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poppytheorist · 5 years

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American Kids

1. I had “American Kids” on the August list. Sorry for the delay, “I was busy,” “better late than never,” etc. Already straying from my schedule, looks like September is off to a great start! Also, this one’s both dense and obtuse, my bad. Anywho, here are some words:

2. As is typical, let’s gush first: “American Kids” is easily the most thematically interesting song on Bubblebath. The production is also the tightest. I mean, do you hear this instrumental? You know what? I’m just gonna say it: “American Kids” is the best song on Bubblebath.

3. If you take some time to look at the lyrics, you’ll see that “American Kids” is actually a super weird song. Half the lines seem like their own random tangents, so it’s left up to listeners to piece everything together themselves.

4. When listeners are challenged to consider the connections between seemingly unconnected ideas, they are forced out of worn ruts and must instead open themselves up to possible associations they had never considered. Poppy challenges listeners this way all the time.

5. Genius tells me that “American Kids” is Poppy’s take on the ‘blame the millennial’ movement. Partially true, but that omits elements of Poppy’s disenchantment with the world and her struggle to break free of the music industry’s commercializing squeeze.

6. You’re best off analyzing lyrics yourself rather than using Genius. Genius readings are watered-down so they can be easily digested by anybody and everybody. So, they’re usually devoid of anything interesting. See also: fast food, Marvel movies.

7. Perhaps it’s best to think of “American Kids” as Poppy’s worldview presented as a mosaic, with each piece being one of Poppy’s thoughts crystallized in time. Or think of the song as Poppy Splatoon-style painting a picture of her worldview. Whichever analogy works best for you.

8. In “American Kids,” Poppy lays down a foundation for her future work to build off of. By looking at the underlying foundation, we can see how Poppy’s views have changed as she’s matured. “American Kids” lays a lot of groundwork, so it’ll take a bit longer to get through.

9. Since “American Kids” is so random and bizarre, we will first start by picking out specific threads. These are chains of ideas that link together. At the end, we will weave all these threads into one fabric. If your reading is good, each piece should mesh together nicely. If not, then-

10. “American Kids” kicks off with Poppy acknowledging the limitations of her worldview. She knows she is only exposed to specific information (“I live under a rock”), and she only has certain tools to process said information (“with a blacklight”).

11. From these lines we get a sense of Poppy’s self-awareness. She recognizes there is much she doesn't understand. Honestly, this self-aware hedging is pretty refreshing, especially considering the abundance of people these days endlessly blaring opinions that aren’t even theirs to begin with.

12. Poppy’s introspection continues with the line: “I’m a dumb pop star in my own right.” Again, Poppy understands how she appears. This line also relates an element of disgust, almost as if she has been forced to become something she grew up hating.

13. Reinforcing this notion is: “Sold my soul to the man with a handshake.” However, Poppy expresses her determination to still #DoSomething with her platform, to use it for Good (“Lost control but I don’t think it’s too late”). This idea is explored further by “In A Minute.”

14. Poppy also gives us the fun line, “Forever 21 is cool if I make it,” where she expresses the necessary fluidity of a pop star’s values. In such a role, she has to make sacrifices to succeed, like promoting products she doesn’t really believe in. If she doesn’t, someone else will.

15. Later in the song, Poppy mentions: “It never happened like they say.” In what ways do expectations differ from reality? The lines, “Started life at age 15, got ahead with fake IDs,” and “We’re dying young on broadcast news,” provide insight.

16. To even have a chance as a singer, Poppy had to get a headstart on the competition by starting at “age 15” and by finding ways to ‘break the rules’ (“fake IDs”). This adds to the sacrifices necessary to succeed in the ferociously competitive rat-race that is the music industry.

17. Overall, the first verse tells of the compromises Poppy has made to ‘make it’ as a pop-idol, and of the self-dissatisfaction she feels after making said compromises. The second verse expands on these ideas, telling us how she has separated herself from her old life to make her new life possible.

18. Poppy tells of how she has put distance between herself and her parents (“Last time I told mom that “I love you””), how she has given up aspects of her past life (“last time I ate food from a drive-thru”), and how she has abandoned her old possessions (“burned all my shit”).

19. Poppy also explains how she has forsaken her “teen regrets,” referring to them as a “trip wire.” Basically, any old emotional attachments or ‘what-ifs’ would only distract her and slow her down, so out of mind they go.

20. “I think my father might be gay but I don’t know” is a weird line. It does add to the idea of separating from the past, but it may seem odd that Poppy would even be concerned with her father’s sexual orientation, especially if you’re coming from AIAG.

21. This isn’t the first time Poppy touches on this topic. In “Software Upgrade,” there’s the line: “So come on, baby, tell me, are you gay?” If you compare Poppy’s old use of language to her more recent work like AIAG, you can see a clear progression of her views on identity and gender.

22. With the line, “Boys aren’t even boys anymore,” we see a concern with the absence of structure from the dissolution of traditional gender roles, but Poppy’s newer work (notably “Am I A Girl?”) embraces the freedom of increased individuality instead of decrying it.

23. Poppy ties the second verse to the first with lines like: “I should be everything you hate” and “I should be higher now than space but I’m static.” Again, Poppy emphasizes the self-loathing she feels after abandoning her values to succeed as a pop-star.

24. Before the first chorus comes, “Girls, let’s put on all of our clothes,” where Poppy plants the seeds for her later work on the objectification of celebrities. This became Poppy’s most prevalent theme. See: her videos, her fashion appearances, and “Girls In Bikinis.”

25. On the chorus, Poppy reiterates her desire to remain ‘apart’ from American kids these days. She emphasizes her abstinence from using drugs, and says (hilariously) that she doesn’t “care about your party.”

26. Not only does Poppy reject young peoples’ lifestyles, she is baffled by how and why people adopt such vapid and empty lifestyles to begin with (“I just don’t get American kids”).

27. Credit where credit’s due: there’s one interpretation I actually liked from Genius. It’s a reading of the line, “Drugs don’t work like they did for my parents,” where Poppy points out how the use of drugs has changed over time.

28. In the past, drugs used to be used as a mind-expanding substance. Substances that freed the individual. Nowadays, drugs are almost a necessity, a toll for living in modern times. Drugs are now a crutch, a fix to get people through another day of crushing monotony.

29. Sewing time. Picking out associations elicited from the song is important, but anyone can do that. The hard part is tying these associations together into a cohesive whole. We ask ourselves: what is the overarching narrative? What does the bigger picture look like?

30. Consider the meta-narrative of “American Kids.” A self-aware pop star reflects, with a pinch of disgust, on the compromises she’s made to succeed. That she has distanced herself from her peers, her parents, and her past self to ‘make it.’ How would this someone feel?

31. “American Kids” leaves us with a feeling of alienation, of exasperation, of someone who is disenchanted with modern society, yet has been forced to exist within its boundaries to succeed. “Liberty isn’t cheap and it ain’t free.” Huh, guess Poppy’s right.

32. Poppy’s final slash is delivered with: “I’m a millennial, blame it all on me.” It’s easier to point fingers than find solutions. But, in the words of Sum 41: “When we all fall down, who will take the blame?”

33. There’s one last part of “American Kids” I mentioned, but didn’t explain. Remember the instruments? Yeah, turns out those are kinda important. They’re harder to ‘read’ than lyrics, but if you’re analyzing music, it’s folly to ignore them.

34. Throughout “American Kids” are snippets of sound, flurries of voices that seep into the track. As Poppy closes the track, repeating “American kids,” her voice becomes increasingly distorted and muddied by other chatter until her signal is swallowed by a sea of noise.

