Welcome back to Wednesday Links!
I’m home from a whirlwind trip to South Korea to attend my brother’s wedding. I had a blast and I definitely cried (out of sheer happiness) like a baby several times. He and his now wife (!!!) had a traditional Korean ceremony.
Now my partner and I have to get ready for another wedding this weekend. It’s that time of the year! Thankfully, this one is only a short drive away.
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This article was shared by a colleague at work (hello, if you’re reading this!) about what ecologists can teach us about “rewilding” the internet.
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Tara is moderating a virtual panel on queer romance on Wednesday, June 12 at 6:30pm eastern. Tara will be joined by authors Alyssa Cole, Dominic Lim, Cat Sebastian and Rebekah Weatherspoon.
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Molly Longman of Cosmopolitan took a deep dive into Amish romance!
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90s faves, the Lawrence brothers, put out this cute video about eldest, middle, and youngest siblings.
View this post on Instagram
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
There’s a GoFundMe to open a new romance bookstore, Grand Gesture Books, in Portland – it’s currently online-only but the owner wants to make it a brick-and-mortar store. The goal is to raise 100K – so far she’s gotten 11K in donations.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-grand-gesture-books-home-to-portland-oregon
Can we get a post with a map of romance bookstores in the US? I recall that there was something like that ages ago that focused on romance-friendly indie stores, but not since romance-specific stores have become a thing.
NYTimes reports today that beginning in 2025, Costco plans to stop selling books year-around.
Re Amish romance: I know it’s romance, but after watching “Women Talking” I just can’t suspend disbelief enough to buy into the fantasy.
I assume everyone who listens to the Smart Bitches podcast is also subscribed to Ann Helen Peterson’s Culture Study Podcast.
But in case you’re not (yet): she just released an ep on romance – and there’s more coming.
https://culturestudypod.substack.com/p/how-romance-novels-center-marginalized
Does it contain new insights for long-time listeners? Probably not. Is it fun? Absolutely.
While the readers may be predominately fundamentalist evangelicals, Amish and other similar Plain sects are Anabaptist, not evangelical.
Since my mother was part of a Plain Pennsylvania-German family, which left Germany and Switzerland for religious freedom in the 1700s, and left that behind before she married my father, I have a deeper insight having been around Plain cousins and extended family my entire life.
The books sell a lie. They are offensive. Read what you want, but you are not reading about Amish life. You are reading a fantasy version of appropriated content. There are so many inaccuracies, and I know we allow artistic license, but what is written is more than license. Amish and other Plain People are not just Little House on the Prairie characters set in modern times.
Authors who play dress up wearing a *Kapp* and other forms of Plain dress probably would not go around trying on a *hijab* or *sheitel* because they know that’s not appropriate. I still remember one author bragging about wearing a *Kapp*. And, a *Kapp*, aka prayer covering, is not the same as a bonnet. The bonnet goes over the *Kapp*. They are not interchangeable.
Why do we excuse people for making fun of the Amish, but we would never allow it for people of other faiths and religions?
And, in the article, one of the photos shown does not depict Amish, but is a group of other Plain women, possibly Mennonite or Brethren. The fabrics and style of *Kapp* are not Amish.
Amish do not decorate for Christmas. Those covers with Christmas trees, wreaths, et al… fantasy. There are colors they do not wear, prints not appropriate, etc… They may sell them in their stores for the *Englischers*, but they’re not using them in their homes.
Again, read what you want, just know it’s not authentic.
Love SBTB. @denise, before and more-so after reading two “Amish” novels, I felt that the characters and lives depicted were about as real as royalty from made-up countries wandering around NYC, or individuals inexplicably possessed of magical powers following a near-by lightning strike. Thank you for taking the time to write your comment.
@denise Seconding @LML, comments like yours are my favorite thing about this site. Thank you.
The Japan Foundation’s third annual Japanese Film Festival Online is on now, with free streaming films for the first two weeks and two TV dramas for the final two weeks. (The films are available in 22 countries worldwide, though individual availability varies—for instance, I saw the enjoyable food-themed comedy School Meal Graduation here in the US, but that one’s geoblocked in Canada for some reason.) There are several romances, and two anime adaptations (I *loved* the movie version of BL Metamorphosis, where a shy teen girl and elderly woman bond over their love of gay manga). More details at watch.jff.jpf.go.jp…
Manga adaptations, I mean…sheesh. Better link here:
http://watch.jff.jpf.go.jp