sasha_feather: beautiful gray horse. (majestic horse)
This is a holiday letter that I may or may not send to my family. I am trying to be more open and honest, and, when it comes to the biologicals, this does not come naturally to me.

2018 year in review

Holiday greetings to you!

I’m still living in the same cozy apartment in Madison, with my very wonderful roommate Christina, and my Greyhound Abbie. This year we added a snake to the house: an orange corn snake named Finnegan. He eats frozen mice. Abbie and I frequently walk at the nearby dog park, where we have a lot of friends, both canine and human. Christina and I enjoy playing Lego games on our old 2nd-hand Xbox.

This year I volunteered frequently with LGBT Books to Prisoners, a local non-profit. We sent about 2600 packages of books to prisoners across the US this year. At volunteer sessions, we pick out books specific to each individual from a library of donated books, typically 4-5 books to a package. Popular requests are dictionaries, composition books, language learning books, how-to-draw books, and queer fiction. Recently, I was fortunate to be able to attend a lecture by Mariame Kaba, who spoke about prison abolition. Through these experiences I’ve been learning a lot about how prisons exist to harm people.

I was lucky to be able to attend two plays this year: “As You Like It” at American Players Theater, which is outdoors, and “Fun Home” (based on the Alison Bechdel book), at the Overture Center in Madison. Fun Home was an especially amazing production.

I enjoyed attending my comic book club, which meets once a month. Some of my favorite comic books that I read in 2018 were: Sleepless by Sarah Vaughn and Leila del Duca; My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata; and Hawkeye: Anchor Points by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero.

Over Thanksgiving, I got to see my family, including seven niblings aged 4 to 13. (“Nibling” is a new word I learned that is a gender-neutral word for niece or nephew). We had a lot of fun playing in the barn and competing at Apples to Apples.

I spend a lot of my time managing my health. I was officially diagnosed with RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) in 2012. RA is an autoimmune illness that can affect all parts of the body. Because of the RA, I get tired easily and must rest a lot. I have nerve pain in my face, which may or may not be related to the RA, which I also largely manage with rest. I am very grateful to family and friends who have supported me in many ways through this illness.

Best wishes to you and yours!

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Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32


So, what did you think?

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Kudos!
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sasha_feather: John and Rodney from Stargate: Atlantis (love of your life)
My plan to cheer myself up by seeing a movie last night absolutely worked. "Call Me by Your Name" was soothing, beautiful; sort of a gentle balm.

The story takes place in Northern Italy during the summer, and the camera lingers on fruit trees, open windows, green fields, and people wearing tiny shorts and open, light shirts. A great film to see in the depths of winter. The landscape felt abundant, full of light and warmth, and the people lounged around with seemingly plenty of time on their hands. They speak English, Italian, and French. They ride bikes into town and drink apricot juice.

Elio, age 17, is spending the summer reading and swimming and listening to music, and during this summer he falls in love with Oliver, 23, who is a research assistant for Elio's father and is living with the family in their fancy house. It is 1983, yet the story felt timeless, or out of time. I'm not sure what exactly it is saying, but this film is reflecting on time somehow, on having simultaneously too much and not enough.

This is not the kind of movie where spoilers matter, but just in case, here's a cut.

Read more... )

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