#fulfilling my purpose as a Queer Influence

[2hoothoots]

hey remember when i said that my ideal gender is somewhere between Raz and Lili?

WELL THROW DOGEN INTO THE MIX BECAUSE ON SATURDAY I SHAVED MY HEAD HEHEHE HUHUHU

(i don't mind my pictures being posted btw)

YES. EXCELLENT

[starlvr-29]

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve spawned on here — but I’m back with a rant about language

It genuinely baffles me how undervalued understanding how language works is??? Like don’t get me wrong, I’m the biggest supportive of different interests — what a boring world it’d be if we were all the same BUT genuinely how can people not recognise how powerful it is to understand the purpose of language, the influence it holds and how people’s use of it shapes meaning

Like cmon, you’re telling me it isn’t amazing that people can string together a gaggle of words to form different meanings??? And other people can recognise the meaning behind those words and what that person is attempting to convey — baffling yet completely amazing

Yeah so baseline — language interesting to study, foundation of our entire society and I cannot wait to study it further

[side note; finished my exams which is good, bad side I have to say goodbye to my English tutors WHO SENT ME A CARD IN THE POST THANKING ME FOR BEING THEIR STUDENT O.O — well and truly fulfilling the queer stereotype of gays bonding with English teachers

+ congratulations to everyone whose finished their exams <33]

[fettesans]

Top, screen capture from Aftersun, directed by Charlotte Wells, 2022. Via. Bottom, screen capture from the program Open Door, 1973–83, still from a TV show on BBC2. “North West Spanner Theatre Group: Born Free Trapped Ever After,” 1980. Via.

Contrary to the US public-access television that inspired it, which was narrowcast on local cable stations, Open Door was broadcast nationwide on a channel with a directive to act in the interest of the country. Anyone could propose an episode so long as they were not promoting a political party. Those selected were paired with a producer and crew for technical assistance but ostensibly retained full editorial control. Prison abolitionists, sex educators, fox-hunt saboteurs, punk fanzine–makers, single parents, vegans, community-theater enthusiasts, trans advocates, supporters of Palestinian liberation, women suffering from cystitis: They all reached millions. (This last group, the U & I Club, received thousands of letters from viewers.) Not all causes showcased were progressive. While individual episodes of Open Door were free from the requirement of “balance” mandated by the BBC charter, when taken as a whole, the series was meant to be inclusive of a wide spectrum of opinions. Absent from “People Make Television” was a 1976 episode by the British Campaign to Stop Immigration, a group linked to the extreme-right National Front party. Included was one by the Campaign for the Feminine Woman warning of the dangers of “unisex culture,” something “more menacing and damaging . . . than either communism or fascism.”

Erika Balsom, from on “People Make Television”, in THE SCREEN AGE: VIDEO’S PAST AND FUTURE, for Artforum, May 2023.

--

Straight culture’s orientation toward heteroromantic sacrifice is also influenced by socioeconomic class. Respect for sacrifice—or sucking it up and surviving life’s miseries—is one of the hallmarks of white working-class culture, for instance, wherein striving for personal happiness carries less value than does adherence to familial norms and traditions. Maturity and respectability are measured by what one has given up in order to keep the family system going, an ethos that is challenged by the presence of a queer child, for instance, who insists on “being who they are.” Queerness—to the extent that it emphasizes authenticity in one’s sexual relationships and fulfillment of personal desires—is an affront to the celebration of heteroromantic hardship. As Robin Podolsky has noted, “What links homophobia and heterosexism to the reification of sacrifice . . . is the specter of regret. Queers are hated and envied because we are suspected of having gotten away with something, of not anteing up to our share of the misery that every other decent adult has surrendered to.”

For many lesbian daughters of working-class straight women, opting out of heterosexuality exposes the possibility of another life path, begging the question for mothers, “If my daughter didn’t have to do this, did I?” Heterosexuality is compulsory for middle-class women, too, but more likely to be represented as a gift, a promise of happiness, to be contrasted with the ostensibly “miserable” life of the lesbian. The lesbian feminist theorist Sara Ahmed has offered a sustained critique of the role of queer abjection in the production of heteroromantic fantasies. In Living a Feminist Life, she notes that “it is as if queers, by doing what they want, expose the unhappiness of having to sacrifice personal desires . . . for the happiness of others.” In the Promise of Happiness, Ahmed argues, “Heterosexual love becomes about the possibility of a happy ending; about what life is aimed toward, as being what gives life direction or purpose, or as what drives a story.” Marked by sacrifice, misery, and failure along the way, the journey toward heterosexual happiness (to be found with the elusive “good man”) remains the journey.

Jane Ward, from The Tragedy of Heterosexuality, September 2020. Via.

[folxlorepod]

Author's Notes on 'Creature' and 'Home': Trans Love, Bad Queers, and Happy Endings.

By Syd Briscoe CREATURE and HOME were an interesting pair of episodes to write, because they reflect on the same experience in very different ways. Not two sides of a coin, but then we'd be hypocritical if we went for something too binary, wouldn't we? 

I started writing from the POV of wanting to give Charlie an ending that he deserved, and my voicing him actually influenced the cross-dimensional premise of the season entirely. As you may have noticed, I was finally (after the better part of a decade on an NHS waiting list) allowed to start taking testosterone while we were planning things out, and my voice changed really quickly. So from a purely practical perspective I started thinking about how punk it was to have a trans VA change sound completely during a story. 

Charlie has been a challenge as a writer ever since the pilot episodes, because he's not a capital-letter Good Queer in the way that people often write their queer characters to be. He's angry, he's petty, he's paranoid, he's anxious - the track that always makes me think of him is 'I'm Not A Good Person' by Pat the Bunny, and he'd sing along to every word with a complete lack of irony. He's been through some stuff which he's never unpacked, and he stands for those among us who feel like we missed the boat in life somehow. 

That's why it felt important for him to still be like that once he got whammied with the magical transition stick. Because so often in media our narratives end with us transitioning, begin post transition, and/or view it as a magic wand which is at once the root of and solution to all our problems. Charlie is still a horrid little goblin once he's allowed to feel more like himself in his skin - he's still angry, he's still depressed, he's still plagued by memories and bothered by things he can't have. He's also still very much our root-deep link to Glasgow, even as he finally learns to get off the subway. 

If Charlie is an expression of how our experiences existing while trans can shape us - for better or worse - then the Creature is a manifestation of all the things we didn't get to be. Particularly the older members of the community, which very much influenced its conception as an ancient being. We didn't get to mould our bodies, we didn't get to exist outside of a hostile society, we didn't get to just be how we are. We didn't get to be the children or the teenagers our cis peers were, we didn't get to have the silly nights out without fear, and we didn't get to be carefree. 

The Creature absorbs that, tries to shield the other characters from feeling that, and yet it endures. It isn't a fantasy of wish fulfilment - it isn't a gender fairy creature - but it's how I imagine an ancient being would conceive of the business of gender and queerness in a very different way to how our society does. Namely that it doesn't matter at all in the same way we'd think about it, and they're a bit confused as to why our hostile world would care so much, but the fact that people it cares about have experienced it in the way we do matters very much. 

I wanted to have the Creature feel very alien, and then Charlie to come from his extremely bare bones relatable Going Through Some Shit place, and them to find not only love but more importantly purpose together. It often feels like there are so few trans love stories, and when there are they're about Hyper Passing Person No1 finding Cis Person No2, or couples breaking up due to transition, and… fuck that, to put it bluntly. Charlie is a weird person. The Creature isn't a person. If the lads on Grindr don't love you, then that doesn't mean you're unlovable. Weirdos are here, and we have always been here. 

My first concept for CREATURE was Charlie helping the Creature change their jewellery. The OG idea was about body mods and the queer community, but given everything happening in the UK, my writing soon became influenced by other things. It was meant to be a very simple metaphor at the start, but it became more complicated for political and personal reasons. I don't think you can make queer art in this country without it feeling fraught at the moment, as we get battered in the media for no good reason other than our existence, and it would be nice to have something's protective wings spread over us for a while.

It is not easy being in transition, even if you're going where you want to go. That's pretty much the thesis statement of both HOME and CREATURE as a pair, and I really hope you find some enjoyment, meaning, and maybe even comfort in them. 

[sh5]

I’m so so so so sorry. no one should have to read my late night ramblings on society

@maple-leaf-in-autumn honestly, I need to do some Foucault reading to articulate exactly what I mean, but in skirting around his (and other’s) theories, what we are taught of justice is a societal construct that is based on humiliation and punishment as the thing upholding “justice”, when really what it upholds is the institutions of power. punishment should stop crime in our current theory, but it doesn’t, with nations upholding stricter police forces with more punishment actually having more crime, along with economic and discrimination issues.

with this in mind, the recourse I want is some sort of retribution for being misgendered, though I wouldn’t want that same punishment if i made that mistake (which I make frequently). this gave me a moment of pause, a moment of considering that “justice” as I’ve been taught it is simply a myth of victims being “given satisfaction” (if we want to take it back to medieval terminology and senses of justice), when in actuality, our actual systems of justice rarely target the “right” people (only 28% of pedophiles who are convicted serve jail time). just as many queer people i know deconstruct the societal institutions of gender and patriarchy, I think we can deconstruct why we as leftists push for prison abolition and the cessation of the death penalty; our forefathers in this realm of thought (George Jackson being the first to come to mind) have already made these connections, we as modern leftists are getting the drippings of their philosophies on social media decades later without a name or face attached and with poor education on radial ideologies in our schools, but rest assured there are people smarter than me who are saying this better than me decades before me.

All of this, of course, then calls into question the institutions of justice in our own lives. It calls into question how we raise our children and how we were raised. Modern theorists have said that “cancel culture” (i know, i fucking hate that term being used to discount accountability, but hear me out) is entirely based on this millennium-old institution that prioritizes punishment over supporting victims. Though I have many pushbacks to this, I think this is applicable when talking about small-time callouts, callouts for people with like 100 followers who wrote RPF when they were 12, people who are not “dangers to society” (said with tongue in cheek). We are those people who are effected by this (not at all new) need to publicize and categorize every mistake made to a larger audience for the purpose of shame or personal revenge (like people writing callouts about their ex). Even though you and I probably haven’t done anything abhorrently cancelable, this is a institution we are influenced by, or at the very least, the people in our lives are influenced by. This is why I fear being “canceled” for being manipulative in my real-life friend group of very-online queer people, because even as a person with a disability, many ableist attitudes have been repurposed into leftist language.

but unfortunately, to really internalize these concepts, sometimes you need the crack in the shell that breaks the institution open. I was already well aware of the injustice of the police; I lived in a heavily policed neighborhood where I witnessed (racial) injustice in action, but I started questioning the institution of justice as a whole (as Foucault and Jackson do) when I realized: I want justice out of emotion. My need for justice comes from an overinflation of offense that comes from a literal mood disorder. No one else in my life, even the person who was initially bothered by and told me about the misgendering, would ever be as harsh as I was being in my mind. Justice fulfills an emotional need, but I do not want my actions (nor the actions of my government) to be based on emotion. This was the real tipping point for me.

