#<— edited tag in honor of recent discourse

[our-queer-experience]

[venusinmyrrh]

Inspired by @queerpyracy’s recent post, here are the books on my TBR that I’m most excited to get to in 2025!

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. I'm a big fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and this story seems very similar to her work: romance in the face of a vampire threat in 1840s Mexico.

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego. I love, love, love, a stylish mystery, and this one looks like a cross between Glass Onion and And Then There Were None.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. This split-timeline thriller looks like it'll scratch the same itch as Bad Times at the El Royale. Here's hoping the tone is less true-crime and more Stephen King.

Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire. I am not a Wicked novel girl but I have it on good authority (from @mordredsheart) that this interpretation of the Nutcracker is the Maguire I'll like best.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. Besides having an absolute banger of a title, anything described as a mystery-thriller-cum-fairytale is something I need to read ASAP.

Repeat It Today With Tears by Anne Peile. Speaking of banger titles, this book seems specifically designed to make me crazier, and that's the energy I'm trying to carry into 2025.

Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman by Alan Rickman. I'm here for the wisdom, the sense of connection to a fellow artist, and the HP hate in equal measure.

Ascension by S.T. Gibson. Rhys McGowan, relentlessly ambitious ceremonial magician extraordinaire, is my entire man, and I literally could not put Evocation (the first book in this series) down, so onto the list it goes.

Metamorphoses by Ovid. This classic has been taking up space on my bookshelf for years-- it's time to see if it earns its keep.

Honorable mentions go to:

Lolita in the Afterlife: On Beauty, Risk, and Reckoning with the Most Indelible and Shocking Novel of the Twentieth Century edited by Jenny Minton Quigley. A collection of pieces on the impact and discourse generated by the famous novel in the last sixty years. I picked this up at random in a bookstore and was impressed by what I skimmed.

Other People’s Shoes: Thoughts on Acting by Harriet Walter. I loved her book Brutus and Other Heroines, so if my library ever gets around to acquiring a copy I am going to pounce on it.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li. I have a weakness for art heists, what can I say.

Tagging @mordredsheart, @mariacallous, @forthegothicheroine, @bluestockingbaby, @lucacangettathisass, @briarlily, and @alintalzin, as well as anyone else with something to say. I wanna hear what you're into!

[berlinini]

we made it (2021 version)

So this is longer than I intended and if you read the first sentence and ask yourself what the fuck is this, you can skip to the important part aka the end. TLDR: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for an incredible year in this fandom, 2021 would have sucked (even more) without you, Louis & Louies i love you so much ❤️

So I'm at the point in my NYE "celebrations" where I decided to listen to Fireproof in honor of that time in March-April 2021 when I would listen to that song obsessively because it just conveyed my mental state (there's something about blasting "I think I'm gonna lose my mind" at the beginning of the work day from your dining-room-turned-home-office). There were many songs that I would go and listen on repeat later on in a probably unhealthy manner, like Louis' cover of 7 for the whole month of September (somehow "I need another year lone" felt right to me 2 years into a pandemic), Zayn's entire and thankfully very long discography this summer, Sam Fender's Last to Make it Home this fall and more recently Arctic Monkey's One for the Road. My weird consumption of music apart, what these things have in common is that I associate them strongly with different periods of this year and they are all songs that I've discovered thanks to this fandom. Anyways, when there isn't much going on, at least we have music and nature.

It really isn't an understatement to say that this year has been completely changed for me when I discovered Louis' music and joined tumblr and this amazing amazing fandom. So many of my memories this year are linked to being here, with the things Louis did or the stuff that happened on louie tumblr, and the endless fun I've had with people I met here.

I'm not joking, if someone asked me the highlight of 2021, I would reply AFHF. I have such vivid memories of watching the festival on blurry streams on August 30, and all the emotions I felt in my living room, and doing the same a week later with an amazing documentary and an HD version of the concert. It was peak Serotonin Boost™️ for my pandemic brain. Thank you Louis!!! Thank you for being such an incredible person and artist, you make it so easy to be your fan! Now release new music. I will also remember 2021 for the fun Euro content it provided (and my first interaction with @shutterbug2012), how I was secretly hoping England wouldn't get eliminated, watching the finale in a bar during my vacations and being so torn about cheering for Italy.

