#It's just the gayest thing I've let my teachers read

[rainiskyz]

Ok so.

So so so so so.

I write stories in social studies

And they're just silly little one shots

But

Would anyone be interested in reading them?

If so, I'd gladly post them

[vkelleyart]

Hi! I just wanted to let you know your work is hanging on my wall!

also! wanted to ask how your reading list is going? have you gotten to more of TJ's books (The Extraordinaries? or Tales From Verania?) or another one I recommended All Kinds of Other by James Sie. OH! I hope you get to read The Raven Cycle or Half Bad series before they make them into TV shows (because I know you don't like to do art of books that have movies/shows) any ways! love seeing all you're up to looking forward to seeing what you do next (oh! you ever get to see Skam and/or Druck?) I love watching you find a new cool book and you're original work is amazing!

Batboy!! Oh, how lovely! I'm so honored. 🥰 Thanks so much for sharing this picture!

As for the reading list, it's going better than expected! I did finish the first in the Tales From Verania series recently, which I loved (among the things I gave TJ was a quickie sketch of Gary, the gayest unicorn I've ever drawn, LOL) and am hoping to start Extraordinaries soon. Right now I'm in self-editing boot camp, so much of my reading has been instructional, BUT, I have finished some fun reads lately and can recommend a few back to you! The theme appears to be Asian/Asian American:

A Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki: A trans girl named Katrina Wen runs away from home with nothing but her violin, only to meet up with Shizuka Satomi, world renown violin teacher and collector of souls. As a violinist myself, this book made me SO HAPPY. There is also a very funky donut shop of interest and a queer romance plot line. Highly recommend. (TW: abuse, sex work, rape, depictions of racism)

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta: This is the first in a... series? Duology? I can't remember. But it it's basically Hunger Games meets "Pacific Rim" with some very intense action between Godolia's mechanical "Gods" and the Gearbreakers who take them down. Of note is the sapphic romance between the two main characters, Eris Shindanai, the leader of the gearbreakers, and Sona Steelcrest, a Valkyrie pilot for Godolia hell bent on taking them down from the inside. Art for this one is coming. :) (TW: violence, death, blood, genocide...)

The Watchmaker of Filagree Street by Natasha Pulley: This one was a dense read, but beyond a certain point, the book reveals its genius to you. Set in the 1880s, Thaniel Steepleton must investigate a lonely Japanese immigrant, Keita Mori, after a pocket watch Mori has made basically saves Thaniel from a bomb blast. I can't say more without being spoilery, but it's queer and Victorian and very cerebral. I'm hoping to draw a bit from this one as well! (Thanks again for recommending it, @singerofsimplesongs!) (TW: Victorian attitudes, mysogyny, violence, blood)

So yeah, slowly but surely, I'm getting through the TBR list! I haven't watched Skam or Druck yet, I'm afraid, because December has been incredibly intense so far, but hopefully I can do some binging over the holidays!

Thanks again for all your excellent recommendations. Looking forward to getting through more of them! ❤️

[hammer-to-matt]

Hey guys. I'm back 3 days later. Was too busy getting my Latin teacher to listen to Fall Out Boy. Anyway.

The obvious first bit of gay is the title, G.I.N.A.S.F.S., which stands for "Gay is not a Synonym for Shitty". Honestly, the entire story of the song (an unrequited love that isn't unrequited because the love interest rejected them, but because the narrator can't bring themselves to tell them) is inherently a queer experience. ESPECIALLY a 2000s queer experience.

We're starting off with the pre-chorus because there's not much to be said about the 1st verse. Now, "Things aren't the same anymore. Some nights it gets so bad I almost pick up the phone" HELLO maybe I read that in a gay way because I'm gay but, the experience of having a bff and then developing romantic feelings so bad y'all drift apart and also pining so bad but not being sure they're into you so you just don't tell IS SO COMMON FOR LGBTS. Like, I've experienced that, every gay friend I've ever had has experienced that, It's literally a story I've heard from gay people since I was introduced to the concept of gay people.

Moving on to the chorus; "Sleep with your old shirts and walk through this house in your shoes". Now, it's totally possible and normal that a cishet relationship could swap shirts, especially when Pete Wentz is like shorter than me, but shoes that fit is a wee bit stranger. It's not very common in a cishet relationship that you can properly swap shoes. Like, you would not be walking through that house if said shoes were smaller than you feet, that hurts like hell!!

