#first gay Latin star

[thepradaenchilada]

Keep friendships smelling fresh by scooping out droppings and clumps at least once a day.

[jadeestebanestrada]

Comedy in the City of Dreams

On July 19, I'll be representing Team USA at the 4th Annual Boom Chicago Comedy Festival in Amsterdam. Looking forward to performing alongside comedians from all over the world!

[piratekane]

june reading wrap up

it's that time of the month again, folks.

the mission: read only queer books the side mission: read more than just sapphic books the side-side mission: read something besides fantasy/romance mission status: sick

some stats for those following along at home:

- i read 19 books - i attempted one buddy read (but my wife quit on me, guys) - 100% OF MY BOOKS WERE QUEER - still no audiobooks but there's a freshly peeled month ahead of us

here's the reviews:

the bad: - Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur, bisexual rep people in the circles i've been traveling lately love this book, but i just... didn't. the characters did a complete personality switch about three chapters in. one of them was a manic pixie dream girl. the other was so flat i dreaded reading her perspective. also the brother had NO boundaries and i hate third act breakups due to miscommunication. 1 star - Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly, achillean rep people also loved this one but my struggle is that i don't think gay men are it for me and also there were some things about Alexie that i just didn't jive with. there was, yet again, another third act breakup that felt contrived. the writing was good and it was clear Kelly knows hiking and they have a love for it. so i enjoyed that part! 2.5 stars - The Prospects by K.T. Hoffman, trans achillean rep everyone and their freaking mother LOVE this book but it just didn't have enough baseball. like, for a book about the first trans baseball player in the professional league, this book was about his love interest's anxiety. gimme baseball!!! and gene straight-up backstabbed luis, i stg if no one else thinks so. 2.5 stars

the great: - The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher, lesbian rep this is lit-fic and you should know that going into it. once i got used to the writing style, i was hooked on this book. it's an interesting POV and the love story is really the complex love between a daughter and her mother, and the daughter and get great-aunt. like, my brain is still bending around this one. 5 stars - The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller, queer rep this book emerged from a tumblr prompt and it's incredible. tons of rep (sword lesbian, motorcycle lesbian, drag queen, bisexual mess, nonbinary pizza delivery person) and just a fun fucking time. it's all centered around Pride weekend and begs the question: just what do you do when a zombie outbreak fucks up your festival? 5 stars - Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun, lesbian rep two teachers go on a road trip with their terminally ill mentor and gosh, this is a specific setup but it works. i cried at the end like a little baby. the characters were fantastic (my favorite was their mentor) and the writing was superb. there's also really great ADHD rep in this and the growth of each character felt natural instead of forced. 5 stars - The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas, trans rep i knew this book existed and my cousin loves it but i never gave it a fair shake because i was like ONLY SAPPHIC NOVELS ONLY SAPPHIC NOVELS and was averse to reading anything but that but this one. this one is so good. the setting (a contemporary-fantasy latin america) is so lush and rich with detail. teo, the main character, had me rooting for him from the get-go. and the plot twist was so so good. i requested an advanced copy of the sequel through NetGalley and i'm hoping it'll come there. (i also bought Thomas' other novel, because now he is auto-buy author me) 5 stars.

honorable mentions: - A Swift and Sudden Exit by Nico Vincenty, bisexual rep also born from a tumblr prompt and just so much fun. i recommend purchasing this because it's just too good. time traveler meets and immortal (maybe you've seen the prompt). you won't regret it - Elatsoe by Darcy Little Badger, asexual rep an Indigenous girl who can see ghosts goes on a trip to hunt down her cousin's murderer. the writing is so punchy. i loved this one. - On the Same Page by Haley Cass, bisexual rep best friends become lovers through miscommunication. hilarious stuff. i will also read Haley Cass again because the characters were so funny and the plot was so good. - Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore, nonbinary rep this one was a mind bender in a good way. each of the characters were really fleshed out in a fun way. the timeline hopping was a little trippy, but i got my feet under me quick. - A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland, lesbian rep a selkie wife retelling. do i really need to say more?

okay this is long i am congratulating you if you got this far. now i need to go hibernate and slow down because i read too much and this month i want to write!

[sunnysam-my]

Dark Academia is a subculture and it isn't problematic, just misunderstood.

I am so tired of people that aren't a part of this community shitting on dark academia literally any time it gains popularity again, claiming that it's pretentious, elitist and racist. It's not problematic, at least not in a way most people criticise it for.

What all of those people don't seems to understand is that there's the dark academia aesthetic and there is the dark academia the subculture. Even when they do understand they still put people who are only interested in the fashion and overall vibe together with people who are dark academia.

Why is dark academia a subculture?

First let's start with what even subculture is?

It's a cultural group within a larger culture, often sharing a collection of values, beliefs, rituals and traditions. Despite what many believes, it doesn't have to have any connection to music, like Star Trek and Star Wars fans, but there's no need for having a shared fandom at all, like the gays, bikers and youth.

Participation in the dark academia subculture is not limited to following a specific set of fashion. It suggest preferred activities, hobbies, philosophies and lifestyles. The focus is on reading and expanding one’s horizons, on becaming the best version of oneself no matter the cost, especially by engaging in classical literature, history, foreign languages, mythology, art and philosophy. On top of that DA is actually connected to certain music (classical and neoclassical) and fandoms.

The (incorrect) criticisms:

1. One of the more common criticisms of dark academia is that of its superficiality and pretentiousness – that it is more a fetishisation of intellectual life than real intellectual life. "Instead of being a reading society, it's a Dead Poets Society cosplay." This is just simply untrue. Yes, there are people who are purely here for the aesthetic and vibes, but they aren't part of the subculture. People who are genuinely part of this community do read all those books, write poetry, journal e.t.c regularly and try to be well educated.

2. The money issue. Now this is where it gets funny. Dark academia is often called classist and racist because of it's "idealised vision of the academic lifestyle in which the money is simply there". Obviously in places where higher education is strictly financially driven studying is a bitch. Nowadays there are even a lot of doctors who are homeless, especially in US. But DA is mainly a European thing, and in a lot of EU countries studying isn't that expensive, it's not cheap either (books costs a lot and not working doesn't help), but you don't need to pay for a good education, you need to study hard and compete with others to get good education.

This however is not a dark academia problem. It's a harsh reality. One that we need to fight with. Getting higher education shouldn't make you get into a debt. It shouldn't make you sacrifice social life for studying all your life only to end on the streets.

3. "Eurocentric obsession". This is so dumb I don't even know to say. How can you possibly call people, mostly from Europe, problematic for being fascinated by Europe's history, it's past culture, Greek mythology, mostly European philosophers (but American too), Latin that is still fucking taught at many schools here, etc. All of things are taught in schools here. There is nothing wrong with you being obsessed with Asian royalty and making it part of your personality, but God forbid, you, a white person, are obsessed with the best parts of your history and culture 🙄.

4. Another criticism of dark academia is that it encourages unhealthy behaviour, both physically (caffeine overconsumption, smoking, drugs) and mentally (perfectionist, constant competition). The pursuit of perfection comes at a price. The entire idea of DA is to study as hard as possible so you can reach enlighten. It's workaholism, except it's school, not work. Now this is why I think dark academia isn't problematic in a way people think, but is misunderstood.

A melancholic comforting dream

It's easy to understand why people think DA is unhealthy or fake. Nights spent studying, writing essays for hours on end, drowning in books and writing excessive notes. For many this sounds like a nightmare, but dark academia romanticise it. It see it as the true joy of university life. At the same time there's taking joy in reflecting on what is irretrievably lost, pessimistic and melancholic.

In reality most people in this community are overworked neurodivergent, usually twice exceptional, youth who struggles mentally. So many people are twice exceptional and it's very obvious. The hyperfixetions, the love for linguistics and humanities, the hate of math.

For many Dark Academia is a coping method.

Staples of dark academia fiction explore intellectualism, classic literature and self-discovery, but also the struggle of fighting for your identity, the way humans are shaped by their trauma, the way they destroy themselves to be better. The word "dark" in Dark Academia is primarily about those dark sides of the human nature, not just the dark colours of the DA aesthetic.

If you think that Dead Poets Society romanticised suicide or Kill Your Darlings academicly motivated drug use then you're the crazy one here. People loved those movies, because of how relatable they were, even the suffering.

Studying is a bitch. If you make it fun then you are less depressed about the fact that you don't have the choice to not study all night. It's not just nostalgia for what you haven't experienced, but what you have to endure all your youth. Some people are forced to study to be the very best and sacrifice their (social) lives, because the system is so broken, but if you can make it into your own, comforting, time - it's better. Sure, the movies and books have lots of harmful copying mechanism, but irl (or in this case online) this community encourages healthy methods like reading, making art, journaling, acting etc.

I do think there's a lot of to talk about when it comes to, for example, sexism, and I do agree DA needs more diversity than just white cis man, but like I said, it's not problematic in a way most people criticise it for.

