#2. trans heathcliff

[saphirdevil]

free bottom surgery

[PLEASE THIS IS NOT A WAY TO GET A BOTTOM SURGERY!!!]

inspo: here

[mango-dolphin]

well anywho utilize sudden inspiration to write all you can etc. had a limbus company fic idea so here's silly snippets from the outline before i sleep

[queermtl]

Queer MTL : quoi faire en juillet 2024 // Queer MTL things to do: July 2024

(Photo by Eva Blue)

Queer MTL things to do: July 2024

The summer festival season is in full swing, and things are queerer in MTL than ever this July! This month, Montréal is stuffed to the brim with events, parties and unique experiences painted in all the colours of the LGBTQ+ rainbow. From drag to community, circuit to underground, here’s some of our picks for the best LGBTQ+ things to do in the city. For further announcements, including those not announced at time of publication, follow QueerMTL on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr! Got an event coming up? DM it our way!

LEGEND

🎥 Cinema 👑 Drag 🥳 Parties 🎶 Concert ✊ Activism 🏳️‍⚧️ Trans 🏳️‍🌈 Community 😆 Comedy 🎭 Performance 💪 Sports 👯‍♀️ Dance 🎤 Karaoke 🎨 Arts 📚 Literary / Educational 👠 Ballroom / Vogue

Lundi 1 juillet / Monday, July 1

🥳 DramaQueen presents DramaQueen on the river with Dracvla, Wiltbarn and Rakehell, Riverside Bar Terrasse St Henri 🎨 VITRINE Festival 2024 : VISION art market and film screenings, Union Française de Montréal 🎭 La Curieuse—Ligue d’improvisation estivale, Chez Ernest 👑 C’est ma toune! : Edition Divas, a drag show where you pick the playlist, with Sasha Baga, Jessie and Bobépine, Cabaret Mado

Mardi 2 juillet / Tuesday, July 2

👑 Full Gisèle : Oh Canada ! with Gisèle Lullaby, Rawbin, Carmen Sutra, Bobépine and Kitana, Cabaret Mado 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Mercredi 3 juillet / Wednesday, July 3

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 😆 Ace Pride Comedy Show with Heathcliff, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 🎨 Drink & Draw by @Hommehomo, Bar Le Cocktail 👑 Mercredi Drag Live with Victoire de Rockwell, Jessie Précieuse, Lady Guidoune, and Rock Bière, Cabaret Mado

Jeudi 4 juillet / Thursday, July 4

🎭 Cup of Tease and Velvet Pistol present Red, White & Boobs with Yikes Macaroni, Foxy Lexxi Brown, Baron Von Styck, Butterscotch Blondie, Charli Deville and Miss Behave, The Wiggle Room 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club 👑 Girls' Night Out: Battle of the Decades with Lady Boom Boom, Pétula Claque, Daisy Wood and Krystella Fame, Cabaret Mado 👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail

Vendredi 5 juillet / Friday, July 5

🎶 Orville Peck, Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, TD Stage, Place des Festivals 🎨 Montréal Comiccon, Palais des congrès de Montréal 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Kiara, Jimmy Moore, Nana and Sasha Baga, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Samedi 6 juillet / Saturday, July 6

🥳 Sweet Like Honey hosts a Block Party with DJ Honeybunn, Glowzi and Po, Marché des Possibles 🎨 Montréal Comiccon, Palais des congrès de Montréal 🎤 Queer Karaoke MTL hosts a Trans March Fundraiser, followed by a trans-forward queer dance party, Blue Dog 🎤 Bareoke: Strip Karaoke, Café Cléopatra 🥳 Parallel Vol. 9 featuring Arab/SWANA region-based music, Cabaret Berlin 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Kiara, Jimmy Moore, Nana and Sasha Baga, Cabaret Mado 👑 Jimmy Moore personnifie Lady Gaga, Cabaret Mado 👑 Late Night with Jessie Précieuse, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Dimanche 7 juillet / Sunday, July 7

