#(unless; of course; they're targeting another person more 'popular'

[fideidefenswhore]

"bright and breezy tudor historian", the absolute gall.

[keyotosprompts]

not easy to please ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

alternatives to popular tropes

⇴ siblings's worst enemy

they're your sibling's enemy, so of course they're yours too. they're despicable and you seriously want them dead. luckily for you, the feeling's mutual.

⇴ struggling ceo and their know-it-all office worker

how did this mf become the ceo of one of the most progressive countries in the world?? they're clueless and you're the one that has to fix all their mistakes. you seriously don't get paid enough for this (unless they can come up with another way to pay you).

⇴ marriage of inconvenience

what happens in vegas stays in vegas. except when you've signed an official marriage contract, and everything is so much more complicated before. now this person is stuck with you until you can divorce! (or will you?)

⇴ forbidden hate

your parents absolutely adore the idea of the two of you together. they have wedding pinterest boards, future plans, and baby names for the two of you. only one thing: you two kinda hate each other, and hell would have to freeze over before you'd ever get with them.

⇴ no more second chances

sorry dude! f'ed up really bad the first time, and now you're not giving anymore chances, and your ex has to deal with the consequences. one problem: they can't deal with the consequences bc they're literally in love with you. hm. just what will this person do to get you back?

⇴ not so secret identity

everyone knows who they are. not even the old mask and hat trick could prevent people from identifying them. and it's fine–they absolutely bask in the fame. one problem though: they're a constant target to the entire world. perfect!

⇴ separated from each other

they never get any alone time. alone together in an elevator? too bad, a party of ten just showed up, pushing the two of you on the opposite side of the elevator. finally alone at home? nope! unfortunately, your friends make a surprise visit! oh how will you two ever get past this?

⇴ "you deserved it."

a normal person would've asked "who did this to you?" except your bond is not normal. not in the slightest. i mean seriously, what does this person want from you?

⇴ "i can't have you, so i'll let someone else take my place."

they know that they're not good enough for you, and that you deserve someone better than them. so, they choose to let you go, and hope that someone else can make your world light up like they used to

⇴ the one that is still here

everywhere you go, this person is there. whether it's physically, mentally, or spiritually, everything ties back to them. everything reminds you of them. you couldn't even escape if you tried.

⇴ playboy but he's actually a nerd that cannot get play

he's gorgeous–he's the most attractive man you think you've ever seen in your life. you think he's probably got it all–girls or boys coming up to him nonstop. only, that's not true in the slightest. somehow, he's managed to fumble every single time.

⇴ nobody wants the bad boy

he's troubled. there are rumors of him starting fights 24/7, and he lives in a bad area. he could really fuck someone up. nobody wants him.

⇴ "you must be delusional"

lovers that know that they're in love with each other, but when admitting it to their friends, they shut down their feelings.

⇴ loving someone to save them

none of that breaking up nonsense. love is power. their love and support causes you to be stronger than ever. knowing that there's love out there gives you a reason to keep on going. love saves you.

⇴ too smart to live

you've outdone yourself this time. bypassed every guard, rule, and law without anyone catching you. so, of course, there's only one solution here: to eliminate you.

⇴ different worlds (revised)

you grew up poor while they grew up rich. now, in the present, you are the more successful one, while they are struggling to get their life together. now, you must help the one who used to be in your current position, and fix things together.

⇴ one-sided blind date

rule one of having a blind date: you should not know who you're meeting. well, too late! you sneaked a peek at your friend's phone and found out who you'll be seeing soon. now, you're scrambling to get out of this date because you know exactly who it is.

