#monochromatic rainbow flag

[gay-poet-gabriel]

dally and johnny being gay idk

HNGHHHGH

[november-narwhal]

Sometimes you put together a cute outfit and then find out that work's Happy Hour is Pride themed, full of color and rainbows and your cute outfit looks like this:

Full on monochromatic, black and white, but at least I match my flag.

[teal-skull]

Stede: Hoist the rainbow flag!

Lucius: sir, I think you mean the black flag?

Stede: no, Lucious. Monochromatic-ness is rather dull so I had Frenchie here to sew us yet another, more colorful flag to better represent our company

Frenchie: *holds out a rainbow jolly roger*

[kolajmag]

COLLAGE ON VIEW

The Rainbow Show II

At the Cheltenham Center for the Arts in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, USA 7 September-27 October 2021. "The Rainbow Show II" features over 500 small, monochromatic collages created by members of the Philadelphia CollageWorks. The artist members each created small works in the colors of the rainbow including black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple to represent the Philadelphia LGBTQ flag. "The Rainbow Show II" highlights inclusivity as well as being a symbol of unity, hope and better things to come. MORE

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Kolaj Magazine, a full color, print magazine, exists to show how the world of collage is rich, layered, and thick with complexity. By remixing history and culture, collage artists forge new thinking. To understand collage is to reshape one's thinking of art history and redefine the canon of visual culture that informs the present.

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[princeanxious]

I'm havin a struggle and im gonna ramble about it under a cut:

[[MORE]]

Why is it so gosh dang hard to try and present as male with makeup on. I wanna wear rainbows and my punk monochromes, i wanna have eyeliner so thick and sharp it cuts!! I wanna have black lipstick so dark ive achieved the goth dream, be that damn-near monochromatic dark prince on some days and on others be the gayest lil sunshine prince I can be!! Because doing makeup good gives me enough confidence to want to show my hard work off to people and go outside w/o anxiety!!

But then I pull back from being close to the mirror and realize it utterly ruins my general presentation as a transman(/nb? I'm uh. Not sure abt that possible change atm. Still he/him though). I dont quite care about looking 'manly' or ultra masculine and boyish or however one puts it, but, it ssuckss. Like. It wouldnt be so hard if I could do contours and actually give my face masculine definition would it??(i mean, maybe not. Even then having cotton candy colors and flashy eyeliner still blurrs those lines huh)

But I cant contour. I'm babyfaced. I dont have cheekbones, my chin is a wobbly point, if i tried id literally make my face boxy looking(which. No. Nope. I'd legit look like minecraft steve)

Which is just like >:(( I can pull off the adrogenous thing sans my dramatic makeup choices, but the shape of my face + the full dramatic makeup I love doing just immediately triggers my brain's dysphoria. Not to mention I am a short king here, standing tall at 5'1 w/ a voice that cant raise very high lest it rise in pitch as well, which doesnt help at all w/ the misgendering

Because thats what I dont want to happen, is to be misgendered in public. Ya boi has a beanie w/ his pronouns, love wins, and anxiety pins. My day-to-day hoodie literally says "Sounds Gay I'm In" and 75% of my shirts are gay/trans pride/rainbow themed. I could literally not be more open abt being queer.(though at this point ima get/make a transflag patch and gaypride flag patch to sew onto the shoulders of that hoodie I fear its apparently not clear enough) and just like.

Hnng. Maybe, maybe this gay disaster of a trans prince wants other queers to approach him because he wants to find more of his people to talk to. because hes a bit of a lonely lil prince and is socially stunted and only knows how to make friends through projecting who he is/what he likes through his physical appearance/attire and is also a hopeless demiromantic gay who doesnt understand romance but desprately wants to???

Like hnng how do y'all do it?? ;; I just wanna come off as a gay lil confident prince & flirt with/befriend some fellow queer friends and I dont know how :((

[silvereddaye]

Day 11: Radiance 

Summary: The life of Anakin Skywalker was full of color, but as Darth Vader, all he sees is red.

-- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - --

Once his life was brilliant and full of color. There were the golden hues of the desert complimented by the blues of the sky in his childhood. Then there were the brown robes of the Jedi Order and the greys of Coruscant skyline. This was followed by an explosion of color as he finally was able to explore different planets. Bright purples and vibrant pinks. The soothing green and blue of Naboo was his favorite, which was followed by the garish oranges of Geonosis.

But the one color that haunted him, that he became all too familiar with, was red.

Red blood of the hundreds upon hundreds of slain clone troopers and later Jedi dead by his hands.

Red lava and fires of Mustafar that claimed his body and soul and burnt into a black husk.

Red lightsaber that he channeled his anger and bloodlust through.

Red lenses of his mask that clouded his vision in that hue forevermore.

