Women write about gay love, men not burdened with patriarchy

I finished the book Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly. The author uses they/them pronouns and has a wife, so a member of the LGBTQ community. Much of the story takes place on the Pacific Crest Trail, a western equivalent of the Appalachian Trail in the east. The PCT is 2652 miles, stretching from the Mexican to the Canadian borders through the Sierra and Cascade mountains. The story is about Alexei and Ben. Both are approaching their 30th birthdays, so delightfully not teenagers. Alexei is from near Portland, OR and on the trail because his parents disowned him because he told them he is gay. They are members of a conservative church. He’s had a few one-night stands and is tired of that. He hopes his time on the trail will help him figure out how to create Alexei 2.0. Ben is from Nashville feels he wasted his 20s in not knowing what he wants in life. He also had a few not good relationships. He got his act together enough to complete nursing school and hopes time on the PCT will settle his restlessness before getting a job. Their “meet cute” is on Alexei’s first day on the trail. He joined the trail a hundred miles from Mexico to skip the worst of the desert. He hears a rattlesnake ahead and puts out his arm to block and protect the people coming up behind him. Of course, at the front of that group is Ben. A couple days later Alexei and Ben meet again. Ben decides to leave the group he’s been hiking with and join Alexei. One reason is to keep Alexei from hiking alone through the dangerous desert. Another reason is he’s attracted to Alexei. From there friendship and love develop. But Alexei is still dealing with his demons. Also, both are wary of the other leaving, unsure of their own commitment, burned by previous relationships, and doubtful they will want to live where the other is from. I downloaded a map of the PCT to follow along, though only 250 miles, the time they fall in love (the first 2/3 of the book), is covered in much detail. I was amused by and saw the great practicality of the PCT map that shows the train, bus, and car routes that cross or are near the trail. The last third of the book shows Alexei dealing with those demons in a healthy way. I enjoyed this gay love story. Krotor of the Daily Kos community discussed Boys’ Love, a multimedia genre that focuses on male relationships. This is the first I’ve heard of that term. Krotor intends to have this as the start of a regular discussion on Kos because the topic is wide. The use of “boys” in the description does not refer to male children. It is used in the same manner as “boys’ night out.” The central characters are late teens to young 30s. And, yes, this is young men falling in love with young men. The genre started in Japan with manga graphic novels. And...

The original Japanese creators — and consumers — of Boys’ Love works were typically heterosexual females. The explanation I have seen most frequently is that straight women enjoy fantasies about men being loving and vulnerable with each other in relationships that are not burdened with the misogyny, patriarchy, constrictive gender roles, and similar negatives that women often experience in their own relationships with straight guys.

In 2014 the genre became international, or at least Southeast Asian. A company in Thailand released Love Sick: The Series that explored male relationships over 51 episodes. In contrast to the sexiness of some of the early manga, Boys’ Love video series usually stick to kissing, and that is usually only a second or two before the scene ends. That kiss tends to come in the last or second-to-last episode. Only a few swear words might keep a show from being rated G. A standard pattern to these shows is two young men are thrown together (perhaps the reason is contrived). Their relationship grows, they must overcome challenges, and they eventually see they’re in love. The focus is on the romance, not sexual desire. The assumption is if the emotional connection is strong enough physical passion will be there. There is no discussion of passion outside of that connection. There seems to be no concept of one-night stands. These are not like Hollywood rom-coms. The characters usually are not driven by lust and don’t shed their clothes to convey passion. Conventional European and American shows derive their tension through the cultural gender wars. But in these shows there are no shortcuts through opposing genders. Instead, the story is about the individuals. They slowly develop an emotional bond and physical attraction grows from that. Homophobia barely exists, if at all. If one of the lads is beaten up, it is because they’re from the opposing sport team and not because they’re gay. Straight friends are supportive of them pursuing a same-sex relationship. And there is no concern that a guy dating a woman flips to dating a man. In Hollywood the woman must be beautiful, but the man doesn’t need to be (how did he end up with her!). But in the Boys’ Love universe both of them are beautiful (and many work as models). These shows are quite popular. Fans call for sequels to keep the relationship going. Fans are disappointed when the actors have love lives away different from their show’s love life, especially if they love a woman. That isn’t entirely the fan’s fault. Sometimes the producers have the actors appear in public together with enough interaction that fans can conclude they’re in love. Krotor discussed US made movies with gay characters. Before the 1980s gay characters were portrayed as perverse and disgusting and worthy of a violent death. In the 1980s AIDS colored the films, but gay men still faced illness, suffering, and death. By the 1990s the gay characters weren’t the butt of jokes and didn’t always die, but they had no serious emotional connections. Unless it was the anguish from coming out. With that sort of portrayal no wonder the religious right was afraid of their children turning gay.

