#gayjewish

[avivz-s4]

Jewish Pride Flags

Jewish pride flags, base game recolor item.

I added a star of David on top of the original EA pride flags for aesthetic consistency. I moved the star around on the intersex, ally, and progress flags so it's more visible. Enjoy! :)

I will be releasing more flags soon! Stay tuned <3

Much love, Aviv

Download on Patreon below / Base game compatible

[butchannebonny]

gayjewish replied to your post: is macdennis infp culture? discuss

is infj close enough

it is!

[lesbianrey]

WOO HAPPY BIRTHDAY I HOPE YOUR DAY IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE

thanks so much!!!!! it was lovely!!

[brightbeautifulthings]

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy."

Fun Fact: I ran a David Foster Wallace blog (andtoyouitsjustwords) for about two years while I was in graduate school. I closed it down and moved the content I wanted to this one when I finished school and realized I wanted to read Every Book Ever, not just the literary ones, but it was a fond time of my life, and he remains one of my favorite authors.

Tumblr doesn't have a large Wallace fandom, but @infinite-jest-again, @sylvanshiner, @gayjewish, and I are banding together for the summer's slowest rereading of Infinite Jest. I'm super excited to be revisiting a book that blew my mind the first time I read it--but I was also trying to pound it in a month on top of classes, thesis, and teaching. I expect this experience will be a lot more chill, and the slow pace will allow us to pick apart every detail (or, as Marie put it, to "notice the water " 😂). We'll be using the schedule designed by the Infinite Summer people, but where they average around fifty pages a day, we're giving ourselves a week for each benchmark for Infinite Slow Summer!

Week 1 (p. 1-63)

"I'd tell you all you want and more, if the sounds I made could be what you hear" (p. 9).

[tw: drug/addiction mention]

I love the first chapter of this book. Wallace really hits the ground running with what is chronologically the last event of the novel, and this scene sets up a near-endless string of questions for how we got to this place. It's clear that something terrible has happened to Hal Incandenza, and while he's having no trouble with a coherent thought process ("I am in here" (p. 3).), he is devastatingly unable to communicate with anyone in the room. I'd argue it could almost work as a short story because the metaphor made concrete is so strong. It's an inherent flaw of communication that what I'm saying may not be exactly what you're hearing, that there's always that gap, however small, in understanding another human. We've all felt that "familiar panic at feeling misperceived" (p. 8) at one time or another. For Hal, this is not a metaphor; it's terrifyingly physical. ("I am not what you see and hear" (p. 13).)

Somehow, Wallace manages to inject humor into a scene that, upon closer inspection, is utterly haunting, but the image of Avril Incandenza running around her garden screaming, "Help! My son ate this!" (p. 11) about a bit of basement mold never fails to make me laugh. The following Erdedy chapter also ends up being humorous with him splayed in indecision in the middle of the room (possibly another philosophical anecdote made concrete in Buridan's donkey). For both Hal and Erdedy, the ritual of getting high seems as addictive as the drug itself. It's reassuring, I think, to start the book off on a strong note, in case we worried we were in for a thousand pages of tedious slog. It can be both, but it's often heartfelt, insightful, and funny as well, and the payoff is well worth the effort. I could probably write paragraphs about every chapter in this section; I don't know how Wallace manages to pack every page with so much meaning, but there's nothing haphazard about this book, despite its size and varied focus. Everything seems to be there for a reason.

"...and some days presents with delusions about people's mouths moving but nothing coming out" (p. 30).

Hal's conversation with a professional conversationalist who turns out to be his father (J.O.I./Himself) is loaded with potential plot points and philosophical intention. J.O.I. is under the impression that Hal doesn't speak, but he seems to be alone in this; Hal is obviously talking to him in this scene, but the way that he talks is fascinating. As Marie pointed out, so many of the conversations in this book are non-conversations. All the characters struggle to communicate, and communication is a topic Wallace struggles with throughout his writing career. Hal has a really specific way of responding to how a person said something instead of what they said. He's commenting on the grammar and vocabulary of Himself's speech rather than on the content of it (grasping the mechanics more than the meaning, which is symbolic, basically, of Hal's entire problem), while Himself seems to have a pre-arranged script in his head regardless of the responses he gets from his son. The result is an utter failure to convey meaning on either side. Like a lot of Wallace stuff, it's funny on a surface level and haunting beneath that, since Hal and Himself's inability to talk to each other drives so much of the novel's conflict.

