Shrimp Teeth (2026)

13/12/2025

« Vous êtes Québécoise ? » Ouais… I tutoyer them and then either a. Story about Montreal b. Discount c. Invitation for apéro d. Scolding.

12/08/2025

Part 2: for those of you who are asking HOW DO I LEAVE THE USA?!?!

I think one of the hardest parts about discussing this topic is realizing that the people who can leave (like myself) are not the people who need to leave. And that’s precisely why the situation in the US is so dangerous right now. Those who have the means to move are typically not in actual danger, meanwhile those who are getting black bagged by the state are usually not in a position to go. While I had no intention of staying in the US, and the decision to leave was beyond obvious, I think we can’t ignore the class privilege at play. To be honest, this would be my most sincere piece of advice: take some time to honestly assess your situation and motivation. By and large the most hysterical “I need to leave NOW” people I’ve encountered are older and very comfortable middle-aged white ladies. And I get that what the government is doing is criminal. And I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to stay (I sure as f**k didn’t). But my decision would have been the same whether trump or Harris was elected. I guess what I mean is that you need to think about whether you’d want to move to that country or not if this wasn’t happening. Maybe I’ll be wrong in the future but for now it seems like panic alone isn’t the best indicator of what you should do.

12/08/2025

Part 1: I wasn’t going to write this today, but a handful of people are asking me about HOW TO MOVE and I don’t feel like answering individually. So here’s an honest explanation.

The one thing I keep coming back to is that the US is not my home country, so leaving has felt relatively easy (emotionally) but it’s an enormous pain in the ass. This isn’t to say you can’t do it. BUT the logistics are more daunting than it seems. We haven’t used any immigration lawyers so far, but we have needed help with registering our businesses. Luckily, my lovely gf is a fantastically organized person who loves research and can stomach being on Facebook (a lot of information about the visa process is on there, but not all of it is accurate). I think the only thing that’s made this possible is our complimentary set of skills. We are each good at very different things which has allowed us to keep the process moving as smoothly as possible. I don’t regret a thing. I am so happy I left. But id be lying if I said it was easy.

12/08/2025

First - You’re not insane for feeling insane about the insanity that’s unfolding.
Like so many people, my parents brought me to the US because they thought we would have a better life. I left many times to live in different countries but kept coming back. The US never felt right, but like so many immigrants, I was told that it was the greatest country on earth. That it had the most opportunities. That I was the problem if it wasn’t working out that way. This last stint in the US was the longest and it broke me. Every time I left on vacation, I would go into a deep depression when I had to come back. My mental health was garbage. I couldn’t stay. My girlfriend, who is American, was harder to convince (she understandably didn’t want to leave her career, friends, family). I told myself I could wait until she was ready but the pressure just kept building. I hated everything about American culture. I couldn’t stand living in Portland, even if on paper it seemed like a good fit. I had traveled around the US enough to know there was no where else within its borders I would rather live. I would get angry with my therapist when I pointed out all the s**t that was dysfunctional and she didn’t seem to get it. I couldn’t understand how the “richest country on earth” was full of miserable, oppressed, and defeated people. I couldn’t stand how that disenfranchisement always seemed to justify the cruelty toward others.
Having finally moved, I see how the ubiquitous culture of cruelty f**ked with my head. My mental health isn’t bad, America made it bad. It broke me to have to constantly argue that human rights are important. The lack of education among the general public. The s**tload of propaganda. It’s all too much.
Watching the s**tshow unfold from afar and I feel super sad but unsurprised. I know a lot of people hypothetically want to be in my shoes. But to be honest, leaving is harder than most people think. (Maybe a post for another day) It’s hard to be a foreigner in someone else’s country but I have been my whole life. And for me it’s easier to be an immigrant once again than it was to be a naturalized citizen in a country that hates its people.

29/07/2025

One thing I like about living in different countries is that you get to observe cultural interpretations of abstract concepts as an outsider. Probably the biggest difference I’ve noticed since leaving Portland is how the concept of community is understood. Naturally, living in many countries means I bring my own set of preconceptions to new places. But I’ve observed how much more accessible (both in price and frequency) community events are here than in the US. There’s also a noticeable difference in priorities (work isn’t the central facet) that impacts people’s social relations. And being in a small village means there’s an increased contact with each person. Of course, I’m making broad generalizations, not everything I said applies across the board. But I have definitely noticed how there’s wayyy less talk about the concept of community here than in Portland. I suspect it’s because you don’t need to agonize about “building community” when that’s already the way your social life is organized. I’m still definitely in the periphery of the community, having only settled in a few months ago, but I already feel more integrated than I did having lived in Portland for seven years. I can now fully appreciate the PNW freeze. Curious what differences y’all have noticed living in different places…