Heck, yeah, I love BL. It finally shows me who we should always have been seen as: strong and valued and loved and loving and happy and deserving of love and happiness. We needed this decades ago and it would have had a tremendous positive impact on gay boys, giving hope and guidance and encouragement as they developed into young gay men. We have it now and I am grateful for it and generations of gay boys to come will be better for it.

This discussion ends with ways to find Boys’ Love stories. I’ll try to see a few of them. And I’ll keep watching for more articles on the topic. Krotor linked to a list on IMDB of 100 Boys’ Love series. The list I saw had only 85 entries. A few of them are rated for mature audiences. I see I’ve seen a couple of them already, two that aren’t from Southeast Asia. They are Heartstopper and Young Royals. A few more are American. I went to another list on My Drama List. The link is for a search that brought up 1939 entries (the first page listed only 20). This list includes trailers. So I watched a couple. The first trailer I watched went so fast I couldn’t keep up with the English subtitles. In the second the subtitles were in Korean. I had written that the satirical news site The Onion had put in a winning bid to purchase Infowars, the site Alex Jones uses to spread conspiracy theories. The Onion announced plans to repurpose the site for good messages rather than destructive ones. Tovia Smith of NPR reported a federal bankruptcy judge blocked the sale. The judge said there was a lack of transparency in the bidding process and that there was a failure to maximize value for the people Jones owes money to. Those people are the parents and family members of the children killed at Sandy Hook. They had sued Jones because he called the shooting that killed 26 children and teachers a hoax. He now owes them a billion dollars. The Infowars show, its equipment, studio, and brand are only a part of the whole package. The families said they liked what The Onion planned to do with the Infowars site and brand and were willing to forego some of what they are owed so that the purchase could proceed. But the judge rejected their argument. So Jones still has the capability of spewing his bile, at least for now, and he did his usual spewing in praise of the judge. I had lunch with my friend and debate partner today. Some of our discussion turned to the momentous events in Syria. He said there are more factions in Syria, some of them Islamist, than we hear about in mainstream media. He was disappointed that the US military targeted several military sites around Syria after Assad left. And he said he would not at all be surprised if Syria fell into civil war as these various factions fight for power and the ability to impose their ideas on the country. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a few articles that explain the situation in Syria a bit more. That includes a thread by Raylan Givens that explains the term “Syrian Rebels” actually refers to several groups. Other articles discuss how much the HTS leader can be trusted when he claims religious minorities and women shouldn’t fear his group coming to power. Another pundit roundup by Dworkin has more quotes about Syria. I include it for a tweet by Charles Lister:

With #Assad gone & his brutal regime dissolved, #Syria refugees are already surging back home. There was only ever one solution to the “refugee crisis” & all those who said reinforcing #Assad would resolve it were at best delusional, at worst, complicit in #Assad’s agenda.

The tweet includes a minute long video of a huge traffic backup from all those refugees surging home. Irena Buzarewicz posted a cartoon by John Atkinson that has small images of how two dozen famous artists would depict a Christmas tree. The artists include Picasso, Seurat, Monet, Haring, Pollock, Warhol, Van Gogh, and Dali.

