I've recently been feeling really pulled back toward writing and being a storyteller again. it started with someone who left a many-paragraph comment on one of my old fics. And then as I've struggled to write my dissertation I have found some comfort in writing it with a more narrative style. But the truth is I really miss writing fiction.
There was a time in my life where a fiction writer was all I wanted to be. Then I wanted to write TV/movies, and then I gave up on writing entirely for two years. After that my writing exploded with fanfic, which was such an important part of my life. Its been years and years since I wrote fiction of any kind, and I don't have time for anything right now. but I have been reading my old fanfics lately.
ya'll!!!!! This shit is so good wtf. That old eruri still hits so hard. Jesus christ!!!! And the wildest part is that I am far enough away from it now that I can see my psychology, like that particular part of my life...the way I was grappling with masculinity and what it meant, the way I was processing and grappling with trauma and PTSD and trying to find stability and healing. The way I was grappling with transness and trying to understand it as other when it was really ME. Fuck. Reading these old fics hits me so deep on all of these levels.
If I was writing a fic rn, I wonder what secrets I would find in it five or ten years later?
Anyway. I haven't logged in here since August of 2020 apparently, but I figured there was no more appropriate place to talk about re-reading my fics. I hope once my dissertation is done and my business is thriving, I have time to work on a novel or two. I still want to adapt Salt into a novel, and now I can see all the spaces in the story that are begging to be filled out.
This summer we moved which was ....so much more stress and strain than I had anticipated. But we did it. Our apartment is beautiful and well located but we needed to make it work for us (and our dog and our three cats) and THAT has been a whole other challenge. I’m writing a dissertation and starting a business. Its a wild and strange time. I’m profoundly grateful for all of it, every bit, despite the apocalypse.
I wish tumblr was still as active as it once was. But even if it were I could hardly make time to keep up. My life is writing, and reading, and researching, and seeing clients, and business, and healing. Further its always strange to come back and to write in this place. So many people who follow this blog probably never sign into tumblr anymore, and so many people who are here started following this blog so many years ago, when I was quite a lot younger and up to my eyeballs in a profoundly abusive relationship that I thought was what love should feel like. A lot of that trauma has been coming back around lately, as trauma healing is a spiral path, a moon path, unpredictable and twisting in on itself. Witnessing my internal landscape, and how much has shifted since I was active here, is a profound feeling as well. I don’t know how to convey it, not succinctly. And succinct is the only thing I feel I have the time for.
I can’t find the energy or the motivation to make another tumblr, and since I assume so few of the followers here “follow” me in any meaningful way, I suppose thats fine. I’ll keep using this ghost town tumblr when the mood strikes.
I hope that you all are well...those who are here and those who have left tumblr too.
Here’s an article that gives more details on the story, and what Harris said about it. The key points:
It was the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation that refused the surgery to the inmates. When the inmates fought the policy in court, as Attorney General of California, it was Harris’s job to represent the Department. Yes, she did it, but it wasn’t something she decided on her own to do. (Also, not for nothing, the inmates won the case.)
Her characterization of the episode: “On that issue I will tell you I vehemently disagree and in fact worked behind the scenes to ensure that the Department of Corrections would allow transitioning inmates to receive the medical attention that they required, they needed and deserved,” Harris said.
A policy now exists for inmates to receive transition-related care in California prisons (although apparently the DoC isn’t doing a great job of holding up its end of the bargain*--quelle surprise).
(*For the record, Harris finished her time as AG and became a Senator shortly after this agreement was reached, so it’s someone else’s job now to enforce it.)
The thing to keep in mind here is that, as Attorney General, Kamala Harris couldn’t wave her hand and have everything in the entire California Department of Justice go exactly as she wanted it--and she won’t be able to as Vice President, either. We currently have a president who thinks that’s how it works, and we’re damned lucky he’s wrong.
