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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 day

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Margaret Killjoy’s “The Sapling Cage”

TODAY (Sept 24), I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

The Sapling Cage is the first book in Margaret Killjoy's new "Daughters of the Empty Throne" trilogy: it's a queer coming-of-age tale in the mode of epic fantasy, and it's very good:

https://firestorm.coop/products/21646-the-sapling-cage.html

Lorel wants to be a witch, but that's the very last of the adventurous trades to be strictly gender-segregated. Boys and girls alike run away to be knights, brigands and sailors, but only girls can become a witch. Indeed, Lorel's best friend, Lane, is promised to the witches, having been born to a witch herself.

Lane doesn't want to be a witch. She wants to be a knight. So she and Lorel swap places, so when the crones come to their little hamlet to collect the girl who was promised to her, it's Lorel who steps forward, wearing the black dress Lane's mother left behind. None of the townsfolk rate Lorel out to the witches, and just like that, she is on the march with the coven, a whelp – the lowest ranking inductee, aspiring to "apprentice" and then, "witch."

What follows is, in some ways, a very expertly executed coming-of-age story. Lane is getting trained up with the coven, among a new cohort of whelps of varying degrees of friendliness and hostility. The world is a richly realized fantasy landscape of monsters and giants, magic and political intrigue.

Lorel has signed up for witching just as the land is turning against witches, thanks to a political plot by a scheming duchess who has scapegoated the witches as part of a plan to annex all the surrounding duchies, re-establishing the long-disintegrated kingdom with herself on the throne. To make things worse (for the witches, if not the duchess), there's a plague of monsters on the land, and the forests are blighted with a magical curse that turns trees to unmelting ice. This all softens up the peasantfolk for anti-witch pogroms.

So Lorel has to learn witching, even as her coven is fighting both monsters and the duchess's knights and the vigilante yokels who've been stirred up with anti-witch xenophobia.

This is a good, sturdy, serviceable plot, and in Killjoy's hands, it is expertly handled. There are lots of reversals and double-crosses, brilliant fight scenes, all the things you could want in an epic fantasy. And of course, it's a coming of age, with Lorel seeing the world and discovering who she is and brushing away the comforting half-truths and lies her elders have cocooned her in.

That's where the fact that Lorel is trans comes in. Lorel is figuring out what that means, but she's also very worried about discovery. After all, she's entered the company of witches, the last all-female cohort in the land, and these are powerful women – what's more, they're anarchists, leaderless and fractious. Who knows what happens if Lorel gets discovered.

So you've got this incredibly well-turned fantasy/coming-of-age story going on, and Killjoy figures out how to work in this gender stuff not just as a way of doing "representation" or "queer joy" or any other value that's orthogonal to the literary merits of this as an adventure tale. Nor does she simply integrate trans-ness as an unremarkable fact of life, another kind of statement (indeed, there's plenty of queer characters in this story who are matter-of-fact in this manner).

No, Killjoy uses the special complications of coming-of-age while transitioning to heighten the stakes and thus fuel the suspense of the novel. In addition to all the normal merits of diverse characters, Killjoy is using gender issues to crank up the story, winding it up to a breakneck pace that makes the pages practically fly past.

Thematically, there's a bunch of chewy stuff Killjoy does with the way that magic transforms bodies, making monsters out of witches who push their powers too hard. The story has all these changing bodies – children coming of age, Lorel coming out as transfemme, the transformation of magic-users into monsters. It's just another layer of depth that supports a zippy, run-and-gun quest tale.

I've followed Killjoy's work for more than a decade, ever since her days publishing the seminal zine Steampunk (motto: "Love the machine, hate the factory"):

https://firestorm.coop/products/2624-steampunk-magazine.html

Years later, I had the pleasure of instructing her at the Clarion West workshop. She's published regularly all that time, and this is by far her most commercial – and, I think her best! – novel (to date).

Today, Tor Books publishes SPILL, a new, free LITTLE BROTHER novella about oil pipelines and indigenous landback!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/24/daughters-of-the-empty-throne/#witchy/a>

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macrolit · 10 months

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NYT's Notable Books of 2023

Each year, we pore over thousands of new books, seeking out the best novels, memoirs, biographies, poetry collections, stories and more. Here are the standouts, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

AFTER SAPPHO by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Inspired by Sappho’s work, Schwartz’s debut novel offers an alternate history of creativity at the turn of the 20th century, one that centers queer women artists, writers and intellectuals who refused to accept society’s boundaries.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby

In his earlier thrillers, Cosby worked the outlaw side of the crime genre. In his new one — about a Black sheriff in a rural Southern town, searching for a serial killer who tortures Black children — he’s written a crackling good police procedural.

THE BEE STING by Paul Murray

In Murray’s boisterous tragicomic novel, a once wealthy Irish family struggles with both the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash and their own inner demons.

BIOGRAPHY OF X by Catherine Lacey

Lacey rewrites 20th-century U.S. history through the audacious fictional life story of X, a polarizing female performance artist who made her way from the South to New York City’s downtown art scene.

BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton

In this action-packed novel from a Booker Prize winner, a collective of activist gardeners crosses paths with a billionaire doomsday prepper on land they each want for different purposes.

BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres

This lyrical, genre-defying novel — winner of the 2023 National Book Award — explores what it means to be erased and how to persist after being wiped away.

BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll

In her third and most assured novel, Knoll shifts readers’ attention away from a notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, and onto the lives — and deaths — of the women he killed. Perhaps for the first time in fiction, Knoll pooh-poohs Bundy's much ballyhooed intelligence, celebrating the promise and perspicacity of his victims instead.

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This satire — in which prison inmates duel on TV for a chance at freedom — makes readers complicit with the bloodthirsty fans sitting ringside. The fight scenes are so well written they demonstrate how easy it might be to accept a world this sick.

THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese

Verghese’s first novel since “Cutting for Stone” follows generations of a family across 77 years in southwestern India as they contend with political strife and other troubles — capped by a shocking discovery made by the matriarch’s granddaughter, a doctor.

CROOK MANIFESTO by Colson Whitehead

Returning to the world of his novel “Harlem Shuffle,” Whitehead again uses a crime story to illuminate a singular neighborhood at a tipping point — here, Harlem in the 1970s.

THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley

Markley’s second novel confronts the scale and gravity of climate change, tracking a cadre of scientists and activists from the gathering storm of the Obama years to the super-typhoons of future decades. Immersive and ambitious, the book shows the range of its author’s gifts: polyphonic narration, silken sentences and elaborate world-building.

EASTBOUND by Maylis de Kerangal

In de Kerangal’s brief, lyrical novel, translated by Jessica Moore, a young Russian soldier on a trans-Siberian train decides to desert and turns to a civilian passenger, a Frenchwoman, for help.

EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett

The world-building in this tale of a woman documenting a new kind of faerie is exquisite, and the characters are just as textured and richly drawn. This is the kind of folkloric fantasy that remembers the old, blood-ribboned source material about sacrifices and stolen children, but adds a modern gloss.

ENTER GHOST by Isabella Hammad

In Hammad’s second novel, a British Palestinian actor returns to her hometown in Israel to recover from a breakup and spend time with her family. Instead, she’s talked into joining a staging of “Hamlet” in the West Bank, where she has a political awakening.

