Episode 21: Writing Gray New Zealand Writing while traveling challenges me.

I wrote about my recent trip to New Zealand/Aotearoa over at All My Regret - check it out if you like to read about how to transition from vacation brain to writing about vacation brain: vivmit.substack.com/p/episode-21...

View of Lake Quinault

Just finished a week at the Rainforest Writers Village! What a beautiful place, with amazing people! Thanks @patrickswenson.bsky.social for organizing a wonderful week. I spent lots of time writing (4000 words) but also spent a little too much $$ on books and souvenirs!

Wow I love this poem.

Let’s be clear—your rights don’t disappear because of your skin color, your accent, or your citizenship status. The Constitution doesn’t work like that, no matter how bad Republicans want it to. This Supreme Court ruling is dangerous and it’s only taking us backwards.

We Must Not Posthumously Sanitize Charlie Kirk's Hateful Life Influential anti-LGBTQ+ activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday. While condemning violence is something most can get behind, sanitization of his hate has gone too far.

There has been a rush among centrists like Gavin Newsom and Ezra Klein to brush over the hateful life of Charlie Kirk and valorize the man.

Let me be clear, killing Charlie Kirk was wrong and abhorrent.

We must condemn murder without sanitizing a man who built his empire on hate.

My latest piece.

It’s fine to say that violence is never the answer, but I can’t help but observe that for Charlie Kirk violence was always the answer, and it was the only answer he offered, and, because of the privilege that he refused to admit he had, he could enact it from a comfortable and respectable place.

Rest in piss

The time is now. Right now. Time for literally all of us to push back against fascism.

You don't have to and literally can't do EVERYTHING. Don't worry about that!

Just pick the one or two issues/things you know and care about and join the people who are doing practical things to help.

Likewise! Looking forward to staying in touch!

I can’t believe I finally met @tananarivedue.bsky.social yesterday more than five years after being part of her speculative fiction cohort at VONA! It was during COVID so everything was virtual.

Also picked up a copy of her latest, the reformatory!

I've said this before but I sincerely hope Rowling lives a long long time. I want her to live to see that she's failed, that trans ppl have not gone away, that we are loved and cherished and making great art and there is space for us in the world.

Working on a zombie story and I feel like one too…

Episode 18: Ghosts of Sugarland Earlier this summer, my kids and I flew from LA where it was 70ish degrees on an average day to a place where one wakes up to a 90 degree morning.

Up now, Episode 18 of All My Regret about my kids Minecraft camp which is minutes away from the burial ground of 95 unknown black folks who were forced into the convict leasing system in Sugar Land Tx.

open.substack.com/pub/vivmit/p...

Yeah definitely but it’s not without controversy. There was a controversy about whether to exhume the bodies, and then while the decision was pending the ISD did it anyway and then reburied them. And that’s just the first layer.

A sign from Sugarland Tx discussing the remains of 95 African Americans who were leased out to farms while incarcerated.

I’m writing about the juxtaposition of the suburbs of Houston, specifically Sugarland where my parents live. Just minutes from my kids summer camp is this sign and the burial ground. Writing about this is hard but necessary.

I’ve been wanting to write about this for years.

And w/o repercussions (so far). It’s a lot to deal as an immigrant rights attorney. LA is currently a ghost town - the summer is usually a thriving multicultural polyglot experience for all, but basking in the sunshine traded in 4 dark anxious insides of homes and apartments. Gtfo my city ICE.

Here in LA I cannot wrap my head around how atrocious ICE is, to allow gym bros to cover their faces, to arm them, to make them think they are doing something “good” by attacking people just trying to live, and going after indigenous communities and disappearing droves of people w/o accountability

photo of Jaime Alanis

Our hearts are heavy for the grieving family of Jaime Alanis, who died from injuries sustained during a chaotic raid on Thursday.

We will do everything we can to support them. We continue to work with the hundreds of farm worker families navigating the aftermath of this violent raid.

the stories that come out of the ICE camps are going to look like the stories that come out of every camp system; rampant corruption, epidemic disease, physical and sexual abuse on a vast scale, a death rate far higher than normal, and medical abuses.

Did I get into Viable Paradise 2025? Yes, I did. Did I ugly cry so hard that I couldn't make out the words in the email, and then panic because I thought I'd read the email wrong? Definitely not. #VP2025

LA Under Siege, Resistance in My Heart Dear friends,

In the latest issue of All My Regret I write about the ICE occupation of Los Angeles, where I live and how to parent during this unreal time:

open.substack.com/pub/vivmit/p...

Episode 16: TT and Road Trips with Mamaji Growing up, I anticipated trips to India like nothing else.

I wrote about my uncle (Mamaji) who taught me how to play Table Tennis and with whom we cross crossed India on Bollywood fueled roadtrips in the latest episode of All My Regret:

open.substack.com/pub/vivmit/p...

My latest at All My Regret. I talk about depression and its impact on relationships

open.substack.com/pub/vivmit/p...

‘I am a political prisoner’: Mahmoud Khalil says he’s being targeted for political beliefs Exclusive: Palestinian activist and green card holder speaks out from Louisiana detention for first time

"I am a political prisoner," Mahmoud Khalil says in his first statement since being detained
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests, his lawyer says A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead last spring's protests at Columbia University has been arrested by federal immigration agents.

Mahmoud Khalil has a green card. He's not just on a student visa, he's a permanent resident of the US. And his wife here is 8 months pregnant. FUCK TRUMP AND FUCK ICE y'all.

www.seattletimes.com/nation-world...

Trump: "I am going to behead a pronoun-user on live TV"

NYT: "Displaying a fondness for showmanship, Trump's decapitation antics raise eyebrows in Washington"

NAACP lists companies that dump DEI in its tactical spending guide for Black Americans The NAACP wants Black Americans to steer their buying power toward corporations that haven’t pulled back from diversity programs under conservative pressure.

The NAACP is re-mixing 1930s-era "don't buy where you can't work" campaigns to confront the neo-segregationists targeting DEI.

apnews.com/article/blac...