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emery w.

@makeshiftemery.bsky.social

Artist • Writer • Cryptid Enthusiast 20-something jackalope girl. I make comics. https://makeshiftemery.carrd.co/

96 Posts259 Follower41 Folgt
emery w.@makeshiftemery.bsky.social · 4d ago

Now that there's the essay that debunked Cleves' claims, I'd like to emphasize the point I made previously about the Tillie Walden situation I've NEVER seen someone accuse such a prominent artist of plagiarism and NOT provide specific examples. No examples, little believability imo

thene@thene.bsky.social · 5d ago

I'm going to spoil the Final Weirdness because I don't expect anyone to read that far. I wasn't sure I should put this in the post at first, but every friend I mentioned it to put their jaw on the floor; Cleves, who is trying to torpedo a lesbian artist's career, is married to a tech VP guy.

Several commenters were annoyed by the focus on Walden's personal life, and pushed back to say that, well, wasn’t Cleves a queer person too? D&Q weren't directly arguing that Walden, a married lesbian in Vermont, had a particular identity-based right to tell this story that wasn't shared by the tenured Canadian, but they also weren't not arguing that. It wasn't until I’d read both books cover-to-cover that I got a hunch as to why D&Q tossed out all these personal identity comments. Walden's book is suffused with elements drawn from her own life in Vermont with her family. She dedicates her book to her wife, Emma. In the afterword, she calls Emma "the Charity to my Sylvia." Cleves, at the end of her book, gives a crowning acknowledgement to her husband, Timothy Cleves. She says "His excellence as a husband is a great argument for why marriage should be an equal right for all people." I'm nosy, so I found his LinkedIn. There's a 'Timothy Cleves' profile with a location in the same town where Cleves works as an academic. He is the VP of Business Development at a communications tech company. Perhaps this is why D&Q leaned into both Walden's lesbian identity and her status as a family breadwinner living on a marginal and unpredictable income. When I mentioned this to a friend, they reminded me that Cleves had tagged her original callout post with #pride.
thene@thene.bsky.social · 5d ago

out it goes: my long post about Rachel Hope Cleves's claim that Tillie Walden plagiarised her book. It's long because Cleves's claim is much, much more bizarre than it looked on first reading. I'm not going to bury the lede here. Cleves's claim does not hold up. buttondown.com/thene/archiv...

stick a pin in this metaphor …because these covers are a microcosm of the entire conflict; Walden's book is mostly built on writing and other objects left by Sylvia Drake, Charity Bryant, and others. Her work includes many elements from these records that Cleves does not refer to in her book, and many of her interpretations of those records are different from Cleves's interpretations, often intentionally so. In addition to her historical basis, Walden's book includes fictional dialogue and story elements that are original to her work, some of which are inspired by Walden's own life.
thene@thene.bsky.social · 2w ago

i am working on a very, very long blog post that could really have fit into a skeet: When someone posts that "this website/journal article/etc proves my dramatic claim!!!" and then does not link to the website, journal article, etc, it is because it does not in fact prove their dramatic claim.

Cartoonists United@cartoonist.coop · 2w ago

If you haven't read it yet, please check out this public statement by creators from Silver Sprocket. Share the word and find out how to support the artists: cartoonist.coop/sprocket-art...

Cartoonists United@cartoonist.coop · last mo.

Creators at Silver Sprocket have released a public statement regarding longstanding concerns with the business practices of the company which alleges issues around payment of royalties, poor treatment of staff, and lack of professionalism. Please read their statement: cartoonist.coop/sprocket-art...

The Silver Sprocket goat head logo.
emery w.@makeshiftemery.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I haven't read either books so I won't weigh in on the credibility of whether or not the whole Tillie Walden situation is legally speaking, plagiarism, but I will say that I've never seen someone accuse plagiarism against a prominent artist and NOT provide specific examples

emery w.@makeshiftemery.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Deeply funny to me when I get comments about how I'm "sexualizing animals" with my tame furry art when I'm pretty sure Disney has been sexualizing animals for longer and also much more efficiently than me if the Judy Hopps fanart is to be believed