His world went from a rainbow kaleidoscope to monochromatic in an instant. He didn't mourn the loss of color from his life. Red suited him just fine. Red lava. Red lightsaber. Red blood. Red flags of the Empire he now devoted his life to.

Read the rest on  AO3 // FF.net

@x-tober // @flufftober

[green-ball-of-trash]

Roman in The Closet by Himself!! Part 1

word count: 2202

ship: Prinxiety, Background Logicality, Background Remile, vaguely mention Demus.

part1/part2/part3/part4/?

WARNINGS: self deprecation, depression, repression, non-censored cursing, the word wh*re is used and it not censored, lgbtq+phobia is mentioned in this chapter but not directed at any of the characters.    

summary: Roman has a rough journey with his sexuality, and his crush on a certain little emo~ 

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   Roman had always been enraptured with the concept of love. He could remember watching Disney movies when he was younger, where the prince rescues the princess and they both live happily ever after. 

    Although, he was never really focused on the princess of the story but more so on they heroic prince. He always thought that Prince Phillip was so much more interesting than Arora, but his little child mind couldn’t understand nor explain why that was. 

   Until he was ten years old~

  He had been looking at Disney videos on his ipad, when he discovered a peculiar video with a rainbow flag in the thumbnail. He thought that all the colors on the flag looked pretty, so he decided to click on it. 

   He heard phrases in the video that he had never heard before, such as; gay, trans, homosexaul, bisexual, pansexual, and so many more and he had absolutely no idea what they meant. Even though he had no clue, he watched the entire video. After the video was over, he got out his red notebook with Disney stickers plastered haphazardly all over the front and back cover. 

  He decided to rewatch the video again and write down any words that he didn’t understand, and look them up after he was finished. Logan is gonna be so proud of me, he had said to himself thinking of his quiet nerdy best friend. 

  He spent the entire day learning things like pride, non-bianary, gender fluid, and more. He felt like he had opened his eyes to a completely new world and he was so excited about it. He had no idea there were so many different types of amazing people. He was so… Excited! 

  His parents were busy with work downstairs, and his brother was over at a friends house so he took it upon himself to spend his entire day learning and watching videos on this community of people. It was impossible to learn everything in a day, but he was determined to try. 

  He listened to and read people’s stories on the internet, and he would be lying if he said he didn’t cry. Why were people so mean to them? He had asked himself, why are there so many mean people in the world? They were just being themselves, why couldn’t people just be proud of them? What Roman didn’t know at the time, is that he would have a few stories of his own like that in the future. 

  A few weeks later, he was on the swings with his best friend Logan. Swinging back and forth with the breeze as they talked about anything and everything, non-sense and Disney, jokes and laughter, serious topics and funny stories, until Roman decided to bring up some of the stuff he had learned to his friend. He kicked his legs back and forth carelessly as he spoke, “hey, Lo?” Logan had looked at him, as Logan wasn’t swinging nearly as much as Roman was but more just drifting to and fro with the wind as he talked with his flamboyant best friend, “yeah Ro?”

Roman grinned for a minute before speaking, “have you heard of LGBTQ+?”

Logan had nodded at his question, “yeah, my dads talk about it all the time.” He said in a nonchalant manner. Roman groaned, frustrated “AWWW, I thought I learned about something that you didn’t..” Roman stopped his swinging, skidding his bright red shoes across the ground to stop himself.

 Logan chuckled and pushes up his glasses, “sorry Ro, but I know everything.” 

  Roman stared at Logan throwing his hands about as he spoke, “that's not fair.” he said the last word dragging it out like it was the end of the world. 

  Roman had met Logan’s dads before, yet he never knew what LQBTQ+ meant and he didn’t know that a lot of people thought it was a bad thing. He thought it was awesome that Logan’s dads loved each other, even before he knew that they loved each other if that made any sense. To Roman it made complete sense in his ten year old mind.

  Roman then got an idea, “Hey Logan, there was some things I didn’t understand when I was lookin’ up stuff about it. Do you think you could answer some of my questions?”

Logan looked a little excited to teach Roman, and they spent the rest of the time on the swings not swinging but talking. Talking about something that would be very important to them one day. 

  7 years later~ 

  Roman was seventeen, and he was the most popular kid in his highschool, everyone had taken a liking to his outgoing nature. His best friends Logan, Patton, and Virgil were popular right along with him. There was only one thing that bothered Roman, his sexuality. He was terrified, from the bottom of his heart he was terrified because ne knew that he was not straight in any sense of the term. He was as curved as a rollercoaster and the ride made him feel woozy and nauseous.

     He knew that the vast majority of his school would hate him for being the way he was, so you know what he did? Like the scared little closeted boy he was he ran into the deepest corner of that closet and hid like a little toddler in hide and seek, only he wasn’t a toddler and this wasn’t hide and seek, this was hide for your life. At least that was what it had felt like to him. 

