So, due to unforeseen circumstances involving a new job across the country, I find it necessary to drop out of the LJ Idol competition. I do plan on participating in the home game at some point, but at the moment weekly writing challenges in between apartment searching, packing, and cleaning are not feasible for me.
Good luck to everyone still involved!

Hey y'all, my name is druidspell and this is my first LJ Idol. My best friend encouraged me to participate this year, because I was looking to get back into the swing of writing more frequently, so you can blame phoenixsansfyr for everything ;)
A brief list of relevant information:
I'm a 27 year old asexual woman living in central Texas, and currently in a job I don't love but does provide me with money to pay my bills, so at least there's that.
I majored in English (emphasis on creative writing) and Anthropology during my five semesters of college before I had to drop out for financial and health reasons.
I love reading fantasy, history, and fanfiction.
I have very strong feelings about NHL hockey. I'm a diehard Chicago Blackhawks fan. My greatest accomplishment of 2013 was luring three other people into hockey fandom, and I have made arrangements to be off work during nationally-televised Hawks games.
I cross-stitch, usually while watching Netflix.
I do most of my plotting for writing at work, since aside from basic arithmetic and social niceties I have virtually no need to engage my higher-level thinking at work.
I come from a large extended family, have two older sisters, and one niece. However, my extended family has grown much more distant over the years, and that frequently informs my writing.
I listen to a lot of podcasts--Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler is a favorite, as well as Welcome to Night Vale and a few fannish and hockey-related shows.

Since moving to Texas, the severity of my depression has been at an all-time low and therefore my creativity is flourishing. I can't wait to get started, and I hope this community will provide me with a lot of positive memories and experiences.

Participating in therealljidol this season. We'll see how it goes. I've been wanting to do more original writing, and I enjoy having prompts for that.

Originally posted by insunshine at Help Us Support Planned Parenthood

Syne at DW is donating iPods for Texas women forced to listen to their abortion doctors read them a state-mandated script written by (male) politicians about how they're murdering sluts.

Because those scripts are an assault on human dignity, she decided to do something: donate iPods to abortion clinics in Texas so that even though women here are forced to jump through hoops like a circus animal because the war on women has reduced us to a state lower than livestock, at least this way we can prevent the state from brutalizing us in some small way. The law, after all, only mandates the doctor read the speech; the law can't force us to listen.

The goal for purchasing these iPods has been reached, but there are still more ways to donate. Go. Read. Take action.

We love you. Every part of you belongs to you.

2. Beliefs - The Threefold Rule

In essence, the Threefold Rule is the belief that whatever good or harm you do in this life will come back to you three times (either in intensity or quantity). It's often linked to the most frequently quoted stanza of The Wiccan Rede: "An it harm none, do as thou wilt." ["An" is an archaic word meaning "if," not a shortening of "and."]

My first teacher actually taught my soulsister and I that what we do comes back tenfol, which is a good rule when you're teaching teenagers (who see the world in black and white, for the most part) about ethical use of their abilities--abilities which give them an advantage other people can't always match. If you arrange for the bully to be struck by lightning, that will come back on you ten times worse; it's an effective deterrent.

However, "do no harm" is a bit less than totally practical, especially that as preached by the bunnies, who take "do no harm" to mean "you're not allowed to hurt anybody or anything, ever, for any reason"; who believe that extends to "you can only defend yourself insofar as you don't hurt your attacker." That sort of belief leaves no ro for punishment, which is vital to a healthy community: wrongdoers must be punished, and punishment hurts. It leaves no room for following the discipline of darker gods; my religion isn't all sunshine and rainbows--I worship Brigid, yes, but I also give honor to the Morrigan, and the Lady of Ravens and Wolves is a goddess of death and battle as much as or more than she's a fertility symbol. My guideline is essentially "Do no unnecessary harm." Wrongdoers must be punished and brought to justice, and sometimes justice comes at my hand or gifts. The territory, den, and pack must be defended, and I'm a wolf; sometimes the best defense is to be the last one standing.

