#just in case folks out there are like me and haven't had access to it until now

[an-honest-puck]

a collection of highlights and viewing notes from 'Fools' because I don't have the time to liveblog while watching but I do have thoughts

HUMPHREY CAUSING MISCHIEF?!?!!?! WE LOVE TO SEE IT!!!!! <333

~and other bbc ghosts s5 ep1 spoilers ahoy!~

I love that Larry is the lone writer of this ep and Humphrey therefore gets to have the spotlight XD

fr tho, watching Humphrey giving Alison ideas was so deliciously cheeky and fun to watch!!!

that one camera movement where Humphrey plays the angel and devil on Alison's shoulders was *chef's kiss* brilliantly well played!!!

when the Captain realises that Alison's picking them off one by one and then immediately falls for her prank lmao

look! they let Ben run in the woods again! huzzah! he must have been so pleased they let him lol

we love a Ben Willbond take on the classic "clever girl" line 👌🏼

Thomas's prank was absolutely ruthless but the little shit (mostly affectionate) deserves it LMAO

actually as a sidenote, with any other characters (or perhaps in another show lol) this is potentially a rather romantic scene lol

but yeah nah the little shit deserved it XD

I love when the Captain describes Alison's 'next victim' as being "guileless, gullible, open-hearted to a fault" (patcaps stans were fed with this line alone lol) and cutting to Pat, as if Cap isn't sitting in the room with the most gullible ghosts of the crew- i.e., himself, Thomas, and Kitty XD

I'm sorry but Pat reacting to Alison's first attempt at pranking him by pulling out the word 'veracity' and how he describes how to cross-check your facts????? king shit XD

but also, that was lowkey the most intimidating thing I've ever seen Pat do wtf?! like the way he says "I'd hate for you to have the wool pulled over your eyes." and then the "ok?" freakyyyy lol

oh Julian you nincompoop lol I love all the time Alison's invested in these pranks btw- like making that video and somehow rigging something up on a laptop so that when Julian clicks the specific button, the video starts playing? is there an app for that or is that just Alison flexing some coding skills??? XD (I am personally fully on board the 'Alison flexes her coding skills' train lol)

0/2, Cap is not making any good calls in this ep XD

my fam and I like to play the game 'how many takes?' and that scene where Alison tries the finger-chop gag and Pat gives her a talking to is prime fodder for that game XD

ayo, gotta give a shoutout to the B-plot of Mike with the insurance investigator for recapping the end of season 4 because I was rusty tbh lmaooo

Fanny's two-part-prank was so good but also gotta love the permanency of permanent marker XD

OMG Humphrey's idea for Robin's prank - i.e. Larry just talking to himself LMAO but the way Humphrey showed Alison his plan was so deliciously devious XD

"DAMN YOU, COOPER!"

yo the way the A-plot and B-plot crash into each other is hysterical XDD

Alison, caught red-handed lighting a fire: *in the most level voice I've ever heard come out of Charlotte Ritchie's mouth* Hi, I'm Alison-

"Sorry. Sick in a bush..."

good onya, Joy Kielty! you da real one! and props to the soundtrack composers for that beautiful little piano interjection :')

ah man almost got all of them...

BUT OH MY DAYS SHE PREG-AN-NANT!?!!?!?! I can't believe the fandom was right on that one!!!!!! I'm anxious for her!!!!! pregnancies are scary!!!!! (I mean, I'm probably projecting because a friend of mine is pregnant and currently dealing with all the appointments, equipment, and physical symptoms of pregnancy, but still!!! growing new life is hard!!!!)

very very interested to see where them there are going with this...

but anyways this is a Larry episode and so of course the last word comes from Humphrey:

"did we get him?"

(my poor boi, someone pls pick him up :') )

[followthebluebell]

would love a list of low energy enrichment activities to try with cats. im always looking for more ways to be involved with my cat but she is 3 and very high energy and after a long day i often dont have the spoons to chase her around with a toy while she finds new exciting hiding spots to look at it from. this makes me sad :( i dont want her to be understimulated

Food-based enrichment:

Feeder toys are a favorite! But these carry the drawback of requiring cleaning afterwards, so calculate that into your spoons. Some of them are machine washable, so that may be an option if you've got a dishwasher.

Snuffle mats - another favorite, these also require the occasional clean but don't need to be cleaned every time you use them. You can make your own pretty easily. Or, hell, just grab a very cheap bath mat from a dollar store. Your cat won't know the difference.

Scatter feeding - literally just. Throw a handful of treats or kibble on the floor or down the stairs. Literally, that's it. Calculate clean-up into your spoons because cats aren't reliable vacuums. But it keeps them busy for a few minutes.

Toy based enrichment:

Get a cardboard box. Crinkle up some brown wrapping paper or whatever cheap paper you've got on hand and put it in the box. Congrats, you've now combined your cats two favorite things in the world: boxes and paper. For extra fun, add catnip (or silvervine or whatever your cat's drug of choice is), toys, or treats.

Ripple Rug: this is actually a specific product. It's literally a square of carpet or rug with velcro on the bottom that attaches to ANOTHER square of carpet or rug. It's fairly stiff. The idea is that cats can dive into it and make their own little tunnels. My cats LOVE it. You can probably recreate it quite cheaply using cheap rugs or carpet, tbh.

Cat crinkle mats: again, this is something fairly easily made at home. You get some cheap crinkly plastic and sew it into two old washclothes or something similar. Congrats. You now have a little mat your cats can sit on, bat around, and crinkle. You can also just buy them in multiple sizes. Many have catnip in them too.

Paper bags: cats just love paper bags. Be sure you remove the handles to make sure no one gets their head stuck. Most cats entertain themselves pretty well with bags.

Cat springs: those little plastic springs are a favorite, and so are those cheap rabbit-fur covered mouse toys.

Cat race track toys: another favorite.

Cardboard cat scratchers: the cardboard ones require MORE cleaning because they leave little bits of cardboard all over the place, but it is kind of nice that you can just throw them out when your cat is done. Any scratcher is good, though. I've listed cardboard for ease of clean-up and because it's a very popular material for cats.

Cat tunnels: like bags and boxes, cats just love tunnels.

I'm not a big fan of laser pointers or robotic toys. I haven't seen many cases of light chasing disorders in cats compared to dogs, but it's an issue enough that I don't readily recommend them. I also don't really recommend robotic toys because a lot of them make noises that cats don't like. If your cat enjoys these things, congrats; I just don't find them universally popular enough to really recommend. But I had to mention them, because if I didn't, my notes would be full of 'but what about Product X!!".