📚 The Violet Hour Book Club reads Henry Hoke’s Open Throat, Librairie Pulp Books & Cafe 🥳 Sweet Like Honey with DJ Lax, DJ Tokyo and DJ Playgirl, Village au Pied du Courant 🎨 Montréal Comiccon, Palais des congrès de Montréal 🏳️‍🌈 Afterglo hosts Slow Dating #13 Gay for men identifying as gay, Le Central 🎭 On the Blvd Multi-Mic, Bar Bifteck 💪 The International Wrestling Syndicate presents IWS vs GCW, focusing on underrepresented athletes including LGBTQ+ fighters, L’Olympia 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and special guests, Cabaret Mado 🏳️‍🌈 Aimé Chartier : 60 ans de carrière et 80 ans de vie, Bar Le Cocktail

Lundi 8 juillet / Monday, July 8

🎭 La Curieuse—Ligue d’improvisation estivale, Chez Ernest

Mardi 9 juillet / Tuesday, July 9

👑 Full Gisèle : Extravaganza with Gisèle Lullaby, Saltina Shaker, Sunshine Glitterchild, Adriana The Bombshell, Sasha Baga and Nick Saanto, Cabaret Mado 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Mercredi 10 juillet / Wednesday, July 10

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 😆 Tony McIntyre is a Time Traveller with Merry Kringles, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 👑 Celes and Marc-André Caron present Loreen vs Sia, Cabaret Mado

Jeudi 11 juillet / Thursday, July 11

🎭 Lust Cove presents The Lust Cove Sex(y) Education Show with Miss Scarlet Knife, Yaya Havana, Mina Minou, Mei, Kaya Koko and Carmen Mayhem, The Wiggle Room 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club 👑 Le Sami Party with Sami Landri, Cabaret Mado  👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail

Vendredi 12 juillet / Friday, July 12

🥳 BIMBO with DJs Diskommander and DJ G3MINI, Le Livart  🥳 Cerise Noire goth night, Bar NDQ 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Bobépine, Peggy Sue, Nana and Aizysse Baga, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Samedi 13 juillet / Saturday, July 13

🥳 FRKY presents FRKY x 2 Year Anniversary with Manclaudy, Moka, Rawsoul and Sexnobe, La Sotterenea 🥳 Soirées Velours presents Trouve ta Muse, a special lesbo-queer party, Bar le P2 🎭 Voulez Vous Productions presents Bootcamp: Séduis toi pour les fat babes with Rosie Bourgeoisie, Centre Strathearn 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Bobépine, Peggy Sue, Nana and Aizysse Baga, Cabaret Mado 👑 Jimmy Moore personnifie Céline Dion, Cabaret Mado 👑 Late Night with Jessie Précieuse, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Dimanche 14 juillet / Sunday, July 14

🎭 Voulez Vous Productions presents Bootcamp: Séduis toi pour personnes avec experience scénique with Rosie Bourgeoisie, Centre Strathearn 👑 Afternoon Drag Café with all-ages, neurodivergent-friendly and sober, with Itsh and Timothy Toxic, L’Orbite 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and special guests, Cabaret Mado 👑 Happy Birthday Miss Butterfly with Miss Butterfly, Michel Dorion and Chouchoune, Bar Le Cocktail

Lundi 15 juillet / Monday, July 15

📚 Fierté Montréal and Fierté littéraire presents Queer académie : La sélection with Barbada, Théâtre La Comédie 🎭 La Curieuse—Ligue d’improvisation estivale, Chez Ernest 👑 Da-Lulu with Enigma, Woody Fungi, Asmalix and Vulverine, Cabaret Mado

Mardi 16 juillet / Tuesday, July 16

👑 Full Gisèle : Disney with Gisèle Lullaby, Marla Deer, Bambi Dextrous, Tracy Trash and Prudence, Cabaret Mado 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Mercredi 17 juillet / Wednesday, July 17

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 🎥 Jane Fonda stars in Barbarella, Cinémathèque québécoise 😆 The Crochet Comedy Show with Shosho, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles

Jeudi 18 juillet / Thursday, July 18

🎥 Queer Cinema Club of Montréal hosts a screening of But I'm a Cheerleader starring RuPaul and Natasha Lyonne, Cinema Moderne 🎭 Them Fatale presents Summer Heat with Amnesia, EnvyTheClown, Kitty Catcher, MX. Quest, Rosie Bourgeoisie and Xénia, The Wiggle Room 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club 👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail

