#andrewblake

[theteablogger]

Diversity and character death in DAYD

(Or, “DAYD’s diversity iz pastede on yay”.)

This long-as-fuck post has been sitting in my drafts since sometime in 2015. I decided to finish and publish it because an ex-DAYDian suggested that it might still be useful. The initial idea was to examine how Andy's portrayal of various characters’ gender and sexuality had changed over time. Later, I expanded it to look at a number of different “diversity labels” that Andy applied to his characters, and how they related to who lived or died. When counting casualties, I have excluded those who were resurrected after Druim Cett.

On gender and sexuality:

First, here is each instance that I am aware of in which Andy listed his LGBTQIA characters. Unfortunately, I don’t have links for everything: most of the “20 Random Facts” lists are no longer online, I don’t want to link to chats that include DAYDians’ real names, and I only have some of the Tumblr posts in the form of .docs compiled by DAYDians on the Facebook group.

Undated: In “20 Random Facts About Luna Lovegood”, Luna is described as bisexual, but “she never [got] around to acting on it”. (A DAYDian wrote that list with Andy’s approval and with information provided by him. Later, Andy seemingly forgot about that and wrote another one that didn’t mention her sexuality.) In Susan, Colin, and Icarus’s “20 Random Facts”, Andy says that they are also bisexual. Derek’s says that he is gay, and Rowan’s implies that she is only attracted to girls. Stephen and Gwen’s “20 Random Facts” were each written by other DAYDians with Andy’s approval. Stephen’s says that he’s gay, and Gwen’s seems to imply that she dates both boys and girls, but prefers boys. Much later, in a Tumblr list of his LGBTQIA characters, Andy said that Gwen is a lesbian.

Sometime between April 2008 and July 2009: In his FAQ, Andy said, “I have no problem with slash or homosexuality. Rowan Glynnis and Malcolm Braddock both 'stir their cauldrons in their own direction.' IMHO, both Colin and Luna are bisexual.”

July 14, 2009: In the comments to his “Slash Goggles” post, Andy said, “Luna sees herself as pansexual. Gender is entirely irrelevant when she is looking for a partner of any kind, especially as she doesn't see it as a binary construct, or even a continuum, but as a physical detail as irrelevant to personhood as the color of one's hair. Colin honestly died too young to really know...certainly, he was bicurious, and he certainly liked girls, but where his sexuality would have developed can't be known when it never finished developing.” He also said that Colin, Luna, Stephen, Derek, Victoria, Rowan, Dean, and Gertie are the only characters that “fall under some form of ‘queer’” and that it would be “tokenism” to include a trans person in a group the size of Dumbledore’s Army.

July 17, 2010: Andy said that Derek, Dean, Susan, Stephen, Rowan, Vicky, Colin, and Icarus are “not strictly heteronormative”.

May 26, 2011: In the midst of a post about a lot of other things, including the Trail of Tears hike, Andy listed his "LGBTQ-spectrum characters” as follows: “Derek, Stephen, and Dean were gay, Susan, Icarus, and Colin bisexual, Michael and Terry bicurious, and Victoria and Rowan lesbians, and several of the characters have challenged the socially dictated gender roles, like Ricky fighting to keep his daughter as a single father and Susan heading up the farm and fund after Ernie’s death.”

June 5, 2011: In a chat with several DAYDians, Andy said that his LGBTQIA characters were Derek, Stephen, Dean, Icarus, Colin, Susan, Rowan, and Vicky. He further stated that Derek and Dean are gay; Icarus and Susan are bisexual; Colin is bicurious; Rowan is a “baby bull dyke”*; and Victoria could be either a lesbian or bisexual, but we’ll never know for sure because she died in the Battle of Hogwarts. He didn’t state Stephen’s specific orientation in the chat. In the comments to the LJ post in which the chat was shared, Andy acknowledged that he’d previously said that Luna is bisexual. He also mentioned for the first time that Terry is asexual. 

June 15, 2011: In another chat, Andy clarified that Stephen was gay, as was Derek. He also said that Colin was bicurious, but considered himself bisexual.

September 22, 2012: In a Tumblr post listing DAYD characters and their labels, Andy said that Derek, Stephen, and Dean are gay; Malcolm is genderqueer; Terry is homoromantic/asexual; Michael is homoromantic/heterosexual; Colin, Icarus, and Victoria are bisexual; Rowan is a lesbian; and Luna is “pansexually identified”.

Later that month: In response to a Tumblr ask, Andy confirmed that Terry is homoromantic/asexual. In another response around the same time, he listed his LGBTQIA characters as follows: “Dean, Derek, Stephen, Colin, Susan, Icarus, Vicky, and Rowan out, Gwen deeply closeted maybe-lesbian-maybe-bi, Malcolm heterosexual but genderqueer, and Luna panfashionable…she likes to think of herself as pansexual but has never actually gotten the warm tinglies for anything that wasn’t cismale.” Shortly thereafter, he referred to Susan as “openly bi”.

March 5, 2013: Andy repeated that Malcolm is genderqueer/heterosexual and mentioned for the first time that they’d changed their name to Morgan.

January - February 2014: Over the course of several Tumblr asks, Andy repeated two or three times that Michael is homoromantic/heterosexual and Terry is homoromantic/asexual (but they “could be fairly called ‘a queer couple’”). He also referred to Malcolm as genderfluid.

Here’s a breakdown by character.

Colin: Bisexual according to the 2008 - early 2009 FAQ and his “20 Random Facts”, but bicurious in July 2009. Bisexual in May 2011. Bicurious in June 2011. Bicurious, but self-identifying as bisexual, later that month. Bisexual in September 2012. He is also included on the nonspecific July 2009 and July 2010 lists. Colin dies during the Battle of Hogwarts. He is very prominent in DAYD and a number of side stories, and appears as a ghost in A Peccatis.

Dean, Derek, and Stephen: Derek and Stephen are both described as gay in their “20 Random Facts” lists (Dean doesn’t have one). They are not mentioned in the FAQ post. All three are “some form of ‘queer’” in July 2009 and “not strictly heteronormative” in July 2010. Starting in May 2011, they were consistently described as gay whenever Andy was specific about their sexuality. They all die during the Battle of Hogwarts. Derek and Stephen barely appear in DAYD, although they’re both in “Reasons”. Derek also has his own “Rank and File” story and appears in “Boys Will Be”. Stephen briefly shows up in a couple of Mike-and-Terry fics and appears in a flashback at the beginning of A Peccatis. Dean only comes into DAYD for the battle and is not present in any of Andy’s other fic. 

Gertie: First referred to as “some form of ‘queer’” in July 2009 and never mentioned as LGBTQIA before or after that. Her gender identification and sexuality are unspecified. She dies during the Battle of Hogwarts. Gertie doesn’t appear in DAYD at all, but has three whole lines in a side story (”Turning the Tide”). 

Gwen: Dates both boys and girls, but prefers boys, according to her “20 Random Facts”. She is a lesbian, according to an undated Tumblr post. Andy describes her as “deeply closeted maybe-lesbian-maybe-bi” as of September 2012, but her sexuality is not mentioned on his “labels” list that month. She is also absent from the FAQ post and the July 2009, July 2010, May 2011, and June 2011 lists. Gwen dies during the Battle of Hogwarts. She is only mentioned once in DAYD. Her sole significant appearance in any of Andy’s fic is in “Wanted”, which portrays a sexual encounter between her and Jack Sloper. 

