#Marsha model

[callemodista]

Marsha Hunt

[kitsunetsuki]

Harri Peccinotti - Marsha Hunt Wearing a Coat by Ayton & Rhodes (Vogue UK 1968)

[littlequeenies]

Beautiful Marsha portrait published in the Spanish magazine Garbo, 1987.

Although this gorgeous photo of Marsha was published in 1987, could this photo belong to this photoshot?

[littlequeenies]

At the time the article was published, she was working in "Mardi Gras" stage play wich was premiered on May that year.

Marsha Hunt casting a spell on us, 1976 🪄

[dimxndsareforever]

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Generative AI Is Bad For Your Creative Brain

In the wake of early announcing that their blog will no longer be posting fanfiction, I wanted to offer a different perspective than the ones I’ve been seeing in the argument against the use of AI in fandom spaces. Often, I’m seeing the arguments that the use of generative AI or Large Language Models (LLMs) make creative expression more accessible. Certainly, putting a prompt into a chat box and refining the output as desired is faster than writing a 5000 word fanfiction or learning to draw digitally or traditionally. But I would argue that the use of chat bots and generative AI actually limits - and ultimately reduces - one’s ability to enjoy creativity.

Creativity, defined by the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus, is the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas. By definition, the use of generative AI discourages the brain from engaging with thoughts creatively. ChatGPT, character bots, and other generative AI products have to be trained on already existing text. In order to produce something “usable,” LLMs analyzes patterns within text to organize information into what the computer has been trained to identify as “desirable” outputs. These outputs are not always accurate due to the fact that computers don’t “think” the way that human brains do. They don’t create. They take the most common and refined data points and combine them according to predetermined templates to assemble a product. In the case of chat bots that are fed writing samples from authors, the product is not original - it’s a mishmash of the writings that were fed into the system.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a therapy modality developed by Marsha M. Linehan based on the understanding that growth comes when we accept that we are doing our best and we can work to better ourselves further. Within this modality, a few core concepts are explored, but for this argument I want to focus on Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation. Mindfulness, put simply, is awareness of the information our senses are telling us about the present moment. Emotion regulation is our ability to identify, understand, validate, and control our reaction to the emotions that result from changes in our environment. One of the skills taught within emotion regulation is Building Mastery - putting forth effort into an activity or skill in order to experience the pleasure that comes with seeing the fruits of your labor. These are by no means the only mechanisms of growth or skill development, however, I believe that mindfulness, emotion regulation, and building mastery are a large part of the core of creativity. When someone uses generative AI to imitate fanfiction, roleplay, fanart, etc., the core experience of creative expression is undermined.

Creating engages the body. As a writer who uses pen and paper as well as word processors while drafting, I had to learn how my body best engages with my process. The ideal pen and paper, the fact that I need glasses to work on my computer, the height of the table all factor into how I create. I don’t use audio recordings or transcriptions because that’s not a skill I’ve cultivated, but other authors use those tools as a way to assist their creative process. I can’t speak with any authority to the experience of visual artists, but my understanding is that the feedback and feel of their physical tools, the programs they use, and many other factors are not just part of how they learned their craft, they are essential to their art.

Generative AI invites users to bypass mindfully engaging with the physical act of creating. Part of becoming a person who creates from the vision in one’s head is the physical act of practicing. How did I learn to write? By sitting down and making myself write, over and over, word after word. I had to learn the rhythms of my body, and to listen when pain tells me to stop. I do not consider myself a visual artist - I have not put in the hours to learn to consistently combine line and color and form to show the world the idea in my head.

But I could.

Learning a new skill is possible. But one must be able to regulate one’s unpleasant emotions to be able to get there. The emotion that gets in the way of most people starting their creative journey is anxiety. Instead of a focus on “fear,” I like to define this emotion as “unpleasant anticipation.” In Atlas of the Heart, Brene Brown identifies anxiety as both a trait (a long term characteristic) and a state (a temporary condition). That is, we can be naturally predisposed to be impacted by anxiety, and experience unpleasant anticipation in response to an event. And the action drive associated with anxiety is to avoid the unpleasant stimulus.