I will remember the excitement every 28th of the month, the merch drops, the monthly check-in tweets, the awesome fandom projects we've had for Hallouween and to celebrate Louis' 30th birthday (s/o to @louisprojects), the tag games (s/o to @seasurfacefullofclouds1 and @venusrobots), the random horny asks (s/o to @silverfoxlou #flatfingers and to @crankydee's cursed images), the zouis breakdowns (no thanks for @louis-in-red @itsallaboutzayn and @icarusfallsforwalls), the louie love letters, the daily what's-Val's-breakdown-of-the-day (@bluelightsaber never stop ilysm) and the awesome GIFs and edits that never fail to amaze me (s/o to @longhairedlouist91 and @quetzal-28 moodboards, @fruitylouis mindblowing gifs and @stormyhale manifesting edits). Special mention to fan fic writers and rec blogs (@allwaswell16 and @quelsentiment) for the endless tabs I have open on my computer and that weird moment a coworker asked me what I was reading at the moment and couldn't exactly tell the truth. I even want to thank the unhinged anons in my inbox for making me laugh out loud a few times, and the 'normal' anons who allowed me to ~discourse~.

Thank you to everyone who is part of the fandom and who's here to support Louis as he's preparing to take over the world ❤️Thank you for welcoming me, thank you for sticking around and for making cookies out of crumbs. Thank you for being here, for interacting with me, for following me.

If you've made this far, I want to wish you a Happy New Year!!! 🎉

☀️2022 is the year of Louis Tomlinson and of Louies 🤞

✨ Faith in the Future ✨

[superlinguo]

Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Technical Writer

One thing I love about the Linguistics Jobs interview series is that each interview has relevant information about a specific job, but also lots of wonderful general advice about looking for work. Today, I really appreciate Alex Katz’s insight into the importance of building up a portfolio of work that you can share with potential future employers. Trying your hand at technical writing, or audio production or any other job you think you might be interested in, is a great way to see if it suits, and have something to show potential future employers. You can follow Alex on Twitter (@WizardOfDocs) and they’re also on Mastodon (WizardOfDocs@wandering.shop).

What did you study at university?

For my bachelor's I did a double linguistics and Chinese literature major, and an honors thesis about how characters in old Doctor Who stories address each other. Then I did a Master of Arts degree in linguistics, focusing on pragmatics, and my thesis took John Searle's speech act theory and Brown & Levinson's politeness theory and combined them into a new set of speech act categories. The idea for my master's thesis came from reading Searle's original paper in my discourse analysis class and thinking "I can do this better." So I wrote a paper about it for the class, and that turned into the first draft of my thesis. So don't prevent yourself from doing something if the only reason you want to do it is to do it better than someone else. It gets results.

What is your job?

I'm a contract technical writer for a shopping website. My day-to-day work is improving the documentation of how to use/add to the code that keeps the website running: I'm editing the existing documentation one page at a time, but I'm also taking edit requests and proposals for new pages, and even planning a major restructuring of my team's internal website to make sure our customers can learn what to do better.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

Studying linguistics, and especially pragmatics, has made me a better writer and a better editor. I can figure out why a particular phrasing or formatting decision is better or worse in context, and explain it to my teammates. That skill isn't just useful for the actual documentation--understanding pragmatics also helps me write emails and Slack messages to make sure members of my team are talking to each other and can give me the information I need.

Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

If you want to get into technical writing, start building up your portfolio as soon as possible, especially in your chosen subject area. Ask your professors if they have syllabi or lab procedures that need updating. Start a blog. Document open-source projects. I didn't realize I wanted to be a technical writer until a couple of years after I graduated, and now all my best work is proprietary and I can't work on open source projects without jumping through lots of hoops. So I'm feeling kind of stuck. If I'd realized sooner that I could just (for example) send the developer of a Minecraft mod a pull request to improve their in-game tutorial book, my portfolio would look a lot better.

Also, expect to spend at least a few years as a contractor before any company decides you're worth hiring for real. That means a lot of short-term jobs, and probably some bad employers at the staffing agencies. But it's a good way to figure out what kind of company you really want to work for, and a great way to build up your resume--even if I don't get to go full-time at this job, I can now say I've worked at three different big tech companies.

Any other thoughts or comments?