[olderthannetfic]

I love seeing all the gripes about booktubers and YA authors on here as someone who works in publishing. A lot of the problem from these two spheres has to do with the fact that publishing, especially YA, is suffering right now. There was a boom in YA around a decade ago wherein we saw many YA novels and series received live action adaptions as TV series and movies. This was when YA books were the most profitable for authors. This was a relatively new genre-demographic (technically a demographic, but because there are stylistic and thematic similarities that are consistent across all genres of YA fiction, I will call it a "genre-demographic," "G-D" for short), and publishers were willing to take risks on acquiring more titles because they were valuing quantity over quality. They wanted to fill up shelves with YA novels as quickly as possible. However, this was a problem because they created an entirely new G-D based on a trend. The thematic and stylistic simplicities that were previously overlooked in YA became more well-known. YA began to lose popularity among the masses, and the oversaturation of the market has resulted in increasing competition among YA authors and more YA authors trying to branch out into other realms that will sell better, like "adult" books and middle grade.

Initially, YA was mostly read and purchased by/for teenagers, the intended target demographic. Then, these teenagers grow up, but their tastes did not. Most YA readers are women 26 years old and up. Publishers know this. The readers know this. Yet, the YA readers on book twitter and booktubers continue to push for changes in these books to better suit their needs as they age (slightly older/college aged protagonists, more sex scenes [unless they're sex scenes they don't like], more mature themes [as long as their authors properly prostrates themselves to the readers, of course], etc). They think of YA books as their safe place they can use to mindlessly consume, consume, consume, and anything more complex than an episode of Buffy threatens this veneer of control. The result is YA author Twitter drama. 

Even though all the authors are adults (also: most of their customers are adults, and an increasing amount of teenagers have begun skipping over YA alltogether and reading books for adults), they will fall back into purity culture and use "think of the children" which necessitates we prioritize the metaphorical innocence of the child (read: the adult YA enjoyer) over art, which unfortunately results in the consumer-led sanitization of the G-D. The YA readers are doing this for typical anti-esque reasons: control, moral postering, etc. The YA authors are taking part for two primary reasons: 1) they want to appeal to their consumer-base and the author-as-internet-personality-for-marketing demands this, and 2) they are eliminating their competition. The authors are using purity culture to demonize their fellow authors and victimize themselves. This is what led to the redefining of OwnVoices. It went from being a simple hashtag to help authors get more eyes on their work to being a requirement of YA authors, lest they want to risk persecution from their peers and customers. Publishers are aware of this but do not do much to combat this because it’s free marketing for them, and they don’t want to alienate the only people who spend money in that G-D. Publishers use people like me to follow YA authors and YA consumers on socials to keep track of their comments, as well as how they review books—assuming they actually read the books at all, which we know many do not. This has led to more book hauls are speed reading challenges among reviewers and booktubers, but that’s another thing for another time.

This is the last thing I’ll say before I go. This briefly cut into the mainstream consciousness last year. Book twitter drama (think Isabel Fall, Amélie Wen Zhao-Kosoko Jackson, Sarah Underwood, etc) is outrageous and insipid, but it seldom gets on the radar of those outside these circles. Last year Barnes and noble announced publicly they wouldn’t stock hardbacks of new books, something that was already in practice, to be honest. Cue disgruntled YA authors screeches. This wasn’t an issue and was very understandable. Paperbacks sell more. Hardbacks are larger, more expensive for buyers, and more time-consuming to produce. publishers were notified of this change over a year in advance. None of the authors with upcoming books would be affected because their publishers already knew to print paperbacks, unless their publisher decided to ignore B&N’s warning. People in publishing knew this, but the public did not. YA authors fell back into self-victimization mode and guilt tripping to strategically sell more copies of their books. However, publishers and agents alike noticed this, and some authors were punished behind the scenes. Those same authors then went on Twitter after the fact to target more of their peers in hopes of selling more books. [There are other factors influencing their behaviors, of course, but this ask is long enough.]