Vendredi 19 juillet / Friday, July 19

🥳 Studio ZX presents Festival Ctrl+Alt with Afrotonik, Place du Village 🥳 SUPER TASTE MTL presents We Can’t Stop! 2010’s Dance Party, Cabaret Berlin 🥳 Dark Area and Techno Haute Couture present Dark Area x THC with Special K, Rögue, LAPA XII and Deaf, Collectif MTL 🥳 Strawberry Gothcake rave with 99jakes, Kilbourne, FortifiedStructures, Outback and Mowie B2B The Bald Girl, La Sotterenea 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Kitana, Velma Jones and Celes, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou : Soirée sans pantalon with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Samedi 20 juillet / Saturday, July 20

🥳 Studio ZX presents Festival Ctrl+Alt with ElleLui, Hauterageous and Discoño, Place du Village 🎶 La ferme coopérative aux champs qui chantent presents Rae Spoon with KY, La ferme coopérative aux champs qui chantent 🥳 GTR—Girls Theys Rave with Broodmare, Faneva and Dracvla, La Poubelle Magnifique 🥳 SUPER TASTE MTL presents Voulez-Vous Disco & New Wave Dance Party: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Bar Le Ritz PDB 🎤 Bareoke: Strip Karaoke, Café Cléopatra 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Kitana, Velma Jones and Celes, Cabaret Mado 👑 Jimmy Moore personnifie Taylor Swift, Cabaret Mado  👑 Late Night with Jessie Précieuse, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Dimanche 21 juillet / Sunday, July 21

🥳 Studio ZX presents Festival Ctrl+Alt with Blush and Unikorn, Place du Village 🏳️‍🌈 Italo Queer Montréal hosts Picnic Estivo, Parc Jarry 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and special guests, Cabaret Mado 👑 Dimanche Show with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Lundi 22 juillet / Monday, July 22

🎭 La Curieuse—Ligue d’improvisation estivale, Chez Ernest 👑 Tout le monde en drag pour REZO with Pétula Claque, Cabaret Mado

Mardi 23 juillet / Tuesday, July 23

👑 Full Gisèle : The Matrix with Gisèle Lullaby, Esirena, Fabien L’Amour, Kelly Torrieli and Celes, Cabaret Mado  😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Mercredi 24 juillet / Wednesday, July 24

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic 1-year Anniversary, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 😆 Max Higgins is The Underdog with Raquel Maestre, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles

Jeudi 25 juillet / Thursday, July 25

👑 Cult of AnarchKey presents the Drag Open Stage Fundraiser for “Native Women’s Shelter of Montréal” with Korra AnarchKey, Champs Bar 🥳 BLUSH presents Salade de Fruits : Happy Hour Queer, an event by and for FLINT+, Bar La Marche à côté 😆 World’s Smallest Comedy Festival presents World’s Queerest Comedy Night, Hurley’s Irish Pub 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club 👑 Jimmy Moore personnifie Taylor Swift, Cabaret Mado 👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail

Vendredi 26 juillet / Friday, July 26

👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Marla Deer, Tracy Trash and Pétula Claque, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Samedi 27 juillet / Saturday, July 27

🥳 Rubber Electric queer dark electronic fetish rave with Vicky Devika, Mushin and Nori, Cabaret Berlin 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Marla Deer, Tracy Trash and Pétula Claque, Cabaret Mado 👑 Jimmy Moore personnifie Rihanna, Cabaret Mado 👑 Late Night with Jessie Précieuse, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Dimanche 28 juillet / Sunday, July 28

👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and special guests, Cabaret Mado 👑 Happy Birthday Crystal Starz with Crystal Starz, Michel Dorion and Chouchoune, Bar Le Cocktail

Lundi 29 juillet / Monday, July 29

🎭 La Curieuse—Ligue d’improvisation estivale, Chez Ernest

Mardi 30 juillet / Tuesday, July 30

👑 Full Gisèle : Femme fatale with Gisèle Lullaby, Victoire de Rockwell, Jessie Précieuse, Kiara and Foxy Lexxi Brown, Cabaret Mado 👑 Le cirque de Teddy Boop with Teddy Boop, Sally D, Sarah Winters and Mister Boogie, Bar Le Cocktail 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Mercredi 31 juillet / Wednesday, July 31

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 😆 The Poly Showcase with Raquel Maestre and Tranna Wintour, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 👑 Sitcom Bonanza : Spécial Friends, Cabaret Mado

OTHERS / LES AUTRES

🤠 Club Bolo—Danse Country Montréal meet on Fridays at the Association sportive et communautaire du Centre-Sud.

