#inclusive future magazine

[scrumpster]

Jewish Resources (Assorted)

Since my last post seemed to be helpful to a lot of people, I thought I’d make another to share some additional resources. This list includes a bunch of stuff, meant for Jewish people in general. I would definitely encourage you to explore them! There’s a lot of useful stuff here. Goyim are welcome to reblog, just please be respectful if you’re adding tags or comments. Jewish Multiracial Network, an organization for multiracial Jewish families and Jews of Color Sefaria, a free virtual library of Jewish texts Sephardic Studies Digital Library Museum “The SSDC includes key books, archival documents, and audio recordings that illuminate the history, culture, literature, politics, customs, music, and cuisine of Sephardic Jews all expressed in their own language, Ladino.” (from their website) The SMQN, an organization for LGBTQ+ Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews Keshet, a group for LGBTQ+ Jews JQY, a group for LGBTQ+ Jews with a focus on those in Orthodox communities  Queer Jews of Color Resource List (note: this list is way more than just resources, there’s a LOT there) JQ International: “JQ celebrates the lives of LGBTQ+ Jews and their allies by transforming Jewish communities and ensuring inclusion through community building, educational programs, and support and wellness services, promoting the healthy integration of LGBTQ+ and Jewish identities.” (from their website) Jews of Color Initiative, an organization dedicated to teaching about intersectionality in the Jewish community, focuses on research, philanthropy, field building, and community education Nonbinary Hebrew Project: It’s hard to describe, but they’re working to find/create/add suffixes that represent nonbinary genders in Hebrew. If you speak Hebrew/another gendered language, you might know what I mean about gendered suffixes. Jewish Mysticism Reading List  (These are related to our closed practices, goyim should NOT be practicing these things) Ritualwell (you can find prayers and blessings related to specific things here, I personally like that they have blessings related to gender identity)  Guimel, an LGBTQ+ support group for the Jewish Community in Mexico. The site is in Spanish. I’m not a native speaker, but I was still able to read a little bit of it.  SVARA: “SVARA’s mission is to empower queer and trans people to expand Torah and tradition through the spiritual practice of Talmud study.” (From their website) TransTorah is definitely an older website, but there are still some miscellaneous pdfs and resources up on the “Resources” page. Jewish Disabilities Advocates: “The JFS Jewish Disabilities Advocates program was created to raise awareness and further inclusion of people with disabilities within Jewish organizations and the larger Jewish community.” (from their website) Jewish Food Society (recipes, have not spent a lot of time browsing here but maybe I should in the future) Jewish Blind & Disabled, an organization that operates mainly in providing accessible housing and living. Jewish Braille Institute International: “The JBI Library provides individuals who are blind, visually impaired, physically handicapped or reading disabled with books, magazines and special publications of Jewish and general interest in Audio, Large Print and Braille formats.” (from their website) Their services are free!)

#jumblr #jewish resources #jewish #lgbtq resources #disability resources #jews of color resources #jewish bipoc resources #judaism #jewblr #jewish community #sephardic #mizrahim #nonbinary jews #jews of color #lgbtq jews #trans jews #disabled jews #multiracial jews #sephardi jewish #sephardi #mizrahi jewish #mizrahim jewish #mizrahi

[ericmicael]

Summing up the whole case of censorship that Ichinose (Suletta's voice actress) suffered by "Gundam Ace" and by the official profile of "Gundam Witch From Mercury".

It is quite common to have dialogues between the voice actors of the anime, the main ones being: Lynn who plays Miorine, and Ichinose who plays Suletta. And it's not uncommon for shipper moments to happen with them, they've always been very supportive of the SuleMio couple, especially Lynn.

Since the anime ended, it is common to find Lynn and Ichinose talking about the SuleMio marriage, and in one of the interviews they even mentioned a term that is an allegory for babies, insinuating that the couple may have plans for the future.

"Gundam Ace" is a magazine dedicated to the franchise, and as "Gundam Witch From Mercury" is the most recent anime, it is obvious that several of the issues focus on this anime. And in the most recent edition that even has a print of SuleMio embracing wearing wedding rings on the cover, they included one of those lines from Ichinose: in her speech she comments on Suletta and Miorine's wedding. But in the digital edition they deleted the word marriage.

All this obviously generated a lot of complaints from the anime fandom, especially from the LGBT part of the fandom.

Today we had the official apology from "Gundam Ace" itself and from the official profile of "Gundam Witch From Mercury", but different from what I thought at first (I have no knowledge of Japanese), they didn't apologize for the censorship and said that the newly released digital edition was wrong, and yes it was literally the opposite of that.

The official profiles apologized for the inclusion of the interview claiming that the ending of SuleMio: whether they got married or not is something interpretive, and that it would not be correct to include a speculative phrase treating it as 100% confirmed.

Since the first episode, it has been said that same-sex marriage is common, which even surprises Suletta.

On many occasions, Suletta and Miorine express a desire to marry each other, and on one occasion Suletta explicitly says that she wants to marry Miorine in matching dresses and buy wedding rings together.

And in the final episode Miorine is called sister-in-law by Eri who is Suletta's "sister", and the two women are shown having matching rings and treating each other like family.

But now all this is now interpretive? That if a woman marries another woman, wearing matching rings and being called sister-in-law by the sister of that woman she married isn't enough if they don't see her kissing her wife or having sex with her? Rings aren't enough, words aren't enough and everything is nothing more than an interpretation of the vision of the voice actresses or the public when the couple is not formed by a man and a woman?

A few weeks ago a shoujo author complained about the relationship between Suletta and Miorine, in her view there were not enough actions or words to confirm that there were romantic feelings between the two women, and that in fact there were only romantic feelings between the boys with them. At one point Guel declares his feelings for the second time for Suletta, and she rejects him without hesitation for the second time. Guel uses the term "precious person" to confess to Suletta, and she has this reaction:

But for this shoujo author it doesn't matter that literally a woman admitted to having feelings for another woman using the same term that a boy used to admit to having feelings for her, that doesn't count, that's not normal, that's not romantic, it's just interpretive when It's a woman talking about another woman.

