I saw your book deal was announced! Congratulations, it sounds awesome and canāt wait to read!
Thank you!!! It was indeed announced :D! I'm ridiculously excited to share these useless chaos engines and their Terrible No-Good Very-Bad planmaking with y'all... eventually...
but yeah I guess uh join my newsletter or something. if you want horrid death magic & useless bisexuals & really quite a lot of murder given everything else these characters are SUPPOSED to be getting up to...
For all its faults Tumblr has truly ruined all other social media for me because my friends all have Instagram and are all trying to get me on Instagram more but every time I open Instagram there are like fifteen things screaming for my attention and when I get over myself long enough to start scrolling it's like. Where is my chronological dash. Where is the following-only option. Who are these people. Why are there so many videos. Everyone is screaming at me. And then before I know it I'm thirty minutes into scrolling and I haven't seen a single thing that I actually care about. At least on Tumblr when I see stuff I don't care about I know someone I follow has found a new interest.
oooo ok so I did in fact solve the 'where tf did follow-mode go on desktop' (it is not perfect but)
and it is extremely funny
so what you gotta do is take your browser window, put it in 'part-screen' mode, and shrink it 'til the left-top clickable turns from the little insta logo to the word 'instagramā'. now if you click it you get:
tada! following mode!
you seem to need to do this every time you open the site, it is not sticky. you can do this on mobile any time w/out messing around with window resizes, too.
but also yes insta is not uh. a friend-shaped place. unfortunately it seems to be (or is perceived by the industry to be) load bearing for publishing publicity so I have no choice but to exist there at least a little, so this is one thing I figured out to make it at least marginally less godawful.
What do you think would have happened in Shane and Ilya were outed during the Sochi Olympics? I'm reading a fic about this and them running away and I'm aware it's not realistic, but I think you're the only writer in the fandom really capable of putting things into perspective, so your opinion is important to me
Anyway I'm actually starting to think you're a genius!! How do you know so much about so many topics it's crazy
I am so honored by the trust you have placed in me. I did my absolute best for you.
Shaneās going to be a lot safer than Ilya in this situation.
Like, Shane should not run if heās outed in Sochi. Heās actually going to be in a lot more danger if he runs. Russia cannot go after a visiting Olympianāespecially one of Shaneās statureāwithout causing an international incident. I wouldnāt exactly be extending my stay in Russia (I personally would not be leaving the sight of my countryās officials) but Shaneās going to be relatively safe if he gets outed in Sochi as long as he stays in the Olympic village. If Shaneās the only one whoās outed, Iād say heād be fine to stay and finish competing, as long as he 1) does not leave the Olympic village and 2) does not comment on the situation while heās in Russian borders. Heās there to play hockey and say āno commentā and that is fucking it. He is not making any goddamn statements on his sexuality while in Russian territory or this all becomes a lot more complicated, for reasons Iāll explain below.
If he leaves and tries to flee Russia himself, he may get murdered in a hate crime by a random Russian homophobe. He should not run. There is no benefit in running for him. His country can protect him if he stays with their group. They cannot protect him if he absconds into a fuck-off big country filled with people who hate him.
In the absolute worst case scenario, Russia could try to subject Shane to a period of incarceration followed by deportation. I personally see this as incredibly unlikely. But it is technically an option.
To be clear, openly gay athletes attended the 2014 Olympics as part of the official U.S. delegation. It is not illegal to be gay in Russia. It is illegal to promote LGBTQ+ rights in Russia. If Shaneās only been outed, then he hasnāt actually broken Russian law. He didnāt promote shit because he didnāt do anything. This is also why Shane canāt make statements about the situation while heās in Russia. If anything he says could be construed as promoting LGBTQ+ rights, then he has actually broken Russian law, and Russiaās response becomes much more unpredictable. His mouth needs to be goddamn shut until he crosses that fucking border. Shane Hollander is not coming to terms with his own sexuality and making passionate declarations about the rights of gay men in Sochi fucking Russia. He is shutting the fuck up until heās out of Russian airspace.
That all being said, Russia isnāt exactly known to be adverse to holding kangaroo court. The United States actually advises its citizens not to travel there in part because of the likelihood of wrongful prosecution. And Shane just got outed as a gay man whoās fucking Putinās favorite hockey player. So maybe Russiaās feeling vindictive and tries to construe some random bullshit words he says as promoting gay rights in violation of their law. In 2014, the absolute maximum penalty a foreign national can face for promoting LGBTQ+ rights within Russiaās borders is 15 days incarceration followed by deportation.
