@stormy-seasons / stormy-seasons.tumblr.com
Apparently people like my writing enough to want to tip? So.... here goes, I suppose.
Also I very occasionally take commissions for writing. My writing can be found on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormyseasons
which is my current back up archive.
In addition I am often on Discord in the ZhongXiao Manor server, among other places.
irminsul incarnate
Any protest where people are saying there is “one solution” or, worse still, a “final solution” to the Jewish Question Israel where those saying it aren’t immediately ejected?
It’s an antisemitic protest. No exceptions.
What I find interesting about this post are the responses I’ve gotten to it which, in addition to minor hits to follower count (which I expected, as that happens whenever I address antisemitism that isn’t explicitly blamed on known right-wing actors), netted me a bunch of anons saying: “Zionist.”
I’m condensing it all down to that one word, as there’s variation in how it was imparted, but that was the takeaway.
Leaving aside that I, very intentionally, do not discuss my personal opinions on Palestine or Israel on this blog, let alone share any identity vis-a-vis Zionism in any direction (as I’ve exhaustively reminded folks here)…
Guys, “straight-up calling for a second Holocaust is antisemitic” isn’t a position with any relation to Zionism, whether for or against.
It does not condemn or support the protests themselves. It does not suggest that protesting in favor of Palestinian rights or statehood is an issue. It does not take a position on student demands to divest from any companies. It does not claim that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic, that one cannot criticize the Israeli government without being antisemitic, or that being pro-Palestinian is antisemitic.
Nothing about the OG post says anything beyond: “If at your event you publicly align with people who are openly calling for a second Holocaust, your event is antisemitic.”
Which it is. And that’s pretty straightforward and clear. As I said in my tags, it’s not even a close call.
And it says something deeply troubling that so many people think it is.
One of the downsides of using a clock radio alarm to wake up in the morning is the nonzero possibility of waking up to Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up.
Ask me how my morning was.
How was your morning?
I wasn’t a fan of the song I woke up to.
The fact that one of my posts broke double digits in six hours is a statistical wonder. I've played dodgeball with Apollo and walked away unscathed. Not even haiku bot was able to elevate me to a tenth of your guess.
I am the true Lord of the Flop, no matter what those idiots at work say.
I've been here for over a year, and only now struck this milestone. You think you can put me in the thousands?
202 from this post alone, not bad.
If only @the-official-spammer was here to see this, they would go crazy
i think it would be real funny if this post got 3k...
people misunderstand what ‘gifted kid’ actually means but it’s ok it’s fine it’s cool it’s good
it’s not about actually being gifted, it’s about an initial higher scoring on standardized testing that means little to nothing or being good at learning in the way elementary and middle school wants you to, so you get marked as ‘advanced’. in reality, maybe you had faster development in certain areas, but the issue with being a gifted kid isn’t that “everyone told me I was so cool and special for reading and then I actually wasn’t :(” it’s “I wasn’t properly taught to handle things not coming easily to me, but the adults around me were counting on me not being a ‘difficult’ child in school.”
people who use it as some weird bragging method or interpret it that way are ignoring the way a lot of school systems force certain roles on students to simplify the learning process. If your kid doesn’t need to take notes to understand a science concept bc they get it naturally, well that’s good, but now you’re not teaching them how to take notes and they’re not learning that important soft skill. but because ‘gifted’ kids are easy and don’t show that they’re falling behind in learning in other categories that are harder to quantify, they eventually fall behind after that catches up to them. It’s about the failures of a one size fits all school system trying to compensate in the worst way possible.
And also the thing where ‘gifted’ kids are super likely to also be neuroatypical, which they don’t get screened for because they appear to be doing well in school. Or “You can’t be ADHD/autistic/etc, because you’re doing so well in school!”. Or being shamed for developing mental health issues/generally not being able to keep up with school work later, because you USED TO BE able to do it just fine.
Or the assumption that just because you can read well or you like math class, you’re somehow more EMOTIONALLY mature than your little kid brain is actually capable of being.
Or gifted kids whose parents and teachers put immense pressure on them to Do Great Things and Save The World and you’re like. “I’m 10 and I have no idea how to do that, but everyone is saying that’s my job?”.