Icarus: Bisexual according to his “20 Random Facts”. He is absent from the FAQ post and from the list of “queer” characters in July 2009, but is described as “not strictly heteronormative” in July 2010. Icarus is consistently referred to as bisexual starting in May 2011. He is murdered in Sluagh (before Druim Cett, so he isn’t resurrected). He is only mentioned once in DAYD, but is fairly important in Sluagh and features in a couple of side stories.

Luna: Bisexual in the 2008 - early 2009 FAQ post and her “20 Random Facts”, pansexual in July 2009, “pansexually identified” in September 2012, and “panfashionable” later that month. She is absent from the July 2010 and May 2011 lists of non-heteronormative and/or LGBTQIA characters, and Andy explicitly stated that she never actually feels sexual attraction for anyone other than cisgender men. luna survives DAYD, in which she is very much present, and is out of the country during Sluagh. She also appears in A Peccatis and some side stories.

Malcolm/Morgan: Implied to be gay in the 2008 - early 2009 FAQ post. First mentioned as genderqueer and heterosexual in September 2012 and consistently described as genderqueer (or genderfluid) and heterosexual thereafter. Absent from the July 2009, July 2010, May 2011, and June 2011 lists. Their gender identification is never mentioned in fic; it only appears in three responses to Tumblr asks and an infodump on the Facebook group. Morgan is also one of only two Slytherins to join Dumbledore’s Army: Andy portrayed them as an effeminate stereotype alongside Terrence Runcorn’s hypermasculinity. They live, perhaps only because they become too frightened to remain in the DA following the murder of their housemate. Morgan is barely in DAYD, and their only other appearances are in a snippet with Renny and in a short fic recounting their departure from the DA. 

Michael and Terry: See this post. They both die in the Battle of Hogwarts. They are very prominent in DAYD and Andy’s other fic, and they also appear in a flashback at the beginning of A Peccatis. Andy had planned to write another fic, called Oubliette, in which the two of them would turn out to have been in limbo since the Battle of Hogwarts, and a “voodoo queen” named Mama Nola (yes, really) would offer to resurrect them ~for a price~.

Rowan: Her “20 Random Facts” heavily implies that she is attracted to girls. She’s implied to be a lesbian in the 2008 - early 2009 FAQ post, first specifically called a lesbian in May 2011, and consistently described as such after that. She is also included on the nonspecific July 2009 and July 2010 lists. Rowan dies during the Battle of Hogwarts. She has an important role in DAYD, but is not very prominent in spite of that. Rowan appears in a few side stories and shows up in A Peccatis as a horribly mutilated ghost.

Susan: Bisexual according to her “20 Random Facts”. She is absent from the July 2009 list, but is described as “not strictly heteronormative” in July 2010 and as bisexual in May 2011 and thereafter--except that Andy didn’t mention it in the September 2012 “labels” list. Susan never feels or expresses attraction to anyone but cisgender men in fic: although her “20 Random Facts” does say that she sleeps with women after Ernie dies, that is the only time it’s ever mentioned. Later, Andy did some Supernatural crossover Susan/Ruby fanart that may or may not be considered DAYD canon. Susan survives DAYD and Sluagh and is extremely important throughout the entire trilogy. She also appears in quite a few side stories.

Victoria: “Some form of ‘queer’ in July 2009 and “not strictly heteronormative” in July 2010. She is called a lesbian in May 2011, but described as either a lesbian or bisexual in June 2011, and bisexual in September 2012. She dies during the Battle of Hogwarts. Her only actual appearance in DAYD is when she faints on the Hogwarts Express, and she’s only in one side story and a snippet with Rowan.

The three most prominent LGBTQIA characters not involved with Dumbledore’s Army are Robin (Icarus’s Sluagh-era fuckbuddy, always referred to as gay), Brian (Irish auror who is revealed to be gay during A Peccatis), and Emerson (Malcolm’s partner, always described as genderqueer or genderfluid). Neither Robin nor Emerson appears in Andy’s fic, although Robin is in a very brief snippet written in response to a Tumblr ask. Brian died at Druim Cett, but was apparently resurrected along with everyone else.

As a side note, the “defying gender roles” business mentioned in the May 2011 LJ post is only noteworthy because Andy and all of his DAYDverse stories are so very, very gender essentialist. The examples that he gave are especially amusing to me because they both represent extremely common tropes in romance novels. For years, Harlequin and similar publishing houses have been churning out single dad romances by the dozen because they’re so popular. There are entire publishing lines dedicated to them! Also ubiquitous is the tragic young widow who “defiantly” chooses to run her late husband’s farm and raise their child single-handedly until a big, strapping, manly man (with optional Dark Past) comes along to help her. My own mother has several of those books on her shelf, most of the historical and/or Christian romance subgenres. 

That was as far as I got in 2015. More recently, I looked back at Andy’s LJ post from July 17, 2010, in which he broke down the cast list by which labels fit them: people of color, non-Protestants, people with disabilities, etc. I cross-referenced those lists with casualty lists from DAYD and Sluagh. I have to admit that I haven’t read A Peccatis very closely, so if any of these characters died in that fic, I missed it.

* No, it is not okay for Andy to say things like this. Yes, he still uses this kind of language a lot.

On diversity and death:

Andy’s DA has 78 members, of which 36 are female and 42 are male (although one of the guys later identifies as genderqueer). 12 members of the canonical DA who have already graduated return for the Battle of Hogwarts. 5 of those are female; 7 are male. Of the 90 total DA members, 56 (62%) die in DAYD and Sluagh. 

I’ve already noted that of the 14 LGBTQIA members of Dumbledore’s Army, 11 die. One of the three survivors (Morgan) isn’t in any fic other than DAYD, in which they exist only to make Renny look more manly, and a couple of short side stories. Susan and Luna’s sexuality is informed-only, and Andy waffled about Luna a lot.

Of 15 characters of color--Andy omitted Cho Chang--seven (Stephen, Dean, Tommy, Padma, Parvati, Romilda, and Cho) die in DAYD. Two more of these characters are maimed: Tony Goldstein loses both legs and Li Su (called Su Li in canon) loses her entire body below the waist. They later get married. Emma sustains a traumatic brain injury and her back is severely scarred. Salome is so badly injured that it takes her a year to recover.  

Of the 21 non-Protestant characters on this list, 13 (Stewart, Terry, Michael, Stephen, Leslie, Wayne, Oisin, Tommy, Camellia, Padma, Parvati, Romilda, and Icarus) die and two more (Tony and Li again) are severely maimed. Salome is injured as mentioned above. Neville is scarred to the point that he develops severe, chronic back problems as a result.

Of eight characters who are themselves immigrants to the UK, or are first-generation children of immigrants, five (Ritchie, Stephen, Tommy, Padma, and Parvati) die. Li and Salome survive with severe injuries, as described above. Fritz Bagman (an OC) survives, but loses both hands.

Of four characters born with physical disabilities, two (Jack and Ernie) die. Emma is injured and scarred as previously mentioned.

Every single one of the six characters that Andy says had psychological conditions prior to DAYD (Anna, Terry, Gwen, Gertie, Jack, and Perseus) dies during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Andy also lists ten characters who are extremely rich or poor in his fic, and five of those (Ernie, Michael, Katie, Orla, and Hal) die. He indicates that six characters have criminal pasts, and two of them (Rose and Icarus) die in Sluagh. Of five characters who have substance abuse problems in DAYDverse, only one (Terry) dies. 