[yourthirdparent]

OH MY GOD okay so a beloved follower of mine sent me an ask about my tristan mclean headcanons like in december but i accidentally deleted !!!!!!! the fuckcing ask !!!!!!!!!!!!!! so i'm making it a post. hope you don't mind. also sorry for the wait

most of my thoughts are things i can not share on this blog (this is the Normal blog for Normal things and not the fucked up torture i subject this man to on a regular basis. tbf i hardly post about it on the Bad Posts blog either but like still. can share it on ao3 though check out sleep by imjustheretoreadonefic (don't do that it's not good)) but you can ask about that (if you want, which you probably won't because it is not most people's thing lmao) on my sideblog, yourfourthparent!! BUTBUTBUT i do have some thoughts and headcanons and such that are at the very least decently presentable!!!!

starting off first: i think he's bi! i think he figured out he was bi when he was pretty young (probably somewhere in his teenage years, probably like 15 max) and when he was in his 20s he was very involved in the queer community (his 20s being. in the 80s. sorry.) and was like a big activist. that is until the curse.

the curse being him hitting his big break. stars in some film that wasn't supposed to really blow up but it like Fucking Smashed and suddenly he was like all those guys who do one role and then are suddenly in Everything. cuz he sure is in literally everything. once he starts blowing up ofc he's got folks to help manage his image and at some point they're like haha [lip bite] you gotta stop with that gay shit or straight audiences won't find you marketable. you're already native and folks can hardly handle that let alone you being an active queer activist. you gotta cut that shit out so you can be the next batman or whatever. and tristan's like Well at least i'll make money to support myself and my dying father!

newsflash his father dies of cancer before he gets a chance. tristan's doing his best to avoid thinking about his father's death so he moves out of oklahoma blah blah yk how it goes.

he has piper when he's 33 ! everything's set and he's settled and then piper comes along and like. he's alright. he can handle this. he can be a good father (he's white knuckling the bathroom sink while he says this)

yeah he's terrified of being a shitty father. he does his best to keep her away from the press and keep her Okay for the most part but in order to do that he doesn't get to see her much etc etc. you know. you've read hoo. bleh

when piper starts dating jason he's like Oh cool ! i am about to break down ! cuz like. hey man. he is so not prepared for the reality of The Passage of Time. wdym his daughter is 16. fym tristan's almost fifty. that's so fucked up how is this allowed.

anyways he and jason are like Besties (*shoving my Bad posts to the side*) like they're such good friends they hang out so often even after jason and piper break up they're just Hiding it then. like they have weekly chess meetings and they talk about books and their lives and jason concerns tristan So Much oh my god tristan is so scared for this poor boy What are those tattoos young man Who are these "wolves" that raised you What is this "legion" Are you in a gang Little private school boy are you in a gang. What do you mean your first language is latin.

ngl my obsession with tristan came from my obsession with jason. i made a post like ages ago about how silly it'd be if tristan was jason's gay awakening and i just kept. thinking about them hanging out. and it spiralled and now i'm insane about him sorry. jason will always be my number one but Oohhhhh tristan consumes me.

anyways live tristan reaction when he finds out jason's mom is beryl grace in the middle of showing jason and piper a million old movies (beryl is in one and jason sees her and immediately freezes and tristan's just talking through the movie (hes silly sorry he talks through the whole thing. piper actually likes it because she has a hard time following movies so tristan explaining everything is good but jason is vaguely annoyed by it. he loves tristan to death don't get him wrong it's just that he can't concentrate on the kovie with tristan spitting fun facts a million words a second) when he looks over to see if theyre still watching and he just sees piper fretting over jason who's looking at the screen with a thousand gard stare.

let's go misc things that i want to mention somewhere but don't really fit uhhhh

i have this idea where tristan used to be a drag queen. i don't have any of the details down not a single one but i think about him talking to piper and her friends about the old days when he was a queen. mentions something offhandedly about how he wants to wear more feminine clothing and someone's like "oh are you like. yk. a gamer" and he's like "oh nonono i'm not trans trust me i explored my gender plenty, wore makeup, padded my bra, did drag for a few years, changed my name—" and they're like "you did DRAG ???" and he's like "OH yeah LOLZ i was terrible lol. my team keeps trying to bury it from public view for a reason. those looks were NOT serving !!!!" (he doesn't talk like that but i'm being silly rn)

(you just knoooooow jason was jaw on the floor immediately looking up TRISTAN MCLEAN DRAG TRISTAN MCLEAN DRAG QUEEN PERSONA NAME TRISTAN MCLEAN DRAG QUEEN TRISTAN MCLEAN— the SECONDDDD he got a chance. like staring so hard at old ass pictures of tristan doing drag and realising like Oh maybe i am bi. piper dumped him because she found his search history /j)

i think when his father died he cut his hair but then when it started growing long again it reminded him too much of the past that he Didn’t Want To Think About so he just. kept it short. and it's been short ever since. BUTBUTBUT when piper decides she wants to reconnect with her culture (which she's been mostly separate from because of tristan's own avoidance of it due to memories of his childhood and his father and blahblahblah) it sort of motivates him to do it too. like if piper's gonna do it after tristan entirely cut her from their culture then like. he can too. and it was a big part of his life when he was younger so like. he knows shit. i'm not good at this btw sorry i just have ideas UGSFHADGSF but anyways when piper starts reconnecting he decides to do it too and his first step with like Getting Comfortable again is growing his hair out. it's a smaller step yk he just doesn't cut his hair it's nothing active. (ofc when it starts getting properly long he has a few moments. he has to really confront his grief over his father's death and just the fear of that alone is enough to make him want to cut it again. piper stops him before he does but he has a few moments where he questions if it's worth it)

ik i just said earlier that he's not trans but like sometimes. with characters. i have headcanons that complety contradict each other. that is to say Transfem tristan mclean headcanon. she changes her name to t. just T. t wynn mclean. she goes by t cuz it's something she's already used to (jason called her that all the time before she came out).

these are all the ones i have off the top of my head agh pleaseplease feel free to ask more about any of these !!! (or critique them lmao half of them are. things i suck at explaining because they exist only for hyperspecific scenarios wherein nothing happens but tristan talking to jason or piper LMAO) you can also send in your own headcanons about him or jason or piper because EYE WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT THEM RAAAAGHHH seriously there's so little stuff that features him especially and if you have literally anything at all i would lovelovelove to read it all !!!!!!! sorry for deleting the ask btw i really didn't mean to LMAO sorry to my honourary mutual (i'd tag you but i'm afraid of misremembering who it was LMAO sorry mate 💔💔)

[sollucets]

tag game for @khaopybara !! thank you for thinking of me i needed the boost 💜

1. why did you choose your url?

my url is from ‘sol lucet omnibus’, a latin phrase that means the sun shines for everyone. a lot of my urls & usernames and whatnot are sun themed, so this is just another in a long line. for a while it was ‘solclaw’ while i was in a werewolf phase. but i dont plan to change it again

2. any sideblogs? name them and why you have them

ahhh…. the secret come out. i guess? i have two sideblogs. @jinjjayo is my kpop sideblog, which i have not advertised having so far but does exist. i also have @solref, which is just where i collect tutorials & other reference stuff.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

not consecutively, i took breaks, but my first blog was made in 2011. :0 i’ve had three main blogs over the years.

4. do you have a queue tag?

i do! i don’t use it often but i tag things that are queued with ‘ghost post (queued)’

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

the original one, i made because my cousin recommended it to me. we shall not speak of its url. this current one was made when i started seriously writing again (thank u rasmr <3)

6. why did you choose your icon?

i love ayluna. my babygirls. that’s all there is to it lol. im also quite fond of the lil stars i edited in

7. why did you choose your header?

i did a lot of work to edit the scene’s colors for my lfls episode series, so i wanted to keep that and use it for one more gif haha. also i love them terribly

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

it is currently this set of the 3wbf trio doing their puzzle piece hugs, at just over 1000 notes. 🥺 im happy they deserve it

9. how many mutuals do you have?

73! i know this because (and i am aware this is embarrassing) i keep a notes document of my mutuals with names & tracktags, so i counted manually. that is,,, thats a lot of you. i love you all very much 🥹🥹🥹

10. how many followers do you have?

i have just over 900 followers. ._. wild

11. how many people do you follow?

i follow 155 blogs. i try to keep the number down but there are simply so many beloveds.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

sure lol. ive done textpost edits, and that disney only friends thing, and etc.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

i check at least once a day. usually more though

14. have you had a fight/argument with another blog?

noooo. i never have. i always just blocked people or we drifted apart. i love to block though

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

i think it’s counterintuitive. people don’t like being ordered around, so a lot of folks will instinctively scroll. then the ones you do get are often because of anxiety, so it feels cruel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just ask normally / say please reblog this

16. do you like tag games?

why ask this at #16 of a tag game lmao. yes of course. doesnt everyone love to overshare

17. do you like ask games?

yes very much. it always makes it feel more lively. i try to play when i have the time :>

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

ouuhh, mona @thitiponqs probably, hehe. all member of usergif and gay dot tumblr dot com and everything else. everyone should know mona u.u everyone is famous in my heart though.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

no! >< it isn’t personal. i don’t have crushes very often. certainly you are all very lovely and cool, and i’ve had mutuals follow me who i had to go scream into a pillow about after for sure, but. it is all quite platonic im afraid 2 say. would still be happy to make out though

20. tags?

i will try! i choose u @markpakin & @lamonnaie ✨

[paperstorm]

Dancing with the stars just started a new season in my country, and we have our first same sex couple! Obviously, like everything else, I need to make it about Tarlos!

