PIPPINPANTS

Sometimes I do art but not that often.

[animentality]

[mybeingthere]

Every time I see these bird pins - I cannot resist posting them, perhaps their history, with its fragility and strength, attracts me again and again. 

Bird pins (brooches) made out of scrap materials by Japanese Americans held in internment camps during World War II.From The Art of Gaman: Arts & Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946 by Delphine Hirasuna (Ten Speed Press, 2005).

Gaman is a Japanese term of Zen Buddhist origin which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity”.

[daily-spooky]

[pippinpants]

Whoooooo wants some Critical Role spoilers?

[pippinpants]

So for GISH this year, one of the items was a wedding dress made of used plastic bags...and I’m an overachiever...

[lylylylylylylylyly]

i really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really don’t wanna do this anymore

[nymika-arts]

The woods are lovely, dark and deep 🍃🍂

[nymika-arts]

Part 2 🍃

[nymika-arts]

I think I accidentally deleted half of this post so here’s part 3 and 4 again lol enjoy

[supersonicart]

Rae Klein, Paintings.

Dreamy, mysterious and illusory paintings by artist Rae Klein.

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Be sure to follow Supersonic Art on Instagram!

[yesterdaysprint]

The New York Times, New York, January 3, 1897

[bathtimefunduck]

History in a nutshell

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

“What do women think about women?

WE ASKED A MAN”

[pippinpants]

Bustin back on the scene with some Crit Role (sorta???) fanart

[yesterdaysprint]

Buffalo Evening News, New York, November 4, 1895

[pippinpants]

I actually really love this

[danielboudreau]

This is the greatest day of my life

[2002hondacivicwithac]

play this at my wedding or funeral I don’t care where but just plAY IT

[birdyally-deactivated20151029]

Oh my god

[pippinpants]

Tag yourself I'm the tatted up bald guy sitting there like "omg he's so dreamy"

[daftalchemist]

first day of college in media: “Please open up your textbooks to chapter three because I expect you to have already read the first two chapters in preparation for starting this class”

first day of college in reality: “We’re going to spend the next hour slowly and thoroughly going over every page of the syllabus because I strongly suspect at least half of you assholes don’t actually know how to read”

[shannonhale]

We’re Ready

I was presenting an assembly for kids grades 3-8 while on book tour for the third PRINCESS ACADEMY book.

Me: “So many teachers have told me the same thing. They say, ‘When I told my students we were reading a book called PRINCESS ACADEMY, the girls said—’”

I gesture to the kids and wait. They anticipate what I’m expecting, and in unison, the girls scream, “YAY!”

Me: “'And the boys said—”

I gesture and wait. The boys know just what to do. They always do, no matter their age or the state they live in.

In unison, the boys shout, “BOOOOO!”

Me: “And then the teachers tell me that after reading the book, the boys like it as much or sometimes even more than the girls do.”

Audible gasp. They weren’t expecting that.

Me: “So it’s not the story itself boys don’t like, it’s what?” The kids shout, “The name! The title!”

Me: “And why don’t they like the title?”

As usual, kids call out, “Princess!”

But this time, a smallish 3rd grade boy on the first row, who I find out later is named Logan, shouts at me, “Because it’s GIRLY!”

The way Logan said “girly"…so much hatred from someone so small. So much distain. This is my 200-300th assembly, I’ve asked these same questions dozens of times with the same answers, but the way he says “girly” literally makes me take a step back. I am briefly speechless, chilled by his hostility.

Then I pull it together and continue as I usually do.

“Boys, I have to ask you a question. Why are you so afraid of princesses? Did a princess steal your dog? Did a princess kidnap your parents? Does a princess live under your bed and sneak out at night to try to suck your eyeballs out of your skull?”

The kids laugh and shout “No!” and laugh some more. We talk about how girls get to read any book they want but some people try to tell boys that they can only read half the books. I say that this isn’t fair. I can see that they’re thinking about it in their own way.