👯 Tango/Salsa Queer holds lessons every Saturday, visit queertangomtl.com for information or contact tango.queer@hotmail.com or call +1 (514) 709-4678 for prices and signup information, Espaces des Arts.

🏐 Les Ratons-Chasseurs (Montréal’s LGBTA dodgeball group) holds regular events. Keep an eye on their Facebook for upcoming opportunities to join in and play. 

🕹Montréal Gaymers hosts regular gatherings including board game nights and gaming gatherings. Check their Facebook for what’s next!

���🏾Join the Out-Run run and workout club for people relating to the queer / sapphic experience. Details on their Instagram!

🐦 Bird lovers should keep their eye on Queer Birders' regularly scheduled birdwatching events and excursions. Join the Facebook group and get those binoculars at the ready.

👠 Twice a month on every second Tuesday, Bring It! hosts an OTA night of ballroom and vogue with commentator and DJ. Follow their Instagram for dates and details.

[jackatlas]

commission info!

hi, i'm kay! i'm an english BA & creative writing MA graduate who is opening fic & poetry commissions via my kofi! i have a few different tiers:

fics/original prose is priced at the following: 200 words - £20 1000 words - £50 2000 words - £100 5000 words - £150 (please message me regarding any alternative lengths)

poetry is priced as below: short form (2-3 stanzas/one prose paragraph) - £10 long form (4+ stanzas/two prose paragraphs) - £20 (please note that rhyme schemes are an additional £5)

please send a message with any questions or requests; i'll do my best to accommodate!! see below for extra information.

if you do not see anything on this list, please ask about it! i probably haven't thought of it lol. feel free to message regarding anything i will write with limitations too. please see here for fandoms/ships i will not write for.

here are some things i am happy to write:

prose, poetry, lgbt content (especially sapphics!), romantic ships, platonic & familial relationships, horror, mild gore, smut (with limitations), kink (with limitations), fics with your ocs (includes oc/canon), self-insert (not x reader, sfw only), any pov, letters from a fictional other (sfw only), mecha (sfw only), fantasy/sci-fi, monster of the week concepts (includes original monsters), vampires, werewolves (sfw only), genderbends (trans headcanons, cis-swaps - please specify), historical fiction (with limitations), fics based on songs/albums, age gaps (adult/adult only), mild violence, angst, dubcon (nothing too intense though), characters from media i don't know (please provide info!!), polyam ships, AUs, crossovers, pregnancy (sfw only)

things i will not write:

incest, underage smut, adult/minor ships, noncon, suicide, dead dove, smut for minors, aging up minors for smut, zoophilia, rpf, hard gore, hardcore kink (please ask if you need clarification), furries, mecha nsfw, x reader, nsfw self insert, hard violence, major character death, over 1000 words, multi-chapter (with exceptions), human/non-human (excluding vampires), omegaverse, zombies, prison aus, royalty aus, sex worker aus, slavery aus

some fandoms i will write for:

yugioh (duel monsters, gx, 5ds, zexal), the x files (seasons 1-3), death note, doctor who (seasons 1-4 of reboot), superstore, how i met your mother, madoka magica, fire emblem (sacred stones, awakening, fates), legend of zelda (botw/totk), marvel (mcu up to phase 3, + dsmom & wandavision), howl's moving castle (studio ghibli movie), classic literature (rebecca, wuthering heights, sherlock holmes), pokemon (most familiar with gens 1 + 5 and original anime run), avatar (atla), twilight, five nights at freddys (no ships), sabrina the teenage witch (seasons 1/2), stardew valley, + more as i think of it

ships i enjoy writing:

my faithshipping, mulderscully, doctorrose, lawlight, gx rivalshipping, matsuda/misa, peachshipping, violetshipping, scoopshipping, amy/jonah, lily/marshall, barney/robin, zelink, howl/sophie, chrom/robin, chrom/frederick, bella/alice, leo/takumi, bella/rosalie, bella/edward, ironstrange, stevetony, peppernat, tonynat, pepperony, palmerstrange, homura/madoka, frostiron, strangefrost, wandavision, doctor/jack/rose, misa/rem, doctor/jack, matsuda/light, mello/matt, gameshipping, mastershipping, fianceshipping, chaseshipping, puzzleshipping, thiefshipping, sherlock holmes/professor moriarty, dragonshipping, wishshipping, heathcliff/catherine earnshaw, edward/jacob, katara/zuko, katara/aang, sokka/zuko, + more as i think of them

[purplechaosguardian]

me. mark heathcliff. hi (for the character thing) (also here’s a photo of my cat)

Marker! Marcador! Literally the self insert of all time.