Starting a new project, developing a new skill, and leaning into a creative endevor can inspire and cause people to react to anxiety. There is an unpleasant anticipation of things not turning out exactly correctly, of being judged negatively, of being unnoticed or even ignored. There is a lot less anxiety to be had in submitting a prompt to a machine than to look at a blank page and possibly make what could be a mistake. Unfortunately, the more something is avoided, the more anxiety is generated when it comes up again. Using generative AI doesn’t encourage starting a new project and learning a new skill - in fact, it makes the prospect more distressing to the mind, and encourages further avoidance of developing a personal creative process.

One of the best ways to reduce anxiety about a task, according to DBT, is for a person to do that task. Opposite action is a method of reducing the intensity of an emotion by going against its action urge. The action urge of anxiety is to avoid, and so opposite action encourages someone to approach the thing they are anxious about. This doesn’t mean that everyone who has anxiety about creating should make themselves write a 50k word fanfiction as their first project. But in order to reduce anxiety about dealing with a blank page, one must face and engage with a blank page. Even a single sentence fragment, two lines intersecting, an unintentional drop of ink means the page is no longer blank. If those are still difficult to approach a prompt, tutorial, or guided exercise can be used to reinforce the understanding that a blank page can be changed, slowly but surely by your own hand.

(As an aside, I would discourage the use of AI prompt generators - these often use prompts that were already created by a real person without credit. Prompt blogs and posts exist right here on tumblr, as well as imagines and headcannons that people often label “free to a good home.” These prompts can also often be specific to fandom, style, mood, etc., if you’re looking for something specific.)

In the current social media and content consumption culture, it’s easy to feel like the first attempt should be a perfect final product. But creating isn’t just about the final product. It’s about the process. Bo Burnam’s Inside is phenomenal, but I think the outtakes are just as important. We didn’t get That Funny Feeling and How the World Works and All Eyes on Me because Bo Burnham woke up and decided to write songs in the same day. We got them because he’s been been developing and honing his craft, as well as learning about himself as a person and artist, since he was a teenager. Building mastery in any skill takes time, and it’s often slow.

Slow is an important word, when it comes to creating. The fact that skill takes time to develop and a final piece of art takes time regardless of skill is it’s own source of anxiety. Compared to @sentientcave, who writes about 2k words per day, I’m very slow. And for all the time it takes me, my writing isn’t perfect - I find typos after posting and sometimes my phrasing is awkward. But my writing is better than it was, and my confidence is much higher. I can sit and write for longer and longer periods, my projects are more diverse, I’m sharing them with people, even before the final edits are done. And I only learned how to do this because I took the time to push through the discomfort of not being as fast or as skilled as I want to be in order to learn what works for me and what doesn’t.

Building mastery - getting better at a skill over time so that you can see your own progress - isn’t just about getting better. It’s about feeling better about your abilities. Confidence, excitement, and pride are important emotions to associate with our own actions. It teaches us that we are capable of making ourselves feel better by engaging with our creativity, a confidence that can be generalized to other activities.

Generative AI doesn’t encourage its users to try new things, to make mistakes, and to see what works. It doesn’t reward new accomplishments to encourage the building of new skills by connecting to old ones. The reward centers of the brain have nothing to respond to to associate with the action of the user. There is a short term input-reward pathway, but it’s only associated with using the AI prompter. It’s designed to encourage the user to come back over and over again, not develop the skill to think and create for themselves.

I don’t know that anyone will change their minds after reading this. It’s imperfect, and I’ve summarized concepts that can take months or years to learn. But I can say that I learned something from the process of writing it. I see some of the flaws, and I can see how my essay writing has changed over the years. This might have been faster to plug into AI as a prompt, but I can see how much more confidence I have in my own voice and opinions. And that’s not something chatGPT can ever replicate.