I've tried to keep this list to low cost toys and activities. There are other things you can do, like installing wall shelves or getting a big cat tree, but these things are more likely to be expensive, either in terms of money, time, or energy. I wanted to focus on low cost activities that I felt were more accessible to disabled folks.

[thecoffeelorian]

Hold My Hand (Crosshair x Reader)

Premise: This is the third installment of...what should have been a one-shot, but here we all are a long while later, so it's probably best to just keep on going down this road to see where it leads. Anyway, Part One was Understanding and Part Two was Red Flags, so if you haven't checked those out yet, feel free to do so now.

Story Notes: One small thing about the tagging system, if I didn't say it already: I hope to make a few more updates for this series, so just in case I am, in fact, keeping the folks who want to read and reblog in the loop, please don't hesitate to do so when you are able. If I'm not...you're welcome to ignore this from here on in, and I'll eventually stop tagging you altogether. Thank you, goodnight, and good luck.

Special Notes: As ever, the header was made by @stars-n-spice. Also, little shout-out to @talesfrommedinastation for inspiring me to use a form of sign language between two characters, one that was originally invented for speaking in deep space when the commlinks didn't work, and also mostly inspired by something similar in "The Expanse".

No-Pressure Tags:

@momojedi @moonstrider9904 @calicos-clones @bigboypantstime @youreababboon

@tink1221 @ms-grassi @galaxyglittering @ah-prick24 @littlefeatherr

@donntmindmejustwandering @housepartyfortwo @beatthisbi @urmomsmattress @mysticalgalaxysalad

@groguandthebadbatch @pendustt @weirdest-lights @flyiingsly @courtney0-0

@emmaflame1336 @briefexpertdeer @shadow-rebel-223 @littlemammoth69 @theosb0rnway

@shazkenobi @reader6898 @maxims-multifandom-corner @monster20045 @darkangel4121

@nevadastarrsworld @thatacefr @crosshair-lover @bennieandthejets-5 @jamine-boi-124

@lani03sstuff @ttzamara @beezez-blog @myeternalsin @sublimeclodkidcolor

@nish-xiii @ash04w3 @clonereeses @lllllmm @melymigo and anybody else looking for a tale that doesn't end in disaster.

🩶 It's my fault.

🩶 This one simple sentence, this confession, jolts through both you and Omega like a blaster bolt. It's more than enough to make the tears start forming in her eyes, and the questions to build up in yours.

🩶 He doesn't seem to be done talking yet, though, because what spills out of him next speaks volumes.

🩶 "I thought they would--protect us, but they lied. They've been lying this whole time."

🩶 By this point, his hand is shaking so much that you don't think about it, that you don't dare to ask any more questions for fear of making an already painful thing several times worse.

🩶 Rather, you're just moving in to take a gentle hold upon it, if only to offer him whatever comfort that you can.

🩶 To your own comfort, though, he doesn't flinch, pull away, or start telling you off in front of Omega even though you would understand perfectly if he did.

🩶 Instead, whatever's causing all of his ills today eases just a little at the moment of contact with you, because the next thing you both know, his panicked breathing is slowing down and his tense posture starts to loosen up.

🩶 This moment can't last very long, though, because as Omega quietly reminds you, she still has to call home and she thought she heard voices calling in the distance. There is literally no time to lose.

🩶 In turn, you don't mind bringing both of your guests to the old spaceport that used to be your family's business during the war, but since then has had to be converted to a ship repair shop like several more wartime industries have done on your planet. However, there are still a few things you can use here, because you haven't exactly let everything go to rust.

🩶 One of these things is the communication console, a somewhat rusted thing, but still able to access encrypted links like the one on board the Marauder. It's here that Omega hears the voices of her surviving brothers for the first time in what feels like forever, and like any other missing child would do, she's able to let a few relieved sobs out of her system.

🩶 She's also composed herself enough to plan her next few steps, for her next move is to go straight to one of Ryloth's moons for a pick-up...or so she tells the two men on the other end of this line.

🩶 You can only hope that this means she wants to surprise them, guaranteeing two returns of lost family members for the price of one flight, as the old sale slogan goes.

🩶 At this same time, though, Crosshair's got a surprise of his own, for as Omega's busy talking, he's busy signaling to you without saying a word. It's the old spacewalk sign language, the one developed by the first workers within the asteroid belt for when their comms stopped working...and right now, he's telling you that he won't be following Omega down the ramp when the time comes.

🩶 How come, you sign back, a look of confusion upon your face. Don't you want to go with her?

🩶 They'll be looking for two clones traveling together, not separately...and besides, I already know I won't be welcome there.

🩶 Oh...? And where do you plan to go, if not with her?

🩶 I'll improvise. Now...act natural.

🩶 Both of you fall awkwardly silent as Omega finishes her comm; then skips back to you with the most heartbreaking of hopeful grins.

🩶 "They're coming to pick us up," she announces, twirling around in place like a happy little service droid. "We get to go home, home, home!"

🩶  "That's--that's great, Omega," Crosshair manages, forcing out the words as though trying not to choke on them. "Just--don't forget not to leave anything behind, all right?"

🩶  That's your cue to signal to them to go back to the house with you--you definitely have to hide the extra used dishes and utensils until further notice, what decent person wouldn't--but before you do, you're careful to make sure that the shop sign stays upon the word "Closed". The last thing anybody needs right now is some pushy customer demanding service.

🩶  Once you take all of the necessary precautions, though...you have to take just one more look around this little home of yours, if only to reassure yourself that you'll return to it soon, if not eventually.

🩶  After all, just like your mother used to say, the galaxy can be a huge, scary place.

[sheydgarden]

Question: I am ethnically Jewish, though not culturally (complicated family history). I read your book on the roots of Antisemitic origins of Solomonic magic and wanted to ask:

If working with the Ars Goetia as entities themselves may be problematic: could reframing and restructuring the paradigms to re-imagine the listed demons and create new demons to work alongside be a better solution? I do enjoy the recent demonological work I’ve started but seeing some of the origins, it makes me wonder if my workings could be adjusted by basing my rituals in values I personally have and reframing it away from the work found in Solomonic Texts.