FORBIDDEN NOTEBOOK by Alba de Céspedes

A best-selling novelist and prominent anti-Fascist in her native Italy, de Céspedes has lately fallen into unjust obscurity. Translated by Ann Goldstein, this elegant novel from the 1950s tells the story of a married mother, Valeria, whose life is transformed when she begins keeping a secret diary.

THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith

Based on a celebrated 19th-century trial in which the defendant was accused of impersonating a nobleman, Smith’s novel offers a vast panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters.

FROM FROM by Monica Youn

In her fourth book of verse, a svelte, intrepid foray into American racism, Youn turns a knowing eye on society’s love-hate relationship with what it sees as the “other.”

A GUEST IN THE HOUSE by Emily Carroll

After a lonely young woman marries a mild-mannered widower and moves into his home, she begins to wonder how his first wife actually died. This graphic novel alternates between black-and-white and overwhelming colors as it explores the mundane and the horrific.

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride

McBride’s latest, an intimate, big-hearted tale of community, opens with a human skeleton found in a well in the 1970s, and then flashes back to the past, to the ’20s and ’30s, to explore the town’s Black, Jewish and immigrant history.

HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano

In her radiant fourth novel, Napolitano puts a fresh spin on the classic tale of four sisters and the man who joins their family. Take “Little Women,” move it to modern-day Chicago, add more intrigue, lots of basketball and a different kind of boy next door and you’ve got the bones of this thoroughly original story.

A HISTORY OF BURNING by Janika Oza

This remarkable debut novel tells the story of an extended Indo-Ugandan family that is displaced, settled and displaced again.

HOLLY by Stephen King

The scrappy private detective Holly Gibney (who appeared in “The Outsider” and several other novels) returns, this time taking on a missing-persons case that — in typical King fashion — unfolds into a tale of Dickensian proportions.

A HOUSE FOR ALICE by Diana Evans

This polyphonic novel traces one family’s reckoning after the patriarch dies in a fire, as his widow, a Nigerian immigrant, considers returning to her home country and the entire family re-examines the circumstances of their lives.

THE ILIAD by Homer

Emily Wilson’s propulsive new translation of the “Iliad” is buoyant and expressive; she wants this version to be read aloud, and it would certainly be fun to perform.

INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE by Emma Törzs

The sisters in Törzs's delightful debut have been raised to protect a collection of magic books that allow their keepers to do incredible things. Their story accelerates like a fugue, ably conducted to a tender conclusion.

KAIROS by Jenny Erpenbeck

This tale of a torrid, yearslong relationship between a young woman and a much older married man — translated from the German by Michael Hofmann — is both profound and moving.

KANTIKA by Elizabeth Graver

Inspired by the life of Graver’s maternal grandmother, this exquisitely imagined family saga spans cultures and continents as it traces the migrations of a Sephardic Jewish girl from turn-of-the-20th-century Constantinople to Barcelona, Havana and, finally, Queens, N.Y.

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY by C Pam Zhang

Zhang’s lush, keenly intelligent novel follows a chef who’s hired to cook for an “elite research community” in the Italian Alps, in a not-so-distant future where industrial-agricultural experiments in America’s heartland have blanketed the globe in a crop-smothering smog.

LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle

The year is 1915, and the narrator of LaValle’s horror-tinged western has arrived in Montana to cultivate an unforgiving homestead. She’s looking for a fresh start as a single Black woman in a sparsely populated state, but the locked trunk she has in stow holds a terrifying secret.

MONICA by Daniel Clowes

In Clowes’s luminous new work, the titular character, abandoned by her mother as a child, endures a life of calamities before resolving to learn about her origins and track down her parents.

THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

Based on a true story and translated by Lara Vergnaud, Sarr’s novel — about a Senegalese writer brought low by a plagiarism scandal — asks sharp questions about the state of African literature in the West.

THE NEW NATURALS by Gabriel Bump

In Bump’s engrossing new novel, a young Black couple, mourning the loss of their newborn daughter and disillusioned with the world, start a utopian society — but tensions both internal and external soon threaten their dreams.

NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason

Mason’s novel looks at the occupants of a single house in Massachusetts over several centuries, from colonial times to present day. An apple farmer, an abolitionist, a wealthy manufacturer: The book follows these lives and many others, with detours into natural history and crime reportage.

NOT EVEN THE DEAD by Juan Gómez Bárcena

An ex-conquistador in Spanish-ruled, 16th-century Mexico is asked to hunt down an Indigenous prophet in this novel by a leading writer in Spain, splendidly translated by Katie Whittemore. The epic search stretches across much of the continent and, as the author bends time and history, lasts centuries.

THE NURSERY by Szilvia Molnar

“I used to be a translator and now I am a milk bar.” So begins Molnar’s brilliant novel about a new mother falling apart within the four walls of her apartment.

OUR SHARE OF NIGHT by Mariana Enriquez

This dazzling, epic narrative, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, is a bewitching brew of mystery and myth, peopled by mediums who can summon “the Darkness” for a secret society of wealthy occultists seeking to preserve consciousness after death.

PINEAPPLE STREET by Jenny Jackson

Jackson’s smart, dishy debut novel embeds readers in an upper-crust Brooklyn Heights family — its real estate, its secrets, its just-like-you-and-me problems. Does money buy happiness? “Pineapple Street” asks a better question: Does it buy honesty?

THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due

Due’s latest — about a Black boy, Robert, who is wrongfully sentenced to a fictionalized version of Florida’s infamous and brutal Dozier School — is both an incisive examination of the lingering traumas of racism and a gripping, ghost-filled horror novel. “The novel’s extended, layered denouement is so heart-smashingly good, it made me late for work,” Randy Boyagoda wrote in his review. “I couldn’t stop reading.”

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by Vajra Chandrasekera

Trained to kill by his mother and able to see demons, the protagonist of Chandrasekera’s stunning and lyrical novel flees his destiny as an assassin and winds up in a politically volatile metropolis.

SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS by Ed Park

Double agents, sinister corporations, slasher films, U.F.O.s — Park’s long-awaited second novel is packed to the gills with creative elements that enliven his acerbic, comedic and lyrical odyssey into Korean history and American paranoia.

TAKE WHAT YOU NEED by Idra Novey

This elegant novel resonates with implication beyond the taut contours of its central story line. In Novey’s deft hands, the complex relationship between a young woman and her former stepmother hints at the manifold divisions within America itself.

THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding

In his latest novel, inspired by the true story of a devastating 1912 eviction in Maine that displaced an entire mixed-race fishing community, Harding turns that history into a lyrical tale about the fictional Apple Island on the cusp of destruction.

TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett

Locked down on the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard, three sisters and their mother, a former actress whose long-ago summer fling went on to become a movie star, reflect on love and regret in Patchett’s quiet and reassuring Chekhovian novel.

THE UNSETTLED by Ayana Mathis

This novel follows three generations across time and place: a young mother trying to create a home for herself and her son in 1980s Philadelphia, and her mother, who is trying to save their Alabama hometown from white supremacists seeking to displace her from her land.

VICTORY CITY by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie’s new novel recounts the long life of Pampa Kampana, who creates an empire from magic seeds in 14th-century India. Her world is one of peace, where men and women are equal and all faiths welcome, but the story Rushdie tells is of a state that forever fails to live up to its ideals.

WE COULD BE SO GOOD by Cat Sebastian

This queer midcentury romance — about reporters who meet at work, become friends, move in together and fall in love — lingers on small, everyday acts like bringing home flowers with the groceries, things that loom large because they’re how we connect with others.

