#gabby garza

[queerliblib]

QUEER YA BOOKS FOR LATINE HERITAGE MONTH!!!!

books featured: Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo Miss Meteor, Their Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore The Name-Bearer, Natalia Hernandez The Prince & The Coyote, David Bowles Ophelia After All, Racquel Marie The Luis Ortega Survival Club, Sonora Reyes Labyrinth Lost, Zoraida Cordova Juliet Takes a Breath, Gabby Rivera Ander & Santi Were Here, Jonny Garza Villa

[sporadiceagleheart]

Rest in peace Those Who died deserves this honor of their names that's why this is Thursday edit April 18th to remember the legacy of the Angels that died Jesus healed them and they went on to heaven home in the sky

Rebecca Jeanne Riley, Sally Ann Chesebro, Jane Eilish Preston January 3, 2017 - October 3, 2020, Calla Adelaide Andrus, Gabrielle Renae “Gabby” Barrett, Lauren Victoria “Tori” Windsor Whetzel, Gabrielly “Gabi” Magalhães de Souza, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Terence Pinder the 18 year old that was shot and killed in 1800 block of Hicks Street, Star Hobson, Saffie-Rose Brenda Roussos, Lily Peters, Olivia Pratt Korbel, Elizabeth Shelley, Sara Sharif, Charlotte Figi, Jersey Dianne Bridgeman, Charlotte Bacon, Charlotte Louise Dunn, Emily Grace Jones, Ava Jordan Wood, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Emilie Parker, Jackie Cazares, Makenna Lee Elrod, Eliahna Torres, Nevaeh Bravo, Layla Salazar, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Bianca Devins, Catherine Violet Hubbard, Taylor Jean Moore, Destiny Norton, Destiny Riekeberg, JonBenèt Ramsey, Kelly Ann Fleming, Judith and Maria Barsi, Heather Michele O'Rourke, Lucille Ricksen, Indie Rose Armstrong, Rachel Joy Scott, Skylar Annette "Sky " Neese, Tristyn Bailey, Olivia Dahl, Lily Rose Diaz, Riley Faith Steep, Rylie Nicholls, Ava Martin White, James Bulger, Amerie Jo Garza, Maite Rodriguez, Alexandria Rubio, Joan of Arc, Jimmy the Crow, Dickey Betts, Kinsleigh Welty, Gracie Perry Watson, Inez Clarke Briggs, Annie Kerr Aiken, Grace Budd, Sloan Mattingly, Audrii Cunningham, Happy Birthday Isabella Nardoni, Bella Claire Callaway, Calla Adelaide Woods, Rose Pizem, Riley Ann Sawyers, Riley Ann Fox, Anne and Margot Frank, Shan'ann, Bella&CeCe, Lallie Charles, Isobel Elsom, Jordan Rosales, Jeremiah, Ava Cole Nichols, Pauline Adelaar and Peter Fuchs, Anna D. Crnkovic, Irmgard Christine Winter, Olga Chardymova, Eliza Adalynn Moore, Lois Janes, Louis XVII, Sarah Payne, Alicia Lynn Clark, Mercedes Losoya, Norah Lee Howard, Sandra Cantu, Jessica Lunsford, Sierra Lynn Newbold, Samantha Bree Runnion, Samantha Davis, Dr. Jeremy and Avielle Richman, Beatriz Mota, Danielle Van Dam, Baby LeRoy, Shirley Temple and more kids

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Young Adult Books for Latin and Hispanic Heritage Month 🦇

📚 It's the beginning of Latin & Hispanic Heritage Month, and I hardly know where to begin! Here are just a FEW of the amazing stories written by Latin and Hispanic authors to read in celebration of the culture!

✨ I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez ✨ Running by Natalia Sylvester ✨ It's All Love by Jenna Ortega ✨ Finding Miracles by Julia Alvarez ✨ Suncatcher by Jose Pimienta ✨ Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa ✨ Ballad & Dagger by Daniel José Older ✨ Mexican White boy by Matt de la Peña ✨ Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez ✨ Fire With Fire by Destiny Soria ✨ You Don't Have a Shot by Racquel Marie ✨ Wings in the Wild by Margarita Engle ✨ Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore ✨ We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez ✨ The Turning Pointe by Lauren Yero ✨ Under This Forgetful Sky by Vanessa L. Torres ✨ A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban ✨ This is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves ✨ Secret of the Moon Conch by David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall ✨ Rubi Ramos's Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra ✨ Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira ✨ Last Sunrise in Eterna by Amparo Ortiz ✨ No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado ✨ Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo ✨ Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera ✨ The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes ✨ The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo ✨ Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

[6lebambole]

Cinque Capi da Avere nell’Armadio

Capi Essenziali per la Primavera/Estate 2024

Con l’arrivo della nuova stagione è il momento perfetto per rinfrescare il proprio armadio e abbracciare le tendenze più recenti della moda primavera/estate 2024. Tra colori vivaci e tessuti leggeri, ecco i cinque capi di abbigliamento essenziali che non possono mancare questa stagione.

Abito Midi Floreale

Lasciati avvolgere dalla natura con l’abito midi Bianca. Questo capo romantico, con i suoi colori tendenti al rosso, le sue maniche a palloncino, la sua silhouette femminile, la stampa e il suo spacco anteriore sono un must-have per questa primavera/estate. Indossalo con sandali con tacco per un look adatto per una cerimonia oppure con una ballerina o un sandalo basso per una serata estiva con gli amici.

Abito Bianca prezzo 69€

Descrizione Prodotto:

Vestito midi

Spacco anteriore

Tessuto non elasticizzato

Maniche lunghe a palloncino leggermente trasparenti

Colore fucsia, rosso e arancione

Taglie : S - M https://www.bombinate-shoes.com/product-page/vestito-bianca

Jeans Palazzo

I jeans Zoe sono un elemento indispensabile in ogni armadio, questo è un capo versatile e perfetto per creare un outfit casual o elegante a seconda di come viene abbinato. La silhouette di questo pantalone a palazzo è fluida e rilassata e dona un senso di libertà e comfort, mentre la lunghezza che tocca il suolo aggiunge un tocco di glamour.

Jeans Zoe prezzo 43€

Descrizione Prodotto:

 Tessuto morbido ed elastico

Vita alta

Colore écru

Taglie : S - M - L https://www.bombinate-shoes.com/product-page/jeans-zoe

Blusa Romantica

La blusa Oscar di colore écru è un classico intramontabile che non può mancare nel tuo guardaroba. In questa stagione un tocco di fascino con i cuoricini stampati e piccoli ricami che percorrono tutta la blusa, le maniche a sbuffo che riportano ad una delicatezza. La versatilità di questo capo consente di indossarlo sia per un look formale che informale. Abbinala con una gonna per un look da ufficio o con un paio di jeans per un'atmosfera più casual e rilassata.

