#cycas

I haven't got rendered pictures yet but I have sketches of them :D

Cycas revoluta

Cycas revoluta, from southern Japan, is the most common of the cycads, and it manages to look both like a fern and like a small palm (its common name is the sago palm), but it is neither. Cycads are their own distinctive kind of plant, with their cones showing them to be relatives of the conifers. They have separate male and female plants, and the elongated cone seen here is an indication that our plant is a male.

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 10 May 2023

The cascading foliage of Cycas debaoensis (multipinnate sago) provides a spectacle in a tropical glasshouse. This plant species is endemic to the Guangxi region of China. It was only discovered in 1996, but is already under severe threat from both habitat clearance, and plant collectors.

Oh that's a fascinating question, thank you! I will freely admit that I don't necessarily consider myself the most knowledgeable person about Faramir or the best at writing him even in my immediate fandom circle, so this is unlikely to be anything particularly groundbreaking or interesting, but I'll give it a shot

I think, since you've not given me specific limitations on when in the timeline this will be set, and that I would go for a show that focuses on Faramir in the months leading up to Boromir leaving for Rivendell, ending with that event. Not that a show about him in the times after the War of the Ring wouldn't be fascinating, but I don't think it's something I'd be very good at writing. And I'm not necessarily interested in following the story through the events of LOTR, either. So, like I said, following Faramir in the times leading up to the event that basically ties him and Boromir so tightly into the events of the story.

Wouldn't be a very long show, obviously, with that sort of time frame, but I'm a firm believer in deciding on the limits of the story you want to tell and narrowing it down to something you can manage, before starting to tell it. (Let's ignore the fact that I don't actually do that irl when I write fanfic, I just sit down and write and see what happens; the imaginary me who is a showrunner of a tv show is obviously more organized than the real life me anyway.) Not everything needs to be ten seasons long. And you could still get a full-length season or two out of even that premise, I think.

This lovely series depicting scenes from Númenor with a South East Asian flair are by @ayaosguqin.

@cycas opens her review of The Fall of Númenor with the observation that "Tolkien's literary legacy truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Whenever you think that your collection is finally complete, a new publication is announced." The question is, though, is The Fall of Númenor a worthwhile addition to your already groaning Tolkien bookshelf?

In our latest Read & Review column, Lyra reviews The Fall of Númenor, touching on its contents (and what it leaves out), its structure, and the artwork it contains by Alan Lee, concluding that "it is ... an immensely useful publication." You can read Lyra's complete "Review of The Fall of Númenor" here.

Hi, I’m @lie-where-i-land​ (James, 20s, gay trans man).  I’ve been thinking a lot recently about transphobia and trans allies in fandom spaces, and how people may pay us trans folks lip service but at the end of the day do little to support us. Yesterday was the final straw to break my back, shall we say. 

A while ago, it came to the attention of multiple trans tolkien bloggers that one semi-prominent user, @venwe, was a terf.  Most of us blocked and moved on.  It appears that this user’s original blog, @venwe, was terminated by staff, as they reappeared under a different url (@suyao-supremacy) with a promotional post asking other big name silm bloggers to boost and help them regain their mutuals. I sent the following anon ask to @cycas​, who had boosted the original promotional post.

Image Description: An anonymous tumblr ask to user Cycas that reads “Venwe (now suyao-supremacy) has been following and interacting with terfs for years. Their original blog was terminated but when it was around it was very easy to find receipts. The following list contained multiple terfs blogs and they posted some transphobic stuff in an argument a while back.  Them trying to minimize it or brush it under the rug like “I don’t Hate trans people, I just think there’s an undeniable and dangerous difference between cis and trans women aha” is not cute.  I have no receipts to send you because I don’t push callouts or cache dirt on people, but I am trans, and more than one trans friend of mine in this fandom has expressed concern over this user and their transphobic behavior, which seems to lie dormant for a while before cropping back up again (which is likely intentional as it allows them to fly under the radar).” (end image description)

@cycas​ responded below to me like this:

