pressure from within the current framework won’t give us anything more than empty promises. Instead, we need to support well-organized grassroots movements to create real and lasting electoral change.

Is Three a Crowd?

Far from just offering the option for a protest vote, third parties have a richer history in the United States than many Americans realize. In 1920, Eugene V. Debs received one million votes as a Socialist candidate in the presidential election. Notably, Debs was imprisoned at the time on account of an anti-war speech he gave a couple of years prior. Nevertheless, his message resonated with enough people to garner 3.4% of the popular vote.

Before that, the 19th century, as a whole, was full of third parties, many of which sprang up to support specific political positions. The Greenback Party, for example, championed the antitrust movement and sent fifteen people to Congress in 1878. Similarly, the Free Soil Party formed to stop the spread of slavery to the Western territories in the 1840s. While many of these parties dissipated shortly after their conception, their impact and legacy remain.

That said, structural barriers have always existed and remain today. Most notably, the U.S. political system operates with a winner-takes-all mentality, meaning that unless a candidate wins an outright majority of votes, they win nothing with regard to representation. This framework has led liberals, in particular, to decry third-party challengers as spoiler candidates.

Similar barriers extend to third-party ballot access. For example, despite running on a platform that features Medicare for All, a Ceasefire in Gaza, and numerous other popular positions, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has had to overcome various bureaucratic and financial barriers to even appear on state ballots in this election. Having survived many of these obstacles, Stein (and other third party candidates) are now up against a well-oiled machine – one that has the resources to hire a “Third Party Project Manager” to allegedly infiltrate and hamper third-party efficacy.

Multi-Partyism and Proportional Representation

Like many aspects of the United States, our notoriously corrupt duopoly is unique among advanced democracies. Most feature multi-party systems that force political parties to work together. Building coalitions, allocating cabinet positions, and receiving endorsements from other players are all requirements for getting into office. A centrist leader, for example, may need to concede to left positions on labor and healthcare if they hope to receive sufficient support. Such a system encourages progress through camaraderie while discouraging polarization.

Proportional representation is another element common in other governments. In such systems, multiple representatives are elected from each district, proportional to the percentage of votes the party receives. This gives smaller political parties the ability to challenge larger ones during election season, putting them in positions to influence policy once elected.

Both multi-partyism and proportional representation contrast sharply with the U.S. duopoly, where voters often end up having to choose between a corrupt Democrat and a corrupt Republican. Besides preventing even modest pieces of legislation from passing, our system has led to record-low levels of faith in elected officials. Is it really surprising that “outside” candidates like Donald Trump (who ironically is one of the most corrupt politicians of all time) have, therefore, been able to garner so much support?

Reject the Binary

There’s a level of complacency palpable among most politicians these days. While Americans live paycheck to paycheck, watch the planet burn, and ask why we need to choose between two horrible presidential candidates, politicians smugly tell us to “Get over it.” When Americans question the moral implications of our taxpayer dollars going towards genocide, we’re told that the situation is more complex than we realize. Time and time again, politicians respond to genuine concerns with smugness and disdain, while begging people to continue supporting them (financially, above anything else). Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking these people care enough to get us out of these disasters. After all, they’re the ones who’ve brought us into them!

To create an actual democracy, we need to be clear on the many flaws of our current system. There shouldn’t be parts of the country without representation in the U.S. government. Candidates shouldn’t need to spend an average of two billion dollars to be president. Lobbying groups and wealthy individuals shouldn’t have undue influence over the system. And Americans should understand that other countries don’t operate with a broken binary political system, and we shouldn’t need to either.

I try not to judge people for how they vote, as it should only comprise a small part of civic duty. In addition to visiting a voting booth every couple of years, we need to work to overhaul our electoral systems. Proportional representation is something worth fighting for, as is expanding the power of third parties. Whether it means phone banking for an Independent or Green candidate or joining a local organization like the DSA, there are many things to be done in the short-term. Long term, our mission needs to involve ending the role money plays in politics and reforming our governmental institutions on a foundational level.