I'm including a Q&A section under the cut where I attempt to work out some of the major plot events of the story and keep track of the questions I have as I'm reading. However, since this is a reread for all of us, it will contain overall spoilers for the novel. Proceed with caution if you're not familiar!

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

Questions & Working Theories

[tw: drug mention]

Q: What happened to Hal? (Obvi) - Hal purposely ate the DMZ. He even says in this section, "I cannot make myself understood, now. Call it something I ate" (p. 10). I never bought this explanation, though, because later in the book it seems like Hal is making an effort to come off drugs. - The mold Hal ate as a child had long-term effects, and something (coming off drugs?) may have triggered his current condition. Also supported by, "Call it something I ate" (p. 10). - Aaron Swartz has a very convincing theory that Hal accidentally ate the DMZ when The Wraith placed it on his toothbrush. (Again, supported by above.) Hal is an excellent communicator but lacks feelings, and J.O.I. was attempting to create something that would draw his son out of himself. - Hal was injured when the A.F.R. attacked Enfield Tennis Academy. There's a weird line in this chapter: "I once saw the word KNIFE finger-written on the steamed mirror of a nonpublic bathroom" (p. 16). This is likely also the work of The Wraith, indicating some kind of violence, perhaps the A.F.R. attack on Enfield.

Q: Why was Hal hospitalized "almost exactly one year back" (p. 16)? - The side effects of the DMZ were first starting to appear. - Hal was injured in the A.F.R. attack.

It's clear, also, that this was when Hal met Gately. Although they never have an on-page scene together that I recall, Hal refers to the two of them attempting to dig up J.O.I.'s head to find the Entertainment, alongside a masked John Wayne.

Q: How did Gately, Hal, and John find out about the Entertainment in order to dig it up? How did they discover where it was hidden? - Himself actually mentions that the cartridge has been implanted in his head when he's talking to Hal as a posed conversationalist. However, this is all the way back in the Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad, when Hal is only ten-going-on-eleven. Hard to imagine that Hal remembered what was basically a throw-away comment, let alone understood its meaning.

Q: Who is mailing out the Entertainment? - Swartz suggests that it's Orin Incandenza, who later under threat of torture releases it to the A.F.R. This seems well-supported by the text, since the initial cartridge is mailed from Arizona, and it's conveniently sent to a medical attaché with whom Avril probably had an affair (per J.O.I.'s conversation with Hal).

Q: How did Orin find out about the Entertainment?

Q: What happened to John Wayne that he can't win this year's WhataBurger competition?

Q: What "sordid liaison" (p. 30) with the M. DuPlessis, who dies in a later chapter, did the Incandenza family have?

[ghibliprotagonist]

@douceurs (hello love!) tagged me to describe how i’m feeling using pictures saved on my phone so expect memes💅🏻

i tag: @darthdpool, @gayjewish, @leafyemoji, @e-dykes, @cheesymovie, @thattrainssailed, @boyw0rm, @melodraumas with absolutely no pressure to do it - only if you fancy! i very much appreciate your presence on my dash so it’s my attempt to submit to mortifying ordeal of being known✌🏻

[nightmanlyrics]

gayjewish replied to your post “Okay but what the fuck”

WHAT THE FUCK

W H A T T H E F U C K

[katjas]

tagged by @thegoldenhorde

(I'm so flattered I love your blog)

1.. coffee or tea

02. early bird or night owl

03. chocolate or vanilla

04. spring or fall

05. silver or gold

06. pop or alternative

07. freckles or dimples (that's where its at babe!)

08. snakes or sharks

09. mountains or fields

10. thunderstorm or lightning

11. egyptian or greek mythology

12. ivory or scarlet

13. flute or lyre

14. eyes or lips

15. witch or fairy

16. opal or diamond

17. butterflies or honeybees

18. macarons or éclairs

19. typewritten or handwritten letters

20. secret garden or secret library

21. rooftop or balcony

22. spicy or mild

23. opera or ballet (that's where its at babe!)