Finally, Andy names all of the characters who are “their own definition of feminist”, i.e., every female character in Andy’s version of Dumbledore’s Army except Anna, but apparently none of the women from the canonical DA who’d already graduated, and no men at all. Again, Andy’s DA has 36 female members (of 78 total). 23 of them (too many to list) die in the Battle of Hogwarts and two more (Rose and Rachel) at Druim Cett. Another female member of Andy’s DA (Laura) dies four years after the Battle of Hogwarts from injuries sustained therein. In addition, five of the 12 original DA members who return to Hogwarts for the battle are female, and three of them (Katie, Alicia, and Cho) die. 

The only student deaths in DAYD that also occur in canon are Colin Creevey’s and Fred Weasley’s. (Lavender Brown dies in part two of the film version of DH, but the book is unclear as to whether she survives being mauled by Fenrir Greyback.) Rowling does indicate that besides Fred, Colin, Tonks, and Lupin, the death toll on the side fighting against Voldemort is about fifty; however, none of the others is named. It is very unlikely that all or even most of the remaining dead are students. There were the Order of the Phoenix, staff members, Hogsmeade villagers, Aurors, house elves, centaurs, and others fighting at Hogwarts as well. Oh, and the only students below year seven who were actually present were Colin and Ginny. It was entirely Andy’s choice to have fifty-plus Hogwarts students, many as young as 14, die between the Battle of Hogwarts and Druim Cett. It was also his choice to kill them in a variety of horrible, disgusting, often degrading ways, all described in graphic detail.  The text on this promotional image may as well end with, “...but they probably die horrifically.” 

Most of these characters’ backgrounds are entirely of Andy’s own making, as well. Other than a handful of POC characters and one who Rowling specifically said was Jewish (Tony), the Harry Potter series is pretty terrible with regard to representation. On the surface, that seems to make Andy look pretty good. It’s important to note, though, that most of the above information about these characters is not actually included in DAYD, Sluagh, A Peccatis, or even Andy’s side stories. It mostly came up after the fact on Andy’s LJ or tumblr, in chat, in Q&As, or in “20 Random Facts” lists about the characters. Later, one of his readers might use that information in a fic of their own. When a mention of someone’s ethnicity, etc. does show up in the main trilogy, it is often presented in a problematic way, with stereotyping and fetishization of people from “exotic” races or cultures. The Patil twins are the most obvious examples of this, but someone also recently pointed out to me that the DA members constantly refer to Romilda using an ethnic slur. So while Andy’s fanfiction does have greater representation across the board than Rowling’s novels do, he handles it very poorly and it’s obvious that much of it is an afterthought. Given that he was building a cult around his fanfiction, I believe his motives were most likely to widen the DAYDverse’s demographic appeal and to get people as emotionally invested in the characters and the ‘verse as possible--and ultimately in him, because he literally called himself God in the fandom.

TL;DR: I don’t think Andy deserves much credit for “great representation” when a) it was actually hugely problematic, and b) he killed or severely injured most of his diverse cast in such gratuitously terrible ways that large chunks of both DAYD and Sluagh can only be described as torture porn.

A few other items of note:

Others have written about how despite his alleged commitment to diversity, Andy’s art and writing make it abundantly clear that everyone in his version of the DA is gorgeous and athletic. The only DA member who gains weight (Icarus) does so after the events of DAYD and as a deliberate choice for armchair-psychology reasons. Only the villains are unattractive. 

Andy does casually kill off a lot of characters off-screen or with a quick one-line reference, despite criticizing Rowling for doing exactly that.

I learned from this post by ladyloveandjustice that one of the characters that Andy killed off-screen was based on a real child who had a terminal illness, wrote to JKR, and died before receiving a reply. JKR gave her a cameo in one of the novels as a tribute, and Andy added her name to a list of “the fallen” without a second thought. (Ladyloveandjustice’s sporking of all of DAYD is worth a read, actually. Or just see the wrap-up post, which nicely summarizes some of the major issues with DAYD.)

[adorkablegrrl-blog1]

Imgur

Imgur

I just cannot even. With grandparents who actually ARE from Ireland... having visited Ireland... having Irish friends... I just cannot even. This is beyond offensive. Doesn’t match up with the story L was told (about a famous cult leader grandfather) but geebus flipping christmas... 0.o

[sensualdevices-blog]

Reasons To Buy The Bijoux Indiscrets 12 Sexy Days

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[sensualdevices-blog]

That Statement Of Your Sensuality

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[sensualdevices-blog]

Sense and Sensuality

Human beings are probably one of the most profound and magnificent creatures that ever walked this planet. Surely, a lot of us have probably thought of this and then there are those that would say …

[adorkablegrrl-blog1]

Dear Andrew Blake:

I just shared your apology with some relevant people in the LA Incident. A few of us (not Molly & Chris) have had a quick chat about this apology. While it is a good start, we all believe that actions speak louder than words. And, we all think that you should specifically detail what you did which was wrong. Making a blanket apology and saying “I’m sorry if anyone was hurt, that wasn’t my intention” is kind of a cop out and a sneaky victim blame-y type tactic. You’re shifting the blame for us being upset or hurt onto us, because -of course- you didn’t mean it. Okay. Maybe you didn’t mean it. We are a group that gives the benefit of the doubt. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t know now that what you did and that those things you did were wrong. It’s been laid out for you in enough detail over and over again that you can now connect the dots and figure out the specific instances when you did something shitty to someone, who that person was, and own up to the behavior/apologize for it directly.

What would really impress us, what would make us all have mad respect for you (although it wouldn’t change our decision to not have you as part of our group) is to see you own your bad behavior. Be detailed publicly, make amends specifically in a public way (so that the people you hurt do not have to have 1:1 contact with you) and then go dark. Get offline, get out of fandom, focus on developing your daily living skills so you don’t have to rely on the kindness of strangers ever again, focus on having real life friendships with people in which you practice the lessons you’ve learned (I hope) from this experience and the many years of previous similar experiences you have had. Get a real job. Build your experience and community away from geekery and fandom. Then if you run into any of us in LA (if you stay here, that will happen) be humble and don’t force yourself on us.

I told Molly when she first started feeling uncomfortable with you that I felt sad for you because it seemed to me that you were desperate to fit in and be liked. And, that you can’t force that. I told her I wanted to grab you by the shoulders and tell you to chill the fuck out and just let us all get to know you naturally, over time. That you can’t walk into a group of friends who have been tight like we are for years and years and assume the same level of intimacy and privilege in the group that we share with each other. And, that when people try to do that, it of course sets off all our Spidey senses and tells us something is up and off with the person behaving that way. If you take this advice to heart and apply it to the next friends you make, you’ll have a fighting chance of having a good outcome.

A few specific things I wish you would do:

Own your transness, stop saying you are cis (you’re not, we all know it) and be aware that the impulse to claim cishood reads to other transgender people and other members of the LGBTQ community like you are claiming the toxic male privilege that we all struggle against on a daily basis

Realize that women’s bodies are not yours to comment on, period

Realize that you cannot co-opt the lived experiences of PoC, women, or other LGBTQ people - stop being a performative ally. If you want to educate yourself on how to do that, read this and this

Fight against the need to be the center of attention at all times. It causes you to do weird, creepy shit that pisses people off

Stop being aggressive and competitive with other men

Detail specifically and apologize directly the instances when you have hurt someone... not just in LA, but in the past, too. I know there are a lot of people who you have victimized out there who are still waiting for detailed apologies and for you to make amends... in case you’re interested in learning how to really do that, here’s a helpful link on making amends with someone

Go to therapy, for real. Don’t talk about it to other people, just do it and get better

Another thing I’d like to see, if you have any influence over the situation, that would demonstrate to me, at least, that you’re serious about your apology -- call out Chris C. on the specific bad behavior you’ve witnessed that you find unacceptable. Encourage him to also apologize and make amends. Not just to us in LA, but to those he has wronged elsewhere.