Also my best friend gets mad at me every time I say a Saw victim “deserved” it, and at some point I started to deconstruct that lmaoooo

[ggeorge-ggeorge]

FA8801 Seminar: 2 review 7: Henry Symonds and George Funaki 18/04

------------------------------------------------------------------------------George Funaki

BFA(Hons)

Install: Untitled

In our modern age, where technology intertwines seamlessly with our daily lives, I embarked on a journey of self-exploration and cultural representation through the lens of my iPhone 11. Through the medium of photography, I sought to capture moments that reflect the intricacies of queer Pacific identity, weaving together strands of personal narrative within a broader theme of everyday life.

In this exploration, I've come to view smartphones not merely as tools, but as extensions of ourselves, shaping and reflecting our identities in the digital realm. The intersection of queerness and technology offers a unique pathway for navigating and expressing one's identity, blurring the lines between the physical and virtual worlds.

As I delve deeper into this intersection, I am confronted with questions of self-identity and self-referentiality. Each image serves as a proposition, inviting viewers to contemplate the complexities of queer identity in the digital age and to consider how technology influences our understanding of self.

______________________________________________________________

Re: disparity between intentionality, and reading.

The work fulfilled its purpose for me, and Henry is pleased with the response it received from day one of the seminar, my introduction, and the first day of cross-crits. This may have been the first time some of these people have been introduced to someone who defines themselves in the world the way I do.

The gap between my intention and how the work was perceived was surprisingly small. This is encouraging; it shows that the foundations of my research interest, framework, and practice are budding. Henry mentioned something along the lines of self-exotification being a strand that we can, and should, explore.

[gatheringbones]

[“Straight culture’s orientation toward heteroromantic sacrifice is also influenced by socioeconomic class. Respect for sacrifice—or sucking it up and surviving life’s miseries—is one of the hallmarks of white working-class culture, for instance, wherein striving for personal happiness carries less value than does adherence to familial norms and traditions. Maturity and respectability are measured by what one has given up in order to keep the family system going, an ethos that is challenged by the presence of a queer child, for instance, who insists on “being who they are.” Queerness—to the extent that it emphasizes authenticity in one’s sexual relationships and fulfillment of personal desires—is an affront to the celebration of heteroromantic hardship. As Robin Podolsky has noted, “What links homophobia and heterosexism to the reification of sacrifice . . . is the specter of regret. Queers are hated and envied because we are suspected of having gotten away with something, of not anteing up to our share of the misery that every other decent adult has surrendered to.”

For many lesbian daughters of working-class straight women, opting out of heterosexuality exposes the possibility of another life path, begging the question for mothers, “If my daughter didn’t have to do this, did I?” Heterosexuality is compulsory for middle-class women, too, but more likely to be represented as a gift, a promise of happiness, to be contrasted with the ostensibly “miserable” life of the lesbian. The lesbian feminist theorist Sara Ahmed has offered a sustained critique of the role of queer abjection in the production of heteroromantic fantasies. In Living a Feminist Life, she notes that “it is as if queers, by doing what they want, expose the unhappiness of having to sacrifice personal desires . . . for the happiness of others.” In the Promise of Happiness, Ahmed argues, “Heterosexual love becomes about the possibility of a happy ending; about what life is aimed toward, as being what gives life direction or purpose, or as what drives a story.” Marked by sacrifice, misery, and failure along the way, the journey toward heterosexual happiness (to be found with the elusive “good man”) remains the journey.”]

Jane Ward, The Tragedy of Heterosexuality

[trans-advice]

[NOTE: we changed the bullets to numbers in order to help with readability of this relatively long post. there is no other purpose for the list numbering.]

Redistribute resources to support Black trans liberation and survival! Split a donation to all the orgs listed on this page OR allocate specific amounts to individual groups. Then be sure to share this page once you're done.

**All funds donated go directly to the groups listed via ActBlue. Feel free to reach out to them if you have any questions**

Last week, many people shared that it was hard to track down a centralized place to find a list of specifically Black trans groups. This page is part of an effort to create an easier way for people to find and donate specifically to Black trans work and people right now. We know that this list is not complete, and it will be continually updated. If you have questions or would like to add an org in your area to this page, please email: BlackQTFund@gmail.com.

The groups listed in this first section only accept donations through PayPal, CashApp, or Venmo. Please support their important work by clicking over to their websites here:

Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit: Exists to uplift, impact and influence that lives and welfare of transgender women of color in Detroit.

En-Poder-Arte (Colombia) Founded by an Afro-Colombian trans woman and other trans women of color. A few months ago, they launched a community house, which provides safe housing to Black trans women and trans women of color.

F2L Relief Fund: Provides commissary support (and legal representation & financial assistance) for incarcerated LGBTQ and Two-Spirit POC in NY State.

Middle Tennessee Black and Indigenous Support Fund: A community fund for Black and Indigenous queer and trans folks living and participating in rural Middle TN, with a goal to foster wealth redistribution in its larger community, direct the funds to Black and Indigenous community members, and build the leadership of Black and Indigenous community members.

Tournament Haus Fund: Mutual Aid fund for protestors and Trans/NonBinary BIPOC in the ballroom scene in Portland/Tacoma/Seattle.

TAKE Birmingham: A peer support group for trans women of color to come together and share their narratives. Also organizing around discrimination in the workplace, housing advocacy, & support for sex workers.

Black Excellence Collective Transport for Black NYC LGBTQ+ Protestors: Raising funds to provide safe transport for Black LGBTQ+ Protestors.

Kween Culture: Provides programming towards social and cultural empowerment of transgender women of color.

Black Trans Travel Fund : A mutual aid project developed to provide Black transgender women with the financial resources to self-determine safer alternatives to travel, so they feel less likely to experience verbal harassment or physical harm.

Heaux History Project: A documentary series and archival project exploring Black and Brown erotic labor history and the fight for sex workers’ rights.

Homeless Black Trans Women Fund: Supports Black Trans women that live in Atlanta and are sex workers and/or homeless.

Reproductive Justice Access Collective (ReJAC): A New Orleans network that aims to share information, resources, ideas, and human power to create and implement projects in our community that operate within the reproductive justice framework.

Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko/RSM (Democratic Republic of Congo): Fights for the Promotion of the rights and equality of LGBTQ people in DRC and is today facing this covid-19 crisis which further weakens Black LGBTQ people and more particularly transgender Black women.

Compiled direct donation links for individual Black Trans folks A compilation of direct donation links to Black trans people, including GoFundMes and CashApp handles. Email address on page to add to this list.

Below are the orgs you can support through the split donation form (on the right, if you're on a computer, or below if you're on a mobile device):

For The Gworls: This fund provides assistance to Black trans folks around travel to and from medical facilities, and co-pay assistance for prescriptions and (virtual) office visits. ⁣

Black Trans Fund: The first national fund in the country dedicated to uplifting and resourcing Black trans social justice leaders. BTF seeks to address the lack of funding for Black trans communities in the U.S. through direct grantmaking, capacity building support, and funder organizing to transform philanthropy.

Nationz Foundation: Provides education and information related to HIV prevention and overall health and wellness, while inspiring the community to take responsibility for their health while working towards a more inclusive Central Virginia for LGBTQIA+ identified individuals.

Trans Justice Funding Project: Supports grassroots trans justice groups run by and for trans people, focusing on organizing around racism, economic injustice, transmisogyny, ableism, immigration, and incarceration.

Third Wave Fund: An activist fund led by and for women of color, intersex, queer, and trans people under 35 years of age to resource the political power, well-being, and self determination of communities of color and low-income communities. Includes rapid response grantmaking, multi-year unrestricted grants, and the Sex Worker Giving Circle.

Unique Womens Coalition: The first Los Angeles based supportive organization for and by Transgender people of color, committed to fostering the next generation of black trans leadership from within community through mentorship, scholarship, and community care engagement work.

Black Trans Women Inc.: A national nonprofit organization committed to providing the trans-feminine community with programs and resources to help inspire individual growth and contributions to the greater good of society to meet its mission of uplifting the voice, heart and soul of black transwomen.

Black Trans Men Inc.: The first national nonprofit social advocacy organization with a specific focus on empowering African American transgender men by addressing multi-layered issues of injustice faced at the intersections of racial, sexual orientation, and gender identities.

SisTers/Brothers PGH: A transgender drop-in space, resource provider and shelter transitioning program based in Pittsburgh, PA.

Love Me Unlimited for Life: A catalyst that helps our transgender community members reach their goals and fulfill their potential through advocacy and outreach activities.

My Sistah's House Memphis: Designed to bring about social change within the Trans Community in Memphis, by providing a safe meeting space and living spaces for those who are most vulnerable in the LGBTQ+ community.

Black LGBTQIA Migrant Project: Builds and centers the power of Black LGBTQIA+ migrants through community-building, political education, direct services, and organizing across borders. BLMP is providing cash assistance to Black LGBTQ+ migrants and first generation people dealing with the impact of COVID-19.

Taja’s Coalition at St. James Infirmary: Empowers their community in navigating housing, medical services, legal services, and the workplace, as well as regularly training agencies in the SF Bay Area.

Marsha P. Johnson Institute: Helps employ black trans people, build more strategic campaigns, launch winning initiatives, and interrupt the people who are standing in the way of more being possible in the world for BLACK Trans people, and all people.

Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund organized by Black Trans Femme in the Arts Collective : Supports Black trans protestors with resources like bail and medical care.

Black & Pink Bail Fund: A national prison abolitionist organization dedicated to dismantling the criminal punishment system and the harms caused to LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS who are affected by the system through advocacy, support, and organizing.

Black Visions Collective (MN): Black Visions Collective centers their work in healing and transformative justice principles and develops Minnesota’s emerging Black leadership, creating the conditions for long term success and transformation.

SNaPCo: A Black, trans-led, broad-based collaborative to restore an Atlanta where every person has the opportunity to grow and thrive without facing unfair barriers, especially from the criminal legal system.

Brave Space Alliance: Created to fill a gap in the organizing of and services to trans and gender-nonconforming people on the South and West Sides of Chicago, where very few LGBTQ advocacy networks exist.

Okra Project/Tony McDade and Nina Pop Mental Health Fund: Provides Black Trans people with quality mental health & therapy. Also addresses food security in Black trans communities.

House of GG: A nonprofit, founded by legendary trans activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, that is raising money to build a permanent home where Transgender people can come, feel safe, and be part of a growing network of Southern trans people who are working for social justice.

TGI Justice Project: TGI Justice Project is a group of transgender, gender variant and intersex people -- inside and outside of prisons, jails and detention centers -- challenging and ending human rights abuses committed against TGI people in California prisons, jails, detention centers and beyond.

Trans Women of Color Collective: TWOCC exists to create revolutionary change by uplifting the narratives, leadership, and lived experience of trans people of color.

Youth Breakout: BreakOUT! seeks to end the criminalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth to build a safer and more just New Orleans, organizing with youth ages 13-25 who are directly impacted by the criminal justice system.

Translash: A trans-led project uses the power of individual stories to help save trans lives, shifting the cultural understanding of what it means to be transgender, especially during a time of social backlash, to foster inclusion and decrease anti-trans hostility.

TRANScending Barriers: A trans-led trans-issue focused organization whose mission is to empower the transgender and gender non-conforming community in Georgia through community organizing with leadership building, advocacy, and direct services.