Their entire strategy relies on convincing their base they are victims

An update on the train derailment and toxic spill in East Palestine, Ohio. A week ago Laura Clawson of Daily Kos reported the crew spotted a problem and started stopping the train, but it was already too late. There are sensors along the tracks can detect the kind of problem – a hot wheel bearing – this train had. Fifty miles before the wreck the bearing was 38 degrees above air temperature. Forty miles before it was 103 degrees above, but still below the 170 degrees that would set the alarm. At twenty miles before the sensor detected 253 degrees above air temp and the alarm was triggered and the engineer began to slow the train. At that twenty mile sensor there was already a visible glow at the problem bearing. Clawson doesn’t get into this: I did the math. If the train was going 47 mph when the alarm went off it would take 25 minutes to go 20 miles, longer as the train slows. Does it really take more than 25 minutes to stop a train? Or did the alarm not prompt sufficient urgency? The train union workers say that the wayside sensors can supplement human inspections, but they’re being used to replace human inspections. Norfolk Southern, the rail company in this case, says its safety procedures are adequate. Rail may be the safest form of transportation, but that excuse shouldn’t block efforts to make it safer, though company action has been making it less safe. The Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in to ensure the cleanup is done properly. If NS doesn’t do it right the EPA will, then bill NS for up to three times the cleanup cost. Dartagnan of the Kos community reported that the nasty guy had shown up with his own brand of bottled water to make himself the center of attention. Also, Gov. Mike DeWine had at first rejected Biden’s offer of assistance. Then Dartagnan discussed:

Yet few have bothered to point out just how clearly this incident—and more importantly, its fallout—exemplifies the Republican Party’s attitude toward its own voter base. Because their real legislative aims—such as they are—are generally unpalatable to most voters, Republicans’ entire strategy towards their base now relies on convincing them that they are victims. Increasingly, this strategy seeks to portray red voters as victims of reverse racism. It’s a matter of insinuating that Democratic policies invariably favor those who Republican voters are taught to regard as undeserving: Black people, Latinos, the LGBTQ community, women, and undocumented immigrants, among others. But the reality, never acknowledged, is that GOP voters are more often than not victims of Republicans’ own policies, writ large over decades throughout American society—and now an especially permanent feature of the so-called “red state” rural landscape. ... The East Palestine disaster sits at the ugly intersection where the so-called “populism” of the Republican Party collides with the reality of their policies. Republicans who now belatedly point fingers at Norfolk Southern for the toxic train derailment—or worse, at the Biden administration for its response—have simply forfeited their credibility on such matters. In fact, they did so when they consciously elected to prioritize corporate interests and corporate profits over measures (through regulation and otherwise) that would protect American citizens. The only “abandonment” that happened in East Palestine is the conscious abandonment by the GOP of any interest in the general welfare of the American public, including any concerns for the health and safety of their own voter base. And that ship sailed a long, long time ago.

On reading a tweet by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that fumed that Biden went to Ukraine and not East Palestine, Kelly quoted Ron Filipkowski:

OHIO: GOP Gov GOP Senate GOP House Train derails in GOP county Train CEO is a GOP donor GOP Gov burns chems causing disaster GOP Gov initially refuses to declare disaster Republicans – It’s all Democrats fault.

Lalo Alcaraz of the Kos community posted a cartoon that includes smoke labeled “Trump era safety deregulation” coming from a train crash. A maiden is tied to the tracks looking up at the nasty guy saying, “Help has arrived” as he offers a roll of paper towels. In response to Tucker Carlson of Fox News saying “East Palestine is being neglected because they’re white,” Adam Zyglis tweeted a cartoon wondering, “How do these FOX pundits keep a straight face?” Beside Carlson and those words are two laughing black people, one wearing a New Orleans shirt, the other wearing a Flint, MI shirt. For many years I read the Dilbert comic strip written by Scott Adams. I worked in a corporate cubicle farm he wrote about. But after a while I got tired of his constant dreariness. I stopped reading when I heard he was strongly conservative. A week ago OK Dodo of the Kos community wrote that Adams, in his podcast, went on a racist rant. Included was Adams advising white people to get away from black people (using much stronger language). In the opinion of Mark Sumner of Kos the Dilbert strip hasn’t been funny in quite a while. And Adams has increasingly shown himself to be drifting further right, even becoming a strong supporter of the nasty guy. In that time papers starting dropping Dilbert. Then the day after Adams released his podcast a lot of newspapers and newspaper conglomerate companies dropped the strip. That essentially ended Dilbert. Oddball Longfellow tweeted:

Scott Adams Says cancellation of his cartoon strip Dilbert signals that free speech in America is under assault. No, Scott, your free speech rights aren't being violated. It's just that people think you're an asshole — and they're showing you the door.

