New travel series begins
Dec. 7th, 2025 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mindstalkAfter three years in friendly Very Cheap Rent houses, I'm back to nomadic life. After bouncing around Philly a few times to get things sorted, I'm now in Tokyo, because (a) Japan is cool and (b) old family of friend is old, tick-tock tick-tock. If you want to follow along, well, keep checking in for the travel2025 tag. Some random observations to start: ( Read more... )
Absence, sweet absence
Dec. 7th, 2025 02:05 pmdolorosa_12This weekend ended up being a lot less eventful than originally planned, due to the combination of the week-long slow build-up to a cold finally descending with a vengeance upon me, and the relentlessly rainy weather (it's currently pouring). Other than a quick trip out to the market for food truck lunch and mulled wine yesterday, therefore, I've mainly been ensconced in the house, watching a film (The Killer, the absolute definition of style over substance in which a contract killer in Paris baulks at killing an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of a hired hit job, and things spiral from there), reading, editing Yuletide fic, and watching biathlon.
( This week's reading )
I have another talking meme prompt for today, this one fromvriddy: an anecdote involving an animal or pet.
( This is a very Australian story )
I do also have a bunch of stored up links, but I think I might leave that for a later post. I hope everyone's been having nice weekends!
( This week's reading )
I have another talking meme prompt for today, this one from
vriddy: an anecdote involving an animal or pet. ( This is a very Australian story )
I do also have a bunch of stored up links, but I think I might leave that for a later post. I hope everyone's been having nice weekends!
Space Skimmer by David Gerrold
Dec. 7th, 2025 08:51 amjames_davis_nicoll
Who killed the empire? More importantly, what does it take to get men to process their emotions?
Space Skimmer by David Gerrold
Just one thing: 07 December 2025
Dec. 7th, 2025 06:50 amjazzyjj posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
awesomeersIt's challenge time!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Advent calendar 7
Dec. 7th, 2025 12:38 pmantisoppistEarlier, as Christmas Eve had turned into Christmas Day, she had listened at the window to the faraway church bell from the village ringing midnight. It was a still night and not cold, the wind in the direction to send the sound of the bell here; it would be a warm start to Christmas after the storms, and the lack of frost and cold left the landscape wintry without dignity; the bell's resonance was more pedestrian than it'd have been on the kind of crisp cold winter night tonight ideally ought to have been. Dead. Dead. Dead, the bell went. Or maybe: Head. Head. Head. The village church had only one bell so couldn't play a tune. It sounded, she thought, like someone at the back of memory hitting at stone with an axe, which is an act that'll do nothing but ruin a good blade.
(no subject)
Dec. 7th, 2025 06:49 amsorcyressThought to myself "I should go make a dreamwidth post", and holy shit, I knew it had been a while when I posted the anniversary post, but I hadn't realized it's been basically a _month_. Blugh. Blugh!
(we just figured out Blues Clues, y'all. :P)
Here's some stuff that's happened between Racheline and Patty's wedding and now:
*I have been struggling pretty hard with brain stuff, which is okay and happens, but is annoying! It's all the usual culprits come out to play --don't wanna do any grading or actual work, just want to burrow and hibernate because that's the correct way to do things when the sun goes away.
*I am real sad about living in the world I live in in 2025. I am sad that capitalism. I am sad that transphobia. I am sad that rampant xenophobia that's fucking up the lives of my students. I am sad, and it's hard and weird to just go on as normal.
*Tonight the polycool went out to see Club Drosselmeyer! I've been vaguely aware of this weird little Boston tradition since 2017, when I saw their unrelated show Save the Munbax, but never actually managed to try this one. It was fun! It's a lightweight puzzle hunt mixed with immersive theatre mixed with a dance floor. We had a very nice time, I think, and appreciated that we could sorta split up in ways that let those of us who wanted to just chill and work on puzzles do that, and those that wanted to go chat up all the characters do *that*.
*Thanksgiving was really good --Tuesday and I did it jointly with our collective families, down at my parents house. It worked out unsurprisingly well to have Cameron be in charge of the kitchen, with me providing big-sibling-bossiness as backup to their decisive understanding of what needed to happen. The driving from here and back was much less good, and I'm excessively grateful that I have train tickets for the next big trip.