It is incredibly unlikely that Russia attempts to incarcerate Shane Hollander under this statute. It is even less likely that he would serve any time in Russian prison over it. The chances of Shane Hollander going to jail in Russia under their anti-LGBTQ+ legislation are negligible.
You have to contextualize this within the circumstances. Shane Hollander is not some random athlete who got caught breaking the law in Russian territory on a personal visit. He is Shane fucking Hollander, Canadian National Treasure, and this is the goddamn Olympics.
Iāve talked about this in other posts, but letās make something clear for the sake of this post: International law is not law in the way we traditionally think of it. It doesnāt work like the criminal code of your state or US federal law or anything like that. It is not a legitimately binding code where authorities will show up to incarcerate you if you break it.
It is playground politics on a global scale. To simplify it greatly, itās about following playground rules so you get to sit at the cool kidās table at lunch.
To create legitimately binding, codified law, it has to flow from some kind of central authority. In America, Congress is vested with law-making authority over America. America is not listening to some goddamn Europeans tell us what to do. I have read speeches from actual U.S. senators that can be summed up as āAmerica is not listening to some goddamn Europeans tell us what to do.ā
When you hear about international law, the Hague, international criminal courtsāthose are all systems that countries have decided to voluntarily participate in for the sake of diplomatic relations. They cannot be forced. Those institutions have authority because countries consent to their authority. Everyoneās just all playing nice with each other so international trade deals run smoother and no one raises tariffs on each other and so that their citizens can enter your country without applying for a visa first and vice versa. It is an extremely elaborate web of peer pressure and it plays out on an international scale.
The Olympics is a massive fucking part of that.
Countries want to be in the Olympics. That is something that I cannot put in strong enough terms. If we are talking about international diplomatic relations, the Olympics is about as big as it fucking gets. Countries will bend over backwards to protect their place in that fucking show. It is huge for promoting a sense of national pride. It is huge for stimulating the economy. And it is huge for the international pissing contest that is global diplomacy. Countries use the event to either affirm alliances or establish dominance over their enemies.
For example, have you ever watched Miracle (2004)?
For those who havenāt, Miracle is about the 1980 Olympics, and specifically the US v. Soviets menās hockey competition. Imagine: It is the middle of the goddamn Cold War. The Soviets were the heavily favored team to win. They won Olympics hockey almost every year. Theyād just cleaned Americaās clock in an exhibition match that happened in advance of the game.
The 1980 Olympics happens. America somehow beats the Soviets.
It united the goddamn nation. Like. We might as well have just won the Cold War. It was a symbolic victory over the USSR, even if it was just a sports match. America rode that high of national pride for a long time.
When itās the Olympics, the entire world is watching. Them being outed would be so far beyond being about just Shane and Ilya. Every single world leader participating in those Games would have an emergency briefing on their outing within the hour. Even if those are not their athletes, they may have to issue a formal statement or response regarding how Russia handles this. They may have the prime minister of Canada calling them in an hour saying I need you to agree to levy fuck-off tariffs against Russia if they do not give me back my special hockey boy right the FUCK now.
Because thatās the rub. This is not just any athlete. This is Shane fucking Hollander.
Hockey is in an integral part of the Canadian national identity. This is a country that cares profoundly about their hockey boys. It is a load-bearing part of the national zeitgeist. And if we say that Shane Hollander is the Sidney Crosby analogue, then almost every single person in that country knows his name.
I didnāt really grasp just how big of a deal Shane Hollander was likely to be the first time I watched the show. So much of the show focuses on their private interactions, where theyāre just Shane and Ilya together. We donāt see them as celebrities nearly as much. We know theyāre famous, we know that theyāre in press conferences, we know that they get recognized by fans sometimes and that Shane at least got papād with Rose Landry. But when I first watched it, I figured that Shane and Ilya were just like. Athlete famous. Or like ādrummer in a bandā famous. Like you know them if you really follow the sport but other than that theyāre pretty low profile. And I was coming from the perspective of someone who grew up in the American south, where hockeyās just not a big deal.
It is a big deal in Canada.
