A former student recently emailed me to ask, “What should an aspiring writer do at this point with a Bachelor’s in English Literature?” This is what I wrote. 
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Jessica Max Stein
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Advice to a Young Writer
Friday, January 6th, 2012‘Gold Is Not God’: Yom Kippur at Occupied Wall Street
Monday, October 10th, 2011
“Think we’ll get arrested at synagogue tonight?” I texted M., as I dressed for Kol Nidre services at Occupied Wall Street the night of Friday, October 7th.
Boy, that wasn’t a question you heard every day. (more…)
Messing About In Boats
Saturday, September 24th, 2011I spent the weekend in Beacon, New York, a sweet recovering factory town on the Hudson, celebrating what would have been Jim Henson’s 75th birthday at the Beacon Theater’s Puppet Weekend. Delightful ToughPigs’ Muppet Vault Friday night, with a thoughtful array of Henson clips, beyond Kermit and Ernie and even
Cantus Fraggle. 
Saturday I set out for a good meandering. Beacon is a steep hill sloping up to pristine Mount Beacon, loaded with trails. I thought about going up the mountain, then went down to the water instead, rented a kayak for a couple of hours. (more…)
My 9/11 Story
Sunday, September 11th, 2011
In the early hours of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I was asleep on Amtrak, traveling down the Hudson after a long weekend at my parents’ place near Albany, going back to my home in New York. (more…)
Bert and Ernie’s Big Love
Sunday, September 11th, 2011
Why do we speculate on the love lives of puppets? Because it tells us so much about ourselves.
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Niagara Falls Goes Rainbow for Gay Marriage
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
I have written about my discomfort with gay marriage, but the plan to light up Niagara Falls “with the colors of the rainbow flag” (why not just “the rainbow”?) to accompany New York’s first legal same-sex marriages is almost enough to make me join the wedding party.
And what better place to make this grand gesture than Niagara Falls, an iconic “natural wonder” in a ruined rust belt city “whose history has been deliberately obscured” to preserve illusion, greed and over-the-top “camp spectacle“?
Or, as a friend said, “This is possibly the gayest thing I have ever seen.”
A Few Rainbow Connections
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011As Muppeteer Richard Hunt’s biographer, last Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending the opening reception for the new Jim Henson’s Fantastic World exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. 
And I’ll be commemorating what would have been Hunt’s 60th birthday with a public event later this month!
Does Gay Marriage Endanger Queer Community?
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Please enjoy my eyewitness account from the Stonewall Inn on the night gay marriage came to New York state, “Does Gay Marriage Endanger Queer Community?” While gay marriage is a great step forward for many families, let us never forget that we are family.
And a bonus article! Has Dan Savage’s fatphobia finally gone too far?
Chaz Bono and the Rapture
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011The Bilerico Project has a new look, and I have some new articles out! 
“Reluctance About Chaz Bono,” explores Bono’s recent media bubble, and received a lot of attention, with over 2,000 hits and over 50 comments!
And in honor of the rapture that wasn’t, “Let’s Celebrate Non-Judgment Day“! Or at the very least, let’s watch the Blondie video for “Rapture.” “Don’t stop, do punk rock!”
Chrissy Lee Polis, Queer Community and Other Recent Writing
Thursday, April 28th, 2011April has brought a hint of spring, a lot of rain, and a number of new articles up on the Bilerico Project! My most recent piece, “Chrissy Lee Polis: The New Kitty Genovese?” has gotten over 2,000 hits and many thought-provoking comments. 
Other articles include “Building Queer Community” (or, The Queer Migration Myth, Redux), a follow-up to my post on the “Great Queer Migration Myth”, as well as “Vote for the Old Guys in the Muppet Balcony,” about the role of Muppeteer Richard Hunt’s characters in an unnervingly neck-and-neck fan competition.
Happy reading!