Meet Maia Gadwall: My Alter Ego
Hey there, space orcs. It’s been a while.
I needed time and space to decide who I want to be on the record, and it’s been a wild ride. First, you won’t find me on Meta or X these days. I left the social media broligarchy behind in favor of Discord and Bluesky — ah, decentralized and de-Nazified socialization, like Myspace Tom used to make. Enter my nom de guerre: Maia Gadwall.
If you’re a linguist and it’s making your brain itch, that’s by design. The tangential connection you’re tracing is actually just a pun: Mother Goose. It’s the same avatar as my gygnomian character Greddere in Noyath, because I intend to return to these stories. From Noyath to Auqredis to the games I’m building with the Basement Squirrel, I have many more tales to tell.
But if there’s going to be an audience for these stories, a community to build, and a world to leave my child, there will have to be a revolution against the fascist coup taking place in the United States at minimum, and against capitalism as a whole if we want real change for those who suffer under its exploitation: the proletariat.
Yep. It’s about to get hella political, profane, and unapologetic in here.
Why Bother with a Pseudonym If You’re Not Keeping It a Secret?
I’m not naïve. I am aware that there are potential dangers to associating with independent news organizations like 1440 and so-called “radical leftist movements” like General Strike US. I accept those risks because I believe in freedom of information, in sociocracy, and in a better world for all of us (even the assholes, once they figure out which end is up).
My family didn’t make the same commitment, though. The alias gives them one more shield, but we already had targets on us under our state’s (Missouri) and this administration’s (Trump, Musk) discriminatory policies (Project 2025). We are afforded some passing privilege by appearing straight, monogamous, married, able-bodied, and white (I always glow in the dark, kiddo is pale and blond, hubs is pale-ish in winter and all his paperwork agrees).
However, I am not straight and don’t always pass for cis even though I am, we are not monogamous nor religious, and my husband is very visibly Native but too many generations removed from life on either reservation to register. All three of us are disabled at some level. Our faces were never safe, mask or no, and they won’t be until we stop the leopards.
What Can I Do to Help?
Join the General Strike US movement as a volunteer and/or sign a strike card. Spread the word to every corner of the internet in case our access becomes compromised. Protest at your state capitol on 2/5/25 (all of them, all day; 50 states, 50 protests). Support small businesses (like mine) that align with your values and walk the walk.
Get organized, get angry at the right people, and get information from unbiased sources so you can act accordingly.
Let’s. Fucking. Go.
