#(aside from the diversity etc; but I personally need more than that)

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

Venom & Vow

YA high fantasy about two enemy kingdoms whose leaders have been cursed to sleep, and are being run by the teen heirs

a bigender dama/assassin and trans prince are both trying to find the enchanter from the other kingdom who they believe is responsible

two disabled MCs (cane users)

[t34-mt]

What jewelry do kyhuines and maanuls have?

and what jewelry do humans have? many various ones that are influenced by the environment, history in terms of current fashion, current movements, beliefs and etc... same goes for them! but aside from the boring answer:

pre-alp traverse traditional jewlery by maanuls might share a common theme of being centered around the sea despite the various cultures, because maanuls lifestyle and everything they need revolve around the sea. People live near it, people live in structures at shores or in the sea, people may be part of sea-fearing ethnic groups who spend their lives out there on boats. some seafearing communities are more stationary than others but the life on a boat remains. Pre-alp traverse and first contact with kyhuines, maanuls lives depended on the oceans only. and it reflects in their art forms and folklore a lot. which include jewelry, from literal depictions of an animal from the shore to just more vague imagery, or usage of shells, the ocean can be found through many pieces of jewelry across the globe.

earings are very common among maanuls, the triangle skin hoods over their ears can be pierced. Although that defeats their purpose of blocking water once flattened against their temples, not that it was efficient at its job to begin with either way, so it's not a big loss of functionality in the end. Much like human lobes they have to be careful with the weight of their earrings. Because they can always risk having it slowly rip because of gravity. I guess for them it might take longer. Since gravity is lower its not pulling on it as hard as it is on earth. And the pierced ear hole sits on top of a cartilage ridge.

piercings? yes, maanuls are half made out of skin, and piercings are plausible on many parts of the body. Such as the face, but piercings on the face are restricted to certain areas, and all of them are temporary. They're surface piercings and they'll come out rather fast because facial muscles are constricted a lot in maanuls for facial expressions to communicate. just like how a bridge piercing in humans don't last long because we move our eyebrows constantly.

The "nose" isn't an area they can pierce, the skin there is rather tight against the structure, its hard to pull any for a surface type. Piercing through it is quite horrible and will in almost every case end up in a bloody injury. Sometimes leading to an infection too. Its literally a cartilage hell with so many blood vessels hanging around. also, this is a sensory organ they use for facial interaction with one another, so they rather have it "untouched". And the nose is never pierced successfully. Then the person with it will be seen as a masochistic. A "nose" piercing for them wouldn't look like a hoop passing through it, but more so probably a curved bar inside the structure, with each side of the nose protruding with a little piece of jewelry.

traditional kyhuine jewelry dating before the alp traverse and first contact with maanuls, does not have an overarching theme like maanuls does. Their lives do not revolve around one big thing, as kyhuines as a whole can live in incredibly diverse biomes from each other, think of the biome variety found in SWANA. if you know you know then. However, things such a jewelry based on bugs (domesticated species or not) can be a common recurring thing because of how bugs are a big part of their diet + they have many domesticated species. Some domesticated themselves because kyhuines let them in their homes for various reasons.

pierced ears in kyhuines? its impossible to find. why? because kyhuines do not have external ears. what they have on their head is just some sort of "plumicorn", identical to what prairie chickens have. just growing at a different angle. The plumicorns in kyhuines are raised up for the neutral expression all the time. If you plucked a kyhuine their heads would be smooth, and you'd find the ear holes near the eyes. If you find old art on my blog with kyhuines having earrings that's just me being indicative of what I wanted. But yeah, in conclusion, no earrings for kyhuines can be found.

piercings in kyhuines are rare because they're covered in feathers everywhere apart from the pelvis, gular sack, around eyes and snout end, and keel. and only the facial skin can be piercable, mainly piercing under the eyes by pulling the extra saggy skin if there's enough. they last longer than they do with maanuls, because kyhuine facial muscles are stiffer. they emote emotions via opening their mouths, tahofah fans, sounds, inflating gular sack, and piloting/ flattening their plumicorns. not a lot of contracting facial muscle is involved in it. I'd say they're much more common in plateau/mountain flank groups, where the dulls have wattles under their eyes. Its just extra skin that can receive piercings or minimal dot tattoos. one of the few ethnicities to be able to do tattooing because of this extra skin bit

example of a haut-plateau / moutain flank dull ("dull" being an afab individual) kyhuine. sketch from some months ago i never finished but you see the idea ->

i do not think they could pierce their gular sack safely, perhaps if the jewelry in the pierced hole is flexible? after all pierced holes will close back. But i don't know about this one yet.

necklaces usually are lose enough that they hang under the gular sac area, just to be safe and not break it if they inflate it for whatever reason. although necklaces that are several decorative hard pieces on a stretchable threat where it can widen in case the person inflates their sac is also a thing. but the first option is the most popular and spread out. Plus, several ethnic groups will consider it indecent to have a gular sack exposed, leading to covering it with tight necklaces, or much more commonly just tissue. as its more convenient and can be a part of a larger piece of cloth.

in mierthri kyhuines, jewelry is considered as clothing for them. average conception of clothes as in like sewed tissue together is a no for them. as it might weigh them down and restrict movement during gliding. if they wear clothes its super minimal and most of them just do not wear anything for convenience, and when they do its 1 piece where they just have to slide their head in, the sides are cut so they dont restrict any arm movement. And even then, these clothes are mainly used for events only and not as a day-to-day thing. although exceptions can be seen in kaar'kchir immigrant mierthri communities. Not because they're forced to, but because of cultural exchange and cultures evolving and merging together.

the jewlery in mierthri kyhuines is either at their necks as a necklace or ankles as a ring or band. ribbons are used too, even if they're cloth are still a decorative items that for mierthri kyhuines count as a full piece of clothing. ribbons are attached to the ankle of the end of their tail. when they fly around gliding, the ribbon, or necklace, ankle jewlery are mainly used for quick identification in the community. for example, spotting a paramedic.

after the traverse of the Alps and first contact between the two cousin species, many cultures merge through immigration and create new ones, many communities become of mixed species, and people bring their cultures where they go. which will include the jewelry! and it will evolve, its adapted into new etnic groups or modified to be more in the taste of the people living here, new fashion movements get created and so on with variants like this.

i could think of more to yap about, but i think that's all for this one. thank you for reading!

[apollos-olives]

Hi sorry Israeli Canadian anon from earlier. White gays are saying that Palestinians are homophobic??

(Admittedly, i am a white gay. I say that in the sense of "didn't realize ppl were doing this" and not in a distancing way to exempt myself from the shitty things us white gays do. I'm not perfect.)

Okay, putting aside how bullshit it is to label an entire ethnic group as being homophobic - do ppl think that Israel *isn't* homophobic?? Or transphobic for that matter? I actually happen to be trans and when I was changing my name and gender marker on my legal documents, I learned that I can't change my Israeli birth certificate bc to do so requires bottom surgery. Which I personally don't want or plan to get. To put that into perspective, canada (with all its bullshit facade of being such an ~accepting~ place) doesn't require that. Requiring bottom surgery to change gender marker is so fucking antiquated and transphobic.

Also, to be honest, even though I was born in Israel, I'm not super educated on all of the history. Part of that being because for so long I saw the discussion surrounding it being portrayed as oh so complicated. And then I realized that it really isn't. At its very core what it boils down to is: do you support genocide? If your answer is yes, then you support Israel. If your answer is no, then you support Palestine.

