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A few things we'll have to get used to

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · 27d

Basically just an appreciation of British English cussing here open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...

Before we arrive, we make some guesses about life in our new country.

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · 29d

James McBride's Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul

What we won't miss about America

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Sep 14

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...

Here are a few things we know for sure.

Opinion | Totalitarianism Can Be Terrifying. It Can Also Be Thrilling. He Taught Us Why.

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C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Sep 12

"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

www.nytimes.com

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C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Sep 1

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

Waiting to leave our country

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Aug 17

"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...

Or, what we did on our summer vacation.

This queer heaven is one place in America I'll miss.

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Aug 13

How my dream of becoming a lesbian elder started vs. going open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...

Goodbye to Provincetown

Hiroshima and the End We Refuse to Imagine (Gift Article)

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Aug 4

I grew up terrified, justifiably, every day, of nuclear obliteration. Artists had the correct response. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Aug 2

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.

Confronting a Gay Historian

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 26

Also for the record, so much queer KC history is accessible thanks to Stuart Hinds of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, who is not on social so it's pointless to send him love here. But Caleb Hearon recently gave him lots of love here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=4CMh...

YouTube video by So True with Caleb Hearon

m.youtube.com

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 26

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.

'I have forgotten what fruit tastes like': Mass starvation grips the Gaza Strip - The World from PRX

Reposted by C.J. Janovy

Gina Kaufmann @ginak.bsky.social · Jul 25

“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...

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

Kansas' first transgender legislator: 'I didn't flee the country — I moved.'

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 20

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

cjjanovy.substack.com

Reposted by C.J. Janovy

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Jul 17

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

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C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 16

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.

Book cover for Katie Barnes' "Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates"

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.

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 13

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

substack.com

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C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 5

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.

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C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 5

Same

Let America Be America Again

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jul 4

Langston Hughes, #America
poets.org/poem/let-ame...

Let America be America again.

poets.org

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jun 27

An honor to join you and huge thanks for reading No Place Like Home! Love to all!

10 years after winning marriage equality, Jim Obergefell wants to aim higher

C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jun 26

Thank you to Kate Sosin and @19thnews.org for this on the anniversary of #Obergefell.

19thnews @19thnews.org · Jun 26

“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.”

The Ohio man reflects on the case that rewrote his life — and how much further the fight for LGBTQ+ rights must go.

19thnews.org

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C.J. Janovy @cjjanovy.bsky.social · Jun 24

Any theory why he didn't do much for me but I had a crush on David Cassidy?