*I don't know what else I've had in the way of ~adventures~ it's mostly just been the everyday. I liked the snow this morning, that greeted me when I went to bells. I've been trying to work on some projects, like actually getting the downstairs closet resorted and bringing some stuff I don't need to the school for coat drives and clothing swaps and the like. I'm teaching SCD this month at Cambridge class, so that's exciting! My weird tiny dance that I run is also really exciting, even if it's not as flashy --I feel good about it though!
My life is mostly good, but the ADHD and the seasonal stuff have been harder than usual. Millions of little ways to improve on that, I suppose. I picked up Habitica again, and that was helping for a time, but has maybe slipped out of grasp some. Hopefully tomorrow (don't look at the time, I mean Sunday when I say that) will be a good chance to catch up on a little bit of that.
Goodnight, I love you
~Sor
MOOP!
(we just figured out Blues Clues, y'all. :P)
Here's some stuff that's happened between Racheline and Patty's wedding and now:
*I have been struggling pretty hard with brain stuff, which is okay and happens, but is annoying! It's all the usual culprits come out to play --don't wanna do any grading or actual work, just want to burrow and hibernate because that's the correct way to do things when the sun goes away.
*I am real sad about living in the world I live in in 2025. I am sad that capitalism. I am sad that transphobia. I am sad that rampant xenophobia that's fucking up the lives of my students. I am sad, and it's hard and weird to just go on as normal.
*Tonight the polycool went out to see Club Drosselmeyer! I've been vaguely aware of this weird little Boston tradition since 2017, when I saw their unrelated show Save the Munbax, but never actually managed to try this one. It was fun! It's a lightweight puzzle hunt mixed with immersive theatre mixed with a dance floor. We had a very nice time, I think, and appreciated that we could sorta split up in ways that let those of us who wanted to just chill and work on puzzles do that, and those that wanted to go chat up all the characters do *that*.
*Thanksgiving was really good --Tuesday and I did it jointly with our collective families, down at my parents house. It worked out unsurprisingly well to have Cameron be in charge of the kitchen, with me providing big-sibling-bossiness as backup to their decisive understanding of what needed to happen. The driving from here and back was much less good, and I'm excessively grateful that I have train tickets for the next big trip.
*I don't know what else I've had in the way of ~adventures~ it's mostly just been the everyday. I liked the snow this morning, that greeted me when I went to bells. I've been trying to work on some projects, like actually getting the downstairs closet resorted and bringing some stuff I don't need to the school for coat drives and clothing swaps and the like. I'm teaching SCD this month at Cambridge class, so that's exciting! My weird tiny dance that I run is also really exciting, even if it's not as flashy --I feel good about it though!
My life is mostly good, but the ADHD and the seasonal stuff have been harder than usual. Millions of little ways to improve on that, I suppose. I picked up Habitica again, and that was helping for a time, but has maybe slipped out of grasp some. Hopefully tomorrow (don't look at the time, I mean Sunday when I say that) will be a good chance to catch up on a little bit of that.
Goodnight, I love you
~Sor
MOOP!
Get Rec’d with Amanda – Volume 104
Dec. 7th, 2025 10:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
smartbitches_feedWelcome back!
A nice variety in today’s post! There’s a YA holiday anthology, crafty non-fiction, a monster romance, and some saintly history.
What recommendations would you like to share? Let us know in the comments!
For the Rest of Us
A YA anthology edited by Dahlia Adler, who runs our monthly queer romance posts. If you’re always searching for other representations of cultural holidays, this is a great collection of authors.
Fourteen acclaimed authors showcase the beautiful and diverse ways holidays are observed in this festive anthology. Keep the celebrations going all year long with this captivating and joyful read!
From Lunar New Year to Solstice, Día de Los Muertos to Juneteenth, and all the incredible days in between, it’s clear that Americans don’t just have one holiday. Edited by the esteemed Dahlia Adler and authored by creators who have lived these festive experiences firsthand, this joyful collection of stories shows that there isn’t one way to experience a holiday.