My Sistah's House: A trans-led nonprofit providing first hand experience as well as field research to create a one-stop shop for finding doctors, social groups and safe spaces for the trans community, providing emergency shelter, access to sexual health services, and social services.

Dem Bois: A national organization with the mission to provide charitable economical aid for female to male, FTM, trans-masculine identified person(s) of color ages twenty-one years old and older for them to obtain chest reconstruction surgery, and or genital reassignment surgery in order to help them on their journey to live a more fulfilled physical, mental, and self-authentic life.

G.L.I.T.S: Approaches the health and rights crises faced by transgender sex workers holistically using harm reduction, human rights principles, economic and social justice, along with a commitment to empowerment and pride in finding solutions from our own community.

Emergency Release Fund: Aims to ensure that no trans person at risk in New York City jails remains in detention before trial; if ​cash bail is set for a trans person in New York City and no bars to release are in place, ​bail will be paid by the Emergency Release Fund.

HEARD: Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf Communities: Supports deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, deafdisabled, and disabled (“deaf/disabled”) people at every stage of the criminal legal system process, up to and including during and after incarceration.

Black Trans Advocacy Coalition COVID-19 Community Response Grant: Works daily to end discrimination and inequities faced in health, employment, housing and education to improve the lived experience of transgender people.

Princess Janae Place: Provides referrals to housing for chronically homeless LGBTQ adults in the New York Tri-state area, with direct emphasis on Trans/GNC people of color.

The Transgender District: Aims to stabilize and economically empower the transgender community through ownership of homes, businesses, historic and cultural sites, and safe community spaces.

Assata’s Daughters: A Black woman-led, young person-directed organization rooted in the Black Radical Tradition. AD organizes young Black people in Chicago by providing them with political education, leadership development, mentorship, and revolutionary services.  

Collective Action for Safe Spaces: A grassroots organization that uses comprehensive, community-based solutions through an intersectional lens to eliminate public gendered harassment and assault in the DC area.

The Knights and Orchids Society (TKO): Strives to build the power of the TLGB community for African Americans throughout rural areas in Alabama & across the south, to obtain our dream of justice and equality through group economics, education, leadership development, and organizing cultural work.

The Outlaw Project: Based on the principles of intersectionality to prioritize the leadership of people of color, transgender women, gender non-binary and migrants for sex worker rights in Phoenix, AZ. Ensuring our rights and health as a first step will ensure the rights and health of all sex workers.

WeCare TN: Supports trans women of color in Memphis, TN, through education, and empowerment, with the goal to ensure that transwomen of color have the same equity and quality of life as envisioned.

HEARD (Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf Communities): Supports deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, deafdisabled, and disabled (“deaf/disabled”) people at every stage of the criminal legal system process, up to and including during and after incarceration.

Community Ele'te (Richmond, VA) To establish unity, provide safe sex awareness and education, linkage to resources, emergency housing assistance, and empower the community to make positive lifestyle decisions.

TAJA's Coalition: An organization dedicated to ending violence against Black Trans women and Trans women of color based in San Francisco

Black Trans Task Force: (BTTF) is an intersectional, multi-generational project of community building, research, and political action addressing the crisis of violence against Black Trans people in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

The Transgender District: Aims to stabilize and economically empower the transgender community through ownership of homes, businesses, historic and cultural sites, and safe community spaces.

Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit: exists to uplift, impact and influence that lives and welfare of transgender women of color in Detroit.

Black Trans Media (Brooklyn, NY): We are #blacktranseverything storytellers, organizers, poets, healers, filmmakers, facilitators here to confront racism and transphobia trans people of the diaspora committed to decolonizing media and community education

Garden of Peace, Inc.(Pittsburgh, PA): Centers black trans & queer youth, elevates and empowers the narratives and lived experiences of black youth and their caretakers, and guides revolutionary spaces of healing and truth through art, education, and mentorship.

House of Pentacles (Durham, NC): HOP is a Film Training Program and Production House designed to launch Black trans youth (ages 18-35) into the film industry and tell stories woven at the intersection of being Black and Trans. We have a simple mission: to train the next generation of Black trans storytellers and filmmakers, to leverage our brand to get Black trans filmmakers paid projects in their communities, and to pay Black trans trainees to work on HOP projects that further the stories of Black trans people globally.

Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition (Minneapolis, MN): is committed to improving health care access and the quality of health care received by trans and gender non-conforming people through education, resources, and advocacy.

RARE Productions (Minneapolis, MN): Arts and entertainment media production company for LGBTQ people of color that promotes, produces, and co-creates opportunities and events utilizing innovative artistic methods and strategies.

Baltimore Safe Haven: providing opportunities for a higher quality of life for transgender people in Baltimore City living in survival mode.

Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts: recently helped organize a Trans Resistance Vigil and March through Boston, in place of the Boston Pride Parade that was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Semillas: In Borikén/Puerto Rico, our trans, gender non-conforming and queer communities are facing many obstacles to our survival, and not only due to Mariá.

Street Youth Rise Up: Our campaign is to change the way Chicago sees and treats its homeless home free and street based youth who do what they have to do to survive.

Trans(forming): A membership-based organization led by trans men, intersex, gender non-conforming people of color, to provide resources and all around transitional support.

[evengirlierballs]

OK I just finished Sonic Battle

And I seriously can’t find anyone else talking about this, but if anyone out there reads this and has already came to the same conclusion I did please reach out. Emerl is totally a Metaphor for an abused trans/NB kid.

Hear me Out ok, Like, Emerl is, in the Context of the game, the Gizoid, a robot designed to be a weapon of mass destruction, able to learn anything and to establish a link with someone in order to learn from them. Eggman’s father created Emerl but obviously passed away in the context of SA2, so Eggman tries to reawaken the Gizoid and establish a link with it, he beats and Abuses the robot to try and get it to form a link with him, as by showing it power, he believes he can take control of it, when the robot doesnt respond, refusing to do what he wishes, he dumps it out on the street, no longer bothering to try and raise it. Then Sonic and Co, Discover Emerl, they teach them that they can be their own person, someone who’s getting smarter and happier the more they’re cared for by others, they have both good and bad influences on them over the course of their life, but ulitmately, once they’re fully restored through the power of the 7 chaos emeralds, they are given their ultimate manual override, to bring love and hope to others. The standout stories for this too are obviously Cream and Shadow’s stories. In Cream’s chapter, Emerl gets kidnapped by his abuser, along with cream, and cream tries to show emerl that they dont have to be violent, as up until this point, despite becoming their own person, Violence has been the main way Emerl copes with being the war machine they were built to be. Then Cream and Emerl finally meet with an obstacle they simply CANNOT overcome without violence, and while Emerl has learned that Violence isn’t always required, Cream learns that it’s ok to stand up for others, even if it means doing harm. Emerl learns to work through their trauma with their friends, and Cream learns to stand up for her beliefs through meaningful action. In Shadow’s story, Emerl finally gains all the chaos emeralds, and is about to go haywire and start to spiral, just as they were warned would happen but when they’re told their manual override, they relax, and start acting like normal again, finally moving away from their trauma.

But Finally, in Emerls story, Eggman has decided to go back to his regular scheming, and lures Emerl aboard the death egg so he can essentially reawaken their trauma. He “shows emerl his power” by destroying an entire star system, sending emerl spiraling, beating the shit out of their abuser, and then finally also out of sonic and his found family, before finally stabilizing thanks to their intervention, but by then it’s too late, Emerl has been absorbing so much power from this interaction that they pass away before their time, not ready to go, and trying to look out for their network of friends before shutting down for good.

Emerl’s story is a sad one, its the story of an abused kid, built for a purpose they didn’t want to fulfill, thrown out onto the street and forced to find a new family, does just that, learns to mature and grow with supportive friends who show them a new way of living, a way that doesn’t involve abuse or suffering, while constantly being chased and reminded of their abuser through constant attacks, before finally being driven to go back to settle the score, then being traumatized AGAIN so badly that they spiral into an unhealthy cope, and then pass away due to the harm they did to themselves. I feel that Emerl is unavoidably a message about being trans, about being queer, about finding copes for trauma, and a message that we should, at all costs, never return to the people who abused or traumatized us for any reason, as long as we can avoid it. Emerl is my NB child and hope that even if the writers didn’t intend for this to be the reading of their character, that it still means a lot to me to this day, and i feel like the message really spoke to me even if it’s just my aggressive reading.

Rest in Peace Emerl, maybe one day you’ll get your own awesome trans nb game.

[queeranarchist]

Dear Writer

Heyyo!

It's good to see you here, this is a long exchange so the main thing is enjoying yrself so feel free to pick and choose or ignore this letter as you wish! And feel free to browse through my letter tag for more ideas.

Also, I’m on that full-time work and full-time uni degree grind so it probably will take me like a month to read the fic, does not mean I do not love it and I promise to get to it!! Don’t stress to much about a gap between posting and commenting <3

Now without further ado onto the letter:

General Likes: Trans characters, queer themes, queer solidarity, character development, strong gen. relationships and interactions with characters outside of a relationship, dialogue-driven story, non-linear narrative, animals, angst, hurt/comfort, character introspection

DNW: underage, a/b/o, past S7 for SPN

Supernatural

DNW: Anything past Season 7

Likes: boy king arc, Sam centric fic, queer Sam (I literally head canon him as anything with whatever pronouns), Bobby, trans Dean, religious iconography/themes, Sam being a lore nerd

Dislikes: Sidelining Sam 

Sam/Ruby

1. Ruby lives, I’d love to see how this plays out in Season Five. Whether she sticks with Lucifer or chooses Sam.

2. Sam goes dark side after freeing Lucifer

3. Earlier on Sam starts trusting her and fulfilling his role as the boy king. If this stops Dean from going to hell, changes the way the demons work etc

Sam/Jess

1. Jess lives au! My personal head canon is that Jess is pre-med and being very intent on saving people. When she finds out about hunting, she realises that she can’t just go back to being “normal” knowing people are dying. Maybe Sam decides to go back to law school and they have a semi long-distance relationship where she asks him for advice, maybe they hunt together every now and again. Maybe she joins Dean and Sam and they become a hunting trio.

2. Jess gets brought back to life – place this in any season you want! Go wild.

Dean & Sam

1. Dean keeps in touch with Sam during Stanford! Maybe from the get-go, maybe after a couple of years, maybe seeing each other, maybe just through postcards

2. I’d love to see them during S4 where their relationship starts to fall apart, but like also see them still loving each other

Sam & Dean & John

1. John gets a year to live instead of instantly going to hell AU – how do they react? Do they try to save him? Does John tell them?

2. I’d love a sort of non-linear story of them (especially Sam because it’s been so long) trying to integrate John into his adult life also looking at his life as a child/teen. You know the general angst about how he’d done it, he’d gotten away and he’s right back at square one. Also, Dean starting to realise that he isn’t a kid anymore, and he’s got his own thoughts etc

Sam & Dean & Cas - Cas/Dean & Sam

1. I want to see Sam and Cas and Dean being pals! I especially want to see Cas trying to figure out how he feels about Sam without heaven influencing him to think of him purely as the boy with the demon blood who will break the last seal. I wanna see Dean making fun of Cas with various misconceptions about the bible and Cas just taking it wildly seriously and not getting any jokes.

