#sf art book fair

[simply-sithel]

Was motivated to attend the SF Art Book Fair this year after seeing @njbice post that he'd be there and am oh so happy I went. Not exactly my "scene" but who isn't immune to a sea of beautiful works? Walked out with minimal purchases and remain haunted by The White Paper book I didn't get... not my subject but exquisite workmanship I could have gifted to someone else. (Did buy a lovely book about clouds from the same press however)

Caught a talk by Cita Press which I really enjoyed- they find and publish works written by women in the public domain (and are freely available on their website). Would have stopped by for more talks (it went all weekend) but was trapped in a class at the SFCB the two other days. Books books books abound!

[clonerightsagenda]

#recently read July 2024

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. 11 year old Polly strikes up an unusual friendship with a musician bound to a dangerous family that doesn't want to give him up. It's Tam Lin! *Some uncomfortable age gap stuff but the book was aware of it, posted about that separately.

James by Percival Everett. A retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of James (called Jim). *Was curious how Everett was going to handle the hot mess that's the last portion of the book and he just veered completely off plot at that point. Fair enough.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong. A multigenerational saga exploring how far parents will go to shape their children.

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. (MG) After being chosen to escape Earth on a colony ship, Petra wakes from cryo to learn that the ship's caretakers decided to 'fix' humanity by wiping colonists' minds and engineering a new, uniform human race. *A bit simplistic obviously but I don't see MG SF often so that was cool.

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The Human/Octopus/Portid/Nod alliance travels to a struggling human colony on a partly terraformed world, but their attempts to help don't go as planned. *Slow and confusing start with a big payoff, you just have to roll with it like the first time reading Harrow the Ninth.

Chasing Vermeer series by Blue Balliett. An increasingly large group of children solves heists with the powers of art and autism. *Got more carefully plotted as they went along, which I appreciated, but still very in touch with children's vibes-based reasoning.

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw. The 'little mermaid''s children eat the prince's kingdom, after which she travels with a plague doctor to a snowy village full of horror. *All the gore and vivisection got a bit repetitive for me, but I think Magnus Archives fans would enjoy this one.

[spockandawe]

Okay, you know what, I think I'm going to do an impassioned rant on behalf of romance. This isn't a super fresh idea, I've seen much more knowledgeable people than me advocate hard on romance's behalf for years and years, I know people are still actively fighting to get this megagenre the recognition it deserves instead of being brushed off as Literature Lite. But I do want to come at this from the perspective of someone who just doesn't... super jive with the genre. I respect it a lot, romance writers intimidate the hell out of me, and now I have found some books and subgenres that I do enjoy, but that's only been the last year or so.

(I gravitate to sf/f and like a good romantic element, but I'm most happy when it's in support of a bigger plot. The gay lovecraftian historical has background stakes of horrors beyond mortal comprehension, the a/b/o shifter polycule has stakes of slow species extinction, I have more intriguing books marked to read as well. And of course, there's more monsterfucking than I used to imagine, and I am ALWAYS down for imaginative anatomy in my smut)

With a readmore, in case tumblr doesn't auto-shorten right

And what got me thinking about this was the goodreads awards, and the deeply unsurprising win by SJM. I don't like her writing, just 'females' alone is close to a hard no for me, and while I understand the broad appeal of her books, I'm confused and frustrated by the... intensity of their popularity, and I was talking with someone in my book club about it, who feels similarly. My very, very uncharitable knee-jerk take was that there's a lot of young adults who want to read about sex, and don't realize that the romance and fanfic communities have already done it better.

That's not fair of me, to be clear! I am also a person who chooses sf/f-with-romance-subplot over a sf/f romance book. I might find her worldbuilding choices trite, but I'll still mumble at length over how the belgariad and mallorean are actually a lot of fun if you give them a chance. 'Alphahole' might make me emit pterodactyl shrieks of irritation, but so do most of the names in goblin emperor, and I have lots of friends who very much enjoy that book. I stand by my opinions, but my personal tastes are not an objective measure of quality or enjoyability.

And, because I think it has to be said, I think there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with people wanting to read about sex. Nothing. The growing puritanism of the wider internet is extremely alarming to me, and I have no patience with it. I think my archives make it plenty clear that I'm down with smut, I only started writing period because I wanted more atla:lok kink than I was finding, and my archives used to make it very clear that I was equally down for sexy art. I'm terminally online, immersed in fandom, one of the fics I've worked with most for bookbinding (and have plans for in the future) is a space clown bdsm xeno epic. Plenty of sex to be found on ao3 and I just said I don't read much romance. So what gives?

Smash cut to podcasts. I listen to podcasts. And I've tried many times over to find a fandom podcast I jive with. I haven't yet, and I don't think that's the fault of the podcasters. I've got high hopes for the hs reading podcast, for example. But I also remember the first time I realized transformers podcasts were a thing (circa mtmte 47), and opened up an older episode to find the hosts (circa mtmte 13) having an earnest discussion about how rewind might have been attached to dominus ambus, but it seems like maybe dominus ambus owned him, and rewind cared for him as a good master. When the episode was recorded, the comics weren't overtly gay yet, there was no reason to believe they'd be given the thumbs up to GET gay, but it still made my skin crawl to hear about this couple that I knew were husbands, and the podcasters chatting about how one probably owned the other, and I noped out and never went back.

That was a running theme, to my frustration! When podcasts talk about characterization for stories I know, I've got strong opinions. I either have conversations about those with a carefully curated group of friends, or i place opinions forth into the void on here without expecting or particularly wanting conversation about it. And the written word moves faster than spoken, I can read a 15 hour audiobook in less than a day, the time sink of bad tumblr takes versus bad podcast takes is very different. And. Even worse. Sometimes fandom podcasts wade into DISCOURSE. I don't want this. I have a nicely pruned dash, I scroll quickly, and still I could use less discourse. I still get flashbacks to the transformers barbarian au debacle. I really don't want this.

