It is a big deal! That someone’s gonna love me unconditionally, even if I don’t have to fulfill something with you, makes me want to be with you all the more. And that’s important. If I had to go on a Mars Rover tomorrow, the two people I’d want to see most are on this couch.
The world is exhausting. A queer woman can not survive on her own.
How will the ceremony run? What does this look like? I am reading through a pile of example scripts but, *sips bourbon, opens browser.*
We drank desperately, incredible amounts, and I barely remember that year. But I do remember Lizz bringing me South Indian takeout so I could eat it while I sat on the floor packing up my apartment and crying, and I remember driving Lizz to clean out the wreck of her car after a friend totaled it and then taking her to get sandwiches from the place I worked. I remember feeling like I wasn’t sure either of us would make it, and realizing how deeply I wanted Lizz to. I didn’t know the term at the time, but it was the first time I think I understood chosen family: people who help you survive by deeply linking your survival to theirs.
There was a deep sharing of emotion and feelings and we planned the future and organized and then shared opinions about finger-fucking and chlorine you know, very loudly, next to some children.
[Trans women] must stop being afraid, because fear is a form of violence. If we replace fear with knowledge, we can become safer.
Stacy Velasquez Vasquez via Venir Al Sur Creates Vital LGBTI Feminist Community In Latin America
When I first started, I was told I couldn’t do this because if it was so easy someone would have done this already. I was told I needed lots of money. I was told there was no market for gender neutral shoes. I was told I couldn’t make shoes that would be different than what companies have already done for women in men’s styles. I was told no no no… but I didn’t care.
I wanted to write about this week’s book not because it’s unknown but because it’s a YA title that deserves more reading outside of the genre’s usual audience, and because there are things I want to say about it that I haven’t read elsewhere: things that make it queer, inventive, and otherwise a standout.