The quotation in the subject line of today’s email was often said by Madeline Davis. As a Canadian, I didn’t know much about who she was until I read a more in-depth article about her by my colleague, Jeffry J. Iovannone about her influence on the Queer History of Buffalo.

One thing stood out to me in Jeff’s article that prompted me to invite him on the Think Queerly Podcast for a discussion. He wrote,

“I didn’t have much exposure to LGBTQ history or culture within my formal education. I now see this as an aspect of the oppression LGBTQ…

Jeffry J. Iovannone joins me on this week’s Think Queerly Podcast for an expanded discussion about his latest article titled, “ Madeline Davis’s Queer History of Buffalo.”

In this episode, we discuss,

• An overview of Madeline Davis’ relatively ‘unrecognized’ impact on LGBTQ history and advocacy — possibly because she didn’t live in a large, metropolitan city like New York or San Francisco and chose to remain in Buffalo
• The “metro-normative narrative” of queer existence and history: “essentially the idea that queer people from “country towns” must migrate to large cosmopolitan cities in order to lead fully realized lives free of secrecy and persecution.”
• On…

Do you remember the P.S. I wrote in last week’s newsletter?

“Look for a special email from me early next week. I’m creating a free live webinar training about how to handle negative and destructive emotions.”

The good news is that I will still be delivering the webinar. The training itself is done. The bad news is that there are a few techincal decisions I need to finalize that have put the brakes on things. However, it’s worth taking the time to figure out the best solution for my busienss, so I can offer you more webinars in the future.

…

This episode of the Think Queerly Podcast explores the concepts expressed in today’s article much more deeply.

“If one tries to control people with punishments, cleverness and treachery will surely arise; if one tries to define with names how people should behave, order and consideration will surely be lost; if one tries to encourage people through the use of praise, contention over who should be exalted will surely arise; if one tries to manage people with self-denial, contradictory behavior will surely ensue; and if one tries to act by using eclectic elements, weedy disorder will surely develop.” — Wang Bi

This is a clever commentary from Wang Bi, written around 250 CE, and who is one…

For some time, I was holding back a post, wondering if I should wade into the debate about words and violence. I’m sure you’ve read about events in the news in which someone was accused of inflicting violence upon another person with their words. We need to talk about this issue.

From my perspective, I am not convinced that words — in and of themselves — can be violent. That statement comes from my understanding that violence is physical or forceful in the sense of having a physical manifestation. That could be understood in the following ways:

• The hurricane was…

One of my passions is to inspire LGBTQ+ people to connect with their creative genius and use their unique potential to make an equitable difference in the world.

That passion sparks a flame that burns bright within me, but what’s the opposite of that bright light? The darkness of course, but in the context of doing inspired work, the opposite is boredom, frustration, and procrastination — the death of joy, creativity, and productivity.

Are You Excited and Certain or Bored and Frustrated?

Boredom results in procrastination, which is doing something meaningless to avoid taking action and facing your fears about why you are bored in the first place…

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

The idea that insults, prejudicial or racist language is a form of violence is a highly problematic one that needs to be addressed.

If we change the definition of violence so that the simple use of words could be used to ruin the life of another person, we create a slippery slope with no end towards a permanently polarized world built entirely upon an us vs. them mortal dichotomy.

We need to maintain a clear distinction between violence and its meaning as a physical manifestation of…