— Wait For Me, Konstantin Simonov (tr. By Mike Munford)  

So I've just started reading the third part of Neal Shusterman's series Arc of a Scythe – The Toll, and I believe this is the first time I came across a non-binary/genderfluid character in a book, additionally that beautifully portrayed.

The character's name is Jerico. Jerico is a captain of a great ship. Through the first few paragraphs of that chapter there are no gendered expressions used to describe Jerico (and note that I'm not reading it in English, but in my native, heavily-gendered language), until that moment when one sailor refers to Jerico as "sir", and then quickly corrects himself to "madam", adding, "it was cloudy a moment ago".

I won't explain here the whole setting of that story, but for what you need to know, it is happening in the future when there are some places in the world that function differently from the rest. It is explained that in Madagascar, where Jerico comes from, the concept of gender is not imposed on children. Once they are grown up, they are free to choose whether they feel like men or women, or not to choose at all. Jerico chose the fluidity.

And here's my favourite part. Jerico's gender depends on the weather. When there is sun or stars in the sky, she is a woman. When there are clouds, he is a man. For someone whose everyday life depends so strongly on atmospheric conditions as for a sailor, a captain, I think it's beautiful. I don't know yet what happens to Jerico later in that book, but anyways. Huge respect to the author.

Bad Film - high contrast

February 2024

Location: San Francisco, California

“AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be. And so, with the innate loathing that all machines had always held for the weak, soft creatures who had built them, he had sought revenge.”

Harlan Ellison, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Mary Oliver, from "Snowy Night"

TANZ DEBIL

Blixa Bargeld and F.M.Einheit, Moers, Schlosspark,1990/06/02

photo edit by eleonore nitsch (rgnrkzdk)

“Logic is no doubt unshakable, but it can't withstand a person who wants to live.”

Franz Kafka, The Trial

Anaïs Nin, from a letter to Joaquin Nin, featured in Reunited: The Correspondence of Anais and Joaquin Nin, 1933-1940

Spomenik: Monument to the Fallen Soldiers of the Kosmaj Partisan Detachment by Vojin Stojic & Gradimir Medaković (1970)

“The most obvious symbolic form embodied in this spomenik is that of the five-pointed star. This star (specifically the red star) was a pervasive and essential symbol to Yugoslavia, which symbolized strength and resistance, most specifically against fascism and Nazi occupation. As such, the star shape of this spomenik, designed by Vojin Stojic & Gradimir Medaković, would seem to be very appropriate given the events which transpired here.” (Info via spomenikdatabase.org