Smugglivus Smugglivus Airing of Grievances

The Airing of Grievances – Smugglivus 2016

2016 is over, 2017 has begun, and Smugglivus is nearly complete! Which means that we must also undergo another very important ritual…

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THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES!

(In which we air out any dirty laundry from 2016. Warning: plenty of swearing, engaged CAPS LOCK OF FURY, and spoilers athoy, baby!)

Double Facepalm (Star Trek TNG)

We’ve been Airing our Grievances since 2008 and friends, there hasn’t been a year like 2016 ever. On a global scale, we have wars, deaths, terrorist attacks, and political upheaval. From a personal point of view, this was the year when Ana’s baby sister had cervical cancer and like that wasn’t enough already, she almost died after catching a FREAKISH hospital infection with an ultra-resistant bacteria when she had her surgery to remove her fucking womb (Thankfully – the one thing to be thankful for in 2016 – she not only survived but her cancer is gone).

This means, we don’t even know where to start with this year’s grievances. But we do know one thing: 2016 was the year of the WHAT.

Like, so many people we loved are just… gone. To name a few, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Muhamad Ali, Prince, David Bowie and in the period between Christmas and New Year, George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds…

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And then there was that one time when a favourite character died too, and he was one of the few POC characters in a major show and…

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Meanwhile, racist shit is happening all over the world. Like that one time when we all went to bed in the UK and we woke up and BREXIT happened…

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In publishing and on Twitter, advocates for equality, feminists, poc readers and authors were attacked left and right every time they called out racism and sexism in publishing. And folks, there was a lot of that this year. Like that one time when a publisher had a book of “parody” covers that was so racist it almost made our eyes bleed. White authors continued to be awful and show their asses, like that one who said that those who call out cultural appropriation are getting “too precious.” And just a few days ago, we all found out that racist nazi piece of shit Milo Yiannopoulos got a huge book deal with a major publishing house…

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In the meantime in the SFF sphere, the Whiny Puppies attacked the Hugo awards again, white dudes got super upset about Ghostbusters having a primarily female cast and the same contingent called for Rogue One boycotts because the movie having a POC cast was too political…

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Yeah, this year has been rough.

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But that’s not all folks. There was also that one time when the US elected Donald Trump as their president.

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12 Comments

  • N. E. White
    January 4, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    So sorry about your baby sister, but thankful she is past it all. Good health to her in 2017!

    And thanks for your grievances. Much appreciated!

  • looloolooweez
    January 4, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    Yikes, Ana, I’m glad your sis pulled through all that and is healthy again. This year really has been rough on the world in general and on a personal level for many people.

  • M. Debonnaire
    January 4, 2017 at 1:43 pm

    So glad to hear that Ana’s sister is doing alright!
    On another note, you may enjoy this song if you’ve not seen it already https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yv_rl3MYKA It has MUCH swearing…
    Here’s hoping for a better 2017!

  • Monica Reeds
    January 4, 2017 at 2:44 pm

    This was a perfect summation of 2016! I’m so glad the cancer trauma is behind you all.

  • Savannah @ Playing in the Pages
    January 4, 2017 at 4:48 pm

    So glad Ana’s sister is okay!! Yeah, 2016 was basically the pits. Cheers to survival, and let’s hope 2017 brings a lot better tidings!

  • Julianna @ Blots of Ink and Words
    January 4, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    Yeah, I totally agree. 2016… was not the best. Dark times.
    This post was a perfect example of my reaction to everything.
    Let’s hope 2017 turns out better!

  • The Airing of Grievances – Smugglivus 2016
    January 4, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    […] post The Airing of Grievances – Smugglivus 2016 appeared first on The Book […]

  • Alex the Great
    January 5, 2017 at 12:50 am

    I’m glad everything turned out okay for your sister, Ana! Here’s wishing you all at Book Smugglers Central a happier 2017.

    I just started reading Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark. Solnit recognizes that things often look hopeless – the economy, climate change, human rights, politics – but points out how far we’ve come in the last hundred years, and argues that things can and do change for the better. Hope that things can be better drives us to action, which in turn leads to change. I’m only three chapters in, but it’s enough to know that this is exactly what I needed to read.

  • Ana
    January 5, 2017 at 6:35 am

    Thanks for the kind words about my sister, everybody! <3

  • Pixel Scroll 1/5/17 But You Scroll One Lousy Pixel…. | File 770
    January 5, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    […] (8) THE FORBIDDEN ZONE. There probably are a few things The Book Smuggler would like to forbid: “The Airing of Grievances – Smugglivus 2016” […]

  • Ju Transcendancing
    January 10, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    So glad your sister has come through everything okay, I wish her much peacefulness and love in her longterm recovery.

    Even though I ended the year in a much better position than I began it, this year was so hard and awful in so many ways. Your grievances airing was perfect, thank you for that, I needed it.

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