SC Weekly – June 2025 – #5

~ a curated selection of discoveries ~

::: The Open :::

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoy this edition of SC Weekly (published on Sundays).

Please consider sharing with a friend who you think may enjoy this newsletter.

Thank you for reading and for your time.

With Gratitude,

~ Mark

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::: Personal Notes :::

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I wrote a poem, ‘Disappear’, that appeared in The New Verse News.

Feedback is appreciated.

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::: Top Read :::

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If you only read one article this week, here’s my recommendation:

‘Sarah McBride sees why support for trans rights has waned. She also sees a path forward.’ (LGBTQ Nation)

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::: ONE ART :::

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Tomorrow!!

ONE ART’s Queer Poets reading

Monday, June 30 from 6:00-8:00pm Eastern as we wrap up Pride Month.

Co-hosted by Alison Lubar and Mark Danowsky

Featured Poets: Jennifer Espinoza, Sean Hanrahan, m. mick powell, Amy Beth Sisson, Louisa Schnaithmann, Nicole Tallman, Abby E. Murray

Donations for this event will be collected and donated to Trans Lifeline.

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Writing Through Illness
Instructor: Karly Randolph Pitman
Date: Thursday, July 17, 2025
Time: 6:00-8:00pm Eastern
Price: Sliding Scale
Event will be recorded

>>> Register for Karly’s workshop <<<

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ONE ART’s July 2025 Reading

Sunday, July 20 — 2pm Eastern
Featured Poets: Alison Luterman, Gloria Heffernan, Karen Paul Holmes
>>> Tickets Available <<< (Free! Donations appreciated.)

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The Hundred-Line Poem
Instructor: Harriet Levin

Please Note: This is a four-week workshop
Virtual workshop meetings via Zoom

Dates: August 5, 12, 19, and 26 (Tuesdays)

Time: 6:00-8:00pm Eastern

Standard Price: $100
Economic Hardship: $75
Buy tickets – The Hundred-Line Poem – Zoom

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::: The Literary Community & Beyond :::

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Q: What exactly is "literary citizenship" (and what is wrong with it)? "This is not work. It’s literary citizenship!" (Lit Mag News)

My [off the cuff] note left in the comments:

As many know, being the change in the world I wish to see in the form of my own personal way of literary citizenship & stewardship is something that I'm all about. There are many good points in this piece about writers getting to focus on being writers— which is what I want for most writers.

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‘The Dark Magic of Words: Why Fascism and Illiberalism Are So Seductive to Writers’ (LitHub)

“This speaks to the Janus-faced nature of writing, of thinking of yourself as a writer, of believing yourself capable of producing literature, which is to say of reorganizing reality. It requires a narcissism that’s the hallmark of the totalitarian. What is a totalitarian leader other than an individualist taking that creed to its cruel conclusions, erasing the uniqueness of every other person into mere characters in a drama?”

“Such idealization of pure experience is an idolatry of death, since such an artist can’t envision the world beyond their individuality, can’t conceive of others enduring after the poet’s extinction.”

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I believe I mentioned my excitement in the last edition of SC Weekly about my discovery that Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman were partners. Cool in so many ways. Two people who contribute differently to creative spaces.

Thanks to Authors Publish for calling my attention to the fact that this powerful couple are the new owners of The Rumpus.

‘Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman to lead The Rumpus as magazine’s new owners’

Hopefully this is good. I say this because, taking a step back and speaking from my own level of overcommitment, I can understand (and empathize) with the controversy regarding PANK a little while back.

‘Showcase Magazine, Ephemera, C & R Press, Steel Toe Books, Fjords Review, PANK Magazine, American Poetry Journal...oh my?’ (Lit Mag News)

I’m not trying to return to drama, really. I don’t think we need more drama in the literary & arts communities. That being said, I think it’s worth reflecting on the issue of consolidation of power that can occur in the smaller microcosms of the Arts communities that reflect issues in the larger society.

I’m noting how this started on a positive note and spiraled into the negative. That happens…

Perhaps this is part of the reason:

‘Notes from the Editor’s Desk: June 2025’ (Authors Publish)

“Also, in response to feedback and threats we’ve received over the last few months, I want to make it clear here, in the opening, that I, as the Editor of Authors Publish have a distinct bias and perspective, and that the publishers we review and news we include often reflect those biases. I try not to present the news in a way that reflects my perspective, unless I explicitly state that it does (for example, I had a lot of opinions on the closure of NaNoWriMo).”

This goes on:

“I do not think I have ever tried to hide the fact that Authors Publish come from a specific perspective. I don’t believe in making overt political statements in the publication but I do try and make my values clear by the publications we highlight, and the efforts we make to support underrepresented writers.”

