Now the right is attacking Christians for not being anti-gay enough

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/now-right-attacking-christians-not-anti-gay-enough/

Christianity is a “serious threat,” they warn, when practiced as described in the Bible and modeled by the religion’s namesake.

By Bil Browning Friday, August 26, 2022

Washington, DC – January 6, 2021: Pro-Trump protester with Christian Cross seen during rally around at Capitol buildingPhoto: Shutterstock

The far-right Christian group One Million Moms has launched a new campaign and the target is a little surprising, even for them. This time they aren’t upset with jewelry commercials or Sesame Street, the source of their ire is… other Christians.

Christianity is a “serious threat,” they warn, when practiced as described in the Bible and modeled by the religion’s namesake.

“Parents need to be warned and informed about a continuous threat, and now we have a powerful resource available to help parents with this serious problem,” they warned followers in an email blast.

The group is an astroturf project of the anti-LGBTQ hate group American Family Association. Despite the name, the group has a single employee, Monica Cole, that is employed by the larger organization.

Cole goes on to warn followers about the dangers of “gay Christianity.”

“Let’s see if you’ve heard any of these statements before,” Cole says in the blast. “‘God made people gay, and therefore being gay should be celebrated and affirmed.’ ‘Jesus never mentioned homosexuality even once.’”

“‘The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about inhospitality and greed, not homosexuality.’ ‘If the Bible were written today, it would be gay affirming.’ ‘The Bible doesn’t say anything about sexual orientation. Christians hate gay people and need to change their theology to be more loving.’”

“If you’ve heard one or more of these statements before – whether on social media, in conversation with a family member, or even promoted by a supposedly Christian pastor – you have just encountered one of the many influences of ‘gay Christianity’,” she warns.

And while it might seem odd for the group to launch the email with all the reasons why their hardline exclusionary brand of Christianity is wrong, the email is actually an advertisement for a book written by one of their employees. It comes with a convenient two-and-a-half-minute video commercial that spends two-thirds of the time reinforcing pro-LGBTQ theology by literally allowing queer people to repeat their positions.

While the group’s nonstop bleating about innocuous things like Oreo cookies, Taco Bell, or children’s magazines has frequently made them a caricature of the hand-wringing judgemental Christian Taliban, this time they accidentally ended up condemning themselves and their anti-LGBTQ hysterics.

Man tackled by security at DC hotel after threatening to shoot gay people

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/man-tackled-security-dc-hotel-threatening-shoot-gay-people/

This is what the increasing toxic rhetoric spewed by the republicans and hate preachers produces. This week I have posted of people calling on the government and others to put the LGBTQ+ to death. Some of the rabid right thugs will do it. Hugs

The man allegedly threatened to “blow” a security guard’s “skull off” before getting tackled on a sidewalk.

By Alex Bollinger Friday, August 26, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

D.C. police have arrested a man who allegedly used anti-gay slurs while threatening hotel workers with a gun.

Court documents describe how Dylan Nation, 21, was staying at the Carlyle Hotel near the LGBTQ neighborhood of Dupont Circle when he got into an argument with his girlfriend at 1:20 p.m. this past Wednesday. A hotel security worker saw them arguing and “stepped in,” the Washington Blade reports.

Nation allegedly told the security guard he needed to get his face wash from his car, but instead he went to his car to get his gun. The girlfriend told the guard that Nation had a gun in his car so the guard went out there to find Nation arguing with another hotel worker.

The security worker told Nation not to bring a gun into the hotel because it’s not allowed, and that’s then Nation allegedly pointed the gun at him and said he will “blow his skull off.” The security guard took away his gun and took out the bullets and told someone to call the police.

He argued trying to get his gun back, and court documents say that the audio was caught on security camera footage. He can allegedly be heard saying that the hotel workers are “not tough because they are from the fa***t part of D.C. and that his gun is only for fa***ts and pu***es,” the records say.

Then Nation tried to flee when he heard the police were coming but the security guard tackled him on a sidewalk.

Nation, who lives in Tennessee, has a preliminary hearing today. The incident is not being investigated as a hate crime.

It’s time to arm teachers (with what they actually need)

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/time-arm-teachers-actually-need/

The day of the educator begins far before they arrive at school and extends long after the final bell.

