We’re very excited to share with you some sneak peek art from Jen Wang’s new graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker, out with First Second Books in 2016!
The Prince and the Dressmaker is about a young 19th Century prince named Sebastian who secretly loves to wear dresses. He hires an ambitious young seamstress named Frances to make dresses for him and as their collaboration grows, so do their feelings for one another. Sebastian and Frances must find a way to balance their inner desires with the strict expectations of the royal family – or risk exposing Sebastian’s secret to the world.
“This book is really special to me because I basically wrote it for my teenage self, which is something I haven’t done before. I wanted a story that explored questions about gender and self-identity in a way that was also really colorful and fun and positive. The personal themes are there, but also lots of dresses and princesses. The idea was to create my ideal Disney movie, and writing this has genuinely been one of the most fun, liberating, experiences I’ve had making comics. My awkward confused fourteen year-old self would’ve really connected with this book and I hope it does the same for other young readers,” says Jen Wang.
Jen Wang is a cartoonist, writer and illustrator living in Los Angeles. Her young adult graphic novels Koko Be Good and In Real Life (co-written by Cory Doctorow) are published by First Second Books. She recently wrote the mini-series Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake Card Wars for BOOM Comics, illustrated by Britt Wilson. Her upcoming graphic novel The Prince and the Dressmaker will be published by First Second Books in 2016.
As we get closer and closer to the visa day I get more and more stressed. Like, wandering in circles trying to shake it out a bit, trying yoga, listening to relaxation stuff stressed. It’s quite weird for me, because for a long time I’d managed with my childhood GP’s fantastic advice:
“Be less stressed”.
Which actually worked for me. And many things I can shake off, but it turns out selling the house, moving to a new country, registering as a nurse and doing the related exams, attempting to found a business with my best beloved, and potentially starting a third renovation project… combined… that I’m not managing to just shake off. No matter how well things seem to be going.
Of course, it all hangs on the visa interview, which approaches. I’ve got all the paperwork lined up in a bag, all ready for the interview.
We also had someone around today to quote us for shipping. Distressingly, we’ve 55% of a twenty foot container, or 27% of a forty foot container. Which being as we’re being grumpy get off my land types, we don’t wish to share. Which seems terribly wasteful. Then you think “oh well, we’re taking the car, lets tuck that in there”… at which point you see us rapidly flinging furniture out.
Also, apparently, you can’t (or shouldn’t) take foodstuffs or liquids of any sort in your shipping container, as that is considered an almost invariable trigger for taking your container to a warehouse and having it searched personally. Which is up to a bonus $2000 fee… So I won’t be taking the oil for the Minor, the Grease, etc, etc..
So suddenly, we’re looking at not taking a bunch of stuff that we were going to take, but it’s looking very do-able, we’ve been offered somewhere to rent for 6 months, it’s all so far coming together; so much so that I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Roses are weird. They’re associated with all sorts of emotional concepts and events; they’re as over bred as show-dogs; they often require a lot of work to get them looking good and they require almost no work to keep them alive. Having a really scraggly but surviving rose in your yard is dead easy. I pulled several out of the deep shade when I bought my house – they’re now in mom’s yard, where there’s a lot more sun, and doing much better.
Getting antique roses is kind of like going back before working and show dog lines diverged; you get less ‘perfect’ flowers, but usually (not always) a lot more aroma and vigor. And occasionally a lot more size. Modern roses are not being bred for their ability to eat small houses. Old roses on the other hand…
My mom took six cuttings from a Cecil Bruner at my aunt’s old place in Eugene, Oregon, around twenty years ago. She planted the healthiest in their yard, where it grew… and grew… and grew. It tended to attack people on the sidewalk. This bush was the size of their SUV. She took a cutting off that and put it in the front yard, where it was scraggly and slow growing for about five years, until it hit something – water or a decomposing squirrel or a bit or radioactive superrose juice out of a comic book – and exploded.
My folks needed to move the original when they re-landscaped, so mom cut it back to four bare canes. Dad took a trailer load of rose to yard waste. They dug it up with a tractor.
Three years later it’s as big as the SUV again, but no longer in a place where it attacks small children on the sidewalk. The smell is almost spicy, an entirely different rose smell than we’re used to, and an entirely beautiful one (I actually have a little vial of attar of rose, rose mixed with sandalwood, that is the closest I’ve smelled to a replica).