With stories
Dahlia Adler, Sydney Taylor Honor winner of Going Bicoastal
Candace Buford, author of Good as Gold
A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy, authors of the Once & Future series
Preeti Chhibber, author of Payal Mehta’s Romance Revenge Plot
Natasha Díaz, award-winning author of Color Me In
Kelly Loy Gilbert, Stonewall Book Award winning author of Picture Us in the Light
Kosoko Jackson, USA Today bestselling author of The Forest Demands Its Due
Aditi Khorana, award-winning author of Mirror in the Sky
Katherine Locke, award-winning author of This Rebel Heart
Abdi Nazemian, Stonewall Book Award–winning author of Only This Beautiful Moment
Laura Pohl, New York Times bestselling author of The Grimrose Girls
Sonora Reyes, Pura Belpré Honor winner of The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School
Karuna Riazi, contributor to The Grimoire of Grim Fates
How to Be a Saint
I’m a Last Podcast on the Left listener and one of my favorite series they did was on the lives and deaths of saints. If you like wild, religious history, this is a worth a look.
Part history lesson. Part sacrilege. An entirely good time.
Think you have what it takes to be a saint? Lucky for you, thousands of souls have paved the way to heaven—creating a clear formula for getting the job done while also leaving a rich, disturbing history behind them. And in just five easy-ish steps, you can learn how to secure your own halo!
But even if the whole “dying and becoming a saint” thing doesn’t appeal to you, the bizarrely bureaucratic process of canonization is still guaranteed to delight and entertain. How to Be Saint is a compulsively readable and endlessly entertaining ride through Catholicism for anyone who enjoys their history with a side of comedy. From flying friars to severed heads, this book explores the wild lives (and deaths) of saints and pulls the curtain back on the oddest quirks of religious doctrine.
Whether you’re a lifelong Catholic or a weird-history enthusiast, How to Be a Saint is your ultimate guide to understanding the hilarious, fascinating, and shockingly true history of sainthood.
Little Woodchucks
Looking to pick up a hobby and increase family bonding time? Nick Offerman and Lee Buchanan have put together a primer on woodworking with some family friendly projects.
From New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-winning actor, and charismatically carnivorous woodworker Nick Offerman and his fellow champion creator Lee Buchanan (who is also not averse to delicious meats), an illustrated woodworking guide with projects for the whole family
Are you a parent or an otherwise amply sized Woodchuck interested in making projects with, or for, your kids? Or are you an aspiring small Woodchuck ready to get into some quality mischief that involves a hammer, nails, and your very own pocketknife? Well, do we have a guide for you!
Offerman Woodshop is opening its avuncular doors to woodworkers of all ages in the form of twelve brand-new, family-friendly undertakings perfect for kids, from beginner offerings like a handmade box kite to more challenging structures like a garden planter.
All projects are achievable and fun and encourage eye contact, giggles, handshakes, and other old-fashioned familial engagements, while introducing young woodworkers-to-be to the satisfaction and good clean fun of hands-on crafting.
No Planning for Love
For all my cozy monster romance lovers. I will say that the gargoyle on the cover gives me Mass Effect Asari vibes.
Welcome to Monstera Bluff, a quaint, coastal small town with a monstrously big secret.
After Cara Bishop’s terrible year of heartache and upheaval, she finally lands her dream job as a city planner… in a place that just so happens to be inhabited by monsters and witches she never knew existed. Go figure they’d grapple with the same urban planning issues as everyone else! As the shock of their existence wears off, she’s determined to land on her feet once and for all in this unusual yet charming place that feels so far away from everything she’s trying to escape. Except, a brooding gargoyle named Ben—who is frustratingly unavoidable both at work and outside of it—as well as some odious local power brokers seem quite unhappy with her sudden appearance in their hidden, magickal town.
Ben Garde-Pierre thought his humdrum road construction project for the town would proceed like any other. That is, until Cara—a human uninitiated with his world— arrives with a shiny new job at town hall, shaking up his entire life. Her presence proves to be an unexpected though not unwelcome complication. Ben soon recognizes he must protect her from a series of escalating forces that would drive her away, including his own burgeoning attraction to her.
Despite these obstacles, will Cara reclaim her career and make a life for herself in Monstera Bluff? Or will this be yet another mistake in her rollercoaster of a year?
Rec-Cember Day 4-6: 3 Babylon 5 recs [2 fic, 1 fanart] + a commenting success story
Dec. 6th, 2025 10:43 pmsholioI figured that I'd group these together as they're by the same author. I wanted to talk about this anyway, because this is one of the more gratifying experiences I've had with leaving comments on older fic. Basically, I commented on a long WIP that hadn't been updated in several years, and the author not only wrote the rest of it but ALSO, to my delighted amazement, posted another long fic in the same universe, and started posting some new fanart too. It was wonderful. ♥ Never be afraid to comment even years later; sometimes you not only make someone's day but get lovely fanworks in return.