If Shane Hollander is their worldās Sidney Crosby, then he is a national fucking hero. He has been in national news since he was 12 years old. That country has watched him grow up. It has cheered for him. It has hung their hope and their national pride to the idea of Shane Hollander, and it has been doing it for a fucking decade.
The prime minister of Canada is going to crawl up Putinās ass to get Shane Hollander back home without so much as a single hair out of place.
It is internationally embarrassing if he canāt. Itād be sending a message to the Canadian public and the world at large that Russia is stronger than Canada and can do whatever the fuck it wants to Canadian citizens without fear of retribution. That is simply not an option.
If Russia even suggests that itās considering pulling shit against Shane Hollander, the prime minister is making phone calls. He is calling in favors. He is threatening tariffs and international sanctions. He is getting on a plane if he has to. Shane Hollander is the peopleās princess and he is coming fucking home. The prime minister will personally be at the airport to receive him, with a fleet of the goddamn press. Look at the might of Canada, bringing babygirl home to its tender, maple-scented embrace.
Gay marriage has been legal in Canada for nearly a decade at this point. Canada is pushing itself in the international landscape as an LGBTQ+ safe space. The fact that he was outed as gay wouldnāt necessarily be a deterrent to Canada applying political pressure. And you cannot be the host of the fucking Olympics and imprison a countryās most beloved athlete for being a member of a minority group without opening a massive can of fuck around and find out.
Honestly Iād be fascinated by the global response. I canāt think of a single time in history where a countryās tried to fuck around and find out like that. Like. They may legitimately get banned from the Olympics if they try that shit.
Under the Olympic Charter, you can get banned from competing in future games as a sanction for human rights violations. This has historically only been used as a sanction for actions against a countryās own citizens as far as Iām aware, and itās very rarely invoked. Like. South Africa was banned due to apartheid for a while but also we let did fully let the Nazis host the Olympics right before WWII. So. Hit or miss.
I just canāt personally think of a single time in history a country tried to imprison another countryās Olympian over something as contentious as wanting to violate specifically his human rights. Like. Olympians have been arrested during the Games before but thatās because they like. Tried to buy cocaine. And even then the police let them go to be disciplined by the Olympic committee for their country. Countries just do not like touching other countryās athletes during the Olympics. Thatās so diplomatically explosive that I canāt begin to imagine the global backlash that would come from going after Shane Hollander for being gay and sucking off Putinās favorite hockey player. But I do see the Olympics committee reacting strongly, because something like this would be a direct attack on the principles of comity underpinning the games. Countries are going to be way less willing to keep participating in the Games if they know their athletes can be unjustly imprisoned in the host country without consequence to the host country. There would likely be multiple countries reacting very strongly to any kind of formal sanction against Shane Hollander, not because they give a shit about him, but because they want to set the precedent that you do not fucking touch another countryās Olympians. Ultimately, I do think the Olympic committee would straight up ban Russia just because the Games may fall apart if they donāt.
Notably, Russia did actually receive a ban from the Olympics after the 2014 Games. This had nothing to do with human rights violations. They got caught doping their own athletes during the 2014 Games, which also violates the Olympic Charter. Iām assuming that this did not happen in the game changers universe because, critically, they doped their ice hockey team. Ilya would have been caught up in it, and thereās no evidence of that happening in canon.
So, presumably, Russia is in a position where the only thing that could endanger its future participation in the Games is if they do something as batshit fucking crazy as trying to arrest and incarcerate Canadaās Favorite Hockey Boy. That is simply not fucking happening. Theyād be too worried about a potential Olympic ban and the firestorm of global backlash that would rain down on them for jailing a goddamn visiting Olympian. Like, it doesnāt matter whose dick he sucked, sometimes itās just not worth it.
So, if Shane gets outed in Sochi, he is fine. Like. Heās not fine, heās just been outed, but heās not in any real danger from the Russian government.
Ilyaās situation is different.
Ilya needs to get his ass over the goddamn border.
Ilya does not need to worry so much about legal repercussions. He does not need to worry about incarceration. He canāt actually be incarcerated for this. The anti-LGBTQ+ promotion law thatās in place in 2014 does not actually permit incarceration for Russian citizens, just foreign nationals. If weāre just looking at official state sanctions, the most heās getting is a fine. So if heās arrested, itās because he was framed for something. Which like. Not impossible for Russia to do. And it would be very difficult to get him out of incarceration if he was arrested on false charges.
