Over the last almost five decades, I’ve had to invest a great deal of time, effort and money into therapy: independent therapy, couple’s counseling, and even some new-fangled bullshit called “discernment” counseling. (We’re too nervous to try ketamine therapy.) It’s all due to the online trolling by ridiculously sensitive Gen Z kids who think I’m a heartless cheater looking for a raunchy, meaningless hook-up in the dunes on the cape. Well, I’m here to say that those kids don’t know WTF they’re talking about on TikTok.

It’s April, 2030, and there is a new home for romance in our town: Hester Prynne’s Sexy Boutique is opening soon at the intersection of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth Avenues! Chock full of whips, cat-o-nine-tails and clothing for the boudoir-curious, the new business owner invites the public into her private space this Friday evening at 6 o’clock, cock-tails to follow.  Prynne’s boutique is just part of a tremendous influx of BIPOC, women- and nonbinary-owned businesses born of this post-Red, rainbow era.