#riot grrrl case

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #514 (July 1994)

"THE FALL OF METROPOLIS," Part 4! Metropolis is invaded by aliens! And werewolves! And Nazis! And Lois Lane dies! And Professor Hamilton loses a limb! Only one of these things ends up being true by the time the issue is over.

Metropolis is still in ruins after the explosive events of Action #700 (it's not like they can magically fix it from one issue to the next, right?) and on top of that, the city is now covered in so much fog that it's giving me Superman 64 flashbacks. But this is no regular fog: when some armed preppers walk through it, one of them suddenly hallucinates that his friends are alien invaders and kills them in a panic. Elsewhere, three soldiers are affected by the fog and start seeing everyone around them as "commies," the Viet Cong (so "commies" again), and werewolves (communist ones, presumably).

Superman stops a soldier from shooting a rabbi/imaginary werewolf, but the soldier sees him as a vampire while the rabbi thinks Superman is a Nazi (both solid Elseworlds premises).

While trying to contain all the people tripping balls around Metropolis, Superman runs into Lois, who's just chilling in the middle of the ruins. Just as Superman comments that he seems to be immune to whatever is making people hallucinate their worst fears, that trigger-happy prepper from before appears and shoots at them, thinking they're aliens (well, he's half right).

Superman just lets the bullets bounce off his chest... not noticing that one bounced in Lois' direction, fatally injuring her. NEXT: Reign of the Lois Lanes?!

Making matters worse, Ma and Pa Kent happen to stroll by, having seemingly traveled to war-torn Metropolis just to tell their son what a disappointment he is. Then Lex Luthor shows up too, with his luscious red locks inexplicably restored, and tells Superman none of this would have happened if he hadn't stolen Lois and Metropolis from him. Lex finally concedes that Metropolis is "Superman's city," but only because, as Superman just noticed, the city is full of nothing but corpses now.

Meanwhile, Professor Hamilton is having a tough time too: a prostitute has just shot him in the arm because she hallucinated that Hambone was her abusive pimp. Hamilton is rescued by a white-haired young lady who smacks the prostitute with a plank of wood. Ham and the girl jump into his car to escape the crazed crowd around them, but then he hallucinates his worst fear: not being able to operate a vehicle because the controls are too complicated.

"Also, I'm naked!"

The girl jump-starts the car's engine and they speed away from the crowd -- only to realize that being in a speeding car with someone who's hallucinating at the wheel isn't such a brilliant idea. They end up driving the car off a pier, and right before they do, we see that Ham happened to have a box full of something called "synthetic enzymes" on his back seat...

Back to Superman, he angrily flies into the sky with Luthor, who morphs into his old school bald self and goads Superman into killing him. Superman refuses to give in to hatred and delivers a speech about rebuilding a better, Lex-free Metropolis, causing Luthor to fade away, as does Lois' corpse. Right then, Hamilton and the white-haired girl come to tell Superman that they've figured out how to stop the hallucinations: no, not "facing and overcoming your deepest fears," but simply spreading that convenient "synthetic enzyme" throughout the city to negate the fog's effect.

(This is why I never leave the house without synthetic enzymes in my car since reading this issue.)

Superman makes the enzyme rain down over Metropolis and everything goes back to normal... except for Professor Hamilton who, to quote Arrested Development, is now "all right," because he lost his left arm. Superman and Hamilton figure out that the crazy fog was another one of Luthor's "fail-safes" in case he was ever defeated, like the killer robots that have been attacking Metropolis over the past weeks (Man of Steel #35 and Superman #91).

But there's still one fail-safe left, and it's a big one...

TO BE CONCLUDED!

Creator-Watch:

This month's issue of Adventures is guest-drawn by Peter Krause, who coincidentally also guest-drew Adventures and Superman exactly two years ago during the Agent Liberty two-parter. We'll see a little more Krause in the near future via another Adventures issue and the Metropolis S.C.U. miniseries… and maybe a LOT more in the not-so-near future if our plans to cover his Power of Shazam! ongoing series with Jerry Ordway in our newsletter come into fruition. (Don is a big fan and I've always been curious about it because 1) it's Ordway and 2) José "Gangbuster" Delgado is in it.)

Plotline-Watch:

The loss of Professor Hamilton's arm will be the longest-lasting consequence of Metropolis' destruction. (It will also be used to turn him into a villain after this era, but we won't be covering those issues and I'm glad.) I like that good ol' Ham is so absent-minded that he seems to have forgotten about his missing arm like five minutes after they amputated it. He also forgot that his hair is supposed to be grey, apparently.

There's a dark irony to Hamilton losing a limb after being shot by a prostitute, considering that Adventures #425, his second appearance, was about him kidnapping a "strumpet" at gunpoint out of desperation after Luthor stole his invention. He did his time and got his shit together after that, though.

Yes, Luthor's final fail-safe is the Awesome Kryptonian Battle Robot, which was built in ancient Krypton, sent to the Phantom Zone, ended up in the Fortress of Solitude (where Professor Hamilton used it to play tag with robots), and was most recently used by the powerless, recently resuscitated Superman to walk from Antactica to Metropolis during "Reign of the Supermen." I guess Superman sorta lost track of it after that, but to be fair he did have a lot on his mind at that point.

At S.T.A.R. Labs, Dr. Kitty "Rampage" Faulkner tells Superman that right before Project Cadmus was destroyed (as far everyone knows, anyway), they used some fantastic sci-fi technology called a "modem" to send S.T.A.R. their info on the cure to the Clone Plague. Despite Luthor being a dick in and out of Superman's hallucinations, Superman still makes sure he's delivered to S.T.A.R. at the end of the issue so they can apply the cure (though we already know he won't stay there for long).

"Mardis" up there is Dr. Jean Louis Mardis from the recent S.T.A.R. Corps miniseries, who is somehow still employed by S.T.A.R. despite trying to pass off alien tech as his own inventions, accidentally turning a bunch of regular people into superpowered freaks and nearly causing an AI to conquer the world. S.T.A.R., which has also employed Hamilton in the recent past, seems to be big on second opportunities.

As far as I can tell, that white-haired young lady who has a weird amount of protagonism in this issue Never Showed Up Again. [EDIT: k9feline reminded me in the comments that she DOES show up again, with her rock band! Shame on me.] Given the color of her hair, her surprising skill with machines, and the fact that she keeps calling Professor Hamilton "pops," I'm gonna assume she's supposed to be his secret lovechild (with a prostitute?).

Big Belly Burger sighting! "Eat 'em!"

Shout Outs-Watch:

Big belly shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, and Dave Shevlin! Join them (and get extra articles) via Patreon or our newsletter's "pay what you want" mode!

And now, stick around for The Don Sparrow Show:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We open with the cover, and it’s a pretty affecting one, a pieta style pose with a massive Superman mourning an apparently grievously injured Lois Lane.  Very emotional, and pretty restrained, in terms of '90s-excesses—in the hands of a lesser artist, the idea of Lois’ tattered clothes would be treated as titillating rather than sorrowful, so it’s an effective choice that Barry Kitson makes here.

The cover is all the Kitson we get, as the interiors are handled by Pete Krause, a terrific artist, and soon-to-be companion of Jerry Ordway on the excellent Power of Shazam! series.  Though I think his sharpest work is ahead of him, his pencils are solid throughout this issue, an interesting middle ground between the shadowy slickness of someone like Stuart Immonen (indeed, I don’t remember Krause ever looking so much like Immonen), and the pure linework of someone like Tom Grummett. The shot of Superman rescuing the old man is a great one.  Our introduction to Lois Lane in the story is also a cute panel, as Superman greets her with a (fairly wide) open mouth kiss.

