It’s probable that you, like many of us, have skin on your face. Possibly you have been wondering if there is something you should be doing for it, or if there’s something better than what you’re currently doing. Or possibly your skincare routine is already perfected, in which case feel free to read through just to smugly correct me.
The chola aesthetic was first forged by the marginalized Mexican American youths of Southern California. It embodies the remarkable strength and creative independence it takes to survive in a society where your social mobility has been thwarted by racism. The chola identity was conceived by a culture that dealt with gang warfare, violence, and poverty on top of conservative gender roles. The clothes these women wore were more than a fashion statement—they were signifiers of their struggle and hard-won identity.
Orphan Black is back, y’all, and I am practically catatonic with fear/excitement. To get you in the mood to make crazy science, I’ve rounded up about a
billion Cosima/Delphine fics. Some of the stories are one-shots; some of them are portals to dozens more Cophine ficlets. There’s enough sweetness and smut to keep you occupied far beyond tomorrow night’s season three premiere on BBC America. YOU’RE WELCOME.
It was the fervent hope of 1970s feminists that the generations to follow would take seriously the realization that social change comes not through ideological declarations alone, but through the daily task of grappling with the emotional conflicts those very declarations have made plain. And indeed, over the decades, hundreds of thousands of women have done just that: joined the struggle to understand the conflicts better and, with courage and intelligence, act on that understanding… On the other hand, many more hundreds of thousands, exposed to those same 1970s exhortations, have found it difficult to negotiate a territory that has often felt more threatening than promising.
Sometimes when people talk about the universe and its interaction in their life, it sounds too similar to the way people speak about being blessed or right with God, as if hardship comes from not honoring the galaxy every night or lighting enough Virgen de Guadalupe candles. No really and truly sometimes life fucks with you. Sometimes that grant that funded most of your department falls through, sometimes the white guy you work for just doesn’t think you’re good enough to continue, sometimes the universe makes you fall.
So you fall. I fell. I am falling.
And here’s where I have to take a pause.
Gabby Rivera via What Does It Mean To Be A Queer Adult? The Autostraddle Roundtable
Carolyn wants to know what you would bring with you on an epic journey if you had to leave the rest behind. Go tell her!
I am pretty mad I don’t have my first novel published yet but I’ve been doing real good work on making the memories and material to go in it so I just gotta sit down and open a vein. I hope you’re ready. I’m not sure I am…
Alley Hector via What Does It Mean To Be A Queer Adult? The Autostraddle Roundtable
Surely every queer generation has been through this — this looking at the world around us and marveling at how different it is than the one we expected as kids and even as twentysomethings. So this is our time.
What does it mean to be a queer adult? Who the f*ck are we? Let’s find out.
I just let go a lot in my thirties, personally. I couldn’t wait to be 30 because I felt like people would finally start taking me seriously. I think that did happen, a little, but surprisingly, passing the 30 mark let me take myself less seriously. I no longer feel like I’m sitting on a ticking bomb. I have patience now. I just have less fucks to give, too. I care less what people think and I demand to be respected instead of worrying about whether or not I am (and believe it or not, that actually works). I still have idealist radical politics, but I have more focus and pragmatism. I am slowly changing out my heels for sensible flats. I’m more forgiving and less quick to judge. I have less tolerance for straight-up BS. Time is racing by and I can finally imagine a future beyond the next five years.
Another obviously great reason to go to Big Bear is A-Camp! There you will find all the nature you could hope to fill yourself with and attractive women in animal onesies. Like most A-Campers, you’ll never want to leave Mount Feelings, but two days later on June 6 you can go with your new friends to theAnnual Summer Wine Walk, which seems to involve lots of charm, charity for the community, and massive amounts of amazing wine.
If long walks with fermented grapes aren’t your thing (or if you want more, you party animal), July Fourth brings you the biggest fireworks display in Southern California. Also! If I know anything about queer ladies, it’s that we love farmer’s markets (as we should). The Big Bear farmer’s markets open in April and go on every Tuesday through September. If you want to do something more advanced than walking and munching on a delicious, fresh, organic carrot, we’ve got you covered, and so do they.
Since I turned 30, I have felt an urgent, unyielding, existential tug on my mind asking and asking and asking if I’m using the quick breath of life I have on this earth to do something that counts. Every day — sometimes multiple times a day — I ask myself, ‘If I get smashed by a car today, will I have given all the goodness I had to give?’ I want to die broke from spending goodness. I don’t want any goodness left in the bank. I want to have splurged on the world. On cats and dogs and panda bears and the people I love and the people I barely know and the planet itself.
Heather Hogan via What Does It Mean To Be A Queer Adult? The Autostraddle Roundtable
GLAAD’s Network Responsibility Index revealed the bleak landscape for queer women in major Hollywood studio movies. Basically, we don’t exist.
How do you rehabilitate your love for art works based on expired and inhuman social values— and why bother?
Elif Batuman and many other smart whippersnappers had thoughts about literature this week, and they’re all right here.