#example from my short little journey just now: posts pre me figuring out I’m a system and talking about my experiences

[cr0wc0rpse]

The fact that I have had this blog as my main blog for Years, I have never remade, I have never deleted, I’ve always been a p consistent user, means occasionally I will find posts talking about things I have absolutely zero memory of and stuff that makes me go “so why did I post that”

[animatedminds]

Splash Mountain, Br’er Rabbit, and the Tragedy of Being Represented By Other People.

So, this is probably going to be the realest post I’ll make for a while - or at least until The Boondocks arrives, but it seemed apropos. Immediately after this I’ve got rants about sci fi and Star Wars and other unrelated things coming up, but for now we have my earnest opinions on a decision I feel should have been better thought out than it was. This is going to read more like an article or an essay than a review, but I think it needs to be said.

It hasn’t come up too often on this blog, but I am African American. It’s my life and my perspective. And as an African American, a lover of animation and - though this definitely doesn’t come up on the blog - a passionate folklorist in what you could call an academic sense (in that I’m a writer and a student, and folklore is the subject of most of my research), people I know in real life have asked me more than once what my opinion on the removal of Splash Mountain in favor of Princess and the Frog, how I must be glad it’s finally being removed, what my take on the history there was, and…

Well…

To really give that opinion, I’ve got to start at the beginning. Not Song of the South - that, if anything, is the very middle. We have to start with Br’er Rabbit and who that character was. Sit back students, info dump incoming.

Br’er Rabbit is an folklore character of African American origin with - like many folkloric figures - a difficult to place date of origin, but he was known to have existed at least since the early 19th Century, He has obvious similarities to the far older figure of Anansi - with several Br’er Rabbit tales even taking elements of Anansi stories verbatim - though with a the notable difference that unlike Anansi, Br’er Rabbit was more often a heroic figure: an underdog and seemingly downtrodden figure who used his wits and his enemies’ hubris rather than physical force to win the day. The meaning of that kind of figure to an enslaved people is obvious, especially when you compare Br’er Rabbit to another, contemporary trickster figure in African American history by the name of John. Br’er Rabbit’s stories could even arguably be seen as a more child-friendly version of the John tales, in which a human trickster pulls the same kind of momentum turning ploys on villains - but those villains tended to be explicitly slave masters or overseers, and John’s payback often came with explicitly deadly results. The existence of John as escapism for the enslaved or just-post-enslaved (IE Reconstruction) populations is clear: a person who with no power who could fight back with nothing but their mind, preying on the fact that their enemies see them as incapable and helpless, and the connection of Br’er Rabbit to that message is difficult to deny. If anything, Br’er Rabbit comes off as a somewhat more child-friendly version of the concept.

But the most important thing to glean from this is who and what Br’er Rabbit is: a product of the African American community and its history, as a means of those people to express themselves and their values in the face of oppression.

Now we fast forward to 1881, and along comes Joel Chandler Harris: a white Georgian. Harris was a folklorist himself, and travelled the country collecting stories - most famously Br’er Rabbit stories. His stated reason was to bridge African American and white communities by sharing stories, but he was tainted by the perspectives of his world and his place in it, infamously creating a framing narrative for those stories in which the character telling them exuded the imagery of subservience and simplicity that was typical of perceptions of African Americans from the post-Civil War Southern environment in which he collected them: Uncle Remus, in other words. Harris is hardly the only white curator who adapted stories of black or brown peoples in a way that played up the people the stories came from as something of a theme park piece, as if noble in unintelligence and simplicity, but he’s one of the most famous ones to do so - and that’s because of the adaptation. To note, when people criticize cultural appropriation, this is the kind of thing that really triggers the outrage. Not any situation in which a white person is inspired by someone who isn’t white and creates something accordingly, but situations where someone else’s creation is taken and used for the fame and profit of others, to the detriment of the people who made it. It’s these situations like the one Joel Chandler Harris created centuries ago, specifically, that people are trying to draw attention to - even if sometimes social media gets a bit trigger happy sometimes, that’s the real, underlying problem. With that in mind, let’s put that aside and move forward.

Fast forward again to 1946. Walt Disney Productions, then less the company of grander, wider scale stories of epic quests and emotional upheaval that make us all cry and more a company more known for folktale adaptations in general, were looking for a but of American folklore to headline a live action, animation mix - a medium that allowed a bit more financial benefit, as straightforward animation was not always particularly profitable those dates. This wouldn’t be the last time they produced an adaptation of an American folktale or short story - their version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow a few years later being actually one of the more faithful adaptations of that short story put to film. Disney, who evidently read Chandler Harris’ stories, put together a project to see if they could adapted. Which they did. Pretty much verbatim. This is actually worth pointing out: the actual Br’er Rabbit stories in the films are very accurately adapted, and the actors involved in the story (including James Baskett, how also played Uncle Remus) did a fine job characterizing them. The issue is that Disney also adapted Chandler Harris’ stereotypical and offensive framing device pretty much verbatim, bringing Uncle Remus. And therein lies the problem.

To put the issue with Song of the South in perspective, the movie - with the framing device - can be categorized as something called Reconstruction Revisionism - which is basically a genre of post-Civil War media meant to present the pre-war South was perfect and idyllic, and that people are racially more natural in that environment’s dynamic and never should have left. One of the most infamous movies in history, Birth of a Nation, is the crowning example of this genre. Obviously, Song of the South is nowhere near as awful and inflammatory a movie as that, but there’s a degree to which it was seen as the straw the broke the camel’s back for black depictions in media, only a couple of years after Disney’s Dumbo also did the same. The end result, an African American creation was used in a film that ultimately demeaned the African American community, a decision that Disney has been ashamed of ever since.

