#(and it's also been difficult to write recently)

[qqueenofhades]

Regarding "Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956", would you say you were consciously reading it with an eye to reviewing its technical merits, ie reliable sources, and analysing them well, or was it more reading for pleasure - or indeed, are the two one and the same? Or is it something completely different to any of those?

I read it for a couple reasons, first being that I am currently focusing on Eastern European history, politics, and international relations in the new degree, and second that it is something I am genuinely interested in both on its own behalf and for present-day resonances. So I am reading it as a trained historian but also because I am interested in the subject and want to learn more, so it's not like I'm just confirming stuff that I already know. On which, a few quick points on how to read like a historian:

I admire Anne Applebaum's stuff a lot, and it has earned external acclaim: for example her previous book Gulag won the Pulitzer Prize. This is a good indication that an author has legitimate credentials and strong research about the topic at hand, and that it has been recognized by multiple international experts and prize bodies. Obviously, not every book needs to have won the Pulitzer to prove its usefulness, but it does mean that it comes from a historian who has received thorough and positive peer review on the highest level. I also recommend her book Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine.

Next, she is upfront about how she approached her sources, where she found them, and the language and access logistics. She is based in Warsaw, speaks Polish and Russian, and was able to directly translate sources in those languages; for Iron Curtain, she names her research assistants/translators in Hungarian and German and which archives they were working in. She notes that it took six years to write the book because of the necessity of consulting these far-flung document archives in different places; she has also conducted some in-person interviews. There is an extensive bibliography and direction for future reading. As well, despite the complexity of her subject, she is a very clear and easy-to-follow writer; someone who was approaching the book and knew relatively little about the regions or the major research questions would be able to follow along. I have recently read several history books where I was interested in the topic and wanted to follow along, but the writing was unnecessarily murky, unclear, or convoluted, and which made it difficult to keep up, even in those books written and published by a popular press.

Next, while she obviously wants to explore the problems of these societies and the phenomenon of totalitarian government in detail, she attempts to present both perspectives: both why these societies were initially attractive, the social and political factors of destroyed postwar Europe that enabled their implementation, and what ordinary people thought and experienced in response. While she is very clear that this was a Soviet effort based in Moscow and based on Stalinist principles, she also underlines that it was not just a situation of one-way agency where totalitarian principles were being unilaterally imposed on a hapless population without any local collaboration or support. She explores the reasons why local East German/Polish/Hungarian authorities decided to cooperate (or not cooperate) with the occupying authoritarian power, how people in each of those places did the same, and the fact that the totalitarian project was indeed made possible largely because of this collaboration (and when the collaboration was revoked, it instantly ran into major difficulties). That is an important lesson for the present day when we are looking at those organizations, corporations, and individuals that have already pre-emptively offered their support to a fascist government, and are acting in happy accordance with it.

As such, in short-ish summary, there are several ways to read a popular-press history book: for the analysis of technical/historical skills, to consider how the narrative is presented and the conclusions that are drawn, the bibliography and resources that are offered, simply because I am interested in the topic and want to learn more, and because it has important lessons for the present day. So yes.

[huntersrequiem-if]

Important announcement

Hello, everyone.

I wanted to take a moment to share an update with you all. After much thought, I’ve made the difficult decision to put this project on hiatus for the time being. I’m not sure exactly how long it will last, but life has been demanding a lot more of my time recently, and it’s become challenging to balance everything.

Due to my current financial situation, I’ve had to take on longer hours at work, leaving me with little time to writing. This has unfortunately affected the quality of my work, and I don’t want to give you all a rushed project. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to return to it once my schedule lightens up.

I will also be closing my Patreon for now, but I want to thank everyone who has supported me so far.

Thank you for your understanding, and I truly appreciate all of your support.

[storiesofaot]

Short Ramble: I came across @creativepromptsforwriting 's prompt list for February earlier today, and I ended up impulsively writing something for today's prompt. I might try and do a few of them (of varying length) since the list does look very intriguing, but we'll see how it goes. Writing has been a bit slow lately, maybe this will help? Okay, ramble is over.