The image of Professor Hamilton getting shot in the arm is something of a mixed bag—the expression of pain is great, but it also doesn’t actually show him getting shot (the drawing appears to indicate that he was only grazed by the bullet) but we later learn that the injury is so severe his arm must be amputated. [Max: I also got the impression that the injury wasn't so severe, but the girl does mention that Ham spent "hours" looking for Superman without getting medical attention, so that didn't help.]

The smoke is well used as a framing device for the dream sequences, as both the cause of the hallucinations, and a good way of demonstrating the dream like quality that feverish fantasy lends.  The panel of a majestic Lex II is particularly well done.

The best panel in the book might be on page 16, where an enraged Superman flies Lex II up up and away, and Lex’s roses fall to Earth, giving a real sense of height and motion. 

The pages where Superman puts Hamilton’s cure into action are great, as Superman soars into action, and creates a water spout to deliver the cure.

Finally, I always love seeing the Mignola-designed Kryptonian battle suit in action, and it’s an efficient piece of storytelling that Lex picked it up when it was just abandoned on the harbour in the "Reign of the Superman" storyline.

I’m not generally a fan of dream sequences as I often find them to be indulgent writing, and also inconsequential plotting—they rarely mean anything more than actual dreams do.  But this issue on the whole wasn’t as frustrating as some fever dream issues can be, as Karl Kesel deftly uses Superman’s nightmarish doubts to fuel action that did matter to the plot.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

Though the film is decades away, the alien infected soldiers from Jeff Scully’s chemically induced reverie look for all the world like the Orcs from the unrelentingly terribly 2017 movie from future terrible Superman writer Max Landis, Bright.

I can’t remember a time when a one-off character got so many name mentions as Jeff Scully, who gets identified no fewer than three times in the book.  I wonder if it was a buddy of Karl Kesel’s perhaps.  [Max: Since he's obsessed with aliens, I always took it as a little X-Files shout out.]

Then on the other end of the spectrum, we’re introduced to the lady in the headband who pulls a Thelma and Louise off a pier with Professor Hamilton, but in spite of having pages of dialogue, is never given a name, that I can find.

The “baker to alpha” soldier is a dead ringer for Pork Chop Hill era Gregory Peck, in my estimation.

I’m not entirely sure who I’d cast as Emil Hamilton, but in the final pages of this story, he looks a lot like Awakenings era Robin Williams to me.

I had forgotten exactly how Hamilton lost his arm, I just remember that he suddenly had a robot arm.  It’s a bit odd that a high tech character like him loses his arm to plain old gunfire.   

Am I alone in being confused why the toxin was able to affect Superman’s super-efficient system?  Though he needs to breathe, traditionally, he’d never show much vulnerability to gases in past stories. [Max: I guess it's possible that Lex intentionally designed it to be strong enough to affect Superman, and the military rejected it when they were like "uh, why does the budget include a $100 million 'Kryptonian respiratory system research' item...?"]

GODWATCH:  A very overt reference to the almighty from our Holocaust survivor elderly man, thanking both God and Superman for dispelling the fear toxin—complete with a literal and symbolic rainbow after the storm.

One wonders if Lex’s weaponized fear toxin was in any way based off of Batman villain Scarecrow’s concoction.  Seems like a missed opportunity, though it’s a pretty jam packed issue. 

[asexual-spongebob]

I wanna hurl, hurl, hurl on zorority girlz!!

I wanna zpew, zpew , zpew on fraternity dudez!!!

[clown-around-and-find-out]

hi guys this is my cool new punk band we're called the Cool Trans Obliteration Brothers. theres four of us and nothing could ever go wrong. check out our new song it's called My Shitass Microwave Blew a Fuse Which Resulted In My Great-Aunt's Untimely Death Due to a Mining Accident. hope you stream! wait Our lead singer did what

[lesbianlenas]

riot grrrl as a music genre frustrates me so much…..like there is so much potential there in the punk roots & exploring women’s frustration & anger w their oppression plus the way that women in the 90s were using it as a way to organize and share feminist thought like they hadn’t since 2nd wave feminism ended and yet soooo much of it is choice feminist and individualist which just dilutes all of it ESP if u look at more modern day riot grrrl which doesn’t explore women’s oppression so much as it does just promote choice feminism (not every band obvs but the more well known ones yes). it’s just like how are you going to create this genre of music that calls out women’s oppression and women’s issues and then also use the same genre to essentially say that femininity is not oppressive to women and that it’s empowering……..i just feel like riot grrrl was a great opportunity for women to actually reject femininity and they not only didn’t do that but overall blamed misogyny for the mocking of femininity rather than realizing that femininity was invented very much to mock women (even more so now)…….basically riot grrrl is extremely hit or miss for me lmao

[jasmancer]

at the end of the day riot grrrl wouldn't exist without bell hooks and Poly Styrene. their work was foundational not only in terms of feminist philosophy from the both of them, but in the case of Poly Styrene, her performance style as a feminist punk artist.

it just kills me that a movement that has been so thoroughly (and justly) associated with White Feminism was built off the work of these brilliant black feminists with every intent to be intersectional in theory. but in practice it only created space for white women and actively alienated nonwhite women ESPECIALLY if they spoke up about it. the fact that the sistah grrrl riots even had to be created by and for black women because they were so alienated both from the general white male population of hardcore/punk spaces AND the riot grrrl spaces made in response makes me crazy!!!

riot grrrl did a lot in terms of making feminist education and art more accessible to young women and teaching young women how to organize for their rights but in terms of intersectionality riot grrrl failed big time. went the way of 2nd wave white feminism with little resistance. the road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that.

I just. it had good bones. yknow?

[thedelicatearcher]

☆finnick odair masterlist☆

☆finnick odair who helps you study for your finals

☆finnick odair who breaks up with you after seven years together

☆finnick odair who loves making home improvements to make your life easier

☆finnick odair who loves doting on his partner, but also loves being doted on back

