mf

So I have a lot of thoughts about stuff and I don't know where to put them all so I'm putting them here.

I've been thinking about fairy tales, and detective fiction. ( Read more... )

Fic: I'm A Vampire

Fandom: Silicon Valley
Pairing: Jared Dunn/Richard Hendricks
Tags: Vampire AU, Codependence, Pining, Secrets, Possessiveness, ruthlessness, catharsis via orgasms

7519 words.

A vampire story about pining, codependence, queerness, friendship, success, and the secrets people keep from themselves.

Fic: Five Years

Fandom: Gotham
Pairing: Alfred Pennyworth/Bruce Wayne
Tags: pining, codependence, masturbation, control, self-doubt, dildos, feelings, etc

7740 words.

Summary: “Is it just me, or has Bruce been turned into…” Lucius Fox coughs. “Well. Some sort of black-haired Ganymede?”

I've been meaning to post about this for [checks date] nearly four months now -

In February thedeadparrot wrote a Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 story for me, for Fandom Trumps Hate 2017. It is great and you should read it!

'Til You Make It by thedeadparrot

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Fandom: Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
Pairing: Chloe/June Colburn

4100 words. No archive warnings apply.

Summary: "I ran into Ellen Page yesterday in a Duane Reade condiments aisle," Chloe says. "Gave her this long sob story about my girlfriend and her tragic medical condition that makes her eyes really big and forces her to wear ugly sweaters, and she invited me to her birthday party."

Right, so, the question is: can you culturally appropriate food.

My immediate instinct is to respond "sure" but obviously the issue is: I know maybe a little more than average about food and I have a fairly decent idea how to unpack all kinds of aspects of food, but the notion of cultural appropriation is something for which I have few tools. So, idk. Be kind.

Anyway if you go with the definition of cultural appropriation as, culture A adopting someone culture B uses/does, and like, think of it as Not A Good Thing when culture A is dominant and is depriving, either directly or indirectly, culture B of its identity or even intellectual property, livelihood, or just the credit for having the awesome idea of using/doing the thing, then here are some examples of culturally appropriating food.

The thing that immediately came to mind was potatoes, because that's what I was reading about yesterday.

The potato plant is from the Andes, and in the first text I read, it is described as having been consumed by "indians" for millennia, until is was "discovered" by "Spanish conquistadors" and taken back to Europe (and then, blah blah, eventually dragged back across the Atlantic to, among other places, Quebec.) I shit you not, that is what the website of the Producteurs de Pommes de Terre du Québec actually says. The text then goes on and on about how Frederic the Great championed the potato in Prussia, and how instrumental Prussia's agricultural policy was, and then it makes an even bigger deal out of French agronome Auguste Parmentier.

So - with my limited social science knowledge, I feel unqualified to explain why/how the actual bringing of a plant from one continent might be described as cultural appropriation, because I'm not super comfortable claiming to know the first thing about the variety of people chilling in the Andes in the 15th century. BUT. The notion of describing the potato as being "discovered" by violent Spanish dudebros, and then making the entire topic of potato consumption about European insightfulness/creativity/sagacious choices, seems pretty cut and dry. At least, from where I'm sitting.

So yeah I hope I'm not misunderstanding the concept of cultural appropriation! Plz to be commenting, if I am. Also hit me with more questions about food/agriculture at any time.

twitter being down is INCREDIBLY DISTRESSING

IS EVERYONE OKAY

As some of you know, I've had some Yuletide drama.

On December 20th, I posted a 980-word story to the Yuletide collection, intending to complete it before reveal. This was my fifth Yuletide.

On December 21st, I got this from yuletide mods:

Dear emef

The story you have submitted to the Yuletide collection (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2805509) is too short. A story under 1k words in length is not a suitable gift for your recipient and does not meet the challenge requirements.

Please complete this story by 19:00 UTC December 22 and let us know when you have updated it.

If you do not complete this story promptly, you will be banned from further participation. We also require you to complete a story for the New Year's Resolution collection before signing up again.

Yuletide mods

On December 22nd, the story was complete, betaed, etc etc.

Eight months later, on August 5, Yuletide mods wrote that their earlier email was incorrect and that I would not have been banned if I had not completed the story. If I had left the incomplete story up, the penalty would have been to write a story for the New Year's Resolution collection.

( you may be thinking to yourself: ...wait )

Locking down this journal, but very happy to add fannish fen. Just ask.