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The further we get from S14, the more I realize I love it. It is far and away my favorite post-S6 season. What's more, I even enjoyed it as it aired (!), and didn't have to learn to love it after the fact (as many of us did with S7 and S11). Why was S14 so great? Let's dive in.
(Also- I'm going to compare S14 to S15 a lot, b/c S15 is in my recent memory. This is not a S15 diss post!!! I have *moderately* enjoyed S15. It is better than S13 at least).
Possible reasons:

• Very strong cast that was edited well. I'd like to break down the idea of a "strong cast" a bit further. A "strong cast" doesn't just mean queens that are good drag queens or good at drag race. It means queens that are compelling characters to watch on drag race as a TV show. What are the characteristics that contribute to that?

1. Strong personality in werkroom/on stage, or being a good narratogiving good confessional (ex. Katya, Gia Gunn, Bianca Del Rio)
2. Edited to have coherent narrative that involves conflict and/or growth- either internal, with the show, or with another contestant (ex. Adore, Laganja, Gottmik)
3. Provide unique and/or emotionally compelling drag in segments of the show that allow queens to have individual creative authority (ex. Anetra's lip syncs, BendelaCreme's Snatch Games, Symone's runway package, Willow's talent show performance)
4. Provide stellar but standard performances in run of the mill challenges on the show (ex. Courtney's Rusical performance, Loosey's Joan Rivers Snatch Game, Bianca's roast set)
5. Deliver "so bad it's good" challenge performances, (ex. LalaRi's Bag Ball look, Kahmora Hall's acting challenge performance, Sugar and Spice's Snatch Games)

Let's compare a few season to see how queens stack up according to these characteristics. If a queen only somewhat fulfilled a characteristic, I put it in parentheses ().
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Season 14	Season 6	Season 15
June Jumbalaya (1), 2	Magnolia 1	Irene (1)
Alyssa Hunter (3)	Kelly 5	Poppy
Kornbread 1, 2, 3	Vivacious 1, 3	Sugar 2, (3), 5
Orion (2)	April 3	Amethyst 3
Maddy (1), 2, 3	Gia 1, 2	Robin
Kerri 1, 3	Milk 1, 2, 3, (4)	Aura (1)
Jasmine 2, 3	Laganja 1, 2, (4)	Jax 3
Jorgeous (1), 3	Trinity 2, 3, (4)	Spice (1), 2, (3), 5
Deja, 1, 4	Joslyn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5	Malaysia (2)
Daya 1, 2, 3, 4	Bendela 1, 2, 3, (4)	Marcia 2, 3, (4)
Bosco 1, 2, 3, 4	Darienne 1, 2, 4	Salina 1, (2), (5)
Angeria 1, (3), 4	Courtney 1, 2, (3), 4	Loosey (1), 2, 4, (5)
Lady Camden 1, 2, 3, 4	Adore 1,2, 3, 4	Luxx 1, 2, 4
Willow 1, (2), 3, 4	Bianca 1, 2, 3, 4	Mistress 1, 2, 4
		Anetra 1, 2, 3, 4
		Sasha 1, 3, 4

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Looking at S14 and S6 as compared to S15, a big difference we can see is that the early outs have multiple characteristics to their names, especially the number 1. characteristic- a big personality. Of course, S15 suffers *a lot* in this regard from its giant cast and shortened run time.
Another thing that S14 and S6 share is that most queens have the 3. characteristic- they showcase drag perspectives or performances that feel unique on Drag Race. Ex. Alyssa and April both have very strong and interesting runway packages. Kornbread delivered a stellar talent show performance. Vivacious, with her background in the NYC club kid scene, was a style of queen we hadn't seen on drag race before. This is another place that S15 really suffers- we just haven't seen most of the queens do anything really uniquely interesting this season. The only exceptions to that have been Anetra, Sasha, and Jax's lipsyncs, Marcia and Anetra's talent show performances, Sasha's first acting challenge, and, dare I say it... Amethyst's snatch game as Tan Mom (that one might be a personal preference lol).
Lastly, with S6 and S15, we can see that almost all of the late-out/finalist girlies have most of the characteristics. On S15, Anetra is the only one that does. I definitely think this a reason why she is so popular in the fandom right now. I also think this shows why Sasha has gotten less popular in the fandom as the season has gone on- she hasn't had any sort of narrative arc (characteristic 2) on the show. Even though Willow didn't have conflict with other girls or with herself on the show, in her confessionals, she presented the meta-narrative of having conflict with the show itself- she had to play the long game and gradually acclimate the judges and the show to the weirder and more interesting parts of her drag. Bianca, though she had a similar competitive arc (dominating the competition) and character archetype (statesman of drag, too big for the show) to Sasha, had a much stronger narrative arc- she had lots of conflict with the younger girls on the season, and gradually had to learn to care for them and not present herself as a stone cold b*tch. Sasha is amazing, and fully realized, and not afraid to be stupid from the get-go, and... not that interesting of a Drag Race character.
​

• This is more cut and dry- S14 had a lot of great lip syncs, from a lot of different queens, to multiple types of songs. (Again, contrast this to S15- we've had good lip syncs, but they've all been similar high energy pop numbers, delivered by the same 3 queens).

1. Deja in "Fallin'"
2. Jasmine in "Sugar Mama" (this was the only valid use of the floor hump move (Sorry, Anetra))
3. Lady Camden in "One Way or Another"
4. Jasmine and Jorgeous in "Something's Got a Hold on Me"
5. Camden in "Don't Let Go"

​

• Unique challenges, good performances from the cast in standard challenges, and challenges that manage to reference and make fun of the lore of the show without becoming entirely recursive.
• Unique challenges

1. Lip Sync Lalaparuza (since this is the first time we saw it in a non-all-stars season, with actual stakes attached to it)

• Good performances in "standard" challenges

1. "Menzeses" (this was the panel hosting challenge)
2. 60s Girl Groups
3. Moulin Ru: the Rusical
4. The Ross Matthews Roast (I'm not sure we've had such a large group of good roast performances since S5)

• Good "reference but not recursive" challenges

1. "She's a Super Tease"- allowed queens to poke fun at previous character archetypes and drama on the show, gave queens individual creative power to decide how they wanted to do it
2. "Save a Queen"- brought back queens that the audience could already connect with, let current queens interact with them and build commercials that played with and made fun of the moments they were known for on their original seasons.
3. "Daytona Winds"- made fun of the way the show's acting challenges had become somewhat earnest affairs in overracting that had moved away from the show's original premise of acting challenge as parody

Note: "Daytona Winds 2" in S15 is a great example of a Drag Race challenge that is *too* recursive.
​

• The judges, especially RuPaul, like this group of queens. There are a lot of queens this season that are confident onstage and in front of the judges (Willow, Bosco, Camden, Angeria, Deja, Daya, Kerri, Kornbread, Jorgeous), and this enables the judges to be more comfortable and playful with the contestants. For example, contrast S14's "Who murdered Snatch Game" scene to like... *all* of the judging on UK3. Completely different vibes, and S14's is eminently more enjoyable to watch. (For what it's worth, S14 is also relatively devoid of queen archetypes that Ru doesn't like, I'll get into that later though).

​

• S14 definitely *does* have pacing issues, but there are very few individual episodes that I don't care for. I don't care about the first ball, or the opening talent show episodes, but that's about it. As for queens not going home... the twist to bring back the first eliminated queens is redeemed by what a great character Daya makes herself into. The episodes where no one goes home, while stalling the momentum of the season, are individually some of the best episodes in the season, with various redeeming qualities (Daytona Wind, Menzeses, Snatch Game, Moulin Rouge). I think S14's competitive tension, much like S6, suffers the most in the last couple episodes- by the Ross Matthews Roast, the frontrunners (Willow, Camden) and finalists (Angeria, Bosco, Daya) are set. The major character arcs of the season have concluded. We don't lose much by losing Deja and Jorgeous. What remaining competitive tension might be salvaged in "Catwalk"- will Daya become a frontrunner? which of the top 5 will be eliminated?- is completely neutered by throwing another win to Camden and allowing a top 5. Bad job editors. That said, the top queens and their performances still make these episodes fun.

​

• The top 5 queens, for the most part, are strong characters, good performers, do interesting drag, and are edited well on the show, and the top 3 did things that were completely novel to the show.