( 3 Londo/G'Kar Babylon 5 recs (by the same creator) cut for spoilers )
( 3 Londo/G'Kar Babylon 5 recs (by the same creator) cut for spoilers )
Various Links 11/30 - 12/6
Dec. 6th, 2025 11:52 pmsenmutMore Joy Day announced
Jane Siberry has a new song free to download - Very Political, called "bailout" and it hit hard
Scarpetta, the Patricia Cornwell series, is getting a TV Show.
Latest Doctor Who BluRay release short film
Sheriden/Delenn gif set with Tolkien words
A "Punny" photo
SarahSeeAndersen cartoon about cats and hot pads
Kermit the Assassin and further commentary
Sissy Spacek Photo set
The Restorer and the Butler - haunted house story
The Kents and the Pediatrician - DC Comics fanfic
Human and Alien - a story of Uncanny Valley
Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus in their later years - Fic and art
Good Wicked! meta
Mood board for the original Thrawn Trilogy
Jane Siberry has a new song free to download - Very Political, called "bailout" and it hit hard
Scarpetta, the Patricia Cornwell series, is getting a TV Show.
Latest Doctor Who BluRay release short film
Sheriden/Delenn gif set with Tolkien words
A "Punny" photo
SarahSeeAndersen cartoon about cats and hot pads
Kermit the Assassin and further commentary
Sissy Spacek Photo set
The Restorer and the Butler - haunted house story
The Kents and the Pediatrician - DC Comics fanfic
Human and Alien - a story of Uncanny Valley
Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus in their later years - Fic and art
Good Wicked! meta
Mood board for the original Thrawn Trilogy
Zootopia 2
Dec. 7th, 2025 12:21 amsilver_chipmunkGot up this morning at 9:00 for my Al-anon meeting. Had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and headed out by bus.
The meeting was very good. I went to the diner afterward, getting a ride from S. At the diner I got my usual bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin and iced coffee.
I calledmashfanficchick and e decided to go see Zootopia 2. I wanted to see it for two reasons, one, because I loved the first movie, and two, because Oldest Brother loved the first movie so much I wanted to see it for his memory.
So I took th 13 bus into Flushing and the subway from there, and ogt tomashfanficchick's and we decided to go to a 7:10 showing at Atlas park, after some weird stuff went on with trying to get tickets at a showing in a closer theater.
We took a Lyft over, and ze went and got snacks while I ewnt to the seats.
The movie was great. Oldest Brother would have loved it. I so wish he could have seen it, I hope that he can from wherever he is.
Anyway after the movie we ent to Chilies to get dinner but they weren't seating anyone, so we went to California Pizza Kitchen instead. I had the wild mushroom mac and cheese, it was delicious, but it seemed rather small. Still it was filling and I don't need any more calories.
We took a Lyft back to zer place and I'm going to spend the night. We bought the train tickets for Arisia, so that's good.
Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. My meetings and the people there.
3. Good movies.
4. Good dinner.
5. Train tickets bought.
6. The FWiB got his the Christmas card I sent today.
The meeting was very good. I went to the diner afterward, getting a ride from S. At the diner I got my usual bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin and iced coffee.
I called
mashfanficchick and e decided to go see Zootopia 2. I wanted to see it for two reasons, one, because I loved the first movie, and two, because Oldest Brother loved the first movie so much I wanted to see it for his memory.So I took th 13 bus into Flushing and the subway from there, and ogt to
mashfanficchick's and we decided to go to a 7:10 showing at Atlas park, after some weird stuff went on with trying to get tickets at a showing in a closer theater.We took a Lyft over, and ze went and got snacks while I ewnt to the seats.
The movie was great. Oldest Brother would have loved it. I so wish he could have seen it, I hope that he can from wherever he is.
Anyway after the movie we ent to Chilies to get dinner but they weren't seating anyone, so we went to California Pizza Kitchen instead. I had the wild mushroom mac and cheese, it was delicious, but it seemed rather small. Still it was filling and I don't need any more calories.
We took a Lyft back to zer place and I'm going to spend the night. We bought the train tickets for Arisia, so that's good.