Fast forward to now. Disney is removing Splash Mountain, the sole remnant of Song of the South that focuses exclusively on Br’er Rabbit - a choice we’ve had reason to suspect was coming for about a year now, but which was unveiled conspicuously in the middle of protests and campaigning for better treatment of people of African descent worldwide. The reveal was a rousing success, with people applauding the decision to finally wipe away the rest of that movie - though remember that for later, that the response relies on the perception of Br’er Rabbit as something that starts with Song of the South - and replace it with something else. Surely, as a black person I should be happy that they’re finally getting rid of that racist character for good and replacing him with something more positive? And again, well…

To put short, Br’er Rabbit has finished his journey from African cultural symbol to discarded pariah, all because others used the character in racist ways that they themselves now regret. And for that… let’s be clear, I’m not angry so much as saddened. I’m not railing against the company for making the choice, since I can see how from their point of view it was the wisest and most progressive thing to do. Song of the South is a badly old fashioned movie that they’re right to want to move on from, and it’s their right to downplay characters within their purview if those characters reflect badly on the company. I’m just outlining the tragic waste of it all.

For now, compare Princess and the Frog - the thing they’re replacing it with. I do love the movie, or at least any problems I have with it have little to do with representation, and I definitely don’t have anything against Musker and Clements and their beautiful visions and creations, but it’s difficult to deny that its an adaptation of a European story, adapted by a collection of mostly white creators (with Rob Edwards comprising but one third of the screenwriting team, but not of story conception), that’s ultimately just dolled up with African Americans characters and a very Hollywood-esque depiction of a African diaspora religion (Voodoo, which unfortunately has a long history of such portrayals). If we’re talking about representation specifically - which this move had definitely been presented as a champion for - it’s not the perfect example, more of a story with a surface covering of the black experience than one with an especially strong connection. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem (Tiana and her story do well depict strong black characterizations, and approach an interesting (if light_ implication about racism and hardship during the 1920s) if Disney had yet created any other franchise that was another actual adaptation of an African or African American tale or story (with involvement from such actual people), but Song of the South is actually it. They legitimately have nothing else to call on.

This is something I feel we should do more to remedy. I am a writer/prospective screenwriter myself, and trying to put more stories out there is one of my primary focuses and goals should I ever truly enter the industry, but at the moment we just don’t have very many options.

This is hardly the only time that people of color have had little control over depictions of their own culture - literary and film history is full of such situations in both minor and terribly major ways - but it’s something that stings especially hard due to being such a current example, and because of sheer irony of the end result. Now we have a situation where African Americans are being told that something their people created to represent themselves is negative and wrong, because years ago other people appropriated that creation and used it to paint a negative picture of the people who actually held claim over it, and now the enterprise that those people created wants to save face: another example of culture being treated like a possession of the ones who are poised to make money of off it. And what’s worse, while the culture is used and abused like trash, the people are now presented with this removal like it was a prize - like they’re finally being given something - when little has really changed.

Ultimately, the Splash Mountain news - though it had been coming for a while - made me rather upset for that reason. As a studier of folklore, I suppose I knew better than most where these things came from, and so the buzz around the move being a belief that Br’er Rabbit was an intrinsically racist character just highlighted the tragedy of how African Americans and their culture tended to be tossed about by American media. So no matter what, I can’t feel particularly happy about it.

Let me iterate, in the film industry, being represented by people who aren’t of your culture group is basically inevitable. That’s essentially how the industry works. I’m not saying we should rail against anyone who would try to represent cultures that aren’t their own. The people who produce and create are few, and eventually the truth is that you have to be represented by other people - at least for the moment. We shouldn’t be railing against representation by others in general, as that wouldn’t be cognizant of the situation and thus self destructive. What I’m saying is that we - both we trying to be represented, and those doing the representing - should be aware of the problem there: that when others choose to represent you in media, you essentially have to trust them to have a real interest in you and your best interests when doing so, and when they don’t that depiction is there forever. So it behooves us to try to be the ones who are representing ourselves as much as possible, and in situations where we can’t, to remind those who want to represent us that they have a responsibility to do so effectively.

This is Animated Minds for Animated Times, and really this blog is ultimately about emphasizing what makes animated media work, what makes it fun, and what makes it worthwhile no matter how old you are. And so in several years of sporadic and infrequent reviews, reactions and fandom posts it’s been rare for me to get this real about a topic, but this is something that is a serious issue feel was overlooked. Representation is complicated. And more often than not solutions that are handed to us are more band-aids that look like cures than necessarily being actually helpful, and that’s what happens when ultimately the decisions about how you’re represented lie in the hands of other people. Representation is one of the biggest things we need to work on in coming years, especially with stories and adaptations - which refer to history and culture that are often not widely known or accepted. Ask someone if they think there should be an African princess, and they’ll tell you they didn’t even have kings and queens in Africa - something that’s bluntly wrong, but is widely believed simply because those elements of culture are never represented.

And that’s the sum of my thoughts on the subject. I hadn’t updated the blog in months because this whole thing was stewing in me, and I couldn’t really go back to cheerful posts about new things until I got it out. I’ve got great thoughts about the Owl House, Amphibia, the new seasons of BH6 and Ducktales that are totally coming up soon. But for now, just a few sobering thoughts from someone who grew up loving cartoons, and desperately wishes people like me had more to look at in that field beyond apologies and promises.

[lacetulle]

Hey there! Aspiring fashion designer here! I'm getting more and more into fashion and designing/ planning more and more outfits and I was wondering if you have any tips to get more into haute contour and fashion in general. Your blog has really helped me get a grasp of what I like and I all around love it!

I’m happy this blog could help in figuring out what styles you like! There are a ton of different mediums to get into fashion! I’ve compiled a list of options via videos, websites, and books. So strap in, this is a long post.

