December marches on, and we eagerly await the turn of a new year, even if it doesn’t bring us instant relief from All Of It. In the meantime, let’s enjoy some sweet moments of joy as we muse over what the future may bring.
We were overjoyed to see Elliot Page come out as trans last week! Big congrats and gratitude for his beautiful, vulnerable, and fiery coming out statement.
The issues facing trans people are sadly all too relevant, as Grace Lavery details in an essay clapping back at so-called “free speech activists” who tried to get her fired (yet again!) for a joke tweet about a slanderous anti-trans book that is currently at the top of the Amazon charts. If you’re looking for a direct, witty, yet earnest takedown of anti-trans rhetoric, look no further. This post merits a trigger warning, however: Grace includes some very explicit screenshots of hate mail she’s received since the tweet that started it all was covered in a number of globally-read newspapers.
One of the odd silver linings of 2020 for some of us has been a little extra time to read, and we really enjoyed this Nerdist list of 2020’s best comics! Just about every book on this list is a guaranteed great time if you haven’t checked them out yet: and if, in particular, The Wizerd! Vol 1 strikes your fancy, you can check out our very own interview with the creators here!
Elsewhere in comics, we really loved this article by POME fave Ned Barnett, demystifying the process of making history comics.
For The Cut, Esmé Weijun Wang interviewed Mackenzie Davis, co-star of Hulu’s not-so-comedic lesbian holiday rom-com, The Happiest Season, and it got pretty emotional right from the very start.
If you yourself need a good cry, check out this Griefbacon essay on the year 2020 as a small apartment. A lengthy introduction would probably spoil it, but just make sure you have some tissues on hand.
Some days I was scared, and some days I was relieved, and some days I was numb and, horribly, some days I was happy. Continuing to live is always hideous. The disgusting comfort of my life was as stark as a game board. We often think our stories start so long after they actually do, as though most of the meaning of ourselves has not already been determined by whether or not we get to go inside, by whether or not we have a place to go, by whether or not we are allowed to hide.
According to Kotaku, “no forced crunch, yes forced vacations,” is part of the secret to the success of smash-hit indie game Hades (and others) by Supergiant Games. May we request more of this, please, in every possible way!
And last but not least, we would like to announce that we have (in our imaginations) adopted this fierce snack-guarding kitten as the official new mascot of Afternoon Snack. PLEASE ENJOY