25 years ago I joined this site. That's more than half my life.

I'm still here, even though many of the friends, rivals, and acquaintances I met on this site are not. I often think what this site used to be in the pre-wikipedia days; a wild overgrown garden full of facts, opinions, nonsense, lies, delusions, and sometimes art. For a while it was my laboratory to try out new things.

I hope I've grown as a writer since those long ago days. I have a little book of short stories out from Neon Hemlock Press in October. It's called Call and Response. Publishers Weekly seemed to like it! I don't know if I would have written "Serving Fish" without first writing Submerged for the audience here. And maybe "Femme and Sundance" would never have existed if I hadn't explored concepts that I

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Deenie is a 1973 young adult novel by Judy Blume, about Deenie, a middle school girl with scoliosis. It also includes other aspects of adolescent development, but unlike Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, which covers a girl's coming of age in general, this book focuses on Deenie's scoliosis.

Deenie is a seventh grader in Elizabeth, New Jersey whose mother wants her to be a model. While trying out for modelling and cheerleading, she has problems with her posture, which are

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Everybody with the Pandeism Anthology Project is devastated to learn of the untimely death of our friend and contributor Jimmy "Ninja" Chaikong. He was like a brother to us (and to me, personally), and a bigger, bolder heart has never walked the Earth.

Jimmy "Ninja" Chaikong (c. 1975 – August 24, 2025) was a man who lived in layers, as, a fighter, a musician, a folk philosopher, and a promoter of other people's talents. He was one of those rare people who seemed to live four or five…