1. He held hands with a girl once. Does that count?

2. No. Mark shippers die challenge uwu

3. Mark and Cesar, all the way. Sometimes I see stuff that have him and Adam as a platonic pairing, and those always hit the spot too

4. Literally any ship with him, especially Mark x Cesar

5. Closest thing Cesar has to a braincell. Also a trans king

6. YOU FUCKING BASTARD

7. hoodie

8. He’s a wet cat of a man/affectionate

9. Cinnamon roll. He probably thought he was going to jail when he accidentally took those tags off his mattress

Kibby

[demi-queen]

Thanks @thepeachyhub for answering some of my tag questions! This is awesome!

Here are some resources that I’ve found about Juno Dawson (who, from what I’ve seen, uses she/her pronouns):

This is more or less what I saw in the About The Author in the books I bought. I think it expands a bit more on some of the things, but I don’t have the books with me rn, so idk for sure.

This is a mini-biography, which mentions that she transitioned (so confirmed trans-fem) after previously living as a gay man.

Here is a list of books by Juno Dawson, two of which I now own:

So yeah, I think it’s probably safe to say that JKR would probably hate Juno Dawson, but if you’re someone who enjoyed the Harry Potter books, but have since realized you don’t want to support JKR in any way, then you might enjoy Juno’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy! There’s only 2 of the books out so far, but it’s the series the sign from the original post was promoting. I haven’t read them yet, but I did buy them, so once I get around to it, if people are interested I can give a review. If the before-mentioned scenario doesn’t apply to you, but you’re interested in queer books by queer authors, it looks like Juno has quite a few!

Image descriptions below, including from the first post:

[Image One: hand-written sign on a table with books by Juno Dawson that reads “if you’re a grown-up Harry Potter kid, but JK Rowling makes you a lil’ uncomfy… Read Juno Dawson instead!!”]

[Image Two: comment on this post by user thepeachyhub that reads “juno dawson is a trans author! (i believe a trans woman?)”]

[Images Three to Seven: a list of books by Juno Dawson. Each image has six books, excluding the last one, which has three. Most of the books have an image of the cover, which I will not be describing, but anyone is welcome to do so if they’d like. In order, include title and date published, the books are: This Book is Gay, 2014; Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, 2022; Clean, 2018; Meat Market, 2019; What’s the T?, 2021; Mind Your Head, 2016; Say Her Name, 2014; Wonderland, 2020; Margot and Me, 2017; The Gender Games, 2017; Hollow Pike, 2012; Stay Another Day, 2021; Doctor Who: The Good Doctor, 2018; The Shadow Cabinet, 2023; Grave Matter, 2017; Being a Boy, 2013; All of the Above, 2015; What is Gender? How does it Define us? And Other Big Questions, 2017; Cruel Summer, 2013; You Need to Chill, 2022; Under My Skin, 2015; Spot the Difference, 2016; What’s the T?, 2022; Boys No Panic, 2015; Footprints: An Anthology, 2017; This Book is Gay Lib/E, 2017; Kit: A Story from the collection, I Am Heathcliff, 2018]

Look what I just saw at my local Barnes & Noble 😂

[ombresart]

The Unquiet Grave is an interactive fiction game where you take on the role of Catherine Earnshaw from Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. With a customizable appearance, name, gender, and personality, take on the challenges of life for a young child on the lonely moors as you grow to adulthood. Navigate relationships with the your friends and family, and forge your own path through life – and death.

The game covers the section of the novel until the original Cathy's death, as well as parts of her potential afterlife. Whether your protagonist meets the same fate, or defies the stars and society in making a different choice, only you can decide.

The Unquiet Grave is intended to be a fairly short game, with the current build featuring around 10% of the planned narrative per playthrough as it is now. I will in the future be developing new, longer, and more complex games, so please keep an eye out for those!

The game is still being developed, so I would deeply appreciate any feedback you have to give! It was created in Twine 2 and is hosted on itch.io. Please send feedback and bug reports to either the ask box here or the comment section on itch.io. Thank you for playing!

Features:

A customizable protagonist: choose your first name, appearance, and gender identity.

