![Joe Duncan](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:96:96/1*ZP1sDlJTXGosAFntANvG-g.png)
I’m a writer and former political activist, political consultant, and political contractor from Los Angeles, California. My humble beginnings start with the environmentalist organization Greenpeace, doing the hard grunt work on the front lines of political activism. From there, I moved on to become a political contractor, working for special interest groups, U.S. Senators, U.S. House Representatives, and even major political parties.
My beliefs most often influenced my political work, taking up economically and scientifically progressive legislation and often socially libertarian issues.
Political Work
I’ve worked primarily progressive issues, like taxing individual incomes for high earners 1% to fund education K-12 and community colleges, medical and recreational marijuana legalization in several states and localities, the Fight for 15 campaign to raise minimum wage to $15 per hour, raising Arizona’s minimum wage to $12 per hour (up from $8 per hour) including paid time off, Amendment 4 granting Florida felons the right to vote in Florida, a California cigarette tax to fund cancer research, and much more.
I worked Prop 64 in California because I unapologetically believe that marijuana should be legal for personal use, not only medical use, even though I don't myself use marijuana; I don't believe we should lock people in cages with violent criminals for possessing a rather benign plant.
I worked on the 2014 Compassionate Cannabis Act in Florida, as well as the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Act in 2016 (after the 2014 ballot initiative failed). I worked for Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Florida as well from 2017 onward, which was an initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol and legalize it for nonmedical use, as well as Plants for Patients which "allows qualifying medical marijuana patients or their caregivers to grow marijuana plants for medical use."
I accepted less than 1/5th the pay during a campaign for the Libertarian-leaning Floridians for Solar Choice, an organization that would legalize the sale of solar power in the State of Florida (it's still currently illegal), rather than work for the power companies who were committed to keeping solar to a minimum as well as their monopoly on power.
Over my career, I’ve worked predominantly for a contracting organization called Direct Democracy, but also for New Mexico Green Party Candidate Charles Goodall, House Representative and Senator Martha McSally, the Super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund, and much more.
Currently based in Orlando, Florida, I volunteer for the non-partisan voter registration organization People Power for Florida under the leadership of Florida House Representative Anna Eskamani representing the 47th district of Orange County.
Writing
I’m the Editor-in-Chief of Sexography, Medium’s largest sexual health publication, the creator of The Science of Sex on Substack as well as The Science of Sex Podcast (listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Substack), the owner and creator of Moments on Medium, and a few other publications both on and off the platform.
Since 2017, I’ve published nearly 2,000 articles, over 1,000 on Medium alone. I’ve been translated into Hebrew and published in Israel for the Israeli magazine אֲלַכסוֹנִי (here, here, and here). My writing has led to my participation in a documentary on the California serial killer Christopher Dorner, Sins of the City.
About Me
In my leisure time, I’m a scholar of philosophy and language. I’m septa-lingual, studying and understanding seven languages, German, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Latin, and Greek (Modern, Ancient, Koine, and Homeric). I can understand several alphabets: Latin, Ελληνικά, Кириллица, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌶𐌳𐌰, ⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ, 𐤩𐤧𐤣𐤦𐤠𐤫, 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊍𐊆 (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Gothic, Egyptian Coptic, Lydian, and Lycian)—I'm working on several more.
My lists of favorite Medium articles are written in Modern Greek, Latin, Egyptian Coptic (Ⲙⲉⲧⲑⲟϧⲧⲉϧ), Punic, the language of Ancient Carthage (𐤉𐤓𐤇 𐤃𐤌 𐤀𐤓𐤎), and Etruscan (𐌋𐌖𐌕𐌍𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌇𐌀), in the Old Italic script the Romans based the Latin script we use today on, and some others. But, don't worry, I've included English explanations beneath each. In case you couldn't tell, I'm both an ancient history and language nerd. The photo above is of me at the ruins of Minoan Palace at Κνωσσός (Knossos), a 9,000-year-old settlement that became the empicenter of the Minoan people, full of mystique.
I’m a musician who produces Neurofunk Drum and Bass under the name Biskey (a portmanteau of the cat's and dog's names) in my spare time, loving and embracing nearly all genres of the Dionysian art we call music. I also DJ Drum and Bass occasionally for fun, not money.
I’m a fan of poetry from Edmund Spenser to Charles Baudelaire, German literature (Schiller's aesthetics) and French philosophy (Henri Bergson, Jean-Paul Sartre, Marquis de Sade, etc.), as well as all things 20th century, especially the early to mid-century period, with a love of Existentialism (Sartre, Beauvoir), Surrealism, and general art and literature that warps the sense of self and bends reality. Phenomenology is one of my favorite subjects, and it's something we should revisit in our modern times, especially the Sartrean model.
I’m a science lover and scientific skeptic, spending much of my time teasing through dense scientific data, ancient texts, books, and articles from all sources to try to find inspiration and knowledge when and wherever I can get it. Creating is my passion. Whether it's music, video, literature, poetry, or art, I'm always creating. I've been writing professionally for over half a decade, covering a wide variety of topics, and racking up tens of millions of views. Creative rules are made to be mastered before they're broken with tact.