WESTERN LANE by Chetna Maroo

In this polished and disciplined debut novel, an 11-year-old Jain girl in London who has just lost her mother turns her attention to the game of squash — which in Maroo’s graceful telling becomes a way into the girl’s grief.

WITNESS by Jamel Brinkley

Set in Brooklyn, and featuring animal rescue workers, florists, volunteers, ghosts and UPS workers, Brinkley’s new collection meditates on what it means to see and be seen.

Y/N by Esther Yi

In this weird and wondrous novel, a bored young woman in thrall to a boy band buys a one-way ticket to Seoul.

YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang

Kuang’s first foray outside of the fantasy genre is a breezy and propulsive tale about a white woman who achieves tremendous literary success by stealing a manuscript from a recently deceased Asian friend and passing it off as her own.

#new york times #100 books #reading list #2023 #books #reading #have you read any of these titles?

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rosencrantzsguildenstern · 7 months

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In the play Fat Ham, Juicy, a young queer black man, is confronted by the ghost of his father during a barbecue, who demands that Juicy avenge his murder. Juicy, already familiar with Hamlet's plight, tries to break the cycles of trauma and violence.

literally the best play i've ever seen in my life and yes that includes shakespeare's. won a pulitzer prize. a celebration of black queer love.

Hamlet as told by Hamlet, Ophelia, or the original King Hamlet…but you choose how it goes. You can play it completely straight, or have it involve a deadly game of chess, time travel, a rap battle against a gravedigger, and also tricking Claudius into confessing his deeds with a whole separate choose-your-own-adventure book.

This book is hilarious. You can stay on the rails, and have the author question your choices, planning ability, and weirdly misogynistic worldview, step off them and have fun with how simple it would be to just avert the tragedy. Or just go completely off the rails and befriend a dinosaur, save yourself with a time loop, become a pirate king, conquer Denmark with a ghost army, start a race around the world, kill literally every character in Hamlet, become an inventor, and so on.

#tournament #to be or not to be #fat ham #to be or not to be ryan north #fat ham sounds amazing #but ive also read to be or not to be and like. It does not sound as impressive as fat ham but it's so much fun #im gonna watch it before voting... i wanna watch it anyway

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mclennonlgbt · 5 months

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"The Magic Christian" - queer moments

Thanks to @clueingforbeggs, I watched "The Magic Christian", 1969 comedy with Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers.

There is SO MUCH covert and overt gayness there… oh boy.

Let's start with the fact that Sir Guy Grand, played by Sellers, is an unmarried, childless, middle-aged man. He's also very sophisticated, which can kind of be considered queer coding? At the very beginning of the film, Guy goes to the park and meets a homeless man (played by Ringo); in the next scene they go to the office and Guy adopts him, giving him the name/nickname Youngman. Watch Guy tell this incident to his employees: at first he complains that he has no biological offspring, and then…

Then he introduces them to Ringo and then quotes an erotic poem? I mean, wtf? You guys are quite evident.

2. In one of the opening scenes, Guy and Youngman go to the theater. Unexpectedly, Hamlet starts doing a stiptease and it looks quite… gay. Guy is very excited, ecstatic even (he had previously announced that this was the best scene), and Youngman looks at the actor with satisfaction and curiosity.

3. Basically, the plot is that Guy and Youngman are pranking different people. One of them is to pay two boxers whose fight will be broadcast on television to kiss each other on the lips. And they do it. And Youngman's reaction is fantastic.

4. Near the end of the film, Guy and Youngman are sailing on The Magic Christian. Guy chats for a while with the man next to him, who turns out to be a racist. And in a moment THIS happens:

Yes, half-naked, muscular men appear. They hit on a racist to the rhythm of a Disney song. And Ringo whistles.

One of the travelers gives a piece of paper to the black dancer, who hides it in his underpants.

5. After another of Guy and Youngman's pranks, one of the passengers becomes very concerned. Laurence Faggot, a psychologist, comes to him and offers him a moment alone. This is the only queer moment in the film that is ugh. Faggot fits the stereotype of a pushy gay man.

6. Then we see the half-naked queer men dancing that appeared in point 4. Youngman and Guy aren't the least bit surprised.

When Guy's sister screams in alarm, Guy responds:

7. And this scene... looks a bit like a transgender woman's coming out? You have to see it yourself.

I can't believe how this all appeared in a 1960s movie. I really do. Of course, more comedy is allowed, but still.

#ringo starr #peter sellers #the magic christian #1969 #1960s #insane #gay #queer

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morhath · 1 year

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Oh I’m very very interested in your nonfiction book recs 👀

EDIT: ykw I'm gonna make this a little more organized

I listed a bunch in this post (the last question) but lemme see if I have any additions because I know I was kinda trying to keep it short when I wrote that. (But that being said, that post is the Top Faves Of All Time, so go for those first.)

Freaky medical shit I also liked:

The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years by Sonia Shah

The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco by Marilyn Chase (I just read this a few weeks ago and OOUUUGGHHHHHH IT'S LITERALLY JUST. LIKE THE RESPONSE TO COVID.)

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

Political shit I also liked:

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong

The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven W. Thrasher

Immigrants, Evangelicals, and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change by Janelle S. Wong

History I also liked:

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle

The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives by Bryant Simon (between those two you can tell I was on a bit of a "workplace tragedies caused by lax regulations and bad management" kick)

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore (I think everyone knows about this book, including it for completeness)

Promised the Moon: The Untold Story Of The First Women In The Space Race by Stephanie Nolen

The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan

Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke (this is nowhere near as fun and cute as you'd assume from the title)

Memoirs I also liked:

The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity by Axton Betz-Hamilton (I read this before I really got into nonfiction and it was WILD, I tell people about it all the time)

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (this one is a graphic not-novel-I-guess-memoir)

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Other:

Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood

A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by Ken Armstrong, T. Christian Miller

Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food by Lenore Newman

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

AND here are a few on my TBR that I'm really excited for! I decided not to categorize them because they're almost all history:

Silk and Potatoes: Contemporary Arthurian Fantasy by Adam Roberts

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer (I am actually partway through this right now but in a bit of a dry/confusing section)

The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist by Carol A. Stabile

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St Clair

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell (have just barely started this)

Time to Dance, a Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 by John Waller

The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyŏng: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea by Lady Hyegyeong

Miss Major Speaks: The Life and Times of a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste by William M. Alley, Rosemarie Alley (I'm in the middle of this but it's surprisingly, um. not exciting.)

Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond by Mark Ames

Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It by Joslyn Brenton, Sinikka Elliott, Sarah Bowen

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World by Virginia Postrel

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber

Medieval Gentlewoman: Life in a Gentry Household in the Later Middle Ages by Ffiona Swabey

Hitler's First Victims: The Beginning of the Holocaust and One Man's Fight to End It by Timothy W. Ryback

I am soso normal and have very normal interests that are not at all grim :)

#long post #life #reading #books #tempestclerics #my book recs

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the-cat-and-the-birdie · 1 year

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Punk is a thought, not a look. It's a message, not a sound. ________________________

Mariah-Janet Waters

Hobie's 'Mary-Jane' | Earth-138

18 - Any Pronouns - 5'3'' - Aro/Bi - Autistic - Pronounced Mariah-JA-net

Mixed Nigerian and Irish

Police Whistleblower from age 15, publishing anonymous exposés and hosting a local illegal anarchist radio-show

Daughter of Captain Walter Waters

Earned her blue laces off her father at 16 - Doesn't regret it all and still sleeps sound as fuck at night (well... not soundly)

Survivor of 4 assassination attempts - counting on a 5th

Most talkative person on planet earth - but wears the mask 24/7

Hates being called MJ DEEPLY

No piercings, untatted, and doesn't even like punk music

Entirely Punk none-the-less

[unmasked Mariah at the end]

Background:

Mariah-Janet has dedicated her life to the anarchist movement, and taking down Fisk's administration - no matter what it costs. Not that she had much left to spend. Born to Captain Walter Water's, a white police officer, and Barbra, her Nigerian mother, Mariah's mother left her life early - at the age of 4, not bothering to take Mariah with her. Instead she was raised by her father, an abusive cop mad at the world- and out to make it his daughter's problem. Raised in a tiny flat in low-income Tower Hamlets, he spent the majority of her childhood trying to iron the blackness out her hair and beat the queerness out of her soul. Though none of it ever worked much. She says change ain't in her nature. As Fisk's administration grew, so did her father's ruthlessness, and his newly earned V.E.N.O.M symbiote was only fuel to his fire. And at 15, Mariah become 'Red' - An anonymous Anti-Police whistleblower. Publishing dozens of exposes, reports, and zines against the administration - 'Red' rose to infamy through his illegally broadcasted rogue-radio show and his uncensored and ruthless protesting tactics. However, at 16 Mariah came across a story that would change her career - discovering the murder and cover-up of her own mother. Enraged but determined, Mariah leaked the report, at the same time her father uncovered her identity. Consumed by rage and powered by the V.E.N.O.M symbiote, when her father attacked her, Mariah earned her blue laces. And started wearing her mask, living life as the wanted 'Red'. Today Mariah lives in hiding, couch-surfing at the places of other organizers, or squatting in vacant flats.

Personality:

Don't let the bandana and dead stare fool you - Mariah is far from quiet and cold. Being autistic and hyperverbal, Mariah talks A LOT - whether she's actually saying something or not. She's not very expressive or emotive, and her humor is pretty dry and bland (think Dwight from the Office), even though she hates mean-spirited jokes. On the lighter side of things, Mariah is pretty brash and open. She's a writer, not a leader, and she's more interested in going with the flow than being in charge, though she often finds herself there. She fairly laid back - and incredibly confident. Almost outright cocky, even moreso than Hobie. She sits legs spread and burps loud and rolls her eyes and sucks her teeth. She enjoys cursing in front people who think it's 'rude', and she has an accent thicker than Hobie's. But unlike Hobie - she's not a 'typical, actual' punk (yeah right). She doesn't listen to punk music. In fact, she doesn't listen to much music at all. She has no real interest in the clothes, or the music, or the crowded live shows. And when she met Hobie, she had no real interest in the pretty boy who brings a guitar to a protest. Mariah is a punk, because that's how she lives her life. And she'll genuinely laugh in your face if you tell her she isn't, just because she thinks the Sex Pistols are shite. And she's incredibly loyal. To say Mariah doesn't trust anyone (from her universe at least) is an understatement. She can't afford it - what with 4 assassination attempts and counting - but if there's anyone on Earth she trusts, it's Hobie. But her and Hobie don't always see eye-to-eye. On the darker side of things, Mariah lacks the 'radical kindness' that Hobie does. Even though her and Hobie are both hard-core anarchists, 'Red's definition of 'justice' is often far more extreme. Mariah hates cops. All of them, and she genuinely wants them dead - in the most painful way she can muster. Knowing there are more men like her father out there, still sleeping soundly at night, and that there are men out there protecting them, Mariah says the movement isn't over until all of them are either punished, dead, or both. Mariah wants merciless punishment, and she isn't afraid to say it. For cops, politicians, fascists, nazis, racists, and any other bigot still breathing. She's an amazing planner, and a phenomenal speaker, but her protesting tactics often teeter into dangerous and malicious territory. Including arson, and if given the chance, execution. When Spider-Punk saved Mariah's life from a cop torturing her - the third attempt on her life - Mariah insisted he kill the already downed officer. Because it'd be 'One less to worry about.' Hobie didn't. And both began looking at each other a little bit different from that point forward. When they're alone and Mariah talks about how good it would be to live in a world without cops, Hobie can't help but agree. He's just afraid of what Mariah is willing to do to get there. And the more she tries, and the more she speaks, the more dangerous it gets for her.

Hobie & Mariah

Meeting:

Hobie knew his MJ Canon Event was coming - he just didn't know he already knew her. Hobie had met Mariah as 'Red', at an 'unpermitted political protest/performance art piece' - Hobie's words, not theirs. A Molotov cocktail in hand, and a balaclava across his face. To Hobie, to meet the person behind the words was surreal, and only for a few brief moments. Red met Spider-Punk months later. Coincidentally, while staring down the barrel of a gun. Faced with his second assassination attempt, Red comes face to face with the other masked anarchist, and is instantly filled with respect for him. Red's a fan, and Spider-Punk's a fan of his as well. And soon, the two are working together on the regular. Staging protests, running an illegal anarchist-rock-radio-show, and exposing insider information. It isn't until Red's third - and fourth - assassination attempt, that Hobie realized Red was now living in a bullet proof vest. After the fourth attempt, Hobie demasked himself, bringing an injured Red to the boathouse. He somehow convinced Red to stay while he healed. It was only then that Red revealed her identity to Hobie, and switched from ski masks to bandanas, and from Red to Mariah.

Relationship:

They aren't dating. If you even insinuate anything of the sort, Mariah is very likely to either tell you to 'piss off', or she'll (lovingly and playfully) insult him. 'I love charity work, darling. But not that much.' Romance isn't in the cards for them - Mariah's aro anyway. But that's not why this canon event exists. In every universe where MJ and Spidey are together, they are a rock for each other, mentally and emotionally. They're there to keep each other standing. Hobie didn't believe in canon events, and he still doesn't. But it took him a while to understand why Mariah was his canon event. Not to love her, but to protect her. Hobie believes in Mariah's message. And he believes in the power of her voice. 'Red' is loud. And Fisk knows it. She's a threat, because she's the voice of the people. Hobie may not agree with all of her methods. And that's fine. He can live with that. Because he believes in her message - and more importantly, he believes in her power. Hobie and Mariah were never meant to be partners in romance. And they'll forever be partners in crime. Outside of that - Hobie and Mariah's relationship is purely sexual and platonic. They're more than best friends. To them, they're two people who puts their lives in each other's hands every day, and respect each other beyond anything in this world.

Face Claims: Ice Spice /// Erin Kellyman

More about Mariah [Mentions of My Spidersona Disco-Spider Diane below]

Mariah is pretty romance averse. Her and Hobie never kiss outside of sex, and she's not touchy unless she's flirting. (Which she does, A LOT, just not to Hobie. She always tells him she can pick up more chicks than him - which, true.)

If Hobie tried to kiss her on the lips out of nowhere, she would look at him like he was absolutely insane. (She'd be like 'bruv - fuck are you in my face for')

She's not interested in romance at all, either thinking it's bizarre or distracting - and she's not afraid to say it

Though she has no interest in Hobie romantically (and doesn't see the appeal), she's still happy that he has Diane in his life. And she's VERY happy to leave that gushy shit to her.

