The party of “free speech” strikes again.

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In my heart of hearts, I believe in the goodness of people, hard as it is to do so with what’s going on in the world.

But also in my heart of hearts, I’m starting to realize that there people out there that, while they have the capacity to be good, simply are not.

I won’t even try to say that progressives don’t aim to shape what kind of language is acceptable, because we do; we want people to speak with kindness, with respect, and without hate.

Conservatives seem to think that stifling hate is oppressive overreach, a dangerous attack on free speech.  Meanwhile, they are literally banning books and speech on topics they don’t like, while enforcing religion (one religion only) into our schools. 

They seem to think that’s a-ok.

We all know it’s hypocritical of them.  They know it’s hypocritical of them.

They just don’t care.

We all have a voice, and when living in times when people are silencing others, we have a moral obligation to speak.

There’s many ways you can be vocal.  Attending protests is one, sure, but if that type of setting is uncomfortable for you, you can speak with friends and family, classmates, teachers, coworkers, volunteering at local charities or non-profits, even just sharing articles and posts online!

We have so many options to be loud.

There are people out there who don’t want you to use your voice, so use it.

Use it however you can, as loud as you can.

There’s a lot that happened that night that I’d like to address, potentially with another comic or two, or more really, but for now I’d like to focus just on the two folks who were in the green room with me.

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Feminine as I draw myself, in reality I know I don’t pass.  But really, that’s ok.

One, I’m working on it and I’m still relatively early in my HRT journey.

Two, we don’t owe anyone passing; we are valid no matter how “the part” we look.

I don’t want to diminish the positive comments I get from friends and family; they do mean a lot and please keep them coming.  But there’s something about getting acceptance from a total stranger that’s different; it’s an acknowledgement that there’s hope for broader scale acceptance in the future, no matter how awful things are right now politically.

So, to those two ladies, thank you for making me feel like “one of the girls,” it really meant a lot.

As a final side note, it turns out I had a mini “degrees-of-separation” connection with one of them.  While chatting, we gave our names and came to the conclusion that no, we didn’t know each other.  I mentioned the summer camp that most folks at the event would know me from, and she goes,

“Wait, Alex from that camp… what’s your last name?”

I tell her.

“OH MY GOD MY BROTHER TALKS ABOUT YOU!”

Her brother went to the same camp for a number of years and I know him pretty well! 

For the record, I’m not really sure if the maintenance team in my office building checks for stuff like loose toilet seats, but it was driving me crazy so I took matters into my incredibly capable, *experienced* hands.

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This feels like the first comic I’ve made that’s actually like, a “comic” comic, as opposed to what these strips have been so far: mostly just stories through my first twenty two months of transitioning, or general concepts that I wanted to express my feelings on.

Like, this story is rooted in a real event, sure, but bringing in Jack and Gal Famous for this makes the strip feel like… a “comic” comic, whatever that means.

Ok, so… “Gal Famous”…

She wasn’t named in her initial appearance, but this was tentatively her name at that point already, and I’d like to credit Fran Sundblad @crazygnomenclature for it. 

When writing that strip, I sent the draft to Fran to ask her opinion.  The character was initially listed in the draft as “Guy”.  Fran said that she was going “to refer to him as ‘Guy Famous’ from now on”.

I really liked that name, and once the character became a lady she was “Gal Famous” to me.

…also I really like drawing her, she’s a fun draw.

Will we see a ton of Jack and Gal Famous moving forward?  Not sure!  My guess is that strips will still often include little vignettes about stuff that happens to me, but when they can be utilized, I’d like to get them involved.

They’re kind of new territory for me, I’m not really a character writer… or like, a “writer” writer…

Couple shoutouts first!

I was at that show with two trans artist friends of mine, Fiona @cholerascum and Penny @pennymations.  It was a great time and it’s always such an incredible pleasure and privilege to be able to meet up with artists in the community that I’m honored to call my friends.

Also wanna shoutout TNP – Transylvanian Nipple Productions who were running the show, they were fantastic!

A lot has changed since I was a teen, but the biggest change over time has been opening up and allowing myself to be my silly self in public.  Get on stage in front of strangers now?  Hell yeah sign me up who cares this’ll be fun let’s gooooooooooooooo.  Oh, there’s a microphone?  I’ll totally go for it if I’m allowed.

Being social and making connections has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and it’s something I only started learning and developing as an adult.

Ok, so now a few notes on that night.  It’s a bit strange for me to talk about continuity in these comics given that they are events/feelings from my life and are therefore all in continuity, but I’m going to highlight a few threads that connect this strip to others.

You likely already knew what my costume was from this strip - https://www.tumblr.com/imstillalexcomic/798386871832035328/id-like-to-give-a-shout-out-to-my-boss-who-is-an?source=share

…but what might not be put together is the relation between today’s strip and this one - https://www.tumblr.com/imstillalexcomic/799015612866232320/for-the-record-im-ok-im-still-alex-webtoon