That’s all it is, really: YA authors are people in a failing G-D within a failing industry where they constantly need to eliminate their competition and compete to see who’s more moral than the next in hopes of selling books because their publishers don’t market them and give poor advances. YA readers in book twitter/booktubers are functionally conservative anti-intellectuals. (YA authors are also anti-intellectuals if it means they believe they'll sell more books. See the plethora of pathetic Twitter threads around back to school season: "The classics are all boring and bad and spread x ideas. School libraries should purchase more YA. Students should read more YA in class instead, like my book.") If you’re following any of them, please consider stopping for your own sanity. If you see them make or signal boost call out posts, always be skeptical because every other professional with repute around them already is.

--

Back in my teen years in the 90s, the term 'young adult' existed, but the only books I remember seeing were a few Judy Blume titles about realistic teen problems or something. I went straight from kids' books to plain old genre fiction for adults. It's amusing to hear that current teens are going back to that.

A lot of YA boom fallout feels to me like every other time something was a brief blip but a brief blip just as a person came of age: they spend forever waiting for "the normal status quo" to reassert itself and wondering why it does not.

[sapphire-weapon]

jeez, about your situation with toxic fans, are they mostly aeons? or are they just a mix of other fans?

no it's a hodgepodge of people.

aeons are a staple, sure, but there's a lot of things at play here.

i got dragged into a beef against my will with another blogger and their fans, so that was a thing for a while.

the primacy effect paired with availability cascade is a huge contributor to people lashing out against me, since i speak out against information on the wiki, and the wiki is how most people learn things about the series, (along with aeons dominating the discourse for so, so, so long), who then in turn pass that knowledge onto other people, and then things just become accepted as common knowledge, etc etc.

so basically: people are more likely to believe that the first thing that they've heard about a subject is true and that any information that comes in later to correct that first thing is wrong. and this gets exacerbated when it seems like everyone around them also holds to that initial thing that they were first told.

so when i come in with corrective information, people lash out at me, because they don't like to be made out to feel stupid or like they got duped or bought into bad info.

angry weebs get fucking pissed at me when i say that nothing that exists outside of the games or CGI movies is canon, because they want to exert some sort of control over the fandom and gatekeep the fuck out of people.

people also don't like that i refuse to take a "death of the author" approach to my analysis and don't accept everyone's interpretation or headcanons as valid readings of the text. because people don't know what "death of the author" means. because they're not being taught that in school anymore. modern fandom has grown up with a very weird mindset that says that anything you want can be canon unless the canon very explicitly black and white spells out that xyz thing definitely without ambiguity is not canon. that's not true. and i won't validate that. so people get upset, because they start to feel excluded or talked down to. they get really offended when i say things like "capcom's not talking to you" because they don't fall in the "western cishet men age 18-35" demographic that capcom's targeting with RE, as though i'm trying to insult them and not just stating an unfortunate fact of reality and business.

the most common complaint lobbed my way is that i think i'm always right. i don't. i've said repeatedly that in order to be a meta analyst, you have to be okay with being wrong. i'm wrong all the time.

but i don't wring my hands and go "THIS IS JUST MY OPINION" and put "i think" "i think" "i believe" in front of every fucking thing i say, and people don't understand what a thesis statement is. they think i'm trying to dictate canon to them when i analyze things. they don't understand how to read or write analysis or persuasive speech.

i speak with certainty when i build arguments because that's how i was taught to write and build arguments over the course of many years in school, and people end up under the impression that i think that what i'm saying is irrefutable. it's not. but no one ever bothers to refute me. they just jump straight to being asshurt and trying to harass me into shutting up.

i get attacked by people who are terrified of upsetting the applecart or rocking the boat. eagleone fandom infamously turned on me in a huge way because i didn't fall into lockstep with the most popular fanartists in the ship, and because i was trying to upset the "aeon is canon and you can't do anything about it and it is endgame and if you think otherwise you're wrong and delusional and shut the fuck up YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO TAKE IT INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN YOU LOOK AT ANYTHING" status quo, and they were afraid that i'd put a negative spotlight on them by association.