I did realize, eventually, that fandom podcasts were just not working for me. I was tense waiting for discourse and ready to fight the empty air about bad characterization or analysis. But even worse than that, a lot of the time I was bored, I didn't want to hear a detailed critical breakdown of hp when my ancient interest has faded to dying embers. I've never cared about spn or dr who. I want to get into the podcast about shipping dynamics, but it's hard to get excited when I know that I'm just not INTO a lot of the big megaliths that people will rave about. Or, I'm interested in something and haven't consumed yet (ofmd) and I'm staring down the barrel of spoilers for a story I want to experience. But I want to HEAR people discuss what makes the farmers look at the story fields and say 'yep, should be a good crop of praise kink this year'

Frustrating!!! Anyways, back to romance. Romance podcasts.

Because you know what? I can get a LOT of that same content, about character dynamics and interactions and smoking hot sex scenes, and I can get it all delivered with the same fannish delight and enthusiasm it just comes with slightly different packaging than I experience myself online. I forget what pointed me at fated mates (and many of their trailblazer episodes are eye-opening, especially when they interview some gay and lesbian romance pioneers), which was nice, but I started subscribing to podcasts they recommended, and found a HOME with bonkers romance.

I'd been kind of feeling this in the back of my head, that the way these people scream over stories together was very identifiable, but something didn't quite CLICK until bonkers romance that this is really parallel (or divergent?) evolution. Just on behalf of sexism, I was already outraged over the broad dismissal of romance. But then I hear the hosts losing their minds over an absolute batshit story, like, idk, the spidertaur alien and the human who crash-landed on his planst, and how he's trying take care of her and she's not quite REALIZING that yet-- These are, very much, my people! There's a historical romance where a widow is trying to get Ruined to avoid a new marriage and shyly confesses to her new sex-club-owning beau that she's always wanted to kiss a woman, and he arranges a scene where she does that! The hosts go nuts as much as I do! This novel is a bdsm awakening sans impact play but with HEAVY praise kink tied into low self-worth! This one is about a nice young man and his boyfriend, the terrifying smoke monster!

I did decide to wander over and rant about this at length when they were discussing one of the 365 days movies (glorious? sexy? delightful? yes, apparently. good? ehhhhhh) and had a side tangent about how romance novels were so formative and how Stories With Sex were important to them as they grew up, and trying to GET them in a pre-internet age. They're at least 10ish years older than me, I think, I was split between internet awakening and novels (mccaffrey, auel). And the discussion was so familiar, about how fiction is a space for young folks to be introduced to some of these ideas and work through them on their own terms, I won't rehash it, we've all seen it before. And THEN there was further discussion about how the 365 days story has set things up so that a happy, satisfying ending would have to be a triad, right? They doubt it's going there, m/m/f is a long shot for Manly Mafia Men, but the conversational beats are exactly what I live for.

And, looping back in the fandom podcast thing again, I'm getting all this without character analysis I disagree with, I'm getting it without the fandom disk horse beats that I dread, and I'm getting it without spoilers for stories I want to consume. On the occasions a story intro has intrigued me enough to read ('as if', 'unhallowed', 'manix'), I've jumped to the next episode until I can consume it, and that has gotten me reading romance for the first time ever, and shocker, I enjoyed it! I don't think it'll ever be my primary genre, but my tastes are pretty established, and it hit those notes. I am having a FANTASTIC TIME, and I can relate to these people going nuts over X romance book perhaps better than I can relate to people going nuts over, idk, supernatural

This is too long but I'm too deep to stop now! If anyone reads this far, I'm sure to some of you, I'm preaching to the choir. I know there are fandom people who read romance already. But I want to wave this vaguely at people who are uninterested in romance, or who think there's a hard and fast line between fanfic romance and ofic romance. I've already read queer ofic a/b/o and monsterfucking and polycules, and I've barely scratched the surface. I think it is good for people to read both fanfic and ofic, but it's not my job to be the reading police (my solution: be too distracted to read either one), but even without reading, I think it's a worthwhile community to absorb, and to observe. I'll listen to a youtuber dissect a video game I'll never play for hours, and bask in new knowledge acquired. This is very similar, but even more aligned with my own creative/consumptive preferences, and I think more people should try it. I would come up with a strong concluding sentence but my awareness that this is too long has tripped over into profound self-consciousness so okay we're done, bye now, hahaha

[magic-hcs]

I would love a matchup!

I'm a quiet and patient person, very rational, like to hear all sides before making a decision, and try to make it as fair as possible. I brush off rudness and yelling easily and will only be upset if the person had the intention to hurt.

Non-binary, but often mistaken as female, cause I really like my long red hair, not bothered by misgendering.

I love nature and science, I'm a researcher and a student, focus on wild animals. I'm driven by the hunger for knoledge and my main goal in every situation is understand how things work. Hobbies are writting, art and crafts in general, and of course, watching movies and documentaries.

Not much of a people person, have prosopagnosia, so can hardly recognize anyone on first place, always friendly, but will take a lot of time to trust people and actually consider someone a friend, but when I do I'm loyal to a fault.

I don’t mind poly, but it may be tricky, because I need time for myself to "recharge" from social interactions.

Thank you for participating and for being patient. I hope you’ll enjoy your matchup!

~~matching…~~matching~….~matching~~…~DING~

You match really well with Razzle!

✨✨

(SF Sans) Razzle:

You and Razzle are a bit alike and I believe that’s where you two hit it off together!