No easy task, to be sure. But if there’s one thing these past few years have shown, it’s that we need grassroots activism to get us out of this mess. Those at the top certainly aren’t interested in doing it for us.

June 7, 2024
Writer Beware: Avoid the Content Mill

Like many other freelance writers, I stumbled into the industry somewhat by accident. Before COVID-19, I had been living a cushy life abroad, basking in the satisfaction of not having to update my LinkedIn. But with the start of the pandemic, I fled back home and found myself confronted with the reality of needing to find a job.

I spent the first half of 2020 searching, applying to everything from marketing positions to openings at local coffee shops and bookstores. Whether because of the pandemic, a lack of tangible experience, or the general state of the U.S. job market, I struggled to land anything concrete.

But on a random spring day, a chance conversation with a friend led me to apply for a job I’d never before considered—a freelance content writing position. My friend who worked there explained that the company always had a lot of work to offer and that as long as you hustled, you could make some decent money.

I applied, got accepted, and began supporting myself like half of all Americans do—by freelancing. Over time, my new writing job became my sole source of income, my mental health started to stagger, and I found myself in the grips of a trap shared by many. I was working for an exploitative content mill.

Content Mills 101

To new writers or anyone outside the industry, a content mill is a company that employs scores of freelance workers to add SEO, or search engine optimization, value to a website.

If Bobby’s Sweet Treats wants to attract more online traffic, it can turn to a content mill for help. The content mill will use its writers to craft SEO-optimized web copy and blog posts to satisfy Google’s algorithm. When done correctly, the Bobby’s Sweet Treats website will then show up at the top of search results.

While it may sound harmless, SEO is often the bane of internet users as it creates redundant and unnecessarily lengthy content. If you’ve ever read a guide or listicle that you feel like you’ve seen ten times before, it’s because you probably have.

In terms of profit margins and business strategy, however, content mills are genius. They’re able to satisfy clients while outsourcing their work and keeping overhead costs low. Unfortunately, the hoards of freelancers they employ often see very little of the company’s success.

The Red Pill Realization

Alyssa Cokinis, a freelance writer and theater artist, has a story that mirrors mine. Due to COVID-19, she found herself looking for a job and wound up working for a content mill.

“When I first discovered the content mill I worked at, I appreciated the diversity of topics and the general flexibility,” Alyssa says. “I could work whenever and wherever I wanted. It was a great way to supplement my income, as I was working another freelance gig and had been laid off from my more permanent position due to COVID-19.”

After a time, however, the magic began to wear off. Alyssa, like most freelance workers, realized that she was working for peanuts. With that realization, the veneer of excitement and opportunity started to crack.

“My feelings towards the content mill changed quicker than I anticipated. A freelance writer friend of mine who regularly pitches and writes for publications expressed concern at how low the rates were. That was red flag number one. Then, my mental health and concentration began to wane with each article I wrote because I would only get around $30/1000 words.”

Before she could fully understand what was happening, Alyssa found herself needing an escape.

“When you’re churning out content and you have to survive in this world, 3 cents/word is not sustainable, nor is working without any benefits,” she says. “Eventually, I had to get out and look for an hourly job just to get a regular income and not destroy my love of writing.”

While different experts offer different advice, a general freelancing rule is to avoid taking work that pays less than 20 cents/word. Alyssa’s content mill offered 3 cents/word, and while that’s undoubtedly low, it’s still far from the bottom of the barrel.

On ProBlogger and other freelance job boards, it’s not uncommon to find content mills offering writers a set rate of $10/article, no matter the length. What’s most disheartening is that people take those jobs out of desperation, allowing those companies to continue their exploitative practices.

