But when close to twenty percent of Denny's go under, you know the shit has hit the fan.
For those of my readers outside of the U.S., Denny's is a chain modeled after the classic 1950's diners. Greasy food, black coffee, and shakes. Not exactly healthy, but comfort food after a late night partying or when you're pregnant and can't keep anything else down.
(Don't ask me why on that last one. It's the one place my stomach could tolerate when I had morning sickness and after I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.)
I wasn't surprised when my sales dropped shortly after Tribblehead's inauguration. The same thing had happened during his first term, and that's accounting for me doing elder care for the in-laws.
But this time around, things are much, much worse. ICE is kidnapping brown folks, whether they're legally in the U.S. or not. White folks don't want to admit brown folks are the backbone of the restaurant business.
The quality of a lot of restaurants' food has gone downhill, especially fast-food joints. The last Big Mac I ate had more special sauce than burger. My last two sandwiches from Arby's were not cooked all the way through.The last cheesy fries I ordered from Wendy's were. . .let's just say there was a quarter inch layer of oil in the bottom of the container making the fries very, VERY soggy.
Look, I've had diabetes and been immunocompromised for the last twenty-six years. But I still treat myself once in a while. But even DH was grossed out the last three times we hit a fast food place. And he has a cast-iron stomach. Needless to say, I've been cooking cheeseburgers, pizza, and tacos from my own recipes at home, and not just because it's cheaper and healthier.
Which brings me to my second point. With retail prices for everyday needs staying near the levels they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, people don't have the extra money for eating out. And if my experiences with really shitty take-out are any indication, people just aren't going to splurge at those restaurants anymore.
It's not just Denny's closing thousands of stores. I scrolled through other restaurant news. McDonald's sales are down as is everyone else's in the fast food market. Red Lobster nearly collapsed. In fact, the one in our town was originally slated for closer, but somehow, they found a CEO who pulled them out of the tailspin. By the way, the new CEO is . . .what for it. . . . . . . .brown!
In the meantime, DH and I aren't wasting money at these franchises anymore. We've been patronizing locally-owned restaurants at the rare times we go out, mainly out of a sense of self-preservation. I don't feel like dying from fast-food food poisoning. I've got a ton of books to write.
My feelings right now are fairly complex. My son is stationed on a U.S. base in the Middle East. He was supposed to be rotated stateside later this summer. We don't know if that will happen as scheduled.
To make matters worse, Tribblehead (no, I will not be respectful to a convicted felon who has no remorse) cut quite a bit of funding to the Army for fun stuff like sports equipment. Our soldiers believe in themselves, their jobs, and their country, not necessarily in that order. They were already under a lot of stress. They need a healthy way to deal with that stress, and Tribblehead and the DOGE bros took that away from them.
I fear for these kids' health, both mentally and physically. All of them, not just Genius Kid. I've seen the toll on them first-hand, and that's not even including death and maiming if a full-scale war breaks out.
Which it's likely to do with Tribblehead at the helm.
So, that's why I've been burying my head in writing over the weekend. Going to Starbucks because DH and I are feeding each other's anxiety, and the Grandpuppy and Princess Pup are picking up on our emotions which sends them in a tailspin.
Yes, I'm channeling my fears into Anthea, who's trying to keep a civil war from breaking out in Jing without interfering with their autonomy. It's a delicate tightrope. One she's determined to cross successfully or die trying.
That's what I need right now. A leader who actually gives a shit about the people around her.
I wish the kids in the military had a leader who gave a shit about them.
The stories I've been hearing from writers that have dealt with 1 Paragraph over the last four months is nothing short of appalling. The rights' grabs includes merchandising, performance rights, and moral rights.
If you don't know what any of these are and you're a writer, please PLEASE get a copy of The Copyright Handbook by Stephen Fishman, J.D. You don't need a legal degree to understand it. It's written is plain English and easily understandable.
For me, the biggest problem in the contract is the moral rights. Moral rights last for the term of copyright, but what does "moral rights" mean? It means the writer has the right to have their work attributed to them, the right to object to derogatory treatment of the work, the right not to be identified as the author of someone else's work, and the right to privacy.
Moral rights can be confusing, so let's break them down with examples:
1) The right to have the work attributed - It means if a third-party publishes A Question of Balance, my name (or pseudonym) needs to be listed as the author. The third-party publisher cannot say Stephen King wrote A Question of Balance.
2) The right to object to derogatory treatment of the work - A third-party publisher cannot alter, remove, add, or adapt the work. For example, suppose the third-party publisher objects to any mention of the LGBT+ community. They cannot go through A Question of Balance and remove any references to berda or change Sister Dragonfly of Love to anything but a trans woman character.