  He knew that his friend would accept him, since Patton had come out to them in freshman year as Pan to him, Logan, and Virgil, it had lead to Logan coming out to them as gay demisexual, and then a year later in there sophmore Virgil coming out to them as gay. They promised to support each other and never ever tell anyone else. It was like their own little pride group, only Roman was an ally… Or so the others had thought.

       Roman knew that they would accept him. Of all people who knew that he could come out to them, and it was okay. But his heart leapt up into his throat and his knees buckled and the mere thought of it. He could just imagine their judgemental glances, thinking he was only saying it because he wanted to feel included, “you’re not really gay.” He would imagine them saying, “are you doing this for attention?” “if you were gay then why have you been telling us about all your straight crushes for years?” He had made up crushes to stay in the closet “you’re so dramatic! Just shut up and we can forget you even tried to pull off this whole charade.” 

   I part of him knew they would never do that, but it was a very small part of him, it was like a tiny ball of light shining in the darkness of self deprecation that he had created within himself. He pretended to be so confident, he was a great actor ‘but that was the only thing he was great at’ He would say to himself like a father scolding a child for doing something wrong, only the child was priding within himself and the father was a cold old man with no joy and wanted his son to live a dry cold life never thinking higher than an inch of himself. 

“Princey? You okay there?...” he hadn’t noticed that he had started to zone out with another one of his spirals into the dark clouded space that was his mind. ‘No’ he said to himself and only himself. Virgil would think he was such an attention seeking whore if he ever told him anything that went on in his head, “I’m fit as a fiddle Hottopic, sorry I zoned out, I was just thinking about Valerie. Her hair looked so pretty today.” He said with a smile that didn’t seem to reach his eyes. Valerie was amazing, she was really fun to hang out with and yes her hair actually did look pretty today but to Roman he felt nothing but platonic love for her. And when he would pretend to have a crush on her, especially to one of his best friends….. He felt as though someone was stabbing a knife into his heart, his weak little heart that throbbed at anything and everything. He was so weak he would tell himself. His heart was a bruised and pin pricked as a baby rabbit that got into a fight with a porcupine, and oh how his heart loved to jump and do summersaults like the little rabbit it was in the presence of the emo sitting next to him.   

  But the thing was it hurt so so much worse when he lied to Virgil. Virgil was so caring, he was kind to all of them, and he loved hanging out with him. Virgil was just so funny, and cute, and smart, and handsome, and- he stopped his thoughts, halting them and pushing them as far back into his mind as they would go. It was getting a lot harder to get rid of them lately. Virgil got a sad sort of look in his eyes but Roman didn’t notice, he was to busy gay panicing. “Thats sweet Roman. You two would be cute together ...” Virgil trailed off, sort of spacing out himself as Roman had just a few moments ago. 

  Roman clapped his hands together and stood up with a plastered smile on his face, startling Virgil almost knocking him off the bench that they had been sitting on. They were at the park, just talking. Roman turned toward Virgil and uttered a quick apology before spilling his idea to his monochromatic friend, “We should go get ice cream!!” Virgil chuckled at Roman’s excitement, and blushed under his porcelain foundation, “sure thing, if you promise to stop yelling” Virgil pulled on his hoodie strings, “people are starting to stare.” he said the last part with breathless sort of panicked whisper only loud enough just for Roman to catch it. 

   They spent the rest of the day just walking around town, laughing and enjoying the company of one another. Roman’s little heart jumped into his throat everytime he heard that beautiful laugh of Virgil’s, it was like looking at the sky and letting the sun hit your face. You can’t open your eyes and look directly at it though, because you might go blind at its unending beauty. Even if Virgil didn’t think so, he was the sun, the moon, the stars, and the clouds all bundled up in one amazing person and oh how he shined. 

     He was always there when you needed him and he was the most hard working person Roman knew, even if Virgil ran into days where he couldn’t even speak because of his anxiety disorder Roman thought he was so strong to have even got out of bed on those days. And he made sure to tell Virgil how strong he was everyday, and if Virgil couldn’t find his voice that day. Roman would speak for him to faceless strangers at school who wanted to speak with Virgil, although Logan and Patton would do that as well, it seemed to have affected Virgil more when Roman did it. It made Virgil feel warm and gooey on the inside, feelings that someone with a hard emo persona like his should never let themselves have but he had them and he loved how they made him feel. But he could never feel that about Roman, because Roman would never feel that way about him and that wasn’t something that he could change and that was just the way the world had to fuck him over.

  The universe had made a little emo gay boy who was obsessed with My Chemical Romance and black eyeshadow, fall in love with his straight best friend. What a painful story trope. Only his best friend wasn’t actually straight, a fact that he was oblivious to, and this wasn’t a cheesy romance story this was their lives. Virgil looked down at hits ice cream, enjoying the treat quietly as he listened to Roman gush and rant about Hamilton or whatever musical he had decided to talk about. 