These things would be a good start. And, let me be clear, this will not change the fact that all of us in Molly’s group want nothing to do with you. You’ll need to accept that and move on. But it will, at least, demonstrate that something positive has come from this whole ridiculous situation you created and it will, perhaps, restore some tiny bit of goodwill with the people who you harmed. Good luck.

Kate PS: Yes, @theteablogger and @returnofthenecromommycon - you can share this with him if you think it is helpful.

Edited to remove double negative. JFC, I’m a terrible writer and speller today.

[adorkablegrrl-blog1]

Word vomit... Chris Cilento is a bully and a rape apologist, Andrew Blake is a lying liar from Liartown

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Seriously. I am feeling really exhausted and overwhelmed having gotten involved in all this Andy Blake creepiness. I did so to protect my best friend from unwarranted attacks and to warn other people about what a nutcase AB is... but, as I now see this goes on and on and on and on and never stops... not even 10+ years later (nods to @kumquatwriter and Diamond.) In particular, I am frustrated with the ongoing onslaught of bullshit from Andrew’s Chief Stan, Chris Cilento, (also known as Army Man or RavenJeep2001.) After waking up this morning to a flurry of Tumblr activity involving his rape denials/justifications/minimizations and his having my best friend’s name in his mouth again, I feel like I have to say something directly about his quest for “rock solid proof” of Andrew’s bad behavior in LA.

What I have to say is this: HE HAS BEEN GIVEN ROCK SOLID PROOF TIME AND TIME AGAIN AND HE IGNORES IT. On Monday, June 25th I had a LONG Facebook Messenger conversation with Chris Cilento about Andy’s behavior in LA, what led up to him being asked to leave Molly & Chris’s house, about the definition of sexual assault and rape, why Andrew hasn’t been picked up by the police, and how if Molly had known that Andrew had been accused of sexual assault/rape (let alone admitting to it) that he would have never, ever, EVER been allowed to stay in her house for one night - let alone stay with her for a week (or, the whole summer to hear him talk.) Not only that, Molly would have never extended friendship to him online or off if she knew those things. FURTHER, I know for a fact that the couple who he was targeting to stay with/manipulate next would have never let him within 15 feet of them if they had known about Andrew’s past with sexual assault and rape. (I have screenshots of this conversation, in full, I have shared them with @theteablogger - I don’t know that I will publish them myself, but they have my permission to do so, so long as the appropriate names are blocked out. They know what I mean by that.)

So I want to talk about the “proof” that Chris seeks from us that Andrew was creepy and a bad houseguest and that he lied. And, I apologize - because this is going to be a TL;DR post in an epic way... but... okay if you’re here, I’m assuming you’re interested in what I have to say:

First of all, the requesting “proof” -- I want to start off by saying clearly we’re under no obligation to give him or anyone else reasons why we do not want Andrew Blake in our lives. The line of “give me proof that such and such happened” is a very common victim blaming technique that is frequently used to discredit those reporting sexual assault and rape.

Also - aside from us having videotaped him being an asshole and a horrible houseguest, aside from Molly having taken audio tape of Andrew lying to her about his past and omitting a large amount of information and obscuring the truth of what he’s really done over the last 20 years... what “rock solid proof” can we provide? Is not the EXACT SAME ACCOUNT OF FACTS FROM 11 DIFFERENT PEOPLE enough?

What possible motive do we have to invent shit about Andrew Blake? After all, we are a social group that is well known for opening our arms and doors to pretty much anyone and everyone, regardless of how fucked up they are -- because, who isn’t a little bit fucked up? What we do not tolerate is simple: Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, rape, sexual assault, violence (in general)... and, lying.

With the exception of racism,* Andrew Blake has a finger, if not a whole hand, in every single one of those hard boundaries we as a group have formed over YEARS AND YEARS of knowing each other - both online and in real life.

*It’s been pointed out to me since I published this that AB is what is called a “cryptoracist” and that this racism comes out in the form of his performative allyship and can be observed in past behavior of his surrounding historical (Ferguson, and the like) events. I don’t have any experience with this first-hand, but it feels like it is worth noting. 

Let me explain a little bit about the social structure we have: We’re a large group of creatives living in LA. We all have different backgrounds and professions, but we’re all united in our passion and geekery. I would speculate that our actual acquaintance group is upward of 100 people... but, our core group of friends (who see each other IN PERSON on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis) numbers about 30. That’s 30 people who see each other every week, at least, who talk on and offline, who have established IRL relationships with each other - who do things that have real life meaning (like being in each other’s weddings, pet/house sitting for each other, hosting holidays at our homes, helping each other find work, being surrogate family, watching each other’s children, etc) on the regs. Of those 30 people, 10 of us had a really bad personal experience with Andrew in the two weeks that he was here. And, we talked about it to each other. BECAUSE WE’RE IN REAL LIFE FRIENDS.

Here’s a breakdown of the people in the “inner circle” of our friends who had bad experiences with him, directly: #1 Molly -- her bad experiences have been well documented and reported upon.

#2 Chris -- Molly’s fiancee - please see above.

#3 T -- Chris’s best friend, to whom Andrew was uber aggressive and competitive.

#4 L -- To whom Andrew made transphobic comments, then tried to gaslight when called out upon them. L also witnessed Andrew’s homophobic diatribe the night that he was invited out with our group to go to a local gay bar.

#6 A1 -- Whom Andrew body shamed.

#7 C -- Whom Andrew gaslit about her own costuming experience and whose boyfriend Andrew was trying to cozy up to. (Incidentally, he friend requested the Beyond Science guy on Monday, 6/25 - a FULL WEEK after he was asked not to have any contact with any of us... so as of a week ago he was still trying to worm his way in.)(There is another C whom I refer to Molly going to the desert with, they are not one in the same person.)

#8 E -- Whom he body shamed.

#9 K -- Whom he body shamed AND made a crappy costume for. (There is another K in this account, whose birthday party I meet Andrew at, just a note to let you know that they are not one in the same.)

#10 A2 -- Who wasn’t around to meet Andrew in person until the night he was asked to leave, but who had been following his bullshit since the days of Voyagerbabe and Victoria Bitter, pre-BoE, who reached out to three of us before reaching out to Molly and Chris to warn us about Andrew.

#11 Me... I am Molly’s best friend of 12 years. I am one of two best friends outside her fiancee. Like I have said before, I know her inside and out, backwards and forwards like a book. Her character is solid, she doesn’t lie, and if I thought for a second she was making any of this up or blowing it out of proportion I wouldn’t hesitate to call her out on it... BECAUSE SHE’S MY DAMN BEST FRIEND. And, we check each other when needed. Which doesn’t happen often, because generally you aren’t best friends to the degree that we’re all up in each other’s lives (I mean she’s gonna be the second person that gets called when my kid is born in a few weeks, she and my other bestie M are like my damn little sisters -- this is MY FAMILY we’re talking about) if the other person is a liar or drama queen or something like that.... She’s not. Not that I need to say it again: But, she is telling the truth about her experiences.

And, for the record, the *least* amount of time that I have known any of our “inner circle” in real life is a year. Most I have known in real life much, much longer because of my involvement in comics, cosplay, and geek entertainment through my former profession as a pop culture journalist. I have known most of them online for at least five years or more. Never once have I caught any of them in a lie or thought for a second that any of them were lying to me about anything.