So Andie, in your opinion, in a DWTS Tarlos au, who’s the star and who’s the professional?

Ooooooooooh .... Carlos is the professional dancer, brought to you by the videos of Rafa dancing in his kitchen. Those hips. Carlos is definitely a professional dancer in that AU, multi-talented by specializing in Latin dances. TK is a former child actor from a 90s sitcom who is super on the fence about the whole thing but was pressured by his agent to go on the show because acting jobs are few and far between and he needs the money. He's resentful about it and then is even more resentful at being paired with Carlos because he doesn't want it to always have to be a big deal that he's gay, he wants people to just appreciate him for his talent and not make everything about tokenism. So he's a grump at first but then oops! Soulmates.

[pokefangamebrainrot]

Solaris and Taka Alcantara hcs?

Solaris Alcantara HC’s

-he has a whole room full of history books that he’s kept in mint condition. they’re written in many different languages, all of which he knows

-he often uses petnames of the regions ancient language (latin being the equivalent in our universe) to refer to the people he cares about

-the reason he made all of team meteor’s codenames themed around stars is because he first learned ancient languages through books about constellations. they’re also what people used to navigate

-he both loves and hates elias. elias was always the angel on his shoulder telling him softly to make better choices, while solaris was more hotheaded

-not even taka knows solaris’ real name. the only one that does is elias and the order of arceus members that raised him (of which he killed most of them)

-he’s obviously incredibly religious, almost as much as elias is

-a little before the story starts, he dismisses elias as his servant, saying that he has “no future need of him”. it broke both of their hearts

Taka Alcantara HCs

-one of the only possessions he has which he really wanted was a gameboy. one of the members of the order saw how lonely he was and snuck it in for him. he’s played the games on it about a thousand times

-he supported luna wholeheartedly in her transition. in fact, when she was still closeted, he took the blame for her being caught in dresses, saying it was a dare

-the scarf he has was passed down through the head of the alcantara line. some part of him still wants to keep it with him even though he doesn’t like what it represents

-he’s dyslexic (which made his upbringing having to read classical texts just. SO much harder)

-he’s gay (suggested by our gf lmao)

-he starts to stream on twitch in the post game to get more publicity for the Reborn History Museum

-he becomes a TOP tier gamer, it’s one of his few passions

-eventually he raises a gible from an egg and it becomes his partner alongside aegislash. he fulfils his legacy on his own terms

thank you so much for the ask! i really enjoyed this, sorry it took a while!

[fatehbaz]

The New York State Urban Development Corporation saw in the piers a sacrificial milieu of impurity and devaluation. Rivera described the event as follows: “It’s called a sweep. Not even a fucking eviction. A sweep, like we’re trash.” [...]

The clearance operation of the piers took place under the New York Slum Clearance Commission and Law and its frothy utopian verbiage of “sanitizing” an environment [...] unsuitable for human life. [...] The demolition of the piers showed the violent clash of two confronting forms of urbanism. [...] [Manhattan’s] working class industrial base was transformed into a corporate and service-based economy and New York State Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, together with city planners, implemented policies to frame Manhattan as a place for work, but not living. [...] The rhetoric used by public and private officials to get rid of the piers was embedded in medical metaphors, [...] "blight" [...]. At the same time, these discussions were imbricated with racial depictions and xenophobic targets: most of the constructions beleaguered in this operation were inhabited or used by black people, Latin Americans, migrants, and displaced communities. [...]

---

The piers thrived with life. [...]

The notion of the piers as insalubrious areas that needed to be wiped out gained traction in the 1980s - during the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis [...]. This narrative concerning the piers was active in New York City until the early 2000s, until Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki opened the Greenwich Village segment of Hudson River Park on May 30, 2003. The highway was finally demolished [...] and a series of gates were erected to keep Pier 45 closed after 1am [...]. The previous residents of these spaces were just routine casualties. The new proposal opted for a unitary, straightforward, apparently open but constantly surveilled set of facilities, where constant circulation (by car, skate, bike, foot) was central, and framed the conception of the piers as a passing point. This contrasted the labyrinthic and fragmented former setting, with multitudes of hidden spaces that provided a sense of privacy and safety [...].

---

The history of the piers runs parallel to the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement in New York. This is where Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson decided to locate the first installment of [...] (STAR) in 1970 [...], a year after the Stonewall riots. [...] [D]uring the 1973 Gay Pride Rally [...], [Rivera] asked the movement to support [racialized, trans, gender non-conforming, homeless, and incarcerated people] [...] instead of just focusing on cis "men and women that belong to a white middle class club" [...] [which entailed] the negation of alternative forms of living [...].

Members of these groups were ostracized and deprived of typical considerations during the outbreak of an epidemic: protocols of announcement, transparency in information, research, and measure-taking. Meanwhile, the communities that congregated around the piers, and the piers themselves, helped spread information about AIDS, made transparent the available data, and offered care among affected communities. Groups and associations like STAR, Gay Men's Health Crisis, and Gran Fury were essential in this effort. [...] This environmental activism, where kin was formed [...], happened in places like the piers. [...] They were an escape from the constant scrutiny of authorities and from homophobic attacks [...].

---

AIDS' first name, GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency), as well as the common “gay plague” and “gay cancer” epithets, strengthened the idea of a specifically gay disease related to a certain environment-specific villain. Journalists, following the views of public health authorities, blamed the epidemic on [...] the places gay people frequented. [...] Physicians thus described a spatial configuration located in downtown Manhattan [...] which [...] posed a threat [...]. This claim had terrible consequences for the activist spaces and urban fabrics that confronted the epidemic [...]. The remnants of Pier 45 were demolished. The activist history of these places was “cleared.” [...]

---

When Sylvia Rivera shouted to the authorities “stay away from my house!” while being evicted, “house” not only referred to the physical construction of her home. She was confronting teleological progress with the project of a[n] [...] assemblage based on [...] mutual caring [...] and defying colonial narratives of race, sex, gender, and nature. The territorialization of epidemics, identities, and citizenship not only shape the built environment, but the built environment shapes them in return. Architecture thereby assumed the form of an expanded spatial practice [...].

When Rivera was trying to save her home from demolition, she said, “there’s so many fucking buildings in this fucking Manhattan.” What New York City was losing with the demolition of Pier 45 was not just a series of dwellings. It was losing a complex ecosystem of coexistence.

---

All text above by: Iván López Munuera. “Lands of Contagion”. e-flux Architecture (Sick Architecture series). November 2020. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … October 19

1433 – Born: Renaissance Humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino (d.1499). Ficino was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, an astrologer, a reviver of Neoplatonism who was in touch with every major academic thinker and writer of his day, and the first translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin. Ficino led the Platonic Academy of Florence, a circle of literary men and artists eager to learn from the man they nicknamed "alter Plato." His large "Platonica familia" included his student Lorenzo de' Medici, philosopher Pico della Mirandola, and poets Angelo Poliziano and Giovanni Cavalcanti, Ficino's dear friend. Throughout his life Ficino also corresponded with numerous prominent men of Europe, political and religious leaders as well as scholars.

Ficino encouraged his followers at the Platonic Academy to write love letters stressing the union of souls who have lost themselves in each other. Ficino's voluminous correspondence, which was published in 1495, contains many examples of such letters, including some to Giovanni Cavalcanti.

Cavalcanti (1444-1509), a handsome Florentine nobleman, lived for many years with Ficino at his villa and was an important member of the Platonic Academy. During a brief separation in 1473-1474 Ficino wrote letters to "Giovanni amico mio perfettisimo" ("Giovanni my most perfect friend") in which he declared his love and compared their union to those of illustrious male companions of classical times.

Ficino's formulation of platonic love exercised an important influence on artists in his own time and beyond, including Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. His influence can also be seen in the homoeroticism in Michelangelo's and Shakespeare's sonnets as well as in the works of Edmund Spenser, Pierre Ronsard, and Maurice Scève.

With time Ficino's concept of platonic love, clearly a relationship between men, was heterosexualized and transformed into courtly love, a reading more acceptable to society at large. It was also subsequently desexualized entirely and came to mean a non-physical love, a notion that distorts Ficino's philosophy.