They had arrived at Virgil’s house and said their goodbyes, with halfwitted insults with no venom in the words. It was their usual routine and they were both content with the way their relationship was. But they were just content, both of them wanted more but they would never admit that to themselves or each other. Roman walked home, with everything swirling around in his head and he laughed with a sort of dark emptiness. What a day.

To be continued~ 

OH MY GOSH THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE!!! Idk how much fun it was to read or how many people will actually read it, but I hope at least a few people enjoy it. this first part was out earlier than I had expected! When I get the next part out then I will link it on this part and tag anyone who wants to know when it comes out. I hope you enjoyed~ my friend that pitched me some ideas: @akane-mukami she is amazing and beautiful please go show her some love!

taglist:

@mostpeopleannoyne 

@www-dot-ohshit-dot-com 

@icequeenoriginal

@espepspes 

@rats-this-username-is-taken

Green~~

[transrightsjimin]

took me 6 attempts to upload this but anyway, i have rainbow bangtan on my shirt & the trans pride flag on my eyes! i normally make rather monochromatic eye looks so this was a bit messy to do

[thwipptective]

PETER’S HOUSE || GOLDEN WARD

EXTERIOR: The outside looks bland yet homey in an odd way. It blends well with the other personal homes in the Golden Ward and has nothing that stands out to say Peter lives here. Other than, of course, the small rainbow flag that stands out, taped to the wooden pillar of the white front porch. It’s the only splash of colour that’s interesting.

The door has no intricate design and the garden is well kept, as it should be. The house is painted a plain beige outside and the windows are usually closed. The curtains are also drawn or half-drawn to make the interior darker and easier for Peter’s achromatopsia.

LIVING ROOM: When you first enter, the main attraction is the living room. There are two couches, a wall-mounted tv, and a monochromatic rug. There’s a bookshelf that’s fairly half-empty but Peter figures he’ll fill it up with more books and other knick-knacks someday. There are no wall decorations and the paint is a plain beige. To the left is an open hallway into the kitchen / dining room and to the right is the door to the guest bedroom.

A coat hanger can be found by the main door, along with a shelf to put shoes in. He doesn’t put his coat here but he does have his jacket hanging up. A clock also sits above the door ( he wants to move it elsewhere but doesn’t know exactly where yet ). There’s a staircase that leads to a second floor of the house.

KITCHEN / DINING ROOM: They’re connected in an open kind of floor plan, separated by the kitchen counter in between which Peter uses to put things that are cooling or something like that. The dining table is wooden with a glass top and cloth above that, surrounded by a total of six chairs. There’s a single lamp in the corner and lights within the ceiling that are typically off.

Modern utensils and cooking ware are organised in the kitchen. Peter barely uses anything too modern because he doesn’t know how to use it but, despite this, he can cook a very good meal for every occasion. The fridge has a few magnets he bought on a whim- all cat themed, of course- and the only thing up there is a drawing by Jon ( he’s a PROUD dad ).

GUEST BEDROOM: This bedroom is typically reserved for guests if they ever have any as it’s the only bedroom on the first floor. It has the same queen-sized bed, bedside table, and closet as any other room in the house but lacks any specific ‘personality’, given that nobody sleeps there. It has its own personal bathroom with a shower, sink, and medicine cabinet within the mirror. 

A large window is behind the bed which is also typically closed. The door to this room is always open, unless someone decides to stay over and sleeps there. 

STAIRS: They’re bland wooden stairs that lead straight to the second floor. It seems smaller than the first because of the hallway where the other rooms are connected. Once you reach the top of the stairs, you can go left to the laundry room or go forwards. There’s Peter’s room followed by Jon’s, and then an extra unused bedroom.

LAUNDRY ROOM: Upstairs, Peter does the laundry about once a week. There are shelves and racks to put washing equipment and clothes that need to hang-dry. He’s still trying to understand how it works, hence the manuals taped to the wall that he can easily read if he ever needs to. The floor to this room is tiled and the lights are pretty bright which is why it makes it all the more difficult for him to do his own damn laundry sometimes.

PETER’S BEDROOM: The door is very bland and so is the interior except it’s even darker than the rest of the house. There’s always only one lamp that’s ever lit and, even then, it’s fairly dim. His desk- he moved it from the living room to make his bedroom an office space- features the computer and the cabinets hold all of his investigative work. His room is always somewhat messy but never too messy.

His desk also has a picture of him with Uncle Ben and Aunt May- he bought it during SpiraleFes- and his hat. He keeps his Spiderman gear in the closet, along with an assortment of other things. There’s a metal pen cup with a set of pens, pencils, and two pride flags ( gay and trans; Jon told him of the colours ). His room directly connects to a personal bathroom.