☆finnick odair is a sucker for affection from his romantic partner

☆finnick odair loves knitting and crocheting

☆finnick odair loves dancing with you on the living room floor

☆finnick odair loves being taken care of when he feels sick

☆finnick odair survives the mutt attack but is left with scars

☆finnick odair loves showering with his partner

☆finnick odair can’t stop writing poetry about you

☆finnick odair loves gifting you flowers with symbolism

☆painting finnick odair's nails

☆finnick odair likes going to sleep early

☆fair dates with finnick odair

☆finnick odair’s love language is physical contact

☆baths with finnick odair

☆finnick odair lets you braid his hair

☆finnick odair reacts at your bad haircut

☆you and finnick have a jewelry stand in the district four’s market

☆finnick odair loves having his back rubbed

☆finnick odair makes embroidery friendship bracelets

BLURBS

☆finnick odair has a bed full of plushies

☆finnick odair and classic maritime romance

☆finnick odair searches for your comfort when has nightmares

☆finnick odair's hair after the rebellion

☆finnick odair calls you cupcake ironically

☆finnick odair had a lemonade stand as a kid

☆finnick odair loves receiving forehead kisses

☆finnick odair's favorite ice cream

☆finnick odair is a hydrated king

☆finnick odair is an expert at poker

☆finnick odair loves being the little spoon

☆finnick odair is bad at making pancakes

☆finnick odair has a pair of shark slippers

☆finnick odair has a baby blanket

☆finnick odair wanted to be a firefighter as a kid

☆finnick odair gets sunburned very easy

HEADCANONS

☆finnick odair with a partner who loves animals

☆finnick odair goes dress shopping with his partner

☆finnick odair with a musical partner

☆finnick odair had braces as an adult

☆sick finnick odair

☆finnick odair with a partner who has dyed hair

☆finnick odair with a tattoed partner

NSFW

☆finnick odair eats you out

☆one of your favorite activities is sucking finnick off after his nightly shower

☆finnick odair doesnt't mind being submissive in bed with you

TWEETS

☆tweet #1

MODERN FINNICK ODAIR

☆finnick odair is a sucker for romcoms

☆finnick odair is a passionate duolingo user

☆finnick odair loves minions

☆finnick odair considers himself a fashion connoisseur

☆finnick odair doesn't want to wear his retainers

☆finnick odair loves cats

☆finnick odair and johanna mason watching garfield

☆finnick odair has a stanley cup in every color

☆finnick odair has protective cases for every device

☆finnick odair and the sims 4

☆finnick odair has a spiderman toothbrush

☆finnick odair is an excessive emoji user

☆finnick odair loves watching cake boss

☆finnick odair is a menace playing roblox

☆finnick odair gave everyone a kenough hoodie

☆finnick odair and peeta mellark love water parks

☆finnick odair calls the property brothers to remodel everlark's home

☆finnick odair and animal crossing

☆finnick odair & costco

SWIFTIE!FINNICK

☆finnick odair loves knitting and crocheting for his swiftie gf

☆finnick odair loves fearless

☆finnick odair and surprise songs

☆finnick odair is a swiftie

☆more swiftie!finnick thoughts!

☆finnick odair & eras tour

ODESTA

☆finnick and annie call themselves gamers

COMING SOON !!

☆finnick odair fluff alphabet

☆finnick odair's struggle after telling his story in mockingjay (requested)

☆finnick odair with a rockstar partner (requested)

☆finnick odair and a riot grrrl fan hcs (requested)

☆swiftie finnick odair and rock gf (requested)

☆swiftie finnick and rock gf go to the eras tour (requested)

☆finnick odair with reader dealing with trauma after being taken to the capitol (requested)

☆finnick odair with virgin reader (requested)

[uispeccoll]

#VoicesFromTheStacks

Riot Grrrl and the Jen and Sarah Wolfe Zine Collection

On their 1995 track, “Criminal Boy,” female pop punk band Bunnygrunt begs the question: ‘what is a girl to do?’ The song chronicles a tough sister’s plans to break her all bark and no bite brother out of the slammer, which serves to be a fitting parallel to how the Riot Grrrl feminist movement of the 1990s got its start.

By the ’90s, the male-dominated U.S. punk movement, prominent in cities like Seattle and Portland, had been long ignoring the women participating in and moving forward the empowered anarchist agenda underlying punk music, media, and culture.

The Riot Grrrl Movement, aptly named and noted by its signature growling triple “r”, emerged as an opportunity for women in the punk scene to reclaim and redefine their identities as “girls” through expressions of anger, rage, and frustration. This subculture combined feminism, punk music, and politics by addressing issues of assault, patriarchy, anarchism, and female empowerment. The growth and success of the movement can be attributed to the multiple modalities used to spread their message: music, zines, art, and other DIYs that served as vessels for political activism.

Zines can be simply defined as self-written, often self-published and self-distributed “magazines” of narrow focus, created out of a desire to share. In the case of Riot Grrrl, this included, but was not limited to, punk and feminist literature, social commentary, news, gossip, music reviews, and other topical articles and musings.

The University of Iowa’s Special Collections and Archives’ Sarah and Jen Wolfe Zine Collection provides a dynamic, wide-ranging, and intimate glimpse into the zines created and distributed during the Riot Grrrl era. Donors of the collection, sisters Sarah and Jen Wolfe, were active Riot Grrrls throughout the late ’90s and early 2000s, with Jen playing bass for the band Bunnygrunt in 1995–1998 and later publishing her own zines: Bunnygrunt and Panophobia. The sisters also operated their own mail-order distribution service, out of Iowa City, Septophilia, for zines and records both, leading to their large collection of various independent, underground, and occasionally personalized zines.

With an established interest in the DIY and communal nature of zines, the Wolfe sisters have curated a thorough and impressive collection that will continue to provide insight of a first-person narrative in both collecting and creating at the height of the Riot Grrrl movement. To learn more about the Jen and Sarah Wolfe Zine Collection, the complete finding aid can be found here.

– Kaylee S., Special Collections Olson Graduate Assistant and M Clark, Instruction Graduate Assistant

[edgylesbiangurl]

When I was 12-13 I was literally obsessed and hyperfixated over Big Time Rush both the band and the show (not to mention that I always preferred them over 1D or Justin Bieber) and James was my favourite, I always thought he was the cutest especially with his hair in season 1-2.

Now that I know I'm a lesbian looking back me liking him might have been a sign of comphet considering the women I'm attracted to now, starting with Kate Moennig as Shane in the L Word, with her it's the typical case of "Do I wanna be her or do I want to be with her?"

Not to mention that I also have a crush on Brody Dalle from the Distillers, I love punk and riot grrrl women in general and I think she is one of the most lesbian looking straight women ever.

[dreamsinthewitchouse]

How are you so burnt (when you’re barely on fire)

Rating: E Wordcount: 4.8k Major tags: Natasha Romanov/Maria Hill, riot grrrl Nat, surfer slacker Maria, 90's nostalgia trip, found family, Natasha Romanov gets the girl

This idea just wouldn't leave me alone, yet this fic took a year to write. But here it finally is! In case that isn't blinding obvious, I love these two a whole heck of a lot 💘

Read on AO3

August ’96 has been long and hot, sweltering heat radiating up from the ground even when the sun isn’t out. Summers like this people die of heat stroke, get second degree sunburn — that is, if they’re lucky enough to not get bitten by a shark or mauled by their ceiling fans. 

Or, the fell hard and fast blackhill 90's band AU.

[itsaskyfall]

₊˚♡ Kinderwhore Lookbook ♡₊˚

Finally made a lookbook lol anyways had fun making these, Her name is Milly Rutherford, her favorite artist is Babes in Toyland, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Mars Argo and Jack off Jill, she likes playing guitar and reading horror novels, her looks are very inspired by kinderwhore, and riot grrrl. Big inspo from Kat Bjelland and Courtney Love.

Link for all the ccs below!  ₊˚

LOOK #1

Hair  ♡  Bonnie hair

Dress  ♡ Alyssa dress

Necklace ♡ Skeleton love necklace

Shoes ♡ Black mary janes

Eyeliner ♡ Liner 16

Lashes ♡ 3D Lashes

Lipstick ♡ Real time lipstick

LOOK #2

Shoes ♡ Platform boots

Dress ♡ Peter pan collar dress

Acc ♡ Guitar case

Stocking ♡ Ripped stockings

LOOK #3

Shoes ♡ Platform boots

Dress ♡ Jenny dress

Stocking ♡ Freya Tights

LOOK #4

Dress ♡ Silk slip dress

Acc ♡ Biker Jacket

₊˚♡ ₊˚ Huge thanks to all the CC Creators ₊˚♡ ₊˚

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #515 (August 1994)

Massacre in Metropolis, Part 2: the ice cream heist turns fatal! As seen last week, Massacre and his wormy little sidekick, Skimmer, have come to Earth to steal ice cream for a space mobster, but Skimmer ends up doing all the work while Massacre goes straight to punching Superman. In fact, Massacre cares so little about completing the mission that he punches Superman right into the spaceship carrying all the ice cream, causing it to come crashing down and explode. Superman, Massacre, and Skimmer survive the explosion but the ice cream, sadly, does not.

Massacre gleefully pummels Superman, who's having trouble punching him back -- Massacre always seems to know exactly what his next move will be and act accordingly. After deducing that Massacre doesn't have psychic powers (otherwise he'd be taunting him with stuff like "I bet Lois is making out with Jeb Friedman right about now!"), Superman figures out that he's predicting his moves by "sensing nerve signals," whatever that means.

