Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast, and the fandom for it consumed my dash about two or three weeks ago. I held out until last Tuesday in terms of starting to listen to it myself, because it seemed almost too good to be true. But, to paraphrase a post by a dear online friend -- this is what this podcast has on offer:
• An openly queer narrator/protagonist. Cecil Baldwin, the radio announcer for Night Vale Community Radio, falls in love with another man literally during the first episode of the podcast. He says it straight up -- I fell in love instantly.
• Satire on both government spying and censorship, and the NRA, spanning the whole of the political spectrum (nothing on the political spectrum is safe).
• Calling out a racist, culturally-appropriative asshole repeatedly on air.
• Gender-neutral language so subtle and natural you don't even realize Cecil's doing it.
• A slow-burn interracial queer romance between Cecil and the scientist he falls in love with, Carlos.
And that's just in the social and political spheres of this podcast's relevance.
