A New Brother

I am a trans man who is just starting his journey into Freemasonry with UGLE. Since that seems to be a hot topic amongst Brothers, I may as well talk about it here - This is just my subjective experience, not the official position of the Lodge, Province or UGLE. Feel free to ask me anything, and if it's something I can answer, I will. Everyone mentioned here is pseudonymous. Junior partner at Haddaway & Shaight.

[thesobsister]

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (You construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men) (1980)

[teaboot]

Can I be honest with yall I don't want to hear SHIT against cishets at pride this year

[teaboot]

"But it's not FOR them!!!" The biggest military power in the world belongs to a christofascist nation overseen by a felon found guilty of 34 federal crimes and has greenlit a gestapo with more direct funding than the entire military of Canada for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Let Hetero Jessica throw some biodegradable glitter at a municipal parade

[teaboot]

At this point if anyone is trying to exclude anyone benignly pro-queer from a pro-queer space I'm just going to assume you're a fed or something idk like something something destabilize the movement from within or whatever

[anewbrother]

Lewis Masonic, which is the big publisher of Masonic books in the UK, produce a Pride pin with a square and compass on it and the Progress Pride flag on it. I have been wearing one to Lodge meetings every week since the start of June, and always have a second one in my pocket to give out to people who ask about it. And my favourite reaction was from a Brother who took one and said, totally unprompted "It feels more important that I wear it, than that you wear it, because you can say to someone that you're gay too, so they'll know they're safe, but I look like a bit of a headbanger, and this says 'don't worry, I bang heads for the right reasons' doesn't it?"

And that is exactly it. Come to Pride, so we know you bang heads for the right reasons.

[velteris]

yeah i drive the truck that isekais all those lonely 20yo NEETs and bored salarymen. it’s a really hard job. they keep sending me to workplace counselling after each hit. “it’s normal to feel guilt at ending someone’s life,” they say. how do i tell them that’s not what makes me feel guilty? “but it’s okay. he’ll live a better life in another world.” yeah, with 100 girls who could have lived normal lives but got drafted into being in these boring dudes’ harems. how many women’s lives have i ruined. and they don’t even know. they don’t even know

[mcgravin]

Sounds like you need "His Soul is Marching On to Another World; or, the John Brown Isekai" by CabbagePreacher, an actual fic on AO3 about famed abolitionist martyr John Brown getting isekaied to such a world and going on a rampage abolishing harems.

[mercurymusing]

[theunvanquishedzims]

140 CHAPTERS?

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

I HAVE TO READ THIS NOW XD

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

I know this pissed the Christian right off

[vague-humanoid]

[shacklesburst]

Under Virginia law, a month had to elapse before the death sentence could be carried out. Governor Wise resisted pressures to move up the execution date because, he said, he wanted everyone to see that Brown's rights had been thoroughly respected.

Brown made it clear repeatedly in his letters and conversations that these were the happiest days of his life. He would be publicly murdered, as he put it, but he was an old man and, he said, near death anyway. Brown was politically shrewd and realized his execution would strike a massive blow against Slave Power, a greater blow than he had made so far or had prospects of making otherwise. His death now had a purpose. In the meantime, the death sentence allowed him to publicize his anti-slavery views through the reporters constantly present in Charles Town, and through his voluminous correspondence.

Before his conviction, reporters were not allowed access to Brown, as the judge and Andrew Hunter feared that his statements, if quickly published, would exacerbate tensions, especially among the enslaved. This was much to Brown's frustration, as he stated that he wanted to make a full statement of his motives and intentions through the press.[54]: 212  Once he had been convicted, the restriction was lifted, and, glad for the publicity, he talked with reporters and anyone else who wanted to see him, except pro-slavery clergy.[46]

Brown received more letters than he ever had in his life. He wrote replies constantly, hundreds of eloquent letters, often published in newspapers,[133]: 43  and expressed regret that he could not answer every one of the hundreds more he received. His words exuded spirituality and conviction. Letters picked up by the Northern press won him more supporters in the North while infuriating many white people in the South.

KING

[heyzeus123]

Just a couple of the quotes about him that I like:

“His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light, his was as the burning sun. Mine was bounded by time. His stretched away to the silent shores of eternity. I could speak for the slave. John Brown could fight for the slave. I could live for the slave. John Brown could die for the slave.”

-Frederick Douglass

"That new saint, than whom nothing purer or more brave was ever led by into conflict and death, — the new saint awaiting his martyrdom, and who, if he shall suffer, will make the gallows glorious like the cross."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

[arctic-hands]

[Image Description: initial tweet by Haymarket Books, at HaymarketBooks. It is dated May 9, Twenty twenty-three. It says "Abolitionist John Brown was born May 9, Eighteen hundred." Beneath the tweet is a grayscale portrait of John Brown, an elderly white man with a long, bushy beard. In reply, Edward Ongweso Jr, @ BigBlackJacobin, tweets "Happy birthday to this crazy ass white boy. One day we are gonna go back in time and give him power armor." End I.D.]