She had (and will have to) work with large number of people who hold different views. (Another article I read said that the California Department of Justice, which she ran as AG, employs about 4,800 people--that’s a lot of different views.) If she had refused to back the Department of Corrections in their case, she would have alienated people whose cooperation she needed to be able to rely on. (If she even had the option of not backing them and staying AG--I’m not sure how it works, exactly.) Even people who agreed with her about the specific matter might have disapproved of her hanging her subordinates out to dry. (Another thing our current president does constantly--notice how Harris isn’t saying that the person in her office who actually wrote these briefs is a bad guy that she barely knew.)
So here’s what actually happened when Kamala Harris “fought against transwomen in prison seeking gender affirmation surgery”:
The Department of Corrections had a policy denying gender-affirmation surgery to inmates.
Two inmates fought that policy in court.
Harris defended that policy in court (or, more accurately, was the supervisor of the person who did so--but the legal documents went out under her signature, and she takes responsibility for their content).
Harris also worked to change the policy.
If you’ve had a job, you’ve probably been in the position of having to carry out a policy that you don’t agree with. Your choices are to quit your job in protest or stay and argue that the policy should change. If you pick option B, you still have to follow the policy while you’re working to change it--again, just about the only person in the world who doesn’t know this is Donald J. Trump, because he’s never had a real job where he answered to anybody.
What this incident shows is that Kamala Harris is accustomed to working in a system where she doesn’t always get her own way, and that she knows how to lose the battle to win the war. As VP, she’s going to need those skills--especially if the Republicans keep the Senate, but even if the Democrats sweep everything in November, we’re notoriously bad at all pulling in the same direction. We’ve had about enough of the “I’m taking my ball and going home” style of leadership.
I get it, I really do - but Trump has literally stripped away rights from trans kids and fucked the careers of trans people in the military. Pence believes in conversion therapy.
We can remember and discuss these issues, but at the end of the day, Trump/Pence is the greater evil and we need to vote in a unified way to get them out of office because the second term would be so much worse. Don’t vote independent, just suck it up and recognize that we’re not gonna get a perfect candidate ever.
Voting Trump is a face full of glass shards, and a vote for an independent is a vote for Trump. This isn’t complicated.
The earliest cephalopods date back to the Cambrian period. They predate trees and land plants. So, the Earth knew tentacles before it knew leaves. Anyway, sweet dreams.
This isnt actually funny? Like Georgia residents are experiencing extreme voter suppression. Their current governor literally stole the election from Stacy Abrams, when Black voters pretty much chose her unanimously. You think teachers in these states WANT to go back to schools? You think parents want to send their children to achool amidst a pandemic?! They havent been given a choice, and those of us in states that arent opening up as aggressively shouldnt pat our own asses too much, because our government has abandoned us, and what happens to these ppl will reach us eventually. The people in these states arent messing up anything for anybody, they're literally fighting for their goddamn lives against extreme fascism, and if we ignore their plight, and toss it up to just ignorant Southerners too stupid to know whats good for them, we're the ones messing things up for our fellow citizens and screwing over ourselves in the process
I want everyone who unironically reblogged this post to realize that you are not fucking better than people who live in the south.
Hundreds of thousands of people living in the south are the victims of decades of voter suppression, defunded schools and public services, and systematic racism, among other things.
I’m a Georgian and all of my friends and coworkers are fucking terrified because Brian Kemp reopened the state. Do you think we have a say in this???? Do you think we enjoy the choice of 1) Go back to work or 2) Get fired and starve/get evicted/lose our income??????????????
Have some fucking perspective, you goddamn assholes.
