[This blog will always be free to read, but it’s also how I pay my bills. If you have suggestions or feedback on how I can earn your paid subscription, shoot me an email: cmclymer@gmail.com.]
Friends, as I write this, the country is savoring every second of these last 72 hours of the traditional holiday break.
The next twelve months are widely expected to be history-shaping and globally pivotal on an unprecedented level. How tired have y’all become of hearing that? The same thing, more or less, has been said about each of the past four years, and yet: it’s been no less true each time.
(Some might argue that could be said for the past seven years, and I wouldn’t be inclined to disagree.)
When I was much younger, the new year didn’t really get kicked up until a few weeks into January; current events had the decency to wait until we had a cup of coffee and caught a few NFL playoff games. Recent history has blown that typically reasonable expectation into oblivion.
There’s no longer a guarantee of entering the shallow end, down some friendly steps, and working our way to the deep end. Now, each year, we’re all marched straight to the high dive and can only hope for a relatively peaceful splash into the depths below.
Just as an example:
Four years ago, on New Year’s Eve, in the early hours of the morning, Reuters first reported on a mysterious, viral pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, a major city in central China. Outside of a relatively small group of infectious disease experts and national security practitioners, few were paying attention, partly because we had other worries.
Because on the evening of January 2nd, news came that Trump had ordered the successful assassination of Qasem Soleimani, who was then the commander of the Quds Force in Iran and considered the most powerful person in the country outside of Ayatollah Khamenei.
For a few days there, you’d be forgiven for believing that 2020 would be defined by a regional conflict—perhaps even a world war—instigated by the United States and Iran, and… well… that fear was very misplaced. We were about to fight a very different war against an enemy invisible to the naked eye, and meanwhile, in the midst of that: grappling with the horrific consequences of white supremacy after the murder of George Floyd.
I would like to believe that the big surprise of 2024 will be that it’s relatively smooth, and yet, that would be quite foolish, no? It’s gonna be a rough year, folks. We’re gonna learn a lot about ourselves and our collective future. I have guarded optimism that we’ll get through it, but it sure as hell ain’t gonna be painless.
Okay, that’s the chaos bit. Let’s get to the gratitude. Two and a half years ago, I left a nice communications job to start this blog and make a full-court push to achieve my dream of being a writer for a living. So many of you were there at the very start, immediately becoming paid subscribers and allowing me to take care of my bills by writing whatever I want.
I am immensely grateful to all of you for the support. I can’t begin to adequately explain how life-changing it’s been to be a writer on my own terms, without worrying about how I’m gonna make my rent. And that is solely because of y’all.
This year, Charlotte’s Web Thoughts was named a finalist for Outstanding Blog at the GLAAD Media Awards and a finalist for Best Blog at the Shorty Awards. It’s been cited or referenced in various national outlets and motivated some substantial radio and television hits across the calendar.
It was a big factor at the end of this summer when I became the first openly-transgender person elected to the Council on Foreign Relations as a term member in its 102-year history. Having the freedom to write about foreign policy (among my many other topics) with a large platform, bypassing traditional outlets, was essential for that.
Seriously, I’m grateful to y’all. Here are ten standout pieces from the dozens I wrote this year that make me particularly proud:
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Announces a Ban on Pink Floyd” (January 27th)
As DeSantis kept escalating his attacks against LGBTQ people, including an unwise and ill-fated war with Disney, I kept wondering to myself: why aren’t journalists doing more to call this out for what it is? I sat down and wrote this satirical piece about a fictional press conference in which DeSantis announces a ban on Pink Floyd because of their rainbow logo. My hand to god, I initially thought it was way too blunt, not subtle enough. I was very wrong. The piece went viral as many folks, including a number of journalists, readily believed it. Snopes even wrote an article on it.
“It's Time to Ban Cis People From Owning Guns” (March 30th)
In March, a transgender man murdered three children and three adults in a mass shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville. Police arrived on the scene and killed the piece-of-shit before he could murder other innocents. In the wake of the tragedy, social conservatives attempted to exploit it as a vehicle for their transphobic propaganda. So, I wrote this viral piece pointing out that cis people are many times more likely to be mass shooters, and therefore, wouldn’t it make sense to ban cis people from owning firearms? I also appeared on MSNBC to chat about it with Joy Ann-Reid and Georgetown’s Rev. Jim Wallis (full segment is in that link).
Interestingly, the day after that appearance, far-right media were furious with me, not for my tongue-in-cheek argument to ban cis people from owning guns but because I referred to God with “she/her” pronouns during the segment. For real.
That then led to this hilarious exchange with far-right reporter Tyler O’Neil, who reached out on LinkedIn, incredulous and apparently oblivious.
And after that went viral, Fox News reached out asking me to publicly clarify that O’Neil no longer works for them.
“Kid Rock Doesn't Know How to Shoot Straight” (April 4th)
In the spring, social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who is a trans woman, was invited by Budweiser to collaborate on a cute Instagram project in which her likeness was printed on a few of their beer cans. Pretty uneventful… until the far-right launched a boycott over it. Kid Rock, a rich kid from Michigan who cosplays as trailer trash, then posted a video in which he (very poorly) shot at Bud Light beer cans in protest. So, wanting to be helpful, I wrote this viral essay of advice for him on how to shoot accurately and pointed out his long history of being a redneck poser.