[littlewildmother]

Studies show that engaging in ritualized behavior significantly improves outcomes on measures of grief and feelings of control, even when the person participating in the ritual has little or no belief in the ritual’s power. Just a reminder for no one in particular.

[littlewildmother]

Research has revealed that, while rituals are universal across human cultures, the content and actions of those rituals vary widely even when they have the same intended purpose. This suggests that it is not the actions that matter, but that you are taking any action at all and naming it ritual. It can be an elaborate ritual with dozens of moving parts and participants, or it can be as simple as lighting a candle alone with the intent to remember someone.

The healing is in the doing.

[stlamb]

"monastic cells" - miniature models made by nuns, where they depicted themselves as little dolls praying in their monastic rooms. they can be found in museums in france, belgium, and switzerland. crosses, images, and quotes from the bible, as well as everyday items are meticulously crafted.

[ephraimwaite]

Dreamt I had to come up with a new aesthetic and my idea was "celestial uncle"

[ephraimwaite]

Celestial uncle was like... unflattering middle aged man clothes but printed with centuries old cosmological diagrams and various esoteric imagery

[anewbrother]

I've been slowly putting together my theory of "What makes Freemasons different from other groups of largely-straight, largely-cis men?" And it's that they aren't touch-starved. Platonic touch, with other men, that isn't linked to competition (rugby players and boxers touch each other all the time... But it's in the context of tackling and clinching striking each other), and that everyone gets some of regularly.

Everyone shakes hands every meeting, usually a couple of times. The Deacons escort men around the floor as they stand up to say their piece or get their awards, arms linked. The Candidate, on his way in, is touched by almost every officer of the Lodge in some way, and likewise at his Passing and Raising, and at Installation the new WM shakes every officer's hand and puts their regalia on them.

And it sounds so silly, but at the same time it's pretty profound, that's more regular platonic touch than most cishet men get.

[schistcity]

currently maybe possibly single-handedly crashing whatever servers eton hosts its archived student newspapers on because me and a friend are getting obsessed with a single outspoken prefect from 1883

[schistcity]

@queenlua Happily! This is going to be long, so here's some set dressing first:

Eton College, for anyone unfamiliar, is a prestigious boys' school in England that has famously educated MANY MANY politicians, royals, nobility, and other assorted famous people. All you really need to know about it is that's it's incredibly posh and expensive and exclusive

The Eton Society (called “Pop” internally) is a self-selecting body of senior students at Eton that have historically held a decent amount of power at the school. If you’ve ever attended a school with a prefect system/house system etc you probably know a little bit about how obnoxious this kind of group can get. Now imagine they're all called Lord Godfrey Pickerington or something. Are you getting it? Is the set being dressed? Good.

Now that the scene is set, here’s our tale!!

I stumbled into Eton’s archives while doing research for a fanfiction and we’ll just leave that admission where it is!! It was in reading old issues of their student-run paper, The Chronicle, from 1883 that myself and @carebewear started becoming fixated on one guy in particular.

Cecil B. Gedge (from this point on known as Gedge) was a member of the Eton Society in 1883/84. He won a few Science awards during his time there (Biology!!) and seemed to like rowing during school sports events. He went on to become a barrister, which will make sense once you know more about him.

The best part of Gedge, though, is his appearances in the minutes for the Eton Society meetings. At least at Gedge’s time, the Eton Society seemed really fond of staging debates (more like loosely organised discussions) on a wide variety of topics.

Here are some of the riveting questions they discussed!

And my personal favourite: "Are Ghosts Real?"

(They were very divided)

Gedge first came to our attention in debate about the annexation of New Guinea, in which he apparently started an "abusive attack on the British army and missionaries":

Wow! Based Gedge!? He continues to spit period-typical truths about things like how we shouldn't tax bicycles actually because it would disproportionately affect poor people. YIMBY Gedge?? He would've loved light rail.

The final nail in our Gedge obsession was a debate on women's suffrage, in which Gedge vehemently advocates for women's right to vote and then gets no supporters at the end of the meeting. But I appreciate that he said it anyway and kept saying it. He is more persecuted that Christ, to me.

Here are some more, from anti-conscription sentiment to indirectly calling his classmates stupid to weirding everyone out by saying he wants to donate his body to science (his friend dissecting him for fun):

We started getting the feeling people might not have liked Gedge that much, mainly since one of the Society members wrote a poem about all his friends and Gedge isn't in it.