It's not exaggerating to say studying linguistics has made me a better person. I was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder in college, just as I was starting to study linguistics, and those things together gave me a wonderful opportunity to study how people talk to each other and learn how to present myself as someone people want to spend time with.

Related interviews:

Interview with a Standards Engineer

Interview with a Product Manager

Interview with an Editor and Copywriter

Recent interview:

Interview with a Stay-at-home Mom and Twitch Streamer

Interview with a Peer Review Program Manager

Interview with an Associate at the Children’s Center for Communication, Beverly School for the Deaf

Interview with a Metadata Specialist and Genealogist

Interview with a Developer Advocate

Check out the full Linguist Jobs Interview List and the Linguist Jobs tag for even more interviews 

[shamelesslymkp]

Shameless Self-Promotions:

MKP on the AO3 | MKP’s Fic Recs on Pinboard | MKP’s Userscripts & Recs on GreasyFork

MKP's fic recs on Tumblr* | trackable tag: #i eat fic for breakfast

*inconsistently tagged by fandom

MKP’s Fic & Fannish Content: @thefannishmkp | MKP’s Poetry & Original Content: @theoriginalmkp | MKP’s Poetry Fan Blog: @anotherarspoetica | MKP’s ND Reaction Gifs Blog: @hashtagactuallyautisticreactions | MKP's Edits & Graphics: #i made this!

A Note to Artists, Writers, etc.

You may notice me liking your posts but not reblogging them! Do not be too disappointed - odds are that I am reblogging them but they've gone into the Great Vortex of Queued Posts; check your notes again in like... 10-20 business days.

Before You Follow: Content Warnings

WARNING THE FIRST:

This blog is sometimes NSFW and occasionally contains images, videos, and writing of the pornographic variety (more specifically of the kinky variety). Blacklist the words "NSFW" and "KINK" to only see the vanilla geeky gleefulness. I also recommend blacklisting either my "i eat fic for breakfast" or "via:pinboard" tags due to the automated feed of fics I've recently bookmarked on pinboard, which include a copy of the original author's AO3 tags in the content of the text post.

Please note that if you are using Tumblr's native blacklist function, you must blacklist the specific tags "nsfw for kate's bls" and "kink for kate's bls" to ensure the posts are filtered.

Update, July 2019: While I do comply with Tumblr's ban on adult-only (visual) content, I do reblog and/or post explicit and/or kink-related content (particularly resources) from time-to-time.

This means that this is still an ADULTS-ONLY blog!

If you are under 18 (or whatever the legal age is in your country), Stop. Do not pass go. Unfollow my blog. Do not look at my archive. Do not like or reblog explicit or kinky materials I have posted or reblogged. Come back when you’re older.

This is mainly an honor system kind of thing, but if I happen to discover a minor following me, I will a) ask you to unfollow immediately and b) block you if necessary.

WARNING THE SECOND:

Unfortunately, due to a frequent lack of spoons and an increasing reliance on phoneblogging, I no longer can commit to regularly tagging content on this blog. I still try to tag for (at the very least) NSFW and kinky content, and for common triggers such as sucidal ideation, talk about self-harm, etc., but I cannot commit to it. I sometimes manage to tag posts about politics or discourse, but not always. Please protect yourself and follow with caution.

[childeapologist]

tagged by @naruzumake and @fyodcrs thank youu!!!

why did you choose your url? because I like stars and galaxy aesthetic and Steven Starphase was my Kekkai Sensen crush

any side-blogs? The only active sideblog of mine currently is my Dr. Stone blog @senkus-lab-partner  I have an art blog that’s dead bc I procrastinate forever on starting fanarts and make edits instead @sstarphase--art  I also have a gaming blog that I still intend to set up and start reblogging/posting original content to @sketchydainsleif

how long have you been on tumblr? I made my blog in 2010 I been here since the era of like socially awkward penguin memes and philosoraptor. I was an emo/bandom blog that spammed Green Day posts. I went through a SuperWhoLock phase. I’ve seen too much. 

