cmov

we got 150 in last night, so thank you so much for that help!! our biggest priority atm is 350 for the house bill so we don’t lose our housing (due in a few days) and the water. so 350 is immediate goal, 650 is ultimate goal. which means we just need a couple hundred to make the bottom line.

please keep signal boosting, donating (here), whatever, if you can. i will do exchange, work, whatever for money to if anyone out there needs help with something, wants a tarot reading, etc.

MY APOLOGIES I JUST REALIZED THAT THERE IS A STRONG POSSIBILITY THAT MY BELOVED STAR TREK NERDS HERE DON’T KNOW ABOUT THIS OLDIE BUT GOODIE OF THE MID 2000S HOMESTAR RUNNER INTERNET ERA??? 

cmov has this theory about how human faces have no “static” expression and that’s why they’re hard to form?? or something?? but I don’t think ds9 writers were rly thinking about that

gonna use they/them for odo, because it’s important to me as i read odo as trans, specifically amab trans - even though there is some slippage in my reading that i feel some discomfort with and kinda just like *oop* look the other way. um, also kinda spoilers for those who haven’t watched the show most of the way through

so, i don’t recall there being specific mention of odo consciously modeling a bajoran face, though it is heavily implied. but there was specific mention that odo did model their hair after dr. mora, the bajoran scientist/liberal oppressor who effectively set odo on the path which odo struggles with throughout the series - the path to self-reflection under the pressures of coercive modeling systems. (this is one reason i read trans markers in odo’s identity so much, but more on that later.) and i think there are similar struggles for a number of the characters on ds9, but odo’s struggle has unique physical ramifications that reflect the barriers to odo achieving understanding. 

my thought is that odo’s face is a composite response - to me, it is equal parts: a marker of trauma and self-doubt; a hesitant tribute to those odo admires/seeks to understand/hopes to be accepted by; and a statement of hope that self-reflection is possible as an ongoing process of learning and actualization. like i know odo says they aren’t good at faces, but i always have the feeling that isn’t really true - or at least not true in any kind of fundamental sense. there’s no indication that it is a biological limitation, as other changelings are able to resemble human faces with extreme accuracy and odo themself goes through a learning process to further refine their metamorphic skills. its also well established that odo is taught to repress feelings and thoughts not determined by odo’s oppressors. (like dr. mora imposing a structure on odo so that communication could happen on his own terms, not on odo’s, and the cardassians treating odo like a token of amorality/moral malleability to suit their needs.) finally, odo is an astute observer of humanoid expressions - but it’s in the context of intrigue and always having to sift out what is “true” and what is “a lie”. so i think that odo a) has been taught to doubt their abilities b) has been denied access to self-determination/self-reflection and c) has a mistrust of what humanoid expressions mean all while trying to find self-understanding in that language. so odo just struggles with coercive translation issues again and again, and everyone’s like “odo is just like ____” and odo goes through painful episode after episode where the language isn’t there for them until they start doing some (maybe) cyborg amalgams/hacking of identity. (there’s also stuff i wanna say about odo and kira’s lesbian love, but i don’t think i can put it all together right now.) 

as o (queenofswordsinverted) mentioned before, i’ve thought that it was a matter of human faces being “not static” (twitches, small gestures, even pores and shit changing moment by moment) and that is the barrier odo faced (lol) but i’m thinking now it makes way more sense within odo’s narrative to look at the barriers imposed on them by the humanoids who are constantly “discovering” odo. (and like, coming from my own perspective, looking at it this way makes more sense within a trans reading of odo.)

cmov has this theory about how human faces have no “static” expression and that’s why they’re hard to form?? or something?? but I don’t think ds9 writers were rly thinking about that

gonna use they/them for odo, because it’s important to me as i read odo as trans, specifically amab trans - even though there is some slippage in my reading that i feel some discomfort with and kinda just like *oop* look the other way. um, also kinda spoilers for those who haven’t watched the show most of the way through

so, i don’t recall there being specific mention of odo consciously modeling a bajoran face, though it is heavily implied. but there was specific mention that odo did model their hair after dr. mora, the bajoran scientist/liberal oppressor who effectively set odo on the path which odo struggles with throughout the series - the path to self-reflection under the pressures of coercive modeling systems. (this is one reason i read trans markers in odo’s identity so much, but more on that later.) and i think there are similar struggles for a number of the characters on ds9, but odo’s struggle has unique physical ramifications that reflect the barriers to odo achieving understanding. 

my thought is that odo’s face is a composite response - to me, it is equal parts: a marker of trauma and self-doubt; a hesitant tribute to those odo admires/seeks to understand/hopes to be accepted by; and a statement of hope that self-reflection is possible as an ongoing process of learning and actualization. like i know odo says they aren’t good at faces, but i always have the feeling that isn’t really true - or at least not true in any kind of fundamental sense. there’s no indication that it is a biological limitation, as other changelings are able to resemble human faces with extreme accuracy and odo themself goes through a learning process to further refine their metamorphic skills. its also well established that odo is taught to repress feelings and thoughts not determined by odo’s oppressors. (like dr. mora imposing a structure on odo so that communication could happen on his own terms, not on odo’s, and the cardassians treating odo like a token of amorality/moral malleability to suit their needs.) finally, odo is an astute observer of humanoid expressions - but it’s in the context of intrigue and always having to sift out what is “true” and what is “a lie”. so i think that odo a) has been taught to doubt their abilities b) has been denied access to self-determination/self-reflection and c) has a mistrust of what humanoid expressions mean all while trying to find self-understanding in that language. so odo just struggles with coercive translation issues again and again, and everyone’s like “odo is just like ____” and odo goes through painful episode after episode where the language isn’t there for them until they start doing some (maybe) cyborg amalgams/hacking of identity. (there’s also stuff i wanna say about odo and kira’s lesbian love, but i don’t think i can put it all together right now.) 

as o (queenofswordsinverted) mentioned before, i’ve thought that it was a matter of human faces being “not static” (twitches, small gestures, even pores and shit changing moment by moment) and that is the barrier odo faced (lol) but i’m thinking now it makes way more sense within odo’s narrative to look at the barriers imposed on them by the humanoids who are constantly “discovering” odo. (and like, coming from my own perspective, looking at it this way makes more sense within a trans reading of odo.)

cmov has this theory about how human faces have no “static” expression and that’s why they’re hard to form?? or something?? but I don’t think ds9 writers were rly thinking about that

spread the luv / spend some $capital$ somewhere besides these formal/professional/legit spaces that alienate the people they’re supposedly out here for.. 

METROPOLARITY MAIL MAGAZINE VOL01 OUT

Did you know? We started a mail magazine. Very chill.

This mail magazine is in the spirit of old school sci-fi fanzines, compiled by lovers and dreamers into rolling editions of fiction, discussion, and naughty fanart. We invite your feedback and participation!

CONTENTS

#0 GREETINGS #1 EVENTS & HAPPENINGS #2 REVIEWS #3 80s ANiMATED SF FILMS U CAN WATCH RIGHT NOW #4 FANDOM CORNER #5 PREDICTABLY DISAPPOINTING WHITE HOLLYWOOD SCI-FI FILM SPOILER THREAD #6 QUESTIONS/ADVICE # CURRENT RELEASES

__You can view our second volume in full here https://tinyletter.com/metropolarity/letters/speculative-mail-magazine-second-transmission