All the RomCom of Qi Xi

The meaning behind Veteran's Day is fantastic. It's a moment to celebrate Veteran's and the peace they fought and continue fighting for. But once that war is over, we, (at least Americans) have a habit of forgetting about them until once a year. Death tolls are to be ignored, photos are to be denied and the actual cost to these men and women are shuffled off amidst the hype of "we won. Go America" that sweeps the country. Mission Accomplished flight shenanigans piss me off so fiercely because the soldiers are still over there fighting and its only gotten worse.

Then, when they come back, there are hundreds of issues we, the non-military, cannot even possibly understand.

Homeless Veterans are more common than you think. In Arizona alone, there are only about 200 beds for the almost 4000 homeless veterans. 45% of them suffer from mental illness. Half have substance abuse problems. 47% served in Vietnam. 67% served the country for more than 3 years. 33% were stationed in war zones. On any given night, there are over 130,000 homeless veterans. The number is an estimate because no one can be bothered to keep accurate numbers of homeless let alone homeless veterans. (moar statistics)

If you can even spare five bucks, a local homeless organization can take that five bucks and help veterans in your area. You don't think five bucks makes that big of a deal? Let me tell you, five dollars can make or break a budget, determine if there's enough food for everyone they're serving, go towards an electric bill to heat a house and pay for water for a shower. Five dollars is important. It's a big mac for you, it's three servings of turkey and stuffing for them. So how about honoring Veteran's on this Veteran's Day by finding a local Veteran's support charity and donating five bucks?

In a more personal relationship with Veteran's Day, my family has always had at least one member of every generation in the military since New York was known as New Amsterdam. My brother and little sister were Air Force and Navy. My dad was Navy and my Uncle was Marines. My cousins are Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. My Uncle served four tours of duty in Vietnam and never went to the Wall because it was too much for him, there were too many men he knew.

He barely ever talked about the war and that makes me sad because, all too often, we whitewash the actual cost of war and expect servicemen and women to go into the experience blind. Knowing that there are going to be missions where you're the only one that makes it back alive is necessary to preparing for war. Everyone should know about the cost so that maybe, just maybe, we don't have to send these men and women off to die. Maybe then, we won't mock diplomacy first and we'll show the utmost respect for our servicepeople by not putting their lives in danger without exhausting every other option first.

Rather than just honoring our fallen and those that have served, why don't we honor them by continuing to support them? It isn't just about the money, it's about fighting to make sure we don't endanger them any more than we have to by entering needless wars. It's about ensuring that there's enough healthcare so that, in 2008 alone, more than 2200 don't die because they didn't have insurance. It's about keeping them off the streets and sheltered. It's about honoring them day in and day out because they did and continue to do a job that some of us are incapable of doing. (and by some of us, I mean me)

Another thinkythought post that I found on my thumbdrive.

On Homosexuality and Warnings

I'm not at all certain that this is going to make much sense as it's more a ramble and thinkythoughts than anything clearly outlined and written in a logical fashion (Spock, I am not). That being said – here goes.

I'm extremely bothered by the way that Fandom (and this is Fandom as a whole whether it's Harry Potter, Star Trek, Supernatural, Four Brothers, The Departed or a thousand and one other fandoms) sometimes warns for possible homosexual content.

It really bothers me when I see a warning for pre-slash. It really, really bothers me. And the reason that it bothers me is because I never see the warning for pre-het. If Kirk and McCoy are flirting during a mission but nothing comes of it and it's just because Kirk is totes a flirting h0r, then I do not see it as pre-slash just like when a fic features Kirk flirting with Uhura, it is not pre-het. Yet the first gets a warning of "pre-slash" and the second is considered normal and a-ok.

This really gives me the squidgies, the squirmies, the what are we doing, why are we doing this, grossed-out feeling. I feel, and I'm certain you'll feel differently, that it's helping to encourage the heteronormative blinders when we, as slash fans, should not be reinforcing the heteronormative and warning for Other when we perv over that Other. We are objectifying and fetishizing other people's lives but we're not willing to work for acceptance? That's how it comes across to me – that I'm willing to read about the buttsexx0rs but I'm totally willing to make it easy for you, the heteronormative the-possibility-of-gay-people-scare-me person, to avoid the possibility that there might be teh gheys out there.

I get that we label works as pre-slash because that gets us more viewers and that's another issue entirely. I hate that gen has this reputation of "boring". It's not. It's awesome. There are some amazing buddy!fics out there that totally deserve to be read. There are some awesome buddy!art that should be recced to New Vulcan and back.

But in the end, pre-slash isn't slash just like pre-het isn't het. I don't see either as a valid warning just like I don't see "het" and "slash" as valid warnings. The fact is, when a couple are listed, that should be enough of a clue. If someone can't pick up on the fact that a fic features Kirk/Scotty when I clearly label it as such, than it's a buyer beware thing.