In my own yard, I’ve only go two remaining roses. The elderly lady who owned the house decades ago LOVED them, but she planted when there was a lot more sun. Now all the trees are mature, they mostly die at my place, so the rose that smells like raspberries is now thriving at mom’s instead. The hold-out, which is growing like mad with only morning sun, climbing up through the rhododendron and trying to get into my house, is a lovely dark pinky red rose you can see all over the Pacific Northwest called Dr. Huey.
No one ever plants Dr. Huey. They plant fancy schmancy roses that give you perfect florist worthy flowers, and when those fancy schmancy roses fail to thrive and new little happy shoots come up from the bottom, the frankenstein plant is revealed: the root stock is Dr. Huey.
Dr. Huey will happily grow to 12 feet tall, and all the rose blogs recommend getting rid of him. He frequently loses all his leaves to black spot, but he doesn’t die. The Good Doctor perseveres. I’m pretty sure the Dr. can’t die.
I love Dr. Huey.
So if you look at roses, and you want something that will cut beautifully for your flower arrangements, look for new ones! If you want a plant that might eat small buildings, look for an antique. :P
We have a couple of heritage roses here, because my mum adores heritage roses and gave us some. They are gorgeous when they’re in flower; the aroma they give is so much more rich than modern hybrids, but as with yours, one of ours is almost leaf free most of the year. It’s got terrible blackspot, but I don’t care because the smell is delicious :)
I’m really hoping the people buying our house love the garden, because it’d be heartbreaking to hear that they’d ripped it all out and gravelled it, or some such awful fate.
Also, because we’ve got a plant called Katherine Dykes back there, which we bought entirely because of the name, and which struggled in Slough but has flourished in Bristol :)
So, in about 6 weeks, assuming I get a visa on Tuesday, we’re moving to the USA… Washington State, semi-specifically. Which is big and scary all by itself, then there’s the whole ‘needing a doctor’ thing.
We’ve looked for GLBTQ friendly doctors (most importantly for me, the T bit of that) , and there are some in Seattle, and some in Olympia, but we’re looking at Port Townsend, and both of those are a bit inconvenient. They’re not totally un-do-able… My general health at the moment is good enough that I’m not deeply angsty about the doctor being a trip away, but if anyone knows of any good T-friendly docs in the Olympic Peninsula region, it’d be really handy.
Essentially, I need someone to give me HRT, and keep a loose eye on my liver function (been fine for a few years now :) ).
Help me tumblr, you’re my only hope :)
Additional: We may be going to Mount Vernon or Bellingham… so suggestions for there too, would be good.
Signal boost! Anyone know?
The only Oly friend I’ve talked about this with is seeing a doc in Portland, for reasons, but I know there’s at least one Bellinghamster on here with a good doc rec.
If you end up in Port Townsend, Jefferson Healthcare lists “recognized as a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality” by the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation” as a point of pride on their site – but I know that isn’t much help in finding an individual transgender-issue-competent and friendly doctor.
I see Dr. Joseph Siatta for my endocrinology work. He’s with Pacific Medical Centers in the Seattle area and is in different locations throughout the Seattle area on different days of the week. I think he may have one up north but I don’t know for certain. The main scheduling number for him is (206) 505-1300.
One note to keep in mind, he tried a gate keeping move on my first appointment, asking for a letter from my therapist, stating that I need him to get my prescriptions. I shot that down real quick stating that I did not need him to get meds (grey market pharmacies like In House) and I’m hiring him for his knowledge to keep me safe and healthy. He’s been an excellent collaborator ever since.
Thanks! That’s very handy, I’ll stick him on my (currently very short) list.
I suppose it’s only fair. I’ve been privileged by both having a really good endo here, just by chance, but also because I’m a nurse (and until recently a fairly senior one (resigned to emmigrate)) – so I’m used to just telling the doctors what I want – and mostly family doctors here listen, either because I sound like a confident health professional who knows her shit… Or because I scare them with the fact that if I complain, it probably (wrongly, but still) carries much more weight than if another member of joe public does.
Suddenly I’m thrust into the real world that everyone else occupies, and it’s a bit unnerving to actually be reliant on finding someone good.