*Makes retching noises when Diane & Hobie kiss in front of her*

Unlike Diane & Hobie, Hobie & Mariah are pretty open about the fact that they're fucking and nothing more. They're casual about it, but when Mariah is making Hobie sit on her lap at an afterparty - it sends a message.

She also likes to grab his ass at any opportunity, especially in front of people - doing things like pulling on his suspenders (then letting them go so they snap at his back lol)

She's also involved with Diane - originally independent of Hobie, after Mariah and Hobie got together - getting together shortly after Diane came out as bi

She knows Diane is not from their Earth - Hobie told her this before she ever met Diane. They first met when Mariah went alone to go introduce herself to Diane in her universe (with Hobie's blessing)

She went unmasked, and so Diane saw her face when they first met

The three of them are in a soft polycule

Mariah's masc-bi-butch and she prefers masculine descriptors.

Most of her clothes are thrifted jerseys of teams she doesn't back, and jeans 3 sizes up. When protesting, he'll wear all red.

Mariah prefers he/him pronouns when out as 'Red'. When out with unfamiliar people, organizers, or active protests - He's most often in balaclavas and ski-masks

Mariah doesn't wear boots - only trainers, but she still ties blue laces around the shins of her baggy pants every morning, because she feels like she's earned them

Wears her bandana almost constantly, and will wear it even when alone with Hobie - though she takes it off by herself. She has dozens, so it's always easy to grab one.

Very rarely will she take it off to eat or drink. She'll try to eat around it or drink around a straw, which is usually successful. If it isn't, she'll leave the room

She doesn't want people to memorize her face. And it's not that she doesn't trust anyone - which, she doesn't - it's that enough torture could break anyone. And she's not taking the risk.

If she takes off her bandana in front of you (unlikely) and you scan her face, she immediately doesn't trust you. (Why you looking so hard)

She wears her bandana so often around Hobie, that he finds it very easy to tell her emotions, even though Mariah does not emote much in general - besides, Mariah talks A LOT

It took her multiple months before Hobie saw her face, and she only showed him after living on the houseboat for some weeks, after they'd slept together

Raised being called 'MJ' by her father, Mariah highly dislikes it. She'll tell you not to call her it once, and every time after, she'll be a little more pissed

Around Hobie and people he trusts, Red prefers to go by Mariah or M - and uses any pronouns. If you ask Mariah their gender, you'll get an amused smile and bored shrug. What are you, a cop?

Asks people 'What are you, a cop?' or 'You a narc??' quite often. Half the time she's joking. Will also say "Okay, Officer." If you're being pushy and annoying, and laughs if that irritates you (Hobie)

Her laugh is very sharp, and it almost sounds mocking. Even if she isn't

Lots of times people don't trust her, what with the mask. These are the people she likes to take the piss out of most

Mariah experiences a lot of chronic pain, mostly derived from her father, and her 3 & 4th assassination attempts - making protests extremely taxing on her

Though she will hide this at all costs, in front of everyone except Hobie. During times of stress or increased pain, she'll take painkillers in sporadic doses. But being wanted by the state, she can only get her hands on so much.

She doesn't do much but protest and write. She doesn't like music like that, and she doesn't see the appeal. She doesn't draw anymore, though she used to

After years of living in survival mode, she works, plans, chain-smokes, and tries not to get killed while doing it

She doesn't understand Diane's groupie behavior, or Hobie's 'punk' rockstar cover. She thinks it's pointless, and on occasion she'll say this, not realizing how callous that may sound

To her, Hobie is a dork. And she calls him a dork all the time. How someone could see him as cool or rather - 'groovy' - is beyond her.

Has little to no filter - unless it comes to secrets and observations. Either she tells you exactly what she's thinking, or you get nothing at all.

Often has to be told when it's too much, and on occasion, during political planning, she has told Hobie he talks 'too nice'.

Though she does envy Diane, and her ability to just dance. Mariah has no form of escapism - her writing will always be a harsh reflection of reality. And she admires Diane's ability to live in spite of that, without the anger her and Hobie often go through.

The only escape Mariah has is reading, and puzzles. Mainly rubix cubes and things like that.

She loves fiction and fantasy. But her love of books doesn't stop there, and Red's radio show isn't all screaming.

Mariah is extremely versed in political and anarchist literature, being able to memorizes passages from manifestos and books easily, as well as speeches or direct pieces of confidential files she reads

Mainly leads riots - using anti-tear gas safety, road-blocking, and anarchist warfare like molotov cocktails & destruction of surveillance

Whereas a lot of Hobie's protests preach Love & Kindness among the community, Red's radio show and organized riots are backed by rage - telling the people to end the oppression by direct action, at any cost

Red wants revenge and a future, and if that means burning it all down and rebuilding from ashes and graves, then that's what he'll do. Happily.

She has killed in front of Hobie before, and he was not very happy about it (to say the least)

Sleeps in Hobie's bed a lot of nights - mainly because of the nightmares. She doesn't like doing this, and wish it didn't happen, but it is what it is. What helps helps, and she trusts Hobie more than anyone

Unlike how he is with Diane, Hobie is extremely protective of Mariah and worries about Red constantly - to the point that he's hypervigilant

Still has the badge she took off her father at 16. Her most prized possession

________________________________

ART STYLE: [We're almost done I PROMISE]

Less animated and expressive than Hobie - Mariah does not change colors the way he does. Most of the time she is black, white, grey, or the color of aging parchment, detailed with handwriting and lined paper.

Mariah can only turn Red, when enraged or at protest, and Blue, for injured, scared, or upset. As she gets angrier, the handwriting across her becomes more and more erratic and illegible.

INSPO:

Mariah is about being authentic without performance.

She's a punk, even though she 'doesn't look it'. She gets told that a lot. She's black, even though she 'doesn't look it'. Disabled, though she 'doesn't look it'. She's bi, but she 'doesn't look it' either.

Mariah isn't quiet, and she never hides the truth. But because people can't see her face, they act like they can never get a read on her - even though she's brutally honest.

I wanted her to defy the idea of what a punk is. She's not the girl who goes to Hobie's shows and kisses him backstage. That's Diane.

Mariah is the one that follows him into battle and debates him for hours. Even if she doesn't like his music. She still believes in anarchy, and fighting, and freedom.

She's still punk, and despite the anti-blackness of her father, she's still black.

Mariah is the opposite of Diane, although that wasn't really on purpose.

A lot of the time in the comics, MJ and Peter's relationship is about them being on the same side, and facing the world together - MJ always a encouraging force for Peter. And I wanted to boil that down as much as I could. So often that encouraging force is through romance and romantic affection - but unlike MJ and Peter, Hobie and Mariah have everything but that aspect. Both their attraction to each other and their mutal emotional support of each other are divorced from romance - instead being based in respect and care. Hobie wants to protect Mariah, and Mariah wants Hobie to fight at her side. Mariah is the reflection of Diane. She represents his political side, while Diane represents more of his musical side. She represents his enraged determination, while Diane is his radical kindness. Diane and Hobie aren't open about being 'together', but the romance between them is clear. Meanwhile Hobie and Mariah are open about sleeping with each other - and the lack of romance is just as clear. And my favorite part is their reflection of morals. To Diane suffering for the system, and for the Society, is a worthy cause. A necessary sacrifice. Diane is community oriented above all else, something she gained by her communist upbringing. Meanwhile, Mariah couldn't disagree more. No community liberated her. Instead, she liberated herself - not by sitting outside a courthouse - but by direct action - and killing her father when she got the chance. If life was a garden, Diane tries to plant flowers. Mariah is more interested in pulling up weeds. Maybe Diane is naive. Or maybe Mariah is cynical. Or maybe they both know exactly what they're doing. Either way Hobie cares for both of them beyond words. And in return, they love giving him headaches.