This is the best “gifted kid” post out there. I never took notes until college because I didn’t have to, snd when it got challenging I had to literally teach myself note taking at age 18. It also fucks with your perception of asking for help - you’re advanced, you’re competent, you should be able to understand every topic easily. Asking for help/going to office hours/asking for a tutor feels like failing when you were praised in your early years for not needing to do that.
Surprisingly, this is not a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference, but an actual fact. From Burnout: Solve Your Stress Cycle, by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
What does it declare???
“It will grab you by the face, shove you to the ground, put its foot on your chest, and declare itself the victor.”
The really interesting thing (imo) about this chapter of the book, is how it defines rest. It’s not talking just about sleeping, but also things like social connection and physical movement. So the 42% of your day that is rest might involve:
Each of us will need a different balance of these things, and each of these individual things will be different from person to person. The socialising and the meaningful connections might be IRL or it might be online - one of the examples in the book of something that counts as rest is “live-tweet Games of Thrones with a thousand fellow fans”.
It’s a really interesting book - definitely worth reading :)
(And Douglas Adams was obviously right all along - 42 is the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything;)
I wish age gap discourse hadn't spiraled the way it has because I want there to be a safe space to say "Men in their 40s who date 25 year olds aren't predators, they're just fucking losers"
... honey you just described a predator LOL
No, I said what I said. But thank you for providing an example of how this topic has become insufferable on the internet.
i am honestly burningly curious about how a 40 year old man who fucks around with college grads is not a predator
"College grad" is not a developmental stage, nor is it what I would describe a 25 year old as. I was 4 years out of college at 25. My mother had two children at 25. You can be a fucking congressman at 25.
There's a difference between a man who is immature and buys into misogynistic views of beauty and aging and one who is a predator. Also, many actual predators? Not losers and able to move through society pretty freely being seen as cool and the ideal, so conflating the two isn't helpful.
This is going to be my final response to any attempt at discourse. You're welcome to continue amongst yourselves.
also sometimes a 40 year old and a 25 year old just weirdly find each and it's a perfectly normal relationship - like all human relationships are complex and situational, it's so rarely an either/or thing let alone just one thing only
if a 40 year old dude only dates 25 year olds, DiCaprio style or something adjacent to it, then yeah he's a loser
if a 40 year old dude meets a 25 year old through social event or friends or whatever and they happen to hit it off and make a go of it, and this isn't some sort of reoccurring pattern for the guy, that's just a relationship with an age difference
being predatory means something specific, and man I agree w/ OP and really wish people just stopped ascribing it to any and all relationship dynamics they personally might not like
predator and groomer - two words that need to go up on the "can't use till you learn their meaning" shelf
Something I find really stressful is this seemingly endless creep of infantilisation and removal of autonomy from young people. Like, not to be all “in my dayyyy” about it, but… at 16, my friends and I were expected to be broadly responsible for our presence in the world. Most of us had jobs, we navigated public transport, looked after younger siblings. We were expected to make informed decisions about our future careers and our sexual partners. We were allowed to leave education and work full time (this was not necessarily good thing - I think increasing the school leaving age to 18 was broadly for the best). Most of us were smoking, or drinking, or both - again, not good things, but just facts - and many of us were sexually active. Many of the AFAB people I knew were on the pill. Legally, we could live independently, or get married with adult consent.
Legally (I live in the UK) we were not minors, although we inhabited an odd legal limbo until we turned 18, and we were certainly not “children”. Intellectually, socially, though, we were considered (young) adults, or at the most “older teenagers.” We were expected to read mostly adult books (rather than middle grade or YA), watch the news/read papers, watch mostly adult television.
And I do think we a bit under-protected, under-supported, and in some cases - neglected and financially exploited - and I’m not necessarily advocating that. But it did make us feel, I think, in charge of our own lives, capable and competent to make decisions.
At 16-17 my parents knew they could leave me alone overnight/for a couple of nights, and I wouldn’t starve or burn the house down. I felt comfortable getting cross country trains on my own, or booking and staying at a hotel (yes, with my boyfriend.)
