#Question of the Day: Google

[king-galaxius]

Question of the Day: Google

Do the employees of Google (those living on the campus) eat for free?

[cherrywhite]

every single time (template from @mhuyo)

[arttsuka]

Miku...🇬🇷

[hangingslothcentral]

It's Trans Day of Visibility!

Today I want to talk about being overlooked, which feels like an odd thing to discuss on TDOV, but there we are.

I used to talk a lot about gender things, and I don't anymore. One reason is that it's just not as present a discomfort in my life, now: I went on T and I got top surgery and these things meant that I didn't feel that grating dissimilitude between who I am and what I appeared to be to other people the way I used to.

But it's not that I don't feel it at all. It's that the way it shows up is different. A disconnect between myself as I am and how I'm addressed by the world. Sure, some people misgender me still, but it's usually relatives wilfully resisting respecting my identity. By and large, strangers assume he/him pronouns for me, even if sometimes look at me with question marks in their eyes for a moment.

I'm a writer and I write queer stories. Those stories often have trans and nonbinary people in them because they are a part of the world, and so of course they're there. I also have the privilege of being surrounded by mostly queer people, so when I'm imagining any given group of friends or colleagues I assume they're about. 70% queer people? I think my data is skewed. Oh well!

The thing is, I'm not particularly interested in writing coming out stories or stories about the process of transition, at least not explicitly. Whilst arguably both Not Quite Dead and Spirit Box Radio handle these things thematically, neither is interested in the explicit process as literally experienced. Part of that is that I think queerness, transness, LGBTQness, it's simultaneously highly individualised and extremely broadly relateable. Whilst most people don't experience an extra puberty in their twenties or thirties, that feeling of learning who you are and being brave enough to become it is something that I think most people can find something powerful to relate to in. Especially when stories lean on the consequences of that decision of radical self-acceptance, which often leads to losing people and muddling up other things in your life, and is rarely as straightforward and affirming as it might seem.

Sometimes it feels like my transness swallows up other parts of my identity. Sometimes that happens on a personal level, where I feel like I can't do things or be a certain way simply by virtue of being trans. I felt this for a long time about dressing and moving in feminine ways. I felt they were not allowed for me in the way they are allowed for cis men. But more often its others' perception of me which is most impacted by transness' distorting lens. People make assumptions about the kinds of work I make, the kinds of characters I will write, because of my transness. They overlook my queerness and my stated attractions because of it, switching the labels I might use for myself into ones they deem more appropriate on the basis of my identity. They'll assume that because I have had access to gender affirming care, I come from a background of middle class privilege and stability, and respond with surprise when I explain I grew up mostly on a council estate in a bedroom with a mould problem so bad the back of my wardrobe was physically damp to the touch.

In my private experience of my transness, it's something which is mostly about other people and the barriers between what they see and assume about me, and who I am. It's often a positive thing; for example, it's part of the reason I am able to connect with and articulate my emotions the way some of my cis peers who are men struggle to without huge amounts of hard work.

To other people, though, it seems like it can get in the way of them understanding other things about who I am, parts of me which from my perspective are far more important and far more integral for understanding and grasping my identity and experience of the world. It means there are expectations on me that don't exist for my cis peers. At it's worst, it can lead people to want to distance themselves from me, whether out of conscious or unconscious bigotry or a fear of being seen as 'too political'. I've been passed over for jobs; awards; opportunities.

Most of these discriminations are subtle. They're usually not conscious. This doesn't make them better than out-and-out, mask-off bigotry, but it can make things more difficult to deal with and express to others who are not used to experiencing these kinds of things. It can be harder to criticise the people themselves for their behaviour, too. They're not doing it on purpose and it's not their intent so the response can often be vicious, defensive, and sometimes even violent, in response to a disconnect between how they perceive their actions and what you're telling them the consequences of their behaviour can be.

It is an extraordinarily difficult thing to suspect that your work might be able to reach more people, that your career might've progressed more smoothly, that you could be in a more safe and stable position, were it not for this one, unchangeable part of who you are. I am fiercely proud of who I am, but that doesn't change that it's made my life more difficult. These kinds of prejudices stack, too. My working class accent; my Jewish heritage; all of these things swirl into a pot of reasons that other people use to overlook me and my work. This things would be massively amplified if I were not from an English-speaking country; if I had not had access to higher education; and especially if I were not white.

It is extraordinarily important for Trans Day of Visibility to exist, because we are so often overlooked to the point of invisibility. It's not just about normalising the idea for cis people; it's not just about pointing out there are trans people everywhere. Those things are hugely important too! It's also about us. It's about the impact that lack of knowledge has on us, those in the closet and out, those stealth and those public about their identities, passing or not. All of us. This impacts *all of us*.

[siph-by-induction]

i got a free book

its incredibly dry. i personally am EXTREMELY excited to read it

[artingsumstuff]

I am absolutely losing my mind. I was just doing research for an art piece and-

[bitchyqueensblog]

Let get naughty tonight....reblug if wanna hookup

[andthebubbles]

I need to know more about the Animals in Oz... Do they have animal lifespans or lifespans more similar to human lifespans?

I read somewhere that Animals are usually servants in Oz... True or no?

And why is Fiyero's Horse friend blue when iirc no other Animals are different colours to the usual? (I saw something about it being a throwback to the 1939 film?)

[wundrousarts]

With Mogtober around the corner, I wanted to share:

If you want to do more prompts, such as tackle a 31-prompt list for the whole month, or just don’t like the prompts and want to do other ones, I have this spreadsheet that I usually pull the prompt lists from if you want ideas. Or, if you’ve had any Nevermoor ideas for things floating around in your head that you’ve been meaning to get to, you can also just take Mogtober as an opportunity to do that. The main goal is always just to have fun!!

[three-red-horns]

"Are Catholics allowed to have sex and drink alcohol during Lent?"

"Nobody should do that. You'd spill your drink."

From Quora

[fatuismooches]

EVEN MORE CUTE DOTTORE MOMENTS TO MAKE YOU SMILE 🙏 (because I am too tired to post anything of quality)

[fieldsofpoppies-in-salt-air]

irish people I need you assistance !!!

please what some Irish pet names for you child/children that Kayleigh would've called Kevin??? and also Irish holidays and traditions !!! I'm begging for answers because I do not want to write this inaccurately and be offensive

[goodthingscomeinthrees]

"i have no idea if this is true" this, "i don't know if i can believe it" that. okay, so, LOOK IT UP. find sources confirming or denying the thing. use google and your brain for exactly ten minutes, and you'll probably get an answer.

there's a solution for wondering if a piece of information on the internet is true and it's called CHECKING FOR YOURSELF.

[muraenide]

Sometimes watching the way the seniors at my workplace works make me want to quit my job on the spot.

[vehemourn]

guy in mabinogi rolled up on a vespa and began polling

[journeyman-tier-fibercraft]

I realized I had forgotten to swatch for the button hole before starting the second sleeve. And an Hour later I have a swatch with 8 button holes before I got happy with how they look. The pattern basically says "make buttonhole" and I'm not experienced enough with garment knitting to go on just that.

I did manage to confirm that despite sizing up my yarn, I'm still going to need 1 inch/25mm buttons. I don't currently have 6 matching 25mm buttons that would look good with this yarn, so decisions have to be made. And unfortunately my brain has decided the best possible button would be a rose gold coloured shank back(?) button preferably that looks like an actual flower. Which, good luck to me for finding that relatively affordably.

I think I'm just going to knit the cardigan and decide once it's all sewn up. If it fits well and I think I'll wear it, I'll spend the money to get Nice buttons.