Now, lets get on with the 2nd verse. "Threw caution to the wind but I've got a lousy arm" Erm... sir.. A heterosexual relationship does not usually entail a sense of rebellion. I do understand the paparazzi's reaction to people dating ANYONE at the time, especially since Pete Wentz was somewhat of a 2000s tabloid staple, but it would eventually die down. The phrasing there seems as if it were something he would never live down. Not to mention the fact that he FAILED at letting go of caution. He couldn't bring himself to fully let his worries of, not only how this would affect him, but the subject of the song. SAD 😢 Now, onto the gayest fucking lyrics I have ever heard: "And I trace your shadows on the wall now I kiss them whenever I'm down" WHAT THE FUCK. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EVEN BEGIN. THAT'S FUCKING GAY PINING SHIT. NO HETEROSEXUAL EVER DOES THAT. Also "Figured on not Figuring myself out" Damn okay, unlabled valid as hell

okay n e way ^^ The last verse. I don't have much to say for the first bit as that seems to relate back to his overdose. However. The last line. "Photo-proof kisses I remember so well" Now. I need y'all to stick with me here. Gay. LISTEN Why do they need to be photo-proof? Again, I fully understand the paparazzi culture of the time and wanting the paparazzi to stay out of your business is a totally normal message. But NEEDING them to be photo-proof is, again, strange for a cishet relationship. It would be shitty for them to take pictures, but it wouldn't be career ending. A queer kiss would be. Like, FOB already got shit for "looking" gay. Imagine if one of them actually had a same sex relationship back in the day, much less a gender queer partner. Their career would have been over before it even began. Literally, they would probably have to break up just to escape scrutiny, and that wouldn't even completely save them.

The point of this post isn't to say Pete Wentz is queer or to prove some weird real life ppl ship because it's not any of my business and I really really don't care about some 45 yr old man's love life from 20 years ago, but I think FOB genuinely have a lot of queer influences and, I love that from beginning to end, they write music for the lgbt community exclusively. That about wraps up my silly gay post, Ciao!

One like and I will give y'all my queer analysis of G.I.N.A.S.F.S. by hit band Fall Out Boy

[bogkeep]

look, i genuinely liked my high school norwegian teacher, both as a person and a teacher. i greatly respect her attempts at teaching us various schools of literature and critical reading and interpretation, but i think the only Obligatory Reading i actually liked was the epic of gilgamesh - and in hindsight it's because it was definitely the gayest. i've been out of high school since 2014 so a lot of the reading we did is very fuzzy to me now, but... almost everything we read depicted Pretty Bad relationships with women. (and also knut hamsun was a fucking nazi so fuck that guy.) like, no wonder baby spitfire aroace feminist haiz disliked everything we had to wade through, when 90% of the literary diet we were served had a side of Women Coerced Into Relationships. like, okay, just because bad things happen to female characters doesn't mean the whole story is worthless or without value or meaning (hang on let me quickly check the wikipedia summary for knut hamsun's pan. yeah that one is worthless actually), bad things happen in good stories all the time. it just really sucks when all these books that are supposed to have Substance and Deep Themes are so, so shallow about women. i think mrs norwegian teacher did her best in digging up all the tastiest themes of Parzival, but also like

yeah that theme just flew straight over my head because every "romance" in parzival made me so deeply uncomfortable. but that was the way it was being sold to me! romance!! chivalry!! because we told you so!!! [haiz hated that.] BUT THERE IS AN INTERESTING STORY IN THERE, and i think that's the one the play focused on. rather than focusing on Chivalrous Romance it told the story about how being kind is hard. i've talked about it before, several times probably, how kindness is seen as something childish and naive. but parsifal, a boy who was raised in complete isolation and kept ignorant of the ways of the world, overhunts deer not for food, because it's funny to watch them die (this is an interesting parallell to Animorphs #26: the Attack, where- [audience groans]). and that's fucked up!! and then he goes on to do a lot more fucked up shit!! and fucked up shit happens to him because he doesn't know anything and everyone else tries to use him for their advantage and their agendas!! his childishness and the purity of his isolation hinders his compassion and agency. he has to learn to enact kindness, and he learns by failing, listening, and trying again. I CAN VIBE WITH THAT ACTUALLY. anyway yeah those are my thoughts now that i've slept on it. theatre can be good actually

the local theatre is doing a production of parzival (percival??? parsifal in norwegian either way), and i wanted to go see it because our norwegian teacher made us read it in high school and i did NOT vibe with it then, and i wanted to see if maybe i liked it better now when i'm older and engaging with it willingly. the thing about our local theatre is that their plays are kinda... avant-garde? a little strange? somewhat experimental? so the experience was VERY similar to going to see the Green Knight (2022). the set was sloped with a round hole in the middle filled with red water resembling blood, which would also serve as the round table when need be. percival was completely naked save for his jester crown for most of the play, and even the red armor was just a jacket, and his face got gradually more and more covered in the fake blood. so it was.... pretty intense. i DO think i like it a lot better than i did in high school - and i can see exactly why i disliked it so much back then, too. what i liked now is the way this production told a story about how childlike innocence and ignorance is not pure and harmless, how little agency he has in a world where everyone tells him to do everything differently yet expects him to achieve Great Things... it was a very interesting take and i think i need to stare at a wall for a bit