(hi all, this is a soft possible dry run of a proposed series of essays on yaoi. if you like this, let me know, and i can try to write more going forward. for what it is worth: this essay is nonspecific enough that any spoilers should not dissuade you…

When I was young, when I was a different kind of child, when I was a scrappier one, I used to fight. Neighbor boys, classmates, siblings. Bareknuckle and wielding tree branches. I bled, and in turn made others bleed, sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. …

INTRO Our retrospective adventure continues as we venture from the bustling Kanto to the humble region steeped in mythos, Johto. We opted to play Crystal this time around, wanting the more “complete” experience, since there is only an addition of scenes, rather than significant plot or structural changes. Plus, we both…

A Pokémon Retrospective Between Friends by Jade and Charlotte — INTRO Our names are Jade and Charlotte. We’ve been online friends for more than a decade now, and we’re also long-time series fans of the Pokémon games; we are neither super fans nor lapsed, disgruntled hanger-ons, but rather girls who have played the games more and less at different points, have…

I’ve been thinking about corn. I squatted at a farm for a summer, and I was sandwiched between fields of soy and fields of corn. Despite that intimacy, it would be inaccurate to say I can tell them apart when first planted. But the height difference is palpable come harvest…

(this piece discusses the long term sexual abuse and multiple instances of sexual trauma throughout involving different people. if you are in a bad place right now, please practice caution with yourself, and maybe read some other time ♡) I used to watch videos of boys dancing on YouTube. I…

(brief note about content: this piece discusses suicide as depicted in the film and online, so if you need space from that, please take it and either avoid this piece or wait until you’re in a better headspace ♡) Being ‘very online’ is no longer novel, but largely just a…

When I started my first and currently only Twitter account post transition, in 2018, I threaded briefly about an article that has sort of preoccupied my mind for a long time. …

A lot of reviews I surveyed contemporary to the English release of Taiwanese film Blue Gate Crossing (2002, dir. Yee Chin-yen) describe the movie in phrases like “little,” “slight,” describing its lack of “impact.” Instead of floating through my viewing experience like this reception would suggest, I have since my…