Tentacular Investigations

Ephraim Moses (Moshe) Lilien, 1874-1925

even as a lifelong fan of “golden age” illustration and art nouveau, it took way too long for me to come across the work of E. M. Lilien! we’ve reblogged two pieces here before (one is our mobile blog header!), but there’s a lot to appreciate.

above is some of his more folkloric/magical/mythical Jewish art, including the gorgeous “Shabbat Queen” (the Shechinah?), two versions of the Leviathan, the priestly blessing, a dybbuk, and a (probably metaphorical) demon! 

also, for bonus points, his work is apparently popular with queer men.

@writer-at-the-table

This 1902 piece, “Devil sucks the blood from a sweatshop tailor,” was used to illustrate the German version of Morris Rosenfield’s poem “An der Nähmaſchine,” (“At the Sewing Machine”) found in his Lieder des Ghetto (1902) See: Internet archive, page 31-32. Rosenfield’s poetry was originally in Yiddish.

An der Nähmaſchine. Seht euch den blaſſen Geſellen an, (Look at the pale journeyman there,) Verbraucht iſt ſeine Kraft. (His strength is exhausted) Doch Stund’ um Stund’ und Tag um Tag (Yet hour by hour, day by day) Er ſitzt und näht und ſchafft. (He sits and sews and toils) Viel Monde kommen und ziehen dahin, (Many moons come and pass away) Und Jahr um Jahr vergeht, — (and year after year slips by) Mit krummem Nückgrat, der blaſſe Geſell, (With crooked spine, the pale journeyman) Er ſitzt und näht und näht. (Sits and sews and sews) Es perlt der Schweiß von der heißen Stirn, (Sweat beads on his burning brow) Die Wangen ſind bleich wie der Tod, (His cheeks are as pallid as Death) Ich fühl’s, hier ſchafft nicht Körperkraft, (I feel it, no physical strength works here) Hier lebt und treibt nur die Not. (He is only animated by Need) Manch heißen Tropfen ſaugt gierig die Naht, — (Many a hot drop is ravenously drunk by the seem he stitches) Sein Aug’ wird nicht tränenleer — (His eyes are not yet dry of tears) Und die er näht, von früh bis ſpät, (And the garments he sews, from dusk ‘til dawn) Die Kleider find tränenſchwer… (Are heavy with tears…) Wer kündet grauſe Zukunft mir? (Who will reveal the dread future to me?) Wie lange der bleiche Mann (How much longer shall the pale man) Noch jagen mag das furchtbare Rad? (Drive that terrible wheel?) Wer weiß das Ende, ſagt an? (Who can see the end, who knows?) Ich weiß es nicht. (I do not know) Doch weiß ich wohl: (Yet this I know well:) Wenn den — ob früh, ob ſpät — (When —whether sooner or later—) Die Arbeit erſchlägt, (Work smites him) — ſitzt ein andrer da (Another shall sit there) Und näht und näht und näht . (And sew and sew and sew.)

Plenty of transphobic cis folks are green. Virtually every trans-positivity account is red except for the ones who are unapologetically transphobic to at least part of the community. Countless trans women who vocally uses the term transandrophobia are marked red. Several trans women who dont even use the term but have at least on one occasion defended or sympathized with trans men are red. Several trans women who are bigender/NB/Etc with inclusion of any "male" or masc terms are red regardless of whether they seem to have anything to say about trans men.

It is BLEAK. I've been trying to remove reds and greens as I assess, but it is really really gross that it was a pretty well-known soft rule a decade plus ago that you didn't mark trans people red at all even if they were shitheads, unless they were actual proud terfs, because the flagging was guaranteed to isolate them from community.

Inability to assess risk and a total aversion to narratives that contradict what you assume to be the case for others is getting people into a lot of trouble.

So is there a more reliable flagging system? No, but that just means double-checking the perspective as much as possible.

There are more nuanced deep-dives into TERFism, radfeminism, and "general" transphobia respectively but some things to look out for for all

Use of slurs or disparaging language directed at a specific group of people in a derogatory sense. Do they use slurs not to reclaim (not assessing whether they are "allowed" to reclaim) but to be mean? There's that famous comic strip about how even mundane words like "pepperoni" being said in a way to express disdain hits in a way that reclamation doesn't. ie "I'm queer" "the queer community" "I love you queers" vs "ugh the queers are ruining everything." A lot of these groups will insist their use of slurs and derogatory language is "punching up" or "getting back at" groups who have wronged them, but every actual slur carries the weight of marginalization, and two oppressed groups weaponizing slurs at one another isn't "punching up."

Insistence on separatism. Separatist movements are ones in which a group who has experienced wrongs either systemically or inter-personally (or both) finds their solution for protection is isolation from groups that are not identical to them. It makes logical sense to think that people who are not like you might be unsafe and untrustworthy, but this is incorrect. The idea that there are innate differences between groups that cannot ever be overcome is the basis for everything from incel groups to terfs to neo-radfems. The problem is that at the extreme end, the separatism stems from a belief of superiority, and at the "milder" end, it causes people to heavily police who is and isn't enough to belong, inevitably isolating people who even by their own metric "should" belong.

