Greeting! and welcome to my blog. I talk about Norse paganism / Ásatrú / Heathenry, spirituality, animism, philosophy, and other miscellany.
I run a website called Skald’s Keep, which a resource on how to practice Norse paganism. I also love receiving questions so don’t be shy about dropping an ask in my inbox!
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The Otherworld is a realm not quite separate from our own, all around us and yet not always accessible or visible to us. It has been interpreted as one expansive world and as having numerous realms and kingdoms within the one Otherworld, and is home to many beings – gods, fairies, and spirits of all sorts, along with some of the most honored and beloved dead.
It is described in ‘the Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries’ by W.Y. Evans-Wentz:
‘But this western Otherworld, if it is what we believe it to be – a poetical picture of the great subjective world – cannot be the realm of any one race of invisible beings to the exclusion of another. In it all alike – gods, Tuatha De Danann, fairies, demons, shades, and every sort of disembodied spirits – find their appropriate abode; for though it seems to surround and interpenetrate this planet even as the X-rays interpenetrate matter, it can have no other limits than those of the Universe itself.’
This cosmological concept descends from the ancient Celtic religions, and the Otherworld (by its many names) is found throughout the lands in which the Celtic tribes resided and lives on within the traditions preserved by reconstructionist and traditional Celtic pagans and Celtic folk magic practitioners. The Otherworld, along with other Celtic pagan beliefs, can also be found within many neo-pagan and neo-druidic practices and movements.
NAMES OF THE OTHERWORLD
The Otherworld bears many names across the Gaelic and Brythonic mythologies and cosmologies.
Irish
In Irish tales, the names of the Otherworld or realms within the Otherworld include:
Tír na nÓg – ‘the Land of the Young’ or ‘the Land of Youth’
Tír Tarngire – ‘the Land of Promise or ‘the Promised Land’
Tír-Innambéo – ‘the Land of the Living’
Tír N-aill – ‘the Other Land’ or ‘the Other World’
Tír fo Thuinn – ‘the Land Beneath the Wave’ (meaning a land underwater)
Mag Mell – ‘the Plain of Delight’ or ‘the Plain of Happiness’
Mag Már – ‘the Great Plain’
Mag Réin – ‘the Plain of the Sea’ or ‘the Sea Plain’
Emain Ablach – ‘the Isle of Apple Trees’
Ildathach – ‘the Many-Colored Land’
Welsh
In Welsh narratives, the Otherworld has been called:
Annwn or Annwfn
DESCRIBING the OTHERWORLD:
In Irish Cosmology & Mythology
Beliefs as to what the Otherworld is like and where it is located range widely. It’s been described as a world beneath our own that can be entered through some portals in caves or at the base of hills and mountains. In many old Irish manuscripts, it’s described as being located somewhere in the Western Ocean. The phantom island of Hy-Brasil is believed by many to be part of the Otherworld. Irish myth tells of Hy-Brasil being cloaked in mist (perhaps féth fíada, a magical mist) or fog which renders it invisible. However, once every seven years the island becomes visible to the human eye for a whole day.
In the Irish tale ‘Immram Brain maic Febail’ (‘the Voyage of Bran mac Febal’), Bran embarks upon a quest to the Otherworld via a sea voyage. Some days into their journey, Bran and his company encounter Manannán mac Lir upon his chariot. Manannán informs them that though their surroundings appear as the sea to them, to the god it appears as a great field of flowers. In this tale, the realms of the Otherworld are depicted as individual islands somewhere in the Western Sea.
In the story ‘Echtrai Cormaic I Tir Tairngiri’ (‘the Adventures of Cormac in the Land of Promise’), Cormac enters the Otherworld and encounters great bronze palaces, houses of white silver that are thatched with the wings of birds, and a courtyard, in the center of which is a great fountain or well with five streams flowing from it. There is said to be a fairy palace beyond the fountain, and there Cormac encounters ‘the loveliest of the world’s women’.