Gratitude List:
1. The FWiB.
2. My meetings and the people there.
3. Good movies.
4. Good dinner.
5. Train tickets bought.
6. The FWiB got his the Christmas card I sent today.
This is the December 7th Weekly Megapost & Chat!
Dec. 7th, 2025 12:02 amkalloway posting in mobilegamesThis is the December 7th Weekly Megapost & Chat!
Things you can do in the comments-
- trade friend codes
- ask about games
- post about in-game events
- anything you don't want to make an individual post about
- share how the RNG is treating you
Quick admin note: While fanworks may be posted here, on weekends, I have amended the guideline to note that no AI slop/generative-AI content may be posted. (Also, communities likevideogamefanworks might be a better fit anyway.)
Things you can do in the comments-
- trade friend codes
- ask about games
- post about in-game events
- anything you don't want to make an individual post about
- share how the RNG is treating you
Quick admin note: While fanworks may be posted here, on weekends, I have amended the guideline to note that no AI slop/generative-AI content may be posted. (Also, communities like
videogamefanworks might be a better fit anyway.)Sunday Word: Couchant
Dec. 7th, 2025 11:00 amsallymn posting in 1word1daycouchant [kou-chuhnt]
adjective:
1 lying down especially with the head up; crouching
1 (Heraldry) represented as lying on its stomach with its hind legs and forelegs pointed forward.
(click to enlarge)
Examples:
We see Kim getting dressed or undressed, lounging poolside or couchant on beds or 'in my closet in Miami trying on clothes.' (Stephen Burt, Kim, Caitlyn, and the People We Want to See, The New Yorker, July 2015)
As a boy I first scaled this lion couchant by scrambling up the gritstone box of its nose and grabbing handfuls of its mane, namely long, wiry grasses. (Tony Greenbank, Cafe with a view - and a mugful of memories, The Guardian, January 2016)
The centre, which is in the light, is occupied by a couchant lion growling, his one paw on a bundle of arrows, the symbol of the United Provinces. (Sarah Knowles Bolton, Famous European Artists)
It may be seen in various forms on a number of monumental effigies and brasses, usually with the couchant white lion of the house of March as a pendant, but on the accession of Richard III the lion was replaced by his silver boar. (Hope, Sir W H St John, Heraldry for Craftsmen & Designers)
Ahead could be discerned the famous rock, although viewed from an altitude and 'end on' its well-known appearance as a lion couchant was absent. (Percy F Westerman, The Airship Golden Hind)
Origin:
Heraldic couchant ("lying down with the head up") is late 15c, from the French present participle of couch c1300, 'to spread or lay on a surface, to overlay,' from Old French couchier 'to lay down, place; go to bed, put to bed,' from Latin collocare 'to lay, place, station, arrange,' from assimilated form of com 'with, together' + locare 'to place,' from locus 'a place' (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Works are revealed!
Dec. 6th, 2025 09:52 pmfic_in_a_box_mod posting in ficinaboxReveals!
Works have revealed! Creator reveals will be on December 20th at 10 pm EST (countdown).
Reading lists will be posted in the afternoon EST from December 8th to December 19th, with a schedule going up by the 8th! These are, essentially, every work in the collection (unless the creator has opted out) at least once split out by length and medium. They will be posted at this tag (link), where you can see past year's reading lists as well!
You can still post late treats! The collection will be moderated until Creator Reveals, and then left open and unmoderated after that, so there's no deadline on treating! If you're looking for people to treat, head to the following two places:
- The pinch hitter requests post! There are currently 19 requests, 7 of which have at least one gift!
- The requests app!
If there are any issues or anything that we can help with, please contact us asap! We did check everyone's gifts for the basics (fandom, relationship tag, medium, and length), but checking never catches everything so even if it's something we would have checked we may have missed it.
Mod Contact: ficinaboxmod@gmail.com | Screened Contact Post
cat health worries
Dec. 6th, 2025 09:13 pmredbirdFirst: The cat in question seems to be basically well.
So,cattitude has been worrying on and off that our cat Kaja was getting skinny. A few days agp. that got to the point of calling the vet and then taking the cat in for a check-up.
At the exam, the vet told Cattitude that Kaja has not lost weight; if anything, she has gained an ounce or two. What's going on is, the cat has lost some muscle mass, which has led to some redistribution of her weight, and what Cattitude noted was that her legs were thinner. The vet said it was probably arthritis, drew blood to test for some more serious problems, and sent her home.