Longfellow included an XKCD that amplifies that sentiment. Back at the 100th anniversary of the birth of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz near Thanksgiving I included the story that when Schulz introduced Franklin, a black boy, several papers asked him to change it and he refused, threatening to stop drawing the strip. Ted Littleford tweeted a cartoon in which Franklin has a few things to say to Dilbert:

You know how to define progress? When Charles Schulz drew me in 1968, newspapers threatened to drop “Peanuts” because they were racist. Today, newspapers are dropping you because you’re racist.

In the two years I lived in Germany I saw the Carnival parades can be quite political. These parades are held on Rose Monday, two days before Ash Wednesday. That is the start of Lent in which many believe frivolity should be set aside. So Carnival is one last big party before the long Lenten season. Deccan Herald has photos of this year’s Düsseldorf parade, which has the reputation for being strongest in mocking world political leaders. There is Putin in a bathtub of Ukrainian blood. Putin kissing the devil. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group that has been attacking Bakhmut, finding Nazis all across Europe. Robert Habeck of the Green Party trying to swallow policies he would decry when in opposition. And a few more. Keefknight of Kos Comics tacked the saying “Racism will go away when all the old people die off!” It’s a sentiment I’ve heard a few times related to LGBTQ oppression. But racism (and oppression in general) is a systemic thing that outlives the folks who sustain and perpetuate it. So when he hears that statement he hears a person declaring they don’t want to be the one to do the work to change things. Joan McCarter of Kos wrote about Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Independent Angus King of Vermont supporting a Republican scheme to cut Social Security. This at a time when Biden has been criticizing Republicans use of false information in their efforts to cut the program. So why is Kaine on the side of Republicans? McCarter then took statistics from Americans For Tax Fairness:

As of Feb. 28, anyone making more than $1 million had paid all of their Social Security taxes for the year, because the payroll tax cap is set at $160,200. After someone earns that, everything else they earn for the whole year is exempted from payroll taxes. The rest of working Americans—94% of us—keep paying that 6.2% payroll tax the rest of the year. Because that is helping our retired loved ones live with at least of modicum of security and comfort. Do we need to look any further for ensuring the future of Social Security than making millionaires and billionaires actually pay their share? Why would we look any further than that?

Another stat: Billionaires stopped paying the first day of the year. Leah McElrath quoted a tweet from Steven Rattner, the former head of the Obama Auto Task Force and now a Morning Joe Economic Analyst. Rattner included a chart showing polling data back to 1984, saying:

71% of Americans think the US should spend more on "assistance to the poor" ... but call it "welfare" and that number drops to 30%

McElrath added:

Republicans have spent decades falsely characterizing social “welfare” programs as something used only by non-whites.

I’ve written about the number of books I read last year (46) and that I have a shelf in a closet full of books yet to read (I figure I’ll read them all by October, if I don’t buy more, which I will). So I am amused by a tweet McElrath quoted. It’s by Wendell Albright, and says:

Native English speaker but I love the Japanese word tsundoku, meaning acquiring books and letting them pile up without reading them.

That prompted Anne to respond:

I feel like I've suffered from a form of Tsundoku most of my life. For me, there's almost nothing worse than having nothing to read, so always having books to choose from soothes my soul. It's why I love libraries & bookstores. New worlds, new people, new adventures await!

I make sure I have books to read – and I read them (well, a few have been on the shelf for decades). Perhaps I should do something with the piles of books in my basement that I’ve read.