2. I’d love just a domestic-ish fic, let Sam drill Cas with questions about angels and heaven! Let Cas drill Dean and Sam about human culture! Would love to see Cas taking human culture things out of the context that Sam and Dean provide him, or maybe Dean purposely lies to him about something as a prank

Sam

1. Licherally anything in the boy king arc! I’d love to see him fulfilling his role as the boy king. This stops Dean from going to hell, changes the way the demons work etc

2. His time at Stanford! I’d love to see him adjusting to his new life.

3. I would love to see a bit more of him in Season Four! How he feels about Dean being chosen by the angels, how this affects his view on religion, how he feels about himself and the demon. Blood etc

4. Just some introspection anytime in the series tbh, love to see this boy struggle with wanting to be good, with wanting to be normal, and then um not being those things

5. I’d love a sort of non-linear story of Sam trying to integrate John into his adult life also looking at his life as a child/teen. You know the general angst about how he’d done it, he’d gotten away and he’s right back at square one.

Final Fantasy XV

Likes: fics that include the whole gang, trans Gladio, anything with Prompto, angst about destiny, angst about royal linage, character introspection

Noctis/Gladio/Ignis/Prompto

1. I really like angsty fics about destiny with this lot - I would love to see how the way in which they’ve been raised effects their relationship, be it being groomed to be king or shield or advisor. I would love a getting together fic, with whichever ship you wish to write, with a lot of internal angst.

2. I would also love a post cannon fic where Noctis is alive (magic, never died, skip over it entirely it’s up to you) where they all settle down, maybe Noctis lets the world think he has died so he can live a peaceful life?

3. Set between game cannon and Brotherhood, I‘d be down to see what these guys got up to in the years between high school and the road trip. Did Prompto and Noctis study after high school? Do they travel?’

4. Less of a prompt and more a vague feeling but like *slaps prompto* this bad boy can fit so much angst in it. Honestly he’s childhood is depressing af, with the lack of parents and friends combined with a shit body image/relationship with food I wld rlly love some emotional hurt/comfort with him and the squad

Noctis/Prompto

1. I really like angsty fics about destiny with this lot - I would love to see how the way in which they’ve been raised effects their relationship, be it being groomed to be king or shield or advisor. I would love a getting together fic, with whichever ship you wish to write, with a lot of internal angst.

2. I would also love a post cannon fic where Noctis is alive (magic, never died, skip over it entirely it’s up to you) where they all settle down, maybe Noctis lets the world think he has died so he can live a peaceful life?

3. I would like to see a fic of Prompto integrating himself into Noctis’ life, Gladio and Ignis have been around his entire life, so how does Prompto feel about them? How do they feel about him? Honestly I’m 100% here for awkward insecure bby Prompto

4. Set between game cannon and Brotherhood, I‘d be down to see what these guys got up to in the years between high school and the road trip. Did Prompto and Noctis study after high school? Do they travel?

5. Less of a prompt and more a vague feeling but like *slaps prompto* this bad boy can fit so much angst in it. Honestly, he’s childhood is depressing af, with the lack of parents and friends combined with a shit body image/relationship with food I wld rlly love some emotional hurt/comfort with him and the squad

Naruto

Likes: the summons, Rock Lee, the squads and how they operate, Naruto getting to eat the ramen he deserves, Sakura being an actual bad arse fleshed out character, trans Naruto

Sasuke/Naruto

1. Naruto leaves and joins Sasuke on his mission to destroy to Leaf, talks him out of y’know murdering everyone but agrees that the Shinobi system is deeply fucked and needs to be fixed

2. I’d like a fic of Sasuke thinking about Naruto while doing all his plotting, be it set when he’s with Orochimaru or the Akatsuki, it would be nice to see him thinking about Naruto, wanting to stop doing so, wondering how strong he could have been if he had managed to kill him and gain the mangekyou earlier

Gai/Naruto

1. I’d like a fic set just before Kakashi gets his genin, really love to see Gai trying to talk up how cool having a squad is! Dragging Kakashi to see his kids and being like aren’t my team great! And then Team Gai getting into some crazy hijinks that make Kakashi a lil scared about the future but also maybe a bit endeared towards them

2. a fic of Gai watching Kakashi slowly loose himself while in ANBU, of him trying to make things right and not being able to and then eventually asking him to be removed from the forces

SDV

Likes: world building, farm creatures, small town hijinks

Sam/Seb

1. Angst about getting out of town, leaving SDV and becoming who they dreamed they would in HS

Sam & Seb & Abigail

1. Abigail talks them into exploring the mines

2. They pull a prank

3. Angst about getting out of town, leaving SDV and becoming who they dreamed they would in HS

[idiotacadamia]

Book Review

Book: Fahrenheit 451

Author: Ray Bradbury

Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction

Stars: 4 ½ stars

Fun Fact: This fact isn't really fun but it is quite creepy. The inspiration for the book came from Adolf Hitler. When Bradbury was asked about it he said, “Well, Hitler, of course. When I was 15, he burned the books in the streets of Berlin. Then along the way I learned about the libraries in Alexandria burning 5000 years ago. That grieved my soul. Since I'm self-educated, that means my educators—the libraries—are in danger. And if it could happen in Alexandria, if it could happen in Berlin, maybe it could happen somewhere up ahead, and my heroes would be killed,’

Actual fun fact: Fahrenheit 451 has been banned in some schools. Schools who are completely unaware of the irony in doing so. 

What is the book about? No spoilers! 

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, books are illegal and his job is to burn them as well as the houses that contain them. Montag never questions his habits of destruction until he runs into Clarrise, his eccentric young neighbour who introduces him to their past, where firemen supposedly put out fires instead of starting them. When his wife attempts suicide and Clarrise disappears, he suddenly questions everything he has ever known.

Did I enjoy the book? Why/ why not?

I really enjoyed this book for several reasons. Not only was it one of my favourite genres (dystopian) but it was fast paced and kept my interest during the majority of the book. I was quite nervous at the concept of the book and how the author was going to portray it. However after reading it, I was pleasantly surprised with how well it was written and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy dystopian novels and would like to read a classic. I think the writing style is quite easy to understand however the fast pacing of the book can sometimes throw you off. 

What would I improve about this book?

While this book was a pretty amazing book all round, I did have a few issues with it. Sometimes when describing things, the author got too caught up in it and it would completely baffle me. He could have been trying to build suspense in not actually naming what he was describing but it felt more of a hunk of information that confused you rather than a suspenseful build up. I think he does this a lot during this book which is a shame because the rest of it is so beautifully written in my opinion.

What would I add? Spoilers!

I'm not really sure how I feel about the way he formatted the sections of the book. While I think it definitely helped me ( the world's biggest procrastinator) read the book faster, it only did so because I hate putting a book down in the middle of a chapter. But the lack of chapters did put me off at first. I definitely would NOT KILL CLARISSE. However, that's me coming at this with my reader mindset and not my writer mindset. I think we all get emotional to say the least, when your favourite character is presumed dead by a really annoying twat.

What was my favourite part?

While I liked Part 1, Part 2 really captured my heart. I feel that the eerie and uncomfortable feeling that Bradbury created in Part 1 almost put me off the book entirely but looking at the book overall, that scene development did a lot for setting the tone for the book. My favourite part in particular though is definitely the end of Part 2 and beginning of Part 3. Montag and Beatty are driving to a house to burn it and right at the last moment of that part, Montag is hit with the realisation that they have pulled up right outside his own house. I in a way, felt this moment foreshadowing. I felt that it was going to happen eventually however my predictions originally were that Beatty was going to make Montag burn down Faber’s house. I was really prepared to feel some angst but then BOOM! They are outside Montag's house and the beginning of Part 3 has Mildred ( Montag's wife) fleeing the house! You find that Mildred called the alarm on her own house and husband and then ran away. I was really pleased to find that the suspense that Bradbury built up for this part was not put to waste. I really was put into that feeling or possibility that something is going to go awfully wrong very very soon.

Who was my favourite character? Why?

My favourite character was Clarisse. She reminded me of looking at the historical and philosophical side of things which I think is really necessary to be able to make judgments that are supposedly morally ‘correct’.  She was super eccentric and seemed like the kind of person who didn’t let the judgements of people around her influence the way she behaved or saw things which again is really important to me. She has this really calm and omniscient kind of vibe which I feel that this book really needed. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see any sort of character development within her because she is killed off within Part 1- The Hearth and the Salamander. However, I really loved seeing how her words really influenced Guy Montag and his entire outlook on life. This book without her would have never happened.

Who did you hate? Why?

I didn't ‘hate’ Mildred but she reminded me of everything I never wanted to become. I have to say that I was really mad at Montag when he slapped her. I really couldn’t stand violence between 2 people who are meant to ‘love’ each other, even though Montag and Clarisse establish from early on that they don’t really love each other. I think my main reason hating Mildred wasn’t her neediness but her great betrayal on her husband. I didn’t have any strong feelings until Part 3, Burning Bright when I found out that Mildred called the alarm on her own husband and then proceeded to run away from the house. As someone who really believes in loyalty, I was furious. I feel that that move Mildred made was really cowardly. However, I do stand with the fact that at the beginning, Mildred is portrayed in quite a bad lighting. Bradbury tries to portray her to show that she is a bad wife for forgetting important things such as when she and Montag first met or how she is obsessed with watching TV to the extent where she calls them family. I think that the way Bradbury portrayed her was trying to hide that she was seriously unhappy with her life and in a way depressed. Bradbury portrays Mildred as a shell of a human being devoid of any sincere emotional, intellectual or spiritual substance and I really hated that. I feel that Mildred had the potential to be a great character but she is purposely portrayed to be cold, distant and unreadable. She, in a way, is what was considered to be the ‘perfect wife’ at the time of this being written and yet you witness how she buries all emotions of despair and emptiness deep inside of her because she is afraid to come to the realisation that she, just like her husband, is unhappy and sees no purpose to living. Bradbury really tries to emphasise that Mildred is much less satisfied with her life by having her attempt suicide and then proceed to have no memory of it; which further intails the severity of Mildred’s behaviour. She watches TV obsessively to hide her lack of feeling and despair within herself and has therefore created great attachments with the people on said TV to the point where she associates them as ‘Family’. I disliked Mildred because she had so much potential but instead Bradbury uses her character to portray betrayal.

Was the book predictable?

Other than predicting that Montag would definitely read some books, a lot of the things that occurred within this book took me by surprise. In fact, going into this book, I knew nothing except that books were illegal and firemen were meant to burn them. I remember gasping when realised that Mildred was getting her stomach pumped because she attempted suicide. I was more comfortable reading this due to my history in reading this genre. I was expecting a big twist like in many books in a similar genre but I simply had no idea what it was going to be. The book definitely kept me gripped and I didn’t feel like I had to push myself to read it which is always a good thing when reading. The overarching plot was simple, books are banned and this dude is going to go and read some books. Like most books it had small plots intertwined to keep it moving. Bradbury does an excellent job at this because the plots are all related and don’t overcomplicate. 

How did you feel about the ending?