Since you already have an idea of who you like, I always suggest reading up on that brand/label/designer and going through their archives. For me, when I realized how much I loved Dior and knew I wanted to learn more, it was overwhelming at times because the label has such a long history. If you really like newer labels, like Zuhair Murad, Elie Saab, Iris van Herpen, etc., it’s a little more manageable to read up on the history and designers just because they were founded in the ‘90s/‘00s.

In terms of websites, I have a few to talk about.

Vogue. This is the easiest avenue to get into fashion. I’m not knocking it, because I use it the most for photos, but as far as websites go, it’s the most dumbed-down. But I mean that in the best way! The features, trend reports, and runway news appeals to even the most casual fashion fan. Vogue focuses mainly on big name/commercialized brands (Dior, Valentino, Gucci, etc.) rather than smaller ones (like Guo Pei and Ralph & Russo, two big couture names these days, get minimal coverage with Vogue). Vogue is a great resource for runway looks...it was my gateway into studying older runway collections. All in all, in terms of websites, Vogue is the tip of the fashion media iceberg.  If you want to get into the more meatier parts of fashion, there are better sites.

Harper’s Bazaar. Like Vogue, it’s easy to navigate and leans more towards the more well-known fashion brands. Pre-covid, they always had a weekly street style recap as well. They have great lists but stay away from the business side of fashion. I typically use Harper’s Bazaar for the street style/every day fashion inspiration and news.

Who What Wear. A great site for following trends. They don’t focus so much on brands, but it’s a great resource for seeing what’s trending and options to buy said trends. For example, Who What Wear is the first place I went when I wanted to find a list of brands who were starting to sell masks.

WWD. Supposedly most designers prefer WWD to Vogue coverage.  And it shows, since parts of the site require a subscription. WWD is one of the more technical sites and could be overwhelming for someone who doesn’t really understand the industry. They talk about the comings-and-goings of creative directors, financial news, and general fashion trends/news. It also has runway recaps and photos, which is typically what I use it for. If you’re really want to be in the know with breaking fashion news, they do offer email newsletters as well for a more condensed version of the site. Also, a super helpful page I’ve had bookmarked, their fashion dictionary.

Business of Fashion.  The name is pretty self-explanatory.  BoF is another one of those meatier sites that could be overwhelming at first. It’s also one that has a subscription service. BoF has great profiles of designers, so I’ve used the site as my starting point when learning about someone new. The BoF500 also showcases anyone and everyone who has a hand in shaping the industry.

The Impression. The cheapest of the subscription sites and the one I had until I cancelled a few months ago (not because it sucked, but, you know…corona). I mainly used them for their runway pictures. They were so fast to upload them, with details and backstage footage. The big draw is the fashion week/runway photography, but the talk about street style, short films and ads from brands, as well as fashion trends. At the end of every fashion week (New York, Milan, Paris, etc.) the put together a recap list of biggest trends, top shows, top models, and break down the numbers. I love the site for its minimalism and whenever the industry decides to have fashion weeks again, I’ll renew my subscription.

Magazines:  Most people would say Vogue is the holy grail for fashion magazines, but I don’t think it’s that great (at least the US version).  Vogue Paris, Italia, and UK are better in my opinion. And just because I don’t think the print version of US Vogue is the holy grail, doesn’t mean I don’t like it.  I have a subscription and read it every month. Other options I really like are Harper’s Bazaar (any country’s version), Elle, InStyle, and W.

Videos: Other than the first one listed (which can be found on Netflix or Hulu, depending where you live), everything can be found on youtube. And now i’m constantly getting fashion recommendations on youtube, so it’s an easy rabbit hole to fall into.

First Monday in May. I’ve talked about this documentary before, but it bears repeating.  It’s a gorgeous journey of how the Met Gala and Costume Institute Exhibit was put together. It’s about the ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ exhibit in 2015. They interview big designers about how China has influenced some of their collections, and takes on the debate of whether fashion should even be in a museum. It was the first fashion documentary I ever watched and only made me fall more in love with fashion (and want to see every fashion exhibition).

The September Issue. Vogue’s September issues are always the biggest of the year.  This documentary follows the process of designing the famous September issue of Vogue. I believe it was filmed in 2007 or 2008 so it’s dated, and digital media has changed the game, but it’s a good watch to see just how influential and important the September issue is in terms of forecasting fashion trends for the following year.

Savoir Faire: Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2011. A 50 minute video on how one, just one, piece from the couture collection was designed.  It’s a great insight on just how much work goes in to creating a couture collection.

7 Days Out with Karl Lagerfeld. Another great showcase of the week leading up to a couture show, this time with Chanel. The documentary follows the 2018 show, which is one of Lagerfeld’s last few couture shows before his death.

Battle At Versailles: The Competition that Shook the Fashion Industry. It’s no secret that Paris is the epicenter of fashion.  The couture houses are all based there, so France is typically where you needed to be to be a world renowned designer. In 1973 French and American designers competed against each other and brought American designers into the spotlight. There’s an hour long documentary on youtube and there’s a book that I’ve linked below. I’ve seen the video and I’m currently reading the book, so you have options here.

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. A good look at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs exhibit for the 70th anniversary of Dior. This documentary gives a nice, condensed look at each of the artistic directors of Dior and showcases some of the most iconic Dior looks. I knew about it, but didn’t go see it. I only saw pictures, which were beautiful…but to see it all come together on video was a dream.  They talk to Celine Dion for a minute at the end, and her words sum up my feelings best about Dior, “I would love to wear one of these dresses one day, maybe in one of my lifetimes, or every night in my dreams.”

Books:

Inside Haute Couture: Behinds the Scenes at the Paris Ateliers. A gorgeous book with tons of photos about the intricacies that go in to a couture collection.

Kate Spade New York: All in Good Taste. I originally bought it for my coffee table collection, but it has some great style tips.

