Originally, the title for this article included a tongue-in-cheek, “Let’s Get Political (Yikes! and/or Sorry!)” But no. I didn’t cross a line into politics. Politics crossed a line into me.
This article will focus on two particular executive orders courtesy of President Donald Trump, taking a closer look at specific word choice to hopefully better understand how the administration seeks to unravel the rights and acceptance of trans Americans, the practical effects it sets in motion, and where the logical conclusion of its ideology might lead. The orders in question are titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government” and “Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation” respectively. Both can be easily found and read in their entirety under the Executive Actions section of whitehouse.gov
—while I put forward my own interpretation of them, I encourage you to take a look at them yourself and draw your own conclusions.
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When I play games, I like to do it just about as blind as possible. This does not mean that I tie a blindfold across my face or gouge out my eyes or anything—after all, simply taking off my glasses would function well enough—but rather that I like to know very little about any game before I start playing it. Pristinely unspoiled. Absolutely no clue what I’m getting myself into besides vague notions of “well, I heard it’s really good” and “it’s, like, a Metroidvania, I think?” To me, this is the most ideal way to play anything, giving the game the opportunity to surprise you at every moment.
Unfortunately, as is true with every topic, it would seem that not everybody agrees with me.
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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity is not a particularly good game—this was abundantly clear to me when I set it down following my first playthrough earlier this year. In the months that followed, however, something curious happened… it had been so long since I’d played it, yet I couldn’t stop myself from continuing to think about the game incessantly, turning its characters and its plot over in my head. In all of its 59% Metacritic score glory, Gates to Infinity had managed to somehow do something that inexorably stuck with me.
The second I finished Gates, I started a “Rewrite Thoughts” document in my phone’s notes app that I continue to occasionally add to; I made stupid MS Paint comics of a handful of scenarios and still populate my sketchbook with doodles of the Paradise crew. And every single time I find that I’m adding to these again, I ask myself, “Why in the world am I still thinking about Gates to Infinity?”
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After two months of ruthlessly applying for jobs everywhere I can think of and being either rejected or ghosted over and over again, my ineptitude has been solidified. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true, everybody. I’m cringefail. I’m never coming back from this one.
In a desperate bid to inflate my bank account, I’m doing it... I’m unleashing the great evil—I am... opening commissions. May Cod have mercy on my soul. So if you’re at all interested in little clay figures or music (and can pay me), I urge you to rush over to my commissions page while deals last (because I won’t be unemployed forever, ha ha, right?).
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Say hello to this wonderful new news section, where you get to read at length about whatever miscellaneous goings-on I decide to write about. Scary, I know. It’s okay if you need to take a moment for some deep breaths, I’ll wait.
In reality, I’m popping this section into existence in order to advertise the TRANZINE. It’s a little zine put together over the course of roughly two months, affiliated with the Transing the Internet webring (that thing I have a little widget for at the bottom of my homescreen, which mysteriously un-centered itself one day and I still need to fix…). The PDF is a fabulous 28 pages cobbled together by 14 contributors (including me! My page will actually jumpscare you really quick—you flip the cover and AUGH it’s here already!), and I’d recommend giving it a quick peruse if you’re interested. Not every page is necessarily about transness, but it’s generally an underlying theme. And hey, once you get to the end, there’s a nice little credits page and you can go on an adventure checking out some of the wonderful contributors’ websites. It’s unhealthy for me to keep you cooped up in here for too long—go explore somewhere else!
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