Making Lemons out of Lemonade

While content mills might try their best to take advantage of hungry freelancers, some manage to make the most of them—at least for a time. Kiki Dy is one such writer. Although she has bylines in Fodors, Psychedelic Spotlight, the Pheonix, and other publications, she continued to work for her old content mill until recently.

“I used to begin my work days by warming up with an hour of QC work for my old content mill,” Kiki tells me. “It was mindless, straightforward, and even a bit relaxing—until they did the classic content mill maneuver and became even more of micromanaging jerks.”

Kiki had the strength to withstand and even make the most of an exploitative work relationship. But after a while, the company culture coupled with unreasonable demands became too much.

“Between their infantile emoji use and corny mantras like ‘we’re a family,’ my content mill was run by a bunch of passive-aggressive people who really didn’t know anything about the craft of web copy and certainly didn’t know how much to pay us. They spoke to us like babies, would make suggestions that made the content worse, and, once they installed software that let them know how much time each writer was spending on each assignment, I decided it was no longer worth it, even for the mindless money.”

While she managed to turn a toxic work environment into a positive one for a while, Kiki eventually decided that it was time to leave that part of her career behind. After all, “mindless money” isn’t hard to make, and it should never come from a source that adds unnecessary stress to your life.

Content Mills: An Unnecessary Evil

Working for a content mill can be a solid way to make money in the short term, especially if other job opportunities are few and far between. That said, relying on them for too long can put you on a fast track to a mental health crisis.

Content mills rob you of your ability to pursue other writing opportunities and force you to prioritize quantity over quality. They advertise themselves as career stepping stones, but most writers who work for them end up feeling stuck. My advice? Avoid them altogether and instead, use resources like Write Jobs Plus+.

Times will be tough—especially if you don’t have another source of income and you’re trying to launch your career. But once you finally make it over the initial hump and find a client that meets your standards, you’ll thank yourself for not settling for less than you’re worth.

May 21, 2023
The Chinese People Are Pushing Back Against Authoritarianism. They Deserve Our Support.

Over the past several days, images and videos have come out of different parts of China showing what happens when you push people to their limits. Undeterred by censorship, the threat of arbitrary arrest and detention, and a host of other possible consequences, thousands of people marched through the streets of different cities to protest zero-COVID restrictions. With chants of “Freedom, freedom, freedom (自由，自由，自由),” “Fuck you, health code (操你妈，健康码),” and “Step down [Chinese Community Party] (戏台),” the protests provide some insight into the frustrations that many have begun to feel towards the government.

It’s difficult to express how significant these protests are. While distance and intense censorship make supporting those protesting a challenge, drawing international attention to what’s happening and offering our solidarity is the least we can do.

Rising Tensions

China has kept its zero-COVID policy going for almost three years. While other countries like the United States have made living with COVID their official policy (with admittedly mixed results), China has held onto the idea of containing outbreaks before they can spread. Early on, this made sense, and while the draconian tactics employed were extreme, China did largely succeed in keeping COVID cases down, despite having the largest population in the world. However, as variants have become weaker yet more transmissible, numbers have climbed despite the measures, causing resentment to grow with them.

Reported COVID-19 cases in China, according to worldometers.info.

In late March and April of this year, an outbreak in Shanghai caused the government to lock down several districts of the city. Residents were ordered to stay in their homes and weren’t allowed to leave for any reason, including to buy essentials. Many citizens experienced food shortages, while people who tested positive (including children) were taken to isolation centers. While this past spring represented a low point for public sentiment toward the restrictions, resentment has boiled over again in recent weeks in cities like Guangzhou and Beijing.

Far from acknowledging this resentment, the government has doubled down on zero-COVID, further tightening restrictions in several cities as cases rise once again. In a government meeting earlier this month, Xi Jinping clarified that China will “unswervingly adhere” to its current policy.