Essentialism. This is the belief that there are inherent traits, behaviors, experiences that cannot be shared among various groups of people, and that our identities are set in stone by either birth or identity. TERFs believe that being assigned male at birth is a situation that can never be undone. That the parts you were born with determines who you are, and no amount of hormones or surgery or experiences changes that, and that the set in stone identity is "predator." They think, either literally or for the sake of propaganda, that men and anyone "born male" is destined to be a predator, violent, and essentially a threat. Radfems believe that maleness as a construct is violence, creates predator behavior, etc and so your proximity to such a concept determines your evil. Misogynists believe that being assigned female or being female makes you weak, inferior, untrustworthy, etc. Two camps of racist thought say that either being born not-white makes you inferior (either weak or a predator, situation dependent) while others believe that you can achieve proximity to whiteness by how much you can distance yourself from your race and/or contribute to the subjugation of other "inferior" types of people. White supremacist orgs love having men of color in their secondary leadership, not because they have overcome their racism, but because it creates a relationship where the POC fight harder for approval among their nazi peers than other white men do, and they are much more easily disposable if it comes to it--while in the meantime being held up as "proof" that the org cannot be racist.

A deep interest in restricting self-determination. Transphobes love having endless debates about "what is a woman," not for any philosophical sense, but because they think that "woman" is an innate category one can neither escape from nor move to. "Womanhood" is simultaneously something so retched it's the only reason trans men transition--to escape it--but is also something so sacred and coveted that trans women are trying to steal it. Allowing people to define womanhood on their own terms is not allowed. Allowing people to call themselves what fits them best is not allowed. Allowing people to alter their bodies and appearance and how people refer to them is not allowed. It is essentialism again, but it is also the paradoxical beliefs that things are inherent but that you must also work hard to conform. A "woman" is xyz, but if you do not look or act like that, you are forced to change to fit this vision. Women who don't wear makeup are punished for it. Makeup is not an "inherent" trait--no one is born with winged liner--but if a desire to wear makeup is not part of who you are, you must "fix it." Every time we attempt to create hard borders between what is and what isn't an identity, we leave people out. If a woman is girly and loves pink, then every woman (cis, trans, or other) who isn't very feminine or doesn't like pink "ceases to be" a woman until she "corrects" it. If being a trans woman is about your ability to pass as cis, everyone who doesn't pass enough isn't a woman--or isn't a trans woman, depending on which separatist group is watching. Turning definitions into static identities we must adhere to rather than describing a pattern of similar traits will always create gaps where even people we never intend to exclude are left out. This isn't just cis vs trans, either. Cis men who fail to perform masculinity efficiently enough are "like a girl," women of color have to overperform femininity to not be seen as "masculine" or "male"--look at Serena Williams or Michelle Obama: two very feminine women who are never afforded the belief that their Black femininity is feminine. Trans folks are guilty of it too. There is the expectation that trans men must try harder to prove their maleness, but then are punished more severely for toxic masculinity than their cis peers. Sometimes trans women, like their cis peers, brutally punish gender-nonconformity in other trans women, holding up stereotypical cis femininity as not only the epitome, but the only way to be.

the electric mayhem (minus animal bcs hes their kid) arent a polycule, theyre monogamous. but specifically they break up and date each other one at a time. they have a chart.

animal is genderfluid. this is mentioned exactly once bcs kermit calls her he and she starts yelling "SHE/HER!" kermit corrects himself and the show goes on

rizzo made out with gonzo once but he still considers himself straight bcs gonzo is not a guy, he's a whatever. gonzo agrees with this

uncle deadly dated tim curry. it did not end well.

actual emotional scene of gonzo talking about how he feels abt gender. no jokes.

kermit: no matter what, gonzo is still gonzo, and we're always going to support gonzo no matter what gonzo decides- gonzo: kermit. i still use he/him

statler and waldorf wedding episode. theyre divorced by the next

beaker trying to ask bunsen out on a date. in the end it turns out bunsen thought they'd been dating for years.

miss piggy hanging out with drag queens

related, miss piggy starting to present butch and kermit being Really Into It. hes embarassed abt it

pepe begins a story with "when i was a little girl...."

janice decides to start using just she bcs "like, i could never be her"

rowlf mentions having a husband. even kermit is like "??? since when??!"

Snake: “He was at church when a bomb went off, got pierced by a crucifix, survived by drinking his family’s blood.”

Raiden: “So that’s why he’s called Vamp?”

“You feel the bulge in his pants” - implies that you are feeling some guy’s penis, may be sexy depending on context

the hall leads directly outside. which would involve adding a FIFTH entrance to the house!! (this is not including the cellar entrance because fuck me)

There is still only two chimneys.

found a program that will let me build my floor plan, which means I can translate from paper to digital! I'm psyched, honestly.

here we have the ground floor, which was the absolute worst part. shuffling all the rooms around in a way that made SENSE was just hellish.

(I know the quality isn't the greatest, but if anyone wants closer pictures or has any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer!) the second floor! honestly I struggled to think of what all to put up here aside from the bedroom and the bathroom. I ended up deciding on a small spare bedroom and a little library/reading nook.

Finally, the attic. Getting everything lined up with the museum was the tricky part, but I got it sorted out! you can see how it connects to the second floor here.

This fucking monster of a house is, ironically enough, 3,666 square feet. Lol. Lmao even. Surely that's not a bad omen.

Stanford, baby, why in the FUCK did you commission such a massive house? Did the grant committee actually look at the invoices you sent to them? Did you hire a housekeeper to upkeep the house? Was the maze really necessary?

there's a chimney running up through the attic. right by DIpper's bed. The attic bedroom is directly above the museum section of the house.