[weirdtvland]

Can you give us a rundown on all rockstars black lovers?

I could give a you a few but there was a lot of black lovers back then, it wasn’t too far fetch there was a lot of rockstars who slept with a black woman. I’ll do multiple threads because I sometimes can’t think of all of them. For starters of course, Mick! He’s slept with a bunch of black women, but then again he’s English, he doesn’t care. Cleo was his first love, PP Arnold dated him and gave details about their affair in her book “Soul Survivor”, I’ve heard he’s slept with Inez Foxx from the brother- sister duo, he’s been around Patti Labelle and the BlueBells and I’ve heard rumors about him sleeping with Patti and Cindy Birdsong (before she was a supreme) also read in a book somewhere that Nona Hendryx possibly slept with Keith, he’s gotten with Claudia Lennear from the Ike & Tina Revue, several black models (maybe Donyale Luna she used to do his makeup, Pat Cleveland, I know there’s more but can’t think of them) I know his slept with black groupies Devon Wilson & Winona Williams, Marsha Hunt, Ava Cherry was doing threesome with him and David Bowie, Estelle Bennett from the The Ronettes, and Rae Dawn Chong while they were filming a movie together.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Jean Harlow (Red-Headed Woman, Dinner at Eight, Libeled Lady)— The original blonde bombshell. There would be no Marilyn Monroe or other funny blonde starlet without her! She was still an up and comer when cast in Platinum Blonde and at the time the film was either gonna be called The Gilded Cage or Gallagher (after the other female lead in the film) but after casting Harlow her role was expanded and the film titled after her. That's starpower!!!

Marsha Hunt (The Human Comedy, College Holiday, These Glamour Girls)—To be honest, I haven't had the chance to see a lot of her films, but she was an amazing person. A beautiful, popular actress during the 30s and 40s, Marsha was unfairly blacklisted during the Red Scare for speaking out against McCarthyism. Instead of letting that stop her, she focused her efforts on humanitarian work for causes such as world hunger, poverty, and pollution. She was also a support of same-sex marriage. Side note to any fellow fashion history nerds, she wrote a book on 30s-40s fashion. She stayed true to her beliefs through the years, and passed away at the age of 104 in 2022.

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Marsha Hunt:

Marsha Hunt first signed with Paramount in 1935 at the age of seventeen, kicking off a prolific career as a beloved Hollywood star and fashion model. Her distinctive profile and facial structure earned her the nickname “Curly Lips”: “Besides a rounded forehead, almost no nose bridge, and a nose that curved upwards, even my lips curled up at the corners. Ronald Coleman and his wife Benita told me they used to describe me to each other as ‘Curly Lips.’ I decided that anything that helped two people I adored take notice of me would no longer keep me awake at nights.” (The Way We Wore, p.95) Marsha appeared in about seventy films over almost eighty years, including Hollywood Boulevard, College Holiday, Easy Living, These Glamour Girls, Irene, Pride and Prejudice, Blossoms in the Dust, Thousands Cheer, The Human Comedy, and many more. She was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for publicly defending Hollywood from the accusations of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, alongside Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Deanna Durbin, Henry Fonda, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and many other members of the Hollywood community.

Jean Harlow:

what is there to say just look at her. the blondest woman to ever live. a sort of prototypal marilyn monroe. has a cocktail named after her so you know she was really that beautiful. dated longie zwillman. godmother to bugsy siegel's daughter. if we really want to bring back being a mob wife we have to start here.........

She was the OG Blonde Bombshell. People don't give her credit, but she was actually a sweetheart and had a great flair for comedy. And she worked those pencil thin brows! And even though she's known for the Blonde, she is deliciously evil in Red-Headed Woman, I highly recommend!

[emmieexplores2]

Sexy...

Marsha Hunt

[ladykailitha]

Model Eddie please!