If you read this far - THANK YOU SOOO MUCH. Mariah took a while to come to me, but now that she's here she's as hardheaded and smug as can be (affectionately)

Her and Hobie are basically bros that fuck sometimes and their 'kisses' are actually just passionate looks of rage when they lock eyes during a riot lol

And because you made it this far: Here's a rare unmasked Mariah!

As per usual, take this Hobie photo, absorb it, cherish it, and use it in times of weakness for it will give you strength

Bye.

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blossoms-and-petrichor · 10 months

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so i read the script of fat ham and. ummmmmm. how am i supposed to be normal about this.

MAKING JUICY'S DENIAL OF RETURNING TO EDUCATION A MAJOR PLOTPOINT. I LOVE IT WHEN PRODUCTIONS EMPHASIZE "WITTENBURG" and how hamlet really wanted to go back but couldn't. We see how much Juicy is upset by that as well as all the other stuff

Juicy gets to be fat and black and fem and reclaim what bits of masculinity he wants to. Larry gets to reclaim what bits of masculinity he wants to, lets himself be soft. ohhhhhh myyyy godddddd the depictions of queer masculinity have me sendingggggggggggggggggggg

ay that's the (barbeque) rub

WHY CAN'T I SEE THIS IN PERSON :(

Ophelia and Juicy's friendship

Ophelia yearning for power

All the subtle homophobia and fatphobia weighing on juicy while many act like its not a big deal

aLL THE BARBEQUE PUNS

gertrude was so good.

all the calls to the audience. we're characters too. juicy gets to tell his story, he is not compelled into repeating his father's violences and deprived of his voice. HIS VOICE ONLY GETS SWEETER. HE RETAINS HIS VOICE, HIS LIFe

CHARADES!

#Fat Ham #oh my god #hamlet #shakespeare

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shmreduplication · 4 days

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saw Hamlet last week and the fashion was v clearly evoking a time period w/o being historically accurate, so everyone had colorful patterned fabric with some metallic/shiny thread as part of the design. Except for our boy Ham, who was wearing a black shirt with white poofy sleeves (to better show the blood later on in the show) and the shiniest element of his costume was......this leather short sleeves+collar combo that was, imo, v bondage-y except for the fact that it was over clothes. I can't find a good pic of the actor in costume but this isn't too far off for the leather piece. Overall he looked much more piratey than princely

Then I saw The Tempest today, a free shakespeare in the park version. The royal party were all in modern-day suits, Miranda and Prospero were in kinda resort lounge wear, like loose fabrics that are a bit flowy (Miranda also had plant garlands decorating her outfit, showing she's much more "from the island" than Prospero) and Ariel was in white pants, a sparkley mesh shirt, and a shiney rainbowy leather-style harness with angel wings on it, possibly this exact style

....so like does every Shakespeare play have a leather harness in it? I'm looking at my list of upcoming shows to see what other shakespeare is interesting me. Twelfth Night set in a 1970s German nightclub, Fat Ham is a modern-day Hamlet where Ham is a queer black man, another Twelfth Night but a jazz funk musical adaptation...........yeah I think those could all very easily have leather harnesses in them

I am thinking maybe the adaptations I'm interested in say more about me than about Billy Shakes & the people who put on his shows BUT i saw Hamlet because it was in repertory with R&G Are Dead and The Tempest because it was a free show and heavily referenced in The Librarians so the fact that both of those had leather harnesses is actually about the people who love Shakes enough to put on these shows

altho tbh I am adding "shakespeare play costumed fully in bondage gear" to the list of shows I would put on if I ever get theater producer money. That guy who has his head turned into a mule's head could have a puppy-style mask. Altho the leather with the hot theater lights might give heat stroke to all the actors.......much to think about

#shakespeare

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xoruffitup · 2 years

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AITAF’s 2022 Broadway Show

I’ll start by stating what we all know: Without fail, every AITAF show proves to be a profoundly moving experience in one way or another. Whether it’s the reading itself, the talk back afterwards, or simply the atmosphere and sense of connection filling the theater, these nights are always to be remembered. Even speaking as a theater devotee who sees live performances on the regular, AITAF always elevates the experience by emphasizing the collective, community-building nature inherent to the act of performing and watching a play. At heart, AITAF’s mission is to break down barriers: not only barriers between military and civilian viewers in the audience who all find themselves sharing an emotional experience on the same terms; but between military individuals in the audience and the artists on stage as well. To me, this is what makes the AITAF experience truly singular – staying in your seat after the performance concludes, as you watch the invisible boundary between stage and audience dissolve through dialogue and communion.

More than any year prior (at least the four years I’ve attended), this 2022 show highlighted how bold and daring this mission truly is. Putting actors and military personnel in the same room to have a chat and feel some feels together was always something of a radical idea, but this year’s event took the concept so much further. While this was not the first time the Broadway event featured an all-black cast (see my recap of the 2019 performance of A Raisin In The Sun), Fat Ham raised the bar with a veritable celebration of queerness, blackness, and all manner of ‘other’-ness. One of the play’s emotional peaks takes place between Juicy (the Hamlet equivalent) and Larry (the Laertes equivalent, portrayed here as a military recruit home on leave). After several interactions showing Larry to harbor feelings for Juicy, Larry finally makes an utterly beautiful yet tormented confession of love, voicing his profound admiration and envy for all the ways Juicy is “soft” in not letting the world harden him or the dictates of others change him. It’s no exaggeration to say this was one of the single most stirring, gorgeous monologues I can remember hearing in a long time.

The play proceeds to confrontation, then eventual acceptance among the older family members of the younger generation’s difference – difference in not only their sexuality but their evolving expectations and dreams for their futures. Juicy’s uncle (the Claudius equivalent) dies when he chokes on a bite of meat and refuses help from his gay stepson – releasing Juicy from his dilemma of whether or not to revenge his father’s murder and passing judgment on the man’s violent tendencies and homophobic predisposition. In the final scene, the remaining characters briefly contemplate the absurd proposal of killing each other in order to stay true to their tragic source material. Instead, they embrace love and a new tomorrow beyond cycles of violence and revenge. The last thing we see is Larry leading a joyous and utterly fierce dance of liberation, disco music and all.

Fat Ham is the sort of brilliantly irreverent, gloriously life-affirming show you have to see to believe. But just based on what I’ve shared above, you can probably understand why this was such a bold, unexpected choice of work to present to a military audience. Broadly speaking, this is the demographic people might expect to vote red and react with discomfort to such intimate examinations of black, queer, and transgender consciousness. But by the end of the night, it became clear that, actually, there is no audience better suited for such a story.

