#push/pull

[morggo]

Photos of the show reception! Gift of Survival will be available to view in person at Push/Pull Seattle until February 21st. You can purchase originals and prints from this show, as well as some of my other goods, in store and online.

Thank you to the folks who made it there despite the cold rain, and sharing their stories of videos of coyote encounters and predator conservation. Thank you to folks who come to see it and support a local artist and local store.

Photo credit to Kiri Yu.

[7vyntheefaerie]

My Gender is Marronage by Nsambu Za Suekama/Bl3ssing

i cry every time i read this. black anarcha-transfeminist text essential to any transfeminists toolkit. key spiritual teachings from throughout the Black diaspora on gender variance in (spi)ritualistic practices. connects black transness to the expression of flight, a symbol of liberation. draws a solid black line relating black trans genders to the establishment of societies for formerly enslaved escapees.

what does it mean to be the source of the state's hatred? how does that kill? how does the state influence our families to reject us, abuse us? why do we resist? why do we persist? what does it mean to find camaraderie, find love? how does camaraderie gas our resistance?

nothing i say could be enough to encapsulate this reading, truly.

[swan2swan]

Whoever conceived and animated this moment, I hope they're doing well and thriving. This is S-rank romance stuff here.

[sklira]

Second Chance | Punch

[fishcop]

If I had a nickel for every time Scott sacrificed himself for pearl… that would be three, actually!

[auckie]

https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1765391777580912958?s=20

PLEASE GD IF YOU LOVE AND WANT TRAINS

[khruschevshoe]

There is a conversation to be had about the fact that Taylor Swift's album is being played in its entirety across all of iHeartRadio's 868 stations, pushing out the opportunities other artists might have had to get radioplay. That's the literal definition of a monopoly. No wonder she'll hit the top of the radio play charts with this maneuver, because at least 65 minutes (if not the back side of the album, which would take it to nearly twice that length) across EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT STATIONS will be dedicated to her, artificially boosting her radio play and decreasing everyone else's. In this essay I will—

[res1dent-0]

you are neglected rotted molded

a house with roots growing up it's sides. into it

become absorbed with dead life

suffocate in the warmth and wetness

of a love that is unloving

and break under foot of those afraid of you

[itsdecemberunderground]

You don't know how much it meant to me

That we spent that night so carefree

[bastardcatthings]

Gax: Two sides of the same cunt coin

This tomfoolery is a series! [1] [2] [3] [x]

[hinamie]

i fear i can never date a man bc none of them will ever be makoto tachibana

[redeemed-wren]

Thinking about. Stanley Pines. Once summer, not long after Weirdmaggedon. Sitting in his seat, staring at the tv but realising slowly he's not really watching TV, he's listening.

Listening to Soos, taking a tour group around the Shack, his voice confident and happy, eagerly telling tourists all kinds of tall tales. Soos, with his young son strapped to his chest, held close and dear to his heart, always knowing he is loved and wanted by his father.

Listening to Wendy and Melody, laughter turning to deeper conversations in the gift shop as Wendy pours out her latest dating drama and Melody listens sympathetically--not quite a mother, but an older sister figure is all Wendy wants at the moment.

Listening to a distant boom coming from the basement, a cause for some concern that fades quickly as three peals of laughter follow soon after. One deep and familiar, as comforting and close as the sound of a ship's motor and the open sea. One young and high, cracking with adolescent awkwardness. One loud and cackling, a hint of madness never quite leaving it but more settled than it used to be. And Stan figures it's probably time to send someone down to drag Ford, Dipper and McGucket upstairs before they forget what light is and get too nerdy.

Besides it's nearly dinner time, and he's listening to Mabel's steady, unrelenting chatter in the kitchen, punctuated by a few grunts of acknowledgment from Abuelita as they prepare a meal.

And Stan feels a strange, unusual sensation wash over him, something he hasn't felt for over half a lifetime, by a boat on a beach. A sensation of contentment, of security, of peace. And he realises that if he stood up and walked into any one of the rooms in the Shack he would be greeted with smiles and faces lighting up to see him and cheerful cries of his name.