Letters With Levi

Day 1: Love Letters

Rating: G

Word Count: 982

High-School AU. It doesn't really matter, but I imagined this being set in like 2007-ish.

It had all started three weeks ago, when he and Hange were paired up for a book review project. She had been very enthusiastic about the novel they’d received, while he hadn’t been able to muster much motivation for the task. But, as expected, she had been the driving force behind their project, and to his surprise, they were done well ahead of time, leaving them with an entire period free and with nothing to do.

These weren’t love letters. That’s what Levi told himself over and over. He unfolded the piece of paper Mike had just pushed toward him and started reading whatever she had scribbled on the note. They were just letters.

It was during those forty-five minutes that they started talking more intensely. She was the new student, having moved to the small town he lived in just a couple of months ago. He had mostly observed her from afar, her outgoing and jittery nature making it difficult for him to connect with her. But apart from the bits and pieces he had noticed, he hadn’t really known much about her. That all changed on that Monday morning.

During their work-free lesson, she shared all her thoughts, likes, and quirks with him, and somehow managed to worm a lot of personal information out of him in return. He didn’t understand how she did it, but he ended up sharing things he’d never told anyone before.

They were in the middle of discussing a movie they had both recently watched when their English teacher announced it was time for everyone’s presentations, which meant Levi had to move back to his seat, two rows behind her.

“I’ll write you a note. We can’t just leave this hanging,” Hange said as he stood up, waving a piece of paper in the air. When he nodded silently, she gave him a smile that made his fifteen-year-old heart stumble in a way it never had before.

As soon as the first pair stood in front of the class, Mike leant backwards and dropped a folded piece of paper into his lap. Luckily, their teacher was focused on the talking students, so Levi had all the time he needed to read through the note and reply.

That was how Mike became their message-bearer. But most importantly, it was the start of a series of passed-along notes, a routine that would continue throughout the coming weeks.

“I really liked our conversation!” Hange said at the end of the lesson, catching him at the door. “We should do that more often, don’t you think?”

He didn’t know how to reply to that, so once again, he simply nodded and wordlessly handed her their sheet of paper. As if to say, Just reach out whenever you’d like. He didn’t expect it, but she seemed to understand what he meant and laughed. And to his delight, she not only safely stored away their note but also asked him if he wanted to have lunch with her.

The following day, she sent him another note, this time during their biology lesson. She wrote about wanting to collect their little papers and mentioned she had thought of calling the series Notes with Levi. “But with the amount of text I’m writing, these aren’t just notes anymore. So I’d say Letters with Levi is a better name, don’t you think?”

It took him every ounce of willpower not to smile at that. Was he becoming a little too invested in their interactions already? He wasn’t sure he'd ever felt this way about something so... simple before.

By the end of the week, those notes had become a daily routine, and he caught himself looking forward to each class he had with her.

“Seems like you’ve got yourself a girlfriend,” Mike teased him as they walked home after school had ended on Friday afternoon. Levi shot him an annoyed glance and ignored the comment, but of course, his friend didn’t let up on him.

“I hadn’t pegged you as the romantic type, writing love letters and all that,” Mike continued, nudging his arm playfully. “But hey, it suits you. Quiet teenager who writes cheesy but deep letters to his lover. Should be a trope.”

“Shut up,” Levi grumbled, shoving his shoulder against his friend with enough force to make Mike stumble and nearly walk into a streetlamp.

That was the first time he connected his written conversations with Hange to love letters, and his ears immediately turned bright red.

Those weren’t love letters, he told himself after saying goodbye to Mike. It wasn’t even love. They were just… friends.

That was the thought he kept repeating to himself over the next two weeks, both during their written conversations and their chats at lunch. She always seemed to be around whenever she could, and without realising it, he found himself looking out for her as soon as recess started.

No, they weren’t love letters, he reminded himself once again three weeks later as he read her response to his question, already thinking about what to write back. But when he reached the last paragraph of her letter—a phone number with a few words written underneath—he couldn't help but wonder if, at some point, it might actually turn into that.

“I thought we could continue our conversations over the weekend, if you’d like. You can text me, or, you know, we could talk on the phone. I’d really like that, it’s so quiet without you. So, if you’re free and want to, just give me a call."

