@parziivale is our next spot artist, and we cannot wait to show you its piece! Parziivale’s queer take on horror hits home for so many, and its work hammers home its dedication to making queer folks feel at home in their own bodies.
Bad Ending
The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine March, 1877 Volume 50, Plate 84 Signed: Jules David; Imp. H. Lefèvre, Paris; Ad Goubaud & Fils Ed Paris; A Bodey sc (1396)
Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library
most of the time, it is okay. most of the time im grateful for the internet and social media and cell phones and and and.
but sometimes, you see a little girl doing her makeup for twelve thousand instagram followers. she’s nine. sometimes you see a man breaking up with his girlfriend for youtube likes. sometimes you are standing in a room and are in the background of fifty snapchat stories but in nobody’s actual lives.
it’s mostly okay. but so many of us grew up in a time where they basically ignored the internet while teaching us cursive in school. digital literacy was “don’t look at wikipedia”. none of us knew what the next generation was being set up to. we taught ourselves our own rules. many of us, it didn’t come soon.
it’s mostly okay. but the other day, i asked my freshman students: if you could, would you go back in time and take the internet away from yourself in middle school? if so, when do you think is the right time to be exposed to social media?
over and over: yes. yes. yes. i’d go back and never look up those skinny tips. i’d never spend so many weekends in the dark in communities that encouraged me to self-harm. i’d never lose my brother to radicals. i’d never, i’d never, i’d never again.
it’s mostly okay. i’m posting this on social media. but sometimes, you know. i wonder what exactly we’re doing.
I feel like many young adults naysaying this don’t understand just how different their- our -Internet experience was as children from what today’s kids deal with
I wouldn’t take the Internet away from myself in middle school. because it was 2004-2008 and the sum total of my Internet usage was reading Nightmare Before Christmas fanfiction, watching Flash videos, making crappy MS Paint base edits, and looking up Mediaeval Baebes lyrics. on a desktop PC. I occasionally talked to people on forums (I had a Gaia Online account for a while), and I emailed or AIM-ed my friends, but my social media access was nil. No MySpace, no Facebook, no nothing.
to think that that’s even remotely comparable to constant, highly normalized use of multiple social media apps that are driven entirely by a desire for ad revenue, AND which live on a device you are expected to take everywhere with you…how?
I must say I somewhat dislike the current rhetoric of “the Wild West Internet Was Perfect, Actually” because there was plenty of horrible stuff on the internet back in the day. Exploitative videos, shock sites, and the like.
But one very important thing it did not have was an algorithm. There were no sites in which the entire universe was crammed, and when you went searching for one thing it would feed you more things. You had to actively seek out what you wanted to look at, and the websites related to that thing would be hyper-specific.
This meant that there were sites specifically designed for children. Were they often corporate sites? Certainly, but Disney was still willing to set up games and activities that would be fun and age-appropriate, and places like Club Penguin offered a more social environment. So while kids were definitely being exposed to weird stuff on ebaumsworld, they were also being gently herded into more appropriate spheres.
Then you had fan-specific websites. Do you know that The Fanlistings Network is still around? It’s like a trip back in time. Literally, just websites devoted to listing fans of a thing, and linking to other, single-purpose websites devoted to that thing. Some focused on fandom art and fanfiction, some on comedy, some on information. Many were based around forums as Marzi mentioned, a message board where moderators could create categories of discussion so that conversations on a topic would be easily found and properly archived. Some of these would have sections specifically for minors or those over 21 depending on the sort of content they specialized in.
Also, because so many websites were being made by individuals for their own enjoyment, there was no corporate sponsorship disguised as genuine advice. Ads were ads, they were obnoxious but they were obvious. No one was pretending to build up a relationship with you only to reveal that they were being paid to sell you laxative supplements or NFTs.
So yes, it was a very different experience. Teenagers will often gravitate toward dark places, but then it was our choice. Now it seems you end up there either way.
A romantic postcard illustrated by Clarence Underwood and postmarked 1919, though the drawing is circa 1910.
Knowing that “punk” was basically a synonym for “faggot” has me fucked up. Imagine the alternate timeline where they switched places and we have genres like “faggot rock” and “cyberfaggot”.
“so what’s your style called again?”
“oh, i’m a faggot”
A comic to try and sort through some difficult feelings about being an artist and a reminder to not forget who you are.
a selection of artist memes hand-picked and curated by me based on my own experiences
trying the rng hack
okay my lil 2 cents for any new users here from twitter:
x graphics on tumblr look best at 540px width. if you post a full screen without adjusting the canvas size to reflect that width, it might look a little off. in my opinion, screens look better when they’re adjusted because you can play with framing more, but at the end of the day it’s entirely up to you!
x this is an old img posting guide but it’s still relative:
x if you do photo sets, they’re going to look visually cleaner in a vertical format. you can freely move images before posting them to either sit on top of each other or side by side.
x there’s no algorithm here, the movement of content is entirely user driven, so if you like someone’s work please reblog it!
x if anyone else has anything to add, please feel free! 💕
A gift for WarbleWastrel of Dillon!
A pair of precious shoes
English added by me :)
Give Us Roses While We’re Still Here Transgender Day of Remembrance // Nov. 20th
This is just a poster I made the other day. I love all of my trans family, and I hope you take the day for remembrance & self care.
Oooh do we do Funguary around here? Here’s some Day 5 Cordyceps + Leif!