In 1884, there was some extended drama in the Chronicle where someone whom I groundlessly suspect was Gedge under a pseudonym ("A Socialist"), wrote to the editor complaining that the "debates" published by the Eton Society were "bad" (genuine quote) and that they should make a REAL debate society at the school that ALL boys, not just the self-selected seniors, could participate in:

To make a long story short most of the vocal members of the Eton Society threw up their hands at this and refused to do anything, basically boiling down to "Just because we're the prefects of the school doesn't mean we should have to actually DO anything!! Unfair!!" and also this quote which reads exactly like at least a thousand real tweets I've seen in my life

Liberal. Gedge, of course, was there giving practical suggestions, but the discussion was ultimately cut short because their principal died and they had to push a memorial issue of the paper. We have a working theory that the staff might've used that interruption as an opportunity to get the boys to cut it the fuck out.

Anyway it's a little unclear what happens to Gedge after that. He isn't credited as being in the 1884 Eton Society in the larger school register but it's unclear if that's because he wasn't re-elected or if he just graduated. Either way, he went on to become a barrister in London, which makes a lot of sense. Sadly though, he passed away in WW1, which we were really normal about

Thank you Lt. Gedge, for truly embodying the eternal spirit of an outspoken debate-kid, a friend to the lefties, a proto-yimby, a terminal back-talker, and the kid in a biology class that's a little too excited for the dissections. I hope your life, however short, was a rich and bright one. Thanks for the incredibly entertaining afternoon, brother 🫡

[partywithponies]

I don't think adult humans get enough cuddles and I am so serious.

You look at almost any other species of mammal and they give each other physical affection all the time, but for some reason we've decided that physical affection when you're an adult should be exclusively romantic and to want frequent physical affection from your friends or family is strange or sus or a sign you actually view them romantically, and this can't be good for us I don't think.

[anewbrother]

Seeing how so many Brothers respond to a handshake like a man in a snowstorm being wrapped in a blanket... Yyyep.

Cuddle your friends. It doesn't even have to be an active thing, I'm typing this sat on the settee with my pal's foot on my leg, whilst he plays a computer game. Sometimes we sit back-to-back and read or do tedious WFH tasks. Just find a way to have another human being touching you platonically. Show them this post if needed and say "Hey, want to try out leaning against me while we both spend an hour scrolling on our phones?"

[omercifulheaves]

*reads somewhere that John Brown and his cohorts would butcher slave owners and associates with "broadswords."* *me: thinks this is referring to some of the more serious cavalry sabers in the 19th century which were called "broadswords."* No it turns out the crazy motherfucker was literally running around during Bleeding Kansas hacking dudes to death with an actual Conan The Barbarian-ass broadsword.

[gossamerorigins]

Hi in case you need the alt text on this hard af John Brown quote from the lower right:

“You know that Christ once armed Peter. So also in my case I think he put a sword into my hand and there continued it so long as he saw best.”

[saintjustienne]

There is something deeply bittersweet about getting so invested in the life and works of someone who is long gone. You read about them, you collects informations, you think you know them, but your knowledge will always be incomplete. We base our perception on what we have, which sometimes is not very much. You cannot know how they really looked like (if they lived before the invention og photography) or how their voice sounded. A million little details you would like to know. You can grasp something of their lives if you are lucky enough to have personal objects, diaries, letters preserved... but even then it's not enough. They lived, they breathed like you do, and now they are gone. You both walked on the same earth but there are centuries separating you. There is a certain ache in that.

[anewbrother]

I feel this a LOT as I spend more time in our Lodge's archives, the library (where almost every book has a dedication, or an "Ex Libris..." or both) and the old Minutes books, where I can follow conversations between Brothers over the course of their whole Masonic lives. And because of how Masonic life works, there are plenty of Brothers that I only see once a year or less, but that I correspond with about books and history, so I do sometimes find myself thinking "Once I've finished this book I should pass it on to Brother Catchpole, he loves this sort of believe-it-or-not tone." And then I remember that Brother Catchpole died in 1932, and I feel temporarily disoriented because I'm sure I just spoke to him last week.

And then I wonder which archivist in a hundred years' time will have the same feeling about me, after they've spent hours deciphering my chickenscratch and complaining about my insane filing system.

[anewbrother]

My three weed-smoking girlfriends, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. I loved them, I loved all three of them...

[anewbrother]

Unexpected Masonry Effects: I now find myself saying "(things) in general or this (thing) in particular" a lot.

[anewbrother]

[Sickos meme]

Forty pages about the eleusinian mysteries in the new Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, I am DELIGHTED.

[tsunderemployee]

you best start believing in the long 19th century….. you’re in it!

[greatlordfluffernutter]

Everything I hear out of the UK government is either "Trans Women are no longer allowed to breath" or "We will do everything in our power to ban The Ninja Way from our great nation of Britain."

[anewbrother]

Feels worth saying that UGLE (the organisation that covers male Masons in England and Wales) is really supportive and accommodating of both trans men and trans women, when many other one-type-only organisations have rolled over and excluded all trans people, Freemasonry did the opposite.