You had said in your Zine you yourself had worked to strip the Antisemitism from the Solomonic Imagery and parts of the practice and I was wondering if you had any advice on that process because I do find it fulfilling to ritually work alongside entities like this but am wondering how to do it in a better way?

hi! i'm gonna answer this one publicly so that i have something to refer folks to here when they ask me this same question (which i've gotten before), hope that's cool! also, apologies for the length of reply, but that's what happens when you open this particular box with me, haha.

i'm just gonna give it to you straight (and this is my opinion, of course, i know there are plenty who disagree with me! but you asked me) - i don't think there's anything you can do to "Solomonic" magic to render it not antisemitic. the antisemitism isn't a nasty veneer you can scrape off to get at some good stuff underneath - it's baked in. the entire premise of a book about a "powerful Jewish magician" who worked with Christian demons (who themselves are just a mish-mash of names & concepts from various cultures) is antisemitic. in the case of the Lesser Key specifically, we're talking about a book most likely written & distributed by Christian clergy (that's who had access to the education & tools required!) who were at the same time actively contributing to Jewish genocide. it's the foundation of the thing.

when i talk about my sigil artwork that uses grimoire-inspired imagery, i'm talking purely about holding onto an aesthetic, a visual language of lines. i can take out antisemitic visual signifiers easily because i'm only working with an image out of context. i don't think it's possible to remove antisemitism from the concept or the practice of Solomonic/ceremonial magic, at least not without completely altering it at its core - and then why bother basing anything on it at all? (i'm a Jew, not a western occultist, so i haven't tried)

i think really considering what exactly it is you've been getting out of this might make things clearer for you in terms of how you want to proceed. if it's the "Jewish" flavor, there's a whole world of actual Jewish folklore & mysticism, complete with demons of our own - you mention having Jewish ancestry, but not being culturally or religiously Jewish, so i would definitely recommend making a connection to Jewish community & learning a lot before you dive into any kind of Jewish spirituality. if it's just the concept of calling on entities via ritual work - why these? why not your own inventions? the demons listed in the Lesser Key were pretty much invented during the Renaissance, even if some of their names come from older sources. occultists combined, embellished & invented them to fit into a Christian theology, using a faux-Jewish origin story in order to lend them both more credibility (in a time when Jews were literally equated with demons!) and some spicy exoticism. i'm pretty baffled as to why so many folks still want to base a spiritual practice on that, beyond the fact that they're considered cool and/or sufficiently edgy if you grew up Christian.

if i'm being more blunt here than i was in the zine, it's because we're solely in "personal opinion" territory, and my honest opinion is that whatever folks find enjoyable about ceremonial magic could be better put to use in a framework that leaves Judaism alone entirely (and either honestly calls itself Christian - which it historically is - or creates a new cultural/religious system to operate under). i hope this was helpful - thanks for taking the time to read it!

[maya-chirps]

[ID: a screenshot of a reblog by @/fleurtygurl. It reads: "Omg instant follow! I need more Philippines facts in my life!!! 😭😭😭

If you have any facts about filipino myths? That would be amazing. But also I will literally eat up everything you post!

I'm in desperate need of reconnecting with my roots, but I've been so busy that I haven't had any time to do any extensive research...."

/End ID]

@fleurtygurl Decided to make a whole post based on this because I loooove talking about Filipino mythology and researching more about different mythologies within the country and I also hadn't gone around to looking through the things I want to learn about.

Filipino mythology is a pretty huge umbrella term considering that there are hundreds of cultures in the archipelago that have different beliefs, practices, and traditions and especially before the Spanish colonial period. I won't get too deep into it, but basically if you want to learn about some grander pantheon or some general overarching compendium of beliefs that all precolonial Filipinos believe in, you won't be getting that sine historically, Filipinos were not a unified people, but a bunch of different countries and communities that were placed under one governing body for easy management for the Spanish crown.

With so many Filipino cultures and, by extension, mythologies, the best way with trying to reconnect with your heritage, it might be best to figure out which ethnic group you may have connections too and start researching from there. In my case, for example, I would look up both Tagalog mythology, Bikolano mythology, and Ilokano mythology in order to get a good grasp of the mythology of my roots since I'm mixed Tagalog, Bikolano, and Ilokano, and those three have widely different beliefs and especially with folk religion.

I guess the main issue with this is a lot of sources related to Filipino myths are often difficult to find, are unreliable, or plainly just non-existent. Lots of books are often out of circulation and print, or if they are still in print, they are often only sold by specific retailers and often cost a lot of money. Research papers are locked behind a paywall or are only available through specific e-libraries you can only access if you have an affiliation with a university. Online articles may be unreliable and source places that are hard to fact check. Blogs, honestly including mine to be frank, may parrot wrong information from other websites and articles, with their best feature being the possibility that they may have come from oral sources but those are also very few.

Honestly, I was about to go on a long tangent about discussing at least the Tagalog pantheon and mythology because it had a lot of sources I've seen online, but after hours of research, I've found out that there was also a lot of unreliable sources in terms of information about that so I've decided against rambling on further about it for now.

(I am still going to write about my findings on the Tagalog pantheon later but after what I've found out, I might take some time to look through a lot more primary sources which means colonial era texts and harder to find archived works.)

I will say that a good way to connect with more general Filipino folklore outside of mythology itself is probably consuming media that explores folklore and traditional beliefs. I recommend Trese, a Filipino comic turned series on Netflix if you want to see Filipino cryptids being used in a modern-day story made by Filipinos. There are also other comics that focus on Filipino mythology like The Mythology Class and its sequel The Children of Bathala by Arnold Arre.

There's also series and movies that take inspiration from Filipino folklore and mythology with Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalya (English name Niko: The Journey to Magika) as my go-to suggestion. I had also heard good reviews for Amaya, a series created by GMA 7, but honestly I don't think the series clicked with me.

[dinoburger]

I feel a little bit vindicated in my unease towards some of the so called activist groups too after dipping my toes into a few organisations - there's definitely those who are looking for opportunities to sell politics back to you rather than actively invest time to the causes they claim to support

that's not to say you should always be cynical or that you need to find a perfect island of group politics, I found some of the organisations that outwardly seemed meandering and unkempt had stronger overall tactics and insight into local government, as opposed to others that maintain an "active" face but spend a lot of time spinning their wheels without going anywhere.

I find my preferred organisations do reach out to involve other groups too, rather than acting as insular cults of personality.

I think of them as "recruiters", much in the way of religious organisations or bogus charities. They tend to read off a script, seem hard pressed to sell you something (expensive conference tickets or a subscription of some kind) and apart from doing a lot of talking and trying to make their presence known, don't really seem that engaged to whatever issue they claim to represent, as much as a more nebulous idea of an ideology.

