Rian Flynn
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rianflynn.com
Rian Flynn
@rianflynn.com
170 followers 320 following 11 posts
Physics + AI research @ Purdue, ex-software engineer. they/them
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rianflynn.com
My drag name is Rian Gender ("re-engender").

(Went to a Christmas drag-themed brunch. Not pictured: the tiny manbun at the back of my head.)
Rian dressed in a drag king look: their hair is tied back, their eyebrows are emphasized, their cheeks are contoured, they're sporting a fake mustache, they're wearing one dangly earring on their right ear, and they're wearing a dark red button-up shirt with the top two buttons left undone.
December 26, 2024 at 4:27 AM
rianflynn.com
Transcript of her original speech in Mandarin - love the 語氣！
有些人會問我，為什麼要書寫一百年前的事情？我總是回答：書寫過去，是為了走向未來。一百年前，就有臺灣人說「臺灣是臺灣人的臺灣」。一百年後，今天的臺灣人也說這句話，但是對話的對象並不相同，一百年前我們對日本人這麼說；一百年後的今天，我們對中國人這麼說。 這一百年來，不變的是我們一直面對著身邊有強大而具備侵略性的國家。與此同時，臺灣人自己內部的國家認同、族群認同，也很不相同。現在有些人會認為自己是中國人，就好像是一百年前，有些臺灣人會覺得自己是日本人。 我書寫，是為了回答，臺灣人究竟是什麼人。而我持續地書寫過去，是為了迎向更好的未來。
November 24, 2024 at 4:13 PM
rianflynn.com
So moved by 楊双子 Yang Shuang-zi's acceptance speech for her book《臺灣漫遊錄》/ Taiwan Travelogue winning the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
Some people ask me, “Why write about events from a hundred years ago?” I always answer, “Writing about the past is a way to move toward the future.” A hundred years ago, Taiwanese people already said, “Taiwan is the Taiwan of the Taiwanese.” A hundred years later, today’s Taiwanese people still say the same thing, but the people to whom we’re speaking has changed. A hundred years ago, we said it to the Japanese; today, we say it to the Chinese. For the past century, one constant has been our proximity to a powerful and aggressive neighbor. At the same time, the internal identities of Taiwanese people—national identity and ethnic identity—have also varied greatly. Nowadays, some consider themselves Chinese, much like a hundred years ago when some Taiwanese considered themselves Japanese. I write to answer the question: Who are the Taiwanese? And I continue to write about the past to strive for a better future.
November 24, 2024 at 4:09 PM