i get attacked by people who can't understand that this is a personal blog and i'm not creating content for them. i create content for myself and for people who share my interests and sense of humor. i do it for the truck nuts people. the "here lies steve. he never scored." people. i'm not trying to be universally relatable or market myself for mass consumption. i'm not trying to be inoffensive and welcoming. i'm trying to have fun. and people get fucking pissed when they like my literary arguments but not my personality, so their asses explode shit all over my inbox demanding me to change my personality to be more palatable for them. i won't.

people get offended when i quote this xeno clip because they think i mean it sincerely. they don't get that it's a joke. they don't understand hyperbole. somehow, people don't understand that, in terms of being a "content creator" (whatever the fuck that means in the context of tumblr) i am not markiplier. i am not trying to be markiplier. i'm not here to be wholesome and relatable. i am xenosys vex. that's why i keep linking to xeno videos. ffs my toxic american running gag meme is ripped right from him. don't ever question me!!!

so no. it's not just aeons. people from all over this fandom come here and shit their asses at me.

because people think that me expressing myself in my own personal space and not bothering anyone else is exactly equivalent to them going to someone else's account and direct messaging them harassment -- that they're just doing to me what i do to them.

and they're not.

they're just dicks.

[haesunflower]

Hi tee 🤗

How have you been? I had a marketing-related question in my mind for a bit but I don't know how to word correctly or if it even makes sense (I don't have an excuse, I live in a country where English is one of the two official languages so in conclusion, I'm just illiterate or don't know how to communicate).

I don't know much about the marketing field but if you were working on two "projects" or campaigns that were "competitors" to each other, how would you go on about it? I'm asking because Wakeone (W1) is managing ZB1 and survivors of the W1 trainee layoff and although it's not certain, I'm hoping they have plans to debut the three known survivors (lolol).

Like It's nice of them (referring to W1 trainees) to do covers or post pictures daily (for the time being) so they don't lost momentum but I don't know why but I feel like it's not enough for me 😂 I don't know if this is weird but at least for kpop groups that I will gladly throw my 💸 at, I much prefer watching behind the scenes content (applies to Boys Planet and ZB1; think Bangtan Bombs for BTS if you know about that), something like the Boys Planet Top 18 Pyjama party, or the W1 trainee live (I kid you not, I've watched that live three times with english subs...to be fair, I'm trying to learn Korean 💪). Anyways, apologies for the ramble but I'm also curious if you have any theories about this lolol.

Have a good one 🫶 Don't forget to take care of yourself 🌻

hey moni! this question got me excited, i pulled out my laptop to type my response hihi

long marketing/business ramble under the cut lol

honestly, i've been thinking of that too! I was pleasantly surprised to see wakeone promoting their korean trainees and keeping their presence online alive whilst preparing for ZB1's debut. I do agree that it would be nicer to have more personalized content for them - we're literally being fed crumbs with their cute little dance covers and photos and what not. Maybe something like The Boyz' Flower Snack? They had a pre-debut show where they served in a cafe.

Going back to the initial topic of working on two separate projects that are in competition to one another: it honestly seems like a conflict of interest at first. But, we have to remember that wakeone (legally) "owns" the wakeone trainees and has invested much more in their training. Whereas ZB1 members are not bound by a longer contract, and there was little to no investment in the training of these members (except Taerae of course) because training came from the members' respective companies.

Thus, it would make sense to keep their in-house talent like the korean wakeone trainees active and relevant for as long as possible - making sure the general public and star creators know that they're still in wakeone. This builds up anticipation and support for the company from the fandoms of wakeone trainees. I think it's no coincidence that they started posting more around the same time woongki and haruto announced their departure from the company. It seems that wakeone has no plans with them at all, so they did the sensible thing and just left.

Going back, keeping their in-house talent relevant is important NOW given that zb1 is actively preparing and documenting their debut journey. Because when zb1 disbands, wakeone's source of money will be their in-house talent.