1921 – George Nader (d.2002) was an American film and television actor of Lebanese descent. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 through 1974, including Phone Call from a Stranger (1952), Congo Crossing (1956), and The Female Animal (1957). During this period, he also did episodic television and starred in several series, including the unique NBC adventure offering, The Man and the Challenge (1959-60). However, his best-remembered role may have been as "Roy", the hero who saves the world from the clutches of "Ro-man" in the low-budget 3-D sci-fi romp Robot Monster (1953).

In the mid-50s Nader often found himself struggling in the shadow of more famous leading men, such as Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Jeff Chandler. His films of that period included 1954's Carnival Story and Sins of Jezebel and 1956's Away All Boats.

George Nader (R) with Rock Hudson

Also in the mid-1950s, rumors about Nader's private life began to surface. Nader may have had an affair with Rock Hudson with whom he was a life-long friend. However, Nader's full-time companion was Mark Miller. Nader met Mark - his partner of 55 years- when the two appeared together in a musical at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1947. They lived openly together. Because of the rumors, Nader's career in Hollywood was ended. He and Miller moved to Europe, where Nader found steady work in films. A notable role during this period was as U.S. government agent "Jerry Cotton" in a German film series where he became the number two most popular film star in Germany behind Lex Barker, former Tarzan. In 1972 he suffered a detached retina in an automobile accident in the Philippines, and he was no longer able to work under the lights. Miller planned to get a job in real estate to support the couple, but Rock Hudson hired him as his secretary. Hudson left the bulk of his estate to Nader on his death in 1985.

After leaving his acting career, Nader began a career as a writer of science fiction. His groundbreaking 1978 novel Chrome is probably the first science fiction novel to center on a homosexual love affair, and the first to have substantial homosexual erotic scenes. The story was of forbidden love between a human male & a beautiful male robot, who are eventually exiled to different parts of the universe. Chrome is now in its 6th printing.

Nader and Miller eventually returned to the U.S. and settled in Palm Springs. Stricken by multiple medical problems, Nader entered the hospital in September 2001. On February 4, 2002, he died at Woodland Hills, California of cardiac-pulmonary failure, pneumonia, and multiple cerebral infarctions.

1945 – Divine (d.1988), born (Harris) Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century," Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances. Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films. He was often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role. Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a conservative, wealthy middle class family, he became involved with John Waters and his acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, in the mid-1960s and starred in a number of Waters's early films such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. These films have since become cult classics. In the 1970s, Milstead made the transition to theater and appeared in a number of productions, including Women Behind Bars and The Neon Woman, while continuing to star in such films as Polyester, Lust in the Dust and Hairspray.

Despite some claims made to the contrary, Divine always considered himself to be male, and was not transgender or transsexual. He used the term "Divine" as his personal name, telling one interviewer that both "Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" were "both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past twenty-three years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all." At one point he had the name "Divine" officially recognized, as it appeared on his passport, and in keeping with his personal use of the name, his close friends nicknamed him "Divi".

Divine was homosexual, and during the 1980s had an extended relationship with a married man named Lee, who accompanied him almost everywhere that he went. They later separated, and Divine would go on to have a brief affair with the gay porn star Leo Ford, something that was widely written and gossiped about in the gay press. Divine would also regularly engage in sexual activities with young men that he would meet whilst performing, sometimes becoming infatuated with them: in one case, he met a young man in Israel who he slept with and subsequently wanted to bring back to the United States, something that his manager prevented him from doing.

Divine initially avoided informing the media about his sexuality, even when questioned by interviewers, and would sometimes hint that he was bisexual, but in the latter part of the 1980s decided to change this attitude, and began being open about his homosexuality. Nonetheless, he avoided getting into discussions regarding gay rights, partially at the advice of his manager, realising that it would have had a negative effect on his career.

Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world's biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself ... but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine".

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after Hairspray was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, he was scheduled to film his part in the Fox network's television series Married... with Children. After dining with friends and returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42.

1950 – On this date the influential American record-producer and musician of the disco-era Patrick Cowley was born (d.1982). He is often credited with pioneering electronic dance music.

In 1971, at the age of 21, Cowley moved to San Francisco to attend the City College of San Francisco where he studied music, specifically the use of synthesizers. Cowley met San Francisco-based musician Sylvester in the late 1970s. Sylvester had asked Cowley to join his studio band after hearing some of his early synthesizer recordings.

Cowley's own hits included "Menergy" in 1981, a frank celebration of the Gay club sex scene, and "Megatron Man", which hit #1 and #2 respectively on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1982. That same year, Patrick Cowley became the DJ at the "Menergy" parties at The EndUp in San Francisco.

He also wrote and produced the dance single "Right on Target" for San Francisco artist Paul Parker, which also reached #1 on the Billboard dance chart in 1982. A collaboration with Sylvester, "Do You Wanna Funk", made #4 on the Billboard dance chart that same year. Cowley also did a 15'45" long remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", which is now a collector's item.

During a world tour with Sylvester in late 1981, Cowley complained of feeling increasingly unwell. Upon returning to the United States, he visited a doctor who diagnosed food poisoning. Weeks later, with his condition only worsening, doctors again failed to identify what was wrong with him. At this early stage in the history of the HIV and AIDS, misdiagnosis was common and so Cowley, who was gay, was discharged from the hospital (in 1982) after doctors could do nothing more for him.

His final album, Mind Warp, was composed as he felt the increasing effects of HIV infection, and its songs reflect his increasing detachment from conventional reality as the disease progressed. Cowley only released three solo albums, but groups including the Pet Shop Boys and New Order cite Cowley's style as a major influence.

1968 – Blake Harper, born Peter Tiefenbach, in Windsor, Ontario, a former male nurse, became a porn star. He has shot over 60 pornographic gay films.

Harper was a registered nurse since 1989 and worked as such until a scout offered to set up a meeting with Steven Scarborough of Hot House Entertainment. Scarborough offered to shoot him in a gay adult film. He eventually appeared in around 60 gay adult films in a span of 7 years.

In 2006, he won an award for "Best Performer" at the Young Erotic Gay Video Awards known in the industry as the Grabbys. He also won the 2001 GayVN Award for "Gay Performer of the Year".

The 2004 documentary Naked Fame directed by Christopher Long is about Harper's ex-lover, another porn star, Colton Ford pursuing a career in the dance music industry while in a relationship with Harper. It also shows how Harper retires from adult films and returns to his original profession as a nurse in a bid to support his boyfriend and former porn star Colton Ford in his new music career. Colton also wrote "Love Has Found a Way" which is about his relationship with Harper

According to Ford, the two have split and Harper has moved back to Windsor and works as a nurse at a local hospital.

I978 – Jeong Yol (note that the family name comes first) is a South Korean LGBT rights activist. Since the foundation of Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea in 1997, he has been an early member of SLRK. From 1998 to 2012, he had been a representative of SLRK. His real name is Jeong Min-suk.

During college, he acknowledged that he was gay. Later, while serving his mandatory military service, he came out as a homosexual. Then, his commanding officer took him to a mental hospital. After his discharge, he worked as a pastry chef for six years.

In 1997, he joined SLRK. In 2000, he spent more time with SLRK, From 2002 to 2012, he has been a representative of SLRK. In February 2003, the word "homosexual" was deemed a harmful word for youth by the South Korean government. So, he struggled against the government with Kwak Yi-kyong, Chang Pyong-kwon and others. In April 2004, banning the word "homosexual" for youth was eliminated in South Korea.

In 2003, he led a movement for the Elimination of Discrimination against LGBT. In 2004, he joined anti-war and peace movements. Since 2006, he has fought for the rights of people living with HIV.

1999 – A rape center organization in Vancouver was ordered to pay $2,030 in damages for banning a transgendered person from its drop-in center.

[thepradaenchilada]

Bi the way...

[jadeestebanestrada]

"Jade in America"

Artwork: Nordacious aka James Hillier

Based on the original photo by Brent Kosadnar

[annimator]

Hey do you guys wanna watch me ramble a lot about gay shit(/pos) for an entire post

…

ALRIGHT THEN! >:D (Also I am sorry in advance for the ungodly use of caps locked sentences lol)

But before I ramble, I just wanna say I’m gonna go into spoilers that connect to the ENTIRETY of Disventure Camp; that includes Seasons 1, 2, 3/All Stars, both spinoffs, and I also go into S4’s audition videos and its first 3 episodes. I really love this series a lot and I rlly don’t wanna spoil stuff when it comes to all the LGBTQ+ centric parts of the show since they do relate to prominent plots from all the seasons and especially one of the spinoffs.