35. At the end of “American Kids,” the gale of noise abruptly ends and we’re left with a final, echoing cry from Poppy, one that slowly fades into the background. “Is that symbolism?” Yeah, something like that.

#poppy #american kids

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past---caring · 7 years

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The Glass Heard Around The World:Stonewall,Revolution, Truth & Legend

Past Caring takes a look through a personal and historical lens at the legacy of Stonewall,the figures who played a part in it and the following mobilization and activism and what the truth of the event and the shaping of its historical and legendary status conveys about the good and bad aspects of the lgbt community and rights movement. Historically accurate terms are used where they have been mentioned in sources and recollections. (A piece I did for Pride earlier this summer)

Sylvia Rivera with her partner Julia Murray and Christina Hayworth at the New York City Pride parade, 2000;Sylvia Rivera in her 40s;Bob Kohler,Sylvia Rivera and friend,1960s-70s; Storme Delaverie in her later years; Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera at the Christopher Street Liberation Pride March,June 1973;Marsha P Johnson at a march;Zazu Nova, Gay Liberation Front meeting,June ,1970; taken by Diana Davies, ;Sylvia Rivera in front of a fountain,1960s or 1970s;Sylvia Rivera and a friend 1970s;Gay Liberation Front on Times Square, 1969. Diana Davies, NYPL;Close up portrait photography of Storme Delaverie;Jackie Hormona with Gay Liberation Front banner, New York(1970); Miss Major at San Francisco Pride,2014 ;Sylvia Ray Rivera (front) and Arthur Bell at gay liberation demonstration, New York University, 1970 by Diana Davies;Raymond Castro ,young and old; Marsha P Johnson at a protest in the 1970s with a plaque saying “STAR people are beautiful people”.

The Stonewall Inn,Taken by Diana Davies in September 1969,New York Public Library.

The World before Stonewall.

As two-hundred and five odd people readied themselves for a Saturday night out at the Mafia-run Stonewall they lived in a world that hated them. Clyde Hoey had argued in 1950 that gay people were “security risks” and thus thousands of public sector applications were denied and contracts discharged. Loitering in toilets was a blacklisting offense with arrestees often listed in newspapers and homosexuals were barred from having professional licenses. The Post office would keep lists of addresses pertaining to those who engaged in a homosexual life and the FBI kept track of names too. Confinement to abusive mental institutions was common with California’s Astascadero Hospital described as “Dachua for queens” , and even castration was a possibility as during the period psychiatric views were influenced by the prejudice that saw the 1952 DSM declare homosexuality a mental illnesses. Prison was another avenue that could await. Come the 1960s only Illinois did not overtly ban homosexuality and New York’s Penal code caused terror and anxiety for those dressing outwith the gendered clothing expectations of the heterosexual establishment at the time with those like Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson , Delaverie and others expected to wear three pieces or more of clothing ‘appropriate’ to their gender. If not arrest was forthcoming.The Stonewall bar was breaking the law that day ,but it had to do so to exist. The early sixties saw New York impacted by Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr’s order to revoke the liquor licenses of homosexual bars and entrap as many people as possible in the lead up to the 1964 world’s fair there. Stonewall was one instance of bars being run by the mob in this climate enabling the gay bars to exist ,but with all the problems gang connections caused. Its owners were the Genovese crime family who had turned it into a gay bar in 1966 and handed over lump sums as payoffs to cops to keep things going as it had no liquor license. The bar was badly run with no running water, glasses were cleaned in a dirty bathtub of still water which gave some people hepatitis, there was no fire exits and the toilets overran constantly. Nowhere else was same-sex dancing allowed however so for the lgbt people who descended on it , for all its terrible flaws, it had elements of freedom they could not find in other bars or in their daily lives.

"Street Kids" including Jackie Hormona fighting with the NYPD,New York Daily News,(28th of June,1969)

At the time there was conflict between the more radical side of gay society, often those with the least to lose and the most oppression bearing down on them such as the not exclusive street kids, transgender people called drag queens or transvestites and sex workers and those who joined groups like the Mattachine society which was one of many groups to use the term “homophile” over gay thinking the former less sexual and thus more acceptable for heteronormative society. The decade leading up to the event was also influential due to things like the Civil Rights movement and Feminism which influenced terms like gay power(after black power) as slogans and the creation of the first gay university organization in the Student Homophile league at New York Columbia University from 1967. It was not even the first gay revolt against oppression by groups like the police. In 1959 the drag queens and sex workers who meet at Cooper’s Donuts despite the LAPD’s harassment fought back resulting in three arrests of those like John Rechy and the police’s baptism with donuts and coffee cups. In 1966 two other events occurred The Black Cat Tavern Riot in Los Angeles and the Compton’s Cafteria Riot in San francisco’s Tenderloin district. Susan Stryker has called the Compton raid the first known incident of collective militant queer resistance to the police in the USA. Following it the people who took part still faced multiple struggles but the community of San Francisco remembered it and would slowly learn from it.Friday Night at the Stonewall Inn….You are getting ready for your night out and find your way down to the Inn in your nightlife splendor. A bouncer looks through the peephole at you…If you are known by the doorman or look gay you get in easy otherwise it will be difficult to impossible as they needed to keep out undercover lily laws,alice blue gowns and betty badges.You give over three dollars and get two tickets to be swapped for two drinks to start your night off well. Signing your name in a book to prove it was a legitimate ‘bottle club’ you will often use a fake one with the aforementioned Judy garland a common choice.There is a jukebox and interior is black and pulsing and black lights are above,if the white ones come on then it’s a raid you will find out. The bar is mostly frequented by gay or bi cis men with some lesbians coming too. The trans women who were known as tranvestites usually and those who were known as queens or drag queens coverse and meet in the space in the smaller room and converse with friends. It was one of two bars where effeminate men ,wearing make up, who dressed in male clothing could go ,but despite the importance of transgender women in the events to come those in ‘full drag’ were seldom let inside as Sylvia Rivera noted later to Eric Marcus. Younger homeless adolescents try to get in so customers can buy them drinks and thus its as active outside as inside. The bar includes those of all races, ages, sexualities and genders unlike many of the other establishments…It is as Vito Russo said a place where the rich ,often blackmailed by the mob, white gay bankers and brokers of wall street mingled with those “too young,too poor or just too much to get in anywhere else”.As you mingle and dance Miss Major Griffin-Gracy meets a girlfriend and chats behind you, Maria Ritter,putting Steve behind her, arrives in a car at 10pm with her makeup artist friend Kiki in her mother’s empire waisted cocktail dress excited to celebrate her 18th birthday with her real id being shown to the bouncer instead of the laughable fake ones she had used before. The 17 year old Sylvia Rivera is there with her first lover at the bar for the first time in a bell bottoms suit with beautiful makeup and hair.Marsha ‘Pay it no mind’ Johnson is there with Zazu Nova..Is she carrying the large chain she often did for defence in her purse tonight? You see the dashing male impersonator Storme Delavernie and the faces of visitors like Raymond Castro and Martin Boyce who is in drag tonight as Miss Martin. Danny Garvin,once in the navy now lives like a hippy in an all-gay commune on Bleecker street in Greenwich and arrives.Two policewomen and two policemen have got by the bouncer and mingle undercover near you as they await a raid being planned by Seymour on behalf of the NYPD Public Moral Division in Greenwich Village. Stonewall had been raided recently before that day as well with minimum fuss. The recorded reason for the raid was the lack of a drinking license and bootlegging ,but as historian David Carter has noted, the mafia owner’s and manager’s blackmailing of their wealthier costumers made extortion more profitable than the liquor sales and due to lapsed bribery payments from this and thefts of negotiable bonds the police had other reasons to undertake the raid. Often when the fees were paid to the cops any raids that did have to happen were acts of theatre played out by the bar and policemen. That night no tip off had occurred like usual and as Duberman has recorded, a rumour some heard seemed false as it was said to be for much later than raids usually happened...

