Soliciting Works/Ideas for Pride

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Which Pride parades are you going to be flyering at?  I may be at the Boston one, close to the Trophy Room.

I'm gonna be in the Boston one, either with the Mass Pirate Party or the Bisexual Resource Center (need to check with my friend at the BRC about how much bullshit they tolerate).

[LMNO]

Cool deal.  I'll let you know if I can drag my ass out of bed.

[The Wizard Joseph]

I've yoinked a copy of your "table O love" pic. FB app won't let me copy stuff (fuckers).

I'd like to use it when I post the "event" if that's cool. Lol! If everyone in the group got their FB filled with posts about each file as I loaded it... looks like maybe so, they're going to hear about again!

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I've yoinked a copy of your "table O love" pic. FB app won't let me copy stuff (fuckers).

I'd like to use it when I post the "event" if that's cool. Lol! If everyone in the group got their FB filled with posts about each file as I loaded it... looks like maybe so, they're going to hear about again!

Feel free to use it however you like. I pulled the stack of tainted multifolds, gonna have to print up a new batch to replace them. The halfpage multifolds I whipped up this morning needed a little modification to print better (the automargins fucked my alignment real good) but I think those should be ready to post. It's the same idea as the full page multifolds but the largest page is a half sheet, you cut them in half before doing the fold-and-fold.

[President Television]

Hmm. As a trans person, I've noticed that there are a lot of parallels between Discordian approaches to navigating reality and the kind of approach you need to adopt in order to have a consistent model that accounts for nonbinary genders. Discordia's been a great help in trying to figure out how exactly my own gender works, and frankly, I think it could be useful as a means for breaking out of the kind of dogmatism that develops in a lot of spaces like Tumblr.

However, if there's one thing the queer community as a whole despises, it's being told what by straight people, or even by queer people who aren't the exact kind of queer that they are. I think TGRR/QG's pamphlet is good, but its fatal flaw is that it addresses the queer community from the outside; in my experience(which is admittedly limited and mostly consists of dealing with trans people), we tend to be clannish and insular, and extremely paranoid about outsiders. It'd work better if it said "us" instead of "you," but it'd be underhanded and dishonest for a piece written by TGRR to do so. Maybe I could write something up. But for now, I'm going to bed. I'll check this thread tomorrow.

Okay, pitch it.  Sorry I bothered.

Just talked to my younger son, who is trans.  He says you're full of shit and this is the sort of mind-game people play when they want to the the next big tumblrina on scene.

Having looked at again, of course he is right, given that the piece wasn't aimed at transgender folks, it was aimed at all LGBT+ folks, whom you are certainly not qualified to speak for as king.  Given that, I have to say that I am NOT going through THAT bullshit argument again, and I would really appreciate it if President Television never bothered speaking to me again, and I assure you that I shall reciprocate.

QG, use it or not, as you see fit.  President Television, dead serious:  Fuck off.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it as an attack on either of you, on the validity of TGRR's piece, or on the legitimacy of QG's LGBT status. TGRR's writing and QG's graphic design were both on point. I agree that it's a mindgame people play, and I meant my post more as a warning of that kind of mindgame than anything else, which, looking back, was really, really, really stupid of me. I'd suspected that the flyers in question would end up plastered on someone's blog and PD admins would end up getting doxxed or something. I panicked, because not long ago I had "friends" who turned on me in a similar way, and since then I've been anticipating that kind of toxicity everywhere in the LGBT community. It was entirely my mistake. I respect both of you too much to pull that kind of stunt.

I'll write up a piece of my own as well, but nobody's obligated to use it. I apologize for everything.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hmm. As a trans person, I've noticed that there are a lot of parallels between Discordian approaches to navigating reality and the kind of approach you need to adopt in order to have a consistent model that accounts for nonbinary genders. Discordia's been a great help in trying to figure out how exactly my own gender works, and frankly, I think it could be useful as a means for breaking out of the kind of dogmatism that develops in a lot of spaces like Tumblr.

However, if there's one thing the queer community as a whole despises, it's being told what by straight people, or even by queer people who aren't the exact kind of queer that they are. I think TGRR/QG's pamphlet is good, but its fatal flaw is that it addresses the queer community from the outside; in my experience(which is admittedly limited and mostly consists of dealing with trans people), we tend to be clannish and insular, and extremely paranoid about outsiders. It'd work better if it said "us" instead of "you," but it'd be underhanded and dishonest for a piece written by TGRR to do so. Maybe I could write something up. But for now, I'm going to bed. I'll check this thread tomorrow.

Okay, pitch it.  Sorry I bothered.

