To the fair folk of the Fedi.

However you choose to deal with the festivities, or don't, or can't, I wish you at least some joy and peace. We are on our way out of the dark and since long before memory or record, humans, it seems, have deemed this worthy of celebrating, at least in some way. But, this may be no more than remembering who you are and realising that the world around us, for all its horror and fear, is still a place of beauty and grace. That there is still kindness and joy and magnificence and the simplest things can show us the most.

So be yourself, enjoy, or not, yourself in the ways that you want to. Let go of shouldn't and what if and all the should be's that plague us. This is not just a time for others, it is your time too. A time to embrace the moment and what we can and we what we have, no matter how little that may seem to be, all the small things and all the great, the stars and the moon (even though we don't have the paperwork for those, and yes, that was a Pratchett reference.) the wind in our hair and everything in between. A time to dream, a time to shine.

Have a good one and wishing you all the best.

#Christmas
#ActuallyAutistic

God jul!!
I planned to make this into a card back in 2023 but never got to it. Just your regular Christmas robot.

Digital art made in #krita

#digitalpainting #MastoArt #robot

Today in Labor History December 24, 1920: Stormé DeLarverie was born in New Orleans. Stormé, a biracial lesbian, is sometimes known as "the Rosa Parks of the gay community." Many have credited her resistance to being arrested as sparking the Stonewall Riots. And she was quite open about having punched a cop in the face during that arrest. But she also said she wasn't "the Stonewall Lesbian" who started the fighting, adding "I know who that was, but I'm not telling."

Stormé worked as an MC, singer, bouncer, bodyguard, and as an armed street patrol, which earned her the moniker, "guardian of lesbians in the Village." Stormé was androgynous and could pass for male or female. Even when wearing typically feminine attire to avoid being arrested for violating cross-dressing laws, she was still mistaken as a drag queen and arrested at least twice. As a child, she was regularly beaten up by both black and white kids “For being a negro with a white face." From 1955 to 1969, she toured the Black theater circuit as the MC and only drag king of the Jewel Box Revue, North America's first racially integrated drag revue.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #lgbtq #dragking #StorméDeLarverie #stonewall #riot #lesbian #uprising

Do content warnings prevent hashtags (below the "Show more" line) from working? In other words, will my CW'd post still show up in the feeds of people who follow the hashtag, but don't follow me?

EDIT: An experiment was run, and the answer is: content warnings have no effect on the hashtags in terms of visibility. People who follow the hashtag will still see the CW'd post in their feed, even if the tag is below the line.

#askmastodon #fedihelp

If you're lonely or isolated or finding the Christmas period difficult for any reason, you might want to follow the hashtag #JoinIn

This tag is intended for people to start friendly chats about everyday stuff they're doing like making food, going for walks, listening to music etc.

It's fine to reply to posts with the JoinIn tag as the person who made the post is actively seeking conversation 🙂

#FediTips #Christmas #Xmas

Protect your kids!

This holiday season, remember that no relative is owed physical affection from your child. No relative is owed a visit.

A handshake, wave, or "hello" is a perfectly polite greeting. Yes, even grandma.

Yes, you can demand COVID, flu, and RSV tests before anyone is in a room with small children. If someone hasn't been on antibiotics for strep long enough, they need to stay at home.

Yes, you can absolutely demand that no one kisses an infant on the face, putting them at risk of a deadly infection.

No masking during travel? No time with tiny human.

No vaccines, no time with tiny human.

Aggressive dog in the house? No visit with tiny human.

Someone doesn't believe in food allergies? No visit with tiny human.

Someone says "it's just allergies" when they are clearly contagious, and you get sick a week after you hang out, consistently? No visit with tiny human.

If anyone has a problem with you prioritising your family's health over their boundary stomping, that's what low contact and no contact are for.

Signed,
a grumpy childfree person who has had this discussion too many damned times because what are they gonna do, kick me out of the playgroup? The Mommy and Me group has no power here.

Infatuation

#mastoArt #illustration