A whole herd of scapegoats

Last Sunday the protests in response to the death of George Floyd were still going strong, but the nasty guy had not yet cleared the square to get his photo op at the church. So I’ll take a moment to visit a story from before that has a couple more pieces since then. On Sunday the nasty guy declared he had an answer to violence by police on black and brown people, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.”

Antifa stands for anti-fascism. There are stories of a group being opposed to and just as (or maybe more) violent than white supremacist militias.

Of course, every time the nasty guy opens his mouth there is something wrong with what he says. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos points out in this case:

* On that same Sunday the FBI briefed the nasty guy saying there was “no intelligence” that Antifa was involved or even present at those incidents of violence.

* The president doesn’t have authority to designate a terrorist group.

* The law says only foreign groups can be so designated.

Wrote Sumner:

Antifa isn’t a vast, shadowy organization. It’s certainly not a “major terrorist organization.” It’s not even an organization. But it is a scapegoat. A man who takes responsibility for nothing at all needs a whole herd of those.

That’s right. Antifa doesn’t exist. Except in the minds of white supremacists.

However, there’s another aspect to this that is scary. I saw a tweet about it this morning, but I can’t find it now, so can’t give credit. As I said above Antifa means anti-fascism. Which means against fascism. Which means everyone of us who is opposed to the nasty guy’s attempts to establish himself as dictator. Which means us. By declaring Antifa as a terrorist organization he is declaring that we – everyone who opposes him – are a part of that terrorist organization.



In another post Sumner reports that now with Lafayette Square cleared of protesters the nasty guy has expanded the cordon around the White House, even pushing into the side streets (too bad if your business is now behind the cordon). This seems to be a wall he’s always wanted.

The cordon has men in military gear – shields, guns, and all the rest – but their clothing has no identifying markings. When asked they will only say they work for the “Department of Justice.”

Sumner wrote:

These people are not the Park Service, they are not regular military, they are not National Guard. So … who are they? Are they guards from the bureau of prisons sent out to treat the public like criminals? Are they private mercenaries courtesy of Betsy DeVos’ family? Are they Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Trump has seemed to groom for this moment? Are any of them, in any way, trained for dealing with civilians?

What are their standing orders? Under what authority are they operating? How can any of them be held accountable when they are wearing no identification whatsoever? What level of force are they allowed to use against the unarmed public?

This goes beyond “not normal.” Every newspaper, every representative, every senator should be demanding to know by what right Donald Trump believes he can wall off sections of the nation’s capital and fill the city with his own private army. Trump isn’t just going beyond the law—he’s ignoring it completely.

This isn’t a question of security, this is a reverse coup.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos adds a few photos and reports in addition to around the White House unidentified paramilitaries are also at the Lincoln Memorial to prevent protests there.

Eleveld includes a tweet from Edward Luce:

None of this is necessary. Their presence is meant to create the impression that the White House is under siege from domestic terrorists.

Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos has a quote from Theodore Roosevelt. Here’s a bit of it:

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Erika Baras of NPR’s *Marketplace* reports that several top selling books of the past week are about race. These books include “White Fragility,” “How To Be an Antiracist,” “So You Want To Talk About Race,” and “Me and White Supremacy.” Even children’s books, specifically those about how to be an ally, are selling well. Mahogany Books is a DC store with a black owner and mostly black customers. Lately, though, there are a lot of new white customers realizing they are unaware of racial issues.

This sort of thing happens after every time police kill an innocent black man. However, one store owner says this time it feels bigger.

For the love of books

I didn’t post last night because I streamed the documentary The Booksellers. Most of those featured sell antique books, but not all of them.

While cleaning out my dad’s house I found boxes of old books. Some of them were his mother’s school books. Many were older. I doubted they were valuable – my parents and their ancestors were not rich people who bought expensive things that couldn't be used. I didn’t have space for them and my siblings and descendants asked for only a few of the books. So I went to a book fair and found a dealer interested in looking at the collection. I received less than $200 for them all. So that’s been my exposure to book dealers.

The movie starts with the big annual book fair in New York. Several of the sellers talk about what they do. They’re all in it for the love of books. Some are in the business to collect, some to make sure old books get into the hands of people who could keep them. Some of them love the hunt for particular books (though the internet makes the hunt way too easy).