Whereas, Andrew pretty much lied all the time about everything, from the moment I met him.

Now that this is all out of the way, let me recap my personal experience with Andrew Blake. @theteablogger did a great job of documenting the timeline of Molly’s experience. I have given a general breakdown of events here. Molly has broken down her own experience in multiple places. Let me tell you how I personally fit into this.

May 28th -- Molly and Chris have a Memorial Day BBQ at which I am present. At some point the topic turns to Andrew Blake, who will be arriving that day, and staying with Molly and Chris for a while because he has summer work in LA as a costumer. All I know is that Molly knows this guy online and thinks he’s a good artist/costume creator and I take her word for it. No mention of a sordid past is made. I hear through Molly that Andrew showed up that night after I left (I am 6.5 months pregnant at this point and do not do late nights anymore) and hung around with our group and that he “seemed okay” - and, that his official stay with them would begin on June 1st.

June 1st -- His stay begins.

June 2nd or 3rd -- Andrew goes to the renn faire with Molly and a group of our friends.

June 4th -- I talk to Molly (on a work call, because -oh yes- in addition to being up in each other’s lives for the last decade, she also works for me as a freelancer at the agency I am a director at) and she reports that she had a good time at the renn faire, but “Andy is very exhausting” to hang out with and “kind of annoying.”

June 5th -- Andrew does something amongst our group of friends that really pisses Molly off. I do not know the details of this, as Molly vaguely texts me about it from the desert, where she is out hiking with her other best friend, C. She does say that she’s angry enough that she is beginning to question if Andrew should continue to stay with her and Chris... I ask her to elaborate, she says she’ll tell me about it when she gets back the next day. That conversation doesn’t happen because the next night is movie night and a birthday party for one of our friends and a lot of people are there and it’s chaos. 

June 6th -- I go to Molly’s house for movie night/to celebrate our friend K’s birthday. I meet Andrew for the first time. It is at this point that he tells me the following lies: 

He has never been to or lived in LA before and is shocked at how expensive it is;

He is 23 and this is his first time on the West Coast at all; that he is staying with Molly and Chris for the whole summer because; 

He has a full time costuming job working “in-house” for the summer and he plans to “test out the waters” to see if it’s worth moving here permanently in the fall;

That he has “years” of experience costuming on the East Coast and elsewhere and that he’s on IMDB. I Google his name with “costumer” and come up with this page... I flash him the page on my phone and ask “Is this you?” to which he says “uh-huh.” I look at it briefly, think “oh wow, he does have a lot of experience, I should recommend him to [name redacted] who is working on a movie this fall and has been looking for a second assistant” - I close the page and don’t think more about it until a week later;

That he is a straight, cisgendered man (this, incidentally, comes up in a conversation I am having with L about transphobia at Pride and in the LGBTQ community - in general, which he inserts himself into to be a performative ally, while obfuscating that he is trans and a member of the LGBTQ community, himself...) I don’t really care about his gender and/or sexual orientation (though later I do find it troubling and odd that he’s trans presenting as cis -- I am later assured that this happens in the trans community, mostly with FtoM people,) I do find it odd that he needed to insert himself into a conversation that has no relevance to him (as he presents himself) to make uninformed commentary on something (he presents himself) to know nothing about... when a bisexual woman and a transperson are talking about their actual lived experiences in said community... I digress.

I notice that Andrew is doing weird things with his body when talking to both Molly and our friend K (whose birthday it is,) in that he’s trying to blockade them with his physicality so that they can *only* pay attention to him in the context of a group discussion that is happening around Molly’s dining room table. He then whips out his henna and does henna tattoos on both Molly and K (which are actually very pretty.) I then say something about how I wish I had time to have a henna tattoo, but that I can’t think of a place to get it where it wouldn’t get smeared right away because I am going home soon to go to bed (because I am 7 months pregnant and I don’t do late nights and I am generally always exhausted.) Andrew starts pressing me to do a henna tattoo on my pregnant stomach (which creeps me out IMMEDIATELY.) I politely say “no thank you,” but he keeps on about it while doing K’s henna and finally L shoots me an uncomfortable glance and I say “I don’t let anyone touch my pregnant stomach except my husband.” Both Molly and K register this comment being made and (kindly, to him) agree that he needs to respect my boundary, saying that not even they really touch my stomach (and, they are, respectively, my best friend and my really really really REALLY good friend.) He then moves onto “well you could get one somewhere it wouldn’t smear” and I say “oh, that’s okay, I toss and turn a lot in my sleep and there is no way it would dry in time.” At this point, Andrew finishes up that henna tattoo and starts to make noises about how he’s super hungry. A bunch of people have moved outside to smoke and Molly and I are strategizing when the best time to do K’s birthday cake is... Andrew keeps interrupting us asking about a bahn mi place close to Molly’s house, then he starts freaking out because he can’t find his phone (which, surprise, surprise is quickly found by someone once he’s huffed and puffed around the house for 30 minutes making a scene, distracting everyone, involving several people in the hunt.) I can tell that Molly is getting extremely frustrated with him, as he keeps pressing her for inane details about the bahn mi place that he could easily find out via Google. I tell him that it’s worth it to go, because their bahn mi is good, and Andrew offers three times to get me one, to which I say no (because I want a piece of the damn birthday cake I baked for K.) Molly then says “Andy, we’re trying to do the birthday cake so we can start the movie” and he leaves to go get his dinner, while asking me to save him a piece of birthday cake. This is the first normal thing I have seen him do all night. I say “sure,” of course, because I am not a shitty person and though I have red flags going off all over the place, I’m trying to be nice and give him the benefit of the doubt. Shortly after we do the cake, I am standing in the kitchen, and mention to L “god he really needs constant attention, doesn’t he?” To which she agrees. He then wanders by and offers me a bahn mi, which I politely decline. I tell him that we saved him a piece of birthday cake, and go to sit down to start the movie. I am sitting besides Molly, and Andrew sits on the other side of her, I am *trying* to watch the movie (which is one of my very favorites) and he keeps chattering at her until she gets up and moves. I then decide that I am too exhausted by all of this weirdness and I tell Molly I am leaving. I wish everyone a good night and head home.

THIS ALL HAPPENED IN THE SPACE OF THREE HOURS. It was intense and I was unnerved, to say the least. And, by the time I get home I notice that Andrew has friend requested me on Facebook. I give him the benefit of the doubt and accept. The *very first thing* he comments on is a post I made earlier in the week asking for treatments for heat rash. He recommends spraying rubbing alcohol on my pregnant belly. (That’s not even where the heat rash was, it was on my arms and neck... but, anyhow.) He then quickly makes another comment (something nice, actually) on a post I made about bailing out of plans early because I’m pregnant, saying “I think you’re allowed to do that, you’re growing a human.” Nice, right? Yes, I think so, until I reflect on it and notice that he’s parroting exactly how I talk about the experience of being pregnant. I respond with something like “oh Andrew, you’re so nice, we might keep you.” And, then I go to bed.

AGAIN THIS ALL HAPPENED IN ONE NIGHT.

June 7th -- I observe L make a comment on Facebook about how awful it is to be shamed for her body. (This was in response to a transphobic comment that Andrew made to her after I left the night before.) I comment with my support and do not notice (until it is pointed out to me the next week by L) that Andrew jumped on immediately after I commented and gaslit her hard about the intention of the comment he had made to her. (Including, trying to say it was about Molly’s fiancee, Chris.) I have another work call with Molly, during which chatting about the night before, she tells me that Andrew has really pissed her off and that she’ll tell me about it later.