Blusa Oscar prezzo 29€

Descrizione Prodotto:

Blouse in garza di cotone

Maniche corte leggermente a sbuffo

Colore écru, fantasia cuoricini rossi

 Taglie : S - M - L

100% cotone https://www.bombinate-shoes.com/product-page/blouse-oscar

Gonna in Tessuto Satinato

La gonna midi Gabby è un must-have per questa stagione ed è un'opzione audace per ogni occasione. La lunghezza midi offre un equilibrio perfetto tra forma e funzionalità, il tessuto satinato con la sua lucentezza delicata a mano morbida aggiunge un tocco di stile e raffinatezza al capo. Può essere indossata con una camicia bianca per un look da giorno o abbinata a un top scintillante per una serata elegante, è perfetta per creare un outfit da ufficio sofisticato, abbinando la gonna ad una blusa e un paio di tacchi.

Gonna Gabby prezzo 35€

Descrizione Prodotto:

Gonna midi

Tessuto satinato

Elastico in vita

Colore: Celeste chiaro, Panna.

Taglia unica https://www.bombinate-shoes.com/product-page/gonna-gabby-celeste

Completo Color Pastello

I completi color pastello offrono infinite possibilità di styling. Il completo Serena è composto da una giacca e pantalone palazzo della stessa tonalità creando un look coordinato e armonioso. Questo colore celeste evoca un senso di dolcezza e raffinatezza che si adatta perfettamente a questa stagione. I completi possono essere accessoriati con gioielli delicati e scarpe a punta per un tocco di eleganza.

Completo Serena prezzo 75€

Descrizione Prodotto:

Completo pantalone palazzo + giacca

Colore celeste

Pantalone vita alta

Taglie : S - M - L https://www.bombinate-shoes.com/product-page/completo-serena

Con questi cinque capi di abbigliamento essenziali per il tuo guardaroba, sarai pronta ad affrontare la stagione primavera/estate con stile e sicurezza. Sperimenta con combinazioni di colori e stili per creare outfit unici che riflettano la tua personalità e il tuo spirito alla moda.

[someplayfromthepast]

the anna and ernst canon friendship (canon)

[totallytrucked]

It's like. I love the first national tour so much. I love the actors. I love totally trucked and extended run and I frequently watch them. Some of my favorite portrayals of the characters come from 1nt but also some of my least favorite. Yes I made a whole video about it. Yes I regularly quote totally trucked and extended run. Yes i do get a weird vibe from the performance for no reason. I don't know

[loveafairs-a]

        doing    a    little    recycling    again    so    here’s    the    muses    i’ll    be    adding    &    getting    rid    of    !

adding    (    ...    )

rhys   barlow    (   rohan   campbell   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   twenty   five.

maeve   beckford    (   madelyn   cline   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   five.

recycling    (    ...    )

amara    mckinnon    (   leah   halton   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   three.

avani   hasan    (   alisha   boe   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   five.

blakely   owen    (   maya   hawke   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   five.

derek    stewart    (    scott    speedman    fc    )    …    heterosexual.    he/him.   forty  six.

elsie allard    (   isabelle   mathers   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   four.

evie   reyes    (    kelsey    merritt    fc   )   …    heterosexual.    she/her.    twenty   six.

gracie   rivera    (   christina   nadin   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   seven.

jackson   kraus    (   chris   pine   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   forty   two.

kade   alwis   (   josh   heuston   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   twenty   six.

kamile   karsli   (     cemre    baysel     fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   three.

koray   ekim   (   alperen   duymaz   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   twenty   nine.

lara    kiraz    (    melis    sezen    fc    )    …    heterosexual.    she/her.    twenty    five.

maeve   taylor    (   gabby   epstein   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   she/her.   twenty   eight.

navie   pereira     (   mikey  madison   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   five.

noah  morelli    (   milo   ventimiglia   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   forty   five.

nora   chandler    (   liana  liberato   fc   )   …   bisexual.   she/her.   twenty   seven.

remy   adria    (   andrea   faccio   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   twenty   nine.

rhys   vaux    (   timothée   chalamet   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   twenty   six.

rylan   de   vries   (   michiel   huisman   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   forty   one.

riven   krause    (   timothy   olyphant   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   fifty   four. 

cemile   sydin    (   aslihan   malbora   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   she/her.   twenty   seven.

reserved    (    ...    )

lucien    robinson    (      josh    duhamel      fc    )    …    heterosexual.    he/him.   forty nine.

matthew   garza    (   oscar   isaac   fc   )   …   heterosexual.   he/him.   forty   three.

[bbangsuns]

CHARACTER LIST AND RULES

➞ 18+ for nsfw requests

➞ poly and age gap accepted

➞ if you don’t see a character here that you want to request, feel free to ask me if i would write for them!

9-1-1 ➞ evan buckley | eddie diaz | bobby nash | howie “chimney” han | maddie buckley | athena grant | henrietta “hen” wilson

stranger things ➞ steve harrington | eddie munson | robin buckley | nancy wheeler | jim hopper | jonathan byers

one chicago ➞ connor rhodes | ethan choi | will halstead | matthew casey | kelly severide | leslie shay | gabby dawson | jay halstead | adam ruzek | kevin atwater | antonio dawson | hailey upton | kim burgess | greg “mouse” gerwitz | blake gallo

criminal minds ➞ spencer reid | emily prentiss | jennifer jareau | luke alvez | aaron hotchner | derek morgan | penelope garcia |

teen wolf ➞ stiles stilinski | scott mccall | malia hale | derek hale | liam dunbar | lydia martin | chris argent | isaac lahey | kira yukimura | theo raeken

marvel ➞ bucky barnes | steve rogers | thor odinson | loki laufeyson | sam wilson | eddie brock | peter parker | wanda maximoff | pietro maximoff | yelena belova | marc spector | steven grant | jake lockley | shuri | t’challa | natasha romanoff | frank castle | matt murdock | daisy johnson | melinda may | jemma simmons | leo fitz | robbie reyes | riri williams | druig | tony stark

the vampire diaries universe ➞ klaus mikaelson | bonnie bennet | elijah mikaelson | marcel gerard | rebekah mikaelson | hayley marshall | stefan salvatore

supernatural ➞ sam winchester | dean winchester | castiel | crowley

hawaii 5-0 ➞ steve mcgarrett | chin ho kelly | kono kalakaua | danny williams | adam noshimuri

outer banks ➞ rafe cameron | jj maybank | john b | kiara carrera | topper thornton | sarah cameron | pope heyward

the walking dead ➞ daryl dixon | rick grimes | glenn rhee | maggie rhee | rosita espinosa | michonne