It’s fairly empty and there’s usually candle lights when he’s taking a shower because of how bright the bathroom lights are. He keeps all of his items neatly stored away with all of his t-shot things in a metal box locked away for when he takes it out each month. 

[belacocin]

2.1 Museo del Prado

          Cheers to the start of week two of four in Madrid! Our weekend was full of Kapital clubbing, rooftop pooling and checking out all this wonderful city has to offer. A few friends and I made a stop at the local flea market called El Rastro on Sunday, finding loads of cheap bracelets and earrings among everything else you could imagine from clothes to pet supplies. Having spent some time walking around the city and engaging with the locals I can definitely say I feel far more comfortable here in Madrid than I do in Iowa City. Although Iowa City claims to be the LGBT-friendly city in Iowa, I can’t remember the last time I saw a same-sex couple holding hands whereas here I see it daily and don’t feel like I’m the only one. La Chueca— the Greenwich Village or gay district of Madrid— has become one of my favorite spots for wandering aimlessly. The neighborhood is full of rainbow flags and all-accepting bars, something I’ll undoubtedly miss when I’m back home where the only gay bar is the monochromatic Studio 13. Even the pedestrian crosswalk signals here aren’t only represented with a man, but also a woman, heterosexual couples and homosexual couples are used in addition to the male icon, a small gesture of inclusion that goes a long way.   

         On Monday our professor brought us to the infamous Museo del Prado which garners nearly 3 million visitors annually. Over 70,000 paintings are held in the museum’s vault and of that 70,000 there is only 1% of those works on display. Many of these paintings were made by Francisco Goya and Diego Velázquez whom I studied in Visual Culture Modern and Contemporary Spain, the class I took just last semester. Since the museum was founded in 1819 we made our visit at a pivotal time of renovation and restoration as the museum celebrates its 200th birthday, some paintings having been just restored the week before our arrival. Taking photos of the displayed artwork within the museum is strictly prohibited so to compensate I am providing supplementary images from, you guessed it, Google to show off just a couple of the many fine pieces of art the Prado museum houses.

         Objectively, the most awe-striking painting the museum had to offer was one I had never even heard of before by Dutch painter Hieronimus Bosch called El jardín de las delicias, or The Garden of Earthly Delights. This was the first time I had ever seen a triptych painting, and no that’s not a play on words of the artwork’s psychedelic nature. A triptych painting is one that is made in a tri-fold and when closed, this painting’s façade depicts a flat-earth design; when opened, as shown above, it reveals three distinct images. To scratch the surface of explaining this masterpiece, the left side is a representation of the Garden of Eden, an uncorrupt and pure world where you can see Adam and Eve unclothed, still unaware of their nudity. Among them are fantastical creatures such as a unicorn drinking from the pond, a horned giraffe next to what appears to be a mix between a kangaroo and a dog, among other mystical creatures never seen before on Earth. In stark contrast, the right side depicts disturbing images of Hell and the consequences of our sin after having fallen from grace. We see images of a pig wearing a nun’s veil, a bird-human hybrid consuming bodies of the fallen and dumping them into a pit in which coins are being shat, just to highlight a couple. The painting in the middle is this in-between world that is not necessarily meant to represent Earth as we know it, but rather Earth as it could have been if Adam and Eve had never fallen from grace. With all this being said, the interpretations of this masterpiece are all theory as no one was able to ask Bosch what this painting is meant to represent, but it is known as a conversation piece where friends would gather and share among themselves what the work elicited in their mind. Although its meaning is debatable, it is widely agreed that Bosch had the help of some form of psychedelic, whether it be LSD or psilocybin mushrooms, it is hard to imagine someone coming up with this without the help of some mind-expanding substance. Since LSD is derived from ergot, a fungus that naturally grows on wheat, it could also be the case that Bosch didn’t even intend to trip, but just happened to buy bread from a careless baker that day, as this BBC article suggests. Nevertheless, it remains a mind-boggling piece of art that will forever fascinate me.

          A piece that we studied in class last semester was La maja vestida, or The Dressed Maja, and is one of Goya’s most well-known pieces. I find the history behind this painting rather humorous because during Goya’s time the reality of this painting was unbeknownst to the masses, excluding Goya's close friends of course. Ultimately, the identity of la maja is unconfirmed but there are rumors ranging from the Duchess of Alba (who was, objectively, the most beautiful Spanish aristocrat) to Pepita Tudó (the mistress of Manuel Gudoy, the prime minister of Spain during Goya’s time). The woman’s identity is additionally concealed by the lack of a neck, which is often overlooked on first sight but unable to be unseen. The image above is not very controversial, which was exactly the point because it was used as a disguise to be placed over the image below.

