C.J. Janovy
@cjjanovy.bsky.social
She/her. Former Midwestern journalist, now just a Queer Elder Expat on Substack.
https://open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy
https://open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy
Can confirm.
Missouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue, studies find #moleg #mogov
Missouri anti-LGBTQ+ laws linked to population loss and decline in tax revenue, studies find • Missouri Independent
Researchers and business leaders warn that discriminatory laws are pushing LGBTQ+ Missourians and employers to leave the state.
missouriindependent.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Can confirm.
Because I don't really understand this feeling, I just riff on how strange it is to spend so much time looking down at my feet as I spend looking up at the people and the architecture of our new country. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Walking on art with strangers
Our giant leap leads to tentative first steps.
open.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Because I don't really understand this feeling, I just riff on how strange it is to spend so much time looking down at my feet as I spend looking up at the people and the architecture of our new country. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
No Kings action all the way over in Lisbon.
October 18, 2025 at 9:09 PM
No Kings action all the way over in Lisbon.
What a beautiful day this was: our new town's first Pride march open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
'Our struggle is one'
An old familiar ritual welcomes us to our new town.
open.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 3:20 PM
What a beautiful day this was: our new town's first Pride march open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Basically just an appreciation of British English cussing here open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
A few things we'll have to get used to
Before we arrive, we make some guesses about life in our new country.
open.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Basically just an appreciation of British English cussing here open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Why must the supposedly greatest country in the world so desperately need to keep bragging about how great it is? open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
What we won't miss about America
Here are a few things we know for sure.
open.substack.com
September 14, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Why must the supposedly greatest country in the world so desperately need to keep bragging about how great it is? open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
"Lifton described a key psychological mechanism, what he called the 'thought-terminating cliché.'"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/totalitarianism-robert-jay-lifton.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lU8.ZIXN.eJ7GZJk2DBt9&smid=url-share
Opinion | Totalitarianism Can Be Terrifying. It Can Also Be Thrilling. He Taught Us Why.
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 10:54 AM
"Lifton described a key psychological mechanism, what he called the 'thought-terminating cliché.'"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/totalitarianism-robert-jay-lifton.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lU8.ZIXN.eJ7GZJk2DBt9&smid=url-share
Who else spent the weekend with this painful and necessary reliving of Hurricane Katrina? 20 years ago might as well be today. www.netflix.com/title/816765...
Watch Katrina: Come Hell and High Water | Netflix Official Site
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, survivors reflect on the disastrous storm that forever changed their lives and the systemic inequities it exposed.
www.netflix.com
September 1, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Who else spent the weekend with this painful and necessary reliving of Hurricane Katrina? 20 years ago might as well be today. www.netflix.com/title/816765...
"Portugal teaches patience," someone said. I’m 62 and don’t need lessons in patience. But a summer of waiting to leave the U.S. taught us other things. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Waiting to leave our country
Or, what we did on our summer vacation.
open.substack.com
August 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"Portugal teaches patience," someone said. I’m 62 and don’t need lessons in patience. But a summer of waiting to leave the U.S. taught us other things. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
How my dream of becoming a lesbian elder started vs. going open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Goodbye to Provincetown
This queer heaven is one place in America I'll miss.
open.substack.com
August 13, 2025 at 2:10 PM
How my dream of becoming a lesbian elder started vs. going open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
I grew up terrified, justifiably, every day, of nuclear obliteration. Artists had the correct response. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Hiroshima and the End We Refuse to Imagine (Gift Article)
Eighty years after the city’s destruction, we seem to be blundering into a new age of nuclear perils. It is time for culture to rediscover “the courage to be afraid.”
www.nytimes.com
August 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
I grew up terrified, justifiably, every day, of nuclear obliteration. Artists had the correct response. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I wrote about how, 40 years ago, a song made even small town #Midwest #queer kids feel like they belonged. Also, I had the same hair as John Mellencamp. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
We were all 'Small Town'
Forty years ago, John Mellencamp's hit made everyone euphoric — even though we knew we couldn't really be ourselves in small towns.
open.substack.com
August 2, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I wrote about how, 40 years ago, a song made even small town #Midwest #queer kids feel like they belonged. Also, I had the same hair as John Mellencamp. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
For some of us, Jon D. Barnett is legendary in Kansas City #queer history. For younger folks, he should be. Here's a word of gratitude as he heads into his next adventure. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Colombia calling
For this Midwestern gay-rights pioneer, home is where the adventure is.
open.substack.com
July 26, 2025 at 4:53 PM
For some of us, Jon D. Barnett is legendary in Kansas City #queer history. For younger folks, he should be. Here's a word of gratitude as he heads into his next adventure. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Reposted by C.J. Janovy
“I have forgotten what fruit tastes like” - not sure how many times I reflexively put my hand to my heart while listening to this story theworld.org/segments/202...
