3 kate stewarts in a trenchcoat

Happy (early) Nov 15th! Remember that Stone Butch Blues is free now and always to read here

Leslie was a communist, a butch lesbian, a nonbinary and transgender activist, and the person who made me who I am today. Consider checking out Stone Butch Blues if you haven’t already 😘 Do it for Leslie, and for hir surviving partner, Minnie Bruce Pratt 💕

Hey do you think Clara’s body being canonically frozen between one heartbeat and her last is an annoyance to her anatomically? Do you think her hands and feet are always painfully cold? Because she knew she was going to die and she faced the thing that was going to kill her as it approached. The moment between those two heartbeats her body would have been absolutely flooded with adrenaline- she would have been having the most intense fight or flight response in the world and she was frozen there. Do you think people comment that she unusually pale? Or do you think very bright light is painful for her because her pupils are permanently dilated?

The natural follow on to this is how do you think she copes with this? Cause like gloves wouldn’t work if she’s just not producing heat so do you think she’s a bit like a lizard and it’s not uncommon to find her warming her hands on the nearest hot object? Do you think she wears loads of bronzer to look more normal or just toughs it out? And the most important thing of all her solution to the eyes thing would 100% be sonic sunglasses bby

she's singing in another room and my dog is asleep at my feet. my grandma asked me why i haven't found a man yet and i laughed. oh, you know. i like my house clean.

my girlfriend is also my man is also "my partner" if i'm in a professional setting. yesterday we went to a ren faire and a man mimed at me - you're together? and at my delighted nod, his baffled, you're gay? made me laugh. a woman with rainbow hair said i love the two of you together. you're both so beautiful it's absurd.

my dad introduced my partner as my "..... friend. or whatever" the other day. he knows we're dating. in the same way, i was never able to get my sister's husband to stop saying that's gay like it's 2008. he still uses the word fa***t, and my sister's defense of him has always been well, he's just kidding.

my lover and i dance to old music in a tiny kitchen. we judge new music together and take food critique very seriously. we watch love is blind before we fall asleep and agree that if they had a queer season, it would be bloody but also make for excellent tv. of fucking course queer people would know someone for only 2 weeks and agree to get married. what are you saying.

at a bar with friends, a man puts his hand on my wrist. got a boyfriend? and yes, i do have a boyfriend, she's amazing. i am texting her while i wander around a gas station named after geese. i am visiting a swing state for a wedding. in the candy aisle i overhear: she's actually like a lesbian it's disgusting. two teenage girls with packaged sandwiches in their hands, giggling. no literally, like. i'm not, like. okay with her being there while we're all, like, naked and changing.

my girlfriend and i tailgate, drink gin and cider out of cups. from the frat group beside us, a man corrects himself with one of his friends: bro, i mean, nonbinary entity, and it makes everyone around him laugh, myself included. he razzes his friend the same way i would have killed for at 19 years old - like nothing happened, he continues: you apply sunscreen like an alien. he does a little sassy (and fairly accurate) dance interpretation of the motion. his friend is laughing so hard they're crying.

i am lucky, i live in a safe neighborhood in a safe state. my masc passenger princess comes up from DC. i drive her for an hour to where all the leaves are a violent arrangement of color. we walk along the trails, letting autumn into our blood. in this part of the state, there's a lot of pickup trucks and trump signs. when we chastely kiss before getting into the car, i accidentally make eye contact with a woman holding her child's wrist. she looks disgusted. she looks fucking pissed.

two hours later my girl and i are eating dinner on a patio, soaking in the last warmth of new england sun before the chill of winter sets in. we are giggling and trying to talk through plastic vampire teeth. at another table, i see a young woman sit up straighter. i watch her watch us. she blushes and takes her partner's hand from across the table. shy, like the taste of evening has just become something deeper.

it's worth it for this moment, i think. my lover is still humming the same song she's been singing for four days straight and i don't want to kill her for it. her guitar is beside my bed. her toothbrush is in my bathroom. in a few moments i will make us lunch. we are lucky enough to have found each other. it is lucky enough to be in love.

it is so strange to go to the grocery store and realize that 65 percent of the people there just hate me and will always hate me. i mean it’s not like i didn’t know before. but i don’t think people in blue states will ever understand that level of sheer hopelessness and total demoralization and i wouldn’t wish it on them. if you love or even just know a southerner please realize that we can hear what you’re saying about us and it’s not just one wall of bigots here. people are already talking about refusing aid to states like texas and florida in the case of another natural disaster and i am begging you to realize that we fucking live here too.