But if weāre just looking at the consequences of him being outed, Ilya is not going to the gulag for this.
He is going to ākill himself.ā
He is going to be found dead, having fallen from somewhere tragically high, or overdosed on drugs no one knew he was addicted to, or having shot himself twice in the head with his non-dominant hand. This was, of course, due to his own overwhelming shame from the embarrassment heās subjected himself and his nation to, and was absolutely not a state-sanctioned hit, no, really. Really. They promise. They are crying too!!!
Again, contextualize the situation. It is 2014. It actually used to be better for gay people in Russia before 2013. The Russian government started to pass increasingly strict laws against queer people that started in 2013 (and have gotten fuck off bad in the last few years, but those wonāt be a problem for the 2014 Olympics). So the Russia government has just kickstarted a national campaign against LGBTQ+ rights, and they find out that their hockey godling who is in all of their nationalist propaganda has been trading blow jobs with Canadaās own Prince of Hockey.
By this point, there has very likely been a very recent press conference that involved Ilya Rozanov shaking Putinās hand. Putin has endorsed Ilya as one of the greatest this country has to offer. Ilya Rozanov was named the captain of their Olympic team over all of those KHL players who are all major and active participants of Russian state propaganda. And then right after he was picked, Putin turned around and warned the entire goddamn world ādo not have your athletes in my country promoting the queer agenda.ā There is a fuck ton of preexisting global attention on queer rights in Russia because of the Olympics.
So. In sum: They are at the launch of a national campaign against the very thing Ilya turned out to be. They just endorsed Ilya Rozanov as their national ideal that everyone should aspire in almost the same breath that they told the entire fucking world that Russia did not want that fag shit happening within its borders. And then he lost to goddamn Latvia.
And then he was outed for having gay sex with an equally famous hockey player from a competing country.
This is internationally humiliating for them. They do not want to just let this go with a fucking monetary fine.
And they are smart enough to know that if Ilya Rozanov gets over the border, he is not coming back.
He is getting on a plane to America and filing asylum paperwork the second he crosses the border. Heās moving to Canada and getting hitched to a pretty freckled Canadian in a ceremony officiated by the fucking prime minister. He is never going to be seen on Russian soil again.
There is a time limit to solving the problem of Ilya Rozanov. It is counting down. Russia will have to decide very quickly if there are too many eyes on them right now to retaliate against him or if they need to send a message to their citizens that you do not get to globally humiliate them the way Ilya Rozanov just did.
The options you have to resolve this are going to depend on how exactly Ilya and Shane are outed.
Like. What happened? Did someone put the pieces together and sell the story to the press? Was his incredibly literal sexting thread with Shane Hollander leaked? Did someone get a photo of them kissing on the Vegas balcony when they were rookies and theyāve been sitting on it since 2011? Some other third thing? Were Shane and Ilya outed simultaneously or was it staggered? All of that is going to affect their options to get Ilya out of this fucking country.
Like. If itās a situation like in snapping birch, where Shane is outed first and itās unclear for the first few hours whether Ilyaās going down with the ship, maybe you risk having him make a break for the goddamn border. Maybe he just tries to clear Russian airspace before they figure out that heās Shane Hollanderās bisexual love machine. Iām not saying thatās the safest option, but itās one I can see them at least considering.
If they are outed simultaneously, Shane and Ilya are now 1) handcuffed to each other, 2) performing gay hockey Romeo & Juliet on the international stage and 3) having some very awkward meetings with world leaders.
Again, Shane Hollander is much safer than Ilya Rozanov is right now. His country still likes him, mostly. He is still Canadaās special hockey boy who they love so so much, and Ilya is on the hit list for the fucking kremlin.
Ilya is not going home. He is not facing his family. They will fucking shoot him and then say he shot himself. #theyarecryingtoo!!!
If he is smart about it, Ilya is now attached at the hip to Shane Hollander, who has the type of bulletproofness that comes with being in a parasocial relationship with your entire goddamn country. That gives him his best odds.