On a marketing perspective, these two groups (should they debut at around the same time) MUST have two differentiating branding. This means they must target a different target audience, embody different concepts, and dominate in spaces where they would not conflict with one another. I honestly think a boy-group trio hasn't been popularized ever (unless it's a unit like exo-cbx or nct dojaejung), and I wonder if wakeone is going in this direction. If ZB1 gets a darker group concept, wakeone's in-house group should go the opposite direction.

However, it is also possible that they might be applying SM's strategy when it comes to company promotion. SM groups are uniquely distinct from one another. But do you ever notice how more than 1 SM group seems to promote at the same time as another SM group or soloist? Lee Sooman's previous strategy was like "I'll make my artists comeback at the same time so all the charts are dominated by SM. doesn't matter which SM artist you choose to support at that time, it won't matter, because SM artists will dominate all the charts". SM takes a "company" approach when it comes to dominating the market.

On a business level, I don't know if Wakeone is staffed well enough to handle another full functioning group ON TOP of their current workload with Kep1er. Thus, I think it would be smart for Wakeone to focus on the quality of their management, rather than the quantity of their groups. In short, they're not prepared for this type of artist expansion.

But as a phanbin voter :') i hope he gets to debut tho. I believe he'll make it big one day! hoping for his success and happiness

also hope you're doing well Moni <3 love conversations like this!! make sure to sleep well and eat all your meals mwah

[hussyknee]

Genuinely didn't know that "go die" is as much suicide baiting as "kill yourself". "Die already", GDIAF and stuff like "jump off a cliff" and "please go drown" were so normalized and casual since I first arrived on the internet twenty years ago. "Die" just sounded like "fuck all the way off".

It was "kill yourself" that was understood to be a nuclear thing to say, and Not Done. It's that phrase that has a fuckload of trauma for me, because it's the favourite one of antis, many of absolutely do want you taken out of the world because they believe you're a pedophile or pedophile supporter. ("Pee yourself" is also one that became popular during with rise of tumblr, which is clearly ableist and I always registered as sadistic schoolyard bullying.)

But it's been about 8 years since this trend started surfacing, so I was wondering whether hearing these things all over the place, especially from people they believed had the "right" politics, had normalized it the same way the internet culture of my generation defused the word "die".

Otoh, I have seen people reblog posts saying "kill yourself" tagged #yassss go off #tw suicide baiting. What the fuck. They know it's wrong, they know it's harmful to mentally unwell people, so they trigger warn and endorse?? What kind of brainworms?

But then again, I was also dead convinced that "go die" and "kill yourself" had different connotations and cultural understandings, because I've never seen anyone treat the former as suicide bait. I googled it and saw our favourite Elder QueerTM doing what they do best, which is yelling at some poor kid who made the same assumptions I did, but made the gaff of trying to defend it in an info post. But I know they're a few years older than me, so I wonder whether "go die" was not a casual phrase for their internet generation, and therefore registers as nuclear as "kill yourself".

Yet another person said on the same post that as a suicidal person, "go die" and "kill yourself" both meant that they were a worthless as a human life and should commit suicide. I don't know this person's age or generation, but it begged the question – can culture really "defuse" phrases and terms at all if the meaning is still the same? Is there such a thing as cultural diffusion? I'm likening it to how "cunt" is a nuclear insult in North America, but a casual one in the UK and Australia. I can't tell whether that's a false equivalence or not.

I'm aware that dehumanisation and deliberate and malicious callousness is a hallmark of purity politics, and those tags show that the kids know that "kill yourself" is suicide baiting, unlike people like me, who truly didn't know that "go die" could be taken seriously by anyone. But I'm wondering whether they believe that the people they target also couldn't possibly take it seriously, because it's so ubiquitous as to be meaningless to them. Whether "kill yourself" is just a phrase you can say to get a rise out of older people, and only as harmful as any other trigger.