But little Logan is skeptical. He’s sure he knows why boys won’t read a book about a princess. Because a princess is a girl—a girl to the extreme. And girls are bad. Shameful. A boy should be embarrassed to read a book about a girl. To care about a girl. To empathize with a girl.

Where did Logan learn that? What does believing that do to him? And how will that belief affect all the girls and women he will deal with for the rest of his life?

At the end of my presentation, I read aloud the first few chapters of THE PRINCESS IN BLACK. After, Logan was the only boy who stayed behind while I signed books. He didn’t have a book for me to sign, he had a question, but he didn’t want to ask me in front of others. He waited till everyone but a couple of adults had left. Then, trembling with nervousness, he whispered in my ear, “Do you have a copy of that black princess book?”

He wanted to know what happened next in her story. But he was ashamed to want to know.

Who did this to him? How will this affect how he feels about himself? How will this affect how he treats fellow humans his entire life?

We already know that misogyny is toxic and damaging to women and girls, but often we assume it doesn’t harm boys or mens a lick. We think we’re asking them to go against their best interest in the name of fairness or love. But that hatred, that animosity, that fear in little Logan, that isn’t in his best interest. The oppressor is always damaged by believing and treating others as less than fully human. Always. Nobody wins. Everybody loses. 

We humans have a peculiar tendency to assume either/or scenarios despite all logic. Obviously it’s NOT “either men matter OR women do.” It’s NOT “we can give boys books about boys OR books about girls.” It’s NOT “men are important to this industry OR women are.“ 

It’s not either/or. It’s AND.

We can celebrate boys AND girls. We can read about boys AND girls. We can listen to women AND men. We can honor and respect women AND men. And And And. I know this seems obvious and simplistic, but how often have you assumed that a boy reader would only read a book about boys? I have. Have you preselected books for a boy and only offered him books about boys? I’ve done that in the past. And if not, I’ve caught myself and others kind of apologizing about it. “I think you’ll enjoy this book EVEN THOUGH it’s about a girl!” They hear that even though. They know what we mean. And they absorb it as truth.

I met little Logan at the same assembly where I noticed that all the 7th and 8th graders were girls. Later, a teacher told me that the administration only invited the middle school girls to my assembly. Because I’m a woman. I asked, and when they’d had a male author, all the kids were invited. Again reinforcing the falsehood that what men say is universally important but what women say only applies to girls.

One 8th grade boy was a big fan of one of my books and had wanted to come, so the teacher had gotten special permission for him to attend, but by then he was too embarrassed. Ashamed to want to hear a woman speak. Ashamed to care about the thoughts of a girl.

A few days later, I tweeted about how the school didn’t invite the middle school boys. And to my surprise, twitter responded. Twitter was outraged. I was blown away. I’ve been talking about these issues for over a decade, and to be honest, after a while you feel like no one cares. 

But for whatever reason, this time people were ready. I wrote a post explaining what happened, and tens of thousands of people read it. National media outlets interviewed me. People who hadn’t thought about gendered reading before were talking, comparing notes, questioning what had seemed normal. Finally, finally, finally.

And that’s the other thing that stood out to me about Logan—he was so ready to change. Eager for it. So open that he’d started the hour expressing disgust at all things “girly” and ended it by whispering an anxious hope to be a part of that story after all. 

The girls are ready. Boy howdy, we’ve been ready for a painful long time. But the boys, they’re ready too. Are you?

I’ve spoken with many groups about gendered reading in the last few years. Here are some things that I hear:

A librarian, introducing me before my presentation: “Girls, you’re in for a real treat. You’re going to love Shannon Hale’s books. Boys, I expect you to behave anyway.”

A book festival committee member: “Last week we met to choose a keynote speaker for next year. I suggested you, but another member said, ‘What about the boys?’ so we chose a male author instead.”

A parent: “My son read your book and he ACTUALLY liked it!”

