Thorn Wilde

You’re welcome. It’s one of my favourites. My choir did it too at one point.

I'm terrible at the whole 'dead' aspect of this thread... Here's Even When He Is Silent by Kim André Arnesen. The words were scribbled on the wall of a cell in a Nazi concentration camp by an unknown poet. I believe in the sun, even when it's not shining I believe in love, even when I feel it not I believe in God, even when He is silent

Did you see the metal cover I shared a bit further up?

I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau with my class when I was fifteen. It was part of our tenth grade class trip to Poland. It was a painful experience, seeing all that. Thinking back on it still makes me feel somewhat queasy. When I was seventeen, I went to Prague, and we took a day trip to visit Terezín, or Theresienstadt as the Nazis called it. That was the 'good' concentration camp, the one they showed foreign dignitaries, where the prisoners were allowed to make art and put on plays and the like. Less painful, but still... There's a poem that some anonymous prisoner wrote on the wall of one of the death camps, that was turned into a beautiful piece of music by Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen. I believe in the sun, even when it's not shining. I believe in love, even when I feel it not. I believe in God, even when He is silent.

So we can all agree that same-sex marriage is good, but not that forcing trans people to use facilities that don't correspond to their gender is bad, since that relates to current legal battles? If someone shares something transphobic and I point that out, am I being political? If someone says it's hard to write minority characters and they don't want to get it wrong so they just don't, and I argue in favour of diversity and link to a document describing how to respectfully portray minority characters, am I being political? If I argue in favour of the singular they and other non-binary pronouns, am I being political? If someone talks about sexuality in a way that erases the B in LGBT, and I point out that bisexual people exist, am I being political? If I'm in a thread where the topic crops up and I share my experience with transphobia within the LGBT community, am I being political? And if so, in these examples, why am I the one being political and not the people I'm responding to? I'm asking honestly. I would like to know whether every letter in LGBTQ is welcome here, or if we're merely tolerated as long as we don't talk about it. Because I've felt for a long time now that it seems as if my existence is just too political for GA and I have to bite my tongue for fear of offending someone who 'disagrees' with my gender.

I got really, really lucky. lol

I heard its calls first. They were faint and I wasn't sure what I was hearing. Those calls sound a bit like a person in pain, someone screaming, and chills went down my spine. But I was curious, so I went to the window and opened it a bit to hear better. I recognised the sound then. Never heard it in the wild before, I think, but I have heard recordings, and it was fairly clear. Looking outside, I realised there were paw prints in the snow outside in the street. I stayed there, listening, for a while. The cats were excited. I had to hold onto my kitten so she wouldn't go out onto the window sill. Then I closed the window, and soon it grew silent. I was about to turn away and get back to my laptop when I suddenly saw it emerge from a garden across the street. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, and looked less red than I imagined, even in the yellow street light; more brown, a little speckled. But it was a beautiful sight. I quickly turned off the light and got my phone out to try and take its picture. I was lucky, because it stood there in the street for a long moment before it turned its nose north and trotted off. Majestic. After it had gone, I went outside to look at its paw prints. The first set, the ones I'd seen to begin with, ran north to south. I followed them down the road, until they turned east and disappeared up between the houses and gardens. It must have turned north again somewhere in there, before it came back to the street right in front of my house. How lucky was I? Then it went back the way it came. I didn't follow. Wouldn't want to spook it, and it was probably long gone anyway. I heard no more calls. Sometimes, it pays to be awake at three in the morning. Because foxes are nocturnal creatures.

Reading and commenting on other people's stories is definitely a good way to go about it. It can totally feel like a grind at first, but you're a good writer. You'll get there.

Wow, that's so cool!

I usually write without any music. Lyrics just distract me. I've sometimes had music on while editing, and very occasionally I put something on when I write, but then its either instrumental (there's a post-rock playlist on Spotify I like with mostly instrumental stuff by Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic and so on), or it's in a language I don't speak (like French; Indochine is nice to write to sometimes). I did that for a while last year when I had developed some temporary tinnitus due to a cold and that distracted me a lot more than music would. Music drowned it out. Usually, I just like it quiet, though.

Definitely a sexy song, just for that. Also, the beat of it gives you that feeling. ❤️

Could we have some clarification on what kind of content is considered too political? Certain gay rights issues have been mentioned and sometimes discussed outside The Pit in the past without anyone reacting to it, but I feel like other queer issues, such as trans rights and gender identity in general have met with far harsher reactions. Can we discuss the wealth of queer identities and issues that exist on this site, are only some allowed, or should all discussion regarding such things be limited to The Pit?

Question. Should multi-chapter anthology entries be marked as complete like other entries, or in process with you changing it at the end? Some of us who did this last time posted as in process, to avoid people thinking the story was done when it wasn't, while others marked as complete as per the normal anthology guidelines (and there was some confusion from readers because of it, if I'm not mistaken). It would be nice to have clarification on how to do it in the guidelines.

It's not exactly typical. Very tongue-in-cheek, a lot of it. I think you'd like it.

Thank you for reading it!

Thank you. I suppose it was, yeah.

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for commenting!

I did a quick search for stories with the name Wylie in them. I found a few, but none of them matched what you're looking for. So I'm afraid it must have been somewhere else. Perhaps google could help you out?

Oh, yes definitely this. My libido really drops when I have a depressive episode.

Well, now I'm excited about that upcoming project of yours, Wayne. I love your writing and your stories, my friend. It's a privilege to know you. ❤️

And thank you for reading it.

People can be asexual and still gay. You can be a dude who likes dudes without wanting to have sex with them, and that makes you no less gay than any other gay person. We talk about sexual orientation, but that's only part of it; it's also romantic orientation. I don't think you have to be phallosexual to be gay. After all, many gay men are perfectly cool dating men without dicks.

My choir's rehearsing new(ish) material again (we actually sang these years ago, but we're picking them up again), so I thought I'd share some of it. These composers are, as far as I know, not dead, though. Lauda Sion by György Orban Sancta Maria by Knut Nystedt (omg, these are kids and they're at least as good as we are if not better! I'm shamed, lol)

i lie down then comes the noise buzzing like busy, busy bees filling my head with the worries of the day plans for tomorrow things i want to say all my sorrow and sleep is lightyears away a million little thoughts float around the surface of my mind daring me to reach for them so they can drag me under caught in the undertow where i swim in circles chasing thoughts i can see the surface above me still the moon sh