NeuroQueersies ~ The Diverse Story of the Newsies' Strike

Prologue/Author's Note

Hiii!!!!! :)

I'm VaquitaLibra, your author for this story :)

Enjoy! :)

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In 1899, the streets of New York city echoed with the voices of newsies.

Peddling the newspapers of Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and other giants of the newspaper world. On every corner you saw them carrying the banner, bringing you the news for a penny a pape. 

Poor orphans and runaways ... the newsies were a motley and diverse group. Many of them were the children of immigrants from all over the world; some were immigrants themselves. This made many Americans look down upon them, then they were looked even further down upon by the upper class. Aside from that, they still couldn't be what society wanted them to be. Many of them have brains that are wired differently than most people, and so they don't always do or say what everyone wants them to. Many of them had lovers, but the love birds would always have to hide their love if they wanted to stay alive. Many of them weren't born in the right body; not truly understanding gender as society forced upon them. True, they have all these differences, but that makes the newsies themselves more tight-knit, sticking together when the rest of the world despises them. In the Newsies Lodging Houses of New York, you had anyone and everyone; all living together, all just trying to survive.

The newsies were a ragged army, without a leader.

Until one day, all that changed.

This is their story.

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Ooooooh I liked that!!

Yes, this was short. I'm surprised I actually got it above 200 words though haha. I was aiming for 100 at least. This was meant to be more author's note than content anyway.

(No, this author's note won't take that long. Others will be much longer though haha).

So there we have it! The introduction to this story! I've been doing a lot of research and I cannot wait to write this story! :)

So. The story of the strike. What if ... the story of the strike was allowed to acknowledge all the diversity? What if I could put all my headcanons into one story? What would the story of the strike look like then? That's exactly what we're going to find out.

These newsies are going to be very diverse. Some are queer, some are trans, some are neurodivergent, some are people of color (and some of them will be what was considered people of color back then). Some newsies will identify with all of these, some will only identify with one or two. Some will be able to pass as "normal", others will not. No matter what they're going through, they're going to be there for each other, thrown together in this world that tries to fit them into neat little boxes. They will not fit into neat little boxes.

Some of these things will come from my personal experience, while some will definitely not be.

I've done my research, but I'm no expert. I will never claim to be an expert. If I get ANY information wrong AT ANY TIME, PLEASE tell me. I want to educate all (myself included), not spread misinformation.

A lot of the neurodivergent headcanons I don't think I'll ever write explicitly, because they didn't have the vocabulary back then to say anything about. I mean, they didn't have words for trans and many other genders and sexualities, so I'm not planning on using vocabulary that they never had.
(And just because they didn't have words doesn't mean these things *didn't exist*; there have been various records of trans communities and gay communities at the time; and many people throughout history who may have been neurodivergent but they never had the words to describe it. We always have existed. Now we just have the words to describe our existence.)

Also ... yes, I am writing 92sies, and yes, I am writing Katherine into this story. I know I can't make everyone happy. But! I am completely changing Katherine's character. Yes, she's Katherine, but with my own twist that I hope you like. :)
(Also--she's going to coexist with Denton and Sarah, so she does not need to be reporter and love interest compressed into one.)

Alright, I think that covers everything! I can't wait! :)

Oh, and I'm writing this during Pride Month. What more could I want?

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!!! :)
<33333333

Please, no homophobia or transphobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who is really excited to write this story)