Also warning for QSMP spoilers, but uh… if ya knew me prior to this year, you probably wouldn’t have needed that :p

All I’m gonna say before we go into spoilers is that Spiderbit and TomJake give me similar vibes :D

So I’ve been thinking about my main fixations (QSMP & Disventure Camp) recently

Like yeah, both of them have their differences; QSMP’s a minecraft roleplay server and Disventure Camp’s an animated web series that essentially an animated reality show in the vain of Total Drama (I even saw some people mistaking it for a new Total Drama season too lol)

But there’s a bunch of similarities between them too; They’re both created by people with Latin-American roots, I’m aware that there are a bunch of flaws within both of them for a lot of things but I love them both nonetheless, I joined Twitter mainly to see more fanart about both of them, etc.

Also they both have a lot of LGBTQ+ representation :D

…

AND AS A CLOSETED PANSEXUAL ENBY THAT’S STARVED FOR ANY & ALL KINDS OF GOOD & CANON LGBT REPRESENTATION, ALL THE GAY REPRESENTATION IN BOTH OF THESE RESPECTIVE MEDIA MAKES ME SO HAPPYYYYYY

• I love spiderbit, that’s pretty obvious if you’ve known me for a while.

• AND NOW I GET TO RAMBLE MY ASS OFF ABOUT THEM >:D

• THOSE TWO ARE GENUINELY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SHIPS IN ANY MEDIA IVE SEEN. LIKE IF I WERE TO EVER MAKE A TOP 10 LIST REGARDING SHIPS, SPIDERBIT WOULD PROBABLY BE #1

• Bro they started off calling each other “guapito” & “gatinho” for shits and giggles, BUT THEN SHIT BETWEEN THEM STARTS GETTING ROMANTIC AND NOW THOSE ARE STRAIGHT UP PETNAMES THEY USE TO TAKE ABOUT ONE ANOTHER

• They literally had an argument, called off the wedding they were going to have, and ended up getting back together to have a date like a day after.

• CELLBIT FIRST PROPOSED TO ROIER WITH A DONUT INSTEAD OF A RING TO IMPROVISE SINCE RINGS COULDN’T BE CRAFTED DESPITE ALL THE MODS QSMP HAS. BUT AFTER THEIR PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED DATE, CELLBIT PROPOSED TO ROIER AGAIN. USING A DONUT. INTENTIONALLY

• AND ROIER ACCEPTSSSSS

• Cellbit said he’d kill anyone that speaks about the elections before/during his wedding, but when Roier asks if he could talk about the elections he’s like “Yeah, sure. Talk about whatever you want guapito” (FUCKING GAYYYYY)

• THEIR WEDDING STRAIGHT UP CHANGED MY FUCKING BRAIN CHEMISTRY

• “Roier, you… were the first person I saw when I arrived on this island. In the midst of all that chaos… you were the first one to appear in the crowd. And ever since I saw your smile… I knew… I would never forget it. When I needed someone the most… when I was completely alone… you showed up. And I want you to know that as long as I’m here, you will never be alone.” “Cellbit, I don’t have anything prepared to say here. But… I’m gonna speak from the heart. You are one of the people I trust the most. You.. you are the person I trust the most. I love you. I love you with all my heart. And… I’ll be forever by your side for anything you need.” Technically they said these in Portuguese & Spanish respectively, but no matter the language, these monologues are ingrained in my head for all of eternity

• also side note; I’m really happy that they got married early on in QSMP’s storyline. Like usually with LGBT couples, they get together around the end of a story/series. But with QSMP, they speedran this gay shit since Cellbit only joined the server 2-ish months prior to his & Roier’s wedding kkkkkkkkk

• THEY HAVE HEALTHY COMMUNICATION? AND HURT/COMFORT? AND FLUFF? AND FUCKED UP MORALS? AND THEY’RE MURDER HUSBANDS? FUCK YEAH I LOVE THAT SHIT

• But yeah, capital letters aside, Cellbit and Roier have a really great relationship, and their dynamic (which extends to their respective CCs) is so fun to watch, and the fact that they’re both willing to commit first-degree murder together is simultaneously kinda fucked up & wholesome

• I could honestly talk about those two for an entire essay and about how Purgatory is non-existent to me, but we got other stuff to talk about

• Seeing Fitpac‘s slow burn tested my patience and ruined the word roommates for me, but OH MY GOD WERE ALL THE MOMENTS IN BETWEEN SO GREAT

• “I’m on Quesadilla Island, on very important business, and it’s like- yeah I.. I like Pac…” THIS SHIT MADE ME SO FUCKING HAPPY WHEN I FIRST HEARD HIM ADMIT IT

• Fit’s character as a nomad/mercenary from 2b2t (THE OLDEST ANARCHY SERVER IN MINECRAFT-) being sent onto quesadilla island for money and a chance for freedom with the warning to not get attached to anyone, yet gaining feelings for another guy despite that alongside his implied internalized homophobia is just. I need a minute guys

• Also hats off to Ramon & Richarlyson for basically encouraging Fit & Pac respectively to get their gay shit together. They’re two of my favourite eggs for a reason >:D (alongside Chunsik ofc. But if ya seen my AO3 works that’d be kinda obvious :>)

• DURING THE CONFESSION, FIT WENT OUT OF HIS GODAMN WAY TO SAY “I LIKE YOU” TO PAC IN PORTUGUESE

• HE COULD’VE JUST SAID IT IN ENGLISH, BUT HE DECIDED TO CONFESS IN PAC’S NATIVE LANGUAGE

• AND THE FIRST DATE????? THAT SHIT WAS SO WHOLESOME BRO. FIT BROUGHT PAC TO A MOVIE THEATRE TO WATCH STEAMBOAT WILLIE, AND BROUGHT HIM TO A SECLUDED AREA FOR A DINNER DATE

• Pac was willing to give Fit his player data for his mission, he was down BAD for that bald man

• they both like their men dangerous. That’s totally not concerning

• also they gimme a lot of fluff & hurt/comfort vibes, I love that trope sm :D

• These two ruined red roses for me. Like yeah, I still see them as symbols of romantic love. BUT THE WAY ITS CONSTANTLY USED THROUGHOUT FIT & PAC’S INTERTWINED LORE MAKES ME HAPPY & SAD.

• And I gotta respect cc!fitpac for noticing that the fandom was shipping them together and were like “yeah, fuck it. Lets make our cubitos kiss each other”

• Bagina’s rlly cute :3 Their kiss (technically Tina just pecked Bagi on the cheek BUT IT COUNTS TO ME) from the 7th of December was so wholesome :D

• Also they had a smol date prior to that kiss and it was nice! Bagi changed her skin just for it, Dapper & Bad were like waiters during it, y’know, all that cute stuff :D

• TINA TRIED HIDING HER DEMON HERITAGE TO THE POINT OF SHAVING OFF HER HORNS, BUT BAGI STILL FIGURED IT OUT AND STILL LOVED HER DESPITE THAT

• “I love you the way you are. You know that right?” FAWKKKKKKKK

• AND THEN THEY IMMEDIATELY DECIDE TO GET MARRIED AFTER TINA FINALLY TELLS BAGI THAT SHES A DEMON

• ALSO THERE’S THIS ANIMATIC FROM THE SAME GUY BEHIND THAT ROMERO RICHAS ANIMATIC FROM THE SECOND MOVIE NIGHT AND ITS ABOUT TEADUO, AND IT’S CALLED “TEA PARTY”, AND THE SONG USED IN IT WAS SO GOOD, IT RANKED #3 ON MY SPOTIFY WRAPPED FOR THIS YEAR.

• I can never hear Clocks by Coldplay the same way ever again. Thanks Slimeriana

• THEY LITERALLY SPENT LIKE HALF A YEAR WITHOUT SEEING EACH OTHER, AND WHEN THEY REUNITE, THEY’RE ON OPPOSITE TEAMS DURING PURGATORY, AND YET THEY STILL MANAGED TO HAVE A CONVO AND DECIDE TO RAISE CODEFLIPPA TOGETHER

• MARIANA ASKED SLIME HOW LONG HE’S BEEN LEARNING SPANISH AND CHARLIE REPLIED BY SAYING, AND I FUCKING QUOTE, “SINCE I MET YOU”. YOU CANT MAKE THIS SHIT UP

• Also I still can’t believe they had Minecraft sex in a fountain three whole times what the fuck-

• Fooligetta are just. so down bad for eachother lol. Literally their last moment together was them making out in a village house-

• “You and me only together, in this life.” “I’d like that Vegetta.” BRO THATS SO WHOLESOME. AND THEN THERE’S THE FACT THAT THEYVE BEEN HEADCANON’D AS IMMORTAL BEINGS. IMMORTAL LOVERS IS SUCH A COOL TROPE

• I still think about this fic. A lot

• also speaking of which, I love that they were rlly accepting of Leonarda being genderfluid :D

• A bunch of the eggs were on the gender spectrum now that I think about it! Dapper & Richas are agender, Juanaflippa’a transfem, Trump(et) was also genderfluid, Tilin’s Nonbinary, Sunny uses she/they pronouns, and Pepito originally used no pronouns!