Or perhaps, the publisher doesn't like the fact that Anthea and Luc's sex scenes fade to black, and they decide to add sex scenes that put Debbie Does Dallas to shame. Nope, nope, nopity-nope. They cannot do that.
3) The right not to be identified as the author of someone else's work - This is basically the opposite of the first term. Say that third-party publisher tries to publish A Question of Balance under Stephen King's name because they think it will sell more copies. (It won't because Stephen King fans aren't that fucking stupid, but that's a story for another day.) Stephen King has every right to, and probably will. sue the crap out of the publisher.
4) The right to privacy - No, that doesn't mean you can hide who you are as a writer. (Well, you can, but that's a whole 'nuther blog post.) What this means is if I write a Justice story just for my friend Angie, it doesn't mean I HAVE to publish for the rest of the world to read.
(Not that I'd ever do something like that to my readers. However, I have written private erotic for my husband that will never see the light of day because it was just for the two of us.)
The EU covers moral rights more thoroughly in their legislation, but moral rights exist in the U.S. as well. They cannot be transferred or assigned, but they can be waived. The problem is you have no idea of how someone will use your work.
Say it with me, kids! MAKE SURE YOU READ YOUR CONTRACT!! If you don't understand it, hire someone who does to explain it to you!
Did I plan to submit to one of these magazines? Yes. Will I now? Not until they get a new owner because I don't trust these idiots.
Which brings me to another point, all five magazines are still up for sale. In other words, the new owners don't have a vested interest in making these magazines work. So what's the point in submitting anyway?
It doesn't help when I get up at seven a.m. for class. Wednesday's class used to be at ten a.m., then nine, and now eight.
The endorphins from the class only stretch so far. I stopped for breakfast and a writing session at Starbucks after class. After getting home around eleven a.m., I started into e-mail. . .
. . . and promptly fell asleep in my recliner.
DH had to wake me up a quarter after three because we'd already bought tickets to see The Phoenician Scheme. (That will be reviewed here next Monday.) It was sunny and beautiful when we left the cinema. As soon as we got home, I started supper.
And it immediately got very dark outside. A fast-moving storm system blasted through our area along with thunder, lightning, and the county tornado sirens howling. Because heat also does queer things to the weather.
The county's system is directly linked with the National Weather Service ("NWS"). It gives residents a chance to get to shelter. Yet, the NWS is another service the current leader of our country wants to defund.
Such an action infuriates me because I remember the Xenia Tornado of 1974. It was what would now be described as an F5 storm. The folks in Xenia had no warning unless they saw the broadcast from a Dayton television station. No sirens existed at the time in town.
This Super Outbreak affected twelve other states besides Ohio and dropped over 100 tornadoes across several hundred miles. Data gathered from this outbreak was used to push funding through Congress for both the NWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ("NOAA"). Both organizations do their best to get warn people to get out of Mother Nature's way.
We're still in peak tornado season here in Ohio. Hurricane season has started in the state surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. Without advanced warnings from NWS and NOAA because of budget cutting, much less the departments being eliminated, how many lives will be lost over the next few years?
Normally, I avoid any political commentary on my blogs. But as the title says, it's no longer just politics.
Not when unidentified men break into homes, seize people and belongings, and disappear. Not when illegal gases are used to subdue peaceful protesters. Not when a single burning car is used over and over as propaganda to justify sending the U.S. military into Los Angeles.
You see, I'm old enough to remember Kent State. Ohio's Governor James Rhodes sent armed National Guardsmen to quell a protest at Kent State University. The soldiers claimed the students threw a rock. One rock.
They retaliated by opening fire on the students. Four unarmed kids died that day. And even though I wasn't even in kindergarten yet, I understood the slogan "Don't trust anyone over 30."
And now, I'm way over 30. I was brought up by people who served the public. People who were local government leaders. People who served at polls. People who fought in foreign countries.
I swore to uphold the U.S. Constitution three times in my life. My son took the same oath when he joined the military.
And now. . .
I see a group of idiots attempting to destroy the country.
And it royally pisses me off. I'll admit the idea that everyone is created equal still needs some work in this country. But to blatantly ignore someone's citizenship or green card and send them to a prison on a different continent?
What the fuck!
To have a military parade to please our leader?
We mocked the U.S.S.R. for doing that shit!
To arrest a member of Congress for attempting to speak with a director of an executive office?
To assassinate a member of a state legislature?
To claim the right to publicly assemble is illegal?
When I traveled down to the Carolinas to visit friends and family in March, someone I've known since the 80s asked me if I thought the U.S. was becoming fascist. I said, "We already are. People just haven't realized it yet."
Now, people are starting to realize it.
But is it too late to change course?
Only you can answer that question.
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