Wednesday 14 October 2020

Month in Review(s) - September 2020

(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19, Transphobia and JKR, and mental health)


September was weird. I think that goes for much of 2020, but September felt especially 2020-ish.

In August, Wales was down to a very small number of Coronavirus cases. We had it in control. 

By the end of September, over half of our population was in Lockdown, and remain in Lockdown. That includes yours truly.


'September - Medi' with leafy background and large pink and purple leaf shapes


So what we can do, where, and when, has changed rapidly over a very short period of time.

Add in a UK government that refuses to speak with the Senedd, and in fact is trying to remove powers from our government, while additionally breaking international law elsewhere, and I've had enough of living in 'interesting times!'




J K Rowling also doubled-down yet again on her Transphobic views and actions.

FYI, I'm in the process of unfollowing people who follow her on Twitter (since that's the primary ground she uses to fertilise her bigotry,) so if you still follow her I will, eventually, unfollow you.

That's entirely your choice, but I don't want anyone to claim I didn't give warning!

I do have a Harry-Potter-related Friday Fics Fix post from September which I decided to go ahead with because the fic I'm rec'ing is written by a Trans author, featuring a Trans Remus Lupin, and a bunch of other explicit representation. 

I get it if you a) don't agree with that decision, or b) don't want to have anything to do with Harry Potter again.




On a related note:

The UK children's gender charity, Mermaids, faces constant abuse from the UK press and social media Transphobes, in part due to things JKR has said - they do excellent work, and deserve so much support.

Check out their website here.




Perhaps unsurprisingly, my mental health was up-and-down in September. 

...yeah, so that's made working and doing productive things extra difficult. Yay.




On the plus side it was my birthday this month!

If you want to give me a birthday coffee, I'll link my ko-fi account here. Thanks to the person who bought me one this month!

Thank you all for your lovely birthday messages! You're honestly all so very, very, sweet. 

And a special thank you to those who wished me a Penblwydd Hapus

 - Cymraeg reminds me of my Grampa, whose birthday was only a few days after mine, and it still feels weird to have a birthday without him. It was with him I used Welsh the most, so it really does mean a lot.




...and I took up weaving. 

Like, on a loom. With a shuttle. And a comb.

Because clearly I wasn't enough of a Welsh stereotype to begin with. 😅

(...For the record, The Bestie has a spinning-wheel. #JustSaying)

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Most Popular Posts


#1.  Nerd Church - I'm Not (Totally) Lovin' It: Why I'm Not Entirely Happy (Meal) That They're Ditching the Plastic Toys

#2. Friday Fics Fix - Klaus and Ben's Guide To The Parenting of Dead Children

#3. Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Dealing With Self-Doubt

#4. Nerd Church - I Scaled Back on Blogging in August. Have I Learned Anything?

#5. #Prideathon TBR

#6. Comics Wrap-Up - They Took A Photograph of the Place You Hid

#7. Month in Review(s) - June 2020

#8. Friday Fics Fix - A Poisoned Brain

#9. Comics Wrap-Up - The Clock Is Moving Hands To Midnight

#10. Nerd Church - Caffeinated Current Events: Explaining the Headlines

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Mildly Amusing Searches

(A semi-regular feature inspired by Cait @ Paper Fury & others)


bill queer

...I'm sure he is!

I'ma assume this led you to my review of Queer As A Five-Dollar Bill by Lee Wind - I just hope it's what you were looking for!

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Non-Review Posts


Comics Wrap-Up


'Comics Wrap-Up' with lined-notebook-style background and heart symbols inside speech bubbles


Traded My Honda For A Panther, I Just Got A Crib in Wakanda - Remembering Chadwick Boseman, The Batman, Wonder Woman 1984, and more


Make the Sounds We Try To Hide When People Are Around - The Umbrella Academy and more


I Sell the Fact That I Can't Be Bought - Lots of Batman & Batwoman!


I'm Your Type of Metal - WandaVision & more



Friday Fics Fix


'Fics Fix!' with purple background and white lightning bolt shape


Klaus and Ben's Guide To The Parenting Of Dead Children - Umbrella Academy and a smol Non-Binary ghost child!


Padfoot and Moony's Guide to Raising Harry Potter (Ft. Diverse Representation!) - OK, I'd written this before the latest round of Transphobia from a certain author, but I decided to go ahead and leave it up because it's a rec. for an excellent piece of fanfiction from a Trans writer, who also includes a Trans character, amongst other diverse representation, in the fic. I totally get it if you're still not interested.

And, remember: 

Trans women are women. 

Trans men are men. 

Non-binary people are people who exist outside the M/F binary, and can use whatever labels and pronouns they feel most comfortable with.


Tony and Bucky in a Horror Trope? Why Not, I Guess! - Iron Man and the Winter Soldier in a horror plot. Again, why not?


Fluffy Legends - Sarcastic yet fluffy happenings from John Constantine and Zari Tomaz from DC's Legends of Tomorrow



Nerd Church


I Scaled Back on Blogging in August. Have I Learned Anything? - Some lessons have to be repeated


I'm Not (Totally) Lovin' It: Why I'm Not Entirely Happy (Meal) That They're Ditching the Plastic Toys - The unintended social consequences of capitalism and environmental activism (only less pretentious than that description makes it sound!)


On LGBTQ+ Own Voices - There's been a lot of Internet chatter over who is and is not 'allowed' to write Queer content; here are my views


Covid 19: Locked Down Again - and angry at the lack of morals in the human race



Other Non-Review Posts

Month in Review(s) - August 2020



Review Posts


Young Adult 

(...maybe. See review.)


'Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun' with spooky dark forest background


Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo Del Toro and Cornelia Funke





So... that's September! How's everyone doing?

Talk to me! 😃💬







You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page




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6 comments:

  1. I hope you enjoy weaving, Cee! That seems like such a cool hobby! Also I too have been unfollowing people who still follow Rowling. I don’t know if some people are unaware they still follow her or if they just don’t care. I did find that one of the people I follow who still followed her was a seriously Trump supporter, so they got unfollowed pretty quick!

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    1. I'm going slow with the unfollowing to a) give people time to come to their senses, and, more importantly, b) avoid Twitter thinking I'm a bot! Because it has happened before! <3

      And thank you so much! I have weird levels of obsession with weaving! Lol.

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  2. I hope you had a great day! And I'm sorry to hear about your mental health this month- all this craziness doesn't help, I think. I hope October is a good month for you, and be well!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! Meh, 2020 being 2020 - it happens. <3 <3 <3

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  3. I hope you had a good birthday <3 And yay for trying out something new with weaving! The Netherlands was doing fairly well and now we are in partial lockdown as well. This whole pandemic situation is really messing with everyone's mental health - understandably. But the uncertainty is intense. Hope you're managing to stay safe and well x

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Liv! :) And I did have a good birthday, thank you! Same to you - stay safe and well! <3

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Comments? I love comments! Talk to me nerdlets!