Commentary by Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld Friday, August 26, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

Educators in our schools are among the most committed and passionate members of any profession in the United States. Nonetheless, they rank among the most underpaid and underappreciated members of any profession even though they must undergo extensive training, manage the ever-increasing bureaucratic procedures, and deal somehow with the increasing violence in schools and society.

Any good teacher knows that assigning and grading papers is far from the full measure of their actual responsibilities. Most educators serve as parents for students away from home, as counselors, and as conflict mediators, while they offer a kind shoulder on which to cry.

The day of the educator begins far before they arrive at school and extends long after the final bell. They prepare for classes, grade assignments, attend seemingly endless meetings and in-service trainings, read and memorize the newest state standards and updated curricular mandates, attend professional conferences, meet with parents and guardians, confer with administrators and colleagues, mentor student teachers and school volunteer aids, arrange for child care, put off purchasing items for themselves in order to buy essential resources for their classrooms, which fall outside the school budget.

And now, the National Rifle Association and some conservative members of Congress are asking them to consider taking up arms to protect their students if school shooters enter their buildings.

Quite frankly, our nation requires the impossible from our dedicated educators. We ask them to fill in all the gaps, fix the problems in students’ homes and communities, to function at the highest level within our increasingly dysfunctional society. And they are stretched to the point of breaking. Love and commitment to a profession can take an individual only so far.

A new study by the National Education Association found that fully 55% of current educators are considering leaving the profession earlier than they had planned. In addition, the study found that Black and Latinx educators, who are underrepresented in the field of teaching, are considering leaving at even higher rates of 62% and 59% respectively.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that approximately 10 million educators work in public education today, which is down by 600,000 from 10.6 million in January 2020.

Though the overwhelmingly stressful conditions brought on by the Corona pandemic account for several of the reasons teachers cite for leaving the profession, other factors have also eroded their once enthusiastic commitment to entering the classroom. These factors include the shocking budget cuts brought about by the 2009-2010 recession, some of which have not yet been restored.

Attacks on Teachers’ Curricular Options

Since January 2021, Education Week has found that 42 states have either introduced bills in their legislatures or have taken other actions that would restrict how educators discuss racism, sexism, and LGBTQ issues in the classroom. Sixteen states have already imposed these restrictions.

For example, the Florida House has imposed new restrictions on how race is discussed in schools, colleges, and workplaces. The bill went to Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk for approval. The state has positioned itself at the tip of the spear to cut and bleed to death school curricular materials on topics of race, gender, and sexual identity with its so-called “Parental Rights in Education” law, better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Currently, several states are proposing legislation to restrict transgender rights in athletics or in accessing some health services, and others limit overall LGBTQ protections, especially in schools. At least 12 other state legislatures are now appropriating the Florida model in considering similar “Don’t Say Gay” laws.

Before signing the bill, DeSantis stated at a press conference that teaching kindergarten-aged kids that “they can be whatever they want to be” was “inappropriate” for children. “It’s not something that’s appropriate for any place,” he said, “but especially not in Florida.”

He continued: “We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination.”

Banning Books

Books refresh our minds to a world of learning we could never imagine. They expose us to knowledge to develop understanding and empathy for people, communities, and concepts outside our lives.

Books challenge us to think outside the box. They continually expand our critical thinking skills, especially when combined in dialogue with others, to analyze our small piece of the world and envision how we can improve it.

Reading books and studying real history age-appropriately challenges the sterile whitewashed curriculum on which many students have been weaned. The curricular pablum many are fed is composed of non-nutritive hollow calories deadening creativity and critical thought, and potentially worst of all, a love of learning.

This, in turn, reduces students’ chances of bringing about systemic progressive change in themselves and in their social environments. Enhancing and expanding critical thinking generally stands as a chief reason why those in positions of power have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.

Texas state Rep. Matt Krause (R) has issued a statement asking schools throughout the state to report to him whether they currently hold approximately 850 books on a list he has compiled. Krause explained that he is directing his aim at curricular materials and school library collections that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”

Some of the books on his list include written and graphic novels, while the majority represent non-fiction historical materials in the categories of race, nationality, sexuality, and gender identity.