do you have a queue tag? i’m one of those annoying people with the long ass queue tags.  My current one is: queue: off doing science experiments with Senku \(★ω★)/ Before that I had a Great Pretender one: queue: living an honest life with edamame  Before that I had: queue: having tea with Levi (but I changed this one bc It was similar to another users with a lot of the same mutuals and I didn’t want it to be confusing) 

why did you start your blog in the first place? I was in high school and I’ve always been a bit of an internet gremlin and my friend told me she discovered this great new social media and that i had to make an account and try it because it’s really great. I am still thankful for that. Tumblr is great for the fandom subcultures I love to immerse myself in (i’ve gotten better at avoiding the bad parts of fandom as Ive gotten older though)

why did you choose your icon/pfp? AS SOON AS I SAW DAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME I WAS IN LOVE. DAIN IS EVERYTHING WHEN WILL HE BECOME PLAYABLE AAHHHH

why did you choose your header? Senku is the best and the art in the second OP goes so hard. 

what’s your post with the most notes? an old ass gif i made of kaneki cracking his finger. think its like 11-12k notes?

how many people do you follow? 1,131, lot of inactive blogs there though. the inactive checker from xkit hasn’t been working for me shfd;ghsgs

have you ever made a shitpost? I’m still proud of my Evangelion shitpost that got over 1k notes 

how often do you use tumblr? I get on every day nowadays. And when I’m active i am usually very active. But I’ve taken several long hiatuses in all the years I’ve been on here, otherwise I feel my blog would have grown so much more by now. 

did you have a fight/argument with a blog once? I used to engage in discourse way more often so shgdghlslhs yeah

how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this post’? it’s fine I guess especially on pressing issues. but idk sometimes it makes me feel stubborn like now I dont want to reblog it just because of that LOL i am mature

do you like tag games? yess but I get bad executive dysfunction and then I feel bad when I don’t do a bunch in a row then it feels like it’s been long enough for it to be weird and i’m like ;ogj;ghslfgsdhdfghd

do you like ask games? yes!! 

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? I follow a many people that have been amazing creators since I could barely color a gif and I feel so honored to have become mutuals with some of them recently and s;hgghslighesfdg

do you have a crush on a mutual? Unfortunately I only have crushes on 2D characters

i will tag: @rorronoa @tokoyammi @prince-rivailles @ackernen @eremikas

[architectnews]

Mark Pasnik Architect, OverUnder

Mark Pasnik Architect, OUT100 list 2020, Boston Architecture, Massachusetts Architectural News, Design

Mark Pasnik Architect News

Nov 23, 2020

We are delighted to share the news that architect, author and activist, Mark Pasnik, a Founding Principal at OverUnder, Chair of the Boston Art Commission and a Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology is one of the honorees on this year’s OUT100 list as compiled by OUT magazine.

Mark Pasnik, OverUnder, in OUT100 list

Mark is the only honoree that is an Architect and his role in raising the profile of Boston’s significant architecture and advocating for a re-examination of the city’s historic statues is a focus of the citation.

Mark is honored for his career work as a champion of “unpopular battles” which is at the core of OverUnder, the architecture design firm rooted in advocacy which he co-founded in 2006. OUT cites Mark as an expert and published author on brutalism, of which Boston City Hall is one of the most widely recognized examples. With Michael Kubo and Chris Grimley, Mark is the author of Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston, which broke ground in the scholarly assessment of concrete buildings.

Mark Pasnik, photographed for OUT magazine inside Boston City Hall, the iconic example of Brutalist architecture featured in the book Pasnik co-author, “Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston”: photograph © Sam Rosenholtz Photography

OUT also cites Mark’s role as Chair of the Boston Art Commission, where he has been reminded of the “value of meaningful public discourse in communicating across divides.”

“Every year, OUT magazine’s 100 most influential LGBTQ+ people of the year is filled with politicians, entertainers, athletes, and activists who’ve become household names,” explains Diane Anderson-Minshall, CEO & Editorial Director of Pride Media. 

“Each time there are honorees who aren’t so well known, but who have moved their world, field, or community in ways equally deserving of recognition. Mark Pasnik is one of those gems, a champion who has influenced our understanding of brutalist architecture as well as public monuments. His thought leadership and public action have touched many across the country, rippling outward through the ways his design firm OverUnder advocates for small cities that face real challenges and fights to preserve the legacies of earlier generations seen in buildings like Boston City Hall.”

The 26th annual OUT100 list is a collection of LGTBQ+ trail blazers, artists, leaders, and creators who have used their talent and voices to influence change and visibility in the last year.

