Haste Makes Waste

Advocating for Women in the Workplace

15 March 2021

Here's a list of concrete commitments you can make today to create a more equitable space for women and gender-expansive individuals in your organization.

If you are in a position of power, I would challenge you to act on one of these today.

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Queer Identities in Smile for Me

14 February 2021

Today is Valentines Day, a national holiday celebrating yours truly. And you know what always makes me happy? Application of critical theory!

Using a queer lens, I can make a compelling case that Smile for Me's central antagonist, Dr. B Habit, is both gay and gender-nonconforming. The rest of y'all nerds on dates and stuff are really missing out, this is where the fun is at.

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Paradise Killer: Facts vs. the Truth

04 January 2021

Your honor, the prosecution seeks to prove here today that those in a position of authority are uniquely empowered to form and define their own truths. It will demonstrate that the law is neither purely logical, nor neutral, and that it can never be impartially enforced. Evaluation of right and wrong is inherently inseparable from our personal biases.

Let us call Paradise Killer to the witness stand; an open-world locked-room murder mystery which codifies via play the filters inevitably applied by those in power when passing judgement upon others.

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Ikenfell as an Exploration of Trauma and Healing

05 December 2020

For the freshmen, Ikenfell is a turn-based RPG developed by Vancouver-based Happy Ray Games. It follows the adventures of "ordinary" teen Maritte, as she breaks into a magical school in search of her missing sister. Originally Kickstarted in 2016, the promise of queer Hogwarts instantly captivated many muggles still heartbroken over their own missing acceptance letters.

I'd have been satisfied with that premise alone. But it also has a surprising amount to say about trust, isolation, and healing process for post-traumatic stress.

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Transgender Day of Remembrance

20 November 2020

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), and the capstone of Transgender Awareness Week. Many of our peers here at WillowTree identify as transgender, so the Pride ERG worked really hard to assemble these resources for you all. In this article, we’ll talk about why we observe TDoR, about what it means to be transgender, the issues faced by the trans community today, and how you can support your transgender friends and loved ones.

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TL;DR - Never Split the Difference

25 October 2020

I'm on a quest to read the founding texts of WillowTree, in part because I like learning stuff, but also because the air outside is poisonous and society is constantly two skips away from supernova.

Anyway here are my notes on Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss. Sleep tight!

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