The Main Event.

At 1.20 am it finally comes. Four plainclothes policemen, two patrol officers and detectives Charles symthe and deputy inspector Seymour pine arrive at the doors announcing “POLICE!WE’RE TAKING THE PLACE!” Back up is called and the blinding white lights come up above you. People stop dancing and let go of each other quickly. Some veterans of this ritual run off ,but police bar the doors and thus it begins here. It starts. The cops gathered up 28 cases of beer and 19 liquor bottles while starting to check the documentation of the 205 odd patrons there. Morty Manfold discusses in Marcus’s work that to be arrested were “the transvestites”, “the underage” and “the undocumented without identification”. Pine would later note that he had not expected to need to arrest so many transvestites so duly he called for more police vans. Maria Ritter stood in her mother’s dress terrified about her possible arrest ,but also that she would be pictured in the clothing she felt more comfortable in a newspaper or television report which her mother would see. She knew what “happened to queers in jail” and it scared her. While some were freed after 15 minutes the other wagons began to arrive. Around this time Marty Robin and Morty Manford say that Marsha P Johnson threw a shot glass at a mirror and said “I got my human rights”. Although Carter’s work notes how often these accounts of her taking action first came almost always from secondary or third hand sources he ends by arguing whether she was first to take action or not she was almost certainly ONE of the first. Jackie Hormona ,the bleach blond kid in the most famous stonewall image, is equally a possible person to have first acted. Jerry Hoose arriving at the scene later due to his friend John Goodman’s phone call was told that “Hormona had kicked a cop, maybe,or punched a cop” and thus everything got going. As Carter argues no single person can be deemed the only agent to act and thus cause events all by themselves…A large group in unison came to the conclusion that fighting back was necessary.Marie Ritter notes how those who were to be taken in were kept together within Stonewall’s coat closet ,something that she notes was extremely ironic. During the searches of people Micheal Fader notes that some lesbians were touched up during their frisk rousing more tension and anger. Those released did not fade into the night and privacy like usual to escape..Most stayed and the crowd outside grew. Joel S ,one of the first related how the crowds outside gathered and milled around. Nearby as the crowd grew the Village Voice employee Howard Smith saw it in the offices with his bincholars and went down meeting the writer for the paper Lucian Truscott.The couple, Danny Garvin and Keith Murdoch were discussing the black panthers leading the revolution to come soon when they saw the crowd as well and joined it.The journalists mentioned would portray it homophobically discussing limp wrists ,but as those not to be arrested were freed and joined friends outside they are described as playing to the crowd some bowing and one person saying hello fella to the detective at the door. Some people were handled roughly Smith noticed as they left. The first police wagon was loaded with the mafia members to cheers by the crowd then regular employees to cries of “gay power” and the singing of we shall overcome. A second arrived with the doorman and bartender and three transvestites and drag queens from inside were put in and took away to boos.Then a lesbian in masculine clothing was took out roughly in handcuffs. Some people state that other butch women were arrested at this point as well. This “typical New York butch” was hit on the head with a baton for, as one witness said, complaining of her handcuff’s tightness. Storme’ Delarverie, a male impersonator, has been identified by different people as the woman, including by herself. In a 2008 interview for Curve magazine Storme’ told Patrick Hinds that it was her and that she was told to “move along, faggot” to which she refused thus being clubbed in the face. A butch woman, perhaps this same woman, Storme or otherwise, was then put into a car with the door unlocked and numerous times got out the other unlocked door to cheers. After around ten minutes they were apprehended and took off. Whither it was the same woman or different women the action of a lesbian arrestee being hurt at this point and a cry by the same woman saying “why don’t you guys do something?’ prompted the crowd to surge forward and start throwing things. Rumours spread of the supposed unpaid bribe so people started throwing coins shouting faggot cops, pigs and lets pay them off. A nearby building site provided bricks for throwing too. Roy McCarthy arrived as the fireworks kicked off and noted high heels flying. Different drag queens and transvestites were noted to have hit policemen with their heels and handbags.This led to prejudiced figures like the New York Daily News Jerry Lisker joking about how the transgender women and crossdressers involved were “exhibiting Queen Power” and throwing “femme fatale missiles”. While others like Raymond Castro were put into wagons to cries of “let him go” they thought back with Raymond resisting and knocking cops to the ground.He would later get a laywer to represent himself in relation to the crimes he was charged with ,but in addition paid for a lesbian woman’s fees who had been in the same wagon.Someone else threw a drink at a cop leaving him bleeding and thus he got partners to aid him in beating the supposed culprit until he was dazed. Marsha ,Heide suggests, became a force to be reckoned with, throwing rocks and screaming, like “Molly Pitcher in the revolution” he said.

As people’s fury was unleashed in so many ways Pine ordered the police there to flee into the inn away from the hundreds of people there. As Morty Manford notes once they were inside the second floor window was smashed by someone leading to people saying ooh ,a cop with a gun threatened people with it through the door and a fire was started. Edmund White and Fader also discussed how “some adorable butch hustler boys” pulled up a parking meter using it as a battering ram. Roy McCarthy jumped on a cop in the chaos and was beating him before it turned around and he was left seeing starts until four transgender women saved him and patched him up in a basement. After around 45 minutes the TPF(Tactical Police Force) arrived in riot gear. Vito Russo and others mention how the TPF were tainted from behind by transvestite women and crossdressers in a rocket style kick line singing “we are the stonewall girls,we wear our hair in curls,we wear no underwear,we show our pubic hair!”.Bob Kohler saw the clash with the TPF while walking his dog and said it was a sign “the fun was over” as the “cops were totally humiliated” because “fairies were not supposed to riot” and this resistance made them want to kill. The fear they expressed is noticeable in Pine’s statement that it was the most terrifying night of his life despite the fact he was a veteran who had fought at the Battle of the Bulge.The kickline of people was attacked with nightsticks leaving one of the crowd to say “I felt rage” as people were being hurt “for what?a kick line.”

By 4am the TPF cleared the street ,but Saturday 28th of June was a new day. People had woke from a sleeping spell to a new reality. Thirteen people were arrested, some hospitalized and four officers injured ,but as one person noted “there was a certain beauty in the aftermath of the riot” as people recognized “this was our street”. That is the thing about Stonewall…It was not the first case of revolt against oppressive authorities by lgbt people…It was not the first of many things. However it was the birth of a consciousness and reflectiveness in regards to lgbt history and events. Before and After Stonewall. BS and AS.

Close-up of handwritten chalk text on a boarded-up window of the Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher Street) after riots over the weekend of June 27, 1969.