If Iām Shane? Ilya is staying within five feet of me at all moments. We are going to the bathroom together. He is sleeping in my bed with me directly on top of him because itāll be harder to kill him in his sleep if you have to physically move me to do it. Shane and Ilya would need to jump straight from āuncertain situationship stage where one of you took the otherās virginity and didnāt call after and the other kept texting for several months despite getting no response and now you both feel existential angst over itā to ādisgustingly codependent couple that is never ever physically apart.ā
They are not staying in the Olympic Village. They are not competing in the rest of the Games. They are sleeping in the Canadian embassy and getting on the first flight they physically can get out of that fucking country. And I am not talking commercial. I mean a world government needs to send a plane to go get them.
Like, if Shane wants to give Ilya his best odds, he is refusing to leave the country unless itās holding Ilya Rozanovās hand. He is throwing every single ounce of national goodwill at his disposal at the Canadian government to try and force them to get his situationship out with him.
Legitimately, they need Ilya out of that country so fast that it leaves a fucking smoke trail. They need to get him out before he ādies in a tragic accidentā or ākills himself.ā They need to get him out before he gets framed for a crime they can actually incarcerate him for.
In this situation, the win conditions are if they can get Ilya out of the country safely when heās trapped like a rat in the Olympic village in a country where everyone knows his face because the state purposefully promoted him to them as the national ideal. He cannot just go to fucking ground and try to stealth his way across the border. You need the eyes of other governments watching him closely so itās harder for him to ākill himself.ā You need a safe, secure method out of the countryāi.e. a diplomatic flightāso he canāt āfall down the stairsā at the airport. Which means you need to 1) convince world leaders to let Ilya Rozanov on one of their planes and 2) ideally get them to pressure Russia to not stop him on the way to the airport.
I want to be clearāRussia canāt just close its borders to Ilya Rozanov specifically. At least not easily. He has a passport. Itās not a simple as just taking away the passport.
A recognized principe of international human rights law is freedom of movement. Countries cannot just revoke their citizenās passports willy nillyāespecially if theyāre revoking his passport because heās gay and they want to stop him from leaving the country. They have to have some kind of cognizable ground to put a travel ban on himālike if he had a warrant out for his arrest, owed debts to the government, was a national security threat, etcāor it violates the playground rules that the world governments agreed to abide by. Russia will no longer get to sit at the cool kidsā table if it just goes up to Ilya and says āhey man you canāt leave the country anymoreā
It is 2014. Russia is still, for the most part, trying to maintain diplomatic relations. It just convinced the world to let it host the Olympics. And because of that, the entire fucking world has its focus on what they do in response to this. They cannot just fly off the fucking handle and refuse to let Ilya Rozanov leave the country. That would violate their own laws and international principles of law, and the entire world would see them do it. They would be looking for a legal way to keep him in the country, which means Shane and Ilya need a way to get him safely out of the country before Russia has the time to come up with an excuse to keep him there or just, you know, fucking shoot him.
And that. Is not a lot of time. Like every second that he stays in Russia post-outing decreases his odds of leaving the country alive.
If you really want to play out the logical consequences of this kind of fic, you are now writing RPF about former President Barack Obama.
Shane is Canadian, but Ilya is playing for an American team. And, critically, a lot of the spotlight around queer rights and the 2014 Olympics was focused on America.
If weāre talking about 2014, we are pre-Obergefell. Gay marriage is not legal across the United States. But Obama made it a key issue during his time in office. Heās declared that he wouldnāt defend the Defense of Marriage Act. Heās gotten rid of Donāt Ask, Donāt Tell. Heās publicly endorsed queer rights and heās directed American agencies to promote queer rights worldwide through diplomatic measures.
Obama was under pressure to boycott the 2014 Olympics because of Russiaās recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. He chose not to, but he did send openly queer athletes as part of the official U.S. delegation as an implicit condemnation of Russiaās actions. The spotlight was on America because of this.
So America was participating in the Olympics even after human rightsā activists petitioned for a boycott because of Russiaās anti-queer legislation. It was subtweeting Russiaās stance on gay rights on a global scale. And then a major athlete for an American team who lives in America on an American visa gets outed for making passionate gay love to the Hockey Prince of Americaās closest ally.
Americaās going to be expected to say something about that shit.
Now, they may say āwe donāt actually have any citizens involved in this, we support queer rights but we will not be directly intervening out of respect for international comity.ā Or they may say āAMERICA STANDS BY ITS GAY HOCKEY PLAYERS EVEN IF THEY ARENT BORN HERE. LAND OF THE IMMIGRANT RED WHITE AND BLUE MOTHERFUCKERSā *eagle screech* *gunfire*
It. Responses could really vary here. And I think how involved America is willing to be will depend on how much political capital Shane and Ilya can offer them.