I’ve included the text of the citation below and a link to the entire list of diverse, international honorees which includes François Arnaud, Tim Cook, Wilson Cruz, Karine Jean-Pierre, Rachel Maddow, Janelle Monáe, Queen Jean, Quinn, Ritchie Torres, Mary Trump, and Scott Wiener among others.

Attached you will find Mark’s bio and a photo. I’d be glad to connect you to Mark as well as Diane Anderson-Minshall, the CEO & Editorial Director of Pride Media, publisher of OUT magazine.

For any potential social media postings, please include the following tags:

@outmagazine

#out100

@overcommaunder

#MarkPasnik

Mark Pasnik, Architect and Activist

When asked to describe himself, Mark Pasnik is humble. “I like to think of myself as having several interconnected roles — as an architect, educator, and advocate who champions the voices and legacy of other eras.”

In truth, Pasnik, who is gay, is also an expert and published author on brutalism, the “legacy of concrete modernist buildings,” as he defines the term. He cites Boston’s City Hall as “one of the most widely recognized” examples of the type of now-vilified structures “once celebrated for their bravado.” In his role as chair of the Boston Art Commission, Pasnik has been reminded of the “value of meaningful public discourse in communicating across divides.”

Earlier this year, the commission unanimously voted to remove the Emancipation Memorial in Park Square that depicted a freed American Black slave kneeling before Abraham Lincoln. He and others have implemented such discourse to address larger issues facing an increasingly polarized society suffering the effects of systemic oppression, which are often represented in historic statues that are out of step with today’s ethos. “I have been learning from many voices in Boston’s communities about symbolism and racial justice in public art,” he says.

Despite the current cultural divide, Pasnik remains hopeful for the future and the positive impact architecture can have in effecting change. “Architecture is a particularly fascinating art form because it records ideas from one era and transmits them across decades. Advocating for works of architecture means understanding those messages and sharing their lessons with new generations.” (https://overunder.co/)

https://www.out.com/print/2020/11/19/see-he-full-2020-out100-list-here#media-gallery-media-16

Mark Pasnik Architect

February 19, 2018

Mark Pasnik, AIA

Founding Principal, OverUnder

Boston, MA

Mark Pasnik is an architect, author, and professor who co-founded OverUnder, a multidisciplinary practice engaged in architecture and design projects ranging from books to city design in the United States and abroad. His renown has centered on the challenge of preserving and rethinking concrete buildings from the modern era, most recently heading the firm’s work on a Getty Foundation-funded conservation management plan for Boston City Hall. He has been an activist in the effort to preserve the Government Service Center in downtown Boston, a building by the preeminent modernist Paul Rudolph, who was a gay man.

Not afraid to take on an unpopular battle, Mark is the “concrete guy” and this is the thread that connects his studies at Cornell and Harvard, his work as an architect and designer, his influence as a university professor and scholar, and his contributions to preservation.

Concrete modernism—often labeled with the term Brutalism—represents perhaps the single most controversial movement in architecture. Its monumentality and bravado are characteristics that may be considered either inspiring or dehumanizing. Yet Pasnik has helped bring a new appreciation to these misunderstood buildings. As a consequence, many that were once vilified are now gaining new appreciation.

With Michael Kubo and Chris Grimley, Mark is the author of Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston (Monacelli Press, 2015), which broke ground in the scholarly assessment of concrete buildings, receiving awards from Docomomo US, Historic New England, the Boston Society of Architects, and the Boston Preservation Alliance. An outcome of the popularity of the book is that the title term—Heroic—is being widely used as a new name for Brutalism, one that better reflects the original civic-minded aspirations behind the works.

Pasnik is also known for providing a renewed voice to the seminal men and women of the era through his research and publications, including two towering figures who passed away recently, Henry N. Cobb and N. Michael McKinnell.

Cobb was known for his skyscrapers around the globe, including Boston’s Hancock, and as a founder of New York’s Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. He died at 93 on March 2, shortly after Pasnik edited Cobb’s only book (Henry N. Cobb: Words & Works 1948-2018).

McKinnell, who won the competition for Boston City Hall at age 26, passed away from COVID-related causes at 84 on March 27. Pasnik worked closely with McKinnell to preserve his legacy of ideas and buildings.