Razzle really likes your rational side. He's quite the same in that regard, although it's easier to get him to lose his patience - meaning he’ll become a sarcastic passive aggressive ass - you two would make quite a team when the twins (Coal and Mastiff) have caused some mischief again.

He’s glad you brush off rudeness easily, he can get a bit snarky or sarcastic without meaning to, he feels guilty whenever he acts a bit like an ass in front of you, the words leaving him before he’s even registering them. Example: “MY DEAR, THERE IS NO NEED TO DRESS AS A CLOWN, MY BROTHERS ALREADY GOT THAT JOB DOWN WHOLLY.” He says gesturing to you accidentally wearing two socks that look so identical you thought they were a pair.

Razzle doesn’t mean anything hurtful with those words, but if he does end up striking a chord he will man up and apologize. And when I say he’ll man up and apologize I mean you’ll get the most awkward and unnatural apology you have ever heard in your entire life. you don’t know what’s worse, having heard him utter a more smooth and applause worthy one once directed at someone else, only for Razzle to turn to you to whisper he was bullshitting out his non-existing ass, or knowing that this castaphropy of an apology to you is genuine.

(Yep, Razzle is terrible, and I swear terrible at genuinely apologizing. So the more horrendous the apology is, the more sincere he is.)

Razzle is an ass, you know that, Coal knows that, Mastiff knows that, Razzle knows that, everyone knows that. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his more tender and sweeter moments. Like how he always wishes you a good morning either by text, note on your pillow or face to face. Or how he loves to take care of you for exemple make you dinner and sometimes even breakfast if you let him. Or how he’ll give you his entire attention and focus when you call his name.

One of the sweet things Razzle does is gifts! One of Razzle’s lovelanguage is gift giving! And not in the way you think! Yes he buys you stuff but that’s nothing, no, Razzle always keeps himself busy. Meaning he has a lot of hobbies, meaning he often makes, knits, etc all kinds of stuff, 9 out of 10 times for his loved ones. So expect knitted scarves, gloves and the like in your favorite colors and patterns, handmade plushies, embroidered tablecloths, handmade books covered in pictures of things you like, you, you and him, etc. Bowls, vases and creations molded from clay and so much more! Razzle puts so much love and care in each and every one of his creations for you, he thinks of you as he makes stuff, an endearing smile on his face and soft eyelights at his most unguarded moments.

He loves your hunger for knowledge and your pursuit in research and the like. He got a thing for smart people. Razzle likes to sit with you while the two of you do your own things. Likes to every now and again share opinions and tips on each other’s hobbies.

Razzle too is very loyal to those he cares about - so if you are a loved one/someone he cares about it’s a very big thing, Razzle doesn’t care about other people except his own. Back in the underground he couldn’t afford caring for anyone except himself. And later Coal, and way later Mastiff too.

It takes a while for Razzle to trust someone and warm up to them. (Despite that he is still civilized and tones down his assholery a lot, that side is only reserved for those he despises and loved ones. The ones he despises getting the absolute worst of it.) So you two definitely will have a slowburn to friends and a tad bit faster slowburn to lovers.

(Hope you’re ready for a 15K fic fhbvf.)

✨✨

Hope you enjoyed this matchup!

[sfacgalleries]

Part 2 - Go West: African American Lives and Westward Migration Performance from San Francisco Arts Commission on Vimeo.

Monday, August 12, 2024 | 8:00 p.m. Southeast Community Center, Alex Pitcher Pavilion and Amphitheater, 1550 Evans Ave, San Francisco

Join artist Trina Michelle Robinson for an artist talk (pt 1) followed by a special performance (pt 2) featuring her new video work Go West!

Projected onto the exterior of the Southeast Community Center’s amphitheater and accompanied by musician Christopher Lowell Clarke and dancer Audrey Johnson, Go West looks at the migration of Black people to California from not only the South, but also the East coast and Midwest. Using the large-scale projection as a metaphor for taking up space, this piece celebrates the drive felt by so many to travel far from home in search of new opportunities, adventure, and also to simply rest.

A conversation between Robinson and author, curator, and educator Jacqueline Francis will take place inside the Alex Pitcher Pavilion prior to the performance. Refreshments provided.

This program is organized in conjunction with Praxis of Local Knowledge, a group exhibition featuring four artists, including Robinson, creating work that explores their ancestral stories and grappling with these memories today. The exhibition is on view through Saturday, August 17, 2024 at the San Francisco Arts Commission Main Gallery.

Artist Bios Trina Michelle Robinson is a San Francisco based visual artist. Her work has been shown at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, the San Francisco Art Commission Main Gallery, Catharine Clark Gallery, Minnesota Street Project, and New York’s Wassaic Project and is currently included in the prestigious triennial Bay Area Now 9 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She had a solo exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), a Smithsonian Affiliate, as part of their Emerging Artist Program 2022-23. Robinson is a 2024 SFMOMA SECA Award finalist and her print series Ghost Prints of Loss is included in the book Is Now the Time for Joyous Rage? published in 2023 by CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts and Sternberg Press. She previously worked in print and digital media in production at companies such as The New York Times T Magazine, Vanity Fair and Slack before receiving her M.F.A. from California College of the Arts in 2022.