An Open Letter to the particular class of cis feminists who maintain their position that only women-born-women should be allowed a voice in feminist discourse:

I love women; I love being a woman. I am proud to be a feminist. But once and for all can we please just agree that a woman is so much more than her genitals, her breasts, her uterus and ovaries, and her two x chromosomes? Our hearts, minds, souls and experiences are what make us women, not our menstrual cycles and hormone levels, and not the genitalia we were born with. 

Your irrational hatred has blinded you to some crucial truths, namely that transwomen are not the enemy. They aren't agents of the Patriarchy intent on subverting the ideals and rights that we fight, bleed and die for. They're our sisters, and in a kinder world their warrior spirits would have been housed in the proper body, but sometimes science is wrong. And because biology fucked them over, they have to fight exponentially harder, at exponentially greater risk,  to be recognized as they are: as people, as women, who by virtue of being human are worthy and entitled to rights and protection from violence, harassment, and inequality. 

And if you can't work through your transphobia and misogyny, then do us all a favor: shut the fuck up and quit subverting the ideals and rights that we're fighting, bleeding, and dying for; we don't need any more agents of the Patriarchy telling us that our value and status as women lies solely in our genitals. 

Sincerely,
druidspell (a cis lesbian feminist who really wishes you'd get off her side and stop making us look like the enemy)


And also some recs:
Lunaby Julie Ann Peters is the story of Regan and Liam/Luna. By day, Regan has a desperately angry and miserable brother, Liam, who is tormented at school and bullied at home by their father in the hopes of toughening him up. By night, Regan's sister Luna emerges like a moth as she struggles to claim her true identity as a young woman. Though Regan is the narrator, the story focuses on Luna's transformation and eventual transition and its effects on their sibling relationship. The book is aimed at young adult readers, but is smart and mature enough for adult readers as well. Warnings for bullying and references to self harm and a suicide attempt. 

The Toby Daye series by seanan_mcguire is an excellent series which shows absolutely no signs of being less awesome any time soon. Later books feature two secondary characters one of the sweetest lesbian romances I've ever read. If you're a fan of noir type mysteries, urban fantasy, and strong female protagonists, give this series a try

I'm a Kentucky girl, which means that the only sport played on a collegiate level that I care about is basketball--specifically, the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's and women's teams. I went to UK, and had the opportunity sophomore year to live among some of the women's basketball players. They work just as hard as their more famous male counterparts, but they get a fraction of the glory; they're some of the nicest people I had the opportunity to meet during my five semesters of classes at UK.

But the real story I want to tell has nothing to do with those women.

When I was in grade school, I looked forward to basketball season ferociously. Every August, I signed up for the school team, starting in grade three, when I played on a coed team at the rec center. Now, I have to be honest: I'm not very good at basketball, especially now that it's been years since I played. I'm adequate at layups, I can dribble well with either hand, I'm pretty good at passing and defense. I never mastered free throws (my depth perception isn't adequate to judge how hard and at what angle I need to shoot a ball into a basket from fifteen feet away) or three point shots. But I LOVE basketball, so I endured running suicides until I wanted to vomit and dealt with shin splints so bad that I broke down and cried during at least three practices that I can remember. I lived for game nights, when forty minutes of incredible effort left me wrung out and shaking, trembling on my bike as I rode home. I even loved watching the games I wasn't playing.

In seventh grade, the second practice of the season, I made my first free throw. It was a complete fluke, and my assistant coach looked at me and grinned. "Do it again," he dared me with a laugh. Miracle of miracles, I did make it. He offered me a high five and I hugged him before lining up with the rest of the team to run a variant of the suicides drill. (The suicide drill, for those not familiar with this act of torture, is where you run from the length of the court from one basket to another, except that it goes like this: from the basket to the foul line; touch the foul line; run back to the basket. From the basket to the three point line; touch the three point line; run back to the basket. From the basket to half court; et cetera and so on until you've touched the opposite boundary and run back to your starting point.) This variant involved running backwards after you touched the line. We ran on the head coach's whistle--when we touched the three point line, as we were running backwards, I tripped.