The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History. Just in case you’d rather read about this legendary fashion show than watch. I’m currently reading it, so I can’t give you my final take on it. But I’m loving it so far.

Dior by Dior: Christian Dior’s autobiography. Who better to tell you about the history of Christian Dior, than Dior himself.

Elsa Schiaparelli: A Biography. I’m a big fan of Schiaparelli and would love for her legacy to be more widely known. She was a very private person, so when this biography dropped I was excited to read more about her. Elsa Schiaparelli was Coco Chanel’s biggest rival and was a household name in her time, but most people know Coco’s name over Elsa’s today. This is a nice dive into Schiaparelli’s life, since most people focus on Chanel’s legacy (and let’s be honest, Chanel is very idolized, which is so unfortunate, given her Nazi ties, but I digress.)

Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. I tend to rave about the designs by these two, so it’s a good look into their journey in fashion.

The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genuis, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris. If you’re interested in Lagerfeld (pre-Chanel days) or Yves Saint Laurent, it’s a great retrospective look at their rivalry.

Champagne Supernovas. If ‘90s fashion is something of interest, this book is a great read on how some big name rebels (McQueen, Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss, etc.) in the industry remade fashion as we know it.

Any of the Met Gala books: Camp: Notes on Fashion, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Manus x Machina, Heavenly Bodies, etc.  My first one was the McQueen book, and at the time I didn’t know it was the official book from the Costume Institute Exhibit.  They’re not all hardcover coffee table-esque books, but if you can’t attend an exhibit it’s the next best thing. They’re all great in-depth resources for learning about a certain area of fashion. They can be expensive, so I wouldn’t suggest investing in them unless you’re truly interested in that specific aspect of the industry. This year’s exhibit - whenever it opens - is About Time: Fashion and Duration.  The exhibition book is already available and I think it’ll be an incredible exhibit of how current designers pull from older designers and trends.

The Fashion Book.  It’s expensive. It’s massive. And it gives you a wealth of information. It’s essentially an encyclopedia for fashion. It’s not just designers; it highlights models, high profile photographers, style icons, and all those who influenced fashion.

I know this was long, but these have been the resources I’ve used over the years. I hope this can help you along your journey and if anyone has other things to add, please do!

[hxlding-on-blog]

i know i should probably go ask someone else for this advice but i want to write a trans character and im not trans so how do i do that? what are the dos and donts? i wanted to ask a trans person before going to anyone else and hope im not a bother!

Random Asks || ANONYMOUS

Well! Not to worry, dear anon! Your local baby trans brother is here to help as best as he can! Now, I want to begin with a …

[  s h o r t  d i s c l a i m e r ] : there is no single way to write a trans character. This is because, just like cis characters, they’re all different. There’s so many ways to tell any character’s story, trans or cis or whatever else. I am also not an expert. Even if I am trans, I’ve ( probably ) only lived this one life and path. Therefore, I can’t speak for many other trans experiences. Still! I can offer advice and subtle criticisms from my own viewpoint!

Without further ado, here’s my take on writing trans characters:

>Disclaimer, But Longer

This is not the world’s best guide! I am not the world’s most trans person ( and that doesn’t even exist ); I am simply one single trans boy speaking from the perspective of such. I have done as much research as I had done before pertaining to this subject, have interacted with other trans people with differing experiences, but can’t speak on their behalf. With that in mind, I am still a somewhat valid source for criticism. If you ask me for my opinion on trans-based writing, I will gladly offer it but do remember that I am still young! I’m a baby boy, what can I say? 

This guide also doesn’t include everything. There’s so much to say on being trans, in writing or in general, and writing the experience will always be a bit difficult if you haven’t lived it. Though, you should do research. Reading my guide will not be enough and I urge for you to reach out to other trans people; writers, or otherwise. Read other guides, do other research ( such as the effects of certain hormones ), and listen to criticism if you receive it. I highly suggest you ask a trans person if you’re unsure about something.

I am also a trans boy who’s very offset by the idea of generally being seen as female. My research on trans women is little / few and, though I’ve looked into it, my knowledge is not as extensive as my research on trans men! Please do your own looking up whenever you can; it’s important that you don’t only get your information from a fifteen year old trans boy about writing a thirty-something trans woman!!!

[ TL; DR, I should not be your only source and you should do your own research whilst listening to trans people if you get something wrong ]

>Common Terms

[ Deadname ] = A trans person’s unused given name. It’s called a dead name for a reason; they don’t use it. Some people have differing reactions to it- such as avoiding it, ignoring it, or responding to it on certain occasions- but is generally not used in many / most cases.

[ Transgender ] = An adjective used to describe someone who doesn’t align with their assigned gender. This includes nonbinary people. It can’t be used as a noun ( for example, ‘transgenders’ ) and is shortened to trans in most cases.

[ AGAB ] = Acronym for ‘Assigned Gender At Birth’ where Gender is replaced with Male or Female. For example, AFAB or AMAB.

[ Legal Name ] = The name that is on their legal documents. It may be their deadname, or it may be their current name; whichever one it is, it’s the one they’d have on certain documents ( school registrations, job applications, etc ) and can be changed. 

[ Testosterone ] = Hormones that will change a feminine body into something more masculine, including hair growth, fat redistribution, and other bodily functions. It can be administered through a syringe, a gel / patches, or pills. Often shorted to T and used in terms such as T shot.

[ Estrogen ] = Hormones that will change a masculine body into something more feminine, including hair growth, fat redistribution, and other bodily functions. Often shortened to E.

[ Hormone Blockers ] = A medication used to block / stop / pause the effects of hormones in the body. This is typically used amongst younger trans people that are too young to take T or E.

[ Pre-Op ] = Refers to people who plan on getting operations done to change their sex; if someone were to want top surgery but haven’t had it yet, they’d be considered pre-op. Some trans people aren’t pre-op if they’d decided they don’t want to undergo a surgery.

