Social Commentary | Stoned Cherry

That Time of Year Again: Thoughts on “the Longest Day in the World”

June 21, 2021 Frank Yacenda Comments 0 Comment

This piece initially appeared four years ago, on June 21, 2017, the Summer Solstice. Today, June 21, 2021, it is once more the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and the actual solstice officially occurred at 3:32 a.m. UTC this morning/22:32 p.m. EDT last night. The time and other references and weather comments in the piece are as they were four years ago, when the post first appeared. I’m no longer living on the boat, and there have been…

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Democracy Dies in Darkness

October 17, 2020 Frank Yacenda Comments 0 Comment

This piece originally appeared on my non-fiction blog, FJY.US . It deals with what is the biggest threat facing America today, and may be the most significant piece I’ve ever written. I am re-posting it here since it goes to the heart of freedom of expression and how it is threatened in unprecedented ways. Democracy dies in darkness. If you care at all about the very survival of American democracy, you should be absolutely terrified of what is happening right…

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Banned Books Week: Canceling Thought in 2020 America

October 1, 2020 Frank Yacenda Comments 4 comments

It is that time of year again, and it is Banned Books Week, marked this year from Sept. 27 through Oct. 3. It’s been three years since I last did a posting on Banned Books Week, and the movement of things in the absolute wrong direction since then is shocking, nearly catastrophic. As our society and others around the world march lemming-like toward a cliff that might well be impossible to climb back from, the impetus to censor in 2020…

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That Time of Year Again: Thoughts on “the Longest Day in the World”

June 20, 2020 Frank Yacenda Comments 2 comments

This piece initially appeared three years ago, on June 21, 2017, the Summer Solstice. Today, June 20, 2020, it is once more the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and the actual solstice officially occurs at 5:44 p.m. EDT/21:44 UTC this evening. The time and other references and weather comments in the piece are as they were three years ago, when the post first appeared. I’m no longer living on the boat, and there have been other changes. This year…

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Why I’m Parting Ways With NaNoWriMo

June 3, 2020 Frank Yacenda Comments 0 Comment

Re: With you in solidarity. To tim_kim@nanowrimo.org on 2020-06-03 10:21 pm Hello, I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo in the past, but with this message you lose me. Part of writing and creativity is an adherence to truth and at least some touch with reality. This message and what it contains is such utter drivel and woke jive, and so far from either truth or reality, that I can no longer associate with an organization that promotes it. If it makes…

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