​
Angeria is the only one who suffers here. Her competitive narrative on the show doesn't really progress beyond the first few episodes. She emerges as an early frontrunner and...that's about it. She's fun in confessionals, but she has a pretty laidback personality, so she doesn't get into fights with other girls and build her narrative that way. Her drag persona (backwoods glamorous pageant queen who has a bit of a silly edge) is fairly well-realized, familiar on the show, and established early on in the season. We don't learn anything new about Angeria after the first few episodes. She's a good enough performer to stay in the top for most of the season, but she's not quite canny enough to channel her own style or personality through the Drag Race challenges in ways that would make her stand out, beyond her initial talent show performance. The dichotomy between pageant glamour and a silly personality *is* interesting, but the show's not really interested in exploring that. On the runway, her aesthetic is top of the line pageant drag. It's good and lands on the side of "expensive and elegant" pageant-wear over "expensive and tacky" pageant-wear... but it is pageant-wear and we've seen it before. I don't know if Angie would be a great pitch for All Stars, and I don't know that her WtW would go outside the pageant-queen high-kick/strut box, but I would love to see her on a DragCon panel or a podcast.
Bosco's greatest virtue to the season is as a narrator- whether in challenges (Menzeses, Roast), confessionals, or on the main stage with the judges. Bosco's also not afraid to narrate her own inner turmoil (it is her brand of comedy), which is fantastic, given that her latter season arc has her ping-ponging between top and bottom placements in an ever more fragile metal state. Does her competitive narrative ever really have legs after the Rusical? Nope. Camden absolutely kneecaps her. And a standout Roast performance can only redeem so many bra and panty sets. But do I care? Nope. Bosco still makes the journey fun for us. What's more, we don't get many burlesque queens on the show that make it far, so while the bra and panty sets were repetitive unto Bosco, they still felt more interesting to me than a lot of Deja's takes that ranged in the "this popular drag designer made this for me and 20 other queens, but the other 19 paid more for it" and "Jiggly might have worn this on S4" styles, or the back half of Angeria's pageant closet. Even when Bosco's fashion was bad, it was interesting. That short short little wig? I still don't know how I feel about it. The last episode's crylon Judy Jetson space hooker hunger games mom, *with* the short short little wig? Nothing has ever been so delightfully crunchy. Bosco will be an absolute blast on all stars, the bras and panties will be ever more expensive, and she'll come a lovely 3rd alternate ala Jujubee.
Daya- rarely in recent seasons have we gotten a good villain storyline, even more rarely did the villain become an antihero, and never until Daya did we get a queen that battled back from: first bootness, a family connection to an earlier season queen the judges considered "superlative," and the producers' disinterest in her and dismissal as a filler queen. The fandom loves Daya and rightfully so. Daya showed in spite of all of that that she could produce great TV and be a great drag race queen. I would also count Daya's aesthetic eye as second only to Willow's this season (babydoll dresses aside. we all have our weaknesses.) Daya delivered several standout looks that took a defined aesthetic and gave it a distinctly Daya twist (chaps look, KISS look, catwalk video, final runway). I have no complaints with Daya, only with the producers' treatment of her. They continued to do her dirty! Her narrative would've been better served by a final win in "Catwalk," which in turn with her finale performance, should've propelled her to the final 2 over Camden. That aside, can't wait to see what she'll do on All Stars. Will she win? I have complete faith in Daya. I have 0% faith in the editors. Look for a weird joint-style win ala Trinity and Monet in All Stars 4.
​
Willow- there is no doubt to me that Willow ran S14 just as much as Symone ran S13 or Sasha is running S15, but it wasn't smothering in the way that 13 or 15 felt. Granted, Willow had better, more interesting competition. But Willow was also super savvy. She didn't need all the screentime or talk from competitors in the world to make it clear that she was a winner, not when she put her screentime to such good use. Though Willow was comparatively quiet and laidback, she was never boring. (Her edit was a *little* boring. Just a steady upward trajectory. But sue me for liking a bitch who knows she's in her top era!). She was great in confessional, with a sense of humor- blunt, morbid, and a bit smug- not often seen on drag race. In drag, she showed that she could be a great drag race queen (Super Tease, Menzezes, ball challenges, Daytona Winds), great at fitting her own aesthetic into drag race challenge roles (Green Fairy in Moulin Ru, 60s Girl Groups), and most importantly, an interesting queen outside of drag race.
Any time that Willow was able to deliver her own signature drag on the show, she was doing something completely unique to what we've seen on Drag Race. Let's go through the highlights:

• Talent show performance: Willow's talent show performance is visceral in a great way- digging into spaghetti with bare hands, tossing it in the bath, tossing the toaster and then herself in the bath- these are all actions that evoke very strong emotions- gluttony, disgust, horror, fear- specifically as they connect to the body and physical sensation. These are not emotions the Drag Race (vs. Dragula) generally draws on. Disgust appears on drag race occasionally, but typically in cheap jokes that are pretty played out (ex. feigning disgust at the scent of a vagina). And for a show that is based around the malleability of the body, Drag Race is remarkably squeamish about bodily sensations beyond sexual arousal (ex. feigning an orgasm is always ok, but making a fart joke or wearing a dress with period blood is not). However, there's a good reason that drag outside of Drag Race is often interested in evoking negative emotions. Emotions like disgust, shame, horror, and fear are strong enough to produce bodily sensations, often the same ones that lust or love produce. The body and its nervous system are great at crossing wires, so this means that these negative emotions do often become sexual referents in the form of kink. Willow doesn't draw on that sexual association in her talent show beyond the aesthetic juxtaposition of a hot girl in a bikini shoving her face with pasta, but...
• She gets into it a bit more in her lyrics for "Bad Boy Baby"- "His body is splattered on the asphalt/Yeah but it's kind of hot/Like he dropped a hot bowl of spaghetti." The lyrics explicitly intertwine the emotion of lust with the body, gore, horror, and disgust.
• A couple of Willow's runways also play towards the emotions associated with kink, in a way we haven't seen on the show before. Again, for a show that plays a lot with sexual presentation and attraction, Drag Race doesn't give much due to fetish beyond the very mainstream themes of leather, latex, bondage, and whips. I'd really argue that these themes are so mainstream as to have become largely divorced outside of explicit BDSM settings from their invoked emotional referents- fear, pain, anticipation, helplessness- that provoke bodily sensation. Willow's latex hair wedgie Matrix outfit (wow what a combo of words), and hobble panty dress for the Heart On runway are fresh takes on kink on the show.
• A *lot* of Willow's runway presentation deals with bodily distortion and the separation of the body from a cohesive whole into its component parts (ex. the latex wedgie with disembodied hands to hold her hair, spring runway with head trapped in a house, 2nd ball challenge outfit with crazy long arms, Donatella lips on frills runway, all 3 finale outfits- intro catwalk, I hate people, final lipsync). And yet again, Drag Race has historically been willing to play with bodily proportion and distortion... but only in the hyper-feminine direction of more hips and tits, and played out plastic surgery jokes.

