Howie Echo-Hawk! Labor Week! Mckenzee’s tips!

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. Mckenzee is sitting in my living room, staring at her phone while I try to get some work done. I asked her if she wanted to write the newsletter, and she contributed the following:

10 tips for being trans

1. Try to have fun with it
2. Don’t get hate-crimed

She did not offer tips 3-10 but tbh that should be enough to get started. (Also sorry 2 Mckenzee for actually putting this in the newsletter but, as always, thank you for the exclusive content.)

Oh, and speaking of patreon-exclusive content: I just checked how many sticker packs I need to send out to new $5+ patrons, and apparently the answer is ………… 375?!? Holy shit. Thanks so much to all y’all who have joined in the last six months, and thanks for your patience as I got distracted by moving and making podcasts and whatnot. I just ordered 1,000 more stickers so I’ll be able to chip away at this very soon.

(I also need to record a Gender Conceal episode for November, and I’m thinking about just talking to another trans person about Love Is Blind, so sorry about that in advance but also you cannot stop me.)

Photo: Nancy's rad brother from Love is Blind 3 saying "What do you mean shhh? What he fuck are we doing this for?" to his mom at Nancy's wedding. 

Anyway! We’ve got a great episode for you this week, featuring comedian / musician / writer / performer / event producer / etc. Howie Echo-Hawk. I’ve already listed a fews of my favorite Howie quotes on Instagram, but here they are if you missed them:

• “My whole mission when I first started doing comedy was just to be mean to white people on stage and talk about the genocide and see what happens”
• “How often are we trying to get [our oppressors] to understand us via little initiatives that make them feel better about themselves?”
• “When you find acceptance in an oppressive society, I’m sorry to tell you that it’s still an oppressive society, and I don’t think that’s where our freedom comes from.”
• “The answers are not in books. The answer are often not even in discussion. They’re in you getting into your body and getting into a state of being, rather than in a state of observing your state of being.”

Photo: Howie speaking into a microphone while holding a guitar in front of a keyboard and DJ gear. Behind them is a long shelf of wine. 

Next week on the show, we’ve got a special two-part Labor Week Special for ya. (No, Labor Week is not time-pegged to Labor Day or May Day, or although that would make a lot more sense than what I'm doing, which is just kind of slapping it onto the calendar wherever it fits.) We’re putting out one interview with a union organizer on Monday and another interview on Thursday, so keep your eyes peeled mid-week!

In merch news…………………… yup, we’ve got merch. I tried to stock stuff that's easy to gift, like stickers and pins and posters.

Okay, here’s Links & Stuff:

• If you have NYT access, you can be really upset about new crackdowns on queer life and queer expression in Russia.
• If you have WaPo access, you can check out this creatively-illustrated article about how I guess we’re all supposed to want permanent standard time instead of permanent daylight savings time? Because of, like, our bodies? Ugh.
• OK, that’s enough of anything remotely serious. Here’s Defector ranking Mario power-ups.
• French Chaise Lounge is the only Chaise Lounge I ever want to hear again. Why is it not on streaming (or is it?)??
• This dancing-with-strangers-on-the-street video is a little contrived but I still found it extremely cute and wholesome.
• Speaking of dancing, I’ve watched this like 10 times and it does not get old!!!
• Finally: congratulations to Pikachu only!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s it for this week. Here’s your Weekly Rhubarb.

Photo: Ruby sleeping on a blue plaid comforter, looking extra floofy.

Xo,
Yr resident gender detective

PS: Tuesday was Ruby's 4th adoptaversary. I'm the luckiest person in the world!!!!!!!!!
PPS: What do you think this percentage is actually??