          La maja desnuda, or The Naked Maja, was a highly controversial piece of art that Goya had hidden behind La maja vestida for good reason. At the time, the only nude women that were allowed be painted had to be goddesses from Greek myths because nudity portrayed by a mortal was simply considered pornographic by nature. Goya completely threw that idea out of the window with this work, but knew he would be prosecuted if he displayed this openly. In order to conceal the actual artwork, he painted La maja vestida and would only roll up the canvas to reveal the true painting when he was in private or with friends. An interesting piece of art with an equally interesting backstory! 

         It was a truly unique experience to see paintings in person that I had only ever seen from a projector in class. Everything from Goya’s Black Paintings to Velázquez’s infamous painting of Las Meninas, it was overwhelming to see these paintings in real life. I’ve never really been a fan of museums or art, but today definitely changed that. All the history behind these pieces and the mystery they hold will forever capture my attention. I can’t wait to see what else awaits me on this adventure!

[cloverfieldsforever]

and in that moment i swear we were infinite.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Steven Chbosky, 1999.

I’ve read it, of course I’ve read it. I’m the girl who everyone assumes is just scrolling through Instagram, because I act stupid. Because I laugh loudly and carelessly, listen to loud music, try to live like the stars won’t shine. Of course, I’m a bit of an asshole at times, but I’m trying not to be. There are good things, though.

You see, there’s a beautiful artist of a person who I think I might just love, a little bit, and I asked them out, and they said yes. And my heart beat faster.

The band banquet happened, where we danced all night, drinking Coke and Shirley Temples, seeing stars and dancing to the pounding beat of songs that we knew and songs that we didn’t. It was electrifying, it was freeing, and it let me forget being perfect and just be.

There’s a girl who I met on Discord, who likes Hamilton and Percy Jackson, and when I learned she was the same wonderful person as @monochromatic-starlight, I could swear the stars aligned with my shriek, because she’s my best friend. I can truly say that. She’s brilliant, and witty, and adorable, and we lift each other up from whatever hole we’ve dug ourselves into.

I met people who were just like me, inside and out, ar a Panic! At The Disco concert. It was a night that celebrated love of all kinds, with a stadium filled with rainbows: a rainbow of cell phone lights, rainbows of people, and countless, glorious rainbow flags. One of them was wrapped around a man who dared to come out as pan and wrote a song about bisexuality. It was my first concert, and I hope it’s not my last, because the high that I got off of just being in the same room with people who were just as passionate about music and love and equal rights as me was the best thing I’ve ever felt. If I looked stupid, then, I didn’t care. For the first time in my life, I truly didn’t care what anyone thought of me, and it was heady and wonderful like nothing else.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are just some moments, and some people, that stay burned into you forever. And for some things, some moments, some people, your love can be infinitely wise and centuries-old, filled with bright stardust and void. We are human, and we’re beautiful because we’re human, because we are the messy, emotional, changeable wrecks that we are. And it is because we’re human that we can be infinite, if only for a few moments at a time.

[steveskafte]

WAITING ON BLUE SKIES When long, grey days bring no colour, I find myself lingering for the evening, waiting on blue skies that come with the gloaming. Illinois is a couple weeks later than my homeland with the autumn, just like spring seems early. A little more warmth on both ends of winter, making up for the polar chill they're sure to see soon. Though it's been overcast since I woke up, almost monochromatic, things feel alive now. That pale yellow fire hydrant, orange leaves rustling, rainbow flag fluttering, pink lawn flamingos in scattered array. You call a flock of them a "flamboyance", just some colour to push what's dreary away. What a weird and whispering rush it is, to kick twigs down shuffling streets, filling up the chill with no one else around. I think I'm the kind of man who loves life near but not too close, hints of humanity hidden just out of sight, and any contact we might make given chances. November 18, 2021 Melrose Park, Illinois Year 15, Day 5121 of my daily journal.

[beckettsthoughts]

7, 12, 13, and 22

7. Sun gay or moon gay?

Moon gay, definitely. 

Sensory issues make the sun one of my worst enemies. I can’t stand the light, in part because it gives me headaches, in the past I would even get migraines from it, and if I go out without my sunglasses I struggle with sensory overload. Same thing with heat, I overheat easily and because of my skin I don’t sweat as much as I should, meaning that as soon as the temperature rises I’m uncomfortable, feeling sick and struggling to sleep.

The moon, on the other hand, is beautiful. It’s calming, it’s a symbol of cycles and change, and it represents the time in which I’m most comfortable. The nicest nights are those clear enough for me to stargaze from my bedroom window with the moon watching over me. 