24. london or paris

25. vincent van gogh or claude monet

26. denim or leather

27. potions or spells

28. ocean or desert (...THATS WHERE ITS AT BABE!)

29. mermaid or siren

30. masquerade ball or cocktail party 

I’ll tag @afarseks, @femmefatiguee, @erniebilko, @ariminak, @gayjewish, @hairpoofs and @gayjoanofarc 

[jennawynn]

erchanposts replied to your post “gayjewish: i’ve seen zero support posts for romani people, a primary...”

Get the gypsies out of hungary if you support all romani, cuz they are ruining everything in my city. Shitting on the streets, fat stinky gypsy woman breast feeding on the bus, if i accidentaly offend them they will try and beat me up with a gang of 20 other gypsies, and they are not even willing to work, they give birth to 10 kids and live off of the money they get from the government, from my parents' taxes....

I only have one question for you... why do you follow me if you can write something like this? “Gypsy” is a slur and this entire post is full harmful stereotypes based on race/heritage. Also, there’s nothing wrong with breastfeeding in public.

I want to say go ahead and hit that unfollow button, but instead I’ll say stick around and maybe learn some fucking compassion and how not to stereotype and paint entire groups with the same broad brush. But don’t ever reply to something I post/reblog with shit like this or you will be blocked.

[jewishowl]

@gayjewish With Yiddish, I had an edge because I speak German, and they are partially mutually intelligible. Much of the vocabulary is shared and the grammar of Yiddsh is arguably simpler. Also I was already able to read the Hebrew alphabet due to studying Hebrew, so a lot of Yiddsh I learned just by browsing the Yiddish Wikipedia and using context clues. Idk if you have any background in German or Hebrew, but for me that made a huge difference in the speed at which I could progress. That being said, a few resources I can recommend are: - Mango Languages (I believe you can get access to this for free via most North American libraries - mangolanguages.com ) - Memrise has a bunch of Yiddsh courses covering a variety of topics - the Surface Languages Yiddsh app for Android goes over basic vocabulary and grammar with audio - The Yiddsh Academy is an online Yiddish learning resource with lessons - I think after a point you need to pay for the course but I did use some of it for free - http://yiddishacademy.com And I know I've seen Yiddsh resource masterposts around here so I can direct you to them too.

[roastedpepper]

@gayjewish fuck that is who im missing. goddamn that throws my whole chart off

[butchannebonny]

gayjewish replied to your post: god comp heterosexuality just hit me hard...

hey, just sending you love and letting you know i’m in the same boat and i think a lot of other lesbians are as well. <3 <3 it’s hard but i have hope for you!

thank you so much! it really has helped me a lot to read about other lesbians' experiences because I finally have people I can relate to, thanks to the internet for making this easier lol

[lesbianrey]

ur so cute and sweet and ur video made my bad night a little lovelier

im so glad!!!!!!!!!!

[thriftdyke]

@arkeologs @gayjewish @oneofthelesbianfreaks i replied to y’alls replies in the notes but just now realized tumblr doesnt notify when you @ in replies sjsks

any other short-hair dykes out there have an irrational fear of their hair Growing? like every time i cut it and it grows like a centimeter i get so Anxious until i can cut it again and i always have nightmares where it grows back super fast djdkskskffkd

[butchannebonny]

@gayjewish yes it’s ok to reblog!

[iameverysparklywoman]

@gayjewish I just realized that this stupid app only posted one of the three images I told it to but anyways just letting you know I did read all of it and I really liked it especially the part about "a beautiful dead virgin is a better thing to be than a living queen" which I think is KEY to Gertrude's character and I'm gonna be thinking about that for a long time

@gayjewish britneynoddingyeah.gif like yeah that’s one thing I forgot I loved about Gertrude is that she really is the only woman in the court and she has to make decisions and navigate alliances at the very least but at the same time she understands girlhood because SHE was a girl herself and she was a young woman and she just kept passing through these gauntlets in the world that shaped her into the person she appears as and it’s such a deeply painful and integral part of the female experience that no one ever thinks to represent-because the female coming of age is primarily conceptualized as a falling into sex. I think in some ways Gertrude is more of a tragic character than Ophelia because you’re right, she never achieves purity or martyrdom she’s just stuck with the person she’s become after learning to navigate a den of snakes and that’s something so poignant and still so relevant for women today