“Why I Declined $10,000 to Debate Michael Knowles” (April 10th)
This one is technically cheating. It’s not an essay. It’s two screenshots of two emails.
Earlier this year, far-right extremist Michael Knowles called for the “eradication” of trans ideology, which, in effect, was calling for the eradication of trans people. Openly genocidal language. Knowles, through a conservative campus group, reached out to offer me $10,000 to debate him at the University of Pittsburgh about the validity of trans people.
And look, $10,000 is a lot of money to me. It would have paid off my car and provided several months of rent. But rejecting the offer was an easy decision. Within an hour, I had written back a long email response and then decided to post it, which went viral.
I then took part in a segment on the incident for CNN put together quite fairly and professionally by journalist Elle Reeves.
“What Target Needs to Understand” (May 15th)
Unfortunately, the conservative boycott against Anheuser-Busch (the parent company of Budweiser) over Dylan Mulvaney gathered steam and scared other corporations into folding against anti-LGBTQ extremism. In May, Target announced they would be removing some items from their celebrated Pride Month collection after receiving violent threats. I wrote this essay explaining to corporate marketing executives that giving into these extremists would only exacerbate their revenue losses for a simple reason: anti-LGBTQ assholes aren’t looking for tangible results. The whole point is to be angry. They crave outrage. The essay went viral—particularly on LinkedIn—and was adapted as an op-ed for Newsweek.
“To the Man on the Northeast Regional” (May 30th)
In late May, I had a really bad interaction with a transphobic Christian man on an Amtrak ride, and instead of getting angry over it, I decided to approach the man and talk about God after recognizing that he was clearly not in a great place. When I got home, I wrote an open letter to the man—whose name I don’t know—to reclaim what would otherwise have been a not-so-great memory. This essay resonated with a lot of folks, and out of all the things I’ve written this year, it’s proven to be one of the most popular pieces I’ve produced. Seven months later, I still get emails from strangers who have read it.
“When Lance Armstrong Speaks, Why Does Anyone Listen?” (June 26th)
This summer, Lance Armstrong, the most infamous cheater in the history of sports, decided to team up with chronic liar and hypocrite Caitlyn Jenner in an interview that took dead aim at trans kid in sports. In a way, writing this kinda felt shooting fish in a barrel. Contextualizing Armstrong’s jaw-dropping history of cheating and Jenner’s shameless flip-flopping on this issue was quite easy. But much more difficult was getting across the urgency of what’s happening in American media on trans rights: the vacuum created by lazy and uncaring journalists has permitted charlatans like Armstrong and Jenner to fill that void with vile disinformation.
“Please Read About Hitler Before Quoting Him” (July 10th)
Months before one of the co-founders of extremist group Moms for Liberty was implicated in a sex scandal, I wrote this essay contextualizing the organization’s many ties to white supremacist organizations and their boneheaded use of quotes by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao in anti-LGBTQ propaganda. I was surprised by just how many folks didn’t know about the group’s history, which is probably why this went viral.
“What ‘Small Town’ Actually Means” (July 26th)
Country music star Jason Aldean is one of these redneck cosplayers who tries to exploit conservative outrage to sell his music. He released a song about small towns that basically winked at white supremacists. This is all the more hilarious when you learn that Aldean not only didn’t come from a small town but has never lived in one. It gets funnier: Aldean is a prep school kid who was raised in a big city and used Canadian stock footage for his music video about American small towns. Pretty embarrassing.
“When Both Silence and Statement Become Complicity” (Oct. 23rd)
After the terrorist attack against innocent civilians in Israel on Oct. 7th, I was honestly lost. I wanted to be helpful to my Jewish and Muslim friends who were suffering and speak up against all forms of hatred, but what could I say that wouldn’t give the impression I was taking sides? It felt impossible. And then one night, while taking a shower, it hit me: just be completely honest about all of it. I stayed up all night writing. The resulting essay is one of the best things I’ve ever written, and I’m quite proud of it. It was a timely reminder for myself on the responsibility I have with a large platform, and it made me less fearful to say hard truths.
I have spent much of this year wondering about my next chapter. In February, I got an offer to lead a small nonprofit as its executive director, but I knew I would probably have to stop writing in order to take it. I wasn’t ready for that. At the time, it was a hard choice, but in the many months since, it’s a decision that’s aged well.
I don’t know what I’ll do next. Sometimes, I think it would be pretty amazing to be a columnist at The New York Times or The Washington Post. I’ve thought a few times about running for office, but I’ve never been fully confident I’m the best person for the job. Maybe leading an organization is my future calling.
What I do know is that I am enormously fortunate to do what I do for a living, and for the time being, I am very happy writing this blog. I’m grateful. And I intend to enjoy this season in my life as much as possible, doing what I love, and using it to help others.
Again, I can’t thank you all enough for subscribing to my little blog and allowing me to do this work with your financial support. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself to confirm its real.
I wish you all a Happy New Year, and may the next twelve months be far more peaceful than what we’re probably expecting.
And yes, I would love for you to buy me coffee. <3
Highlights and Gratitude from Another Year of Chaos