A teacher: “I never noticed before, but for read aloud I tend to choose books about boys because I assume those are the only books the boys will like.”

A mom: “My son asked me to read him The Princess in Black, and I said, ‘No, that’s for your sister,’ without even thinking about it.”

A bookseller: “I’ve stopped asking people if they’re shopping for a boy or a girl and instead asking them what kind of story the child likes.”

Like the bookseller, when I do signings, I frequently ask each kid, “What kind of books do you like?” I hear what you’d expect: funny books, adventure stories, fantasy, graphic novels. I’ve never, ever, EVER had a kid say, “I only like books about boys.” Adults are the ones with the weird bias. We’re the ones with the hangups, because we were raised to believe thinking that way is normal. And we pass it along to the kids in sometimes  overt (“Put that back! That’s a girl book!”) but usually in subtle ways we barely notice ourselves.

But we are ready now. We’re ready to notice and to analyze. We’re ready to be thoughtful. We’re ready for change. The girls are ready, the boys are ready, the non-binary kids are ready. The parents, librarians, booksellers, authors, readers are ready. Time’s up. Let’s make a change.

[lordofthecoffee]

Ok hear me out: value your time and labor. Ask for what you want. Get paid for the things that you do.

Our landlord at work is a little old Korean man, and I occasionally do him favors because he reminds me of my grandpa. But sometimes he expects too much and I put my foot down.

Smooshing down the trash in the dumpster because the other tenants in our building filled it too full? Gross and borderline dangerous and not my job. Hard no.

Carrying things out to his car for him because we’re headed in the same direction anyways? Absolutely.

One day he told me I should turn the lights on in his shop in the mornings when I get to work.

“Dude, I have actual things to do in the morning!”

“Like what? What you do?”

So I’m listing off all the things I do every day to get our shop ready for the day. He goes ok, when you’re turning on your light, come out and turn on my light. It’s just one more thing.

“You mean stop what I’m doing. Go all the way through our shop. Come down the hall, around the corner, all the way through your shop. Turn on your lights. Then go back the way I came and get back to my job. Are you going to pay me?” Being more than a little sarcastic because REALLY.

“You want paid?”

“Do I want… Look, I want your typewriter if I do it every morning.”

He just sort of looks at me with his grandpa face and I cave a little.

“Fine, I’ll try. I won’t do it every morning but if I remember and have time, sometimes I’ll turn on your lights for you. Ok?”

Two weeks pass of me mostly doing like he asked. Then today I walk into his shop, turn on the lights, turn around and see something new.

There’s a sign on the typewriter.

“For Molly- take it.”

So he has what he wants and I’m the proud owner of a mostly functional old Bessie of a typewriter. Everybody wins.

Ask for what you want. Get paid.

[lordofthecoffee]

This is the model. It’s from the 1950s. I think I’m gonna call her Midori, or possibly Tank.

[musingmollusk]

So sometimes I see bros on the internet talk about how women couldn’t have worn armor historically, because it was too heavy for them.

Here is a picture of me wearing armor when I was a nerdy 14-year-old girl who was about 5 feet tall and weighed less than 95 pounds. I sometimes wore it for 6 hours straight in summer heat, and I would run and turn summersaults in it for fun.

And before you start asking: this was authentic full steel plate with a padded arming doublet underneath. It weighed so much that I couldn’t carry the plastic tub it was stored in on my own. It was heavy. But once I was wearing it I just felt like I was being hugged or wrapped up in a really heavy blanket. That’s how armor works. The whole point is that the weight is distributed across your whole body, and your whole body can lift a huge amount. It has nothing to do with how strong you are or how much you can bench.

So if you think women are too weak to wear armor, you are wrong on so many levels. It does not even matter if you believe in your little misogynistic heart that all women are defined by their physical inferiority when compared to men, because you are also just wrong about how armor works. Even skinny teen girls can wear armor just fine. Everyone can wear armor.