Then there was this… creeping of sentiments that we were all Too Young to trouble our heads about certain things. A lot of it was good - more stringent licensing laws, raising the school leaving age, raising the minimum smoking age(!) - but some of the broader cultural stuff was… a bit patronising? Eg, the introduction of “New Adult” as a category of books aimed at 18-25 year olds, the way cartoons and books written for the 9-12 age group were being marketed as for the 12-15 age group, referring to late teens as “children,” etc etc.
Then, in 2008, there was the big financial crash and suddenly my generation were (broadly) robbed of all the usual markers of adulthood and success, meaning that we got ‘stuck’ in the lifestyles and modes our late teens/early 20s. And suddenly, all the emphasis shifted from social and legal protections for late teens/ younger adults, to legal restrictions on their freedoms/rights, and strange philosophical protections on the emotional states.
So, OF COURSE a 23 year old can’t buy a beer without carrying an ID card, and a 17 year old can’t have a crush on a 16 year old, but also, because you’re *children* you don’t need to live like adults. So the UK government got to save money by saying “18 isn’t a proper adult,” then “20 isn’t a proper adult,” and “25 isn’t a proper adult” because it meant they could refuse to give single occupancy housing benefit rates to people of those ages (I think they’ve raised it over 30 now.) Or by refusing to clamp down on exploitative temporary/zero hours contracts - because they’re just “temp jobs for young people!”, or by raising the retirement age because “60 is far too young to retire. You’re not a real adult until 35.”
And it means the discursive environment is such that you can claim that a 21 year old trans person is too young to make their own medical decisions, or a 15 year old is too young to consent to the contraceptive pill.
Meanwhile, they are not offering additional *protections* to these newly infantilised adults. 18 year olds are still encouraged to saddle themselves with enormous educational debt, or allowed to have credit cards, or expected to pay rent, or no longer receive child benefits. You still have to *work*. In fact, in the States, they’re looking to removed child employment restrictions - but that’s fine, because 20 year olds are being protected from making their own medical decisions, and adults get to say which books their teen kids are reading in school, and kids aren’t allowed to change their name or what they wear without parental consent.
We can see what these people are doing to the rights of children - so why are we being so complacent in expanding the definition of ‘child’?
Regardless - 25 is VERY CLEARLY an adult. At 25 I was married, had two kids, an overdraft, rent to pay, and experience of living in the world for 6 years. I had more in common with someone of 40 than I did with someone of 15. Hell, at*20* I had more in common with someone of 40 than someone of 15. Any sexual or relationship decisions you make at 25 are your own to make.
Of course there are likely to be power imbalances in a 15 year age gap - which is why most 25 year olds don’t date 40somethings - but not actually necessarily. And yeah, a 40 year old who only dates 20somethings is a skeeze - just like a 30 year old who routinely ingratiates themselves with rich 80 year olds is a skeeze.
Yes, young people should be protected, but if someone claims they’re protecting you while denying you access to personal autonomy, financial stability, intellectual curiosity, or sexual self-determination because you’re “too young” to need, or understand those things… be very suspicious of their motives.
And if you’re legally an adult, ask yourself why you don’t feel comfortable defining yourself in those terms.
This thread is from 2023, and now with the Cass report we have seen the real, tangible danger that comes from infantilizing adults in their 20s.
as someone with a bachelor’s degree in english, i am inexpressibly tired of people telling me to get highly specific jobs that often require highly specific degrees. “just go write for a magazine!” you need a journalism degree for that. “just teach!” you need a teaching certificate, and also fuck you. “just go work at a tutoring place!” tutoring children with learning disabilities, which make up the majority of the clientele at those places, requires not only a teaching certificate but a specialized master’s degree. “just go work at a library!” you need a master’s degree in library science to be a librarian. it is actually a highly skilled and extremely competitive field. you don’t just “go work at a library,” you train for years in the vain hope that you will get one of handful of available jobs. “just go work at a library.” the nerve. the unmitigated gall. “just go work at a library.” ugh.
this is a way better model... you'll still get transphobic & intersexist drs of course but i prefer this to male / female or even having separate questions for gender & sex.