[ Post-Op ] = Refers to people who have had their operations done. For example, metoidioplasty. 

[ Gender Dysphoria ] = A term to describe general uncomfort in relation to someone’s gender and their body. Found typically prominent when it comes to hormones. 

[ Gender Euphoria ] = A term to describe general joy in relation to someone’s gender and their body. Found typically prominent in use of certain pronouns or names. 

[ HRT ] = Acronym for Hormone Reversal Treatment, which includes administering Testosterone or Estrogen into the body. 

>Figuring Out They’re Trans

Every trans person figures out they’re trans differently; how long it takes them, when they do, and how they do will always be different. For me, I figured it out in my teens after doing my own research on the things I felt- I went to Google ( Or, well, Bing since I was in China at the time ) and looked up why I felt the way I did in my own body, resonated with terms I found, and did a lot of self reflection- and coming to the conclusion that I was trans. At the time, I labelled myself as nonbinary; some binary trans people have done this but not every. I didn’t feel like I fully identified with that, and yet felt detachment from my womanhood, which later lead me to finding out I was a trans boy all along. It fit me. That’s my path but, for your muse, maybe they figured it out differently.

Maybe they felt out of place in their own body since they were young, or maybe they simply didn’t fit with their given gender at birth. Or they could’ve not known all the way into adulthood, clicking with a term when it passes them by. Not every trans experience is the same! Whilst writing trans characters knowing since they were born is valid, it’s also valid to write them knowing ages later. I put off identifying as a man before, only because I feared that my boyfriend wouldn’t love me anymore. And now? Now I’m glad I came out! Writing characters doing something similar wouldn’t be a stretch! 

How and when your character finds out will always be valid; they can find out while playing in a sandbox in their playground, or notice they didn’t feel attached to their gender assigned at birth. They can go to a therapist and be told their emotions lined up with being trans, or they could be reading a book and thinking I feel like that’s me to which they draw their conclusion. The possibilities are endless! I guarantee that there’s somebody out there that’s able to relate to it because there’s so many ways to figure it out; it can take a few minutes, or days, or weeks, or months, or years of thinking it over before IDing as trans- that’s the nature of it.

>The ‘First Steps’ In Transitioning and Coming Out

Some come out when they’re younger, some come out in their teens, some come out in adulthood, and some don’t come out at all. Coming out as trans is similar to coming out as gay, bi, etc. However, there’s the added thing with pronouns, names, and medical transitions ( if your character ever decides they want to ). It’s different in that sense, but not everything will be different. In most- if not all- cases, your character will have a pronoun change. They may go from he/him to they/them or be okay with he/him but prefer they/them without exclusion. Some may use multiple pronouns, or be exclusive to one set, or something of the sorts. 

When changing their name, some people may choose one similar to their given one, or make a new one entirely, or look through a baby name book. They may switch from one name to another, or have multiple, or decide not to change at all for a variety of reasons; their given name can stick to being their name if they want it to! For me, I’ve always loved the pronunciation of ‘Chris’ but never felt right with the spelling, to which I fixed by spelling it as ‘Kriss’ instead. My deadname holds a lot of emotional and frankly traumatic weight to it, so I feel very uncomfortable when people say it or I see it anywhere. My body physically cringes at it and it doesn’t help that there’s someone in my class who shares it, so I never respond to it in class unless I know for sure whoever is using my deadname has no prior knowledge about my current one.

Transitioning is a choice; some decide to make it, whilst others don’t. It doesn’t invalidate them at all and the journey should never be the only distinct aspect to a character’s story. Them transitioning can be a main plot point but should never be the only thing that makes this character’s whole, well, character! Outside of it, they are still a character after all. Some decide to socially transition ( change their name, their clothing style, the way they interact with people in comparison to how they were prior to coming out ) whilst others decide to medically transition ( get top surgery, go on hrt ). It will always be different for certain people. 

Reactions to coming out will vary, with differing factors of course; how did they come out, who to, when, etc. Some will react with open arms and others will outright abuse. It will be different from character to character, on the giving and receiving end, so think carefully about how to write this. I haven’t come out to my parents, given that they’re very transphobic and my entire country offers very hefty punishment for being LGBT+ in general. My classmates and friends? They know; I came out, in varying ways at varying times, and have received a plethora of reactions ranging from acceptance to denial.

>Medically Transitioning

Not all trans people decide to undergo medical transition, for many reasons. They may be ill and aren’t physically strong to take hormones or have surgery, maybe they have monetary issues, or they simply don’t want to. All of these reasons are valid and don’t make the trans person any less trans at all.

This typically includes surgery and hormones, though there’s so much to say on that. Whilst some would choose both, others may choose one over the other; the most common is taking hormones and also getting one surgery. An example is me; I want to take Testosterone in the future as well as both top and bottom surgery. I have decided on which kind I want and will discuss with my future doctor about this. Other people may choose not to have top surgery, or bottom, or even hormones. Whatever your character chooses, it will not be the forefront of their personality.

Hormones can take a while to kick into effect; do your research about it. Recovery from certain procedures vary and you should do your research. 

>Do’s And Don’ts

Make your trans character unique! Not everyone has the same lucky ‘I knew since birth, have been accepted everywhere, transitioned into something I wanted’ story, but not everyone has the same distraught ‘I knew ‘too late’, I’ve been bullied and disowned, and my transition failed / didn’t turn out the way I wanted’ ( and there’s no such thing as too late anyways ). Whilst they’re not impossible, they’re not the only paths; try a mix! Some people accept, some people don’t, and some people transition whilst others don’t; there’s never a straight and narrow path.

