Notices by Nicola Elle 🏳️‍⚧️ (nicolaelle@chaosfem.tw)

@jeffowski This. So much this. I tell my students - business students - that every safety regulation is written in blood.

In my time in the queer community, I’ve been to a few Prides. I’ve been to some of the smallest and some of the largest; I’ve nearly collapsed from exhaustion at Nyack, NY #Pride, I’ve partied with Equality Texas in Austin, and I’ve marched to massive crowds down the streets of Washington D.C. during #WorldPride this year.

That said, there is something about hometown Pride that’s different.

To understand why, some understanding of the queer ecosystem in a fairly large city is needed. It’s a community with neighborhoods, though not in the same way as the cis would understand the term. Many of the social structures and outlets of cisheteronormative society are tainted by the assumptions cishets demand, so we built our own. There are queer choirs, there are queer bands, there are queer dance troupes. We have queer football teams (both American and association - and, I suspect somewhere, Canadian and Australian and rugby), queer baseball and softball (and a shoutout to any queer cricket teams out there), queer basketball, queer hockey, queer cycling, queer roller derby. We have groups for LGBTQ+ kids, for those just coming to terms with being LGBTQ+, and for senior citizens who’ve been through decades of this. We have queer groups for just about every ethnic and religious group imaginable.

In other words, within any large community, there is a queer community within, which (like the larger community) are designed to explore almost every interest imaginable, in an environment far more welcoming than cishet society provides.

And the one place where all of those groups come together is Pride.

It is the gathering place - the queer community, in all its beautiful and quirky glory. The point is inclusion rather than exclusion; all of us are excluded from areas because of who we are, so the point is to be as inclusive as we can. It’s as close to a general assembly of queer community as exists.

It is a family reunion, in the best sense of the term.

And no matter where we’ve gone, it’s always good to come back home, to our found family.

Can you dig it?

:QueerCatHeart_Trans:

#queer #trans #lgbtq

Others have given their thoughts on the struggle of being #trans tonight. I thought about giving my go-to words on the subject, until they kind of expanded.

You must survive. Too many enemies would delight in your death.

Let me expand on that so you understand it.

You must survive. You are worthy of survival, you are deserving of survival. The world needs your light and life, especially now. Light the way, especially for the generations to come.

And the last thing this world needs is encouragement for people who would delight in the pain and suffering of others. Let your survival, let your joy in the face of their monstrosities, be a middle finger to their pathetic existence.

You Must Survive.

(And, by now, if you are USian, that means seeking to leave the country in an organized manner if you can, and having an escape plan if you can't. Even if it's just a go-bag and a planned route, have an escape plan.)

Speaking as someone who’s studied a bit of economics, I suspect that, if the person who put this up REALLY understood economics, they would be a socialist.

#maga #economics #socialism

The words of Hannah Arendt, from "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report On The Banality of Evil" come to mind today:

“And just as you supported and carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of a number of other nations—as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world—we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want to share the earth with you. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang.”

My message to you, on this day.

Find a way.

Any way.

Survive.

You must survive.

Too many enemies would delight in your death.

Don't give them the pleasure.

Find a way.

:QueerCatHeart_Trans:

#trans #transgender

Who knew, fortyish years ago and watching my dad read "The Art of the Deal", that I was quite literally looking on the seeds of America's destruction?

:QueerCatHeart_Trans: Happy #transdayofvisibility , everyone!

We are here. We will always be here. We're not going away.

I'm Nikki. I'm a college professor here in Upstate NY. I started transitioning in 2019, and publicly came out in 2022. Right now life is interesting, but the last couple of years I wouldn't trade for anything.

I'm me. I'm finally me. :QueerCatHeart_Trans:

#trans #transgender

Every May pre-COVID, at the school I have taught at for years, Chuck Schumer would show up for graduation. He would give the same speech almost every year, so identical that many of us faculty could lip-sync it.

The theme of this speech? "Go for it!" Take that risk; be daring.

Last week, Chuck Schumer didn't go for it.

So we wish he would just go away instead.

#schumer

@bsletten And I ponder the irony that the best poutine shop in my town closed for good on Saturday...

Woke up this morning, looked in the mirror… loved what I saw… and smiled.

Everyone should have the chance to wake up, look in the mirror, and love who they are. It took me close to half a century to get to this point; at least I have seen this day.

:QueerCatHeart_Trans:

#trans

I’ve known a lot of trans people over the years. Living as trans pre-transition fucks with a person’s self esteem and will to live. Transitioning fixes some of that, but not everything - and the scars from that will definitely linger. Just your daily reminder that you are far more amazing and incredible than you realize, and there are reasons for that.

(Also, be kind to yourself.)

:QueerCatHeart_Trans:

#trans #transgender

Wow. I’ve never been cursed by a fortune cookie before.

@roadriverrail Oh, that sounds so cute!

And Kintsugi is so representative of us. We break, only to reform ourselves far more beautiful than before, with the very cracks that formed our brokenness being used to shine.

On Saturday, I voted.

I found it a rather different experience from what I had encountered in the past. As such, I felt the act, the decisions, the reasoning behind all of it, worthy of a bit of analysis. Why do I vote the way I do? And why does this one feel so consequential?

All of this can be found in my most recent entry to Crashing the Gates, "Silence Equals Death".

And, if you can, don't forget to vote!

https://nicolaelle.substack.com/p/silence-equals

#trans #transgender #voting #election

@revoluciana Radical optimism.

Okay.

A bunch of old trans folks, who've all seen a lot of shit, meeting together in a coffee shop.

That's my dream. That's what keeps me going. To be an old woman, comfortable with herself and her life, chatting away in a coffee shop with friends.

:QueerCatHeart_Trans:

@pdcawley @revoluciana That's one of the critical things to note about all of this - just how many people are transitioning later in life. We realize that life is too short to waste time being something we're not.

Shortly before I turned 40, I was at a stoplight thinking about my grandparents. One died in an accident, but one had lived into his 80s, one had lived into her 90s, and one was still living (and IS still living, at 102!). I realized I could potentially live 50 more years.

And the thought of living a half-century more as a guy filled me with absolute horror.

It was still 4 more years before I began transitioning.

So... my message.

Those whose eggs have cracked and still waiting... it's not too late.

Young adults who have gone through puberty, it's not too late.

Parents with families, it's not too late.

Empty nesters, it's not too late.

Retirees, it's not too late.

And as for Lou... rest in power, girl. We're glad you found happiness.

:QueerCatHeart_Trans:

Merry Christmas.

It’s Christmas morning, and I wake up to a face I don’t hate.

That is a Christmas miracle.

Have a good and safe day, everyone.

@gpk @HistoPol @Ruth_Mottram @mina Would have to second this. It also has a beautiful bit, that absolutely slaps, on personal responsibility and unintended outcomes for actions.

Feeling in a bit of a funny mood, so I think it's time to tell the most surreal #cycling moment I ever had in my life.

#RAGBRAI, Day 3, 2021. Starting early morning, maybe I got sleep, maybe I didn't. (Sleeping in a tent is like that.) I start out early, around 6 AM, still a little hazy out.

I like to listen to music while I bike; I had a small speaker for this. And, on this morning, I got it in my head to play a few French musicals. I started with Gerard Presgurvic's "Romeo & Juliette".

The music for the musical starts with "Verone", about the city in question.

So... I'm cycling out of the overnight city, still trying to wake up, sun not fully risen yet, listening to this song.

1/2? 🧵

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_gIJtcbUe0