[we can't see the full form, but i'd suggest having a "something else" option and dominant hormone question too.]
as a cis woman who's had a hysterectomy and partial oophorectomy, this would be helpful for me, too! it'd be pointless to try to diagnose me for disorders that affect organs I don't have anymore, after all.
being inclusive helps us ALL. 💖
Between checking who I reblogged this from and the first choice, I am reminded of the time I found 1,000 yen note in my jacket pocket, 6 months after moving home from Japan. Thankfully, I had forgotten my credit card at home but was visiting Hawaii, the one place in the US I could spend the bonus cash (tourists).
Presently, two things prevent you from obtaining Flour. First is the infuriatingly slow queue outside the grocery store. Second is Fortune Preserver, the jiangshi Adeptus, who is insistently tugging you in the other direction.
“I cannot come to the Pharmacy tonight,” you tell Fortune Preserver. “However, in the morning—”
“No,” she says. “I will bring you to Bubu Pharmacy now.”
“I am busy tonight. I am making noodles. I promise to come by the Pharmacy tomorrow.”
She shakes her head.
“First, find Shenhe. Next, bring Shenhe to Bubu Pharmacy. These are Qiqi's orders.”
This was to be expected. Fortune Preserver is unwavering in her determination. If she gives herself an order, she will carry it out come rain or shine. She cannot be reasoned with. She cannot be bargained with. She will not tire.
“Look,” you say, pointing at the grocery store. “This is Bubu Pharmacy. We must go this way.”
Fortune Preserver frowns. “Your eyesight... is bad.”
You already attempted lying about your identity. If you wish to convince Fortune Preserver that you are not Shenhe, you will have to take bolder measures.
You begin to untie the red ropes around your shoulders.
Fortune Preserver tries to stop you. “Do not remove Shenhe's ropes,” she chides. “Doctor Baizhu says Shenhe's ropes suppress her violent—”
“I am not Shenhe,” you say, shrugging off one shoulder loop.
“Wrong. You are Shenhe. Do not remove Shenhe's ropes.”
“I am not wearing red ropes, so I am not Shenhe.” You continue weaving your clever web of lies: “So these are not Shenhe's ropes, and there is no cause for concern.”
Your malefactor seems to think this over. Her confused frown is rather cute. (The same cannot be said of her haircut, which was doubtless administered by someone who considers dowdy old aunties to be the height of feminine elegance.)
“You are... not Shenhe?” she says slowly.
“Correct.” You stow the rope into your grocery basket and begin on your other shoulder.
“Oh.” Qiqi lets go of your arm. “I am suspicious. I will watch you.”
You turn to face the grocery store. People have joined the queue behind you, but you have barely moved at all.
At this rate, you'll be here for half an hour. That is ridiculous. That is a terrible idea.
Yes. The queue is a social construct. It only has power over you if you let it.
Qiqi follows you as you stride towards the shop entrance.
“You have to line up,” she says, sounding neither worried nor confident. “One at a time, nice and orderly.”
“Incorrect,” you reply, your voice very quiet. “I am here to buy Flour. Standing in line is inefficient.”
“You are ignoring the rules.”
Who does she think she is? Only the shouty bird gets to order you around like that.
“Go away,” you say very quietly.
“No. You look like Shenhe.”
You remove the ropes from your hair. “No I do not.”
When you reach the shop entrance, the foolish queue people look at you suspiciously.
“Excuse me,” says a woman, "you'll have to join the queue.”
“No,” you say very very quietly.
“What do you mean, no?” says a youth.
“Hey, what gives?” says a man. “You can't cut in line!”
“She's doing what?” says another woman.
They are all glaring at you. But you do not fear them.
Presently, two things prevent you from obtaining Flour. First is the infuriatingly slow queue outside the grocery store. Second is Fortune Preserver, the jiangshi Adeptus, who is insistently tugging you in the other direction.
“I cannot come to the Pharmacy tonight,” you tell Fortune Preserver. “However, in the morning—”
“No,” she says. “I will bring you to Bubu Pharmacy now.”
“I am busy tonight. I am making noodles. I promise to come by the Pharmacy tomorrow.”
She shakes her head.
“First, find Shenhe. Next, bring Shenhe to Bubu Pharmacy. These are Qiqi's orders.”