What's important is that Superman deliberately misses Massacre with his heat vision in order to drop a wall on him from behind by surprise, and then just starts beating the crap out of him while Massacre is too distracted to sense any nerves or whatever. The massacrer has become the massacred!

Meanwhile, Superman's own wormy little sidekick, Jimmy Olsen, is taking photos of the fight from a rather flimsy-looking half-destroyed bridge, as a worried Lois looks on. Skimmer, who is also worried about his guy losing (and ending up stranded on Earth), sneaks up on Lois and takes her hostage. Lois, however, is pretty used to being kidnapped by "meta-weirdos" by now, so she quickly frees herself...

...at which point the entire bridge starts collapsing due to a blast shot by Massacre. Superman is able to save Lois and Jimmy, but Skimmer is buried by the rubble and it looks like he's about to go the big Ben & Jerry's in the sky. Supes wants to take him to a hospital (it's Metropolis; they probably have a whole unit for aliens crushed by debris during fights), but a weirdly emotional Massacre says no. He says Skimmer may be a bug but he's his bug, so he wants to transport him to a "xeno-med" instantly, which is his only chance of surviving. Superman agrees, and as Massacre disappears with Skimmer, he says something about having "learned his lesson well."

On the final page, we see that, after leaving Skimmer at the space hospital, Massacre retired from punching and now works a normal office job at a space insurance comp-- wait, no. He actually just let Skimmer die while he sat on an asteroid, thinking about how he's glad his little pal is dead now, because that means his rivalry with Superman is now personal.

(No, he's not cheekily winking at the camera, he just got a swollen eye from the fight.)

Creator-Watch:

As with Massacre's first appearance, artist Barry Kitson is credited as plotter in this issue, with regular writer Karl Kesel handling dialogue. You can sort of tell they're working Marvel style (art goes first, then the writer figures out what the characters are saying) because the narrative style is WAY more action-driven than your average Kesel comic, and some of the dialogue has a distinct "OK, what do I make them say in this one?" vibe to it.

This might explain why parts of the fight feel repetitive, as Don Sparrow points out (but I'll let him talk about it in his section below!).

Plotline-Watch:

When he goes off to take photos of the fight, Jimmy leaves his clothes-scavenging partner Lucy Lane with the white-haired girl from Adventures #514, who turns out to 1) be named Case and 2) want to be a rock star. In fact, she and some friends are currently looking for instruments in the wreckage of a music shop so they can form a band called the Riot Grrrls and play at the upcoming Metropolis benefit concert. They're nice enough not to ditch her, but Lucy doesn't really fit in with the group; she's more of a Tiffany person, as we find out.

Lucy apparently doesn't realize that the "Babe" mentioned above is Jimmy's old friend Babe Tanaka, now a big death metal star (as mentioned in Man of Steel #36), whom she should probably remember from that time they were both turned into vampires and almost slayed by Robin. Or maybe Lucy does remember Babe but she's playing dumb because she's still jealous of that time two years ago when she saw her "kissing" Jimmy at the hospital...

The Massacre/Doomsday comparisons continue. Don Sparrow says: "Massacre gets more of a push, with still some more Doomsday invocations, as Lois' fretting establishes that Superman had an easier time fighting Doomsday than he did Massacre." Because, you know, he could actually lay a punch on Doomsday. Lois' concerns turn out to be misplaced (one distraction and Massacre turned into a punching bag) but I think we should cut the girl some slack; she did just watch her guy get beaten to death a few month's ago, in the comic's timeline.

After successfully ricocheting his heat vision to drop that wall on Massacre, Superman thinks: "And Ma said Pete and I were wasting our time in that pool hall!" Imagine young "aw shucks" Clark Kent and Pete Ross angering redneck hustlers by being inexplicably good at pool. Why wasn't that included in the World of Smallville miniseries?! Why wasn't the whole mini about that?!

Plug-Watch:

SPARROW ALERT! Don will be appearing at SaskAssemble AND Sask Expo Regina in September, so if you're from those parts, go there and confront him about his shameless Jimmy Olsen apologism.

If you're using League of Comic Geeks (sort of a Letterboxd for comics), I've started an account where I'm slowly posting blurbs from our older blog entries in the corresponding Superman '86 to '99 era issues, so feel free to follow along! I'll also be (briefly) commenting on the non-Superman comics I do read from time to time, including the '90s DC stuff I scour for Superman references for the Super Titles Round-Up posts. Be warned that you might suddenly see like 40 Zero Hour crossover issues show up in your feed...

Shout Outs-Watch:

Riot Grrrl-loud shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Dave Shevlin, and Dave Blosser! Join them (and get extra non-continuity articles) via Patreon or our newsletter’s “pay what you want” mode!

Oh yeah, Don is also appearing RIGHT HERE AND NOW:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s a little bit of déjà vu, a conceptual mirror image to last week’s Superman #92, where Massacre was decking Superman.  On this week’s cover, Superman is striking back.  Apart from the reference to the previous cover, this one is fine, but maybe a little stiff and static.

Inside the book, we’re greeted almost immediately with a big old explosion as Superman, Massacre, and Skimmer’s ship crash back down to the rubble that is Metropolis, miraculously hurting no one important.

An odd thing in these fire-lit pages is that aside from slightly curlier hair, it’s hard to tell Lois Lane apart from “Dis”, one of the Riot Grrrls. The image on page 4, though, of Superman’s fighting stance in the flames against Massacre, is a good one.

The art team seems to thrive at drawing teeth, which are prominently featured in a sequence of panels on pages 11 and 12.  Say what you want about intergalactic villain Massacre—he takes care of his chompers.

The battle scenes here are well-drawn—generally Barry Kitson is a terrific and consistent penciller—but there is something repetitive about the fighting.  Apart from Superman’s heat vision bank-shot, it’s literally just a slugfest, with the fight choreography just being haymaker after haymaker. 

It’s not only visually a bit repetitive, but seems to forget that Superman learned to fight smarter (using his flight, heat vision and arctic breath more to his advantage) in his second fight with Doomsday. 

To this point, Skimmer seemed like a harmless hanger-on, so it’s a bummer to see him go full villain, threatening (and very nearly groping) Lois Lane.  Nice to see Lois do some hand to hand combat to free herself, and her dialogue about not being a damsel in distress is in-character.

The images of Massacre crying are unintentionally hilarious, as is Superman’s stern, vice principal like admonishing that so long as Massacre continues killing, they’ll remain enemies, BUT HE’S FREE TO GO. [Max: I always took the "crying" as a side effect of the beating, since it's only in one eye and it's the one that looks swollen on the final page. Maybe Massacre's blood is white? Or maybe Kitson intended it as blood but the editors toned it down to avoid implying Superman punched someone's eye off.]

I suppose Massacre staying would threaten Skimmer’s survival, since Massacre says he’s taking off to tend to his care, but still, this seems super weird and casual after they’ve built Massacre up as an unstoppable killing machine for three issues. 

SPEEDING BULLETS:

You might be sitting there thinking an excessive amount of time is being spent on the characters Azuki, Case, Dis, Margo and Sinda forming a band, a band called the Riot Grrrls.  If that’s what you’re thinking, you’d be right.  [Max: Maybe once Kitson learned he'd be plotting the issue he said "Awesome, I can turn it into a backdoor pilot for my Riot Grrrrls comic pitch!"] Aside from taking up a lot of panels and not really advancing the story, I also have to chuckle at the on-the-nose band name, which Is also the name of a Pacific Northwest punk movement or genre.  Calling your band Riot Grrrls would be as literal as naming your band “Seattle Sound” or “Grunge Music” in 1994.  On the plus side, Dis mentions Bessolo Boulevard, which we’ve established is a reference to the adopted name of tragic 50’s Superman, George Reeves.

