I’ve made it to the finish line! Above is the link to the video on YouTube.

I realized a few months ago that I am a lesbian. This was a huge realization, especially because I’ve had back-to-back boyfriends since middle school. I realized I was a victim of compulsory heteronormativity. I was taught to be straight, surrounded by straight culture and media. I didn’t know much about lesbians growing up. My understanding was that gay just meant two men together, and everyone else was straight. So the past few months I’ve just been unpacking all the ways I had been suppressing my lesbianism my whole life. There’s been a lot of hard realizations in that process, but one of the great surprises is now I understand what a relationship should feel like. Oh, how I wish I was brave enough to say so sooner.

I cannot blame myself. Representation is so crucial, you want to look in the media and see there are others like you out there. Without that, we hide the parts of ourselves we think are unusual. I would love for there to be more casual queer representation in children’s media. That’s what inspired this project, I wouldn’t say it’s targeted to children but I did intentionally keep it PG. Maybe some kid will come across it online and think, “Hey, two girls?” and that’s all. Just plant the thought in their head.

For me, this whole project was a way to cope with the fear I’ve felt while coming to terms with my identity. The looks people give in public freak me out, I’m nervous about what extended family will say, I’m scared the people around me will see me differently, etc., I’ve thought through it all. I’ve recently come out to my family, and I don’t want to come out directly to anyone else. I also don’t think I owe anyone any explanation. So sharing this project publicly is just putting the information out there, even if the message isn’t received by every viewer. More than anything, I’m proud. I worked really hard on this and I think it came out well. I learned a lot along the way.

The process was long and difficult. I started by making the puppets, then the sets, then animating, and finally doing sound editing.

Here are some process photos: