this local woman who has a tomboy kid reached out to my butch group to see if a few of us wouldn’t mind having brunch with her family and a couple more of the girls tomboy friends, cuz she read that it’s important for your development to have adult versions of “people like you” in your life when you’re growing up. which is definitely true. so we’re going over tomorrow. can you believe that? like, I’m gonna cry.
Op how did it go if I may ask?
Hi! Figure I’ll answer everyone at once here. It was kinda incredible… it was three little tomboy kids, 5 adult butch pals, and a couple of the parents, eating pancakes and muffins and playing games for a few hours. Learned a lot about each other and told each other stories, both good and bad. We lent the kind of advice that these good natured straight parents just don’t have the frame of reference for, and we talked about what we did for work and school, learned about what sports they play, suggested reading Tamora Pierce. Colored some protest posters too — the kids came up with all the words on their own, stuff like “were here whether you like it or not!”
It is awful to think about all the BS that these children have had to go through already — weird to think that we (the adult butches) know these stories of exclusion and hostility so VISCERALLY from our own and each other’s lives and childhoods, but hearing them come out of the mouth of a 10 year old girl is… something else. they have had to learn how to stand up for themselves, and they’ve got such thick skin now, but… most of us learn that so much later, or lose it as we leave childhood, and I’m so confident that at least THESE KIDS have a very real support system, parents who love them for who they are and want to encourage them to be happy and healthy even if it means life in the outside world will be harder. I dunno. I feel really hopeful.
This made me want to go out and buy some Rick Riordan books immediately. Hell, I might actually do that. Anybody have recommendations? @fandomsandfeminism what’s a good place to start for someone who has never read him before?
Easiest place to start is with Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1: The Lightning Thief. Fair warning though, the books start off kinda corny but get better as they go.
If you don’t want to work through the first 5 books (which is the first series), you could probably get away with reading wikipedia summaries and jumping right into Heroes of Olympus #1 The Lost Hero.
His Magnus Chase series is fantastic.
Probably my favorite. I suppose you could read it in isolation, but have the Percy Jackson background makes those times when we see Annabeth and Percy so much cooler.
Remember, Debbie Reynolds was so much more than just Carrie’s mom. She was a beautiful, amazing, wickedly funny woman in her own right. She loved her daughter and she made her daughter who she was, but it is a disservice to her memory to shrink her down to just being Carrie’s mom.
Also, because it needs to be said, Debbie was a huge supporter of the mentally ill. She helped found The Thalians, a mental health charity in 1955 and served as chairwoman for the organization for fifty-six years. She was an amazing woman and will be missed.
knitting in the dark 