kill the headlights

i’m north 27 • they/them • white mexican • TME

[cybermanes]

I’m at a hardcore show asking people why the guy on stage is yelling at us

[tlirsgender]

I'm not fond of the lgbt at this point like as a demographic white queers aren't any less likely to be racist than any other type of white people. Native queer people get fucking murdered and you can't talk about how their race is relevant, like you haven't been killing us for centuries. Happy pride month

[tlirsgender]

I could wax sociological about how homophobia and transphobia are entwined with white supremacy but none of you fucking listen when we try to tell you anything, you just dig your heels in when we try putting it gently & confirm us as savages when we get angry. I'm so beyond sick of your shit

[tlirsgender]

And I say Native *people* plural because this has happened before. This is what happens. You do this shit to Black people, too. Sometimes it's not about YOU it's about race first before anything else

[tlirsgender]

[ID: a reply from @pacificnorthwhore that reads, "I understand your point but damn this is an aggressive and hateful way to say it" /end ID]

Good cause I hate you but also let me redirect you back to that "not listening when we put it gently and confirming us as savages when we get angry" point

[storyweavingspider]

Wanna second this on the Black side. I’ve brought it up on here before but like this is how crackers reacted to me gently spoon-feeding them the most basic of Black transfeminism/intersectional theory, the kinda shit we get taught AS FUCKING KIDS for our own safety:

If a white can’t stand by us when we’re mad and (rightfully tbh) lashing out at them collectively for the oppression and suffering they stick us into, they DEFINITELY won’t stand by us the second shit gets hard. The trash is taking itself out but damn do I wish it wasn’t leaking all over the place and leaving us to clean up after it.

[tsulasgi]

Scrap basket!

Cherokee double wall - commercial round reed

You can tell I have a lot of pieces left over from working with strawberries and sunset colors. Reeds can take up a lot of space so im happy to put these to use!

[literary-illuminati]

It's very #problematic of me I'm sure but if they must do either I really desperately prefer authors coming up with fancy always-italicized elf words for being gay or trans than having preindustrial warrior aristocrats and barely-socialized monsters have a vocabulary that casually includes 'demisexual' and 'enby'.

This is only slightly a principled stance (queernorm fantasy worlds are very obviously not trying to have any sort of realistic political economy of gender, which I only slightly judge them for), mostly just painful aesthetic mismatch.

[koszmarnybudyn]

Portraits of Darkness Man and Bat Child.

[kaity--did]

can not recommend letting your child do a big scream when they are frustrated enough. Just straight up ask them like "hey do you need to do a big scream?" And if they say yes let cover your ears and say okay GO and let them scream because you know what eventually when you're really frustrated your little person with your face is gonna look at you with their ears covered and yell "HEY DO YOU NEED TA DO A BIG SCHREAM?!" and you can just... do a big scream and it won't scare them and you will feel better too

[a-thousand-pots]

I made something 🥰🎉🎉

Wayword — a daily word-ladder puzzle

Get from one word to another by adding, removing, or changing one letter at a time.

It has a daily mode that resets at UTC midnight. I’ve had fun with it with some friends - hopefully other people find it fun too :)

Lmk if you have any feedback

[jabberding0]

Claymation

[wafflewarrior111]

So... I found this and now it keeps coming to mind. You hear about "life-changing writing advice" all the time and usually its really not—but honestly this is it man.

I'm going to try it.

[missroserose]

I love the lawyer metaphor, because whenever I see “John knew that...” in prose writing I immediately think “how?  How does he know it?”  Interrogate your witnesses.  Cross-examine them.  Make them explain their reasoning.  It pays dividends.

[heck-in-a-handbasket]

All of this, but also feels/felt. My editor has forbidden me from using those and it’s forced me to stretch my skills.

[ineedthesons]

This is your "show not tell" advice explained!

[tarysande]

Editor here.

First, let me preface this with something very important: you can treat all of this advice as SECOND-DRAFT ADVICE. It is so much easier to rewrite this kind of stuff once you have words on the page. Telling yourself the first draft is totally appropriate and acceptable.

What we’re talking about here are FILTER WORDS (and to some degree verbs of being). Yes, “thought” words are included. But so are “heard, saw, looked, tasted, smelled” etc.—most words having to do with the senses.

