WINTER BOOTS, MEET WINTER SOLDIER

~ from the dairy of a Winter Soldier ~

I gotta do what, now? I’m over here getting fitted for winter boots and y’all are talking about spy craft? Maaaaan, I just spent the last few years integrating the duality within me; now you’re saying I gotta slide the mask back on for the sake of walking within maggot infested gutters and gather intel? Nah. Not me. Just cuz I’m a Gemini doesn’t mean I like being flip sides of the coin.

Integrating our disparate wolves is also a lifetime of work and I just got started. You think I feel like interrupting that so I can laugh at racists jokes, associate with rapists, and make note of street names and weaknesses and which bridges to blow up?

The energy right now, in response to bully shit, is heartening. I cant help but reflect on, when Putin took Crimea, how different things might be in Ukraine right now if the response had been Absolutely not, P. Back the fuck up. Considering his other hits, such as shoving his hand so far up the asshole of the current puppet that his throat tickles, and whacking oligarchs who don’t bend the knee, Crimea was footwork for the wind-up.

At least now the response is swift and unequivocal. People are fucking ready. You say “Your body, my choice,” and Winter Soldiers will fuck you up—that is to say, respond accordingly. The dog whistles to raw language translator is operating at light speeds: that was a Nazi salute, homie. That was a death threat. That was racism. We’re not here for the debate, as there is none.

All that ‘algospeak,’ the code switching we’ve been engaged in to avoid content moderation and shadow banning on platforms like TikTok? It’s been fun, it’s been cute, it’s been a stimulating and stimming exercise in wordsmithing, but a return back to calling a spade a spade is in order. Quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. Says Nazi shit, that’s a Nazi. That’s a sociopath. That’s a malignant growth that needs to be carved out.

A rally cry has been coined against ICE: “Gargle my balls.” The snort chuckle I get from that every time I hear it keeps me warm in winter. Laughing maniacally as we empty extended clips is the mash-up remix I can get into. This is the language we need.

In the meantime, how to prepare for conflict? How to rock those winter boots? How to serve as a protector in public spaces when the fuckery shows up? There’s not much time to conduct risk assessment. I didn’t have the time recently, and he was bigger than me, and certifiably crazy, but he called the old lady who runs my corner market a ‘fucking bitch’ and it was go time.

The thing is, when there’s an agreement that we’re all in this, that we all go, bullies have less room to push people around and less time to assert dominance. And a surprising amount of them fold at the first sign of FUCK. YOU. What bullies got going for them is the amount of people who freeze at the mere signal of aggression. Rightly so, cuz implied violence will do a number on anybody. So, when the rebuttal is swift and uncompromising, when you stand up and stare back, that’s when the tables turn.

Don’t mistake this as a call for violence. This is a call to face the threat of violence with courage and the conviction of your character. And don’t for a split second think catching a case is a good idea. Now more than ever avoiding the American Gulag is imperative. That particular beast just got its appetite renewed for another season by the United States Network and unhinged its jaw. We should not at all attach ourselves to the romance of being a martyr, or a political prisoner, or a face on a t-shirt.

It’s the agreement that holds weight. It’s the uncompromising show of Not today, Satan energy that needs to happen first and foremost. The sooner you realize that standing by is both bad for your soul and will not save you from the radiation of the blast zone, the sooner you stand a real chance of surviving. And feeling good about yourself. Not too mention your grandchildren will love retelling the tale.

Be a Winter Soldier.

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