scream ➞ stu macher | billy loomis | mickey altieri | ethan landry | sam carpenter | chad meeks-martin | tara carpenter | mindy meeks-martin | wes hicks | tatum riley | sidney prescott | gale weathers | dewey riley

shameless ➞ fiona gallagher | lip gallagher | kevin ball | veronica fisher

sons of anarchy ➞ jax teller | juice ortiz | chibs telford | opie winston | happy

mayans m.c. ➞ ez reyes | ángel reyes | miguel galindo

avatar ➞ jake sully | neytiri

grishaverse ➞ kaz brekker | jesper fahey | alina starkov | inej ghafa | nina zenik | matthias helvar | zoya nazyalensky | nikolai lantsov

dc ➞ bruce wayne | richard grayson | harley quinn | clark kent | arthur curry | mera | dinah lance | barry allen | oliver queen | lucifer morningstar | chloe decker | lena luthor | kara danvers

resident evil ➞ leon kennedy | carlos oliveira | luis sera | jill valentine | chris redfield | claire redfield | ada wong

call of duty ➞ Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley | John Price | Johnny ���Soap’ MacTavish | Kyle ‘Gaz’ Garrick | König | Philip Graves | Valeria Garza | Alejandro Vargas | Kim ‘Horangi’ Hongjin | Rodolfo ‘Rudy’ Parra | Keegan Russ

[yourfangirlfriend]

It’s Nothing Serious - Chapter 5.5

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

A./N: 18+ as always.

This took a while to write but may be my favorite so far. 

------------

Here’s the thing about Eloise: she’s surprising.

That first morning when they met, he had expected her to look away and shuffle out of the lobby, leaving him and Gabby to the post-coital pleasantries. The old woman who lived there before would always cross herself and look down when she saw him with one of his women in the mornings. Her, though- looks him straight in the eye and says good morning, with his name he didn’t tell her, then waltzes out with a smile on her face like she just put him in his place. Maybe she did.

   Then she’s there, again, after he gets a bullshit call from the office to come in. He almost doesn’t notice her, he’s so focused on getting a cigarette to calm him down. He’s got a curse ready when he realises his lighter is out of fluid and it’s the only fucking one he has, but then there’s a voice.

  “Need a light?”

  He looks over and it’s the same woman from the morning. She’s cute. Big eyes, long eyelashes like one of those dolls his cousins had as kids. The pencil skirt she’s got on is tight, tight enough he can’t help but wonder where she keeps the lighter she extends out to him.

  “Thanks,” he tells her. She waves him off, swinging the small purse from her opposite side to drop the lighter in. They stand there for a moment in the silence before he decides he owes her a formal introduction.

  And she gets him again.

  “My moms the author.”

  “What?”

  “I’m fucking with you.”

  It makes him smile.

    He wakes up earlier the next morning. Then the next. Then the next until it’s a routine. Usually, he’s not in the office until 9, but now that he knows there’s someone next door, he’s noticing more, like the sound of feet scuffling on carpet in a hurry and the squeak of a wardrobe swinging open. And once he starts to hear them, he can’t tune them out. It makes him anxious, listening to someone bustle around him as he lays doing nothing. He doesn’t like being unprepared.

  So he starts to get up earlier. Which means he leaves earlier. Which starts to mean he runs into her. When he starts to get shit at the office for it - look who’s here, what, the brothel stopped offering continental breakfast? - he tries to sleep in again. He’s determined to, but he can’t. Hearing someone so close busy themselves around him while he just lies down drives him crazy.

  So, he gets ready early now.

The coffee shop on the way to work is happy for the new business.

—————

He only stood outside smoking that first time because of the smell. He had left something in his fridge too long and the power cut off while he was at work, and now the whole apartment smelled rotten. He has tried smoking inside, fill the air with smoke, but it only made him sick. He decided he’d smoke outside until he’s numbed his senses. He doesn’t smoke outside to run into her. It’s just what happens.

  The second day the apartment still smells. The third day, too. That’s when she joined him for the first time, siding up beside him like they had been meeting there for years. After that, if he discovers that if he doesn’t have at least one cigarette outside, it’s all he can smell when he walks in.

  So, he smokes outside now. With her.

  Her and her little questions.

  He doesn’t mind them. Not at first. Not if it was just small talk. But she takes his answers and runs with them. He’s not just from Laredo, he’s from the part of Laredo she knows because she visited once when she was 11 and she remembers Señora Garza’s discoloured hands as they made sandwiches in his corner’s BBQ stop and is she still alive? Does he miss the food? She misses the food in El Paso. Had he ever been? She doesn’t blame him. It’s a long drive.

  What’s annoys him is that he answers each one. What annoys him more is that he catches himself asking her questions too. What annoys him the most is that he thinks about her answers even after she’s snubbed her cigarette and gone inside.

  So, he gets up earlier, because he can’t stand the sound of her getting ready around him. He smokes with her, because if he doesn’t smell the night air and her perfume and the smoke all he can smell for the rest of the evening is his fridge. Now he’s a guy who asks stupid questions, who listens and laughs at work stories. He’s still working out the ‘because’ for that one. He thinks it has something to do with the pencil skirts. Hopes it does, anyway.

    ———————

  He just needs to fuck her.

  That has to be it. He just needs it out of his system. Not the best circumstances, considering she’s his neighbor, but he’s lived with worse before. It would be worth it for the extra sleep and the money he’d save on coffee and cigarettes. For the self respect he’d regain once he stopped lingering outside around 5:30 every evening to smoke (also the time when she’s usually turning down the street, coming back from work).

  And she is cute.

  So that Friday, when she’s walking up the stairs - in another fucking tight pencil skirt - he’s ready with an invitation. And it goes much better than he thought. He’s a pretty confident guy, but even he has to admit having a pretty woman tell him she’s masturbated to him, all while her cheeks have a rosy flush and she’s so endearingly embarrassed yet daring, yeah, it makes his face flush. It also makes him realise maybe she needs this out of her system just as badly as he does.

  So he gets them another drink. He inches his fingers up under the hem of her skirt. And when she asks if he’ll walk her home, his hand is only a little clammy when when he reaches out and takes hers, leading her through the bar and out into the night.

  The sex is good. Really good, if he’s honest. But most first time fucks are, aren’t they? Well, first time, second time, and third time, in this case - like he’s back in fucking college. He blames the drink. He blames the pencil skirts. He blames the way she teases him in turn and the bites she leaves on his neck after he calls her baby.

  Before she leaves she makes him promise it’s not going to be weird, that she’d miss their smoking sessions, that they’ll be friends.

  He thinks back to all his friendships with women. Despite that, he tells her yes.

  Friends.

  ————-

   He’s never been a particularly good friend, either.