I had thought that Case’s mention of “Shonen Knife” was some kind of in-universe slang (the Legion books were always establishing future slang terms, as were off-worlders like Lobo, whose expression “Feetal’s Gizz” became almost like a catch phrase, or in Batman Beyond, the young people called things “shui”, an apparent abbreviation of the principle of feng shui) but that’s just because I wasn’t sufficiently hip to know that Shonen Knife was an all-girl Japanese pop-punk band.  In our universe, even!  So Case was dismissing her lyrics as being too close to a Shonen Knife song.  Which one?  I have no idea.

A little later in the story, the Riot Grrrls take up two more full pages to scavenge the rubble of a music store, called Tom N’ Nancy’s Music Mart.  I believe this is a reference to frequent Karl Kesel collaborator Tom Grummett, and his wife, Nancy Grummett (a celebrated potter/artist in her own right, in these parts).  [Max: And the store seems to be located in Grummett Ave., too!]

There’s also pop culture references, one to Teen Talk Barbie, the controversial 1992 Barbie doll who famously said “Math class is tough” (among 270 other less offensive phrases, including “I’m studying to be a doctor”) earning the ire of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.  The doll is misquoted in this issue as having said “Math is hard.”  Lucy Lane also shows her pop culture illiteracy when Margo mentions lead singer/vampire harpy Babe Tanaka, and Lucy asks if she’s anything like Tiffany.  Pop singer Tiffany (nee Tiffany Darwish) was largely out of the public eye by the mid-90s, and a far cry from a Riot Grrrl.

Seriously, it’s just so weird to try to give Massacre a heart, like he’s a big softie at the end!  [Max: Whether he was crying or not, I still think he should join the Riot Grrrls and write a heartfelt song the sad passing of Skimmer.]

[poppletonink]

10 Things I Hate About You Review

★★★★★ - 5 stars

"But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all."

Katarina Stratford does not conform to everyone else's ideas of teenage normalcy: she doesn't wear things based on what's trendy, she likes indie rock music and feminist novels and most importantly, Katarina Stratford does not want to date. On the other hand, her sister, Bianca does want to date. After their father decides that Bianca can only date when Kat does, a boy named Cameron (who has a crush on Bianca) comes up with a plan to pay someone to date Kat.

I love the characters in this film so very much. Kat is a feminist icon who I've idolised ever since I first watched this masterpiece. Bianca annoyed me at first but the whole punching Joey in the face thing was very cathartic for me, so she increased her placement in my favourite character ranks. Patrick Verona is amazing, and all of the Kats in the world know that not falling for him is a very trying task. Cameron, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Patrick and yet he's extremely sweet and endearing - a hopeless romantic at heart (and a definite James Potter variant for sure).

It is safe to say that generally speaking feminism and rom-coms do not go hand-in-hand skipping down a flowery hill (what with most rom-coms being Chick Flicks, a controversial genre in the eyes of feminists everywhere). However, 10 Things I Hate About You manages to meld together these two assumedly opposing topics into an amazing masterpiece. It discusses a horrible idea formulated within society - that idea being that a woman cannot be in a relationship with a man, whilst retaining her status as a feminist. The irony of it is that feminism is about equality and yet we put this boundary between men and women, both of whom can be classified as feminists, and say 'No, you cannot date and wish for equal rights.' That's what is so wonderful about 10 Things I Hate About You: Kat Stratford is a feminist icon in her own right (what with her love of Sylvia Plath and riot grrrl bands, and her blatant "Well I suppose being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time" comment) and yet she is also the star of a rom-com. She's a feminist who simultaneously "gets the guy".

Aside from the amazing characters and the amazing feminist representation of 10 Things, one of the best things about it is its music. Music plays such a big part in 10 Things, from it playing to represent the character's emotions to Kat wanting to start a band. The soundtrack overall is amazing, with riot-grrrl bands galore and Joan Jett as the queen of rock 'n' roll. Without a doubt my favourite musical moment of 10 Things is Heath Ledger singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"- it's one of the most romantic moments and an important part of Kat and Patrick's journey.

In case it could not be gathered from my prior statements, this modern, feminist adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew is one of my favourite films of all time - on par with the likes of Dead Poet's Society and Clueless. It's wonderfully witty, romantic and heartwarming, and furiously feminist all in one - and if that does not convince you to watch it, then I don't really know what will.

[eloras-account]

intro📍

name : elora

♡ : true crime, mythology, horror, gore, art, metal/grunge/goth/riot grrrl/rock

dni : nothing really. just dont be a total cunt

blinkies (not mine, dont know all the creators) :

!!! READ THIS POST !!!

!! I DO NOT CONDONE THE ACTIONS OF THE PEOPLE I WILL LIKELY REBLOG OR TALK ABOUT. I FIND THE CASES INTERESTING AND JUST LIKE TO MAKE SOME DUMB JOKES. !!

!!BLOCK, DONT REPORT!!

[djservo]

not only did you beat me but i am horrifically late.. how embarrassing for me! however(!), i have finally made it to ask you the oh so important question: how much chocolate did you eat over the easter weekend? do you get a long weekend in the us? oh and i guess how did your march reading go? any spring time specific reads or other things you’re looking forward to?

FEELS GOOD TO WIN ONE!!!! 😪👏 tbh I'm not that big on sweets + easter treats especially seem like overload to me BUT I've been rationing a bag of cadbury mini eggs for the past week and it's been a delight in my day!!! pep in my step!! my work gave us friday off + IIRC they do the same in schools too? but I also took off thursday bc I was going to a wedding with friends so extra long weekend praise be 🏝️ oh yes and the reading part!!

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

I think I was halfway thru this during our last round-up and I already knew it was gonna be my fav Morrison thus far but Wowwwwwowow an already gripping story and then the final third just smacks ya outta nowhere and floors you!!! which is wild because I was already completely into it when things were unraveling in the way of slice of life / reckoning with family history and curses - such a fleshed out setting and cast of characters - but then it twists into this epic adventure at the very last second and it's just crazy how something already so layered can get even dizzier, and how complete it still feels! not overdone or rushed at all, just complete magic!!

Of Death. Minimal Odes by Hilda Hilst

there's just somethin about Hilda!!! perfect balance between bare bones simplicity + profundity to me - maybe it's striking because of how simple it is, or conversely reads as straightforward (a minimal ode if U will) because it's as if she's speaking truths that could only be articulated in a surreal way. WHO KNOWS !!! similar to my experience with With My Dog Eyes I was left with this certain ennui where it seemed like something didnt click immediately but then ofc I thought about specific lines for days and weeks after + craving more of her writing. a slow burn of affection! and the translation is so beautiful!! got me thinking about how a translator isn't ever Just translating, but also has to wear the hat of the author they're translating which is so beautifully layered to me + I have so much respect for it as an art itself

Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus

I was excited for this bc riot grrrl is interwoven in so many things/people I admire but it fell pretty flat. didn't care for Marcus's uneven prose throughout which felt peppered in as an afterthought + it was clear which topics/bands/figures Marcus favored in how much more attention + depth she gave them, which maybe is inevitable when you're personally connected to a subculture but I feel like if you're describing a book as "an epic, definitive history" of a movement, you shouldn't be so blatantly biased? it's also kinda funny in an ironic way how she condenses the experience of queer women and WOC feeling left out in a matter of like. 4 pages total. then goes back to essentially a Kathleen Hanna love fest (whomst I also love!!! but that's not what this book should've been!!) then again, I don't expect a white woman to sufficiently examine and/or encapsulate the intricacies of intersectionality so whatevz . flopperoni

Assata by Assata Shakur

I've had a copy of this for yearssss but I'm kinda glad I waited til now because it made me think so much of Leila Khaled's memoir at parts in their undying loyalty to the cause and unashamed criticism of the radical groups they longed to be apart of - in this case, the BPP and its gendered hierarchy - and it's just nice to be able to have this bridge between revolutionaries + revolutions, the embodiment of fighting the same struggle / no one being free until everyone's free. powerful and unflinching yet completely grounded and lucid in reflection - no detail felt out of place and no indictment felt gratuitous. completely demoralizing at parts (as if the american justice system could seem any more like a joke) and particularly bleak to see how relevant so much of this feels decades later (but also unsurprising when you think about america's enactment + sustaining of brutality as a well-oiled machine, the very core of its existence). just all around special and profound

for april I planned to read some short story collections but already I feel myself straying + craving something juicier so I may just let this be another wildcard month as far as ~theme goes like sorry but the heart wants what it wants and in this case it's bret easton ellis seediness!! happy spring!!!

