Popehat: Fear Cuts Deeper Than Swords: Bergen Community College Freaks Out Over "Game of Thrones" T-Shirt.

Francis Schmidt is a popular professor of design and animation at Bergen. Schmidt posted to Google+ a cute picture of his young daughter wearing a Game of Thrones t-shirt in a yoga pose next to a cat. The t-shirt was this one, bearing the phrase "I will take what is mine with fire and blood," a quote from Daenerys Targaryen, a fictional character in a series of fantasy novels (which has sold tens of millions of copies) turned into a hot TV series on HBO (with close to 15 million viewers per episode.) Googling the phrase will instantly provide a context to anyone unfamiliar with the series.

So: a professor posts a cute picture of his kid in a t-shirt with a saying from a much-talked-about tv show. In the America we'd like to believe in, nothing happens. But in the America we've allowed to creep up on us, this happens:

 

More, including Bergen Community College doubling down, at the link.

Kim Keeline describes being booted out of the mall for cosplaying in Steampunk Carousel Outing Cut Short By Security Guards.

When I chose my long floral skirt and the matching puff sleeved Victorian top, and put the green feather in my hair, I didn't realize I would be seen as a threatening figure. I just chose the outfit because I thought it was pretty. With my husband, in his brand new top hat, and the rest of my family, I was looking forward to a fun and slightly whimsical day, with a short ride on a carousel and what I hoped would be some flattering photos. It didn't have to turn into a run-in with police.

A group of people in Steampunk clothes gathered to ride the carousel at the Westfield Plaza Camino Real (in either Carlsbad and Oceanside, depending on whom you talk to). This was the third such gathering to ride a carousel. In October the group had been at Westfield Parkway Plaza (now no longer a Westfield, but it was at the time) and in December they were at Seaport Village.

Before 1pm, as a few of the Steampunk fans were walking the mall to shop and eat lunch before the carousel ride, security stopped them and insisted that they leave because of their “costumes.” They also called the Oceanside Police, who sent two cars.

As I was one of the carousel riders, I want to clear up a few facts about this event.

Far more at the article at the link, which is currently among the most emailed and commented on at KPBS's site.

[Many thanks to a certain charitable mouse on wank_report, who I have plagiarized immensely.]

For people who don't know, Yuletide is a large fandom exchange for rare fandoms. Every year there's a nomination and review period to determine what fandoms are eligible, and participants can request and offer to write fics for eligible fandoms.

People are also allowed to write "optional details" in their sign-ups, letting their assigned writers know what they would like to read in each of their requested fandoms. Even though optional details are very much optional, writers generally try to give their recipients what they want, and recipients generally try to make it easy for their writer by being open to a variety of options. Sometimes people write letters to their writers expanding on those optional details, and post those letters to the main comm for everyone to read.

( Suicide references, depression and a heaping dose of entitlement. )

TL;DR: Yuletide requester gives TMI on her life while making absurd requests of her writer and veiled suicide references, then gets defensive when people politely protest.