Why Must You Feed Her Like That

normalise speaking with whispers

normalise speaking with whiteboards

normalise speaking with text

normalise speaking with text-to-speech

normalise speaking with nod/shake/shrug

normalise speaking with ultra-nod

normalise speaking with notes

normalise speaking through others

normalise speaking with facial expressions

normalise speaking with art

normalise speaking with gestures

normalise speaking with body language

normalise speaking with scripts

normalise speaking with pre-written messages

normalise speaking with squeaks

normalise speaking with mmhhhmmms

normalise speaking through eye contact

normalise not speaking or communicating

normalise being a frozen block of anxiety

because all of that is me

and i’d like to be normal, please. 🌹🌹

The first time I read discworld as a kid, I didn't really understand what the whole "if you are asked to find the real you in a maze of mirrors, ignore them all and look down, and that is you" thing was supposed to mean. I thought it was kinda weird and pretentious. Like, why are you avoiding the question?

But now that I've actually experienced some of the identity crises that you encounter when growing up, it makes so much more sense. It actually makes more sense now than it did back then, to people who grew up in a post-social-media world. You're constantly presented with esthetics and identities to give yourself a sense of meaning, you're supposed to place yourself on every imaginary scale someone made just because, and while that can be fun, there's this added expectation to assign your sense of self to an image someone else made, if you feel like it resonates with you. And... That's especially true with gender. Trans people online have this constant pressure on us to "find our truth" and care oh so deeply about it, but then algorithms start marketing curated pictures of our identities to us, to find pride in it. We're supposed to look at a list of tiktoks about our microlabel and think, "those are my people and I'm proud to be one of them". And don't even get me started on the concept of gender envy. Like, you're supposed to look at something that has nothing to do with you, and assign your identity to this thing, which surely doesn't help the fact that young people are now collectively paralyzed by a lack of sense of self. And I'm not saying any of those things are inherently bad or invalid- we all look at mirrors to examine ourselves, and that's FINE. But the person you ARE isn't gonna come to you in a dream, or an essay, or a post, or a reflection. It's in you. Your sense of self isn't a riddle to be solved, it's just who YOU are. This isn't to say you shouldn't do things that make you feel happy or authentic. But those things don't define you. Nothing that you do or experience would make you no longer you if changed, and that's okay. You're not your body, or your clothes, or your attitude, or your job, or your abilities, or your fandoms, or your diagnosis. You can love them, and hopefully you do, but they're not you. You're you. You're the perspective that experiences the world around you. You're the thing under your mind that feels. Please don't forget that.

Beach creature

seething about the fact that i will never experience photosynthesis in my own useless cells. i bet it feels so good when the light of the sun both warms you and fuels you at the same time. a bone-deep satisfaction mixed with a heated sugar-rush and endless brightness. not that i would fucking know

11/11/2024; morning in northern Virginia, in a park near Great Falls.

i have been constantly in tears over this newly hatched duck i found on instagram last night

I had a great time in the Australian Queer Archives researching the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands (yes, a whole queer kingdom!) earlier this month.

Some of both the funniest and most touching parts were the letters from people around the world who dreamed of moving to a queer country. Here’s some snippets of my favourites:

“…my question is how to become a citizen in the Gay Kingdom? My Profession is : Butler. And of course I am gay.”

-Luc, New Zealand

“pls tell me did you accept new citizens from other part of the world ? I am bottom gay if you need more info…”

-Alex, Bulgaria

“Dear Sirs,

Please send me more information about immigration to the Gay Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. Do we have to bring tents to live in? What construction materials are available? I[s] a personal boat essentail? All that sort of thing.

Many thanks to you and Good Luck!

Richard …

(Gay Man)”

There were more but unfortunately I didn’t copy them all down! But if you have a local queer archive I highly encourage you to visit and seek out this kind of wonderful content.

My opinion on eye shadow plate:

(A very cute interaction...)