there is a judge in Seattle who does the weekly name change hearings, and who says it's her favorite part of the week. she says she doesn't read out previous names, or ask about the reasons why people want to change them. she says it's a beautiful moment, and a celebration; a claiming of a new identity, or a reclamation of an old identity. she encourages the room to clap for folks. then she welcomes everyone up, one by one, by last name and with warmth; she shows them the court order where nobody else can see, asks them to double check the spelling, and then they're done! do they want a picture? do they want their friends and loved ones who came with them to be in it too? do they want the court order in the photo? she helps everyone pose, shakes hands and stands with them for as long as they need to take it, recruits the clerk for help taking photos of the folks who came alone. then she tells them where to go next, congratulates them, and claps along with the rest of the room.
probably three quarters of the people there were trans, and she centered their experience quietly, with love and joy.
I think I'll be thinking about her a lot this January, and for a long time after. it's good to know she's there.
Portal 2's Turret Opera still hits soooo hard as a closing point for Chell and GLaDOS' story dude. Right after a monologue about how after everything they've been through she realizes she's incapable of killing Chell, GLaDOS has actually.. set up a perfect, inescapable death trap. She could've easily had the turrets shoot through the glass, sent the elevator all the way back down to Old Aperture or simply gassed her without letting the elevator even leave her central chamber. She basically had her. She could've obliterated her while she was still out cold from fighting Wheatley, but she doesn't. Instead, she has them perform an opera about walking as far away from science as possible. An opera that's implied to have been rehearsed even before Chell broke out with Wheatley - was she considering doing this long before Chell went out to try and kill her again?? This is very blatantly me steering into headcanon territory, but I like to think this whole room was the "REAL surprise with tragic consequences" GLaDOS spoke of. I imagine this is exactly what she originally planned to do - give her false hope by having her ride an escape elevator only for it to stop right in the middle of a massive turret ambush. She would literally treat Chell like a fish in a barrel. Quick, easy and delightfully painful. Each instance where she escaped was either due to oversight or third party intervention - so she created a situation where none of that is possible. All that would arrive to the surface and see the sun is a bullet-riddled corpse. But that's not what the elevator brings to that dingy faux shed in the end. I wonder what she's done with this room after the elevator made its ascent. Do the turrets still stand there, waiting on the off-chance the elevator goes back down with a familiar face within? Do they still sing the same song, over and over, hoping she'll hear it up there? Do they think of her, does she think of them, does she think of her? If Chell were to step back in, would GLaDOS even have the heart to let that elevator go back down? Either way, they'd still be down there, gathered for someone that may never ever come back. They'll all be faithfully standing at their usual spots in the chambers, ready to lovingly shoot her again should she be back to test forever.
I love that so much, it is what I'm trying to do! And no, love is not a popular movement. People are very suspiscious of love as a movement. There are some good reasons for that, but not enough to not try anymore. So, let's all try to be a bit kinder, a bit more compassionate. Not only for others, but for ourselves as well, because it feels nicer inside.
Meeting The Man: James Baldwin in Paris
(via Mubi)
i think the thing that makes me the most emotional in life is the realization that everything i have and everything i see has been touched by other people. someone designed the logo of my favorite tea bags and someone decided which paintings should go in the calendar hanging on my wall. someone built the roof above my head and someone paved the street outside my house. someone made this pair of glasses specific for me, someone picked the pear i ate with my lunch and someone designed my favorite sweater. every book i read, every song i listen to, every film i watch, tens, if not hundreds of people had to be there to make it happen. even if i am alone, i am always surrounded by other human beings - a fact that makes my heart squeeze in on itself everytime i remember it.
Jeanette is my favorite
“I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do.
To make others less happy is a crime.
To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts.
We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances.
We must try.”
— Roger Ebert, “Go gentle into that good night.”
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This book is a cozy cuddle to your soul. I love fantasy since I'm a child but sometimes I don't need all the violence, the fighting and the high stakes. Cozy fantasy as a genre has been a revelation! You can have all the fantasy stuff but it is about a former orc mercenary who wants to open a sweet coffee shop where people can relax and be happy and it turns to also be a lesbian romance. Fuck yes.
legends and lattes ☕
My first real post on Tumblr! Here’s some art I’ve recently finished, inspired by the game Gris. I’m still experimental with my art style so it was a lot of fun to use the aesthetics of the game in my own art!
Sea animals, hopepunk, fantasy, queerness, and a bit of philosophy
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