sparrowhawkandco

[sparrowhawkandco]

There's this perception on here among neurodivergent people that neurotypical social behaviour is all fake and arbitrary. That it's a cruel, baseless game played to "weed out" ND people or to cause pain and complicate things on purpose.

This is wrong. All of those social rules and nuances ARE communication. Sorry if this is rude but it's not the NTs' fault if things don't gel- the gap goes both ways. Just because communication doesn't make sense to you, doesn't mean it's random or purposeless. Remember this post?

Every interaction in an NT conversation has purpose, and communicates something, and I don't understand why nobody ever explains this to ND people. There's information on basic stuff like facial expressions, but never what any of it actually means.

Small talk about the weather isn't about the weather. It's about how nice it is to be around the people you're talking to, or feeling out their understanding of the world, or just saying that you're both present and people and you're being people together. It's not literal. The words are, but the broad scope isn't.

A conversation is not just an exchange of words, it's an exchange of acknowledgement, attention, and emotional understanding. Of course it confuses people when their part in that exchange is met with flat affect or unembelished words. It's like looking in a mirror and not seeing your reflection.

[sparrowhawkandco]

i'm so sick of being the only person who can make simple connections of how doing a thing to the ecosystem has effects. so so so so sick NO ONE knows the ways of the plants

[sparrowhawkandco]

[sparrowhawkandco]

I hate the “Thoreau’s mom did his laundry” criticism so much, it drives me crazy.

Henry Thoreau did not go to Walden Pond because he thought it would be a fun adventure. He went into the woods because he was deeply depressed and burnt out. He was running from the horror of his brother and best friend recently dying in his arms, and the haunting memory of causing the Fairhaven Bay fire. His friend Ellery Channing literally gave him the ultimatum of either taking some time off to write and think, or else be institutionalized.

I think Thoreau’s mother saw her depressed son choosing to retreat into a small cabin in the woods, and was worried about him. Of course she did his laundry - just as Ralph Waldo Emerson probably brought him firewood and bread. These were not chores of obligation to support a “great” man, but services of love to help their deeply depressed 28yo son and friend.

And if you ask me, there’s a lesson in that - to “suck out the marrow of life” and “live deliberately,” one must also accept help offered from the people in your life who love you. There is no true transcendentalism or individualism without love and friendship behind it.

[sparrowhawkandco]

dnd paladin character concept: a knight raised alongside a magic user, who loves his friend, considers them family — but the magic user through a twist of fate ascends to godhood, vanishing from normal human life. so the knight swears fealty to the fledgling god so he can have some connection to them even still & the god who loves him dearly in return blesses him with gifts and divine powers as a way to reach back toward him, back toward earth. this paladin’s vows are easy to keep, like second nature… and prayer is both automatic and personal

[sparrowhawkandco]

I don’t think at any other point in my life has it been more nakedly obvious the United States government functions first as an arms dealer and global police force for imperialism and an actual country with a government as a distant second. There’s is practically no pretense right now that it functions as anything else and the ruling class has no interest in even pretending otherwise. No education, no housing, no transportation, no new infrastructure, no healthcare, no welfare, no social safety net, no legal guarantees for bodily autonomy and basic human rights. Just an endless stream of weapons and money for war and military occupation (including the domestic military occupation through the “police). Nothing else matters, and they don’t care that we know it anymore.

[sparrowhawkandco]

The Dungeon Meshi renaissance is making me want to share the resources that taught me how to cook.

Don’t forget, you can check out cookbooks from the library!

Smitten Kitchen: The rare recipe blog where the blog part is genuinely good & engaging, but more important: this is a home cook who writes for home cooks. If Deb recommends you do something with an extra step, it’s because it’s worth it. Her recipes are reliable & have descriptive instructions that walk you through processes. Her three cookbooks are mostly recipes not already on the site, & there are treasures in each of them.

Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables by Joshua McFadden: This is a great guide to seasonal produce & vegetable-forward cooking, and in addition to introducing me to new-to-me vegetables (and how to select them) it quietly taught me a number of things like ‘how to make a tasty and interesting puréed soup of any root veggie’ and ‘how to make grain salads’ and ‘how to make condiments’.

Grains for Every Season: Rethinking Our Way With Grains by Joshua McFadden: in addition to infodumping in grains, this codifies some of the formulas I picked up unconsciously just by cooking a lot from the previous book. I get a lot of mileage out of the grain bowl mix-and-match formulas (he’s not lying, you can do a citrus vinaigrette and a ranch dressing dupe made with yogurt, onion powder, and garlic powder IN THE SAME DISH and it’s great.)

SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT by Samin Nosrat: An education in cooking theory & specific techniques. I came to it late but I think it would be a good intro book for people who like to front-load on theory. It taught me how to roast a whole chicken and now I can just, like, do that.

I Dream Of Dinner (so you don’t have to) by Ali Slagle: Ok, look, an important part of learning to cook & cooking regularly is getting kinda burned out and just wanting someone else to tell you what to make. These dinners work well as written and are also great tweakable bases you can use as a starting place.

If you have books or other resources that taught you to cook or that you find indispensable, add ‘em on a reblog.

[sparrowhawkandco]

[sparrowhawkandco]

One thing that keeps striking me as the series continues is the way Steven and Rose serve as foils for one another. It’s easy to see how similar they are and yet the most beautiful part of Steven– the way he is capable of intuitively picking up on emotions, his consideration for others and how gently he treats others’ feelings– is what is sorely lacking in his ethereal mother.

What a contrast. Rose attempts to understand Greg’s emotions, Steven picks up on others’ feelings right away, be they gem or human. In his short life, Steven has already reached a depth of emotional maturity that was closed off to Rose for the millenniums she existed. 

As willing as she was to try, even Rose knew she’d never experience true love the way a human being could– and that’s why she gave up her physical form. This precious cinnamon roll bridges the gems to the human condition and helps them find the humanity in themselves. Steven is the embodiment of humanity’s beauty– vulnerable, gentle, complex in simplicity, and more capable of love than any other species.

[sparrowhawkandco]

Praying for gem fusion episodes where the paradox rule doesn’t exist

[sparrowhawkandco]

That moment when Diamond Days brings you to the incredibly obvious realization that Steven Universe is an always has been a show about parenthood from a child’s perspective

And how basically the entire show (even most of the “fillers” people love to dunk on) take on a whole new level of meaning when read as build to this emotional climax.

[sparrowhawkandco]

drew over their official poses for potential new outfits!

took aspects of their wedding attire + ruby’s cowboy shenanigans :~)

[sparrowhawkandco]

“Well I am even more than the two of them! Everything they care about is what I am! I am their fury, I am their patience I am a conversation!” ~  Stronger Than You · Steven Universe · Estelle Garnet fanart for the night! <3 

[sparrowhawkandco]

SEEING THIS HAD ME BROKEN!!!

They were there when everyone got corrupted they witnessed their friends/family having to be bubbled for thousands and thousands of years!! Thinking that they would never find away to get them back. And pearl and garnet were the only original ones left seeing how far they have come together realizing it finally over. It’s just

UGGHHHHHHH

[sparrowhawkandco]

That’s a nice new jacket, Pearl *.+

…and a very inspiring and beautiful end, I would say-

-Steven Universe - Battle of Heart and Mind-

[sparrowhawkandco]

Another Steven Universe doodle, today is Connie, I really enjoyed seeing her evolving all along, she grew up so much-

A tiny fighter with her new sword *.+

-Steven Universe - Battle of Heart and Mind-

[sparrowhawkandco]

Peridot new clothes 💚