12. Who’s the best gay icon in your opinion?

This is actually really difficult, because I’m not super knowledgable on relevant gay and trans icons. The first people who come to mind are along the lines of Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and David Bowie. In a slightly more contemporary sense, I think of well-respected LGBT+ actors such as Laverne Cox, Ellen Page and Ruby Rose. In another sense, I think the most important gay icons are political figures and activists such as Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk, and Leslie Feinberg. 

However, if you were to ask about the gay icon who means the most to me, personally? It’s Héloïse Letissier. Better known by her stage name, ‘Christine and the Queens’, her music speaks a lot of androgyny, of a desire to break boundaries and accept love in whatever form you like the best. Honestly, Héloïse is easily one of my favourite musicians and performers, and I would highly recommend her music to anyone and everyone who’s willing to listen.

13. Which pride flags do you like the most design/colour wise?

Not that I’m biased at all, but I really like the asexuality flag. The colour scheme is simple, I like the monochromatic stripes with the purple standing out so boldly against the black, grey and white. It’s also very wearable, which I always like to consider.

Aside from that, I love the rainbow flag. It’s bright and fun and unapologetic, it draws your eye and, while it can clash with others, I don’t find this to be a common issue. Design-wise, the colours are well-chosen and the stripes are perfectly placed with just the right width and number to be incredibly visually pleasing. I also love the lesbian flag, with the amazing gradient of pinks, reds and white. I love the symbolism of it, a real call to arms against society’s false idea that lesbians are inherently sacrificing parts of their identities as women. The lesbian flag is beautiful both in meaning and in aesthetic.

To be truthful, there are very few pride flags I dislike. Most of them are early concepts for aromantic flags, many of which combined lime green, orange, yellow and grey into one striped design. It was not a good look. These days, however, the community seems to have settled on a far more appealing flag reminiscent of the asexuality flag, eliminating yellows and oranges for a far nicer colour scheme of black, grey, white, and two shades of green. 

22. Describe your partner(s)?

Haven’t actually got one, now. It’s not something I’ve mentioned much on here because it’s hard to find a way to talk about, so I actually really appreciate the opportunity to state it properly and plainly. Just over a month ago we broke up, or he broke up with me but that sounds a little too much like pointing fingers even if it is true. In short, it’s still wrecking me inside on a regular basis, and we’re trying to be friends regardless even though I’m admittedly not doing the best job.

[girleuphoria]

On June 25th 1978, the rainbow flag made its first appearance in front of San Francisco's Civic Center on Gay Freedom Day. The flag was thought up by Gilbert Baker and friends who hand sewed countless flags. The original design included two additional stripes: hot pink for sexuality and turquoise for magic/art. The pink fabric was more expensive so it was dropped. The turquoise was dropped to make the flag an even amount of colors so they could fly it in two parts on on June 25th the following year. Since then, the flag has undergone other changes and new flags have been made to represent additional identities. This year, a new flag popped up in Philadelphia. They decided to add a black and brown stripe. The more color more pride movement intended to fuel discussions about discrimination, diversity, and race. Our community has a problem with race. Queer people of color especially black trans women are the most marginalized. We need to stand up and fight for them! For pride I decided to do a collage of monochromatic makeup looks for every color of the rainbow. 🖤Black community (black) ✊🏽Brown poc (brown) ❤️Life (red) 🔶Healing (orange) 💛Sunlight (yellow) 💚Nature (green) 💙Harmony/Peace (blue) 💜Spirit (purple/violet) #pride #pridemonth #transisbeautiful #blacklivesmatter #rainbowflag #🏳️‍🌈 #maclovespride

[echidna-auxiliatrix]

Bleh. Here's my onion on the lesbian flag discourse. Feel free to ignore.

I hope this blows over soon. I really do. I've seen at least 20 proposed new flags and most of them aren't even from lesbians. I can't see any of these new flags taking off. None of them have memorable color schemes which is the strength of a good pride flag imo. You have the infamous rainbow, the neon pan trifecta, the pastel trans flag, and the complementary color scheme of the NB flag just to name a few. And the current lesbian flag thats being used is monochromatic pink. It's a flag that's been here for me ever since I realized I liked girls over 2 years ago now. I have no connection to these new flags and I don't have any real reason to embrace them. I love the pink flag so much in part because of my synesthesia- the shades of pink have this awesome aroma and taste (btw for anyone who doesn't have synesthesia in my case the tastes and smells arent literal like I dont taste and sniff colors like terezi or anything. I might make a post explaining more later.) and a lot of these new flags just look...dull. I also think its very telling that lesbians after all these years STILL don't have a widely used pride flag for ourselves. Even on #woke tumblr a lot of ppl leave us out of pride posts. Lesbians have a rich complec history separate from gay men due to the differing ways we were persecuted throughout history which is why we deserve a separate flag (no shade to lesbians who use the rainbow flag, you do you!) But like. I havr the pink flag in my room at my mom's house! She bought it for me for my 18th birthday this year and it was probably the best gift I received. Yes, I have heard the 2 main reasons for this new discourse:

1.) The stripes have no meaning

We can apply meanings to the stripes! It's that simple.

