Making Herstory

The Democratic Party is meeting in Philadelphia this week to nominate Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate. This will be an hiserstoric moment.

If Hillary wins, the "first lady" will be a man.

In anticipation of this possibility, LGBT activist Santiago Durazzo has been dressing and campaigning as "First Lady Bill" for months. His picture (in costume) has been featured in the Washington Post and other news outlets.

Comparing the current caricature pics to the website photos, it appears Durazzo may have trimmed some of his leg hair for the DNC.  Good to know he dresses for special occasions.

#DemConvention day 2 & we ran into #FirstLadyBill, who wants gender equality in the White House. (Us too, Bill 😘.) pic.twitter.com/ojSpQS0bud

— CafeMom (@cafemom) July 26, 2016

Baseball season

We've all seen videos of Japanese game shows featuring cross-dressing. And Jaye Kaye has often features Japanese cosplayers on her highly recommended tumblr "a gender game for gifted guys."

Have you ever seen anything quite like this story about Japanese baseball players who dressed as gurls to "amuse fans!" This video is embedded in the story.

Princesses

Decided to reflect on my growth as a cosplayer today and dug deep into my computer (photobooth to be specific) and found quite a few gems, and holy crap I sure have come a long way. Never stop learning, my friends! I've come so far as a cosplayer and I can't wait to see how my skills change farther up the road ✨💙✨ it sounds cliche but I encourage you to NEVER give up, because no matter what your skill sets are you can constantly improve upon them and grow. We all start somewhere! 😊 Now I challenge all my Cosplay, artists, and MUA friends to post something similar! "Change is inevitable, growth is optional" so go on and be proud of how far you have come!

A photo posted by TheOfficialAriel (@theofficialariel) on Jun 4, 2016 at 12:33pm PDT

For years, Richard Schaefer's tumblr Ariel's Grotto has been in the right-hand bloglist. You can see his cosplay evolution in the above images.

This past month, Ariel has been the subject of much publicity -- pieces in Cosmo online, The Daily Mail, The Huffington Post, The National Enquirer, etc. That's the kind of attention that helps yield 158,000 followers on Instagram!

I wonder if Richard would cosplay Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire, or  Jessica Rabbit? Here's a Taylor Swift look:

Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane 😏💋 Congrats, Queen @taylorswift #dontsueme

A photo posted by TheOfficialAriel (@theofficialariel) on Feb 16, 2016 at 2:22pm PST

Mostly, as the stories report, Richard goes in for Disney princesses. Here are some faves:

It's hard to explain. Lizards and pumpkins and things! ✨✨✨

A photo posted by TheOfficialAriel (@theofficialariel) on Jun 23, 2016 at 10:13am PDT

I must say, I really felt quite distressed at not receiving an invitation 💚😈💚

A photo posted by TheOfficialAriel (@theofficialariel) on Jun 7, 2016 at 2:56pm PDT

Madame Gaston, can't you just see it? ✨💛✨

A photo posted by TheOfficialAriel (@theofficialariel) on May 17, 2016 at 6:10pm PDT