Important thread. The degree to which we don’t widely acknowledge that pregnancy and birth *permanently change bodies*—sometimes in disabling ways—is maddening.
Just one of the reasons the adoption-as-an-alternative-to-abortion thing is bullshit.
Pregnancy and birth are horrific things to put someone through if they’re not 100% down. Whether anyone wants the resulting kid is irrelevant to that.
In fact I’d argue almost no one who gives birth has actually had the opportunity to give informed consent, because WE DON’T TALK ABOUT THE RISKS. An awful lot of providers don’t talk about them either bc they think people already know or “don’t want to scare people.”
I am rewatching the first episode of Hijinks & Handlebars @HandleStream for Reasons* and I might have to livetweet it.
*I need to send an example to my mom to explain 1) what a #TTRPG actual play is, and 2) why someone would ever watch one.
Foreshadowing yes, spoilers no. (At least nothing I believe to be a spoiler, as of the place I am in watching, which is having just completed Ep 37, Council of Goth.)
Since then I’ve discovered other RPGs, learnt whole new vocabularies, made new friends in my town and online, and discovered a hobby that’s getting me through a pandemic.
I’ve been immersed in multiple new worlds with powerful stories and some of my favorite characters in fiction (thanks, @Laggardson@KWilliamWhite@dungeon_dudes).
Taking the obscurity clause relatively seriously, my answer is Royal Fingerbowl. Introduced to them by this copy of “Happy Birthday, Sabo!” from a now-passed cousin who was a friend and fan of theirs in NOLA.
There’s something in their dark sense of humor, human blues, and eclecticism that’s pretty core to my whole deal.
Here’s their epically weird and heartbreaking “Toby”:
So much is happening that I didn’t realize until just now it’s the 15th anniversary of Katrina and the levee breaches in New Orleans.
I’d been thinking of that time over the last few days, with a hurricane with my name ramming into the Gulf Coast, but the anniversary snuck up on me.
Between May 2006 and Jan 2007, I made four trips down with friends to do house-gutting and other relief work. It was only a total of 30 days or so, but man. That time was EFFICIENT in reshaping me.