It grew up – or did it?

The funniest thing about this is that it’s not parody.

About Robin

Robin Gow is a poet, educator, and witch. It grew up in rural Pennsylvania and lives with his queer family on unceded Lenape land also called Allentown Pennsylvania.

Quite the medley of deliberate annoyingness in 28 words. There’s the “it”, the instant switch to “his”, the “queer family”, and the obligatory pious smug pretense of giving a shit about forcibly removed native people.

Awarded the Jerry Cain and Scott James Creative Writing Fellow, Gow earned faer MFA in Creative Writing from Adelphi University where fae also taught as a professor of English.

What is even the point? Other than extra added attention?

Fae is a managing editor The Nasiona. He also formerly worked as the assistant editor at large at Doubleback Books, served for four years as the production editor of the Lantern literary magazine, and three years as the Social Media Coordinator for Oyster River Pages. It has also worked to help produce several zines and taught creative writing workshops in a variety of community spaces, including online forms.

He is an autistic bisexual genderqueer person passionate about queer and disability justice.

Are we sure? I think fae/it/she is much more passionate about faeself than about any kind of justice. People who really are passionate about justice don’t waste time and alienate potential comrades by talking a lot of pretentious nonsense about self self self.

What is it with kids today that they can’t manage to see how revoltingly self-obsessed they either are or present themselves as being? It’s not as if it’s subtle.

Over the last five years, Robin has trained over 3,000 people on LGBTQIA2+ Inclusion and Equity and Neurodiversity/Disability Justice topics. 

Over 3k people now fluent in bullshit; awesome.

And in conclusion:

Robin prefers the pronouns it, fae, and he but all pronouns except for “she/her” are alright.

She/her being the only correct one.

Comments

15 responses to “It grew up – or did it?”

  1. Mike B Avatar

    “She/her being the only correct one”

    But she has five-o’clock shadow.

  2. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    But she has five-o’clock shadow.

    Maybe that’s the “T” speaking.

  3. What a Maroon Avatar
    What a Maroon

    Well, that definitely makes me want to read sdf;ldda’s poetry….

  4. iknklast Avatar

    Good. An English professor who doesn’t know how pronouns work. Not a problem at all…no, not a bit.

  5. Mike Kuebler Avatar
    Mike Kuebler

    Yay Allentown! Oh wait. Well if I ever encounter it I will surely queery* it on why it continues to rape said unceded land daily without concern.

    *sorry

  6. Mosnae Avatar

    I’m surprised you didn’t mention the “witch” part. From another page on the website:

    Robin is part of the Witchcraft school The Magickal Path, teaching a course on witchcraft and poetry called Enchanted Incantations. […]

    Demonology 101 is a concise and practical guide on how to work with demons both from the Ars Goetia and from the land you live on. This book will teach you the basic history of demons and demonology, several approaches to working with demons and instructions on how to complete those spells, descriptions of demon sigils and working with sigils, and prompts to help deepen your practice. […]

    This 45 page introductory course covers the basics of meeting and working with demons through three different methods as well as using common witchcraft tools like tarot and crystal balls from a demon magick perspective. […]

    With seven years of experience as a witch, Robin offers consultations on building and strengthening your witchcraft practice and executing spells. Robin considers themself an eclectic witch with influences from Celtic, Italian, and North American folk magick as well as planetary magick, and ceremonial magick.

    […]

    Robin is an experienced tarot reader who approaches divination and reading with a social justice lens.

    Now, there are certainly some people out there who would earnestly write stuff like this. (I have a whole shelf’s worth of books written by tarot readers, mystics, and the like.) But are we sure this isn’t a parody of some sort? It just seems like too much. On the other hand, perhaps people who believe in gender-souls are more likely to also hold other kooky beliefs.

  7. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    Mike, I think you should make an actual effort to encounter it, and then tell us all about fae.

  8. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    Mosnae – I’m not sure this isn’t a parody – but I’m sorry to say I don’t see any sign that it is.

    It would be fun to lock fae in a very small room with Pete Hegseth. Two shits with one stone.

  9. Bjarte Foshaug Avatar
    Bjarte Foshaug

    … the obligatory pious smug pretense of giving a shit about forcibly removed native people.

    The whole “land acknowledgement” crap always reminds me of a memory from my time in Leipzig. An English girl asked a Scottish guy if he had a cigarette, and he offered her his last one. Apparently conflicted about taking the guy’s last cigarette, she went for a compromise and took it but said sorry. His reply that stuck with me (it sounded so much better in Scottish!) was “If you’re sorry, don’t take it, but if you’re going to take it, don’t be sorry”. By the same logic, if you really do give a shit about whom the land you’re on was stolen from, give it back, but if you’re going to keep it, don’t pretend to give a shit.

  10. Bjarte Foshaug Avatar
    Bjarte Foshaug

    Mosnae #6

    It’s telling that this is only “faer” second craziest belief.

  11. guest Avatar

    @9 that is a great statement.

  12. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    That whole “custom” of asking strangers for a cigarette is really bizarre to me.

  13. Alan Peakall Avatar

    The custom does provide speakers of British English with a wonderful opportunity to wind up Americans by describing it as bumming a fag.

  14. Bjarte Foshaug Avatar
    Bjarte Foshaug

    Ophelia

    To be fair, in this case IIRC they were not strangers.

  15. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    Ah never mind then. They’re excused.

    I see it at places like bus stops in the more raffish parts of Seattle.

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