'I have forgotten what fruit tastes like': Mass starvation grips the Gaza Strip - The World from PRX
After four months of near-total siege by Israel, people in Gaza are starving. According to the United Nations, at least 1 in 3 people are going multiple days without eating. Death from hunger is risin...
theworld.org
July 25, 2025 at 11:45 AM
“I have forgotten what fruit tastes like” - not sure how many times I reflexively put my hand to my heart while listening to this story theworld.org/segments/202...
In her heroic efforts to be at peace with us leaving the U.S., my mom has asked a lot of questions. One was whether I knew of other LGBTQ people leaving. Yes, I told her. Here’s the story of #Kansas' first #transgender legislator.
From Mexico with love
Kansas' first transgender legislator: 'I didn't flee the country — I moved.'
cjjanovy.substack.com
July 20, 2025 at 3:34 PM
In her heroic efforts to be at peace with us leaving the U.S., my mom has asked a lot of questions. One was whether I knew of other LGBTQ people leaving. Yes, I told her. Here’s the story of #Kansas' first #transgender legislator.
Reposted by C.J. Janovy
If I were in charge of PBS or NPR I would be doing 24-7 programming right now about the end of PBS and NPR
July 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
If I were in charge of PBS or NPR I would be doing 24-7 programming right now about the end of PBS and NPR
The entire USA should be required to read this before saying another word about women's sports, especially trans women in sports. @katiebarnes.bsky.social is a national treasure.
July 16, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The entire USA should be required to read this before saying another word about women's sports, especially trans women in sports. @katiebarnes.bsky.social is a national treasure.
I wrote about how to get rid of all your stuff so you can leave the country. Or at least how I did it. substack.com/@cjjanovy/no...
C.J. Janovy on Substack
When you start telling people you’re leaving the country, some say they want to leave too but can’t imagine getting rid of all their stuff.
substack.com
July 13, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I wrote about how to get rid of all your stuff so you can leave the country. Or at least how I did it. substack.com/@cjjanovy/no...
At the risk of being like everyone else, I went ahead and started this thing ... open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Leaving home
I know how it feels to be from a place Americans call the heartland when your heart leans a different direction. I’ve witnessed some history. I'm learning how it feels to leave.
open.substack.com
July 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
At the risk of being like everyone else, I went ahead and started this thing ... open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Thank you to Kate Sosin and @19thnews.org for this on the anniversary of #Obergefell.
“We need to fight for every marginalized community, because the queer community includes every marginalized community ... I didn’t go to the Supreme Court just so White, cisgender, gay men like me could get married.”
10 years after winning marriage equality, Jim Obergefell wants to aim higher
The Ohio man reflects on the case that rewrote his life — and how much further the fight for LGBTQ+ rights must go.
19thnews.org
June 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Thank you to Kate Sosin and @19thnews.org for this on the anniversary of #Obergefell.
Contrary to how it often feels in the publishing world there's a whole literary thing in the #Midwest. Thank you editor Andy. I'm honored to be part of this and can't wait to read everyone's stuff.
Check it out: the pre-order link for Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest! This book collects dozens of #LiteraryLandscapes essays, and pre-orders will ship in November—perfect for Christmas! www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
Lingering Inland
www.press.uillinois.edu
June 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Contrary to how it often feels in the publishing world there's a whole literary thing in the #Midwest. Thank you editor Andy. I'm honored to be part of this and can't wait to read everyone's stuff.
Reposted by C.J. Janovy
Just a reminder going forward...
(cartoon from 2003)
(cartoon from 2003)
June 22, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Just a reminder going forward...
(cartoon from 2003)
(cartoon from 2003)
Reposted by C.J. Janovy
“Same as in Iraq and Afghanistan/
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran“
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIq...
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran“
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIq...
Killer Mike - "Reagan" (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Pitchfork
m.youtube.com
June 19, 2025 at 10:43 AM
“Same as in Iraq and Afghanistan/
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran“
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIq...
And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran“
m.youtube.com/watch?v=6lIq...