It's a personal decision but I refuse to read anything that warns for slash because I find it infantile if not offensive.

My position, to sum up, is: Stop warning for the sexuality of the characters in your fic, art, whatever. Just list out the pairings or the characters. I have a brain and can figure out that if you put Kirk/McCoy, you mean Kirk/McCoy even if they're not bumping uglies. I'll know that it's a homosexual relationship and can choose accordingly. And if you don't mean it as Kirk/McCoy, don't list it as such. List it as Kirk, McCoy and I'll know that it's buddy!fic. Stop with the warnings about pre-slash. If you mean it to be slash, even if it's not in-your-face buttsexx0rs, then list the pairing and move on. If you don't mean it as slash, then it's gen buddy!fic and w00t on that, too.

Moar thinky thoughts. So I posted what I consider a gen story here (minor spoilers for Star Trek XI). To me, the story isn't about a relationship or anything, it's about Leonard McCoy and what leads him into Starfleet.

It was listed as het with "Leonard McCoy/OFC" at a newsletter. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It's cool, the newsletter can list it as whatever they want cause it's their newsletter. I can sort of see where they got it from but, IMHO, it's not het. It's gen.

Which brings me to my thinky thoughts. What makes you think a fic is gen versus het/slash? Does the appearance of any sort of relationship in a fic (whether the focus is on the relationship or not) make you think that it's het/slash? Or can it have a relationship in it but not focus primarily on that relationship and, thus, it's gen?

Example -

I write a story about Molly being married to Arthur Weasley.

Story A features the two of them having a romantic dinner. That's het, right?

Story B features the two of them taking care of Fred and George. That's gen, right?

But what about if, during Story B, I mention Arthur and Molly sharing a hug (in a "thank god we're not dead" sort of way)? Is that het or gen? They're still just parenting and that's the point of the story. But does the appearance of any sort of "sexual" contact make it het instead of gen?

( My thoughts )

So what are your thoughts?

I'm sitting in janicechess's house and I should be working. And I am if your definition of working is yelling at my computer as I read emails from my boss. Swear to god, that woman wouldn't remember to breathe without me there to pat her hand and remind her about the concepts of in and out.

I really do not want to go back to work. ( cut to spare the uninterested as I bitch about the amount of work waiting for me )

Anyway on to non-work related shit - I think there's a karmic rule about fandom and fic searches - only the worst stories ever get searched for (and having seen a couple of my "bad" fic get searched for, I fully embrace and participate in this philosophy). I normally click the link anyway cause I cannot stop myself due to my overactive trainwreck syndrome. I've been pleasantly surprised a few times and this time was one of them as I encountered some stunning Remus/Sirius. The fic search sounded ridiculous and I was totes ready to laugh and spork but, instead, I ended up with biting back tears at the way that the canon between these two was handled.

Being an Historical Record of Events Surrounding the Unfortunate game of Truth-or-Dare Game of February the Twenty-Second And Consequences thereof is the first. It's got a few SPAG errors, a couple moments that made me think "chick with dick" but, honestly? Don't let that fool you into not reading it. It's got quite a good sense of poignancy and beauty there, the way that they fumble around one another and slowly build into an interesting take on the fanon trope of how and why Sirius leaves Grimmauld Place.

I see a Darkness is the second part and just about broke my heart. It doesn't start where Being an Historical... stops. Instead, it's got a disparate timeline that weaves everything together in a broken misshapen lump of a relationship that works even when it doesn't. The author does a great job of getting everything out there, whether positive or negative. You can feel the way that Remus reacts to everything and it is an amazing piece of work.

geekerypookery is the author and I'm currently trolling her journal looking for more R/S because I love her dynamics of these two so much.

Moving on to the ramble, I love fic searches. I really do. ( cut for the rest as I ramble and ramble )

In other less rambly stuffs and postings - I'm working through my hp_yule_balls assignment. It's a tough slog (no offence to the mods or the recipient as it isn't their faults). Mainly it's a tough slog because I'm so wishywashy about whether or not my idea is a good one and if it's a good fit. So I'm being one of those tedious participants who need constant handholding and reassurance.

I'm also working on a story that currently has the summary of "the story where Remus is a street musician and Sirius is a stockbroker and Peter likes Tom Jones while James has his head up his arse and it works just don't ask me how or why or where this came from".

There are also my three non-HP claims at slashfest. I've about 5k into a Wolverine/Gambit post-X3 story and about 1k in to a PWP with Christian/Ollie at Verbotene Liebe. I have nothing into my Nightrunner claim but a good idea.

A post in which I ponder religion and fanfiction and life. Before you click the link, yes, the answer is 42.

( I don't meta but I sure like to pretend sometimes )