It’s the first of September, which means that Green Day has gone their yearly deep sleep, which we should disturb in about 30 days.

I’m sitting with my feet up, between trips. The last several days I spent in Anaheim attending the latest WorldCon, and in a couple days, Melissa and I head to Seattle to join the Writing Excuses Retreat team and community for the last WXR cruise. Today, as the late, great Raul Julia said in his final movie, is only Tuesday.

Did I have a good time? Yes. I spoke to lots of cool people. I got to interview folks for Small Publishing in a Big Universe, sold out of The Repossessed Ghost and almost sold out of the other two titles by the end of the convention, and I shared some meals with really great people. I walked a lot, which is why I’m propping my feet up now. 30,000 steps the first two days. That’s way more than I’m used to.

I attended the Hugos and wound up live-casting the results to Bluesky, which was unnecessary but fun to do. Someone I talked to about it suggested that it might have kept me from living in the moment, but it felt more like I was treating the internet as a close friend. Melissa didn’t feel like going to the awards show, so I was in the audience alone.

Two words stand out from the awards, which I need to talk about soon.

Everyone in attendance could see that there were not as many people in attendance as there should have been. Trump’s policies and ICE make it unsafe for people to enter the US. “Fuck ICE” isn’t really a political statement; it’s a moral assertion and the position of regular folks.

But those aren’t the two words I’m thinking of. We’re getting there.

A number of people expressed how upset they were that so many of their friends couldn’t be there to celebrate with them. Some were most specific than others, but the general undercurrent could be felt in several of the acceptance speeches. Some standouts include Jason Sanford, John Picacio, and Diana Pho.

One of the quotes I loved in the middle of all that: “If cautionary tales worked, they’d have worked by now.”

Also, the anti-AI sentiment was strong, and there was a consistent message: It is human creativity that makes great things possible.

Then there was Amal El-Mohtar, and her acceptance speech.

Most of it was excellent, and I agree with. She noted that the speeches before hers brought the anger, which is necessary, and that we need to stay angry and fight for each other and our communities. I agree with all of that and more, and stated so on Bluesky.

Then she dropped the two words that at first, I didn’t really think about: Free Palestine.

I’ve met Amal, and talked with her, and read her stories, and I don’t believe she’s antisemitic at all. So I heard the words, thought of what I’d seen regarding genocide of Palestinian people, and I didn’t really think that much of it.

My friend Rebecca talked to me about it first, as we were leaving the Hugos. I pushed back a little, because again, I didn’t think Amal’s words could possibly cause any harm.

The next morning, I had breakfast with a Jewish friend, and we talked more in depth about it. He’s been to the West Bank. He’s seen more than I have, and those two words made him uncomfortable as he sat in the audience. It’s a jingoism, reducing the situation into black and white, the kind of thing that bad people use to put him and his children in danger. I’m not going to mention his name, because as he put it, he felt safe talking to me about it, and I’m not going to endanger him by but putting his name and out discussion out there on my blog.

I listened, and I will continue to listen. It is complicated. Many innocent people have died, both Israelis and Palestinians.

I think Netanyahu is a Problem. I think the Palestinian people are suffering. I don’t want to see any more people killed, regardless of their nationality or faith. I believe we have more in common with each other than our differences, and that if we can lean into those commonalities, especially our ability to love and support each other, we can find a way to live in peace.

There really isn’t a way to simplify all of this down to a two word phrase.

I don’t have all the answers, and I’m not going to pretend I can wrap this up cleanly. I’m going to keep listening and learning.