Looking to the future, Pasnik has been leading studios at Wentworth Institute of Technology with dozens of aspiring architecture and design students, aiming to reimagine the future of important, yet often troubled, concrete buildings. His efforts have influenced civic conversations about preservation around structures like Rudolph’s Government Service Center (Rudolph passed away in 1997), which is currently in danger of partial demolition.

In 2019 Pasnik started a new initiative in conjunction with the city’s mayor’s office, where architecture students at Wentworth engage with high school students from Boston Public Schools to evaluate and reimagine a concrete building by Marcel Breuer in the Roxbury neighborhood.

Mark has taught at the California College of the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he is currently a professor. He received the American Institute of Architects Young Architects Award and was a member of the executive board of Boston Society of Architects.

Pasnik currently serves as chair of the Boston Art Commission. In this role he has been an advocate for social justice in public art, most recently overseeing the public process that led to a unanimous vote to remove and recontextualize the Emancipation Group in Boston. The statue, showing Lincoln with his arm raised over a kneeling Black man, had been criticized for decades as a misrepresentation of history and a demeaning portrayal of the formerly enslaved figure, Archer Alexander. The vote on June 30 culminated two years of work and a series of public hearings. At a time when many controversial sculptures are being removed through illegal action, Boston’s process stands as a national model for deliberation and meaningful public discourse.

Pasnik and his life partner of twenty years, David Smith, reside in Boston and New York respectively.

Mark Pasnik Architect OverUnder image / information received 231120

Address: Boston, MA, United States

Boston Architecture Practices

Boston Architects Offices – Selection

Elkus Manfredi Architects photograph © Magda Biernat Elkus Manfredi Architects

MASS Design Group image © MASS Design Group MASS Design Group

Kennedy & Violich Architecture photograph by John Horner Kennedy & Violich Architecture: KVA Boston

Boston Architecture Designs – chronological list

Architecture Studios

Boston Buildings

US Architecture

American Architecture

American Architects

American University Buildings

Center for Architecture in New York Events, NYC

UB School of Architecture & Planning Buffalo Event, NY

Comments / photos for the Mark Pasnik Architect, OverUnder Boston page welcome

The post Mark Pasnik Architect, OverUnder appeared first on e-architect.

[go-redgirl]

Comey's book tour is a colossal mistake By James Gagliano, opinion contributor — 04/01/18 09:00 AM EDT 2,511 The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill

Announcements of scheduled appearances for the widely anticipated $850-to-attend book tour by fired FBI Director James ComeyJames Brien ComeyPassing law to prevent Trump from firing Mueller would be terrible ideaFBI report used in McCabe firing shows discrepancy with public statements: CNNConservatives fume after Sessions declines to appoint new special counselMORE foreshadow a much-ballyhooed return to the public square. Media outlets eagerly booked the former director, and his opus, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” briefly jumped to No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list.

But should Comey — a central witness in special counsel Robert MuellerRobert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probeMORE probe — be making public his version of events which will certainly differ significantly with what President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump dined with Hannity at Mar-a-Lago: reportFEC filings show Trump campaign regularly used Amazon for suppliesUS, South Korea kick off joint military exercises after hiatusMORE, the central target in the special prosecutor’s probe, has repeatedly stated?

Comey was humiliatingly removed by the president last May and enjoyed a brief period of bipartisan sympathy for the disgraceful manner in which he was dispatched. The FBI’s seventh director learned of his termination via televised news reports while appearing before an FBI audience in Los Angeles. This is not the manner with which career public servants should ever be separated from service. Yet, with the current president, it has become de rigueur.

Initially taking the high road, remaining silent, professional and above the fray, Comey has now resorted to directly confronting the president at his own game. He shed his original anonymous Twitter nom de plume, “Reinhold Niebuhr,” and directly waded in to criticize and taunt his tormentor. In the immediate wake of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabeAndrew George McCabeTrump, Sessions relationship takes new turn with special counsel decisionFBI report used in McCabe firing shows discrepancy with public statements: CNNConservatives fume after Sessions declines to appoint new special counselMORE’s firing and Trump’s Twitter gloating, Comey ominously warned, “Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.”

And, just like that, Comey conceded the tiny sliver of moral high ground he precariously clung to and reduced his position as an advocate of the pursuit of facts into a narcissistic quest to sell books. He unwittingly joined Trump in the pig-wallow that currently serves as civil discourse.

