Various stars & moon details from my gouache paintings 🌙✨

The fact that it’s almost working is hilarious to me

[Finger guns]

it's because the bear wouldn't kill me just for being a woman. the bear doesn't kill me for fun. the bear can be shouted at, and will leave me alone. the bear won't make a tiktok complaining about how i crossed to the other side of the path when i saw him coming. if a bear kills me, it's just being a bear: it cannot understand logic. it is not acting out of malice - just fear or hunger.

bell hooks once wrote about how porches might be the only outside space left for women - it is still the domain of the house while it is also outside-but-safe. when i am in the woods, i am in the bear's home, and he has a right to defend his property. outside spaces - anywhere at night, certain parks in the day - those are often implicitly "owned" by men. i cannot explain the feeling of knowing when you have entered a man's "territory." you walk into a place and just know you are in their space. you get a sick sense - you're in danger.

the other day a group of about 8 men were fooling around in the woods while i walked my dog. i had to go around, take the extra 3 miles just to avoid them. it's okay, i like walking. this wasn't even a #feminism moment. it was just a tuesday.

what a plain and easy question. only one of the situations is seen as a tragic accident. i would rather die and have a park bench erected in my honor rather than have my family questioned about why they let me, an adult, walk in the woods in the first place when i should really be at home in the kitchen.

i worked in retail and food service. i have had women say and do absolutely heinous and abusive things to me - not because i was a woman, but because i was there, and they were angry. the way men treated me when angry was different - it was because i was a woman. you can always feel the difference, how there's an undertone of i'd hurt you worse if i could get away with it. i keep seeing people try to cite stupid statistics. why is there always a strange rage whenever women agree on things? like men can argue their way out of our lived experiences? it isn't a buzzfeed quiz - which of these traumas are you? 10 super cute ways not to fear strange men.

i have actually (thrice!) seen a bear in the wild, by the way. i died each time, obviously, and am a ghost writing to you. (it was scary but completely and utterly fine). the second encounter was a black bear with her cub. she looked at me like - do we have to do this or are we good? my dog was busy sniffing a bush, completely nonreactive. i felt like i was in a sitcom: feminist poet reacts - does she actually mean she'd choose the bear? my only thought was - she's so beautiful. her paws are massive.

and there's a part of me that feels the rage spinning out in a corner. why do we have to come up with quippy little comments in order to teach men empathy. would you rather die in a car accident or due to a mugging? and would you rather your house burn down due to an electrical fire or due to arson? gee willikers - it's almost like we're human people, and want to risk the accident versus the intention.

i would rather my last thought be oh shit, a bear rather than i'm a person too. why doesn't that matter? why don't you care?

in ovid's metamorphoses he describes an argument between jupiter and juno where they debate whether men or women experience more sexual pleasure. jupiter says women do; juno says men do. obviously this is a weird fucked up they-ought-to-be-divorced sort of couple dynamic but anyway then they bring in tiresias, a man who apparently was once transformed into a woman and then back into a man seven years later, to be the judge. tiresias says women have more fun during sex and juno takes away his eyesight for disagreeing with her and then jupiter gives him the gift of prophecy to compensate. but that's just one person's opinion. so:

no see results. if you're not trans/haven't gone on hormones/don't have sex come back in a week. i also am not on hormones and will not be answering or seeing the results until the poll is over. (if you used to be on hormones and aren't anymore feel free to answer for how you felt while you were on hormones.)

feel free to put any nuances in the replies or reblogs or tags--but also no one is obligated to share details of their transition unless they want to and feel comfortable doing so.

disclaimer also that i personally do not equate a person's hormones or sex characteristics with their gender identity--i use "man" and "woman" for tiresias because it's the language ovid uses but of course gender is way more nuanced than that. i use "transmasc" and "transfem" as umbrella terms but recognize that they might not apply to everyone.

my hypothesis is that people who choose to go on hormones/have surgery will have more sexual pleasure on hormones/after surgery because they are having an experience that better aligns with their gender. and please don't feel like you need to separate out the physical experience from the emotional--both physical and emotional pleasure are relevant to whether or not an orgasm is good.

uhh and i promise no gods will blind you as a result of this poll.