• Whether you view it as platonic, queer-platonic,or romantic, ya gotta admit Phil & Missa’s dynamic was great

• THE 8/28/23 EVENT. FUCKING BEAUTIFUL SHIT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY REVOLVING AROUND THOSE TWO

• PHIL & MISSA WERE BASICALLY OFF DOING THEIR OWN THING CATCHING UP & SHIT WHILE EVERYONE ELSE WAS OCCUPIED WITH THE EVENT.

• THEY WERE LITERALLY ON SEPARATE TEAMS DURING PURGATORY. AND MISSA REALIZED HE NEED PHIL & COULDN’T ATTACK HIM, AND CANONICALLY FUCKING SWAM BACK TO QUESADILLA ISLAND

• I’m still thinking about their kiss from the prison event, like did Phil have to specify that Missa had to kiss him on the lips-

• Bro they’re literally the “erm… hi >_<I’m a bit shy” “I will protect you” trope thingy (idk I kinda forgot the words for it lol)

• Doomed yaoi, and it’s Tubbo getting down bad for an NPC that was originally created to distract him from doing some create mod shit that could break the server- (at least that’s what I remember :p)

• Bro the letters between Tubbo & Fred got me fucked up. REMEMBER THE LETTER FRED GAVE TO TUBBO BACK IN EARLY OCTOBER ABOUT FEELING HUMAN EMOTIONS AND BEING CONFUSED ABOUT THEM???? GOD, LEARNING ABOUT EMOTIONS, & WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE HUMAN IS SUCH A COOL TROPE

• THEY HAD A FUCKING MOVIE DATE TOGETHER AND WATCHED WALL-E. FUCKING WALL-E

• Bro Tubbo kept the same skin on him for most of October & the entirety of November, and only changed back to his default skin after finding Fred, since he said he’d only changed it after he found him. That’s some dedication

• LITERALLY EVERYONE THAT WAS ON THE SERVER AT THE MOMENT WAS SPYING ON TUBBO & FRED DURING THEIR DATE IN JANUARY LMAO.

• “I kind of have feelings for you…” “That’s really sweet, I… I feel wh- if we’re being brutally honest out in the ocean, I- out in the ocean? Out in the open, I… feel… um… I feel… the same!” THIS GOT ME FUCKED UP BACK IN JANUARY

…

AIGHT, MINECRAFT YAOI OUTTA THE WAY, LETS TALK ABOUT DISVENTURE CAMP >:D

• “What the fuck is Disventure Camp? It looks like a total drama ripoff… Oh wait, there’s sapphics in this show that’s cool. Maybe I should watch it, there’s an all stars season that’s getting new semi-weekly episodes posted to the channel anyways.”

• I don’t think past Anni knew what they would be getting into when they saw that clip of Gabby & Ellie kissing in Season 1 (and also that other clip from All Stars where Fiore calls Yul a bitch, but dats not important-)

• anyways I LOVE GABELLIE’S RELATIONSHIP SO MUCH THEYRE SO CUTE TOGETHER

• “You’re the only person here that takes me seriously and possibly the only person I’ve ever met that made me feel… valid.”“Because you are! There’s nothing wrong with you. In the stress of this game your mood and excitement brightened my days. I hope we’ll keep talking when this is all over.” I didn’t even know anything about the show when I first heard this, but FAWK

• AND THEIR SCENES TOGETHER DURING ALL STARS? FUCKING AMAZING. OH MY GOD THERE’S SO MUCH I LOVE ABOUT THEM

• WHEN ELLIE GOT ELIMINATED, SHE SAID THAT SHE’D BE WILLING TO LOSE A THOUSAND OTHER GAME SHOWS AS LONG AS SHE & GABBY WOULD BE OK, AND GABBY LITERALLY DECIDED TO TURN ON HER TEAM AND JOIN THE VILLAINS BECAUSE THE REST OF THEM VOTED ELLIE OUT

• Do i even need to mention their scenes together during the motel episode?

• The thumbnail is literally them relaxing in bed, and their smiling, and the actual scene depicting it’s even better because they’re enjoying each other’s company, and Gabby says that she’s the real winner of the season since she has the prettiest girl in her arms, and then she says Ellie’s priceless to her, AND THEN THEY KISS, AND-

• ELLIE FORFEITED BEING RIYA’S HELPER IN THE FINALE AND GETTING A CHANCE OF $100K BECAUSE RIYA HURT GABBY AND SHE REALIZED GABBY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MONEY AND KISSED HER ON THE LIPS

• LIKE I WAS NOT EXPECTING THEM TO KISS WHEN I FIRST SAW THE FINALE OH MY FUCKING GOD-

• “What can I say? You bring out the best in me Gabbs!” “That part of you is always there! I was always able to see it.” these fucking sapphics

• Ngl rewatching Disventure Camp Season 2 is funny because 1) the animation used to look like shit compared to newer episodes and 2) Aiden did NOT tolerate James during the start

• anyways yeah I love Jaiden a lot. Enemies to friends to lovers feels like a trope that should be used more

• Fellas is it gay to snuggle up with this guy you met while you’re both stuck in a tent since it’s raining hard outside

• Also I love how Lake clocked the fact that James had a crush on Aiden during Episode 7 lmao

• Ignoring the fact that Riya’s bitchass decided to be a snitch and temporarily put them in a quarrel during the same episode, I LOVED that Aiden felt confident enough to essentially came out as trans to James. And that later scene with James giving Aiden a metaphorical AND literal push was great :D

• Aiden was mad at James by the time the elimination ceremony happened, and yet HE DIDN’T VOTE FOR HIM

• THE CLIFF SCENE FROM THE SEASON 2 FINALE. PERIOD

• JAMES LITERALLY SAVED AIDEN FROM FALLING OFF A CLIFF

• “Because when I lost everything, I understood something very important.” “What’s that?” “You are everything I ever wanted.” I HAVE THIS GAY SHIT MEMORIZED

• LITERALLY AFTER THIS GOD TIER CONFESSION HAPPENS, AIDEN GIVES JAMES A METAPHORICAL PUSH AS A CALLBACK TO EPISODE 11, KISSES HIM ON THE LIPS, GIVES JAMES AN ACTUAL PUSH OF THE CLIFF (if you somehow ignored the spoiler warning, dw James is fine he & Aiden had wingsuits on during this scene), AND CHEERS HIM ON AS HE GLIDES TO THE NEXT PART OF THE FINALE’S CHALLENGE

• AND THEN JAMES ENDS UP WINNING AND THEY KISS AGAIN

• “You did it!” “No Aiden, we did it!” I LOVE THEM SO MUCH BRO WTF

• Since James fell off during All Stars (HE WENT FROM WINNING A SEASON TO BEING FIRST FUCKING BOOT LMAOOOOOO), we didn’t get much of them together (;-;), BUT WHAT WE DID GET WAS AIDEN CALLING JAMES HIS HUBBY (plz get a room), AND THEM KISSING TWO MORE TIMES, AND I AM NOT COMPLAINING >:D

• also it’s implied that they were… doing stuff

• nah who am I kidding they were obviously having sex- *I AM DRAGGED OFF THE STAGE*

(but on a serious note, I’ve seen some people sexualizing both of them on twt, and they should honestly be touching grass instead smh)

• AND THE WAY AIDEN IMMEDIATELY RAN TO JAMES AROUND THE END OF EPISODE 20 TO GIVE HIM A HUG???? THAT WAS SO CUTE (Extra context incase yall forgot: James won the motel challenge from the episode prior where eliminated contestants had to search for 1 of 3 totems to become a helper for 1 of 3 finalists. The challenge for ep 20 involved the three helpers [including James] & the finalists going into a cave to obtain diamonds and shit goes wrong. But nobody ended up dying, so its fineeeee)

• Trevek’s storyline could’ve been handled better during All Stars, but them being really cute together in their spinoff episode and in the recent DC4 episodes honestly gives them a pass for me

• THEY WERE LITERALLY ROOMMATES AND ENEMIES TO LOVERS LMAO

• Also they’re based off of the two guys that co-created Disventure Camp (they’re also married btw, good for them) so that’s cute :D

• Also Huntally mention even tho it’s a “hetero” ship because Ally’s Bisexual and Hunter’s Pansexual. They’re a great couple, and their kiss during the All Stars finale was cute :D

• There’s some potential gay pairings/characters in Season 4/Carnival of Chaos AND I LOVE IT

• Anarissa and Diencer are so canon. It’s only been three episodes but Marissa already called Anastasia pretty, and Diego keeps staring at Spencer like he wants that cookie so effing bad. Also both of these pairings are on a nickname basis so yknow :>

• i gotta mention my faves Tristan & Hannah being Non-binary and Bisexual respectively >:D

• Also Natalia’s transfem and already has some of the best quotes of the season. I hope she makes it far :D

• Logan’s definitely gonna have a plot that’ll culminate with him realizing he’s bi, which’ll most definitely involve him going to Richard for advice since he’s also into sports & happily married to his husband AND I AM ALL FOR IT >:D