A brief sampling include: 2020 Black Lives Marches by Joyce Markovics; Life, Death, and Silence: Women and Family in the Holocaust, by Esther Hartzog; The Indian Removal Act and The Trail of Tears, by Susan Hamen; What Is White Privilege, by Leigh Ann Erickson.

Also included are: Beyond the Gender Binary, by Alok Vaid-Menon; Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History, by Sarah Prager; and The Abortion Rights Movement, by Meghan Powers.

Some districts are attempting to ban materials from the 1619 Project (named after the year enslaved Africans were first ruthlessly brought and dumped onto what would be called the United States against their will).

Arizona: A Case Study

By comparison, is this different from the draconian practices enacted by Arizona state officials in 2010 to strip away the Mexican-American Studies programs from Tucson public schools? Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal, suspended the highly successful and student-empowering program.

In 2010 when the state legislature passed the measure, then-Arizona School Superintendent Tom Horn asserted that the law is necessary because Tucson’s Mexican-American, African-American, and Native American studies courses teach students that they are oppressed, encourage resentment toward white people, and promote “ethnic chauvinism” and “ethnic solidarity” instead of treating people as individuals.

Huppenthal released a list of books he had banned from classrooms throughout the state, including The Tempest by Shakespeare, Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years (1998) by Bigelow and Peterson, The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader (1998) by Delgado and Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2001) by Delgado and Stefancic, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2000) by Freire, United States Government: Democracy in Action (2007) by Remy, Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History (2006) by Rosales, and Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1990) by Zinn.

Anyone who believes in academic freedom and cultural liberty must find practices of censorship offensive. Students previously enrolled in the Mexican-American Studies program achieved a 94% high school graduation rate, up significantly from around 50% of Latino/a students not enrolled. The program had given students a sense of cultural pride, a passion and joy in the learning process, and a feeling of hope for their futures.

We as a nation have a responsibility to our youth and to the amazingly talented and vital heroes committed to their education. The time has long since passed when we must arm educators with higher sustainable salaries and benefits packages, in addition to fully resourced schools, and curricular options, rather than with firearms.

To rewrite the old expression: Those who can, do. Those who can do and share what they do, teach!

Oklahoma teacher resigns in protest of book censorship law

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/oklahoma-teacher-resigns-protest-book-censorship-law/

The maga red states wonder why there is a teacher shortage. They keep lowing the pay, they keep underfunding the schools, they keep increasing the duties of teachers, and they attack the teachers at every turn as groomers and pedophiles. What these maga really want is a Sunday school type day care to put kids in so the parents can work, and when the kids are old enough they should go to work in labor at a reduced pay rate. That is what the red state republicans want because it makes their wealthy business owner donors very happy. They want to end the teaching of science, biology, social studies and add in Christian church dogma. Again notice it was just one maga parent that complained, but that one rabid right parent took priority over all the more normal accepting parents wishes. Hugs

Teachers were asked to box up the books they felt could violate the state’s new censorship law.

By Greg Owen Friday, August 26, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

An English teacher in Oklahoma has resigned rather than abide by censorship rules imposed by the state and her local school district.

Summer Boismier, who taught at Norman High School in the state until last week, told CNN that teachers in her district were asked to review materials in their personal classroom libraries before the start of the school year, to see if they complied with state new regulations under Oklahoma’s H.B. 1775, which bans teachers from discussing certain topics.

The law was purportedly passed to stop “critical race theory,” a nebulous expression used by the right to describe teaching about the history of racism in the U.S.

According to the new guidelines, if a teacher employs a curriculum which demonstrate “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex” or that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” the educator could be suspended or have their license removed.

Boismier had over 500 books in her classroom library. Teachers were asked to box up the books they felt could be at issue, or turn them around so their spines faced inward. Administrators also suggested using butcher paper to cover them up.

Boismier complied and took it one step forward.

She covered the books and labeled the shrouded library “Books the State Doesn’t Want You to Read.” A prominent QR code linked to the Brooklyn Library’s Books Unbanned program, which offers students age 13 to 21 a free e-library card to access books banned in libraries across the U.S.

A label by the code read: “Definitely don’t scan!”

According to a statement from district officials, a parent contacted the school to complain. Boismier says she was placed on administrative leave and told not to return the following Monday.

