I have done a lot of things I regret over the course of my literary career (if it can be called that), and this page exists so that
- I can remind myself of what I did that was wrong for the purpose of being a better person in the future
- I can hopefully show others that this behavior is wrong, so that others might see this and decide not to engage in it
This page does not exist to excuse my behavior or to demand that anyone overlook it on account of this page existing.
Please be warned before proceeding that I will be discussing racist behavior, as well as the 2016 election.
Racial Fetishization
In an issue of a journal of micropoetry called Nibble that appeared in 2010, I had a poem under my dead name called “like film the night” that fetishized East Asian people. A poetry journal should be a place where everyone feels welcome, where no one believes they are going to open it up and see something that objectifies them. I wish I could say I had never contributed to a hostile environment for other marginalized people in the past, but I did, and I’m sorry.
Appropriation of AAVE and Black Culture
In Gargoyle #57, released in 2011, I had a poem under my dead name called “Jasper Owen Interview” that was essentially blackface, revolving around a recorded interview with a jazz singer who spoke in marked AAVE, with parts of the “tape” damaged. This poem ended up being mentioned in a review of the issue in Newpages, meaning I advanced my own poetic career on the backs of Black people.
2016 Manning/Obama Article
In 2016 I wrote an article highly critical of the Obama Administration’s military policy toward transgender people. Since it did not apply to military prisoners such as Chelsea Manning, it seemed to me that they were creating a system where trans people’s genders were only respected if we followed all the rules, whereas cis people’s genders are always respected.
Then I apologized for it on this page (you can find the apology on the Wayback Machine), on the basis that I should have just been quiet because of Trump. That was wrong of me. I should never have apologized for that. Chelsea Manning is a hero and I’m glad to have called out the way they were mistreating her and, by extension, all trans women.