June 8th -- I go to Molly’s house to pick her up to go to lunch and go thrifting (one of the benefits of our work is that we control our schedules and frequently we take Fridays off.) While I am waiting for her to get ready, Andrew wanders in and out, trying to get attention from her (she actually closes the bathroom door in his face.) I also notice that Molly and Chris’s guest room (which you have to walk through to get to the backyard) looks like a bomb went off in it and that there are a TON of dirty dishes in the sink and some leftover food on the stove. Now... I am super close with Molly and Chris, I am among the people who they will have over to their home and not tidy up for... But, I know for a fact that dishes and old food being left out is one of Molly’s biggest pet peeves. I also know that the level of dismay in the guest room couldn’t be okay with her, because the dogs go in there/through there a lot and one of her two Poms is constantly getting into shit she shouldn’t and for that reason, Molly fastidiously keeps shit picked up off the floor. This is not a normal state for her house. I chat briefly with Andrew, who is being weird and squirrely, I do not say anything about the room or dishes (because it is none of my business) and Molly and I go off to lunch. At lunch Molly complains about Andrew as a houseguest and says how annoying he is... to which I respond “why on earth would you ask him to stay the whole summer, then?” She is shocked that I think this and tells me that she has only promised him he could stay for a week, and thank god, the week was almost up -- AND, that she only promised him he could do that in exchange for a costume commission. She then tells me about what happened that has her so pissed off:

She decided to give her costume commission to our friend K (not the birthday girl), who has a really big and important upcoming performance that she needed a costume for. Andrew agreed, but said that he needed to make a custom dress form for her to fit it, so K came over to Molly’s so that Andrew could make one. In the process of doing this, Andrew made a really sexist and body shaming comment about K’s figure. To which K flipped out and (rightfully) told him off. Molly felt terrible and ashamed and also called him out on it, in private, later. Andrew then tried to gaslight her about what had happened with K. She tells me that happened before she went to the desert with BFF C and she was pissed enough that she didn’t talk to him again until she got back and that even now she was kind of giving him the cold shoulder because she felt like he was being “creepy” to our friends. She said that didn’t know how to put a pin in it and figure out if he was just having trouble being new in a new place, or if this was actually a problem.

That night they go out to the gay bar in Molly’s neighborhood and Andrew makes a lot of really homophobic comments in front of Molly, L, and a few of our other friends. I do not hear about this until the following week.

June 11th -- Molly and I have a long work call during which she brings up the homophobic comments Andrew made in the gay bar. She says at this point she’s furious with him. I am -at this point- completely creeped out and I tell her that. She tells me the fictionalized and highly edited past history that Andrew has told her and Chris. She doesn’t think much of it (other than as proof that Andrew is annoying AF) and I don’t think much of it, either, because it sounds like fandom wank to me. And, who hasn’t been involved in that in their young adulthood? I do point out that Andrew told me that he’s 23 years old the previous Wednesday... we wonder if the whole summer thing and he’s 23 thing are misunderstandings on my part. She corrects me and says that she thinks he’s around her age (29-30ish.) For some reason I do not connect the dots at this time that this is two blatant lies he has told me. I ask her if it’s worth asking him to find another place to stay, and she says she’s thinking about it. At this point, according to Molly, he’s overstayed his original agreement by three days. Molly is not the kind of person to just toss someone out on the street and hasn’t said anything, but has been waiting for Andrew to bring it up. We both conclude that he’s having difficulty fitting in in LA, we both feel slightly bad for him, although Molly is really pissed about his behavior and wants him out of her house.

June 12th -- Andrew makes a post on Facebook where he basically tags our entire group of friends (note: just the women, including women from our social circle - C, E, and A3, who I do not think he’s ever met in person - I learn later that he’s met C and E, but he had not met A3 (who is one of my closest friends and not involved in this story, except that she was tagged in that post)) saying he has the day off and wants to explore LA (again, promoting the myth that he’s never been here) and needs a tour guide. Molly, frustratedly, posts that she has to work and that Andrew knows this and Andrew complains that he just doesn’t know what’s good/fun to do. Molly posts a ton of links to stuff he could go do. I politely decline to hang out, because I, too, am working. A few other people comment and I lose track of the thread. 

June 13th -- Molly floats the idea of going to a lake to go swimming that Friday to our friends group. I comment that I am all in (because I can take Friday off) and the group of us go back and forth trying to decide on where/when. We finally decide on Big Bear and Molly posts that this is a “girls trip only.” A couple of our friends say they’re in and I book us a hotel for the night of the 15th. This also happens to be movie night, and because I am going to Big Bear on Friday, and because I’m exhausted from working all day, I make my apologies and bow out of going to Molly’s that evening. Andrew, again, replies with an oversolicitous comment about my pregnancy (I could go back and find it, but suffice it to say, it was creepy and intimated that he was way closer to me than he actually was) I ignore it and go back to my evening of vegging out at home.

Apparently, I should have gone to movie night because the following things happen there--

He makes another transphobic comment to L;

He makes a extremely body shaming comment to A1;

He makes an extremely body shaming comment to E;

He basically tells Molly that our friend J (the nicest, kindest, most friendly guy in our group to whom Andrew has talked for 30 seconds) “gives him the creeps and sets off red flags” -- AND, it is at this point that Molly loses her cool with him and basically tells him to fuck off. Later, Molly tells him in no uncertain terms that what he did to L, A1, E and what he said about J was not okay. Andrew tries to blow it off and gaslights her by saying “well XYZ person came to your Memorial Day BBQ and he gave you the creeps, how am I supposed to know which men are okay and which men aren’t okay?” (Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... XYZ was a guest of a guest and you’re not supposed to comment on our friends who you don’t know Andrew.....)

AT THE SAME TIME: As I am sitting at home, A2 texts me to warn me about Andrew. She has been off the grid taking finals and just now noticed that he had permeated our friends group and that she knows his history and that he’s bad news and that one of us should talk to Molly and Chris about it. (I find out later she has also texted L and one other person about this.) Because exhaustion and because I’m a nice person, I stick up for Andrew and say he can’t possibly be the person A2 is talking about because that guy would be like -my age- (40s) and Andrew had said he was in his 20s, and that he had pointed me to his IMDB, so it couldn’t be the same person. She points out that the IMDB page is for a guy living in the UK. I go “hm weird” but not wanting to get dragged into drama, I kind of blow her off. I DO text Molly and ask her why A2 would be coming to me with this, and she says “I know about Andy’s past, it’s okay.” (Again, it’s the heavily fictionalized and edited version of his past that he fed to her and Chris that she knows about... not his actual past.) I assure A2 that yeah, Andrew is kind of annoying, but I think he’s mostly harmless, and that I’m keeping an eye out. I am obviously not doing a very good job at this, because my synapses do not connect all the creepy ass behavior and lies that I have observed and heard about first hand from the people involved.

June 14th -- Molly and I have a call to discuss work and to finalize our plans for Big Bear. At this time she tells me she’s had it with Andrew and that she and Chris have decided they want him out of their house. She tells me about the J comment and that there is more from movie night that has made currently not speaking to Andrew. She then tells me about “The Stickening.” She tells me she wants to talk to me about it tomorrow when we’re at Big Bear, away from her house.

