My Muse

“Spine Corset” by Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen, SS ‘98.

Monach butterflies (Danaus plexippus) rest in a tree in California, USA

by Robin Gwen Agarwal

palestinian civilians pictured in 'the spirit of palestine,' taken during a full scale uprising against the israeli occupation, c. 1987.

you are not the real khanos

I literally am… here’s a screenshot of some selfies dated 2016 :p

Former water treatment works, Seoul Forest

Anyieth Ayor

One thing that always strikes me as interesting about fandom is how institutionally conservative it is.

That's not to say that it's necessarily ideologically conservative (though I do see more than my fair share of misogyny, racism, ableism, acephobia, transphobia, imperialism apologia, fascism apologia, etc.), bur instead that fandom is broadly a community that privileges tradition and the status quo over change.

There is a veneration of the older Big Name Fans, particularly those involved in the creation of AO3. This often comes with the implication that they were faultless and pure of heart, and if they argue(d) for something, then it must be the right answer.

That ties into the originalist push that is often used to oppose changes to the community or to AO3 specifically--it was perfect in its creation, the original intents were entirely right and implemented correctly, and any change is a violation of that impeccable original design and so is bad. The old laws (Don't Like, Don't Read etc.) are also often still pushed as the law of the land, with limited conversation about new or updated cultural rules or norms.

There is also a strong implicit or explicit in-group mentality that I see, often also used to oppose change. Fandom is by women, for women, and any change must consider women first, last, and always. And if you are doing or asking for something that might impact women (specifically the women who are currently welcome in fandom), it's because of misogyny.

I'm generalizing, of course--fandom, like any other community, has a diversity of ideas and viewpoints. But I do wonder, if I asked people who consider themselves part of Capital-F Fandom whether they would support cultural or structural changes to the community or to AO3, how many would say yes.

Mia Gosset lighter case and cigarette holder

“Through Beaded Veils” by Marcin Górski

Creative writing is way closer to engineering than I think a lot of people expect. It takes creativity and imagination to decide what to write about. It takes a lot of honed dedication to craft to really make the word-to-word prose sparkle. But all the stuff in between? Knowing how long an idea should be, what medium it should be, how many characters, and how their motivations need to interact, all that shit is basically engineering.