Here is a thing I posted on Tumblr about celebrating Pride (which is why I am non-specific about what city I'm in, etc):
The summer I first came out, my girlfriend was travelling, and I was in a new city for grad school where I didn’t really have any close friends. I celebrated Pride by painting my toenails rainbow striped, and renting half a dozen LGBTQ movies from the local video store. Over the next few years, we did go to Pride, but that mostly involved standing and watching the Pride parade, and feeling an odd mix of included, and lost in the crowd. I wasn’t involved in any local queer communities--most of the other LGBTQ people I knew were through online fanfic communities. (Edited just for LJ/DW to add: But not all. We often did the parade watching in the rain, specifically, with [Unknown LJ tag])
When we moved to a smaller city, there wasn’t a parade, but there was a BBQ in the park. We never went. We didn’t know anyone, and even though it was open to everybody, it still felt to me like it would be crashing a family party.
Now, I’m on the organizing committee for Pride in my midsized Canadian prairie city. In the recent past, most of the activities have all been aimed at young, able-bodied, presumably white gay guys. That’s been changing dramatically over the last few years. We’ve got some pretty typical big stuff--a flag raising, an awards gala, a parade and fair in the park, and a dance. But the current approach is, if you have a queer event open to the public in June, we will put it in the calendar and event guide.
This year, that included things that happen year-round like local LGBTQ support group meetings and community QSA meetings and performances in a local queer theatre space, explicitly queer-themed versions of other year-round events (LGBTQ movies at the library, non-gendered swing dancing, Pride editions of board gaming and artist meet-ups to take a stance on creating LGBTQ-inclusive spaces). It included events set up by other partner groups, like the screening of a documentary criticizing the commercialization of Pride events, and a curated exhibit opening at the local art gallery, or run by board members like a LGBTQ history walking tour, a panel discussion on the intersectionality of indigenous and queer identity, and a drag queen clothing swap.
There were more than fifty events on the calendar. Some of them worked. Some of them didn’t. Some of them were the starting point for something bigger next year. Some of them were controversial (police involvement, anyone?) and I know there’s more work we need to do. But one of the amazing things was how many different groups of people showed up, and watching the ebb and flow of both familiar and new faces at the different events.
A gay organization from a bigger city thought they’d offer us some advice. The kindly told us that we were running too many events, and we should just focus on the important ones. The parade, the dance, the flag raising. Yeahhhh. When a fellow board member told me that, I had the same reaction he did. We both laughed. Important to who, is the question.
I’m not sharing all this just to brag that we’re awesome. (Even though I’m feeling pretty damn proud of our efforts right now, no pun intended.) None of this happened overnight, and none of it happened in isolation. We’ve had pushback from within our own community, that we’re too radical, and that we’re not radical enough. We’ve had acts of vandalism and passive-aggressiveness from the general public, and conversely, an amazing show of love and support. But none of it happens if people don’t show up, speak up, and if you have been the one speaking, shut up and listen.
Pride in your city may or may not be receptive to changing. But nothing will happen if it’s always the same people organizing, the same voices, and the same echo chamber. If you want to see change, let them know. If you can, put additional time and effort behind your voice and volunteer. If they won’t shift, do your own thing.
You don’t need to be part of an official Pride celebration for your LGBTQ+ student organization to have a movie night and invite the public, to do a queer gaming event with a local comic shop, or to organize a Pride yarn bombing. These are just my ideas--you know your own interests, abilities, and connections.
I am not advocating for anyone to do anything that will put their own safety or health at risk, but Pride doesn’t have to just be the big party, and it doesn’t have to just happen in big cities. If you think your town needs Pride events but are afraid it’s too small, I can hook you up with the organizers in a nearby agricultural, very religious town of less than 10,000 who had a BBQ and two flag raisings this year, the second time after the first flag was stolen.
Community is important. Connection is important. Activism is made up of many small steps as well as the big gestures.
Happy Pride, everyone.
This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/222914.hYep. I am still doing this thing.
