Mid-video update + Q&A: Going forward

Hello all, and welcome to the mid video update for January -- a... slightly late edition, which makes sense given recent events! I think everyone knows what's happened in the US regarding trans people and such, which has been intensely depressing for me to say the least. On top of that, a lot of frustrating things have happened in my personal life, and I also had an elongated recovery from a wisdom tooth removal. All of this is why the last video ended up kind of late, since I got knocked out for three days and was in pain for another four or five, and why this video has ended up late. Here's hoping things improve from here...

At least, on the channel side of things, things have been going great. The last video has been performing AMAZINGLY and the feedback I've seen has been incredible. Thank you all so much for the positive reception; it took a lot out of me to make that video and I'm really glad it seemed to be worth it! And, on that note of making videos, let's take a peek at what's up next, and talk about general plans for the year.

February: Ai Mai Misuto! This is a title I thought had never heard of until a friend recommended it to me while I was searching for titles on DLSite to cover for this month. Then I saw a screenshot and realized this is one of like four gender bending VNs I downloaded as a little egg, and... wow, it probably would have made me take HRT way sooner if I could have actually read it back then. Very trans joy, very gender fluid, many gender fluids, very good game. Script process has begun.

March & Beyond: Let me pose a deceptively simple question: what does progressive writing under fascism look like? On the surface the answer may seem to simply be "promote progressive messaging," or "don't be fascist," but pray tell, what exactly is the impact of this - how do you make this have impact -when the world is visibly, at large, shifting towards enshrining conservative ideas in law, discouraging liberal positions, and outright vilifying, detaining, deporting, or even systematically murdering leftists and dissidents, who perform the crime of asking for human rights?

In my mind, if the election of funny orange man wasn't the point of the US crossing the rubicon, then the executive orders most certainly were. Another world superpower has embraced authoritarian and fascist thinking, and it's one that particularly has the power (and is using it!) to embolden these ideologies elsewhere, on top of empowering corporations responsible for mass killings and political fraud. It's gone from a neoliberal hellscape with a vague, if undeserved, "normalcy," to one which is blatant about its systemic and personal hatred for people who do not fit 1930s German ideals of "normalcy." We already weren't in a good era, but it's gotten even worse now.

So what does talking about anti-fascism, about feminism, about liberation, look like now, when we have moved even further away from those goals being tenable? I feel leftist writers at large are struggling with this, because our hypothetical worsts are becoming or have become realities, and our hopes for aversions are being squashed. The answer is simultaneously as simple as to continue writing radical works, and intensely complicated as the achieveability of our ideals feels like it grows ever more distance.

I am deeply despaired right now at being unable to see family and friends without wrangling them 8,000 kilometers across the ocean, and I am incredibly worried about my friends in the US who are rapidly losing support around them and have to find new ways to pursue the lives they want. I have more or less been downgraded to a second class citizen, wondering why I shouldn't just toss it out when I become a citizen here. Do I want to drown all of that out in works about joy and hope, or try to talk about resistance and solidarity through darker works?

Ultimately, I feel like I will keep covering the same kinds of works I always have, in my same style, but I suppose I am being forced to put even more consideration than ever into what I say, and how I encourage hope and solidarity, because yet another line has been crossed, and it is one that will encourage further crossings all over the world. I don't feel like I can just cover anything in a vacuum anymore, i.e, it suddenly feels a hell of a lot more 'real' to talk about transgender issues and discrimination when the grandest institutions in the US have decided against our existence. Fascist thinking in the Global North is no longer a niche and extremist position, but the recently enshrined normal for other countries to follow if they so desire -- and they do, because too few people give a shit to recognize it and stop it.

I guess my point in all this is that anti-fascism under fascism does not look or feel the same as anti-fascism against impending fascism, and I have to genuinely wonder what my optics should be and how they should change. The only constant, and something that I do for certain want to focus on this year, is the joy that exists in our lives, and will always continue to. I would love to talk about more works that show the richness of trans lives, the beauty in other cultures, and how the lives of the oppressed can be defined by positivity rather than our oppression. I believe even under these worsening circumstances, that is what can define our lives. I just wonder how to approach it all to make it feel true.

That's really it for now, I suppose. I apologize for this post being a downer in ways, but the world is a downer right now. I hope, going forward, I can continue to provide joy and hope for everyone, and we can stick through this together. As per usual, feel free to leave comments asking questions for me to answer in the Q&A segment. Oh, yeah, and suggest games for THE LIST, preferably things that inspire you. I think we all need it now.

See you all soon.