December 31, 2025
This might be one of the more shitty years we’ve experienced, and many of those have been attributed to Trump, so the bar is low. But seeing American sprint towards authoritarianism has been soul crushing. And thanks to fragile Trumpsters (and an even more fragile dean), I got bounced from my teaching position in the fall. But that forced me to pivot my pedagogy of the oppressed to a more lucrative venue and put my antifascist sociology curriculum online. (And I’ve pledged any punitive awards this fight generates all go to pro-democracy causes.) So 2025 is the year I became an “influencer,” with over 180,000 followers, a role I take with great humility. Trips to Los Angeles and New York City allowed me to broaden my message that America is on the brink of collapse.
On a personal level, it was a year of more work. My daughter moving from elementary to middle school required my full attention. Seeing her turn into an independent young woman was both thrilling and terrifying. Our December trip to the Big Apple may have been a last chance to bond with my “little girl.” She seemed completely at ease on the subway, like she was headed off to her life as an artist in the East Village. My personal life took a bit of break as I focused on her and the work fighting fascism.
The bulk of my work in 2025 was through my project, Cure: PNW. Our federal funding was cut minutes after Trump was sworn in but we managed to secure some local funding so we could continue building productive relationships between Portland Police and local activists. Much of that energy went to de-escalating conflict down at the Portland ICE facility, where I got used to being teargassed by the feds and having “less than lethal” munitions shot at me. The heroism of the ICE protesters, who kept things peaceful in the face of the sociopathic MAGA agitators, continually inspired me. They became my family this year, frogs and all.
This blog has changed as well. I began Watching the Wheels on November 24, 2014 as a parenting blog. My wife, Andi, had gone back to work and I had begun my tenure as a John Lennon-inspired stay at home dad. Very quickly, the call of the Black Lives Matter had me doing double duty as a parent and sociologist. This year I moved my political content to my Substack blog, The Blazak Report. The subscription model has allowed me to replace some of the income I lost when I was kicked out of the college for talking shit about Trump. Watching the Wheels remained my place to talk about feminist fatherhood (and James Bond movies).
At the request of my daughter, who’s friends have been Googling her, Watching the Wheels will go dark in 2026. I will continue to post on Substack and I invite you to follow me there. It’s been a great 11 years sharing my thoughts and insights with you. We all shine on.
Here are the Watching the Wheels posts for 2025.
Laissez les mauvaise temps rouler?: The Terror of 2025 and How to Stop It (January 3, 2025)
“It’s not my job to make you comfortable”: Teaching in the Era of Trump 2.0 (January 6, 2025)
The James Bond Project #4: Thunderball (1965) (January 8, 2025)
The James Bond Project #5: Casino Royale (1967) (January 11, 2025)
The James Bond Project #6: You Only Live Twice (1967) (January 12, 2025)
The James Bond Project #7: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) (January 19, 2025)
Deep Breaths: Now the Work Ramps Up (January 20, 2025)
The James Bond Project #8: Diamonds are Forever (1971) (January 21, 2025)
With the J6 Pardons, President Trump Just Set Up His Coup (January 22, 2025)
The James Bond Project #9: Live and Let Die (1973) (January 24, 2025)
DEI Makes America Great, or How Trump Ended the American Century (January 28, 2025)
The James Bond Project #10: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) (February 1, 2025)
Trump’s Shock & Awe Plan to Collapse the American Economy (February 4, 2025)
The James Bond Project #11: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) (February 5, 2025)
The James Bond Project #12: Moonraker (1979) (February 7, 2025)
The Myth of Merit (February 15, 2025)
The James Bond Project #13: For Your Eyes Only (February 23, 2025)
The James Bond Project #14: Octopussy (February 27, 2025)
America is No Longer the Leader of the Free World (March 4, 2025)
The James Bond Project #15: Never Say Never Again (March 16, 2025)
The James Bond Project #16: A View to a Kill (1985) (March 18, 2025)
Saying Goodbye to My Little Brother in the Pond (March 27, 2025)
Watching the Death of Nation in Real Time (April 1, 2025)
The James Bond Project #17: The Living Daylights (1987) (April 6, 2025)
The James Bond Project #18: License to Kill (1989) (April 8, 2025)
The James Bond Project #19: GoldenEye (1995) (April 15, 2025)
The James Bond Project #20: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) (April 17, 2025)
Save America – Adopt a Republican (April 18, 2025)
Cooling Off the Hot Air of the Manosphere (April 28, 2025)
The James Bond Project #21: The World Is Not Enough (1999) (May 1, 2025)
Winding Down Elementary School: Gender Check-In (May 15, 2025)
Escaping Gilead – My experience crossing the border (May 22, 2025)
The James Bond Project #22: Die Another Day (2002) (May 26, 2025)
The James Bond Project #23: Casino Royale (2006) (May 30, 2025)
The Gaza Question (June 3, 2025)
On the question of violence (June 21, 2025)
The James Bond Project #24: Quantum of Solace (2008) (July 1, 2025)
What Do We Do When the Violence Comes? (July 18, 2025)
Are Third Places Democracy’s Last Hope? (July 30, 2025)
The James Bond Project #25: Skyfall (2012) (August 1, 2025)
The James Bond Project #26: Spectre (2015) (August 7, 2025)
Raising a Daughter in Epstein’s America: Cozy Turns 11 (August 17, 2025)
The Real Trauma of Trump 2.0 (August 20, 2025)
The James Bond Project #27: No Time to Die (2021) (August 27, 2025)
Are We There Yet? On Dictatorship, Civil War, and Revolution (September 6, 2025)
Responding to the Murder of Charlie Kirk: How to find calm in an insane nation (September 11, 2025)
Foreshadowing the Clampdown on Academic Freedom (September 19, 2025)
Growing up with a K-Pop Kid (October 2, 2025)
Elegy for a Land Line (November 1, 2025)
Dad’s Top Discs: Favorite Albums of 2025 (December 17, 2025)
Standing, Again, at Ground Zero: Trying to capture the depth of 9/11 for my child (December 26, 2025)
Watching the Wheels 