I Had A Vision

I had a vision

Of course I am. Also autist, this seems to be tumblr thing. And I hate hate hate (pun intended) when people use absolute language to mean "most people do it". I am not a person in your world? Your world is fake. If you say "good writing wins your heart over hate", you don't speak of me? Then, ffs, say "for most of us" or "often" or something like that. But if you use absolute language, of course I take it as you also talk about me. And I am not like that.

what they don't tell you is that a well-written fic can get you to ship anything, and i mean ANYTHING. notp? not anymore. you will stay up late thinking about and crying over them for the rest of your life. characters you don't even know from a piece of media you've never engaged with? fuck it, they belong to you now. problematic ship that you loved to hate and now just love to love, that you must never tell your friends about? don't worry, ao3 knows how to keep a secret. like. a well-written fic will have you acting UP and that's a fact baby !!

Everyone, please meet Sheila. Sheila is the cleanest, nicest, vault toilet I’ve ever encountered and she is conveniently located at a trailhead that’s a quarter mile from our camp site. Thanks to Sheila, I have not had to poop in the woods this week. All hail Sheila.

this is the cutest quiz I have ever taken.

Your Result:

Blue

You are all that is vast and unknowable. You are rain and butterflies. You are the sky and the sea beneath it. You are sharks and pretty little fish. You are the coolness of night and the raging storm. You are bigger then you can ever imagine. You are blue, you are perfect. please visit me̵ a̷g̸a̵i̷n̷. Don't fear the number of questions you see. This quiz is worth taking!

Normal Quizzes for Normal People

I got g̷̪̻̦͑̒r̵̡̳̊̈́͆͂̈̇ͅȩ̶̲̞̫̼̼̤̪̈́͐̃̓͛͋ȩ̴̛̳̜͕̯̟̗͋͌͊̅̅̊͝͝ͅņ̷͇̮̮͔͕̊̒̆̆̚͝

Just reread "Like Real People Do" by EL Massey and then gobbled up its sequel (also for a second time) while sitting beneath the trees at a campsite on Lake Tahoe.

One campsite over was my son and his (trans) husband and their queer friends, a woman and her non-binary partner. On the other side of us was a friend I met several years ago while we were both deconstructing from a brand of religion that was not "open and affirming". She's still hanging on to faith but is now an LGBTQIA ally, while I've left the faith entirely (and hopefully am the same!).

@xiaq is such a vivid and wonderful writer of queer stories, it gives me hope and fills me with joy every time I read her work.

Thinking that less than 10 years ago my reaction would have been cognitive dissonance brought about by the way my theology was in conflict with my heart just makes the experience that much sweeter.

Knowing that a character who was overtly homophobic in book one has his own journey, and where he ends up in and by book four?!? Priceless.

I want to encourage all my LGBTQIA followers (especially young people) that change is possible. Even for old people. Perhaps even for your homophobic or ambivalent parent or relative. I may no longer consider myself religious, but I still believe in redemption or at least in change.

I'm not encouraging you to stay in unsafe spaces or put up with intolerable conduct. I'm just offering a nugget of hope that change happens.

And also offering the recommendation to read @xiaq 's (EL Massey's) books, even if you aren't currently a fan of hockey!

I have not seen this hate, but I totally agree.

I feel like the recent rise in hating on "gifted kids" on tumblr is just the creation of a strawman, which fails to address the legitimate underlying issues. at least from my perspective, it's solely punching down and unconstructive infighting.

it is a very real issue that many "(ex-)gifted kids" hold and weaponize a lot of internalized ableism (subconsciously or otherwise), not to mention how prevalent racism tends to be among white "(ex-)gifted kids". and, at the same time, attacking those people without giving any sort of constructive criticism/feedback is only going to drive them away from those they could learn from. this isn't me saying You Specifically have to play teacher for strangers, or answer endless questions from people who could just as easily engage in already-existing resources, or that you should tolerate abuse, but that outright hostility is only going to cause harm.

it feels like a lot of people hating on "gifted kids" are playing oppression olympics, to put it bluntly. we can have sane, in-depth, constructive discussions about the trauma of going through the education system while intellectually disabled without dismissing the trauma of going through the education system while labeled as "gifted".

it feels like we're doing the system's work for it. the very concept of "giftedness" pits people labeled as "gifted" against those who aren't, and vice versa, and actively encourages ableism towards other disabled people. so, the recent rise in people labeling "(ex-)gifted kids" as inherently annoying, whiny, as not having "real" problems, just feels like more of the same.

and we face the same issue, too - it's assigning moral value to what schools (and (western) culture at large) decide "intelligence" is, in addition to the inherently deeply flawed and racist concept of "iq".