The Continued Revolt and Aftermath

While papers like the New York Times, New York Post and Daily News focused on events with the latter placing coverage on the front page , rumours spread through Greenwich that different revolutionary groups like the Black Panthers had caused it. People started expressing their affection in public with one witness describing “we were just out”. A fog stifling the reality of people’s lives and loves felt lifted. If you had went you would have seen graffiti brightening the walls declaring “drag power”, “they invaded our rights”, “support gay power” , “legalize gay bars” and the defiant statement after the raid: “we are open”. That morning Craig Rodwell and his partner Fred Sargeant printed and distrubted 5000 leaflets one saying: "Get the Mafia and the Cops out of Gay Bars." And others saying gay people needed their own establishments, that stonewall should be boycotted and that the Mayor had to investigate the "intolerable situation". Saturday night saw things continue with hustlers, street youths and queens being joined by police provocateurs , bystanders and even tourists. While fires were set off again a hundred policemen watched and arrested who they could. The road was blocked and only those sympathetic to the cause or gay themselves could pass, Sylvia Rivera watched as a friend pounced on a car trying to get through and Marsha broke a police windshield with a heavy object leading to a poor bystander to be targeted and beat by the police who didn’t see her do it. Those like Vito Russo joined as a crowd again until the TPF arrived at 2am on the 29th . It ended again at 4am. Monday the 30th and Tuesday the 31st saw not much action due to bad rain. On Wednesday Black Panthers and Yippies joined to create a thousand strong crowd standing in solidarity. The Village voice article by Howard Smith and Lucian Truscott was published that day with homophobic language and slurs a plenty stoaking anger and leading to more clashes. The police ever angrier left young people, many who were queens, lying bleeding on the street ,but people still stated “the word is out. Christopher Street shall be liberated”. The bar itself went up for rent soon after ,but the street,all streets would be liberated. The inn had birthed a new movement and could fade away:its job done.

Photo taken on the second night of the riots of some of the Street Kids by Fred McDarrah.Lanigan-Schmidt is in the stripped shirt. He knew the other young people by their street names included Twiggy,Black Twiggy,Missy,Besame and Drag Queen Chris.

Elsewhere The Mattachine’s annual picketing at Independence Hall,Philadelphia on the 4th of July the air was electric. Organiser Craig Rodwell who felt things had to change convinced people to exhibit affection publicly at it. The press attention was more than any other march by them. Rodwell returned to New York with plans for Christopher Street Liberation Day in mind. At the same time an ad hoc meeting of Mattachine New York to organize a march turned into an organization the Gay Liberation Front. The group told a underground work The Rat “we are a revolutionary homosexual group” and that they believed sexual liberation was tied to abolishing existing social institutions. Solidarity was emphasized with them saying “We identify ourselves with all the oppressed: the Vietnamese struggle, the third world, the blacks, the workers…all those oppressed by this rotten, dirty, vile, fucked-up capitalist conspiracy”. A paper called the Gay was started within six months due to the Village Voice’s refusal to print the word Gay in GLF ads within it. The GLF became increasingly tied to big theories and discussion regarding all oppression over community action for gay people in the eyes of those like Bob Kohler. A friend and ally of Sylvia Rivera ,who had been at Stonewall, he was attempting to get clothes and money through it to help the homeless youths so instrumental to the revolt. He was met by a discussion on capitalism’s downfall instead. December 1969 saw the creation of the GAA(Gay Activists Alliance) in response who were concerned with liberating homosexuals and focused only on this fight for rights and resources.Both groups however would come together for protests against other raids and for the Stonewall march that began the following year. Some of their victories during this time was having homosexuality removed from psychiatric handbooks as a mental illness in 1973 with the American Psychiatric Association gaining a caucus of lesbian and gay psychiatrists in 1978.

Pride and Today

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The 28th of June 1970 saw Pride as we know it born with the first annual Christopher Street Liberation march in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. From these earliest days however when the victories of the revolt were so close to hand the massaging of history to fit different perspectives was already beginning. One reader wrote to the Advocate in 1970 saying the parade had done more harm than good as “silly freaks” “those queens” were lowering the movement’s image in his eyes prompting him to sniff “where were the normal looking” gay men from colleges and so forth? Dick Griff in a letter replying stated “It was the drag queens who fought back last year!Not we closet queens!”. Just over a year after Stonewall the outsiders of the lgbt community who had been so instrumental were already having their agency and momentous actions ignored. Their presence was unwanted.Those like the Gay Activist Alliance and Lesbian Feminist Liberation ,like the Mattachine before them , following the revolt began to champion assimilation so that laws like the proposed Anti-Discrimination Bill Intro 475 would view them as worth protecting.Those who stuck out and were different be it due to their class, race, gender identity, homeless status and more brought down the rest of the community. In response the GLF asserted their commitment to LGBT people of all backgrounds including transgender people attracting many trans activists ,but the climate was against them. Stonewall’s homeless Street Kids ,and transgender women ,grouped under terms like drag queens or transvestites at the time, became liabilities while on the day of Stonewall they had been indispensable. Marsha told Bob Kohler in an interview how upon attending GAA meetings they would notice everyone looking at her and Sylvia because “they’re not used to seeing transvestites in female attire”. Transgender people were therefore kicked off the anti-discrimination bill in hopes it would pass. Another example of this alienation that groups, especially transgender people faced as the gay rights movement grew, is that of a 1973 New York Liberation rally where Sylvia Rivera jump on stage with Lee Brewster following a speech by the early TERF Jean O’Leary in which Sylvia cried “You go to bars because of what drag queens did for you,and these bitches tell us to quit ourselves” before she asked them “how dare you???”. Whither because of transphobic prejudiced views concerning trans people,Second Wave Feminism being famous for this, or the need to exclude them and all other people who did not fit a white,cis, often middle class standard, to latch onto any aspect of acceptance by straight society that they could due to privileged, groups like trans women were coldly excluded from the fight. In answer those who were not accepted fought their own fights when others would not return their support. For instance Marsha and Sylvia formed Street Transvestite(eventually transgender from 2000) Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970 which provided safety and help for transgender people in a myriad of terrible situations such as living on the street or in prison. Marsha who was HIV Postive would later support and march for many AIDS causes. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy also started providing for her community with an early service run by her from 1978 in San Diego providing help for trans women in prison,addicted to drugs or homeless.She has now worked tirelessly into her 70s for many groups.

Aids would rock the LGBT community to its very core and would take the lives of people who had been at Stonewall. It both brought people together as they had to care for each other when no one else would. This is something my own mother as a charity worker saw in 1993 while helping a man care for his partner who was dying and trying to convince doctors to treat him. At the same time however the dangers of the crisis made some feel all the more that gay identity had to be portrayed in a rigid way to ensure people were accepted.It has been 48 years now since the revolt. Its victories stand alongside its failings…Mobilizing requiring a homogeneous group in some people’s views....The events of the night being shaped to fit the ideology of the gay rights movement in the 1970s onwards. While works like Pay it no Mind ,about Marsha, give us stories of figures on the night that need heard , other things like the film Stonewall have took to the views that exclusionary groups have presented.

Today the fights for all lgbt people,not just a specific group, to have the rights,safety and support in their lives they need still goes on. We need to read the true tales from stonewall in order to get past the conflict we have dealt with in past decades….We need to remember the lives behind it …Mourning those veterans of it like Marsha and Sylvia who died young as well as caring for our elders like Miss Major and Storme Lavernie(who sadly passed away in inadequate care practically forgotten). Yes pride is for celebrating ,but we need to all come together in unison against the institutions around the world which impact LGBT people negatively instead of mistreating each other or assuming the fight is over. The truth of Stonewall is beauty and the beauty of the people involved acting as one on that night is truth. We need to speak Stonewall’s truths every moment so it lives on forever…Not give way to the type of hate it was sparked by.

References

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Mark Stein (ed), "Pride Marches and Parades", in Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America, (Charles Scribner's Sons,2004)

"Police Again Rout Village Youths: Outbreak by 400 Follows a Near-Riot Over Raid", The New York Times, (June 30, 1969), p. 22

Sara Warner, Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure, (2012),p. 17

Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, Out for Good, (Simon & Schuster. 1999), p. 40, ,50-51

Sukie De la Croix, "Gay Power: A History of Chicago Pride", Chicago Free Press, (2007)

Lacey Fosburgh, "Thousands of Homosexuals Hold a Protest Rally in Central Park", The New York Times, (June 29,1970), p. 1

Barry Adam, The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement, (G. K. Hall & Co,1987) p.58 ,59

Grace Chu , “An interview with lesbian Stonewall veteran Stormé DeLarverie”, AfterEllen.com, (July 26, 2010).

