Gender fires! Memes! A new trans podcast! Soup?

Hey everyone,

I feel like every time I say "I hope you're all hanging in there," I get one notch more emphatic. But, hey, I really hope you're all hanging in there. 

I write to you (as always) from Portland, Oregon, where the air quality is currently (definitely not always) at 246 AQI ("very unhealthy"), due to the wildfires burning in our adjacent counties and up and down the west coast. Believe it or not, I am relieved that our air is "very unhealthy" because everything is relative and last night the AQI was 425 ("hazardous").

Fortunately(?!), many Portlanders recently obtained respirators and gas masks to protect ourselves against law enforcement's near-nightly deployment of tear gas and pepper spray. So now we're just, like, biking to the grocery store in our respirators; giving each other rides to the doctor in our respirators; working from home in our respirators. I'm literally wearing mine right now in the living room of my house, as I type these words. 2020 is a trip.

As you likely know, millions of other people in California, Oregon, and Washington are also currently battling the effects of these terrifying wildfires. Thousands have evacuated (including many friends in/near Portland), and hundreds have lost their homes and their belongings. (If this is you or your family, and you need immediate assistance, please feel free to reach out, although I don't know why you'd be reading a podcast newsletter if that was the case.)

More than 20,000 of these evacuations were caused by the El Dorado Fire in California, which seems to have been ignited by pyrotechnics at ............. yup, a gender reveal party. I said in this week's bonus episode that I didn't want to make light of such a devastating and tragic situation. And I really, really don't. 

But now? Now, I'm getting my evac bag ready as the fires creep a lil closer, and humor is coping strategy, damnit. So, Gender Reveal's twitter has been retweeting a choice selection of gender-fire-related jokes, such as the one in this newsletter's banner photo, which was made by @niktatorship and lovingly stolen because it made me scream. Here's another:

@knifwif says "gender reveal your local precinct today!"

And another.

@micah_bateman says "Imagine being the child whose gender was revealed to be a devastating wildfire"

And, heck, three more.

Lucy Diavolo says "gender reveal wildfire? that's nothing. my gender is actually stored in a polar ice cap and won't be revealed unless we completely destroy the planet."

@NicoleConlan says "Revealing my baby's gender by crashing a tanker full of pink oil into a delicate coral reef"

JP Brammer says "the price of revealing gender remains ever so high"

Memes aside, did I mention that we have a new bonus episode?!? I'm thrilled to share an episode of the TransLash Podcast, a new show hosted by Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning journalist Imara Jones. In each episode, Imara and her guests dive into news, culture, and politics with from a trans and Black perspective. I'm really excited to hear more from this show — you can hear the second episode in our feed now, and subscribe to the TransLash Podcast wherever you get Gender Reveal. :)

While we're here, a reminder that you have four days left to shop our new merch and/or grab an old favorite that you missed the first time around. Newsletter subscribers save 10% off merch this month with offer code "MYBAD," and all proceeds go to trans artists and rad LGBTQ+ orgs. 

OK, but going back to memes for a second. Did you see the soup video? It's the only Tr*mp video that I've ever watched intentionally, and I've watched it four times and "it's better than a brick because you can't throw a brick, it's too heavy" gets me every single time. 

I say all this because I wanted to show you this soup-video-related  Art™ from the Portland Action Medics.

Partial image description: an energy drink has been covered with a new label modeled after Campell's soup labels. It says "Campbell's Antifascist ACAB SOUP for my family. Better than a brick!" 

General podcast progress update: I'm chugging along on work despite everything, but I'm also trying to convince myself that productivity isn't the most important thing right now. I'm not sure how fast patreon rewards are going to be delivered during a wildfire-uprising-pandemic-dismantling-of-the-postal-service-situation, come to think of it. BUT ANYWAY, I'm working on it and I love you! Thank you for being here! I really, really, really appreciate it. Stay safe. 

Here's this week's Rhubarb.

xoxo,
Yr resident gender detective