In retrospect it feels even more uncomfortable to realise, the uni student who needled me about if being queer impacts my support for the working class was using a tactic we usually see on the far right:

getting someone impassioned by making them argue, then bringing them into the fold as an outlet.

They like to get you talking, but not about any particular next steps, just more broad discussion they can use to sell you on themselves.

That being said, I have the luxury to be choosey because I both have time and access to engage a variety of people. I don't think everyone involved in these recruiter groups means harm, it might be all they have access to, in which case using the space and resources available is more important.

I'm also not going to completely write off the merit of having folks out there willing to do the hard sell to those who haven't been exposed to Marx and socialism and all the rest before.

Personally, I will say that being preached to at length with the intent to drain my wallet, sitting there thinking "isn't there something better we could be doing right now?" as my only exposure, didn't exactly inspire me to become more active or engaged.

This is exactly what is meant by the insistence that your best bet is to look to those most involved, indigenous lead groups for indigenous causes, Arab lead groups for Arab causes, queer lead groups for queer causes and groups that are expansive and diverse for bigger causes - you might actually find people with strong ideas of where we need to push next.

I don't think we should entirely discount anyone willing to step forward and speak out, but we should be wary that something being branded as "activist" doesn't strictly make it so in any situation. It's not a matter of waiting to be told what we need to do but seeking ourselves where we could be most effective.

It makes me a little sad to think these younger people might've felt stuck in the same way, but were convinced to stay with one group and become recruiters rather than exploring their options.

[skaruresonic]

I don't really think seniority matters as much as the willingness to research and play the games. I'm not sure if I feel comfortable calling myself a "veteran" fan, because while I technically have played a lot of Sonic games, my knowledge base doesn't feel comprehensive enough outside of the general range of the early Adventure games to warrant discussion. Can't talk about TSR or Riders, for instance, because racing games bore me and so I never finished them. Or '06, which I refuse to finish on the basis of it being an utter soul-suck of a game. I've been a Sonic fan since 2002, though sometimes I forget that fact because I go through "gap years" in which I feel distant from the series for some reason or another. Back in 2006-2010 it was the inability to play new releases because broke. In 2014, it was Boom, which everyone was sort of... weird... about. Nowadays it's the alienation I feel for the utter hype surrounding IDW, Prime, and Frontiers. This ride is for life, but it's not always a smooth one.

In addition, real life needs attending to, my knowledge of the games tends to become hazy and vague after a while, and I don't necessarily have the time to play and refresh my memory. There are also details about the games that I've overlooked the first time around, such as the fact that Sonic and Shahra both call the antagonist "the" Erazor Djinn multiple times throughout SatSR, implying his name is a title, as opposed to fandom which simply refers to him as "Erazor Djinn," implying it is a name.

I've been in the privileged position of growing up with my preferred era of games. During my childhood, a new Sonic game would come out roughly every year. These days it's harder to access that era of games because some of them, like Shuffle or Battle, are abandonware.

While these roadblocks are real and valid, on the other hand... In this age of having practically any information you want to know available at your fingertips, it's no excuse to just Say Whatever you want about those games. There's the inability to access the game, and then there's the refusal to meet it halfway. Far too often you encounter the latter over the former.

Certainly, I won't pretend to know about every single Sonic game there is. That's why I don't talk about them. I talk instead about the handful of games I do know about. Hopefully, I might say something interesting about them every once in a while. hello yes can I gush about those semi-transparent reflections in SA2 DC I promise I'm normal about it

The other day @woodchipp and I were talking about how modern fandom seems to base their impressions of a game on "vibes" rather than playing the games for themselves. This is how you get wild takes divorced from reality, when folks value aesthetics over accuracy. In any case, my stance has always been that you don't necessarily have to know every single little detail about any given game; you just need to know what you're talking about in a general overarching sense. I'll know you haven't played the game when you neglect basic, unmissable plot points.

For example: "Tails found Emerl on the beach in Battle" tells me you haven't played Battle, because Sonic finding Emerl on the beach is what kickstarts the entire game. "SA2 never shows us where Shadow stole the Chaos Emerald from" tells me you haven't played SA2, because the game specifies that detail twice - once in recap, once during a cutscene - and you would have known that had you been paying attention.

[taviokapudding]

Someone asked me why BTS haven't made an official statement and I-

My brothers, sisters, and pals in kpop hell, the SK military and government are besties with the US and Israel. Like SK solders could train in Israel and vice versa if both governments wanted. Also while all 7 are starting or in military service, they'll be monitored by a government who's had beef with them for 10 years and no protection from UN security on top of not being together 24/7 like they've been

Like I genuinely don't blame them for not making individual/a group statement (nor really any SK citizen who identifies as he/him and will do/are doing/just recently finished required military service) for their recent silence (they have like 10 years of making it clear + have a history of doing donations privately that get leaked) given the circumstances; especially after that one bitch pretended to be military medical staff & "vaccinated" Jin. Plus there's like 3+ decades of using SK celebrities being used as scapegoats by the SK government. There's socio-economic & political history around BTS & kpop as a whole that I don't expect locals and 70% of the international kpop community (who really only came about post Gangnam Style) to know because of the SK media propaganda + twitters downfall destroying access to 2 decades of it

Then you gotta remember BTS are a special case because they were invited to the White House to meet genocidal Joe & are still very much hated by the English speaking music industry- whatever they say can cost people across the industry their mf jobs; they, their lawyers, staff, and BH need to be all together & not under mandatory government surveillance to say something at the end of the day- and that's gonna take a while. This isn't a 1:1 situation of untouchable US citizens like Beyoncé, Rihanna, & Taylor Swift who can do stuff freely because of monetary protection & choose not too, SK plays by different rules.

The real question we should all should be asking is which SK celebrities/idols/infulencers have completed their requirements, have no ties to the SK government tourism division's money, and aren't in a unit who must wait for the rest to finish their requirements that are being silent? Those are the folks you should be actively not giving money nor supporting anymore.

I'm calling it now, BTS probably donated a fuck ton in secret like they did BLM and we won't find out until a leak happens or after all of them are done with their military service time.

[essayofthoughts]

shuffles through my arsenal of random words. “monachopsis”?

Oh Ho, a New Word.

Per my google search:

monachopsis - n. the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach—lumbering, clumsy, easily distracted, huddled in the company of other misfits, unable to recognize the ambient roar of your intended habitat, in which you’d be fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.

The twins in Syngorn. Actually, specifically, might relate well to an idea I mentioned to @blorbologist for the Tiefling AU, because...

