"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you" - Pericles

Content warning: Politics. This is my platform and I'll talk about it if I want to.

Another update has been long overdue. I apologise for the period of time that has passed. I'm still ok, just about. "Surviving" is as good as anyone can be these days, it feels like.

Due to some complicated personal circumstances, I have not yet reached a safe living situation. I was hoping to have done so and be able to get some reviews done by now, but that has not been possible. All of my reviewing equipment as well as 95% of my collection has been sitting in a storage unit for the past couple of months, and it feels like the time has just disappeared faster than I could even notice it passing. I have been preoccupied with such things as stockpiling essential medication and ensuring people I care about are safe, and just being there for my people and others that are being targeted. These days I feel more interested in activism than either pretending nothing is wrong, or biting my tongue to avoid the wrath of forum and subreddit moderators, when I warned everyone exactly what would happen back in 2024.

I love collecting and reviewing lights, but these last few months, the passion has been hard to direct into a drive to actually get things done. Some states, thankfully not yet including the one I am presently located in, have actually attempted to outright criminalise my very existence. In the country that practically makes "freedom" a religion, there are areas it is unsafe for me to even drive through. We have journalists mapping which states are safe for us to visit, 59 years since the Green Book was no longer necessary, and I know for a fact that people have been surprised that the situation was as bad as it is when I have shown them Erin's map. There is always more that can be written, but the historical parallels are beyond terrifying, and preparations are being made to end our access to healthcare, that will cost lives.

At the same time, my own country by birth, the only place I have the right to live in if things get bad enough to need to leave the US, has also started to make moves to nationally end all healthcare for people like me. A few people have said "just go to Canada", but Canada is just as bad these days, so I have a lot of other things on my mind to deal with - I am still focused on moving, but currently have enough other concerns as well as health problems that it is unlikely to be any time imminently.

As to the future of this site in the longer term over the next 4 years (which is linked to the future of our hobby in general): I will still do what I can. I have a few review samples that I never got a chance to do due to everything that has happened since november. Those will still be completed when I am able to. As to future content past those, if necessary I will start reviewing existing lights from my collection. I have wanted to do a few long-term ownership reviews for a while, so expect to see some of those. So far, nobody I have asked has any definite idea how review samples will be affected, but it seems most likely reviewers will have to pay to receive them, so I would warn the community to expect fewer reviews going forward in general, at least from US-based reviewers. There are some other brands that I have not yet reviewed, which I may also start doing, using examples already in my collection.

One thing you can count on: When I am reviewing again, I will not back down from discussing the price of lights both in the US and in the rest of the world, and highlighting exactly why the light costs so much more in the US.

If you were wondering specifically about my general absence from Reddit and BLF, see below.

I have not yet decided when I will resume participation in forums and subreddits with a "no politics" rule (although this is a when, not an if - I will be back eventually). Since certain segments of the population have decided that my very existence is political, and with the fact that trying to discuss the effect on a hobby that is being crushed under the economic chaos deliberately induced by manchild billionaires for their own personal profit is becoming increasingly difficult to do while remaining non-political, in my opinion civility is no longer an option - this is a generational battle between good and evil the likes of which has not been seen for 80 years, and those who stand on the sidelines and do nothing in the name of 'neutrality' are just as complicit as those taking away my civil rights. Personally, I really wish I wasn't living through a major historical event, but I'm not going to pretend things are business as usual just to get more clicks, and ultimately I do not wish to participate when doing so could endanger my ability to participate in the long term when I am able to remain within such rules. Consider it part protest, part necessary practical step to protect myself. I am still around on the Flashlights Discord server.

So, what can I do?

Make your dissatisfaction known. Write to your representatives.

Make sure that those of us that are targeted are not forgotten. Hold elected officials from both sides to account. Vote in primaries against Democrats who refuse to call out the current events for what they are, or who try to throw minorities under the bus and shift their own party rightward in response. When you hear transphobia, racism, misogyny, or misinformation, do not let it go unchallenged. Defend your friends as if they were in the room, even when they aren't. If you aren't in the US, support your local progressive causes - make sure that your country does not follow the US' example.

Do not obey in advance.

If you are located in the US and are able to and it is safe for you to do, consider attending a protest.

If you enjoy my writing and want to make a meaningful contribution to causes I support, consider donating to the Transgender Law Center, Lambda Legal, or Trans Lifeline.

Finally, when this is over, because it eventually will be, make sure that we get back everything we have lost, and continue to move on to a fairer world for all. Don't accept the status quo; don't settle for things no longer getting any worse. Build a new, better world on the ruins of the old. There is so, so much that will need to be rebuilt and replaced. Don't settle for less than we used to have, or even for the same again. Fight for healthcare for all, fight for universal reproductive rights and morphological freedom, fight to end the criminalisation of ordinary people and the mistreatment of migrants, and fight to end the ongoing genocide of trans people and hold accountable the centrists who stood silently by and did nothing.

Be the light you wish to see in the world. A better world is possible, if we fight for it. Let this radicalise you rather than lead you to despair.