The Philippines is a conservative Catholic-majority nation, and many queer folk there feel excluded by the traditional church. They're turning to Roblox Filipino Catholics (RFC) as a more inclusive place where they can practice their faith. @restofworld's Patrick Kho spoke to queer Catholics about how they're finding community, preserving heritage, and even changing minds in this new space.
"'It’s a girl,' the nurse said, softly. My mother smiled big, then nodded in silence. That was the first sentence of a book that describes my undoing. That was the first story someone else told for me."
Hair jewelry — lockets, rings and other such items adorned with the locks of a loved one — is said to have come into fashion as an expression of mourning in the Victorian age. It was Queen Victoria herself who popularized the jewelry after her husband Albert died in 1861. @Allure's Kara McGrath writes about the history of this, how the craft of hairwork is being revived around the world, and why people continue to be repulsed by it.
"Fifteen miles into a 30-mile hike in Glacier National Park, when the blue sky turned black and lightning struck the mountains and made the very soil feel electric, it sure as shit didn’t matter what I looked like."
The term "fan" to mean avid supporter only came into popular use in the 19th century. Before that, words like "kranks," "habitués" and "lions" were used. There were even equivalents of today's fandoms that focus on a specific performer (like Swifties and Cumberbitches) in the form of Lisztians, who loved the composer Franz Liszt. Atlas Obscura spoke with Daniel Cavicchi, an American Studies scholar, about the history of fans and the words we've used to describe them. “How you name yourself says a lot about what you think of yourself and your very intense passions,” Cavicchi says. “But at the same time, another name or variation on the name, or another use of your name, maybe in a derogatory sense, may say something about what the culture thinks about you.”