Author: marylowd

Giles to Buffy, regarding Dawn after their mother dies: “You’re her only real family now.”

Really???? That seems like a CHOICE he’s making.

Giles could choose to be their family. But no, he lets it be Buffy’s responsibility to care for Dawn all alone. Continue reading “Rewatching Buffy Season Five”

When I spend time around furries, I don’t feel wrong for the way my face moves or my desire to carry around a small stuffed toy or how much work it is to control the tone of my voice or all the other weird quirks that make me feel wrong and broken by the rest of the world.

I hear the refrain that “furry is welcoming” a lot, and I also say it. But I don’t think people pay a lot of attention to what that really means. It’s not some vague, positive feeling. It’s a really active way that furries listen to people even if they’re odd and present weirdly. Continue reading “The Warmth of Furry”

I dreamed about a writing convention where all the panels — both panelists and audience — were on water slides. It was a terrible idea even in a dream, but I did appreciate the ambitiously otterly nature of the attempt.

I’m trying to get up the courage to quit an email list I’ve been on for a decade… it’s mostly atrophied & I can’t remember the last time it did anything but make me unhappy.

But it’s hard, because I know it’s a one way trip, and it hurts to let go of the times when it was good. Continue reading “Email Lists”

When I was in 4th grade, I wouldn’t play jump rope with a girl named Jessica. So Jessica complained about me, and I got called in to see the school counselor.

Because I didn’t want to play jump rope.

All my life people have told me I’m wrong for being who I am. Continue reading “Being Forced to Play Jump Rope”

I wrote the following thread a while ago & have hesitated to post it. But I recently watched the last season of Atypical & really identified with how Sam used his love of Antarctica & desire to travel there to motivate himself to do things that would otherwise have been too hard.

I know Atypical is not a widely loved show, but I really enjoyed it. And a lot of Sam’s behaviors—especially his fixation on penguins & everything related to them—really spoke to me. Continue reading “The Fame Carrot”

That feeling when you realize the email you’re writing isn’t working because the paragraphs you keep poking at never really were an email… they’re an attempt to cast a magical spell on the universe. And for this particular spell, a few paragraphs simply isn’t powerful enough.

It feels like cheese broke up with me. Like, I still see cheese around, hanging out with other people. We still run into each other. But it’s not MY cheese anymore. No matter how much I miss it, I have to get over cheese, accept it’s gone, & move on with my life.

But it’s hard.

Writing and parenting would be a lot if it were just two jobs. But writing is more than one job. If you want to get anywhere, you have to do a whole range of other things from marketing to outright publishing. Continue reading “Writing + Parenting = More than Two Jobs”

The pandemic has been hard for furry, because it shut down conventions. But I spent this last weekend at a furry con where everyone was masked, vaxxed, respectful of each others’ space, and bigger than they’d expected.

Furry is here to stay, and it keeps growing. Continue reading “Furry is Awesome”