When I landed, I was stunned for a moment. Both coaches asked if I was alright, and I told them I was fine. I stood back up and lined up with my teammates, but before I could take off with the next whistle, I realized I felt faint, and like a swarm of bees was buzzing in my head and in my right wrist. I motioned my assistant coach over with my left hand and admitted that I might not be so fine. I ended up with a broken right radius that essentially put a halt to my ability to participate in any games for the rest of the season.

However, I may have mentioned this before: I love basketball. Just because I couldn't play in the games, or really participate in the practices, didn't mean I couldn't go to every practice and work on my skills.

So I did. I showed up at the next practice, much to my coaches shock, and requested a basketball so I could work on dribbling with my left hand. They agreed, and I set about making up for the loss of my dominant arm. I stayed through the entire practice, and then showed up to the next one and repeated the process. I watched the plays they were working on as I dribbled so that I could keep up with what was going on. Once my arm was out of the sling, I started running with the team at the beginning of practice. While they were playing scrimmages, I sat on the bench in my team jacket cheering for my teammates. I went to every practice and every game. I ran laps and suicides so I wouldn't get out of practice, and learned to work around my cast so I could practice my passing skills against the wall.

When I got the cast and the brace off and my coach and doctor gave me the okay to play again, I was so happy I had tears in my eyes. On the first game day that I was able to play again, those warm ups before the game were some of the best I'd ever run. When I took the court, my team gave me a standing ovation, and the announcer told the crowd that it was my first game since I'd broken my wrist at the beginning of the season.

At the end of the season when we had our awards banquet with the boys' team, my coaches announced that they'd had a hard choice for almost every award they were handing out. MVP went to our point guard, Brittany; most improved went to Bethany; the next award was for most sportsmanlike behavior. This award was the easiest one to decide, they told the assembled players, coaches, and parents. There was no question of anyone else receiving this trophy. One player had shown up to every practice and every game, and never complained even though she only got minimal playing time. She'd supported her teammates in every way she could, and had been a huge help and inspiration to both coaches and players. "And the award for Most Sportsmanlike Behavior for the Seventh Grade Lady Knights for the 1999-2000 season goes to...Laura."

I was stunned and gratified; to be quite honest, I'm not good enough to play any sport solely for glory or trophies, so I never expected to win any. I sweated and bled and broke a bone and kept going for the sheer love of the game, and because for the duration of basketball season I was a part of a team, whereas I was pretty solitary for the rest of the year. That's why I kept at it, even though I'm really not much of an athlete. I loved working with my teammates, and the exhilaration and accomplishment that came of running miles on the court and the euphoria of making a shot or seeing a play come together perfectly.


And now, a rec:
How to Ditch Your Fairy" by Justine Larbalestier

This book is an amazing, thoughtful, funny book about girls, friendship, relationships, rivalries, magical realism (people have invisible fairies which impact their lives--always hear songs you like fairies, shopping fairies, know what your kids are up to fairies, etc), and also? Sports. This book is a lot about sports, and the characters relationships with sports.

The protagonist, Charlie, attends New Avalon Sports High along with her friends, her crush, and her rival, and all she wants in life is to get rid of her useless and hated fairy (a parking fairy, and she doesn't even drive) and to make the school basketball team. Charlie LIVES for sports, and thrives in the environment of NASH which is governed by rules and regulations. If you love funny YA that passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors and the use of some very creative problem solving, you should pick up this book.

From honeybearbee

NPR recently published the list of the top 100 science fiction and fantasy books as voted for by the public. So let's meme it, strike out the ones you've read, italicize the ones you'd recommend to others and no, seeing the movies doesn't count!

( NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy--2011 ListCollapse )

Many of these are books I haven't yet read are things I intend to read; quite a few are giants and classics of the genres that I think everyone should read, regardless of your thoughts on science fiction and fantasy. Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Margaret Atwood should be read by everybody.

They say it gets better; sometimes it doesn't.

Today I told Fi (and Jay, and Tessa, and Das, and Rebekah, and Ria even though I ran out of characters before I could mention her) that they saved me. And in a big way, that's true.

