#Voting tips

[sailor-cerise]

Reminder to vote in your local elections! (USA)

March is primary and local election season. Make a difference in your area by voting.

I recommend looking at a few voters guides because the provided material can be overwhelming.

If you do get overwhelmed, complete what you can. Anything worth doing is worth doing half-assed because perfect is the enemy of done. If you vote on literally one issue that is better than none. You got this.

As someone who is some kind of progressive socialist, here's some ways I get started:

Ballotpedia.org and Vote411.org for basic information and often a sample of each candidates' stances. A neutral information source. There are other sources that tend to be state-specific

Search for "progressive voters guide primaries 2024"

Search for "DSA voters guide" [etc. same as above]. I don't always agree with their recommendations, but I find it a helpful source anyway

Local papers that you find trustworthy, such as Knock-LA for southern California. Some will be informational only which can be good.

And finally something I started doing more recently:

Search for right wing/Republican/conservative voters guides to figure out what to vote against. One year I found a local landlords association recommendation in a conservative area and wow it was a gold mine of things not to support.

It's not always true that you should vote against it of course, but if you can find one with reasons stated, they'll show which will, for example, support a "tough on crime" approach to issues.

They will say things like "candidates who will defend freedom, stand for free enterprise, or have a conservative worldview, based on their ability to stand firm against efforts to increase taxes, size of government, weaken law and order, and crush individual freedom."

[quicknews24]

How to Register to Vote Online.

Making sure you’re registered to vote online is one of the easiest and most important things you can do as a citizen. If you’ve ever wondered how to do it, don’t worry—it’s simpler than you might think. Let’s walk through the process of registering to vote online, so you’re ready for the next election. Voter Registration Guide 1. Who Can Register to Vote? Before we dive in, let’s make sure…

[plotpulse]

Do You Know Who and What You Are Voting For?

Do you vote in political elections? Understanding Your Vote Your vote matters! However, it’s important to remember that the president doesn’t make laws or changes alone. Congress plays a significant role, and your vote can make a difference there. Our country currently has a two-party system, which can sometimes feel limiting. Both parties are often influenced by powerful groups, such as the…

[reconstructwriter]

Heard too Much Vote Abstinence

So for those of you otherwise lucky souls without a rabid Heinlein fan parent, here's the best of him:

"If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for...but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong."

[queenvlion]

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Janet Jackson featuring Q-Tip and Joni Mitchell - Got 'til It's Gone 1997

"Got 'til It's Gone" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson, featuring American rapper Q-Tip and Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, from her sixth studio album, The Velvet Rope (1997). It was released as the lead single from The Velvet Rope, and Jackson opted for a less polished sound for it which resulted in an authentic blend of R&B, pop, and hip hop with traces of reggae influences. It contains a sample from Joni Mitchell's 1970 song "Big Yellow Taxi".

"Got 'til It's Gone" was met with mostly positive reviews from music critics, with most praising its fusion of Jackson's pop style with hip hop, and for its revealing theme. The song peaked at number 36 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and reached number three on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Internationally, "Got 'til It's Gone" reached the top 20 in several European markets, including France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK.

The accompanying music video for "Got 'til It's Gone" was directed by Mark Romanek and filmed at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, and was premiered right before the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. Jackson portrays a lounge singer in the video, which takes place during the time of apartheid in South Africa. It was called a masterpiece by critics, winning a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. It also received the most nominations at the seventh annual MVPA Awards, winning "Pop Video of the Year" and "Best Art Direction".

"Got 'til It's Gone" received a total of 55,4% yes votes.

[sasanka-27]

The oil under Impala mystery 🔍✨

(Inspired by the lady with expert wife tips from tiktok)

[my-midlife-crisis]

Consider, If...

Then so is...

In a way... it's the same way.

People need the healthcare that they need.

VOTE! Protect women's rights. Protect Trans kids needs.

[bookwyrminspiration]

popped into a cookie store the other day and saw something I think some of you would love

[watchyourbuck]

YES I’m all for buddie drama bc guess what? It’s inescapable in this tv show but do you know what other thing I’m a whore for ???? Absolutely unhinged Buck and Eddie stealing a firetruck to fuck, making out in a storage room, using the firehouse’s hoses to wet, uh…, something other than the equipment. Just Eddie raising his eyebrows suggestively at Buck so they can suck each other off in the locker room or Buck eating his lunch a liiiittle too provocatively so Eddie has to adjust himself in front of everybody

And yes, Hen and Chim and Bobby are all disgusted by this situation because that is government prOPERTY, but you know what? They look happy and it has never once interfered with their jobs (except maybe that one time Eddie was in charge of strapping Buck for a rope rescue and the guy moaned out loud)

[spidermartini]

PREACH.