#mobile suit gundam the witch from mercury #gundam witch from mercury #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #sulemio #homophobia #i'm so tired

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

man about town interview | spring/summer 2014

for the tweam! click through for my best attempt at deciphering this (maybe impossible to find?) throwback interview

‘’I don’t think I’m scary at all. It was kind of funny watching myself being scary. Because I’m not scary.’’ Says Evan Peters, the up-and-coming up-for-anything actor best known for his extreme roles on American Horror Story, the prestige television series that treats social taboos as map points. For three seasons, Peters has excelled at playing against his offbeat boyishness by amping up his young Malcolm McDowell intensity, with results that fall somewhere between ‘’teen dream in strangler’s gloves’’ and ‘’terrifying Michael Cera.’’ He most recently appeared in American Horror Story: Coven as Kyle Spencer, the good-natured university student who is decapitated and then reanimated with the body parts of his Kappa Lambda Gamma brothers as a temperamental Rocky Horror who beats his sexually abusive mother to death with a trophy.

Over a bold chai tea with stevia, at a restaurant in Venice, California, Peters is lighthearted and dryly humorous, like a young Michael Shannon, with whom he should costar in a successful disturbing family sitcom. He wears black jeans, a well-worn t-shirt under a plaid flannel, and a necklace with a toy dinosaur pendant. He drives a 2004 Pontiac Vibe that he correctly describes as ‘’vintage’’; says that he just feels like growing his longish blond hair into a ponytail, and has a red thumbs-up permanently inked onto the to pof his right hand, that was traced over a nightclub door stamp. At one point, he raises his forearm to show off a temporary tattoo that he received the night before at the castle park family entertainment center in Sherman oaks. ‘’This is a Belle tattoo. It’s not real,’’ he explains playfully of a small portrait of the beautiful young heroine from the animated Disney film Beauty and the Beast. I tell him it’s very pretty. ‘’Thank you. She’s gorgeous,’’ he responds. I ask if Belle is his favorite Disney princess. ‘’Well, I picked her out. There was also Jasmine, Ariel and Cinderella. My other buddies got those.” ‘’What about Belle appeals to you?’’ ‘’She likes the Beast.’’ Peters says.

This summer, Peters appears as the teenage Mutant speeder Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, the sequel to 2011’s X-Men: First Class, which has proven to be an eventful ??? movie. In October 2012, director Matthew Vaughn – who relaunched the franchise with much needed style and a new cast of young, indie + credible actors – left the film to be replaced by original trilogy director Bryan Singer. As such, fans were already touched when Singer announced that he would retell ‘’Days of Future Past,’’ the seminal X-Men time-travel storyline from 1980, an ambitious plan turned wild when he revealed that both franchises would merge into one. Cut to the 2012 San diego Comic-Con whereby unthinkable feats of scheduling – the sprawling casts of the modern-day first series and the 60’s era prequel (that include expensive names like Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackmon, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Michael Fassbender, and so on). Convened with ??? new additions like Peters to unhinge popular culture. ‘’You think to yourself, ‘’wow, people really, really love this stuff.” And it makes you appreciate it more. It makes you work harder at it.’’ he says about the experience.

Peters’ role in the films is crucial but concise. ‘’It’s a huge, huge opportunity but I always make sure to tell people it’s just one scene. Easy, it's just one scene.’’ Peters says, as if talking down a rearing horse. Quicksilver has already been the subject of film industry chatter regarding lawful usage of the character, who is both the son of Magneto and a colleague of the Avengers, making him fair game for inclusion in both Days of Future Past and the 20n5 Avengers sequel (in which he will be played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson of Kick-Ass). An Empire magazine Preview of Quicksilver’s costume design was greeted with comparison to Kid Vid, a ‘90’s cartoon form of the Burger King ‘’Kid’s Club,’’ and the news that Peters had been saddled with the Halle Berry “rough wig’’ role. But his fan’s enthusiasm for the project—in which desperate X-Men from a dystopias future try to stave off mutant genocide by altering the present day—is undimmed. ‘’I think it’s the best film of the francise yet,’’ proclaims Peters. ‘’It’s pretty dire. It’s a pretty epic situation. But there’s definitely some humor in there. Its’s just badass, man.’’

Quicksilver is a departure for Peters in some ways if not others. Both X-Men and Horror Story are tight productions that take extensive precautions to protect story lines. Peters says that he did not receive the full script for X-Men until arriving at the Montreal location days before shooting. Horror Story pages are often delivered the night before a scene. The short lead time can demand a ??? almost improvisational acting process. ‘’The minute we get the script, plans are cancelled, dinner is cancelled,’’ he says about working on Horror Story. ‘’Some of it you’re like, ‘Oh shit, I have to do that?’ Screaming and crying, realizing that my whole body is pieced together and I’m not myself? I’ll probably have to work on that.’’

Peters owes his career to television. ‘’I was watching a lot of TV and I kind of wanted to be on the TV and in movies. I love movies and TV,’’ he says, and cites inspirations like Joaquin Phoenix, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, George Clooney, JIM Carrey, Chris Farley, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, and the millennial teen comedies Even Stevens starring Shia Labeuof and So Little Time with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. ‘’That sort of stuff. I just really wanted to be a part of it and loved acting and performing.’’ He moved to Los Angeles with is mother when he was 15 years old, and steadily won work in television, on shows including Phil of the Future (2004) and One Tree Hill (2008), and in movies like the independent films Clipping Adam (2004), his first big break, and later Kick Ass (2010). Being cast as Tate Langdon in the first season of American Horror Story in 2011 was his tipping point, playing a Skull Boy-faced high school shooter in a latex catsuit who rapes his girlfriend’s mother to please a ghost. He has since become one of the five main players to appear in all three season of the series, sterling company that includes Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Frances Conroy.