All this to say is a was a lot of fun to see Willow turn drag race tropes on their heads. And Willow's just really good. She's an underrated winner. I wouldn't want to see her on Drag Race again, or work the world. She's way too cool for the Drag Race brand. She would be cool even if she never did drag again. I will very happily go see anything she independently produces.
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I've saved Camden for last, because if you thought this post was already way too long, watch me write another 5000 words about drag race and its relationship with male drag. But before I get into all that, let's talk about Camden as a drag race character.
If Daya is the girl production hated, Camden is the girl they loved. I love a hidden frontrunner storyline, and production did a great job with Camden's. Once her edit picked up steam in Daytona Winds, it didn't slow down again. Camden was the girl that got to gradually steamroll the other frontrunners (Daya- Daytona Winds, Catwalk (however dubious), Bosco- Lalaparuza, Moulin Ru), only to face defeat at the hands of her final competitor, Willow, at the finale. Where Willow found success at shaping her challenge roles to fit her already well-defined drag aesthetic, Camden was the rare contestant who successfully expanded her drag repertoire to fit the challenges.
Camden also benefitted from being an archetype we haven't seen much of on Drag Race. You could call her a theatre queen, but that's not really true to her personality or her edit. Off-Broadway queens on the show are generally edited to have an off-putting sense of delusion, desperation, and self-seriousness. Camden, with the confidence that came from actually having performed professionally for years, was none of these things. I read her as a better-realized and more interesting variety of Shuga Cain's or Gottmik's archetype- a queen that turned to drag for personal reasons after already achieving professional success in a separate sphere, fell absolutely in love with drag, and was still figuring out how their personality and performance translated between their in and out of drag selves. Camden had the *large* benefit over Shuga and Gottmik of entering drag with: - classical dance training and performance experience, - a much more interesting set of aesthetic references, -amateur acting and comedy experience. Camden was having just as much fun as Shuga at figuring out who she could be in drag, but she and the edit were much better at letting us know about it- like Bosco, she was great at narrating herself, which made for a really fun journey from week to week with her.
Her aesthetic and performance choices were also hilariously chaotic throughout the season. In situations where she had creative control, she might choose to: -repeatedly reference Bunheads (I cannot emphasize enough how much this was a choice), or she might completely rock a 90s London underground raver look and performance, or she might show up in very expensive Frozen cosplay, or she might provide the look of the night as a crystallized porcelain ballerina, or she might show up in a cotton candy meets Flintstones outfit of Salina-Estitties-bad proportions (love u Salina <3), or she might show up as a slutty horse, carriage, bridle, and all... the list goes on and I don't want it to end!
I also appreciate the level of commitment Camden displayed towards her more questionable choices; when Michelle advised against a joke about yelling into Ross's asshole for the roast, Camden made it longer for her set. When Camden showed up to the finale and started off with a questionable choice- pony play outfit of dubious proportions- she continued making questionable choices all the way through the final lipsync performance!
And for all that we learned about Camden's drag on S14, I feel there's still more to unpack. Rarely is Drag Race this good for a queen. I cannot wait to see Camden on All Stars. Will she win? She will make it to the finals. She will make it to the final lip sync. But I cannot tell you if she will give an incredible and captivating lip sync performance or if she'll choose to make another bunheads reference. Only time will tell.
Now to unpack the most interesting things Camden did on S14, and why they were cool to see on Drag Race. This is actually a bit similar to Willow- both Willow and Camden at their best work in similar ways against the way that Drag Race generally chooses to frame the nexus of sexuality, gender, and attraction.
The vast majority of gendered drag presentation that we see on drag race runs very femme, and by virtue of that, we see a lot of interpretations of female sexuality. It's usually straightforward- glamorous, sexy, and it's subversive mostly in the fact that it's a queer reclamation of female sexualities as seen by the male gaze. I would say this is a true even of the femme dom portrayals that we see on Drag Race (ex. Jaida in Madonna rusical)- it's a pretty mainstream and straight idea of what a femme dom is supposed to be. Less frequently we see straight or queer female sexualities centered in a women's gaze (ex Joey Jay <3). Rarely do we see hard butch, nongendered, or androgynous presentations- to the point that it *really* starts to stand out when we do (ex. Mo Heart's butch queen on UK vs the world, Victoria Scone's genderbend on Canada vs. the world, Raja's androgynous looks on All Winners).
Notice that these are all runway examples that I've cited. We really don't see looks that range past mild butch in challenges (Snatch Game excepted). Queens may be interested in exploring all this, but drag race as a production and the judges are not. As for masculine presenting drag, it's even more rare. Queens may go in boy drag for challenges, but almost never on the runway. This is key.
When queens are in boy drag in challenges (rare SG examples excepted), they are:

• playing male characters with no sexual presentation (ex. boy characters in the S15 Rusical, Alaska's pee-wee herman drag on S5 in the children's show skit)
• playing heterosexual male characters that depict hetero male sexuality as a completely hokey premise and joke (ex. mini challenges throughout the years, TMZ reporters room in comedy sketch in all stars 5)
• playing a "neutered" gay or effeminate man with no effective sexual potential when presented out of female drag (ex. Sasha in S15 Rusical)

Most often when the show needs to display masculine-presenting sexuality for a challenge, they use a pit crew member or an outside actor (ex. Leland in Moulin Ru, Danny Trejo in Daytona Winds 2). (Leslie Jordan is a lovely exception to this by virtue of being Leslie Jordan). Even here, these men are rarely presenting queer male sexuality. They are almost always playing it straight. (For more on the drag queen/gogo boy dichotomy, see How to be Gay, there's some paragraphs on this somewhere in there.)
To explain why drag race does this, Sasha's performance in the latest Rusical is key. As an effeminate man on the drag race stage (that's the label we'll use for Carl since he *is* straight(?) married to female Preacher Teacher- she's kinda more butch than him tho), Carl has no sexual power or potential in his male drag. Carl's frumpy clothes and Sasha's performance illustrate this pretty well. For the effeminate or queer man on drag race to unlock his sexual potential, he must put on femme-presenting drag. See: Carl in the final number once transformed into Ethel Sperman.
This is why we don't see masculine-presenting drag on the runway, especially drag that reads as queer masculine. The runway, being a *pure presentation of aesthetics and form,* is the most direct embodiment of the transcendence that drag allows for the long-shamed "feminine" aspects of queer male sexuality to their glorification and empowerment when presented in the male-as-female drag form.
(Note: there is a lot to unpack with the term "feminine" and its relation to queer male sexuality. I'll keep it short here and say that when I say "feminine" in this context, I'm referring specifically to the aspects of weakness/sexual submission that are often implied in the term, and become shameful or transgressive when juxtaposed with traditional ideas of male sexualities).
I think for Rupaul on the show, especially in the earlier seasons, the link between the shame of queer male sexuality and the transcendence of that sexual shame that could only be reached through glamorous, regal, sexual, feminine drag was really really strong. There is a reason the first 3 winners of the show all fit that ideal. I think that goes a *long* way towards explaining:

• why Ru had problems with trans queens being on the show (Ru's perspective: what is drag doing for you if you've already embraced and accepted the feminine pieces of you in a very visible way/ are you still doing drag if you're not achieving this specific variety of emotional catharsis through it)
• why Ru and the judges reacted so badly to Alaska's male drag on S5 and Milk's "werkroom Ru" on S6 (male drag can't be drag b/c feminine transformation and its emotional underpinnings are essential to my idea of what drag is)

At the time, these all seemed like things that undermined the central thesis of the show. This also explains:

• why Ru can't connect with mentally well-adjusted queens (why do drag if you aren't trying to solve your personal problems with it/you've already come to terms with your femininity)
• why Run can't connect with "theatre queens" (you're coming to drag from a professional angle instead of a personal angle, so i don't find your drag emotionally compelling)

Also! Who's the queen we see in male drag in challenges on the show the most? It's Ru! RuPaul! (ex. acting scenes on S6 final challenge, RudePaul on S10, court room reporter on All Winners). RuPaul doesn't go in drag on the show to play characters other than RuPaul the Glamazon, and he expects contestants to treat their drag the same.
Also!Also! There is clear reasoning for why Ru would feel this way about drag- the gay culture of the 90s and 00's was *so* different to today, and before drag race and the efforts of a lot of advocacy, there was a much larger stigma in the gay community towards feminine men, trans women, and drag queens. If you want to hear more about this I think Bianca or Courtney talk about it together on a podcast somewhere.
Drag race and RuPaul's allowance towards all these things has gradually changed thanks to awesome queens being on the show and fans wanting better for queens, but the effects of that viewpoint on the show are still really strong. So it's fun to Camden work against these ideas on S14.
To me, Camden's big standout moment is as Freddie Mercury on the runway and the "One Way or Another" lip sync. Camden's usual drag, as much as she goes towards any aesthetic, is very femme, Spice Girls-sexy. I don't find it particularly compelling, and I don't feel that she's adding much femininity or sexuality as compared to her character on drag race out of drag.
Freddie Mercury is different. Camden plays Freddie on the runway and in the lip sync very sexually. It is unequivocally a performance of powerful queer male sexuality. We really have not seen that on drag race before, especially on the runway. What's even better is how much fun Camden is having with it. You can really see the joy as she performs. She's having fun and feels more powerful in this queer male drag than her usual femme drag- and that in itself is incredibly empowering.
(Camden feeling more powerful in male drag works for the same reason that "Joey Jay is gay" does. Joey says as much in her lyrics, but there's a truth to it that goes beyond that. Like Camden, Joey is gay and femme enough already out of drag that her drag transformation might actually reveal more masculine or dominant aspects or her personality. If for a typical queen, drag goes something like "he's so gay she's straight," for Joey it goes "he's so gay she's masc.")
The same is true of Camden's other standout performances during the season. In the Lalaparuza, she has to lip sync against Bosco, the sexiest queen of the season, while not dressed in her super femme-presenting drag. As Camden puts it "how am I supposed to lip sync to this super soulful song dressed as Sonic the Hedgehog's bitch girlfriend?" But she makes the choice to perform the song sexually in spite of that, and she does it really well, to the point that the show has other contestants comment on it. See: Daya "I'm so hot for Camden right now." For Camden that feels like another really emotionally strong moment.
The last piece of this narrative is Camden's performance in Moulin Ru as the androgynous cabaret host. Although the character's dress and physical presentation is androgynous, Camden brings a queer masculine-coded sexuality to her performance that feels like a continuation of her discovery as Freddie Mercury. And like with Freddie, she performs the role very successfully and has a ton of fun doing it.
What's even better is just to see all these performances get rewarded by the judges on Drag Race. I really don't know how they would've been received on earlier seasons. But I'm glad we have them now, and I'm glad that queens continue to push Drag Race to expand its aesthetic bubble.
This concludes my thesis.