Which is my way of saying, thank you folks, and more suggestions still welcome :)
–Bernie is the only presidential candidate that has never voted against LGBTQ+ rights & has always voted for same-sex marriage legalization
– He is pro-choice “ we are not returning to the days of back room abortions, when countless women died or were maimed. The decision about abortion must remain a decision for the woman, her family, & physician to make, not the government.” -Senator Bernie Sanders
– Pro-Gun control , he agrees that people should have the right to bare arms in the case of self defense or hunting but nobody needs a bazooka to go hunting. he is for strict limitations on the purchasing of guns & getting a gun license.
– Free health care to everyone. though this wont be a big deal for people with higher wages, the majority of americas is lower middle class & by cutting down a monthly bill can help alot
– raising minimum wage to a living wage $15 , anyone with kids or in general should be able to see their families & friends instead of working 2 jobs to barely live
– by raising minimum wage we will be lowering poverty rates in america , & we do happen to have the highest poverty rates.
– Free or almost free education in all public schools, plans to substantially lower student loan payments for everyone & plans to make all public colleges free , giving everyone the right to education that they are able to obtain
– free or very cheap access to internet for everyone, for research , school , etc. without hidden rates etc.
– gender equality in the workplace, consisting of equal wages & making it illegal to deny someone work for their gender identity or sexual orientation.
– for the legalization of marijuana for medical & recreational usages , & adding taxes to it. letting everyone in jail for marijuana related charges out.
also free health care is v good for people with highwages like my parents make a lot a yr but we dont have health care bc since their income is so much our health care cost is high so !!! free health care for all should be !!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m reposting this story in it’s entirety because the situation is getting dire and no one’s helping.
[Top] Gina Reynolds, a University of Michigan Flint student majoring in social work, chants “clean water is a human right,” at cars passing by during a small protest Jan. 13
[Bottom] People bring water from their taps to show city officials at city meeting, Jan. 21
I made a post earlier about my city of Flint, Michigan’s water situation and I wanted to share this because our drinking water is literally making people and pets ill. I don’t want people to ignore this, I NEED people to know what’s going on here.
LeeAnne Walters, 36, of Flint shows water samples from her home to Flint emergency manager Jerry Ambrose on Wednesday after city and state officials spoke during a forum that addressed growing health concerns about the drinking water.
In a city where residents have felt under siege for years — from crime, bad press and an emergency manager some feel forced upon them — the newest threat pours from kitchen spigots and showerheads.
It’s the reason behind mysterious rashes on local children, parents say. Unexplained illnesses. Even sick pets.
Bethany Hazard said it’s the reason for the brown rust circles that began appearing just months ago around her drains and the oily film in her bathwater in her longtime east-side home.
On the west side of Flint, Corodon Maynard said it’s the reason he was bent retching violently over the toilet this month — just hours after chugging two glasses of water at bedtime.
“I was throwing up like bleach water. It came up through my nose burning,” said the 20-year-old.
The water from the city system is so corrosive, according to General Motors officials, that the automaker’s Flint Engine Operations pulled off the city water system, connecting instead into a water system operated by nearby Flint Township.
Adam Mays, an artist and Flint resident, protests the condition of the Flint water system at Fifth and Saginaw in Downtown Flint, Michigan, with a few handfuls of other protestors, Tuesday afternoon, January 13, 2015.
So what’s in Flint’s water and just how dangerous is it?
It depends on who you ask and what tests you’re referring to.
State tests suggest the water is clear of coliform bacteria, which can suggest the presence of other disease-carrying pathogens.
But as a result of treating the water to kill any dangerous microorganisms, the water now carries low levels of Total Trihalomethane, or TTHM, a by-product of the disinfectants. Years of exposure may cause liver, kidney or central nervous system problems and an increased risk of cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The city maintains the water — pulled from the Flint River rather than the Detroit water system that had served the city for years —is safe.
Mayor Dayne Walling who was born and raised in Flint, said he drinks it.
The river, long known for the toxins left from Flint’s industrial years, is cleaner than it has been in years, “but that perception persists,” Walling said.
Flint resident Gladyes Williamson-Bunnell asks officials addressing issues with the water quality if they would drink some of the Flint water she held up in a gallon jug during the water meeting on Wednesday evening, Jan. 21, 2015, at the Flint City Hall dome in downtown Flint.