[bikinikillarchives]

kathleen in the short-lived lgbt/riot grrrl magazine, Princess Magazine. cover photo found through riotgrrrlbible. 

EDIT: full interview can be read here, or in transcript underneath!

“Like there's some people you shouldn't fuck, because the fantasy of fucking them is way better than actually fucking them will ever be. It takes a mature person to figure that out. (...) Sometimes people use stars, though, to mediate relationships. The star is on stage and the audience is on the floor because you need to be on stage so people can see you. But while people are looking up at you, they're not looking right next to them at the person they might really need to be talking to. In some instances, the stage/fan set-up prevents relationships with each other. People focus on the star and live vicariously.”

The following is a conversation between Kathleen Hanna and Kathy Strider discussing the concepts of stardom and fandom--attempting to define them and figure out what they mean socially.

KATHY STIDER: So let's start with a really basic working definition of what you think a star is.. what role does a star play in society, why do stars exist?

KATHLEEN HANNA: I think part of the idea of being a star involves how it separates people: stars are superhuman, or "real" people and everyone else is supposed to be obsessed with their lives. Everyone else is supposed to be following what the "real" people do, which means that everyone else is less than real.

KS: Yes, there is a weird hierarchy that seems to be created. It seems that, if you've achieved some kind of stardom. People think that you've gained some kind of legitimacy or success that they don't have. This can apply even if people don't like or don't care about your work. I'm thinking, for example, of some older guy who's sitting in his house on a Sunday, opens up a magazine and sees a picture of Kim Gordon. He doesn't necessarily know anything about her or her work, but there’s still going to think in some way that she has something that he doesn't, or has some kind of agency that he doesn't. You made a good point in an earlier conversation about stars being in a way, both superhuman and 'dead or cartoonish, not allowed to be real'.

KH: Right, I mean any form of duality is dehumanizing for those involved. In this case, there is this idea that there are "common" people in one place and "royalty" in another. Although I wouldn't say that the "royalty" is oppressed, I'd say that both sides are dehumanized, because they both work in opposition and reaction to each other. And it's not like either side is necessarily recognizing full human agency, although the "royalty" can do that to a greater degree, because they're afforded privilege and position. Both of them become inhuman, like the royalty becomes a cartoon character.

KS: But I think it's important to make this distinction though, that a person who becomes a star is not in reality becoming a cartoon character. They really are people who live in houses and eat food, etc. But to others they [are] becoming less human, even to the point where people throw shit at them on stage, when they wouldn't throw shit at people on the street. I guess what I'm asking you is, why do you think that people feel a need to have people like that in society? What kinds of responses and experiences have you had with people who you think were seeing you that way? What was going on with them?

KH: I guess I can talk about a common interaction that I have with people when they ask me for an autograph. I used to try to disrupt thing by being like, 'well I'm not more important than you.' I talked to them about the idea of autographs, stardom , and fame. I mean, obviously that's not always practical. But then I realized it was kind of condescending, because it was assuming that they were stupid, that they might not know that already. Then I started thinking, 'Wait why are they approaching me?' Approaching someone and asking them for their autograph assumes certain things, like that that person is valuable.

KS: Like you want their name written on something.

KH: Right. I think it was Salvador Dali who said something about how it was the last form of human cannibalism or something. But anyway, I started thinking, 'Well maybe they just want to talk to me' and sometimes they only wanted a friend's phone number or something. But some put me into this idea and if I venture out of it, they get really angry. I mean, I think a lot of people in every day life totally experience that in terms of crushes. You have a crush on somebody, you build them up in your head. Then you actually hang out with them and they're not what you thought they were or what you wanted them to be. People are really creative and imaginative. We reinvent stuff. The thing is we have to be careful not to turn others into objects. Because you need to get some clay or pens or something like that, instead of objectifying people, why don't you just use actual things, and objectify them, rather than using Courtney Love to play out your fantasies.

KS: But I think there's a certain dynamic, there's a reason why people need others to do this. There's something really intense about what happens between a star and a fan , where the fan really sees something about the star (as opposed to a lump of clay) as something they can really work themselves out through.

KH: Yeah, well I've done that , I did that with Evan Dando.

KS: I think everyone does that. I know I've done it. I think it's completely normal. the thing is I just wonder why, what is it about our society that has set up this particular structure. I just wonder how it works into the idea of capitalism, the idea of people selling their performance and others buying it . But then, you know, when it comes time to talk to them you're unable to speak. Like there's this time when I met PJ Harvey and I was unable to speak to her. I felt like such a nerd.

KH: I had that with Karen Finley, too.

KS: She seems really approachable though.

KH: Yeah but it's my idea, I was really afraid that she would disrupt my idea of her and I didn't want her to. Her work changed my life, and I realized I just wanted to keep her in that context. Like there's some people you shouldn't fuck because the fantasy of fucking them is way better than actually fucking them will ever be. It takes a mature person to figure that out. Ha ha ha . Sometimes people use stars, though, to mediate relationships. The star is on stage and the audience is on the floor (because you need to be on stage so people can see you). But while people are looking up at you, they're not looking right next to them at the person they might really need to be talking to. In some instances, the stage/fan set-up prevents relationships with each other. people focus on the star and live vicariously. I think that has to do with capitalism, which dehumanizes everyone into robots. The more people get abused by their families and by sexism, racism, classism and homophobia, and able-body-ism and stuff, the more numb people have to become. And the less we can actually deal with any real confrontation, because confrontation may remind us of all this other stuff, and that's real scary. So we avoid being healthy enough or safe enough to feel a lot of stuff.

KS: Yeah, I think you're very right. So it's like this safe method of exchange, and the fact that it involves someone who you make in to superhuman. You project all your social needs onto this album, or something that you'll never actually deal with. That's kind of scary.

KH: That's a part of it. Also I don't even think of myself as a star, I think of myself as a performer , or a musician, or an activist, or a cultural worker, different things everyday. The people I want to perform for are people who are dealing with themselves when possible. I do want to entertain people out of their misery sometimes because I think that's important and valid. If it allowed them to escape in their own head for the while that they needed to take a break, I think that's really valid. I mean, people don't have to be dealing 24-7.

KS: I think that could be really constructive. I wrote my senior thesis on how I thought a fan/star relationship could possibly work positively in someone's life. I used myself as an example; I had idolized someone for a long time. I didn't go nearly as in depth as I had liked to , but it was a really positive thing.

KH: When we perform in Olympia it's a really different situation from when we perform in New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco because people see me walking around. A lot of people have seen me in other capacities, possibly serving them food somewhere. I think it's really positive for people to see us in the community, and then in this other way on the stage. It's like, 'Oh I saw that girl in the park and then I saw her on the stage' and it's not like I am Iggy Pop and I flew down in a helicopter. They're like 'Oh I could do that.' That's how I started doing things. And that's why I try to, when I can, remain as accessible as possible.