In many tales and poems, the Otherworld is depicted as being incredibly beautiful and as having very many apple trees, hazelnut trees, and great oak trees. It’s said to have plains filled with colorful flowers and dew of honey. And of the food available in the Otherworld, there is nothing that is not irresistibly delicious. Those who dwell within the Otherworld do not age, nor do they feel pain or take ill. Some believe that it is the fruits that grow within the Otherworld that provide its inhabitants with their everlasting youth and good health. Others believe that it’s the Otherworld itself that keeps one young and well.
In modern day, the Otherworld is most known for being the realm of the fairies and their courts. It is less commonly – outside of Irish historians, practitioners of Celtic paganism and Druidry, and keepers of the age-old tradition of Celtic storytelling – understood as the realm of deities, as the realm of all the Sídhe-folk. Here, the Tuatha dé Danann are believed to reside.
The Tuath dé Danann are a tribe of gods and goddesses descended from the goddess Danu. The Tuatha dé Danann are said to have moved from our physical realm to the realm of the Otherworld after facing defeat at the Battle of Tailte. Manannán mac Lir – a famed warrior, sea god, and king over the surviving Tuatha dé Danann – conceals the Otherworld from humankind via féth fíada, a magical mist that is used by the Tuatha dé Danann to render themselves invisible to humankind. Though, it is believed that seers or those with the gift of second sight can see Otherworld portals and entrances, as well as being able to see those that dwell within the Otherworld.
Time moves differently within these realms. Many tales state that one could spend what felt like a few days in the Otherworld, only to return to this world and find that their friends and family had all died, and many years had passed whilst they were away.
In Welsh Cosmology & Mythology
In Welsh tales, the Otherworld (called Annwn) is not ruled over by Manannán mac Lir but by Arawn and, later, Gwyn ap Nudd. In many of the Welsh legends, Annwn is described as a world of eternal youth, free of illness and disease, where no one could ever go hungry for there were endless supplies of food and drink. It was a realm of incomparable beauty where the gods, fairy folk, great ancestors, elves, and spirits reside. Like in Irish myth, Annwn is believed to be either a subterranean realm, under the sea, or on an island to the west. It is also a magical realm hidden from humankind.
Some tales depict a paradise-like world that is like all the best and most beautiful things within our own world with sprawling gardens, plainlands, and orchards, while others describe a ‘hellish’ place (most likely an outcome of the Christianization of the Welsh culture and beliefs). Both interpretations, though, speak of Annwn as the land of the dead.
The Welsh epic ‘Cad Goddeu’ (‘the Battle of the Trees’) tells of a battle between Arawn’s army and the forces of Gwynedd. The army come forth from Annwn is described as being made up of unearthly creatures, such as enormous beasts bearing one hundred heads, great serpents, and giant toads with claws.
The well-known ‘Preiddeu Annwfn’ (‘the Spoils of Annwn’) is another tale mentioning the Otherworld. It is the story of a journey into the Otherworld led by King Arthur. The tale depicts various realms or kingdoms within the Otherworld, including the Fortress of the Mound, the Fortress of Hardness, the Fortress of Mead-Drunkenness, and the Glass Fortress; though some interpret these names to be alternate names for the Otherworld in its entirety and not of individual lands traversed by Arthur within the Otherworld.
The legendary island of Avalon is also seen as a later interpretation of Annwn. Avalon famously features in Arthurian legends as the paradisical Isle of Apples.
ENTERING the OTHERWORLD:
Many of the old tales speak of humans gaining access to the Otherworld. Sometimes they were invited or summoned there by some god or spirit (as Manannán mac Lir was known to do), sometimes they were stolen away or kidnapped by one of the Otherworld’s inhabitants, and some folk entered the Otherworld of their own design during those times of year when the walls between their world and the Otherworld were lowered, such as during Samhain and Beltane. There are also many tales of folk (some quite famous, such as Cuchulainn, Lanval, and Ossian) being lured or enticed away by a fairy to the Otherworld to live as the fairy’s lover. It is also believed that musicians would be stolen away to the Otherworld to entertain its inhabitants.