Just talked to my younger son, who is trans.  He says you're full of shit and this is the sort of mind-game people play when they want to the the next big tumblrina on scene.

Having looked at again, of course he is right, given that the piece wasn't aimed at transgender folks, it was aimed at all LGBT+ folks, whom you are certainly not qualified to speak for as king.  Given that, I have to say that I am NOT going through THAT bullshit argument again, and I would really appreciate it if President Television never bothered speaking to me again, and I assure you that I shall reciprocate.

QG, use it or not, as you see fit.  President Television, dead serious:  Fuck off.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it as an attack on either of you, on the validity of TGRR's piece, or on the legitimacy of QG's LGBT status. TGRR's writing and QG's graphic design were both on point. I agree that it's a mindgame people play, and I meant my post more as a warning of that kind of mindgame than anything else, which, looking back, was really, really, really stupid of me. I'd suspected that the flyers in question would end up plastered on someone's blog and PD admins would end up getting doxxed or something. I panicked, because not long ago I had "friends" who turned on me in a similar way, and since then I've been anticipating that kind of toxicity everywhere in the LGBT community. It was entirely my mistake. I respect both of you too much to pull that kind of stunt.

I'll write up a piece of my own as well, but nobody's obligated to use it. I apologize for everything.

Apology accepted.  I have very recently had the exact same experience, right here, and very publicly.  Something about Garbo.

In any case, post your stuff.  You don't need my permission, or that of toxic wannabe culture police.

[President Television]

Hmm. As a trans person, I've noticed that there are a lot of parallels between Discordian approaches to navigating reality and the kind of approach you need to adopt in order to have a consistent model that accounts for nonbinary genders. Discordia's been a great help in trying to figure out how exactly my own gender works, and frankly, I think it could be useful as a means for breaking out of the kind of dogmatism that develops in a lot of spaces like Tumblr.

However, if there's one thing the queer community as a whole despises, it's being told what by straight people, or even by queer people who aren't the exact kind of queer that they are. I think TGRR/QG's pamphlet is good, but its fatal flaw is that it addresses the queer community from the outside; in my experience(which is admittedly limited and mostly consists of dealing with trans people), we tend to be clannish and insular, and extremely paranoid about outsiders. It'd work better if it said "us" instead of "you," but it'd be underhanded and dishonest for a piece written by TGRR to do so. Maybe I could write something up. But for now, I'm going to bed. I'll check this thread tomorrow.

Okay, pitch it.  Sorry I bothered.

Just talked to my younger son, who is trans.  He says you're full of shit and this is the sort of mind-game people play when they want to the the next big tumblrina on scene.

Having looked at again, of course he is right, given that the piece wasn't aimed at transgender folks, it was aimed at all LGBT+ folks, whom you are certainly not qualified to speak for as king.  Given that, I have to say that I am NOT going through THAT bullshit argument again, and I would really appreciate it if President Television never bothered speaking to me again, and I assure you that I shall reciprocate.

QG, use it or not, as you see fit.  President Television, dead serious:  Fuck off.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it as an attack on either of you, on the validity of TGRR's piece, or on the legitimacy of QG's LGBT status. TGRR's writing and QG's graphic design were both on point. I agree that it's a mindgame people play, and I meant my post more as a warning of that kind of mindgame than anything else, which, looking back, was really, really, really stupid of me. I'd suspected that the flyers in question would end up plastered on someone's blog and PD admins would end up getting doxxed or something. I panicked, because not long ago I had "friends" who turned on me in a similar way, and since then I've been anticipating that kind of toxicity everywhere in the LGBT community. It was entirely my mistake. I respect both of you too much to pull that kind of stunt.

I'll write up a piece of my own as well, but nobody's obligated to use it. I apologize for everything.

Apology accepted.  I have very recently had the exact same experience, right here, and very publicly.  Something about Garbo.

In any case, post your stuff.  You don't need my permission, or that of toxic wannabe culture police.

Thanks. I don't have it written up yet, but I do have a couple of ideas floating around.

[The Wizard Joseph]

I've come to a mindset that simply accepts that this has the potential to stir up the gems and muck alike. If someone chooses to misconstrue something or it otherwise unforseeably blows up, well, there's no bad press as they say. The ones that see and have something stirred in them are all the effect that can be expected, but who knows? Q. G. is DOING IT.

For my part I'm adding my back to the press as I can, ready to run an audible as may be needed.

[President Television]

I've come to a mindset that simply accepts that this has the potential to stir up the gems and muck alike. If someone chooses to misconstrue something or it otherwise unforseeably blows up, well, there's no bad press as they say. The ones that see and have something stirred in them are all the effect that can be expected, but who knows? Q. G. is DOING IT.