This may have not been my favourite part. In fact at first I didn’t like the ending however after much consideration, I have very different opinions. I understand that Bradbury tries to illustrate violence throughout the novel and the beginning of the war depicts the new extremes of violence which destroys society and its infrastructure. The ending altogether shows the inevitable self-destruction of such an oppressive society and yet a glimmer of hope. I love how it feels so relevant to the situation today. The mass majority of us are part of a minority whom are oppressed, whether you are of colour, female or queer and many more. Bradubury foreshadows that if we oppress what actually creates our society, if we oppress those with different views, if we oppress those who are different, out of the fear that they will overcome us, we are bound to self-destruct. Those who today feel safe by suppressing those of colour or muslims because they are ‘terrorists’ or ‘thugs’ or ‘drug dealers’ will be the ultimate downfall of themselves. Remember ‘Security is mortals chiefest enemy’ as Hecate said. 

What do you think about the character and scene development?

As this book was not very hard to understand, I feel like I didn’t pay much attention to the development of the characters and scenery (thank god for my notes). Looking back at the character of Guy Montag, I feel that it didn’t fulfill the potential it was given during Part 1. This may be because of the fact that when starting the book, the reader witnesses Montag change his mind about burning books quite quickly. I would have loved to see more resistance to his curiosity or more loyalty to the ‘law’ . However, I do think that the development you witness later on later on in Parts 2&3 is much better. We witness Montag lose complete control as he becomes more erratic and inarticulate; thus the results of his actions are quite horrific; for example, when he finds himself burning his captain (Beatty) to death. However, it also gives us a glimpse into his deepest desires to rebel against the status quo and find a meaningful way to live.

Favourite quote?

This was super hard to choose. In fact are so many quotes from this book that I felt were absolutely amazing so I will definitely be posting those separately from this. My all time favorite quote though was 

“What is there about fire that is so lovely? No matter what age we are, what draws us to it?” - 

Beatty, Part II - The Sieve and the Sand.

[monaedroid]

Janelle Monáe: Living Out Loud

For them.'s debut cover story, Lizzo and Janelle Monáe sit down to discuss coming out, freedom, and living and loving out loud.

April 12, 2019

When Janelle Monáe came out as queer in a Rolling Stone cover story last April, the revelation made headlines around the world. As one of the most prolific multi-hyphenate artists of a generation, her declaration carried immense weight, both for herself and for queer black women and LGBTQ+ people everywhere. The announcement was followed by the release of her most brilliant, vulnerable work to date: Dirty Computer, an album that was at its core about embracing the freedom one finds in self-exploration and discovery. Bold, unabashedly fluid anthems like “Pynk”, “Screwed,” and “Make Me Feel” further solidified Monáe as a leader for “free-ass motherfuckers” (as she delightfully referred to herself when coming out) everywhere, one who challenges social binaries and norms alike with grace and strength.

Always evolving sonically and aesthetically, today, Monáe is entering a new era of her genre-bending career. The constant, though, is her work, which remains centered in advocacy, agency, and empowerment, regardless of what form it takes. With reverence for the responsibility of an artist and activist, Monáe uses every platform she builds to amplify intersectional discourse about race, gender, and sexuality in new ways. She takes action in a way that makes everyone take notice.

Monáe’s ascent as an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community has tracked alongside her own journey towards personal enlightenment and fulfillment of purpose. It has come with an understanding of the paradox of visibility, and a reckoning with the fears and challenges that queer people, specifically queer people of color, face when living authentically. In taking center stage to speak out and perform against aggressive oppression, Monáe’s voice and vision for humanity help to define what it means to advance emancipation for all.

That’s just a sliver of why we chose Monáe to star in them.’s debut cover story, “Janelle Monáe: Living Out Loud.” It would only be right to have one free-ass motherfucker interview another for the occasion, which is why we recruited Lizzo, an inimitable musical force in her own right and an unerring LGBTQ+ ally, to speak with Monáe below. Both women are known for hits that make you dance while reaching for something deeper, and both share a commitment to uplifting marginalized communities, championing self-love and self-care, subverting social expectations, and speaking their truths through their work. In the wide-ranging conversation below, they touch on that common ground and more, speaking to the terrifying, liberating process of challenging the world’s preconceptions about you, what it really means to live freely in our world today, and loving and living out loud.

Lizzo: First of all, shout out to freedom, okay? Because when you first started talking about sexual fluidity in Rolling Stone, you made me feel like I could do whatever I wanna do and feel how I wanna feel. That’s freedom.

I think that there's so much freedom with sexuality in the world right now. And you are a huge part of that wave. Can you tell me about that journey?

Janelle Monáe: It's been a journey. For me, sexuality and sexual identity and fluidity is a journey. It's not a destination. I've discovered so much about myself over the years as I've evolved and grown and spent time with myself and loved ones. That's the exciting thing — always finding out new things about who you are. And that's what I love about life. It takes us on journeys that not even we ourselves sometimes are prepared for. You just adapt to where you are and how you've evolved as a free thinking person.

Absolutely. I was just talking about this the other day, about how fluidity can mean so many things. It's not just what you like in that moment. I've seen fluidity change with age. I've seen people come out in their sexual identity in their forties and fifties. Yet there's so much pressure on young people to choose an identity, when you're a teenager and your hormones are jumping off — it's like, "Choose an identity, choose a sexual orientation." It's like, "How?” When I like everything sometimes, and I like nothing sometimes.

Do you have any words for those who are struggling with their sexuality or coming out? At any age, but especially for young people.

Don't allow yourself to feel any pressure other than the pressure you put on you. And I think there's so much power in not labeling yourself. That said, there's also power in saying "This is how I identify,” and having community with the folks you identify with. Everyone is on a journey of self-discovery, and those of us who may not understand others’ journeys should be more empathetic and tolerant and supportive.

A big thing for me is just being patient with myself, and not allowing myself to make decisions based in fear, or a fear of people not understanding me. And it's hard. You go through experiences where you feel fearful, and you end up being depressed, or having anxiety, and not taking care of you. But that fear should not get in the way of how you love or who you love.

To be young, queer, and black in America means that you can be misunderstood. You can be hated. It also means that you can be celebrated and loved. And I think there's a lot at stake when you’re living out loud in that way.

Right. And when you’re in the public eye, there's another layer to that with your sexual identity — added pressure, or another kind of fear. Coming out is such a personal, liberating experience. It's nobody's business. But especially when someone famous comes out — and even if their friends or family already know who they're stickin' and lickin' — it’s like, when everyone knows and it's in your heart, is that even really coming out?

Do you feel like Dirty Computer was a public coming out? Or how did you see that statement you made?

Well, one, whenever I'm making music, I start with where I honestly am and what I honestly have to say. I work inward, and then I focus outward, on how it can impact people and be helpful to others. But it starts with me.

I knew the title of this album since before The ArchAndroid, so I’ve been sitting with it for some time. There were just conversations that I had to have with myself and my family about my sexuality and the impact that speaking honestly and truthfully about it through my art would have. I grew up in the Midwest; you did, too. You spent time in Minneapolis. I spent time in Kansas. I grew up there, in a very small town, and I went to a Baptist church; to be anything other than heterosexual is a sin in that community, and growing up, I was always told I'd go to hell if I was. There was a part of me that had to deal with what that meant.

After I had those conversations with myself and I saw a therapist, I had to be able to talk about what it meant to identify as bisexual. What does that mean? How would discovering that impact the relationship I was in at the time? How do I talk about it with my family? How do I go back to my church? The bottom line is I had to have conversations with myself and the folks that love and care about me, and realize they may not understand what it means for me to be a person who identifies as queer in this world. I’ll also add that it wasn't like I wanted to even make it a declaration. I knew that by being truthful through my art, people were gonna have questions, and I had to figure out a way to talk about it. And in having those talks with myself, I realized it was bigger than just me. There are millions of other folks who are looking for a community. And I just learned into that. I leaned into the idea that if my own church won't accept me, I'm gonna create my own church.

Hallelujah. How do you feel about the state of queer acceptance in 2019?

How do I feel about it? I mean, to be young, queer, and black in America means that you can be misunderstood. You can be hated. It also means that you can be celebrated and loved. And I think there's a lot at stake when you’re living out loud in that way. One thing I’ve realized even more was that when you walk in your truth, you can inspire and encourage people to walk in theirs’. I don't know if you got the opportunity to see, but I watched this episode of Queer Eye the other day, and there was this woman, Jess. A young girl from Kansas who really touched me. And I think she touched a lot of people. It was a special episode because I could relate to her — I knew what it meant to be that young and living in the Bible Belt. And she wanted so badly to be this strong, black, queer woman, and she said that I had influenced everything from the way she was dressed to the way she was seen. I just said to myself, "Man, the fact that my album has reached another young black woman like her, and it's helped her in her life, it makes me feel like I'm walking in my purpose and it's really what I'm supposed to be doing." And I can't give up.

I think people are looking for that validation. When they're trying to talk to their parents and their parents don't see that representation out in the real world and people being accepted like that — it's foreign to them, and I think that by being the example, we make it a little easier for kids to be able to talk to their loved ones about it.

Well, listen, sis. People were lit to know that you were queer as fuck. It was exciting. [laughs]

[laughs] I was terrified.

You were scared? What did you think was gonna happen?

I thought people were gonna say, "Oh, she's doing this as a publicity stunt." I thought I wasn't gonna be able to go back home and be at all the barbecues. I had anxiety. And a lot of it was just untrue. It was my fear of what people were gonna say. And I'm thankful that I didn't allow that fear to get in the way of my freedom.

The entertainment industry has not caught up. We're making some waves, but we can do better. And again, it’s about normalizing and telling more stories, and inviting more LGBTQIA+ folks into the conversation on the front end, and giving us a seat at the table early on. Because we can’t afford to see things in a binary way. That’s not how the world works.

That’s the fear of being part of any marginalized group. That fear — of being black and queer and a woman and young — that fear of erasure is really real. And being a public figure, coming forward with your identity and allowing people to be emboldened by that and inspired by that — back in the day, women like you were erased.

I talk about Sister Rosetta Tharpe all the time. She was black and queer and big, and invented rock and roll. And where is she? Where are her monuments? And by setting the example, you can help us change that, and counter that kind of erasure.

Are there any black queer women and artists that you wanna shout out? I feel like we need to get the flowers to these women.

Yeah! I love Lena Waithe. Having her representing on the film side and as a producer, a writer, and the fact that she's thriving and so successful, it’s encouraging. Lorraine Hansberry. Bell Hooks. Meshell Ndegeocello. Who else? I just hope we can get to a point where black women who don’t identify as strictly heterosexual are normalized.

Yes. And making it more intersectional as well, and including trans women in that narrative. I love Janet Mock. I am obsessed with her.

Yeah, me too! She is an incredible woman. And I love MJ Rodriguez. I love Indya Moore. I love Laverne Cox. Those women are amazing, and they are, every single day, normalizing what it means to be a trans woman, and speaking their truth and walking in it.

Amen. It’s all about representing. I just wanna pass out flowers and receive flowers, that’s all I wanna do. I think representation is so important. I wanna see drag queens at the Oscars. I wanna see a drag queen host the Oscars. Can that happen?

