Xismosa Xit

Hello all,

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by – what else is there? –

💀🐈‍⬛🦇👻🎃 HALLOWEEN 🎃👻🦇🐈‍⬛💀

Or, as we like to call it, 🎃🦇Gay Christmas🦇🎃

Prose and Poetry of the Week

In honor of spoopy season, I present to you:

Ghost Realms

Wrote 100 words about my senior year dorm room, it’s pretty self-explanatory.

Graveyard Poetry

Featured previously in my December 2023 newsletter and written at the William Blake exhibit at the Getty. They had lithographs that William Blake and his wife Catherine Boucher hand-painted themselves, which of course you cannot touch. They made me reflect on seeing the hand-made work of others Y E A R S down the line, whether it be decades, centuries, or millennia. I LOVE examining the brushstroke of a painting because I love seeing the work of someone else’s hand. I like looking for the mistakes in a crochet or knitted piece because of the humanness of mistakes in art. I’ve heard a saying amongst crocheters that a mistake is where the soul can escape from being trapped in the piece.

This piece also includes ideas about ancestors because I think it’s important to think about seven generations past AND seven generations future, an idea adapted from the the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The Monstrosity of My Tongue Is Not Yours

Written at a time when I wanted to be feared because it means being considered, listened to, and accounted for.

Trapped

Speaking of trapped! What happens when you can no longer hold back a scream and it rips through you?

This got Top Story, which I was a little surprised by but glad nonetheless! It’s an… unfortunate story. It centers on screaming. As always, I appreciate when strangers resonate with it, but this time the strangers ended up comforting me in the comments.

Also, I was a big supporter of Thesaurus.com for this one:

“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist” – Vladimir Nobakov

Jackalope Burrows

Things I’ve learned, laughed about, and/or obsessed over

• The Marginalian by Maria Popova, which inspired this very website you’re reading, just posted about her 19th anniversary and it is a BEAUTIFUL post + her pottery
• I have mentioned The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir so many godforsaken times and it’s SPOOKY SEASON SO HOW COULD I NOT INCLUDE SOMETHING because it is a book series I am never ever chill about (obvi)

• This mushroom playing keyboard makes the exact music I thought a mushroom would make
  • “The attached sensors measure bio-electrical fluctuations in the mushroom. The fluctuations are converted into signals that control the robotic arms.”
• Crowd Control on Dropout.tv
• “what flavor ice cream is this?” “New.”

• A! HUEVO

• art at The Last Bookstore

• white woman pop star vs K-Pop Demon Hunters

• Might I, once again, recommend:
  • White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad, read by Mozhan Mornò
  • The Trouble With White Women: A Counterhistory of Feminism by Kyla Schuller
  • Originally mentioned in my December 2023 newsletter
• ✨Just Queer Things✨

• I FELT LIKE I WAS TAKING A PICTURE OF BIGFOOT WITH THIS CAR

• Oh, to be so self-aware

• Lastly but not leastly, remember to account for Proper Opossum Holiday Preparations!! (Uploaded just in time for Halloween 2025!!!)

Book Búho

What I’ve been reading/listening to bc audiobooks let me do both. Yes, comics count. And sacrilegiously, I even learn from ones I didn’t finish.

[you guys, I think I overwhelmed myself with this section… writing this sentence during a breather lol]

• Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang
  • Each story gave me new ideas, and I appreciated each one so much that I wanted to break all of them down in this mini-review
  • The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate
    • anecdotes of how your strength/goodness of character affects your time travel
  • Exhalation
    • This one might be my favorite, even though it faces the impending death of a community centuries down the line as a result of the equilibrium of the universe, and you feel the weight of being written to
  • What’s Expected of Us
    • Confronting free will and the existential horror of doing so
  • The Lifecycle of Software Objects
    • This one focuses on emotional connections to software/digital beings, what is real and what is not, what consciousness/understanding is, AND how software updates affect our connections/access to information
    • Think: Tamagotchi or Nintendogs but on steroids
    • Essentially, about obsolescence (not even necessarily planned obsolescence) 
    • (such as more recently CD >>> mp3s/iPods >>> smart phones >>> streaming, etc.)
    • (see also: how we started to record music/audio quick and cute, and one a little more in-depth)
  • Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny
    • Satirical, the lightest piece AND YET it still includes a severe lack of fatherly acceptance lol
  • The Truth of Fact the Truth of Feeling
    • When writing was invented, there were arguments made that we would become too reliant on it and lose our memory. This story goes between that and what we have to consider now: video recording all of our life.
    • Also made an anti-colonial argument while still being able to appreciate the usefulness of some technologies that colonists can bring. I absolutely HATE saying that sentence, AND YET I love cheese, and other products of globalization. Essentially, globalization would be nice if it came without violence in the form of colonization.
  • The Great Silence
    • How humans want to speak to extraterrestrial life yet we don’t speak to life already here on earth
    • Are we too early? Or too late?
  • Omphalos
    • What if the creationists were supported by science? It was really interesting.
  • Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom
    • The consequences of knowing your parallel lives, and maybe some outcomes are inevitable
• The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
  • Exhalation: Stories reminded me of this anthology as well, because it was also many stories that I thought were all fantastic, and the illustrations are beautiful! My favorite stories:
  • Ayama and the Thorn Wood
    • You do not have to be beautiful to be or do right
  • Little Knife
    • a man taking advantage of a river to try to marry a young woman but a river saves a young woman and it’s… a little gay 😈
  • When Water Sang Fire
    • A retelling of a prequel to The Little Mermaid
    • THE POWER in the end is so SATISFYING, even if it is out of grief. It’s almost as if catharsis is satisfying… huh.
    • I can’t NOT show you the art:

• The Inheritance of Orquidia Divina by Zoraida Córdova
  • FANTASTIC magical realism, LOVE the FLOWERS
  • About family secrets and escaping control, escaping those who take advantage of you
• White Holes by Carlo Rovelli
  • The audiobook is three hours so I IMMEDIATELY started re-listening and I feel a little better about understanding the concepts. I was first introduced to the idea of white holes by a Veritasium video
  • What I got out of it is that black and white holes are an answer to the balance of the universe, literally the equilibrium of the universe.
  • Related: entropy as a process to get the equilibrium of the universe faster, and the theory therein that the creation of life (starting with microbes and extending to animals which includes us) is a product of entropy and helps the universe reach equilibrium faster
    • there’s also a Veritasium video about this lol
  • The theory of white holes could be like string theory (strong but looking a lot less likely), or could be like black holes (v doubtful and yet turned out to be beautifully true)
  • AND they reminded me of the Exhalation short story by Ted Chaing (above)

Quotes Quail

I’m always listening 😈 y’all are funny

• “He tries to be nonchalant, but he’s chalant” – a cutie trying to ward off low-energy men

🪶

• “There’s meme that the gays love iced coffee” – me
• “Shouldn’t you only half love it?” – someone whom I’ve decided should no longer have the knowledge that I’m bi

🪶

• “You’re not autistic, you’re just an odd duck” – not about me
• I’m too old to be a duckling, quack quack

🪶

• “Oh NOW you like us” – coworkers #1 and #2
• “You’re dead to us” – coworker #3
• all this HATRED because I had to go home during lunch to help my mom
• “I advocate for forgiveness of me!” – me
• “No!” – coworker #3
• “Sure.” – coworker #1
• “No, we gotta make her sweat”
• “You know we’re gonna forgive her anyway” 😭
• And THIS is why we must advocate for ourselves 🙂‍↕️

🪶

🪶

• “I’m sorry I stole your mom, I just wanted to dance with another beginner” – me at my folklorico group about the dance partner I chose
• “That’s okay, you can keep her” – and then a look of DISTAIN

🪶

• “Look at the little potato! With demon eyes!” – a love about her baby (her cat)

🪶

• “Not all Lana Del Rey fans are gay men, but all gay men are Lana Del Rey fans” – me, a bigot
• I’m not sure I’ve met anyone who was NOT introduced to Lana Del Rey by a gay man