Now the world gets to enjoy a lighter side of Peters, like when he appeared on a 2011 episode of the G4 networks Attack of the Show and blithely volunteered that he was working a a rap song called ‘’I’ll Tap That Fucking Ass.’’ He laughs off a request to recite a verse. ‘’I can’t. That never materialized. I tried but it was too much pressure. It was just a concept. I was just trying new ideas,’’ he says, and then volunteers a different musical direction. ‘’It’s called ‘Natch Snatch.’ Like all natural snatch. Big bush. Snatch. Cause it’s nice. You know, ‘girl, you’ve got that natch snatch.’ It’s another nice concept. Probably on the same album.’’ Peters laughs in agreement at the suggestion that he is a kook in the best sense of the word. ‘’I get called a weirdo sometimes,’’ he admits ‘’But it’s like, I don’t feel that weird. I don’t feel that different. I look at everybody else and I’m like, ‘’you’re a fucking weirdo, too. You like all of your shit. I like my shit.’’ Why does one have to be weird and one have to be normal? It doesn’t make any sense to me.’’ Meanwhile, he seems to be successfully negotiating his public and private persona. ‘’I’ll try to be myself as much as I can but you obviously can’t be who you are at home in your skivvies eating donuts. You can’t be that.’’ He explains, before confirming that guy exists, with his tongue sort-of-in-cheek. ‘’You bet he does. Yeah, definitely watching New Girl. Crying.’’ But while Peters seems fairly comfortable in the public eye, fame no longer interests him. The development is not unrelated to his intense, closely-watched relationship with fiancée and two-time costar Emma Roberts (on coven and in the 2013 ?? Adult World) ‘’When I was younger I was like, ‘’That would be awesome!’’ now I don’t particularly love it,’’ he says ‘’Emma gets paparazzi a lot, and because I’m with her we get paparazzi, so it’s kind of a weird thing that I don’t love. But it’s so small in the big picture of all the positives that come with this job that I can’t really complain about it.’’ he may be surprised by the attention he and Roberts receive, but he is hardly self-ptying. ‘’Honestly, it’s not that bad. If you don’t set up a Google alert on yourself and go out searching for it then you’re not going to see it. So I don’t see it.’’ Roberts has already endured the Hollywood learning curve that Peters is now experiencing. ‘’She gives me advice, like cut your hair. She likes my hair to look nice,’’ he says, and laughs. ‘’She’s been around and knows the ropes and how to play the game very well. And she has incredible social skills. She can talk to anyone and everyone loves talking to her. I’m not that good at that stuff so she kind of helps me out with that.’’ I wonder what guidance she offers him. ‘’You’ve just got to be personable and talk to people, even if you don’t want to. Put on a happy face and buck up. Grow a pair of balls. Don’t be a little wuss.’’ Petersa says, and laughs. ‘���I mean, she doesn’t say that, but you know what I mean.’’ 

Next for Peters is Lazarus, opposite Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover and Mark Duplass a 2015 feature from director David Gelb, known for the documentary Giro: Dreams of Sushi. Peters describes the project, about a team of brainiacs working magnanimously to reanimate the dead, as a “contained Sci-Fi horror thriller” as it mostly takes place in one laboratory setting. He plays the party animal scientist. Peters encouraging sidesteps the questions of his involvement in the next season of American Horror Story, to be set in 1950 and the present day, for which Jessica Lange is practicing a German accent. ‘’I don’t know what I’m allowed to say so I’m going to say no comment,’’ he says.

‘’At the end of the day it is acting. You want to go with the biggest, weirdest, boldest shit and see if you can actually do it and go there,’’ Peters concludes, ‘’I’m very curious about everything. I feel like I don’t know that much. I’m trying to learn it all and figure it all out.’’

#i did my best #i strained my eyes #typos are mine and i put question marks where i couldn't make out the words #evan peters #evanpeters #tate langdon #american horror story #kai anderson #kyle spencer #ahs

[yurimother]

Final Volume of 'Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon' Released

On March 21, Seven Seas Entertainment released the final volume of Shio Usui's shakaijin Yuri series Doughnuts Under a Cresent Moon (Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts) in English.

The manga follows salary worker Uno Hinako, who, despite her best attempts at normalcy, continuously fails to find love and satisfy the wishes of her overbearing mother. Self-doubt begins to overcome her when she comes across her coworker, Asashi Sato, sitting on a bench. The two women bond and form a friendship that soon evolves into something far more intimate.

The publisher describes the final volume:

Asahi has never been big on romantic love—her top priority has always been family. But now that Hinako is in her life, her feelings about romance seem to be changing. Asahi still doesn’t know exactly what that means, but one thing is for sure: her feelings for Hinako are growing more intense by the day. Are Asahi and Hinako destined for more than friendship? Find out in the final volume of Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon!

Doughnuts Under a Cresent Moon was serialized in Comic Yuri Hime from March 2019 until its conclusion in May 2022. It is notable for its focus on adult characters, the inclusion of asexuality, and its themes of societal and familial expectations. The series is praised by critics, with the first volume receiving a 9/10 score from YuriMother. Ichijinsha publishes the manga in Japanese.

Shio Usui is a Japanese mangaka known for their series Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon. Usui's second Comic Yuri Hime series, I Married My Female Friend (Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita), has been serialized in the magazine since 2020 and is licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment for English release in December 2023. Usui has also contributed to the Doujin Onna and Chocolat Yuri anthologies.

You can check out the fourth and final volume of Doughnuts Under a Cresent Moon today in English digitally and in paperback: https://amzn.to/3GeLSOz

Reading official releases helps support creators and publishers. YuriMother makes a small affiliate commission from sales to help fund future coverage.

#yuri #manga #news #yuri manga #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+ #wlw #lesbian #lesbians #gay #gl #girls' love #gl manga

[transformationsproject]

We got some exciting news this week! 🌈

We're thrilled to share that one of our board members, Ace Sutherland, has been featured on the front page of a magazine by Northwell Health's Transvibin' team! 🎉 This shines a spotlight on the amazing work being done for and within the transgender community on Long Island.

Northwell Health, as the largest healthcare provider in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester, has made significant strides in supporting our community. The Transvibin' team, funded by a dedicated grant, offers a comprehensive range of services tailored to meet our needs. 🏥💖

This recognition is not just about one person's achievement; it symbolizes the growing visibility and support for the trans community in healthcare spaces. It's a testament to the hard work, resilience, and dedication of countless individuals fighting for a more inclusive and understanding world. 🌍✊

Let's celebrate this moment and continue supporting each other in creating a society where everyone, regardless of gender identity, is seen, heard, and cared for. Here's to more visibility, more achievements, and a brighter future for all of us. 🥂💜

They'll be joining us on our livestream tonight at 7pm est on Twitch.

#trans rights #trans formations project #activism

[inclusivefuture]

Calling all trans, nonbinary, agender, and genderqueer writers/artists!

Inclusive Future Magazine is opening its submissions for Issue 1: Visions from a Gender Inclusive Future for a second round!!

We’re looking for submissions of prose and art from trans, nonbinary, agender and genderqueer artists and writers that respond to the question: What might gender look like fifty years from now?

This round, we're specifically looking for pieces that fit in with and respond to the work we already have, like a feature article to accompany Liasis’ cover illustration (above). Find out more by visiting the call for submissions page.