“I’ve taken to calling it ‘poop water,’ ” said Nayyirah Shariff, a community activist for the grassroots group Democracy Defense League.
Many said they are ready to abandon longtime homes.
“What we have is a full-blown crisis,” said GM retiree Claire McClinton who had bundled up against the snow earlier this week to run into El Potrero Mexican restaurant for a late lunch.
But she reconsidered at the last minute and walked out instead, worried about eating at restaurants that rely on city water in their kitchens.
She’s not the only customer who is concerned.
Business overall has been hit “probably 20 to 30%,” said manager Jorge Alcazar.
The restaurant’s lifeblood is in customers seeking a quick, affordable lunch, often with a glass of ice water.
Unwilling to drink the tap water, customers also don’t want to pay $2 or more for a pop or buy a bottled water.
Worse for waitress Ashley Trujillo, customers have argued with staff. One customer left three pennies as a tip after fuming about having to pay for water. Others have left nothing.
“Like we have something to do with it,” Trujillo said.
All of this — the frustration, the slump in El Potrero’s business, the jam-packed meetings with residents toting jugs of brown water and claims they are being poisoned — are the latest blows to a city that has felt swatted around for too long.
“People think all the crime happens in Flint and everyone is poor in Flint, so there’s this stigma. Now we’re fighting against dirty water. Really?” said radiology coder Cindy Marshall, who joined about two dozen protesters earlier this week.
“Are you trying to kill us?” read one sign. “No more poison,” read another.
McClinton echoed Marshall’s sentiments: “We’ve lost confidence in the city.”
A protestor holds a sign out for cars to see during the protest of the conditions of the Flint water system at Fifth and Saginaw in Downtown Flint, Michigan, Tuesday afternoon, January 13, 2015.
Soaring bills.
For years, residents in this city bleeding jobs and soaked in red ink have been facing growing water bills. Some have climbed as high as several hundred dollars a month.
“We have residents choosing between water and groceries and other bills,” said Hazard, whose own bill is about $100 a month for a single person.
“I feel like I’m going under,” said Hazard, who survived cancer twice and who was forced into early retirement and limited income.
The city eventually decided to dump the Detroit system in favor of the Karegnondi Water Authority, which is building a system to supply Genesee County with water pulled from Lake Huron. In the long run, this will mean lower water costs, officials have said.
Under the plan, Flint is temporarily pulling water from the Flint River until the water authority’s system comes online, expected in 2016.
In August and September, however, the city issued three advisories to boil the water after detecting coliform bacteria.
Just before Christmas, residents received notices that state tests indicated higher-than-acceptable levels of trihalomethane, the disinfectant by-product.
Hazard’s cats have been sick. So has she and several neighbors. Even her houseplant began to die.
Maynard threw up. Residents complained of rashes and mysterious illnesses.
“We just want safe water. How hard is that?” Hazard asked.
But assurances come with qualifiers.
The chlorine did its job and cleaned the water of microbial pathogens that can cause disease within days. That means the water is safe for healthy people to drink for a short time, said Michael Prysby, a district engineer in the state’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance.
But the trade-off was TTMH — possibly a danger for the very young, the very old, or the very sick if they ingest it long-term, he added.
People with prolonged exposure to TTMH may experience problems with their liver, kidneys or central nervous system and have an increased risk of getting cancer.
“But we’re talking decades,” he said, adding that those who are worried should talk to their doctors.
“We don’t want to make a blanket statement to say water is safe or unsafe. It’s misleading both ways.”
That’s the kind of answer that infuriates Marshall, the protester and mother of a 5-year-old.
“They said it’s safe, but it’s brown water,” said Marshall, also a radiology coder, after the meeting. “Why do we have to drink brown water? No one else has to drink brown water.”
So, it’s been about 9 months and the water has not gotten any better. As a matter of fact, it’s worse now. Here’s a picture taken just a few hours ago.
From the Facebook post associated with this picture “This fire hydrant in Flint, Michigan has been “flushing” for over 5-hours… after 5-hours, that’s not flushing… that is the water quality in Flint. ”
Fire hydrants carry CLEAN, TREATED water. This is our “clean and treated water”. This is the water that we have to drink.
