[James Brancheau]

God, Julie, you get under my skin. You're pretty focused. But, yeah, I use a gender neutral name when I try to publish, too. It was an afterthought, but it's my middle name and prefered it anyway. It gives me a certain amount of freedom.

[Jim Moonan]

Julie: This assumption is precisely why M.A. Griffiths used a gender-neutral handle, and why she participated in online workshops under the unisex moniker "grasshopper."

Let me explain.
You are right about that, I'm sure, but I was not affirming it. I was lamenting it. Virility is not in my lexicon much but it snuck in here. It's perhaps the ugliest sounding word I know.

I was not making an assumption, It was expressing is a fear. A fear for the immediate future. A fear for the returning swing of the pendulum. A fear for never learning from mistakes. A fear of the lure of greed. I fear this phase we are in as a society where everything is being transformed in confluence and fear it could have calamitous effects.

I was spouting. I shouldn't but I sometimes do about things I still don't know enough about to spout. So please pounce. Just don't hurt me : )
Avatar is defined as "an icon or a figure representing a particular person." It allows for a degree of anonymity which is good. But real change comes when people come face to face with each other and with each other's ideas.
I may be spouting again...
x
x

[Julie Steiner]

Oh, sorry, Jim M. I was trying to pounce on it. I'm sorry that I missed and pounced on you. I didn't mean to.

And by it I mean the fact that these assumptions exist. (The idea that you might actually be championing or endorsing those assumptions never crossed my mind. Too out of character for you. Or for your online persona, anyway.)

Maybe I can work my way out from under James B's skin, too? I hope so. I think we're all on the same side.

[James Brancheau]

Just read what came before

[Allen Tice]

Aaron, sorry that I twitted you just above. I hadn’t read all the thoughts on this thread. Now I’ve read most of them. Banksy is better than Dril. A sprung mousetrap is better than Dril, with or without mouse. Yet people, I use the term loosely, read Dril. Why? There must be a better way to eat fudge.

[James Brancheau]

Hahaha, yeah, Julie, we're on the same side, politically anyway. It's true though, not being identifiable as far as gender is concerned is a good thing, whether male or female. Maybe there'll be a sudden spike in Jamies and Adrians. My view of maz is just more unvarnished than yours. Or maybe I'm not seeing everything. I did respect her a whole lot. But that's different from agreeing or disagreeing with someone.

[Aaron Novick]

Now that we've seen it given to Handke, we all agree that it should've gone to @dril instead, right?

[John Riley]

The great thing about Dylan receiving the Nobel is that it’s allowed him to live his last years being chirped about by the same clueless twits who chirped about him at the beginning of his career. He didn’t give a damn then and he doesn’t give a damn now.

[John Isbell]

Handke was a rather weird - what were they thinking? - and rather awful choice.
Dylan was fine IMO but he sure didn't need the Nobel to feel his work was validated in some absolute sense.

Cheers,
John

[Tim McGrath]

How can anyone on this site--especially anyone on this site--not admire Dylan's rhyming skills? Just take a good look at "Tombstone Blues," posted on page 3. Besides being wittier than anything I've read by dril, it employs an AAAB rhyme scheme through 12 solid stanzas, and most of those rhymes--more than 90 percent--are exact. No vowel rhymes or mere assonance for Dylan. As Johnny Cash once said, "He can rhyme the tick of time."