I have a theory that there are several US writers who pretend to be outlandishly woke on social media and in interviews so that the mobs would leave them alone and let them publish whatever they want. Stephen King, Jonathan Franzen, and Elizabeth George come to mind as being in this group. George has been writing very raw, very terrifying stuff about the sainted “immigrant people of color” for years. And nobody touches her when other writers – both more and less famous – have been pilloried for one millionth of what she routinely writes. In her most recent novel, a bunch of completely horrid, barbaric immigrants who can never be integrated into any civilization live in a building called “the Bronte House.” I don’t care if it’s an accident or not but it definitely makes a point.

Stephen King is clearly taking the piss with his woke posturing. Franzen has avoided being demolished for his latest novel through a spate of exaggeratedly woke interviews.

The first week of the semester is always busy. And in the weird situation where classes are moved on- and off-line like a yo-yo, it’s even more hardcore. I need to make sure everybody started working, nobody is confused, nobody thinks we have gotten an extra week of vacation time. Students come in to do placement tests, which is a whole other thing. I get a dozen emails an hour all the way until 11 pm. In short, I’m in paradise.

So yesterday I finally got to bed, grabbed a melatonin gummy, tried to put it in my mouth but conked out in the process, and woke up hours later, still clutching the sad gummy.

Everybody has probably seen it already but it’s so spot-on, I have to post it:

I spent all day moping around with my cold, then checked the news, saw that Glenn Youngkin is getting really amazing shit done on his first day in office as Governor of Virginia and now I’m cured and ready to. . . go do something impressive.

Somebody with an insider position in Illinois politics explained to me recently why Pritzker will be elected again as Governor of Illinois in November, and that’s very disheartening. But at least I’m happy for Virginia.

I caught a cold, so I’m grumpy and ready to list everything that annoys me in life.

I’m really over the people who live in happy heterosexual marriages, raising children and accumulating wealth, posing as “queer” because it’s suddenly fashionable. It’s less aggravating than white ladies in academia posing as “women of color” or even outright “black,” but it’s still annoying as all hell.

I was reminded of this moronic fad when I read the book by Aixa de la Cruz that I reviewed yesterday. The woman is happily married to another writer. Everybody knows that because he’s well-known. They have a kid. And he’s actually her second husband, so it’s not like she’s new to heterosexuality. But she goes on and on about how she’s a lesbian because years ago she “kissed a girl and liked it.” She’s also “a victim of the patriarchy,” even though her husband is actively promoting her work on every corner while she gets published in anthologies of “queer lit.”

What’s with this trend of giving Fitbits or other smartwatches to 4 and 5-year-olds? Half of Klara’s kindergarten class got a smartwatch “from Santa.”

This is a clear case of people manufacturing a costly need that they will have to feed endlessly at a considerable expense. A 4-year-old can’t possibly decide she needs a Fitbit by herself.

This is how much it snowed here in Illinois:

Then it stopped snowing. Then indoor children’s activities were cancelled because “driving is unsafe.” In Illinois, what you see in the photo is now considered unsafe. The driveway is wet but theres no ice, by the way.

How the ancestors of these people managed to populate the continent is a mystery.

I don’t know if this is serious or a parody account but this is the essence of today’s leftism. Nike posted pronouns and fired workers, so it has to be good.

People have been giving up on masks around here. We’ve had an indoor mask mandate since May 2020. There was a short pause in the mandate last spring when people bizarrely assumed against all evidence that vaccines would stop infection and spread. Then it was back to the masks.

Compliance has been complete and enthusiastic. This is a region of deeply introverted rule followers.

But then this month it stopped. Compliance is at about 60% now and it’s dropping. Even that guy at the gas station who freaked out in the Fall because I forgot my mask now is barefaced and stares at me like I’m an idiot for still wearing one.

On a negative note, it’s a very strange feeling to hold a product at the grocery store that’s the same brand, size, weight, etc but costs exactly 20% more than it always did. What have we done, people? What have we done?

That extra money I paid – and you paid and will pay today – has been taken directly out of our pockets by Mr Biden and Co and put into the pockets of the people who organized a massive Soviet-style media campaign that won them the election. By 2024, every single one of us will be poorer. Services available to us will be worse. The quality of our lives will be lower. And the only thing you get in return for this robbery is a feeling of cheap moral superiority.