Because the Tiefling AU is Blorb's idea and Blorb subscribes to the headcanon that one of the twins is trans, I am going with that for this AU too. And... the elves are actually canonically pretty good about gender weirds - Corellon is non-binary, depicted as varying genders or usually as androgynous, right? But, if you read the Campaign Guide, it seems that while they accept genderqueer folk fine, they seem to expect them to achieve transition through prayer to the Archheart which you know, is time consuming and may not work and could well cause a whole load of judgement.

So the thoughts I ended up having over all of this comes in two chunks and one is sort of spoilery so I shan't share that but the other one is what I'd do for this SO:

The twins figure out Vax is trans pretty early on and it's fine in Byroden - it's mostly not elven so half-elves are liked there and they're kids so Vax being more of a boy bothers basically no one. And Syldor doesn't actually give a shit about them so when he picks them up Vax has already socially transitioned, introduces himself as such and Syldor never looks any deeper into it.

And they get to Syngorn and find out that sure, elves are generally better about gender weirds than they expect but that Syngornian elves expect prayer to the Archheart to lead to physical transition and that to do otherwise is frowned upon.

And they've figured out that Syldor doesn't like them much and that while sure, Vax being trans and gaining the Archheart's favour enough to transition would probably get Syldor's favour, if Vax doesn't manage that, he's not going to be sympathetic. He'll just think of it as another of their failures. And they're about 10 or so, and half-elves, so they've got a little while before puberty kicks in and so they make a Plan.

They're new enough to Syngorn and haven't yet hacked off Syldor enough that he avoids them so much so he sometimes takes them along on diplomatic jobs - not always, but they're not in full-time training yet and Vex is tutoring Vax along in learning Elvish, so sometimes they join him. And Vax is good at stealing already, and they have a small allowance, and Vex is good at people - they find someone both able to provide Vax the means to physically transition and willing to if paid.

This unfortunately means they're out all night; Syldor is furious with them for vanishing and he forbids them from joining him on trips again. The twins don't care - Vax is how he wants to be, and Syldor never found out the truth. That's all they needed.

And so - that's what I'd write for this. Vax realising that his being trans arguably means he should be liked in Syngorn but that letting that be known means that he'd have to struggle through the one socially permitted way of transitioning and wouldn't receive any help or sympathy if he struggled, that he'd be looked down on more for that, and that if he then went through a more accessible method he'd be judged for that - so instead taking that method first and not telling anyone because in Syngorn there's no way for half-elves to be treated fairly. No way for them to fit in.

(okay fine a small spoiler for the second half of the thoughts: Tiefling AU Percy has also had his body changed, in this case against his will, and has dysphoria from that. Something for the boys to discuss)

send me a made-up fic title and i'll tell you what i would write to go with it

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

thank you so much for having the balls to point out the "ego aspect" in regards to the AI Debate, the whole thing (minus the legal issues) has screamed insecurity to me from the get-go tbh. like the idea that a Mere Machine can do what they do threatens some people's self-image. idk. it's definitely worth thinking about at least

I think there are indeed some very serious concerns about theft and lack of consent given for art to be utilized by the tech, and it's appalling how corporations are using it as another way to disenfranchise workers. That said...yeah, I think there's something a lot of us need to unpack here, too.

A lot of people are comparing AI to NFTs as a grift, and unfortunately that just doesn't seem to be the case for me, having actually interacted with text chat AI tech. I think a lot of folks haven't really explored AI yet, and aren't really aware of what it's capable of. They just see random images or see other people debating it. AI tech is in my mind going to become a normal part of gaming. In fact, had it not been utilized by corporations to replace people, some of us in fandom might have experienced it from gaming somewhere down the line and been stoked about what it can do. I think NFTs are rediculous. I think AI has the potential to be awesome, but we are building it in a world where it can't really live up to it's potential because it's being held hostage by rich exploiters.

I think if the tech develops enough that we can make it fully open sourced tech (that we can run on typical PCs) we can all have access to, it could be pretty awesome.

[twinfools]

Hey I really hate sending anon asks because I believe in transparency and honesty especially with the internet giving some anonymity already but I'm not ready to share this with anyone, even almost everyone I'm close with. I'm considering phalloplasty as a- um- genderfuck and I have some questions about it.

I'm in Canada and I'm not sure where and how you accessed your surgery so it might be different. I wanted to know if you need to have glansplasty (I think that's what you called it) and vaginectomy (i almost definitely spelled this wrong😅) to have phallo. This might be a silly question because there's lots of ways to do most surgeries but it seems like in Canada the surgeons require it either because they don't know how else to do it or they just don't want to. Which brings me to my next question.

Are surgeons typically non binary friendly? I haven't had an issue with top surgeons so far but I'm nervous that this will be gatekept differently. There's a weird uptick in stigmatization of pursuing transition goals from within my local nonbinary community and I no longer identify as nonbinary because of it and there's been stigma from within transition support groups towards nonbinary people but it's died down recently.

I'm anxious about this impacting the way surgeons interact with me as well as reaching out and asking questions from my peers. Do you have any advice or insight on where to start? Thank you for reading this far and I hope this comes off as kind and respectful.

Glansplasty is aesthetic and would be optional. Have you seen surgery photos of phallo before glandplasty? Dr. Crane (the surgeon I went to) has photos on his website and it might be a good idea to get a sense of what phallo without glansplasty looks like if you’re unsure! Vaginectomy isn’t an absolute requirement but may be required in some cases (for example, some surgeons will require vaginectomy if you are getting urethral lengthening due to risk of complications— again this varies surgeon to surgeon and even person to person based on body habitus).

If you are in Canada your funded pathway for surgery will be specific to your province. BC and the Yukon access through a surgery center in Vancouver and the rest of the country accesses through GRS Montreal. Ontario residents are able to access out of country or through Montreal. I’m speaking broadly of course but hopefully this paints a bit of a general picture.

I think among surgeons there is a growing recognition of non binary/gender diverse access to surgery. Of course I can’t say whether you will have an affirming experience with a surgeon but I’ve certainly seen an increase in folks who are not binary trans accessing phallo/meta and folks accessing only parts of a procedure or some components and not others (ie: no vaginectomy is increasingly common, no UL, etc). It may be reassuring to look at a surgeon’s website/surgery center’s website and see what language they use to refer to procedures and folks who access them. Of course this doesn’t promise or predict actual competency in supporting non binary folks however it may be a starting point.