Do talk to other trans people about your character, and ask questions whenever you feel that you have a question. If the person is willing to answer, great! If not, be polite and go somewhere else for answers. Use multiple sources, do your research, and don’t ever assume. Do use your character’s name and refer to them using the pronouns they refer to themselves as; an exception is given when it comes to legal documents and transphobic characters speaking to them but you should never refer to a trans person who exclusively uses he/him with she/her. Don’t use their deadname when referring to them in their story, especially when you can use their actual name.

Never. EVER EVER EVER use their coming out as a ‘he was a she all along!’ trope. One of the worst things to do to a trans person is to misgender them; it’s disrespectful. Being called by their preferred name and pronouns is not a privilege and is a right; again, there’s an exception when certain characters are doing it, but the author shouldn’t use it as a chance to misgender their character. I won’t go into this much more because it’s hard for me to explain but, in general, a trans man is not the same as a cis woman and vice versa. 

AGAIN, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT I AM NOT THE BEST SOURCE! PLEASE GO AND DO OTHER RESEARCH ON TOP OF THIS!! Thanks for reading!!!!

[jamieclawhorn]

4 ways to lose everything in the stock market

Survivorship bias — the tendency to read about and celebrate the successes of a very small number of people — ensures that the vast majority of us will find the task of naming legendary investors fairly easy. Warren Buffett will feature, of course. So might Benjamin Graham, George Soros and Peter Lynch. 

What’s less talked and written about are the many market participants who’ve lost huge amounts of money — perhaps everything they own — through ill-discipline, poor decision-making and bad luck. While we can’t do much about the last of these, we can try to minimise the probability of joining this club by identifying examples of the first two.

Here then, are a few ways that could cause you to lose a lot, if not all of your money, over the course of your stock market journey.

1. Letting your emotions run wild

Round-the-clock news coverage arguably makes staying the course harder than it ever used to be. Brexit, Donald Trump — there’s never any shortage of stories that have the potential to lead investors to make impulsive (and usually erroneous) decisions, sending share prices down.

As I’ve become more experienced, it’s become apparent to me that successful investing is less about trying to develop an ice-cool temperament and more about acknowledging that I’m as prone to behavioural foibles as anyone else. If you like, it’s akin to recognising that a diet is more likely to be successful if you refrain from buying your favourite calorie-laden food than attempting to store it ‘out of reach’ in your house. If said treat is nowhere to be found, there’s no need to expend a great deal of willpower resisting it.

Applying this idea to the stock market, it makes no sense to check your portfolio every day if you’re likely to stay invested for years and possibly decades. Doing so merely raises the likelihood that you’ll take action when none is required.

This isn’t merely confined to periods of panic, of course. At this time of the year, markets can feel sluggish and the temptation to do something, anything, to relieve boredom can be strong.

In such a situation, I find it’s worth recalling the famous study by financial services group Fidelity which showed that its most successful clients were either already dead or had completely forgotten they ever had accounts. 

To be clear, the correlation between taking action and stock market success appears decidedly negative.

2. Failing to diversify

A quick look at the history of stock markets over the last two decades should explain why the idea of putting all your eggs in one basket (be it a company or sector) is anathema to Foolish investors.

Think back to the speculative dotcom boom at the end of the last century. Back then, a huge number of tech stocks soared on the back of hype and very little else. Many investors, swept along by excitement, began to value businesses based on anything but traditional metrics. We know how that story ended.

Had you invested purely in boring old banks back in 2007, you’d have also lost a lot of money, at least on paper. The fact that the share prices of such supposedly ‘safe’ stocks are still to recover to pre-crash levels tells you why it’s so important not to rely on any single sector to perform. 

Will adding a bank stock to your portfolio today hurt your chances of doing well? Probably not. In fact, the huge dividends currently being offered by the likes of Lloyds and HSBC suggest having at least a few shares in one could be sensible. Owning both is questionable though, especially if you are still committed to running a fairly concentrated portfolio.

An alternative strategy would be to have the core of your portfolio composed of cheap index trackers or exchange-traded funds, thus spreading your money over hundreds or even thousands of different companies. Any remaining cash can then be invested in a limited number of what you consider to be your best ideas.

3. Listening to bulletin board posters

I’m not averse to reading the odd bulletin board now and then. Considering the opinions of others, particularly those that diverge from your own, is a great way of avoiding confirmation bias — the habit of only seeking out information that agrees with what you already think. Becoming attached to shares may sound absurd but its surprisingly easy. That’s why reflecting on the reasons why a particular company may fail or underperform is just as important as thinking about why it might thrive.

Having said this, basing any investment decisions purely on the back of what someone posts is folly. For one, you have no idea who this person really is.  Moreover, if he or she believed they knew exactly where markets were headed in the short term (tip: no one does), do you think they’d be so benevolent to post it on a free-for-all discussion board?

Even if you’re aware of the identity of a bulletin board poster, it would be a mistake to assume that their attitude to risk, financial goals and investing time horizon are exactly the same as yours. Which brings me to my final point.

4. Skipping on research

The ease at which people can now buy and sell stock in companies belies the fact that consistently successful stock-picking can be both hard work and time-consuming. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have the inclination to work their way through the full-year figures or latest news release from a company, preferring to buy into an exciting story than to question whether every chapter of that story is likely to be told.

Becoming a successful investor doesn’t require a degree in finance. Nevertheless, profits can be determined by your own diligence and a willingness to evaluate a stock based on a clear, concise checklist (including qualitative aspects such as perceived economic moats in addition to numerical valuations). Doing so can only serve to strengthen your confidence in any purchase that is subsequently made. 

Getting Rich Slowly

It’s easy to make a million by using a simple strategy such as tracking the FTSE 100 and letting your money work for you. Unfortunately, most investors ‘over-trade’ and, as a result, their returns suffer significantly…

To help you avoid this key mistake, the Motley Fool has put together this free report entitled “The Worst Mistakes Investors Make”. These mistakes can cost you thousands over your investing career but the best part is, this report is free to download.

