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A Pragmatic and surprisingly comforting perspective about the Trump 2nd Presidency from the ACLU

***Apologies if this is how you found out the 2024 election results***

Blacked out part is my name.

I’m not going to let this make me give up. It’s disheartening, and today I will wallow, probably tomorrow too

AND

I will continue to do my part in my community to spread the activism and promote change for the world I want to live in. I want to change the world AND help with the dishes.

And I won’t let an orange pit stain be what stops me from trying to be better.

A link to donate to the ACLU if able and inclined. I know I am

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Planning for the Years Ahead

So I know many of us feel lost and defeated right now. Even in Canada we are in the same boat; not only will the near-inevitable rise of a dictatorship to our immediate border have necessary reverberations, but it also emboldens our own right-wing populist movement. I'm tired and I'm scared and I'm fucking furious.

I wanted share three points from my plan of action, not because it’s the best one or covers all the bases, but because it’s helped me over the past couple of days to see what other people are doing.

I will stop using any menstrual-tracking apps or software: This is less urgent for me as a cis-woman in a long-term and monogamous relationship with another cis-woman, but it also generally true across the board that these apps just are not safe places for people with internal reproductive systems anymore.

I will contribute actively to causes in my community: I’ll admit that in the past few years, I’ve grown complacent. I’ve allowed the fact that I have young children, that my wife and I were both unemployed for a stretch, and the general busy-ness of life make me sit back and let others do the heavy-lifting. This is no longer an option. If we are going to survive this, we’re going to need all hands on deck. Our family is still in financial ruins after the last few years, but I will give both time and money when I can to support trans youth (who are under attach here in Alberta), hold police accountable for their violence against Indigenous people in my community, and advocate for our massive unhoused population in my province and across the country.

I will make time for the things that bring me and my community joy. This is again something I’ve let slip over the last few years. I’ve told myself that I simply don’t have time to, for instance, participate in fandom as a creator. No more. While direct resistance to the forces that are trying to harm and erase us is important, I will also work to remember that joy and pleasure and community are also a crucial method of surviving times such as these.

For those of you who follow me for fandom-related stuff, that means that I am committing right now to resuming a weekly posting schedule. The chapters might not always be long. They may not always be polished. If I haven’t had a ton of time to write maybe they’ll be one-shots rather than continuations of long fic. Maybe they’ll be responses to prompts (so by all means TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO READ, MARVEL PALS!) But I’m going to start showing up again because that is something within my control, and a source of love and belonging in my life.

I love you all. I’m glad you’re still here reading this, and if there is anything I can do for you, let me know and I will do my best to make it happen or connect you with someone who can.

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Also, the people asking non-Americans why they are stressed about the US elections because it "doesn't affect them," and those bragging about their country's government can all go to hell. American politics inevitably has an effect on the WHOLE world, and for you to not have as little as basic empathy for American minorities at this moment is insane.

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To my American friends, and all those threatened by the rise of Christo-fascism (including Canadians, btw, despite the smug and superior attitude I’ve seen the last few week): I am so very sorry that we are all waking up in this version of the world today.

And this nightmare of a world is still a better place with you in it.

Just in case Trump wins:

right after Trump was elected in 2016, suicidality skyrocketed. If you’re considering suicide in the wake of the election this year, at least wait until after it’s absolutely certain that he’s won - after every vote has been counted, every state certified, and maybe even after he’s been sworn in (IF he wins), just to make sure he doesn’t go to prison instead. Watch the results come in live here, but don’t obsess or let them sway your vote. (To be clear, I don’t want a single person to commit suicide over the election results, no matter what. But I know from experience that “don’t do it” is thoroughly unhelpful, so instead I’m saying at least wait.)

if you’re considering suicide because you fear worsening material conditions, you might think a hotline can’t help with that. and it’s true that they can’t change legislation or promise you’ll be safe. but it’s worth double checking whether what you’re actually hurting from is in fact unfixable. right now, just getting through the emotions can help you regain a more objective view of the situation, and then you can work on surviving it. plus, when something bad happens, we tend to vastly overestimate how bad it will seem in the future, no matter how bad it actually is.

In my experience, it might take a few tries before you find a hotline that picks up, either because they’re so busy, or they’re closed at that time, or they simply don’t serve your location or demographic, so under the thingy I’ve listed more than just the same handful that tend to show up on other websites. Even if you’re not actively suicidal, you can talk to them about your hard feelings, ask for material resources, or just vent to a compassionate listener.

