Unparched Butter's Stuff and Things

An incoherent mess of stuff relating to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, including the occasional analysis and story update. Or whatever happens to be on my mind. And stuff. And things. And probably some other nouns, too.

[rarijackdaily]

There ain’t no way this is a real trend Rares..

Thank/blame Harwick for this existing.

[raynesartgems]

DiscordCelestia - Umm, for You by RaynesGem

[candysnakes]

where have you been?

[markdoesstuff-deactivated202210]

I feel very lucky to live in a city with a bookstore like this. (at The Last Bookstore)

[drwolf001]

Holy cow…What a way to end Season Five!

[artworktee]

Lyra and Bonbon, JUST FRIENDS! by nauth

[candysnakes]

It’s not being able to go outside, that is it

[shadowboxer1]

Fausticorn by Tsitra360

[unparchedbutter]

regarding LGBT activism

I thought for a long time about whether to write something like this, and, should I choose to do so, how to go about it.

I'm gay. You already knew this. But you may have been wondering something to the effect of, why do those of us in the LGBT community tend to be so loud about it? You'd think we were making it the very core of our identity, as if nothing else mattered about who we are as people.

Speaking for myself, being gay is all the way on the backburner. There are so many other things I'd like to talk about. This isn't because I'm ashamed of being gay--I'm not--but because I get bored endlessly explaining why it's completely harmless that my romantic preference is for other men. I'd rather talk about linguistics, or cooking, or music, or movies, or books, or history, or science, or cartoons, or other geeky stuff. But, instead, I have to keep banging on about gay issues for the same reason one of my transgender friends has to keep banging on about transgender issues:

We have no choice.

It's 2015 and we still have to keep reminding people that, hey, we're humans, too, and we just want to be left alone and treated the same as everyone else.

It's 2015 and we still have people like Kim Davis.

So, no. I'm not going to shut up about it. I can't.

[bonpun]

Bon Lake

[bonpun]

BonFidant

[unparchedbutter]

You've probably been seeing posts about how, as of this winter, "Brokeback Mountain" will be ten years old.

If you simply don't like the movie, or aren't a fan of romance (I do, and I am), that's fine, but please don't just dismiss it as "the gay cowboy movie". I want you to understand how important it was. I could do this by talking about its historical significance, but, then, I could do the same for "Citizen Kane", a movie which, although I can appreciate it, I find to be a complete snore-fest (for classic movies of that period, I prefer "Casablanca"--and I do adore that movie). No: I'd rather provide the personal context I brought to my first viewing of it.

I have always been a shy person. When I first started to come out of the closet, in my first year at Arkansas Tech, I didn't even really know there was a closet to come out of, or that there might be resistance. I feel lucky in how well the news was received by friends and family (when I came out to my mom, she told me she'd suspected it and was gearing up to just flat-out ask me--which, by the way, don't do that; coming out is scary enough as it is; let us tell you when we're ready), but then, in 2003, that first year at college, where you're meant to start coming into your own, developing as an adult? Finding out that there is a closet, and that there's people who want you to stay inside it?

How to describe this?

I'm not good at rejection. I doubt many people are. It's not fun. When I learned that my first crush didn't feel the same way about me as I did him, it took me a very long time to get over it.

But there's a difference between that and being rejected just for being who you are.

For me, the tragedy of "Brokeback Mountain" comes from Ennis's rejection of himself for being who he is. That self-imposed rejection is the worst of all, and it's something that, by the time I'd transferred to Missouri State and gone to a screening of the movie, I had been doing to myself for years.

When I got back to my dorm, I cried, and I cried, and I cried.

The roomie I was living with was also a gay man, who I suspect was trying to flirt with me, but I didn't yet know what's what enough to recognize it. At the time, I was glad that he wasn't there when I got back to my dorm. Now, I kind of wish he was.

I wish I'd known.

I wish I'd learned to love as much as I do now.

I wish I'd loved myself.

And I do now.

It gets better.

[filmacci]

July 31 is the most famous fictional birthday in contemporary literature: Harry Potter’s birthday 

[foudubulbe]

[drwolf001]

First time guest DustyKatt talks about some of the more overwhelming aspects of being “Horse Famous”…

[ask-cadance]

bonus:

[ladyfroey-deactivated20180203]

Gold by Lukeine