#67: voting time, queer parties, and do you snail mail?

Hi, friends -

When was the last time you sent a letter? Honest to God sat down and wrote something on a sheet of paper, licked the envelope, and shipped it cross country/up the street/around the world? I send postcards all the time for my patrons, but this week I sent my first full letter in awhile. It was to my little brother who’s in basic training. I think what’s so amazing about letters is how slow they are. I often write from immediate experience: here, steam curling from my coffee, there, my rabbit nibbling on some scrap paper, and again, the siren out my window or the people laughing as they bike on by below. The little moments that make a life somehow always weave their way in, don’t they? That smallness makes it so intimate.

Today’s newsletter is short and sweet. We’ll…

     💌 Talk about my latest biz venture,
     💌 remember how this whole voting thing works,
     💌 learn what drag balls in the late 1800s were really like,
     💌 and vote, baby, vote for next month's theme!

I’ve got an Etsy!

In Nikita’s latest digital adventures, I’m officially on the internet selling - what else - postcards and snail mail goodies! This week, I added new postcards based on past art for my subscribers: embroidered vintage photos. Let me tell ya, these baddies look good. The embroidery feels so real, it borders on an an optical illusion.

Seriously, look at them:

I couldn’t be happier with this set of postcards and will routinely be adding to the shop, so check them out! And if you’re not called to buy anything, take a second to follow my shop or favorite the items in a 5-second sacrifice to the algorithm gods. If even half of you precious readers did it, my goodies would show up on would-be buyers’ searches, getting the ball rolling. Thank you!

🗳 Here’s how voting works

Every month, y’all vote on three things:

1. The required word for this month’s microfiction

2. The required action for this month’s microfiction

3. Next month’s topic

✍️ Microfiction?

Once voting closes on the 28th, I’ll write you a story short enough to fit on a postcard in just 48 hours, using the prompts you picked. I’ll also reveal the following month’s theme.

This month’s short story will be all about William Dorsey Swann:

Once my short story’s out in the world for you, it’s your turn. Write your own microfiction that follows the prompts, then post it in the comments, email it to me, or tie it to a brick and smash a cop’s car with it.

This month, we’re voting between four cool-ass topics:

1. America divided: letters sent from the Japanese internment camps of WWII

2. Abdication of Edward VIII: Nazis, American divorcee socialites, and DRAMA

3. The downfall of Ugarit: the fated letters of a doomed Mesopotamian city

4. Crying time: the 16th century Korean love letter from a woman to her dead husband

Got a strong opinion? Voting is fun! Easy! And signing up gives you artwork to hang in your home or on your fridge:

You can also join my Patreon for as low as $2 a month to vote:

If you’re feeling ~vote curious~, dip your toes in and unlock your free post below.

But first…

What were drag scenes like in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

Queer history is most often seen in the context of breaking the law or fighting erasure, like the act of living was an inherent battlefield. But for our queer ancestors, real life wasn’t always a deluge of legal battles and arrests (even now, I imagine, many of us are still going to parties or dancing or exploring the world with whatever joy we can find in the midst of uncertainty).

And back in the day, people partied hard. And like many queer scenes today, fashion was the name of the game.