Click here to get your copy today.

More reading

£1,000 to invest? Here are 2 FTSE 100 growth stocks to jump-start your wealth

Is a lifetime ISA the best way to invest in the FTSE 100?

3 UK dividend ETFs income investors will love

No retirement savings at 55? Here’s what to do

These 3 FTSE 100 monster dividend stocks are yielding more than 20%!

Paul Summers has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended HSBC Holdings and Lloyds Banking Group. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

[thebiggaylion]

DJ Snake @ EDC Orlando 2015

Happy Thursday, my lovelies!  After the cold weather last week, is it safe to officially consider it spring yet?  It doesn’t seem to matter what the date is on the calendar, because Insomniac has already started getting into their hype posts about EDC Orlando 2018 on Twitter.  Already!  It’s still March!  I just can’t fathom they’re gonna keep it up until November, but at least this year there’s no chance we won’t be feeling the excitement.  I wonder if I can keep up the #ThrowbackThursday posts until then?  Not because I don’t have the drive and desire, but because I’m running out of old shows to post!  I still need to create posts about costuming and such, sure, but if it’s about eight months until EDC Orlando 2018, then that means I’ll need 30+ posts to make it until I have “fresh” content.  I’m sure I’ll come up with something heh.  Speaking of coming up with fresh and exciting stuff, I can not BELIEVE I hadn’t posted this set already.  I finally finished my Index of All Posts, and it’s formatted and working right... and that’s when I noticed what I had left for years past.  My jaw dropped when I realized this one had managed to slip through the cracks for so long, but no longer!  Oh, and there’s two parts to this week’s post if you need them, here and here.  Here we go!

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram If ya’ll remember correctly, you’ll know that DJ Snake and Tchami (and a manager) were involved in a car accident in late October of 2015.  That lead to a series of cancellations for upcoming shows, and it was uncertain whether or not DJ Snake would be making his EDC Orlando 2015 appearance.  I should have figured he would, since there weren’t any announcements about a schedule change or substitution, but this was only my third day at an EDC Orlando, and I didn’t know how things worked yet haha.  This here is part of his intro, which is really the first time I knew for sure he was there. P. Diddy feat. Kelis - Let's Get Ill https://soundcloud.com/stephen-budd-management/simon-gogerly-p-diddy-feat R3hab & NERVO & Ummet Ozcan - Revolution (Chocolate Puma Remix) https://soundcloud.com/3beat/r3hab-nervo-ummet-ozcan-3 5 & A Dime - Pipes https://soundcloud.com/fiveandadime/pipes

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram We’re not even five minutes into this set, but after Eric Prydz performed on kineticFIELD, I think the “mainstage” vibe was feeling a little thirsty for some turn-up, if you know what I mean.  Sure, Eric Prydz is absolutely great, and totally popular enough for a “mainstage” set, but I think putting him between Laidback Luke and DJ Snake was a bit of a speed bump as far as styles and energies are concerned.  It’s also possible we were all just really excited to see DJ Snake in good health! GTA & Valentino Khan - Break Your Neck https://soundcloud.com/wearegta/gta-x-valentino-khan-break-your-neck Ghastly - Get On This https://soundcloud.com/maddecent/ghastly-get-on-this

Download High Res (48 MB) | Download Low Res (7.3 MB) That actually turned out to be a pretty great loop for the thumbnail, don’t ya think?  I just loved the rapid rotation on the colors of the CGI forest on the big screen, along with all the spotlights going crazy.  I’m always a fan when a bunch of tech pops off!

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram There isn’t an ounce of EDM in this clip, but bringing some pop/rock/non-dance music into a set like this becomes one of those set-defining moments for me, it seems.  I think this was so meaningful for me because of what Steve Aoki did last year (which, according to my life as The Big Gay Lion, was one of the most recent experiences I had!).  Whenever anyone ever asks what to expect from a EDC Orlando set, or if they should go to EDC Orlando if they aren’t super familiar with dance music, I always recall this moment (and others like it) as an example of how there are plenty of DJ’s that play very familiar tracks to really create a sense of a journey.  Plus, it’s a pretty wide audience anyway, so bringing in all sorts of different types of music helps engage everyone, I think! Oasis - Wonderwall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram And SPEAKING of experiences with my previous evening in dance music, here’s a moment that also happened during Dillon Francis’ set “the day before” (Day 2 of EDC Orlando 2014).  It’s a great trick, isn’t it?  He’s still doing it as of this writing (the guy behind The Big Gay Lion noticed in a video of DJ Snake’s performance in Miami last weekend), and I doubt it’s ever gonna get old!  Ya’ll got an idea of what it looks like when I’m recording while dancing in various other posts, now you get to see what I look like when I’m recording while going crazy and jumping haha! Dillon Francis & DJ Snake - Get Low https://soundcloud.com/dillonfrancis/dillon-francis-dj-snake-get

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram I always forget this track was in this set.  I suppose my memory put this moment into the set that followed this one in my own personal timeline of events (after this show, I left kineticFIELD and traveled to circuitGROUNDS for Bro Safari).  Not that it’s terribly important, but apparently this song stuck with me all night haha.  As it turns out, this was a pre-release version of this song.  What I’ve linked below is the official release, which sounds quite different, but that’s the way things go sometimes I guess! contains Boaz Van De Beatz - Guappa (feat. RiFF RAFF & Mr. Polska) https://soundcloud.com/maddecent/boaz-van-de-beatz-guappa-feat-riff-raff-mr-polska