(Very much want to learn more about Palestinian history and Israeli occupation/apartheid. Do you have recommendations for articles/documentaries/etc on it?)

hi anon. and yeah. white gays, especially libs, constantly use the belief that all palestinians are homophobic (which also leads to islamophobic sentiments) and that people should not support palestine because of that. unfortunately that is a very overly used belief in arguments, especially in north america. the belief that palestine is homophobic and that israel is very open and supportive is due to pinkwashing, which can be explained very thoroughly on the website decolonizepalestine. this website also has TONS of information all about palestine, the occupation, and the various forms of questions people often ask, while also debunking a lot of myths and falsehoods that are produced from israeli propaganda. very good site to scroll through, and i'm sure many of your questions will be answered just by taking a read through it.

i'm not going to waste time and repeat what thousands of others have already said about pinkwashing, but i do want to mention that pinkwashing does play a huge role in the dehumanization of palestinians and also plays a role in how western propaganda continues to split oppressed minorities constantly, making them against each other rather than uplifting each other.

the belief that all palestinians are homophobic is. honestly. well. it's islamophobic. i'm queer, trans, muslim, and palestinian. i exist. queer palestinians exist everywhere. western and zionist propaganda makes people think that all palestinians are muslim, and therefore against queer people. this is simply not true, since palestinians are very VERY diverse. palestinians are christian, jewish, muslim, atheist, and whatever else as well. it's not a religious thing, it's an ethnic and racial thing. palestine simply has not had the time to unlearn homophobia or had the time to try to advocate for queer and women's rights because we are too busy trying not to die. we don't have time to fight for queer liberation because we're too busy fighting for our HUMAN liberation. we are trying to exist first, then we can worry about the discrimination against queers.

israel also claims to be a safe space for queers, but it is literally the opposite. it's just as discriminatory as other countries, and hurts queer jews, as well as blackmails queer palestinians into submission. like you said, israel does have transphobic regulations, like the whole "need bottom surgery in order to legally get a sex change" and other things like that.

i've been recommending this masterlist of palestinian resources for everyone, but please look through this if you want to learn more about the occupation in palestine. the website i mentioned earlier is very helpful as well.

inshallah we will see a free palestine in our lifetimes.

[pteropodidaes]

it's been a while since i interacted with the marauders fandom, (like a month or two) but one recurring theme that i saw was the drastic recon of a lot of the slytherins in that era.

i remember when your main cast in your average marauders fic was mostly gryffindors, and then a lot of the antagonists were slytherins. barty and evan were almost always villains (bullies, toxic exes, etc) and regulus was an angst device for sirius. nowadays, the main cast is split into two main friend groups, gryffindors and slytherins. most gryffindors have a slytherin they're paired with (lily and dorcas [which btw i remember when dorcas was a gryffindor], james and regulus, etc etc). the slytherins all have family issues where their parents are blood purists and they don't agree with them and it's a whole thing blah blah blah

i like that there is more diversity in where the characters come from, but there is so much nuance that is stripped of these characters to make them all get along. regulus is the number one victim of this.

i've noticed there is a desire to make the characters people like morally good. they preach about grey characters, but when it comes down to it there is always a justification for the "bad" things they do. sometimes people do bad things because they believe bad things. regulus is a bad guy. he is a death eater, he gets the dark mark and everything. a lot of people write that regulus secretly agreed with sirius the whole time, but it makes it so much more interesting if sirius and regulus's morals actually clash instead of regulus just agreeing with his parents. i personally love when sirius and regulus are close in their childhood and then it changes as they both mature and find themselves.

i think if we look at the characters realistically, regulus barty and evan would never truly get along with people like james and sirius. they're both righteous people (ESPECIALLY james) who would not tolerate blood purism. and that's interesting to explore and to write! sirius watching his brother become a complete stranger who resents him because their morals conflict is so interesting!! you don't have to take away murky morals from a character so they can make out with your fav... which leads me to my next thing.

the jegulus boom. i remember when jegulus was a crack ship and now i think it's literally up there in popularity with wolfstar. i used to ship it as a joke, and in the beginning it was cute but honestly i don't see this ever being an actually healthy relationship. again, james has very strong morals and he would not tolerate regulus being a death eater. he would also ALWAYS choose sirius and he wouldn't stay in a relationship with someone who would cause sirius so much pain. there are a select few circumstances where i see them in a select few dynamics??? but i just don't see it happening.

it's sad because i feel like lily has been tossed aside for fandom's new bl ship. like i love wlw ships with all my heart but sometimes it seems like they come out of people wanting to do something with the canon female love interest. jily is such a beautiful and adorable ship, and the chemistry is honestly so much better than jegulus if i'm being honest. lily is also such an interesting character and you can still get your enemies to lovers fix out of jily. you don't need to compromise the morals of both james and regulus for your yaoi.

it always struck me as weird that these canon death eaters are suddenly heroes now, as in they never believed this shit at all and they're actually victims of their families and society and stuff. don't get me wrong, they definitely are, but it would be better if it wasn't just "i always thought this is wrong and i'm the rebel in my family!" people in these systems actually do get brainwashed and manipulated, and they do believe these things wholeheartedly.

i understand the whole thing with marauders is that there is no canon and you can do whatever you want, but sometimes the characters are just so flat. regulus is interesting to me because he was a bad person but he ultimately chose to sacrifice himself for something good. there's also the issue with changing the characters to the point where they're completely unrecognizable from canon. jkr is a shit writer, but that doesn't change the fact that james has been repeatedly described in canon as a righteous man with incredibly strong beliefs. he may have been a little shit, but never to the point where he would date a death eater. he literally pantsed one upside down and washed their mouth out with soap.

i'm also not saying the old fics were better. there used to be a LOTTT of inconsistency with the characterization of a lot of side characters like dorcas and mary and marlene. i love that the new fandom has given these characters a chance to shine. (well, the male ones at least...) i'm also also not saying that the slytherins should be just bad guys again. i feel like we've flopped from making them total assholes to angels that rebel a little bit.

i could honestly talk about the issues within the marauders fandom for literal hours, but the slytherins are something that has bothered me for a while now. don't be scared to make your skrunklies evil, they don't even have to be evil the whole time you can give them a killer redemption arc 👍

[laineystein]

I understand and agree the very observant would probably adjust to life in Israel very quickly. I know there’s a lot of Israelis that are secular as well, and I think they live ok? I don’t know for sure. To my understanding though, the government is tilted to favor the more observant Jew. As someone who isn’t terribly religious, that concerns me as much as the bombs and the bomb shelters. As far as stuff like the weather, to each their own. I grew up experiencing Lake effect snow storms and still do. I couldn’t handle year round hot weather. Where I live, a 60 degrees Fahrenheit and a sunny day happening before the summer heat descends is considered an opportunity to wear shorts and sunbathe.

I respect your opinion and I’m glad you feel at home in Israel. To me, personally, trading a bomb shelter and bombs to escape colleges students aspiring to be terrorists isn’t a trade off that nets a positive gain. To me, it’s the same.

That being said, I hope you, your husband, and the growing baby are doing well. 🙂.

I think the key here is that, again, I have lived in both Israel and the diaspora so I can confidently state where I prefer to live. I see a lot of Israeli Jews and a lot of Diaspora Jews both saying they’d prefer to live elsewhere but none of them have actually tried. So their opinion is based on perception and not fact. I’m not discounting their opinions as invalid but it’s worth acknowledging that they’re based in theory, not actual experiences they’ve had.