This was to be expected. Fortune Preserver is unwavering in her determination. If she gives herself an order, she will carry it out come rain or shine. She cannot be reasoned with. She cannot be bargained with. She will not tire.
“Look,” you say, pointing at the grocery store. “This is Bubu Pharmacy. We must go this way.”
Fortune Preserver frowns. “Your eyesight... is bad.”
You already attempted lying about your identity. If you wish to convince Fortune Preserver that you are not Shenhe, you will have to take bolder measures.
You begin to untie the red ropes around your shoulders.
Fortune Preserver tries to stop you. “Do not remove Shenhe's ropes,” she chides. “Doctor Baizhu says Shenhe's ropes suppress her violent—”
“I am not Shenhe,” you say, shrugging off one shoulder loop.
“Wrong. You are Shenhe. Do not remove Shenhe's ropes.”
“I am not wearing red ropes, so I am not Shenhe.” You continue weaving your clever web of lies: “So these are not Shenhe's ropes, and there is no cause for concern.”
Your malefactor seems to think this over. Her confused frown is rather cute. (The same cannot be said of her haircut, which was doubtless administered by someone who considers dowdy old aunties to be the height of feminine elegance.)
“You are... not Shenhe?” she says slowly.
“Correct.” You stow the rope into your grocery basket and begin on your other shoulder.
“Oh.” Qiqi lets go of your arm. “I am suspicious. I will watch you.”
You turn to face the grocery store. People have joined the queue behind you, but you have barely moved at all.
At this rate, you'll be here for half an hour. That is ridiculous. That is a terrible idea.
Yes. The queue is a social construct. It only has power over you if you let it.
Qiqi follows you as you stride towards the shop entrance.
“You have to line up,” she says, sounding neither worried nor confident. “One at a time, nice and orderly.”
“Incorrect,” you reply, your voice very quiet. “I am here to buy Flour. Standing in line is inefficient.”
“You are ignoring the rules.”
Who does she think she is? Only the shouty bird gets to order you around like that.
“Go away,” you say very quietly.
“No. You look like Shenhe.”
You remove the ropes from your hair. “No I do not.”
When you reach the shop entrance, the foolish queue people look at you suspiciously.
“Excuse me,” says a woman, "you'll have to join the queue.”
“No,” you say very very quietly.
“What do you mean, no?” says a youth.
“Hey, what gives?” says a man. “You can't cut in line!”
“She's doing what?” says another woman.
They are all glaring at you. But you do not fear them.
Insight today while washing the lettuce and thinking of my friend who doesn't want to vote.
They are an otherwise intelligent, responsible, generous person, who appears to be socially conscious. They have worked hard and long for their position in their profession. They express concern for the planet. They get twitchy if you use too many paper towels.
But they don’t want to vote for Biden for reasons, and quote "doesn't like the whole system where the parties take turns swinging things back and forth" unquote.
I have been dumbstruck at their attitude for about two months now. I've been thrashing back and forth trying to reconcile this person I love with their attitude:
The insight came to me as I used an extra set of paper towels to dry my lettuce:
Not how the outcomes of their choices will make them feel. But how the action associated with their choices makes them feel.
In terms of outcomes for the environment, saving paper towels doesn't do shit compared to pushing for restrictions on oil companies. But using half a paper towel is an instant dopamine hit: "Ahhh, I am caring for Mother Earth. I care. I am a good person. Ahh yes that's the stuff."
This model fits for voting too. We know that The Only Votes That Count Are Those Cast. We know that Dems Go Where The Votes Are Not Where The Votes Aren't. We know that voting in every election, every time, in numbers, is a very low-effort way to contribute to moving the Overton window farther left.
But in the moment, for people who are motivated by how their action associated with their choice makes them feel... the absolute best move for their dopamine supply is to abstain: "I am NOT supporting an old fart; I am NOT supporting genocide; I am Challenging The System; I am a good person. Ahh yes, that's the stuff."
At the time, when I challenged my friend on their position, they held up their hands and said "look, I'm not saying I have any answers, I'm just saying I don’t like how the system works."