This is my second year of bingo, so naturally I had to extra challenge myself and do a themed card this time. I set out to do strictly re-tellings, but I ended up broadening the category to include strongly inspired by or incorporating folk tales or mythology. It’s a category I read a lot in anyway, and I love that the genre is exploding to include cultures world-wide. And yet somehow I only ended up with 13 authors of color (out of 40 - counting all the short stories). But this year was about 90% women (with 3 non-binary and one man), so huzzah for feminist re-tellings! And all but four of the authors were new to me. I didn’t quite hit all hard mode, but the theme was my hard mode, really.
I tried to cover a variety of inspiration texts (myths, folk tales, “classic literature,” film) as well as stories from around the world, but I’m missing any representation from Australia and the Pacific Islands as well as South America. The origins of a lot of the stories are Western European, but some have been re-told in settings elsewhere in the world. East Asia also ended up well represented.
I did end up substituting a square this year. Instead of “weird ecology,” I opted for 2018’s “a god is a character” square. There were a couple books that had some weird landscaping in them, but none of them quite fit the spirit of the square. Things like a magical forest in an otherwise standard-issue earthly landscape rather than a fundamentally different ecosystem overall. If anyone has any recs for re-tellings set on far-flung planets, let me know! I tend not to do deep researching – mostly I read somewhat mindfully, hoping for the best, and panic in January.
Here’s the visual card: https://imgur.com/4XRW9W9
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Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (LGBTQIA list)
The Iliad from Patroclus’ perspective, but starting with his childhood and teenage years in which he and Achilles grow up together and fall in love.
If you remember the Iliad or just the general arc of the story of the Trojan war, then you will go into this knowing it’s going to be a tragedy. That doesn’t make the pain any less exquisite. The time we spend growing up with Patroclus moves from lonely and neglected to beautiful, golden, idyllic. The voice of Patroclus – pacifist and healer – is expertly written and his relationship with god-like Achilles is full of moments that make the heart ache. This is still on the best-seller list for a reason.
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Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe (Substitute square: god character, HM)
Olympus is a contemporary city, albeit still only inhabited by gods, and Hades and Persephone might be falling for each other.
Graphic novel. The limited color palettes in this volume are excellent, emphasizing mood and character. It’s beautiful to read. The Greek gods are notorious for having very human flaws, and this telling feels very rooted in human emotions. Olympus feels a bit like a college campus in this telling. There’s a lot of loneliness, and trying to figure out how to fit in. It also gets a big content warning for rape.
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Hag: Forgotten Folk Tales Retold by Imogen Hermes Gowar, Naomi Booth, Emma Glass, Irenosen Okojie, Daisy Johnson, Natasha Carthew, Eimear McBride, Liv Little, Mahsuda Snaith, Kirsty Logan (2+ authors, HM)
Strange folk tales from every corner of the U.K. are re-imagined – often in contemporary settings – giving women voices they may have been denied in the originals.
It took me a long time to read all these short stories because almost every one deals with death or brutality towards women. That’s not to say they all have unhappy endings – indeed, some have joyously vengeful endings – but there’s quiet tragedy and outright violence woven throughout. Powerful stories, strong narrator voices, and often poetic prose, but read when in a strong mental state.
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A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee (Historical, HM)
Treasure Island set in 1826 in the South China Sea with a pirate crew of queer misfits sailing for treasure and a better life – plus actual historical Pirate Queen Zheng Yi Sao as Captain Flint.
With contemporary prose and an updated cast, this still feels true to the source material with the adventurous quest deciphering maps and clues. Long John Silver doesn’t have an exact analogue, but his surprisingly complex parental feelings come through with found-family bonds as well as a wild ride of birth-family feelings, and a fraught lesbian love interest.
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Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta (Set in Space, HM)
This time, King Arthur is a queer teenage girl on the run from the big bad capitalist Mercer Corporation – in space!
In this re-telling, the characters are aware of the King Arthur story as a myth from Old Earth, but when they find themselves re-incarnating the well-worn pattern, they don’t seem to recognize it beyond the magic sword and Ari’s renewed determination to be a hero. Merlin has lived through every iteration, and has his own interests at play. Our heroes spend a fair bit of time in their space ship or on planet-sized space-stations, though it may be pushing the rule to say it’s 50% actually in space. This is a YA book and it definitely reads that way, but it’s fun. I thought the “Renaissance Faire Planet” was a bit of a stretch and the big bad was almost a caricature of every evil empire, but if you can look past a bit of cheesiness, there’s plenty of sci-fi action, a quick pace, and some intrigue under the surface.
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The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (Standalone, HM)
Hungarian and Jewish folklore plus the early spread of Christianity weave together to create a world where magic manifests differently depending on your religious tradition, the Christians are ardent new converts in charge of a poor besieged country, and persecution abounds.
The first person perspective came with a lot of (justified) rage and some pretty violent moments, but I found Évike’s voice to be frustratingly naïve at times. The pacing was uneven, and with a lot of elements in play the story was lacking cohesion. I felt okay on the enemies-to-lovers trope in this one. Overall, this book was redeemed for me by the imagined folk stories woven in, and the heart-warming moments spent in the Jewish community. (I forget the actual names of the religions in the book, but they’re pretty obvious stand-ins.)
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These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (Anti-hero, HM)
This time, Romeo and Juliet are in rival gangs in 1926 Shanghai, but their teenage romance is already dead from betrayal at the start of the book and a strange madness is devastating the city they struggle to rule.
I usually read-read, but this one I listened to and I loved the narrator! I had a few hang-ups on Juliet as a character (though perfect anti-hero material). Which was tough since she got of lot of screen time, but thankfully we also got Roma and some absolutely wonderful side characters, including a trans woman and a refuses-to-admit-it gay couple. There were some moments of lovely prose, plenty of action, and all the jostling factions in the city were well-balanced in the narrative. First of a series, I definitely want to pick up the second one soon.
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All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter (Book Club, HM)
Drawing primarily on Irish folklore, this is the story of a girl who wants to escape her family obligations - ones that come with generational trauma and greed.
It’s a little hard to talk about this one without spoilers since there are basically three distinct sections and each could almost stand as a story on its own, but each depends on the earlier one. Another angry woman in this one, taking matters into her own hands and trying to break spells, break open dark family secrets, and get free of men who are trying very hard to be in charge. I liked the gothic atmosphere, the prose, and probably the middle journey section with fairy-tale creature encounters was my favorite. The family history is also told in mini fairy-tales throughout. The ending fell a bit flat, and I didn’t really connect to the main character, but neither of those were deal-breakers for me.
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Spear by Nicola Griffith (Cool Weapon, HM)
From the King Arthur mythos, the story of Percival and the quest for the holy grail, but Percival is a supernatural queer woman who lives in sixth century Wales when the pagan gods still have power.
Novella. The story opens slowly and with some very poetic prose to start Peretur’s early life in the wilderness with her mother – a mythic feeling that I fell hard for right off the bat. And yet it also felt very much a story from history – the details of the setting showed the research Griffith put in. I wish it were just a touch longer to give some more room to the relationship developments that get packed into the back half of the book. But the interweaving of historical details, tidbits from myth and story, and imagination was so flawless that this re-telling feels like it could be the "true" history of the story-figure. Even including the gender flip - a skillfully handled "woman dresses as a man to be a knight" trope that works even better when the woman is queer.
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Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (Revolution/Rebellion, HM)
On a distant planet in the far future, the original colonizing crew have set themselves up as gods, specifically taking on the roles of the Hindu pantheon. One member heartily disagrees with how the rest are running things.
The prose in this one was a little tough and I’m pretty sure the style is a deliberate choice to make this book feel more akin to reading a religious text. And as a play off of Hesse’s 1922 Siddhartha, since they share the same main character. But some of it may also simply be because it was written in 1967. Still, the content is intriguing. The struggle is between the immortal gods who like being the ones with all the advanced tech (including re-incarnation to transfer themselves into new bodies), and the one who thinks this is some kinda bullshit, why make the inhabitants here go through the dark ages when they could have medicine and electricity now. The premise and watching it play out is the interest here, not so much any emotional investment in the characters.
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The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White (Name in the Title, HM)
Still asking, “who is the monster?” and giving the same answer even more definitively than the original, this is a re-telling of Frankenstein from Elizabeth’s POV with some distinctive twists.
In 2022 I did the Dracula read-along and then promptly decided it was finally time to do Frankenstein as well. Which meant I could now read re-tellings of these classics. Elizabeth, when you get to hear her side, turns out not only to be independent-minded, but also a remarkable anti-hero character trying desperately to maintain the only stability she’s ever known. Though there are a lot of grim happenings and emotional abuse, this version has more hope for humanity than the original (which, imo, has almost none). Also, unlike narrator Viktor, Elizabeth doesn’t make you hate her guts regularly; she’s just trying to survive. The prose was the weak point in this one, especially coming off Mary Shelley, but not detrimentally so.
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What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (Author Uses Initials, HM)
Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” leaves plenty of room for embellishing and this novella does so perfectly with nightmare fungus, more rounded-out characters (including a non-binary protagonist), and horrifyingly possessed creatures.
Alex is a rational narrator, the best kind for encountering increasingly creepy phenomena. Even with the addition of a no-nonsense mycologist and a competent American doctor, the atmosphere of oppressive, inevitable horror from the original short story suffuses this novella. There certainly are rational lines of thoughts to follow to unravel the mystery of the Ushers’ illnesses, but that doesn’t stop each revelation from setting everyone on edge and fearing madness of themselves. Gothic. Horror. Perfection.
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Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (Published in 2022, HM)
The Chinese story of Chang’e is the basis for this re-telling, but this focuses on her daughter and starts after the original stories end. Xingyin’s quest is to obtain freedom and forgiveness for her mother’s actions that gained her goddess status, but exiled her to the moon.
The world building of the Celestial Kingdom was a highlight of this one for me since I’m not super familiar with the Chinese pantheon. The story itself relied on some classic YA tropes (including a love triangle, one of my least favorites) and I found the narrator’s voice somewhat simplistic. She’s also a very emotional character, which at times was endearing and at others frustrating. Wise, peaceful dragons do make an appearance, though, and there’s some good political intrigue and a few unforeseen twists. An entertaining read overall, and there’s set-up for the second book, but this one wrapped up nicely enough and I’m not feeling pressed to read the second one right away.
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The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (Urban Fantasy, HM)
The Great Gatsby, but from Jordan Baker’s perspective and she’s a bi Vietnamese adoptee in a New York where magic makes all the parties more dazzling.
It’s hard to like any of the characters in the Gatsby story, but Jordan Baker as narrator certainly gets more sympathy from me in this go-round. Raised in a rich white family, she carries internalized racism with her, and yet struggles against it every day in a country that is trying to enact a law that will force her to leave. Where the original story condemns classism and unbridled ambition, this story expands its criticism to America’s long history of excluding people of color and the LGBTQ+ community. The prose is gorgeous, and where it overlaps with original scenes it dovetails perfectly. The magic adds an extra shimmer to this story, but doesn’t outshine the character work. I hope this one gets added to curriculums to pair with the original.
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Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen (Set in Africa, HM)
Inspired by West African mythology with the Little Mermaid for some plot points. Simi was a human who became a Mami Wata and is struggling to fit into her role bringing home the souls of those who died at sea. One decision endangers all the Mami Wata and sends her on a quest with a boy that will entangle her with the gods and other legendary creatures.
This story is chock full of magical beings, young adults attempting to navigate dangerous situations as well as their relationships, and quests of mythic proportions. The dark underbelly of the story is the destruction of West African communities as colonizers take their people into slave ships. Though tragedy runs alongside the story, our heroes mostly manage to stay one step ahead of the worst outcomes. The quest did some meandering, and characterizations were a bit uneven, but I think it really came together in the latter half. The main plot wraps up well, but makes set-up for the next book clear and I do intend to get to it eventually.
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A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (Non-human protagonist, HM)
With roots in Lipan Apache storytelling traditions, this is the story of a cottonmouth snake and a human girl whose worlds run in parallel, but become entangled as they try to save friends and family from existential threats.
This technically has two protagonists, but the snake is the one whose chapters are in first person and the human’s are in third person. This also would have been great for the hard mode BIPOC author square since the author is Lipan Apache. I absolutely loved everyone in this story. Nina is an intrepid modern girl and a loner, but with strong family ties; and Ollie is a homebody snake setting out to make his way in the wide world. The friends Ollie makes help him to discover his own bravery, and they are a delightfully colorful bunch of creatures! Nina is trying to help her grandmother and unravel the mysteries of their family’s past and possible connections to the animal people. Read this story to be filled with the love of friendship and family, and hope in the face of climate change and social media ills.
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Fractured Fables: A Spindle Splintered & A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow (Timey Wimey, HM)
Zinnia Gray’s illness means she likely won’t live past 21, but when she falls into a Sleeping Beauty parallel universe, she might be able to at least save someone else from that fate. In book two, she’s dealing poorly with life in the “real” world, but busting out into a new fairy tale multi-verse (Snow White’s), and finding even more complications in the re-tellings there.
I read both novellas currently out in this series, and our hero does a fair bit of jumping around the fairy tale multiverse which makes it clear that time doesn’t run evenly across it all. It’s not really the focus, but it’s there, and it does affect a couple plot points. I think Alix Harrow read the same book I did about disability in fairy tales (Disfigured by Amanda Leduc) and took it to heart to create her hero in this contemporary fairy tale take. Zinnia’s chronic illness is both from an industrial accident and an embodiment of a fairy tale curse. These books don’t take themselves too seriously, but do handle disability and the emotional impacts that come with it pretty well, I think. Disney’s re-telling style features in book one, and book two gets some darker, more horror-esque takes.
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Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (Mental Health)
The re-telling of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth you didn’t know you needed with extra depth from Germanic folk roots and a little Hades-Persephone flavor. Set in early 19th century Bavaria, protagonist Liesl is a composer stuck helping run her family’s inn; in the woods, Der Erlkönig (the Goblin King), may be a relic of a pagan past, but that doesn’t stop him from meddling with her heart and her family members.
Liesl is bipolar and her brother (prodigy violinist) has anxiety and (in book 2) severe depression. Her father is an alcoholic. The family member who gets stolen and must be retrieved is her beautiful sister, the life of the family. Liesl’s wild up and down swings are on full display when she enters the realm of the Goblin King and is trying to navigate her relationship with him, her relationship with her music, and her love for her family. This is an emotional book and you will be angry at almost every character at some point. But it’s also heartbreakingly beautiful. The romance sizzles; it’s unhealthy and you want them to fix it. It’s probably not a book for everyone, but I spent a fevered day and a half devouring it. For extra doses of struggling with mental health, sobbing, and musical composing, read book two – Shadowsong.
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In the Shadows of Giants by Lazette Gifford (Self-published, HM)
In the far future, the Norse pantheon ends up pitted against the Chinese pantheon and an elder god in a potential new Ragnarok with Loki trying to avoid the mishaps of the last one – in space!
Loki gets some good character work in this book, but other characters are a little light on depth. Though Loki is the main focus, I liked that we got some chapters in the Chinese pantheon as well, getting some insight into the politics of the situation from their perspective – and not everyone in their pantheon is on board with the way things are going. Loki is also not really convinced of teaming up with the rest of his own pantheon again either, but he still has a few good ties there and room to mends some relationships. This wasn’t a stand-out novel for me, but neither do I have any strong complaints. It’s a solid sci-fi-fantasy mix, good prose, and well-paced plotting.
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Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste (Runner-up, HM)
It’s 1967 in San Francisco and Lucy (from Dracula) and Bertha (from Jane Eyre) are the titular reluctant immortals trying to keep their tormentors from destroying more lives.
This seems like it could be an action-packed super-powered immortal battle, but instead it’s the mundanity of simply surviving as an undead being, escalating slowly into a horrifying body count. Obviously I had to read this after finishing the Dracula read-along. The tone is such a contrast! Where Dracula’s heroes struggle nobly against the darkness, this version is full of quiet desperation and bleakness more fitting as the successor to Jane Eyre. As the action ramps up in the last third, it plays out more like a contemporary horror film, including a strange liminal space in the afterlife and scenes of a modern mansion filled with the decay that the undead bring. The drug haze of California in the 60’s suffuses the story. I’m not entirely convinced this was a re-telling we needed, but I’m also not mad about it.
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Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (BIPOC author)
Kaikeyi is only briefly in the Hindu epic The Ramayana, but her “wicked stepmother” action sets the plot of it in motion. In this novel, she is given a voice and a backstory and a complex world she must navigate as a woman who wants more independence not only for herself, but for all the women of her country.
The relationship building in the latter half is one of the highlights of this book. It’s helped by some magic, but Kaikeyi puts in the work to build bonds of love and mutual respect in the royal household where she is youngest of three wives. Rama (her step-son) is the main character in the original epic (a god incarnated to vanquish evil forces), and so the reader is clued in early that disaster will befall the family because of a conflict between Kaikeyi and her husband and Rama; the threat of that tragedy seeps into even the happy parts of the story. Kaikeyi is a champion of early feminism in this telling, but she’s still human with plenty of flaws and struggles and imperfect vision. I found this book to be a bit of a slow build to connect with characters, but by the end I was absolutely tearing up. A powerful telling.
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Malice by Heather Walter (Shapeshifters, HM)
In this Sleeping Beauty re-telling (perhaps prequel), the villain is not yet the villain – though society certainly treats her as an outcast – and a forbidden love is blooming.
This is a coming of age story for an already young adult character. Alice wants to be accepted (and loved), proving she’s not the evil pariah society thinks she is, but she also wants to escape the role she’s forced into. The build-up of tension between her warring desires is well done. As she discovers her true powers (spoilers since I used it for the shapeshifting square!) she’s put even more at odds with the establishment, and yet her growing love for Princess Aurora gives her hope for a more idyllic outcome than the escape she’s trying to plan. This was another enjoyable but not necessarily a stand-out read for me. Excellent character work for the protagonist and a slower pacing, but never felt like it was dragging. I will definitely read book 2 since this one ends with a bang.
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Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (No Ifs, Ands, or Buts, HM)
This book mushes up elements from Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, and probably others, and spins a whole new story with Persian flair. A poisonous princess is kept hidden away, but when knowledge of her curse comes from a demon, her decisions will have far-reaching consequences for her whole family and the question of who to trust becomes thorny.
This was another one where the protagonist is striving to be a good person, caring for her family, and yet she understandably wants to escape her curse and is maybe willing to do some questionable things to make it happen. It’s hard to keep being good when, even though you are loved, you can’t touch anyone and have to live in a gilded cage. This story took a lot of twists and turns, including betrayals of all kinds. The romance elements were laced with emotional tension, but kept sexual feelings to a bare minimum. I felt this could have used a bit of plot streamlining, but I liked the Persian-inspired world, the overall arc of the story, and I felt it wrapped up well for a complex stand-alone.
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For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten (Family Matters)
I thought this would be primarily Little Red Riding Hood, but it’s got a huge helping of Beauty and the Beast and a dose of fairy tale sisters tropes as well. Red is the sister that will be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood in hopes of the gods’ return. Turns out, that whole Wolf and Wilderwood thing is really complicated.
This has a lot of elements that I tend to look favorably on – a broody love interest, a magical forest, sibling bonds – but it didn’t quite pull together for me in this book. Both characters in the romance got good development and their choices did make sense for who they were, but it was a very frustrating one to read and caused a lot of drag in the middle. The sibling relationship was much better and the sister who gets to become queen has a wonderfully tragic arc in the name of saving her lost sister. The forest itself and the religion/magic that goes with it don’t get a ton of satisfying explanation, but that’s partly due to everyone actually struggling to figure out how it works. It gets an A+ for creepy atmosphere, though! Imagery from Grimm’s more grim tales abounds and I appreciated the slight edge of horror that creeps in. Not super likely to pick up book 2.
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I’ve done a terrible job being concise here, so I’ll try to do a really quick run-down on the short stories. I just listed the first collection on my official bingo turn-in to make it easy, but I like being able to fill in all the slots in my spreadsheet, so there are five things here. Hopefully someone has made it this far down – if so, thank you for reading!
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The Bloody Chamber & Other Stories by Angela Carter (collection)
The titular story is one of the better ones – a re-telling of Bluebeard. Covering the classics of western European fairy tales, this collection features a lot of liberated sex with a 70s feminist lean (publication date: 1979). Girls and beasts are the big theme. There were a few excellent ones and several that left me going “but why?”
The Bride of the Blue Wind by Victoria Goddard
Closer to a novelette, but that gave this story room to get some solid world-building in. Bluebeard again, but with Bluebeard being a djinn sort of character. I loved the trader communities and desert setting and the family dynamic with the wife’s sisters.
Tales of Old Gods & New by Kate MacLeod (collection)
This collection had two specific re-tellings: another “Norse gods in the far future” re-telling which was also a sci-fi survival story, and an African inspired goddess trying to escape the cycle of her story. These were two solid ones, some of the other in the collection I felt were unfinished scribbling thoughts for novel-sized stories.
Hunting Monsters series by S.L. Huang (2 short stories, one novella)
This collection mashed up eastern and western settings and stories, including Red Riding Hood, Beauty & the Beast, the Legend of the White Snake, and Hou Yi the Archer. The main characters of the novella are middle-aged women long past the prime in which their original stories took place and I liked that take a lot. The short stories focus on a daughter and deal with culture clashes and parent-child tensions.
A Cathedral of Myth & Bone by Kat Howard (collection)
The feature in this collection is a novelette of the King Arthur story set on a college campus with grad students who are themselves studying the mythos of King Arthur. Most of the other stories in the collection take inspiration from saints’ lives or myth and folk tale tropes (or the concept of storytelling itself) and play with them in new settings. I found a lot more hits than misses in this collection.