Nicholas Edsall, Toward Stonewall: Homosexuality and Society in the Modern Western World, (University of Virginia Press,2003), p.247, 277,278 ,279 ,310

David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, (University of Chicago Press, 2004), 101-2, 114-5

Martin Duberman, Stonewall, (UK:Penguin Books,1993), p. XV, 181,182, 183, 187,189,188,192-193,196,202-207, 210-211, 235, 236,278-279

Kathleen LaFrank (ed.), "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Stonewall", U.S. Department of the Interior: National Park Service, (January 1999) ,p.20

David Deitcher, The Question of Equality: Lesbian and Gay Politics in America Since Stonewall, (Scribner,1995) ,p. 70

Michael Bronski,(ed.), Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps, (St. Martin's Griffin,2003)

Paul Cain, Leading the Parade: Conversations with America's Most Influential Lesbians and Gay Men, (Scarecrow Press, 2007)

John Loughery, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth Century History. (Henry Holt and Company,1998),p.316

"Stonewall Riots 40th Anniversary: A Look Back at the Uprising that Launched the Modern Gay Rights Movement," democracynow.org, (June 26, 2009)

Charles Kaiser, The Gay Metropolis 1940 – 1996, (New York:Houghton Mifflin,1997),p.198

Jessi Gan, “Still at the Back of the Bus': Sylvia Rivera's Struggle”, CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 19.1 (Spring 2007): p. 124-139.

Sylvia Rivera, "Sylvia Rivera's Talk at LGMNY, June 2001, Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, New York City".CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 19.1 (Spring 2007): p. 116-123

Paul D. Cain. "David Carter: Historian of The Stonewall Riots", Gay Today.Faderman & Timmons, Gay LA ,(University of California Press, 2006), p. 157

"Speaking Out". Johnrechy.com

Belinda Baldwin, “L.A., 1/1/67: the Black Cat riots.”, The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, 13, 2 (2006)

"Timeline of Homosexual History, 1961 to 1979". Tangentgroup.org. Archived from the original on 2014-05-11

Press Release regarding the 1966 raid on the Black Cat bar". The Tangent Group. Archived from the original on 27th of April, 2015.

Susan Stryker, Susan, Transgender History, (Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2008)

Autumn Sandeen, “The Compton's Cafeteria Riot”, Gay and Lesbian Times.

Clare Sears, “Electric Brilliancy: Cross-Dressing Law and Freak Show Displays in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco” , WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly ,36, 3 (December 14, 2008), pp. 170–87

Daniel Villarreal, "Before Stonewall, There Was The Cooper’S Donuts And Compton’S Cafeteria Riots", Queerty.Com <https://www.queerty.com/before-stonewall-there-was-the-coopers-donuts-and-comptons-cafeteria-riots-20111007> ,(7 October 2011), [accessed 4 July 2017].

"Calendar Of Events For The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot 50Th Anniversary - San Francisco Bay Times", San Francisco Bay Times <http://sfbaytimes.com/calendar-of-events-for-the-comptons-cafeteria-riot-50th-anniversary/> [accessed 4 July 2017]

"Sylvia Rivera Discusses The Stonewall Riots In A Never-Heard-Before Interview (Exclusive)", Out.Com <https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2016/10/13/sylvia-rivera-discusses-stonewall-riots-never-heard-interview-exclusive> [accessed 4 July 2017]

"Interview With An Actual Stonewall Riot Veteran: The Ciswashing Of Stonewall Must End!", The Transadvocate, 2017 <http://transadvocate.com/interview-with-an-actual-stonewall-riot-veteran-the-ciswashing-of-stonewall-must-end_n_8750.htm> [accessed 29 June 2017]

Jerry Lisker, The New York Daily News, (July 6, 1969)

"Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries", Workers.Org<http://www.workers.org/2006/us/lavender-red-73/>, (September 24, 2006). [accessed 4 July 2017]

“Randy Wicker Interviews Sylvia Rivera on the Pier”, Vimeo, Event occurs at 8:24, (September 21, 1995), [Accessed July 24, 2015]

"Feature Doc ‘Pay It No Mind: The Life & Times Of Marsha P. Johnson’ Released Online. Watch It", Indiewire <http://www.indiewire.com/2012/12/feature-doc-pay-it-no-mind-the-life-times-of-marsha-p-johnson-released-online-watch-it-234025/> [accessed 4 July 2017]

Benjamin Sheperd, Queer Political Performance and Protest,(New York and London: Routledge, 2010),p. 6The Advocate , (28 June 1994), p.53-54

“Readers Knock, Praise the Big Parade”, The Advocate, (august 5-18, 1970), p.18

“Remember the Queens Had the Balls!”, The Advocate, (September 2-15, 1970), p. 18

Outweek: New York’s Lesbian and Gay News Magazine,( june 26,1989), Stonewall Revisited, < http://www.outweek.net/pdfs/ow_01.pdf>

Sherry Wolf, "Stonewall: The Birth Of Gay Power | International Socialist Review", Isreview.Org<http://isreview.org/issue/63/stonewall-birth-gay-power> [accessed 4 July 2017]

John D’Emilio, William B. Turner, and Urvashi Vaid, eds., Creating Change: Sexuality, Public Policy, and Civil Rights (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), p. 11

D’Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States 1940–1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), p. 138,173,186,167,164,235,236

Donn Teal, Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969–1971 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1971), p.2-9,13,19,37, 110

“Homo Nest Raided, Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad,” ,New York Daily News, (July 6, 1969)

Lucian Truscott, "Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square," (View from Outside) ,Village Voice, (3 July 1969)

Eric Marcus, Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945-1990, (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 151,155, 200-202,253

Eric Marcus, Making Gay History, (HarperCollins, 2002),p. 24-25,58-59,105-107

"Stonewall 25: Cases 1-2", Columbia.Edu, 2017 <http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/sw25/case1.html> [accessed 4 July 2017].

"An Interview With Lesbian Stonewall Veteran Stormé Delarverie | People, Celebrities, Actresses & Profiles Of Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Women In Movies, TV Shows & Music | Afterellen.Com", Web.Archive.Org<https://web.archive.org/web/20100731142206/http://www.afterellen.com:80/people/2010/7/storme-delarverie?page=0%2C1> [accessed 4 July 2017]

William Yardley, "Storme Delarverie, Early Leader In The Gay Rights Movement, Dies At 93", Nytimes.Com <https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/nyregion/storme-delarverie-early-leader-in-the-gay-rights-movement-dies-at-93.html?_r=0> [accessed 4 July 2017]

Kristi K., "Something Like A Super Lesbian: Stormé DeLarverie (In Memoriam)", thekword.com, (28 May 2015), [accessed 4 July 2017]

Jessica Stern, "This is What Pride Looks Like: Miss Major and the Violence, Poverty, and Incarceration of Low-Income Transgender Women", The Scholar & Feminist Online, Barnard Center for Research on Women, (Fall 2011/Spring 2012 ), 10.1–10.2

"MAJOR! Celebrates Trans 'Mama' Miss Major Griffin-Gracy", CBC Radio<http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-friday-june-3-2016-1.3614220/major-celebrates-trans-mama-miss-major-griffin-gracy-1.3614256> [accessed 4 July 2017]