Also joking about illiteracy in states with extreme gerrymandering that has caused hugely disproportionate funding gaps to schools with majority Black and brown students...not a good look. Like it’s not funny to joke about poor Georgia and Alabama and Florida residents being unable to read. It’s not. Their schools by and large abandoned them, especially if they were Black, neurodivergent, had any kind of learning disability, or even simply had vision problems and couldn’t see to read off the teacher’s boards or in their textbooks if they’re farsighted. Not to mention hunger can affect your ability to pay attention and learn new information? And don’t forget that there’s no healthcare for the majority of poor families. Any sickness or any family member’s sickness that forced a student to take time from school would never be forgiven, and the debt that built up from medical bills would be astounding. Catching up on missed school after an illness would only be possible through the mercy of kind teachers. Plus as soon as it became legal to leave school as a teen (16 I think?), many of these kids would drop out to work and help the family pay the bills. Some go back for their GEDs as adults, but not all of them. The deep south is full of entrenched income inequality that stretches back decades and centuries and it affects schooling. So yeah. Not funny.
[ID: A fullbody drawing of the Archivist sitting in a theatre seat, relaxed. His hair is waist-length and his eyes have inverted colours, with glowing white pupils. He’s smiling slightly and looking directly at the viewer, presumably at the stage. He’s wearing a dark jacket over a grey hoodie, blue jeans, socks with little palm trees on them, and dress shoes. There is a humanoid shadow over him of a human with hooks and strings through their hands and legs, like a puppet. End ID.]
Fair point. Back in the 90s, Clinton had an aggressive plan for the “National Infrastructure Initiative”.
Verizon, AT&T, BellSouth, CenturyLink and others got $200 Billion in funding, plus tax breaks, favorable changes to laws, and other perks in exchange for a commitment to upgrade the telecommunications infrastructure across the nation to all neighborhoods rich and poor.
Specifically there was supposed to be fiberoptic lines run to every house capable of running at least 50mpbs up and down and up to 500 channels of video costing the average consumer around $50/month. This fiberoptic system was by law supposed to be open to ALL competitors and not be a Comcast owned set of wires or a Time Warner set of wires. This was written to PREVENT area based monopolies and allow everyone to access a “free open market” of service providers.
There were even specific deadlines and goals to reach by state. At least 50% of Pennsylvania households were to be hooked up to this fiberoptic system by 2004. At least 75% of New Jersey by 2005….
Then the telecommunications industry came back and said, “Hey… Look theres been a lot of mergers and acquisitions going on so no one really knows where the money is anymore, not to mention price increases all around…. Give us ANOTHER $200 Billion so we can finish.”
All told, the direct payments, tax incentives, regulation cuts, etc have cost the US almost $5 TRILLION since the 90s.
Do you have fiberoptic internet in your house? Do you have a market of internet service providers competing to provide high speed service to your home? Do you pay less than $50/month for your TV and Internet service?
No?
Then you see that the telecom industry has not fulfilled their side of the bargain and have earned the penalties that are coming their way.
If you paid someone to build a house on land that you own, you wouldn’t keep paying the builders rent as if they were your landlord. You might hire them for routine maintenance if they did a good job though. That’s your monthly bill, routine maintenance of a system that we the people are supposed to own.
Nationalize all telecommunications infrastructure. We paid for it, they were just the contractors who built it and never left. They did a shitty job, never met any of their deadlines, and THEY DONT OWN IT.
I remember last year there was a post that was really excited about the concept of community-created, community-run and community-owned internet and how simple it is and projects creating it in working class Detroit neighborhoods (much more exciting and empowering than internet owned and run by a neoliberal surveillance state IMO) but now these telecom corporate lobbyists have funneled their vast resources to roadblocking it or making community internet illegal in 26 states
Saw this on facebook and am keeping the momentum going. I’ve copied all the fundraiser links below, and here’s the link to the original post in case you’d prefer to look at the list that way.
Help me get home, please! $1,729/10,000 《《 high priority
Gender Fluid Human In Need Of Help $1,670/3,500
Adopted Trans Woman seeking safety & medical help $17,085/29,000
Shane’s Top Surgery $2,101/7,750 《《 this one has been up for over a year and he’s still waiting
Help J Remove Themselves from Toxic Household $1,372/2,500 《《 needs more contributions
Grace Mwangi’s Gender Confirmation Surgery $2,986/38,000
Nyne’s top surgery $2,943/8,000
Help Grayson start transition $1,201/2,000 《《 keep this going!