WIP Wednesday! Make me write!

Other asks here, here.

Snippet

“You wanted to work with me?” Eddie asked putting a hand on his chest in amazement. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to work with you?”

Luis smiled. “For most people it is the Marsha Paul ad.”

The Marsha Paul ad was a perfume ad that he done about ten years ago with the actress Kelsey Monroe. Everyone one had praised that one to the sky and had rightly won several awards. Turned Kelsey from languishing in soap operas and guest appearances on basic cable shows to award winning movies and a contract with a major streaming service to do two movies and a TV series.

Eddie shook his head. “That is a good one, but no. It was the one that made me decide to pick up the phone and try at being a model after failing to go anywhere as a rock star.”

[beautification-tales]

The Sisters pt. 2

A late bloomer tale

Ruby’s Story-

Anything for a sister.” Marsha said as Stacey hugged her tightly. Ruby giggled as she watched her sisters make up. Ruby could feel the tension leave the area as she almost sighed in relief. She had been worried the incident might even cause a permanent rift in her new clique.

Ruby left the cafeteria after saying farewell to her sisters. She smiled as her naughty plan flashed in her mind. Ruby ever since blooming had left a wake of drained men. Professors and students were all her prey and she hunted daily. She giggled as there was one target that she had been saving for a special occasion.

Ruby exhaled as purple flame surrounded her body. She felt her tall svelte frame shrink. She frowned as her amazing curves disappeared. The fashion model attire that she loved was replaced by her plaid shirt and jeans she used to wear daily. She looked at her arms as she pushed her glasses up her nose. The old Ruby was back to visit her favorite professor.

Ruby rushed into the lecture and sat in the front seat as she usually did. She took out her smartphone and checked into the class. She smiled as she could see some students whisper as if she had missed weeks of the semester. The professor finally walked in and looked around the auditorium. He smiled as he saw Ruby in the front with her notebook out.

“Pygmalion is a tale of control and power. He achieves what all men desire… not the perfect woman. The woman that HE molded and created for his pleasure. Now compare that to the tale in Genesis 2. A woman made for Adam by his Creator. Today I want you to begin your essay on which story is better for man.”

Ruby smiled as she thought what an appropriate lecture for the day. Dr. Miller was the typical handsome married literature professor. He was brilliant and all the girl students tried to fuck him. However, it had seemed none were successful. Dr. Miller was in love with his work more than the admiration it brought him.

Ruby couldn’t help but giggle as she felt the sexual energy of her fellow female students flood the room. She exhaled slowly trying to control her arousal. She chewed on her pen looking completely focused on the lecture. As Dr. Miller continued to talk about the various themes in Pygmalion, Ruby felt her thoughts drift away from the lecture and back to her plan. The lecture felt like it lasted forever as she impatiently waited for the perfect time.

Finally, Dr. Miller paused and looked up, smiling he said “I look forward to what you can sculpt from the clay. See you all Thursday.” The lecture was over and the students all packed up their belongings and left. Ruby waited a few moments until all her female classmates were finished talking with Darren. She noticed his fake smile as he dismissed all their attempts for “extra credit”.

Ruby slowly walked down the steps as the last student walked away. “Dr. Miller, can we talk about this assignment?” she asked softly. Her voice was like honey, sweet and enticing. The professor turned around and looked at her with surprise. “Ruby! I haven’t seen you in weeks. All your assignments are in and your attendance is always checked off. Have you been sitting in the back?”

Ruby smiled coyly. "I think you just stopped noticing me Professor. You’re not the first person to do that with me. But I wanted to ask about this assignment. I think I have a unique perspective on it that I'd like to share." Her voice dropped an octave, and she leaned forward slightly. Darren’s eyebrow raised as he was intrigued to hear her thoughts. “Oh? Well do you have some time Ruby? I’d love to hear this but I have to head to my office. Care to walk with me?”