“The concern centered on a Norman Public Schools teacher who, during class time, made personal, political statements and used their classroom to make a political display expressing those opinions,” officials said.

“Like many educators, the teacher has concerns regarding censorship and book removal by the Oklahoma state legislature. However, as educators it is our goal to teach students to think critically, not to tell them what to think,” the statement said.

Bossimer denied her actions were a “political stunt.” “I want to be clear. I was told to cover my books.”

Officials said they expected Boismier to return to class Wednesday, and that she wasn’t fired, suspended or put on administrative leave.

“But, unfortunately, we understand the teacher has publicly expressed their intent to resign,” the district said.

“The state doesn’t want you to have access to these texts, these texts that center LGBTQ+ perspectives, that center BIPOC perspectives, which I believe absolutely 1,000 percent deserve a place in our reading lists, in individual curricula, that should be centered and protected, because they have historically been erased,” Boismier said.

“Me commenting on the climate of censorship and the chilling implications of a rejection of free speech and free association – me commenting on that is absolutely a political choice. I stand by that.”

The new law, Boismier said, is “intentionally designed to stifle the conversations that we need to be having in the classroom, around systemic inequality, around privilege. It’s my desire and the top objective that I have as an educator, to make my classroom as inclusive as possible.”

Boismier doubts she’ll relocate to another Oklahoma school district, which are all covered by the new state guidelines.

“There’s a difference,” Boismier said, “between political and partisan.”

Pennsylvania GOP candidate says it’s “disgusting” that people want to end conversion therapy

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/pennsylvania-gop-candidate-says-disgusting-people-want-end-conversion-therapy/

When they tell you who they are believe them the first time. This racist bigot also denies the accepted medical science that conversion therapy is a torture that never works. This type of therapy / actions to change sexual orientation / gender has been found to not only work but be very harmful to the people it is done to. Advanced countries around the world ban it. But notice what the candidate and the interviewer say about the LGBTQ+. They are confused, that they are not a community, the interviewer seems to think only ethnic groups are a community? Mastriano is more worried about the parents wishes not being followed but he has no concern about the child that will be abused by this. Another reason that teachers must not be made to tell the parents about out kids. But he made it clear way back in 2001 how he felt about gay people. He is one of these people who cannot accept the change in society and fights against the growth of understand the modern world has. Hugs

So-called conversion therapy has been denounced as harmful and ineffective by nearly every major U.S. medical and mental health association.

By Daniel Villarreal Friday, August 26, 2022

Doug MastrianoPhoto: Senator Doug Mastriano’s Facebook page

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, a Christian nationalist, said that it’s “disgusting” that the state’s current Governor Tom Wolf issued an executive order against so-called conversion therapy, a widely discredited form of psychological torture that purports to change people’s sexual orientations and gender identities.

Speaking Thursday on 103.7 FM, a conservative talk radio station, Mastriano expressed anger at Wolf’s recent executive order directing state agencies to ensure that neither government workers nor taxpayer funds promote conversion therapy, The Huffington Post reported.

Mastriano also expressed anger that his Democratic political opponent, Josh Shapiro, has spoken out against conversion therapy too.

“This is disgusting to me, where bureaucrats and Tom Wolf — and Josh Shapiro — thinks it’s okay to come in and threaten parents and therapists because their kids might be confused,” Mastriano said in his radio interview.

The interviewer, Michele Jansen, said she also opposed Wolf’s executive order, adding “[the LGBTQ movement is] an activist, political, ideological group. They’re not an ethnicity. They’re not a community of people.”

To be clear, Wolf’s executive order doesn’t “threaten” parents. It contains no consequences for parents seeking conversion therapy for their kids. Wolf’s order merely ensures that state government resources don’t support a pseudoscience that has been disavowed as ineffective and harmful by the nation’s largest medical and mental health associations.

Also, Mastriano’s comment about kids just being “confused” echoes a popular right-wing talking point. Right-wingers claim that young people coming to terms with possible queer identities are actually just “confused” or have been “indoctrinated” by teachers, peers, and media that essentially pressure them into identifying as part of the LGBTQ community. These arguments have been used to claim that all LGBTQ content should be banned from schools.