Dear baby mama,
I will never be sorry for finding him when I did. What I am sorry for is that you are upset that I got the best version of him. I need you to realize that I have been nothing but respectful of you and your son. When you are bringing your son over, I leave. When he is with his son, I respect that even though I know that means you are with them. You can't seem to figure out how to NOT have to be with them. I do understand your upset in the matter. You had a shitty version of him. He admits that. He has told me all about the fact that he was a bad father, boyfriend, person. I can tell you that your son will NEVER hear him say an ill word of you. He will never hear him speak ill of those you love. So my question is this, why would you speak ill of me? You don't know me. You haven't given me a chance to know me. We met one time. I wanted to meet you before I ever met your son. Circumstances made that not happen how I would have liked. Did I notice that you and I had on almost identical outfits? Yeah. I'm sure for the same reason, his favorite color is blue. I was nice to you that whole day. Even as I listened to you talking every ounce of shit that you could about my boyfriend. I sat there and just smiled. Tried to have a friendly conversation with you and your son. He's precious by the way, a great kid. Yet you still managed to get it into your son's head that he "doesn't want to see daddy's new girlfriend." Please don't use your child as a pawn for your hatred and jealousy. I haven't spoken my mind because I don't want to lose him and I don't want you to hold your son over his head like you are dangling a steak in front of a lion.
In the end I just need you to know that I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay. I will continue to respect you. Just know, his mom likes me more than you 😘.

