The Fannish Friday 5

✓ kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: Free Space - Indigenous Author

A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby with Mary Louisa Plummer is a 2016 autobiography that covers writer/activist/artist Ma-Nee Chacaby's life from 1950 to 2014, from her birth in a tuberculosis sanatorium, to her childhood in Ombabika, through her adulthood in Thunder Bay where she's become a community elder and helped lead the city's first Pride parade.

This was the fifth of this year's Canada Reads nominees that I've read, and I saved it for last, feeling like it was a sure thing in terms of something I'd want to read. I wasn't wrong, and I was happy to see it win in the debates, championed by Shayla Stonechild.

The book is very candid, frank, and factually self-reflective, with a conversational tone that feels like sitting in on the friendly interviews that brought these stories forward. The author has lived through a lot of violence, as well as discrimination, addiction, disability and economic hardship. She is also someone who loves truly and deeply, gathers family, and builds community in a way that I really needed to read about right now.

I also really appreciated the book's afterword, which provides a lot of transparency on the writing process, which was assisted by social scientist and friend Mary Louisa Plummer due to Ma-Nee Chacaby being low-vision and speaking English as a fourth language.

( An Excerpt )

xposted from ourflagmeansgay

Kiss Fang Weekend (a challenge event with four days of prompts for shippy fanworks about Fang) is running on Bluesky this year!

The official prompts post is here and breaks down as follows:

Thursday, May 8th: Trope Thursday - Fang in an AU or trope of the creator's choice
Friday, May 9th: Captains (and First Mate) on Vacation - Fang/anyone but Ed, Stede, or Izzy
Saturday, May 10th: Time to Kiss Fang - a free space
Sunday, May 11th: Fang in the Middle - for Fang-centred threesomes

Official fills can be posted to the #kissfangweekend tag on Bluesky, but for folks who aren't on there, I think any archive or community will only be made better with some more Fang-kissing.

Fandom 50 #12

Squish That Izzy by lordess-dickery-doof
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Relationships: Izzy Hands & the rest of the Feral Five (Fang, Archie, Frenchie, and Jim)
Medium: Vid
Length: 0:23
Rating: SFW
My Bookmark Tags: humour, happy ending, h/c (emotional), animals, cuddling, friendship, touch, trauma, denial/repression
Audio: How to pick up a cat like a pro - Vet advice on cat handling by HelpfulVancouverVet

Excerpt:

Squishing is your best friend when dealing with a cat.

Look, I'm a simple creature. Overlaying vet advice about how to safely pick up a cat on a scene where my fave is distraught and struggling against being hugged is always going to bring me an outsize amount of enjoyment. The editing on this is great, making the most of a short scene without overstaying the life of the bit, and I especially love the zoom in at the end. Squish. That. Cat.