He continues to diminish himself and the cherished office he once held.

It didn’t have to be this way.

Comey was appointed to be FBI director by former President Obama in September 2013. He was quite unlike his predecessors; he enjoyed a cult of personality that resulted in numerous FBI professional support employees — even some agents — donning “Comey is my Homie” T-shirts after his humiliating firing by Trump last May. The tears shed following his public scourging were real. I was one of the forlorn, feeling in the immediate aftermath that a good man had been done wrong.

Yet, recent revelations of his questionable decisionmaking and lack of courage in failing to stand up to Loretta Lynch, Obama’s politicized attorney general, and the current president, have changed the views of many of us who carry (or once carried) the shield and credentials of FBI special agents.

We base this assessment on a number of impossible-to-defend actions and inactions by Comey.

Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, laid out a strong case that Comey contributed to the disgraceful politicization of the FBI — which, in part, led to his dismissal — via stupefying decisions in the Clinton emails and Trump-Russia collusion cases. The former chief prosecutor’s adapted remarks, delivered in a speech in January at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship, can be found in the February 28 edition of Imprimis in a piece titled, "The Politicization of the FBI."

Comey is certainly viewed as a polarizing figure by many Americans. Part of what makes him such an enigma to those of us who served under him was that he could appear so courageous and, yet, so self-admittedly cowardly.

His speech at Georgetown University in February 2015, “Hard Truths: Law Enforcement and Race,” was an unprecedented acknowledgement by an FBI director that, at times, people of color don’t receive equal treatment under the law. It was a seminal moment in the lagging effort to achieve a police partnership with inner-city communities by honestly engaging and speaking truth to power. It was a brave speech — in my estimation, the high-water mark of his directorship.

But the sober, courageous director who gave those remarks exited the stage long ago, replaced by a character on Twitter. Emboldened by the left’s new adoption of him as a victim/messiah, he has shed any pretense of professional stoicism and seemingly cares little that self-indulgently discussing his interactions with the president now, before the probe concludes, may deleteriously alter the outcome.

Then again, recall his less-than-honorable leaking of his memos, through a surrogate, to The New York Times. His explanation, that he hoped it would trigger the appointment of a special prosecutor, was a clear abdication of responsibility. His nine encounters with the president left him admittedly “uneasy.” And, as he shamefully recounted to Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne Emiel Feinstein Biden endorses Feinstein's reelection bid: 'She’s tenacious. She’s accomplished'Senate panel requests info on Trump aides for Russia probeDems to top DOJ officials: Publicly promise not to interfere in Mueller's probeMORE (D-Calif.) during a Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing last June, “maybe other people would be stronger in that circumstance but that — that was — that’s how I conducted myself.”

In failing to challenge the president, one only needs to recall Comey’s failure to also push back on the aforementioned Lynch, in order to establish a sad pattern of behavior. Lynch added to the undeniable politicization of the Department of Justice by outrageously suggesting that the FBI refer to the Clinton investigation as a “matter.” This was language repeatedly utilized by the Clinton campaign to dismiss a federal investigation as “much ado about nothing.” Comey testified that Lynch’s directive left him feeling “queasy.” But, instead of appropriately pushing back on the attorney general, he somehow felt the issue wasn’t “a hill worth dying on.” 

Many inside and outside of the FBI disagree.

While these revelations are supremely disappointing, it is his current vainglorious effort to “set the record straight” amid the hugely consequential Russia probe that seems so reckless, foolhardy and self-serving. It appears to add credence to the president’s charge that Comey is, first and foremost, a grandstander.

Comey’s book tour may indeed settle an old score. But it will undoubtedly diminish what’s left of his once-bulletproof reputation and expose to further, irreparable harm the agency he once professed to so deeply love.

James A. Gagliano is a CNN law enforcement analyst and retired FBI supervisory special agent. He also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at St. John's University and is a leadership consultant at the Thayer Leader Development Group (TLDG) at his alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point. Follow him on Twitter @JamesAGagliano.

Tags Dianne Feinstein Robert Mueller Andrew McCabe Donald Trump James Comey FBI United States federal executive departments United States Dismissal of United States Attorneys controversy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Bureau Off Investigation