Yes, our current government is more conservative and does favor a more religious society but that’s not indicative of our population as a whole and even many religious Jews don’t favor our current government and didn’t vote for them. I also think it’s dangerous to say that more observant Jews would adjust to life in Israel quickly because that’s not an accurate statement. I, as an observant Jew, find being observant here is easier than in the diaspora - my level of observance doesn’t make life here easier, my life is easier because my level of observance is accommodated for in Israel unlike in other countries. Many religious Jews move from the diaspora and struggle with things just as secular olim would. Anyone moving from any country to another will struggle to adapt to that country. An Italian who grew up in New York will struggle to fit in in Italy. It’s the same thing. They’re different places and even if some of the practices may be the same, they’re still different cultures and customs, etc etc etc.

I need everyone to be careful not to paint Israel and Israelis with such a broad stroke brush. Just like every country, we are diverse and nuanced. Just like every country, those differences both cause difficulties and are what make Israel and Israelis so great. Half of the people in my life are not religious in the way that I am and they are all proud Israelis who would never want to live elsewhere. Some of them despise our current government and I have a few secular friends that vote Likud and always have. Again - it’s important not to fall into the same propaganda trap that we see with the pro-H@mas group that all Israelis are radical zealots with close minded viewpoints that enable us all to support a problematic government. That assessment applies to like 0.0001% of the Israeli population. Israelis are not a monolith, our government and levels of religious observance cannot be viewed through a monolithic lense. That’s just not how life works.

Bottom line - I don’t care where y’all want to live. Everyone should be able to live where they want to live. I just think a lot of diaspora Jews in particular essentially talk themselves out of living in Israel because it’s just unfamiliar to them and they feel that it makes them a bad Jew for not wanting to live here. Which is inaccurate because again, I don’t think anyone cares. I certainly don’t. Live where you want to live. Jew do Jew.

Thanks for the well wishes. Eye injuries aside, we’re all doing great BH 😅

[skopostheorie]

What China does better than Australia (and I'd assume most of the West):

Substantial food (i.e. meals) is very cheap, even relative to the minimum wage here

Most places, even less famous cities, have a lot of cool culture and stuff to do, and of course their own cuisines, whereas Australia, as a young colonial country, doesn't have as much history to boast of and most attractions are less meaningful in that sense

The average person is quite kind, though some drivers will get frustrated with you

Bike infrastructure is more present, especially in urbanised areas (of which there are lots... Maybe more than there should be, but who's gonna stop the one party system hey?), and if not, you are allowed to use the footpath

Also related to urbanisation, the skyline views and things like that in major metropolises are really beautiful, where as Australia's are... Meh?

What Australia does better than China

We're less addicted to our phones (I know! I can't believe it either!)

You don't need your passport of citizenship ID card for literally everything and travel between states is not the government's business. For example in China I needed to produce my passport so I could go into a garden

Entertainment is cheaper relative to the minimum wage e.g. a book is $20 ish, which is a little under an hour's min wage, where as in China is 50RMB ish, or two hours of min wage work. However food is much worse, see above

The 70 years ownership law can make life quite precarious for the average Chinese family especially because the gov't can just snatch it off you whenever they want for their development and don't have to answer to anyone. In Aus they can take your land off you but constitutionally they have to pay you back for it. Farmland also belongs to the state in China. Farmers have it ROUGH in Australia but the fact that they actually own their land gives them an out if they need to sell and move

Similarly, while rural-urban discrepancies are a serious issue in Australia, those of China make Australia seem like a paradise and quickly puts into perspective why there are so many people in places like Shanghai

The air in Australia is mad crisp

People staring at you for being a foreigner in the city is just.... Not going to happen

What they're about the same on

A Chinese person's English is about as good as an Aussie's (insert whatever language they did in school here), obviously not including those who graduate in international studies etc. if they can't explain something to you in English they'll bring the translator out

Places like Shanghai aside (where they're absolutely fantastic), public transport is about the same

Ethnic diversity*: while Australia's is about the many many Indigenous groups AND immigration, much of which has an extensive history as well as those who are "new arrivals", China's ethnic diversity is from their ethnic minorities that don't tend to stem from immigration but is equally as vast and vibrant. Both countries have major issues with the oppression thereof but also have govt initiatives etc to support them

[ectonurites]

…ok the next DC:YJ issue (#5) isn’t out yet (aside from the preview and a leaked page) but I wanna briefly talk about this criticism/sentiment i’ve seen in at least three or four separate posts across here and twitter:

Several people confused/frustrated by Meghan seeming to characterize Young Justice fans (via Mickey) as conservative homophobic sexist racist etc dudebros- when the Young Justice fandom they are familiar with is largely made up of a completely different diverse group of people. Plus the 1998 book itself being unfairly misrepresented as less progressive than it actually was in order to justify this.

To which there’s two points I’d like to bring up:

1. Meghan Fitzmartin is the one writing this book. Meghan Fitzmartin who wrote the story in which Tim became canonically bisexual. Meghan Firzmartin who has been constantly berated and criticized and sent hate by the vocal toxic homophobic Tim fans that think she ruined the character! A lot of those people aren’t fans of just Tim- they’re fans of Tim’s generation (in many instances because stuff like Young Justice 1998 was current back when they were getting into comics). And plenty are opposed to any change, not just characters coming out as LGBT, but more diversity in comics in general- more lead characters of color, more lead women, etc. The tumblr- and like stan dctwt- sections of the DC fandom might be what you see the most as a user of those communities, but they are not the only part of the fandom, not the majority, and not even necessarily the most vocal.

2. @gwynerso said the other thing I wanna communicate well when discussing misrepresentation of Young Justice 1998:

I think the whole point was that it was progressive, given the whole point is that Mikey had to heavily twist the guys memories and remove Cassie to make his “point”. Whilst we can talk about writing quality and whether it hits its mark or not, it’s definitely a critique of (x)

the sort of fan who will ignore the progressive elements of what they like to paint it in the gross light they want it to have. If it wasn’t progressive, Bart, Tim and Kon wouldn’t have noticed the dissonance. Mikey’s powers are reality bending on both ends like his dad’s. (x)

Because, as stated earlier, those types of fans of YJ do definitely exist and they are in Meghan’s twitter notifications on a pretty regular basis (plus I wouldn’t be surprised by some irl encounters at conventions she’s attended since UL #6 dropped). Maybe they’re not the ones reading the book (and even if they are, they’re obviously not the only ones) but it’s still a toxic mindset that’s within the comics community and she is actively painting that mindset as being the villain here (which goes along with the general theme in both this book and Dark Crisis as an event that things can’t/shouldn’t just go back to ‘how they were’ because things have changed, modern comics can’t just be ruled by nostalgia)

I think there is definitely fair discussion to be had about whether this was the book/story that was needed for these characters right now (I personally at this point don’t really think it was, in large part because a lot of problems/unfair treatment the YJ generation has faced were more editorial’s fault than the fanbase’s, and that’s something hard to actually approach through an in-universe story), I think there are certainly elements/execution/characterization worth criticizing (I’m just… waiting to formulate my final thoughts on any of that until we have the whole story, because the context of the ending could absolutely change/explain things), but it feels like so many people are just looking for reasons to be angry without taking a step back to think about the larger picture/larger comics community. Without trying to think about what is actually being communicated here and instead just getting defensive.

