Spacecat Writes

Queer, neurodivergent chaos muppet, absolutely not a clowder of anxiety cats in a trench coat

[spacecat-studio]

Pinned Post!

website: spacecat.studio

Fanfic and Original Fic: AO3

[wxrringtxn]

I embroidered a jean jacket for my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s birthday, and then finally finished it just in time for Candlenights, 6 months later 🎉

[natalieironside]

I love the concept of Tooks. "Everybody in the Shire is very very businesslike and respectable and has no use for adventures except for this one entire family of mad lads who also run the municipal government"

[natalieironside]

The decision by the kings of Arnor to name the Tooks rightful thanes of the Shire was actually a 3000-IQ play by the Witch-King of Angmar to keep the Tooks far the fuck away from him

[natalieironside]

Ya gotta get 'em from where they'll least expected it

[elodieunderglass]

Hi I’d like to talk to @alotofmomos - I just want to talk

[sosuperawesome]

Beaded Flowers // Beadwork Store Art

[bebewrites]

woop there it is

[omtai]

Lol who invited johnny bigears

[catboybiologist]

Alalā are being released into the wild?!?

[catboybiologist]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's go!!!!

[mushroomupskirtshots]

@todaysbird

[todaysbird]

article here about tool use in ‘alalā for those who want to do further reading :)

[reasonsforhope]

Hawaiian crows return to wild for 1st time in more than 20 years

"ʻAlalā are found nowhere else on Earth, and their existence is essential in Hawaiʻi," conservation group said.

Source and more details below. Thanks for posting, OP!

"The rare ʻalalā Hawaiian crow was successfully reintroduced into the wild in Maui more than 20 years after being declared extinct [in the wild], officials announced Wednesday, December 4, 2024.

Why it matters: "ʻAlalā are found nowhere else on Earth, and their existence is essential in Hawaiʻi," per a statement from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which worked to reintroduce the crows. "As they fly from tree to tree, these corvids disperse seeds that help grow new trees and restore native forests."

ʻAlalā "also help provide food and shelter for other indigenous wildlife that share their island," according to the the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. "Their very presence supports and even propagates their ecosystem's rich biodiversity."

The big picture: The endangered ʻalalā are sacred in Hawaiian culture and regarded as spiritual family guardians, per the Hawaiin Department of Land and Natural Resources.

They went extinct in the wild in 2002 and earlier attempts to reintroduce these intelligent birds — one of only two corvid species known to use twigs as tools to reach food — were unsuccessful.

Conservationists have now declared the introduction of five Hawaiian crows to Maui's Kīpahulu Forest Reserve last month a success so far.

What they did: "To prepare, experts raised the two females and three males in a social group to strengthen their relationship-building skills," according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

"This approach helped the ʻalalā practice how they'd depend on each other, giving them every opportunity to succeed in native habitats. Teams also worked closely on prerelease assessments, looking at how the birds were likely to respond to predators and how they'd seek native foods like insects and fruits."

The crows were then transferred from the Maui Bird Conservation Center to a temporary field aviary on the slopes of Haleakalā before being released.

Stunning stat: There were fewer than 20 ʻalalā in the late 1990s. Now, there are more than 110 individuals due to conservation efforts.

What we're watching: "The endgame is to get to a self-sustaining population on Hawaii Island," said Michelle Bogardus, a deputy field supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to the Washington Post. "The ʻalalā are part of the natural and cultural fabric of Hawaii Island, and they belong there.""

-via Axios, December 5, 2024

[mamalibra]

Here’s to 2023, a year of as many little courageous kindnesses as possible. ♥️

[fluffingfloofs]

To a year of kindness in 2024

[reblogbinge]

Bringing this back for 2025

[stitchthisfiona]

He sits on my lap while I spin, he does the little jiggle

[maxterian]

[azzandra]

In Romanian the verb "a toarce" means both "to purr" and "to spin wool".

[motorizedduck]

In Finnish the verb "kehrätä" means both "to purr" and "to spin wool".

[zuzuyams]

Eugene gets me

[beautifulterriblequeen]

HAPPY LIMINAL SPACEMAS, COUCHES

[leahgardner-art]

I grew these in my aerogarden 💐

[illusionremember]

[picsthatmakeyougohmm]

[birds-in-posts]

Sadly I cannot ID this handsome fellow as its face has been hidden for privacy's sake and I would like to respect that decision. Maybe some other day.