For my part I'm adding my back to the press as I can, ready to run an audible as may be needed.

This did occur to me after the fact, but I didn't want to make my post a wall of text.
Another point, though I think QG already said it: The kinds of fucks who are inclined to tell us who can and can't talk really aren't the kinds of people we want anyway.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Hmm. As a trans person, I've noticed that there are a lot of parallels between Discordian approaches to navigating reality and the kind of approach you need to adopt in order to have a consistent model that accounts for nonbinary genders. Discordia's been a great help in trying to figure out how exactly my own gender works, and frankly, I think it could be useful as a means for breaking out of the kind of dogmatism that develops in a lot of spaces like Tumblr.

However, if there's one thing the queer community as a whole despises, it's being told what by straight people, or even by queer people who aren't the exact kind of queer that they are. I think TGRR/QG's pamphlet is good, but its fatal flaw is that it addresses the queer community from the outside; in my experience(which is admittedly limited and mostly consists of dealing with trans people), we tend to be clannish and insular, and extremely paranoid about outsiders. It'd work better if it said "us" instead of "you," but it'd be underhanded and dishonest for a piece written by TGRR to do so. Maybe I could write something up. But for now, I'm going to bed. I'll check this thread tomorrow.

Okay, pitch it.  Sorry I bothered.

Just talked to my younger son, who is trans.  He says you're full of shit and this is the sort of mind-game people play when they want to the the next big tumblrina on scene.

Having looked at again, of course he is right, given that the piece wasn't aimed at transgender folks, it was aimed at all LGBT+ folks, whom you are certainly not qualified to speak for as king.  Given that, I have to say that I am NOT going through THAT bullshit argument again, and I would really appreciate it if President Television never bothered speaking to me again, and I assure you that I shall reciprocate.

QG, use it or not, as you see fit.  President Television, dead serious:  Fuck off.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it as an attack on either of you, on the validity of TGRR's piece, or on the legitimacy of QG's LGBT status. TGRR's writing and QG's graphic design were both on point. I agree that it's a mindgame people play, and I meant my post more as a warning of that kind of mindgame than anything else, which, looking back, was really, really, really stupid of me. I'd suspected that the flyers in question would end up plastered on someone's blog and PD admins would end up getting doxxed or something. I panicked, because not long ago I had "friends" who turned on me in a similar way, and since then I've been anticipating that kind of toxicity everywhere in the LGBT community. It was entirely my mistake. I respect both of you too much to pull that kind of stunt.

I'll write up a piece of my own as well, but nobody's obligated to use it. I apologize for everything.

No apologies necessary on my end, I'd rather people speak up so we can examine possible problems than sit here huffing farts, and being grouchy about people ignoring/not knowing your bi-ness is about as essential to the bi experience as the actually being attracted to more than one gender part

I'm looking forward to seeing your piece! No one has responded positively or negatively to the one I posted, so I'm gonna assume it's insufficiently shit stirring to run with.

[President Television]

It's Time to Take Back Confusion

Really, the one thing holding us together is that none of us quite fit into the standard model. We're unaccounted for, and that makes us unpredictable, and that makes us scary. We're dealing with thousands of years of tradition and assumptions, built up and calcified until it could all be taken for granted. Homophobia itself is something relatively new, historically speaking, but the things that homophobes feel we threaten are very, very old. The division of labour according to gender breaks down when there's only one gender in a home, so we have to think for ourselves, and that frightens those who have fallen back on complacency. If we have to think for ourselves and construct our own means of handling things, after all, maybe their way isn't objectively best, and if their way isn't best, what does that say about them?

It all comes down to the insecurity of lazy people who don't want to think, and this is even more evident for trans people. I don't know if it's harder for binary or nonbinary people, and frankly, I don't care to start a pissing match over it. In either case, the question is the same: How dare we exist? How dare we highlight just how nonsensical it is to think genitals have some kind of profound, mystical connection to who we are? Don't we know there are people whose entire identities are built on sloppy, unexamined foundations? Don't we know better than to shake things up? How rude of us. You could say identity itself is a crock, but that doesn't let our assailants off the hook. An identity handed to you on a silver platter is no more real than an identity you have to work for, and after all, identity plays a pretty vital psychological role.

Basically, what I'm getting at is this:
We ourselves are no more confused than anyone else, but we're quite the source of confusion, aren't we? I think that's a good thing. People need to be confused. It forces them to think, it forces them to consider that they might be wrong, and honestly, that's the only way we learn anything. Of course, we don't exist for the purposes of straight cis people. We need to be confused as much as anyone else, as much as our enemies try to use confusion as a smear term. I've seen queer people treat other queer people like absolute garbage, and I think it's all in the name of avoiding confusion, just as much as bog-standard homophobia is, just as much as bog-standard transphobia is.