Listen, if it was on my watch, I would make sure it happens. I think the entertainment industry has not caught up. We're making some waves, but we can do better. And again, it’s about normalizing and telling more stories, and inviting more LGBTQIA+ folks into the conversation on the front end, and giving us a seat at the table early on. Because we can’t afford to see things in a binary way. That’s not how the world works.

No! It’s a spectrum, and everyone needs to realize and respect it. Respect the spectrum!

You also work with Time’s Up, and I think that’s really important. We gotta protect women’s rights. What work are you doing moving forward to help LGBTQ people gain a foothold in the film industry and media? And how has Time’s Up helped open up some doors?

I'm honored to be a part of Time’s Up and support women. And that's inclusive of all women. As a black woman, however, that's what I know and that's the lens that I'm looking at things through. Whether it be behind the scenes, producing and engineering, to writing or being in front of the camera, there's a lot more work that needs to be done.

I've also started my own organization, Fem the Future, which is a grassroots organization that provides opportunities across the entertainment and the arts, through mentorship and education, for those who identify as women. Through our work, we try to highlight and empower women behind the mic, behind the camera, the stage, the screen, the boardroom. Everywhere. And I founded Fem the Future because I was looking to collaborate with more women on the engineering side and production side and songwriting side, and it was so difficult to find women in these roles. It was frustrating. And I understood why. I said, "Oh, okay. We gotta make more noise." And so I decided to do something about it.

With Dirty Computer, I made a bigger declaration to myself — that I'm not putting out an album if I can't be all of me. You're gonna take the blackness, you're gonna take the fact that I love science fiction. You're gonna take the fact that I am a free ass motherfucker. You're gonna take that all in and because that is what you're gonna get.

That's amazing. I think women are phased out of creative industries by the quote-unquote “boy’s club” way early on. It’s more than just getting them the job — it's giving them the training, making them feel comfortable enough to make mistakes and lean into something and have a girl’s club. So they can get all the experience they need to be at the top of the game.

Let me tell you. It's not that we're not there, we're just not given the opportunity. We can compete at a high level. It's what you said, it's about us pulling for each other. And it's about men, also, who are in the experience of power actively seeking out more women. As artists, we get the opportunity to have this platform and shine light. And that’s the blessing.

Yes. I want to segue into you as an artist, and the music you’ve created and brought into the world. People who know you know that you're in control of the Janelle Monáe story, and your saga, and how the saga unfolds. Can you walk me through your character arc from The ArchAndroid all the way to Dirty Computer, and all of the things you've learned about yourself through your music?

That's a great question. I like to think that I know everything that a project is gonna do and be when I go into it — “I'm gonna go in and write this song, and it's gonna mean this.” But you know like I know, once you put something out and you sit with it, you find out new things that you weren’t even paying attention to. People will come up to you and say, "This is what this means to me." And you're like, "Wow, I had no clue that that's what I was saying, and that you would feel that way after you heard it." The beauty of art is that it reveals itself over time, even to the artists who create it.

I think I do have strong visions; I always have strong visions. With ArchAndroid, I knew what I wanted the content to be, and I used the tools that I knew how to use at that time to create it. In my projects, I always challenge myself to grow and learn my voice and how to stretch beyond what I can comfortably do. So I started to engineer myself more, which meant I got to spend more time with me. I produced as well. And I'm a writer, and a storyteller. So as I grow and as I'm taking in information and growing at this exponential rate, I try my best to create music and albums that support that, that allow me to completely be all of me.

With Dirty Computer, I made a bigger declaration to myself — that I'm not putting out an album if I can't be all of me. You're gonna take the blackness, you're gonna take the fact that I love science fiction. You're gonna take the fact that I am a free ass motherfucker. You're gonna take that all in and because that is what you're gonna get.

Yes. Take it or leave it. Making music — is that therapeutic for you, working through all of that?

Well, yeah. It is hard. It takes discipline to finish an album, to really sit down and say, "Okay, I need to show up." You gotta show up mentally. You can't just show up when every day is beautiful and you have the perfect candle and flowers there and it's smelling good. You gotta work through it. Even when I didn't feel like writing, I wrote, because it was important to challenge myself, to stretch my muscles and finish.

I didn't feel like I had all the time in the world to write Dirty Computer. When you think about the state of this country, when you think about who's in office, when you think about having a Vice President who believes in conversion therapy, and you think about how 77 percent of LGBTQ teenagers surveyed in 2018 report feeling depressed or down over the past week — I didn’t think that this album could wait.

I read from the Trevor Project that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24. And that LGB youth contemplate suicide at at least three times the rate of a heterosexual youth. When you think about our trans brothers and sisters, our trans sisters being murdered, and when you just look at the state of the world, and when I'm working on an album like Dirty Computer that is centered around uplifting marginalized groups and those who feel isolated and outcast from our society, this album couldn’t wait. I had to get really focused.

And I also didn't wanna filter myself. I wanted to say it how I felt it. If I was upset, if I was feeling sexually liberated, if I was feeling afraid and vulnerable, whatever feelings I had, I laid it all out on the table. Once I finished, that was how I measured success. That's how I measured if I was gonna be proud of this work — did I show up? Did I show up?

Wow. When you talk about the world like that, and you lay all of those devastating facts ... It's not even facts. It’s what's happening to real people.

It can make self-care feel like a luxury, when people are being so aggressively oppressed — not just in their own neighborhoods, but throughout the country, by our administration. And because my messaging is self-care, because my messaging is self-love, it makes me want to reappropriate the term “self-care” into something that could save your life. It’s an idea that’s becoming trendy right now, but it’s much more than that. It’s like, “How do I take care of myself in this world that's not designed to take care of me?”

Artists like us, who do have a message in our music and connect with people on that level, have a responsibility to make self-care less about a fluffy day at the spa and help people in our community understand how important it is. How did you find self-care while you were dealing with talking about your sexuality to your friends and family in your community, and also while making Dirty Computer? And how can we repurpose that and help younger people learn that that term is more than just a trend?

I think one of the greatest gifts that I've been given as my therapy is music, is art. It's a gift that I honestly wish everybody could have and receive. And I think mental health is an issue in all communities, but particularly suicide rates, like I mentioned before, in the LGBTQIA+ and black communities. My community was not pushed to go spend their check on a therapist. It was, spend your check on some new Polo shirts and some Jordans. We weren’t taking our money growing up as teens and going to therapy. And I think a lot of us could benefit from that. But I do know that not a lot of people can afford it. And what I hope is that we can put more money into the mental health system around the world for young folks.

I love the Trevor Project. I love a place in New York called The Center. There are lots of places that offer help and therapy for those who have been pushed out of their homes. But I think what I've been able to do through albums like The ArchAndroid or The Electric Lady or Dirty Computer is to be able to talk about where I am at that time, and to release it and speak it out loud. And that has helped me immensely.

And also, I think it's important for us to be particular about the people we're hanging out with, too. I love the fact that I can be who I am at Wondaland with people who are inviting and patient with me as I walk through my process. And I think that it's our friends and our loved ones that we speak to and communicate with every day who can add to releasing pressure — the pressure and weight that we feel as we're trying to navigate life and walk through life, and embrace the things that make us unique.

You know what I noticed? The more I started loving myself, and the more I started self-caring, the people around me changed and became more conducive to that. The people who were toxic and weren't conducive to a self-loving nature just were segued out by God, by the universe, by my energy just repelling them. And I wish it didn't have to be that way, I wish it was the other way around. I wish that the people around us could help us find self-care and self-love. But that's unfortunately not the world that we were given.

We have to create our own worlds. And I think that mentorship is so important. Like you were saying, therapy's expensive. But mentorship can be free. And that's something that we can start with. Especially in lower income communities, the black community. But for now, we just have you.[laughs] We have music. People are looking to Dirty Computer and artists like you as mentors, long distance mentors. And I think it's really special that you hold that place in people's hearts and that it's reaching a culture. You can watch Queer Eye and see your influence. I'm just so happy to breathe the same air as you.

Oh, please. I’m happy to breathe the same air as you. You also are a free ass motherfucker to me in the way that you approach how you perform, how you love yourself publicly, how you embrace your body. And you're just gorgeous. On stage, offstage, the fact that you play an instrument, the fact that you're writing, the fact that you have ideas as a black woman — you are redefining what it means to be young, black, wild, and free in this country. And you are someone I actively look to whenever I feel like second guessing if I should take risks or not. Because I see the risks that you're taking and the love and appreciation that you show for yourself makes me lean further into loving and respecting myself, and being patient with myself, and not allowing myself to live by anybody's standards.

We are the standard. Thank you, sis. And you know what? Just keep rockin' in the free world, keep showin' 'em what it is. In every industry.

I will. You too. Let’s do it together. Collaboration. Come back over so we can keep on going. I cannot wait for your album. It's time. You've got to put a dent in the culture and in the planet. Rightfully so.

Let’s go. Let’s go!

Photographer: Justin French

https://www.them.us/story/janelle-monae-living-out-loud

[decadentpandatale]

Unessay Project (Janis Troeung)

A Blog About My Learning Journey While Crafting My Working Theory of Family

Preface: 

The purpose of this blog is to explain my thought processes as I developed my working theory of family. Although I describe this blog as “my learning journey while crafting my working theory of family”, it is by no means an exhaustive account of everything that I have learned throughout this course.

Organization of Blog:

I will first begin by explaining my initial thoughts on family (prior to taking the course), my current working theory (as of week 5), my thought processes of how I went from my initial understanding of family to my current understanding of family, my lived experience of family in relation to my working theory, and conclude with my final notes on the hesitations and confusions that remain with me.

My Initial Thoughts on Family: 

Prior to taking this course, this is what I had understood as a ‘standard’ family:

“Family is a concept that many Westerners have grown up to understand as a nuclear family that consists of cisgendered heterosexual parents with one or more biological children. Typically, the dad is considered the ‘breadwinner’ (a person who provides the main source of income for their family) while the mom is a housewife. Although the mom may have a job, the mom is still considered responsible for taking care of household responsibilities such as washing dishes, doing laundry, and taking care of the children (because their income is typically lower than their husband’s). In some cases, people can call other people who are not biologically related to them as ‘family’. This act of calling non-biological kin “family” is usually done when the individual feels a sense of closeness, care, and/or trust with the person(s) they are calling family.”

My Current Working Theory of Family (Week 5):

Family is a non-static concept, and peoples’ perception of family will change  throughout time as they are continually learning about what are now currently understood as “alternative” or “non-normative” families. For the purposes of clarification, I am describing “alternative” or “non-normative” families as families that do not adhere to the stereotypical understanding of family which many westerners have come to understand as a family that consists of cisgendered, heteronormative parents with one or more biological children. I believe that as time progresses, this concept of a nuclear family will no longer be understood as the absolute norm and that “alternative/other” families (i.e. families that have LGBTQ parents and/or adoptive or surrogate children) will become more normalized and understood than they currently are. 