🪶

• “Cry out with a thousand tongues; I see the world decaying due to silence” – seen on a sign in a church parking lot

🪶

• “Women are preoccupied with being perceived as good” – a love about something they saw/learned/considered on social media
• Me, live:

• I was telling them about a couple of pieces that got some recognition most recently but I’m a little embarrassed by them. They are well-written, but I’m embarrassed by who they are about, which makes me weird about sharing them. Yet! I would like to be a am writer and am working on not being so afraid because the things I am afraid to share are usually where the best stories lie.
• ANYWAYS I’m still making them harder to find lol so they are the word-for-word readers hehe
• This poem got an honorable mention in a challenge about the masks we wear, about trying to pretend to not care about someone who does not care nearly as much about me.
• This prose piece got runner-up in a challenge about parallel lives. I worked hard and for a while on how the characters might juggle four choices, and leads to 16 combinations of those choices. I worked in BINARY to figure those out 🤓

🪶

• “I took a FAT nap” – me about my weekend after being out too late for my oh-so-old body
• “As opposed to a skinny nap?”
• “Yes, I SNORED!” – me

🪶

• “A Rod is my enemy!” – The Residential Blue Jays Fan™️ about Alex Rodriguez’s prediction that the Seattle Mariners would beat the Toronto Blue Jays
• The Mariners lost 🙂‍↕️ although I do feel a little bit bad about it
• Anyways, about the Yankees:

• “DDDDDAAAAAAAA YANKEES LOOSE!” – David “Big Papi” Ortiz and his GODSON Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ❤️

🪶

• “¡Oye mijo!” – David “Big Papi” Ortiz to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
• Me: sobbing, having learned 3 minutes ago that Big Papi is Nino (godfather) to Vladdie 😭🥺🥺🥺

🪶

• “They’re not necessarily malicious, they just don’t consider you” – about Philly drivers
• “See, Massachusetts drivers are definitely mass-holes, but I trust them to also not want get into a car accident. I do NOT trust California drivers.” – me, not for the first time, and also constantly 
• “So like Philly”
• “I guess, but Philly is SO MUCH MORE CHAOTIC”
• FOR INSTANCE:
• Gregarious Gritty

• AND!!!!
• A RESOLUTION WELCOMING GRITTY TO PHILADELPHIA, COMPLETE WITH HIS ORIGIN STORY AS A “FUZZY ELDRITCH HORROR”

🪶

• “Look at your goth outfit!” – about my outfit on a single (1) rainy in SoCal

• I usually wear bright florals
• What, like you’re surprised?

🪶

• One time someone told me “I like your combat boots! They make you look like you’re in the military.” and I said “Thanks! I have to burn these now.”

🪶

• “Look at that nice pick up truck! I bet a young man drives it. Leave me here and I’ll take him home to do my dishes.” – MY NANA!!
• And I fully support her endeavors 🙂‍↕️

🪶

• “You guys are so stupid I love you” – about a coworker and I and our stupidass bet
• putting this here for posterity, just like everything else i put on the godforsaken internet

🪶

• “My pussy is a weapon” – about making sure we’re not taking any weapons (like pepper spray) into the club

🪶

🪶

• “I started my experience when you were 10 [years old]” – ME to someone who had to use a f*ckin fake ID to get into the club and was surprised that I have better game than THEM

🪶

• “They said they’re a better dancer than me” – me, also about the fake-ID-user trying to show me their game
• “Have they met you????” – my favorite beaner
• Ugh, I love being validated

🪶

• “None of these words are in the Bible”

• ^The words in question: the parts her car needs

🪶

• “Con ganas! Que tu abuelo era lobo!” – my father to El Vaquero trying to eat a very tough doggie cookie
• “Like you mean it! Your grandfather was a wolf!”
• Note: El Vaquero is a Shih Tzu

🪶

• “Comedy relief time!” – me about my life in my video call with friends who are all, unfortunately, more stressed in life

🪶

🪶

• “You’re Joker, he’s giggles” – me about a friend trying to match her Halloween costume with a man vs her friend. The man is giggles.
• “He’s keke”

🪶

• “Scooby Doo is Gordo” – My mOTHER giving Scooby Doo that nickname because my father and I named our new 10-foot skeleton Flaco!