As a storyteller, she traveled the country telling the story of exploring her ancestry with The Moth Mainstage at Lincoln Center in New York, in addition to touring with them on stages in San Francisco, Portland, OR, Omaha, NE and Westport, CT. Her first story aired on NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour in 2019 and her second in earlier this year. trinamrobinson.com

Christopher Lowell Clarke is a trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Christopher's professional performance experience includes playing with the East Coast Jazz Festival Fish Middleton Rising Star Band in Baltimore, Carnival Cruise Lines Main Orchestra and Jazz Chair, the Johnny Nocturne Band at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Orvieto, Italy, his own quintet at the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco, and the Contemporary Music Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival. He has also performed with Eddie Marshall and Holy Mischief, the Marcus Shelby Big Band, the Howard Wiley Quintet, and the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra. Christopher currently serves as a teaching artist for SF Jazz/Oakland Public Conservatory After School Jazz Program, Oakland Public Conservatory, SF Jazz’s Jazz In Session Program, Oaktown Jazz Workshop, and the Lafayette Summer Jazz Camp. Christopher has released several albums, including The Swooper (Lifeforce Records 1018) and multiple albums with bassist Dewayne Oakley on Naki-Do Records. christopherlowellclarke.com

Audrey Johnson is a queer, Black, mixed-race dance artist and plant worker with roots from Detroit, Michigan/Anishinaabe land, currently based in Oakland, CA/Ohlone land. Audrey’s performance, choreographic, and teaching work experiments with improvisation and embodied time travel, in refusal of colonized time and space. She has shown performance work in the San Francisco Bay Area and Detroit, and has performed in the companies of artists Gerald Casel, Jennifer Harge, Biba Bell, Detour Dance, Stephanie Hewett, among others. As an educator, she has taught dance as embodied practice at community spaces, dance centers, and youth programs, and is a current faculty member with the LINES BFA Program through Dominican University. She holds a BFA in Dance from Wayne State University and was a co-founder of Collective Sweat Detroit. audreyjohnson.space

[webionaire]

The Minnesota Street Project Foundation is pleased to present the SF Art Book Fair this year! Open July 14 through July 16, with a preview the evening of July 13, the SFABF is a free multi-day exhibition and celebration of printed material from independent publishers, artists, designers, collectors, and enthusiasts from around the world.

The 2023 edition of SFABF will take place at both 1275 Minnesota Street AND the Foundation's new collaborative exhibition space at 1201 Minnesota Street. So much more room for all of these books!

[starwarspissorgy]

For a while I've been thinking about the closedness and ephemerality of (non-broadcast) D&D as a virtue it has as an art form, and today I had a thought about ephemeral art that I want to share and hopefully develop.

The idea that it is automatically better for your art to reach more people is flawed. There are really only three arguments I can see.

You cannot commercialize art that has severely limited reach. The problem with this is obvious; art does not exist only as a commodity.

Reaching more people with your art extends how much you are able to change people's minds, which is generally going to be good in service of changing the world in a positive way. Art does not need to serve this function, however, and separating your art from your activism is fine; that your art has not maximized its impact as propaganda is not (typically) valid criticism of your art.

Reaching more people means that in a vaguely utilitarian sense your art does more direct good. Let's talk about this one.

I think 3 has always been the big one for me because I've always had vaguely utilitarian intuitions (I am aware of why I need to always be questioning my intuitions). The idea that something is better because it had more total positive impact has a lot of pull for me. The problem with this argument is that attention is a limited resource for each person. If my queer SF book gets in the hands of someone, that person is often reading it instead of someone else's queer SF book, or at least instead of playing an interesting game or thinking idly about something that's been on their mind or going outside. On average, I think it's a fair assumption that people make better choices for themselves the more choices are available, but this has to be a very small amount on average. If I release a book that does very well and it winds up on a staff picks shelf, on average each person who picks it up instead of the other book next to it that they haven't read probably has their life improved relative to the counterfactual world where they pick up the other one only by a fairly small amount; that other book could have been just as good for them.

This is not a reason not to write books - the impact is still positive, and overall impact is not the only important thing about art. But it is a reason books are not automatically better than in-person D&D campaigns (or social practice or any other art form). Because other art forms have the capacity to increase options much more deeply for a smaller number of people. Running a D&D campaign very often opens up an entirely new avenue of expression for a small number of people, which is going to do a lot for each person who gives that a try and sticks with it. It is entirely possible that the impact the story you tell with a handful of other people has on the world is bigger than what even a published book would have had, due to the relative magnitude for those few people.

It's an extension of the general ideology of looking local. Everyone wants to change the world, but the thing is that changing the world is the only thing we can't ever help but do every day. Sometimes effort spent on community organizing is more impactful than it would have been spent on some international campaign; sometimes effort spent on a D&D campaign is more impactful than it would have been spent on a book. The stories we tell with each other don't need to be consumable by other people, and the fact that we're telling them with each other is enough reason to keep telling them this way anyway.

[markesackett-theboxsf]

I just wanted to give you all an update! 👉 I did not post much in the last number of days as we were preparing for and exhibiting at @rarebookssf producing a beautiful Wedding Reception and Speakeasy Tours here at @theboxsfevents and last night producing and hosting our Open House and Dealer Reception for 80 people at @theboxsfmercantile and @theboxsfevents 🎉 Melanie has been out ill and we can't wait for her recovery and are sending her lots of love. Israel and I worked 4 solid 18 hour days. Israel and I divided our time working the Book Fair and our events here. I am so proud of Israel and so grateful for how she stepped up. We got it done and everything was huge success. I want to thank Mark Barbour of @printmuseum for helping us last night and for coming up from LA to do Letterpress Demonstrations. We appreciate Pedro for helping us load in to the Bookfair and to Paul for load out Thank you to Jacqueline Burns of Work of Art Catering @woacatering for food donations and help setting up our reception, thanks also to @blueheroncatering @fraichecatering @forkandspoonsf and @revelcatering for the beautiful food. Thanks to @bartendersunlimited for the Bar last night. To Brandon and Patrick for Security, to @adam_whittington_ for promotions and to @robreich for the beautiful live music! 🙏🏼 Finally, we know how to produce large and complex events here, so we have appreciation and deep admiration for the @rarebookssf team for a top drawer rare book and ephemera fair! Real professionals! ♥️ THANK YOU ALL FOR SUPPORTING THEBOXSF.COM AND ALL WE DO! ~Mark E. Sackett (at The Box SF) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoUF6NXOzKs/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[jiessicas]