How Did I Get To My Current Working Theory of Family?:

During the first week of the course, James Baldwin’s “Letter to My Nephew” (1962) reinforced what I had initially understood about family. In his letter, he forewarned his nephew about the harshness of the world and the systemic racism that his nephew will face as a Black American (p. 2). Although it is not explicitly mentioned within the article, the reader of the letter can sense the care and compassion Baldwin holds for his nephew. In fact, by simply understanding the context that this is a letter written by an uncle addressing his nephew, the reader can feel a heightened sense of positive connotations that are associated with family in the weight of Baldwin’s words. After reading this article, the reader can see that Baldwin is a source of wisdom, knowledge, comfort, protection, and love for his nephew. Despite that this letter was written over fifty years ago, Baldwin’s words are still held true in today’s context as Black Americans are still marginalized and are facing apparent systemic racism today. This article shows how many institutions within America are marginalizing and discriminating against people of color, especially Black Americans, (and later I learned how this affects Black American families in terms of policy and culture in week two). From this article, I learned that care and compassion are two traits that I heavily associate with the concept of “family”.

In addition to the Baldwin reading in week one, we read Patricia Hill Collins’s article titled “Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Nation: Some Implications for Black Family Studies” (1998). From this article, I began to gain a better understanding of how to analyze and understand family from a sociological perspective. This reading helped me realize that there are many depths and layers to understanding families and how they function within societies. In Collins’s (1998) article, I began to better understand intersectionalities and that factors such as race, gender, and social class should all be taken into consideration when analyzing families, family policies, and familial organization (p. 33). There is not one particular form of family that is considered “normal” and each family is unique in their own sense. Collins (1998) believes that scholars should dismantle the hegemonic idea that the nuclear family is considered the “norm“ and that anything besides that is abnormal (p. 30). In fact, this is the rhetoric that I found many of the assigned readings were trying to convey, and I believe that if scholars continue to support the dismantling of this hegemonic ideal, that other forms of family can become more recognized, understood, and normalized. To think that there is one dominant or ‘correct’ form of family is narrow-minded and minimizes the lived experiences of other types of family.

During week two, we read Brittany Pearl Battle’s article titled, “Deservingness, Deadbeat Dads, and Responsible Fatherhood: Child Support Policy and Rhetorical Conceptualizations of Poverty, Welfare, and the Family” (2018). From this article, I began to understand how culture and policy are interrelated and how they are constantly influencing one other (p. 444). This helped me better understand Baldwin’s letter to his nephew and why Black Americans are still facing oppression today. Many government officials and politicians have been white, middle to upper class men, who have reinforced the notion that families should consist of a dad who is the primary source of income for his family, a mom who takes care of the children, and the children who will grow old and take care of their parents one day. Throughout different presidencies, Battle has analyzed these different presidents’ rhetoric and how that has shaped gender roles within the family which has consequently affected family culture. Many institutions within the U.S. have perpetuated hegemonic ideals which has led to the oppression of Black Americans who are constantly racially profiled, and has thus led to the marginalization of Black Americans. In my opinion, a lot of the rhetoric surrounding around the idea that ‘dads should be the primary source of income for the family’ while the mom should be the caretaker is outdated and seeks to place blame on fathers instead of holding the government reliable for seeking better ways to support fathers and their families. Due to the constant racial profiling that Black Americans face, many Black men are incarcerated and put into jail which thus perpetuates the idea that Black men are put into jail because they “commit more crimes”, which echoes the false sentiment that Black fathers are bad because they cannot provide for their children due to their incarceration. Of course, this is an oversimplification of how intersectionalities work and how culture and policy influence each other which has led to the marginalization of Black Americans, but I hope that I have illustrated a comprehensible image of how policy has affected and continues to marginalize and oppress those who are considered different from those in power (i.e. officials in government who are typically white, middle to upper class men), whether it be through race, gender, or social class. From this reading, I also realized that hegemonic structures have stayed in place, because people with power and influence perpetuate this hegemony as the norm or something that is desired. However, if more people in power spoke up against it or supported those who do not conform to the hegemonic standards, other forms of structures can become more normalized, regulated, and/or accepted.

Lastly, during week four, we read Katie L. Acosta’s “We Are Family” (2014) which provides a contrast from Baldwin’s letter to his nephew. Although families are thought of as a resource for care and love, sometimes family may reject one another based on individual family members’ contrasting ideologies. From Acosta’s interviews, we learn how Latinx women who are considered ‘sexually non-conforming’ are shunned for not following hegemonic ideals of partnership. Despite the disapproval that they receive from their parents, many of these women are still hoping that their parents will one day show more approval/acceptance for their romantic partners and their relationships (p. 45). This illustrates how dominant ideas can influence how family members perceive and treat other members of their family and how dominant ideologies can be internalized as ‘the ultimate good’ or ‘correct way of living’. Although capitalism has created an opportunity for those who identify as LGBTQ, gay, queer, trans, and non-binary to come out and identify with their preferred pronouns (as explained by John D’Emilio in his article “Capitalism and Gay Identity” (1983)), many people today are still prejudiced against non-hegemonic forms of family. Based on my theory, I do believe (and wishfully hope) that as time passes, these hegemonic standards will slowly become whittled down and that people will understand that they do not necessarily need to conform to hegemonic standards of family to have a happy, fulfilling life. Nuclear families may have been necessary for survival in the past, but that is no longer the case, and people around the world are creating different types of families that could not have been imagined of in the past. 

My Lived Experience of Family:

I come from an Asian household where my dad is Cambodian and my mom is Chinese. My parents had three children - two sons and one daughter (me). I would consider my family situation to be understood as “normal” by the standards of public perception, but a part of me has always wondered if my parents would have gone through a different path of creating a family if they had lived under different circumstances (i.e. conditions where hegemonic understandings of families were not reinforced as standard or a necessity for a purposeful life). My parents are first generation immigrants, and they came to America so that they could start a family in better conditions than their home countries. Since my parents were first generation immigrants, it meant that they had spent a lot of time away from home and were working so that they could provide adequate financial support for their children. Therefore, there were many times where I felt like I did not feel the same warmth and comfort of family that I felt many peers around me felt, because my peers’ parents appeared to be more involved in their lives. There were many times when I would go to the homes of my friends and their parents would welcome me and feed me. In some cases, they treated me as if I were their own daughter and called me “family”. This was when I realized that family does not necessarily have to consist of people who you share the same blood with, and that actions and words of people can make you feel like “family” more than your own biological kin.

From my personal experiences I believe that, as time progresses, people will not immediately think of biological kin as the primary source of familial care and love. There are instances when people who are not related to you can feel more like “family” to you than your own biological family based on how they treat and care for you. In that sense, I do believe that there will be a shift in perception on what it means to be “family” with one another, and that other families that are currently understood as “non-traditional” will become more apparent, recognized, and accepted. In fact, there is research that shows that companies are trying to create a culture of “work families” to provide a sense of comfort and joy for their employees. Work families, which are another byproduct of capitalism, could provide familial comfort for employees who may or may not have familial support from their biological kin.

Remaining Confusions and Hesitations:

Although I feel that I have learned a lot through the lectures and readings I have by no means fully understood all the concepts that were presented. Many of the articles that we have read in this course have addressed how there is a greater need for diversification in family studies that do not focus on white, middle-class, hegemonic ideals of family. However, there are so many depths and layers to understanding how institutions within societies are influencing families and family structure. I do not think that it is possible to conduct proper, well-done studies on every single possible family structure in this world; therefore, I am confused about how scholars can continue to shed light on the multitude of different family types without overgeneralizing the experiences of current marginalized families. I am also hesitant about how we can truly learn from these studies when each individual’s understanding of their family and the world is a unique experience in of itself and outsiders can never truly understand their experiences and perspective.

Works Cited:

Acosta, K. L. (2014). We are family. Contexts, 13(1), 44-49.

Baldwin, J. (1962). A letter to my nephew. The Progressive, 1.

Battle, B. P. (2018). Deservingness, Deadbeat Dads, and Responsible Fatherhood: Child Support Policy and Rhetorical Conceptualizations of Poverty, Welfare, and the Family. Symbolic Interaction, 41(4), 443-464.

Collins, P. H. (1998). Intersections of race, class, gender, and nation: Some implications for Black family studies. Journal of comparative family studies, 29(1), 27-36.

D’Emilio, J. (1983). Capitalism and gay identity. Families in the US: Kinship and domestic politics, 131-41.

[evansammons-blog]

*What is Rhetoric to Me?*

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14O-Ge9BoT7hdz3nXbXy4CAcq7bD4tCqH/view?usp=sharing

This essay intends to highlight how my definition of rhetoric changed after taking Comm 380, Rhetorical Traditions. At the beginning of the school year, I believed that rhetoric was “the intentional use of speaking, images, designs, and acting for a persuasive purpose. It can include word order, grammar (punctuation), images, camera angles, word choice and placement. It is also determined by a situation or place.” After taking this class, I believe rhetoric’s scope is much more comprehensive and dynamic than persuasion and uses more styles and nuanced means of communication to reach audiences. The evolution of my definition of rhetoric has been influenced by rhetorical theorists Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Bonnie Dow, Marie Boor Tonn, Karen A. Foss, Kennth Burke, Rita Felski, and Jurgen Habermas. After considering their contributions to rhetorical theory, I contend that rhetoric is a way of communicating through diverse styles or mediums which seek to push against the symbol systems of dominant ideologies for the emergence of new economic, social, political, and cultural spaces.

Dow and Tonn’s research on the feminine style and Karen A. Foss’ writing on Harvery Milk’s “queer style” inform my definiton by discussing how rhetoricians use multiple styles of speaking to achieve their purpose of creating a “new rhetorical space” (Foss, 79). Within these new spaces,“alternative modes of political reasoning” can emerge (Dow & Tonn, 288). In the context of my definition, utilizing these communication styles empowers and reaches diverse audiences which in turn shifts the conversation from a limiting hegemonic way of thinking and gives those of all backgrounds an opportunity to deconstruct societal systems of power. By extension, allowing “contradictions to exist side by side,” Harvey Milk created a space in 1970’s San Francisco where new possibilities could emerge which allowed him to use his queer identity to connect with unlikely constituents and challenge the rhetorical situation (81). With the emergence of new voices and ways of communicating, rhetors have the ability to deconstruct and challenge hegemonic ways of reasoning and replace them with communication that works to create new spaces of discourse by expanding the possibilities of language and styles of speaking.

My first definition of rhetoric evolved to consider how our words and actions took on significance to form dominant ideologies through symbolism. Before I discuss how rhetoric pushes against dominant ideologies, a discussion of symbolism is necessary. Kenneth Burke theorizes that symbols constitute everything in our society including the framework of our prevailing ideologies (58).  Burke reflects on the prominence of symbols when he writes, “can we bring ourselves to realize . . . just how overwhelmingly much of what we mean by ‘reality’ has been built up for us through nothing but our symbol systems?” (58). Through symbols, humans have created meaning and in effect have given significance to belief systems that dictate their existence. In its best form, rhetoric should be used by groups outside the sphere of influence to deconstruct the symbol systems which work to uphold dominant, limiting ideologies.