I went back and watched the gameplay trailers for Breath of the Wild, in the marketing gameplay trailers, an example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AQcohxrdpw&ab_channel=IGN in which they had the HUD disabled so there were no mini-map or button control prompts, the stamina wheel and hearts weren't displayed, enemies didn't show their health despite Link wearing the Champion Tunic, and the stone talus name/location didn't appear as it rose out of the ground
In the exploration gameplay demo from E3 2016 where they let some people play in the Great Plateau as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze05xdORvYs&ab_channel=NintendoofAmerica Link is already wearing the Champion Tunic (but enemy health is again not displayed), he already has the runes even though the shrines were deactivated/orange, and he has the paraglider yet there was no Old Man/King Rhoam present, even though his campfire, baked apple and axe were still present, the only enemies shown were Bokoblins, Keese and Ice Chuchus
This was obviously done to hide large aspects of gameplay and story characters, so now going back over the gameplay footage for Tears of the Kingdom from earlier I think we've experienced this restricted/demo build concealment trick yet again on account of all the unlocked runic abilities and the Zonai outfit despite only being at the beginning of the game, along with the single enemy type and absence of characters despite the sky islands clearly being inhabited
I'm certain this is also why we didn't see the dive button on landing in the water too despite the poster from earlier noticing the active Ascend option, so it's clear we're not going to have any questions answered until May 12th, which is fine by me really