I say kids, but I see this most among people in their late-teens/ early-20s. They're legal adults and being part of the working and voting public while still believing they have no power to seriously harm older people just makes this behaviour even more serious. But I still believe that a large part of it is simply immaturity and the young adult tendency to see older people as stupid, regressive and oppressive. I think this increasing age segregation of social media circles is creating an alarming amount of insularity that is allowing this attitude to become entrenched and propagate, rather than run its course as it should.

Fact of the matter is that culture creates cognitive dissonance and commonsense notions. Sometimes they're not a big deal (unless you're autistic. RIP) but sometimes they are. I want to give these kids the benefit of the doubt, because I'm as stupid as they are when you get down to it. But they sure make it hard.

[spookybias]

[ attractiveness everywhere, stupidity everywhere ] — kang taehyun

pairing: kang taehyun x gn! reader. genre: fluff, crack. warning: mention of bugs, mc doesn't have any friends. for: @ficscafe's dialogue prompt event. word count: 1960 note: obviously i wasn't sure how to end this T_T

prompts: #22: "stop staring, it’s creepy" + #23: "what the hell are you wearing?" + #25: "you got something on your face." "what? where?" "your stupidity. it’s everywhere."

You shrieked at the sight of a tick crawling up your leg, and immediately began swatting at the skin in an attempt to slap it and any comrades that might have kept it company off of you. As a cold breeze passed, you brought your knees up to your chest and wrapped your arms around yourself in a hug. The thought of more ticks crawling all over you, consuming your blood and body in their tiny, red glory, sent shivers to your spine. The wait for your guardian to come pick you up from school was beginning to feel endless, and although the sun was shining, the warmth was certainly not existent on this particular day.

The thought of having to wait longer in the chilly weather only produced more thoughts of ticks and ants and other bugs finding the time to crawl on you. Anxiously, you dusted off your tutu skirt and legs once more, and even your jean jacket every few minutes. You thought that waiting at a nearby cafe instead of at the high school grounds was a better option, considering you refused to let any of your peers find out that you were still being picked up by someone. But you weren't expecting to become the seven course meal for some ticks.

The sunlight began to beam down. You were gracious for the heat to finally be hitting your shivering physique, but immediately became irritated at the brightness that you were sure would blind you if you sat at the table for another half and hour. You rose a hand to your head, trying to block out the sunlight, and caught sight of a boy from your school making his way over.

You realized who it was, and your knees began to tingle. You were eighty-five percent sure that the tick hadn't bit you, and that the twinkling panic in your body was due to the pretty guy plopping down in one of the seats across the table. Taehyun shuffled through his backpack, pulling out some snacks.

The desire to impress one of the cool kids from you school flew in like a pigeon at the sight of bread. You leaned back in your chair, legs crossed in what you hoped was a sexy angle, and twirled a piece of your hair around your fingertips. Before you realized what you were doing, you made a mental note of everything that was attractive about taehyun; his half brown, half blonde hair, his pearly whites, and his gentle but assertive hands. overall, his face was amazing. You mumbled to yourself as you watched him eat his animal crackers, unaware of just how creepy you appeared.

"Is there something you need?" Taehyun looked up from his notebook and sighed. He picked up his pack of crackers and held them out to you. "Are you hungry? Do you want some?" He waved the food in front of your face.

You were left dumbfounded. The tone of his voice made you feel like you were some kind of wild animal trying to prey on him, and he was trying to distract you in order to escape. You knew you weren't the best around people, but never predicted that the boy you'd seen people swoon over for ages talked to others like they were beneath him. "No, I don't want anything from you." It came out much more rude than you had intended. perhaps you were something feral, and your defensive instincts had kicked in.

Taehyun blinked twice before setting his pack of crackers back down. "Stop staring, it's creepy." Then he looked down, taking note of your appearance. He had never seen someone combine a jean jacket and a tutu skirt in forty degree weather. "What the hell are you wearing?"