07.13.23 - 07.16.23 japantown, poem & dance, & the circus, & more dance

07.16.23 (sun) afterglow; work hangout; missing sf art bookfair

 overslept and just listened to music from last night, which was very nice n leisurely

i was so worried this week but it was all good 😭😭 / grateful to live let live be alive 

marveling at the liveness of the last three days / how chronically late i am to everything

found the last piece of a lil puzzle and paced around in incredulity

went to j's to work on kernel mag, poems as machines, revisited

showed up to book fair after it closed ;-; an old coworker m recognized me from the back as he was crossing the street by my headphones, we talked about potentially moving to LA, their roommate search

met up with m who ran into c, who i met in passing at s's park hang a monthish ago; got coffee and then wine, a fun rotating seats convo about obsession, books, other things

took an uber home and the person driving said someone going to the grateful dead concert and left their phone in his car

exhausted but content; phone remains an object of obsession, swapped out twitter for instagram -- so content and so relieved to be done with some big things

himbo and baby are states of mind

grateful, feeling like i'm knitting myself together; series of miracles this week, feel like a more effective gatherer, calendarer; was late to it all, love arriving, hate leaving, saw so many friends in passing, feel turned inside out in a nice way

happy happy, feel relief coming home after being outside

body is happy humming, vibrating buzzing contently, wonder if i will look back on this and consider if i am being cruel in how much pleasure i have been having; i have felt more self-concerned than usual but also proud of what i got to do with/for others

thinking about what it is like to be the youngest child... ie what my sister who is the youngest of three feels like as the object of babying from parents... interesting to consider this a potential fantasy of an eldest child though its not one i've actively harbored

07.15.23 (sat) circus; dance & poetry; in the club before 11; machinedrum

a literal circus in the afternoon

a moment of gratitude for s & i sending me their art <3

toxic trait, being late to my own event; felt a shiver of delight in having friends (h, f, l, s, j!) come through

[so many incredible things that happened during the perforamnce]

cheeseboard; walking around berkeley at golden hour

got the sweetest clown prints from l :'')

yosemite fresh watermelons

sf symphony looks like a space ship

i love lil puzzles, turning things over idly, making peace with not having immediate answers

learning about writing groups, the little delight of realizing different artists i admire are connected with one another; of course; like the editor who told me years ago at a journalism conference in texas that people rise together in cohorts

in admiration of asian femmes who take on roles that are not easily afforded to them; noticing i have been misidentified as jasmine by so many white people,,,

dance is fascinating to me because of its wordlessness, conversely the dancers i'm working with wants to find mediums that make slightly more permanent what is otherwise an ephemeral thing

*play "in the club before 11 o'clock" - made it to the club early and got to people watch, which was very fun before moving on to catch machinedrum

got into a veryyyy nice sync with the music, which always gives the afterglow of a job well done (it felt like finding a rare gem of a show, the kind of night where it all feels so intuitive during the moment then bewildering after the fact; always fun to make my way back to that feeling, always happens in due time)

07.14.23 (fri) poem dejavu; rehearsal at the dojo; eug @ bpt

looked up a bunch of sleep poems; read a bunch of them to myself

i am calendar man; lil itinerary every weekend; every weekend a fest

now reading poetry submissions for kernel to narrow them down; did some pairings to share with jess

feeling thankful to be alive, looking back on march/april, which were so sweet. may/june/july; they were blurs; hanging out is the whole point / all i need is a place to sit in the sun, then the shade

"go be free young one"

spent a bit of time just reading poems on twitter ~

poem dejavu - lucille clifton & morgan harper hichols; marcelo hernandez castillo

practice / rehearsal w sarah bush at dojo; collecting the materials in a notes app; a poem in passing

hinges and tangents; the tangest that can only happen with unhinging; a poetics of unhinignig; a poetics of unraveling, surrendering, undoing,

morgan harper nichols - - - -

bar part time w eug; a bodega cat and watermelon juice after that

07.13.23 (th) japantown w k!

"forgive me i did not grow up with the trees"

wanna write about tumblr poetry; wanna discern between commitment and constraint; wanna scheme usb club; want to reply to texts x_x

sliced some nectarines; slurped some porridge

sat under the pagoda w k, then got lunch on the bridge; So Many Things talked about... [jk i have all these notes!]; a pigeon sat near us :)

some reflections on the talk;

pigeon clutch, dreaming about her

scrolling rabbitholes: amazon, wellfound

[lvl3]

LVL3 interviews this week featuring Annie Kielman, Colpa Press, Julia Krantz and Tyler Cole

[sidetrippin]

[brianmcswain]

A Poster Smog-Press made to accompany Memorare purchases a few weeks back at the SF Art Book Fair.

[harvardfineartslib]

Read with pride!

“Something of a living legend, Daniel Nicoletta (born 1954) has been the leading chronicler of the LGBT civil rights movement in San Francisco over the last 40 years. This is the first book dedicated to his powerful photographs from the burgeoning lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender mecca that was San Francisco in the 1970s and its journey to the present. Nicoletta is best known for his iconic images of Harvey Milk, one of the world's first openly gay elected officials, who was assassinated by a homophobic colleague in 1978. Nicoletta portrayed the glittering drag queens, the fabulous costumes, the alternative theater world and the quiet bravery of same-sex couples trying to live their lives. Today, Nicoletta continues to document the reverberations of Milk's legacy. He serves as a key point person for LGBT civil rights and Milk-related research. In 2014, one of Nicoletta's photographs was used on a Harvey Milk Forever stamp. 'LGBT: San Francisco' is an essential gay history and a stunning photographic work that is not to be missed.” – from the publisher’s note.