  Maybe that’s why when she comes out that Sunday afternoon, when his mind is still replaying the events from that night before, he snaps at her. Because she’s a fucking third grade teacher, and she’s sweet, and that pisses him off. Because her world is so far away from his. Because if she saw a kid get murdered, she could cry or scream and wouldn’t just have to press it down and just deal with it like he has to, because its just another part of his job. So when she comes out, her hair a mess and a big oversized sweater on her shoulders and those big eyes looking him up and down like he’s a real person and not the husk he feels like, he loses it.

  Mind your own fucking business.

  He stalks off, letting his feet lead him to the nearest brothel. He asks for Vanessa, and she takes him up to her room, but once his jeans are off and he realises he can’t. That in addition to feeling like shit about the night before, he now feels bad because he was so needlessly cruel. And even though Vanessa tries her hardest, and god, that girls hardest try is the best in the country, he pulls his limp dick from her mouth and pays her full price anyway, apologising as he fixes his jeans and leaves.

  He tries to shower. He tries to jerk off. He tries to down a glass of whiskey, then two, then a half a pack of cigarettes. But when he’s not thinking about how he’s a monster for the night before, he’s thinking he’s a dick for that afternoon. It gets to be too much. Maybe because of the drink or the guilt or just old fashioned masochism, he’s at Eloise’s door. When she stands before him, her arms crossed and waiting, biting back at him with his own words - mostly just minding my own fucking business - he nearly falls into a pathetic string of apologies there. I’m sorry. You’re good, I’m bad. I shouldn’t have bothered you. You deserve better friends.

  But then she lets him come inside. She lets him be a sad sack on her couch. And when he tries to leave, to protect her from the bullshit that’s spinning around in his head, she reaches out and grabs his hand, telling him to stay. Because she’s there, and she’ll listen, or she won’t if that what he wants, and that’s what friends do.

  Friends also, apparently, give you really good head, and let you work your anger and sadness and fear out by fucking them raw on their couch. Then, they let you fall apart to them, like a fucking kid, until they pull you against their warm body and press a soft kiss, much softer than you deserve, against your temple before lulling you into the best sleep you’ve had in months.

  When he wakes up and sees her still under him, her hand still in his hair as she sleeps, he has to remind himself who he is before he does something stupid, like curl his body around her closer or pull the blanket around them tighter or stay and make her coffee. So he slips out of her hold, gets dressed, and spends the next thirty minutes outside her unlocked door, until he finally hears her stirring and knows she’ll be safe alone.

  When Gabby comes over later, he makes up for the night before. Does his best to remind Eloise and himself who, exactly, he really is. Not soft. Not scared. And certainly, not a good friend.

  ——————

  She doesn’t let him off that easy, and he’s too stupid to untangle himself. It would have been so simple to just keep walking through those doors when she called out to him, keeping his down and ignoring her. To be the asshole. But despite himself, he’s pulling his cigarettes out and standing beside her once again. He’s asking about her day at work, about the kids (whose names he remembers- he doesn’t even remember some of his cousins’ names). When she turns to head back inside - her leaving him! - she squeezes his shoulder as a way of goodbye. It’s friendly, something he’d do to a colleague, but it makes his chest light in a way not even two more cigarettes and a guilty conscience can weigh down.

   ...

   He just needs to fuck her again.

   Surely, that’s the problem here. It’s not that their talks have gotten longer, or that her perfume lingers in the hallway, or that she makes him laugh more than anyone has in a while. It’s all because she’s been leaving the second button on her blouses undone, and he can see the faint mark he left not even a week earlier. It’s because she keeps wearing those fucking skirts. And also, he is loathe to admit, she’s probably some of the best sex he’s had in a while.

  So, he’s not expecting her to turn his invitation down. He’s especially not expecting her to look that good in that short black dress she’s wearing when she offers him a drink. The hour before her friends- her real friends - show up, his hands are itching as he watches her throat when she throws back drinks, or the v of skin that the fabric cuts over her breasts. He can already see her night ahead of her— bunch of empty headed lotharios pushing up against her, grinding on her on the dance floor, shouting offers for more drinks in her face. She’ll come home completely disillusioned and drunk, and really, it’s the friendly thing to do to offer her an out. Whatever she’s looking to find tonight is already next door.

  Well. He thought.

  When he pops his head out later that night, ready to generously extend his offer of companionship again, he’s not expecting to see some man- a fucking kid, even- pressing her up against her door, his tongue shoved down her throat. When she turns and sees them, he’s suddenly feels like a high school principal who just caught two teenagers making out at prom. She’s only a handful of years younger than him, but seeing her like this now, with some young, muscled hot heat sucking on her neck - you want a picture or something?- he’s never felt older.

  So, like the old man he is, he tries to go to bed and sleep the humiliation off. Only, this time, he’s the one pulling a pillow over his ears to muffle the moans coming from the other side. Whoever Issac is, he must have a 12 inch dick or vibrating fingers or both, because he doesn’t think he’s ever heard a woman be this vocal. It only hurts his ego a little bit (a lot a bit) that he had her in a similar position just days earlier with a much less vocal response. By the time they start again, less than thirty minutes later (fucking twenty year olds) he’s throwing the covers off him and stalking to the dresser for his cigarettes, deciding a night on the couch would be better than having to lay there and listen to her breathy little moans or his ugly grunts. As he comes to stand in front of the mirror, however, he catches his reflection in the light and frowns when another, girly gasp permeates the wall. Despite himself, he wonders how much better Issac looks naked, how he’s probably got a good back and defined muscles and not the body of a middle aged smoker with bags under his eyes and a small but present belly. For a moment he allows himself to wallow in self pity. But when another breathy shriek breaks him out of his trance, he huffs and snatched the cigarettes from the dresser, marching towards his living room and away from the noise.

  The next morning, when he catches her in her sundress (that he just knows she’s not wearing underwear beneath), he tries to mimic her cool demeanor from the previous week, when the tables were turned. There’s a look in her eye though, like she knows, a hunch that’s proved right when she saunters up to him and pulls the cigarette from his dumb speechless lips, taking a long drag and maintains eye contact with a smug little smile.

  Oh Javi, it’s not serious .

  When he’s jerking off on his couch ten minutes later, he imagines she and that sundress are on top of him, and what he does with his fingers turns that smug little smile into a breathy ‘o’.

   —————————

  More than anything, he’s pissed when he’s shot. The one time he didn’t wear the tactical vest and he gets clipped. He hates being fussed over, and Murphy’s being such a mother hen about it- he even calls his estranged wife and asks her to rattle off advice to his partner over the phone, like he hadn’t just spent an hour getting patched up. No drinking, no “rapid movements”, and you really should stop smoking.

  He picks up a pack on the way home.