And on…

“Some of what we cover simply reflects the existing market. For example, we don’t have a long list of publishers open to reprints of previously self-published work, not because I’m biased against these publishers, but because these publishers are very rare. But my perspective is reflected in the fact that we don’t review publishers that publish misinformation or MAGA rhetoric, unless we reviewed them before these became issues. In this case, we just update the reviews to make this clear. This doesn’t mean all of our subscribers have to hold these same beliefs.”

A reminder of why we’re here—

“Our focus, as always, is on making publishing more accessible and fair for writers from around the world, as well as highlighting free opportunities to publish your work, and providing many free resources to help you develop your craft and navigate the publishing industry.”

But noting—

“If this is a problem for you, please feel encouraged to unsubscribe. Please note that sending us an email that breaks the rules of civility will not be helpful, or anything we have not received before. Going forward we will no longer be responding to emails that break the social contract. We’ve been doing this for 12 years. We are at capacity.”

I understand where this, too, is coming from.

I recently said, not all that privately, that editors (and not just editors) have to put up with, frankly, a certain degree of emotional abuse. Some of this is not fully intentional.

Also recently, I reached out to ask someone their opinion on whether or not a post by someone I consider fairly prominent made a statement that they would not discuss politics or their stances in their newsletter. This bothered me… and continues to bother me… as I feel we are in a historic situation of such gravity where it is a moral/ethical requirement to be clear about your intention to be on the right side of history.

No Switzerlands here.

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::: Podcasts :::

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Dispatches from the living memory of trans people of color

(Code Switch)

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::: Music :::

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The new Lorde album ‘Virgin’ is really good.

You can hear so many good influences resulting in this album.

I was not a fan of Lorde’s last album, ‘Solar Power’, which felt like music for stoners. I felt similarly about Lana Del Rey’s ‘Chemtrails over the Country Club’ though I liked Lana’s album more.

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On recommendation, I’ve been listening to the band “Daughter”. If you know the band, you might know their song “Youth”. The tone of this artist’s songs are fairly consistent and, generally, somber. No judgment, this would fall under the category of “Sad Girl Indie”.

RIYL: boygenius (or the individual artists), soccer mommy, The Japanese House, Clairo, Snail Mail, Lana Del Rey, Arlo Parks, Faye Webster, Waxahatchee

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::: Health & Wellness :::

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‘Through Games of Catch, Volunteer Dads Are Helping LGBTQ+ Pride Attendees Heal’ (Nice News)

A nice play off ‘Free Mom Hugs’ at Pride events.

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‘16 ways to protect your hearing, chosen by audiologists’ (Guardian)

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::: The Trump Regime :::

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Too many terrible things.

SCOTUS rulings…

I hope you’ve been paying attention the appropriate amount without driving yourself batshit crazy.

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The Grown Up Tax Bill (No Mercy / No Malice, Scott Galloway)

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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::

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Important read.

‘Sarah McBride sees why support for trans rights has waned. She also sees a path forward.’ (LGBTQ Nation)

Honestly, there are too many good pull quotes.

Please read the article in full.

Rep. McBride does an excellent job of assessing and articulating the situation as it stands, and how we can move forward in a direction that can help improve the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community by educating the general public and showing them that queer people are not to be feared.

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‘Democratic NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Is Pledging $65 Million for Trans Health Care’ (them)

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‘Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls’ (Pew Research Center findings)

“About three-quarters of Americans (74%) run into paywalls at least sometimes when they are looking for news online, including 38% who say they come across paywalled articles extremely often or often, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.”

“At the same time, the vast majority of Americans (83%) say they have not paid for news in the past year. Within this group, the most common reasons people cite for not paying are that they can find plenty of other news articles for free (49%) or that they are not interested enough to pay (32%).”

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‘That Jersey Is Cursed": NBA Fans React To Tyrese Haliburton's Unlucky Coincidence With Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard’

Three NBA players all tore their Achilles’ in the playoffs. All three players were wearing the jersey #0.

It is bizarre.

Also bizarre is pro players wearing that jersey number (imho). I wore “00” (not my choice) on my middle school basketball team and kids definitely made fun of me. One of the jokes was, “That’s a mascot number” which was kinda accurate.

In answer to the question, why do these injuries happen in the playoffs, well, people in sports medicine and psychology will likely agree it has something to do with stress/anxiety, repetitive motions, and your body’s weak points. There’s definitely a mind-body connection, no question. This is related to why people’s backs “give out” (not a medical term). I can speak from personal experience that anxiety was a factor.

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‘How the weirdest store at the mall survived the retail apocalypse’ (The Hustle)

You might be able to guess the store. Not Hot Topic… not Claire’s… not Journeys…

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‘Best & Worst States for Summer Road Trips (2025)’ (WalletHub)

Sure, not the most eco-friendly activity but, historically, I really do love a good road trip.

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