During his interview, Mastriano blamed educators for confusing kids and said that schools “have graphic pornographic books laid out.” His latter claim is almost certainly untrue, as any school displaying explicit sexual images would have news and images of the content quickly go viral online, becoming a major news story as it outrages parents and community members across the political spectrum.

In truth, claims of in-school pornography have only been repeated by conservative activists looking to ban LGBTQ-themed books and sex educational materials from schools and local libraries.

Mastriano’s comments aren’t really surprising considering his numerous past actions against the queer community. As a state senator, he has supported anti-LGBTQ legislation including a bill that would ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams and a bill that would force trans people to use public bathrooms matching the gender they were assigned at birth. He has also endorsed legislation that would stop same-sex couples from adopting children.

Additionally, his 2001 college thesis expressed disgust for anyone who doesn’t hold the view that homosexuality is a form of “aberrant sexual conduct,” according to The Washington Post.

The true dangers of so-called conversion therapy

Wolf’s press release announcing his executive order mentioned a peer-reviewed study from The Trevor Project which showed that 13 percent of LGBTQ youth nationwide had reported being subjected to conversion therapy. Of those, 83 percent were subjected to it before reaching the age of 18. The study showed that young people who underwent conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide afterward.

The methods of so-called conversion therapists include encouraging queer people not to masturbate, redirecting their sexual energy into exercise, “covert aversion” (a fancy name for imagining possible negative consequences of being queer), Bible study, directing same-sex sexual desire onto opposite-sex partners, inflicting pain and humiliation anytime LGBTQ feelings arise, and forcing people to act out stereotypical gender roles in behavior and personal appearance.

“Researchers found that when they accounted for the harms caused by conversion therapy – including negative mental health outcomes and substance use – conversion therapy costs our nation $9.23 billion each year,” Wolf’s announcement said.

“Conversion therapy is a traumatic practice based on junk science that actively harms the people it supposedly seeks to treat,” Wolf noted. “This discriminatory practice is widely rejected by medical and scientific professionals and has been proven to lead to worse mental health outcomes for LGBTQIA+ youth subjected to it. This is about keeping our children safe from bullying and extreme practices that harm them.”

Twenty-nine U.S. states have either passed full or partial bans on conversion therapy for minors. In three of those states — Alabama, Georgia, and Florida — court injunctions have stopped the bans from going into effect while legal challenges to the bans proceed in court.

NBC NEWS: It’s marketed as the nation’s ‘only Christian conservative wireless provider.’ Now it’s taking over school boards.

It’s marketed as the nation’s ‘only Christian conservative wireless provider.’ Now it’s taking over school boards.
Patriot Mobile markets itself as “America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider.” Now the Trump-aligned company is on a mission to win control of Texas school boards.

Read in NBC News: https://apple.news/AQw5TEV5VRPSlwlflt5Bb5w

Shared from Apple News

Louisiana woman who alleges she was denied abortion after fetus’ fatal diagnosis says ‘it should not happen to any other woman’

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/26/us/louisiana-abortion-nancy-davis-fatal-condition/index.html

You have a doppelganger and probably share DNA with them, new study suggests

https://cnn.it/3R1CxMS

A year ago, I started a journey as Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Here’s what I’ve learned.

A year ago, I started a journey as Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Here’s what I’ve learned.

This article was sent to me for all of us to read from Ali. Thank you Ali. I would add that that what this person says about the Kansas legilature can be said about all of them including the federal one. Hugs

CLAY WIRESTONE

AUGUST 18, 2022 3:33 AM

After a year on the job, Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone says he has learned several truths about the state. (Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism)

A year ago Tuesday, I came aboard the good ship Kansas Reflector as opinion editor. While my first column on the job promised big goals and lofty aspirations, I’ll admit that doubts lingered in the cobwebbed recesses of my mind.

Would the work make a difference? Would readers pay attention? Would they and I find it satisfying, both journalistically and creatively?

Thankfully, the answer to all of those questions has been a resounding yes. No, I don’t believe this section and my columns have changed the course of Kansas history, but I think they did a good job of reflecting that history over 12 months. In turbulent times like these, that counts for something.

According to my tally, this is the 123rd article I’ve written from Kansas Reflector’s opinion seat. Here’s more of what I’ve learned over the course of those columns.