For those of us who think this is madness, hey, we aren't off the hook entirely. We are basing our choices and actions off of outcomes, true. But there's probably a feeling/dopamine component in there too. "I am holding my nose and voting Blue; I am doing my part to actually affect the future even if I hate some things abt my choice; I am a good person."
So maybe the difference isn't in the motivation (my feelings and self-image) but in what motivates us (my action vs the outcome of my action).
I don't have an answer to the question at this time and this post is already long enough. But I'll think on it. And I invite you to do so as well:
Off the cuff, I can't think of any means other than cognitive-behavioral therapy. :/
EDIT: Apparently there's a term for this and it's called Emotivism -- ethics isn't abt effects but abt feelings.
I fucking knew it, I SAID it: they're making ADHD people the next culture war targets. They will 'just ask questions' until we lose every scrap of ground we've gained in the last decade and more. We may not quite inspire the same level of hatred as a sexual minority, but we can very easily be made to inspire disdain and that also works.
They will strip us of our accomodations and our medications and try to stifle any sense of shared identity, and if that kills some of us, oh well. So long as it fuels another outrage cycle, fine.
So many of the tropes they've been using on trans people work extremely well on ADHD people too! "There are too many of these people suddenly! It must be a fad! It spreads through friend groups! And online! People are going private for diagnoses and that's bad! They are using pOwERfUl medical interventions and we think it's freaky!"
I saw the first ripples of this in terf circles about two years ago. And of course it's spread.
6% of British ADHD people lost their jobs in the last year thanks to the meds shortage. SIX PER CENT! And that just made these ghouls go "ooh, tasty, what else can we do?"
Recently an 'expert' was on the BBC saying people see ADHD diagnosis as a "golden ticket." Laurence Fox has been ranting that the condition doesn't exist and threatening "'you won't poison my child's body [with ADHD meds] against my consent"
People need to be aware this is going to get worse. Maybe, if we're lucky, it won't get really bad. But it's going to get worse than it is now.
Fuck. This came along sooner than I thought.
Un-fucking-herd.
Motherfuckers.
I got diagnosed at 36, got prescribed adderall, and went from continually dependent on men in order to to afford housing for myself, to able to hold a steady job for the first time in my life, and even to achieve promotions.
Late diagnoses are a sign of people realizing that they don't need to suffer. It's not a fad, it's a cultural shift toward rejection of pointless, unnecessary struggle.
We seriously need the boomers to get the fuck out of legislation.
late diagnoses are also literally The Only Option if you happened to be raised by a family whose approach to medical care was lacking, at best.
i was diagnosed with autism and in middlingly-intensive at-home therapy for about ten years of my life, and in that time, i pushed for an adhd diagnosis over and over again. i failed multiple years of school, was grounded for multiple years at a time (this was abuse yeah but it was directly related to my "lack of motivation"), spent like six months without brushing my teeth at one point--it was fucking BAD. my at-home therapist repeatedly pushed for an adhd diagnosis during sessions, and i was amenable, but my mom refused.
i never got diagnosed because my mom "didn't believe i had adhd" (based on nothing but general vibes) and refused to allow me to get tested to begin with. so now my only option is to try to go through the adult testing process.
there's a ton of people who've been suffering our whole lives and know damn well why, but can't do anything about it til adulthood. (and ofc our place in the culture war is being rhetorically painted over as malingerers, because we dare to know what would help us before a psychiatrist bestows their wisdom lol.)
One of the things that's absolutely infuriating here is that they're treating diagnosis as the patient pulling one over on the doctor, instead of the doctor having, you know, any sort of authority of expertise on the subject, and knowing what they're doing.
I want to point out, as someone who got my ADHD diagnosis as an adult within the last 5 years, we have testing now that can empirically prove adhd in ways that cannot be faked. One of the tests I took specifically measured muscle twitches too small to be consciously controlled. Another measured my reactions to stimuli to the microsecond. We are not looking at a situation where some imaginary bad actors are looking up a list of symptoms that will get them the Productivity Drugs and going to the doctor and claiming to have those and walking out with a prescription, these diagnoses are being made using testing that cannot be faked or duped.