Symbolism works in a way that gives privilege to certain populations and in turn creates out groups, or counter-publics. Publics and counterpublics are individuals existing outside of the government who form discursive groups defined by rhetoric (Felski, 164). The “public sphere” was a term first used by Jürgen Habermas to describe a group that was a “historically determined formation” of  “male property owners and the enlightened aristocracy” (164). Considering my definition, the public sphere represents the dominant ideology and rhetoric should be used by various counter-publics, or those seeking access to the public sphere’s privilege to push against the hegemonic, or dominant public. Counter-publics seek to gain access to the public sphere’s privilege by situating themselves in opposition to the institutionalized identity of the public (166). Symbols which rhetoric pushes back against could be those which seek to deny members of counter-publics access to new places of economic, social and political opportunity.

My rhetorical artifact of me playing saxophone from my senior recital is an embodiment of a new space that rhetoric can create when it uses diverse forms of communication which challenges the dominant expression of western classical music, a version of a public sphere. The piece, Le Frêne égaré, is a contemporary work for solo saxophone written in 1979 by French Composer François Rossé. Le Frêne égaré incorporates compositional influences from “non-Western traditions” such as Africa, Asia, and Grece (Even, 18). The piece expresses its non-Western roots by employing many contemporary, or avant-garde techniques, like quarter tones, (notes whose pitches sound in between black and white keys on the piano) multiphonics, (the production of two or more sounds simultaneously) breath sounds, and flutter tonguing. In addition to contemporary techniques, Le Frêne égaré refelcts non-Western influences by transcending time and meter; time signatures (determine time and beat distribution) change frequently in the piece. This freedom allows the performer to “shape gestures and phrases in a personal way without forfeiting complete control” (Even, 18). Le Frêne égaré represents a counter-public of composers, performers and musical styles which have been traditionally shunned from concert halls because their expression of music is not contingent with the Western classical music tradition. However,  Le Frêne égaré and pieces like it allow composers and performers to create new cultural spaces by pushing back against the limiting symbol systems of the Western music tradition.

Much like Harvey Milk redefined the rhetorical situation by allowing “new opportunities to emerge” (Foss, 78), diverse expressions of music reach both diverse and traditional audiences and challenge them to reconsider their symbol systems of what “music” is. Le Frêne égaré allows saxophonists, musicians, and audiences to challenge the primary Western expression of music through utilizing the diverse, expressive, technical and sonic capabilities of the saxophone. When musicians utilize diverse musical languages, they expand and challenge the public’s perception of what music is, thus pushing back against the symbols that construct our perception of music that hinder creative and artistic human potential.

After considering the theorists covered in this class, I believe that when used in the best form, rhetoric is a dynamic tool of social critique and construction that utilizes diverse forms of styles or mediums which seek to challenge the symbol systems of dominant ideologies for the emergence of new economic, social, political, and cultural spaces. When rhetoric fulfills this role, social systems that once hindered human economic, social, political, and creative potential are deconstructed.

Burke, Kenneth. On Symbols and Society. Edited by Joseph R. Gusfield, Univ. of Chicago  Press, 1989.

Dow, Bonnie J., and Mari Boor Tonn. “Feminine Style’ and Political Judgment in the Rhetoric of Ann Richards.” Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol. 79, no. 3, 1993, pp. 286–302., doi:10.1080/00335639309384036.

Even, Noa. “Examining François Rossé's Japanese-Influenced Chamber Music with Saxophone: Hybridity, Orality, and Primitivism as a Conceptual Framework.” Bowling Green State University , 2014.

Felski, Rita. Beyond Feminist Aesthetics: Feminist Literature and Social Change. Radius, 1989.

Foss, K.A.” Harvey Milk and the Queer Rhetorical Situation”. In C. E. Morris III (Ed.), Queering Public Address: Sexualities in American Historical Discourse, University of South Carolina Press, 2007, pp. 74–92.

[veridium]

You Want Writing Tips? You Got Writing Tips

Hello, lovelies. So, in light of my Q&A last night and receiving some asks about writing fanfic/in general, I wanted to make a text post paired with what I said -- mostly for accessibility reasons. I want to restate the fact that I am in no way an exceptional/professional-level/goddess of writing, I am simply someone who wants to encourage and provide some helpful advice to anyone who may be struggling or starting. My opinions and perspective are not sacrosanct by any means.

That being said my advice is mostly about existing as a writer, authoring fanfic, and building confidence as a creative. I am not interested in conscripting people to my personal style focus at all. This is meant to be an encouraging primer more than anything. Some of these will echo my Q&A as well.

1). Writing is first and foremost a practice to enjoy and be fulfilled by for your own creative needs and tastes. 

Yes, we post and promote our fanfictions on multiple platforms, clamor for likes and comments, the whole nine yards. That means it’s easy for all of us regardless of how long we’ve been at it to forget that writing fic is primarily for our own enjoyment and gratification. As creatives we can be told our work is frivolous unless it gathers some sort of outside aplomb, and that our labor is useless without attention. This is not true, and is a pernicious form of suppression. 

If you get a lot of feedback and reader response on your work, fabulous! I’m so happy for you. But I am also happy for you if you manage to finish and post a chapter or a ficlet in the first place. That is hard work, and it’s not something everyone does everyday. Be proud of yourself knowing you’re practicing an art form that not only brings you joy but provides an opportunity to connect with others. 

2). Tumblr is not the Gauntlet of Talent. 

I know it’s also easy to assume that Tumblr is the ultimate bastion of affirmation given the prolific presence of fandom and fanfic. But, let’s be real: we all know this site is a garbage fire. It has been, it is now, and it will be in the future. The way it hinders creative content and its creators is appalling. With that in mind, getting less-than-jubilant responses from the Tumblr-verse is not a sign that you lack talent, capability, or original ideas by default. Once again I wish to point out that writing should be something we all do for our own sakes, for our outlets and desires. Having Tumblr fandom attention is nice, and it feels supportive in my experience more often than not, but it’s also fraught and can get lost in the trivialities of popularity.

Fandom should be community, rather than fame oriented. We should be looking to each other for encouragement, helpful critique, and new, fresh perspectives. We should also respect those among us who do not wish to engage or attend to the attentions of others -- introverted creators matter too, and their points of view are valid. 

Tumblr fame does absolutely infer talent, and vice-versa. 

3. Writing is a Wonderful Opportunity to Build Good Habits. 

The culture of writing until you drop, of staving off your priorities and needs in order to dedicate “fully,” is toxic. It is also unfortunate that idea of “success” is so pervasive because writing can be a neat chance to instill some helpful habits into your routine. From my personal experience, writing is a wonderful thing to do to wind down at the end of my day: I settle in after a shower and dinner wearing my comfy pajamas and I write for a couple hours, water bottle nearby. I listen to music, watch movies if I need muse/inspiration, and enjoy my introvert time. 

Writing as a routine activity can be a conduit for good habits, like hydrating, exercise, other forms of art, and reading books. It can inspire you to change up some old regimens and think in new ways. Writing isn’t just the physical act of writing or typing words, it’s a process. Your productivity and balance is entangled with the rest of your goings-on, your responsibilities, and environment. You can use that to your advantage! 

Because of my writing I have had an excuse to hike/walk more, something I have not always had the time or ability to do whether it be for my chronic illness or demanding schedule. Now I find I am much more relaxed, my anxiety episodes are fewer and far in between, and I enjoy where I live more. Writing has helped me not only as a creative endeavor but as a life habit, and in return my stories have benefited. 

4). Care, Genuinely Care, About Your Non-CisHet White Characters. 

Please. Please care. I’m not just saying like them or craft them, I mean interrogate why and how you’re making them the way you are. If you’re letting them fall into a disempowering trope, ask yourself what the purpose of having a one-dimensional or stereotypical character is for you. If you’re constructing a cis woman character for example who is struggling with internalized standards for femininity or gender roles, that’s one thing and that can be a really interesting character development. 

But if your character is stagnant within that point of view, and their adversities/experiences are not engaging with them, you should ask yourself why. If you’re writing a perspective you do not personally have -- queerness, non-cisness, ability, etc. -- you REALLY need to be critical about what you’re writing. It may not intimately impact you, but it does impact readers who have those identities. If you’re white and you’re writing non-white characters it does not matter whether your universe is fantasy or not, you are and will be writing from a white gaze imbued with racism. You have to constantly monitor and check in with that.

As a Femslash writer one of the things that saddens me the most is when I read a cis woman character that feels one-dimensional, dependent on how other characters look at her rather than someone with their own sense of self, and like they can’t manage for themselves on some level. It’s one thing to grow from those traits and become confident or independent over time -- OR EVEN MORE DEPENDENT AND LESS CONFIDENT BECAUSE SHIT HAPPENS LIKE THAT TOO! -- but the heart of the matter is that there should be changes, fluxes, and impressions in a character’s sense of self. 

Try to think about how your own social conditioning has influenced the way you see these kinds of people in your every day. Think about how you could be infusing biases and unnecessary shortcomings into your characters based off of those misunderstandings. Female characters can be detestable, evil, malignant. They can be modest, or promiscuous, or both! They can be quick to anger, or struggle with depression. There are an infinite number of possibilities, so much so that writing a flat, meek caricature to be a waste of time. 

--

These are my main tips I would give to anyone wishing for my perspective. As I stated before, I am no sage expert on the craft of writing. Truly, I don’t think anyone is. The point is to have conversation, to engage thoughtfully for the betterment of our writing and each other’s. We’re a community and that is what we do. 

I hope this is helpful and constructively encouraging, because that is what we deserve from ourselves and each other. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to inbox me or message me directly. Sending love and light to you all!

-Veri

[gulfportofficial]

catholic on main again

Oh my fucking god, when everyone had a huge fucking meltdown about the Pope calling people selfish for having pets instead of kids, I just took their word for it. I expect a Pope to lecture everyone about how their purpose on Earth is to have the most possible babies. I know I reiterate this a lot but it really can’t be overstated: Catholicism is terrible. It’s a colonizing force, its entire mythology and practice is rooted in extreme misogyny (and because of that it’s also homophobic and transphobic). Popes tend to be pretty terrible too, with a little wiggle-room when it comes to how terrible. So if people say what the Pope said sucks, I assume they’re right.

I never understand why non-Catholics pay attention to what the Pope says though. They don’t have to. You could argue it’s necessary to do because the Pope ultimately influences right-wing politics in Catholic countries and also America, but that’s increasingly untrue given how much tradCaths and other right-wing Catholics hate Pope Francis and ignore everything he says (I know, I don’t get how you can be a tradCath and hate the Pope either but here we are). I honestly think people pay attention simply because it gives them some low-hanging, predictable fruit to be the worst kind of edgy Queer Democrats about. I think Americans pay attention because it’s easier to fixate on the Pope than to acknowledge the influence of evangelical Protestantism AND the kind of Protestantism they belong to even if they don’t believe in god. And I find it very boring but ultimately I tend to assume all of these twitter zingers boardgame couple edgelords are right. If they say the Pope said something rude and shitty, they’re almost certainly right because, again, most of what a Catholic figurehead says is bound to be fucking awful.

It turns out he barely even said that though? He said something that sort of implies it, but it’s hardly direct, and it’s really more of the very standard “if you don’t have children you’re not truly fulfilled as a person” and “I know you COULD be parents because you have pets you love” which I understand is both incorrect and very annoying for childfree adults. But I cannot emphasize this enough: you do not need the Catholic Pope to approve of your choices. You also don’t need to tweet about it quite that much good lord.