[phynewrites]

🍓 Author Ask tag 🍓

Thank you for the tag! @leisoree (here) and @at-thezenith (here!) These are all wonderful questions and a perfect moment to share with others

This is a long post ahead so I'm going to put this here already:

Gently tagging (no pressure) @writingamongther0ses @distortedsense @alnaperera @sm-writes-chaos @bluet-s @silviathebard @caxycreations @inseasofgreen @sableglass

Your questions are:

Which OC are you most fond of and why?

Is there any form of media (other movies, books, theater, news, etc.) that inspired your wip/s? How so?

What wip-related activities do you do aside from writing your wip? (making moodboards or playlists, etc.)

What are you most proud of in your wip/s and why?

What tropes are common among your wip/s? Why do you enjoy incorporating these tropes?

Which part of your wip are you most struggling and how do you plan to overcome it?

Any advice/ words of encouragement or just really a greeting to any writeblr who would have read this far?

From @leisoree

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

This is kind of tricky. Karikultura is essentially a satire/social commentary on the woes of my country as a former colony of Spain and America, as well as the neo-Imperialism that I learned during my years as an activist. I guess I wanted to impart my ideals there that we, as a nation, continue to operate in a colonial mindset by patronizing the foreign and especially putting attention on foreign needs instead of the welfare of our own people. We have not learned, that's essentially what I want to say

For In Death, Forever, at its core is just about how love endures everything, even the universe itself. But at the same time, there are things that are beyond our control no matter how we fight it for. Despite that, fate can be kind and it can work out in our favor even though the outcome is not something we want.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

I'm going to mention a wip that I think hinted at it before and that is Mantra (I think I remember talking about it with @yesireadbooks and @holdmyteaplease I don't know why I can't tag you HAHAHA), although I never got to fully flesh out the story I did go HARD! on the lore, which is mainly inspired by Hinduism and Philippine mythology. It has a polytheistic religion, each person has a specific deity they worship (except if you're a sage, you're mandated to have more than one deity to worship). The landscapes, I was not able to flesh out but I wanted to take inspiration in ancient India. It was also at that time that I was rereading the Ramayana and Mahabharata that I wanted to incorporate the same values of heroism, bravery, remaining true to ones vows, etc.

Karikultura isn't so deep in worldbuilding, but it's heavy on symbolism. Each character represents an idea that is personified. The main character, of course, represents our country. His friend represents our countrymen. His sister represents language. His mother represents glory. I guess that counts as worldbuilding?

In Death, Forever was supposed to be a simple time-leap story, until it just, like any other wip as you would know, expanded. I included, like in Mantra, a polytheistic system but they are not a form of religion. These gods, compared to the ones in Mantra, are not worshipped. They are considered personified forces in the universe that control various dimensions of human life. (Father Time, Sister Fates, Mother Death, I'm not sure if I'm gonna add someone else, maybe if I thought of it and if they play a relevant role in the story.) The time leap structure was based similarly on Tokyo Revengers, to which I still am an avid fan of today.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

Felipe in Karikultura appears to be a businessman who intends to expound his reach and conquer the world together with his American friends. As I've said, what I want to achieve in this story is neo-imperialism awareness through the decline of his character, that this is a faux success and the real success would rely on the prosperity of the people and not the foreigners.

Mary in In Death, Forever's goal is simple: find a way to stop the death of her husband Connor. Compared to Karikultura, there isn't really a deeper meaning in her journey apart from showing her resilient and determined nature despite her hardships, which in itself is, I think, a worthy message to the readers. It's going to a be a story about her grief, understanding the ways of the world, pushing its limits, and the raw power of the human mind against the universe and those that govern against it. In the process, she gains an unlikely ally.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Well, I'm not really one to set a wordcount or number of chapters for my wips, but Karikultura is finished now! YEHEY! And I have finished editing it! It has Three Acts: Act 1 with 15 Scenes, Act 2 with 8 scenes and Act 3 with 6 scenes, a total of 19 scenes of 18,967 words (Kinda short but I think it's an ample size for a playscript)

In Death, Forever currently has 12 chapters with 9,519 words in, and that's not even halfway (or even a thirds) of the original plot I have in mind.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Oh boy HAHAHHA, all my wips are original content. My top contenders of where I plan to post it are in Wattpad and A03. Actually, Karikultura is available in Public now, in Wattpad at https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/374982617-karikultura

It's in Filipino and English, a little bit of Spanish.

When and why did you start writing?

I formed the love for writing when I was in 3rd grade. The first book I read was Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger and I thought I wanted to write stories like that. I started to read more -- a hobby that I got from my mom -- and that's where I started concocting stories. I would write in notebooks about stories in schools and ideas that pop in my head. I started formally writing in high school, when I was 14 years old I think. It was a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood except werewolves. I posted it on Wattpad then and it got good reads for a while, but I didn't get to update it frequently due to busy studies. I picked up on my writing slump when I was a college student again, a few moments before I made my writeblr account. Truly, the reason why I started writing was because I wanted to put my thoughts on paper and have an outlet for my emotions

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Keep being you. Don't lose sight of why you write in the first place, and that is for yourself, your leisure, your feelings, and your story. Don't be discouraged if there are challenges, these are normal. The way you handle and react to them is completely in your control, so keep going and always remember to write because it is what you love to do. It is not for anyone else to dictate to you. All the love <333333333333

From @at-thezenith

what was the first piece of writing you did where you thought "wow I'd love to be a writer"?

Okie, so I said a while ago that technically it was reading first that got me into writing, but I think the first piece that I wrote that really inspired me was a story I made about my friends in 5th grade. We were playing a royalty roleplay-esque game that my friend invented. I wrote about it in my diary, and then a flash of inspiration came into me that I could turn it into a fantasy story where each of us were queens from distant lands with different powers, each needing the other to balance the world. Kind of like that. I think that's the earliest wip I've had.

how do you gather inspiration for your works? (pinterest boards, writing prompts, etc)

The biggest inspiration for most of my wips just come into my head from either a (1) dream or (2) various media. I remember specifically having an abandoned about attending a magic school that was based on a dream, and then another about venturing into the depths of a volcano to retrieve an ancient artifact and then using lucid dreaming to travel to another dimension. (please don't ask me to revive these I literally don't know anything about them anymore, maybe in the future something might inspire me)

However, a good chunk of my serious works are from other stories, that's why one of my inspiration as a writer is also to instill inspiration to others (and that's how I also get inspiration from my lovely moots!)

For example, Karikultura is specifically a mishmash of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey and Chinua Achebe's Things fall apart. The story is literally an adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Grey and at it's core is the message of Things fall apart.

In Death, Forever is an awful mishmash of Ken Wakui's Tokyo Revengers and Chinese series Link Click in regards to the time travelling logistics, Crisostomo and Maria Clara from the Television series Maria Clara and Ibarra as well as the extreme grief I felt from Demon Slayer: Mugen Train. I think even the atmosphere and the multiple universes of Sonny Boy also had an influence.

Another wip (unnamed but what I have in mind is "Berserker" or something like that) is based on Carnby Kim's Bastard Manhwa in regards to the atmosphere and the motivations of the main character. It also has elements of Venom such that the alien specie is like a symbiote but not really.

All these unrelated media mix together to create the shitshow I am brewing now.

what genre is easiest to write? what's the hardest? why?

For me, fantasy and science fiction is the easiest to write because of my exposure with the genre. With all the books and movies I have read and watched in this genre, I find it easy to pick apart how to make an effective story and create a world that is intricate according to this genre.