I've been suffering from major depression for close to 18 years. I was 10 the first time I tried to divide up my property (Bridgette, Jeanna and Maria were getting most of my stuff) in the closest approximation I could manage to a Last Will and Testament. When I was 11, I started thinking of ways to kill myself.
( Edited to cut for the sake of trigger warnings--the rest of this post contains talk that may be triggery for: Suicidal thoughts/actions; Self-harm.Collapse )

1. Beliefs - Why Paganism?
I'm choosing to interpret this question as "Why did you choose Paganism?"( And the answer to that, most simply, is this: my people are pagan people.Collapse )

My best friend's father passed away yesterday.

( Read more...Collapse )

He was a great man, and the world is a lesser place without him.

Todd Wallace
February 19, 1954 -- January 18, 2011
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of Your Son, rest in peace.

Celebration & Awareness

14 Valentines is a project dedicated to raising awareness of women's issues and celebrating women. It's an annual project that runs from February 1 to February 14, focusing on a different issue each day. This year, I'm writing the opening essay. Check it out at 14valentines

1420 written tonight to conclude the scene, bringing this particular excerpt up to 4120 words. Overall, I've got 13,477 words in the story. Can I keep going on a different scene? *pretends to ponder* Hell yes I can!

From the presumably brilliant mind of mickeym and brought to my attention by the always lovely shinetheway: kentuckyfandom

To quote from mickeym's opening post of the comm:
Fandom is a huge, huge place -- it spans the entire globe, literally -- and it's easy to feel (or get) lost within the vastness. Plus, sometimes it's just nice to know that you've got fannish friends that live (physically) nearby.

That's what this community is about. It's not about a particular fandom, nor even a specific genre (het, slash, gen). It's about fans who live within the state of Kentucky, who want to find other fans (reasonably) close by to get together with to watch shows, talk stories/characters/episodes, pimp into a particular fandom, or whatever. Maybe even do or talk about (gasp) non-fannish things. :)

I LOVE my flist, and the incredible diversity contained within it. I love that I know people from California, and Massachusetts, Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Hawaii, China, etc. But sometimes I get lonely, and it'd be nice to know that I could drive up to Louisville, or Owensboro, or Lexington, or Bowling Green -- or have someone drive down/over to me -- for a day visit. Or a few hours' visit. Y'know?

And it would be awesome. So I'm starting opening this up on my flist: Hey, I'm Laura, and I'm originally from Bardstown, KY, but I now live in Lexington. Any Kentuckian fen on my flist should join this comm--awesomeness is sure to come :D

So, this is a public entry [which is potentially triggering in regard to rape]. *waves to the public* I haven't made one of these for fun in a while--it's been a fannish "These things I find unacceptable" type of year for public posts. (I promise, my next public post will be a meme or a quiz!)
Unfortunately, this is not going to be a fun post; this is going to be a post addressing things I find unacceptable in fandom right now. (It's motivated by this post by seperis, which she wrote in reaction to this VERY NSFW and POSSIBLY TRIGGERY piece of protest art. (SERIOUSLY UNSAFE FOR WORK, PEOPLE.) alchemia made that photo manip of Ogi Ogas engaged in some rousing tentacle sex as a reaction to SurveyFail.

Bullet Points!
SurveyFail
Let me explain. ... No, is too long. Let me sum up:
*Drs. Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam are writing a book called "Rule 34: What Netporn Teaches Us About the Brain." Despite the book's release date being in 2010, they are apparently just starting their research. In the course of their research, they revealed themselves as homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, misogynist, willfully ignorant, condescending shitheads who are bad scientists with bad methodology, little to no grasp of the ethics of research involving human subjects, and no desire to truly learn from their mistakes and the valuable information and insight fandom was willing to offer them.

Protests!
*In protest of their treatment of the members of our community, some fen have decided to educate these two "researchers" about certain rules of fandom: 1) "Don't Mess With Slashers, for You Are Cute and Look Good With Other Men" (warnings for Real Person Slash) (here, here, and a poem that is not slashy but is lolarious here; and 2) "Fuck Not With Fandom: Fandom Fucks Back, and You Can Forget About the Lube" (the aforementioned protest art that is still NSFW).

My Reaction
( Time for an anecdote.Collapse )


Anyway, as always, it is Defriending Amnesty Day around here all day, every day, including weekends and bank holidays. If what I've said is offensive to you, feel free to defriend me.