The Powder Keg Blows

On Thursday, November 24th, a fire broke out on the 15th floor of an apartment building in Urumqi, the capital city of China’s Xinjiang province. As the blaze spread to other floors, state media reported that it killed ten people, but local reports claim that as many as 40 people died. Images and videos appear to show locked fire exits and other barriers preventing people from vacating the building, exacerbating the severity of the crisis. At the same time, fire trucks were unable to get close enough to the building to extinguish the blaze, as fences and other obstructions had kept residents on a strict lockdown for months.

Fire trucks unable to reach the blaze in Urumqi.

Xinjiang (pronounced Shin-jaang) is often in the news as it’s home to the Uyghur people, a Chinese ethnic minority. Uyghurs are culturally different from the Han majority, being primarily Muslim and speaking a Turkic language. Far from embracing this multiculturalism, the Chinese government has committed widespread human rights abuses against Uyghurs since separatist movements led to conflict in Xinjiang decades ago. Reports and testimonies indicate that the government has detained around one million Uyghurs in internment camps. They also point to other crimes, including slave labor, torture, separation of children from their parents, enforced sterilization, and disappearances.

Xinjiang, China’s northwesternmost province.

On a personal level, I met an incredible Uyghur woman in Shanghai who has since managed to emigrate out of China. She told me that her dad works as a university professor and that he often has to stay in the dormitories for weeks at a time while students’ parents are at reeducation camps. She also said that her mom was arrested once in the middle of the night during a random raid and taken in for questioning.

After my friend decided to move to another city in China, police and party officials interrogated her weekly to test her loyalty and assess whether she was a threat. Likewise, a camera was also installed outside of her apartment door to monitor her, while her dream job of working with a foreign company fell through when someone spread rumors that she was a terrorist. To say that she’s had a difficult life would be an understatement. Sadly, her story and experiences seem to be representative of what many Uyghurs, particularly those unable to leave Xinjiang, go through.

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese government works hard to ensure that these sorts of stories and reports don’t make it out of Xinjiang. But while many Chinese might not be aware of what’s happening in the province, zero-COVID policies leading to deteriorating social conditions and unnecessary deaths are things they can understand clearly.

What the Protests Look Like

Since the fire broke out, protests and vigils have taken place in Urumqi, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, and presumably other cities and universities across the country. While some of the participants are there to commemorate those that died in the fire, others are going further, criticizing zero-COVID and the government, in general. In a society that doesn’t allow any form of political dissidence, this is remarkable.

Crowds of people protesting at Urumqi Road, Shanghai.

In Shanghai, thousands gathered at Urumqi Road, just a couple of blocks away from where I lived. From ending censorship and holding those responsible for the Urumqi disaster accountable to demanding an end to dictatorships and Xi Jinping’s rule, the protests are of a magnitude that China hasn’t seen for decades. Some also sang revolutionary songs, including the Chinese National Anthem, “March of the Volunteers,” which goes as follows:

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!

With our flesh and blood, let us build a new Great Wall!

As China faces its greatest peril

From each one the urgent call to action comes forth.

Arise! Arise! Arise!

Millions of but one heart

Braving the enemies’ fire! March on!

Braving the enemies’ fire! March on!

March on! March, march on!

(起来！不愿做奴隶的人们！

把我们的血肉，筑成我们新的长城！

中华民族到了最危险的时候，

每个人被迫着发出最后的吼声。

起来！起来！起来！

我们万众一心，

冒着敌人的炮火，前进！

冒着敌人的炮火，前进！

前进！前进！进!)

While the protests have been peaceful, the state’s response to them hasn’t. In Shanghai, one video posted on social media shows police beating and dragging a protester away, while crowds of people try to save him. Another video posted on WeChat shows an officer striking a female protester across the face as she’s detained on a police bus while yelling “I just can’t stand the people [I serve] (我只是看不惯你们这些人民群众).”

Universities in Nanjing and other cities have begun to preemptively close in an effort to keep the protests from growing. Many in power fear that the current momentum will lead to another 1989 incident, which culminated in the student-led Tiananmen Square protest and led to the death of hundreds, if not thousands. As the current movement appears to be gaining momentum, the state’s crackdown on it will continue to increase.