Elliot Owen, "Life of Activism Shaped Trans Woman's Compassion", The Bay Area Reporter, BAR, Inc, (26 June 2014)

Hines, Gender Diversity, Recognition and Citizenship : Towards a Politics of Difference, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan ,2013), p. 33

Sunnivie Brydum, "Does the Stonewall Commemorative Plaque Erase Trans People's Role in Riots?", Advocate.com, Here Media Inc, (25 October 2013)

Andrea Richie, "LIVING THE LEGACY OF RHONDA COPELON" , CUNY Law Review, 15, 258, (2012), p. 255-263

Michael Schiavi, Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo, (Wisconsin and London: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), p.64-66

David Carter, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, (New York:St Martin’s Griffin,2004), p.14-15,29-37,52,68,71,74,79,80, 96-103, 109, 129,130,132, 137,142-1 45, 147-148,150-152, 154,156 ,160,162,174-175,178,180-181, 184-185,188,191, 196,216-217,220,226,242,298-299

"In Memory Of Raymond Castro", GLAAD <https://www.glaad.org/2010/10/14/in-memory-of-raymond-castro> [accessed 4 July 2017].

#lgbt #pride #stonewall #history #history meme #queer #stonewall riot #marsha johnson #sylvia rivera #marsha p johnson

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bigbooksandhottea-blog · 7 years

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Showcase your femininity - but not too much!

The page I chose to analyze is the first page of the fifth issue (if you’ll forgive the blurry picture). The panel layout is extremely similar to the way the first page of the first issue is laid out, not only because of the even grid layout, but also in the way the male figure seems to take over the female figure in every row. However, this page goes a step further and shows an additional female figure in the background. In the last row, she comes closer and closer into the foreground, until she’s right behind the male figure in the last panel.

Unlike the first page we see in the series, which sets the scene for the world as something men have been taking from women, now we see women starting to reclaim this world back from men. However, this last woman is not of the ordinary, overly sexualized, compliant women that seem to populate this world, but rather, she uses her body as a weapon, to gain attention, not for herself, but for a cause greater than herself. In this case, that cause is Eleanor. At this point in the series, we know very little about Eleanor (although if you’re like me and immediately went out and bought issues eight and nine after reading what was required, you’ll know a little bit more), but the next arc is called President Bitch, so we can infer that politics will come into play.

Although Eleanor’s name is clearly a reference to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the first woman to really elevate the position of First Lady above being a mere arm-piece to the President, the timing of the series seems to suggest a correlation between Eleanor and Hillary. This brings up an interesting aspect of womanhood, specifically of women in politics. Recently, women have been making a bigger push to be involved in politics, although this has brought up an issue in the logistics of campaigning. People, politicians included, tend to get married by a certain age (most politicians are over this age). However, when a woman gets married, traditionally she takes the name of the man she’s marrying (as most things in life, this is assuming her heterosexuality). This tradition has deep roots in patriarchal society.

To bypass this factor of modern life, and I think specifically in the case of our recent presidential candidate, to step out of the shadow of her husband, women are emphasizing their feminine first names as evidence of their womanhood. Unfortunately, equal representation in politics is still a while off, but women are becoming more willing to step up and say “I am a woman, and I’m not afraid to show it, even in a sphere of society traditionally dominated by white men.” This goes beyond the woman herself, and bleeds into the ranks of her supporters. The woman shown on this page shows the same kind of emboldened sense of spirit by exposing her chest and breasts (although not nipples) in a way that would generally be frowned upon in this society.

Despite patriarchal sexualization of the female body, this same society does not respond well when women take control of their own bodies, sexuality and all. The woman who lifts up her shirt is not doing it for male attention, but to literally send a message, which is the first of a rallying cry that starts among women to become politically involved. This is contrasted by the other woman on this page, whose message is superficial and biased, fed to her by society and likely a teleprompter. There are other differences between these two as well. As many women who are compliant in this society have exemplified, the ideal woman is this objectified, extremely feminine, and often rather fake placeholder.

Interestingly enough, although many of the women portrayed in professional positions are extremely sexualized, the news anchor’s sexuality has been played down. Instead of voluptuous cleavage pouring out of her low-cut top, the newscaster’s conservative neckline delicately hides her assets while the bright pink jacket enforces stereotypical ideas of femininity. We can contrast this with the other woman in the background who wears blue, reminding us that color is not inherently associated with gender. The woman in the background also contrasts the anchor’s uncharacteristically conservative dress by baring her own skin. Although this conservative dress is contrasted by the anchor’s made up face complete with lip injections and 80’s hair. This plays into beauty standards for women even today regarding what is and isn’t appropriate in a professional setting.

This means that womanhood is governed by a set of convoluted rules regarding how one should dress and act in any given situation. To be fair, there are still rules regarding men’s apparel in the professional world, but professionalism in men’s clothing is fairly limited, whereas women’s clothing has plenty of well-made clothing that is considered too risqué for a professional setting. Exhibit A is the video at the bottom.

There are plenty of these kinds of guides to how women should dress for almost any given situation. This particular one struck me as funny for many reasons, but more than the video itself, a certain comment one user left summed up the inadequate quality of this video; “why are heels considered proper work attire?” The deeper question to ask here is “how feminine do I have to be to be non-threatening?” Women in the workforce have to balance a delicate line between being too feminine, and therefore sexual, or too masculine, and therefore intimidating.

Credit for these slides goes to Lauren Hurley.

This reinforces that women are in a constant state of trying to please other people (whether we know it or not). An unfortunate part of womanhood is the need to be properly dressed for the occasion. The women’s fashion industry has an innumerable amount of faults, but perhaps the biggest is the stress it and society jointly put on women to buy precisely the right clothes for every specific occasion. This burden is shared by men, but only to a point. Jeans are a wonderful example of this. Although men’s fashion has recently jumped on the skinny jean train (thank goddess for hipsters subverting gender norms), women have generally had a dizzying number of choices in that arena. Despite the number of options available, jeans are hardly ever considered classy for women, whereas men are oftentimes forgiven for their lack of appropriate dress.

If you’re interested, you can try a social experiment by wearing the “wrong thing.” Maybe pull a Megan Carpenter and wear a ball gown to a bar, or do the opposite and wear tattered jeans to a nice restaurant. Either way, and especially if you’re a woman, you’re guaranteed to get some weird looks. Although if you’re a man and want to try this, I desperately want to know how it goes (same goes for anyone else on the gender spectrum).

youtube

#women writers #feminism #femininity

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mightbedamian · 7 years

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#TMIishTuesday #59 - Bi-what? - On Bisexuality