🪶

• “I still can’t believe it” – The Residential Blue Jays (Specifically Alejandro Kirk) Fan™️ about the Blue Jays winning to make it to the World Series
• “I know! Now we just have to deal with living in LA.” – me
• “Insufferable.” – The Residential Blue Jays (Specifically Alejandro Kirk) Fan™️

🪶

• “Our teams are playing against each other, we might have to fist fight in the front” – my Nana to her daughter
• Note: they have each become fans of their respective teams in the last 5 years

🪶

• I almost got run over in the underground garage by a hangry friend so I was forced to send this gif

🪶

• “I hate to find a good man because then I’m a simp” – not me, actually said by another queer, but essentially me

🪶

• “You’re stupid. I like that in a man.” – me about an internet meme I like
• “The hottest thing a man can do it fear me a little bit.” – about an internet meme she likes and now I do too

🪶

• “Do they have a back-up organist? Must have strong fingers” – tv commentator while watching the third game of the MLB World Series, Blue Jays versus Dodgers, while THIS SENTENCE IS BEING WRITTEN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FOURTEENTH INNING. I’M SO SLEEPY.
• update: top of the 16th. Continue to be sleepy. I don’t know why i sit here with terrible posture
• to entertain, I suppose.

• Update: bottom of the 17th. They featured fruit at some point.

• Update: starting the 18th inning and they started playing “The sun will come out TOOOMORROOOOOOOOOW!” for the commercial break
• We got an update on the fruit:

• ESTOY B I Z C A
• (I’m c r o s s e d – e y e d)

• UPDATE: GAME OVER AFTER 18 INNINGS!!!!! A TWO-FOR-ONE GAME!!!!!!
• Freddy Freeman is at it again!

🪶

• “Is this going in your newsletter?”
• Yes 🙈
• “I read all of them”
• Cut to me s o b b i n g
• “this” being about a website from the early 2000s but was last updated in 2025, and we were on the website to learn more about the Thriller by Michael Jackson house because we were parked outside of it

🪶

• “I don’t insist – I DEMAND.” – she demands 🤷🏽‍♀️

🪶

(O)possum Playlists of the Quarter 

Here, we scream.

And, “apparently,” I listen to my short playlists for a “wildly long time”

• Where Is My Husband!
  • the most heteronormative song on my most heteronormative playlist and it was introduced to me by LESBAINS who “can’t stop listening to it”
  • HENCE! I, too, cannot stop listening
• No Broke Boys
  • starts with Gnarly by Katseye, and I was introduced to it by this Cinnamoroll animation that I think about every goddamn day
  • also this short about dancing in front of your parents lol
• alt rock
• all i wanna do
• blood gets thin
• AMBGW (Angry Mad Bad Giant Woman)

Cuervos Chismoses

chisme = gossip. ”e” ending instead of “o/a” in Spanish for more gender inclusion

• 🍄🍄🍄I’M A MUSHROOM!!!!!🍄🍄🍄

• ^whatever looks handmade is, indeed, crocheted!
• Carved some pumpkins! My Children (+ the inspiration):

• I found an excuse to use this (my friend wouldn’t let me go out to dinner or the klurb with chanclas 😪)

• I’m trying to embody this comment I saw on a video about dating after divorce and finding peace in being single:

I’m not lonely and I have so much peace. I wouldn’t say “my time will come.” My time is already here. – @vibinginthecorner

The Void Shouts Back

If you would like to respond but don’t know what to say, answer the question below. If you don’t want to, just respond with keysmashing or send me a hug with your thoughts. If you don’t want to do that either, that’s okay too.

• how do you celebrate this wonderful time of the year? Perhaps a costume? 👀

Thank you for reading! If you want some cheap retail therapy to go along with it, please check out my stickers.

Abrazos and/or high fives,

Ariana