[swordsonnet]

[ID: photo of a pigeon with a leaf blown into its face. end ID]

[byjove]

I know vampirism is often used as a metaphor for the drain of the aristocracy but I think it would be fun to have more vampire characters who were just some guy before they got turned. You seek out the most ancient vampire in existence and find out he was a 40 year old wheat farmer in ancient Mesopotamia when he was turned 7,000 years ago and he hasn’t been doing much since then.

[byjove]

You ask him about his experience living through the rise and fall of most major empires and he’s like “It was very bad. For my wheat.”

[byjove]

You’re like “Why do you sow and reap a wheat harvest every year? Is it to retain the memory of your humanity? In honor of those you have loved and lost?” and he’s like “I just like growing wheat. I think it’s fun.”

[byjove]

Nope. He’s got a new tractor. He’s got his headphones on. He’s listening to AC/DC. He’s fine.

[travelerstakes]

@phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing

[transfemmbeatrice]

texts from jeeves

[asyipyip]

I can’t get over this lmaooo

[noblepeasant]

[catgirlhell]

ok, after actually looking up the term and doing some goddamn research (my goodness somebody on the internet actually decided to look something up before forming an opinion, dear god what a day), i can pretty safely say that everyone hitting this post with the “that’s just a friendship!” bit is wrong! and i can explain why! i myself didn’t get this initially! but after looking into it, i realized that it’s mainly due to the framework i was thinking in! Yeah, there’s actually merit to what these people are saying, this is stuff that’s been considered and these are indeed terms that exist! they were also coined by ace people specifically to describe their relationships! So what gives? What does Queerplatonic Relationship mean? well i certainly fucking didnt get it at first, but it stems from attempting to define a kind of relationship that there arent really words for in the standard english lexicon! the poster above me is a TERF, and wherever i see myself agreeing with a terf i also see that there’s possibly some flaw in my logic or understanding of the thing. Basically (mind you this is only some very cursory and basic research, just type the term into google lol), QPR’s are a way of defining a relationship that has many of the same obligations and aspects of a traditional romantic relationship, without any of the explicitly romantic parts that come with having a spouse or romantic partner.

the idea of living in the same place, or jointly bringing up children, and performing many other tasks as a kind of unit that society would often mislabel as something done by two romantic partners in a union of some kind (i use that term to loosely define an exclusive relationship, not actual binding marriage, though this can include such). the idea of the QPR isn’t just “friends”, it’s very specifically “individuals in a platonic relationship that perform a number of the social aspects of a traditional romantic partnership”.

like, be real for a second. if someone described their relationship with someone to you and said “Yeah we own a house together, we have a kid that we adopted and take care of, we decided to get a dog last week and we file taxes as two members of the same household.”, you wouldn’t look at that person and assume that they arent romantic/sexual partners of some kind, because... well, traditionally, that’s shit that married people do. getting hit with the additional “Yup! And we’re not romantically or sexually involved at all! She has a boyfriend that she visits on the weekends and I’ve never had a romantic relationship in my life.” would throw you for a goddamn loop! What would you even call that relationship? and that’s where the term comes from: an attempt to define a very specific kind of relationship that certainly can and has existed, but isn’t commonly recognized or talked about!

so i think everyone shitting on these folks owes them an apology, i know i personally do for making assumptions that clearly weren’t true!

[cannabisbutch]

Actually QPR was coined by aromantic people but asexual people do also use it!

[shadowkat678]

Finally I have a reason to reblog this after cringing every time it's come across my dash.

[the-real-seebs]

the category of "somehow-committed relationship that isn't sexual" is a pretty useful one to have.

[thecoggs]

So apparently last year the National Park Service in the US dropped an over 1200 page study of LGBTQ American History as part of their Who We Are program which includes studies on African-American history, Latino history, and Indigenous history. 

Like. This is awesome. But also it feels very surreal that maybe one of the most comprehensive examinations of LGBTQ history in America (it covers sports! art! race! historical sites! health! cities!) was just casually done by the parks service. 

[tarastarr1]

This is really great??