It may be helpful to go into your surgery consult with a list of things you want from surgery and things you don’t. It may be the case that there are trade offs that cannot be avoided but in that case your surgeon can help identify what is possible and what might get you closest to your goal.

In terms of community, have you joined any phallo specific peer groups? There are a number on Facebook. They are often highly secure because of the vulnerability of information on there but I’ve found these communities to be by far the best place to learn more about phallo— I’d be happy to share names of groups over DM. I’m binary identified so that has certainly impacted my experience however I know that non binary folks are part of these groups and have seen folks post and engage in dialogue about their experiences. Again I’m sorry I can’t guarantee a positive experience, its terrible to fear how you may be treated based on your identity, you should not have to navigate that. I can say from my personal experiences phallo-specific groups have by far been the most affirming and helpful spaces for me.

[cayrule]

Your post replying about therapists not being helpful is great

Except people cannot afford to bounce around to find a therapist that works

We can't afford trying 10 times, 5 times or even twice. A single session without insurance will cost a minimum of $150 which isn't something most people can just toss around because "oops this mental health professional just doesn't get me"

It is excruciating to find a mental health professional that works for you but is also a. Affordable b. Nearby or offering online sessions and c. Qualified.

And most people simply don't have the time to search either. It's not easy and i think people have the right to vent about the monumental challenge of finding a mental health worker that can actually help them

thanks for your care in responding, and I do agree that it's not easy to "shop around" for therapists; that wasn't really the point I was trying to make, though. my emphasis in that last post was that qualified professionals can be counselors, MFTs, and social workers without having doctorates.

I do want to take a minute and respond to your other concerns, though.

it's an extremely common practice to offer a free shortened first session or consultation regardless of insurance status, and if you haven't been able to access that in the past, I really do recommend you at least give a quick call or email to the provider in question you're considering to ask if you can have a chance to meet before committing to a full session or series of sessions. I understand that some folks may not have the energy or inclination to do that, and I completely understand—it takes a lot of effort to make calls and send emails, period, let alone to strangers. I would encourage folks to keep in mind, though, that it is a common practice to have a small get-to-know-you session before commitment, and if you're unable for whatever reason to make shopping around work, it may not be the right time to pursue therapy, and that's okay. when you have more time/inclination/ability, there are plenty of us out there!

just please keep in mind that we as clinicians are willing to work with you—many offer sliding scale or straight fees that go lower than $150 for a single session (that's a very high estimate, especially for a provisionally licensed provider), and again, free consultations are a thing! take advantage of them! good clinicians are not trying to charge you for no reason. they want to be up-front about what they can offer and assist with, and if you find one that clicks with you, that's fantastic. if it isn't happening right away, I urge you not to give up on your search completely. if you have to wait for whatever reason, wait, but I would encourage you to keep this info in your back pocket.

I completely agree that this is a topic people have every right to vent about—the problem that I had with the original post was the misinformation involved about licensure and qualification. again, the point I was trying to make was not that everyone should spend all their time trying to find a therapist. it's just not that easy for some folks, and again, that's okay.

if this is all new information to you, I urge you to do a little more research into the topic; there's great resources on the web that align with what I have to say here. it does take time and effort to find a provider you click with, so please vent away about that fact—I just ask you to do so in a way that doesn't spread misinformation. it's not the case that every single session costs upwards of $150, and if you are searching for a provider, it would be very hard to find one that is not qualified/licensed and is offering independent services that you might find on a resource like psychologytoday or something. it is illegal to practice unlicensed, so I'm not sure if you mean "has experience in treating people like me" when you say qualified, or if you mean licensed. if it's the former, again, please consider what I have to say here about initial consultations.

I'm happy to talk more if you want to message me. if the experiences with therapy or finding a therapist that you've had in the past have been negative, I'm truly sorry. it's not easy at all to find a provider that works for you, but if you have the ability to do so, I really recommend you don't give up your search. it's worth it.

[evanvanness]

Assorted thoughts on RPGF

Brief background: Ethereum rollup Optimism is doing a massive experiment called Retroactive Public Goods Funding 3. There is over $50m worth of funding (30m of OP, which is trading around $1.75) to be allocated.

"RPGF is just marketing"

How could it not be at least somewhat a marketing game, and I don't think anyone ever intended for it not to be? I don't think the idea was ever that there would be some monastic fasting with silent meditation. With 600+ projects up for funding from 146 badgeholders, it's a big process to go through all 600.

Many of the badgeholders don't even attempt to, they just focus on what they know.

I saw one applicant today complaining that they're being ignored because they're a startup building on Optimism. But can you be impactful if you haven't shipped yet? Have you had impact if no one has heard of you?

It seems inevitable to me that most applicants choose to market themselves, but my stance (as an applicant) is that Week in Ethereum News shouldn't do marketing. It's a newsletter that's been publishing since a few weeks after the DAO fork, so if it needs a case to be made for it, then that would actually be the best case against it.

We don't have any real definition of "public goods"

Academic economist maximalists are in disbelief at the semantics of "public goods." Non-rival and non-exclusive. Words mean things.

But in this case, I think the Optimism folks again have the right idea to just let people vote for who they vote for, and let the argument about what is a public good for Ethereum (and Optimism) take place in the public square (that is, Twitter) and then in the ballot box of RPGF3.

Is an open source security tool worthy of funding, even if it is by a highly profitable and respected security firm? Maybe it is a public good, maybe it isn't. But has it been impactful? Very. Does giving them some money reward good behavior? Of course, and they of all the security firms had the least need to opensource their tool. Does it incentivize more people to do things in the hope they they are seen as impactful?

And then there are plenty of apps and/or companies with plenty of money seeking funding. Is it the money? Is it the recognition? Every case is different. People have different opinions.

The goal is to change the incentives

It's certainly fair to argue over specific cases, but it's also fair to point out that part of the point is to change the incentives.

It certainly feels weird to see Paradigm-funded teams in the round. They close investments by pitching access to their open source teams. They feel like the richest kid in school who sometimes doesn't act like they want to be associated with the rest of us. They often don't play nice with other VCs (because they have so much money that they need to deploy) and sometimes convince teams to take far too much money than would be best for them (again, too much money to deploy).

And heck, I've pointed out before that you could argue that Paradigm is on the verge of controlling most of the standard ETH dev stack. [Also worth noting that they're the lead investor in Optimism.]

But hey, there are also plenty of other VCs who _could_ have funded some of the amazing work that Paradigm has, and basically none of them have. Really, huge credit to Paradigm for that. Plus, if they control the default stack for ETH/OP, maybe worth recognizing their investment and keeping incentives aligned.