As mentioned already, many believe openings at the base of hills and mountains to be entrances to the Otherworld. So, too, are ancient burial mounds, bogs, and caves seen as Otherworld gateways. It is also believed that patches of mist or fog could have within them some opening to the Otherworld, as in the Irish tale ‘Echtra Cormaic I Tir Tairngiri’. In this story, King Cormac sets out from Tara with many soldiers to find his way into the Otherworld to take back his wife, daughter, and son (whom he lost in a trade-off for a magic silver bough). On his way, a thick fog befalls the party. When the fog is lifted, Cormac is alone in the plains of a foreign land, having been taken into the Otherworld.
In some tales, one could enter the Otherworld after they were gifted an apple or a branch bearing apples (such as the magic silver bough mentioned in the story above) from a sacred apple tree. The apple or branch was magical and acted as a key, allowing one to pass into the realm of the Sídhe-folk so long as the apple or branch was in their possession.
Sídhe, though now commonly used in reference to those inhabitants of the Otherworld, are the mounds, hills, or places believed to provide access to the Otherworld. Previously, the term sídhe was used specifically to mean the palaces, courts, or halls in which the spirits of the Otherworld resided.
TECH DUINN:
In Irish lore, there is a separate Otherworld where one goes after death. This realm of the dead is Tech Duinn, the domain of Donn – an ancient god of the dead and ancestor of the Gaels. Tech Duinn means ‘the House of the Dark One’ (‘Donn’ means ‘the dark one’).
There is a 9th-century poem which states that Donn’s dying wish was to have his descendants gathered to him when they died – “To me, to my house, you shall all come after your deaths.” While the Otherworld is often described as being a paradise of great beauty, that is not how Tech Duinn is usually depicted. Rather, it is most commonly portrayed as a frightful place of darkness and dread. Why, I do not know. Perhaps this is simply due to it being the home of Donn, the Dark One.
Tech Duinn is said to lie at or beyond Ireland’s western coast. It is believed that the entrance to Tech Duinn lies on, within, or beneath Bull Rock, an islet bearing a natural tunnel and resembling a portal tomb. Bull Rock lies off the western point of the Beara Peninsula.
A line from Yeats comes to mind in regard to the Otherworld in general, but specifically when speaking of Tech Duinn and Donn’s dying wish -
‘In Ireland, this world and the world we go to after death are not far apart.’
Suffice it to say, the Otherworld has inspired numerous poems and exciting and moving tales, pieces of a time long gone by preserved (hopefully) forever through art. And today it is the source of much scholarly exploration and debate. How much of the Otherworld as we understand it now has been altered by Christianization? How many of the old tales were twisted and reinterpreted to suit the narratives of the Church? We do know that a great deal of this occurred within the preservation of Celtic lore and history, and what tales we have of the Otherworld were not left untouched by this. I hope that this piece, as brief as it is, might inspire others to explore the old Celtic tales in their many interpretations, for there is much to be enjoyed there, as well as much to be learned.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING:
'Cad Goddeu'
'Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia' - Koch, John T.
'Celtic Myths and Legends' - Rolleston, T.A.
'Dictionary of Celtic Mythology' - MacKillop, James
'Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore' - Monoghan, Patricia
'the Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries' - Evans-Wentz, W.Y.
'Hy Brasil: the Metamorphosis of an Island' - Freitag, Barbara
'Immram Brain mac Febail'
'Irish Fairy Tales' - Stephens, James
'the Lord of Ireland' - Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí; Prof.
'the Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales' - trans. Ford, Patrick K.
'the Mabinogian - A New Translation' -Davies, Sioned
'Myth, Legend, & Romance: An Encyclopedia of Irish Folk Tradition' - Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí
'the Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland' - Squire, Charles
'Otherworlds: Fantasy and History in Medieval Literature' - Byrne, Aisling
'Preiddeu Annwn'
'the Religion of the Ancient Celts' - MacCulloch, J.A.
‘the Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in pre-Christian Ireland’ - Ó hÓgain, Dáithí; Prof.
The rule could have heavy impacts towards trans people across society.
Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"
The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.