And it's easy to understand. When you have to deal with bigots' constant accusations that you're just confused, it's very tempting to say no, that you're very certain of exactly who you are, and that you haven't the slightest amount of doubt. But some of us don't have the luxury of certainty, and besides, this approach has other drawbacks. People are addicted to order, and to thinking we understand things when we really don't, and it's easy to get arrogant and dehumanize people. It's easy, but it's lazy. It's the same old shit we've all been putting up with from day one. Each and every one of us is a stick in the gears of someone else's worldview. We can't afford to fear the same thing, as a matter of common courtesy if nothing else. We've all had straight people and queer people alike tell us that we don't count one way or another, but I'm here to tell you that you do, whether or not you're certain of where you fit and who you are. To hell with their fake authority.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I like where it's going, but it feels a little too dependent on previous discussion for stuffing in a stranger's hand. Do you mind if I take a crack at some edits?

[President Television]

No apologies necessary on my end, I'd rather people speak up so we can examine possible problems than sit here huffing farts, and being grouchy about people ignoring/not knowing your bi-ness is about as essential to the bi experience as the actually being attracted to more than one gender part

I'm looking forward to seeing your piece! No one has responded positively or negatively to the one I posted, so I'm gonna assume it's insufficiently shit stirring to run with.

I'll comment on it in a bit. I got a little too absorbed in my own drama, I think.

I like where it's going, but it feels a little too dependent on previous discussion for stuffing in a stranger's hand. Do you mind if I take a crack at some edits?

No problem.

[President Television]

Submitted for feedback:

I Kissed A Girl & Realized Why Love Is Revolutionary

She was so pretty, with her short hair and big, deep brown eyes and one of those smiles that you'd swear was photoshop but it's not because it's right in front of you. We were the same height, and her fingers were soft and perfectly tapered, and she worked in the sciences and I loved everything about her, just not for very long.

When you're bi, you have a lot of straight-looking relationships. Even if you're a mythical 50/50 split, even if you're 80/20 towards the gay end of the spectrum, societal pressure and other dumb shit makes it easier to default to straight-looking. And when you do that for a long time, you miss out on what it means to be with someone of your gender.

We stumbled, giggling through kisses and apologizing incessantly over email because we never knew where the boundaries were. But it wasn't just figuring out the geometry of a differently shaped body. We realized, both of us, that we couldn't fall back on "default." There were no expectations of who would take charge, of who would pay, of who would seek and who would offer consent. We were in uncharted territory, for us at least. We had to think for ourselves.

This is the threat, the thing they hate about us. There are people who look at the possibility of having to blaze their own path and they just fucking can't. There are only so many spoons to go around, and they have precisely zero available to reconsider the default configuration of their lives, and they are terrified that their children will grow up to be unrecognizable to them. They are not prepared for The Strange Times, they're barely prepared for fifty years ago.

I say we couldn't fall back on "default," but I guess I was wrong, because she did. I loved her for a week and she ditched me for safer ground. And it hurt, but it's the kind of hurt that means your heart's still working. I forget that I've aggressively selected for revolutionaries in my life, and it's no fault of hers she wasn't one.

But I always will be, and I hope you are too.

I like this overall. Looking back, I can see how it influenced my piece, especially this part:

There are people who look at the possibility of having to blaze their own path and they just fucking can't. There are only so many spoons to go around, and they have precisely zero available to reconsider the default configuration of their lives, and they are terrified that their children will grow up to be unrecognizable to them.

It's good to have a piece that explicitly talks about being bi; I'm bi too and my own piece doesn't even mention anything about it. I also really like that it's an account of an experience, and I think it's a good idea to round things out with a piece that has more of a personal tone like this one.

[The Wizard Joseph]

Your piece was moving QG. It's an admission of pain at heart, and my instinct was say nothing. Part of this was because it was insightful to me of your person and I'm not really inclined to assume those to be accurate just because I had them.

In brief it would seem to me that you're in an awful lot of pain on several levels and dealing with a radical change of perspective at the same time. I know how that can push a person to extremes. In your case, this project seems like about as healthy of a way to cry out in anguish as can be reasonably expected... better than really!

I heard about this one nut-job, ate like, 3 bags of oranges and started sobbing about philosophy and shit. It was bad.

When I get time later today or this evening I'll see what else my mind can pull up on the subject.

ETA: Didn't read your post yet Prez. TV. Noted! Shall when I get settled out.