[I assume a response will be that the money will go directly to the devs, but I haven't seen anyone say that, and money is fungible, and I'd argue that (to arguably bastardize the Coase Theorem) in this case it theoretically shouldn't matter who the money goes to, though I'd admit that the default is sticky, blah blah blah. Feels like I'm back in economics class.]

Personally I would absolutely allocate to the Paradigm projects if I were a badgeholder, though probably not that much. Which sucks on some level, because I do think all those devs deserve extreme recognition.

What is the nature of impact anyway?

On a personal level, I ask myself this. It's easy to tell myself that Week in Ethereum News is very impactful. There are some people who love it, because it's the exact product they want (usually devs). Eth holders come up to conferences and thank me for convincing them to buy ETH (or not sell it) during bear markets. But there's also plenty of marketing people who blow smoke up my butt about how it's the greatest and then eventually I realize they've never read it. Probably not even once.

And the nature of opensource is that there are plenty of people who could create businesses but are just horrible entrepreneurs (ie, they don't actually make something people want and they don't know how to fnd out what people want by actually charging them for it).

Ouch, muh newsletter is free.

RPGF2 was a gamechanger for Week in Eth News, receiving a substantial amount that went directly to Andrew and has given him runway for awhile (seems impertinent to say how long and to be honest, I don't really know exactly anyway). Before that, I had tired of the ad model, so I was paying Andrew out of pocket. That's obviously not sustainable.

If I'm being candid, I realized long ago that most advertisers in this space want to pump their token on Bankless rather than get the attention of developers inside of Week in Ethereum. Part of the problem is that once people in this space have money to sponsor, they usually hire a marketing director who don't understand developers at all.

So it's not a great business, and personally I am someone who believes that when the market speaks, you should listen.

So I'd been contemplating shutting the newsletter down before RPGF2. If I'm being honest, probably WiEN's future will be determined by RPGF.

What I'm trying to say is that RPGF creates an actual market signal to evaluate whether your open source work is significant or whether you're lying to yourself (because of how many times you stayed up late on Saturday night while jetlagged at a hackathon thinking that it was important that you ship a newsletter, ahem. Yeah, I was probably lying to myself; should've just done a podcast.)

Is RPGF3 done well?

There are mechanics to the RPGF3 game that seem needlessly complex and unclear, plus the rational actor submits 1 second before the deadline. I see some of the public ballots and it doesn't seem to me like they have put much thought into actual impact, but instead try to spread it around to everyone (possibly because they made their ballot public?). Others I know from previous conversations don't have much insight into what applicants have made tons of money from the thing they're applying for and who hasn't - though some say that this shouldn't matter at all!

I'd also note that there's some tension between "Optimism" and "Ethereum" which is natural, and probably fine. Should something explicitly focused on Optimism get more than something about Ethereum? That's for badgeholders to weigh.

There are also almost 150 badgeholders. Law of large numbers suggests it's probably reasonably good. There are probably people with lots of votes who will not get a lot of money (everyone knows them but doesn't think it's impactful) and some who barely meet the 17 minimum votes necessary to get funded, who will get a lot because those 17 voters think they deserve a lot.

"Comparison is the thief of joy"

What I'm trying to say is that RPGF creates an actual market signal to evaluate whether your open source work is significant or whether you're lying to yourself

Apparently I'm only a few paragraphs down but I'm already quoting myself.

To be honest, RPGF or Gitcoin Grants is scary. I don't enjoy any of them. I know how much work I've put into the thing (now it's Andrew, to be clear), but nobody else seems to.

RPGF or Gitcoin Grants recipients that I've talked to mostly don't enjoy the process. Some really hate it. People who haven't been in the thick of it don't seem to understand how much many of us intensely do not enjoy it.

But...like I said, maybe because this is one of the few times that the market is speaking? Maybe 7+ years of Week in Ethereum News is only impactful as the guy who wrote a few blog posts on rollups a couple years ago? It's important to be honest with yourself, and from the start I said that my goal was that the newsletter should exist until it wasn't necessary anymore.

Kudos to Optimism

At its best, Ethereum is about experimenting with what we can do in terms of collaboration and coordination. RPGF is Ethereum at its best, so kudos to Optimism

[college-girl199328]

The 82-year-old says he wants that suffering to end. He wants to do it legally, painlessly, in a way that respects his loved ones. He wants medical assistance in dying.

But like many Canadians who suffer from mental illnesses that their doctors have been unable to successfully treat, Scully has had to wait.

The Liberal government passed legislation in 2021 that would expand eligibility to patients whose only condition is a mental disorder developed. Last month, it hastily legislated another year of delay.

Scully said in an interview that the wait is beyond agonizing. "I have utter contempt for the panels and the government that has delayed the application of (assisted dying)," Scully said. "They can't make up their minds. That's the reason they kick the can down the road."

The Liberal government's decision to expand medical assistance to people with mental illness as a sole underlying condition has sparked a wide range of reactions in Canada, which is set to join just a few in granting access for this reason.

Opponents, including some disability advocates, have expressed concern over whether it will further open the door to abuse and coercion and that people will choose to end their lives when to support, including housing and mental health care.

There are also concerns over a lack of consensus among medical experts over whether a mental illness is "grievous and irremediable" to meet the criteria for medical assistance in dying.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to repeal the expansion should he become prime minister. Supporters argue the move will give autonomy and dignity to people who have exhausted all other treatment options and that not doing so would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by discriminating against those with a disability.

Scully, a former journalist who covered 35 war zones in a lengthy and award-winning career, also suffers from severe spinal stenosis and chronic kidney disease. But these physical ailments do not qualify him for assisted death.

As the law stands, on March 17, 2024, Scully will finally be eligible to apply, though he expressed doubt that the government will follow through on its commitment.

He already has the paperwork. But he said he's too frustrated to start filling out the forms. "I haven't touched them might rip them up." Scully described his condition as "non-stop, incessant, incurable and his life as "joyless" due to severe mental illness. He said he feels the government has backed him into a corner.

"That's a hell of a choice they've imposed upon me, and I presume other folks: (assisted dying) or suicide." Dr. Chantal Perrot, a family physician who does assessments and delivers medically assisted deaths, says it's "awful for patients to be in a position of thinking that they have a choice between continuing to suffer in a major way versus taking their own lives."

The latter also "contributes to the suffering of family and friends who love them," Perrot said. "For most people, suicide is a very isolated and lonely act, and that's not how a dignified end of life should be."