(links and more details to follow in reblog)

#sorry in advance for all these tags... #inclusivefuture #magazine #nonbinary #nonbinary writer #trans #trans writers #trans artists #trans artist #trans art #calls for subs #call for subs #calls for submissions #call for submissions #nonbinary artists #nonbinary artist #nonbinary art #genderqueer writer #genderqueer writers #genderqueer artist #genderqueer #genderqueer art #queer artists #queer writers #queer artist #queer art #queer #agender writers #agender writer #agender artist

[familyabolisher]

Science fiction is "a web of resemblances" that can be traced backward from Gernsback's baptism of the genre along a variety of paths, and that can be extended in an unpredictable number of new and different ways. Its fluid boundaries have been defended and contested in many ways for many reasons, but the existence of the category as a condition of literary and cultural production and reception is incontrovertible. Approaching science fiction as a web of resemblances, rather than a set of defining characteristics, puts the questions of inclusion and exclusion that have preoccupied definers of the genre from Gernsback to Darko Suvin into their proper place. When Gernsback, in the first issue of Amazing, reprints stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells alongside reprints of more recent pieces by G. Peyton Wertenbaker, George Allan England, and Austin Hall, and then declares Poe "the father of scientifiction" in his opening editorial, the question to ask does not concern the common defining characteristics of the six stories or their relation to Poe as source and font of science fiction, but rather it concerns the motives for Gernsback's construction of this group identity and its genealogy. The question about motives applies equally to Suvin's construction of a tradition of the "literature of cognitive estrangement" in Metamorphoses of Science Fiction that reaches back to Lucian and includes Percy B. Shelley and William Blake. To use the terminology and analysis mapped out in Pierre Bourdieu's "The Field of Cultural Production, or: The Economic World Reversed," both constructions of science fiction's identity attempt to capture and defend economic or cultural capital by staking out and laying claim to certain positions in the field of literary production. The difference between Gernsback's construction of a generic tradition and Suvin's has to do with their historically and culturally different positions and projects—most obviously, between Gernsback's attempt to establish conditions of profitability for his magazine venture by establishing a set of predictable and attractive expectations for the potential buyers of future issues, and Suvin's attempt to give the study of science fiction academic respectability by including canonical Romantic poets and excluding "sub-literary" texts like those by Wertenbaker, England, or Hall.

Any literary text can be read as a similar kind of project. Citation, imitation, allusion, and so on inevitably perform some kind of position taking (Bourdieu, "Field" 312), so that the pressures of the market, the dynamics of prestige, and the construction of genealogies are intrinsic features of the web of resemblances that constitutes a genre. Genres are best understood by way of the practices that produce these resemblances and the motives that drive those practices. Pigeon-holing texts as members or nonmembers of this or that genre is intellectually frivolous, whatever consequences it might have in terms of market value or prestige. This is doubly true because, first, genre itself is an intertextual phenomenon, always formed out of resemblances or oppositions among texts, and second, no individual text is generically pure. Every text produces within itself a set of generic values in tension with and interacting upon one another.

John Rieder, Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction

#currently reading

[fanemag]

FANE MASTER POST

[Status December 1st 2023. Issue 1 now available in digital and print-on-demand formats! www.FANEmag.com | Currently accepting submissions of all kinds for Issue 2.]

{Contributors/contributions per category for next issue: Art (0), Photography (0), Interviews (0), Music Reviews (0), Print (0), Articles (0), Random (0), Letters (0)}

FANE is a digital & print zine with the intent to lift up artists of all kinds and expose them to new audiences. In every issue I hope to feature Musicians, Photographers, Illustrators, Poets, Painters, etc., along with life testimonials from marginalized peoples (are you a gender non conforming POC in the Crust Punk scene? I wanna know what that’s like. Are you transitioning in a rural area and want to share your experience? I want to help you do that. Do you love transgressive writing and like picking it apart? I wanna read those book reviews.). I am actively seeking out creatives in the LGBTQIA+ community who make the kinds of works that don’t get the attention or respect of mainstream queer culture. That said, FANE is all encompassing and we welcome submissions from peoples of all different walks of life (from CisHet to TransQueer, and everything before, in between, and after).

FANE is 100% volunteer. Everyone involved is donating their time and content. The digital version of the zine is available completely free. The print version will full color A4 Print-on-Demand by Lulu.com Any kind of profits made or donations received will go towards building an online presence, securing future hosting/domain related fees, etc.

Examples of what we’re looking for:

Music Reviews, Live Show Reports, Photography, Painting, interviews (both interviewers and those willing to be interviewed), indie film makers, queer activists/artists, anything that defies convention, short stories, poetry, anyone willing to share honestly their struggles with mental health or other health issues, anyone into body modification, anyone with an unconventional body structure comfortable showing their body and discussing it, anyone willing to share terrifying personal experiences they’ve overcome, comedic works as prose or illustration, sex workers willing to share what their lives are like. Anything & anyone who deserves their “15 minutes” currently denied by surface culture. Contributions don’t have to be small, and you don’t have to do any page layout/framing (we can set up the pages from your content/files). ‪Aesthetic: glitchy, dark, dusty, ash, noise, industrial, goth, experimental electronics, metal, punk, esoterica…‬

Examples of what we’re NOT looking for:

Pornography, edgelord shit for the sake of edgelord shit, right wing/conservative bullshit, Racists, animal cruelty, white nationalist propaganda, Nazi sympathizers, homophobes, transphobes, sexists, and other generally shitty human garbage. This doesn’t mean journalistic articles about such things can’t find inclusion, just that I don’t want to print the actual things themselves. ‪For legal reasons, we’re also not accepting fandom art, fan fiction, etc. We respect those of you who create such things, it’s just they’re not a good fit for us.‬

All submissions to FANE must be your original work or works you have the legal right to use. When submitting, you give FANE the right to reproduce your material in perpetuity within the context of magazine print runs, website/blog postings, publishing collected editions of the zine, etc. (we’re not going to sell your works as prints or shirts or mugs or any kind of similar shenanigans). You are NOT giving us exclusive rights to anything, and your works will always be yours to do with as you wish outside of the zine.

No matter what you’re submitting, we ask everyone for a photo of themselves in the portrait orientation. If you are uncomfortable sharing a photo of yourself, we can go with an artistic interpretation or simply a “No Photo Available” generic pic. There’s also a short questionnaire. Any question you don’t want to answer, you can put “No Comment” or something sassy, etc. The Bio bit should only be about a paragraph (2-5 sentences).

Name:

Age:

Pronouns:

Gender:

Location:

Primary Medium:

Other Mediums:

Bio:

Links:

For each visual artist that has contributed so far, I’ve created a Bio page for the issue. I don’t know how that will translate to written works (would make sense for poetry submissions, or long journalistic works, but probably not for short reviews, know what I mean?), but better to have the info/pic and not need it than the other way around.