It took him a lot of effort to push past his nervousness, but on Saturday afternoon, he called her for the first time. He’d never forget the excitement in her voice when she recognised him, and how it made his heart trip over itself again.

And that was how Letters with Levi turned into Phone Calls with Levi.

[evievigilant]

So after this poll I started thinking about Albert owning a rat more, and it spiraled into this whole headcanon about how and why he ends up with one.

In university, Albert knew about and saw rats being used in experiments. He strikes me as the type to primarily stay in his field but dabble in a bunch of other disciplines, including ones that more heavily experiment on rats. A part of him felt a bit bad for them, but he was able to push it down, mostly because of the possible contributions to science that would come out of those experiments.

Also not to mention the general attitude around rats, since they're considered vermin, dirty animals, etc. He probably didn't think as positively about them as other animals.

So fast forward to after his trial, and Albert is feeling a lot of guilt over Asman's death. Even if it was proven to not be his fault, he still feels awful about placing someone in a potentially dangerous situation all for the sake of science. He might start thinking about how even if people hadn't conspired to kill Asman with the experiment, something else might have gone wrong and killed him anyway (since I think his faith in himself is shaken after the incident, too. I know Barok's whole "laudable not laughable" speech was meant to reassure him but there's only so much one speech can do for a man). He doesn't want to put anyone through that again.

Since he has this on the mind, he remembers the rats that were used in experiments and put in danger in many instances. And so now he's in a position where he feels even worse for them.

So one day he makes the rather impulsive decision to get a rat as a pet.

The idea behind it is that he hopes he can prevent one living creature from being used in an experiment, especially one that is especially at risk of being used in a lab.

He gets a big cage, some toys, and really starts putting effort into making sure the rat's living conditions are good. He spends as much time with it as possible and observes what it enjoys most. I think he tries to do his research but a lot of it ends up being trial and error.

Albert, on a whim, starts to see if he can teach the rat tricks. And to his delight, it works! The rat can learn some simple commands and even play fetch (all things rats can in fact do!). Albert starts to realize how absolutely smart it is (and adorable) and starts writing down all the things the rat learned. He also takes the time to write down some cute anecdotes about it, too.

Because really, he is starting to love this rat. He finds himself taking it with him all throughout his home, usually putting it in his lab coat pocket. A couple of times, he's tried to take walks with it outside (making sure it's close to him). Sometimes, since he notices the rat is fascinated by his hair, he'll let it burrow into it. Every time he takes it out, it's a mess of tangles in there, but hey, the things you do for your pets.

And of course, Albert's happy knowing that he's doing exactly what he set out to do, which is giving this rat a good life. He swears he's even seen it smile.

Now, rats don't live very long. And since Albert likely got it as an adult (or near that), they don't spend too much time on Earth with each other (rats live ~2 years or so depending on the type). When it eventually passes away, Albert is of course very upset. He cared about it so much. He spends the days after its death reading the notes and anecdotes he kept about it, partially to look back on all the fond memories, but also because it's proof of how happy and well-kept it was. I don't know if he expected his notes to be anything more than that, but he's happy it is.

I imagine he'll get more rats eventually, especially now that he's got all the stuff for one and more expertise, but the first one will always hold a special place in his heart. It helped him a lot after his trial, by not only giving him something to feel proud of but also making him smile, and for that he'll always be grateful.

[plantenjoyer]

I SWEAR I KEEP TRYING TO DO ART BUT THEN SOMETHING GETS IN THE WAY AND THEN I PROCRASTINATE AND THEN SIX MONTHS PASS

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏

[lotussokka]

Tagged by @kittlyns (back in march lol) to share my lock screen, last song played, and last picture saved

it didnt specify how many people to tag so im going to tag 10 people bc kittlyn tagged me on my blog's 10th anniversary: @girlwwx @rudiecantfail @yokoyas @glitteratti @booksnbarricades @sonyachni @ettelwenailinon @smiliestboye @sisyphuslnabyss and @hopefulqueer