Hey, After writing the last #TMIishTuesday I got sick. Maybe that serves to say that I'm sick of our society. Maybe it was just coincidence. Anyway, I'm recovered for the most part and ready to write the next one. Let's talk about bisexuality. Hey there mighty people of the internet! And welcome to issue #59 of #TMIishTuesday - my weekly Tumblr post about what goes through my weird mind and on what you guys want to know more about. It can be something very personal, it can be something political, it can be completely pointless - but in 99.9 % of the cases, it involves opinions. And mine as well. // Last week I discussed my first ever poem in English: Society. It's about how society treats people and expects people to treat it. The discussion included several norms and the issues that I, personally, and other people have with those norms. If you haven't read it, do so now. I mean… Why not? :) // Bisexuality is a concept that most people will be familiar with. Still, many seem to not be able to relate to it. How can you love both boys and girls? How is that even possible? Would God want that to happen? These are some questions that might be raised when someone comes out as bisexual. Society loves to question everything that they don't know. And ASSUME about stuff they know nothing about (more on that in my previous two #TMIishTuesday's #selfpromo). People like to call out stereotypes on other people. Let's discuss some stereotypes I found are quite common about bisexual people: 1. "You like both genders, so it has to be SO MUCH EASIER to DATE for you!" Well… No? Even though it might seem that bisexual people do have a little more choice, they also have their preferences. Also: They might identify as "bisexual", but only be interested in sex with one gender - but prefer a romantic relationship with the other gender. Or they have only dated one gender, but could also imagine dating the other. 2. "You are WHORES! You F*CK EVERYONE you can find!" Well… No? The statement above is actually kind of the follow-up to what I said before. But it's simply not true. Bisexuals don't change their partners more frequently than people of any other sexual orientation. Regardless their gender or those of their partners. 3. "You have it so much EASIER than the rest of the LGBTQ+ community! YOU DON'T KNOW how it feels!" Well… No? The statements above might give you a little bit of an impression of the situation bisexuals find themselves in. Yes, they may "fit in" better, if they date the opposite gender. In this case, if they wanted to, they could hide their bisexuality from others. But: That's only when they date the opposite gender. Once they date the same gender they might be viewed as lesbian or gay - which doesn't give a correct account on their feelings, either. However, given the common misconception of "you can easily fit in, if you want to", bisexuals may not be as excepted in the LGBTQ+ community, as other members are. 4. "You can just CHOOSE which gender to DATE! You are so LUCKY!" Well… No? Building on what I just said, it's widely accepted that homosexuals can't choose which gender they want to fall in love with. And guess what? The same goes for bisexuals. They also need that certain "click" with people to fall for them. And we all know that doesn't happen too easily. Regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

5. Adding to the bisexual stereotypes, they also might face some gay or lesbian stereotypes - given that they (sometimes) date the same gender - including: "God doesn't approve of same-sex love! You'll go to hell, if you sleep with the same gender!" Summing up: The stereotypes against bisexuality, the misunderstanding and the ignorant "I don't like anyone different from me" (read with a very derisive voice) kinda of people are still around. Bisexuals still have to fear rejection by their loved ones. That it might ruin their career (the case of Aaron Hernandez is not proven, but there are assumptions that suggest that he killed a friend who was threatening to out the former American football professional. Apparently Hernandez thought the outing might set an end to his professional career. There is no doubt that murdering also ruined it, but that's a different story). All we can do is to fight stereotypes. Be proud. Be loud. Even, if you are not bi, tell people off who assume things about bi people or even make fun of them. That's your chance to be a good ally! If you are bi yourself, I'd LOVE to know your opinion on the topic! How do you perceive being bi in today's society? What needs to change? If you are not bi, I'd still like to know your thoughts on the topic. What needs to change? How would you support a bi friend? Place a comment, tweet me, dm me, or do anything else you can think of to get to me. Queer Shoutout you say? Talking of bi people: I've been subscribed to German vlogger Lisa Sophie (known on YouTube as ItsColeslaw) for more than three years now. In September 2016, she made a video about an article of German teen magazine BRAVO. The article was about bisexuality and suggested that bisexuals per se have more than one sexual relationship at a time. I brought up that topic above as well. It's just not true. Lisa addressed this misconception, thereby revealing her sexuality. Community power really was strong this time: Lisa told her community to write an email to BRAVO to change the article. I participated - and got back an email a few days later: They changed the article. But I'm drifting off. This is the story of how Lisa had her coming out which I really admired. Half a year later, she released her first book: "Wie ich auf hörte, perfekt sein zu wollen. Ein Leitfaden zum Umgang mit peinlichen Situationen aller Art" (which translates to: "How I stopped wanting to be perfect. A guide to handle awkward situations of any kind"). The book is about her experiences growing up in a small town in Bavaria and includes everything from school, relationships, the drama about certain clothing - and also details about her first female partner. (I probably missed a lot of good stuff in this list, but these are some aspects) I really enjoyed her style of writing. It's written very light-heartedly. Inside jokes make it throughout the entire book. And just like in her videos, she brought her self-sarcasm to the book as well. Plus the book is autobiographical which makes it extra easy to follow. You can tell she didn't try to fake-lengthen the story. Really enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it to anyone struggling with things like school and (especially long-distance) relationships - or just to have a laugh. As always: Next #TMIishTuesday next Tuesday. If you have any questions in the meantime, just ask away. Whatever you’re curious about - I don’t bite. :) Until then: Stay mighty! Linkage: - Dennis Klein for queer.de: Der Fall Aaron Hernandez: Wurde der NFL-Star zum Mörder, um seine Bisexualität zu verstecken? : http://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=28705 - Lisa Sophie aka. ItsColeslaw on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ItsColeslaw - Lisa’s video on the BRAVO article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ms42o4wllg - Lisa’s book: Wie ich aufhörte perfekt sein zu wollen. Ein Leitfaden zum Umgang mit peinlichen Situationen aller Art: https://smile.amazon.de/dp/3733503805/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493138858&sr=8-1&keywords=itscoleslaw+wie+ich+aufh%C3%B6rte+perfekt+sein+zu+wollen Oh, and here’s some self-promo: - Last #TMIishTuesday: http://mightbedamian.tumblr.com/post/159722748276/tmiishtuesday-58-re-a-poem-to-society - All #TMIishTuesdays: mightbedamian.tumblr.com/tagged/tmi - More #TMIishTuesdays on society topics: http://mightbedamian.tumblr.com/tagged/lgbtqplus - More #TMIishTuesdays on society topics: http://mightbedamian.tumblr.com/tagged/society - More very cool stuff: www.twitter.com/mightbedamian - Even more very cool stuff: mightbedamian.tumblr.com

#tmi #lgbtqplus #society

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obclus · 7 years

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hi guys ! it's me, sapphire ! AKA your local loki enthusiast ! i’m from nyc so i live in / the / EST. all u need to know about me is that i pretty much an adult baby and love metaphysics. remember that one time voltaire pretty much rousseau’s book a pos ? what a fake binch, i mean ? and alright... i mean i’m obv pretty late, i get it. let’s talk about my lil star, adalinda ! — ( tw abuse and death, also bear in mind that this is rather long #srryntsrry )

ok so i got this lil info / page up, it’s semi finished but if you want any other basic info there’s that. click me !

if i had to to sum them up in three words they would be gilded, adaptable, and perceptive. i’ll briefly touch on why, you can read the bio for more details.

gilded and adaptive: covered or highlighted with gold or something of a golden or having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth. this is so important! adalinda is in every essence, gilded. always. they always have some sort of mask on, it would be completely out of character and rare for them to show their true colours. they will lie, device, and manipulate any and everybody. it’s another way of her being so in tune with society’s values and ideals. they’re very aware that if they act one way or another, the outcomes will be different. whatever the situation calls for, she will ““““transform”””” their personality to gain the upperhand in the conversation. there is an art in lying, and adalinda might as well be fucking picasso or van gogh bc honestly, she’s insane.

perceptive: having or showing keenness of insight, understanding, or intuition. i choose this one because adalinda is a manipulator. that’s about as cut dry as i can put it. to them, knowledge is power and knowledge is of course not limited to street or book smarts. although she does love reading the works of machiavelli and hegel, but knowledge is grander than that. it is intuition. to know what drives things to happen in certain ways, to know what difference lies between a hand on top or on bottom of a handshake. she is very in tune with both verbal and nonverbal communication and will use these things at her leisure for advantage. if a certain topic comes u[ in conversation and the person she’s speaking with become distant in the slightest way, she’ll notice and make a note of it.