The professor motioned for her to lead the way. Ruby smiled as she walked beside him. “So, Dr. Miller what do you think men really want?” she asked casually. Darren stopped and turned to face her, intrigued. “We want an equal but have a weakness that stands in the way of it.”

“What is the weakness?” Ruby asked, tilting her head curiously. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. Darren couldn't help but feel excited at the conversation. “Beauty! We are slaves to our… physical desires that we can ignore what’s really important…. The mind.” Darren unlocked his office door and motioned her to enter. Ruby walked in and sat in the seat facing his desk.

Ruby released her sexual energy in a massive wave as Darren placed his shoulder bag on his desk. He quickly went behind his desk to sit. “Is that why men cast me aside? I mean even you stopped noticing me in class… I never missed a lecture.” Darren felt his cock twitch in his pants as he licked his lips. “I…I don’t know why I missed you. I usually always see you.” Ruby smiled knowing soon she was going to have Dr. Miller all to herself.

“Why do you notice me, Darren?” Ruby asked, her voice dripping with sensuality. Darren felt himself begin to sweat as he squirmed in his seat. “You’re a brilliant girl Ruby. You’re not like the other girls.” Ruby crossed her legs and leaned forward. “Because I’m not begging to fuck you for an A?” Darren’s eyes fluttered as his face became red. “Yes! I mean… you don’t use your looks to succeed.”

Ruby pouted as her lips turned blood red. Darren was gripping his desk too erect to notice the change to Ruby. “You mean I’m too plain to seduce a man like all those bimbos.” Darren felt the room spin as he felt like he was on fire. “I’m so sorry Ruby. I seem to not be feeling well. I…also think this conversation is….” Ruby’s eyes glowed behind her glasses as her mousy brown hair gained an amazing shine. Ruby moved her hand up and down as if stroking a phallus. Darren groaned as if by magic he felt her fingers.

“Answer my question Darren!” Ruby demanded. He moaned when he heard his name from her lips. “Your mind is what is special about you.” Ruby slowly took her glasses off and smiled. “You’re such a gentleman professor. If I was sexy and brilliant… I’d be your ideal woman wouldn’t I? Your perfect sculpture?”

“Ruby … how are you?” Ruby took the imaginary phallus in her hand and licked it. Darren groaned as he felt his balls fill with seed. “Tell me everything right now!” Ruby opened her mouth as if she was sucking an invisible cock. Darren jumped as he felt the wet warmth around his cock. “Unh! It’s my ultimate fantasy! An irresistible woman with a mind like yours. A true equal!”

Ruby doubled her efforts as Darren felt his whole body twitch. “What are you Ungh doing to me?” he managed to croak. She smiled around the invisible phallus, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "You can't resist me Darren, I'm your perfect match." He felt her hand speed up, her fingers tightening as if ready to squeeze. “Now cum for me!” Darren gripped his desk tight as he arched his back in his chair as he felt cum rocket out of his cock.

He collapsed and attempted to catch his breath. He finally looked up and saw Ruby’s face covered with seed. It was as if he had shot directly at her as he looked down and saw his pants were completely dry. The thick sticky material quickly evaporated as Ruby moaned in triumph. “You’re mine now, and we are far from finished.” Purple flames covered Ruby’s body as he saw her breasts explode from her shirt. The moans echoed in the room as Ruby grew into her true succubus form. The jeans and ripped plaid shirt were gone and only blue Lacey lingerie remained. Stockings covered her long legs as she sat in the chair crossed legged.

Darren felt his cock harden again. He felt as if in a trance he unbuckled his pants as he stood up. He let his pants fall to the ground revealing his hard on. Ruby smiled, her red lips curving into a wicked grin. "That's it, professor. Give in to your desires." She reached out and gently stroked his length, her fingers leaving trails of heat in their wake.