Chapter 1: Prologue: Why LGBTQ Historic Sites Matter by Mark Meinke

Chapter 2: Introduction to the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative Theme Study by Megan E. Springate

Chapter 3: Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History in the United States by Leisa Meyer and Helis Sikk

Chapter 4: The History of Queer History: One Hundred Years of the Search for Shared Heritage by Gerard Koskovich

Chapter 5: The Preservation of LGBTQ Heritage by Gail Dubrow

Chapter 6: LGBTQ Archeological Context by Megan E. Springate

Chapter 7: A Note about Intersectionality by Megan E. Springate

Chapter 8: Making Bisexuals Visible by Loraine Hutchins

Chapter 9: Sexual and Gender Diversity in Native America and the Pacific Islands by Will Roscoe

Chapter 10: Transgender History in the US and the Places that Matter by Susan Stryker

Chapter 11: Breathing Fire: Remembering Asian Pacific American Activism in Queer History by Amy Sueyoshi

Chapter 12: Latina/o Gender and Sexuality by Deena J. González and Ellie D. Hernandez

Chapter 13: “Where We Could Be Ourselves”: African American LGBTQ Historic Places and Why They Matter by Jeffrey A. Harris

Chapter 14: LGBTQ Spaces and Places by Jen Jack Gieseking

Chapter 15: Making Community: The Places and Spaces of LGBTQ Collective Identity Formation by Christina B. Hanhardt

Chapter 16: LGBTQ Business and Commerce by David K. Johnson

Chapter 17: Sex, Love, and Relationships by Tracy Baim

Chapter 18: LGBTQ Civil Rights in America by Megan E. Springate

Chapter 19: Historical Landmarks and Landscapes of LGBTQ Law by Marc Stein

Chapter 20: LGBTQ Military Service by Steve Estes

Chapter 21: Struggles in Body and Spirit: Religion and LGBTQ People in US History by Drew Bourn

Chapter 22: LGBTQ and Health by Katie Batza

Chapter 23: LGBTQ Art and Artists by Tara Burk

Chapter 24: LGBTQ Sport and Leisure by Katherine Schweighofer

Chapter 25: San Francisco: Placing LGBTQ Histories in the City by the Bay by Donna J. Graves and Shayne E. Watson

Chapter 26: Preservation of LGBTQ Historic & Cultural Sites – A New York City Perspective by Jay Shockley

Chapter 27: Locating Miami’s Queer History by Julio Capó, Jr.

Chapter 28: Queerest Little City in the World: LGBTQ Reno by John Jeffrey Auer IV

Chapter 29: Chicago: Queer Histories at the Crossroads of America by Jessica Herczeg-Konecny

Chapter 30: Nominating LGBTQ Places to the National Register of Historic Places and as National Historic Landmarks: An Introduction by Megan E. Springate and Caridad de la Vega

Chapter 31: Interpreting LGBTQ Historic Sites by Susan Ferentinos

Chapter 32: Teaching LGBTQ History and Heritage by Leila J. Rupp

[stickthisbig]

Let me explain what is happening here, because I don’t think that this post is very representative of why this matters.

The purpose of the theme studies, this one included, is to locate the physical remnants of the past, so that they can be properly preserved by governmental and nonprofit entities. They are not just descriptions of history, they are documents that can be used for grant work, for preventing places from being destroyed, or for promoting the restoration of those places. This theme study is a statement from the federal government that the preservation of these places is important, and that can be translated by the states into these places being legally required to be protected.

The theme studies are also really important because they recontextualized what it means to locate history in a place. This started before the LGBT theme study, there’s a lot of this in the Latino theme study, but they present a reconsideration of what you can call historic when the actions of a group left no physical traces on the spaces that they used. We are now seeing the possibility of considering places like cruising areas as historic properties because they represent the patterns of a culture.

This is the Park Service’s job. This is what you should be expecting from them. There are theme studies and special resource studies on dozens of things. A really important Civil Rights one dropped like last week. The Park Service is charged with running our national parks, sure, but the bulk of their work is like this. This is the type of shit that you can and should expect out of your National Park Service. Nobody else is gonna do it.

[megushie]

Yesssss Parks Service 🙌🏻

[witchywomin-blog-blog]

I feel like @queerliblib might like this if they haven’t seen it yet. What a marvelous collection of SUCH important information.

[queerliblib]

we have seen it! Big fans.

libraries 🤝 park services