French Tugboat

Choke. Just think about it, seriously. Think about what choking is and imagine speaking while it’s happening. That would fuckin’ hurt, man.

Hiss. Look, it’s just not possible, okay? No matter how “evil” you want your character to seem.

Snarl. Animals snarls. The Beast from Beauty and the Beast snarls. The Hulk snarls. You know who doesn’t snarl? PEOPLE WHEN THEY’RE SPEAKING.

Shriek. Come on, 99% of the time, “shriek” is not the word you want.Let’s face it: if you put an exclamation point at the end of the sentence, your reader gets the picture. Don’t bring to mind banshees and screaming toddlers.

Hiss is a low, threatening whisper. Raw, guttural, vicious. It is NOT a literal hiss like an animal, it is a tone of voice that serves the same function. Someone will hiss that they’re going to cut your throat- a message from one person to the other.

Snarl is the same kind of thing. Not literal, it’s a tone of voice that serves the same function. It’s raw and gutteral like a hiss, but more savage than vicious. It’s loud, it’s showy, it’s intimidating. It’s very alpha male, big man, look at how fucking dangerous I am. I’ll take ALL of you on. Even if they’re snarling at one person in particular, nobody better back them up or they’re gonna get fucked up too.

Shriek. Come on, seriously? We’ve all heard people shriek either in fear or outrage. High pitched, loud, out of control, feminine. Men can shriek, but it’s funny and emasculating. Think angry italian women throwing pots and pans or ladies on tables who just saw a mouse.

Demi Lovato / Symere "Lil Uzi Vert" Woods / Stephanie "Jimquisition" Sterling

Demi Lovato identifies as nonbinary and pansexual and uses they/she pronouns; they are a singer, songwriter, and actress. Lil Uzi Vert identifies as gender non-conforming and uses they/them pronouns; they are a rapper, singer, and songwriter. Stephanie Sterling identifies as transfem, pansexual, and non-monogamous and uses she/them pronouns; she is a Youtuber and game journalist.

Christopher "Bob the Drag Queen" Caldwell / Jack Haven / Samira Ramírez

Bob the Drag Queen identifies as nonbinary, pansexual, and polyamorous and uses he/him and she/her pronouns; he is a drag queen, comedian, and activist. Jack Haven identifies as nonbinary and queer and uses they/them pronouns; they are an actor. Samira Ramirez identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns; they are an actor.

Jane Schoenburn / Alex Newell / Alok Vaid-Menon

Jane Schoenburn identifies as transfeminine and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns; they are a director. Alex Newell identifies as gender non-conforming and gay and uses all pronouns; they are an actor. Alok Vaid-Menon identifies as nonbinary and transfeminine and uses they/them pronouns; they are a writer and performance artist.

Leo Baker / AJ Hikes / Suzy Eddie Izzard

Leo Baker identifies as transgender and nonbinary and uses he/him and they/them pronouns; he is a professional skateboarder. AJ Hikes identifies as queer and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns; they are a social justice advocate and is the Deputy Executive Director of Strategy and Culture at the ACLU. Suzy Eddie Izzard identifies as genderfluid and prefers she/her pronouns; she is a comedian, actor, and activist.

Chella Man / Jiavani Linayao / F1NN5TER

Chella Man identifies as nonbinary, genderqueer, and pansexual and uses they/them pronouns; they are an actor, model, and artist. Jiavani Linayao identifies as queer and uses she/him pronouns; he is an improviser, drag king, rapper, and actor. F1NN5TER identifies as genderfluid and bisexual and uses he/she pronouns with a preference for he/him; he is a Twitch streamer, Youtuber, and OnlyFans model.

Vico "Vico Suave" Ortiz - they/them, elle/le/e (spanish)

They are a nonbinary actor and drag king.

Jonathan Van Ness - they/he/she (stated preference for he, pronouns listed in this order on IG)

He is a nonbinary hairstylist, comedian, & podcast/tv host.

Sam Smith - they/them

They are a gay and nonbinary singer/songwriter.

Rebecca Sugar - she/they

🚨Safety Alert Australia

If you rely on a hidden phone for your safety, be aware that Australia’s new emergency warning system, AusAlert, can send alerts that override silent and “Do Not Disturb” settings.

If safe to do so, turn off any hidden device before the scheduled test and only switch it back on after the test period has ended.

I always love the og zoot suits made by black americans in Harlem, I really like looking at the changes from these clothes from the 30s to some of the more exaggerated renditions from the 40s. It's also so interesting to look at how fast the subculture spread, and especially in the american west integrated with mexican diaspora and pachuco culture to the point that that's what a lot of usamericans associate them with.

⬆️ long wallet chains and pork pie hats were classic accessories for mexican diaspora zoot suiters. Zoot suits/their components were also really popular with women and were a way to symbolize independence and a choice to move away from strict gender roles on top of the existing countercultural message ⬇️

Anyways it's kind of impossible to talk about zoot suits without mentioning the racism and violence that followed them. On top of a zoot suit making someone a target for individual racial violence, the national reaction of white america to zoot suit culture was part of the beginning of clothing and presentation being read explicitly as signals by police and justice systems, and the broad association of youth of color with gang violence through this specific excuse. Gang culture and how it's percieved in the western US and especially California is very influenced by this era. The most famous events from the zoot suit era are the collective zoot suit riots and the media characterization of all mexican american, filipino american, and black american youth as violent anti-american baby gangsters. Which, even if that was broadly true I mean. I'll take the opportunity to be flippant hell yeah??

As a side note, while making more new zoot suits during war rationing was pretty sick, most people weren't buying from the black market tailor shops and just wore what they already owned because the style had been popular for years already. People bought clothes less often to begin with back then. I think that misconception comes from the reasoning white americans gave to go beat up people of color with baseball bats in the street; i.e. it was racial and xenophobic violence to begin with and the nature of the suits themselves has been mushed around a lot to serve different narratives.

More zoot suits! ⬇️

however it is a bit loud. that's where my second choice comes in, which is actually this generic metal 12mm button that costs about £2 on aliexpress. these have a really nice tactile snap, although they don't need as much force to actuate as the Jiaben and they also have a little less travel distance, which makes them a bit less satisfying to me. that's the tradeoff for them being almost silent. a good walking-around fidget! I'm working on making one of these into a keychain.

the next tier would be things that aren't all that much fun as a single button because their actuation force is too light and/or they're too small, but they're satisfying in a long-term functional role. good mechanical keyboard switches and Omron mouse buttons fall in this category. my favourites are Gateron low-profile bananas. I love typing on these things so much that sometimes I just sit at my desk and type nonsense for the stims.

then you have your "upper end of mediocre" buttons. I have one of these 19mm "mushroom" style ones I quite like. the big size and lack of an outer housing make it a fun "OH SHIT" button. you could use it as an emergency stop for a dangerous workshop tool, or maybe a crisis mode button where you push it when you're having an anxiety attack and it texts your friend "please send cat pics"

the lower end of mediocre is mostly taken up by plastic buttons. they usually suck. sometimes the rocker-style ones you find mostly in cars and boats can be surprisingly good, but most of them are unbranded so it's hard to predict whether you'll get a good one or not.

at the very bottom of the list is this motherfucker: the Yumo Electric ABS-series ball head button, and its many clones. they lull you in with a shiny metal casing and you think, that'll be nice and clicky, right? but it isn't. this is the mushiest goddamn thing ever constructed. if you made the Pope push one of these he would publicly declare that God is dead.