Skyler’s Transition Fund €458/3,000 《《 needs more contributions
Londynn’s New Life $8,828/15,000
NYIEMÄ’S GENDER CONFIRMATION FUND $8,770/37,000
Zoeys transition fund £4,224/10,000
Supporting Black Trans Elders cashapp $fakerapper $16,397/100,000
Top Surgery For Yadriel Acazio $1,817/11,000 《《 this one needs a boost
Coco’s Medical Transition Fund $3,430/15,000
Maya’s Transition & Recovery Fund $1,987/35,744 《《 needs more contributions
Help Create Corbyn $1,943/4,000
Flora’s Transition Fund $800/5,000 《《 needs more contributions
Amina Transition And Rent Fund €3,437/5,000
Help Guilly Get Top Surgery!! $3,070/7,500
Atticus’ homeless fund $5,598/10,000
HOUSING FOR TRANS WOMEN OF COLOR $7,553/60,000
Ahren’s Top Surgery $3,961/7,500
Malakai’s Top Surgery $1,119/10,000 《《 needs more contributions
Top Surgery $7,675/8,000 《《 so close; let’s close the gap!
Phoenix gotta move! $987/45,000 《《 needs more contributions
Kiana’s Gender Transition $2,140/35,000
Jacobs top surgery $6,870/8,000
Skye’s Top Surgery $2,037/8,500
Hunter’s Top Surgery $4,805/12,000 《《 time sensitive, get this funded before September!
Alexandria’s Transition fund $3,562/40,000
Myles’s Tracheal Shave Procedure $2,980/8,450
Zeke’s Top Surgery Fund $4,469/9,000
help koo start a new life $1,154/25,000 《《 needs more contributions
Landon’s Top Surgery! $950/2,000 《《 it’s a small goal, but so vital to covering what insurance doesn’t
Donate to Myla’s Breast Augmentation $1,992/6,000
Vanessa L. Naisha needs support to seek justice! $14,588/15,000 《《 so close! Let’s close the final gap
Travis’ Transition Fund $15,435/30,000
Disabled Enby Needing Help For Top Surgery! $2,672/8,500 《《 NEEDS FUNDING BEFORE AUGUST 4TH
Tyler’s Transition Fund $13,285/30,000
Clarabelle’s Gender Affirmation Surgery $10,637/20,000
help deluca get top surgery ! $4,907/7,000
Help Black Trans Woman Transition $18,495/20,700
Wriply’s surgery/ continued living fund $8,642/26,520 《《 this one has been up since 2018. I found Wriply’s socials and she’s still active, still waiting. Let’s get this fulfilled
Help a black trans woman w/ advanced cancer in ATL $21,826/25,000 《《 keep the momentum going
Help Harmony, a Black Trans Woman Survive $7,676/20,000
Help a black trans-man get FTM top surgery! $6,069/15,000
Malikais Top Surgery $4,097/7,500
Finn’s Therapy & Wellness Fund $2,960/7,000
Kyo’s (aka Key) Transition Fund $13,514/25,000
Transition Funds for Dallas $6,790/15,000
Help a Black Trans Woman from homelessness $6,606/8,000 《《 let’s get this goal met asap
Bottom Surgery and Electrolysis $6,329/40,000
Noelle’s Breast Augmentation $11,155/13,000
Aeri’s Moving Out & Transition Fund $14,859/20,000 《《 more than halfway; keep it going
SAVE A TEENAGE TRANSMAN’S LIFE $4,520/25,000
Cody’s Top Surgery $2,628/7,000
Help Kit get Top Surgery $1,820/6,000
Help Erika Begin Her Transition $4,433/10,000
I will periodically update the progress amounts. As the goals are met, I’ll mark them as funded and change the colors from green to pink to make it clear. I’m also tagging the ones that could use more attention with red.
Been hearing a lot about “reparations” lately? Well, this is one way to start working towards that, since those in power certainly won’t.
