This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

Okay. I've had it.

To the people who are writing articles in The Atlantic and The New York Times and other publications about how "Grace" simply had a bad date with Aziz Ansari, and she should get over it, and it's her own fault for letting herself get pushed around…

Here are just a few reasons why a woman in that situation might not get up and leave.
Because she's very young, and this is the first time she's found herself in a situation where someone's actual behavior diverges so dramatically from their shiny public persona, and that is confusing.Because she is just a person, and he is a freaking millionaire TV celebrity, and he has all the power of celebrity and personality, and that is confusing.Because everything is happening very fast, and it's hard to stay on top of a situation when someone else is being a bully and has taken control, and that is confusing.Because it is very, very easy, when you're trying to be kind to someone you just met a…

Yesterday, about 20,000 protesters marched through Roxbury and the South End, joining another approximately 20,000 protesters who were already gathered at the Boston Common. We were 40,000 strong, protesting a handful of people having a "free speech," a.k.a. hate speech, rally in our city.

Kevin and I, with some friends, were part of the marching contingent. Here are some of my favorite pictures.












On the subway train on the way home, a man making loud racist remarks began to focus his vitriol on a woman near him who was holding a protest sign. People nearby were ignoring it, pretending it wasn't happening. Then a man crossed the car to the woman, asked her if she was okay, and stood with her keeping her company, putting himself between the racist and her. I was so proud, because that was Kevin.

I'm trying to assemble some links with resources for things we can do to fight this cowardly, cruel bully. I hope to post that soon.

BTW, I like this street art by a Japanese graffiti artist.

So, Boston had a rally today organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). We were there, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Ed Markey, Mayor Marty Walsh, and about 20,000 other people. Not a bad turnout for a gathering that was announced yesterday, in reaction to something that happened the day before. Pics by me, unless otherwise stated.

I haven't been blogging stuff about the election, because I have no interest in subjecting myself or you to any additional acknowledgment of the waste of humanity Republicans have chosen as their representative. He would fit perfectly into one of my books as one of my vile kings. And yet there he is, a chosen one. Because this is our country. I've built a little wall around my heart, to protect myself from the infection.

The trouble is that he gets in everywhere. That's one of his disgusting superpowers.

One of my sisters just forwarded a link to this article by Susan Dominus in the New York Times: Donald Trump: King of the Old Boys’ Club, and Perhaps Its Destroyer. It quietly pulls apart some of the little threads about who this person is. It got through my wall and made me cry. You should read it.

And now I'm done with this topic on my blog.

In France, in order to protect women from being oppressed by Muslim men who tell them what to wear, white men with guns force women to take their clothes off. I have so much fury and contempt for this racism, Islamophobia, and misogyny disguised as "liberation" and "secular values" that I don't even have enough room in my head for it. By writer Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan at the Independent: Dear white people of France: being forced to undress wasn't exactly the liberation I was longing for. "It seems that oppression is only when brown men tell you how to dress; when white men do it it’s called liberation. But even French feminism has its roots in colonialism and imperialism."

At the Guardian: Texas has highest maternal mortality rate in developed world, study finds. "As the Republican-led state legislature has slashed funding to reproductive healthcare clinics, the maternal mortality rate doubled over just a two-year period."

In nicer news,…

In response to Ruth Graham's piece in Salon about YA, A.O. Scott's piece in the New York Times (partly) about YA, and Christopher Beha's piece in the New Yorker about YA, Sarah Hamburg wrote the very funny "How to Tell If You're in an Essay about Adulthood". It won't make sense without the context of the other articles, especially Scott's, so read them first, if you can bear it.

Also in response, Anne Ursu wrote the strong, thoughtful, and complete "On Poisoned Apples, The 'Great YA Debate,' and The Death of the Patriarchy", which can be read without all the context, and is a great example of why I wish the people who actually knew what they were talking about were the ones raking in the big internet audiences. Please boost the signal.

One of the most amazing and depressing things about this continual "adults shouldn't read YA" crap (and there are so many amazing and depressing things) is the unquestioned assumption th…

Today's rant comes to you from my Cheerios box, where I've just noticed that General Mills has trademarked this phrase: "More grains. Less you!"

The good news about this is that since it's a registered trademark, no one else is allowed to use it. Therefore, we won't see this unbelievably obnoxious message anywhere other than on our General Mills cereal boxes, which, frankly, we can stop buying. General Mills? What exactly is better about less me? Why would I buy a cereal that implies something is better about LESS ME? Have you failed to notice that I AM AWESOME? I want a cereal that gives me MORE me! But let's forget about me for a minute. Do you understand that your cereal boxes are sitting on millions upon millions of breakfast tables across the world, and there are kids and teenagers at those tables, bleary-eyed and grumpy about being awake, reading their cereal boxes while they eat? Which means that you are teaching them from a very young age that the…

I was walking through the Boston Common to an appointment the other day when a man yelled something to me about what he intended to do to me.  It was physical and vulgar. I ignored him. First safety rule: don't engage.

Waking back from my appointment, I passed him again. This time, apparently offended by my non-reaction last time, he yelled at me that I was arrogant. He kept yelling after me as I walked on. He listed many of the unpleasant personal characteristics he perceived me to have. I ignored him.

Then I forgot about it -- until I decided I wanted to blog about it. I couldn't quite get a handle on what it was I was trying to say, though, so I e-mailed a few friends. Rebecca and Jess helped me work it out -- thanks guys -- so what I'm about to say is a joint effort.

Random abuse from misogynists, in one form or another, is a routine part of many -- most? -- women's lives. It happens to every kind of woman. Women of every shape, size, and color; femme women and bu…

Dear Santa, I would like a teleporter for Christmas.

Though I have to admit that air travel has gotten less onerous for me recently. Not because anything has changed for the better at the airports or on the airlines; quite the opposite. Things seem to be getting worse. Rather, because I've come to realize that unless I want to be miserable all the time, there are certain things I just need to let go. Like my expectation of being treated with any dignity, for example. :D?  Sigh...

I just took a look at last year's resolutions. I've happy to say that I've kept them all, except for one: I still haven't baked any bread. I was too busy making Bitterblue. HOWEVER, there is still time, and I bet I can convince one of the many people I'll be traveling to in the next few weeks to make bread with me before the New Year.

A couple random FAQs:

Should I read/reread Graceling and Fire before I read Bitterblue?
You don't need to. It wouldn't hurt, and I suppose it migh…

Yes, I hate Bank of America so much that I'm writing an extra Monday post to rant about it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am to be congratulated. I just closed my Bank of America account (as I've been promising to do for months). But before it could happen, there was one last moment of bullshit.

Very nice lady on the phone who I'm sure is only doing her job: "We want to make absolutely sure that all of your checks have cleared and all of your automatic payments have been canceled, because if, after we close the account, a request comes through to pay anyone, the account will automatically open back up again."

Me: "WAIT. What? That is not acceptable. It's my account; it's my right for it not to exist. I don't want an account that pops back open sometime in the future, simply because I've forgotten about some yearly charge or something. How can we do this so that when we close the account today, it's gone for good and it's closed forever?"…