Knowledge Is Power

China is something of an enigma to many Americans, with Western media often painting it as a horrific place. While censorship, arbitrary detainment, and outright genocide showcase how inhumanely politicians can behave, it’s essential to distinguish between a country’s government and its people. In the three years I lived in China, I found the people to be some of the warmest and most welcoming in the world. They, like all ordinary people, desire the same basic things: health, happiness, and security for their loved ones.

When COVID-19 first broke out, the Chinese government arrested doctors who tried to bring attention to the crisis. The death of one of those doctors, Dr. Li Wenliang, galvanized people, causing them to begin demanding answers on Weibo, a Chinese platform similar to Twitter. On February 6th, 2020, after questioning what happened to Dr. Li, “Freedom of Speech (言论自由)” began to trend as well. While the government blocked the hashtag later that morning, there’s a powerful takeaway from that moment. While we can’t underestimate the lengths the Chinese government will take to hold onto power, we also can’t discount the rightful anger that the people feel and are capable of expressing.

Protesters holding white papers to symbolize an end to censorship in Beijing.

We have a tendency to not concern ourselves with what goes on in other parts of the world. From distant wars and famine to climate disasters and elections, it’s easy to forget that what we watch on the news involves human lives, and ultimately, our own as well. In this case, I fear that while much of the world may learn about what’s happening in the streets of Shanghai and other Chinese cities, international action may not follow.

You won’t find a GoFundMe you can donate to, nor do I think there’ll ever be a trendy graphic you can add to your profile picture to show support à la the French flags that took over Facebook in 2015. But understanding what’s happening in China is the first step to helping change take place. This past August, after years of campaigning by human rights groups, the United Nations issued a report condemning China’s actions in Xinjiang. While that doesn’t magically resolve things, it does add fuel to the push to end the crimes against humanity taking place.

Vigils have begun popping up for the victims of the Urumqi fire in New York, Tokyo, Paris, and other cities around the world. Short of attending one of these events in your area, staying informed and helping those around you understand what’s happening are the next best things you can do. Right now, the Chinese people need our unconditional support. As with any group pushing back against injustice, offering our support in the ways we can is the least we can do.

November 27, 2022
The Shameful History of U.S Relations with Haiti

As is the norm in the modern-day news cycle, there have been many unsettling images floating around as of late. From chaos in Afghanistan to wildfires tearing across the world, it’s easy to become numb to the events happening around us. However, if there’s one image that should stand out in everyone’s mind, it’s U.S. Border Patrol agents chasing Haitian migrants around on horses.

What makes this scene so unsettling isn’t the complete lack of empathy shown towards people escaping unimaginable horrors. Nor is it the depressing reality that the southern border is becoming increasingly militarized—often in ways that violate basic human rights.

It’s the fact that the actions of the United States have led to the dire situation in Haiti today. And instead of accepting that and helping the men, women, and children in need of desperate and immediate assistance, the U.S. continues to treat them as inhumanely as possible.

The history of Haiti is full of tragedy, but it’s also full of hope. Through understanding it, it becomes clear that the U.S. shouldn’t just help the Haitian people. It owes them its support.

Colonial Origins

Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive on Hispaniola, the island that contains the present-day countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Upon arrival, he found a region occupied by advanced and complex native societies—societies which he, and others, quickly began to dismantle.

Through this destruction, Hispaniola became one of the first Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. During the 16th century, it even served as a staging point for expeditions to Mexico and other parts of the Americas.

Within a few decades, warfare, enslavement, and disease had killed nearly all native Taino people. This forced the Spanish to turn to a new labor source: African slaves. The first enslaved people reached the Americas via Hispaniola in 1502. The Atlantic slave trade would continue for hundreds of years after, condemning millions of people to a life in chains.

