notworkingphd

[notworkingphd]

Hi neil!

I got into the sandman comics about a year ago, and then subsequently the show (which is just fantabulous), and after telling my uncle about it he sent me the Death volume (she’s been his favorite character for decades). at the end of the volume there was a comic where Death teaches the reader about AIDs and safe sex.

I was wondering what it was like to originally publish that comic, when (i’m assuming, i wasn’t born yet) they were such touchy subjects?

A friend of mine, Don Melia, had just died of AIDS. Before he died we talked and he urged me to do something to help. Martha Thomases at DC Comics and Alisa Kwitney then assistant editor on Sandman put us in touch with the right people, and got what I wrote fact-checked carefully by an AIDS organisation, and found the helpline and information that we put on the back of the original 8 page supplement (to comics) and handout (sent free to comic shops). A lot of comic shops got them to libraries, high schools, or gave them out to customers. It didn't seem like governments were telling people how to keep safe. We could and we did. I'm still grateful to DC Comics for making it happen, and to all the comics retailers who gave them out or distributed them to people who needed them.

[notworkingphd]

#StopCopCity

Cop City must never be built

[notworkingphd]

So, as people are seeing the pretty extreme antisemitism in the new terf wizard game, it should be noted that this was not a case of "following existing antisemitic fantasy tropes". This was purposeful. The ex lead designer is alt right and ran an alt right "anti social justice" youtube channel. The discovery of this channel and the resulting controversy lead to him later being removed from the project late in development but the main premise of the game was determined by him and others with his views. The core concept of this game is antisemitic and fully intended to be. It is not a case of thoughtless devs or lack of cultural sensitivity. This game is intended to be antisemitic propaganda designed and developed by openly alt right devs.

[notworkingphd]

Honestly, this shit with Hogwarts Legacy is just like what happened with Chick-fil-A like ten or fifteen years ago. Some of y'all might be too young to remember it, but it went almost exactly like this shit today, only the target was technically gay people (not like we aren't all lumped together when push comes to shove, but gay was the political scapegoat in US politics at the time, as trans people were still on the fringes of social awareness).

It came out that the people who own Chick-fil-A were donating to organizations in other countries that were actively working to get gay people there killed, and were also very monetarily invested in stripping gay people of any legal rights they'd amassed in the US. So a lot of queer folks were asking for allies to boycott Chick-fil-A to show solidarity.

And it turned into a giant fuckin circus for bigots to rally around. There was even a support Chick-fil-A day, I remember it because I was a server at the time and our restaurant was empty most the day - while the line for Chick-fil-A down the road was like a mile long consistently.

But while that was obviously annoying, that wasn't what hit people the hardest. Cuz we expect clowns to wear the shoes, right, it's not shocking.

What disappointed people, or really demoralized a lot of young queers at the time especially, was the allies who would still go there. Because they like the sandwiches or fries or whatever. The people who'd march with them in the parade or be supportive of marriage equality, who would then turn right around and give their money to people who were trying to actively harm their friends.

Because the chicken was good.

I remember a friend of mine being really just absolutely broken up over that, trying to understand some of her friends reasoning and at the time I couldn't give her an answer. I could now, though.

And it's this:

Talk is cheap.

It costs nothing to say things. A person can say whatever the hell they want, any feel good flowery thing, and it doesn't really cost them.

But when they are asked to actually give something up - or put their money where their mouth is and just....can't do it. Well then there isn't much else for them to say, is there? At least nothing that's worth anything.

Some people had to find out the hard way that the choice between a chicken sandwich and funding people who did not believe in their dignity as a human being was, in the eyes of certain allies, apparently really hard. Too hard, in fact.

These allies would march in the colorful parades and go to the bars for drinks, but in the end, you couldn't actually depend on them to inconvenience themselves. They were fair weather allies, and they were there for the party and that's about it . They wanted entertainment, and it didn't matter if that came from having fun gay friends or a tasty sandwich.

This is the same thing, really, or pretty close to it.

These types of people just wanna have fun. Either you, their friend or whatever, are fun or the game is fun, and if you stop being fun by incidentally making them feel a little guilty about where they spend their money , then they might just choose the thing that doesn't make them currently uncomfortable.

