Casey Plett

1 month ago | adastrastories.substack.com | Casey Plett |Akwaeke Emezi |Torrey Peters |Geena Rocero

[Dear readers: This issue contains discussions of transphobia.] In her 1993 Nobel Lecture in Literature, Toni Morrison said: “Oppressive language does more than represent violence, it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge, it limits knowledge.” This quote plays on repeat in my mind (as do many of her other reflections on literature and fascism—which you can find compiled in The Source of Self-Regard), especially these days as “excused” rhetoric and behavior grow...

Oct 16, 2024 | washingtonpost.com | Casey Plett

Review by Casey PlettOctober 16, 2024 at 10:55 a.m. EDTAt 15, a Florida girl named Jack began borrowing clothes from her mother, June — a not uncommon teenage experience. Around the same time, Jack came out as trans and began estrogen therapy. But then Florida’s politicians outlawed trans health care for minors, and Jack was thrown off her meds, contra the wishes of her doctor, her parent and, of course, Jack herself. She soon became suicidal — a not uncommon transgender experience.

Feb 20, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Casey Plett

I’ve always loved the news. I remember, at nine years old, sitting in the basement of our home in Morden, Manitoba, fascinated by my stepfather’s furniture-sized TV. Like many kids, I found the world mysterious and terrifying. But the nightly newscast, delivered in the lulling baritone of Peter Mansbridge, distilled that world into manageable, understandable pieces that both soothed and fed my curiosity. Like: someone out there knows the score, and now I’m going to know the score too.

Dec 5, 2023 | thewalrus.ca | Casey Plett

Humans need community. Every piece of our knowledge tells us this. Isolation and loneliness are deadly, like actually deadly. It’s hard to quantify such experiences, but researchers taking stabs posit that social isolation drags down a person’s mortality as much as alcoholism or smoking do. “A 32% increased risk of stroke,” particularly in people above fifty, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US.

Nov 7, 2023 | lithub.com | Casey Plett

I had begun to conceive this essay after rereading a magazine interview I’d done months prior. The interview was about my then new book of short stories A Dream of a Woman, and the interviewer had asked me about community.