You’re probably gonna feel a lot of feelings tonight and in the next couple of days. Don’t make any massive life decisions until the initial feeling of dread has passed you. I’m making this post for myself as well as others. If possible wait until your head has cleared before you operate heavy machinery

I know I was going on about fleeing the country earlier but to be clear I’m waiting a couple weeks until that impulse has faded before I make a decision on that or take any concrete steps. I suggest you do the same with anything your big feelings might be pushing you towards.

We are a very very dumb, stupid people

Everyone deserves a little outlet today, grab a yummy snack, skirt a responsibility, play a cozy game - but no one is allowed to punish themselves on behalf of other’s ignorance. No one is allowed to keel over. Be a thorn in their side every day, and most importantly, be your own advocator. We live in spite of these people.

protocol #1 is to Live

Reblog to hug prev poster (they need a hug)

Check your ballots and tell your people to check theirs. There is a process to fix errors (usually signatures not matching; common with younger voters who tend to sign their ballots nicer than their driver’s license or whatever form they signed to register)

How does one check one's ballot?

find your state here: https://www.vote.org/ballot-tracker-tools/

I hope none of you disappear in the coming days. Seriously don't do anything that can't be undone.

I know i'm just a random person you follow online but I mean it. People (all kinds of marginalised people too!) Have survived all types of horrible times and managed to find happiness eventually. If for no one else, survive for them. And also, try to survive because the people making you despair don't want you to live. Don't give this to them. Don't give your life. The best thing you can do is cling to it with everything you've got. Lay in bed for a day if you have to. but please promise you won't hurt yourself.

Take screen breaks, (now more than ever!!) Meet up, Call your friends, call your family if you're on good terms. Spend time with pets. Text your favourite mutual you never speak to if you've got no one irl. Hell, log on a minecraft server if nothing else. Or rewatch your favourite show.

Make sure you eat enough and sleep enough, and take the meds and vitamins that you need. Don't believe anything you think if you're hungry and tired and have been scrolling too long.

Get a therapy appointment if you think you need it.

You can absolutely not take any shortcuts when it comes to your wellbeing right now.

My DMs are open.

*gritting my teeth* the only way out is through and by god im taking all of you with me

Reblog to hug prev poster (they need a hug)

reblog to diminish the horrors from the person you reblogged from

The problem is that America has beaten down its people for decades and gotten them weak and desperate and now promises a way out, a way to transcend and rise above, through selling out their fellow man. They encourage contempt and hatred as one way ticket to not being included with the masses being death marched to poverty or imprisonment or whatever other bitter end surely awaits the people they’re told are beneath them. An embarrassingly large chunk of white men are just straight up nazis these days as a way to dissociate from the rest of the carnage around them, even if they’re broke and uneducated and from an impoverished background themselves. They’ll vote for and align themselves with anything for a taste of power and control that makes them feel a little less helpless. The same goes for minorities. They’ll punch down if they think it’ll get them somewhere, even if in reality they’re punching sideways. I don’t know what else to say, really. Everybody is so incredibly hateful. We are a loveless, disrespectful nation. We are so spread thin by our government that we would sell each other out in a heartbeat for an ounce of relief. This is what we’ve come to.

It’s not even about Trump at this point. He’s gonna get in office and do whatever he does and it’s gonna be a mess but whatever. This is indicative of deeper problem. This is just the ugly consequence of the already present reality in this country that we all just despise each other. There is no solidarity and there is no love. Trump being in office or not doesn’t change the fact that America is a breeding ground for violent hatred. Trump has given people a shining example of how to give in to the worst parts of your human nature and make it the problem of everyone around them. I don’t even know what we’re supposed to do about that. I don’t know if that’s something we can come back from. And if anything COULD be done about it, Trump certainly wouldn’t do it. Honestly, Kamala probably wouldn’t have either. We are so deeply fucked.

However, I must say, if you voted for Trump, I hope that peace never finds you. Instead, I hope clarity strikes you someday like a clap of lightning and you have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge and guilt of what you’ve done and who you are as a person.

Love yall. Shit is so bleak but the world keeps spinning until it doesn’t, I guess. We can’t count on the government for literally even a shred of progress or hope so just keep up the good fight in your own personal lives. That’s literally the only thing to be done at this point. Stay safe out there. Maybe buy a gun.

Information on DIY HRT, in case anyone needs it.