Image 1: Images from the endpaper

Image 2: Left page: Haight Street Fair, May 18, 1980. Miss X, Tippi, Freda Lay and Dorish Fish. Right page: Haight Street Fair, May 18, 1980. Doris Fish and Tippi.

Image 3: SF LGBT Pride, June 28, 1992. Cirrus and Frederick.

Image 4: Left page: SF LGBT Pride, June 25, 2000. Randy P. Burns (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and co-founder of Gay American Indians in 1975) and Bambi Raven Littlefeather (Tlingit Nation, Takdeintaan Raven Clan). Right page: SF Dyke March, June 24, 2000. Ruth Villasenor (Chiricahua Apache and Mexican Tribes and Bay Area American Indian Two Spirit member).

Image 5: Castro Street Fair. August 1976. Leon Lott, December Wright and Larry Williams.

LGBT San Francisco : the Daniel Nicoletta photographs Attribution Photographs, Daniel Nicoletta ; foreword, Gus Van Sant ; introduction, Chuck Mobley ; editor, Tony Nourmand ; art direction, Joakim Olsson. Author / Creator Nicoletta, Daniel, 1954- [photographer]  London, UK : Reel Art Press, 2017. 304 pages : chiefly illustrations (some color) ; 31 cm English 2017 HOLLIS number: 990150582040203941

[nikethestatue]

I’m sorry, my favourite chicken died today. I’ve had a few drinks, and I’m going to try and whinge about my fandom woes coherently. 🫠

I don’t understand why it’s okay for the other sides of the fandom to be anti elain or anti elriel, mock and bully our theorists, fellow fans and literally have a whole blog dedicated to hating us for being “mean and dumb” whilst still having the expectation that we (elain + elriel Stans) “don’t dismiss” their ships, theories or beloved characters. I don’t think it’s fair. Like, I simply just don’t understand how they can be so anti..us..and expect us to not be anti back about stuff? Like, that’s so hypocritical. I understand two wrongs don’t make a right, but it gets really hard to not become frustrated when people constantly demean and shit on you (potentially personally), and something you care enough about to participate in..and then get salty when you bark back and engage in similar behaviour🫠

I bought into the tiktok hype. That’s how I got here, in this mess. I’ve only been here since like February (a week before the HOSAB release to be precise) and I’m already just so exhausted, by all the hate and contradictions.

Elriel makes the most sense for me, bc I think yeeting the build up, and changing course so late in the game would simply be a waste of time, and would make any new romance (because these are in-fact romance/fantasies) rushed. I believe Changing ships in a bonus chapter is simply not a done thing?? Bonus chapters (in my experience) are marketing tools. Providing little slices of life for beloved characters or inconsequential and irreverent POVs you wouldn’t be getting in the main series. I cannot recall a single book series I’ve read, that has done anything drastic in a BC. I also believe the imagery of two brothers, two sisters, and a third sister with some random dude..just clashes. I’ve already seen arts when’re it’s Feyre + Rhys, Nesta + Cassian and G/wyn + Az. All lined up. Elain no where to be seen. It’s jarring, and uncomfortable to look at, but then again Elain is my favourite character, so I acknowledge a good chunk of my discord at that particular art, is my own feelings.

I don’t hate the e/Lucien ship at all. I wouldn’t be mad if it came to pass, and I think there’s merit in the fact they’re mates..but that’s all they have at the moment. SJM would have to walk back elriel, and shove E/Lucien together and perhaps introduce a new LI for Azriel all in one book, no matter how big she makes it, it will be super obvious why that happened and why it was squished into one book. SF was criticised for jamming in too many plots and feysands story detracting and rushing Nestas arc. I’d assume that SJM wouldn’t run that gambit again. Ultimately E/Lucien simply hasn’t been built up enough (or at all really) for me to rejoice if the ship sails, ya know? Again, I won’t be mad. Just a bit disappointed and confused.

G/wynriel is a whole other kettle of fish. When I first got into this fandom, I used to be like “teehee, I’m ship neutral” and then I’d watch some TikToks, read some posts, see some art and I would flip flop on how “neutral” I was. There was a time (before I actually read the series myself) where I shipped g/wynriel based on nothing but pretty fan-arts, and TikTok videos. Reading the series. Reading their “history” together..well..it sickened me. As a trauma survivor, I was so surprised..I had read the books, only to discover I could not ship them anymore. TikTok and the fan-arts had literally painted a very pretty picture. What it hadn’t painted was Azriel in the g/wynriel ship was literally a first responder to her SA, who then goes onto be a personal trainer + self defence instructor. He is also 550+ years older than her. I would be unsure and uncomfortable..but I could potentially overlook any one of those things. All three of them? No. The power imbalance is simply too much, and would hit too close to my own trauma. (Now before anyone takes a jab, I don’t care for the Feysand and Nessian age gaps either) also, they have no romantic coding?? I don’t hate why people ship it. I do hate that I, and my fellow survivors both in the elriel community, and even outside of it..are villainised, and accused of “weaponising our trauma” for not being cool with it. the futureI just don’t think that’s fair, or okay.

That was very long. I understand if you don’t respond to it XD

I am sorry about your chicken :(

In the beginning, when Gwynriel started, I think some original Gwynriels, though already pretty militant, at least had IDEAS. They came up with plots--even if they didn't make sense--they came up with 'evidence' and theories. The ship, at least made sense, from that stanpoint.