French Occupation

Towards the latter half of the 17th century, Spanish power and influence in the Americas began to wane. As other European forces began to grow stronger, Spain chose to relinquish part of Hispaniola to France. In 1659, the French founded the colony of Sainte-Domingue on the west side of the island.

Over the next century, the French colony became extraordinarily rich. Slave labor supplied European countries with coffee and sugar—delicacies that they couldn’t get enough of. By the end of the 18th century, around 500-700,000 slaves toiled away on French plantations.

Slave rebellions had occurred throughout the 18th century, but it wasn’t until the French Revolution began in 1789 that slaves and free people of color launched the Haitian Revolution. More than a decade later in 1804, they finally achieved victory. They chose to name their new country Haiti, which meant mountainous in the indigenous language.

Post-Colonial Legacy

Unsurprisingly, the early years were difficult for the newly independent island nation. Internal strife threatened to tear the republic apart, and conflicts with the neighboring Dominican Republic persisted until the 1870s. On top of this domestic turmoil, the rest of the world continued to eye the riches of Haiti. To access them, they began vying for control over the country.

Through marriages, public development, and high-interest loans, Germany managed to gain an influential hold over Haiti in the late 19th century. Soon after, it began trying to exert influence over the rest of the Caribbean.

These power grabs angered the United States, which saw German influence as a threat to its economic activity in the Western Hemisphere. To protect American businesses, the U.S. bought out the Haitian national bank, then transferred the country’s gold reserves to the banks of American investors. To further protect its financial interests, the U.S. also helped Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam become president in 1915.

Sam, an army commander, quickly became a dictator, executing hundreds of political prisoners. His actions enraged the Haitian people, and in July of 1915, a mob rose in revolt. Despite seeking refuge in the French embassy, the rebels broke in and killed him.

This incident served as the excuse the U.S. needed to take a more direct role in the island nation’s affairs.

20th-Century Imperialism

On July 25th, 1915, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent 330 marines to seize control of Port-au-Prince. He also took measures to rewrite the Constitution in a way that protected U.S. financial control over the island.

In response, several Haitian groups rose in revolt, plunging Haiti into a period known as the Caco Wars (Caco being the peasant militia that composed the majority of the rebellious bands). The skirmishes and battles the U.S. occupation brought to the island didn’t end until 1934, when the marines left.

In September of 1915, the U.S. created the Haitian-American Convention. This treaty gave the United States complete control over the security and economic wellbeing of the island. It also provided the U.S. government with veto power over all parts of the Haitian government, effectively converting the country into an American puppet.

Six weeks after the start of the occupation, U.S. forces also seized control of Haiti’s banks and treasuries. To further protect its economic interests, the U.S. mandated that 40% of Haiti’s national income went to repay American and French debts. This direct control over Haitian finances continued until 1947.

Recent Developments

Despite occurring less than a century ago, it’s tempting to sweep these atrocities under the rug and classify them as ancient history. Unfortunately, U.S. destabilization efforts have continued to this day.

At the height of the Red Scare, the U.S. threw itself into two major conflicts: the Korean War in the early 1950s and the Vietnam War a decade later. However, in an effort to stop the spread of communism, the U.S. secretly funded anti-communist parties in dozens of countries, triggering coups and violent revolutions in countries as far apart as Chile and Iran. Haiti wasn’t spared.

In 1957, the U.S. chose to support a Haitian dictator: Francois Duvalier. He and his son ruled Haiti with a solid anti-communist stance until the 1990s, when uprisings ended their rule. Haiti then elected a democratic leader, Jean Bertrand-Aristide, but less than a year later, a coup toppled the newly-elected leader’s government. Unsurprisingly, leaders and insurgents received funding from the CIA.

In 2001, Aristide came to power once again, but soon after, another coup forced him out of office. After that, in 2010, the Obama Administration pressured a popular presidential candidate, Jude Celestin, to withdraw from the Haitian national election.