Please note that due to story limitations, your protagonist must be AFAB. However, you may choose to be nonbinary or trans, out or closeted.

Your last name is locked to the "Earnshaw" of the original, though this name may change with your later choices.

Romance one of three options: Heathcliff, Edgar Linton, or Isabella Linton.

These characters will also have possible friendship-based routes.

Choose your protagonist's fate: follow in the original Cathy's footsteps, or pick a new direction across the windy moors.

Play the game!

Last update: May 19, 2021

Build is currently at around 9100 words.

[traeumenvonbuechern]

June Wrap-Up

1. Can't Take That Away (Steven Salvatore)

Carey Parker dreams of being a diva, and bringing the house down with song. But despite their talent, emotional scars from an incident with a homophobic classmate and their grandmother's spiraling dementia make it harder and harder for Carey to find their voice. Then Carey meets Cris, a singer/guitarist who makes Carey feel seen for the first time in their life. With the rush of a promising new romantic relationship, Carey finds the confidence to audition for the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the school musical, setting off a chain reaction of prejudice by Carey's tormentor and others in the school. It's up to Carey, Cris, and their friends to defend their rights--and they refuse to be silenced.

2. Sanditon (Jane Austen)

Written in the last months of Austen's life, Sanditon features a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and speculators in a newly established seaside resort, and shows the author contemplating a changing society with scepticism and amusement. It tells the story of Charlotte Heywood, who is transported by a chance accident from her rural hometown to Sanditon, where she is exposed to the intrigues and dalliances of a small town determined to reinvent itself - and encounters the intriguingly handsome Sidney Parker.

3. The Witch King (H.E. Edgmon)

Wyatt would give anything to forget where he came from—but a kingdom demands its king. In Asalin, fae rule and witches like Wyatt Croft…don’t. Wyatt’s betrothal to his best friend, fae prince Emyr North, was supposed to change that. But when Wyatt lost control of his magic one devastating night, he fled to the human world. Now a coldly distant Emyr has hunted him down. Despite transgender Wyatt’s newfound identity and troubling past, Emyr has no intention of dissolving their engagement. In fact, he claims they must marry now or risk losing the throne. Jaded, Wyatt strikes a deal with the enemy, hoping to escape Asalin forever. But as he gets to know Emyr, Wyatt realizes the boy he once loved may still exist. And as the witches face worsening conditions, he must decide once and for all what’s more important—his people or his freedom.

4. One Last Stop (Casey McQuiston)

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train. Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

5. Between Perfect and Real (Ray Stoeve)

Dean Foster knows he’s a trans guy. He’s watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks he’s a lesbian—including his girlfriend Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a “nontraditional” Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out. But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is now––not just on the stage, but everywhere in his life. Dean knows what he needs to do. Can playing a role help Dean be his true self?

6. The Cruel Prince (Holly Black)

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

7. Boy Queen (George Lester)

Robin Cooper’s life is falling apart. While his friends prepare to head off to university, Robin is looking at a pile of rejection letters from drama schools up and down the country, and facing a future without the people he loves the most. Everything seems like it’s ending, and Robin is scrabbling to find his feet. Unsure about what to do next and whether he has the talent to follow his dreams, he and his best friends go and drown their sorrows at a local drag show, where Robin realises there might be a different, more sequinned path for him . . . With a mother who won't stop talking, a boyfriend who won't acknowledge him and a best friend who is dying to cover him in glitter make up, there's only one thing for Robin to do: bring it to the runway.

8. Felix Ever After (Kacen Callender)

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle.... But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

9. Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.

10. Ace of Spades (Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé)

Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students' dark secrets to light. Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can't escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn't afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...

11. The Queer Principles of Kit Webb (Cat Sebastian)

Kit Webb has left his stand-and-deliver days behind him. But dreary days at his coffee shop have begun to make him pine for the heady rush of thievery. When a handsome yet arrogant aristocrat storms into his shop, Kit quickly realizes he may be unable to deny whatever this highborn man desires. In order to save himself and a beloved friend, Percy, Lord Holland must go against every gentlemanly behavior he holds dear to gain what he needs most: a book that once belonged to his mother, a book his father never lets out of his sight and could be Percy’s savior. More comfortable in silk-filled ballrooms than coffee shops frequented by criminals, his attempts to hire the roughly hewn highwayman, formerly known as Gladhand Jack, proves equal parts frustrating and electrifying. Kit refuses to participate in the robbery but agrees to teach Percy how to do the deed. Percy knows he has little choice but to submit and as the lessons in thievery begin, he discovers thievery isn’t the only crime he’s desperate to commit with Kit. But when their careful plan goes dangerously wrong and shocking revelations threaten to tear them apart, can these stolen hearts withstand the impediments in their path?