Please make sure to include a direct link, or links, to your work. You can also send files via email, but keep in mind we’re not touching anything that looks shady (Archives, Executables, etc). Also be sure to tell us what it is we should be looking at, and what your contribution idea is (Example: Photographer who provides links to their photos and states they want to share new works for the zine.)

Questions? Suggestions? Contributions? You can contact me here on tumblr or use FANEmag at gmail. I’m working on other communication methods as well, but I’m an Elder Millennial so please be patient with me :)

Feel free to reblog/spread far & wide.

Here are some visuals from Issue 1 to give you an idea of what the overall “vibe” of the zine is. The full issue can be downloaded for free from FANEmag.com

Asked & Answered:

* Hey! What does the name FANE mean/stand for?

It’s a noun. It means a church or temple. I’m not a religious person, but the most spiritual I feel is when I’m submersed in the arts, hence the name choice. Major world religions aren’t exactly friendly to the LGBTQIA+ community, so the zine, in my head at least, is an alternate experience where people can find community, inspiration, and acceptance.

I’m a self deprecating sarcastic asshat too, so the fact it rhymes with “feign” as in “to feign interest in this boring zine” is absolutely intentional. As is the fact that it’s a four letter “F” word :)

* Who are you?

Hi, my name’s Rob, and I’m an alcoholic (recovering). I’m a married cisgendered gay white male who uses he/him pronouns living on the East Coast USA. I’m medicated for anxiety and depression, and I believe I may have undiagnosed ADHD and/or ASD. I’m an amateur creative that’s been doing the best I can for the last 30 or so years with zero professional training. I’ve put out a good chunk of experimental music, some of which is still available online (“Vermilion Sky” is my best if you go looking). I’ve also collaborated with other musicians, labels, etc. I’m currently working on histological and minimal photography, as well as graphic design and illustration (digital).

#Open Call #Submissions Wanted #FANE #LGBTQIA+ #Transgender #Queer #Non-binary #Zine #Noise #Industrial #Experimental #Artists on Tumblr #Photographers on Tumblr #Writers on Tumblr #Musicians on Tumblr #POC #Mental Health #Reviews #Articles #Testimonials #Comic Strips #Gay #Illustators on Tumblr #Subculture #Outsider #Marginalized People #Youtube

[piduai]

Noda Satoru's interview with Asahi Shinbun

original here. as always, you can share anywhere but please credit me and stop posting screenshots of my translations on twitter without crediting. this fandom is pea-sized. and i do see when you do that, you know. it's very disrespectful and rude.

Q: Golden Kamuy has completed its serialization in the April 28th issue of the magazine, and the final 31st volume is scheduled for release on July 19th. With the total sales of previously released volumes exceeding 23 million copies, the series ended up being a huge hit.

Noda: It's embarrassing to hear it being referred to as a huge hit, but it is true that I was granted the Japan Cartoonists Association Award upon its finalization. Looking back, I have gotten a fair share of acknowledgement, including the Manga Taisho award, the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and being selected for the key visual for an exhibition at the British Museum. So I think it's appropriate to look at my own work with pride.

I am very grateful to my editor, Ookuma Hakkou, and the rest of the editorial team for allowing me to end this story when I wanted to end it. I was able to finish this story without thinking too much about other things - such as the TV anime or the live action movie - and without stretching it out unnecessarily. Ending long-term serializing projects is always extremely difficult, so when, after the last chapter was published, all previously released volumes went into reprint, and then shortly after went into reprint once more, I took it as a sign that a large amount of readers were pleased with this work.

I think that the strategy set by the editorial team of creating a buzz around it by releasing all of the chapters online to read for free and announcing the live action movie worked exceptionally well. It's a team victory, certainly not something one person could have accomplished alone. This work was created with the help of so, so many professionals.

On a personal note, having experienced the serialization of 31 volumes was huge for me. I now have a general idea of how much effort is needed for 20 or 10 volumes, and can use this knowledge in the future.

Q: Please tell us about your goals and thoughts behind the inclusion of Ainu people in your work, and what you were especially careful about and kept at the back of your mind in your depiction of them.

Noda: I decided to include the Ainu because their culture isn't talked about much. I'm sure that despite being casually aware of it, many people fail to realize how interesting and appealing it can be. If you tread around the subject always worrying about avoiding controversy, it feels insincere and your work won't be taken seriously, so naturally I sought out the advice of Ainu people and various experts. The first thing the Ainu Association told me was, 'There are so many novels and comics with miserable, pitiable Ainu, and we don't want to read about that anymore. Draw us some strong, bold Ainu'. That was very big for me.

After the last chapter was published, Fujiya Rumiko, a person with Ainu roots who has helped me out in my research before, has written me a letter for the first time in a few years. She told me, 'Thank you for showing Ainu culture in a good light. It's become easier for Ainu to admit that they're Ainu thanks to that'. The letter also stated, 'I have a friend, a grandma who is over 90 and has Ainu blood in her. Up until now she didn't speak of it to her grandchildren and has kept that part of her a secret, but thanks to Golden Kamuy she started teaching her grandchildren simple Ainu words. She was so happy when telling me this'.

This work is an adventure manga serialized in a mainstream youth entertainment magazine, so I never intended to touch upon subjects such as human rights and the governamental recognition of Ainu culture more than strictly necessary, but the story of that grandma reminded me strongly of those words, 'We don't want to read about miserable Ainu anymore'.

If I made a show out of the discrimination directed towards her people, I think that the grandma's words about Ainu being able to admit that they're Ainu would have come to naught. And I've been told things similar to her words by various other people with Ainu roots, so it's not that she's an isolated incident.

Still, I don't expect everyone with Ainu roots to be satisfied with this work. Ainu people, just like the Japanese, follow diverse ideologies and are not a monolith.

All I can say is that I know that many Ainu people want to have a fair relationship with Japanese people. I drew the last chapter in hopes that we can share our lives together.

There are many different approaches when it comes to fighting. If you want to take action, I think it's only fitting to start from scratch and convey what you consider is right using your own name.

Q: Please tell us about your goals and thoughts behind making Hokkaido, your birthplace, the main scene, and what you were careful about depicting specifically because it's your birthplace.

Noda: The history of Hokkaido is not widely covered, and late Meiji era Hokkaido in particular is an unexplored subject. I don't have a fixation on Hokkaido at all, but there's so much manga in the world I felt like my own would end up buried under the rest if I don't do something fresh.