We got the results this morning, and they are reassuring: Kaja's kidney function, liver function, and thyroid are all fine. So is her blood sugar.
The email said we could have them do X-rays to check for arthritis, but that would require sedating the cat.
Or, they can assume it's arthritis, and give her monthly injections of a pain-killer to treat that, and see how she's doing in a few months.
The third choice is to just monitor the cat's health for now, and give her omega-3 supplements. We need to discuss the choices, but it's Saturday, and none of them involves "so call the vet and set this up right away."
So,
cattitude has been worrying on and off that our cat Kaja was getting skinny. A few days agp. that got to the point of calling the vet and then taking the cat in for a check-up.At the exam, the vet told Cattitude that Kaja has not lost weight; if anything, she has gained an ounce or two. What's going on is, the cat has lost some muscle mass, which has led to some redistribution of her weight, and what Cattitude noted was that her legs were thinner. The vet said it was probably arthritis, drew blood to test for some more serious problems, and sent her home.
We got the results this morning, and they are reassuring: Kaja's kidney function, liver function, and thyroid are all fine. So is her blood sugar.
The email said we could have them do X-rays to check for arthritis, but that would require sedating the cat.
Or, they can assume it's arthritis, and give her monthly injections of a pain-killer to treat that, and see how she's doing in a few months.
The third choice is to just monitor the cat's health for now, and give her omega-3 supplements. We need to discuss the choices, but it's Saturday, and none of them involves "so call the vet and set this up right away."
Seeking recommendations for puberty books that are fat-positive
Dec. 6th, 2025 07:35 pmlannamichaelsI just read The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Valorie Lee Schaefer for content, focusing on a few things, but primarily ovulation and eating disorders. It doesn't mention ovulation, and while the eating disorder section itself is fine, I wasn't impressed with the overall section on food, and there were other parts of this book that really rubbed me wrong, especially the emphasis on smiling. It's weirdly anti-salt and doesn't seem to believe that insomnia exists.
This book kept making me think "this would be great to use in some kind of dissertation on a very specific culture that this came out of, telling the young girls in this culture how best to grow up to be women." The examples alone of what concerns they thought the girls had about their bodies and their social interactions (they all seem to have very mean friends and want larger breasts, except for the one girl with large breasts, whose friends all dropped her for being ugly and fat. No one is actually fat in this book. Also their bra size chart doesn't go above 36D; people thinking that breasts can't possibly be beyond that was the source of a great many problems in my life, and I kept thinking, while reading this book, that this book would have been negatively helpful to me in my actual experience of puberty.)
So.
Does anyone have recommendations for "what to expect when you're expecting to go through puberty" that are fat-positive? You know, something like "it's very genetic and it's not because you ate too much junk food"?
And is more honest about period pain, and mentions -- at the very least -- ovulation. And that you can get back pain from your breasts.
And also -- okay, there were a bunch of things in this book that made me go "this is the opposite of helpful, I understand why you think it's helpful, but trust me, while you're not contributing to the problem, you're also not helping."
But really, the fat-positive thing would be helpful, and also more realistic about numbers on scales, please and thank you.
(And maybe ones that don't assume everyone has a mom???? I'm just. I'm just. This book is so oddly heteronormative for a book that has nothing in it about dating.)
Poem: "Portrait of the Artist Feeling Liminal"
Dec. 6th, 2025 08:25 pmjjhunterThe pearl at my ear is a lacquered grey seed
My lips strong red from wind's chaffing
I do not feel my middle age as any lessening
Here I am, a portrait of myself more vividly
Among old oaks I am still a hot young thing
Mind like a swallow sketching possibility on the wing
They say uncertainty ferments fear
I feel the old familiar thrill of stepping out of known into becoming
___
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
My lips strong red from wind's chaffing
I do not feel my middle age as any lessening
Here I am, a portrait of myself more vividly
Among old oaks I am still a hot young thing
Mind like a swallow sketching possibility on the wing
They say uncertainty ferments fear
I feel the old familiar thrill of stepping out of known into becoming
___
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
[Daf Yomi] Zevachim perek 6-8
Dec. 6th, 2025 05:40 pmlannamichaelsMy notes on these. Still not much to say but it's been, quite frankly, better than Nashim.
( Read more... )