On the other hand, the hardest for me to write is Romance. Listen, sometimes love can be an overwhelming thing to write for me. I feel like I might be overdoing it or underdoing it. Do the characters have chemistry? Am I glamorizing a red flag? Do normal couples even do this? And it doesn't help that there are a lot of romance books that I have criticized a lot. That may be one of the reason I'm skeptical of my own writing when it comes to romance (which is kinda ironic considering In Death, Forever is also a romance story. Anyway, it's always good to go outside of our comfort zones once in a while)

what does a typical day of writing look like for you?

My job required me to write a lot of technical stuff so really, it's also a part of my daily life now (just not the type of writing I do to enjoy.)

When I'm writing for my wips, I want to remain focused and undisturbed as much as possible. If you would observe, I reblog some others writers' works here sometimes. That would mean I'm not in my headspace and want to get there, and most of the time I read stuff to get in the writing headspace. I also put on ambient music, mostly piano, to stay in that headspace. I have a notebook where the ideas are propped up and its sitting in a book stand next to my laptop. I have my favorite mechanical keyboard propped up, and a cup of cold coffee by the side. I really need the external orderliness to coordinate well with my headspace HAHAHA.

free space! ramble about a character you've most enjoyed writing about

Oh boy, this is actually from a short story that I posted here a long way back, it's a prompt fill that just sparked something in my brain and I knew I had to write it down, get it done. I don't care that I have a class in the next few hours, we still have time to get this shit.

Not just the characters, but I really love the worldbuilding I did here, especially since it was all in a whim but I'm really proud of it. I really like Luna and Skye's character. Actually there was another one that was supposed to appear which is a childhood friend of Skye. I think I have written her story somewhere, I just need to find and edit it before I get it out here. I wish I could expound more on their world, but there's nothing that coming out of my brain right now lol HAHAHA. I think what I most enjoyed writing about them is the spontaneity and how I was able to come up with their stories as fast as I could, on a deadline before my classes start.

I have a lot of babies, most of them are residing in my subconscious and I love them all.

if you could pick the brains of one author, who would you pick and why?

That would be Khaled Hosseini. I was deeply moved when I read The Kite Runner and it really made me feel... feelings. There's something in the way that Hosseini weaves words into not just a story but a prose. He was the first writer that I truly admired for the way he placed words together. I said that I want to have that kind of poetic way of writing and I would love to get into Mr. Hosseini's train of thought while writing so I could write like him and string the hearts of people like what he has done for me.

7. what's one writing tip that has stuck in your head?

Write for yourself. It's very simple but powerful because it reminds me why I'm doing this in the first place: because I love it. It gives me a chance to bring my stories to life, be productive, do something meaningful, and create. Also, I'm the kind of person who believes that the universe will give people what they need the moment they do. I might not be writing just for myself. There might be someone, somewhere out there who needs to read what I wrote just as how the countless works of other authors have found me. But for now, these stories will not be finished unless I do it for myself first.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies OP Analysis and Speculation Post - SPOILERS!

I want to talk about the stuff in the Buddy Daddies OP, specifically about some of the none Kazuki, Rei, and Miri focused imagery. So here is a post filled with some speculation and even a bit of flower language!

First up, we have these two women. They could just be women meant to represent the women Kazuki might sleep with for his job or see in the Red Light District. But they might be more important than that. One has long brown hair like Miri's mother, though Kazuki’s previous lover also has long brown hair too, so she is a possibility as well. For all we know, it could be both of them here. It’s hard to say.

Next, we have Miri's daycare teacher and class! I like how we see some diversity with the teacher being heavier. You can't see it here, but her interactions with the kids makes me think that she will be a very sweet character. We also get to see the kids' personalities. Cute!

It seems like the girl with the green and white stripped sweater is going to be more high level energy like Miri (and they will bond quickly), while the girl in the pink sweater looks a little more low-energy. The boy looks like he’ll be loud and abrasive, likely because he is the only boy in the daycare class (from what we can see here).

In Ep. 2, Miri states that her mother is a singer. So, the lady in the red dress is likely her mother. There is also a quick flash of a woman with brown eyes crying. I'm thinking that may be her mother too? Perhaps she holds some remorse with Miri (like with how she has or likely has not, been caring for her) or something painful in her past (issues with men, etc.).

This eye could possibly belong to another character though.

In the OP we get a scene of Kazuki's back, it zooms in on it, there is a flash of light, and then we get this image. It makes me believe that this was Kazuki's previous partner (the pregnant woman we saw in Ep 1). She is surrounded by hydrangeas, which have many meanings, especially in Japan.

Here are some of the meanings associated with hydrangeas in Japan (link to the source in the comments). Since they change color, the flowers in general are associated with being fickle, infidelity, and uncertainty. Kazuki was said to being "running from love" and is a womanizer, so this would fit. 

But, different colors of hydrangeas have different meanings. Blue = patient love, Pink = an energetic woman, white = tolerance. We see all of those colors in the image with the woman and umbrella. Pink hydrangeas are often given on Mother's Day as well, and we know from Ep. 1 that Kazuki’s previous lover/partner was pregnant.

According to that Japanese site, many ppl associate hydrangeas with positive things too, like good friends and a family unit. The lady holding the umbrella in the OP is likely Kazuki's previous lover, and the crying eye may be hers. The money he has Kyu set aside is likely for her too. What exactly that means and what exactly happened that broke this family unit apart is still unclear, though I have some ideas and possibilities.

There is also an image of an adult hand holding a child's hand. The most likely assumption is that it is Kazuki holding Miri's hand. But, perhaps it might be Kazuki holding the hand of the child we see his lover being pregnant with or Miri holding a different adult's hand. 

Some ideas I have for what happened with Kazuki’s previous family:

1. Kazuki was unfaithful and that destroyed the family. This would fit the womanizing aspect and his need to “run from love,” but it wouldn’t fit with what we saw in the flashback. He looked happy and dedicated to his previous partner, and the money he is sending is likely going to her or his child. He is very dedicated about that, so...I don’t think this would be a possibility, because it doesn’t fit his personality and what we’ve been shown of him and his past experience of loving her.

2. Either the child or the woman died. I don’t think they both died, since Kazuki is sending money to someone, either the wife, child, or both (in the sense of childcare money). But, a death could really mess up a person and cause a family to break apart.

3. The flashback we get of Kazuki with his previous partner were before he ended up in his current job of being a hitman. When he got involved in this line of business, he realized that it was too dangerous for a family and child to be involved, so he ran from it for their safety, while still providing monetary support. 

Out of the three options, I lean the most towards 2 or 3. I think 1 is the most unlikely. But, 3 would likely cause the most confrontational drama with Miri in the picture now. 2 would be heartbreaking, but something I wouldn’t mind the series exploring. What do you all think?

And since we are ending this post on a bit of a heartbreaking/heavy topic. Have this sweet image from the ED:

[kimageddon]

Hey I wanted to thank you for your comments on the long thread about Phee/Tech and neurodivergence, etc. You managed to put into words what I couldn't about posts of that nature and why they were bothering me; I've mostly just blocked them rather than try to articulate what didn't sit right. Neurodivergence is a large spectrum and I think it's easy for everyone to assume a given ND character's experiences must align with theirs, rather than acknowledging it's going to work for some of us and not others, and that's all part of being a large, diverse group of people whose life experience at the hands of neurotypical society is going to be radically variant.

Hello Anon!

Thank you kindly for such a lovely message! I am very glad that I was able to say something. You may regret sending this, because I am jumping back on my soapbox.