As the talkback began, an immediate connection was apparent between material and audience. A question was posed about the former ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, and the audience member expressed how rare it is to see portrayals of LGBTQ people in uniform. The one bordering-awkward moment came when an older woman in the audience asked the cast (and Director, also present on stage) whether they believed this depiction of a multi-generational family to be realistic - wherein the younger generation all identify with an LGBTQ orientation. The actor who’d played Larry (Calvin Leon Smith – who I also saw in the Bridge Award reading in September and who’s truly the real deal; this man will make you feel the whole spectrum of emotion) bridged the moment with grace and sincerity, explaining how he himself grew up as a queer-identifying boy in a southern family, making this show personally resonant and all too realistic. The Director followed up to say that if it seems the LGBTQ community appeared from nowhere or expanded at a precipitous rate, that’s only because we have now, for the first time, reached a period of acceptance when people who were long hidden and silent can finally be themselves and live liberated, honest lives. The answering applause was immediate and enthusiastic, followed by the voice of an audience member from the balcony shouting, “And everyone go vote tomorrow!”

(Cue critical self-examination of my previous assumption regarding service members/veterans’ political ideologies.)

From here, the questions became more personal, delving into the actors’ emotional journeys to portray characters experiencing turmoil, conflict, and loss. An audience member who was himself active in the arts asked MVP Calvin Leon Smith/Larry about his approach to channeling the emotion required of the love confession scene described earlier. Mr. Smith started his response with a shoutout to his acting teacher, who was in the audience. “Sorry, I just love him,” he said, becoming visibly emotional. He again referenced his upbringing and said that the tools he learned through acting for understanding and confronting the layers of his own emotions and identity had made a vast difference in his life, but how some elements of his on-stage performance remain unpredictable. “It doesn’t always happen,” he said, in reference to the tears he’d shed on-stage during the scene. I have to note here that this guy in particular really went the extra mile in terms of his honesty and willingness to become vulnerable with the audience. It was clear that this evening’s rendition of the scene in question had been particularly intense for him, but he leaned further into the self-exposure and was willing to openly examine and discuss the experience. His participation in the talkback truly epitomized the profound strength and utility in confronting and sharing moments of emotional rupture, even if difficult or unglamorous. I felt everything he said extraordinarily deeply.

OKAY I haven’t talked at all about our main man yet, but he features heavily in the last and most emotional question of the night! I already recapped this moment on twitter, but it really deserves more extensive description. The last guy to ask a question (it was more of a comment, really, but every heart in the theater was with this guy) was also a member of AITAF’s marathon team. Here’s the most complete recap I can recall what he said:

While deployed with his EOD unit some years ago, he suffered the loss of his best friend. In attempt to come to terms with his grief, he tried traditional therapy for years but it just wasn’t helping. Then he saw Adam’s TedTalk and it “changed his life.” (He paused here as he started becoming audibly emotional and apologized, then soldiered on.) He started becoming involved in acting, and the tools he learned and techniques he was exposed to finally helped him begin to understand and cope with his trauma. (“I finally felt like I wasn’t just angry all the time.”) He said how rewarding acting has been for him, and that he recently landed his first TV role and will be filming in LA soon. (Cue audience and cast on stage cheering and applauding.)

Spoken directly to Adam: “I really just wanted to say thank you and that what you’re doing really does make a difference.”

(Not lying, I just started crying a little just remembering this moment and typing this all out. The sincerity in everything he said was so palpable, the theater was entirely silent in solidarity, and I saw at least two of the actors on stage shed a tear as he spoke.)

Sitting there and listening to him, I remember being so struck by the raw emotion in his voice that in a weird way (and this is something I never thought I’d say), I couldn’t bear to look over at Adam right away? Almost like the moment was too intense or personal? But once the guy looked over and started speaking directly to Adam, of course I looked too. (God, I’m getting emotional again thinking about this!) Adam was leaning entirely forward in his seat, his attention undivided as if this guy were speaking to him face-to-face from two feet away. There were several pauses in his speech when the audience clapped in support, and I remember Adam holding his hands all the way out before him and clapping in sort of self-effacing recognition. It was clear it wasn’t like he was applauding the content of what was being said (about himself), but rather that he was recognizing and offering respect for this guy’s bravery to stand up and share something so personal, and for his successful journey of healing.

As soon as the question was over and the moment past, Adam leaned over to say something to a nearby security person. It was very clearly something along the lines of “I want to meet that man afterwards” and sure enough, homeboy got his meeting and picture later that night! Now THAT is a tearful happy ending right there if I’ve ever heard one. <3

Okay so with all that substance out of the way, let’s indulge in some classic fangirling, shall we? : ) Knowing that Adam wouldn’t be participating in the reading himself, I expected him to just make brief comments at the beginning of the show about AITAF’s mission, thanking the staff/volunteers, and all the usual. I was pleasantly surprised when he also read a short monologue himself – an excerpt from Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg. (You can hear him do the same monologue in the final minutes of the Vice AITAF documentary.) He tied the reading into the purpose of the evening’s event – an exercise in pausing to celebrate and honor ourselves, especially all the service men and women in the audience. Once he concluded, he left the stage and the cast came on to start the Fat Ham reading.

An unexpected highlight to the whole evening was having a clear line of sight to where Adam and Joanne were watching the play from a box off to the side of the audience. I loved having the chance to see Adam’s reactions to everything happening on stage, and I took almost equal enjoyment from both. It will surprise no one to hear that he’s an extremely attentive viewer. He watched most of the more serious, somber scenes with his head sort of cocked to the side in concentration, arms crossed in his lap. His mirth and delight from the play’s many uproarious moments was on clear display – it was like I could almost hear that weird, honky laugh of his. <3 I can clearly remember moments when I’d look over and just see him full on grinning, clearly enjoying and letting himself get lost in the performance. I mentioned on twitter how much he got into the Radiohead Creep scene, and he really did. It WAS quite a moment. Juicy starts singing the song with only partial commitment, but when the first chorus kicks in the whole cast suddenly lurch into the song in unison, moving to the rhythm as Juicy starts belting out the words. Adam was clapping with both arms over his head, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he let out a whoop in compliment.

When the play started getting more tense in its second half, I noticed Adam sort of resting his hand against his mouth. I couldn’t tell if he was actually biting his nails, but he definitely had his fingers against his lips in a sort of absent-minded way, while his attention was fixed elsewhere. He was clearly engrossed, and I loved this brief opportunity to watch him as a captivated viewer – a rare role reversal considering I’m usually the one watching him with that sort of reverence. And yes, it really made the funny moments all the more memorable and touching whenever I would look over and see Adam laughing right along with me, or just grinning the most boyish, adorable grin in the entire universe. (!!!)

As charmingly earnest as he was in his introductory speech (and just a tiny bit awkward with his initial ‘Hello!... Goodbye!’ to the audience when he stepped forward to see us past the stage lights), and as much as I loved getting to watch him as an audience member – reacting and feeling the same emotions as the rest of us, my biggest takeaway from the night is likely still that final exchange between Adam and the marathon team member. Adam didn’t have a microphone or the chance to respond right away, but he didn’t need to. This was an expression of profound and heartfelt gratitude in response to a conversation Adam had already started years and years before, and which Adam still devotes so much time, care, and energy to sustain. I left the event with a reminder of just how unique, how mighty and transformative Adam’s enduring commitment to realize, grow, and maintain AITAF truly is. A reminder that he has dedicated his passionate, theatre-loving heart to sharing the empowerment and resilience he himself discovered through the arts. And, finally, I left knowing that he has changed lives for the better – some in even more profound, consequential ways than how he has already touched mine.