I am a survivor of abuse. I know too many people who have been victims of sexual violence. I have been stalked, harassed, and improperly propositioned by adult males when I was a minor. I have triggers. I want warnings, and I want them clearly displayed.

I have pre-emptively banned aukestrel, cynatnite, and mara_snh for comments and entries made during Warnings Wank 2009 (link goes to metafandom's collection of entries responding to a debate on warnings that began in bandom a few days ago). More specifically, I banned them for comments and entries that perpetuated the damaging culture of silence around victims of rape and abuse, for victim-blaming, for abusive language, and for general unacceptable behavior.

I don't know these LJers. I don't care to know them, nor am I interested in hearing defenses of them. As far as I'm concerned, their actions are indefensible. It doesn't matter that they didn't direct their bile at me in particular, nor does it matter that I don't know anything about the rest of the content of their characters or their histories on LiveJournal or elsewhere. I don't care if they feed the hungry, clothe the naked, cure the sick, shelter the homeless, end wars, crusade against any and all other social injustices all on top of rescuing disabled and displaced orphans from burning buildings. They're banned anyway, and my only regret is not doing it the second I saw their behavior in action.

I once cut a person I'd known and loved since I was three years old out of my life and heart for victim-blaming and making offensive statements to another friend of mine when it had actual, meaningful consequences in my offline life. I'm really not going to lose any sleep over pre-emptively banning users who have shown that they cannot be trusted to act like human beings on the subjects of rape and abuse.

However, if you're losing sleep over my decision to ban them, it is Defriending Amnesty Day around here all day, every day. The door is that way, show yourself out.

FOB May 15 in Indianapolis: Anybody going?

Amazon Rank

Ugh, am sick. Didn't sleep well; judging from my dreams last night, I can safely conclude that apparently my subconscious believes that picking up dog crap is indicative of great passion, and feels strongly that Waffle House was a classy little sidewalk bistro in another life.
(This was a dream where I was not featured at all; it was more like watching a TV show, but better.)

Authors and editors whom I will never read (again, or ever) or support: Elizabeth Bear. Kathryn Cramer. Will Shetterly. Emma Bull. Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Patrick Nielsen Hayden. David Levine. Luke Jackson. Jay Lake. Lisa L. Spangenberg. John Scalzi. Macallister Stone.
Publishing houses I will never submit my work to, and that I will think seriously about buying from and supporting with my money in the future, especially if any of the aforementioned authors or editors may profit from said money: Tor.


RaceFail 2009, Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom, has gone on for three months now. And frankly, the authors and editors listed above STILL don't understand why their behavior is seen as skeevy, wrong, and abusive. I won't stop keeping up with the meta on RaceFail '09, but I will NEVER see SF/F in the same light. As a writer and a reader, it causes me pain to know how awful SF/F can be, but my pain is NOTHING compared to the pain it's caused some others. It's my duty as a dedicated fan and a decent human being to not bury my head in the sand because it makes me sad and tired as a white person to see all this fail happening in one short span of time; because I am a white person, with all the privilege that entails, I should NEVER turn around and ignore it, because anyone without white privilege doesn't get that option.

Any of you can disagree with this. You can de-friend me, and ask me to de-friend you in return. I will probably be hurt by that, but I'll do it, and I'm declaring a De-Friending Amnesty around here. If my opinions that I've expressed briefly here offend you, go ahead and walk away from them, and go with my blessing.



For those of you on my flist not involved with fandom in the same ways that I am, and who would like to understand why I'm boycotting these people, you can check out rydra_wong's roundup of the links dealing with this racist, classist, elitist bullshit here. To give you an idea of the scope of things, there's more than 200 links in there, compiled in 77 entries thus far. RaceFail happened, and it happened in a big way, and it affected a lot of people.

Y'all, I have a sickness. I cannot stop doing this. As soon as one hatches, I go get another. D: But I need more!!





Also, I have Cotton Eyed Joe stuck in my head. I can't even explain that one, but it's hella catchy. (I'm evil, but I do kinda hope that at least one of you gets earwormed; if I have to suffer, I want to share.)