Officially disguised as a Canadian
The coronavirus has taken over. South Africa has been locked down for three weeks. Canada is under self-isolation orders. I read somewhere that there are something like a billion people staying at home, like you’re supposed to when trying to reduce the global pandemic of a bug more virulent than the flu. Italy is levellingContinue reading Nothing has changed; everything has changed
In 1987, a new file format was released by CompuServe, the Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF for short. While the format has been surpassed by better compression algorithms with no loss in quality (for example, PNG), GIF files made a comeback because they support animation. Animated GIFs are the bread and butter of modern informalContinue reading Gender pronouns and the pronunciation of the word “GIF”
On 19 June 2018, I wrote on Twitter that I was available for hire. So … uh … I’m available for hire — Randolph West ⚧ (@_randolph_west) June 20, 2018 The economy in Calgary, where we live, was going through a slump. My regular customers in the energy sector weren’t doing the consultant thing, andContinue reading Thank you from the bottom of my heart
One thing I’ve been saying for many years, even as a young twink, was that if you have any questions about queer stuff, just ask. I’ve answered a lot of questions over the years, and wrote about some of them in a chapter in a book last year. Increasingly I’m finding myself answering questions onContinue reading Just ask
His nickname was Peanut, and that night, in the rain, I feared for my life while an 18-year-old boy tried to assert his masculinity over me by threatening to kill me. I was a year older than him (on account of spending a year at another college before transferring), and I remember thinking that IContinue reading I’m going to rip your heart out
This is like a Five Things post but I may do more or less than five so let’s see how it goes. Social GD media I disabled my main Twitter account again because honestly it’s just becoming the crutch that Facebook was. I’ve set a reminder to reactivate shortly before the 30-day expiration, but we’llContinue reading hello yes im still here
The Internet has a long memory and my blog is 17 years old. That said, my website has been around in various forms for over 23 years so it’s not like I don’t have a wealth of content to be embarrassed by. Reading old posts has reminded me, often in excruciating detail, of who IContinue reading Thoughts and considerations about what I’m doing with my life
(I’m blaming Jason for this.) 1. Kondo Living There’s a Netflix show I haven’t yet seen about a certain Marie Kondo, who cleans your house by saying if something doesn’t spark joy, you should get rid of it. Folks were happy with her getting rid of shoes, but apparently there was a stink when sheContinue reading Five things
My brother works in selling things. From being a copywriter to a creative director, he’s sold a number of things. He’s won awards for selling things. That’s literally his jam. (He does not work for Gillette.) Gillette, and Nike before them, has recently come to realize that their advertising has power to create change forContinue reading Gillette, Nike, and social justice
Car accidents, I’ve had a few… In what must have been 1997, because the song Barbie Girl was released that year (it was how I referred to my best friend’s girlfriend), I was in a car accident. Barbie’s family had a house next to a lake outside of Johannesburg, and we were going to driveContinue reading In which Randolph sustains a concussion and whiplash at the same time