I'm gonna talk about Autism, ND, mental health as it relates to Tech and the Bad Batch.

This is gonna be another long one:

For clarification, if anyone needs it, my message in the aforementioned thread was to offer a different perspective as the arguments did not make sense to me. I wanted to talk about the show and not about the people having the opinions.

I wanna clarify that my comments in regard to Autism being different was not to dismiss the experiences of anyone ND but to specify that while perhaps you(anyone reading this) would find the comment "it's called a conversation" upsetting (I know I would if it were said to me!).

However I do not think Tech would.

My reasoning is this:

Autism is treated differently in men and women and men (generally speaking) are not pressured to mask as much. (They still are, but not to the level of women from everything my research tells me.)

That being said, Tech has not really had to do that from the evidence I have seen. He Info dumps, interjects, and pretty much acts with confidence throughout the time we see him. Why would he need to mask? He was created to be a well of information and his brothers more or less accept him as he is.

To the argument that Phee somehow controls or manipulates or otherwise pushes her self on Tech in any manner.

I think that is ridiculous.

Firstly, she is gentle and kind when she speaks to him, if a little sassy. Nothing Tech hasn't encountered before from his brothers, or even dished out himself.

Hunter's introduction to us of Tech is: "He can fill your head with useless info for hours."

Which is probably the most dismissive thing said to him in the time we get to know him, but that just doesn't bother him.

In relation to this, people saying things like this are at risk of infantalising him. Which is a major problem within the Autistic and ND community.

Secondly. Tech is a grown ass man (weird clone aging aside). If he didn't like Phee or something she says, he can walk away, and I believe he would. He doesn't appear to feel the societal pressures, he's a soldier and doesn't get civilian etiquette so why would he follow it and stand around her just to be polite?

"Since when have we ever followed orders?"

We aren't children.

We might think differently and process differently, but we are people. We're not poor widdle babies that don't understand our feelings. We don't need protecting from the world and people that wanna treat Tech that way are doing he and the Autistic people that identify with him a massive disservice.

Finally, I wanted to clarify the part of my message that seemed to be the most controversial.

If something is so deeply upsetting that it affects your mental health detrimentally perhaps you need to look at your life and disengage from said thing.

From what I gather, some people have interpreted this to mean : just don't watch the Bad Batch. or "it's just a stupid show why do you care?"

This is not what I mean.

Of course care about it, get engaged with the characters and the story and let it make you feel things.

What this message means is:

If something -- whether it be a piece of media, a person/relationship, a social platform --

Is so deeply upsetting that it effects your mental health detrimentally -- if you have trouble sleeping or thinking about anything else or fall into depressive states (not depression generally speaking but because of the something specifically) and you cannot function at your usual level --

Perhaps you need to look at your life -- true happiness comes from within (i'll get to this in a sec) --

And disengage with said thing -- take a break, take a breath, drink water, have a snack. Let your emotions process and let yourself relax, then you can go back to it (provided of course it's not a toxic situation.) --

I realise this is far easier said than done, and it would take a significant amount of introspection, but I use this in multiple situations, not just here.

The TL:DR version; go touch grass, you'll feel better.

Alright, we've strayed a little from the point

Finally: Ship and let ship.

If you don't like Phee because you prefer to write Tech as not liking anyone but y/n or your OC -- go for it! That's totally valid! (They did it with Anakin so why not?) Besides, there were only a few interactions and it was a budding closeness, it's not like Tech was getting married to her!

But if you wanna make excuses that you only like the actress when she's not a direct romantic threat to your blorbo or do some mental gymnastics to try and portray her interactions as toxic, and he "deserves better" my dude, that reeks of something else entirely.

I decided to cut it here as it's getting a little longer than intended and I wanted to keep this to Tech/Bad Batch related stuff. I will make a post explaining the more controversial takes that apparently upset some people.

That should be interesting.

Again, thank you anon for the kind message, and giving me an opportunity to further clarify my thoughts.

If anyone has any questions or counterpoints, I would be interested to hear them.

[hugheses]

Ontarian here! Yeah we have publicly funded Catholic schools and publicly funded secular schools. It goes back to our confederation and the related negotiations that made that happen.

TLDR; yeah we do have Catholic schools in Ontario, but students of many faiths (or atheist students) can and do attend them. I personally wouldn't read too much into the Hughes' attending one.

...

Generally, you can attend publicly funded Ontario Catholic schools if you arent Catholic, parents just need to register as a Catholic school supporter on their property tax forms. At the elementary (K-8) level, you sometimes need approval from the school/district to attend Catholic schools if students aren't Catholic. As far as I know, you don't need to be Catholic to attend a publicly funded Catholic high school.

At Ontario Catholic schools, you have to attend school mass and take religion class every year. You don't participate/receive Catholic sacraments. Other than health class (which for me lacked information about condoms/birth control), and prayers during announcements, my other classes weren't about religion.

... Canada was colonized by the French (who were largely Catholic) and the British (who were protestant). Before confederation, compromises were made in both the majority-French Lower Canada (now Quebec) to allow there to be Protestant schools, and in majority-English Upper Canada (now Ontario) to allow there to be Catholic schools. Then this was enshrined in the 1867 Constitution Act.

Eventually, the protestant schools became secular, and elsewhere, other provinces amended their constitutions to eliminate publicly-funded Catholic schools.

There are many people nowadays who are opposed to public Catholic schools for a variety of reasons (there are many redundancies to having two English school boards serve the same neighbourhoods, it is wrong to prioritize one religion when Ontario is way more diverse now, the harm caused by the Catholic church with respect to residential schools, SA, etc., the intersection of LGBTQIA+ students' rights and the Catholic faith (although some Catholic school boards are more progressive than others), etc.

Teachers unions in Ontario are generally quite strong, and given the need (afaik) to amend the constitution to get rid of the system, I am not sure if/when they will be eliminated. Also, sometimes there is a perception that Catholic schools are "better" than public (secular) schools because they have more funding (from the Catholic church I presume - but I am not sure if that is even true).

yes i do know about this! tho it feels very foreign to me from the US where this would be like, very illegal. i am ethically/culturally jewish on my moms side but my parents/grandparents are all atheists, and i chose to apply and go to a catholic school for HS bc i wanted to! and my experience was very similar in that it wasn’t super religious, aside from like monthly mass and the crosses in every classroom and mandatory theology class which i actually personally liked. the school itself was only 30% catholic students. so i agree i don’t think it necessarily means something that they went to catholic school but in this particular case i do think their dad’s side of the family being catholic is important to them and if i had to guess they probably did identify as catholic on whatever forms and stuff.

[critical-thinking-is-mandatory]

gimme your top 5 hot takes about YA genre

Only 5? Let's see if I can narrow it down haha.

5. Love Triangles

They've been around a while, but truly only popularised by the likes of Twitlight and the Hunger Games. Almost any YA story trying to copy off of either of these will be guaranteed to have a love triangle.

Will they have any of the depth and symbolism and thought put into the THG triangle? Fuck no! The only thing happening here is a case of "oh no! However could I possibly choose between my two love interests uWu".

They're shallow, dull excuses to plump out the story and to set the shippers aflame. Most of the love triangles could be solved because everyone has two hands OR the fate of the relationship rests entirely on how hot both parties are, not chemistry or compatibility or any frame of logic.

Love triangles can fuck right off.