FIND HELP

HopeLine - call/text: 877-235-4525

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - call/text: 988 | chat

Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 | chat

help getting out of the military

for underrepresented adults:

Thrive Lifeline - text THRIVE to 313-662-8209

for pre-teens, teens, and young adults:

Your Life Your Voice - call: 800-488-3000 | text VOICE to 20121 | email

for teens (limited hours):

Teen Line - call: 800-852-8336 | text TEEN to 839863 | email

for trans and questioning people:

Trans Lifeline - call: 1-877-565-8860

for people with substance dependency:

Never Use Alone Overdose Prevention Hotline - call: 877-696-1996

for BIPOC (“with an LGBTQ+ Black Femme Lens”):

BlackLine - call: 1-800-604-5841

for college students of colour:

The Steve Fund Crisis Text Line - text STEVE to 741741

for LGBTQ+ young people:

The Trevor Project - call: 1-866-488-7386 | text START to 678678 | chat

for homeless or runaway youth:

National Runaway Safeline - call/text: 1-800-786-2929 | (has chat and email, but I think the link includes tracking)

for Muslim youth (limited hours):

Naseeha Youth Hotline - call: 1-866-627-3342

Amala Hopeline - call: 1-855-952-6252

for Jewish queer youth (warmline, may take up to 24 hours to reply):

JQY Warmline - call/text: 551-579-4673

for veterans:

Veterans Crisis Line - call: 988, option 1 | text: 838255 | chat

for veterans and their families:

Lifeline for Vets - call: 888-777-4443

for pregnant people:

Crisis Pregnancy Hotline - call: 888-628-3353 | text: 714-448-8323

for parents unsure of their ability to care for a newborn:

National Safe Haven Alliance - call: 888-510-2229 | text SAFEHAVEN to 313131

International Council for Helplines Member Organisations

Warmlines - for emotional support, if you just need to talk; a lower level of support than crisis hotlines

NAMI Helpline directory

Key warmline directory (unclear if 317-550-0060 might also be a warmline, I haven’t tried it)

Wildflower Alliance Peer Support Line (limited hours) - call: 888-407-4515

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We owe it to everyone not in this room to try

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The triple update voters claimed a decisive victory, so here you go my friends!

Here they are!

From This Wound (The World)

a garden (you never get to see)

The Man Behind the Curtain (Pay No Attention)

I have only managed comment replies on one of the three, but will get to the rest tonight. Thank you all for being the most patient and amazing humans. So much love to you all.

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Hey Marvel fandom pals!

I know it’s been an inconsistent couple of years for me posting-wise, and I wanted to use the holiday season to say a big thanks. What fic gift would you prefer to receive this year, friends?

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. . .

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I've seen people say the found family trope is queer because it's about "choosing" rather than being "given," and while that's true, I think there's another reason people often gloss over or misunderstand:

found family is queer because the labels don't always fit.

sometimes a character falls somewhere between a brother and a cousin. sometimes they're a big brother, a father figure, and a weird uncle all at once. sometimes they're a sibling when a third character is present, but a parent when they aren't. sometimes any attempt to label them just falls short.

often when a lot of people are fighting over what traditional family role a member of a found family is, I find myself thinking, "maybe you're all right, and all wrong, too. maybe there isn't just one label. maybe it's a found family, so it's queer."

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So I’m applying to a Master of Arts for counselling program (eek!) and I can’t stop laughing at how much I want to make my whole letter of intent about how I put all the characters I write through therapy so this was basically destined to happen.

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I know, I know, it's a Saturday, but these days I'm discovering that if I wait until Friday then a post may not happen. So here we go! It's Dissolution time!

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THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME. | TONY STARK throughout the MCU

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This week's The Man Behind the Curtain might be one of the most personal things I've ever written. I'm terribly proud of it, and will also need at least a week to recover from putting Tony (and I) through this!

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a garden (you never get to see) is updated this week, and it might be my fave chapter of the story. nbd.

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besides the well-known fact that tony stark's arc reactor literally powered his heart and symbolised his second chance at life, it's been not just alluded to but clearly stated by marvel from the very first iron man film that it represents his heart:

this point is made very clear again when it's used to portray his death:

of course they did this; they're such obvious metaphors that are easy to rely on for beautiful visual storytelling. they undoubtedly were aware of the potential for these scenes and carefully considered them since the beginning.

but you don't really get to use each of these moments more than once if you want them to matter, so they had to choose which one of tony's stories needed to be told through carefully picked parallels.

and who did they use them on?

yup, that's right. steve rogers. steve, who literally ends their painful fight by breaking his heart.

steve, whom tony literally hands his heart and says "here, take this" while he's devastated, disappointed, and at one of the lowest moments of his entire life.

so, platonic, romantic, alterous — the intricacies of his feelings don't even matter. they're only for tony to know.

but what we as an audience know, what we were explicitly told by marvel, is that the feelings tony had for steve were so strong that they were the equivalent of getting his heart actually shattered into pieces, and being reduced to offering your desperate, mourning heart on a platter as a way of saying "take it all, there's nothing left of me that you don't own now".

these were not accidents. we were meant to understand how profound his feelings were. so many things spiraled out of their falling out — the entire universe's faith was at stake as a result. tony was not indifferent to him. his problem was that he felt too much.

tony's achille's heel was always steve rogers, and that will forever be the backbone of the marvel universe.

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I’m so happy for them

[Image Description: Castiel from Supernatural is saying I love you, underneath is an image of Dean Winchester with the caption: “After four months of striking the WGA has a reached a tentative agreement & finalizing the contract. If all goes well writers will get to return to work with better pay and protections. They did it. Go unions”]

(Source)