Dogs party in costumes! U.S. Trans Survey opens! Halloween playlist grows!

Hey friends,

Are you ready for Halloween? Famously the most transgender holiday, Halloween is shaping up to be a big day in the Gender Reveal Cinematic Universe. It’s the last day to apply for our 2022 grant program, and the first day of our podcast’s new season. It’s also the last day to order from our seasonal merch collection, featuring old favorites like the “No Cis Vampires” sweatshirt and pink “Gender is Dead” hoodie, plus new stuff like big Eat The Cis stickers. Grab them while you can!

Photo: Tuck holding a big dye-cut sticker with an illustration of a freaky black vulture-ish bird, which also includes the words EAT THE CIS in red block letters. 

I’m not a big Halloween shenanigans person, but I did go to a very VERY good event today, which is a Halloween costume party for dogs. I took many many pictures, including the one at the top of this newsletter. I also saw a weiner dog who LOVES to skateboard and it’s one of the best things I have seen? Pictures don’t do it justice but here is one anyway.

Photo: A black weiner dog skating through a park. A random man is really excited to see the skating dog, and a teeny black dog in some kind of costume is really excited to see the man.

I’m jealous of everyone who gets to go to Transoween in Seattle this year! Are there spooky scary queer events happening in your neck of the woods? Let me know and I’ll plug ‘em somewhere. (I just scrolled through seemingly all of Instagram trying to find some but was not very successful.)

And speaking of trans community, I posted on social media that we had a bunch of Theymail slots open, and now our first several episode are filled with cute little plugs for other queer podcasts, trans-run small business, and even a farm?! We’ve still got space for more, so if you’re interested in shouting out something (or someone) on the pod, you can reserve a Theymail message using this form. First come, first serve! (We’ve also got space for two more pre-roll ad campaigns, if you’re a Cool Company reading this lol.)

Oh, and before I forget: The 2022 NCTE U.S. Trans Survey is open now! If you’re trans (or one of those “I’m nonbinary but not trans” people, I think?) and live in the United States, pleaseeeee take the time to fill this out. It’s long, but truly so important — I still cite the 2015 survey data all the time in my work. (Note: The survey also asks that we all spread the word to people of color, older people, rural transes, immigrants, Spanish speakers, and HIV+ folks.)

Okay, here’s Links & Stuff, broken into categories for some reason.

Listen:

• I added a chaotic heap of new tracks to my ongoing Halloween playlist if you need some thematically-named tunes in your life.
• My friend Jess Kung made a Code Switch episode about race in Dungeons & Dragons, and somehow made it interesting for both DND players and people who don’t know what DND is.

Read:

• An oldie but a goodie: here’s the formula for every episode of Murder She Wrote.
• My friend Jaya wrote about secret menu hacks and how maybe we should cool it.
• Writing this made me realize that I haven’t read Defector’s GBBO challenge attempt yet this week, so here’s your reminder as well.
• Leah Sottile interviewed my friend K Rambo, who is so smart and good, and I’ve been thinking about this part ever since:

“I think in journalism you broadly have two groups of people. I think that that you have people broadly that are in journalism because they wanna hold people in power accountable. And I think the other group is in journalism because they want proximity to power and powerful people. The people who are in it for proximity to power tend to get much further.”

Skim:

• This Defector piece ended up being a fascinating study on false memories and family lore.
• I didn’t expect to enjoy Rebecca Traister’s John Fetterman profile as much as I did.
• Grindr’s new big boss agrees with Trump, or something.

Dogs:

• Highly recommend this sweet video (embedded in the article) with the sound OFF.
• I was very touched by this tribute to Ruthie, a dog I’ll never meet.
• Here's another dog from the costume party.

Photo: A guy dressed as a corndog, holding the leash of a white dog dressed as corn. 

That’s it for this week. Here’s a fresh weekly Rhubarb.

Photo: Ruby laying in the crook of someone's arm, eyes closed, purring, with her sweet sleepy face pointed directly at the camera. 

Xo,
Yr resident gender detective

PS: Last one but you gotta see this ham!!!!!!!! 

Photo: A pug wearing loose white netting that has been decorated to become a DIY baked-ham-with-pineapple costume.