Image description: A text response by Cycas to the anon ask, which reads “Ok, look I’m going to answer this one publicly and, I hope, this will be an end to it even if the anons block me.  Tolkien fandom is an international, multilingual, and multicultural space. Sometimes there are going to be people with different ideas, sometimes ideas that are odd, difficult, jarring, or unpleasant. You can’t assume people will be coming to stuff with the same background as you.  I do not, on the whole, curate my tumblr feed to only people with whom I agree. That would take it down to a very small group and I don’t know how I would even begin to do that. I definitely don’t want to curate my tumblr feed according to the opinions of people who send me anon messages about who I should block. Venwe is not a celebrity with a huge influential following, and as such I don’t think should be the subject of campaigning of this kind.  Block her if you don’t like her - I’d block anyone who upsets you, whether or not you actually interact with them or just saw them in passing - but please don’t tell me who I should interact with. I am old enough that I can remember when being able to chat with a Russian woman about things we agree or disagree about was impossible. I can remember the first Russian fans coming to the UK to talk about how they had discovered Tolkien, and what an absolutely amazing moment that was, way back in the early 90s, that we were all able to share these books. And now the peace we all hoped for so desperately is over and I don’t know where to begin about that.  I’m betting you are young enough that you don’t know what you are asking me when you say ‘stop talking to a Russian woman because I think that they say the wrong things.’ I’m not dismissing your concerns (of the Ukraine war) and nor so far as I can see is Venwe). And I’m sorry to hurt your feelings, but I’m not going to do what you say on this one.” (end image description)

@cycas​ tagged the post saying any further conversation needed to be done off anon.  I was incredibly hesitant about this because I feared onlookers would put transphobic stuff in my inbox, but the response above was such a bad faith interpretation of what I’d actually written that I felt the need to clear the air. So, I reblogged the post with my addition below:

Image Description: A text reblog from lie-where-i-land, which reads “To be very clear, I’m not dressing some weird Russophobia up in some pro-trans trappings. I am a trans man. As I said before, I have had venwe blocked for over a year now for their overt following of radfems (inside and outside the Tolkien fandom) and some unsavory transphobic debate on their blog. I do not stalk blogs that I have blocked because I find that sort of internet behavior troublesome, unethical, and harmful to my mental health. Any comments that they have made regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have not heard. Firstly, I have them blocked, and secondly, staff torpedoed their blog so I couldn’t find the comments even if I wanted to.

I am wondering if you have received messages from more than just me? Because I did not mention venwes nationality in this message or the follow up that I sent. I can see why you thought I might be motivated by venwe being Russian, but I couldn’t help but feel that you read something into this that I didn’t say, put words in my mouth, and spun this as me trying to isolate and alienate random Russians online. It makes you seem like the charitable and good hearted fandom participant, and me like some sort of miserly buzzkill.

I think we both know that this is not a case of “don’t talk to this Russian lady bc Russian cooties.” I think you’re right in saying that part of what makes the Tolkien fandom great is the depth and international breadth of its roots. My mutuals and I are from every corner of the globe, and I think that makes our friendship better not worse. And no, i don’t agree with them on everything (concerning Tolkien or offline matters). I find that maintaining a friendship with someone from a wildly different background mostly comes down to open mindedness, willingness to listen, taking things with good faith, and asking clarifying questions. As such, when my international friends have challenged my views or beliefs, we’ve managed to remain friends.

Posting transphobic rhetoric, following radfems, and being part of a circle of transphobes that operate within the tolkien fandom is not “having a difference of opinion.” I don’t need someone to have the same background as me, or to be knowledgeable in the same way I am knowledgeable. My grandmother is old, transphobic in the way much of her generation is, and her opinions like “[she] doesn’t care who uses the ladies’ room as long as no one pisses on the floor” are not PC. Her fumbling attempts at progress are done in better faith than the people on here that try to draw borders to distinguish perpetual man and perpetual woman, perpetual patriarch and perpetual victim, as if trans people are (depending on what is rhetorically suitable) dangerous invaders in need of purging or misguided mental degenerates in need of salvation.

I don’t comb through the blog of everyone that interacts with me on the off chance they might be “problematique.” I dont expect that level of effort from anyone. At best, I give new followers a cursory glance to their bio and top three posts. However, I think it is pretty reasonable that I don’t follow terfs or reblog from radfems in the fandom because “it’s not a post about radfeminism.” This is a pretty standard rule of thumb followed by every trans person I know. Why? You’re right, venwe is not a big platform influencer. But I am a trans man. I post something, an ally reblogs it, their follower is a somewhat stealthy terf and reblogs it, their followers are terfs and now I have terfs in my inbox. The silm fandom is small enough as it is. Terfs find blogs like mine in large part because “allies” overlook radfem rhetoric as a difference of opinion.