Hi, everyone. So I am a college student and experienced childcare workenanny. Just for context, I am in a rigorous academic program/institution. I started a new position this winter and was very candid about my academic commitments, but it started off great. The parents both work very demanding jobs, but they are kind people.
I have worked with kids for a long time, but I have never seen kids that are so chronically ill.
The first non-cold incident was during winter. The kids had flu/RSV and ended up giving it to me. While they paid me when I was off, I was left with a $400 medical bill (not including medications). But I brushed it off because I know that some sickness is inevitable. They were, however, continuing to display their standard “cold” symptoms the entire time leading up to that and did not receive any medical attention.
The next incident was pink eye. This happened two days before I was about to leave to present at a research conference. I informed the parent (WFH) that their child had green secretions coming from their distinctly red eyes. They brushed me off, and said it was allergies. The next day (two days before my flight was supposed to leave) they greeted me at the door and informed me that their child did, in fact, have pink eye. I was given no notice to get a mask, wear gloves, etc. Thankfully, I only developed a cold while I was gone. But I really would’ve appreciated a heads up, and if my initial observation was taken seriously. Again, that could’ve ended up costing me hundreds of dollars-plus travel expenses-if I had gotten sick.
These kids (1.5 and almost 5) keep their severe “colds” pretty much 24/7. I do not believe there has been a single week since I started where both have been well. They are always coughing, complaining of sore throats, saying they feel hot, etc. The youngest has the worst bout of it. She has progressively gotten worse. They do not, however, take them to the doctor. I believe they give them OTC pain relievers sometimes, but nothing more than that. In December when I was working, I noticed how ill the baby had become. You can hear her wheeze almost all of the time (it’s gotten worse), because her lungs are irritated and her mucus secretions are so thick. There are times that I have contacted the parents while they were working because I was so concerned about the child’s ability to breathe. Holding her a full arms length away from me, I could hear her wheezing. But I keep getting brushed off. When they do acknowledge she is sick, they say that they simply know what to do.
A few weeks ago, the youngest threw up all over me while I was feeding her. It was all over my shirt and pants, and I did not have a change or clothes packed or my car with me to go back home and get some. I texted a friend to bring me a change of clothes. When one of the parents came up, I told them what had happened they brushed it off and said she still “spits up.” I have had kiddos spit up on me—this was vomit, and a significant amount of it. The parent did not offer me a change of clothes, to take the girl so that I could change—nothing. I was in my vomit-soaked outfit for over an hour. Because the baby was sick she kept waking up and screaming whenever I tried to put her down (asleep) so that I could change. I felt awful for her and knew it was critical for her to rest so she could fight off the virus, so I finally just let her sleep. When the parent came up about half an hour later, they sat beside me as the girl slept on me (which I also felt guilty about for sanitary reasons). I know that they could smell (and see) that I did not change, but they still did not offer me the opportunity to go change. The worst part wasn’t that I was thrown up on—it was how humiliated I felt for the rest of my shift and sitting next to that parent.
Since then, the kiddos have kept their usual “colds,” which hit me hard last week. I ended up with a sinus infection—another large bill because of medications, office visit, tests, etc. Yesterday, after finding out that the oldest boy had drinking medicine all day for a sore throat (which honestly, they always have—so I was exposed before this), I started to feel feverish and got a sore throat. I finished out my shift, but spiked a 104 fever that night. Again, the next day I had to do an office visit, medications, etc. It turns out that I have strep. And the high-risk individual that I live with is now sick also. I have a doctor note for two days, but my fever is persisting. They said we could touch base after the note is up, but I really don’t know what to say about coming in for the rest of the week—and that’s if my fever breaks.
I feel so lost, because they seem like kind people and have accommodated me when I needed a day or two off during finals and had to attend a conference. Vice versa, I am now working almost double the hours we initially agreed to—in addition to any random days that they have told me that they need all-day care. But, I still feel like I owe them, and I do not want to be a poor employee. I know that a good nanny/NF relationship requires sacrifice from both parties, and I want to try my best to make it work.
I just don’t know what to do right now. I have tried masking (new), washing my clothes as soon as I get home, regular hand washing, etc. I have spent close to $800 on medical expenses, am missing classes because of illness, and now infecting others in my household. They are always kind when I finally have to call out because of sickness, but they don’t seem to understand that their kiddos are the ones transmitting things to me.
Again, I love this family so much and truly feel for them. But I just cannot afford to be getting sick like this—for both financial and academic reasons. We never discussed sick care in my hire interview, but it says on my Nanny Profile that I do not care for sick kids.
I am also concerned about liability, if the youngest child does start to asphyxiate (on his secretions) on my watch. I have even sought advice from medical professionals on how to best handle that situation, if it were to happen, since it would go beyond standard CPR.
Does anyone have any advice for this type of thing or advice? Should I just stick it out?

We have been at this a while anything its a slippery slope as most are. We have met some great people, had some amazing experiences and ultimately keep wanting to go that little bit further. Like most things when you look back at where started it seems far off indeed.
So here we are, somehow in Ohio this is fine but only for the time, adventure calls. There are different kinds of adventure of course, exploring Bondage is one of those roads we keep travelling.
We are so into CNC and BDSM that vanilla threesomes are barely of interest, sure a beautiful woman is alluring, but one that wants to be choked and violated, forced to endure bondage, well that is our kind of girl.
Heres the breakdown:
US- a couple.
Male (me) 47 5'10 190, in good shape.
Female (wife) 48 5'3 116 in great shape and aftermarket additions that you will notice.
What we're looking for, a woman, (this is a hard rule) no guys, no penises, I have mine thats enough, I dont get why women like them, they look dumb, women are streamlined and have such fun parts. so no men, we have no need for more man parts.
Age- 25 and up or very mature for your age.
We like soft, thin, feminine, in shape, we dont like BBW, as for race any is fine, we would like to play with an Asian woman as we never have though that is just a plus, we're open to any race.
Clean shaven, a little hair is okay, but a seventies bush or armpit hair, leg hair, hard pass.
Kinks- Lets remember we're not trying to insult anyone here and consider this the fair warning that we like some really hard stuff, so if you dont or dont think people should be allowed to consent to what they want to do, then you're just not going to like what we have to say.
Still here?
Good girl. (Gentle biting on the neck as I whisper it)
The basic's, slapping, flogging, whipping, restraints, choking, hair pulling, degrading (verbally, whore slut basic stuff). Now if any of these are are hard 'no' we may be able to work around them but, if 2 or more are on your list, well you might want to swipe whatever way is away, because its going to get worse.
Roleplay- you're a visitor, who gets abused, not to far from the truth, but the best stories always intertwine the reality and fiction.
The harder stuff- this stuff that you can object to, and we get it, its all the harder stuff that we kinda grew into and get that not everyone is going to be all for it, you can pick and choose.
Fisting and or large objects and stretching, DP we really like to DP a woman, you pinned between us, so sexy, so full, eyes rolled back my hand at your throat, giving all you can give but we're wanting more, my wifes nails gently biting your skin. Yeah, we like DP.
Shockers, Estim, prod the jolt of pain, if you do it wrong it can be dangerous, so we have studied and are careful to make sure everyone gets out without any long-term effects. A shocker to the ass, breast, leg or clit, while you're being fucked, in between being stimulated the contrast of pain and pleasure, we love to see that in a sub.
Degrading (part 2, the first was level 1, this is the upgrade) We like the mental aspect of BDSM, its that connection when you have it with a sub, its so sexy. If she wants to be broken mentally, we want the tools to do it. We need some input here, tell us what are the words the things that you secretly hate the feellings that you have that you want to expose but need to be deep in session, walls down, to really admit what you feel about yourself. Its primal and goes far beyond the spat 'slut, whore' If you know, then you do, if not it may not be your thing. Its ours though, let us in, so we can break you more effectively.
Paddles, with the intent to bruise, we like to see our handywork, the paddle gets the job done. We're artists in a way, and you're a canvas.
Overstimulation- the toying till you're cum drunk, you're hurting but were going to keep fucking you hitting you choking, using you like our whore, on this night you are ours and we want you to give yourself to us completely. You have our undivided attention.
Squirting- if you can we are going to be super interested and want to bring you home for a nice night that will end very harshly, we'll keep you hydrated.
The REALLY Hard- Most people won't be for the following, if you are and you have the other third of this mysterious amulet which we have had since we were babies, we need to meet you.
Sounding, the placing of smooth metal rods in your peehole for stimulation, usually it results in you peeing and losing control, which is sexy.
Watersports, you being degraded by my wife peeing on you, or you peeing on yourself.
Waterboarding- you strapped to a board and being tortured against all Nato sanctions, it is rough and extreme and youll lose focus when your clit is being stimulated and you're dry drowning. Not for everyone but sexy if you're the woman we're looking for.
Knife play- we dont do cutting, but using the knife as a prop forcing you at knifepoint to surrender and subject yourself to everything we demand.
Needles- This would be a first, but the acupunture needles look interesting, this would be something wed have to really discuss and plan for, so not 1st session kind of stuff.
The off limits- things we wont do. Nothing Illegal, no kids (both gross and illegal), no breeding you, we dont want any subsiquent kids, not with you, not with anyone nothing ruins kinky fun like crying babies.
No- hard drugs, we dont use anything that alters our thoughts during BDSM, bad mix. So we expect you to be clean too.
No- longterm damage, lets have fun and kink not hospital bills.
No- dudes (I thought it was worth repeating)
No- feet stuff, we dont like feet.
No- furries, not my kind of fun, I'm not dressing in one of those outfits.
Most other things are on the table- do you have a fantasy? Tell us about it we are likely down to try it. Is it twisted and kinky? then we really need to hear about it.
Location- US, we'll take care of travel, if we get along and have a connection, come spend a weekend see clevelands sports teams (we dont do sports so whatever, I hear were not missing much) and get abused (more than by just having to watch Clevelands teams take a whipping).
Experience, we have been doing this for a while but you dont need to be experienced, some of our best experiences were with beginner subs, we all have to be on the same page and have a clear understanding of where this is going, and where it stops.
Lastly- consent, there has to be consent and anything were going to do must be discussed and safewords will be in place. Dont tell me you dont need safewords, youre either unhinged or lying, this should be like a haunted house scary but you know you can leave at anytime. (I mean halloween haunted houses not creepy old houses with ghosts, those are scary)
If you got this far, lets talk, if youre deeply offended by us, please lets not talk, lets just part non-enemies.