12/07/2025

I need to be a hater for a minute cause this s**t is getting old VERY fast. It’s insane to watch all these people who made a living off being publicly q***r over the past few years, suddenly denouncing their q***rness and everyone else’s q***rness by extension. It’s mad convenient for people who are cis-passing but previously identified as nonbinary to now come out and “critique” “gender ideology” when it’s suddenly not popular. Or having a little trad wife rebrand. You can wrap it in “leftist” language all you want, pretend you’re on a quest to fight ideological rigidity, but at the end of the day you’re abandoning people who are visibly q***r, you’re turning your back on trans people, and you’re feeding into the conservative narrative that fueled this backlash to begin with. And no, I’m not going to sit here and indulge the notion that it’s “biphobic” to criticize people who made a living off being le****ns who now go around telling everyone that “sexuality is fluid”… like sure, it is fluid to some degree in the sense that people’s preferences evolve as they age, but that’s not the same as saying that gay people have inherently malleable orientations. If you fell in love with a man, fine. But you don’t have to drag the entire community into it. And no, I’m not going to pretend like it’s not due to external influence. It’s ridiculous to act like the conservative shift in attitudes isn’t responsible for people going back into the closet or retracting some elements of their q***rness. We have historical precedent that shows a recession in q***r culture when politics turn more conservative. And listen, if you feel like you need to tone it down right now, that’s your choice. Just like it’s your choice who you want to date. Just like it’s your choice how public you want to be about your identity. BUT I hope we can be honest about the consequences this has on those who don’t have the ability to be less visibly q***r or who are in gay relationships. And I hope we can stop pretending like it’s radical to suddenly be denouncing trans/nonbinary identities. Or that we can make sweeping statements about how everyone’s sexual orientation is fluid. It’s not.

08/07/2025

In 2015, the Williams Institute published a comprehensive review of 42 studies looking at intimate partner violence among LBGTQ people. It’s been misquoted ever since. While the study was able to compile illuminating information about the rate of violence that q***r people experience, one stat has been taken out of context. That stat is that 61% of bisexual women and 44% of le****ns have experienced IPV IN THEIR LIFETIME. The last bit is crucial, but often glossed over or left out entirely. What we also saw in the study was a further elaboration that the CDC study demonstrated that 89.5% of bisexual women and a third of le****ns had experienced this violence only with male partners. However, if we omit this last part, and only present the first, accompanied with the other stat which claims only 32% of straight women have experienced DV, we’re led to believe that women are overwhelming perpetuators of abuse - which is NOT what the research shows. Now obviously, as it states, there are instances of violence between women. I’m certainly not denying that, it’s right there in the numbers. However, by deliberately framing the stats in a way that omits the role that men play, we’re left with an entirely inaccurate view of reality. As a result we see reactionary infographics imploring women to stop abusing each other pop up on a semi-regular basis and a podcast bros gloating about how peaceful they are compared to violent le****ns (I’m not joking). And that s**t is relatively benign compared to the other information in the Williams Institute study that shows the barriers q***r people face when trying to access care or support for DV. I think it’s important, especially in the current state of the world, for us to be taking a more clear eyed look at the information that’s presented about q***r people, and interrogate the narrative framing when things smell fishy. Is it that gay women are battering each other at higher rates than any other demographic or is it that a relationship between two women has two times more people who are statistically likely to have been victimized AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIFE? Reading comprehension is key.

01/07/2025

I wish we stopped treating every single disastrous climate event as a bizarre fluke. We know what’s happening. Even entertaining the concept of climate denial is ludicrous. Yet we still validate climate skepticism in the ways we frame discussions about the weather. I often hear Americans reflexively say “climate change isn’t real” in a joking/sarcastic tone whenever the topic is brought up. And while I get that they’re trying to allude to the wider attitude that the USA has on climate change, this continues to reinforce the idea that there CAN exist a second position. Climate change isn’t a matter of opinion. Climate change is happening. It is human caused. And the humans who are overwhelmingly responsible are billionaires who consume at annual rates that far surpass normal people’s entire lifespan. You and I will never be responsible for the emissions of a private jet. We are just driving our s**tty electric Renault trying to make a difference, knowing full well that it’s not helping. We’re so used to having only two positions when we talk about climate change - either we pretend it doesn’t exist or we bear the entire weight of the responsibility. Neither of those positions are realistic. Climate change is class struggle. Plain and simple. The reason we are in this situation is because the 1% exploit natural resources, consume at unbelievable rates, and block all popular demand for realistic government regulations to curb the impact. The only way we survive is by realizing that we’re already in the middle of a class war. We are the ones who have nowhere to go when our houses get destroyed. Our bodies suffer the impact of extreme temperatures. We bear the psychic wound of trying to fix a problem with inefficient actions that we recognize have no impact in the larger scheme. Obviously, not to say you should be apathetic or actively destructive but also that recycling alone will never get us out of this mess and it’s just as delusional to pretend like it will as to deny climate change outright. I am pi**ed. It feels like we’re severely stuck. I want more people who are pi**ed by my side. These freaks should not be allowed to exist in public in peace.