4. There's Like. No 'Good' Adults

You know how it goes. 'I'm a spunky teenager and what I say goes! Fuck you adults with 20+ years experience!' And then the adults get #owned by this badass teen that's 16 with 30 years work experience even though they only learned their skill/secret society/heritage/powers etc last week 🙄

The only good adults are dead, preferably before the story even starts, if not, sterile, unemotional death within the first 20 pages works just fine.

Everyone else is bad. Or dumb. Or useless. Or evil. Like? We get it you don't want any adults around, jeez.

This isn't a hard workaround! There's many many many ways to shunt aside your adults without making them all incompetent, evil or dead.

like I get it, being a young adult means sometimes you want to disobey authority. and what better wishfulfillment than bland white girl #39776× telling some adult (who may even be right!) to go shove it up their ass. It's not even used as like a study of hubris or the character and their development. It's a simple 'fuck you authority figure' and then they wash their hands of it.

Like bestie, young people need more experienced and older people, role models and safety nets and sounding boards and teachers alike! Why you gotta make every fictional adult evil? As if getting older makes you inevitably turn bad? Where is the camaraderie between generations? Where are the healthy relationships between young and old people? Why expect evil as if it's the default when we could simply lift our standards?

3. "Strong" Female Characters

It seems like no author who's heard the phrase knows what it means!

It means we end up with female characters who can kill a bear bare handed but have all the personality and drive of three day old dishwater. No! No no no no no!

A strong female character doesn't need to be strong! What she does need is a personality. Impact on the plot. Drive, decision making abilities. She makes the plot move, the plot doesn't have to drag her around like a limp noodle.

But no. These "writers" are incapable of understanding that 'strong female character' is a goddamn FIGURE OF SPEECH and then work in a field where understanding metaphors and literary devices is really really important. It's the kind of brain fuckery where say, a pet store employee doesn't know what a dog is. HOW. How does it happen?? These people need to go back to like Grade 5 english and literacy skills lessons. Bloody hell.

2. The Almost Constant Racism

YA racism is so *shakes fist* it's not even limited to the writing.

White authors are out here "writing" what essentially amounts to tropes cobbled together with tape and chewing gum, the same kind of shallow, bland plots that are a staple of fanfiction from my 14 year old self. And then you have all these amazing works of fiction rejected because the author is a poc or the characters are "too diverse".

This isn't even scratching the surface of how racist a lot of YA gets. Like, the majority of characters are white, the main character is 99% guaranteed to be white, their love interest/s will either be white or they'll be fetishised until the cows come home. Any characters of colour will either be relegated to 2 dimensional secondary character or will be killed off with little fanfare, depending on the overall mood of the story.

The Wasted Potential

YA could so, so easily be the stepping stone for young readers transitioning out of children's fiction. Like, there's a lot of literature taught to people in high school that is simply beyond their ability to comprehend, but is still important to learn!

Much of classic lit, and literature that's important to study, is simply just. Too much. I know I didn't really understand a lot of what I learned in literature and I was one of the best students in my class. It's hard. Genuinely it's hard.

You know what would make it easier? A midpoint. Writing with similar depth and care and craftsmanship, but written for a younger, less experienced and developed audience.

The likes of Animal Farm and the Hunger Games come to mind because they are both clear cut allegories that, with a little research and help, are easy enough to understand and analyse. Like, can you imagine what kind of stories we'd get if even HALF these trope collàge booktok YA books were written with the same kind of skill as any classic author? The same kind of conviction and power in their stories?

Instead of classics that are beyond the comprehensive range of teenagers that just make them hate reading and leave them confused and upset. What kind of lessons could these kids be learning, if there were high quality works written for them and their level of development? Like, they could be learning and developing their skills as writers and analysts because they wouldn't constantly have to have it pointed out to them what x metaphor means or why abc is important.

Idk. I just think it'd be good for students to have a medium specifically for their age group instead of being expected to comprehend the entirety of War and Peace.

anyway, these are my main thots on YA as a general genre. I have mixed feelings about it, as it was incredibly important for my development as a reader and writer and analyst but also :) most of it is shit :) as in like 99% of it is shit :) and we deserve better as readers.

[askaborderline]

how do you make close connections with people without it becoming damaging? i either cut it off because i’m scared i’m going to hurt them or i end up being at the mercy of splitting/intense jealousy etc.

i just want to be close to people but it’s excruciating and scary so i end up keeping myself alone

Hey anon,

Honestly, this is something I struggle with myself, but in my few healthy relationships I've definitely found some consistent patterns.

For starters, some people are just going to inevitably see your symptoms as damaging, toxic and/or manipulative no matter how you try to explain yourself. They aren't any of those things by nature, but some people are set in their ways, unfortunately.

That said, I feel being honest about your disorder is your best bet in developing lasting relationships. My few lasting relationships have worked bc the other person is aware of my BPD/NPD/ASPD, are doing their best to be respectful of my issues and needs while I do my best to be respectful and knowledgeable of theirs.

The most important thing, really, is setting boundaries very early on. You want a very clear idea of what's okay to do and what's not okay to do, you both need to establish these boundaries from the start - you too!! Don't just let your comfort be thrown aside for the sake of making friends, find ones that'll stick around and won't hurt to do so! Follow those boundaries, respect those boundaries, know the limits of your loved one(s) and if they're any decent of a person, they'll respect yours too.

Asking for reassurance when you need it is perfectly okay, too. "Hey, I'm not being overly possessive, right?" "I don't hurt you, do I?" With the right framing, these are perfectly fine questions to ask, especially if you're making it clear that these are deep-rooted anxieties you have and not an attempt to be manipulative. Not everyone will try to understand the struggles you go through, but some people with.

It's also important to develop a pretty diverse social group. That helps with jealousy and such, because it's easier to distract yourself if you have other people you can spend your time with while your FP or whatever is busy. Just like there's nothing wrong with them having other friends, there's nothing wrong with you having other friends either.

Just, most of all, watch out for red flags and make sure your boundaries are respected. If something is hurting you more than helping, it's perfectly okay to leave that friendship. You need to watch out for your mental health first.

Best of luck, I'm rooting for you :)

[sexualitiesresearchgroup]

Fanfiction & The Power of Making Your Own Representation

Hey besties, worsties, and those whose relationship with me is much more complex than that, let’s talk about fanfiction! We know it, we love it, and it has absolutely never been the topic of any controversy whatsoever! I see a lot of discussion on here about the literary merits of fanfiction– people like to say that Dante’s Inferno is just Bible self-insert and the like, and whether or not that is a joke (and I do believe that the majority of people saying this are doing it for the bit, it’s not the insidious act of anti-intellectualism that a lot of y’all think it is) this kind of rhetoric does reveal an underlying urge on a lot of our parts to try to legitimize fanfic as something that’s worth spending our time on. Whether or not your 20k word Destiel soulmate AU is high art, fanfiction does have a very real benefit, aside from just being fun.

It’s no secret that the majority of fictional media that’s coming out is Overwhelmingly Heterosexual, and it can be really difficult to find books, shows, movies, etc. that you can connect to as a queer person. Plus, there’s this overwhelming pressure for queer media to be perfect in how it deals with social issues, and while it is more than justified to be frustrated when media portrayals perpetuate stereotypes or are otherwise inaccurate, the environment for queer storytellers has become rather hostile, both from the industry they are climbing uphill to break into as well as from fans. As such, while media is steadily getting more diverse, many queer people still find themselves feeling alienated by the media they enjoy, and that’s where fanfiction comes in!