And he looks down at the darned pig sleeping beside his chair and things, with oddly misty eyes, that he spent thirty years trying to find his brother again. And he succeeded--but somehow, he got more than that. He had formed around him, without even realising it, a family.

[7vyntheefaerie]

Poetics of Black Becoming: A Manifesto/Syllabus by 7vyn

A Prelude:

i am 7vyn. that is a self-given name that i claim in exploration of my gender and its manifestation of xpression through the digital. 7vyn is dislocated and pixelated embodiedment. a dis-spirit(ed) alien(ated) straddling human and monstrous livlihood. as 7vyn and thru this account, i hope to host a pilot of a manifesto/syllabus that crafts a tangible imaginative world that centers decolonial praxis. i wanted to create a place where texts central to themes of interest for me could live together on the same throughline to think with, around, and beyond each other.

why syllabus?

this is a tradition that came long before my attempts at uniting the scholarly and the activist for more fluid models of knowledge production and sharing. some considerations that made the syllabus a useful tool for me include:

proclamation, this syllabus is not making an argument as much as it is just saying, uniting threads of information. this syllabus is not engaged in any larger debate as much as it is a declaration of a more considerate, passionate, just world and its maintainance and flourishing needs. this syllabus/manifesto is the bare bones of a lineage of thought greater than my own wing-span, so rather than declare and leave thought to the wind as many in the tradition of manifesto do, i insist on the collabortative intention and nature of this piece. as in, this syllabus can be added to. this syllabus will remain malleauble and engaged.

invitation to learning, this syllabus/manifesto is creating a sort of index library or guide map of thinking toward decolonization in a Black trans-cyber-anarchafeminist tradition. this manifesto is uninterested in interacting with and sharing knowledge in such a way designed to exlude nonmembers of academia. so, i use my institutional access to create knowledge beyond academic spaces, straddling the line between academia and activism and daring myself and other producers of knowledge and culture to be intentional about the the work we do to prioritize and care for our audiences of intention. because this is a collaborative work, i most aim for Black transfeminists with specific niches related to the digital and decolonization (broadly) or even beyond to progress and advance the thinking of this syllabus. i encourage all others to engage this manifesto/syllabus as a learning tool.

accessible. this manifesto does not privilege knowledge. by this i mean, i am not the owner of this knowledge, i am merely an assembler, a curator. i also reject bullshit academic vernacular because i believe that is a method of exclusion and i want everyone, even people this is not useful for to at least be able to meaningfully engage with the information offered. i elect to spark enthusiasm and curiousity, not headaches.

translatable. because i think of this manifesto/syllabus as a useful learning tool, i believe that it should also have a flexibility that supports it as a learning model. this means i currently understand the syllabus/manifesto as a zine, twine game, installation, digital exhibition, and on a decentralized platform. these are initiatives i hope to take up later in the life of the manifesto/syllabus, hopefully in direct collaboration with other scholars, organizations, activists, cultural & knowledge workers, etc.

this is a living document + post. i will return as needed to update information, offer specificity, add resources, activities, prompts, and more. this post will serve as the original and masterlist. below you can gain access to some preliminary writing on the sources I have decided to include, key concepts I am drawing from them, and why they are useful to my thinking (and potentially yours too!). as i may have stated earlier in this post, this is just the pilot of this project for me. so what you see as of now (5/17/2024) is just the bare bones of something i will be building outward as long as i need to.

Solidarity (tag: #solid, where strength lies)

Accomplices Not Allies by Indigenous Action

Insurrectionary Mutual Aid by Curious George Brigade

Power Makes Us Sick Issue #3

Resistance (tag: #push/pull)

My Gender is Marronage by Nsambu Za Suekama/Bl3ssing

Them Goon Rules by Marquis Bey

Rave:n by Kelela

Sabotage (tag: #set aflame)

Random Acts of Flyness by Terrence Nance

The Poetics of Difference by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

Play With The Changes by Rochelle Jordan

thank you for reading! my placemaking & writing on process does not end here, so stay tuned!

with care,

7vyn

[flowersdiceandlove]

I am 100% completely convinced that on Mount Yujun when Hua Cheng burst into thousands of butterflies that he did not mean to do that. That man was freaking out so bad at finally finding Xie Lian again and holding his hand and helping him and Xie Lian being right there that when he finally saw just the slightest glimpse of Xie Lian’s face and the thought of Xie Lian seeing him that his nerves took over and he burst into thousands of butterflies. All throughout the walk, Hua Cheng was trying his damnedest to keep it the fuck together (literally) but he just couldn’t anymore. You cannot convince me otherwise. He held Xie Lian’s hand all through the walk, but then he shakes Xie Lian’s hand off the next time they meet? Yeah, he’s scared he’s gonna explode into butterflies again and that would Not Be Cool and Ruin His Image he’s curating for Xie Lian as this cool reliable guy he can come to for help and depend on.