If I had to give a specific example of an achieved goal, it would be the depiction of Blakiston's Line. Readers all across Japan seem to have received well the fact that there are animals that live only in Hokkaido. Especially the brown bears and the deer and their sheer size - if you compare them to the rest of their species in Japan, they would be like a large dog being compared to a medium-sized dog. I think that part was received especially well.

Q: There are many unique and fascinating characters in your work. It seems that the main character, Sugimoto Saichi, was named after your own great-grandfather. Was he modelled after a specific person, or were you using someone as your inspiration? How about the other characters, such as the 7th Division ones?

Noda: On a general basis I don't use a specific person as a model, but rather different elements from different sources combined together. In Sugimoto's case, there was a soldier named Funasaka Hiroshi, of whom there is an anecdote that no matter how mortally wounded he'd get, he was still running on the battlefield the next day. I used it for Sugimoto's immortality factor.

For First Lieutenant Tsurumi of the 7th Division, I have a feeling I was channeling Sherlock Holmes through him in the beginning. Holmes is a sharp-minded gentleman type of character, yet he did drugs and was good at boxing. That scene where Tsurumi goes on all fours and is sniffing the ground, and the slicked back hair - I think those were also borrowed from Holmes. I do love the original a lot, so I was inspired by the illustrated versions.

Q: As the catchphrase "Japanese-style, melting pot Western" suggests, one of the main attractions of your work is that it is packed with a variety of elements. However, did you have any rules you could or would not compromise on, or things that you were decidedly against portraying?

Noda: I wanted to make absolutely sure that Asirpa would not be seen in a sexual way, by either the readers or the other characters. There's a lot of perverts in the story, to be sure, but I didn't want her to sway in that direction. Her being a young girl is part of it, but I was always uncomfortable with women being shown explicitly sexualized to begin with.

There's also that trope of a female character being on the verge of getting attacked, and!… wait for the next week's issue! I am not a fan of such things, both as a reader and as a writer. So I figured that things that I personally find repulsive have no place in my manga.

On the other hand, when it's a bunch of naked muscular macho men on the verge of being attacked, throwing in a tease of "what will happen next week?", yeah, I'd do that. Though I think I've done it once or twice or more already.

Q: Tell us about your next project.

Noda: The work that preceded Golden Kamuy was an ice hockey manga set in Tomakomai, Hokkaido. But Supinamarada! was discontinued due to being unpopular. I'm personally very fond of it, so now that I've finished Golden Kamuy I'm preparing for re-releasing Supinamarada! in full, hoping that I can improve its quality somewhat. I'm very thankful to Young Jump for allowing me to work on it. I'd hate to leave my own work unfinished, so I want to focus on finishing it, and then I could concentrate on an entirely new project.

It's Golden Kamuy that has dedicated fans, not the author Noda Satoru. For this reason I'm not sure how my next project would be received. Therefore, in order to attract new fans to a new work, I will draw each of them like I'm a newcomer.

#golden kamuy #noda satoru #translation

[msclaritea]

Russell T Davies told Helena Bonham Carter to decline Doctor Who role | Radio Times

The pair co-hosted Jo Whiley's BBC Radio 2 show

Published: Monday, 18 December 2023 at 9:00 pm

Subscribe to Radio Times magazine and get 10 issues for £10

The beloved sci-fi series has featured the likes of Kylie Minogue, Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and more – but it seems as though Helena Bonham Carter was also set to appear in the show. That is, until Russell T Davies advised her against it.

The pair spoke about Carter's inclusion in the Whoniverse on tonight's Jo Whiley BBC Radio 2 show, which they co-hosted.

When asked by Whiley whether she had ever been in Doctor Who, Davies revealed: "She’s been offered and madam was too busy. 'Not this time' came back the answer." He also added: "There are better parts coming."

But Carter was previously asked to appear in an episode, Carter revealed, saying: "What was it? You said, you actually said, 'This isn’t quite good enough.'"

Reflecting on the role, Davies said: "I did, oh gosh. Actually it wasn’t... no, I mean it wasn’t big enough, it wasn’t good enough for you. It was a lovely part and they offered it, but I secretly sent you a note saying turn this down. We’ll get you something better."

Carter then added: "He did, he said, 'You know what, no pressure.'"

It was obviously something that was previously kept under wraps, with Davies admitting: "Oh god, I never told the team that. I am completely hung and drawn and quartered now. I said, 'Don’t do this!'"

So, could Carter be making an appearance in Doctor Who now that Davies is back at the helm of the show? Well, Davies continued: "I know what’s coming up in the future. I know there’s a better part coming."

And it seems as though Carter is all too keen, saying: "Of course I’d do anything."

The pair have obviously had a stellar working relationship, most recently teaming up on Davies's Nolly, which saw Carter take the lead as Crossroads star Noele Gordon."

..............................................................................................

Do you know what Benedict Cumberbatch and Helena Bonham Carter have or had in common?

The same p.r. rep in Britain, Karon Maskill, who although technically only worked for his Ex-partner, Sophie Hunter, took it upon herself to routinely join in with threatening him, her own client. It was to force him to appear in certain projects, like Brexit, The Book of Clarence and Eric on Netflix. She is known for it; one of the reasons she tries to keep who she manages under wraps.

Karon Maskill also reps Eddie Izzard, the face of the British Misogynistic Trans movement. After finally kicking Hunter to the curb, last Summer, Maskill STILL attempted to exert control over Cumberbatch, in the U.S. She was kicked out. So, I guess we'll never know if Russell T Davies asked Helena Bonhsm Carter, nicely to be in his projects, or if she was even asked nicely to be in The Crown. The public should realize by now, that the show was intentionally created to damage and eventually destroy the Royal Family. Now you get the anticlimatic final season.