June 15th -- I pick Molly up to go to Big Bear. I notice that there is a painted picture of Kylo Ren and of Molly’s dead dog sitting in the kitchen. I actually think the paintings are kind of well done, and I ask Chris “When did Molly commission these?” He shakes his head in a way that says ‘you don’t want to go there’ and says “Andy did those.” As soon as we’re in the car Molly says “I need your advice and to vent about Andy.” So I sit back and listen as she tells me (again) about K and what happened there, and how Molly had been ignoring Andy because she was pissed about that incident, so he painted those pictures of Kylo Ren and Molly’s dead dog to try to get back into her good graces. We both agree that is manipulative and rather creepy. Molly then restates what happened on Wednesday with J and adds that he was also confrontational with T, and was being competitive (one-ups-man shit) with T and Chris over stupid things. (I do not hear about the CR menu and the peacock hunt in Beverly Hills until after Andy’s gone when I take Chris to the airport.) She says that he really rubs T (Chris’s best friend) the wrong way. She asks if he rubs me the wrong way, too? I THEN connect how much of it was what he has told me are lies and I bring this up. I tell her how uncomfortable he made me by pressing the issue of hennaing my pregnant stomach. I tell her that I think he’s exceptionally needy and a little off putting. And, I ask her point blank “Is there any way that A2 is right about him?” She says she doesn’t know, but doesn’t think so, that what she’s read online about him seems like it’s mostly internet dramz. She says that he said told her he had a tumultuous time in his 20s due to mental illness (to which we are both empathetic) that he was now trying to rebuild his life and that his behavior was under control. I ask her to give me examples of his past bad behavior, and she tells me a truncated version of the Tentmoot shit. Molly THEN tells me about the further body shaming comments and transphobic comments he made that Wednesday to A1, E, and L. (This, incidentally, makes me want to turn the car around and go strangle him, as A1, E, and L are people I consider close friends and I feel protective of.) I try to keep my cool while expressing this isn’t okay behavior, and we kind of conclude this about Andrew Blake:

Andrew is icky. None of us want him in our lives. We think that his ickiness comes from a really sad “trying desperately to fit in, needs a ton of attention” place - not that he’s either dangerous or has been dangerous - and, that A2 is likely just being protective of her friends in reporting what we think Molly and Chris already know.

Molly says, point blank, “When I get back tomorrow I am going to sit him down and let him know that he has until we get back from vacation on 6/29 to find a new place to stay.”

I ask her if she’s actually okay with that, and she says that our friend who is house sitting doesn’t want to stay at their place alone, and that Andrew can keep her company -- and, that as long as it doesn’t bother our house sitting friend, it’s okay with her and Chris because they won’t be there for Andrew to annoy.

We have an awesome afternoon in Big Bear. Andrew does come up again with the girlfriends who are on the trip with us. N, who has met him, also says that he creeps her out. (N is the friend, BTW, who introduced Andrew to the person he has the piece-work job with.) What I discover at that point is that he has lied to me AGAIN and said he had full-time work, when it was so not that at all... I point that out. We all agree that’s kind of creepy, but maybe it was a misunderstanding (still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here.) We go about our day.

7:00pm PDT, June 15th: We are at dinner. Molly is sitting across from me. I am having a conversation with N about what to order for dinner, we are snuggling together because we are chilly. I notice that Molly seems to be overly drawn into her phone and that she has a panicky/concerned look on her face. I ask her if she is okay and she then reads out loud the series of texts that she has just gotten from A2. We all freeze.

These texts from A2 are detailed accounts of Andrew’s past - highlighting the faked suicides, admitted sexual assault and rape (with a link to the source where he admits this,) the financial grifting he did, and that he is believed to be involved in a double murder/suicide. (It should be noted, that A2 lays this all out in her own words, she at no point links to the AA blogs, but instead relies on Andrew’s own words and documents such as police reports and news articles to support what she is saying.)

Molly, rightfully, freaks out and calls Chris. Immediately all three of us pull out our phones and block Andrew Blake on all social media. Molly tells us that Chris is handling it and getting him out THAT NIGHT and that she’s asked some friends to go help him. I message A2 to apologize for not having taken her seriously. I text L to ask if she knows what the fuck is going on, to which she says, “Yes, we’re on our way to Molly and Chris’s right now for backup.” A2 also tells me that they are on their way to Molly and Chris’s... I tell her that I feel bad that we aren’t there to help and that if they need additional backup that they should call #BritishHusband, I then text BH the whole sordid mess, along with screenshots of the texts, which Molly has AirDropped to me. I then, at Molly’s request, post an urgent warning on Facebook under lock and key so that only our friends group can see it. We are all, in turns, texting people to be careful and not to respond to any messages that they get from Andrew. People see my post and begin blocking him immediately.

Molly is apoplectic about having brought Andrew into our social circle. We do our best to calm her down and get her to focus on trying to have a good time. Back in LA, our friend C (who is an accomplished Internet sleuth) begins to do a deep dive into Andrew Blakes past and discovers the many many many MANY blogs, forums, Reddits, and other collateral dedicated to chronicling his past and present and talking about the aftermath left in his destructive wake... she starts sending us the links. We convince Molly that there is nothing to be done from Big Bear, that Chris will call us when Andrew is gone, and that the best thing she can do is to try to relax and have fun. She is shaking and crying she is so traumatized, especially by the revelation that Andrew is a self-admitted rapist... we try to comfort her and head back to our hotel.

Our two friends leave for the night. Molly and I are alone, I am trying like hell to stay awake and be of use to her while she waits for a report from Chris. We watch some unrelated online videos together. When I literally cannot keep my eyes open anymore she tells me to go to sleep, that she’ll be fine, and that she’ll wake me up when there is news. I do this. An hour later the phone rings and it is Chris telling her what happened... the rest you know... they packed up his things, they called the police to alert them to the fact that they were asking an unwanted houseguest to leave (thus creating a paper trail,) and so forth... she talks to Chris and L and A2 for quite a while (of which I hear snippets, as I am in and out of sleep) then comes to bed. She asks me if I can remove the post I made b/c A2′s name isn’t blocked out on the text messages I reposted, I wake up enough to do that and go back to sleep.

June 16th -- The next morning I am up stupidly early. I start texting back and forth with A2, again apologizing for blowing her off. We talk about the scope of Andrew’s deception. I also text E to make sure that she is okay, as she seems she had to avoid interacting with Andrew IRL the night before. I am very very disturbed at the details which are slowly being unveiled to me, yet I am extremely grateful that Molly and Chris acted so quickly to get him out of our lives. Molly gets up and we go about our day. She gives me a brief blow-by-blow of what happened when Chris and our friends confronted Andrew the night before, it matches pretty much with what I remember hearing through my sleepy haze, and then she says she really doesn’t want to talk about it anymore because it’s all triggering her anxiety and she’d rather just enjoy our day.... WHICH WE DO. We do discuss a few things in the car on the way back to LA (like the links that C is discovering about Andrew, some other creepy behavior that our friends group are coming forward to talk about after hearing about the “revelation” of Andrew’s past.) But, we mostly focus on having a kick ass best friends day in the mountains.

June 16th or 17th -- I can’t remember which, honestly... I think it was late in the evening of the 16th after I dropped her off. Molly posts via Twitter about this whole crazy story, using A2′s texts as citations, warning our group about Andrew Blake. The next day, I see this, and I repost it to my own timeline and don’t think much else of it. Molly does tell me that she thinks Andrew must be posting about this online because a mutual friend has gotten in touch (before she posted anything to Twitter) to ask what had happened with Andrew in LA. She also tells me that she ignored that message. Throughout that week I have conversations back and forth with a number of my friends (particularly L, A2, C, and A1) about Andrew Blake and we confirm a lot of things with each other (including the story about Andy calling C’s partner a “trophy boyfriend” and some other stuff) and we amaze and agog at the craziness of the info we are finding. I order Turmiel’s book. I literally read it in one night. I pass it onto L. I get pointed at Tea’s blog and @kumquatwriter’s blog. This is the first time I learn about the Andy Awareness blog network.