  Murphy offers to stay with him, but the idea of having Steve hover over him is almost more off-putting than being shot again. So he sends his partner upstairs with his half of the take out - fucks sake, I’ll be fine- and goes into his dark little apartment. He shovels the luke-warm food in his mouth and sits in the silence and tries to think of anything else but the fact he’s been hearing music from next door, or how it’s already 8 pm on a Friday, and that if she’s home she probably doesn’t have plans, which means it would be really easy to knock on the wall and ask if she wants to share a drink he shouldn’t have. Her, a woman he shouldn’t be inviting over in the first place. Even if she is funny and biting and caring in a way that still makes him feel like he can breathe.

  Without thinking, he’s by the wall, fist raised and ready to knock, before he stops himself.

  There’s only one way this can go, given his track record, and she doesn’t deserve that. She’s sweet. She’s funny. And smart. Pretty. She could do a hell of a lot better on a Friday night that sit with him. If he were a good friend, he’d leave her alone and simmer by himself.

    ——————

  “Isn’t that shirt supposed to be white?”

  Javier has never been a particularly good friend.

  ——————

  When she falls asleep on his arm, her legs kicked out under the coffee table covered in ash and alcohol, he’s still up. He lies awake and stares at the ceiling, too aware of the weight of her head against him to relax into sleep, lest the sudden movement wake her and she leaves- which right now, under the safety of booze and cigarettes and hours of laughing, he can admit to himself - would be the worst thing to happen today.

...Jesus, the way that sounds.

Maybe, if he weren’t so drunk, and if he hadn’t almost died, and if she hadn’t come over and asked him questions about his mom and made him laugh and tried for thirty minutes to convince him to buy an actual boat, he would be able to snap back to himself and think clearly.

  But, right now, her head is on his arm, it’s dark outside, and Javier is warm.

  ——————

  She tried to leave. She had done her friendly duty- deposited him in bed, forced him to drink water, made sure he hadn’t choked on his own vomit in the middle of the night. She was almost free of him, but then he just pulled her down beside him, like it was the most natural thing in the world. He wasn’t thinking. He should have just let her go, shouldn’t have invited her over in the first place.

  He waited for her to push back against him. Payback, maybe, for sneaking out on her the last time. Or just common sense shining through. But instead she pulled the comforter over them both and threw a leg over his middle, cuddling into his shoulder.

  Against his ear, she mumbled “These sheets better be washed.”

  ——————

  He woke to sound of someone knocking on his door. Eloise had somehow flipped her body diagonally, the way all women seem to do when they’re deeply, deeply asleep. He rolled out, careful not to wake her, before heading to the living room and unlocking the door.

  “Wow. You look like shit.”

  Javi sighed. “What do you want?”

  His partner held up a paper bag. “Took your bandages with me last night.”

  He reached out and took the bag, giving him a nod. “Thanks,”

  “You have a party?”

  Javi looked over his shoulder to the mess of a coffee table.

  “Allowed to celebrate cheating death, aren’t I?”

  “Uh huh.” The other man nodded to the pair of jeans on the floor. El has discarded them the night before after declaring them “too restrictive” when she had insisted on showing him how to do - and failed to execute- a handstand. “House call?”

  “Goodbye, Murphy,” he closed the door in his partners face, but not before hearing a muffled chuckle from outside. Stalking forward, he dropped the paper bag on the couch before picking up the bottle of pills and rattled them in his hand. He made back for the bedroom, thinking he could get away with sneaking a few while she was still out cold. He needn’t have worried, it turns out.

  “Give me two.”

  “These aren’t Tylenol, they’re real-“

  “Javier. Shut the fuck up and give me two.”

  He shut the fuck up and gave her two.

  ——————

  “I don’t want to eat. I want to smoke and go back to bed.”

  “You can smoke and eat. They did it in the 50’s all the time.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “You’re supposed to eat with those pills, Javier.”

  “I’ll eat later, give me the pack.”

  “No. You’re having a piece of toast.”

  “You’re not my godda-what the fuck are you doing? Turn off the burner—-DON’T-“

  ——————

  Sucker.

  A goddamn sucker.

  Why else would he be pouring over a bunch of papers written by kids who could barely write?

  Why else would he check so often if he was doing it right? Like this actually mattered? He started off giving most of them a lucky break, but when he saw how concentrated she looked, biting the end of her pen and circling words with a flourish, smiling to herself when she gave a check or drew a little happy face, he slowed down. Now he was thinking more about comma use than he had in his entire life.

  It’s worth it, though, when she’s sat in between his knees, head bobbing up and down on him as she sucks him off. When she looks him in the eyes as she jerks him, smiling before licking up along the side, he almost comes embarrassingly early. He decides that he’d gladly spend two hours grading shitty sentences if it means he can watch you deep throat him every Sunday afternoon.

  He won’t draw smiley faces though.

  He had his limits.

  ——————

  He’s not too sure what possessed him to kiss her like that. Sometimes after they’re done and she’s pulled her clothes back on, she’ll bend down to the bed and give him a peck. Other times she just leaves with a wave. Once she slapped his ass. He liked that goodbye quite a lot.

  But this time, he’s reaching out and catching her lips in a kiss that’s much more than thanks for the fuck and the cigarettes, get home safe. Something in his body bypasses his brain, and it takes a lot of conscious willpower than it should to finally pull himself back, even more so when her mouth chases his.

  Later, when he’s sober, he’ll explain it away as a thank you for the weekend. Or that he was still horny. Or a combination of both.

  Either way-

  “Get home safe.”

  —————

  So maybe that’s why he decides he should really be giving you rides to work. Safety.

  That’s reasonable. That’s a friendly thing to do.

  The dinners are harder to explain to himself. He tries to reason you’re both saving money on groceries this way. He read somewhere in one of those awful magazines that the embassy has on waiting tables, the kind that haven’t been updated in years, that food waste is a problem in America.

  But saving the environment isn’t why he sticks around for fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, an hour after they’ve both finished your cigarettes. It’s not a bleeding heart for the whales that makes him hold his breath for her answer when he asks her to come in for a drink. It certainly has nothing to do with the urgency with which he bends her over his kitchen table, scattering the empty take out containers onto the floor, before hiking another fucking pencil skirt up over her hips. He wishes it explained it. Because then it would be easier to dismiss the way his hand begins to fall on her knee during the early morning commutes, or the way he can’t relax until he hears those three ridiculous knocks after she leaves him in his bed.

  He chalks it back up to her safety and tries not to think any deeper than that.

   ——————

  “Are you mad? ‘Baby?’”

  There’s something incredibly sexy about a woman who can beat you at your own game. There’s also something very, very sexy about how her mouth pouts around the word, sardonic and mocking as her tone is.