She said there is no need to further delay the patient is assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the unique particularities of their lives and circumstances and wishes," she said.

"We will carry out those assessments as we have assessments for all the other patients requesting (assisted dying), and we will do it with the integrity and thoroughness that we apply to all of our medical work."

Scully said he discounts the need for consultation with doctors and family before accessing assisted death said the situation has caused him to lose faith in the system and question whether it has his best interests at heart.

Ultimately, he said: "I am the one who should decide if I should die." Perrot said that since medically assisted deaths have become available, the diversity of people accessing them is "as remarkable as the breadth of the population." But she can't always do assessments because many people do not qualify under the current rules.

"It's difficult telling people that they have to wait yet another year," she said, in the case of those whose irremediable condition is a mental illness.

In a statement, Justice Minister David Lametti said he knows that the delay is frustrating and disappointing. But he doubled down on the saying it is the "prudent path forward" so the government can consider expert recommendations and practitioners can get up to speed on complex cases.

"Medical assistance in dying is a complex and deeply personal issue for many people and their families," Lametti said. "It is critical that we get this right."

Many other patients are frustrated because of eligibility concerns beyond the current framework. For Ron Posno, who has mid-stage Alzheimer's and dementia, assisted dying is still out of reach -- even though he can foresee wanting to access it when his condition becomes mentally and physically debilitating.

Because when it gets to that point, he may not be able to lucidly articulate to practitioners that an assisted death is what he wants, as is currently required by law.

A special joint committee of Parliament released a report in February recommending that the government allow people with an incurable medical condition, disease or disorder that leads to incapacity to put in an advance request for assisted dying.

"My wife and I are living very well at this time of our lives, and we're doing what we can do," Posno said. "But part of that relief is the belief that I will access (assisted dying) when it becomes available."

Posno said he has already gone through all the processes for accessing the program, including having his request reviewed by an independent doctor. He said he has been assured by his medical providers an assisted death would be provided if the federal government decided to add advance requests to the system.

There is no sign that Ottawa is moving toward that any time soon, but Posno is still optimistic that he will be able to die in the dignified way that he wants to.

"It's a beacon of hope for those of us who are facing something we do not want to deal with," he said. "It gives us a way out, a beacon of hope."

[alkcomics]

Hello, happy pride month if you celebrate! I was wondering if you would ever consider doing another run of the full spectrum therapy box-set? I adore your work and would love to own a physical copy. The box set was just particularly gorgeous as well. Thank you!

Aw thanks! I've gotten a few of these messages from folks and I'm very flattered there's still interest 🖤

I guess I'll talk about what's been going on behind the scenes with F-ST.

Since January of 2020, I've been querying agents to get it published. No bites. Sent it to a handful of editors at different comic publishers. No bites. As you can imagine, it's been frustrating. But that's how publishing goes.

After two years of rejections, I started querying it as an unfinished pitch: shorter, more condensed, a slightly different angle on the plot events, but recognizably the same book. I've gotten much better reception from that submission -- a few exciting 'revise and resubmit' requests, none of which I have heard back from since resubmitting. But still, no bites.

My pivot now is to start pitching other projects to agents instead. I'll always have F-ST (finished or newly outlined version) in my back pocket.

This is all to say, because I've been actively querying F-ST for publication since I finished it, I haven't wanted to keep stock and sell it myself. I've also had my shop closed and not gone to conventions because of the pandemic. As long as I still have the aim of traditional publication for the project, I likely* won't be selling it myself. My 'fuck it's point with that all may be soon, or never.

* If I end up doing some more conventions in 2023, I've considered doing a chunker of an omnibus printing. But honestly, it's expensive to get books made right now; even with the single volumes it was hard to find a price point to sell that covered cost, let alone made me some profit. Despite that, I want to say that I have no plans to take the comic off-line. If Tapas gets weird, I can host it on my own website (alkcomics.com). So it'll remain accessible in its unedited form (the book print varies slightly) as long as possible.

Again, I really thank y'all for your continued interest in the work. It means a lot. Happy Pride 🖤🌈✨✌️

---

Post script:

In case it sounds too much like I'm complaining about publishing Ls, I do have to say: even though nothing's worked out for F-ST, going through this process has helped me build relationships in the industry and has gotten a lot of other comics work. Creative careers are seldom linear. If you're also in this boat: don't give up, keep rowing, enjoy the sights along the way because the route to your destination may change with the winds and the currents.

[twobitcathedral]

This post made its way across my dash recently, with no critical commentary appended, and it struck me as such a dangerous way of thinking. You know what makes you racist? A whole spectrum of things, from being actively white supremacist to holding unexamined beliefs about white supremacy and its relationship to economic structures. You know what doesn't automatically make you racist? Being transgender and being on the very wide spectrum of accessing medical care to support that identity.

I understand the point that OP is making-- choosing to pursue medical care related to transitioning can and often does intersect with widespread, oppressive cultural beliefs about how bodies are supposed to look under white supremacist late capitalism.

But also:

Everyone in the US lives under late capitalism. It's a hermetically sealed, all encompassing system that's very difficult/impossible to escape. I'm not going to begrudge someone a surgery or a pill or an injection or a gel that transforms their day to day life from unbearably painful and dangerous in this world that we live in to bearable and even maybe joyful.

I know a lot of folks who are BIPOC *AND* have had gender-affirming surgeries *AND* do incredible work for their communities. These things aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, being able to acquire medical support for transitioning was, in many of their cases, a huge factor in them having the mental and emotional capacity to do work for the benefit of other people.

I understand the profound pain of wanting or needing something that is broadly inaccessible. I understand it from a deep, personal perspective that comes from growing up not just working class, but nonworking poor, frequently without access to things like food and heat, and sometimes without access to shelter. The thing that makes you a good person is not begrudging someone else a thing that you can't have, but doing work so that more and more people can access it.

I get that the broad definition of tr*scum are people who hold tight to the necessity of dysphoria for someone to "count" as trans, but I don't think many people like that exist in reality (reality here meaning the broader world beyond tumblr). Instead it feels like a dangerous strawman that creates a target out of other transfolks, instead of targeting the larger racist, classist, sexist structures that perpetuate these standards.

Rage about the absolute unfair flaming garbage heap that is capitalism is real. The deep pain of being unable to access things that you want and need is real. And unfair beauty standards rooted in classist and colonialist ideals are absolutely real. But it's incredibly important to work to understand these things with nuance, call in your comrades who haven't done the work to understand their internalized biases, and focus your rage at the real enemy instead of other transfolks.