It gets pretty big…

As do I!

I often remind myself that kindness, my ability to reach out and speak to someone—a loved one, a stranger, a friend—offers a gift that is so rare as to often feel extinct

No one person can lift away this veil of woe on us; but your words and existence lift many individuals from darkness!

Good luck! Flying is difficult, but being home feels sooo good~

It’s actually pretty good!

I’m happy to churn to good tunes~

I get his instinct to pounce on a star of Liberal Socalism—I was in my 20’s once too and slapping up white boy academics at their own game gave me life—but homie is laying down heat on the wrong herald, and he’s doing so in places your work isn’t even meant to address and writing off the rest

Where your writing is strongest is to your core audience—white, western liberals

Within that context, you work does not deny or underplay imperialism, slavery, gender roles, bigotry, or even human nature

But it does not endlessly foreground these through the text because other goals are at play.

I understand the desire, the ache, to infuse more nuance into any critique of white westerners; but he’s putting assumptions on you that your work does not show, nor yourself, nor your public life.

It’s like he’s flitting between two different lenses and in doing so distorts his readings of you.

Like Yanir, I’m also a queer POC leftist who’s highly suspicious of *any* white man who expends reams of paper citing any deep admiration for liberalism, especially through the lens of western philosophy

But to me your work is like a dark lantern against a pale backdrop—easy to see, easy to follow

While I admire the length brother Yanis has gone through to read into your work, I think his writeup is being uncharitable and he’s ascribing beliefs to you that you clearly do not state, nor are even implicitly supported in your work—those being a softness towards imperialism, slavery, and violence

For more information on who Elyon Badger is:

- Ballotpedia interview: ballotpedia.org/Elyon_Badger

- Website: elyonbadger.com

- Article: pridesource.com/article/elyo...

I am both razzled, and dazzled.

I find giving a gentle pedicure to be a wonderfully intimate experience, and paying that much attention to a person’s feet—which carry them around all day—brings a sense of body awareness and joy seldom felt by most people, myself included!

tldr; Be nice to your feet, they’re pretty great <3