  He’s only got himself to blame. He made the first move by dismissing that 70s nightmare. She had walked past him that night at the bar multiple times, staring through him when he had waved. His rational side told him she was distracted by her girlfriends and the music and just didn’t see him, but the other side- the side he often found himself on when it came to women- was pissed. Maybe that’s why he picked up the first hot body that made eye contact with him, strategically leading her over to the bar where he could keep and eye on Eloise’s back- fuck, she did look good in a backless shirt- while keeping his new friend entertained. Just like he had wanted, one of her friends pointed him out to her, and she made for the bar minutes later. He was surprised when she struck up conversation with Miguel, Colombia’s answer to Sunny Bono if he’d ever seen one, and a little insulted, too, if he’s being honest. If she was going to try and make him jealous, she could have picked someone who didn’t look like his parody. So when - ah fuck, what was her name, Maria? Lourdes? Doesn’t matter - went to the restroom, he took the chance to intervene and ruin her little game.

  What he didn’t expect was that she’d hit back harder.

  “Are you mad? ‘Baby’?”

  No. Not mad.

  Impressed. Challenged. Uncomfortably hard against his jean’s zipper. But not mad.

  But she likes being fucked rough, so he plays along. He grabs her by her hair, pushes her into her apartment, and takes her up against her door. When she’s just about to cum, he pulls out of her and tries not to laugh when she whips around with that crazed, angry look in her eye. It doesn’t take much (who is he kidding, he was never going to leave) before he’s got her bent over the sofa, pumping into the wettest, tightest cunt he may have ever felt in his life.

  The most unforgivable thing, though, and the moment that played through his mind as he drove home the night he should have died, was how she deposited herself on his lap afterwards. How those slender fingers reached out and took his cigarette, like she always did, and smiled through the smoke down at him. Naked and confident and so fucking pretty.

  “Baby,” she had called him, and it sent a jolt through his chest. “I would have asked which pharmacy you want me to pick your meds up from.”

  When they were in her shower an hour later, inadvertently testing just how non-slip her bath mat really was, he replayed her voice in his head. Baby, baby, baby.

   ————————

  He knew before he even stepped out of his car where he was going. And that scared him.

  He wasn’t this guy. He had made sure of it. It was best for everyone. It made him good at his job. He saw fucked up shit, did fucked up shit, but he never made it anyone else’s problem who wasn’t already there beside him, watching and participating. He managed it with drinking and denial and never hanging a picture of his mother up, afraid to meet her eyes and recoil at what she would think of him, even though she was years dead. If it was really bad, he went to see one of his girls- they weren’t stupid, they wouldn’t ask questions, and he always tipped them for it.

  He didn’t talk about it. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to have his hand held or a shoulder to cry on because if he started now, he didn’t know if he could stop. And that meant he’d lose the hard shell that made him able to keep doing this goddamn job every single day, and that would mean everything he had done, all the fucked up decisions made for the greater good, whatever that meant anymore, would be for nothing.

  But now, he’s standing in front of her door, hands shaking at his sides, trying to decide what he’s more afraid of: being alone or letting her see him like this. He had gone to her, maybe stupidly, after he saw the kid get shot, but that was different. That was an explanation for being a dick. This was seeking comfort. Intimacy. The antithesis of the system of drink fuck repress and repeat that had served him so well for the past ten years. He should have turned and walked to his apartment. He should have gone out the door to the nearest brothel and made a fool out of himself in front of some girl who saw this shit thirty times a day. He should have never started smoking to Eloise in the first place, because that led to talking and that led to sex and that led to the inconvenient, humiliating feeling that now filled his chest whenever he saw her or smelled her perfume and drove him to do stupid things like stand on her doorway at midnight ready to fall apart. If she was smart, she’d be asleep or ignore him. It’s what he deserves.

  But he knocks.

  And she comes running.

  ———————-

  He doesn’t do tender. Not like this.

  He doesn’t like to be taken care of. He’s the one who takes care of people, in his own messy, selfish, fucked up way. It makes him feel like he’s failing at the one thing he’s supposed to do - be the strong one, protect the innocent, whatever crap they peddled about his job. To be weak like this feels like admitting defeat, to admit that something finally got to him in a way he may not be able to bounce back from.

  He’s ashamed when he walks in and pours himself out like he does. He’s even more ashamed that he couldn’t just deal with this on his own, and his first instinct had come to her and fuck up her night. It’s almost like he can see himself from across the room, and he wants to reach out at stop his dumb ass from falling apart so spectacularly like he does. She doesn’t deserve this, and it’s not her responsibility. He worries that by doing this, he’s wrecking the only safe harbour he’s got left in the country. She is fun and light and blow jobs and laughter and good tequila, and he’s poisoning what they have by being so disgustingly raw in front of her.

  He waits for her to finally break and tell him it’s finally too much. That he’s a shithead cop who has done nothing but annoy her since they first met. That maybe he’s getting all that he deserves, at last, for all the awful things he’s done, and she rightly doesn’t have any sympathy for a man like him. This was fun, Javi, but I didn’t sign up for this.

  But that’s the thing about Eloise. She’s surprising.

  So when she reaches his hand out, he doesn’t quite believe her. She has to reach down and take it herself before he’s standing up and following her down the hall, not completely in control of his own body. He’s dumbstruck as she undresses him, so softly, like he’s something that could break underneath her help. It’s not until he’s pressed against her and she’s kissing the top of his head that he finally, finally lets go and lets himself believe that maybe he can have this, just for tonight.

So he pulls her closer, and he lets a sob rock through his body, and he tries not to cry when he feels her grip him tighter in response.

   When he wakes up, he knows he should let her sleep. She’s got work tomorrow and he’s got to go back to the embassy with a straight face and determination to get back to work. He had his moment of weakness, and now he should leave her alone. Slip out of her hold and her apartment and, if he was a good man, out of her life all together.

  Javier’s never been a particularly good man.

  So he reaches for her and cups her cheek. When her eyes flutter open and she says his name, so soft and so full of concern, his chest expands.

  He’s not good with words. Not the ones that matter. So he does what he is good at. He pulls her against him and kisses her and tries to treat her as gently as she treated him, like somehow if he could do this right, she’ll know. From the way she keeps her eyes on his as he pushes into her, he thinks she does.

  He wishes he was better. He wishes he could just tell her these things during the day, when he’s thinking straight, not just when he’s emotionally cored out. She deserves someone who can use their words, who don’t need to be at their very bottom and most needy to realise something that’s been growing inside them all along. He hates that in the morning, he’s going to look back at this and cringe at just how intimate and vulnerable he let himself be around her, that he’s going to have to brick himself back up just so he can get back to doing his job. He wishes, pathetically, stupidly, that the entire world could just be this dark bedroom and the noises she’s making and the way she feels around him.