[uisceb]

Endlessly baffled every time I see people water down Glinda’s actions in Defying Gravity to “oh she was too cowardly or too selfish to stand by Elphaba,” as if she didn’t spend that entire sequence from Chistery’s transformation onward doing everything in her very limited power to keep Elphaba safe.

Like the second things start going wrong, Glinda’s entire focus switches to “keep Elphaba safe at all costs.” This girl does not have any magic. She does not have any physical survival skills. She probably has no idea how to throw a punch. She can barely run in those heels. Her one power is her charm and her ability to work a crowd. She is desperately trying to get Elphaba to come back with her not because she agrees with what the Wizard and Morrible are doing, but because she thinks maybe if she can just smooth things over, Elphaba will be forgiven, and she’ll be safe. 

In that regard, there’s a very obvious selfishness to Glinda’s actions - she lacks perspective; she lacks scope; she prioritizes Elphaba over what we as the audience would understand as the “Greater Good” and over her own morals about what’s going on with the Wizard’s agenda; she’s visibly horrified by what happens to Chistery but her first instinct is to comfort Elphaba above all else, despite having no understanding of what's happening.

I am the last person who’s ever going to argue that Glinda isn’t selfish, because she very clearly is, it’s one of her defining characteristics, and it’s one of the main things she has to learn to overcome in order to actually become “Glinda the Good.” This is in no way me trying absolve my very selfish girl who very much made the wrong decision.

But it does kinda boggle my mind when I see the argument that Glinda betrayed Elphaba or is a “fake friend.” Especially because ultimately she comes to the conclusion that the best thing she can do for Elphaba in this moment is to let her go. She knows she would only hinder Elphaba if she were to go with her, she knows there’s no happy ending for them if she tries to run away with her (I think in that moment she might even suspect there’s no happy ending at all). Elphaba is going through her own personal revelation which is beautiful in its own right, but it’s also impulsive, and there’s a certain level of unsustainable grandiose fantasy to it. Glinda almost lets herself be swept up in it for a moment, but her rational side kicks in, because, of the main trio, Glinda really is the most grounded in reality.

I’ve seen a lot of weirdly smug people out there proudly saying if Fiyero was there he definitely would’ve gotten on the broom with Elphaba - and honestly, I think they’re probably right. But it’s not because he’s somehow morally superior to Glinda, or that his love for Elphaba is more pure. Our boy is depressed, he’s nihilistic, he’s lost, and truly doesn’t have any attachments to anyone.

He was genuinely moved by Elphaba’s fearless convictions and he fell hard and fast for her, so I agree he’d be on that broom in a heartbeat, he quite literally has nothing to lose, and everything to gain. He’s found himself wanting to believe in something for the first time because Elphaba brought that out in him, his whole world revolves around her. And that’s very romantic, but because of that, the stakes are much lower. For him, leaving everything behind wouldn’t be a sacrifice, it would be freedom.

Glinda’s gone through the world much differently, much more carefully. She doesn’t have Fiyero’s sense of nihilism or detachment, she’s lashed herself tight to the reality of the world around her. Where Fiyero has been regularly kicked out of schools and freely wandered from place to place experiencing new things and getting into trouble on purpose, Glinda has never stepped outside the predictable comfort and safety of her bubble until meeting Elphaba. She lives in constant fear of failure and being looked down on. She is forever clinging to this persona she’s created because she’s terrified of what will happen if she’s anything less than perfect.

She has constructed her entire existence around being an icon rather than a person - in the beginning, she literally doesn’t know how to be her own self, she’s just barely learning, because of Elphaba. And it scares the shit out of her. 