And I'm not saying these people who say trans rights online but who also really, really want to play wizard game and already have are horrible people or anything - they're just not very good. They have no real character. And unfortunately there's not much you can do to change that, other than investing time and energy in people who do.

[notworkingphd]

i don’t know if many people have been hearing about this but six people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism for being part of a camp protesting this massive police training facility in atlanta, destroying the weelaunee forest in the city and drastically changing the lives of the people in the neighborhood near it.  i don’t live in atlanta and am not qualified to speak on a lot of specific details but this has been a thing going on for years and these arrests and charges in particular are incredibly concerning as far as people’s rights to protest, even peacefully.  i don’t want to paraphrase what’s going on though so i’m linking the website.

if you have the resources to spare, brown cat mutual aid (a group local to atlanta particularly around the weelaunee forest) could probably use some help, $bcma2021 on c*sh*pp and @bcma2021 on v*nmo.

if anybody knows more specific information or anywhere else that could use support i’ll be reblogging any additions but until then i just want to raise awareness about this.

[notworkingphd]

ATL SUPPORTS BRAVE TREESITTERS.

ATL DEFENDS THE FOREST.

WE WON'T STOP UNTIL WE STOP COP CITY

RALLY AND MARCH: BROWNWOOD PARK

SATURDAY, 12/17/22 4 PM

#BlackLivesMatter #DefendWeelaunee #StopCopCity

[notworkingphd]

[notworkingphd]

TW: police violence, gun violence, state violence, death, ecocide, murder

Yesterday Georgia Police shot one of their own and put him in the hospital. He's fine. However, they also shot and killed an unarmed civilian and are now accusing four other people of domestic terrorism for trying to protect a forest.

Atlanta is trying to build a giant police playground by bulldozing an entire forest in the south part of the city. They aim to spend around 90 million USD on this project while the streets of the city are covered in houseless people driven out of their homes by the predatory realtors who sold out to Airbnb. The Bank of America and numerous private entities have bought the Council and are forcing this police playground, aka Cop City, on the community against the protests of everyone actually living in and around the forest.

The Weelaunee Forest is significant ecologically to provide cooling shade, protective windbreaks, and control flooding in this part of Atlanta. Without it, temperatures on the raw concrete will skyrocket in the summer, freeze uncontrollably in the winter, and flood dangerously anytime it rains. The direct harm to the people who live here is incalculable, but police training facilities and reckless police spending are demonstrably harmful to surrounding communities.

The blood of the fallen Forest Defender is their responsibility. They are already changing the narrative to insinuate that one of the protesters shot at the attacking police force. They are going to kill more.

[notworkingphd]

ugh how the fuck do you cover letter

[notworkingphd]

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[notworkingphd]

Not sure how you could interpret this information as landlords being the ones facing a crisis, but go off.

[notworkingphd]

in almost every other children's book where the main heroine is swept away to a land of whimsy she's shown having a lovely time; braving dangers occasionally, trying to find her way home, sure, but ultimately delighting in the magic around her. meanwhile alice spends her entire time in wonderland like

[notworkingphd]

It's still so strange to me how apparently taboo it is to like a post on someone's Instagram from a month ago when there are posts still circulating on Tumblr from 1550 BCE

[notworkingphd]

all of human history and language has led us to this exact moment. holy shit.

[notworkingphd]

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[notworkingphd]

@ the readfems making the “a cis boy who is medium at sports could just transition and become a star on the women’s team and get accolades and scholarships” argument:

Okay. Then you do it. Men have all those societal advantages. All the power. The system is built for men. You talk about this all the time. So why don’t you just become one? You want to get those promotions, that respect at the car dealership, you want to walk home at night and look over your shoulder less often. All it’ll take is, you know, a few years on testosterone. Changing your name. Reminding your friends and family to use the new name and pronouns because this won’t work if everyone knows you’re just pretending.

Or does the idea of doing all of that for the hope of a leg up in one or two specific areas seem, you know, fucking ridiculous?