would like to introduce you to mommy and daddy issues 101, welcome please have a seat. both adalinda’s parents are deceased, rip. the relationship between all of them is extremely virulent. eloise and maximilian ( mama & papa ) abused their child from a very young age. but what is different about this ( i mean how different is it really idk ) is that adalinda does not fault her parents for this, not in anyway. they see it as a form of discipline and teaching her how to be strong, how to beat pain and fear. her father gave her the burn scars on her back and well her mother... what didn’t she do, lmao. kneeling on salt for extensive amounts of time, cold hands meeting soft cheeks, sharp words at every turn. above all this however as i said, there was love, twisted and incredbily fcked up, but love nonetheless. when their parents died adalinda mourned, but not with tears and black clothes, but with ferocity and the drive to ascend to become something greater — like her parents had taught her, and so the moth girl became the moth eater.

the relationship between her and her mother was strained bc i mean, adalinda has a thirst for power, she get’s that from her dad. but her mom was the god damn crown princess to the dutch throne, and adalinda is like u gave that up for a man !? tf when u’re supposed to inherit a country, but ur mom ceases her position in the line of succession for some dick.

ok here comes the inspo from one of my fav things, dc comics! my inspo behind the business is the one and only — lexcorp. dils enterprises is a company that specializes in developing new technologies for aerospace, medical discovery, while also having ties to resource exploration ( like renewable enegries and whatnot ). being the power hungry lil binch she is, when adalinda turned eighteen she reached out to her grandmother and uncle, in order to expand the companies ties in her mother’s homeland. though tbh, adalinda is hardly extensively involved with the companies endeavors, at least that’s what it looks like. think bruce wayne’s “fake” interested in the inner working of wayne enterprises.

*** rl quick, please fluctuate between she/they pronouns when referring to adalinda, don’t stick to one or the other. you, the mun are aware of my muse’s gender ( agender jsyk ) , but adalinda, has not made this public knowledge, mostly because there are certain perceptions and ideas that come to mind with gender in society. this obvs does not delegitimize their gender because that’s something they prefer to keep private. tl;dr if your character speaks about adalinda with another character it would be like this. “ do you know that girl adalinda? she’s one fcked up binch!” but if u, the mun, is writing u can use she/her or they/them like “she stood at five foot eleven inches but they were still short compaired to idkurcharanamehere”. if u don’t understand feel free to mssg me!!

also, in reference to their titles, politically she goes by adalinda, otherwise in an effort to be more "approachable" — they use the name AMARIS. they NEVER use their first name, eliza.

i sort of changed up the original plan for my muse to include a brother. their relationship would be extremely toxic as they would feed off of each other’s negative characteristics and be loyal to a fault to no one but each other. i’m perfectly fine with accommodating with other muns, and it doesn’t even have to be a brother, could be a sister too, but i would love to keep the dynamic the same. but if no one ends up applying for that sort of position i can always rework my original idea back in ! if anyone's interested, here's a sample para on what / how i think they interact with one another.

explanation of how adalinda got reinstated into the royal house: their mother, elosie had an older sister named silvia. This of course would have put elosie second in succession to inherit the throne. however, during liberation day, the state had organized a festival of sorts that would have been held nationwide. the royal family was also going to make an appearance in participation but while on the way there, the family was attacked and silvia suffered a gunshot wound and would eventually succumb to the injuries later that day. following this, elosie becomes crown princess, set for coronation on her twenty first birthday. enter maximilian dils, the British entrepreneur taking the world of philanthropy and developmental sciences by storm. at the time he an elosie met he was already twenty-four and she was eighteen. the two fell in love and since Maximilian was a well known atheist, it brought a serious issue within Elosie and her parents. the royal family was protestant and to marry someone who was not only of that faith, but denounced all faiths was extremely problematic. the two wed without seeking preliminary approval thus removing elosie's ability to inherit the throne and leaving her offspring with the titles of count and countess. by the time she’s twenty-three, elosie is now living in britain and pregant with twins. Both are ecstatic and they tell elosie’s parents before revealing the news to the nation. adalinda and eriadon ( adalinda born first ) are born in the netherlands through a water birth. the years pass by up until they turn seven years old, two weeks after their birthday, their parents are murdered in cold blood. they two children find their parents after returning from school. lying on the cold marble floors are the bodies of their parents marked with gunshots both to the head and heart. to this day the motive and killer(s) are unknown. this in turn leads to fleur and janus taking the children in to live with them. fleur is severely affected at the loss of both her children at the hands of such violence and has the twins very carefully cared for. though their early life ends up being excessively cloistered, adalinda doesn’t mind it. the seclusion allowed for her mind to develop in such ways that she feels are unparalleled if she were to have continued on in public school. by seventeen she he graduated from college and convinced her grandmother to allow her a bit more freedom. adalinda takes up volunteering at churches across the nation and the people of the netherlands start to take notice of the daughter of their dead princess. public opinion on her grows in appreciation as she is seen helping out the needy instead of attending extravagant balls held in the palace. all the while, the company her father built has been waiting for her eighteenth birthday to put her as acting CEO. when the day arrives, at her very first board meeting she realizes that the majority of the members have been preparing to auction off parts of the company for profit alone. they lie to her face and tell her that the company has been dwindling and that their best would be to sell it to off shore conglomerates. but the truth is that the company appeared to be doing fantastic, up until you realized that the highest bidders were men involved with war lords and liars. as she now sits as acting CEO she empties the board of all the existing members and replaces them with new ones, while also publicly outing the former as greedy thieves and giving the company a fresh new image. the absence of my father seems to have led them to become foolish. dils enterprises stands as a union helping those that suffer from world hunger, terminal illness, global warming. those that are displaced by war with a government who refuses to help them. these men who made the mistake of assuming this company was a step on their latter to greatness are now well aware that their brash actions will leave them with nothing but their names. let this be an example of what happens when we allow society to place such an unhealthy obsession with money. the lives of innocents are priceless. no amount of money should deter those who have the capability of doing something. to stand aside and allow it to get worse means you are allowing children to grow up without their mother and fathers, and i — i, stand here to tell you, that a lot of these children are not as lucky as my brother and i were. they all deserve the chance live their lives as exactly what they are, children. they shouldn’t have to wake up to the sound of bombs, or spend a childhood in a hospital. dils enterprises is committed to helping in any way that we may, to lift the burden off whomever we can, while also working to make the world a better, safer, and cleaner place. she stated in front of crowd of cameras outside HQ in downtown London. her plan is to expand what her father built and bring on new projects like partnerships with what we view in our society, people like Elon Musk — CEO Tesla Motors and SolarCity, the UN’s program GirlUp, and UNICEF. she takes two years off away from the company leaving it in the capable hands of her brother while she goes off to service in countries like Ethiopia, Uganda, India and Liberia. giving a speech to world leaders at the UN about the state of their world, unity, and the future of what is to come. because though adalinda is conniving, she understands that in a world of black and white, sometimes things bleed into gray, and whatever is found there should not be left to fade away. for humanity to grow, there needs to be an even playing field where education is provided to even the poorest of countries. she is just about to turn twenty when she returns back to the netherlands. her grandmother pulls her aside one afternoon, they walk about the gardens and fleur tells adalinda that parliament plans to reinstate her brother and her back into the royal house. you and read a bit more about this in a meta post i'll be posting before i go to bed! i would suggest reading it very much because it leads to the year and a half gap that lands adalinda at xaiver's school of all the places.

#( glitch in the matrix. — ooc. )#( srry for the dash spam idk i reblogged some quotes before i sent in the account pls don't hate me i am a leaf. )

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