If you believe this, I have this AMAZING snake oil that I can sell you. It can cure ALL of your problems....

[kotofeden]

I'm not going to post full version there, I'm not that unhinged

But you know where to find it 👁️👄👁️

[juniepops]

So many people on this website hate disco and funk and r&b and it is NOT CUTE !!! Like maybe it shouldn’t be surprising but every time I scroll through that song blog and find a damn good song from/inspired by 60s-90s black genres with majority no votes I lose more hope in all of you

[jesncin]

Hi there!! I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what the process of being published was like for Lunar Boy? Were there any struggles you faced trying to get it seen? Any tips for others trying to get their work published? Thank you in advance and I love your work! :)

Hullo there! Sure! Unfortunately things have changed a lot since I pitched years ago so I don't know how replicable my publishing journey is nowadays. But I'm willing to share!

So! I always knew I wanted to write for kids, but in art school we were trained to be cape comic artists. Back then (if you can believe it), making middle grade comics was considered something that would sink your career. At that point in history, American comics was trying so hard to prove "we're not for kids!" that they left a chasm in the market for children's comics. Then Raina Telgemeier's bestselling books proved there was a hungry readership of kids and suddenly the trad pub industry is excitedly picking up middle grade graphic novel pitches (ironically, including cape comics).

I was studying my Masters in the US as this was all happening, and decided to use my time in the program to generate as many middle grade pitches as possible! The first one I made was Lunar Boy, but the story was so well received that it ended up being the one we pushed forward as a pitch and develop the most across classes. On Twitter there was this event: #DVPit, which is a pitching event for marginalized authors looking to seek editor interest on their pitches but also! To get agented. In its heyday (before Melon Husk ruined everything. This event is no longer on twidder sadly. Many pitching events have ceased to happen or are on hiatus from how unusable that platform is now) it was a fantastic event. I got agented on my 2nd try of the event, and it got the industry an early look at Lunar Boy and made them excited to see it out on submission.

My agent, Britt Siess, was extremely helpful with giving us feedback on how to refine our pitch. Not only did she give us story feedback, but I was surprised also by her comics feedback- that was more nuanced than I expected (little did I know that she's a huge comics nerd). She had connections to all the editors I was interested in pitching Lunar Boy to, and we were out on submissions right as we graduated with our Masters degree (during the start of the pandemic lmao).

I already had early editor interest in Lunar Boy which I think helped a lot with getting it picked up. I've been told that it helps to meet editors in person and get chummy with them before pitching to heighten your chances, but that wasn't really the case for me. I've never met my editor (Carolina Ortiz, I love her she's amazing) in person, but she did actually reach out to me long before we went out to pitch- on a Simu Liu tweet trend of all things lmao.

(I didn't end up looking like evil boy band members in pastel clothes in the final book, I went for cultural clothes instead which I think is the more bespoke choice haha) Carolina reached out to me from this tweet and we actually talked back and forth about Lunar Boy, refining the pitch. I felt like she understood the story despite asking for big changes. I don't think she'd do something like this anymore, but I really appreciated it at the time (I wasn't even agented yet). All the editors I met in person for events like Editor's Day at school liked my art (and would even hire me for colorist work and the like) but they weren't interested in Lunar Boy. This was reflected when we finally went on submissions too.

We got a lot of rejections, vague language like "we don't know how to edit this" or "we already have a book like this" (??? press X to doubt). Compounded with all my interactions with editors in person, I felt like I was "marketable" as an artist but not as a storyteller because our stories were so unapologetically QPOC- with culturally specific queer identities to an already underrepresented identity. The editors that were interested in Lunar Boy had personal connection to the story (they were either also from blended families or QPOC themselves). But hey, you only need one yes to get a book deal. We ended up with Carolina as our editor and she's been our rock and champion for this book since the beginning. We were out of submissions in just a week (which is really fast in the industry).

My big tip for getting into the trad pub graphic novel industry is to study the market. A lot of people mistaken publishing as a vessel or platform for their untold story, when really it's a business we compromise with. Pay attention to trends, book deals, shifts in the industry, read your peers' books, everything. Research is key with getting your foot in. Lunar Boy may look like an out-there book, but at its heart it's a story about culture shock, trying to fit in, along with family and friendship problems. In trad pub especially, locking in to sellable tropes and trends is key. Find clever ways to innovate and work within those limitations at the same time. Be open to feedback and changes. I know so many people are held back from getting book deals because they're too attached to their story. It helps not to be phased by rejection and or take things personally. I've been very desensitized to talking about books like a business, since that's what it took for someone like me to make it out there.

I hope that was helpful!