Thoughts while returning home from the sauna

What does it mean to be queer in academia
and how vulnerable do I want to be in that space?

I dropped a critical theory class that I had been looking forward to
because I didn't want to confront a student in my group
about his use of chatGPT

That was violence
I should have said something
I should have asked him, "Did you write this?"

I told Emil about it while we drove back from the airport
they said in order to be a justice worker in the world
I need to learn to demand justice for myself

There are no safe spaces
only safer spaces
and the algorithm finds its way even into those safer spaces

I met two new friends at a café
we talked about nudism
then went to Bain Colonial

We start with the dry sauna
then the steam room
then the hot tub
then the steam room again
then the other steam room

Later, we have sex

There are men of all ages and shapes and sizes here
with different backgrounds and histories
we all share this space and enjoy looking at each other
sometimes we touch one another

While we chat, a man is licking another man's anus

The bath house is a place of abundant pleasure
the men are generous with their bodies
(some more than others)

On the metro I scroll through the Feed
leftists are telling other leftists to get firearms
and to learn how to store and use them safely
"Join a gun club," they say

My body is still relaxed from the heat and the sex
but I feel the tension coming back

Should I join a gun club?

I sent a song by PJ Harvey to Emil before their trip to Columbia
"One of my favourite genres," I said,
"is the us-against-the-world apocalyptic song
it always makes me think of us"

"Baby, baby, ain't it true?
I'm immortal when I'm with you
but I want a pistol in my hand
I wanna go to a different land"

I read Muñoz and Sedgwick and Ahmed
I read Melissa Adler
I read Foucault again

I'm taking a classification and cataloguing class
I'm sure it will be useful