Again, at this point in history, the presidentās office is on a tear in favor of queer rights for once. It is a major platform actually. Itās a topic that Obama historically has pushed boundaries for.
Who are they trying to bring home? Is it gay hockey Romeo & Juliet?
Or is it just some Slavic fuckboy?
This situation is going to be a lot worse for Shane and Ilya if they are outed because their texts leak. Because their texts do not look good for them. Their texts look like Ilya spent two years saying āplease please PLEASE let me fuck youā *unsolicited dick pic* āyou want these nine inches so bad cmon babyā *thirsty tongue emoji* *eggplant emoji* *prayer hands emoji* and then ghosted the day after Shane Hollander finally texted that he could come fuck him. Like. Their texts are low key embarrassing for both of them. Ilya comes off looking like some dickhead who just wanted to get his dick wet and Shane looks like a jilted girl who couldnāt figure out she was just a notch in the bedpost after several months of being left on read.
That is not the kind of thing diplomats burn bridges over. Like. American democrats are fighting for their life trying to get people to accept the idea that gay people can get married. They are not about to throw down the gauntlet with a world power in defense of what looks like a chapter torn out of the fuckboy playbook.
But maybe they apply some political pressure if Shane and Ilya at least look like they at least have the potential to be gay Romeo & Juliet.
Yes, the rivalry makes them a divisive couple. But it makes them a divisive couple for specifically some American hockey fans. This is bigger than the NHL. This is bigger than their individual cities. This is a tale youāre selling to the world, most of whom found out that Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov existed 0.5 seconds ago when they got outed and suddenly became headline news in every paper on the planet.
They are both very attractive men. They are talented. And they have a tale of star-crossed love that has the potential to be very sympathetic if itās told right. And maybe thatās enough to make them valuable as a very compelling story about the need for equal rights, including marriage equality, which the White House is actively campaigning for.
To be clearāAmerica and Canada are not threatening war over this, but they also donāt need to. All they need to do is 1) let Ilya get on their plane with Shane instead of telling him to get his own ride and 2) pressure the Russian government behind the scenes to let him get on the plane. Maybe the White House + the Canadian government would be willing to apply pressure on Russia and package it with promises of a prisoner exchange or trade deal or something if Russia just doesnāt stop Ilya from leaving? I dunno. This part is the most uncertain. Iām not privy to backdoor inter-continental governmental negotiations. Shane and Ilya would have to be really, really worth it for that kind of effort, but theyāre high profile enough to have the potential. Otherwise, you just have to have Ilya make a break for the border and pray he gets across before someone shoots him.
If world powers do successfully intervene on their behalf, Shane and Ilya do not just get to shake hands when the plane lands and go their separate ways.
The fuckboy dynasty is over. Their best odds in this situation if they convince the fucking president that they are in a serious relationshipāor at least convince him that they can convince the world that theyāre in a serious relationship. You canāt just have the fucking president making serious political moves for you and then disembark the fucking ride. Like. You can, the president isnāt going to make you keep fucking each other at like, gunpoint, but it would not be good for their careers or getting any kind of continued aid from the government when it comes to keeping Ilya safe from his very very angry home country.
If they want to minimize the real-world consequences from their outing, they are in a committed relationship now whether they like it or not. They are at the White House on Thanksgiving standing next to the fucking turkey in matching Burberry coats and clapping politely. They are each otherās dates to Christmas dinner with the Canadian prime minister. The upside is that it actually may insulate them somewhat from official NHL retaliation against their relationship, but only because fucking Obama is coming to their games now.
Theyād be placed on a collision course with marriage once it becomes legal across the U.S. after itās codified into federal law by the Hollanov law that democrats named after them. They could probably drag out the dating phase for several presidential terms and then claim they grew apart if they didnāt want to get married? Iād be very careful about how they announce any breakups. But like. In the initial aftermath, they are not telling the world that the gears of goddamn nations just moved so they could be fuck buddies. They need as much public goodwill as they can get or someone will get mad enough to shoot them. No, they are in the kind of gay love that changes history, whether itās true or not.
