Historian Dr. Jacqui Shine shared her commencement address — “How to Wake the Dead” — with us this week, and it is wonderful; do not miss it.
L.C. Thompson on the case of Thomas/Thomasine Hall, a genderfluid person from the colonial period, and what their case can teach us about intersex and genderfluid identity today.
Abbey Fenbert unearthed the minutes from yet another pitch meeting! I wish I had her sources.
Gabrielle Bellot wrote so beautifully about mysticism, atheism, and transitions:
Sometimes, I think it is easier for me not to believe because of my past. I have transitioned from the lie of living as a male to living as a woman, just as I have travelled from the shame of being an outwardly homophobic Catholic living as a male to a Wiccan to a deist to a blend of Wiccan and agnostic to an agnostic atheist. I acted anti-queer to fit in back in my often casually anti-LGBTQ home in Dominica, as well as masculine to try to throw people off the trail of my femininity; I prayed for a long time after I had convinced myself that I was too small for my prayers to even reach across the vastness of a universe, and, if they were to, to matter.
I was a contradiction, a shipwreck in the waves of a desert.
WHY YOU KEEP HAVING THE SAME FIGHT EVERY TIME: A Text Game
Shireen Ahmed on her love for her culture and her sport, and a childhood incident that made her feel as though she had to choose between the two.
I have made my peace with The Toast ending, but I still got a little emotional when I saw the penultimate Dad Mag this week.
Some housekeeping notes:
- I’m still waiting on some pieces to come in, but assuming they all do, the freelance calendar is full through July 1st. (I don’t know what I’ll do when I no longer get pitches at all hours, on the weekends, on holidays. Eat regular meals? Not work on family vacations? That sounds horrible and I hate it already.)
- The Toast’s advice columnist, Aunt Acid, is looking for some good questions for her final column next month — so if you have a problem and you’d like her advice, you can reach her at advice@the-toast.net.
- It’s a holiday weekend, so we’ll see you on Tuesday.
- Dang, look at all the toast necklaces on Etsy! I want them ALL.
