The Laughing Mistress

Because at some point, possibly unjustly, I started expecting the awkwardness of not knowing things to feel awkward or embarrassing in any story that was a variant of "stranger in a strange place "

And there's none of that because Anequs is just, so self assured and refuses to be embarrassed for not knowing things she has no reason to know. I love it. She's confident, willing to explain things, and entirely unwilling to take shit.

I didnt realize I was expecting that till I read this and it wasn't there, and again maybe its an unfair expectation cause I'm not certain when I picked it up. But I love the confidence.

And I love the lack of romantic conflict, because I'm so used to that in stories. I kept expecting Theod to take things worse because I'm so used to characters reacting badly to say "I'm challenging how you grew up", I definitely didn't expect him to react well to Anequs wanting to court both him and Liberty and its just.

Stories about the lived experiences of queer people have often been cast to the edges of, or fully omitted from, our shared history in museums and archives. A review of RAM’s existing collections showed that our representation of 2SLGBTQIA+ Albertans was limited and one dimensional. These collections were largely donated by white, cisgender, gay men to showcase their community activism in the mid-to-late 20th century. These items make up a cornerstone of Alberta’s queer history, to be sure, but tell us little about other community members or even what these individuals spent the rest of their lives doing. What about queer joy and celebration? Grief and remembrance? Gender exploration and transitions? Night life? Family life? Community? Friendships and relationships? With these gaps in mind, the Royal Alberta Museum put out a public call for donations of items that represent queer history and experiences in Alberta, in the hopes that we can collect items that better reflect the diverse lived experiences of our queer neighbours within the collection.