Itās political theater. Theyād be performing a love story for the eyes of the world. And whatever they do would likely have consequences for if gay people get rights and how fast that happens. It would be a huge deal.
question for the Americans in the room; is this a real thing or just another case of '90% of op/ed writers live in the Bay Area or very specific neighborhoods in NYC/LA'?
Seattle does this in chain pharmacies and groceries (Safeways, Krogers (Fred Meyer), Target) for high value / frequently stolen products including shampoo and some pharmaceuticals. the most egregious product they lock up? (and they always lock this one.)
keep a part of yourself reserved for yourself alone and build a relationship with the silence at the heart of your solitude. who you are before that silence is the closest thing you can get to an unobstructed view of yourself. the noisier it is in your head, the further away you are from the middle. take medication if it helps keep the volume down. remain in your body and listen to it. whatever the day disintegrates within you, make some attempt to reintegrate it each night. whatever emotion is shaking you like a rabbit in the jaws of a dog, go limp and wait for the dog to finish before you take action or speak rashly. keep all promises to yourself. eat and sleep and drink as well as you can. figure out what makes the integity of your self worse and quit doing it. show up every day to the job of taking care of yourself. forge close personal bonds with your peers, if you can locate some peers. dance.
'why is so much politically-focused genre fiction centred on monarchies' many reasons, but one which I think deserves attention: monarchy is an obvious way of tying together the dysfunctions of the domestic to those of the state
was discussing tumblr habits w somebody in a mutual discord server last night and they were so gobsmacked i like to ideally have 100+ posts in my queue at any given time š how many do yāall have in your queue if you use it??
with love. you have to fact check shit. yes you. you still have to fact check shit. a lot of people are great at fact checking stuff they donāt want to be true, but somehow are still absolute ass at fact checking stuff thatās rhetorically convenient to them. even people my age, who I KNOW grew up doing internet/bibliography literacy workshops, and being warned not to believe anything that isnāt reliably sourced, people who DO harp on fact checking conservative output or whatever, are still kneejerk sharing unsourced shit that is partially or wholly untrue or misleading, because it suits whatever narrative theyāre pursuing in that moment, without even a ātake this with a grain of saltā. fact check!!!!!! look at the sources!!!!! yes itās a drag!!! do it!!!!!
You have just lost use of this random kitchen item/ implement how screwed are you in terms of cooking?
https://wheelofnames.com/ry4-3s4
The wheel is completed but if you the mod want to change it at all feel free and I couldn't figure out how to get the link to work properly even un-anoned.
Thanks, have a nice day and drink some water
You have just lost use of this random kitchen item/implement!
Mammal in a Sunday Dress explores the uneasy relationship between femininity, civilisation, and the animal body. At first glance, the figure appears modest and withdrawn. Her posture is composed, her gaze seemingly lowered towards her bare feet, recalling the conventions of nineteenth-century portraiture where women were often depicted as passive objects of observation. Yet as the viewer moves closer, the illusion collapses. Her eyes are not lowered at all. She is looking directly back.
The delayed eye contact transforms the encounter. The viewer approaches believing they are safely observing a woman; instead, they realise they have been observed themselves. The work refuses the traditional power dynamic of portraiture, denying the comfort of anonymous spectatorship. Looking becomes a reciprocal act.
For Cox, the painting considers humanity's persistent desire to separate itself from the rest of the animal kingdom. The title quietly undermines this distinction. A "mammal" is not another creatureāit is us. The Sunday dress, rich with cultural associations of femininity, morality, and respectability, becomes an attempt to distinguish ourselves from nature. Yet clothing cannot alter biology. Beneath lace and ritual remains the same vulnerable animal body.
The work also reflects on the historical relationship between women and nature. Across art, religion, and philosophy, women have repeatedly been positioned as closer to instinct, emotion, reproduction, and the body itself, while men have been aligned with reason, culture, and civilisation. Mammal in a Sunday Dress does not reject this comparison. Instead, it questions why proximity to nature has so often been treated as something lesser.
Chiaroscuro isolates the figure within darkness, allowing the luminous dress to symbolise the performance of civilisation while the bare feet quietly return the body to the earth. Neither is presented as more truthful than the other. The painting exists in the tension between performance and instinct, refinement and biology.
Mammal in a Sunday Dress ultimately asks a simple but unsettling question: if every layer of culture were stripped away, what would remain? Not a king. Not a saint. Not a gentleman or a lady. Only another mammal, looking back.