Importantly, the gender ideology prohibition has no age limitation—hospitals could be targeted not just for providing care to minors but for providing gender-affirming care to adults, because prescribing hormone therapy to a transgender patient of any age could be deemed promoting the belief that "sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic."
This is all very bad and horrible, but I want to be clear that it’s worse and more sweeping than just eliminating trans research.
This torches everything. And I do mean everything.
A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):
ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives
allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason
preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies
requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.
What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.
Please, if you only ever write one public comment, this is the one to do.
Bringing back this guide to writing an effective public comment. This gives you the basics you need to know, what you need to include, a basic outline you can follow, etc.
Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:
"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"
But also, if possible, don't stop at writing a comment. Don't stop at calling your representatives. You should ideally be talking to people in your community about this and organizing resistance on-the-ground; there is a good chance people are already doing that even if you aren't hearing about it.
Hey, I was looking at old reblogs and came across your post about how as a trans man you were feeling unusually lonely (for complex reasons you explored in the post (which is always a great read btw)) and wanted to check in.
I don't expect you to have just... figured out a solution to this or anything. I just wanted to check up on how you've been doing, if the feeling has faded in any way (or otherwise become routine, which would be sad news)
Thank you for asking. I’ve been sitting on this question for a bit because, unfortunately, the loneliness has become routine, and chronic.
But I couldn’t tell you how much of it is strictly due to being a man since there are a lot of other factors involved:
I moved to a new state where I don’t know many people.
This is the first time I’m interacting with the world as myself since I was a kid, and I’ve been very slow to open up due to how new and taboo it feels.
I’m struggling to put my life in order after giving up who I used to be, so as much as I want to go out there and make friends, I feel really unfit to do so at the moment...
Post-pandemic socialization is just kind of a weird bag, man. Idk.
However, I do think the fact I read as a Cishet Straight White Guy™ makes overcoming these things harder. People seem to offer much less emotional support compared to when I was perceived as a woman, so I’ve had to be my own source of encouragement with it all.
Now, I could easily get around this barrier by telling people I’m trans, but I don’t like doing this because a) I don’t want to out myself, and b) not everyone is normal about learning I’m trans. And I’m not just talking about transphobes; trans allies and queer folks also get weird about it.
Allies generally have their hearts in the right place, but many of them interpret “trans man” and “cis man” as two different genders (they’re not), and will often subconsciously treat me as something other than male when they learn I’m trans. This forfeits all that I’ve done to be perceived as myself.
As for queer people, I’ve met a bizarre number of them who seem to think I’m magically polygamous, pansexual, and interested in fucking them and their partners simply because I’m trans. Not only is this a bold assumption to make about my sexual and romantic preferences (I’m extremely monogamous, gray-asexual, and selectively biromantic), it’s frankly rather objectifying.
So I’m really disincentivized to tell people I’m trans unless it’s clear I can trust them to be normal about it.
But I've yet to discover a solution that doesn't involve outing myself. I’m wondering if dressing in a more gender-nonconforming way would help, but I think my real problem is a confidence issue. The men I felt safe approaching in the past were ones who were comfortable with themselves and who put others at ease with their presence. It’s hard for me to put others at ease when I don’t feel at ease myself. I need to get to a point where I’m not struggling so much in order to do this, and I think that’ll just come with time.
(It would be easier if I wasn’t feeling so lonely...but here we are.)
Ime the best environment for easing into socializing (especially someplace new) is if you can manage to find a fairly niche but in-person community, because those are the most likely groups to be actively welcoming of newcomers. Things like crafting circles or less-popular sports tend to have a lot of the sort of people who would love more than anything to share their knowledge with someone who seems interested, and they’ll often be very supportive in helping you get past whatever the typical barriers to entry might be. Larp groups in particular tend to have a combination of crafting, social, and sport elements, so they’re a good place to start exploring different things and find a niche you’re happy with.
