Be Gay Do Crime: Origins! Mononyms! More Things I Liked!

Hey friends,

Hope you’re all hanging in there. I am eating cereal for dinner, like an adult professional.

This week on the show… actually, I’m just going to let Io tell you:

“I’m on this week’s Gender Reveal and it was a barrel of fun! Find it wherever podcasts live! [Tuck] and I gab about gender nihilism, whether Dune is trans (with a masterful alioop by producer Jules), worm cum, crime≠harm, attempting to become ungoogleable, @a.b.o.comix, supporting trans prisoners, anarcho-DnD, joyful pessimism, time travel, blowing up the czar, and Im finally able to give a definitive "be gay do crime: origins" script for the record. Glad to be a chaotic lil Tasmanian devil inside this very serious and always respectable podcast.”

Photo ID: A photo of Io wearing a floral dress and black pants/balaclava/glasses/scarf/gloves. They're sitting on a rock in a snowy forest and waving at the camera. There's a sword stuck into the ground near them. 

So, that’s basically it, plus a story about when a hot podcast listener told me about bike helmet phrenology; and a discussion of what it’s like to have your anti-assimilationist meme be assimilated (oops) into the mainstream; and thoughts on going off E; and also I stole this joke from Niko and pitched that we all start using “trangenderist” as a noun. And other stuff, probably!!! It’s a fun one.

Photo ID: A photo of Io standing in front of an abandoned-looking building. The roof says KNIVES in huge letters for some reason.

Here’s a little taste of Io’s work (below) but you should definitely check out everything they’ve got in stock right now at etsy.com/shop/bumlung.

Photo IDs: 1) A pennant that says "All Lawmen Must Die" with an image of a skeleton stabbing a knight, I think. 2) Two copies of Io's autobio zine, "bum lung." 3) A beautiful poster rendition of the Litany of Fear from Dune. 4) A sticker in the shape of the continental United States with the words "it's bad" inside. 5) Tuck riding a bike while wearing a Be Gay do Crime sweatshirt and a respirator. 

Next week on the show, Producer Jules (who we hear from fleetingly in this week’s episode!) is taking a turn in the host seat! I interviewed a two-letter mononym this week so they’re going to interview a three-letter mononym next week, and you’re welcome to Guess Whomst It Is if that sounds fun.

Last week’s newsletter segment called “here are some links to things I’ve enjoyed recently” got a bit of positive feedback so we’re doing it again this week. Scroll down to the Ruby pic if you’ve got enough links in your life already; otherwise, here we go:

• This old(?) TikTok about bats on swings
• “Martin Luther’s Wordle Starter” by Brandon Taylor, especially the line “So when people ask me what I am reading or watching or doing, I don’t tell them. Because I want to preserve my own dumb little route through the universe.” [And yes I realize how acutely ironic it is to put that sentence in a list of recommendations; it is paining me also; I’m sorry 2 Brandon.]
• I know Christmas is over but R. Eric Thomas’s belated description of this bleak ornament he found is a joy and a gift. I want to quote a line very badly but it would spoil the best joke.
• Follow @UFWUpdates on Twitter.
• My girlfriend sent me this old Camila Cabello video and I am completely captivated by all of the visuals and every single eye makeup look. (Feel free to watch on mute if that’s easier for you.) I know I should be embarrassed about this pick but I stand by it! 

Photo ID: A screenshot of the video, I'm sorry but I don't have the vocabulary to describe this well but it's Camila sitting at a table next to a floral bouquet and everything is VIBRANT and TROPICAL and BEAUTIFUL.

• I wouldn’t say I “enjoyed” this, but I found this article very useful, as I had no idea that STIs were “raging nearly unchecked” due to (among other things) the pandemic limiting testing opportunities.
• Finally, in keeping with this week’s TWIG, here’s a very very old ALC paragraph that I screamed at: “S*x and the City does not appear to be the work of aliens who, having learned of heterosexuality exclusively through perfume advertisements, decided to make a half-hour romantic comedy-drama series on the topic. S*x and the City appears, instead, to be the work of humans who, in the wake of the aforementioned show's wild success on Zolgnar-5, attempted to adapt it for an American audience, The Office-style, without speaking a word of Zolg. It's straight people, as imagined by straight people, as imagined by straight people.”

Was that anything? LMK if you have feelings on the link segment or any aspect of the newsletter or podcast or anything I do; I’m basically always winging it.

Hang in there. I love you. Here’s your weekly Rhubarb.

Photo ID: Ruby laying on a pink cushion in front of a fireplace.

Xo,
Yr resident gender detective

PS: The text in this article is getting flagged by Patreon for p*rnographic content and I assume it's because we said "worm cum" and I love that. (Sex and the City is starred out because I was testing if "Sex" was the word that was getting flagged and I forgot to change it back, oops, lol.)