When mainstream media is sorely lacking in representation, queer fans take it upon themselves to create media that suits their needs, retelling stories as a form of social transgression, taking aspects of the normative and making it queer. French philosopher Michel Foucault discussed the concept of the ‘heterotopia,’ which has nothing to do with heterosexuality, believe it or not. Heterotopias are spaces that can “disrupt the normative processes and power—including heteronormativity and cisnormativity– within which society functions” (Llewelyn). These spaces engage with normative, mainstream culture while also subverting it: while it should by no means be where your activism ends, there is something personally empowering about, for instance, writing about two characters being gay when their creator has said something homophobic. It is a small act of resistance, even if it is not something that the showrunners will ever see. You’re carving a space for queerness within a larger space that either explicitly or implicitly rejects it, and that’s pretty cool! 

Writing gay fanfiction isn’t necessarily going to change anyone’s minds or get any legislation passed, but it has a very real value in how it allows queer people to take the media that they love and reimagine it, reclaiming it and making it something that they are able to see themselves in.

[omamervt]

Something I find infinitely funny is the conservative insistence that the very people they want to see erased from society (or perhaps to exist as an eternal out group to "other" people to at will) also have to be their friends/lovers/etc, in spite of the whole "othering" thing. And I've seen a lot of guesses on why that is, most of them are likely contributing factors.

Most likely answer is that they know anyone who is able to reach across the political aisle for their hand in friendship/love/etc is gonna side with them, end of the day. They may have different political alliances but the hope is that your community alliance is stronger, and while they'll have no issue turning on undesirables, they're comfortable in the belief that you will have trouble turning on them.

In line with that, most conservatives also seem obsessed with the idea, the fantasy, of subjugation. The reason incel/redpill bros and tradwife girls haven't all married off is because that's not what either group actually wants, even if it's what they say on paper. Redpill bros don't want a premade tradwife, they want to MAKE one out of one of a woman with blue hair and pronouns. It's why you see so many Reddit relationships posts where a man is angry about his girlfriend, who he met at The Club, still going to The Club. It's why they're so obsessed with "body count" - They don't actually care if a girl has slept with a lot of people, they just want her to be ashamed of it. And likewise the aspiring tradwife girls want a Real Manly Man who will Be A Provider for them... and the Red Pill bros are all too insecure to fill the role. Who's not insecure about their masculinity though? Men who place little value in it to begin with. It's the same deal with friendships - like I said before, they expect their friends who are further left on the political spectrum to fall in line when it comes down to it.

But my personal favorite is that, no matter how you spin it, no matter how much an ongoing pandemic has fucked both our online and offline behavior, conservatives stand more to gain from befriending left-leaning people than they do other right-leaning ones on an interpersonal level. Aside from family, who is supposed to be there for you no matter what, who would you guess is the more empathetic group? Other right-wing extremists, who you've united with mostly out of mutual hatred and fear of change? The centrists, who disagree with just about everything you say but ultimately stay out of your way? Or the people who, even if they can't agree on a course of action to rally behind often enough to make a difference, are all hoping for a better world that benefits the highest possible number of people? At the very least, I know the group I'd trust to form healthy emotional bonds with the least. You MIGHT get your needs met by one of the centrists, but more people in group 3 care about things because they CARE. no agenda, no ulterior motive, just... actually care about people. Not just the ones immediately around them, either. They care about people overseas even when they AREN'T being opportunistic about it. But they're always shocked to learn that these people who CLAIM to care about diversity, who SEEM to care about everyone, could look at a conservative and find... nothing. These people would lose something that matters to them and get nothing in return. A relationship with a conservative is worth so little, they aren't even seen as worth converting.

That HAS to eat away at them, even if they're so deep in reality denial to ever understand why.

[giiaaaa]

Week 11 - Session 1

My group's manifesto key points are:

- Purpose That translates to principles of work that convey its messages, inspire, and interact and engage with the viewer. - Aesthetic Making it memorable and impactful with elements such as color palette, typography, layout, harmony, etc..And attention to detail. - Reflection keeping an open mind to constructive criticism that involves developing oneself and evolving with design trends.

Personally, I agree with my group's manifesto but here are my personal add ons:

My personal manifesto:

Get over myself

Embracing the mindset of getting over myself is a valuable asset to help me reflect on my commitment to growth, collaboration, and user-centered design. By understanding the connotations of "get over," I can set aside personal biases, egos, and preconceptions to prioritize the needs and preferences of end-users. Hence, I'm able to make room for a more user-focused, transparent, and empathy.

Art goes beyond aesthetic

For instance, this charity fashion show correlates with the idea that art goes beyond aesthetics by using fashion as a medium to raise awareness and support for cancer and survivors. This charity show highlights that fashion can be used as a tool for self-expression and empowerment, allowing individuals to express their identity and journey through their choice of clothing.

Correlation to materiality and techniques has taught me that creativity knows no boundaries and can be elicited through various mediums. As it explores the diverse materials, textures, and approach. Fashion design, like any other medium shares similarities like embracing unconventional materials or ways to create symbolic elements.

Art is meant to disturb the comfort

I like this quote a lot as I feel that it guides me in my endeavors, whether it be in my practice or outside. Cesar A. Cruz's quote captures the dual nature of art as a means of both solace and challenge which suggests that art, in various forms, can be a source of healing, empathy, and connection for individuals.

On the flip side, art also has a role in unsettling or challenging those who may be complacent or comfortable in their beliefs, perspectives, or societal positions. It suggests that art can catalyse questioning norms, provoking critical thinking, and prompting reflection. Perhaps, like this photo below.

Meanwhile, it challenges norms, where the boundaries of photography are challenged capturing thought-provoking images that promote critical thinking and challenge societal norms

Using this approach in my practice of photography, it helps me to ease both means of nature-whereby the presence of seeking photography as an outlet for my own emotions that capturing images brings comfort.

Taking risk is a crucial aspect

I feel it is imperative to my journey as it helps fuel creativity, explore the unfamiliar, and encourage me to trust my instincts.

Lastly,

Collaboration allows me to work with diverse perspectives, skills, and ideas.

This collaboration and willingness to find common ground demonstrates the point of connection and compromise in shaping what's best for an idea. We were able to create a concept that reflects both our individual styles and ideas by accepting different viewpoints and finding a middle ground.

I have learned from CTS the significance of open communication. It has taught me to think critically, which involves analyzing, assessing, adapting, and drawing conclusions. Through this practice, I can express my thoughts and conclude clearly to my partner, and allowing us to make informed decisions and work towards shared goals.

Word count: 454 References: "School manifesto". Ulfal, V & Gia. 7/11/20223 "Personal manifesto". Gia. 10/11/2023 In Good Company. "Fashion for Cancer". Image-Ong Bee yan. https://ingoodcompany.asia/discover-impact-fashionforcancer The Straits Times. "Fashion for Cancer". "more than just a fashion show". Akshita Nanda AND Gin Tay. SEPT 6, 2023. https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2023/09/fashion-for-cancer-singapore/index.html?shell "Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable" Cesar A. Cruz." https://www.pinterest.com/pin/696932111097934092/ Medium. "When A Monk Set Himself On Fire — Burned To Ashes". Afaque Ashraf Janzai. 14 may. https://medium.com/@afaqueashraf9988/when-a-monk-set-himself-on-fire-burned-to-ashes-1986e6a6838c "Chill Zone Check-In". Gia. 5 November 2023 "Visual Concept". Ulfal & Gia. 17 October 2023