KS: So you're saying that a star thing can work positively if the person is seen as a star as well as part of the rest of the world.

KH: I just hope there's some sort of suture between those two things, between being a star and being a person. I mean I've had to somewhat separate them just for me to be able to function. I had to do the same thing when I was a dancer, which is another type of performance. It was a similar separation, in order to maintain some sort of a livability in the situation. But I just hope that it doesn't always have to be a stripper/customer relationship even in punk rock. That's what I'm trying to navigate right now.

KS: You said earlier that You think or yourself more as a performer and an activist, but in the Evan Dando 'zine, although that was a very contextualized piece, you did talk about yourself as being a star, and obviously there was a reason for that. Although you described yourself as a " superhyper Evan Dando groupie", what made you refer to yourself as a star?

KH: I guess it was just because I wrote that during our first stay in England. The pop-star idea is really big there. We were dealing with media on a really immediate level. The press people, right in your face, trying to talk to you a lot. That's when I felt like I was a star because we were in the papers. And I was like 'Whoa, this is big shit for me'. But I don't really think that. I just wrote that in the moment of ,'Oh yeah, I'm a slutty punk feminist star,' or something like that.

KS: But there's something to it, I think.

KH: Yeah, I know, I'm not saying that I'm totally isolated and don't know what's going on, but it's really hard for me to understand (stardom). It's like when you're in a really bad relationship and everyone's telling you so, but you don't listen. You can't see the situation 'cause you're in it. And that's how I feel sometimes; I don't really understand. I mean I've got a pretty limited amount of notoriety. I'm not like fucking Demi Moore or something. I don't really focus on it that much. I did for a while, mainly because I'm interested in figuring out problems.

KS: It seems like we're still circling around what a star really is. And I'm not thinking of a star as you as a person, I'm thinking of it as a shell, a thing you put on, or that other people put on you. It's even separate from the performance to some degree.

KH: Well I see it as analogous to focusing (o)n a character in a novel. I think in certain ways, because of the media culture now, tabloids, etc., rock stars and movie stars and stuff have replaced characters in novels. And I think that people, including myself, follow stars as if they're characters in a novel and their lives are unfolding in front of you. Is there going to be death, is there going to be addiction, will there be affairs?

KS: What's scary is that it's not fictional characters, they're real people.

KH: Right.

KS: And a lot of people can't seem to tell the difference between what they read in tabloids and the real person. And even me, I try to be really sensitive. I can say that I understand my relation to a star as a fan, but I'll see someone in magazines, etc., and I'll see them on the street and I get really nervous or weird because there's something really intense about them to me. Something about their performance has touched something in me and it's almost like you imagine there's some sort of connection between you and something they they've put out there as work.

KH: There can be a lot of misplaced anger in the way people treat stars. It's really hard for me to deal with the fact that Kurt Cobain killed himself. There's a record store in my community right next to the coffee shop where a lot of people who were close to him go. The day after he died, the store hung up this big poster and t-shirt as a Kurt Cobain Memorial in the window. I'm not saying that I expect everybody to be thinking of [their] feelings a million times a day, but it was really, really insensitive. I went in to try to talk with the guy at the record store. It was interesting because he's met me all these times but he never knows who I am. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm female, so obviously I'm no one in music. I 'm not saying that there's a claim that I am someone or something, but I have been involved in the music scene in Olympia for 7 years.

KS: Well it's your career. I don't think there's any shame in saying that.

KH: So I go in there and it's just the thing of saying, 'You know I live in this town, and I think that's really insensitive and I don't want to have to walk by it.' It's not like I'm trying to censor anybody, or that I'm freaked out about death. It's just about how I feel that when people get into positions like Kurt did, it probably had to do with depression and all kinds of things we can speculate on. But I think part of it has to do with the fact that he was totally dehumanized by everyone. He was really exploited. Sure he was a rock star, but he was also a worker; he was fulfilling a function and getting paid a certain amount of money to do that. And I think that a lot of other people make a lot of money off of him. It was really frustrating to me that they day after he died he was still being exploited. Maybe I'm just really sentimental and goopy, but I just felt it was fucked up, and the guy was like, 'Oh I understand, you're just this little fan of his.' I realized how totally condescending people can treat those who are supposed to be fans. It was like 'oh you cute little groupie.'

KS: It's really funny that he would interpret it that way. Cause the way I see it he was totally projecting onto you. He saw you as the person who couldn't really understand what was going on because you were blinded by your fandom and your girldom combined, while he couldn't see that he was hurting real people. That's exactly what I'm talking about: some people just have no idea when they cross the line, especially when it comes to stars. And I think that relates to regular life, too. There are a lot of people who don't know how to treat others.

KH: I think there's anger involved, because I think people tend to treat stars as if they are an endless resource, that's supposed to just keep giving, and gibing. People are like, 'Well I'm paying you for it.' And it's a negrophilic, fuck-the-dead-body idea. I think it's fucked up, boring and not what I personally want to do. So how are do we fight against it? How do we challenge that idea?

KS: Well, it's like we're saying that there are two things going on. There are people; who idolize people and are shy around them, but they are learning about how they want to be or something, and then there are people who are really fucked up about it, people for whom it 's like a death culture, the star culture. It's a way for them to remain numb, to dehumanize others...

KH: Sounds really pornographic, doesn't it? I mean there are a lot of similar elements, like object identification, commodification and money exchange. It's also about power. I grew up totally ascribing to middle class values, one being that I'm supposed to have a certain amount of control in my life, but in reality don't have a lot of that. I 'm constantly told, if I go out walking, somebody can just totally grab my ass and get away with it, and if I'm at work I can totally get shit on by my boss and have to take it. I'm constantly taught that I don't really have control over what happens, like the government... and hating all the decisions, hating this new fucking Proposition 187 in California, which is basically murdering immigrants by denying them medical care. So I feel like I have no control or power. I find an area that I can get control or power in. I could beat people up. Or I could abuse my one body with alcohol, cigarettes, heroin, or whatever. It's this whole mad rush for getting power and control. But I think that there are healthy ways of getting power. And I don't think having control over everything is necessarily the way that I would want to lead my life anyway. It's boring.

KS: I thought it was really interesting when you said earlier that one of the reasons that people want stars to be cartoonish and never change is because they want control over that person. In a sense it's like being dead, if you never change and never contradict yourself.

KH: Well if you just sell your life for safety, then what kind of safety is that? (laughs) But I just don't want to entirely define power in then negative, and say that's the only possibility because I'm really not into the idea of all power being oppressive. I don't think it has to be that way; I think when we start believing that all power is oppressive that we've lost hope.

KS: You become Catherine MacKinnon.

KH: Right, I just think it signals a loss of hope and I'm just not into it. But we're still in this fight, expecting to have all this power and control, and trying to get it any way we can, even in these really unhealthy ways, like controlling our bodies through not eating or using a person in the public eye. I've had negative fame at certain times ,because I've had really abusive things happen to me in the press. A Flipside article said, "Fuck you, Bikini Kill" 11 times in one article. The Washington Post wrote that I claimed I was raped by my father, but I never talked to them. They completely coined that from songs I had written; I guess they assumed that because I wrote about incest, I had to be speaking from first-hand experience because obviously I'm a woman and I have no imagination. There was a Newsweek article that printed a photograph of our band in bikinis, and that was a private photograph of us together. A girl took that picture of us and then sold it without our permission. And then it was said that I was a feminist, a stripper and incest survivor. That was really difficult for me as an erotic dancer to deal with because my full name was printed and a lot of my customers read it. In the picture of me in a bikini you could see my tattoos which meant that I could be positively identified, and my stripper name was now connected with my real name. That meant I basically had to leave that job. They fucked up my livelihood; I mean they made me lose my fucking job.

