C.J. Janovy
@cjjanovy.bsky.social
She/her. Former Midwestern journalist, now just a Queer Elder Unsettled on Substack. https://open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy
What started as a fun quest — typing “Portuguese” and “praia” (“beach”) into my music streamer — quickly turned into an astoundingly beautiful journey of discovery. Playlist included. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Beach songs are better in Portuguese
A playlist for na praia state of mind.
open.substack.com
Last week I wrote about all of the reasons Pride month messes with me ... open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Endless Pride
It's June. Forgive me for having too many mixed feelings.
open.substack.com
This was my favorite sign at Lisbon's Pride today but only because I finally know enough Portuguese to understand it: "Só queremos ser felizes" ("We only want to be happy")
I'm beyond grateful to have played a small part in making sure Kansas knows what it had in Gilbert Baker, and to the folks in Parsons who keep working to honor his legacy.
Kansas Reflector@kansasreflector.com · 2mo agoOpinion editor @claywires.bsky.social writes: As Pride Month dawns, Kansas governor helps celebrate rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker #ksleg
Attention all the young queers: Everyone needs to remember how this weekend felt. And love out to all the old queers who were there with me. ❤️ 🏳️🌈 ✊🏻 open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
When we marched for our lives
Here are some timely lessons in activism from the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
open.substack.com
I could spend time in far less productive ways than contemplating Portuguese boat names. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Muses in marinas
What a gal from America's landlocked prairie thinks about in a Portuguese ocean town.
open.substack.com
It’s so striking to read what the president said about trans folks a decade ago vs what he's doing now. But then we’ve been watching all along. Thank you as always to @the-debijackson.bsky.social for keeping such a crucial eye on the past, present and future. open.substack.com/pub/debijack...
They Finally Said It Out Loud
Trans people, the 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy, the documents that preceded it, and what it means when a government stops hiding what it’s doing.
open.substack.com
Everyone should watch this cool story from @nepublicmedia.bsky.social. I'd be saying that even if it didn't star my mom and even if it wasn't, you know, that day. youtube.com/watch?v=San4...
Art Project That Divided a State | Nebraska Stories
YouTube video by Nebraska Public Media
youtube.com
I’ve been intentionally listening to Portuguese pop and anti-fascist folk, so I haven’t devoted much energy thinking about American music’s global influence. Until we went to the Portugal Burger Cup. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
‘The burgers were as weird as the music’
A ‘festival de street food’ soundtrack inspires these riffs on American pop in Portugal.
open.substack.com
It's been a while since I've posted on here. This explains it a little bit. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
On leaving home, one year later
We've entered a season of departure-related anniversaries. Here are just a few of the feelings.
open.substack.com
Because I don't really understand this feeling, I just riff on how strange it is to spend so much time looking down at my feet as I spend looking up at the people and the architecture of our new country. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Walking on art with strangers
Our giant leap leads to tentative first steps.
open.substack.com
What a beautiful day this was: our new town's first Pride march open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
'Our struggle is one'
An old familiar ritual welcomes us to our new town.
open.substack.com
Basically just an appreciation of British English cussing here open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
A few things we'll have to get used to
Before we arrive, we make some guesses about life in our new country.
open.substack.com
Why must the supposedly greatest country in the world so desperately need to keep bragging about how great it is? open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
What we won't miss about America
Here are a few things we know for sure.
open.substack.com
"Lifton described a key psychological mechanism, what he called the 'thought-terminating cliché.'"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/opinion/totalitarianism-robert-jay-lifton.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lU8.ZIXN.eJ7GZJk2DBt9&smid=url-share
Opinion | Totalitarianism Can Be Terrifying. It Can Also Be Thrilling. He Taught Us Why.
nytimes.com
Who else spent the weekend with this painful and necessary reliving of Hurricane Katrina? 20 years ago might as well be today. www.netflix.com/title/816765...
Watch Katrina: Come Hell and High Water | Netflix Official Site
Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, survivors reflect on the disastrous storm that forever changed their lives and the systemic inequities it exposed.
netflix.com
"Portugal teaches patience," someone said. I’m 62 and don’t need lessons in patience. But a summer of waiting to leave the U.S. taught us other things. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Waiting to leave our country
Or, what we did on our summer vacation.
open.substack.com
How my dream of becoming a lesbian elder started vs. going open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Goodbye to Provincetown
This queer heaven is one place in America I'll miss.
open.substack.com
I grew up terrified, justifiably, every day, of nuclear obliteration. Artists had the correct response. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Hiroshima and the End We Refuse to Imagine (Gift Article)
Eighty years after the city’s destruction, we seem to be blundering into a new age of nuclear perils. It is time for culture to rediscover “the courage to be afraid.”
nytimes.com
I wrote about how, 40 years ago, a song made even small town #Midwest #queer kids feel like they belonged. Also, I had the same hair as John Mellencamp. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
We were all 'Small Town'
Forty years ago, John Mellencamp's hit made everyone euphoric — even though we knew we couldn't really be ourselves in small towns.
open.substack.com
For some of us, Jon D. Barnett is legendary in Kansas City #queer history. For younger folks, he should be. Here's a word of gratitude as he heads into his next adventure. open.substack.com/pub/cjjanovy...
Colombia calling
For this Midwestern gay-rights pioneer, home is where the adventure is.
open.substack.com
“I have forgotten what fruit tastes like” - not sure how many times I reflexively put my hand to my heart while listening to this story theworld.org/segments/202...
'I have forgotten what fruit tastes like': Mass starvation grips the Gaza Strip - The World from PRX
After four months of near-total siege by Israel, people in Gaza are starving. According to the United Nations, at least 1 in 3 people are going multiple days without eating. Death from hunger is risin...
theworld.org
In her heroic efforts to be at peace with us leaving the U.S., my mom has asked a lot of questions. One was whether I knew of other LGBTQ people leaving. Yes, I told her. Here’s the story of #Kansas' first #transgender legislator.
From Mexico with love
Kansas' first transgender legislator: 'I didn't flee the country — I moved.'
cjjanovy.substack.com
If I were in charge of PBS or NPR I would be doing 24-7 programming right now about the end of PBS and NPR
The entire USA should be required to read this before saying another word about women's sports, especially trans women in sports. @katiebarnes.bsky.social is a national treasure.
I wrote about how to get rid of all your stuff so you can leave the country. Or at least how I did it. substack.com/@cjjanovy/no...
C.J. Janovy on Substack
When you start telling people you’re leaving the country, some say they want to leave too but can’t imagine getting rid of all their stuff.
substack.com