2.) The creator of the flag was very racist.

Yes I have read the evidence for that claim and let me say that racism in that blog post was absolutely disgusting. I'm getting flashbacks now to how terfs co-opted the purple labrys flag to where that flag is now seen as synonymous with terf. I've seen non terf lesbians try and reclaim that flag recently and I think that's awesome! But I won't use that flag for myself personally. The difference between the pink flag and the labrys flag is that unlike the labrys flag, there isnt a subgroup of violently racist lesbians who have claimed that flag for themselves specifically like terfs have done with the labrys flag. The pink flag wasn't made specifically to promote racism. I bet you could dig up all sorts of problematic shit about the creators of all the popular flags and we could all go on a frenzy of trying to redesign and make less problematic flags BUT. What is the point of a pride flag in the first place? Some would say its more personal and ithers would say it ties oneself to a community- in the latter. If youre using an obscure redesign flag nobody knows about how does that tie you into the broader community? I get you could make this argument with the pink flag too since its still a bit obscure but it's on the Google images search for lesbian pride flag so its gained some traction. Idk I mean the pink flag is just recently getting traction like within the past year or so and its so far gone from its original creator too. Nobody knew about this until someone dug up an old blog post from like 2010 or 2009 I think? And yes let me say again that I think the blatant racism in that blog post is indeed revolting. Ugh. Idek where I'm going with this anymore but I will say that I won't adopt any of these redesigns unless they gain serious traction.

[mega-assault-blog]

Stripes and Shades

Flags have always had a certain appeal to me, perhaps because they fit well in my own design principles, or maybe deciphering the meaning behind them, whatever the case flags have always been an interest of mine and the flag of my old state of Colorado was no exception.

It was during my ForeverPort “era” that the concept of retrofuturism had become cemented in my mind as main look I would strive to achieve, although I probably didn’t know the name of it at the time. The simplistic yet material look of previous versions of Mac OS, 9 in particular, remained fresh in my head from my childhood and who could possibly forget that rainbow apple logo? Stripes, lines, colors, these were the foundation of logo design from the late 80’s on through the 90’s and to this day I can’t help but love how concise and charming they are, offering just a bit more than the flat, generally monochromatic logos we see in the modern day. Needless to say, I wanted a piece of that look in my next design and made sure to incorporate the pride what was my of current state of residency.

The Colorado flag doesn’t come to the mind of many when it comes to flags that are “beautiful” or even “cool”, and I am no exception, however it does have quite a nice palette. The red, white and blue are immediately reminiscent of Old Glory but that extra yellow adds just a little bit more that helps this logo escape the look of another country’s tricolor flag, or maybe a brand of toothpaste.

The logo was an important point in which I learned just how useful Inkscape’s Path menu really is, cutting a shape into another shape using other shapes. Like carving or sculpting but digital and instantaneous. A simple matter of creating a sphere, two rectangles at 90 degree angles, one all the way through and one halfway through to carve out the main shape of the beetle. Cloning and aligning of the logo several times in different colors set up the stripes, cutting them each into the proper shape. Simplistic but effective at conveying the look I wanted.

I had been using Linux for quite some time during the creation of this logo, Arch Linux was a favorite of mine, but I had found myself spending hours trying to get my window manager to look perfect and it was cutting into time I could’ve been using to be more productive. My friend had introduced me to elementary OS and I was so intrigued by it I didn’t even bother trying to make an install disk or USB and just flat out bought one from them, which I still own:

Remember 32-bit operating systems?

eOS had clearly been what I was looking for, a fast and sufficiently attractive distribution aesthetically that I wouldn’t have been as tempted to mess around with and this new logo fit in perfectly. I even did a bit of a hack to set the login screen to an alternate version of the logo, something a bit more monochromatic with shades of blue taking the place of the Colorado flag colors. After all, it was possible I wasn’t going to live in Colorado forever, not like this logo would’ve lasted a move before I changed it.

And change it I did. Something about the logo just didn’t convey the retrofuturism I was seeking, too much Apple and not enough Commodore. Nothing massive was needed, just an inversion of the logo’s design, cutting the logo out of a shape more reminiscent of a flag, a la Windows or Commodore. I had been to the mountains not long before as well, taking some pictures of the scenery with my phone which turned out of make a great background for this design, a bit of blurring to keep the logo in the foreground and not distract from it. The procedure was essentially the inverse of the previous logo, albeit with each stripe measured out to be precisely equal heights.

And an alternate version, as well.

This would mark the very start of my retrofuturistic beginnings as well as the usage of real photographs in my designs, but a majorly different logo was just around the corner.