26/06/2025

Hot take: I don’t think you have a solid enough ethical foundation to talk about polyamory if you’re incapable of humanizing people who are living through abject circumstances as a direct result of your government’s actions. Like, oh ok you want to talk about the f**king ethics of unicorn hunting but you don’t think having a stance on mass starvation is worth factoring into your moral framework. Got it. Glad we’re not on the same page. And same goes for all you bi***es who have little rainbow stickers that say “q***rness is political” but dip the second it’s actually political. Obviously, this isn’t my follower count, that is hands down the least important thing on this entire burning planet, but it seems like an apt reflection of the attitudes Americans hold.

14/06/2025

It feels like there’s so much going on right now that it’s not the “right time” to talk about a book. But that’s the tactic of this government, they blast us with so much horrible s**t that we feel completely overwhelmed and can’t focus. Then they pass legislation that prey on existing biases and hope not enough people notice.
Right now, so many communities and demographics are under attack. But the root cause is all the same. More than ever, we need to insist on education. We need to stay open minded and curious about those around us. We need to prioritize building robust relationships regardless of identity differences. We know this administration is willing to black bag people and it’s not going to get better. Immigrants, q***r people, people of color, and women have always come under attack during periods of economic crisis, and this time is no different.
I’ve been working specifically with q***r and non-monogamous people for years now. I am going to continue talking about these issues because this in fact is the time to be humanizing our stories and fighting the stigma and assumptions that many people hold. The less people know about certain topics, the easier it is to throw those groups under the bus. Right now, education and empathy are what we need the most to fuel our resistance to these criminal attacks.
Whether you choose my book, or any other, I encourage you to carve out time to read. I know time is limited and most of you are probably feeling super overwhelmed but doomscrolling isn’t the answer. Learning and staying open is more necessary than ever. Hate cannot take root in people who prioritize being curious and learning.

13/06/2025

I wish more people had an accurate understanding of immigration. It’s a pay to play system - those with money slide through, those without get jammed inside for years or decades. On average it takes a decade for people to be granted American citizenship, think about that. So many people come to the USA (sometimes escaping conditions in their home countries directly caused by American imperialism) with the promise of a better life, only to find that without money to hire private legal representation, they’re stuck for years in bureaucratic purgatory. That’s not their fault. They’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.
You can’t just tell people to get documentation without ever addressing the dysfunction of the system that prevents it in the first place. You can’t assume criminal intent because people are held up for years by an intentionally convoluted and cruel administrative process. You don’t get to accuse people of leaching off social security when they pay taxes only to be denied any of the benefits that everyone else has access to. You don’t get to abduct people who are trying to earn a living while awaiting their paperwork to clear. You don’t get to deport children who were born on US soil. You don’t get to revoke students’ visas because you don’t like their views. You don’t get to brutalize people who recognize the system is to blame. It’s not the fault of the people who happened to be born in different countries that our politicians insist on maintaining a violent dehumanizing immigration process.
If you’re mad that people are here “illegally” (which I am) then turn your anger to the actual culprits. Normal people trying to reestablish their lives are not to blame. Rich people who ransack the global south, destabilize governments for their profit, and create mass instability through their capitalist exploits are to blame. Your neighbors haven’t done anything wrong. No one deserves to be the target of state sanctioned violence because they’re waiting for a legal process to happen. It’s ridiculous, it’s disgusting.
If you don’t understand anything about the immigration process and you insist on preserving your ignorance, the least you can do is s**u.

12/06/2025

One of the biggest struggles I had while living in America was trying to understand why average people supported the troops. In most circles, even around people who claim to be progressive, it’s taboo to rail against the troops and their criminal activities. Even after seeing the insane scope of the sadistic war crimes soldiers commit overseas, we’re expected to thank the troops. Absolutely the f**k not. You don’t get to murder civilians, destroy entire communities, leave countries in political chaos, and then come home to be celebrated. And I understand that the military preys on poor communities and exploits the lack of access to education to recruit, but this shouldn’t warrant sympathy, it should solicit rage. How dare they? And I get that vets are treated horribly when they come home, but they should not be in this position to begin with.
In the wake of the BLM movement, many started to question the role of the police, but ended their inquiry domestically. If you think what the police does at home is bad, but you’re unwilling to criticize the crimes committed by soldiers abroad then you’ve seriously lost the plot.
A lot of Americans have this paranoid delusion that without an enormous military, they’re minutes away from foreign invasion. It reveals a lot. I think now, more than ever, it’s time for a wake up call.
We’ve allowed around 24 cents to every tax dollar go towards military activity. We’ve given the state permission to spend all of our hard earned money to create and deploy technology that causes unspeakable suffering. We’ve funded the murder and oppression of our fellow humans abroad, and now we’re once again seeing that violence come back home. We’re on the brink of climate collapse, and that is largely due to the military (check out and work in general for more research on this). As environmental catastrophes become regular, the state will continue to violently select who gets to live and who gets to die. We’ve accepted propaganda that prioritizes funding death and destruction rather than ensuring safely and aid. There’s no more time for “both sides”, for wishy washy political takes.

Shrimp Teeth

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