Feeling self-conscious, you pulled your knees up to your chest again, tugging at your skirt. "What? You think I'm weird or something?" You weren't trying to sound so targeted, but you were used to people picking on your taste in everything, and attacking first had become your immediate reaction to others. "You don't have to sit here."

"Calm down," Taehyun held his hands up with a look of so much disbelief that you wondered if you seemed like you were about to shoot. "You seemed cold, even from all the way over there." Your eyes followed his thumb pointing over his shoulder to the nearest crosswalk, the direction he had come from earlier. "And it's no wonder. You're wearing a skirt in weather like this."

"I thought I looked cute..." You mumbled into your arms crossed over your legs. "Besides, you have no control over what I wear. I can show as much leg skin as I want to." You ended your sentence with a pout.

"I'm not saying you don't look cute." Taehyun looked directly into your eyes. "It's nice seeing an already attractive person in a strange, but nice outfit." Your face started to feel hot. "And you're right, I have no control over what you want to wear. I was just concerned is all. It's freezing and I know you're cold in that skirt."

"So you care?" The words tumbled out of your mouth before you could catch a hold of what you were saying. You weren't exactly used to people who weren't your guardian worrying about you.

Taehyun rolled his eyes and flipped to a new page in his notebook. "I would rather you don't pass out from the temperature right in front of me."

"My guardian usually tells me if it's hot or cold," You went on to say, no longer remembering that Taehyun was one of the cool kids, and instead eating up the idea that someone seemed interested in you. "The sun was out, so I assumed it would be better weather today."

Look at me, you thought to yourself, talking about the weather with someone handsome.

"You have a phone right?" Taehyun suddenly questioned.

Your eyes widened, a tiny bead of sweat dripped down the side of your face. You managed to stutter out, "Y-yes. I do. W-why?"

"Phones have weather apps, idiot. Start checking yours." Taehyun didn't bother to look up from his book. You wondered if he was still interested in what you had to say, if he had more questions after this one. "If you don't have the mental capacity to do that, then at least open your window and stick your hand out."

"Oh ok." You screamed into your skull. You had let yourself get a little too excited about Taehyun's question. You were brought back to reality. Taehyun was a cool kid, and you were a weird new student, an outsider. There was no way he'd give you his number.

The clouds moved in, blocking the sunshine that had previously been annoying you. Taehyun's appearance had made you forget about your irritation entirely, though. It was silent except for the occasional sound of the cafe door a few feet away swinging open joined by the sound of a customer's footsteps as they power-walked out with whatever they had bought. You wanted to talk to Taehyun some more, but wasn't sure what you could possibly say that hadn't already been said to the boy a million times —that day.

He was just that popular.

Taehyun jumped at the sudden sound of a slap on skin. You shrieked at the sight of an ant on your leg. Taehyun could distract you from the cold and the sunlight, but not from your worst nightmare coming true.

"Oh my gosh, they're eating me!" You wailed.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Taehyun closed his notebook and put it away. It was impossible for him to get some studying (and snacking) done with you around. "You really are crazy."

"There was an ant, and earlier there was a tick. Am I gonna die? They've been attacking me all day!"

Taehyun squinted. He wondered if you were mentally okay. Maybe the lack of social interaction was the cause of your eerie behavior. "Ants aren't much of a problem, but did the tick bite you?"

"No, I don't think so." You patted down your clothes.

"Then you're fine," Taehyun started to pack up his things. "I mean, if the tick did bite you, it's possible that your legs could go numb and you'd never walk again—"

"WHAT?!" You weren't sure if your life was flashing before your eyes or if the sun's demonic brightness had finally gotten to you.

Taehyun stared blankly at you. "You got something on your face."

"What? Where?" Panic began to strike again at the thought of a bug crawling on your cheek.

"Your stupidity. It’s everywhere." Taehyun grabbed his bag and stood up. "And I'm starting to believe it might be contagious, so I'll go now."

"You're leaving?" You scrambled around for your bag on the back of the chair and followed suit.

