after using livejournal for the last 8 or so years i am moving. to greener, prettier, lazier pastures.

http://yoursecretary.tumblr.com

tell me yours.

I've already started working on my new issue of my zine.

If I owe you a copy of my last issue (The Greatest of Heights #1) let me know. I have a bad habit of forgetting these kind of things.

By Jennifer Vanasco Jennifer.Vanasco@gmail.com
Nov 5, 2009 - 6:07:50 PM

Too many LGBTs automatically assume ‘straight’ when someone doesn’t fit the stereotypes, denying others a community connection


No one can tell my girlfriend is gay. An example: About two years ago, Jenny and a gay male friend went to San Francisco in June. They were excited to celebrate Pride.


But first they were hungry, so they approached a short gay guy wearing leather.
“Anyplace around here we can get Mexican food?” Jenny asked.

The man looked them up and down and then said with a condescending sigh, “The Mexican neighborhood is a few blocks over. This is the Castro. If you really want to stay in the neighborhood, there will be long waits, because there’s a thing happening called Gay Pride.”

Jenny and her friend stared at him in disbelief.

“I am a lesbian standing with a gay guy in the Castro,” Jenny said to me later. “And even then, no one knows I’m gay.”
( Read more... )


Are there any self-identified femmes in this community or just feminine lesbians? Do you feel invisible? How do you handle it? How do you let people know you're a lesbian? Does it bother you to have to make extra effort to let people know you're a lesbian?

I got my application form in the mail- all sent off nicely with a special stamp on and some postcards for luck. now i've got a week to wait until the interview- this time next week it will all be over. It's so strange because i've been offered the place already so have told everyone i'm going, but there's this part of me that expects things to change now it's being made official- I keep thinking that maybe they were tricking me and I'm not going to get in at all. Oh well if that happens i'll just have to stay in weston for ever...

I think i'm getting a blister on one of my fingers from typing too much

here's some news for you:



that's where i'll be tomorrow- you should join me.

here's some other news:

checkmate

since I'm not really going anywhere

this is for maryn. i just saw this on flicker. check that patch out!

I'm at school right now.  We're watching a movie in Physics. Why are we watching a movie in Physics?  I have absolutely no idea, but we are.

Anyway, instead of sitting and wasting an hour and a half of my life, I grabbed a computer, set my iPod to play all of my Wael Kfoury, and added 1,000 words to my word count.  I'm now at 12,063, which means I have to write at least 3,000 more words before I will let myself sleep today.  That shouldn't be too bad--it'll take me a little over an hour if I'm on a roll, two at most.  If I keep up this place, which I have all intent of doing, I'll pass the farthest I've ever made it before the end of the week!

I have realized two things through my success so far this year (granted, it's only been two and a half days....) 1)  OUTLINE.  Outline outline outline!  DO IT.  and 2)  Get people to do this with you!  Get a group together and go out and write with them.  Even if you talk more than you write, you have support/competition/company when you get thrown in the insane asylum.

Bell's about to ring.  Have to run!

things that make me happy:

1. free things such as food, paper and movie tickets.
2. autumn! it's my favorite season. i just love everything about it. the temperature, the colors, the "feeling" of fall. i can sleep so much better if it's a little on the cool side. i absolutely love curling up under blankets.
3. brit and i are going to go see the get up kids next week! i've been listening to them the last few days and it makes me feel like i'm fifteen again.
4. playing games with my friends. tonight we played apples to apples and a vicious game of pictureka. pictureka is like a mature memory game but super fun and has neat illustrations. i totally recommend it!
5. last night we went to our friend sara's house for a dinner party! she made spicy basil tofu, sticky rice, pasta salad and some other delicious things. i brought this trifle:


(the easiest dessert ever! layers of brownies, pudding, crushed up butterfingers)

6. getting mail love and zines from two very talented ladies. {hello_amber & vidaliasparkle} i was writing a letter to a pen pal tonight and was saying how i love the excited, almost gushy feeling i get when i receive new zines in the mail. it makes me so giddy and i literally can't wait to read them.
7. finally getting over this ridiculous cold! i didn't feel like doing anything but lay in my bed and blow my nose since wednesday. i appreciate having my energy back!
8. organizing the sewing/storage/whatever room! it makes my brain feel better. lighter, somehow. i'm organizing and clearing it out so i can kind of move into it for the winter so i can actually be warm.
9. going to the dollar tree & putting boxes together for operation christmas child.

things that do not make me happy:
1. no new episodes of fringe last week OR the week before, boo!
2. constantly thinking of things that i "need" to be doing. sometimes i wish i could shut off my brain.
3. time change is still messing with me.
4. when i'm driving and do something nice like stop to let somebody pull out in front of me and they don't wave or smile. appreciate it, jeez!
5. not doing anything for halloween because i was sick. my mom had started sewing my uhura costume and everything.

I'm starting my apple diet. I feel disgusting.

Hey guys. I am sorry I have been ignoring my journal for awhile. I have been overwhelmed (mostly in a good way) and very, very busy lately. I am still an avid reader and I haven't forgotten you. You're owed a big ol' catch up. Some of you have been my friends for a long, long time now and so I feel comfortable posting this here. Next weekend, I am walking in the 3-Day, 60 mile, Breast Cancer walk for the Susan G Komen foundation. I am still waaay short of my goal. If you can afford to donate anything at all, I would appreciate it so much.