• There’s also a lot more subtle-ish LGBTQ+ rep in throughout Disventure Camp too. A bunch of other characters from the first 2 seasons like Lake, Dan, Tess, & Karol were confirmed to be Lesbian, Asexual, Bisexual, etc thanks to some Pride Month promo art (side note: the pride month art for 2024 included James & Aiden having their respective flags tied together and it’s the cutest shit ever). And during the auditions that were posted prior to S4, Jade mentions she has two moms, and Richard talks about his husband and how he loves him a lot(aw :D)

• where the fuck do I start with tomjake

• They really had a 2 season long “will they, won’t they” plot but it was so worth it in the end

• They were canon the moment Miriam teased Jake about him liking Tom during episode 6. Argue with the wall /j

• TOM HID HIS SCARS BECAUSE HE THINKS THEY’RE HIDEOUS, JAKE TELLS HIM HE LOOKS GOOD, TOM THINKS HE’S LYING, AND THEN JAKE KISSES HIM, HE KISSES HIM BACK, AND AFTER THEY PULL AWAY, JAKE SAYS HE ISN’T. MY GODDDDDDD

• I don’t wanna talk about Season 1 Episode 10

• “No matter what, I’m glad a met you Tom.” “Same here Jake.” WHAT IF I TMMYTOWERED

• AND THEN TOM ENDED UP GHOSTING JAKE FOR TWO ENTIRE YEARS UNTIL THEY REUNITED IN ALL STARS OVER STUFF ILL MENTIONED LATER

• THAT SCENE IN EPISODE 12 OF ALL STARS FUCKED ME UP. I ESSENTIALLY JUST GOT INTO THE SERIES RECENTLY AND THEY FUCKING HIT ME WITH THAT

• I HAD TO IMPATIENTLY WAIT 3 GODAMN MONTHS FOR THEM TO GET TOGETHER. THAT FELT LIKE WAITING FOR FITPAC TO MAKE A MOVE ALL OVER AGAIN

• I WAS SO HAPPY OVER FINDING OUT TOM STILL LOVED JAKE AFTER ALL THAT TIME AND WAS PLANNING TO ASK JAKE OUT DURING THE MOTEL EPISODE

• LITERALLY MY FAVOURITE SCENE FROM THE ALL STARS FINALE WAS THE TOMJAKE CONFESSION (besides Fiore flipping Riya off ofc)

• I’m not copypasting Tom’s confession to Jake even though I did it with the spiderbit vows, but I was cheering so fucking hard when he finally told Jake he liked him

• TOM REALLY THOUGHT THERE WAS A CHANCE THAT JAKE DIDNT FEEL THE SAME WAY FOR HIM ANYMORE, BUT JAKE THEN PROCEEDED TO SHUT THAT SHIT DOWN AND KISS HIM, AND THEN HE KISSES HIM BACK, AND I SCREAMED “YES!” FROM THE TOP OF MY LONGS WHEN I SAW THIS PREMIERE LIVE

• AND THEN THEY KISSED AGAIN AFTER JAKE LOST AND THEY ALSO SAID THEY WERE GONNA SPEND SO MUCH OVERDUE TIME TOGETHER.

• THEY ENDED UP GOING TO A CHINESE RESTAURANT FOR A DATE AS A CALLBACK TO SEASON 1 EPISODE 4 WHEN THEY TALKED ABOUT GOING THERE WHEN THE SHOW ENDED

• Do NOT get me started on their spinoff. I LOVED IT SO FUCKING MUCH

• THE FIRST EPISODE IS MAINLY ABOUT WHAT TOM DID AFTER SEASON 1 AND IT ALL BASICALLY CULMINATES IN HIM SAYING HE WAS WORRIED THAT THE ONE GOOD THING THAT HAPPENED TO HIM (MEETING JAKE) WOULD END UP FAILING, AND THEN THE EPISODE ENDS SHOWING US WHAT JAKE AND TOM HAVE BEEN UP TO POST-ALL STARS AND JAKE TELLING TOM HE LOVES HIM, AND THEN THEY KISS AGAIN AND AAAAAAKAJXIAOQOWNDNDS

• ok jeez that’s a lotta caps lol. Uh… shit what can I say to mellow things out :p

• I really like their scenes together in episode 2 & 3. I’m a sucker for domestic bliss and hurt/comfort :D

• the fourth episode. of their spinoff…. AAAAIXJSJWIJSHSJJSSJIQNWNXPDP

• TOM LITERALLY WENT BACK TO GET THE CARVED HEART WITH HIS AND JAKE’S INITIALS, AND AFTER IT BROKE, JAKE REPAIRED IT WITH GOLD RESIN AND GIFTED IT TO TOM AFTER HE BROUGHT THEM TO THE SAME PLACE THEY HAD THEIR FIRST KISS. YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS SHIT UP

• AND THEN THEIR SPINOFF ENDED WITH JAKE PROPOSING TO TOM, AND HE… uh yeah he basically accepts it by fainting out of joy ig. Also Jake cuddles up with him and the spinoff ends showing the (now fixed) carved heart

• also if you want my opinions on the double greetings, I just wanna say 1) pretty great idea imo. A lot of fan service potential since you get to bring two characters together to banter, and even kiss in the case said characters are canonically together, 2) the money used to buy said greetings go into funding for the show and everyone that works in it, which is great, and 3) yes, my favourite ones involve Gabellie, Jaiden, & Tomjake kissing

…

So basically tl;dr is that I’m proooobably a fujoshi (/j), and my relationship standards are fucking higher than Q!Mike after trying kelp cocaine thanks to all this web media yaoi

[kathrynalicemc]

HP WW1 Era Profile

IDENTITY

Name: Anthony Vallen

Nicknames: Andy

Pronouns: He/They

Birth Date: 1892

Species: Human

Blood Status: Muggleborn

Sexuality: Gay

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: British

Residence: The Vallen Estate (location tbd) and Oxford, England (university)

Languages: English, Latin, French, some German during the war

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim: Michael Sheen

Height: 5’10”

Physique: Thin

Eye Color: Blue/green

Hair Color: Brown

Hair style: Short and curly a bit

Scars: Maybe some misc ones from magic curses/hexes from weapons

Clothing: Academia style with a hint of feminine tones. Sometimes wears makeup for parties.

Tattoos: None

HOGWARTS

House: Ravenclaw

Wand: Vine wood, Phoenix Feather

“I have been intrigued to notice that their owners are nearly always those witches or wizards who seek a greater purpose, who have a vision beyond the ordinary and who frequently astound those who think they know them best. Vine wands seem strongly attracted by personalities with hidden depths, and I have found them more sensitive than any other when it comes to instantly detecting a prospective match.”

Best Classes: Almost every other class

Worst Classes: Care of magical creatures, Divination, Herbology

Boggart Form: Losing his intellect (Before the war), Seeing visions of his sister dying and his team being killed by horrible magical weapons and their faces burning and melting (During and after the war)

Amortentia: Parchment, blackboard chalk, wine, cosmetic powder, fancy perfume, ink, cigarette smoke

Patronus: Victoria Crowned Pigeon

Animagus: None

Patronus Memory: Getting his hogwarts letter and discovering he was a wizard

Dementor worst memory: Same as boggart about seeing his team dying (after the war)

Mirror of Erised: Nothing (before the war), after the war tbd

CAREER

11-18: Hogwarts Student

18-20: Bachelor's degree at Oxford (muggle & magical studies) His intellect makes him finish it in half the time it takes

20-22: Masters degree

22-26: Civilian Magical Scientist for WW1 (Experimenting with and disarming magical weapons of war)

26-30: Doctorate/PhD degree

30-47: Muggle teacher for kids/teens in small English town

47-52: Muggle teacher & smuggler of refugees (helps people get out of war areas (WW2) and makes sure kids still get education safely)

53+: Retired? Might still work for a few more years tbd

RELATIONSHIPS

Lettie & Ellis Vallen - Rich muggle parents of Andy and Jo who often throw big social parties. They hold their children to high standards and are proud of themselves for having two children gifted in both academic and magical pursuits. FCs: Frances Fisher & father is coming soon.

Joanna Vallen - Andy’s older sister who is just as gifted as him. They are very close and are separated for the first time during the First War. She is also hired for the war efforts as a spy. She goes undercover as a German civilian who is a rising star as a singer. Her profile is coming soon! FC: Kate Winslet

Love Interest - WIP coming soon!

Best Friends - Besides his sister he doesn’t really have any truly close best friends. Either he doesn’t let people in because he can be a bit egotistical and think they aren’t good enough or that other people meet him and don’t like how he comes across. This changes after the war and when he grows up more.

Friends - Alexej Kavinsky @potionboy3, Lunas Avery @cursed-herbalist, Ares Gaunt @gaygryffindorgal, and Kit Enfield (potionboy3), and more coming soon!