"You are so beautiful," Darren murmured, his voice thick with desire. Ruby leaned forward, her breasts pressing against his chest. She bit her lower lip, drawing it between her teeth as she gazed into his eyes. "I want you,Darren. I want all of you." She guided him to the desk, their bodies pressing together as she lowered herself onto his throbbing member.

He groaned, feeling her tightness envelop him as she began to ride him. Ruby's eyes were closed, her head thrown back in ecstasy. He reached up, running his fingers through her long, silky hair. "Oh god, Ruby," he gasped, feeling the familiar tug of pleasure building deep within him.

Ruby opened her eyes, looking down at Darren with a mixture of lust and tenderness. "You feel so good. So right." She began to move faster, her hips undulating in a rhythm that was both hypnotic and irresistible. He could feel his control slipping as his hips rose to meet hers, their bodies moving together in perfect harmony.

The sound of their heavy breathing filled the room, mingling with the wet slapping of their flesh as they moved together. Ruby leaned forward, her breasts brushing against his chest as she reached down and gripped his cock, stroking him in time with her thrusts. "That's it,professor. Give in to the pleasure. Let go." Her words sent a shiver down his spine as he felt the familiar tug in his lower abdomen building, tightening.

He reached up, tracing his fingers over her cheek, down her neck, and across her collarbone. Her skin was warm and smooth beneath his touch. "You're perfect," he managed to say between gasping breaths. "Brains and beauty. The ultimate woman." Ruby arched her back, moaning loudly as she came, her inner walls pulsing around him. Darren could feel his own release building, his body tensing as he felt the hot rush of cum surging through him.

Ruby leaned forward, pressing their bodies together as she moved faster, her hips undulating wildly. "Is it everything you dreamed?." Her words sent a shiver down his spine, heightening the sensation as he thrust upward, meeting her movements with a primal urgency. He could feel his control slipping away, surrendering to the powerful waves of pleasure coursing through him.

He trembled violently as he felt all of his desire and pleasure erupt. Ruby grabbed tightly, wanting to feel every moment of pleasure. She felt her hunger disappear as her eyes glowed. She looked over to see Darren fast asleep with a smile upon his face. She kissed his forehead gently.

“Good night sweet prince and may your dreams continue to come true.”

[smileposting]

changes i noticed in the new GGG demo

compiled based on snapcube's vod and my own experimentation. this focuses more on changes in gameplay/overarching story than new character interactions facilitated by new dialogue, so keep that in mind. full list under the cut!

click clack is now the god of storytelling as opposed to the god of teamwork, at least according to bibo.

razzma v. tazz is either razzma's full name or her pen name (based on the fact that he is also addressed as razzmatazz.)

bizzyboy in da ferris wheel....? not sure if this is new actually

rodney (the dog) is here.

skolopendra is now in the very first section of the grove you encounter as opposed to being on the south island.

bug's got new dialogue if you choose to just keep standing there after he gives you his questline. you're creepin' him out!

very ominous black rabbits found near king cutouts. you can interact with each of them exactly once. said interaction is just the camera zooming in and playing a vine boom adjacent sound.

you can interact with the cardboard cutout of mitternacht and knock it down, but you can't interact with the one of inspekta at all.... hm...

new usable dialogue from P: P here!

new usable dialogue from jacqueline: get ready for pets, cutie pie!

new usable dialogue from skolopendra: tiny weak little bug.

new usable dialogue from rodney: BARKBARKBARKBARK

al had his shaboingboings before the cutscene introducing all the bizzyboys plays, but in the actual cutscene he's still trying gobble down that beachball. either this is a glitch or the implication is that al had two whole plates of shaboingboings and was still hungry afterwards so he ate the ball, and will then proceed to have another two plates of shaboingboings.

capochin calls inspekta "spek"... cute....

new usable dialogue from capochin: GET TO WORK, YOU LAZY PUP!

inspekta's van is also explicitly referred to as a campaign van. interestin'...

inspekta himself is a Lot more noticeably passive aggressive in this version lmao

oh shit they changed the handwriting in king's letter to miss mitternacht.