Visitors to the Kansas Statehouse could be glimpsed at the bottom of the rotunda on the last regular session day of the Legislature. (Clay Wirestone/Kansas Reflector)

The Kansas Legislature is more badly broken than you imagine.

I thought I knew about the dysfunction at the Kansas Statehouse. I worked in nonprofit advocacy for four years before joining Kansas Reflector and had seen how seldom the needs of everyday Kansans were considered by legislators.

But I didn’t have the full picture.

Watching the full body over the past session taught me difficult lessons. Legislators obscured what they were doing, repeatedly and willfully. The worst derailed hearings and grabbed headlines by attacking the powerless. Worst of all, perhaps, leadership repeatedly ignored good policy and pursued their own power-hungry ends.

Medicaid expansion? Forget about it. Lowering barriers to public assistance? Nope. Not when there’s a Democratic governor to demonize.

Rep. Cheryl Helmer, right, and Rep. Michael Houser respond to having their picture taken during House action April 27, 2022, at the Statehouse in Topeka. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Extremism has taken root in state politics, and we all have to be wary.

This doesn’t have to do with Democrats or Republicans. This has to do with the loudest voices in the room and how they manipulate the public.

You could see this happen in the debate over health measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outspoken residents and legislators spread disinformation that put their fellow Kansans at risk. That’s just the start, of course. We also endured lies about critical race theory and transgender folks.

While outside groups have tried to quantify that extremism, they have fallen short. The news media and public at large have much work to do in shining a light on those who would breed hate and anger for political advantage.

Attendees at the Kansans for Constitutional Freedom watch party in Overland Park applaud after Kansans vote to keep abortion a constitutional right on Tuesday. (Lily O’Shea Becker/Kansas Reflector)

When the stakes are high, Kansans come through.

With all of the above being said, I have to recognize the surprise abortion-rights victory Aug. 2.

Freedom contended with fundamentalist repression on the ballot. Our state chose freedom. That vote, and the nearly 20 percentage point rejection of extremism, suggests that Kansans are fully capable of grasping the stakes when fundamental rights are on the line.

Nearly a year ago, I wrote: “A state that was once known for its moderation and temperance has become, too often, a wannabe member of the confederacy.” For most of the last year, those words rang true for me.

After the vote, I have re-evaluated. Perhaps that moderation and temperance endures, slumbering somewhere underneath the plains, roused only by a genuine threat.

Columnist and documentarian Dave Kendall sent along this image of a crowd singing along with “Home on the Range” at the end of the 2021 Symphony in the Flint Hills concert. He wrote a piece about the event, and then shared video after a storm cut it short this year. (Dave Kendall)

So many of you have so much to say. Please keep doing so.

Kansas Reflector has been lucky to publish so many talented writers in the opinion section.

Max McCoy held down the Sunday column slot for much of the first year, until he decided to step aside. Since then, we’ve welcomed weekend work from Kansas poet laureate Huascar Medina, documentarian Dave Kendall, Mark McCormick, Inas Younis and Brenan Riffel, among others. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

But that’s not all! University of Kansas instructor Eric Thomas has held down the Friday columnist slot, first writing about podcasts and then widening his gaze. Throughout the rest of the week, we’ve welcomed contributions from throughout the state.

Interested in adding your voice to the mix? Send me an email at cwirestone@kansasreflector.com.

The Ad Astra statue aims high atop of the Kansas Statehouse on Jan. 24, 2022. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas Reflector readers are the best.

The biggest surprise this past year has been the support and feedback I’ve received from readers. Two decades in journalism had prepared me for a chorus of catcalls and barrage of brickbats.

Instead, the Kansas Reflector’s opinion section has been welcomed. I’ve heard from so many readers who appreciate a different, people-focused take on news and politics. And while many progressives have gotten in touch, so have libertarians and conservatives. I might lean left, but I also value the honest and open exchange of ideas.

So, thank you. Thanks for the kindness you’ve shown me, and thanks as well for pointing out any missteps via Twitter. Thanks for following along throughout the last 12 months. I’m still learning, and I hope to keep learning until the primordial seas that once covered Kansas return.

Here’s to the next year and beyond.