"Why did Karon Maskill let it leak that she and Sir Cliff Richard were an item only to later retract that story? Because what I was told about her MO is true. Turns out Cliff wasn't just closeted but was also a known predator: "Cliff Richard abused children at the Elm Guest House and elsewhere, it has been reported. Sir Cliff once owned a company called Blacknight Limited, an unusual moniker with distinctly occult connotations. Blacknight was registered to an address in Tavistock Square. In another extraordinary coincidence, Cliff Richard's lawyer, Gideon Benaim, has his office in Tavistock Square. Benaim previously represented the notorious convicted paedophile, Roman Polanski." In other words? She had Cliff by the bollocks, so more than trying to beard for her client it was about profiting off of his situation herself. Now I wonder if her unethical behavior prompted Borkowski PR to let her go. The hush money that she shook out of Cliff and other clients allowed her to set up her own agency..." Leaf, on Tumblr

#Russell T Davies will do anything to try and save that dead ass show Doctor Who! #Even make Hekena Bonham Carter do an episode #Katon Maskill #Sir Clean ff Rochards #Eddie Izzard #Tavistock #Gender Ideology cult #The Crown #BBC

[999-roses]

@niteshade925 :

Because sinophobia is now fused with political scapegoating. A very dangerous combination. Now that we are seeing deliberate genocide in Palestine, I do wonder how long it will be before the camps start opening for business again #:)#i mean internment camps were a thing. there is a precedent for this kind of bs.#sorry to op for taking it there#but I do think some things need to be said. before it's too late.

in all seriousness, while I don't want to completely dismiss internment as a future possibility, however, imo there are marked differences between modern-day aapi/sino diaspora landscape and previous forms of yellow peril, which would make a revival of some kind of internment project unlikely, at least on a large and public scale. (of course there's no telling for secret disappearances and/or trussing up the ol' sinophobic trope of spy accusations - which have in recent times prompted some reversal of brain drain at the very least)

between now and then was McCarthyism and widespread systemic project of anticommunism... like literally, the PRC wasn't even established yet when the last japanese internment camps were closed.

The form of assimilation we see today is the project of "diversity & inclusion" - in the American project. In similar hypocrisy as idealizing "free speech" (in which only acceptable speech is tolerated in narrow parameters regardless of factuality), inclusion is predicated on alignment to US American interests. The diaspora (not just Chinese) who openly denounce and make a show of "I left my home country because it was communist which is bad" get platformed in mainstream media. I can't remember the last time I heard of anyone who says "I love my motherland [not the US]" spread in mainstream media (or films propped up and lauded in the west), it's completely unheard of. Films made in China that remotely have a message of national pride get smeared as "propaganda" (laughs in Top Gun & other DoD hollywood), and often do not receive screenings in the US. This is essentially a requirement now in order to assimilate into the predominant US culture. As an Asian diaspora you can opt out of "yellow peril" by denouncing it yourself, thereby aiding in legitimizing "yellow peril" as a real threat to "real Americans" or capitalism or whatever. (This isn't to say it won't bite people in the butt, but by and large, the victims of hate crimes are marginalized folk like elderly or [assumed] sex workers, and not the ones who make a show to be anti-China/pro-USA who are more likely to come from backgrounds of relative privilege.)

the american empire wouldn't need internment camps anymore, in fact it would be detrimental to their optics and mythos (from "land of opportunity" to "melting pot"). over 70 years of effort put into converting would-be sympathizers of communist kinsmen into staunch supporters of liberal democracy - a different type of cage if you ask me - wasted

borrowing from from "Can the Chinese Diaspora Speak?" (recommend checking out the whole article wrt overseas chinese history btw) ::

In an era of renewed Cold War aggression towards China, historicizing the workings of multicultural empire and the strategic inclusion of the Chinese diaspora therein reveals the justifying discourses of U.S. imperialism. ... By the mid–1950s, the State Department and CIA had both identified the overseas Chinese as a strategic target for psychological warfare and anticommunist propaganda. .... Identifying the “critical importance” of overseas Chinese to U.S. Cold War efforts, ethnic Chinese in the United States were mobilized to produce and disseminate testimonials of U.S. exceptionalism to encourage Chinese diasporic allegiance to their host countries and not “Red China.” For instance, the USIA launched a popular Chinese-language magazine called Free World Chinese, which featured success stories of Chinese and other Asians in the United States as evidence of free world liberal exceptionalism. ... In differentiating “friends and enemies,” Cold War Chinese American inclusion was premised on a binary between “model minority” anticommunist allies and “yellow peril” communist sympathizers. While Cold War racial liberalism afforded new opportunities for civil inclusion for Chinese Americans willing to embrace the legitimizing fictions of U.S. imperialism, it also created conditions for state-sanctioned anticommunist repression for those alleged to have the wrong international sympathies.

#i realized i should probably just make my own post about this instead of appending to op's thread (wrt 'cute'!=chinese etc) #sinophobia #chen yells at clouds. more at 10

[guayabapr]

Choose

I don't think creative platforms should be run by corporations driven solely by the profit motive. Case in Point: there's a "thing" going on spouting the "death" of Tumblr. Because it has not reached its advertising goals. Since humans developed the gift of written and visual communication, technologies have emerged to make communications bigger, better, and more just. But each time, the technology was corrupted by self-interest and profit-seeking (think of the monetization of books, morse code, newspapers, magazines, radio, music LP's, television, videos, tapes, CDs, internet, social media, etc.).

Now here we are, with a beautiful platform that is fun, inclusive, creative, and savagely wise/true, being stripped and flailed and diminished because it did not meet financial expectations.

NO!

This is my sacred space. The place I come to read, and see, and share the things I find most important, most resonant with my views of beauty and higher aspirations. In looking back through my many years of posting things on Tumblr, I have created something akin to my experience of a Collective Consciousness, including the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Yes, I might not have included everything that I know is hard to take, but that's because what I have included not only shows the best of me, but also the best that I think can or could exist, in a world that welcomes creativity.

Not the world that is collapsing around me. The economy is rigged to help other people, not me. We humans have killed off (or are in the process of killing off) a majority of Earth Systems which are unfolding as a slow-motion train wreck. Within the next 10 years we will see massive migration from the global South to the global North, while waters rise and catastrophic weather pounds the resiliency out of us.

Quite possibly we will run out of the precious metals needed to make smartphones and laptops work in the next decade. We should be using this time to hoard all the good experiences and knowledge we have, so that when we don't have massive communications platforms any more, we can localize everything and at least remember the experience of having had them, and why it is important to respect the past and work towards a better, more conscious, future. The Simplification is coming. Don't allow money to castigate a creative space for not making enough money. Think of ways we can all share our knowledge, and help each other out.

We need each other. Let Tumblr continue to be a safe space.

#Tumblr #safespace #future #inclusivity #creativity #beauty #love

[yurimother]

International Yuri Manga 'Sirius' Released in English Digitally

On Wednesday, July 20, Tokyopop released Ana C. Sánchez's oneshot Yuri manga Sirius: Twin Stars in English digitally under its LOVE x LOVE imprint. A paperback edition will be published in November.

The publisher describes the manga:

Dani's bright future as an elite tennis player comes to a sudden stop when, during a match, she has a heart attack. Her newly discovered condition affects not only her health, but also her relationship with her mother, as well as her career. Wanting to get away from everything, she leaves behind the big city ⁠— and all her problems ⁠—  and goes with her cousin to a little coastal village. There she meets Blanca, a girl full of life and in love with astronomy. Blanca reminds Dani that life can be beautiful, and that she can shine again like stars do.