12. Weekend Girl (Alex Powell)

Ashley Kingston is a genderfluid university student with a major crush on attractive and charming Nolan. He seems just too perfect to be true. What happens when Ash meets Nolan while dressed as both a man, and a woman? And even more confusing, what happens when Nolan seems enamoured of both versions of Ash? A twisty-turny romance filled with fun and shenanigans.

[avengcrwanda]

More tidbits from Grossman's Reddit AMA

(Lev Grossman wrote the cover story for the Star Wars Vanity Fair feature)

1. He thinks Kylo will live by the end of Episode IX.

2. Kylo and Rey came up a lot.

3. Kylo = Heathcliff

4. There is an overarching plan for the ST but looks like the writers were still given enough creative freedom.

5. He didn't get to interview Mark Hamill or Kelly Marie Tran. :(

Note that Disney/LF apparently still kept a lot of things under wraps, but didn't censor anything for the articles.

[an-ephemeral-blog]

Linkspam #2

Top Links

Public Policy After Utopia by Will Wilkinson at the Niskanen Center:

It is intellectually corrupt and corrupting to define liberty or equality or you-name-it in terms of an idealized, counter-factual social system that may or may not do especially well in delivering the goods. Commitment to a vision of the perfect society is more likely than not to lead you astray. Consider how unlikely it is for a typical libertarian to correctly predict more than a couple of the top-ten freest countries on the libertarian freedom index. The fact that ideological radicals are pretty unreliable at ranking existing social systems in terms of their favored values ought to make us skeptical of claims that highly counterfactual systems would rank first. And it ought to lead us to suspect that ideal-theoretical political theorizing leads us to see the actual world less clearly than we might, due to cherry-picking and confirmation bias.

What I Don’t Tell My Students About ‘The Husband Stitch’ by Jane Dykema at Electric Lit:

Reliable information about, or even an official definition of, the husband stitch is conspicuously missing from the internet. No entry in Wikipedia, nothing in WebMD. Instead there are pages and pages of message board entries and forum discussions on pregnancy websites, and a pretty good definition on Urban Dictionary. In James Baldwin’s 1979 New York Times piece, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” he writes, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate.” How can a practice like the husband stitch be warned against if there’s no official discussion of it, no record of it, no language around it, nothing to point at, to teach?

[...] But this is not an essay about the husband stitch. It’s an essay about believing and being believed.

The scientists persuading terrorists to spill their secrets by Ian Leslie at the Guardian:

Implicit in Miller and Rollnick’s critique of traditional counselling was the uncomfortable suggestion that counsellors should turn their professional gaze upon themselves and question their own instinct to dominate. Instead of thinking of himself as an expert sitting in judgment, the counsellor needed to adopt the more humble position of co-investigator. As Miller put it to me, “The premise is not ‘I have you what you need, let me give it to you.’ It’s ‘You have what you need and we’ll find it.’ The patient must feel “autonomous” – the author of their own actions.

Emily Alison, who had trained in MI while working as a counsellor for the probation service in Wisconsin, noticed that interrogations failed or succeeded for similar reasons as therapeutic sessions. Interrogators who made an adversary out of their subject left the room empty-handed; those who made them a partner yielded information. The best ones suspended moral judgment and conveyed genuine curiosity. She concluded that the detainee, like the addict, wants to feel free, despite or rather because of their confinement, and that the interviewer should help them do so.

When Trauma Becomes Dominance: An Interview with Sarah Schulman by Adam Fitzgerald at Lit Hub:

A person who was very hurt can do a tremendous amount of damage in somebody else’s life. If you’re on the receiving end of this—whether it’s coming from someone who is a supremacist or someone who hasn’t processed their own trauma—it can be equally damaging to you. There are dramatic cases of transformation. In 1945, Jews were probably the most oppressed people in the world. By 1948 and the founding of the state of Israel, you see a Jewish nation-state subordinating an entire people, the Palestinians. For some individuals or for some entities, you see a transformation from profound trauma and oppression to an unjust dominance.