Library Services at Elsewhere University: A Guide and Compendium; Part Two: Staff Handbook - Circulation Services
"As everyone in the department will tell you, Circ is the life-blood of the library, and keeps material flowing through its vast and beating heart. The Library would grind to a stagnant and useless standstill without the Circulation Department." This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/222590.h
Library Services at Elsewhere University: A Guide and Compendium; Part Two: Staff Handbook - Circulation Services
"As everyone in the department will tell you, Circ is the life-blood of the library, and keeps material flowing through its vast and beating heart. The Library would grind to a stagnant and useless standstill without the Circulation Department." This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/222590.h
I seem to be on a finishing-things spree. Lest anyone get the wrong idea about my incredibly idiosyncratic fanfic productivity, most of this one was written three or four months ago, and just finished up today with the last couple paragraphs.
Considering that before this, I hadn't posted anything since 2006, I've been crazy-prolific (for me) with the odds and ends I've dug out, polished off, and thrown up on AO3 lately. There was the obscure anime secondary character femmeslash (in what is arguably already one of the gayest nineties anime out there), the classic eighties anime secondary character slash that had been out there but I just flat out forgot to post to AO3 with everything else (and boldly resister the urge to rewrite and edit because it was written fifteen-plus years ago), and the Hard Core Logo fic that was languishing on a back-up drive. I thiiiink that's all, other than the other continuing library au thing I've got on the go. (Although I do have a half-done Wilby Wonderful fic somewhere along the same how-can-I-queer-up-the-secondary-charact
But! I just do not understand how no-one has written a library AU of Parks and Rec. Seriously, fandom... seriously. So I finally did something about that.
Parks and Recreation AU: Pawnee Public Library Leslie Knope loves libraries (and hates the Parks Department, bunch of punk-ass dirt jockeys). This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/222229.h
Considering that before this, I hadn't posted anything since 2006, I've been crazy-prolific (for me) with the odds and ends I've dug out, polished off, and thrown up on AO3 lately. There was the obscure anime secondary character femmeslash (in what is arguably already one of the gayest nineties anime out there), the classic eighties anime secondary character slash that had been out there but I just flat out forgot to post to AO3 with everything else (and boldly resister the urge to rewrite and edit because it was written fifteen-plus years ago), and the Hard Core Logo fic that was languishing on a back-up drive. I thiiiink that's all, other than the other continuing library au thing I've got on the go. (Although I do have a half-done Wilby Wonderful fic somewhere along the same how-can-I-queer-up-the-secondary-charact
But! I just do not understand how no-one has written a library AU of Parks and Rec. Seriously, fandom... seriously. So I finally did something about that.
Parks and Recreation AU: Pawnee Public Library Leslie Knope loves libraries (and hates the Parks Department, bunch of punk-ass dirt jockeys). This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/222229.h
Tra-la-la, I continue to write headcanon pseudo-documentation style fanfic as a guidebook to a fictional university library. I may have also gone back and added linked annotations to chapters 1-2. Just sayin'.
Library Services at Elsewhere University: A Guide and Compendium
Part One: A Student's Guide to Library Services The library at Elsewhere University may be prone to unpredictable time patterns, nameless librarians, and L-space irregularities, but cataloguing, interlibrary loan charges, temperamental elevators, and waiving overdue fines are universal.
Appendix A: About The Librarians If the Library needs you, it will take you. If you are lucky, it will be on your terms, at a time of your choosing. In most cases, a masters' degree in library and information sciences from a nationally-certified graduate program is required, though in some rare cases, an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
NEW! Part Two: Staff Handbook - General Introduction There are numerous challenges to working in a university library. Shrinking budgets, rising costs, proprietary and predatory database licenses for peer-reviewed content, entitled faculty, clueless undergraduates, and inappropriate behaviour in the stacks. Predatory shadow creatures, migrating stacks leading to misplaced range markers on the shelves in the Deep Library, time management issues, and the inevitable workplace frustrations of whose turn it is to clean out the staff room fridge, and how come the same three people are the only ones to sign up for the weekly search party rota out into the Deep Library stacks? This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/221984.h
Library Services at Elsewhere University: A Guide and Compendium
Part One: A Student's Guide to Library Services The library at Elsewhere University may be prone to unpredictable time patterns, nameless librarians, and L-space irregularities, but cataloguing, interlibrary loan charges, temperamental elevators, and waiving overdue fines are universal.