Ana C. Sánchez is a Spanish artist creating international manga inspired by Japanese works such as Fruits Basket and Final Fantasy. Her newest work, Limbo, is currently serialized in the Spanish manga magazine Planeta Manga. Planeta Cómic publishes both Sirius and her previous Yuri work Alter Ego.

Tokyopop also publishes Sánchez Yuri drama manga Alter Ego. YuriMother awarded the manga a 6/10 score, saying that while it broke little new ground, it presented interesting relationships, flawed characters, and a compelling story.

Sirius is translated by Nanette Cooper-McGuinness, with editing by Lena Atanassova and quality control by Mercedes Guhl. It is published by LOVE x LOVE, Tokyo's inclusive romance imprint for Yuri, BL, and Josie titles.

Check out Sirius today digitally, and look forward to its paperback release this November: https://amzn.to/3ohzunn

Reading official releases helps support publishers and creators. YuriMother makes a small affiliate commission from sales to help fund future coverage.

#Yuri #manga #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+ #queer #gay #news #girls love #gl #lesbian #lesbians #wlw #romance #Yuri manga #GL Manga

[futurerise]

WHERE I’M AT

PRO:

Disability-activism-informed environmentalism

Inside growing

Collective action

Gardening for the rest of us

Farmer’s markets

Small-scale agriculture

future food

hope on purpose

land back + decolonization

physical media

right to repair

mycology

green death practices

right to privacy + digital privacy

abolition (both cops and prisons)

transformative justice

an ad-free future

local community

foraging

sci-fi aesthetics and movements that allow us to imagine a better future, including solarpunk and afro-futurism

a more equitable, inclusive future

better ways of giving money and running non-profits

hearing and thinking about voices from across futurist movements

understanding how the news media cycle and current news climate and culture impact our understanding of the world

Ursula K. Le Guin, adrienne maree brown, Octavia Butler, Rebecca Solnit, Robin Wall Kimmerer 

INTERESTED IN:

Space travel, both private and state-sponsored, with an optimistic but critical eye

all sorts of sci-fi and sci-fi aesthetics

the impact of nature on the human brain, and humans’ connection to nature

fixing effective alturism

nature and STEM education

alternative and hypothetical political models

expanding my understanding of environmentalism from a disability-justice-informed perspective

WARY OF:

greenwashing

perfectionism, “one size fits all”, and uncompassionate views on personal environmental responsibility

eco-facism

non-intersectional eco-activism

BOOKS AND RESOURCES:

News + Publications:

Future Crunch (bi-weekly optimistic newsletter)

YES! magazine (”solutions journalism”)

Science, Food, Nature, Foraging

Best American Science and Nature Writing from the past few years

Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake (mushrooms!)

How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis (among other things, covers how to balance environmental ideals with accessibility needs)

Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (explicitly covers environmental grief)

Peacebuilding + Transformational Justice + Surviving in this century

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Racism and Decolonization

Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor

White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roseanne Dunbar Ortiz

ON MY TO-READ LIST:

Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

more Butler and Le Guin

All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

#solarpunk #hopepunk #optimistic futurism #intro post #ecology #environmentalism

[inclusivefuture]

What would the world look like if queer people could be themselves from day one?

The other day, I came across a set of tweets by Australian writer and LGBT+ activist Alexander Leon which really struck a chord in me.

In the past few years, I've been doing a lot of figuring out what's really me and what parts of my identity are creations, parts of a persona I built - unknowingly - to protect myself. And like Alexander Leon, I've become grateful for this opportunity for self-discovery.

I started to wonder what a world would look like if queer kids didn't have to "sacrifice authenticity to minimise humiliation," if, in our adulthood, we weren't forced to parse out which parts of ourselves are constructed and which parts are authentic, if we didn't have to go through this process of "unlearning."

The tweets above were adapted from an essay that Leon wrote about this concept of having to unlearn your own identity. In it, he writes about how, from an early age, he felt that his whole life was a performance even before he knew why he was performing. And when he came out, he was unable to shake the persona he'd created in order to protect himself from the disapproval of teachers and ridicule of peers.

"In truth, I didn't know who my actual self was. And how could I? The barely out version of me was a collection of fragments, pieces of me which I'd left to atrophy rammed up against pieces I'd contorted into unsightly shapes to protect myself."

For me, it's not so much that I've been performing, pretending to be someone I'm not. Instead, I've been behaving in the only ways I thought I could. I didn't know there were other ways to be. Even after I realized I was queer, it took me years to realize that I didn't have to be attracted to men at all, and still more to realize I didn't have to be strictly one of two genders. I didn't know there were other options, other ways to be. Figuring out who I am has required unlearning of societal expectations and intense introspection.

"It's a task that involves enormous emotional and spiritual upheaval," Leon writes, "which many of us are forced to do alone, with scant resources, or little in the form of mentorship."

It makes me wonder: how would my life have been different if I had access to role models and mentors, if I knew from the beginning that it was possible to exist outside the gender binary? What would a world look like in which queer people weren't required to go through this "massive, existential and deeply difficult exercise" alone? Where would we be if we did have resources and mentors to guide us through this process? If we didn't have to go through this process of unlearning in the first place, if we could be our authentic selves from the beginning?

This world, a world in which queer folks can be themselves from day one, is what we want to imagine in Issue 1 of Inclusive Future Magazine: Visions from a Gender Inclusive Future. And, as Leon points out in the end of his essay, it's a world that we're in the process of building, "a reality we are all continuously creating" by being ourselves and deconstructing the gender binary.

[M]y struggle, as exhausting as it may be, is a gift through time to generations of queer people yet to come. My authenticity, our authenticity, allows us to create a reality in which young queer people will see an opportunity to thrive not as an actor forced to play a part, but simply as themselves, side-stepping the trauma of the closet and living their truth from day one.

It's for this reason that the other editors of Inclusive Future and I wanted to create this magazine. Envisioning a future that includes all of us, and considering what that would mean for all aspects of society, is an important step in creating the reality we wish to see.

Originally posted on our blog on April 9th, 2021. By Mantha Pratt (samwisegamgeeee).

If you want to be part of this project, we are currently accepting submissions from trans, nonbinary, agender, and genderqueer people! Submissions are open until October 6th. Visit our website for more info!

#inclusivefuture #magazine #nonbinary #nonbinary writer #trans #genderqueer #genderqueer writer #alexander leon #samwisegamgeeee