This one has an urgent deadline, August 4th ⬇️
https://gf.me/u/x8y8ak
Short Summary:I am an individual non-binary pansexual guy who has bee… Atlas Raymond Ursen needs your support for Disabled Enby Needing Hel
Okay, here’s the thing though. It isn’t a question of if. They existed and this is exactly what they did.
After the United States entered World War II at the end of 1941 and Germany subsequently declared war upon it, Great Britain recommended several steps the United States should take in order to safeguard their ships from Nazi u-boats. Recommendations included sailing ships in convoy (preferably with escort, but records proved ships in convoy without escort were still safer than ships sailing alone), if a ship had to sail on its own, it should avoid known navigation routes and markers, and towns and cities along the East Coast should adhere to strict blackouts at night. These recommendations came from the previous two years of experience in which u-boats absolutely ran wild in the North Atlantic and North Sea, obliterating British shipping. This period of time was referred to by Nazi u-boat captains as “The First Happy Time”.
Despite British warnings, the United States was slow to follow them and impose restrictions. Ships continued to sail along marked navigation routes and run standard navigation lights at night. Boardwalk communities along the coast were only requested they turn off their lights at night and the cities weren’t even asked that because they didn’t want to offend the tourism, recreation, and business sectors.
Blacking out coastal communities would have made it infinitely harder for Nazi submarines to find and sink targets. A ship running with no lights is still visible against the backdrop of a lit city.
Conversely, a dark ship running against a dark coast is virtually invisible.
But because citizens living on the coast refused to adhere to wartime suggestions for amenity reasons, merchant ships sailing up and down the East Coast became sitting ducks of u-boats. The US government did not begin strictly enforcing blackouts until roughly August 1942. By then, the Nazis had been given 8 months to run rampant along American shores. This time period was referred to by u-boat captains as “The Second Happy Time” or “American Shooting Season”.
By August, Nazi u-boats had sunk 609 merchant vessels, totaling 3.1 million tons and costing thousands of lives, mostly of merchant mariners performing their essential jobs.
By comparison, only 22 u-boats were sunk.
While the failure of coastal blackouts were not the sole reason the Nazis had such success during this time period (the Navy was slow to implement convoys and remove notable aids to navigation along the coast), I do not think it can be argued they did not contribute significantly to such great loss of American lives.
If you can, please read the reply above or save it for whenever you have time. We need to break the habits of our history and that starts with applying our past to our present.
heres some random updates so you can get a grasp on whats happening here in the philippines:
professors are urging their students to let them know if theyre not gonna come to class so theyll know that theyre still alive
parents are telling their kids not to come home late, or if they will, to take an uber even though its priced like 5x more
people are sharing constitutional rights on twitter, to teach everyone what to say to the popos just in case
nobody trusts the police anymore
police have a QUOTA of “drug addicts” they need to kill
almost 13k dead without due process, but chines drug lords and presidents son who were involved in a drug smuggling worth 6 billion are still walking free
all it takes is a facebook rumor to put you on the hit list
politicians who are criticizing the administration are being impeached
politicians who love the administration admit that their duty is to the president, NOT to the people
theres been talks in extending the presidents term
It literally feels like an unofficial dictatorship
@crystalthecool for the most part just keeping awareness up helps. Making it a big deal and pointing out just how fucked up it is actually does help put it into perspective for the Filipinos who have no idea just how serious the situation is (mainly because awareness and education are so lacking that most Filipinos don’t even know what the CHR does and will just parrot Duterte when he says he doesn’t like it)
The budget hasn’t been finalized but with Duterte’s well documented vendetta against Human Rights and his friendship with the Marcos family aka the reason the Human Rights Commission was created in the first place after Ferdinand Marcos stole billions during a two decade Martial Law era which saw the torture, disappearance and death of thousands of Filipinos we’re not very optimistic about it.
Fat acceptance means accepting unhealthy fat people. I don’t care if it doesn’t support your respectability politics. Unhealthy fat people (including those who’s illness is related to their weight) deserve respect.
