June has arrived, and hopefully for most of you the sun has come with it. If not, there's always this month's QOTM to keep your brain warm:

Do you experience shifts? 

What are they like for you? How would you personally define or explain shifts? If you have multiple identities that cause shifting, are some shifts different from others?

You can answer on tumblr, twitter, or the new facebook page; or you can link us to something on your own site via any of our social medias or the #qotm channel on the Discord server.

Send your submissions to althstaff@gmail.com with an optional alias to have them published on the site. You can submit anonymously through the tumblr as well!

Submit what you like! It doesn't have to be a whole essay. It can be a paragraph, a sentence, a short poem. Hell, it doesn't even have to be writing! Art is welcome too. Interprative dance? Music? Sure! Whatever you have to contribute is valuable and appreciated.

Of course, there's also the QOTM Roundtable to look forward to. This month, it's on Friday 8th at 5pm EST. See that in your local time here and then join the server so you can participate!

And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you've got to show us this month!

If you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

Guess what? It's gonna be May! Time for this month's question:

How do you react to your identity 'in the wild'?
For example, if you're therian, what's it like seeing your species and similar?
If you're fictionkin, how do you react to fandom and fiction in general?

You can answer on tumblr or twitter; or you can link us to something on your own site via any of our social medias or the #qotm channel on the Discord server.

We're also giving you a new way to submit anonymously starting this month, as per some requests! Send your submissions to althstaff@gmail.com with an optional alias to have them published on the site. You can submit anonymously through the tumblr as well!

Submit what you like! It doesn't have to be a whole essay. It can be a paragraph, a sentence, a short poem. Hell, it doesn't even have to be writing! Art is welcome too. Interprative dance? Music? Sure! Whatever you have to contribute is valuable and appreciated.

Of course, there's also the QOTM Roundtable to look forward to. This month, it's on Friday 5th at 5pm EST. See that in your local time here and then join the server so you can participate!

And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you've got to show us this month!

If you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

Now that April Fools is safely over, it's time to get down to the Very Serious Business of answering the monthly question. Here's what you chose this month:

How do you outwardly express your alterhumanity?
If you're an artist, does it come through in your art?

You can answer on tumblr or twitter; or you can link us to your writing on your own site via any of our social medias or the #qotm channel on the Discord server. Speaking of the Discord, we'll be having our round-table discussion of this month's QOTM on April 7th, 5pm Eastern Time (see it in your local time here).

Your answer can be in any format as always, but because of the nature of this month's question it'd be extra nice to see art submissions. Drawing, writing, music - you name it, we want to see it!

And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you've got to show us this month!

And if you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

Vinny Ohh Is The Genderless Alien We All Wish We Could Be

Source: Vinny Ohh, Instagram

Makeup artist Vinny Ohh has been getting a lot of media attention after a series of interviews where they detailed their extensive plans for surgery to become sexless. "The overall image I want to do is an alien ... I do kind of look like a Martian. I have a really big head, no eyebrows and I've just been connecting with that," they told the Daily Mail. Reactions have been mixed, but we here at Alt+H are in love.

Vinny has already undergone surgery to shape their face into something much more extraterrestrial. They also frequently wear sclera contacts, fake talons and vibrant makeup to further accentuate their alien look. It's a sign of hope for many alterhumans who feel that their outsides don't match their insides - there are things you can do to look less human, and there are people who will help and support you in doing it.

The revolution won't be coming any time soon. The subject of species dysphoria is still a controversial one within the alterhuman community, to say nothing of its reputation outside of it. But people like Vinny Ohh are making it their mission to normalize all kinds of expression of self.

"I do it to inspire the world in a certain way," they said, "I want people to stop labelling others or putting them in boxes."

Marcela Anglesias, producer of Plastics of Hollywood added, "We have all these people, the freaks, the weirdos, and we want to make society understand them."

While it's certainly not a small step for Vinny, it could also end up being a giant leap for alterhuman kind.

---

You can learn more about Vinny Ohh in this Elite Daily report, this ITV interview, or their Instagram.

The Kids Are Alright: Solving The Terminology Problem With Responsible Communication

The neo generation of otherkin-identifying people - the so called "tumblrkin" - often call out the older folks for gatekeeping. 

They feel like older 'kin are imposing arbitrary standards on who gets to call themselves otherkin based on who appears respectable - elitism, essentially. Are they right to say that? Probably not, but honestly? I can see where they get the idea from.

It's the language, mostly. "You're not" is worse than "you are". "You are" is worse than "are you?". And which phrasing do you use? If it's one of the first two, then I'd suggest you might want to work on your communication skills. Hear me out.

Source: Puzzler4879 on Flickr

Spring has sprung, and so has another monthly question! This March, the community wants to know:

How does your alterhumanity interact with other parts of your identity?

How does it intersect with (for example) your gender, your spirituality, your nationality?

And if you're, say, both therian and fictionkin - how do those relate to each other?

(Alright, that might be paraphrasing the actual voted-on question a little, but we wanted to make sure that people who don't have multiple different types of alterhuman identity were able to answer too.)

You can answer via tumblr or twitter; you can link us to your writing on your own site; and you can join us for the round-table discussion on our Discord server on March 10th, 5pm Eastern Time (see it in your local time here).


And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you bring to the table this month!

Pssst, if you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!