Now, the thing is that it feels like 90% of Gwynriels havent not only read any other books, but haven't read ACOSF. And have NO IDEA what they are even shipping. They've just seen Insta pix and TikToks.

Just recently an Elriel posted some response from some rabid Gwynriel who haven't even read the POV or the book. But had the audacity to argue. When that Elriel pointed the text in the POV, the gal was like 'Well, I am not expected to read everything. I didn't even know the POV existed'. Yet she felt qualified to argue.

At this point--and I am hoping that this will change tonight at 7 pm EST--there is no point in talking or engaging. It's like talking to flat earthers.

I think ultimately, the eyes should be on the prize. All of this will fall away eventually. It is a bit ridiculous, but honestly, I dont have time or desire to argue with some 11 year old who hasn't read the books and doesn't have the knowhow of how to construct an argument. And it's not worth the time or the frustration, because they will all disappear and move on to the next thing. That's why I always recommend that people don't get too upset or emotionally hurt with these arguments. Yeah, it's frustrating and some of their takes are horrendous. Like one from yesterday who posted that just isn't strong enough because frankly she hasn't been r*ped like Gwyn, who basically should be wearing her assault like a badge of some kind of perverse honour. There is absolutely no point in talking to people like these because the mental and emotional maturity simply isn't there yet.

I enjoy my world, my Elriel experiences, the positivity that always permeates MY fandom, the support, the jokes, the laughter. I think many of us have grown fond of each other, became friends and I am always excited to see new 'faces'. There are no quarrels, pettiness, or any BS. That's why I am here. That's why I am waiting for Solstice, which will be bom-diggity fun like it was last year, and eventually, for the book.

[emeraldvagabond]

The title of “High Lady” is meaningless also because of the the fact that Feyre started being High lady and then had a kid like a year or less after. Not saying the any female political leaders can’t have kids but I don’t think that it’s a stretch to say that political leaders—men or women—don’t have a lot of time to raise a new born baby without hired help. Their busy leading a country. Sarah J makes a point in a acowar and acofas to write Rhysand going on meetings and actually doing high lord stuff. I noticed that when he’s not on page, he’s usually busy doing something (they’re mostly one-liners with no further explanation or it’s mentioned in passing, but I noticed that Sarah says Rhysand is usually in some type of non-specific meeting to explain him being absent from specific scenes.)

But in Acosf, where the narrative doesn’t require Feyre to be present all the time, sarah doesn’t do this with Feyre. Why isn’t Feyre going to these meetings with Rhysand throughout acowar, acofas, and acosf? Why doesn’t she go with him to check up on the Illyrian camps, or help plot alliances and figure out peace (outside of the walls of her new home cause the only time we see her actually talking about important stuff after acowar with the rest of the characters is when it’s already a casual meeting inside one of her 5 houses where she would’ve been even if the meeting was taking place without her.) the only time she takes initiative in being apart of diplomatic/political affairs and conversations is at the CoN AND EVEN THEN, shes just a trophy for Rhysand to show off and she doesn’t have much say/knowledge about what’s actually being discussed in those moments. She does very little talking in those scenes (The first example I think about it that one scene in WAR where Rhys went behind all their backs and made a deal with Eris + Keir. Even Feyre didn’t know anything about Rhys’s plan)

Why does she have time to teach art classes and raise a child if BOTH her and Rhysand are supposedly busy being high lord and High lady. I guess people could say that the others will help out with Nyx but Cassian is busy being a general. Az is a spy and is usually off doing that. Mor wasn’t even in the NC for the majority of SF. I doubt that they’d be willing to hire a 24/7, live-in nanny. Nesta and Elain have their own internal problems to deal with so I don’t think it’d be fair of Feyre to just expect them to help non-stop. It’s ridiculously dumb to think that Feyre is even close to being Rhysand’s (or any other high lords) political equal. Makes me roll my eyes everytime people think that Feyre being a High Lady makes her a powerful female characters. It literally means nothing.

You're right and you should say it. Title ≠ power. He gives her the title, gifts it to her on their wedding night. Thereby gifting her a political place. Except she doesn't ever use it, because she's never given a chance. Feyre says all through the second book that her biggest fear is becoming the Spring Courts Lady, Tamlins trophy, but then she gets this title from Rhysand and goes "yes my life is complete time to fulfill my duty of bearing children"

And i get that people can change their minds. I understand that- i get that sometimes "not wanting" children means not wanting them with a specific person. Or under specific circumstances. But this distaste for children stems from a fear of becoming a prize for Tamlin to show off, instead of his wife and lady, and mother of his children. That is practically written in the second book. SJM is not known for her ability to show in her writing.

But then she gets with Rhys and becomes....exactly that. She does nothing but sit pretty in those crowns he gives her, but because he's given her a title that hold inexplicable weight but never expects the responsibility of it...she thinks she made it.

Now, as Lady of the Spring Court, I imagine her responsibilities would be a little more complicated than she was making them out to be in the first book. She's worrying about embroidering pillows and making guest lists...but realistically she would take care of the house, direct servants, host parties, and charities(which would be needed after the return from UtM...Tamlin's people had suffered non-stop loss for 50 years.) Rearing young animals, keeping tabs of the finances alongside Tamlin, spending time in the villages among the people checking on their work but also sharing in their joys and plights, giving when people are struggling, providing comfort and amends and companionship, she would have been expected to study the laws and their history, traditions of the Spring Court and where they came from and why they are upheld. She would be expected to learn about the land of the court itself, would have been in charge of staffing and overseeing the workers, including servants and guards and everything in between, she would have had her own orchards or livestock for when the trading became slow, she would have, alongside women that she had chosen, tend the gardens and help in the harvest, make clothes and other things for her staff and people. And that would have only been the surface of her duties as the Lady of the Court.