KS: It's showing complete insensitivity and people especially don't think of sex workers as having any rights at all. They kind of think about stars in the same way...once you get "out there" in certain ways, people think that they can use you in unbelievable ways.

KH: Right, although I do think that fame and notoriety can actually open doors for me oar allow me to access stuff I never had access to, whereas being a sex worker hasn't afforded me the same privilege. There's a huge, huge difference. What I was getting to was – I've gotten a lot of unhealthy attention...Do you know what I mean?

KS: Yeah, well I've seen it happen at every single show; I mean something seems to click in people's heads when they see you up there. There are certain things about you that they know or interpret, and they decide that you're going to be the one they're going to bother. Why does that happen?

KH: I think part of it is that I won't fit a smooth notion of identity because I contradict myself very boldly...I'm not trying to say that I'm this rad martyr fucking person, but I also haven't been willing to say, 'Okay, I'm a feminist and therefore I'm going to wear these really drab clothes and I'm not going to be sexual on stage and I'm going to sing lyrics that are really dogmatic and obvious, that are right out of feminist theory.' although sometimes I do do that. If I am what these guys think as being somewhat sexual, I'm actually being a whole person, not just a cartoon character of what they think a feminist is, or what they think a feminist is, or what they think a feminist performer is, or whatever. I think that's really offensive to them. They see me as contradictory and therefore my whole project is invalid; therefore I suck and I deserve whatever kind of abusive behavior I get. People see that you are a performer whose not reading off of a script, you're not in a movie; you're challenging the idea of one constructed identity when you stray outside of that, basically what it means is that you're alive and you're experiencing things right here and now. I think some people want to kill that, because it 's threatening. It applies to many things. I can't really afford the purity of never doing anything for a major label, or never doing this or that . I negotiate my decisions based on a lot of factors, economic, emotional, etc. I think that can be really threatening. What is really frustrating is that a lot of people have gotten, like, 'Oh, you're really fucked up, you're this big rock star now' and it's confusing to see me as an individual when people are angry at me for being a rock star when I still have to deal with a lot of shit. If you're angry at me because the Washington Post said that I was raped by my father, and it did a lot to destruct my family, that's fucked up it's not glamourous to go out on stage and have guys call me a cunt. To have to deal with that kind of shit and simultaneously have to deal with people saying, 'Well you're a rock star" and blaming me is hard. I didn't create that. You know what I mean?

KS: It 's true that a lot of people are obsessed with this certain kind of purity in the punk rock world or in feminism. It's a very immature attitude because they can't accept you moving forward or changing your mind about things or not just always saying the same thing over and over again.

KH: Or that there's more than one kind of fucking feminism.

KS: Yeah, it's very threatening. It's almost as if you could draw a line between different kinds of stars and why people like them. There are those who stir things up and those who placate their audience, someone like- I mean I don't want to trash people, but  she'll never read this anyway- like Whitney Houston, who I think is robotic in her performance. And a lot of people flock to it, they desperately need it..

KH: I love Whitney Houston.

KS: You love Whitney Houston?

KH: I think Whitney's incredible. For my birthday this year we got a hotel and I watched the Whitney Houston "Live in South Africa" performance, and she did two of my all-time favorite songs, "The Greatest Love of All" and the one that Dolly Parton wrote.

KS: Alright, well... that's how I feel about Whitney Houston, okay?

KH: Don't call Whitney robotic!

KS: She is, too; she's robotic!

KH: She is not.

KS: Well obviously, we have a lot of different ways of looking at things here. It's clear to me that what fans like doesn't have to do with the person as a performer in a way. There's something really different that you and I see in her performance. Not that her personality doesn't inform her performance, but I see a separation between the two. A person can be very different from who they are as a star, and people can see really different things in the same star.

KH: We don't really know what a fan is because threw are a million different readings that can come from a text, a performance, or whatever. Each person brings their ideas, background, privileges and system of identification to it. Whitney does maintain a really big gap between her and her fans. She's probably not reading her mail. She seems to have a pretty complete separation, it seems whereas I'm really navigating that relationship, because I don't really want to commodify myself or be commodified. Especially because I'm an abuse survivor, and it's a traditional position for me to be in, to objectify myself and kind of turn myself into a lamp. I think a lot of performers come from backgrounds like that, have taken a lot of shit as kids or as women or as boys or...

KS: Why do you think people do become stars then, do you think they thing that they have to take the abuse and that it's an abusive thing or do you think they get good things out of it, or what?

KH: Well, all I can talk about again is in terms of me. I don't know why Whitney became a star, and I can't speak for other people, I know that I learned as a child to leave my body for certain reasons which I'm not going to discuss.

S: No, you don't have to.

KH: It's known in the domestic violence/sexual assault community as 'disassociation', although it's not like you have these really severe abuse situations to do it; a lot of people do it. You're able to leave your body and do whatever you have to do, like pretend you're running through a jungle or whatever people do to stay OK. You do it during a painful experience or trauma, when maybe somebody you really love or trust is abusing you, taking advantage of you, objectifying you, or using you in a way that isn't cool with you. That's a survival mechanism and it's completely valid. I see it as a skill, to a certain extent. I don't want to glamorize abuse in any way but I do know that I have learned things from it that I'm not going to belittle, because that's my life.

KS: Well in your life that's the way you learned it , but maybe you would've learned it another way if you had a different experience.

KH: Right. But at the same time, I've learned how not to be in my body for various reasons. What I'm interested in right now is creating safe enough spaces that I can be in my body so that I can deal with painful things that I couldn't deal with maybe when I was a child, or maybe even last year, even at shows where guys assault me. But you know it's hard, because I got really good at dissociating. When I was working as a stripper, that skill really came in handy. People could touch me and I wouldn't feel it. And I think that translates nicely into the performance personality and the star personality of objectifying yourself and being consumed.

KS: But you make it sound like performance is a really bad thing.

KH: I think it is to a certain extent. I've just realized that there's a lot of unhealthiness there and right now, I'm resisting the idea that I'm consumable. I don't always make the best decision. I'm not always doing the most radical, subversive thing. I'm just navigating that and always trying to find a new way to subvert the status quo. If you're doing anything somewhat interesting, you're gonna come up against opposition. Because of that opposition, sometimes I have to numb out. I can't take seriously everybody who calls me rock star or bitch or cunt or slut or whore. Kathleen Hanna cannot deal with internalizing that and sometimes I have too... Kathleen has to go away.

KS: I'm just saying though that there must be things about being a star or an activist/performer that make you believe in it enough that it is worth it for yo to have to deal with that kind of stuff.

KH: Right. These are the things that are the benefits to me: a) I can earn a living with this now, because people will know who I am, b) I can get things done and I can help my friends hook up with other people because I travel a lot and I get told about a lot of things that are going on. I get handed a lot of resources. So I can play intermediary between an activist in one place and a performance artist in another who want to do a benefit. I can be this little point on a map and in between these other people.

KS: Don't you think that your performance itself makes you feel better or helps you work out things or that it does that for fans to some extent?

KH: They say it does, but it's hard for me to say. It does for me sometimes. It's totally powerful for me to be up on stage, to have this microphone and say whatever I want, taking up sonic space. That can be very powerful.

KS: That's very punk rock.

KH: Being female and doing that can be totally powerful. Even the fact that I can do things that are interesting to me and which push me further philosophically and politically makes me cream. I mean it's good, I like it.

KS: Good, that's what I thought.

KH: I say thumbs up.

KS: I say thumbs up, you and Whitney just keep it up.

[herearedragons]

staring at a page from a riot grrrl zine like a grizzled detective staring at a decade old cold case