This isn’t black and white advice; sometimes you’ll use these words and that’s okay. They’re not WRONG. They’re just weaker. And they’re weaker because they create distance between the reader and the experience of the character.*

If you want your reader to feel like they’re experiencing the story right alongside the character, you want to cut down on filter words.

*This is particularly important with first person and close third POVs. The reader always knows whose eyes they’re seeing through and thoughts they’re privy to. So you don’t need to tell them “I saw X.” Or “I heard X.” Or “I thought Y.” You can just jump into the action/observation as it’s happening.

This is also where you want to pay attention to verbs of being.

“It was rainy.” Versus: “The rain pounded against the roof.” Or “The rain howled like an injured animal.” Or “The rain tapped against the window like an anxious lover.” All of these are inviting the reader deeper into the experience of the story by using stronger verbs and similes. And, at the same time, they stir feelings (instead of TELLING feelings). And feelings keep your reader engaged. Engaged readers keep turning pages; engaged readers become FANS.

[the-haiku-bot]

This is also where

you want to pay attention

to verbs of being.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[defilerwyrm]

The most valuable advice that Author Ex gave me through the years that we wrote together was this: the problem with all these filter words is that they create distance in the POV.

That means that when you read a line like

John saw that the curtains were open.

It immediately takes you OUT of the character's perspective and instead tells you what they experience as a secondhand observation.

You don't have to get fancy or purple with how you rephrase things like this. Not everything needs a ton of breathing room.

You wanna know what's perfectly impactful while keeping a tight POV?

The curtains were open.

Simple as that.

[plus-size-aesthetics]

Ester Manas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Costume Exhibit, 2026

[winonaparadise]

✝️ transgender nun gives anti-s*icide ideation themed JOI ✝️

[wildflowerdaysi]

[butchfriend]

Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College

[cognitiveinequality]

[sturionic]

For anyone unfamiliar with Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the entire thesis is that traditional educational models promote oppression by removing students' agency in their own learning. Freire argues that currently education functions as a "banking model" - teachers are the holders of knowledge, and students are empty vessels, waiting to have that knowledge put into their heads like a piggy bank. This reinforces a passive attitude towards information, not seeking and understanding it on your own terms, but waiting for a "banker" to deposit it into your head.

Instead, Freire proposes that teachers and students act as co-creators of knowledge, where students become active participants in their own learning through questions and dialogue. Teachers are also open to changing their understanding of topics in the process of critical dialogue - the goal is not "student learns Fact A and memorizes it as presented," but instead the goal is the knowledge itself, discovered collaboratively by teacher and student, who are acting with empathy and respect towards each other. This also starts the process of the oppressed being able and empowered to question structures of power, take agency, and actively participate in the transformation of society.

So, the irony of writing an AI essay on critical pedagogy is actually insane; because it's essentially the extrapolated endpoint of Freire's arguments that our current educational system creates passive receptacles who not only can't think critically in an educational context, but also become the perfect citizens for a world that doesn't want us questioning structures of power, to view those in power as we viewed our teachers - deliverers of indisputable facts that must be memorized and regurgitated because they command it, and not co-creators of true understanding.

[ring2002]

sexually repressed people be like “i have an ancient evil stirring within me. no one can know” and its literally just craving intimacy

[pitbolshevik]

there ARE really good lgbt bands and artists tbf. i listen to several. but the ones that people hype up because "they're QUEER!!! they make GAY music!!!" almost always sound like dog ass

[pitbolshevik]

it's the music version of those book ads where you're told all about how super gay it is but not a single thing about the plot

[mens-rights-activia]

As a small clone farmer, you get very close with your clones and you always want to make their dreams come true before the harvest. Took this picture a while ago of mitochondrial clone, 2565. 2565’s dream was to get gussied up and ride the bus. She said she had always loved reading about busses in the books and always dreamt of riding one. It brought such joy to my heart to see her experience the bus ride of her dreams. She has a special place in my heart, she was one in one thousand. ❤️

[orteil42]

my friend's puppy has baffling levels of attitude for someone who's only been around for a handful of months. he understands concepts like deceit and civil disobedience and other things i didn't fully grasp until well into my 20s. this guy doesn't even know the seasons loop yet. he's probably like okay spring. what's next. some other new bullshit i bet