the state of things

So last night after getting home, I was informed about the ghastly, transphobic legal decision in the UK, once I hopped on Threads.

I was buoyed to see so much of my feed rallying behind the queer community, especially NB and Trans folx. That’s definitely not nothing.

Trans women are women. Trans men are men.

Gender is a spectrum. All identities are valid. That’s why there’s a “+.”

I had some setbacks today, however.

The disproportionate tariff increases were never a good idea.

They impacted me personally for the first time, this afternoon.

Specialized food I need for my cat. $30 increase on a $40 product.

And they said the probiotic I give her once daily right NOW is the same price but may not stay that way.

And listening to someone support tariffs.

Stating they’re working.

“It’ll just take 6 months.”

Ticking off countries that are supposedly bowing under the pressure of the tariffs and making fresh deals to maintain the relationship with the US.

What do I have the emotional bandwidth to do about all of that?

Obviously, venting a bit. Here I am.

But what else?

I can create art in support of my existence within the LGBTQIA+ community. I can seek out queer joy, and validate myself, and my place in the world.

You know what cheered me up tonight? A queer vampire.

I’d forgotten I had already watched the Season 3 trailer for AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, and watched it all over again. It didn’t hit as familiar until the singing started.

DAMN that Lestat! Spicy. And, like me, he appreciates a little “variety.” Looking forward to seeing him in his rockstar era.

So, yeah, often, it feels like speaking into the void. It’s easy to lose hope, to feel lost within the vast shuffle of the internet, of the world.

Maybe nothing I create will ever find a following. Maybe I’ll die having only touched the lives of those in my immediate social circles, give or take a few stray souls. Hello. If you’re reading this, you’re one of them. And thank you.

But I will keep appreciating queer vampires everywhere I can find them, and will continue writing adventures of my own along similar vein (see what I did there? LOL).

That’s my chosen method of resistance, because it’s the one for which I feel the best equipped. I painted some more last night, too, so back into the visual art as well as the written word. Intentionally trying to bring a touch of horror to the pieces, subverting what one might expect to see painted on something heart-shaped.

So yes… if any of you are also struggling with “the state of things” right now, as they say, “rest, but don’t quit.”

May your only true “exhaustion” come from the explosion of divine fabulosity that you gift to the world around you; may all that lovely energy return to you tenfold, and then some.

May you recover as you rest, and feel more than prepared to do it all over again. I wish that much for all of us.

In the words of Thrill Kill Kult, “Don’t Stop the Disco.”

Et voila, bi pride vibes on a dance floor. Enjoy.