3+ day, 3+ hour ago (366+ words) The last time I saw my grandmother, she kept asking, "Is the other Frances your sister?" My grandfather had noticed the changes to my shape in the months before his death, too, remarking every time I saw him that I looked fit. We would talk about the tomatoes and garlic I was growing in my small garden plot, how I still had not grown any tomatoes as fragrant or flavorful as his. A compliment he repeated was, "Farming looks good on you, Fran." Grandpa, similarly gentle, complimented my hair when I came home from college with it boyishly short. He taught me to clean a fish when I was seven, an important skill for his oldest grandchild to have regardless of birth sex. My mother's mother and father's father both seemed to accept that their grandchildren did not need to…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (411+ words) At my job my boss laid out very clear expectations for what needed to happen for me to get a raise and I did hit all of those marks, numbers and expectations. But when I sat down with HR to discuss my performance, she said I need to show up with more positive energy and contribute more in meetings to get my raise. Summer: Gods, I hate corporate unculture so much. This grates my autistic brain because you were set very obvious criteria for a raise. That implies an agreement with conditions. You met their conditions and they failed to meet you in turn. You've got two major paths here. Acquiescence or friction. Friction being to take it up with HR and actively oppose the unfair conditions that are imposed on you. It's the "right' thing to do, but not…...

3+ day, 23+ hour ago (688+ words) 1. Compression Boots ($500)2. Wilson Vest ($54)3. Wilson Tennis Pants ($98)4. Preeti Mistry Dal Blend, Burlap and Barrel ($12)5.Smart Sleep Wakeup Light ($149)6. East Fork Every Day Bowl 4-pack ($141) Michigan Big Logo Hoodie ($49)Glass Prep Mixing Bowls ($45)Bombas Gripper Slippers ($48)Zojirushi Water Bottle ($36.76)Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Pro Nonstick Bakeware Ultimate Set of 6 ($139.95)Yoto Player ($109.99) I guess this year what I want is a lot of "Dad who doesn't get out much because his child is always sick" stuff. For starters, Michigan hoodie (my wife thinks I have enough hoodies but sadly" she is wrong) for those chilly 6 a.m. morning walks where I'm wearing a baby and walking this lunatic dog who lives in my house. I think I'm ready for a better water bottle, particularly because I keep dropping my current water bottle on the ground. 1. Powerball Ticket ($2)2. For Them Trad Boxer ($28)3. Loop Earplugs ($48)4. Smart Projector…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (343+ words) Seasonally, my questioning was appropriate. The deciduous trees lining Prospect Park are just beginning to shed their leaves, it's apple season at the local farmers markets, and most importantly, it's Femme Top Fall. What better time to embrace the femme top identity than right now? I'm a firm believer that the best tops are former bottoms! This is perhaps a self-serving take, but I do think there's merit to the idea. We know what works, because it's worked on us (save for the usual caveats that everyone's experience is different, bottoms are not a monolith, etc etc). ANYWAY, if you're a soon-to-be-former-bottom reading this piece, it's time to step up and do your part to end the top shortage. The future belongs to us, former bottoms. Topping is a skill, it turns out, and it takes time and practice to…...

5+ day, 19+ hour ago (394+ words) 1. Pac Man Ghost Purse Charms ($20)2. Pokeball Pill Case ($35)3. Iridescent Earrings ($45)4. Rain Clouds Earrings ($45)5. The Siya Berry Flower Crown Hoops ($105)6. Gold Heart Studs ($86) Plus, I would be remiss if I didn't plug at least a few shops that focus on beads, including SweetgrassCrafts and RebelinaShop, both of which have beautiful and affordable options. 1. Yaakni' Chokma' Blanket ($440)2. Mahli Designed King Sheet Sets ($375)3. Modern Hummingbird Throw Blanket ($73)4. Birch Bark Standing Sage Holder ($36)5. Turtle Potholders ($20)6. Moon Quilt Holiday Gift Set ($379) Indigo Arrows, an Indigenous-led Interior Design and Textile Studio based in Treaty One Territory, has lovely options like the "Love" Swaddle Blanket for the baby children in your life and a Moon Quilt Holiday Set you could use for a all-encompassing housewarming gift for any U-Haulers in your life. Finally, Kotah Bear has a variety of affordable options, including this plush bathrobe that I…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago (505+ words) How's your October been? Sending you good dreams, Cowboy I (28, trans masc non binary) have had recurring nightmares about having to go back to school (both high school AND college) because I missed one class and I'm always late and forget what I am supposed to work on! I graduated high school 10 years ago and college 4 years ago. " Beks L Thank you for the gift of your dream. Also, not to make this about me in any way, but I identify with this SO MUCH. I, too, have had recurring nightmares about being forced to return to high school at my present age, and it's always awful and terrible and, when I wake up, I swear that even if that did happen I wouldn't go back. They couldn't make me. Cast your gaze backwards. What keeps you on the hook?...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (855+ words) First up, we have our top seven picks for the month, followed by the rest of the titles we're hotly anticipating. This memoir in essays explores chronic illness, grief, identity, and navigating society from a queer and Black lens. Author Danielle Bainbridge is an academic and playwright who co-created PBS Origins. I'm new to Bainbridge's work, but I love a memoir in essays! And now enjoy the rest of our most anticipated LGBTQ books for November 2025! A small town murder mystery YA, Girls Who Play Dead is about queer protagonist Mikky moving home to help his sister through the grief of her best friend Erin's murder. Here we have a 90s-set romance about aspiring poet Bird and music-loving Jessa, whose paths cross only because their two best friends start dating. They conspire to break those friends up, but this scheme…...

5+ day, 20+ hour ago (416+ words) Have you ever read a headline and had to blink and start again because surely the madlibs of words you just read was a fever dream and not actually what it said? That was my experience when I read that Doechii gave Ayo Edebiri a lap dance on stage at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival this weekend. B Now, I know this was just a fun performance between two queer celebs (who maybe are even friends, I don't know their lives!) but all I'm saying is, I think a writer with a WIP about a bisexual Grammy-Award-winning singer and a queer Emmy-winning actor falling in love could really do something with this. The reactions to this have also been delightful, my favorites being the perhaps obvious but still hilarious, simple yet impactful, "Thank you, chef." Because "thank you, chef," indeed....

4+ week, 1+ day ago (1560+ words) Nic Anstett is a writer from Baltimore, MD who specializes in the bizarre, spectacular, and queer. She is a graduate from the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop, University of Oregon's MFA program, and the Tin House Summer Workshop where she was a 2021 Scholar. Her work is published and forthcoming in Witness Magazine, Passages North, North American Review, Lightspeed, Bat City Review, Sycamore Review, and elsewhere. She currently lives in Annapolis, MD with her girlfriend and is at work on a collection of short stories and maybe a novel. I don't need to tell you that it's been a scary year to be trans. The horrors are blasted across our newsfeeds on a daily basis. There is no shortage of scary shit out there, but I find myself turning more and more to horror literature to escape and make sense…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (206+ words) The following review of Pluribus contains some spoilers for the first two episodes. It's easy to map Gilligan's disdain for AI onto the story unfolding in'Pluribus. The series itself features a disclaimer before the credits noting it was indeed made by humans without the help of generative AI. Gilligan has been a vocal hater of AI (as if I needed more reasons to love his work). "What is more important than being creative?" he posited in a recent interview on the subject. But Carol should be allowed to experience anger. We all should. The ruling class and the tech companies that line their pockets would rather us be docile, happy for empty reasons like consumerism and false promises. The fact that it's Carol's rage that threatens the hive? Yeah, that's a clear message about how those in power fear our…...