I want to throw my friend a succession themed birthday party because she is obsessed lol, but I don't know much about the show. We are already going to play monopoly but if anyone has ideas about decorations, outfit themes, food etc. it would be a great help!

warning this does involve minors. i am a 17m and went to a party with someone i was chatting with 16f. we have known each other for years now and had interest in each other off and on in the past year. we had been on a couple dates and decided this would be a great way to solidify our relationship and become officially bf and gf. this party as i was told by her was going to be hosted by one of her old friends for her birthday. It was going to have security( the uncle and aunt) just to be safe. Which seemed awesome.
before before the party i went to her place and had dinner with her family. which since i knew them all for a while so it wasn’t like the traditional meet the parents kinda thing; plus her dad would be driving us. we hungout and just chatted about life and school work until it was time to go.
during we arrived fine and i found out that this was apparently a ragger and obviously not going to be the tame party that i expected no security or at least someone to manage it. not to disappoint her i decided to stay and stick it out after all it was only three hours. i was so so wrong. i don’t drink (prior trauma) so i was going to be a responsible for her tonight and she knew that. she decided to bring three beer as she is a light drinker and we were only staying a couple hours. at the start of the party everything was fine everyone was dancing, drinking and playing pool in the basement. meanwhile she found a couple of her friends and decided to introduce me as her “boyfriend” which immediately shook me but i just followed as i rly liked her and didn’t want to embarrass her. at this point it had been one and a half hours and she had all three beer, (which is all i thought she had). Until later that night she was so drunk she told me she had taken four or five shots of vodka and took pot gummy’s all while my back was turned. at this time the hard drugs starting appearing. at this point had half an hour to kill so i decided to hangout away from the main crowd and let her drink some water. at this point of the party i was past the whole shes got a really nice outfit on and kinda getting scared by who was around us. at this point were standing together and she kissed me. I was repulsed. I said stop as i want our first kiss as us together to be special not her stoned and drunk. she doesn’t listen and continues which forced me to push her away from my face. In response she grabs my penis and scrotum. my continual response being stop pLease.
after. after this part in the party the whole thing when to sh,t. someone ended up being stabbed in-front of me and her. we escaped. after this whole experience i told her all i needed was time but did not respect that so i broke things off. i think she was so drunk she does not know what she did and why i really broke up with her.
any clarity or advice would mean the world

Today has been a really good day. I mean, I felt great mentally, after I smoked weed in the morning. And I still feel positive.
Physically I feel kinda gross still. I woke up very congested, as usual, and then shortly after I took my meds I got super nauseous and threw up. I'm not sure if it was because I was so congested or if my meds did something weird. But they're the same meds as usual?
I had an appointment with the allergist, who did an exam and said that it looked like I was getting better. Which, after I blew my nose it stayed pretty clear? So that was cool. And face pain wasn’t so bad as it has been. He told me that if I wasn’t feeling better after a few days, give them a call and he’d give me antibiotics. But there’s no need right now since I’m getting better. I’m happy to skip the extra meds. He did tell me that if I needed to I could take 2 of my daily allergy pills for 2 days in a row (instead of 1), and then after that, Benadryl. Next week I’m back to getting my allergy shots. If I had Thursday off I could go back and get the shots but my insurance won’t let me do both shots and an appointment on the same day and I should be working for the rest of the week. I renewed my allergy shots contract, paid for all that. I had to meet my deductible, which was another $90ish, but now after this I don’t pay copay for shots.
When I got home I smoked a bowl, and then was feeling really positive. I put together an outfit, because I had the energy for that. Even wore a necklace and earrings. No makeup though. Don’t want anyone getting any expectations. I mostly dress like a tired mom every day. Men’s T-shirts (I’m more comfortable in that cut) and stretchy pants.
Work has been alright, there’s been lots of stuff to do. They hired a teen services librarian, who interviewed me a few months ago about the facilities. She seems alright. She was always a friendly patron. I train her on some stuff on Thursday. The cataloger is out getting married and whatnot, so I’m teaching her about cataloging. Why they can’t wait until the cataloger comes back, IDK. They should have my supervisor train her, just because it’s hilarious. My supervisor is awful about giving instructions. She points and says “there, there, and there, and then you type xyz, and click there, and click there, fill in the info, and you’re done. Got it? Remember to put the stickers.” The stickers? “Yeah look at the other books and see how it’s done.” Right. “And there’s your whole lesson now do this whole cart.” It’s funny making flyers for her, too, because she’s so vague on what she wants. She wants a flyer for ___________ event. But she doesn’t give you any info on the event. What do you want to put on the flyer? “Oh I don’t know just something about ______ event.” What do you want me to put about that event? “Oh just information.” What information? “I don’t know, I think it’s on google somewhere. Something about t-shirts and I don’t know, you know. Say something nice.” Right. Other people actually give me the content they want me to put on the flyers. Links to websites, pictures…ideas on what they want it to look like…
D made some fantastic mashed potatoes today, to go with broccoli and (air)fried chicken drumsticks. I was not a fan of the chicken, but when am I ever? Just, the mashed potatoes, so good. And there are those “Drumstick” ice creams still in the freezer (edit - ice cream at work not home) so I totally just took a break to eat one.
I’ve been listening to LeVar Burton Reads on Spotify. I’ve got the podcast saved on other podcast apps, but I do like Spotify. I listened to a story earlier about time travelers. Now I’m going to try to finish an episode of Haystacks & Hell, an XSDA podcast. This episode is all about the main guy’s deconstruction and deconversion, which like, I guess is important. I just don’t really remember why I drifted away from the church in the first place. I’ve never tried to explain myself. Maybe it was because I prayed so much and I tried so hard and their god didn’t care? Maybe because my mom was so sick and in so much pain for so long and their god didn’t care? If he is was real, they say he’s all powerful, he could have done something. But he didn’t, and he doesn’t. If he’s real, he’s a dick and I want nothing to do with him.
Alright, enough ranting about my hatred for god and christianity. I've gotta get back to work. It's my late day. I'm drinking my coffee and eating, so when I get home to do bedtime I'm (hopefully) not too grumpy.
How are you? How's your day?
Edit: Just realized I forgot to say "hello" at the beginning of this post. I just launched right in and started talking. Hello my friends!

I’ve always really liked her, but I’m on the finale right now and I must say - in every episode she seems to provide a really great and self-sustained opinion with extremely fair critique on the outfits made. Also, I think the dynamic between her and Tan has made this season feel really personable and very involved. Not only do I find her to be a really good fit for this kind of role, but I think there is a LOT to be said from the perspective of a professional model in how garments fit & present on a runway. Overall I’ve really enjoyed this second season!

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Does anyone have any creative ideas for how to teach a class about a great gatsby chapter? My class is doing this is groups and I need to come up with a creative activity other than slides

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