Thanks guys! xo

 You want to read my NaNoWriMo?  Add me at soleil_a_minuit .  It will definitely be locked in case this becomes something good enough to try to get published, haha.  But if you add me there I'll definitely add you back.  :)

So yes. Nanowrimo has officially started!  :]  I already have 3595 words.  I'm hoping to get to at least 5000 before the end of the day.

I had my little kick-off party last night.  It was a lot fun.  For the first half of the night, I had quite an interesting group of people assembled and we watched Sleepy Hallow with Johnny Depp.  Just before it hit midnight, all of the non-NaNoers (+ Jenn xP) left, leaving behind all of the crazy ones.  It was only me, Abby, Josh K, and Whitney, but we had fun.  We ended up "writing" (or not) until about 5:30 in the morning (and we were soooo out of it by the end of the night).  Josh passed out well before that and we drew on his face with icing, which he did not realize until a few hours later when we saw that we had changed his profile picture to a picture of him with an icing heart on his face.  :P

Josh and Whitney left and then Abby and I promptly passed out and woke up five hours later.  I just drank five cups of Arabic coffee and added about 1500 words to what I had before I went to sleep.

<3 NaNoWriMo.

I just saw the girls who live above us leave for a Halloween party and they were all wearing blatantly racist costumes.

I'm not really into comic books, but I saw this on my Google Reader and though it was pretty cool.

secret identities superhero contest winner: hush

I apologize that this took so long... At long last, here's the final winner from our Secret Identities Superhero Contest, where readers were asked to submit their own original idea for an Asian American superhero. We would have posted this sooner, but understandably, superstar comic book artist Bernard Chang is a busy man. So without further ado, here is Hush by Juli Martin, as rendered above by Bernard Chang.

HERO DESCRIPTION

Abandoned as a newborn, Jane was adopted from Korea by a wealthy white couple at four months. After unexpectedly having two biological children, Jane's adoptive parents feel they have no use for her, and when she comes out as bisexual at age 13, they kick her out. She is shuffled through the foster care system until aging out, at which point she moves to The Center, a cooperative home for homeless LGBTQ youth. Abandoned so many times, she now calls herself "Jane Doe."

Jane is a queer femme woman, slim build, 20. Her black hair is cut choppy and asymmetrical, streaked with electric blue. Her style is edgy and futuristic, in black, gray and blue.

Corrupt governmental wheeling and dealing put The Center in the hands of multibillionaire Elliot Rush, whose biotech firm GenFX needs secret human testing. Believing the residents of The Center are “throwaway” people - people no one will miss - Rush uses them as human guinea pigs.

GenFX's serum takes prexisting traits in the host and amplifies them to a superhuman level, operating under the theory that if a body has a predisposition towards a certain ability, enhancing that trait will give the individual intuitive control over it. Jane has a keen emotional awareness that allows her to read people, situations, feelings and intentions, so when exposed to the serum, her body reacts by amplifying her existing emotional intelligence. She becomes telepathic, and in addition to being able to read others' minds, she can speak to them in their thoughts and share images or sounds. When experiencing strong emotions, these feelings "radiate," positively or negatively affecting those around her.

Because it is not immediately known what powers are developing within each subject (and how), Jane's telepathy allows her to learn more about Rush's intentions than subjects were supposed to know. Using her abilities, Jane informs the others that Rush plans to destroy them once he has the data he needs. She and the others secretly develop their powers and plan an escape. Their plans are interrupted, however, when Rush, suspicious of Jane, separates her from the others.

While being held by Rush, Jane learns that he has called for armed reinforcements. She pleads with the others to get out and leave her behind, but they refuse. Instead, they risk everything to rescue her, and when the battle is over, Jane feels claimed and protected for the first time. From that moment on, her commitment to the others and ensuring their safety is solidified.

Rush manages to escape the fighting, but not without sustaining severe burns in the process, and slips into a coma. When he awakes, he has been disenfranchised by his company and insane from a virus in his skin grafts which ate away the logic and reason portions of his brain. Engraged, he begins to assemble a crew of bio-engineered villains to seek revenge and destroy all who inhibit his rise to power.

Optimistically, they're aiming for a Spring 2011 release. To learn more about the anthology, visit the Secret Identities website here.

source
now I'd love to see a female queer superhero who doesnt easily conform to mainstream standards of beauty...like a more full-figured character

I started a swap community. It's still under construction, but you can join and it will be up in a few days for maximum swappage!

http://community.livejournal.com/secretpostswap/

i always feel weird this time of year, you know?

I'm not in a good mood today.

Anytime my parents bring up college I always get so stressed, for a few reasons.  They didn't save ANYTHING at all for college, like I always assumed they were doing.  My mom also always told me that I won't have to pay for two things: school, or food.  My dad apparently disagrees and expects me to get thousands upon thousands of dollars in scholarships and to finance school that way.  And then there's the whole JOBLESS thing.  Oh, and my dad is pretty much in love with Wellesley and their financial aid program.  Tonight he tried to tell me all about how Wellesley would be better for me in the long run than AUB.  I'm SO tempted not to apply to Wellesley at all because of how in love with it they are.

It all makes me want to cry.  :(  I've wanted this so badly for so long, and I've always had college to look forward to, because then I could finally have it.  And the "maybe not" and the fact that hardly anyone takes me seriously about it really, really sucks.