WW1 Oxford Team

*More Team members coming soon! It is also OPEN for anyone who wants to make one!*

Professor Alecai Kainen - He is Andy’s favorite professor at Oxford who teaches the secret wizard students. He is hired when the war starts to lead a team to experiment with magical weapons created by TOWER (@savetheundoneyears) so they can learn to disarm them and make cures for any curses or hexes or effects. He refuses the suggestions of some of the most brilliant minds of the wizard world and instead insists on hiring his students for his team. He does it so they can gain experience, however he starts to regret it later when the dangerous work starts to take his students lives. He always tries to put himself first and protect the students. He does eventually die doing so. FC: Martin Short

Audry Kainen - She is the daughter of Alecai and is one of the first women students to attend Oxford lectures without chaperones when the rule is lifted in 1914. She strives to be more than just Professor Kainen’s daughter and tries to prove that she belongs and that she didn’t get there simply by being his daughter. She does love him though and he is very proud of everything she does. He knows she is capable on her own without him. Audry and Andy have a friendship that starts out rocky (as you do when two powerful intelligent people think they are both right) but they end up great friends. She reminds Andy of his sister and she also likes that he isn’t one of the many guys who wants to sleep with her or doubts her because she’s a woman. FC: Jessica Biel

PERSONALITY

Child: Growing up he was afforded a lot of luxury as the Vallens had a lot of money. He also would follow his sister around everywhere and loved when they would play. He was also curious about everything and was given the best tutors and he quickly displayed natural intellect and was gifted like his sister. Once his sister discovered her magic and got her letter, he also wanted to explore magic and soon after he got his own letter. This catapulted his confidence as he knew it was rare for two magical children to come from muggles.

Teenage: During Hogwarts, his success in his studies built his ego even further. He was proud of himself, his intelligence, his family, and magic. He also started to experiment with his appearance as he started adopting a more feminine look. Wherever his sister would go, he wouldn’t be far behind. They became really close as their parents expected them to attend all the fancy rich parties they threw at their estate. They would stick together and gossip and whisper about all the guests as they giggled and joked about people.

Early Adulthood: Andy followed his sister to Oxford University after they graduated Hogwarts. They both were hungry to learn more and soon discovered Oxford University home to both a muggle and secret wizard population. They had the best of both worlds to study. Andy started to feel lonely and sad as he was naive and egotistical and did not talk to anyone. He thought they weren’t like him enough to be worth getting to know them. He did not really mean for it to be rude, but he just didn’t think about it. Once the First World War breaks out, he starts to grow up a bit more and learns to separate himself from his rich and gifted upbringing and he gains friendships in the team founded by his wizard Professor that experiments with magical weapons and whose goal is to disarm and find cures for them. He ends up watching half of his team die horrible deaths in accidents with the weapons.

Late Adulthood: After the first war, Andy finishes his studies. Instead of becoming a professor at Oxford or Hogwarts (he’s offered many jobs from both), he decides to try to help the less fortunate receive education. He moves to a small country town and teaches classic literature to muggles. He tries to escape the wizard world a bit because of his experience with dangerous magic and may have PTSD. When the Second World War starts, he is offered a job again from the wizard world which he immediately turns down. He no longer has the ego and ambition to be a hero. Instead, he keeps teaching and also protects his students. He would also shelter and help refugees escape while making sure children still receive safe education and not be forced to fight.

ATTITUDE

Most at Ease When: Reading classic literature, hanging out with his sister at parties, using his brain

Stressed When: Having to have small talk with people he doesn’t like, being apart from his sister, being lonely

Priorities: Proving his worth and intellect, his friendship with his sister, achieving high academic degrees, keeping his students safe and educating them (later in life)

Strengths: Intellectual, loyal, innocent, secret kind heart, unapologetic for who he is, who he loves, or how he dresses

Weaknesses: Naive, egotistical, too proud to ask for help, drives people away and becomes lonely, sheltered, spoiled

FAVORITES

Color: Red lipstick, gold, neutral browns

Food: Roasted pig and a fancy feast

Drink: The most expensive fine bottle of wine or champagne

Weather: Rainy overcast day at the library

Book: He literally can’t pick but he does love classic literature and poetry

Hobbies: Reading, chess, spell invention, alchemy, horse riding

[lboogie1906]

Antonio Junius “Tony” Jackson (October 25, 1882 – April 20, 1921) was a pianist, singer, and composer.

He was in born New Orleans. He was born a twin, along with Prince Albert Jackson, who died on January 5, 1884. His parents were, freed and enslaved. He was epileptic from birth.

At the age of 10, he constructed a type of crude but working and properly tuned harpsichord out of junk in his backyard. He was able to reproduce hymns he heard in church. He got his first musical job at 13.

He became a popular and sought-after entertainer in Storyville. His repertory included ragtime, cakewalks, popular songs of the day from the US and various nations of Europe and Latin America, blues, and light classics. He was “openly homosexual.” He would go with friends to The Frenchman’s saloon.

His singing voice was exceptional, and he was said to be able to sing operatic parts from baritone to soprano range. He wrote original tunes, several of which he sold rights or were simply stolen from him.

He dressed himself with a pearl gray derby, checkered vest, ascot tie with a diamond stickpin, with sleeve garters on his arms to hold up his cuffs as he played. This became a standard outfit for ragtime and barrelhouse pianists.

He moved to Chicago hoping to have more of an influence on his career. He was looking for more freedom in his personal life.

One of the few tunes published with his name on it, “Pretty Baby” came out in 1916, he was remembered performing the song before he left New Orleans and may have written it in 1911. The original lyrics of “Pretty Baby” were said to refer to his male lover of the time. The song inspired the eponymous film by Louis Malle.

He was a resident performer at the De Luxe and Pekin Cafes in Chicago, his voice and dexterity were impaired by disease. His friends held a benefit for him on February 17, 1921, calling it the “All Star Tony Jackson Testimonial” and raising $325 for him.

The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame inducted him into the hall. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[netherator]

DO NOT HARASS THIS PERSON

I hope that goes without saying but I am anti-harassment on all fronts for a variety of reasons. now, you may read the post: disclaimers for mention of pedophilia and very brief mention of bestiality and necrophilia in one particular screenshot.

welp I encountered one of the weirdest sorts of person. someone who was hopelessly convinced the reclamation of the word queer is exclusionary to LGBT people and is mostly about the normalization of pedophilia. argues in my DMs until I blocked her. she's a trans woman too, literally next on the chopping block if "feds" (I use the term to loosely refer to those who enforce cisheteronormativity) get their way with the abolishment of the queer identity.

she posted a meme about getting "attacked" with the word queer from both the right and the quiet community. (in the fucking shavian subreddit of all places) (both shavian and normal latin script versions of the meme below)

as you can see, a little insane.

and then I commented: "𐑐𐑻𐑕𐑩𐑯𐑩𐑤𐑦, 𐑲𐑥 𐑩 𐑣𐑿𐑡 𐑓𐑯 𐑝 𐑕𐑤𐑻 𐑮𐑧𐑒𐑤𐑩𐑥𐑱𐑖𐑩𐑯. 𐑦𐑑 𐑛𐑩𐑟 𐑩 𐑤𐑪𐑑 𐑑 𐑮𐑰𐑥𐑵𐑝 𐑞 𐑐𐑬𐑢𐑻 𐑝 𐑞𐑴𐑟 𐑢𐑻𐑛𐑟. 𐑦𐑑'𐑕 𐑯𐑪𐑑 𐑤𐑲𐑒 𐑞𐑺 𐑿𐑟𐑦𐑙 𐑦𐑑 𐑨𐑟 𐑩𐑯 𐑦𐑯𐑕𐑤𐑑."

since most screen readers can't read Shavian (a damn shame) and neither can most people, I'm gonna translate. it says: "personally, I'm a huge fan of slur reclamation because it does a lot to remove the power of those words and it's not like they're using it as an insult." (with a couple minor edits because three independent statements in a row have a very awkward flow. if you know Shavian, please confirm I haven't changed any meaning/connotation)

then, her account got suspended for either ten days or hours.

THEN she decided it was worth it to go to my tumblr and dm me. granted, my tumblr is a freely available social link on my reddit account, it is still extremely weird. she then sent something like 8 PARAGRAPHS of anti-reclamation rhetoric and argued for hours, claiming that the queer movement is some sort of confederation of child molestors who want to normalize pedophilia (where have I heard that before) and somehow exclude "normal" lgbt people by associating them with the word for weird.

AND, this isn't even the first this has happened!

and she sent this atrocious post which just... I hope it speaks for itself. at one point it says that "the rainbow flag has been taken away from them" (them being gay men) when that is just untrue. the post is also against literally all non-gold-star lesbians istg this post is so horrendous.

and apparently, if you go to her website, there was an attempt to cancel her. (although as far as I can tell, she's right about it mostly being unfounded)

all-in-all, very deranged person(/neg) that you should avoid!