And while there definitely are a lot of niche communities that have gotten very clique-y and gate-keeper-ish, a great many more are full of people who are used to feeling a little isolated themselves, or have trouble socializing in other contexts. Being nervous, awkward, or slow to open up around those sorts of people won’t be off-putting to them—if anything, it’ll just remind them of themselves.
I don’t have any advice for getting people to be normal about trans stuff, unfortunately, but most of the kinds of groups I’m talking about wouldn’t ever call on you to volunteer that information unless you wanted to.
Advice is appreciated and these are great ideas. I didn't even think about LARP, but that might actually be a very good place to look, once I start looking more. Thanks!
And that's fine if you don't have answers to how to get people to be normal about trans things. I think for most people it's really just a lack of familiarity. And for others? Well...maybe they'll have a dawning realization within a few years.
Queer folks really get less of a pass in my book, though. It's already wild to me that someone would assume I'm polygamous and pansexual just because I'm trans, but to get mad to learn that I'm not? Does anyone know where this comes from?
(To be fair, this isn't all queer people, but the fact I've encountered this attitude in the wild more than once tells me it's probably not as rare as I'd imagine.)
So my beta reader for the Big Fics is an astrophysicist, right. Who is currently also writing a hard sci-fi novel about the exploration of Phobos (more power to them, I cannot with the physics required for that, best I can do is soft sci-fi/fantasy and that reminds me I should finish that story).
Anyway I was bitching about how hard it is to come up with feasible planets in Star Wars because sometimes you need a new planet from scratch and sometimes you need to know more about a planet than the 'has jungles, is probably a moon technically' than Wookieepedia will give you, and they're like 'oh yeah I can do something about that'.
So they've written (in Matlab but they swear it will run as a .exe as well and I may be conscripted to embed it as a web tool at some point) a star system generator.
You input what you know about the planet (ecosystem, population, sun colour, does it have liquid water, does it have a moon or moons, is it a moon or moons, temperature averages, atmosphere, you get me) and it will give you the... everything else about the star system, in obedience to real-universe physics. And if you input nothing you get a randomly generated star system.
And I’m like oh I know people who will be into this with a vengeance, and they're not on Tumblr, so this is me seeing who exactly would be keen on, and I cannot stress this enough, a real-physics comprehensive star system generator.
It's still in the debugging phase (last error fixed: every planet wants to have a population of exactly 5000 regardless of other factors, turned out to be a missing equals sign somewhere), but I'm psyched for this and trying to gauge interest for how high a priority 'make this an accessible web tool' needs to be.
Reblogging to drag this project over here, this is killing my notes on main so I'm giving it its own URL. Follow over here for updates on the star system generator and only the star system generator, and not on my Star Wars bullshit.
Will go through and tag interested parties when things calm down below 100 notes an hour.
I WAS FUCKING WONDERING WHAT THOSE DIGITAL PRICE TAGS WERE ABOUT SUDDENLY i had hoped they were so the workers didn't have to finagle those little papers into the slider part anymore 😭
Hi, yes, that is the OFFICIAL excuse made to me by the guy replacing the paper tags with digital ones at my local Walmart, but the end goal is to remove the numbers off the shelf entirely, replacing them with QR codes that you have to scan with the app…. Which requires your login information….. and also stores your card information so even if you didn’t use your Walmart account at the physical checkout, if you used a card they recognize, they assign that purchase to your Walmart account purchase history.
I explained very clearly to the manager my issue with the meat section not having the price tags listed, and they claimed it was only going to be for the meat, since meat is by weight, and the price of each item is printed on the packs of each item.
Sure. That’s how they get their foot in the door. Fast forward not even two weeks, and here we are:
Bar codes. No prices, no item descriptions. No price stickers on the individual items. Heck, not even the name of the item that is SUPPOSED to be there.
No. The only way to see the price is to scan it on your phone app, which is also recording what you looked at recently, as a way of gauging what you might be looking for in the future.
So here’s what we’re gonna do gang:
Every time you go into a store that has implemented these price-less tags:
Take 1-3 items up to the cash register. Ask the cashier for the price, or hit the price check item on the self checkout, which will likely call over the attendant.