Since then, earthquakes and other natural disasters have further battered Haiti. In August of this year, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the country, killing thousands and causing over $1 billion in damage. That, along with another suspicious coup that occurred in July, caused the latest “migrant crisis.”

The Viral Moment

While the U.S. government may have been able to get away with atrocities in the past, times have changed. Today, modern technology makes it easier than ever to showcase horrors that would previously have occurred in secret, especially those happening inside the country. Anyone with a television or smartphone can now see how the United States treats people fleeing the devastation it has caused.

It wasn’t all horses, however—many asylum-seeking Haitians also received a warm verbal welcome:

“¡Vete a México!”

“Hey! You use your women? This is why your country is shit, because you use your women for this.”

In a video put out by Al Jazeera, a migrant named Nicolas explains that many migrants are trying to carry food, sanitary supplies, and medicine from Mexico to their families on the U.S. side of the border. He explains that they have absolutely nothing. He and the reporter also discuss how the U.S. is sending planes full of asylum-seekers back to Haiti. Nicolas explains:

“What kills me about that is that everyone knows what we Haitians are going through. There’s no president. Crime is high. Students can’t go to school. There’s no work. The economy is down. People can’t put up with that.”

Would anyone be able to?

Two Parties, One Approach

If the 45th president of the United States was famous (or infamous) for anything, it was his harsh stance on immigration.

In 2018, the Trump Administration began the policy of separating children from their parents. In total, 4,368 children were taken and held in cages. There were no adult caretakers present, little to no nutritious food offered, and no opportunity to get clean clothes or bathe.

In March of last year, the Trump Administration passed Title 42, a law that allows the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs to turn away people who pose a “health risk.” While that might sound like a fair call to make during a pandemic, immigrant rights groups have explained that Title 42 is nothing more than another attempt to block land entry for migrants. Health officials have also spoken out against it, clarifying that migrants are in no way driving a COVID-19 surge.

When these sorts of news stories broke (as they did quite often), Democratic leadership was rightfully losing its mind, as were human rights groups across the country and the world. Throughout 2020, Joe Biden and other presidential candidates spoke about how inhumane the Trump Administration’s immigration policy was and promised to go in a different direction once in office.

So you can imagine the horror felt by human rights groups worldwide when the Biden Administration didn’t end Title 42. To this day, they continue to use it to expel migrants at a faster rate than the Trump Administration ever did. So much for open borders.

Likewise, child jail cells have become “migrant facilities for children.” No matter how many disturbing photos find their way out of these centers, the Biden Administration continues to claim (with a straight face) that they care about immigrant wellbeing.

The Modern Duopoly

So what gives? How can Democratic politicians claim one thing, then act in a way that completely contradicts what they just said?

It’s because despite what the mainstream media might have you believe, there isn’t much difference between modern Democrats and Republicans. Both support a capitalist system that prioritizes corporate wants over constituent needs. Both seem oblivious to the imminent threat of climate change. And, as the viral videos over the past few weeks show, both continue to support a draconian immigration system that fundamentally contradicts the supposed values of the United States.

While Republican politicians like Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, and Ron DeSantis give press briefings explaining how dirty migrants are bringing COVID, Democratic leadership operates a bit differently. Instead of linking immigrants to diseases and financial ruin, Press Secretary Jen Psaki promises a room full of concerned journalists that the administration will do better and that from this point on, local Border Patrol agents will no longer ride horses. Thank God!

Moments such as these highlight the absurdity of the current political duopoly. While Republican and Democratic politicians may disagree on decorum and surface-level details, their actions show that they’re largely the same. Both parties have a track record of raising a middle finger to Haitians and other immigrants for decades.

What the Haitian People Need

After centuries of foreign meddling, robbery, and outright slaughter, the Haitian migrants at the border deserve so much more than a one-way ticket back home. They deserve the same opportunities that people from other parts of the world have enjoyed for centuries.