But, she's worried about embroidering pillows BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO READ, and yet she expects this title of ruler to be handed to her. Read that again. She does not know how to read and she wants complete political power.

When she does become Rhysand's Highlady....she....literally doesn't do anything. Nesta did more in their estate that was gifted to them by Tamlin, where she isn't in charge of whole lands, than Feyre ever does while being Highlady. Feyre stays in Rhysand's bed, or on his lap, or silently at his side. She doesn't attend meetings, she doesn't learn the people she's now ruler of, she doesn't know the laws or the history of the place. She doesn't even bother to learn. She is literally nothing more than a pretty consolation prize for Rhysand, and she never even realizes it....because he's just that good at manipulation, I suppose.

Sigh.

And you, again, are absolutely right about being unable to do the things that she wasn't doing anyway with a newborn. Either she will have to be reduced to even less than she is now, or she will expect it of her sisters.

Honestly, at this point, all Rhysand did was move her from one "cage" into the next. This ones just gilded because he miraculously shows no signs of trauma despite being ✨the most traumatized character of alllll✨

[ratsoh-writes]

Masterlist 8

General

the pet rock (ut pluto butch)

introducing SO to the mafia brothers (cash charm coffee)

kid and the science fair

who likes being picked up (all)

the nosiest boys (snipe ace wine coffee)

SO kisses the skelehand (ul hf hs)

Their kid is dating their rival’s kid (sans/wine jupiter/cash red/butch edge/willow)

SO sounds like they're saying chicken when they sneeze (all)

How often they say i love you (ut uf us ht fsr)

the difference between the fellswaps

SO hits them with a plate of whipped cream

SO eats death peppers

who would dance to caramelldansen

SO wants to drink lava (all)

oreos vs chips ahoy (all)

stranger opens the car door and kisses the skeleton 

SO doesn’t celebrate holidays

Rivals fall for the same person (sans/wine red/butch willow/edge cash/jupiter)

what flavors the papyri hate (papyrus honey edge cash willow)

how they eat their pizza (all) and who folds it?

audible wink

who would win in a pie eating contest

an adorable baby smiles and stares (honey peaches sugar rust)

SO sleepwalks

sleeping patterns (all?)

ice cream flavors (ms hf hs)

SO pulls skelly into their lap

Google eyes (all)

papyri first words (all)

child’s first words are cursed (all)

charm and Jupiter and their dares

spicy food challenge (peaches charm butch jupiter)

SO is angry (ut us sf ht fsg)

ordering a chimichungus (ot ut hf dt and the mafias)

SO cant lie (fsg fsr and the mafias)

SO boops them on the nose (mf uf us hs)

do the horrors eat meat?

pregnant SO is having triplets

They're in a haunted house and that isn't SOs hand he’s holding

SO eats pizza in 1 bite (all)

SO is being chased by a swan

SO made a pillowfort for them

SO is scared of shots

Skele is trapped in the hug (ut uf sf ul ht)

chiropractor SO

Seeing SOs soul the first time (ut ht ul)

everyone is dating different versions of SO

SO loves to compliment (horrors)

shapechanger SO (ut us uf ht fsg)

how they handle breakups

SO stole honey from the hive (ht hf hs ft fsr)

seagull on steroids (all)

getting the sleeptalkers to admit they're cute (sans oak snipe)

SOs bones pop

their first fathers day

how they eat waffles (all)

meeting a stranger at the amusement park

SO loves to be creepy

cuddle kisses (ut uf us dt hf)

SO cut their foot and left the kitchen a mess (horrors)

SO is hiding from their guilt

art club suggestions (us sf ul fsr fsg)

SO has a greenhouse (ht mt ft)

SO has finished making a pie and they look like they just murdered someone

SO is giving birth and they pop out triplets (mal oak charm snipe ace slim honey peaches sugar rust)

hunger games simulator (all)

boyfriend material (ut us uf dt hf)

SO gets spoken over (lord slim wine charm pluto)

girl is stalked (hs hf and the mafias)

SO has a terrible sleep cycle (all)

SO bites like a zombie (ut uf us sf fsg)

child throws a tantrum

stranger tries to fight SO (ul ft fsg fsr mf)

SOs pet tarantula escapes

calling them by their full name

they see a possible manhunt

how they keep recovering SO busy (ut uf sf ht fsg)

CRYPTID HUNTING (all)

sour cream prank (bruiser ace lilac star mal)

SO travels to unsafe places for work (all)

SO buys a cursed object

OCD SO is having a bad day (papyrus honey edge)

SO calls them just a friend on the phone (all)

friend is like Merida (ul fsr fsg)

SO looks for them after a reset (ot fsr fsg ul hs)

sanses fins the secret tickle book (main 5 + wine and G)

SOs mom tries to mother them (main 10 + ul fsg fsr ft hs)

Worldbuilding

how much do the skeletons weigh?

voice headcanons extra

How they feel temperature 

monster lifespans + the guy’s ages

body parts and magic 

intent and soul connections

Interactions

red butch and rust

Butch haters meeting Butch’s SO

Why bruiser doesn't like papyrus

sans and wine

Yandere

they fall for the same SO

The Mafias

Madame tells them to take good care of SO

SO finds out they're a mafia boss but is cool with it

random 1

child arrests them

poly headcanons

Age headcanons

Underswap

does star ride horses

Horrortale

oak fluff

Fellswap Gold

gremlin wine

Swapfell

cash’s SO cant be blackmailed

Horrorfell

fluff

baby likes noir better