the whole point of a zine is that it's cheap to produce, amateur and homemade. if you're being asked to apply to participate in a print project, it is not a zine. if the final product is being printed and bound professionally, it is not a zine. if you are being asked to enter into any kind of licensing agreement more complex than "my work can be reproduced as part of this publication" it is not a zine. nine times put of ten if the final product costs more than $5 you have left zine country. im so serious about this.
this isn't snobby gatekeeping or imaginary semantic problems or whatever, this is an issue that has come up irl at cons and zine fairs local to me and which keeps coming up online. people who show up to trade fairs selling professionally printed $15 anthologies as 'zines' have a direct impact on the people trying to sell their $3 chapbooks at the next table over. submission based kickstarter projects that bill themselves as 'zines' exploit the connotations of amateur, punk production values to induce creators to work for less and eschew formal guarantees and protections they are entitled to.
my favorite zines have all been $1 or free and printed on highlighter paper. i used to pick em up from a book store in chelsea that sold predominantly self published work, and had sections for zines. Some were about how to eat cheap in the city when most of your paycheck went to rent, others were talking about the best drag performances in town, and plenty of DIY stuff. all of them had the same unique quality: nobody but the author and their collaborators could've made this, and they wanted to make it easily accessible to the community
i kinda hate that the word that was used for extremely personal and cheap works is applied to essentially art books of your favorite anime OTP
hi! sorry, real quick:
congrats you're in a zine! if you like you can photocopy it and sell it to art students, fellow haters, or anyone with a sense of humour. I'll buy one.
ive been saying this since 2015! all my illustrator friends kept submitting to them (and gettin in which i was proud of) but they... werent zines. they were like massive books with grandiose color schemes and gilded bossing. i couldnt afford them even. zines are oft free or traded and they arent about how pretty a picture you can make.
the first zine idea i found was in a book i checked out from the library (id never remember what it was. it was about cartooning i think and had a section about chibi style lol) that had a little section on taking one sheet of paper, marking it into eighths, cutting a line in the center of the page and folding it over for a quick eight pages. like this
this makes printing soooo easy too. id love to see these floating around places
So I scrolled past this post and was thinking the same thought I always do when I see people talking about zines, which is basically ‘zines are so cool, I’ve never made one because I don’t think I have anything interesting to say in one, but I should make a zine someday if I ever have creative energy again’ and then it gets added to my ever growing mental list of things I want to do but don’t end up doing (I have spent the last several years struggling so hard with my depression that I can’t seam to create anything at all)
And then I thought, hey I have a piece of paper by my desk I should at least follow that diagram and fold it, that way I’m halfway there even if it’s blank and sits on my desk for months, and then 5 minutes later I had this:
Now I’m just holding this little thing I’ve made in my hands and I love it so much
So thank you to this post for inspiring me to make something today! Even if it’s just a simple silly little thing I’m going to treasure it
IM SO MAD AT THE SHAME SOCIETY PLACES ON DYNAMIC DISABILITIES
yes, I was walking unaided yesterday; yes, I am using forearm crutches today
yes, I was using forearm crutches but left them behind to go to the bathroom yesterday; yes, I need to use them even to walk two steps today
yes, I went up the stairs unaided yesterday; yes, I needed my crutches to go up to the stairs today; yes, tomorrow I might need to scooch upstairs on my ass because I won't be able to walk them
yes, I walked unaided to the car to get my crutches out of the car in the morning; yes, I will use them to go on a walk in the afternoon
DISABILITY CAN BE DYNAMIC, MOST PEOPLE ARENT ON A FIXED POINT OF SUPPORT NEEDS AND MOBILITY, WE'LL HAVE GOOD AND BAD DAYS AND I DONT NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO YOU
Lumine & Neuvillette, Aether & Lumine, Furina/Neuvillette/Focalors | G | 2.5k
In response to a prompt by Emanating_Auras in the genshin_promptmeme_2024 collection.
Prompt: a dragon and a star, on understanding humanity Anything with Traveler and Neuvillette reflecting on their inhumanity, esp. Neuvilette recognising Traveler's otherworldly origins and (probably) immense age (bonus if there is a comparison between Focalors inviting Neuvillette to be Iudex to 'witness humanity' and Abyss Sibling inviting Traveler to travel the world as they did to find the truth)