Appendix A: About The Librarians If the Library needs you, it will take you. If you are lucky, it will be on your terms, at a time of your choosing. In most cases, a masters' degree in library and information sciences from a nationally-certified graduate program is required, though in some rare cases, an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
NEW! Part Two: Staff Handbook - General Introduction There are numerous challenges to working in a university library. Shrinking budgets, rising costs, proprietary and predatory database licenses for peer-reviewed content, entitled faculty, clueless undergraduates, and inappropriate behaviour in the stacks. Predatory shadow creatures, migrating stacks leading to misplaced range markers on the shelves in the Deep Library, time management issues, and the inevitable workplace frustrations of whose turn it is to clean out the staff room fridge, and how come the same three people are the only ones to sign up for the weekly search party rota out into the Deep Library stacks? This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/221984.h
About non-existent magic university libraries. Because I can.
Appendix A: About The Librarians "If the Library needs you, it will take you. If you are lucky, it will be on your terms, at a time of your choosing. In most cases, a masters' degree in library and information sciences from a nationally-certified graduate program is required, though in some rare cases, an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered." This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/221483.h
Appendix A: About The Librarians "If the Library needs you, it will take you. If you are lucky, it will be on your terms, at a time of your choosing. In most cases, a masters' degree in library and information sciences from a nationally-certified graduate program is required, though in some rare cases, an equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered." This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/221483.h
I continue to have Opinions on the internet.
I have seen one too many pieces of fic on AO3, or fanart on Tumblr, (or vice versa) with tags or author's notes bemoaning how much it sucks. (And here I will say here on LJ, it makes me feel old and want to pat people on the head and give them cookies and a fuzzy blanket.) So here is what I told the internet, whether or not they're listening.
*
Dear creators,
Artists and authors and creative people of all types, please do something. For me, and for the rest of your audience, and most of all, for yourself.
I have seen one too many pieces of fic on AO3, or fanart on Tumblr, (or vice versa) with tags or author's notes bemoaning how much it sucks. (And here I will say here on LJ, it makes me feel old and want to pat people on the head and give them cookies and a fuzzy blanket.) So here is what I told the internet, whether or not they're listening.
*
Dear creators,
Artists and authors and creative people of all types, please do something. For me, and for the rest of your audience, and most of all, for yourself.
Please stop apologizing. Don’t put down your work.
I know it’s hard. I know sometimes all you can see are the flaws and mistakes, and all the million ways it doesn’t match what’s in your head.
It’s okay.
I know it’s frustrating, and it’s so hard not to compare it to your own vision, and to what other people can do. It’s okay to still be learning. (It’s better to never stop learning.) It’s okay to not be perfect. (Spoiler alert: it will never be perfect.)
Be proud and own it. Put it out there trusting that it will bring someone joy.
Take the compliment. Don’t put your own work down when someone tells you they love it. Just say thanks. It’s okay to own the bits that didn’t turn out, but don’t forget to claim the parts that went right too, and the work that went into it.
I used to teach storytelling, and borrowed the words of the person who came before me. Storytellers are magic. Don’t worry when you make a mistake. Never stop and apologize. Just keep going, because you’re the only one who knows the way you meant the story to go. Your audience doesn’t care, because storytellers are magic.
Here’s a secret. Making something from nothing is magic. You are all magic, and you don’t need to apologize. It’s okay to be proud of your work.
So stop saying sorry. Just say thanks. You’re magic, and we love you.
Thanks.
This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/221290.h Watching Moana, me: Is it just me, or is “Shiny” a drag queen anthem in the making?
This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220934.h
Barb: Yeah, sounds about right.
IMDB: “Lin-Manuel Miranda has stated the character of Tamatoa the Giant Crab was a tribute to musician David Bowie.“
Aha….
This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220934.h
So I stumbled across a short one-shot web comic on Tumblr. Coexisting With The Fair Folk Who Have Taken Up Residence In/Around/Beneath Your University: A How-To Guide.