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram His remix of AlunaGeorge’s song had just come out in the week’s prior to EDC Orlando 2014, so naturally he’d put this at the end of his set.  Not the VERY end, but definitely a track used to cap off the groove he was on. AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It (DJ Snake Remix) https://soundcloud.com/alunageorge/youknowyoulikeit-djsnake M83 - Midnight City https://soundcloud.com/m83/midnight-city

I almost feel kinda bad for not posting this set earlier!  It was so good, but I think I thought I had more videos than I did.  There were some throw-away videos (not posted) of when I must have accidentally double-tapped the record button and started another super short recording as I was putting my phone back in my pocket.  Hopefully you’ve noticed a definite progression in the quality of my videography.  Not just in image quality, but not standing so close and having to pan quickly to catch effects like the fire.  Anyway, it’s not about taking good videos, it’s about sharing the experiences!  Oh, and if you need to experience this in two parts, don’t forget I’ve split it for a more gentle experience for your browser.  Love ya’ll, see ya next time! 🏳️‍🌈🦁❤

Get low with me on any platform you love the most! Facebook | Tumblr (Index) | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Web

[topicprinter]

This is Day 7 of a 10 Day series on building N-ter, a place where you can manage your job applications online, from idea to launch. You can find the previous posts here:Day 0 - Let's Build an Online Startup in 10 DaysDay 1 - Creating a Value Proposition for Our IdeaDay 2 - Refining the Business Model and Naming the BabyDay 3 - Designing the Product Using a Method from the Lean StartupDay 4 - Establishing Our WebsiteDay 5 - Creating Our First WebpagesDay 6 - Developing Our First User Story Today you can expect quite a short post with an update on development progress and a couple of tips and resources for creating and managing database connections with your website. If you're not interested in the technical details of the journey, today is a good day to skip. :)  Hey guys,today was quite a busy day, especially because a few issues came up in the code implementation, that took me quite a while to solve. I’m going to talk about it a bit in this post. Treat the post today as more of a short progress update than an extensive overview. I will still provide some resources to accompany what I am doing at the moment, though. Let’s Have a Look at Where We Need Custom CodeI’ve mentioned at the start of this series that I am going to try to keep the required code for our solution at a minimum. As I gave up on trying to utilize the Contact Form 7 plugin for creating an input form for the user, the scope we need custom code for expanded a little. We can say that now we need to create custom code for all interactions concerning data for and from the database, starting from the page to the database and the way back. This means the custom code is required for the following activities (I’ve provided a link with code examples for every one of them so you can look up how it can be done):Creating a HTML form to get user input (Good example, only read steps 1 and 2, as the database connection works differently in WordPress!)Sanitizing and preparing user input for the database (WordPress Codex)Storing user input in the database (WordPress Codex)Retrieving data from the database (WordPress Codex)Displaying data from the database on the page (Here’s a good code example)Sending data between two webpages (this works best with the HTTP POST Method, explained here) I’m writing the code for all five parts above in only three files, which are all located in our child-themes folder: the functions.php file, the template file for our application dashboard and the template file for our application editing page. Direct interactions with the database work a bit differently in WordPress than in “pure” PHP. Many functions are already prepared to be used, which simplifies the entire process quite a bit. There is a global class called WPDB which you can use anywhere to directly interact with the database. This class is thoroughly explained in the WordPress Codex links for storing and retrieving data from the database above. Another thing I need to mention: We should add SQL to the list of languages that you should have a basic understanding of. SQL is used for interaction with and manipulation of databases like MySQL. The language itself is quite simple once you understand how it works. Here is a good tutorial on SQL. The Troubles of Trying to be a CoderIf you get into coding yourself, you will see that sometimes there’s that one small tiny thing in the code that you did wrong or just forgot about. Subsequently, that little thing drives you crazy because you can’t find it and your code, which should be working, just doesn’t work. And then you can’t figure out why. And after a while you start questioning everything including your own sanity. I’m sure this problem is not exclusively reserved to newbies like me and the experienced coders around here can relate to this problem as well. Often, it’s a thing as tiny as a missing semicolon. For me this small little thing today was the database table prefix. I spent 3 hours today (we’re on a tight schedule!! :D) trying to figure out why the code wouldn’t work that I just created to get data from our database. I double and triple checked the code, rewrote everything from the ground up, tried to make the code as lean as possible and so on. Nothing would work, I just kept on getting a generic error that something was wrong with my SQL statement. I discovered my mistake when I tried pulling data from another WordPress table with the same code and it worked! But with our custom table, it still didn’t! That’s when I realized the problem must be with the table. And yes, it was. Or at least with the way I handled the table. The WordPress database tables have a prefix (standard is “wp_”) that you can change during WordPress installation. When accessing standard WordPress tables with code, that prefix doesn’t need to be added. But if you’re working with a custom table, you need to add it by putting the following code in front of the table name: ‘$wpdb->prefix’. There goes three hours of my day just because I forgot to add that damn prefix. If you’re getting into code, be prepared for minor stuff like this to throw you off your schedule! But there we go, problem solved. We can continue. Achievements for TodayOverall, I was mainly working on the database connection today, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. Users can now create new job applications along with supporting data, that all gets stored in the database. Also, they can now display all their applications on the application dashboard. There is also a functionality which allows to edit specific application records by clicking on a button on the application dashboard. A click takes the user to the application editing page, where all the data is already pre-filled in the form and can be edited. Once the user is done editing an application record and saves is, he is automatically taken back to the application dashboard.This results in the following user story board for today.As you can see, three more user stories are in the “developed” bucket today. They still have to be refined and thoroughly tested though, which we are going to do at the end. I am planning to touch on testing on Day 9 of this series. Day 7 SummaryThere’s not that much to summarize today. Keep working on making your user stories reality! 😊 And tomorrow, we are going to keep doing exactly that! Meanwhile, feel free to sign up for the email-newsletter and I’ll let you know when the new posts go online! Edit: added links