This fandom is either friendly to trans people or it’s friendly to terfs. If it’s friendly to both, then don’t be surprised if your circle ends up just being terfs, because trans people won’t stick around for long like this. No, i don’t need to follow you, or boost your content. Please then, do trans people the courtesy of not reblogging our content if you’re hiding terfs in your coattails.” (end image description)

@cycas​ did not reblog my addition, either to not draw more attention to their words or to avoid drawing attention specifically to my rebuttal.  Instead Cycas replied in the comments, which you can see below:

Image Description: A reply in the notes of the original post, by cycas to lie-where-i-land, which reads “I assume the account was removed because it had a Russian IP and was posting about Ukraine.  I very much sympathize with your position, but to me it seems that being a progressive Russian lesbian wondering whether to risk imprisonment and worse at a demo isn’t easy either.  I shared the post because I was asked to do so, and I don’t really think that counts as putting anyone at risk, except possibly for venwe.” (end image description)

So there was no acknowledgement from cycas that they had been and continued to be (as visible from their following lists - though venwe/suyao-supremacy’s has now been hastily privated) mutuals with a terf.  They continue to run with the false claim that this is beef because of the russian invasion.  And they double down on how the only one at risk here is venwe, not any of the trans tolkien fans that they are now introducing to a terf’s blog through a promotional post. I screenshotted the reply and attached it to a second reblog which is below:

Image Description: A text reblog by lie-where-i-land that reads “Cycas, again, I have no knowledge of venwe’s stance on the current invasion of Ukraine. I find it somewhat unlikely that her blog was terminated for having a Russian IP when there are other Russian silm bloggers currently living in Russia that are currently active. On the other hand, lots of people have know about her being a radfem for a year now, and while I dislike speculation, that was my initial suspicion for the termination of her blog. I sympathize with anyone who is caught between wanting to demonstrate against imperialism and the knowledge that they may be in grave danger if they do so. My initial message, and my reply above, had nothing to do with venwes nationality. I am sort of frustrated at this implicit “I see how trans ppl are a target, but consider that being a Russian lesbian is dangerous too… so.” It’s possible to be marginalized and still do harm to other marginalized people.

When I talk about harm: I’m not saying you knowingly promoted a radfem because you’re in cahoots or something. But you didn’t ask for proof, you didn’t ask if any of your other followers had seen venwe’s radfem rhetoric, you immediately assumed the worst faith position possible. boosting the new traction post from a terminated radfem helps that radfem gain back their follower base. It’s handing someone the keys to your metaphorical house. The more people that give radfems the fandom house keys, the more visible and vulnerable trans tolkien bloggers are. I don’t Want to post about my life or my trans tolkien content for my followers to reblog when I know there are cryptoterfs that are mutuals with some of you, terfs who will be reading about my personal life, climbing into my inbox, making me and my friends feel unsafe and unwelcome. Now, terfs are perfectly capable of combing trans tags for my blog. But being mutuals with them hands them a list of queer and trans bloggers, wrapped with a pretty bow.Either this fandom is safe for trans people or it’s safe for terfs.” (end image description)

I am at this point past my image limit, but I wanted to share some words from @warrioreowynofrohan​, who commented in support of cycas on the initial post. The screenshot and my reply are available here for proof. 

Warrioreowynofrohan: thumbs up emoji. the new attitude of you should never communicate with or even read anything said by anyone who disagrees with you on anything of substance is deeply destructive and harmful. If people want to curate their own social media experience selectively, that’s their own choice; but they have no right to demand/pressure that everyone else do the same.

my response from the comments: this was specifically about people being friends with terfs. I’m friends with lots of people that I disagree with on one thing or another. Taking a look at what the radfems are saying so you can stay abreast of the situation is really not the same as boosting a radfems promo post. Being friends with radfems and letting them into fandom bc their meta is good puts trans ppl at risk. Yall can choose your terf friendships over trans friendships if you like tho.

I’m a queer trans man. I am no stranger to the shadowy campaigns against bloggers for being the wrong flavor of queer or doing fandom in a way someone else doesn’t like. I think it is incredibly disrespectful to the queer bloggers that got harassed and are still getting harassed to the point of leaving this site to draw deliberate comparisons here in defense of a terf. People like terfs, exclusionists, and X Critical folks regularly deride and attack bloggers like me. Saying that you won’t allow bigots in your circle is a good thing actually.

Curating your social media to your “personal preference” is something like me choosing not to follow people that vehemently hate the noldor or who call elwing a bad mom.

Unfollowing and blocking bigots is not a matter of “personal preference,” it’s a matter of keeping your marginalized friends safe.

Final Thoughts: 

I don’t hold any anger or suspicion toward people that have followed venwe/suyao-supremacy in the past.  I know lots of people have had interesting, friendly, and rather innocent conversations with them (at one point, they were rather prolific on here).  It’s hard to tell if someone is a terf masquerading as a friendly blog.  And I don’t think the solution is to fall into paranoia, scrutinizing every acquaintance for rotten subtext! I just wish more people would appraise themselves of the base tenets of radfem rhetoric so that they can identify it when it crops up, and either re-educate or block the user it’s coming from.