Fiyero would likely play action hero if he was there for Defying Gravity, and that’s great, but Glinda is weighing a million things in her head, not least of which is “holy shit the person I love most in the world is in imminent danger and I have no magic and no strength to keep her safe, so I will beg and plead and insult and fight her tooth and nail to keep her with me inside my privileged bubble because maybe I can smooth this over, maybe everything will be okay if I just do what I always do and use my privilege to get my way.” She understands the rules of her world, so she’s going to play by those rules because that’s how you win the game.

Elphaba, of course, refuses to play a corrupt game at all, and Glinda gets angry - she lashes out at Elphaba because Elphaba has just put herself in such a dangerous situation, and Glinda is completely powerless to change it. Every little bit of control Glinda is used to having is obliterated.

Her “Maybe you’re not as powerful as you think you are” when Elphaba doesn’t grow wings is so desperate - the words border on cruel, but her tone is both painfully apologetic and above all filled with RELIEF because while her heart hurts for Elphaba, she’s terrified that Elphaba would hurt herself the way Chistery was hurt, and she’s cleaving to the hope that maybe if Elphaba isn’t as powerful as she thinks she is, Glinda stands a chance at undoing the damage, and protecting her. 

Glinda’s selfishness is just so fascinating to me because it’s so rich and so contradictory - she loves Elphaba so deeply and destructively that she fully paralyzes herself when the chips are down and it breaks them both. She fails to be what Elphaba wants her to be, and she fails to be a good person, but there’s no “fake friend” about her actions - she is acting on pure desperation to keep this person she loves safe in literally the only way she knows how, at the cost of everything else, including what’s right, which is something Elphaba could never abide by. Elphaba would never compromise her own morals, but at this point in the story Glinda is willing to compromise everything as long as Elphaba is tucked away in her bubble with her, and that difference in values is irreconcilable to both of them. 

So, realizing this, Glinda does the one last thing she can think of to protect her at this point, and wraps a cloak around her shoulders to keep her warm. That’s all that’s left.

She’s selfish and she’s cowardly and she’s brave and she’s loving and she fails Elphaba and she fails herself and she regrets her decision for the rest of her life and yes I am writing all this with glass under my tongue and between my teeth, she makes me insane.

[rexhya]

Idk if ur requests r open, but im feeling real bad for Anul 😭🙏 bro never became king in these shorts so could I request him finally becoming king? With any version of Y/N…

yandere!prince who's now 3 days away from his conornation snd couldnt be more excited.

not just for you, who he's been dutifully been courting since you stepped inside the palace walls and who is set to be his bride after the main ceremony but for the complete and total acess he'll have, he's hungry on power to say the least.

you on the other hand have been stressed to no ends, only told two weeks in advance that you would be marrying the man, completely unaware his affections would go so far, but who were you to refuse the prince, and now, soon to be king?

the maids had been helping, teaching you basic  etiquette and simultaneously making preparations for everything you would need. you almost felt like a real noble untill you saw the prince, returned from a trip, glowing. ethereal.

you wanted to cry, how was your face surgery to stand next to that? his obsessions weren't supposed to go this far.

anul didn't think so, the moment he saw you he scooped you up in his hands, twirling you around like he'd been gone for a month. (to him it felt like he had)

"oh my sweet, i missed your scent." he snuggled into your neck, his breath sending shivers down your spine.

"and you, my prince." he pulled away, smiling the widest you've ever seen.

"don't you mean king?"

you looked at him, a soft puff od air leavijg your lips. "not quite."

anul only smiles, trying not to squeal at the thought of his forever with you, his endgame.

✦ ✦

when the day finally comes, your nervous to say the least. you body is wracked with emotions you can't explain but you know ones things for certian, you walk down this isle, and you life changes forever.

anul is crying when you get there, it's soft and impossibly sweet, and unoticable to anyone that wasn't you or the officiant.

he shaking as the man speaks, "and do you Anul Lamour The IV, take [First Name] [Last Name] to be your lawfully wedded wife."

he almost says yes before he finishes, he's never been so excited and nervous to kiss you before, and then it's final, bonded forever souls intertwined like they were never meant to be apart.

and they werent.