professional grumpypants

not to be a pedant but this sort of post annoys me so bad bc ☝️☝️ in fact it’s the reverse: fantasy series often reflect societal biases. there is nothing evolutionarily “menacing” about wasps in comparison to bees. bees have better PR because we like to eat the stuff they make. that’s literally it. “agur only destruction” as if wasps don’t fill many of the SAME ecological roles as bees. they’re pollinators! they CREATE!!

Every now and then a difficult period like this comes along: so it's time to request some assistance.

I've kind of been neglecting my vision for the past year or so, aware that I needed new glasses (and to go have a consult for possible eye-related surgery), but putting it off... and now the situation has, as it were, come home to roost.

The other day, when I was typing something and then (to check it before posting) had to pick up the Mac and hold it up to my nose to see what I'd typed... I realized that if this went on much longer, even with dictation (because after you dictate, you still have to edit...), I wouldn't be able to write.

That would be bad.

I need to go see my Eye Lady, get examined, and get both sets of glasses re-fitted with new prescriptions. This—as usual, each time it needs to be done every year and a half or two years, due to Weird Eyes—is going to run into a low-four-figure-ish kind of money. And due to other recent unexpected medical expenses, right now there's not enough dosh around (or spondoolicks or whatever term you prefer...) to get things sorted.

Therefore: can I get people interested in keeping a writer, you know, writing (as I've got three novels working at once at the moment...), to consider doing one of these things?

(a) Go over to Ebooks Direct and buy a book. (Or a bundle. Or a gift card for somebody else who might like my work.) And if you do: thanks so much!

(b) Stop by my Ko-Fi and drop a little something in the pot. It'll be most appreciated.

And if you can't do either of the above:

(c) Reblog this and let other people see it?

Being supportive of binary people is relatively simple, they have decided to sort themselves into one of the boxes that we have lots of experience interacting with. Being supportive of nonbinary people can be comparatively tricky, because you have to resist the urge to create box C and drop them all there. That's how we end up with various prejudices like "woman lite". Humans really, really like to categorize things. It helps us think. Unfortunately, sometimes it helps us think wrong.

When I say I am a trans woman, I am declaring that I fit inside the societal space for "women" well enough for that to be a solid basis for others to understand and interact with my gender. Even though there is a great deal of nuance within "woman", I generally feel I am in many ways skirting the edge of that category, and society is often hostile to me based on my declared gender, the fact I am able to align myself this closely with a binary gender gives me a great deal of advantages that non binary people do not have.

There is a temptation as trans binary people to say that because our gender is just as nuanced and personal as a nonbinary person (which is true) and our declared gender is often rejected (also true), the fact we align with the major accepted categories does not give us major advantages - which simply isn't the case. Being binary comes with a good deal of privilege that is almost invisible to us, but non binary people have to deal with lacking that privilege.

It is that gap in privilege I am talking about specifically. It is that gap in privilege that makes it necessary for us to put extra effort into understanding non binary people. So no, binary genders do not work the same way.

Special double-upload week because it's my Birthday on the 20th (Skrit~)

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Drinking horn with gilded copper mounts, Europe, 15th century

I don't know where to start this post so uh.

The very basics is that we're being evicted from the land that we've been working for the last five+ years to turn into a profitable farm (*mumblemumble generational trauma and family infighting mumble*)

The good news: there's options near by and I'm relatively confident we can qualify for a farm operations loan to secure new land!

The bad news: since goImagine closed, we've had to completely rebuild the store on a new platform and traffic/sale have cratered because no one knows where to find us. That's where you can help!

Please signal boost this post and check out our store!

We have soap, fiber, stickers and BRAND NEW lip balm! Our stuff is made from things we produce right here on our farm, and other ingredients and equipment sourced from local businesses.

Our current goal is to build up $2500 in capital and use that to fund purchases of more supplies and equipment for operation.

Big ticket items include:

A drum carder

New spinning wheel (in case I can't recover my old one)

An electric milker (I'm milking all of our sheep by hand currently!)

More soap molds

Getting the current back log of fleeces to our local mill to become yarn

This winter's supply of hay

And just various other supplies that are in constant need of reordering I have a LOT more planned, so please reblog this post and add our store to your watch list.

THANK YOU!

To keep us progressing, we've decided to break the larger goal up into smaller chunks to move forward with.

Right now we need to restock some of our staple soaps (Dad Hugs, Fragrance Free) and get the seasonal summer soap out (U-Pick, Campfire S'More)

AND

Add the remaining planned flavors of lip balm (Lavender, Maple, and Orange Vanilla) to the shop!

To purchase all the supplies, were trying to pull in $300 total by the end of the week. Current sales are sitting at $81, already almost a third of the way there cuz y'all rock!

Other ways you can help: reblog this version of the post. And, if you've bought anything from the shop, tried it and loved it, please leave a rating and review, it helps boost our store on Storenvy's platform and prompts their algorithm to recommend our store in their market place.

More than half way there in just a day, THANK YOU!

(There are)

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