In closing: Thank you Adam and AITAF for yet another supremely moving, unforgettable night.

#Adam Driver #Arts In The Armed Forces #AITAF

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mountain-dew-tickledpink · 3 months

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🖤 Stephanie HCs!

tw for mentions of self harm

-Her mom is friends with Jeremy's dad. They used to be forced to hang out when they were super little because of this but they havent talked or interacted in forever

-Goes thrifting a lot for most of her clothes and DIYs a good majority. Rips her own tights hot glues stuff together etc etc

-is naturally a dirty blonde, dyes her hair black

-She's not really popular but she's considered kind of cool?? Like more people see her as just "hot goth" but dont really look into her outside of that

-she cuts in canon, I wanted to make it to be different from the book by making it that she used to cut but I havent really talked much about the idea unless I'm more respectful about it idk if that makes sense

-Favorite bands are rosengarden funeral party, scary bitches, and bauhaus. Obviously likes others but just her faves

-She's kinda friends with Chloe?? They used to be closer in middle school but she started hanging out more with katrina (the cheerleader girl character)

-She's definitely queer I mainly HC her as bi but all I know is she's not straight

-She's not mean, just kinda quiet and gets kind of stressed out by a lot of people easily. She's actually pretty nice

-Is also kinda friends with madeline much to chloe's chagrin

-Trad goth specifically

-Postsquip she and jeremy start talking a little again. Theyre not really close but sometimes they make plans and she gets Jeremy into her music

-SUPER into zombies when she was younger. It was her main interest along with witches whenever she knew Jeremy.

-Since people don't let her talk about it often she really enjoys talking about goth and the different kinds of fashions and music and everything

-Likes Hamlet, would talk to Christine about it when they had to read it for class

-wears high heels with spikes on them she hot glued herself

-rings are all hand me downs or stuff she's just found thrifting

#max and ruby discourse #be more chill #bmc #Stephanie BMC #BMC Stephanie

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nwarrior777 · 2 months

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Fat Liberation month is a great reason to remember that

Hamlet is originally fat character!

Did you know that in original play there is a quote which tells literally by word "fat" that hamlet is fat?

In original text, in moment of duel of Hamlet and another character, Hamlet's mother says: "He's fat, and scant of breath".

In * original * . In modern version of play it is removed and replaced by word "sweat" (despite original play have word "sweat", so if it would be needed to use word "sweat" - that word existed back then and was used in original play too, so "fat" is original word choice. honestly, i was so mad then i dived into research and was faced with "but what aaactually the word "fat" could mean back then" articles, ooooh-) Sources: Original Play Here you can find modern version of play

Also, there is play "Fat Ham" which is contemporary innovative interpretation of Hamlet, it also has stage version. "Fat Ham" is something like..."modern au" where Hamlet narrative go with new optics, and events takes place at black family barbeque. And Hamlet version there is Fat Queer Black guy (the image in post based on actor's appearance + slapped by me with original play vintage costume vibes) Unfortunately i don't know where to read or watch "Fat Ham" but i watched 5 seconds of promo and i am so happy that this thing exist

Also here is the post where my followers gave me this sacred knowledge about hamlet (and Shakespeare himself) being fat and opened Fat Ham to me which is very thank you!

#hamlet #BringBackHamletFat #fat liberation month #shakespeare

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we-are-inevitable · 2 years

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Your ask box is my kingdom, I am taking it over

But anyway I so badly want your thoughts on Jack and Davey in my college prof au please please please I know I haven't spoken about it on tumblr yet except from a little bit but I love your Javid so yeah

-has watched high school musical thank you very much

ok ok @roideny obvi this is your au but here are my Very Important thoughts bc i love them Very Much ugh. in love w them

David Jacobs-Kelly:

44 years old, born in ‘79

Undergrad: majored in English, minored in Creative Writing

Masters: Poetics and Theory AdvC- NYU

Doctorate: English and American Literature, thesis is over gender and sexuality in Shakespeare

he’s been Dr. Jacobs-Kelly for about seventeen years by the time the story takes place!

as a prof, he teaches a comp class, an honors comp (Critical Analysis and Writing), and some creative writing/poetry courses! he’s a very busy man.

he meets Race, Albert, and Finch because they’re students in his comp class!

when he’s not teaching, he’s really involved in the local queer scene. i feel like he’s a staple at drag brunches and pride celebrations; he’s not a huge club fan anymore but he still loves being Involved. growing up during the aids crisis is traumatizing at the least, and im sure he lost a few friends, so he stays up to date in the queer stuff to sort of honor them.

he marries jack in 2011 when gay marriage is legalized in new york!

he’s a huge shakespeare fan, as seen by his phd studies. he has a hamlet-inspired tattoo because he’s gay

tbh he probably has a cat named after shakespeare (they have two cats im calling it now. shakespeare and bryan, name courtesy of jack)

he and jack don’t have any kids, but he’s a loving fun uncle for Les and Sarah’s respective kids!

Jack Jacobs-Kelly:

45 years old, born in ‘78

Undergrad: Studio Art! but he dropped out after a semester <33

he just decided that college wasn’t for him. why pay money for something he doesn’t need?

he goes straight into a set design apprenticeship that medda helps him get! medda is his adoptive mom, so he’s been around queer spaces and theatre since he was around 15. he loves it, it’s his home

that being said he probably sells his own paintings and maybe does mural work on the side, he likes to keep busy and is invested in the art scene, and he meets davey when davey moves to New York for his masters! he’s the reason davey stays in NYC <33

he’s very eccentric, and very much doesn’t give a fuck. he’s a black queer man- the universe already nerfed him, so why worry about anything else? i can see him being the really go-with-the-flow husband to davey’s more tight-strung academic vibe. they really balance each other out

again, they don’t have kids, but i feel like this jack is very much For The Youths? i can see him volunteering a lot, working for organizations that help troubled kids get into the arts— i feel like it’s his passion project that makes him feel better when davey is busy at the university all day. in another life he’s a foster parent, but he and davey just don’t have the lifestyle to foster, so he focuses his energy elsewhere!

whenever davey “adopts” some freshmen he’s always on board. he really hits it off with Albert!

not as involved in the queer scene as davey, but his career is literally in musical theatre set design, so even if he’s not in the queer scene he’s In The Queer Scene

i don’t wanna talk about him losing medda but i can see him eventually inheriting the theater!

he loves his nieces and nephews! he’s a big family guy

Extra Thoughts:

jack and davey are a pair. they rarely go anywhere outside of work without each other, and they’re so, SO in love.

jack pretty regularly comes to see Davey while he’s at work; he’ll bring him lunch to office hours and pop in to watch him lecture from time to time.

davey attends the opening night of every show jack works on <33

their apartment is always a mess LMAO. davey has papers and books everywhere, there’s paint on the floor, brushes all over the place— it’s what happens when you cross a tired academic and an adhd creative. shit happens.

they actually stay pretty hip and on-trend? idk how it happens but jack is rlly good with youth culture and davey is on top of gay culture so like. yeah they work.

over summers and breaks, they travel a lot! not anything crazy expensive— they love international travel, but they’re also a big fan of road trips and rental cars!

they are my FAVORITES and i love them so much

#ugh el ily thank u for letting me contribute #jack kelly #davey jacobs #david jacobs #livesies #newsies musical #newsies #ask a jac !#elliot tag #prof davey au

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