Wow wow wow! August’s Queer IRL gallery was about you and your books! And you nailed it in a way that I wasn’t prepped for, and I thank you. Are you ready for what’s next?
September’s Gallery Theme: Queer with Our Pets
It’s YOU and it’s also YOUR PETS and then that’s the all it is! It’s a spotlight on you and your nonhuman love containers. THIS IS YOUR TIME.
Instructions
1. Take a high quality picture of you with your pet. This is doable with most smartphones, so don’t worry if you don’t have a fancy camera. You know what else works and is super fun? Disposable cameras. I keep mentioning this because I just don’t want you to forget it.
Photos should be between 1024-3024 pixels wide so they’ll look nice on a full screen. Please don’t send anything smaller than 1024 pixels wide.
2. Send your picture and info to me at laneia@autostraddle.com with the subject QUEER PETS. If the subject doesn’t say QUEER PETS it won’t be caught by my filter and it will be lost and you won’t be in the gallery and that will be sad!!!
Copy/paste this mini form into your email and fill in the blanks with your info!
NAME + PET’S NAME / AGES* / PHOTO’S LOCATION
Details (answer any or all): Your pet’s origin story — how’d you come across this beautiful beast? Why did you decide on that name? What’s the best thing about this little ball of energy? What do you like to do together? What’s the weirdest thing about them? Does your pet have an Instagram?
*Optional but cool.
I reserve the right to edit your sentence/s for length or spelling errors. (I’m a pretty good editor though, so.) Your photo will appear in a full screen gallery on Autostraddle.com — the main site, not A+ — and might be used on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr) to promote the gallery. If you don’t want your photo to appear on social media, please make a note of that with your submission. You reserve full rights to your photo. Photos will not be used to promote anything other than this exact gallery, and will not be used in any other future post.
Deadline: 9/26/2017
FAQ
1. What is a pet?
A pet is a nonhuman being who depends on you to survive in a human-centric world.
2. What is a queer person?
Queer people are lesbians, bisexuals, queer and otherwise-identified women, trans and non-binary folks.
3. Do you want us to be in the photo?
I do, yes! It would be sad if you weren’t! Yes please! Be in the picture!
4. What if I have more than one pet? Or if my pet is a rock??
Listen, I believe in you and your ability to take a picture of yourself with all 300 of your pets, especially if they’re rocks.
Deadline: 9/26/2017
Leave your questions in the comments and if you have an idea for a future theme, let me know! laneia@autostraddle.com
what if my pet is a sourdough starter named Sue Perkins?
ALLOWED.
I’m going to wait with baited breath for that or those pictures. Just letting you know.
Yes! I’m so excited. Pets!
I am excited for all the cute pet pictures, in particular for #TeamDog
?
Ahh I love this so much! Also cute puppos!
You got married, live in what seems like an awesome apartment (unless you took this picture at a random person’s place, which, y’know… they’d be blessed by your presence) AND own dogs who actually sit still and don’t pull an ‘I am being tortured send help asap’ face when a picture is being taken? Livin’ the dream life.
Well, yes I did all of that but… that’s not my picture
Hahahahahaha
Well, I’m glad identify with my description anyway.
Yesss, I am so here for this. Prepare for 200 pictures of me with my dog.
… why must you do this when I have literally just moved to uni so can’t spend the next week taking aesthetic selfies with my dog…
Is there a suggested number of pictures (aka how many pictures are Too Many)?
i feel like 4 is my limit?
oh shit i sent five, i’m a rebel
Ooh. I’m here for this but it’s also bittersweet. BOTH of my beloved cat companions died this year. I’ll have to look through my archives for suitable photos.
It’s also a bit awkward since I use my cat’s name as my AS name. So I may be submitting Cleo and Cleo photos.
oh cleo! i’m so sorry ?
I’m so sorry! I also lost my soulmate kitty recently and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to submit to this one but I want to keep sharing and remembering the joy he gave me, so I think I will. I hope you do too!
Fuck yes
I’m so determined not to miss this one that I sent it in as soon as I saw this! Thanks for choosing a great topic! I know we will not be disappointed.
glad this call came after I adopted my stupid cute rescue dog who is ruining my life, in a good way.
YESSSS
The past week has been trash, just trash, so to come here and see that there will be a gallery that’s pretty much tailor-made for my dog-crazy ass…thank you. Needed this.
My cat is feeling especially fluffy lately so this is perfect
Omg yes the pets finally!! I think we’ve all been waiting for that one for a while! My cat is everything to me <3
I apologize in advance for what will be a selfie of me next to my fish tank in which you probably won’t even be able to see any fish…
we will feel these fishes in our hearts
I cannot wait for this gallery. I cannot have any pets in my house and it is the worst.
I am really struggling to narrow down what image to submit because every picture of my dog is the greatest picture in the world because he’s in it but I also want to share the very best of his majestic floofness.
I am trying to put together my submission, and have run into a slight issue. I seem to be incapable of talking about my pets without writing a whole damn essay??? Seriously, I’ve somehow ended up with over 1100 words and I’m not even done! I AM REALLY BAD AT WRITING CONCISELY.
WHAT DO I DO???
I wrote mine while in one of my signature “I am a terrible pet owner this was a terrible mistake” bird related depression fueled spirals and then edited it way down because, like, I don’t need that.
I live alone now, and he’s gotten so quiet. He used to watch the dogs and yell back and forth with my mom’s parrot (my og parrot) all day long, and then he would “join in” while my family talked.
But I don’t naturally talk to my pets, and I almost never have people over, and I just feel like the small life he had has gotten so much smaller.
I’M SAD ABOUT IT
have you considered leaving the radio on for him? i and a lot of my friends leave NPR on for our dogs when we’re out of the house so they can hear people talking and not get as lonely.
if you’re worried that it’s too quiet for him, it might help to have talk-y radio so he hears voices. also, imagine your bird learning to talk to people about health care policy.
Mickey! I’ve seen your little IG videos of you talking to, playing with, caring for Reptar. I think you’re a fantastic bird parent, and he’s lucky to have you.
Oh no I missed it! Can I still sneak one in under the wire if I email it today?
Um I sent it, I’m sorry it’s late and I hope you will accept! If not then just enjoy the extra pup pictures I guess :)
Ack I forgot ?