Issues

For Queers, by Queers, in Strait-Laced Boston

There’s a staunch Puritanical and traditionalist bent that persists in New England, now resulting less in atrocities like the perennially invoked Salem Witch Trials and more in people being doggedly polite: here, that means ignoring each other in public, not making small talk when you can be direct, and extreme propriety around personal questions to the extent of depersonalization. It can leave a queer kid uninspired, and in communities where, for better or worse, coding is still a vital method of communication, it can make the world feel small.

Politics + Activism

Extra! Extra!: The US’s COVID-19 Cases Peak as Stimulus Package Passes; Here’s All That Explained

This is the week that the US finally reached the top of the global rankings in terms of number of confirmed cases; Congress just passed a stimulus package the likes of which, I truly believe, have not been seen in a long, long time, if ever. There is a much, much bigger world that is getting hit with COVID-19 right now, and I definitely want to turn to that. But there’s a lot to say in the US alone right now.