[dallonwrites]

happy lesbian visibility day/week 🫶 lesbianism is still a huge part of my life and im so grateful for the safe space it gave me growing up and i love y’all 🫶

[flovverworks]

wanted to talk about gran & loss since msq is updating, but ive been busy....<3 BUT i did think about it with akira and even though theyre both on very opposite ends (grans very much more Always present + the hell that is current msq is......yknow...), losing 21+ ppl at once Is gonna have them inconsolable for a while regardless of how much they knew itd happen

[jsyndra]

how does one make an unbiased tier list

[hyuckmov]

logged out for a bit... hello again

[hailsatanacab]

i have to know

is it hail satan a cab or hail satan acab

if its the second wtf does acab mean

I’ve had this url for yeeaarrrss and when I first thought of it “hail satan” was a meme here, for some reason?? I’d thrown in “a cab” as just a cute little phrase that made me laugh

ACAB - All Cops Are Bastards - is just a fun coincidence that I hadn’t noticed at the time but I’m owning it now, so the answer is both!!

Hail Satan. ACAB. beep beep!

[vonkarma2]

I feel like I like lost all interest in my OCs like especially the story but also the characters themselves and their personalities which is so annoying considering I spent 3 years making them. I’m offended on their behalf like what’s wrong with them 😔✌️ it’s so sad. I am going to change the story but I also hate just arbitrarily being like this all sucks. especially because I don’t have any better ideas LOL. I’d like to feel more like. inspired creatively I guess. but more so than that Like invested in the characters. gna have to try getting back to what I liked abt them to begin with I guess such is the creative process

[world-of-fire-and-flight]

Embers of Eternity Blurb....Draft 103

A/N: BLURBS ARE THE BANE OF EXISTENCE😣😭 I can't tell y'all how many times I've revised it and at this point idk if I'm just mad at it and that's why I'm having trouble with it or if it still needs work. Would you mind dropping some feedback for me? This is for Embers of Eterinity/book 2 in my Heirs of Tenebris trilogy (Fire & Flight (book 1) blurb here; Fire & Flight general info masterlist here), so any and all help is totally appreciated so I can get this finalized😄💜

The spirits of the Shadow Forest are waking up.

Hidden in the centuries-old legends of the forest is the history forgotten by the country of Tenebris. But for seventeen-year-old Nyla, the 600-year-old history has become her present. Struggling to break the curse binding her to the Woodlane Manor, she and her companions must race against time to find and defeat the evil sorceress threatening their homeland. With the help of Xander and Shamira, the fierce pumpkie who’d taken up the forbidden quest to investigate the disturbances in magic, Nyla searches for a way to break the curse that won’t require a hefty sacrifice.

But even as their small victories swell their hope, the real battle is only just beginning. With the trio forced to confront their pasts, Nyla and Xander must trust the help offered to them by outside sources and connect the missing links provided by a secret society. But what if Dinora raises her army before Nyla and Xander can gather the forces necessary to defeat her? Will defeating her cost them their dreams of the future?

Return to Tenebris in Embers of Eternity, the stunning sequel to [my] epic young adult fantasy series, the Heirs of Tenebris.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Christmas With Joe Iconis: How the Songwriter's Annual Holiday Extravaganza Is Marking Its 14th Anniversary

Iconis and Family take the stage at 54 Below this weekend for their regular yuletide blowout.

David Gordon | New York City | December 10, 2024

For well over a decade, Tony-nominated songwriter Joe Iconis and his merry band of performers have spread yuletide cheer at 54 Below during his yearly Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza. As Iconis and Family gear up for this weekend’s 14th edition of the show (December 13), Iconis took the time to look back on the history of the spectacular and share how hard — but rewarding — it is to put together.