  When it’s over, he falls against her, still entangled and unable to let go quite yet. He tells himself he’ll roll off her before he goes to sleep, because staying like this, surely, would be too much. But then he feels her fingers on his back, running up and down his spine as he lays against her, breathing in the faint smell of perfume that still lingers on her skin.

  In the morning, he’ll have to deal with this. Have to decide what lie he’s most comfortable with telling himself. But for right now, he can admit this is what he wants.

  Sometimes he can be pretty surprising, too.

--------

taglist: @fuckoffbard

[mplchameleon]

September 15th-October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month! In honor of this month, here are some YA books featuring queer Hispanic teens!

Books in order, left to right, top row to bottom row:

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Fifteen Hundred Miles From the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Insiders by Mark Oshiro

Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

The Mirror Season by A.M. McLemore

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

The Truth Is by NoNieqa Ramos

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria

[thediaryofatheatrekid]

Casting Goals: Legally Blonde

This was so much harder than I thought it was gonna be... I also added an extra sorority girl and changed some of the tracks and the roles they play.

Dove Cameron as Elle Woods

Jordan Donica as Emmett Forrest

Anneliese Van Der Pol as Paulette Bonafonté

Brent Barrett as Professor Callahan

Tim Rogan as Warner Huntington III

Jessica Keenan Wynn as Viviene Kensington

Teal Wicks as Brooke Wyndham/Shandi

Katie Ladner as Enid Hoopes/Veronica

Casey Garvin as Kyle/Grandmaster Chad/Dewey (Warner u/s)

Cailen Fu as Serena

English Bernhardt as Margot (Elle u/s)

Zurin Villanueva as Pilar

Ahmad Maksoud as Padamadan/Ensemble (Warner u/s)

Carmen Ruby Floyd as Elle’s Mom/Whitney/Courtney/Ensemble (Paulette u/s)

Cicily Daniels as Judge/Store Manager/Ensemble (Paulette u/s)

Jacob Gutierrez as Nikos/Ensemble

Ted Keegan as Elle’s Dad/Winthrop/Ensemble (Callahan u/s)

Ashley De La Rosa as Cece/Ensemble (Viviene u/s)

Collette Guitart as Gabby/Ensemble (Enid u/s, Pilar u/s)

Courtney Bowman as Kate/Chutney/Ensemble (Enid u/s)

Kimberly-Ann Truong as Kirstine/Ensemble

Morgan Bryant as Leilani/Ensemble (Serena u/s, Pilar u/s)

Natalie Pilkington as Laura/Ensemble (Brooke u/s, Serena u/s)

Curtis Holland as Ensemble (Emmett u/s)

David Wright, Jr. as Ensemble

Michael Graceffa as Aaron/Guard/Ensemble (Kyle u/s)

Pedro Garza as Carlos/Ensemble

Usman Ali Ishaq as Ensemble (Emmett u/s)

Andrei Chagas as Swing

Jonalyn Saxer as Swing (Elle u/s, Margot u/s)

Mallory Maedke as Swing (Viviene u/s, Margot u/s)

Marcus Shane as Swing

Michael Maliakel as Swing (Callahan u/s, Kyle u/s)

Sydney Parra as Swing (Brooke u/s)

Honorable Mentions: Chelsea Emma Franko as Elle Woods Jon Jon Briones as Professor Callahan Marie Eife as Viviene Kensington Merle Dandridge as Brooke Wyndham/Shandi Norm Lewis as Professor Callahan Renée Rapp as Viviene Kensington Shoshana Bean as Paulette Bonafonté Taylor Louderman as Brooke Wyndham/Shandi

[totallytrucked]

ive always wanted to ask someone this so uh dream SA cast only using actors who have been in official productions (like broadway, the tours, DWSA, london etc) ? 👀

ooooOOOO YES

melchior: the one the only matt f doyle (bway u/s)

wendla: tie between charlotte wakefield (london) and christy altomare (1nt)

moritz: ohhh god omg either blake bashoff (1nt/bway), jgj(OBC) OR iwan rheon (london) as voice of moritz and daniel durant (dwsa) as moritz

ilse: steffi d :) (1nt)

hanschen: jesse hanschen (bway u/s) no contest

martha: amanda castaños (bway replacement) or aliya bowles (2nt)

ernst: gidgy ofc (obc) or daniel plimpton (2nt)

thea: kimiko glenn (1nt)

anna: gabby garza (1nt) or krysta rodriguez (bway u/s)

georg: matt "shishi" shingledecker (1nt) or jos slovick (london) or andrew durand (bway replacement)

otto: anthony lee medina (1nt) or bcj (obc)

adult women: christine estabrook (obc)

adult men: patrick page/russel harvard (dwsa)

[greuc]

I want to fuck Paula and Gabby Garza in such a bad way

[princezukoxmasterkatara]

Tagges by @shivisdivis my tia

name: Gabrielle Garza

nickname: gabby, gabs

height: 5′6″

nationality: german/mexican

favourite fruit: Mango.

favourite season: autumn

favourite plant: I like willow trees

favourite scent: sensual amber from bath and bodyworks. And my moms perfume. Also the wood from home depot and lowes

favourite colour: Purple.

favourite animal(s): Birds, cats

coffee, tea or hot choco: Coffee and tea

average hours of sleep: ideal amount is 12, and at least 1 nap. But normally 9

dog or cat person: cats

favourite fictional character:  aside from atla, Keith and lance from voltron

number of blankets you sleep with: 1 if I have the air condotioner on in my room

dream trip: always wanted to go to new zealand

Blog created: main blog, 6 years ago. This one, maybe 2?

number of followers: 2700

random fact: today my mom and I met me ex step mom and cried and laughed and had a great time. My mom is friends with her exes ex. Also Idk how to get rid of this line on mobile so 💁

tagging: imma be lazy and say everyone

[womenintranslation]

image of original column, courtesy of https://twitter.com/GemaNieto81/status/850398182928506880/photo/1

