Resistance Training

I had insomnia last night, a not uncommon occurrence throughout my life. I was thinking at 3:17 a.m. about the lack of overt political stances or calls to action on The Wingback Workshop, especially in These Troubled Times.

Here are the ideas that form the foundation of everything I write and that I expect to the readers of this newsletter to respect, even if 100% agreement is not there:

• Fight beside and protect trans people of all ages. They are most visibly on the front line now; the front line will shift. It always does, and we'll shift along with it.
• Swim like hell to raise our heads above the racist waters where we all find ourselves.
• Aim for maximum accessibility because life is more interesting when everyone can make it through the physical or virtual door and participate.
• Deplore the inequality that is leaving people without homes, healthcare, education, nutrition, and rest.

Reading is not a magical cure for society's ills – not even reading literature. But I also don't think it's always purely escapist. Reading carefully and with consideration – rather than devouring the next installment in the BookTok series of the moment – is a rung on the resistance ladder. It's not only about educating yourself or becoming more empathetic, though those are great reasons for reading. It's about staking out the time to read and think that would otherwise be used for scrolling or streaming or collapsing in a heap of anxiety. It's about working that analytical, critical mind-muscle on a challenging novel so that you can bring that same strength to every article and post you encounter online.

That is the focus of the Wingback Workshop: novels, nonfiction titles, and essays that work that muscle. This newsletter is the friendly but firm coach yelling, "You know you've got three more pages in you! You can do it!" Then it high fives you when you make a little note in the margin or jot down a question in your notebook. Then it abandons this muscle metaphor before it gets out of hand. (Yes, I did recently and finally add strength training to my routine after years of being advised to do so by medical professionals.)

Behind the scenes, in real life, I'm donating to organizations and contacting my representatives and supporting my community. You are probably doing your own things too. The Wingback Workshop is where we come together to scratch the literary itch and free our minds so, as Funkadelic so wisely and weirdly said, our asses will follow.

KHG’s latest translations, Memoirs of a French Courtesan Volume 1: Rebellion and Volume 2: Spectacle are available now. Volume 3: Luck coming May 2025!