And that’s not all. Water tests have been conducted in the last few days and in every district they checked, the amount of sites with over 15ppb of lead in the water has either gone up or stayed the same. You can see the results here at http://flintwaterstudy.org
Update for September 24th, 2015
Flint mayor Dayne Walling is letting his people be poisoned and is continuing to deny it.
The lead content in Flint children’s blood has spiked in the past year.
In perhaps the most dramatic proof yet of the toxic impact of Flint’s decision to draw municipal water from the Flint River, a new study released today shows that the amount of lead found in the bloodstream of Flint children increased dramatically following the switch from the Detroit water system in 2014.
The results — which are based on blood samples drawn from 1,746 children ages 5 and younger — were even more frightening in Flint neighborhoods where Virginia Tech researchers testing water from nearly 300 homes found the highest levels of lead in the city’s water. Analysis of blood samples from children living in those same high-risk areas showed that the number of kids with elevated levels of lead in their blood jumped from 2.5 percent to 6.3 percent.
The following statement was released by Congressman Dan Kildee earlier today:
“This new study showing elevated blood lead levels among Flint’s children is very troubling. People have the right to have confidence that their drinking water is safe.
Immediate action needs to be taken by the State of Michigan to ensure that relief is provided to people who are concerned about lead levels in their water. Today as part of my ongoing efforts, I talked with the EPA Region 5 Administrator about the State of Michigan providing emergency assistance, including lead-clearing filters and bottled water, until a more permanent solution can be determined.
This new study by the medical community also raises additional doubts about prior water testing done by the DEQ and EPA that stated the water was in compliance with federal law. I have been completely unsatisfied with their answers to my questions regarding their testing methodology, which is why I have called for additional immediate independent and scientific testing to be done.”
So, in about 6 weeks, assuming I get a visa on Tuesday, we’re moving to the USA… Washington State, semi-specifically. Which is big and scary all by itself, then there’s the whole ‘needing a doctor’ thing.
We’ve looked for GLBTQ friendly doctors (most importantly for me, the T bit of that) , and there are some in Seattle, and some in Olympia, but we’re looking at Port Townsend, and both of those are a bit inconvenient. They’re not totally un-do-able… My general health at the moment is good enough that I’m not deeply angsty about the doctor being a trip away, but if anyone knows of any good T-friendly docs in the Olympic Peninsula region, it’d be really handy.
Essentially, I need someone to give me HRT, and keep a loose eye on my liver function (been fine for a few years now :) ).
Help me tumblr, you’re my only hope :)
Additional: We may be going to Mount Vernon or Bellingham… so suggestions for there too, would be good.
Signal boost! Anyone know?
The only Oly friend I’ve talked about this with is seeing a doc in Portland, for reasons, but I know there’s at least one Bellinghamster on here with a good doc rec.
If you end up in Port Townsend, Jefferson Healthcare lists “recognized as a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality” by the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation” as a point of pride on their site – but I know that isn’t much help in finding an individual transgender-issue-competent and friendly doctor.
Funnily enough, that’s the group I was hoping to get a job at, if we land in Port Townsend. :)
So, in about 6 weeks, assuming I get a visa on Tuesday, we’re moving to the USA… Washington State, semi-specifically. Which is big and scary all by itself, then there’s the whole ‘needing a doctor’ thing.
We’ve looked for GLBTQ friendly doctors (most importantly for me, the T bit of that) , and there are some in Seattle, and some in Olympia, but we’re looking at Port Townsend, and both of those are a bit inconvenient. They’re not totally un-do-able… My general health at the moment is good enough that I’m not deeply angsty about the doctor being a trip away, but if anyone knows of any good T-friendly docs in the Olympic Peninsula region, it’d be really handy.
Essentially, I need someone to give me HRT, and keep a loose eye on my liver function (been fine for a few years now :) ).
Help me tumblr, you’re my only hope :)
Additional: We may be going to Mount Vernon or Bellingham… so suggestions for there too, would be good.
“Men have been given the impression that they’re much more important in the world than they actually are and that’s not a good way to become a human being. It has fostered illusions of grandeur in every man that are unwarranted.”
One of the best explanations of male privilege I’ve ever read.
