Whiskers on Kittens // 6
The queer things we’ve been up to and into
I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I’m dead. I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread. ~Langston Hughes (excerpt from Democracy)
Egúngún / Masquerade (2021) by Olive Nwosu. We are in awe of the complexity of emotion that Nwosu is able to evoke in the under-15-minute Egúngún / Masquerade, a beautiful, melancholic short film. On the surface, the remarkable film shows Salewa, a Nigerian emigrant who has made a new life in London, returning to her hometown of Lagos for her mother’s funeral and facing the haunting childhood memories of queer love. Under the surface, Nwosu adroitly conveys the fragmentary and fragmenting nature of queer longing, queer haunting, first love, childhood memory, class, grief, a mother-daughter relationship, and the diasporic experience of unbelonging in a “home” you’ve left behind.
The Last of Us on HBOMax. Episode 3, people. Yes, the queer internet is a-buzz about Episode 3 of this video game adaptation, a level of hype which usually is either off-putting or annoying to us… But this episode actually stands up to the talk. It is love and beauty in the midst of utter horror. Don’t read more about it, just watch it—even if you have to wait until the entire season is out and knock it all back during a free trial subscription.
“Gay Agenda” by Shamir. We first got to know Shamir in 2014 with the great bop that is “On the Regular.” Shamir’s 2022 album Heterosexuality has more to give and say, like these unambiguous words in “Gay Agenda”: You’re just stuck in the box that was made for me / And you’re mad I got out and I’m living free / Free your mind, come outside / Pledge allegiance to the gay agenda. Another stand-out is “Cisgender,” which further shows that music by queer people really speaks to queer people. Shamir is a young queer artist in a long line of Black artists who are our culture’s makers and trendsetters.
Heather
Yentl featured in “Queer & Now & Then: 1983” by Michael Koresky. If you know me, you should know that I freaking LOVE Yentl. This film seeped into my DNA when I was young and became an inseparable part of me, my identity, and my queerness. I’ve spent decades of my life defending my love of Yentl, so I was thrilled when gay film critic Michael Koresky wrote this piece in The Before Times™ that speaks specifically to the film’s queerness, as well as discusses the misogynistic reception that awaited Barbra Streisand with her feature film debut. I revisited this article this week to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Yentl. To me and queers like Koresky, Yentl is resolutely queer even if that queerness wears the cloak of misdirection, misinterpretation, and misunderstanding (the source material—Yentl the Yeshiva Boy—is more explicitly queer). Yentl, with its ‘80s depiction of fluid gender and sexuality, helped me feel less alone as a queer kid. Go watch Yentl (I didn’t rewatch this week because we are still considering what is “queer enough” for The Queerest Year project) and come back to comment if you consider the film to be queer.
( ) by Sigur Rós. I feel as though I have always been in a perpetual state of disquiet. And I have continually turned to the arts to assuage my existential unease. Those who know me, in human form or through my Queer for Fear work, know that horror films help me process my traumas. But maybe less known is how I seek gentle poetic beauty to wash over me and transport me elsewhere. Sigur Rós, and gay lead singer Jónsi, have given me that since the late ‘90s. I find irresistible comfort and terrestrial escape in their music, which feels like a necessary salve to calm my inner turmoil. So much so that Amie and I spent many years of our life together listening to ( ) every single night as we drifted off to sleep (that is a different mini essay for another day). Sigur Rós released the remastered 20th-anniversary edition of ( ) last year, so I find myself listening to it every day again while I write.
Birthright (2022) by Jade O’Belle. I appreciate my smart, interesting queer friends with whom I share queer knowledge, interests, and media. This week, my friend Kaina at The Bush Films recommended O’Belle’s beautiful directorial debut Birthright, an under-8-minute short film about the power of ritual that itself feels like a powerful ritual. O’Belle wrote, directed, and stars in this visually striking meditation that mixes a dash of gothic aesthetic with metaphysics, mythology, spirituality, and the elements. O’Belle finds embodiment through ritual in the film, which she says spotlights “concepts of queer femme identity, rituals, and the body [and] explores my paternal ancestral connection to Yoruba culture.”1
Amie
Spear by Nicola Griffith. The accomplished writer and #CripLit co-founder Nicola Griffith conjured a queer Arthurian story with Spear that reads so effortlessly and thoroughly mythic that it feels as though this is the only version that has ever been (and certainly is the only one I’ll never need). Nicola builds an old Camelot world with a sapphic, gender non-conforming hero who is as fierce as she is feeling. On top of the fantastic characters, I love Nicola’s writing; her beautiful descriptions of colors are done with a finesse and craft, evoking nuanced colors in ways that didn’t stop amazing me.
Mercury Stardust, The Trans Handy Ma’am. Now, the only thing I love more than a handy queer is a funny handy queer who teaches me how to be the handy dyke I yearn to be. From tape hacks to secure mirror hanging, Mercury Stardust shares her 16+ years in maintenance online, not only helping us do and build and make, but also spreading queer joy. “You’re worth the time it takes to learn a new skill.”
Artist Tylonn J. Sawyer. “Blacktopia” Detroit 3000 Series. Tylonn is a Detroit-based multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator who is creating his “Blacktopia” Detroit 3000 artwork using the Midjourney AI-based art generator. Now THIS is the future! The incredible vision and future creation realized in these images shows how artists with imagination like Tylonn can and will harness technology to create, just as artists always have. Tylonn is as adept at painting with “traditional” paints as he is with engineering words into a future-vision we should collectively work to make happen. Go enjoy the entire series on his IG because this small selection doesn’t do justice to the majesty of the ongoing work. (Plus, it looks like he’s going to sell some prints soon.)
https://www.friendsoffriends.com/deep-dives/intimacy-and-desire/