June 18th -- I take Chris to the airport to meet Molly to fly out for their vacation. While stuck in traffic on the 405, he relates to me HIS first hand experience with Andrew, how shitty he was to T - that Andrew was constatly trying to one-up them about cooking. Chris, T, I and a couple of our other friends are serious food nerd and like to cook for each other. T is a trained chef (though he doesn’t work as one.) Chris tells me about Andy’s bizarre CR menu and that T had suggested (to be snarky) that Andrew go hunt peacocks for the menu in Beverly Hills... which Andrew totally glommed onto and got very aggressive about insisting they go do....

We both agree (Chris and I) that Andrew is a nutcase and that we’re all very lucky that he’s been excised from our friend group and that we hope to never hear hide nor hair from him again. We talk a little bit about how glad we are that our friends group is so tight and that how we all reacted to this drama is indicative of the fact that we absolutely have the right people in our group... then I drop him off at the airport.

I do not think or talk about Andrew Blake for the next week.

June 23rd -- L and I go out for brunch with a few other people and do a complete data download on what we know about Andrew Blake. We marvel at how he rolls through life constantly lying to people and scamming them. I say that this is no way to live and deep down he must be utterly unhappy (still giving him the benefit of kindness.)

June 24th -- Molly’s public FB account becomes unblocked (another time, another story as to why it was blocked in the first place.) She reposts her tweet that accounts the Andrew Blake story. There is some back and forth on that thread. I, personally, do not even see it/know there is a thread until I get a text from her at about 11:30pm that night (while I am asleep) asking me to jump on the thread and back her up.

June 25th -- I wake up to her text. I text back asking if she’s okay. She says that she is, but to go to the thread and see what is going on, that it’s all making her very anxious. I go over there and see that Chris Cilento has come for Molly hard and is harassing her and my other friends, despite them laying out exactly what happened in LA. He wants “proof.” (Basically we’re back to where we were at at the beginning of this post....) I jump in and lay out the string of events in a far more succinct way than I have here and offer to talk to Chris offline in DM. He swings at me a few times and misses in comments, but eventually does DM me for a discussion. I talk to him for TWO FUCKING HOURS (during which I have to explain to him why Andy isn’t locked up for rape, despite having raped someone -and- he tries to deflect/distract me from the conversation by talking about gardening....) I lay out proof for him. I detail events that have not been talked about in public. I list the lies Andrew told that I heard from his very lips. I give him a sense of the lies he told other people. I tell him that all of us hope/wish Andrew recovers and mends his life and goes on to be.... normal (I hate that word, but yeah that’s about the closest I can come...) but that we in no uncertain terms want him around and in our friends group and that we feel we have a moral obligation to let those in our industry know about his past (especially the part about him being a sexual predator) as we’re all very sure he’s still trying to weasel his way into getting close to people using our names and that we are NOT obligated to support or participate in his redemption. Chris says that based on what I have told him that there are tons of “red flags” and that Andrew has “some things to answer for” and that he would LEAVE MOLLY AND OUR GROUP ALONE.

He clearly does not do that (as evidenced by all the shit he’s said that has been reposted.) After fuming about it for a while, I post a long ass post, delete it, then write another more reasoned post.... Meanwhile, Molly is on the FF-forums doing a Q&A (quite gracefully, I might add) and a few of our friends and I are having an offline conversation about what is going on... and, then today... I wake up to reposts that show that Chris Cilento has my best friend’s name in his mouth... AGAIN. Which leads me to fume and write this epic novel of a post. Which you are now done reading.

To quickly sum up: Chris Cilento is a rape apologist and bully, Andrew Blake is a liar and dangerous person, and ALL OF US IN LA just want this to be done and for Chris/Andy/Andy’s stans to STFU about Molly. Not that most people don’t recognize that what is being said about Molly by this particular contingent is crap, but, you know we don’t like seeing our friend’s dragged online... The end... oh, I know it’s so not.

[adorkablegrrl-blog1]

He’s not the only one...

Ugh. I said I wasn’t going to write more about Andrew Blake, but once again, things keep happening and I keep going further and further down the rabbit hole reading about the fuckery this guy has been up to his entire life (basically.) Molly is kicking ass over on the Fan Fail Forum answering questions about the LA incident, I have been reading about DAYD and Brittney and what looks to be a forced death march memorial of some sorts. (Thanks for the links, @theteablogger!) Plus, a few of my friends have been having a “friends only” convo about how crazy this all is, and how what is even crazier is that it would seem that Andy Blake isn’t EVEN THE ONLY ONE pulling these types of crazy, abusive scams. My friend A speculates that scams like this go all the way back to the time of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young... but, honestly, before I happened to encounter AB through my bestie, I had never heard of people doing shit like this. And, I was a pop culture journalist for 5 years! I dealt with fandom and wank and dramz day-in and day-out. I would have thought that someone would have hipped me to these events. But, then again, as someone with her very own Encylopedia Dramatica page (written by a pathetic, angry coke head of a former roommate and some lovely MRA/incel/Gamergate asshats) I have always steered pretty far away from involving myself in or reading about anything that might be categorized as something that LulzCow, 4 Chan, or Something Awful might be covering. Also I don’t Reddit. For any reason. 

This post will be pretty brief, no word vomit TL;DR crap. I just want to post some links that I have been pointed to about other fakers and cults that bear similarities to Andrew Blake’s MOs. First there’s the story of Janna St. James. @kumquatwriter and @theteablogger recently posted this link to an article in the LA Weekly (RIP) about an elaborate cat fishing scam run by a 60+ year old woman in Illinois on a woman in LA in where she pretended to be a Colorado firefighter named Jesse James. This went on and on and on for years between 2005 and (it seems) 2007, when the woman (Janna) was asked to leave her target’s home, much in the way that Andy was asked to leave Molly & Chris’s home. It resulted in a 2011 lawsuit in which the target sued St. James to recover actual damages of $10k and punitive damages of $90k meant to stop her from “ever pulling a scam like this again.” It’s unclear what happened in the lawsuit, but still it is an eye popping strange story. The next, which my friend A pointed me at, seems a bit more nefarious. It is the Sarah Saga/the FF7 House. Apparently there are two different elements here: 1. A writing project inspired by the actual scam (the Sarah Saga), 2. the actual scam (the FF7 House.) What strikes me about the similarities with this one are the elements of abuse. Joanna (this story’s Andy Blake, the real life Sarah) used channeling and sleep/food deprivation and other tactics that AB has consistently used in his cult building to manipulate her “mini-cult.” What is different, is that it seems that as of 2015 (when the Vice article was written) Joanna has disappeared into the ether and has not been running cults or scams or anything public... unlike Andrew Blake. Anyhow - this all was just fascinatingly creepy to me. I honestly can’t believe people roll through their lives this way, but at the same time, given the world we live in, I’m not entirely shocked. The more I dig into Andrew Blake, the more fascinated (and, creeped out) I become. I wonder what series of events it will take for him to pull a Joanna and just fade away from public view? Will it ever happen? So, I have a few new followers - hi, hello! Thank you for reading my gobbledygook. If you have insights or questions or if you know of any other cultists/scammers my friends and I should read about, please drop me a note. Now I am off to a IRL shrimp boil and gathering of friends to pretend like our country tis of thee is not completely and wholly fucked in the ear. Happy 4th!