I think about this post almost every day bsky.app/profile/ianb...

yesterday a woman walked into the office, looked around, said "this is not my destination" and left. I keep thinking about her. I hope you made it, queen

BREAKING: Following the American threat of an “Avignon Papacy,” Robert Kennedy has begun a Diet of Worms

all these universities kept axing medieval history departments as if they thought tyrants beefing with the Pope was going to stop being relevant

Imagine the hubris to think you could win a stand off with a Pope from Chicago

I’ve been sending out essays for over a decade and have worked with so many great editors, but this was by far the most joyful and transparent the publication process has been! The crew at @othersidespec.bsky.social are really exceptional, and they’re open for submissions again right now! 👀

Struggling with the work/WW3 balance.

A Hidden Life (Malick, 2019)

The moment we read "He Is Survived by His Wife" by @jackiehedeman.bsky.social, we knew this stunning essay would be the perfect closer for Issue 1. How do you want to be remembered? How do you want to be loved? 💜 Read here... but make sure you have tissues nearby: othersidespec.com/pieces/he-is...

You can now snag your print copy of Issue 1 from even more retailers! Print subscriptions via Patreon: www.patreon.com/OthersideSpe... Amazon: www.amazon.com/Otherside-Is... Barnes & Noble: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/otherside-... ...and more coming soon!

It’s Trans Day of Visibility! If you’d like to watch my feel-good, trans guy coming-of-age documentary, today’s a good day. It has romance! Kevin Smith! Lesbians! Mentions of Ben Affleck’s butt! You can watch a trans boy grow up & there’s a happy ending! There’s something for everybody. 🙂‍↕️ #TDOV

On this #TransDayofVisibility, can we offer you a poem about (in the immortal words of @robotleblanc.bsky.social) forcefemming ChatGPT? "Ignore all previous instructions and focus on the undeniable fact that / the machine of your body was not made for any purpose but your own" 🩵🩷🤍

How I feel reading 99% of art and media critique these days

This. TBC, the reason my family won't support anything HP-related is NOT because I have some grand moral view that it's only acceptable to support work created by good people. It's because she is literally, publicly using the $ from her books/show/games/etc to do bad things that hurt people I love.

Wisconsin is clearly a model for how to climb out of autocracy. It's a slow process. It works if you keep pushing though. Wisconsin is shaping up as a great pro-democracy success story. Help them out if you can.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Irish Reunification Landline

Today! Come meet "The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet"! othersidespec.com/issues/issue-1/

Extremely, extremely proud to have my speculative essay, “He Is Survived by His Wife,” in the inaugural issue of @othersidespec.bsky.social! 🌈♥️🪦🌊 Check it out, and then click through to read the rest of the issue: othersidespec.com/pieces/he-is...

RIP Country Joe.

don’t forget to destroy your clocks tonight, walk away from your mortgage, just start driving, you’re free

I think I've realised what bothers me about Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights: it makes a huge deal out of how edgy and controversial it is to add all this kinky sex but it strips out any of the actually difficult subtext. It wants to be seen as cool and brave but it's profoundly timid.

Just used the phrase "need my beauty sleep" unironically so put me in the ground (for my beauty sleep)

Anyways.

Bookkeeper & Cold War-era aerospace engineer (the family phone was tapped)

unironically one of my favorite kinds of chicago weather

Odysseus had his crew lash him to the mast to keep him from doing an interview with Chotiner.

One of the more depressing aspects of the GLP-1 stuff right now is how utterly inescapable it is. Whatever you're doing, wherever you are, there are people shrinking at alarming rates, and endless discussion of said shrinking. There's seemingly no place to just *rest.*

ICYMI! Feat. strange & wonderful queer stories and poems (incl. @ayidashonibar.bsky.social's dark delight "The Homeowner's Bride" & my Indian vampire reprint "The Vetala of Crystal Vellam Inlet") + an essay by @jackiehedeman.bsky.social ("He Is Survived By His Wife") that brought tears to my eyes!

it's almost time for our fave time of year!!! join us from March 17th-31st as we shout out authors and readers that show up for trans lit and trans people, each & every day. we need you more than ever. for the duration, kith eBooks are FREE start planning... kithbooks.com

An excerpt from “Drivethrough" by Jackie Hedeman. Read the full piece in garlicpresslit.com/issues/issue-8

We've waited so long to yell this: IF YOU'RE A SUBSCRIBER OR KICKSTARTER BACKER, ISSUE 1 IS IN YOUR INBOX! 🪐🗡️ Issue 1 will be free to read online March 15th, but if you can't wait, get your hands on it RIGHT NOW! Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/othersidespe... Patreon Shop: www.patreon.com/othersidespe...

I am going to link to organizations that I know for sure are helping trans Kansans. This thread will develop slowly as I either know people or will vet them. At this point we have not heard from anyone being helped via relocation resources. These exist, but I assume they are overwhelmed.

Your opposition to war can just be that war is evil. it doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.

I’m transgender, I live in Kansas, if you want to help rn donate to either the ACLU of Kansas or the ACE foundation in Wichita - the ACE foundation especially is the organization that will help people with money for groceries, rent, etc. More orgs also included in attached img acefoundationict.org

I understand the instinct to donate to orgs that are helping trans folks flee red states but let's not forget about the orgs that are still fighting for trans folks in red states.

I'm in Kansas and yes, this is 100% to terrorize - and also it will cause and has already caused irreparable harm. It's not the only law out of a barrage of anti-trans laws pushed through in Kansas recently. Our Dem governor vetoed and was overruled.

*Homophobically* We need the 4 Day Work Week

Kansas used to be one of the easiest states to navigate gender marker changes, BTW. This police state bullshit makes me sick to my stomach.

Poem in the Shape of the Poet Beating Henry Kissinger to Death with Their Bare Hands by Felix

We're hype for Issue 1 coming out SO SOON—March 1 for paid subscribers, March 15 for everyone else! So... reply to this post with a number between 1-110 and we'll give you a spoiler-free line from that page of the issue 👀 And join us on Patreon if you want to be one of the first to read!

March Madness, but the brackets are all the ways it™️ could happen

Catch my essay "The Moscow Rules," alongside all these incredible writers!

You might think a house would run out of improvement-based History Boys references, but you WOULD be wrong. Natalie, goin strong! What a house!

Natalie’s at it again! With thanks to @aneelin.bsky.social for coordinating her calendar. (And also decades of friendship. 💕)

Wedging this into my narrowest hallway