Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As A Person Of Predominantly Irish American Heritage, I’ve Had Many An Argument

Hi- er, this is my first-ever writer's strike, how does one not cross a picket line in this context? I know how not to do it with things like Amazon and IRL strikes, but how does it apply to media/streaming?

Hi, this is a great question, because it allows me to write about the difference between honoring a picket line and a boycott. (This is reminding me of the labor history podcast project that's lain fallow in my drafts folder for some time now...) In its simplest formulation, the difference between a picket line and a boycott is that a picket line targets an employer at the point of production (which involves us as workers), whereas a boycott targets an employer at the point of consumption (which involves us as consumers).

So in the case of the WGA strike, this means that at any company that is being struck by the WGA - I've seen Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery, NBC, Paramount, and Sony mentioned, but there may be more (check the WGA website and social media for a comprehensive list) - you do not cross a picket line, whether physical or virtual. This means you do not take a meeting with them, even if its a pre-existing project, you do not take phone calls or texts or emails or Slacks from their executives, you do not pitch them on a spec script you've written, and most of all you do not answer any job application.

Because if this strike is like any strike since the dawn of time, you will see the employers put out ads for short-term contracts that will be very lucrative, generally above union scale - because what they're paying for in addition to your labor is you breaking the picket and damaging the strike - to anyone willing to scab against their fellow workers. GIven that one of the main issues of the WGA are the proliferation of short-term "mini rooms" whereby employers are hiring teams of writers to work overtime for a very short period, to the point where they can only really do the basics (a series outline, some "broken stories," and some scripts) and then have the showrunner redo everything on their lonesome, while not paying writers long-term pay and benefits, I would imagine we're going to see a lot of scab contracts being offered for these mini rooms.

But for most of us, unless we're actively working as writers in Hollywood, most that isn't going to be particularly relevant to our day-to-day working lives. If you're not a professional or aspiring Hollywood writer, the important thing to remember honoring the picket line doesn't mean the same thing as a boycott. WGA West hasn't called on anyone to stop going to the movies or watching tv/steeaming or to cancel their streaming subscriptions or anything like that. If and when that happens, WGA will go to some lengths to publicize that ask - and you should absolutely honor it if you can - so there will be little in the way of ambiguity as to what's going on.

That being said, one of the things that has happened in the past in other strikes is that well-intentioned people get it into their heads to essentially declare wildcat (i.e, unofficial and unsanctioned) boycotts. This kind of stuff comes from a good place, someone wanting to do more to support the case and wanting to avoid morally contaminating themselves by associating with a struck company, but it can have negative effects on the workers and their unions. Wildcat boycotts can harm workers by reducing back-end pay and benefits they get from shows if that stuff is tied to the show's performance, and wildcat boycotts can hurt unions by damaging negotiations with employers that may or may not be going on.

The important thing to remember with all of this is that the strike is about them, not us. Part of being a good ally is remembering to let the workers' voices be heard first and prioritizing being a good listener and following their lead, rather than prioritizing our feelings.

someone just said i not nonverbal because of course they know me better than i do because i can type on social media

Bathroom accessibility is not limited to mobility aids.

Bathroom accessibility is also having hooks to hang medical equipment.

I went to Walmart today and none of the bathroom stalls had hooks for my feeding tube backpack. Not even the disabled stall. They were intentionally removed by the store.

These hooks are important because we shouldn’t have to put our equipment on the floor and risk god knows what by contaminating our backpacks in the public bathroom.

Bathroom accessibility is having a fully equipped disabled stall or single use bathroom, hooks for medical equipment/bags, infant/child AND adult changing tables, sharps containers, free pads/tampons, and having a free to access, fully functioning and clean bathroom at all times.

Hey whump community, if we as a whole could stop incorrectly referring to various whumper characters as "sociopaths" "psychopaths" "bipolar" "narcissists" or any other demonized mental conditions, that would be nice.

If you're going to write a story which seriously takes into account how a mental illness, cluster b disorder, or whatever affects a character (yes, including villains) I'm fine with it so long as you put in your due research.

But if you're going to throw around improper diagnostic terms and slurs for the mentally ill simply to state that a character is "evil" or "abusive" then you are getting yourself blocked no questions asked.

-Abraham ♡♡♡

It's kinda funny how when some people see a person with it/it's pronouns they said that it's pronouns are "dehumanizing" but it's dehumanizing to THEM, It's that other person's pronouns not yours, if it's comfortable of using it/it's pronouns they let it be who it are! It may be dehumanizing to YOU but not to IT.

i dont know what autistic person needs to hear this but your sensory wellness is so important. and that goes beyond just avoiding things that trigger immediate distress. sensory enrichment is vital too! do things that make you feel safe and comforted and happy and alive. it's not insignificant. it's not silly. it's part of taking care of your lovely autistic self and enjoying life. your life, which thrives when your wants and needs are met.

right now it’s almost halfway through 2023, and 2024 is an election year in the US. I have started to see a growing proliferation of posts suggesting that there is no difference between the republican and democratic parties–the exact same kind of posts I saw an awful lot of before the last major election here. I am unfollowing folks who post or reblog these sort of posts, as I consider these posts to be fascist propaganda framed as leftist discourse, designed to suppress anti-fascist votes and voters. 

“this bathroom is accessible!!1!1”

if my chair was one (1) inch longer, the door wouldnt have shut. this stall was also the exact same size as the non-accessible stall next to it. you cant just slap some grab bars on it and call it accessible 🙄

image ID: first image: a shot of someone sitting in their wheelchair in a bathroom stall, the stall is so small that the edge of the toilet hits their knees. the stall is very narrow as well. there are grab bars on the walls around the toilet. second image: a shot from the other view showing how the wheelchair fits in the stall. the back wheels hit the stall door, and there is about an inch between the footplate and toilet. end ID.

The best part of worldbuilding is making something that sucks. Magic schools with bullshit rules that don't work. Spaceships that are built stupid. My favourite thing to do is to make an inconvenient world that is full of stupid things for boring reasons, and then putting a character int here and making them live with that.

"terfs infantalise trans men while painting trans women as predatory" is such an annoying take because, yes part of it is true. but terfs have also called trans men "the final solution for women", they do also paint us as predatory! and they do infantilise young trans girls in really gross ways! they just rarely mention what they think of older trans men, most of their public-facing rhetoric around us centers on young people.

the more accurate statement then is "terfs tend to infantilise younger trans people while painting older trans people as predatory", with the following caveats: - being neurodivergent in any way lands you in the "younger" category in their minds because they're ableist fucks. - anecdotally i've found this is not necessarily reflective of age when it comes to public figures specifically, and more of how recent their coming out as trans was. - they will gladly break this to score points in public debates, though if you're in a position to get it out of them you'll find their actual thinking aligns with it. this is a well-known strategy called lying.

and i feel it's worth noting both because the predatory "tropes" around trans men are slightly different from those around trans women, and because the infantilisation of trans girls is something i rarely see talked about while being just as gross as anything else here.