Express that you didn’t actually want it, you just couldn’t see on the shelf how much it was.
POLITELY, AND WITH A THANK YOU FOR THE PRICE CONFIRMATION, Give the items to the cashier or attendant to put back.
When they inevitably try to push the app, politely decline. If pressed for why not, say you don’t want to have to carry your phone in-hand the whole time you are shopping in order to see how much things cost. (Not having cell service or data to use the app is NOT a valid excuse, as stores already often have complimentary WiFi AND more stores will provide WiFi rather than give up on this push for surveillance pricing)
If it’s a shelf-stable item, the cashier will have to set it aside, taking up room in their limited operating space, and eventually pass it off to someone to put in a holding area to put back later. If it’s a fridge/freezer item, it might have to get tossed due to food product sale regulations.
In either case, you are making it a pain in the ass for them to have these digital bar codes. Tie up the checkouts. Give the employees more busywork that the company has to pay them to do. Hurt their bottom line having to toss the pint of ice cream you carried around in your cart for 20 minutes before giving it back to the cashier.
Yes, call your reps. Yes, push for more legislation like this in more places. But also take an extra minute out of your shopping trip to MAKE IT HURT for companies to pull this shit.
I've seen some people in the notes express (very fair) concern that this is only going to inconvenience already under-paid laborers, and not have any impact on corporate. While I can't speak for every company or every store, I do work in a grocery store and I can tell you this is precisely the kind of thing that would have an impact, especially if people are doing it en masse. Stores absolutely track their shrink numbers, and they do draw distinctions between what gets stolen, damaged, or wasted for other reasons. If people are making it clear that the reason they're bringing things to the cashier is that the prices are not adequately represented on the displays, and rather than improving business it's wasting product, slowing down transactions, and causing confusion and mistrust in customers, that is a language that shareholders speak.
Hey, I was looking at old reblogs and came across your post about how as a trans man you were feeling unusually lonely (for complex reasons you explored in the post (which is always a great read btw)) and wanted to check in.
I don't expect you to have just... figured out a solution to this or anything. I just wanted to check up on how you've been doing, if the feeling has faded in any way (or otherwise become routine, which would be sad news)
Thank you for asking. I’ve been sitting on this question for a bit because, unfortunately, the loneliness has become routine, and chronic.
But I couldn’t tell you how much of it is strictly due to being a man since there are a lot of other factors involved:
I moved to a new state where I don’t know many people.
This is the first time I’m interacting with the world as myself since I was a kid, and I’ve been very slow to open up due to how new and taboo it feels.
I’m struggling to put my life in order after giving up who I used to be, so as much as I want to go out there and make friends, I feel really unfit to do so at the moment...
Post-pandemic socialization is just kind of a weird bag, man. Idk.
However, I do think the fact I read as a Cishet Straight White Guy™ makes overcoming these things harder. People seem to offer much less emotional support compared to when I was perceived as a woman, so I’ve had to be my own source of encouragement with it all.
Now, I could easily get around this barrier by telling people I’m trans, but I don’t like doing this because a) I don’t want to out myself, and b) not everyone is normal about learning I’m trans. And I’m not just talking about transphobes; trans allies and queer folks also get weird about it.
Allies generally have their hearts in the right place, but many of them interpret “trans man” and “cis man” as two different genders (they’re not), and will often subconsciously treat me as something other than male when they learn I’m trans. This forfeits all that I’ve done to be perceived as myself.
As for queer people, I’ve met a bizarre number of them who seem to think I’m magically polygamous, pansexual, and interested in fucking them and their partners simply because I’m trans. Not only is this a bold assumption to make about my sexual and romantic preferences (I’m extremely monogamous, gray-asexual, and selectively biromantic), it’s frankly rather objectifying.
So I’m really disincentivized to tell people I’m trans unless it’s clear I can trust them to be normal about it.
But I've yet to discover a solution that doesn't involve outing myself. I’m wondering if dressing in a more gender-nonconforming way would help, but I think my real problem is a confidence issue. The men I felt safe approaching in the past were ones who were comfortable with themselves and who put others at ease with their presence. It’s hard for me to put others at ease when I don’t feel at ease myself. I need to get to a point where I’m not struggling so much in order to do this, and I think that’ll just come with time.