And it turns out in the past month and a bit, it's spawned a whole fandom, and I've been skimming through all the accumulating bits and pieces of newly-minted fanon.
And I have Opinions about depictions of libraries and librarians in pop culture. So I wrote a thing. This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220752.h
And it turns out in the past month and a bit, it's spawned a whole fandom, and I've been skimming through all the accumulating bits and pieces of newly-minted fanon.
And I have Opinions about depictions of libraries and librarians in pop culture. So I wrote a thing. This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220752.h
Um, yeah. I'm kind of a multifandom reader?
No Less Unthinkable
“In which Katsuki Yuuri fights a losing battle with chronic anxiety, the quadruple Salchow, and his own judgment four drinks in — but wins the war.” RAGEPRUFROCK WROTE YURI ON ICE FIC. This fills me with an immense amount of joy and the same sort of flail-at-the-screen glee that accompanied watching YOI to start with.
I Love You, I Want You, I Need You
We mainlined the first half of the new season of Call The Midwife over the weekend, and I went looking for Delia/Patsy fic. What I found... Delia and Patsy (and pretty much everyone else) compete on The Gigantic British Baking Fete. Oh fanfic, I love you. Picture Sister Monica Joan as Mary Berry, and start there… Sweet and hilarious.
Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property
"Surely it is a mistake to allow a single youthful indiscretion to cloud an already promising career." I was on a Harry Potter kick. Draco/Neville. Angst, domesticity, and baking.
Before and After (In a Long, Long Life) (series)
"Or: The one where they make a Howling Commandos TV show, and Steve gets called in to consult." I did not know that I needed an Avengers/Tanya Huff's Blood & Smoke vampire books crossover until I saw it. This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220404.h
No Less Unthinkable
“In which Katsuki Yuuri fights a losing battle with chronic anxiety, the quadruple Salchow, and his own judgment four drinks in — but wins the war.” RAGEPRUFROCK WROTE YURI ON ICE FIC. This fills me with an immense amount of joy and the same sort of flail-at-the-screen glee that accompanied watching YOI to start with.
I Love You, I Want You, I Need You
We mainlined the first half of the new season of Call The Midwife over the weekend, and I went looking for Delia/Patsy fic. What I found... Delia and Patsy (and pretty much everyone else) compete on The Gigantic British Baking Fete. Oh fanfic, I love you. Picture Sister Monica Joan as Mary Berry, and start there… Sweet and hilarious.
Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property
"Surely it is a mistake to allow a single youthful indiscretion to cloud an already promising career." I was on a Harry Potter kick. Draco/Neville. Angst, domesticity, and baking.
Before and After (In a Long, Long Life) (series)
"Or: The one where they make a Howling Commandos TV show, and Steve gets called in to consult." I did not know that I needed an Avengers/Tanya Huff's Blood & Smoke vampire books crossover until I saw it. This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220404.h
Operation: use all the leftovers/clean out the freezer continues.
This entry was originally posted at http://daemonluna.dreamwidth.org/220129.h
Supper last night: leftover pot roast with roasted root veg (potato, carrot, turnip, parsnip, and onion), and Hungarian cabbage with cranberries. (A modified version of the red cabbage with cherries recipe from Julie Van Rosendaal's Out of the Orchard cookbook.)
Tonight: leftover cabbage with gnocchi and sausage, and maybe a soft-poached egg on top.
Tomorrow: leftover pot roast and root veg with beets and sauerkraut added to leftover gravy and chicken stock for a beef stew/borscht hybrid.
Not totally sure about Tuesday, but it probably needs to involve broccoli and half a block of soft tofu.
The frozen rum balls are all gone, incidentally. But there is shredded zucchini, frozen in one cup portions just to make chocolate zucchini muffins.... hmm...
The frozen rum balls are all gone, incidentally. But there is shredded zucchini, frozen in one cup portions just to make chocolate zucchini muffins.... hmm...
Profile
daemonluna- Ophelia Coelridge
- Ophelia's Notebook
Syndicate