A FEW

Marta Sanz, or Sylvia Plath, or Mary Shelley, or Ingeborg Bachmann, or Virginia Woolf, or María Llopis, or Clara Janés, or Yolanda Castaño, or Caitlin Moran, or Virginie Despentes, or Amélie Nothomb, or Natalia Ginzburg, or Chika Sagawa, or Silvina Ocampo, or Gloria Fuertes, or Sara Mesa, or Ruth Llana, or Chantal Maillard, or Cristina Rivera Garza, or Maria Mercè Marçal, or Isla Correyero, or Emma Cline, or Anne Carson, or Yasmina Reza, or Lucy K. Shaw, or Safo, or Jenn Díaz, or JK Rowling, or Alice Munro, or Svetlana Alexievich, or Catalina Stanislav, or Carmen Laforet, or Lisa Dierbeck, or Angela Carter, or Alejandra Pizarnik, or Elena Medel, or Joyce Mansour, or Carson McCullers, or Elena Garro, or Iris Murdoch, or Joan Didion, or Simone de Beauvoir, or Belén Gopegui, or Jane Austen, or Sara Torres, or Montserrat Roig, or Elvira Lindo, or Anne Sexton, or Emilia Pardo Bazán, or Sharon Olds, or Emily Witt, or Milena Busquets, or Marie Darrieussecq, or Dorothy Parker, or María Sánchez, or Margaret Atwood, or Rosalía de Castro, or Isabel Escudero, or Luciana Peker, or Laura Fernández, or Forough Farrojhzad, or Emily Dickinson, or Gioconda Belli, or Carmen Martín Gaite, or Patti Smith, or Daniela Camacho, or Emily Berry, or Valeria Luiselli, or Ana María Matute, or Julianne Pachico, or Natalia Litvinova, or Elena Ferrante, or Fatena Al-Gurra, or Claudia Apablaza, or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, or Agatha Christie, or Dorothy M. Johnson, or Roxane Gay, or Lara Moreno, or Andrea Wulf, or Gabby Bess, or Amalia Bautista, or Delphine de Vigan, or Lucía Baskaran, or Mina Loy, or Ida Vitale, or Lola Nieto, or Alfonsina Storni, or Elvira Navarro, or Susan Sontag, or Diana di Prima, or Tálata Rodríguez, or Anaïs Nin, or Nina Yargekov, or Sara Herrera Peralta, or Donna Tartt, or Selva Almada, or Valérie Mréjen, or Lila Azam, or Tracy K. Smith . . . or whatever you want, say it. But when you talk about literature, quote a woman from time to time, ok? Thanks.

by Luna Miguel, translated from the original Spanish by Jeremy Spencer in Real Pants

[winterolympicssports2018-blog]

Michigan State is a cesspool of sexual abuse. Who is going to fix it?

Click here for More Olympics Updates https://www.winterolympian.com/michigan-state-is-a-cesspool-of-sexual-abuse-who-is-going-to-fix-it/

Michigan State is a cesspool of sexual abuse. Who is going to fix it?

CLOSE

SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports’ Rachel Axon discusses Senate subcommittee hearing where former athletes criticized the national governing bodies for their sport as well as the USOC and others for failing to prevent and stop sexual abuse. USA TODAY Sports

Michigan State’s former president, Lou Anna K. Simon, blamed outside pressure on her being fired this year, saying, “As tragedies are politicized, blame is inevitable. As president, it is only natural that I am the focus of this anger.”(Photo: Ryan Garza, AP)

Michigan State is a cesspool with seemingly no bottom.

Over the past two years, its gymnastics, basketball and football programs have all been found to have put women in harm’s way with little consequence. Now you can add volleyball to the list, after The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Michigan State had maintained ties with a prominent youth volleyball coach for two decades after he was banned by USA Volleyball for sexually abusing teenage girls.

Taken as a whole, administrators have turned a blind eye or, worse, enabled and protected abusers, leaving their victims vulnerable and ensuring that more names would be added to the list.

And even after Michigan State’s misdeeds were revealed, those who promised to clean up the culture so nothing like this would ever happen again have shown that what they’re really interested in is damage control.

But there is no way to spin what’s occurred at Michigan State. The only way to move forward is to fix it, and it’s not clear the school has the stomach for that.

More: Michigan State and its handling of sexual assault cases

More: Aly Raisman to sue Michigan State over Larry Nassar abuse

“It’s not appropriate at all. There’s a huge disconnect between the administration and everyone else here,” said Natalie Rogers, one of the organizers of Reclaim MSU, a group of students, faculty, staff and alumni calling for a larger voice in university governance and a more proactive response to sexual violence on campus.

“We’ve been screaming from the top of our lungs what we’d like to see happen,” Rogers added, “and the university administration just does the opposite.”

USA Gymnastics has been the focus of most of the rage over Larry Nassar’s monstrous assaults, and understandably so. Among the more than 250 women who have said they were abused were the sport’s biggest stars, Olympic gold medalists McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber, Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles. The atmosphere fostered by former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi was one of fear and intimidation, several gymnasts have said, a perfect scenario for a predator like Nassar.

But Michigan State’s culpability is, in many ways, worse.

Former Michigan State gymnastics coach Kathie Klages was alerted to Nassar’s abusive treatment as far back as 1997, and not only did she not report it, numerous gymnasts said she told them to keep silent. A track and cross country athlete expressed concerns in 1999. A softball player did so that year and the next. Nothing ever came of their complaints.

When Michigan State finally did investigate Nassar for sexual assault, the 2014 Title IX findings were edited so the woman who reported him wouldn’t know the school had found Nassar’s “treatments” could lead to lawsuits and expose his patients to “unnecessary trauma based on the possibility of perceived inappropriate sexual misconduct.”

Michigan State did agree to establish treatment protocols for Nassar. But they were never followed, and the person who was supposed to ensure they were enforced later said he’d never had any intention of doing so.

That person, William Strampel, former dean of Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, has since been charged with willful neglect of duty. Strampel also faces charges stemming from allegations of sexual harassment by four women.   

That isn’t it, however.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found Michigan State was in violation of Title IX from 2009 to 2014, ruling that the school’s “failure to address complaints of sexual harassment and sexual violence in a prompt and equitable manner caused and may have contributed to a continuation of a sexually hostile environment.”  

A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges that a female student was raped by three Michigan State basketball players in 2015 and the university coerced her not to report it. ESPN reported in January that at least 16 football players have been accused of sexual assault or violence against women since coach Mark Dantonio arrived in 2007.

Michigan State’s response to all of this? When former president Lou Anna K. Simon was forced to resign in January, she blamed outside pressure, saying, “As tragedies are politicized, blame is inevitable. As president, it is only natural that I am the focus of this anger.”

Former Gov. John Engler, the current president, has been accused of bullying one of Nassar’s victims. His special counsel had to apologize last week after telling board members the woman had “outrageously distorted” details of the meeting with Engler, and was trying to “set up” the university so it would have to pay more to settle civil lawsuits.

Quite the tone they’re setting.

“It’s just horrible, and not the direction we need to be moving in, not just as an institution but as a society,” said Rogers of Reclaim MSU.

Owning up to your mistakes is never easy, and it is exponentially harder when the failings are as egregious as Michigan State’s. But not accepting the depth of its problems, or trying to make them go away as quickly and as quietly as possible, is what got the university in this trouble in the first place.

Penn State is often held up as the model of what not to do when faced with a sex abuse scandal. But what Michigan State has done, what it continues to do, is far worse. 

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour. 

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