Some collect works of a particular author and also search for the author’s papers to get a more complete view of the person. One woman collects books by and about American women. These collections will likely go to a university. Another woman is collecting artifacts related to hip-hop, the popular modern music – it’s been around long enough there is a history?

Some collectors have white hair and wonder what will happen to their profession when they’re gone. A 500 year history of printed books is a good run, perhaps time for something new. Some are quite young and see positive things in the world of books that will keep on going. One of those things is observing many subway riders reading books are in their 20s. Those reading electronic readers tend to be in their 40s. One woman noted that when she started the business was about 85% male. There was a lot of talk of getting more women into the business. And now, years later, it is … 85% male.

Some collectors fear that when they die their collection will go to auction. Some prevent that by donating to a museum or university. Some are glad that an auction will get the books into loving hands again. A book auction doesn’t get the high prices of an art auction because most books are not one of a kind.

New York used to have over 300 bookstores (if I remember the number right). Perhaps 40 of them were on Fourth Ave. Now there is only one on Fourth Ave. They’re there because they own the building. They get several offers a week from agents wanting to buy the building. They aren’t selling. In the city now there are about 70 bookstores.

People tend not to throw books away. We feel they are too important for the trash. They contain too much humanity. Which is why book burnings are such important symbolism. Burning books is a big attempt at erasure of a culture.

I found out about this documentary because I get the Detroit Institute of Arts / Detroit Film Theater newsletter. Because the DFT is closed they’ve worked out how to stream the movies they would have shown. I paid the distributor to watch it. Half of the fee went to the DFT.

Browsing in a bookstore is good, but…

Yeah, it has been a while. I did have time to write last weekend, but simply didn't feel like facing the issues of the day.

With the demise of Borders Books as a place to browse for reading material I've been searching for a replacement. One big reason for visiting an actual bookstore, rather than buying everything at Amazon, was to buy two magazines, Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction. Yeah, I'm five years behind in reading them -- I'm currently enjoying the September 2006 issue of Asimov's. I could subscribe, but the last time I did I had to write 8 letters about missing issues for an 18 issue subscription. One other thing Borders had was an actual section of gay fiction. Though small, I would occasionally find new titles. Some even appealed to me.

The big candidate for replacement is, of course, Barnes and Noble. And, good to see, they have Analog and Asimov's. But during my previous visits I did not find the gay fiction section. This time I asked. The store is moving everything around, so it took a while to find the gay non-fiction. As for fiction, the sales associate finally said that the gay fiction is interspersed within the general fiction.

I've heard one person say that since gays are just like other people he would sometimes take a book from the gay fiction section and reshelve it in general fiction (I can hear my librarian sister groan). There were visions of what a straight person would do when encountering a book with gay characters with hopes of getting to know us better.

Alas, as a person who specifically wants gay characters in my fiction, having to browse the entire general fiction collection to find the few that might interest me does not sound like an improvement. Even so, I did browse for a while -- and didn't find any gay books. I haven't yet made B&N my bookstore of choice. There aren't many options.

Something I've noticed over the last several years is that the shelves of Science Fiction section have an increasing share of space devoted to fantasy. I'm not a big fan of fantasy because so many times the fantastical part of the story is based on what feels like arbitrary gimmicks. I've also noticed that most of the fantasy stories, and even a good number of the science fiction stories, have a basic plot of Good having to vanquish Evil. The more I see these stories the more I think of the way the GOP talks -- we are good, they (immigrants, gays, blacks) are evil and must be vanquished. Are these fantasy stories merely a reflection of our time or are they a way of promoting the idea that all conflicts should be resolved through one side eliminating the other? There's a doctoral dissertation in there somewhere, though I'm not writing it. There's probably another dissertation or two about teen paranormal romance novels (no doubt spawned by Twilight) and the trend to rewrite old classics to include werewolves, vampires, or zombies. The one I saw recently was Grave Expectations in which Pip learns to become a gentleman werewolf.