Russian Trolls Strike US!

Susan DeFpolitical interludeLeave a Comment

This month I published a little zine to my Patreon page entitled “The Illustrated Field Guide to Russian Trolls.” This timing was deliberate, because while the original version of this little tongue-in-cheek piece–which treats Russian trolls as an invasive species here on US soil–was created following the 2016 election, when it became clear that nefarious foreign agents had used a disinformation campaign to discredit Hillary Clinton, I knew that they would once again strike in the 2020 election season, in an attempt to discredit Joe Biden.

Confederate Monuments Are Falling, and the White Man In the Sky Has Finally Come Down

Susan DeFClimate, political interlude, PublicationsLeave a Comment

Y’all, something AMAZING happened last week: the statue of John C. Calhoun in downtown Charleston, SC–where my husband is from, and where we lived from 2016 to 2018–was taken down, in recognition of its racist history. As my brother-in-law recently explained it online, “Calhoun was a pro-slavery White supremacist, who also had a career as a politician. He was the … Read More

A Little Bird Told Me

Susan DeFClimate, poetry, political interlude, Protest PoemsLeave a Comment

Like over a million Americans this weekend, I attended a March for Our Lives rally, protesting gun violence in America and calling on our elected officials for stricter gun laws. And while it’s true that I have been involved in activism of some sort since my undergraduate years (like the characters in my novel Hot Season), I do not enjoy … Read More

MLK Day 2018: On Showing Up

Susan DeFpolitical interludeLeave a Comment

After church yesterday, at Pastor Rutledge’s urging, I read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”—a justly famous missive, which makes the case for nonviolent direct action and calls out those who condemn it as a tactic. MLK said he was disappointed most by white moderates, stating, “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling … Read More