riff raff

riff raff, they/them, early 20s

lesbian and genderqueer

roots in the american midwest, but move around a lot for studies

english/español/aprendendo português brasileiro

I'm here to spill my thoughts without a character limit. I've been writing for a long time, based in sociological academia. More recently, I've started writing creatively with a focus on short stories. When I'm not writing short stories, I'm scrawling something in my pocket notebook or drafting a cryptic text--what's one more writing platform to add?

General focus: sociological commentary through fiction, transgender allegory, queer love and fear, lesbianism, identity, community, (body) horror, depression, humor at precisely the wrong time

My stories may stray from this, but these are the central themes I find myself writing. They are deeply felt and personal; my characters are an extension of me. 

I'm not sure how many complete stories will make it on here--I have hopes to someday publish. I do, however, have many daily observations and perceptions that I feel are full of love and fear and poetry. This is what I want to write about. These observations often constitute the basis of my stories, and I want a place to work them out. You may see a character or two, maybe some lyricism. It'll mostly just be me. Although, that's just what you'd get in my complete stories anyway. 

You may also see me talking about: knitting, queer tv shows and movies, zines, socialism/communism, music, sociology in general, collage art, reading, and the wonders of public transportation

Keep on loving

I bought my first ever chest binder today! I did the math and realized I have been wanting one for nearly 25% of my life (ONE QUARTER), which is ridiculous. I kept making up excuses the whole time about my family, finances, not having the right size... ENOUGH! There's a small business in my city that sells binders and I've known about them for months but today I finally got the courage to step in--they helped me size everything and it was well within my budget.

Why the hell had I been holding myself back so long? I've been stuck for that 25% of my life, knowing my life needed changing but also being so afraid of what that means. Today is not a dysphoria day, but when the day comes I will happily don my binder and skip down the street (slowly and over a short distance, so as to not overly constrict my chest).

I was lightheartedly complaining to a classmate that in another class I was assigned two weeks to read a well-known 400-page book in a language that is not my first. This classmate was not just surprised that I had a physical copy (not digital or audiobook) in the original language, but surprised that I read it at all.

Then, in lecture, my classmates will be surprised by something the professor brings up as if it wasn't the thesis of last night's reading. That is, again, if people are actually paying attention in lecture--many scroll online and generate an ai summary of the slideshow later.

I miss the pre-chatgpt days when I was still at liberal arts school and it was more surprising when a classmate didn't do the reading. Because professors can't teach you anything when you don't know what they're talking about.