At the same time, leaders from the United States (and yes, other nations like Spain and France) need to take a serious look at how their actions have led to the situation in Haiti today. The Haitian people there need immediate assistance, and, as the United States is the wealthiest country on Earth, we can easily provide it to them.

After everything the U.S. has done to the world’s oldest black republic, lending a helping hand is the least we can do.

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October 13, 2021
Circe: A Much-Needed Break from Reality

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been completely engrossed in nonfiction. Despite loving novels as a child, I discovered that I enjoy reading about politics, history, and prominent figures throughout history even more. It’s the best way to learn more about the world and an excellent way to lull yourself to sleep after a long day.

However, recently I’ve been craving a break from reality. Maybe it was from reading too many heavy topics consecutively. Or, perhaps it was from obsessively following the news. Either way, I found myself looking for an escape.

Despite not knowing too much about her story, Circe ended up providing me with just what I needed.

Humble Origins

As you might guess from the title, Circe tells the story of Circe—the daughter of the titan, Helios, and a naiad, Perse. While fans of Homer’s classic might remember her as a powerful enchantress, the start of the book paints Circe in a very different light. Unlike her parents and siblings, she’s not ethereal or powerful—she’s ordinary, unremarkable, and unattractive (at least by the gods’ standards).

Circe’s early life is lonely and challenging, but she begins to dabble in witchcraft as she grows older. Eventually, one of her spells goes wrong, and as punishment, Zeus banishes her to the island of Aiaia. Once there, she begins to hone her witchcraft and transform her island home.

Throughout the book, Circe has run-ins with many famous Greek heroes. She meets Daedalus and King Minos, Jason and his wife Medea, and, perhaps most importantly, Odysseus, King of Ithaca. She also meets several Olympians, most of whom despise her (she is a witchcraft-practicing titan, after all).

Character Development That Doesn’t Feel Phony

One of the reasons Circe feels so realistic as a character is because she’s aware of her limitations. It takes her years to develop her abilities, and even once she does, she accepts that they’re no match for some of the more dangerous beings in the world. That understanding forces her to get creative, and reading through the solutions she devises makes Circe an absolute page-turner.

On top of sharing her world with dangerous beings, Circe also has to contend with the fact that she’s a woman living in a man’s world, no matter how divine she may be. Miller could have used Circe’s gender cheaply as an excuse to sprinkle Hollywood feminism into the novel, but thankfully, she refrains from doing that. She fleshes out an authentic, multi-dimensional female character that feels organic in every way.

We see Circe begin as a quiet child, terrified to speak out against her father and the other figures in her life. We watch her handle the men who arrive on her island, often to do her harm. And by the book’s end, we see her stand up to some of the most powerful characters in the world. Circe’s character arc shows that stories don’t need girl bosses or warrior queens to be compelling feminist tales. Sometimes all it takes is an average character who grows confident and self-assured.

Circe is far from the only female character in the story, however. Miller also shows the reader how other women in the world manage to survive. In this sense, Circe is almost like Game of Thrones or Mad Men. Some female characters rely on their intellect to succeed, while others use their beauty and powers of seduction. Miller doesn’t say which tactic is right or wrong—she simply shows the reader how resourceful women in the past (and women today) have to be to succeed.

Circe: A Story Worthy of the Legends

I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say that Miller manages to tie all the elements of the novel together in a satisfying and thoroughly unpredictable way. By the end of the book, I felt like I had embarked on my own Odyssey—one that took me around the ancient world that I’ve read so much about.

If reading about fierce and relatable witches doesn’t sound enjoyable, you might want to check out some of Miller’s other work. Her first novel, Song of Achilles, tells the love story between Achilles and Patroclus, heroes from the Trojan War. It’s intimate, tragic, and a fantastic modern retelling of a classic tale.

Miller does the same thing in Circe though, and because of that, it’s well worth picking up a copy of the book today.

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September 28, 2021