I’ve never been much for princess stories. I never wanted to be saved. I wanted to be the hero, the one with the destiny and the sword and the merry band of adventurers, not the one awakened by a non-consensual kiss.
Fairy tales–the ones I watched on video–were dull and lifeless things with heroines who did little but lose their personalities once they fell in love. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the original tales were much darker. Violent, in some cases, and downright disturbing in others. These were stories to fear.
Given my relationship with horror, is it any surprise that it was then, and only then, that fairy tales and princess stories became something enticing? Stories of fair maidens intertwined with the grotesque–now that was something that interested me, and never more than when Angela Carter did it.
Now the child lived in her grandmother’s house; she prospered.
– Angela Carter, The Werewolf
Anyway, here’s a drabble.
!["[Food] is how we care for and nourish ourselves, each other, and our communities."
--
There are many terrible things about this pandemic. One of the ones I'm struggling with the most is that it's not safe for me to see friends, and therefore it's not safe for me to cook for them or eat with them. Going out for coffee or dinner is one of my favorite things to do with friends, along with cooking and playing games in person. We're staying connected as best we can, but eating chips and salsa over Discord just isn't the same as eating them together.
The Corners of Their Mouth is a queer food zine, exploring some of the relationships queer folks have with food. It begins with a question: what is the queerest food? Many answers are provided by a variety of people, including nachos, cocoa, figs, pancakes and honey, and rainbow goldfish. I think mango is my answer, but "queer food," to me, is anything cooked by or for my friends. Queer food is us gathered in the kitchen, me cussing as I screw up our Friendsgiving turkey for the sixth year in a row. Queer food is us dropping spinach dip all over my Gloom cards. Queer food is the ramen we made the last time we hung out together before the pandemic, when I was sick and we all hoped it wouldn't be the last time this year we'd get to interact in person.
But right, the zine. It's very good. The Corners of Their Mouth Press do a wonderful job of putting together thought-provoking content on queerness and living with great sensitivity. It's not just about showcasing queer life; it's about caring for it, nurturing it, letting it blossom in its own unique way. If you come upon one of their zines, pick them up, read them. They're lovely and strong things.
--
#thecornersoftheirmouthpress #thecornersoftheirmouth #zine #booksofinstagram #readwhatyouown #bookstagrammerlife #booksandchill #moodreader #booknerdlife](https://melissabrinks.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)