THEY CHANGED THE LETTER TOO.

whoever wrote this letter has generational trauma swag there i said it. "back where i'm from people WORK for their praise they don't just have godhood HANDED to them" okaaaayyy next you're gonna say you're one of the good ones and embarrass tf out of your kids in the process

i think peeps has a talking sprite now? i think everyone got new sprites for specific actions/responses/emotions actually, gods included.

miss mitternacht being of human origin is called into question; according to sirena, some believe mitternacht was never even alive to begin with.

al does not have his second plate of shaboingboings because he frew up :( but hey at least P joins him on his snack break :)

the beach ball is now a usable item that you can return!

new particle effect on mitternacht's model to make it clear that she is Constantly Crying.

more spanglish in razzma's dialogue. lots of emphasis is placed on her near-photographic memory when it comes to king, and he uses it a lot to calm herself down when he gets too emotional.

oh hey rodney's on this island too.

2nd ominous bunny appears

new eating sfx in the rift psa

the P puppet is going to town on that sandwich (not sure if this is new either)

skolopendra talks about how razzma took king's apparent betrayal especially hard.

new usable dialogue from miss mitternacht: I MISS MY ELOQUENT KING!

jacqueline is PICKING BUG UP BY THE HEAD!!!

new usable dialogue from jacqueline: I AM GOING TO EAT YOU.

"and the next thing you know, you're loading a boat with two of every animal. you don't want that, do you?" MISS MITTERNACHT....?

funny inspekta animatronic; you can free up inventory by feeding dialogue to it.

EDIT 10/15/2024: new usable dialogue from marsha: DON'T WORRY, MISSY! INSPEKTA WILL SAVE THE DAY!

feel free to add other observations in the replies/reblogs if you find em! >;P

[fitz-higgins]

Ruth and Naomi as queer role models

In the past, when homosexual figures were far and few between, many people turned to the Bible. Here, two of their heroes (or heroines) were Ruth and Naomi. Rather unlikely heroines.

When Ruth's husband died, she refused to return to her family and decided to stay with Naomi, proclaiming: “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die – there will I be buried.” (Ruth 1:16) Thus she became a symbol of loyalty and devotion.

But, although Ruth later married another man, she was also seen as a symbol of love between women by lesbians since at least the 18th century.

Some of them used Ruth's words as a vow, be it in letters or in secret ceremonies. Like two female lovers from Helen Anderson's Pity for Women (1937) who repeated the vow at a home wedding.

In Isabel Miller's (real name Alma Routsong) Patience and Sarah (1969), a novel about the love of the titular painter and farmer in the 19th century, when they move into a new house, Patience begins a painting of Ruth and Naomi, as a symbol of their union.

Or see, for example, Emily Dickinson's letter to her beloved Susan:

You wont cry any more, will you, Susie, for my father will be your father, and my home will be your home, and where you go, I will go, and we will lie side by side in the kirkyard.

More recently, a Christian singer and lesbian Marsha Stevens wrote a song based on Rurth's vow for her wedding. The words “Where you go I will go” were chosen as a slogan for the lesbian conference in 2004.

Ironically, in the past these words were used in heterosexual weddings as well. Nowadays they are repeated by queer people of all sexualities.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Quebec television executive Marie-Philippe Bouchard's appointment as the next president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada comes with big challenges at the beleaguered public broadcaster, say observers who emphasized the need for renewed trust and a revamped funding model. Marsha Barber, a former senior producer for the CBC's flagship newscast, "The National," said Tuesday that morale has been "extremely low at the CBC," especially after millions of dollars in executive bonuses followed a round of layoffs. She looked forward to "a fresh start." "There have been job losses, there have been vacancies unfilled, the bonuses were a slap in the face to people working on the ground and trying to do their jobs," said Barber, now a journalism professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Continue Reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland