feature image by Hector Vivas/TAS23 / Contributor via Getty Images
Has anyone tried the freeze-dried figs from Trader Joe’s? Because I did last night, and they’re DELICIOUS. I think it would be fun to dip them into a whipped goat cheese, like a decadent take on chips and cheese dip.
Queer as in F*ck You
Postcard from Camp Gaylore. What is Camp Gaylore you might ask? Well, it was the first IRL summit of Gaylors, the powerful subsect of Taylor Swift fans who believe she has been leaving breadcrumbs hinting at her queerness for years in her music and live shows. For Cosmopolitan, journalist Frankie de la Cretaz attended the summit — which featured “hours of presentations and deep-dive analyses” — and documented the intimate queer space and experience. They bring their own personal narrative to the piece, adding an extra layer. Here’s a sample:
I didn’t travel far to get here, but I’ve come a long way. Four summers ago, I left my marriage to a straight man, right around the time Taylor released Lover. I had a passing familiarity with her oeuvre but didn’t consider myself much of a fan. I was crashing with friends—a lesbian couple—while searching for a new home and striving to create a more openly queer life for myself. With its pastel cover and pro-LGBTQ+ anthem “You Need to Calm Down,” Lover got a ton of airplay in that two-bedroom apartment. And the breakup songs—“Death by a Thousand Cuts,” “I Forgot That You Existed”—certainly spoke to me. But given everything I was going through, Taylor’s music felt like little more than a fluffy distraction.
I found the piece interesting, even just as a casual observer of Gaylor fandom and not someone who’s all in (anymore…I may have had a brief phase). But the fascinating thing about this summit and this fandom is that…it’s almost not even about Taylor Swift. Anyway, a good read!
The Queer Progressives Helping to Pull Louisiana to the Left. If you’re going to talk a lot about the fucked-up things happening in the South, you also have to talk about the resistance to those fucked-up things imo.
On that note:
G Flip Dishes on New Album ‘Drummer’ and Bringing Nonbinary Representation to ‘Selling Sunset’.
Veterans Discharged Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Are Still Fighting for Justice — And Benefits.
The Confusing State of Legal Challenges to Bans on Transgender Healthcare.
This Vibrant Photo Series Celebrates Black Queer Joy At Carnival.
Saw This, Thought of You
I feel like we know this, and yet we should still SAY IT, obviously: If Corporations Bore the True Cost of Their Emissions, They’d Owe Trillions.
How Disabled People Are Left Behind in Climate Disasters.
On gun violence: Violence Is Coming? Sorry, It’s Already Here—and Getting Worse.
Political Snacks
Found this one interesting as a born and raised Virginian: This Year’s Most Bruising Political Battle Will Be in Virginia.
How Abortion Is Set To Shape the Kentucky Governor’s Race.
One More Thing
Have I been including a lot of seasonal poems because I have melancholy about the lack of seasons where I live? MAYBE SO.
I’ve sent the Gaylor list to the multiple Gaylors in my life (I’m not one but boy have I heard a lot by osmosis)!
That poem is lovely but especially the title! Why is it 14C and rainy this is AUGUST
I live in Kentucky, and the anti-trans rhetoric in the election is wild. Cameron’s anti-trans attack ad on Beshear has been playing all. the. time. on like every channel. *scary voice and scary drag queen photos* Beshear supports “the radical transgender agenda” and surgeries on children. How did they even make this a thing? I don’t think abortion is in the ad or it’s lost in the bs. But it’s scary; just seeing an ob/gyn takes 6-12 months except for a random provider at Planned Parenthood, and that still takes a couple weeks. I assume there’s loopholes for pregnancy and maybe urgent care could handle an STI, but gl for anything else. This isn’t what people around here want (except those too old for any of this to be relevant to them), but Republicans don’t care about reality or what people want.
as a queer af louisiana resident, i appreciate your highlighting this work, kayla :)
Does anyone else think it is a bit creepy when your fans are having a summit to discuss your sexual orientation and this summit is being covered in the press? I do not want to read an article, because 1. not interested; 2. this singer’s sexuality is her own business. Maybe I do not understand what this summit is about? But if I understand it right, it really feels very wrong and creepy.
Yes! I completely agree. I don’t understand how so many queer people think that it’s okay to decide they know someone’s sexuality better than the individual… It doesn’t add up.
I was extremely skeptical of the idea of the conference too. But if you read the article, it’s less about an insistence of knowing her sexuality better than she does and more about discussing queer interpretations of her music and comparing it broader queer media.