When we were children, my sister had private music lessons at her violin teacher’s house. I only visited there once, but I still remember that afternoon. The teacher had an artificial pond in her yard, a large beautiful thing with lily pads and plant life. And in the pond, there were goldfish. I had never seen such enormous goldfish.
I spent several minutes just staring at them (and trying to convince them to bite my fingers.) When my sister’s violin lesson ended, her teacher came out to the yard and explained that these goldfish were the same small creatures that were often unfortunately sold in plastic bags at state fairs. They were only about two inches long apiece, when she bought them and put them in the new, empty pond. In essence, they were like every goldfish I had seen before, but they had been given a much larger, much richer environment in which to flourish. As a result, they had grown into some of the most remarkable, vibrant creatures my twelve-year-old self had ever met with. All because of a pond.
Funny what lessons children remember. My sister doesn’t play the violin anymore, but that was the first time I caught a glimpse of the overwhelming extent to which it matters, the way the world treats us.
My ✨ post-apocalyptic Lesbian Cowgirl Mailman choose-your-own adventure✨ has just updated for the last time! Read it here for as low as $2/month on my Patreon or here for free on ao3! Here is a guide to get you started, the summaries of each part of the story thus far, the complete collected text, and FAQ, all in one place. There is also a discord where Pony Express readers from all across god's green internet can gather, here!
✨Read the update on my patreon or ao3
✨ Excerpt below the cut.
Venus looked her over and shook her head. “Am I dreaming?” she asked, her voice quiet.
“I don’t think so,” Lou said, but she’d been wrong before. If they were in Venus’s dream, Lou hoped that she’d wake up soon.
“I dreamed about you. All the time,” Venus said. Lou pulled her aching knees up so that Venus could sit back on the couch. “The longer it’d been, the worse they got. At first, somebody would come back from the wastes with a single little red boot, or a checked bra, or a little bitty calf bone that I just knew was yours.”
She stared up into space as she spoke, and shuddered. Lou drew the blanket up under her armpits. It felt strange to be inside, especially in such a heavily decorated space, after being away for so long. The walls loomed on either side of them and kept the air still. The curtains didn’t so much as twitch.
“Then, you started coming back, but you weren’t right. You’d show up at my door just after sunset, your hat pulled low over your eyes. And I could never get you to smile, even to talk. You would be pale and languid and gaunt, and then I’d notice that you wouldn’t come inside, and you had blood around your mouth and under your nails, or you’d have no feet, or you’d just be gone again when I turned back, and I wouldn’t know if I was dreaming or not.”
Lou looked down at her bloody-looking fingertips.
“But even in my worst dreams,” Venus said, looking over her shoulder at her, “you never once looked this bad, baby.”
I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.
The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.
So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”
1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.
Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.
Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.
It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.
there’s sixteen Colorado counties that their most searched was “wolf furry”, plus thirty-odd counties (not counting either Arapahoe or any of the ones marked here as “Insufficient Data”) which may well have had plenty of searches for “wolf furry”, just fewer than for whatever they’re labeled here
and “skunk furry” searches in Arapahoe County outnumbered “wolf furry” searches in the entire state of Colorado
Tiers of "heroes don't kill people, but we still want the villain to die because something something justice" in ascending order of "well, technically":
Hero simply leaves; villain coincidentally killed shortly thereafter by something unrelated. Example: murdered by treacherous minions.
Villain accidentally kills self while attempting to harm hero. Example: shoots at hero, misses, struck by improbable ricochet.
Hero and villain's conflict leads to perilous locale from which only hero escapes. Example: fighting on train tracks, villain hit by train.
Villain defeated non-lethally; dies anyway due to unpredictable or outside factors. Example: villain disarmed, dies of magic curse.
Hero employs lethal force, but that isn't what kills villain. Example: villain evades hero's attack and falls off cliff.
Hero deliberately employs environmental hazard to kill villain. Example: hero throws villain into live electrical wires.
Hero apparently kills villain; later developments reveal villain survived and was killed by something else. Example: hero kicks villain off cliff; post-credits bonus scene shows them getting up and walking away, then getting eaten by a bear.
Gotta tell you guys something wild in the Chinese fan sphere
So some fanartist drew a “sexy” (read: booby) version of a (cartoon) character who is traditionally very non-sexualised. Fans of the character got mad about it because it’s kind of groundbreaking how that character is written and portrayed and this art totally ignores the entire point of the character. They demanded the art be deleted. In response to that other people said, well what the fanartist did may be distateful but they have every right to draw what they’re into. The two sides fight for days and each starts a harassment campaign and even report their “opponents’” accounts.
So far so typical. But things eventually come to a head and they decide that this will be settled by votes - not through a poll. Through donations to a children’s education charity via each side’s portal. Whoever can get the highest amount of donation wins.
And that is how this charity received over 1 million in donations in three days lol. Oh btw the “freedom of expression” side won by a landslide (960k to 40k)
If you could instantly be granted fluency in 5 languages—not taking away your existing language proficiency in any way, solely a gain—what 5 would you choose?
annaxmalina
2087
tangentwithtanner
gummygunk
areudirty