Certainly with white gay men, who during the AIDS crisis died in enormous numbers and were treated with gross indifference by the state and by their families, today, if they are middle class or above, in many cases enjoy the privilege of the whiteness. And in Europe we’re seeing, for example, more white gay men moving towards the right and voting for right-wing parties. So that’s another example of being transformed into an oppressive entity.

On the Table, the Brain Appeared Normal by John Branch at the New York Times:

The brain arrived in April, delivered to the basement of the hospital without ceremony, like all the others. There were a few differences with this one — not because it was more important, but because it was more notorious.

Third-Party Party-Crashing? The Fate of the Third-Party Doctrine by Michael Bahar, David Cook, Varun Shingari and Curtis Arnold at Lawfare:

This fall may prove a landmark in the ongoing debate between security and privacy.  Poised to take action are both the U.S. Supreme Court, in Carpenter v. United States, and the U.S. Congress, with the impending sunset of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Decisions made—or not made—this autumn will have ripple effects in the United States and around the globe.

This post explains the dynamics of the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in Carpenter, and how it could impact this and other important surveillance authorities.  It then discusses the implications of Carpenter to the emerging global privacy regime, and the conflicts of law that may ensue.

Something is wrong on the internet by James Bridle at Medium:

Someone or something or some combination of people and things is using YouTube to systematically frighten, traumatise, and abuse children, automatically and at scale, and it forces me to question my own beliefs about the internet, at every level.

Other Favorites

We Warned You About Milo and You’re Still Not Listening by Katherine Cross at the Establishment - on the willingness of centrists to redeem Milo Yiannopoulos

The rules about responding to call outs aren’t working by Ruti Regan at RealSocialSkills.org

Avengers in Wrath: Moral Agency and Trauma Prevention for Remote Warriors by Dave Blair and Karen House at Lawfare - a deep dive into the psychology and morality of drone warfare

Heroku’s Ugly Secret by James Somers at Rap Genius - how a change in routing algorithms blew up in Heroku’s face thanks to poor documentation

The Complexities of Trans Gerudo Town by Laura Dale at Let’s Play Video Games - on gender in Zelda: Breath of the Wild

California Police and Civil Liberties Groups Agreed on a Simple Transparency Measure. Gov. Brown Vetoed It Anyway. by Dave Maass at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

For George Washington, #BringBackOurGirls meant something very different by Fred Clark at Patheos - on George Washington’s attempts to re-enslave Oney Judge

My Path To Becoming A Third Parent by David Jay at the Establishment - building a different kind of family

Christopher Wray and the Myth Created by Parallel Construction by Marcy Wheeler at Emptywheel - discussion of FISA Section 702, which allows warrantless surveillance of US citizens, and FBI Directory Christopher Wray’s defense of it

The Cost of White Comfort by Chenjerai Kumanyika at HiLoBrow - who gets comforted after racial harms

2 Broke Lab Rats: Human Research Subjects in Film and Television by Marci Cottingham at Sociological Images

In Praise of Theory in Design Research: How Levi-Strauss Redefined Workflow by Bill Selman and Gemma Petrie at EPIC - how Levi-Strauss’s theory of the bricoleur helped redefine Mozilla’s approach to user experience

It’s a Fact: Supreme Court Errors Aren’t Hard to Find by Ryan Gabrielson at ProPublica

Factory science by Martin Schmidt, Benedikt Fecher and Christian Kobsda at Elephant in the Lab - on the meaning of authorship in the digital age

You Can’t Understand Anti-Queer Violence In Jamaica Until You Understand Colonialism by Shanna Collins at Medium

Was Emily Brontё’s Heathcliff black? by Corinne Fowler at the Conversation

On Minimization as a Patriarchal Reflex by Matthew Remski at their personal website

AI Model Fundamentally Cracks CAPTCHAs, Scientists Say by Merrit Kennedy at NPR

Interpreting Harriet Tubman’s Life on a Silent Landscape by Anne Kyle at the Preservation Leadership Forum - on creating the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway (this was of special interest to me as I visited it this past summer)

Causal inference and random trials by Daniel Little at Understanding Society - how much can we learn from random control trials?

Sorry Facebook, Blasphemy Is Not Apolitical by Sarah McLaughlin at Popehat

UI design as if users actually mattered: backwards compatibility by Dan Luu at their personal website