Lex Dexter Anthology, 2012

Those of you who know me lately know that I'm both laboring and lying dormant under adverse conditions, enough so that even a cheeky blog post or two can turn tough days into half-victories. Because I love the people who read this blog, because I need them and I want their attention, I've compiled this "anthology" of the best of a blogging bender I've tossed off like apple seeds over Organizing Grievances, the Prisonship and Boatzone3. Comment if you dare and you'll find it's not unlike conversing.

Politics:

• My journey with the contraception debate: I know you were hoping another white dude would weigh in on women's reproductive health, so I do it long-form style, and end up, I think, in a place from which white dudes needn't un-invite themselves.
• Glenn Beck was recognized to advance white identity politics for the Washington Post, and I objected my way into some kind of neo-Habermasian stance. Can you imagine Jurgen Habermas angry? I tried.
• Thankfully this silly Habermasian roleplaying, and the socialist stuff underpinning it, attracted Gabba Weeks' attention: my response to his response.
  
• An attempt to shut this issue down and move on to its theoretical implications: "contraception-constitution-catholics-redux." and I think aloud about one or two things he said.
  
• My comments on Timothy Snyder's suggestions for "How Democracy Can Save Europe."
  
• Major Depressive Episode, brief reprieve: Getting weird and feeling weird about Rick Santorum's dead child. [Cue Joe South, "Games People Play."]
• Zizek speaks of Occupy and the Left: My forthcoming blog trilogy, which I haven't told you about and you aren't holding your breath anticipating? There's a key to that hidden here.

Autobio:

• Kate Carraway on drinking/not drinking while Thirtyish: a new favorite writer inspires me to assess what condition my condition's in.
  
• A pretty photo of pretty window dressing: that's all it took to take me back somewhere.
  
• 32-33 vector: Unclassifiable and a favorite. Somebody spray-painted a swastika on our driveway and my jaded response begot a guilt response that encompassed punk, maturity, propriety and the idea of art's autonomy.
  
• Maybe you shouldn't dream at all: Quotation from a crime novel frames just a paragraph or two about suicidal ideation, as much as I'm comfortable indulging in.
  
• Mommy told me it'd be fine if I watched Last Tango in Paris. Mommy lied, as I found out on the insomniac early morning of my 33rd birthday.
  

Music:

• The Annual Prisonship Bestuv List, this time featuring sub-lists of honorable mentions, letdowns, and "too early to tell," as well as the top 15 LPs of 2011. I worked days on this thing and received 1 comment.
  
• I write about and share a track from New Zealand's Bats. Turns out I have a lot to say.
  
• Comedian and personal hero Jen Kirkman talks Kurt Cobain and his non-jock persona, and I cannot help but chime in.
• I piggyback on Gabba and Andrew's smart thoughts about the over-hyped Fucked Up, whom some of us dig nonetheless.
• I post a video of Led Zeppelin playing "Achilles' Last Stand" and end up discussing my recent purchase of Zep's Presence and the redundancy of a rock dude saying, "Yo, Led Zeppelin rules." Then I talk about how Zeppelin rules.
• I went to a very fashionable rock show featuring SF's Brilliant Colors and London's Veronica Falls and came to some conclusions.
• Far from fashionable, the best thing about music in Michigan is Easy Action. I try and I try to explain why.
• A return to swastika content, inspired by Vice's coverage of the band Ice Age and misperceptions of their zine art that lead to misperceptions of their politics.
  

Sex:

• Amidst the contraception debate, a consideration of the mandated condom use recently stirring up the Cali porn industry seemed like a good idea. This one's as close as I get to a certain writer-thing I'm trying to pull off. Let me know what you think?
  
• Is now the time for fair trade porn? Let's talk about something else, and about fair trade porn, says me.
• Kate Carraway, Girl News: "Girls and work" and my unsolicited response.
• Kate Carraway, Girl News: "Girls and girl-on-girl" takes me places. Come along.
• Kate Carraway, "I'm soooooo bored of not having sex sometimes that...": I swear that the blogs these pieces inspire aren't filthy, just fanciful. She's my favorite writer I've happened upon in ages.
• "Paying the Price": A long, early morning survey of Cynthia Nixon's defiant anti-essentialist sexuality, Chester Brown's autobiographical graphic novel about his time frequenting prostitutes, and the sexuality of a depressed thirtysomething man.
  
• Yes, Mastur: I don't hate masturbation, but I don't feel like elevating self-love past the point of self-reliance. Getting more confident with wielding my Foucault, I go after what's repressive about pleasure and the difficulty of sexing transgression.
  
• Probably my best sex work this year: I try to weigh the ubiquity of sex and power versus death and desire. We see through a glass darkly, some say; in this case, I see through Vice Magazine's guides to "giving head" and "eating pussy," respectively.