What inspired you to create the Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza, and how has it evolved in the 14 years since its inception? I’ve always had an unironic love of Christmas specials of stage and small screen. The Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special is among my favorite pieces of art ever, yuletide or not. As a child, I fantasized about having a Christmas special of my very own. In college I’d go to see Charles Busch’s Times Square Angel, performed annually at Theater for a New Audience, and imagine doing something similar if ever given the chance. The Extravaganza — then called the Spectacular, a name that was altered after a cease and desist from Radio City in 2015! — was first performed as a one-night concert at Ars Nova in 2008. It was basically just a typical Iconis & Family concert with some Christmas covers thrown in and one or two scripted moments. I think we had 10 people in the cast which, at the time, was the biggest show I had ever done. It’s grown every year. More songs, more characters, more extravaganza. The show is now a full-scripted musical pretending to be a concert. There are characters that only exist in the world of the Christmas show and, this year more than ever, songs written specifically for the show. Writing the script is basically writing a new full-length musical every year. Can you share some favorite moments or performances that have stuck with you? Annie Golden, as the Rock and Roll Christmas Angel, sings the penultimate song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” every year. I’ve known Annie as long as I’ve been working professionally in the theater, and I can measure my life in her performances of that song. It’s a moment that is so special to me, and every year I watch her sing it and feel like the luckiest man in the whole world. I also loved the first time we ever did drunk Mrs. Claus [Lorinda Lisitza] and depressed Santa [Jason SweetTooth Williams]. They were the first scripted characters I ever wrote for the show, and they really opened up my mind about what the Extravaganza had the potential to be.

The show features a mix of your signature style and holiday classics. How do you approach blending those two elements in a way that feels unique every year? I have a natural affinity for art that mixes highbrow and lowbrow sensibilities, so the show has real uptown/downtown vibe. There can be an absolutely filthy exchange between the Krampus (Lilly Tobin) and Cyril Von Miserthorpe (our villain, played by Will Roland) one minute, and then a full-blown google-eyed production number that wouldn’t be out of place in a theme park production of 42nd Street the next. I like the tension of smutty material that feels wholesome and vice versa. The Christmas show is also a really nice opportunity for me to write material that is in conversation with present-day America. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the Extravaganza political theater, but I think it has more to say than you might expect. As previously mentioned, I’m a massive Charles Busch fan and the sensibility of the show is partially inspired by Vampire Lesbians of Sodom or Psycho Beach Party. My biggest thing is that the show isn’t cynical and it’s never ironic. We’re never winking at the audience. Everything comes from a genuine love of the characters, holiday traditions, and of scrappy, DIY theater. I’d like to think that the Extravaganza is the best “show you put on in your backyard with your friends” of all time.

You work with a close-knit group of performers regularly. How does that camaraderie shape the vibe of the Extravaganza each year and the characters they all rotate in playing? We’re like a big rep company. Some people swap roles from year to year based on availability. Some people swap roles for the hell of it. With each edition it becomes harder and harder to come up with new characters and material. At a certain point I always think to myself, “Have I said everything I have to say about Christmas? Am I tapped out?” And then I am, inevitably, inspired by my brilliant family of collaborators. The performers, for sure, but also the creative team, led by director John Simpkins and producer Jennifer Tepper. The work they do on this show is incomprehensible. People don’t realize how gut-wrenchingly hard it is to make these shows, from the planning to the rehearsing to the performing. You have to be deeply insane to keep doing it because it gets more and more impossible every year. But there’s just something in me that can’t stop. All I ever wanna do is make art that I believe in with people I love. The Christmas Extravaganza provides me the most batshit opportunity to do just that. How could I say no to that? What can audiences expect from this year’s show at 54 Below, and are there any surprises or special guests we should be excited about? I can’t give away any secrets but I will say that we have a brand-new opening this year that I’m excited about. It’s our first new opener since 2009. As per usual, I’ve written a few lines that may get me sued, so people can be excited to either be scandalized or delighted by those. In general, the show is definitely the most “anything can happen” performance that I do all year. Because the show involves so many people (between onstage and backstage, I think we’ve got 60+ people working on the show?) the show is rehearsed piecemeal in incredibly well-planned chunks. I would not wish the scheduling of Christmas Extravaganza rehearsals on my worst enemy. This is all just to say that because of the nature of this beast is rehearsed, the only time we are ever able to run it with the full cast is during the performance. There are always surprises and, often, they are surprises that people talk about for years to come.

[makerofmadness]

Time for a vibe check

*sniff* *sniff* *sniff*

I detect that you have

Good vibes :3

!مرسی