#the more queue know

*addendum below the cut

The Great Gatsby? A fucking snooze fest. That is until you find the Nick Caraway Is Gay Theory online. And then when you dig deeper you find the even more interesting theory that Jay Gatsby is biracial and bisexual. And then you discover yet another theory that Jordan Baker is biracial and sapphic. All of which add layers of depth to the motivations of the characters in an otherwise fairly bland story. BTW these are all serious academic theories (that have been around since the 60s. The SIXTIES!) Based on and validated by textual evidence, and not just the silly whims of horny girls on fanfiction dot come (although there is a bit of a fandom pressence).

And the best part? Now that The Great Gatsby is public domain, people have been legally publishing and selling their gay fanfiction in bookstores. Its like every month there's a new TGG AU being published, and I've bought all of them. I can purchase physical bound copy of one of my favorite fanfictions where Nick and Jay live in a house together and have basically adopted Daisy's daughter, Pam, who is sapphic and has the androgyn insensitivity intersex variation. I read the original, much shorter, version on AO3 years ago, and now it's an actual book. It's called The Pursued And The Pursuing.

For many years I've known that over 1/2 of Adults in the USA cannot read a book written above an 8th grade level. I've been trying to figure out why this is. Surely this many people don't have an actual learning disability, do they?

Well two weeks ago I stumbled on this podcast, and then this related article.

The reason so many people don't know how to read, is because we have not actually been teaching them how to read.

Oh, Teachers think they are teaching kids how to read, but in reality it's all a buncha baloney based on a long debunked theory on how children learn how to read. And it's been widespread curriculum in school districts rich and poor for decades.

Needless to say, I am nothing short of absolutely horrified.

Now, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist. And by conspiracy theorist, I mean I've done extensive study, research, and observation on the increasingly divisive and hostile political climate if the Not So United States Of America (spoiler alert, its been going on for decades, not years). I know about the GQP plan to privatize public education. It is extremely unlikely this was a part of that.

The curriculum was originally meant to only be used with the poorest of readers to help them keep up with their classmates, and it was a massive oversight to apply it accross the board. It happened to have the unfortunate side effect of contributing to extremism and cultish mentality. That isn't to say that educated people cannot become extremists. No one is immune to Authoritarian Thought Control Tactics. But having good reading comprehension and internet literacy skills lowers your likelihood of falling prey to misinformation and brainwashing.

The GQP didn't start this. But they do want to keep it this way. "They don't want an educated populace capable of critical thought, sitting around the kitchen table realizing how badly they're getting fucked!" -George Carlin

Okay. So.... What now?

An Unexpected Rocket Plume over San Francisco

Image Credit & Copyright: Abe Blair (Abe Blair Gallery)

The Witch Head Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Signorelli

NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus Image Credit & Copyright: Agrupació Astronòmica d'Eivissa/Ibiza (AAE), Alberto Prats Rodríguez