29 reblogs and no one has pointed out i accidentally wrote the poll title twice. 🫡🫡🫡

I don't think people in the notes understand what this tweet is saying. It's not saying it's impossible to be born with a mental health issue, but that the issue isn't set in stone. Bipolar disorder can be trauma induced. Schizophrenic people in less individualistic, more accepting societies hear kinder voices. These are actual things you can look up.

I thought for the longest time I would feel nothing but suffering because of the dominant narrative surrounding mental illness. My parents were literally told by a psychologist I am "a severe case" and have no future. But guess what? When I got away from my abusive parent, it was incredible how much became more manageable than before. I'll never be "normal" or even be able to live alone, but I feel better than before. And I need everyone to know there's hope for you when you never expect it, even if you were in part "born like that".

this couldn’t be said any better

rip lester papadopoulos you would've loved that one tumblr blog looking for accidental haikus

there’s such an unbelievable multitude of this type of (straight) woman who’s like “when he mentions a ‘she’ 😡🥺👀” “when he calls some girl his ‘friend’ 👀👀🔪” etc and this person is like a different species to me. this person is a space alien. this type of person makes me feel like amy adams in arrival

a man’s female friends are like a car’s warranty. a woman has vouched for this guy’s ability to be normal. you should be kissing her on the mouth for her service

You get it

Rino Kitano (Japanese, contemporary) - Homesick, 2017

theyre cute as a couple but the follower gap between them is a little ..... uncomfortable??

THE FALL OF THE SUN, THE FINAL VERSE

I am TWENTY MINUTES into The Phantom Menace and I am in absolute tears, Qui-Gon Jinn is the funniest person in this entire franchise, he basically doesn’t sense shit about anything hinky on this mission and doesn’t care, he calls the Federation types all a bunch of cowards, he calls Jar Jar Binks brainless and says the ability to speak doesn’t make you intelligent, that man cannot stand that Gungan from the word go, and he is the one who starts bullying Jar Jar to get him to reveal where the Gungan city is, Obi-Wan joining in with the shit your pants level terrifying things that are coming for them that they do to this Gungan, like they are seamless, they have clearly done this before, Qui-Gon has very obviously bullied people and gotten his Padawan to tag-team them with him, then they go to Otoh Gunga and Qui-Gon busts out the Jedi Mind Trick which is reasonable the first time, but then he pauses for a moment, clearly considering, and then is like, well, how about a transport, too? and his delivery on the line had me weeping with laughter because his voice goes up at the end like, oh, well, as long as we’re here….? because he just realized oh he absolutely can fleece these idiots blind, this man has no morals so far, he only brings Jar Jar along with them instead of leaving him to be executed because Jar Jar will be useful, then there’s the trip through the core of the planet where he sits in the back because hell no he’s not sitting next to Jar Jar and he deadass does not engage in any of the conversation in asking more about what happened with Jar Jar, he leaves that entirely up to Obi-Wan, and then Qui-Gon Jinn does not give a single solitary fuck when the Goober fish is eaten, he’s just like, yeah, same shit different day, meanwhile Obi-Wan is in the driver’s seat staring into the middle distance for like a solid five seconds that feels like ten goddamned minutes while he’s questioning every single life choice he has ever made, then Jar Jar keeps freaking out and Qui-Gon uses the Force to calm him and he borderline passes out because that man wanted that Gungan to shut the fuck up and even Obi-Wan is like, “You overdid it”, and I AM ONLY TWENTY MINUTES INTO THIS MOVIE, I AM CRYING, QUI-GON JINN IS THE FUNNIEST PERSON IN THE MOVIES.

quick reminder that while lester was literally laying on the floor dying, he decided to sing a duet of "sweet caroline" with a talking arrow only he could hear

i love trials of apollo because every book is like “hi i’m apollo. i'm sad and pathetic and i’m now gonna defeat you with the power of friendship” and then said power of friendship is a random outburst of primordial godly power he didn't know he still had

Option 1: apollo has a greek accent

Option 2: Apollo as a god can speak any language, and as the god of music can perfectly replicate any sound. Therefore he can speak any language in a number of native accents.

Option 3: apollo puts on a greek accent