(It would be easier if I wasn’t feeling so lonely...but here we are.)
In 2021, Swarovski (the company that makes the very sparkly crystals you see in certain jewelry, on figure-skaters' twinkliest outfits, on red carpet dresses), decided they didn't want the grubby fingers of small-time jewelers, clothing designers and costumers and crafters on their shiny beads and rhinestones anymore. They decided to limit their sales to "luxury" and couture creators, not girls who sell stuff on Etsy. The tenor of their press release on the subject was snide and insulting. Resellers (like your favorite bead shop) would no longer be allowed to carry their product; the average Jane on the street would not be able to purchase them. You could only get them if you had an authorized business agreement that bound you to very strict brand behavior. And those of us who still had good stock of the crystals would no longer be "permitted" to use the brand's name in our listings for sale.
Every bead shop and craft supply place and many, many small clothing makers--wedding shops, prom and dancing dress suppliers, the sort of salt of the Earth mom and pop time machines of shops that are the backbone of the field--scrambled to find something that could replace them. The last of the stock dwindled quickly, all of us grabbing what we could get while there was any chance of it, and then it was gone and we no longer had any access.
I was Big Pissed about it at the time. It was just so goddamn stuck-up, when wholesalers and indie jewelers had made them so much money, when some people I knew--when *I!*--had been brand-loyal for decades. But with no recourse, everyone pivoted fairly quickly, most of us to Preciosa Crystals. Those are Czech, quite sparkly, and considerably less expensive than Swarovski. The faceting method they use is different, but not worse; any differences are hardly noticeable when you're seeing them as a hundred pinpoints of light.
Well, out of nowhere, Swarovski just dropped this:
https://www.harmanbeads.com/swarovski-brand-policy-update
"Effective June 1, 2026, Swarovski updated the distribution and brand usage policies introduced in 2021. Businesses may now purchase Swarovski Crystals without signing a Brand Control Agreement, and Authorized Distribution Partners may once again sell Swarovski Crystals to resellers, including bead stores and online retailers. Businesses may also use the Swarovski brand name when following Swarovski’s Proper Use Guidelines. Designers, manufacturers, artists, brands, retailers, and resellers are now eligible to purchase Swarovski Crystals through authorized distribution channels."
They want us back. A lot of the companies who could have kept a brand relationship with them also have swapped to Preciosa, over the last half-decade, in solidarity with indie creators and out of a sour awareness that it could be them, next. And it doesn't hurt that Preciosa was able to expand their line quite a bit now that everyone who wanted sparkle had no choice but to go to them.
And I'm not seeing nearly anyone who intends to return. The feeling is, "Y'all told us to fuck off! Off we fucked! And now, that's what you can do, too!" I'm seeing a lot of "How many of us did you stab in the back?" comments from the people whose money they're hoping to attract.
And personally I'm sitting over here all rubby hands, mean snickering, because they really thought they were going to be able to outclimb the people who actually provided all their profits, and now here they are, hat in hand.
“My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule, I stop and pick little flowers of eloquence.”
alright I've got to do some quick math to explain attitudes towards AI to my boss.
we're looking to create an AI policy, and when we were talking about this, my boss (older millennial) was genuinely shocked to hear that younger people do not (seem) to view AI positively (a la the recent commencement speakers being booed)
please rb for larger sample size!
Question 1/3
What is your age, and do you feel AI is a net positive or net negative in our lives today?
the use of AI lately has made me feel so hopeless, i translated pages of an unfinished fanzine of mine so i can remember why i love art...i hope it can resonate with anyone feeling the same way
My silly addition that I hope brings a smile to OP's face. Art is a beautiful thing in every single form, and even my silly finger-drawn art deserves to be shared. I hope that people are inspired to keep drawing, regardless of their perceived "skill". Do makes you happy, y'all! Spread the humanity. 🧡