"Yeah, my ride should be here in a few minutes. I'm just going to stand by the corner." Taehyun walked off. You stood frozen in place.

"T-Taehyun!" You called out.

"Yes, ____?" He looked over his shoulder expectantly. "I don't have all day," He reminded as he took a look at the invisible watch on his wrist.

"You know my name?" You didn't think anyone at your school knew your name. No one talked to you unless they hadn't been paying attention to what the teacher was saying and needed a recap.

Taehyun turned around and looked at you. "Of course I know your name. We're in the same grade."

Oh. You had gotten ahead of yourself again. "Taehyun." You fiddled your fingers and lowered your voice. "Can I stand next to you while you wait for your ride?" It was silly, really, but that was the kind of person you were.

Taehyun continued walking. "Yeah, sure. Stop being creepy about it." There was a hint of teasing in his voice and a growing smile on his face. You were so stupid and weird, and that made him want to learn more about you.

And so you stood beside Taehyun for the next three minutes, utter and comforting silence surrounding you both. You thought you looked like two strangers who talked to each other and stood next to each other like they weren't strangers at all. You shook your head, letting the desire to be close to Taehyun shake. He'd probably let anyone stand next to him on the sidewalk.

A black van with tinted windows pulled up to the curb. It looked suspicious and you wondered if Taehyun was quite the suspicious character. You also wondered if you should probably run as far away as you could from the van. Then the door opened, and you caught a glimpse of an older guy with red hair sitting inside.

"Hurry up, Taehyun. We're gonna be late to game night, and I just know Beomgyu and Kai are hiding all the good cards." The guy peaked his head out and eyed you. "Taehyun you have an interesting taste."

"Your hair is weird," You immediately shot back.

Taehyun turned around. "Do you need a ride?" You gulped as you watched him put his bag in the car.

"Uh, no my guardian should be on their way. And I'm not allowed to take rides from strangers." You scratched your head awkwardly. "Not that I would want to ride with that weird guy in the back," You managed to finish.

Taehyun chuckled. "I'll leave first. Don't wait here on the corner by yourself, though. Someone might mistake you for a prostitute. It's not exactly safe," Taehyun warned. "See you at school."

"Got it." You retreated back to your empty cafe table, and watched from afar as Taehyun's car drove our of sight.

[oceanivoxjoquainx]

Let's talk about Eric Effiong

Let's be honest Eric's storyline and characterization is one of the most appealing out of all the characters in Sex Education periodt. A true gay, fierce, Drag QUEEN and I feel like ranting about this amazing force of nature. (Spoilers. Duh.)

When I saw the trailer for Sex Education it didnt even hit me that Eric was gay until I read the synopsis. Was just like "Oh I wonder which one of these three mains are the gay one people keep talking about" even after I saw him in drag like a dumbass 😣😂. Personally im glad we've reached a point where gay guys aren't overly feminine and even the brightest colours won't differ a character from the rest (unless I'm just a blind bish and he was obviously gay from the trailer) ei 👏🏾 ther 👏🏾 way; his character was refreshing when I started watching the show. I immediately clicked with him and knew what every look he gave or hand gesture he did meant. Felt nice. When Adam pushed him into the locker for the first time and started with the heterohomoerotic bs I knew that Adam had a raging boner for Eric and was another internalized homophobic bully™ and wasn't really excited for what was to come but I knew it was coming and tbh I liked it in the end.

Eric and Otis' friendship is so pure. Like?!? Get me a straight supportive bestie lilke Otis? Ik they fought but even then Otis was respectful and kept his boundaries and let Eric go through the motions before immediately belting into an apology at the first chance he got. Their dancing scene?!? Iconic. The fact that Eric sees Otis' house as safe and another home?!? Iconic. Otis going drag with Eric to watch an LGBT+ movie as a TRADITION (meaning they've done it numerous times)?!?! Iconic. The fact that Otis was straight up ditching Eric and Eric STILL tolerated him and let him do his thing without too much pressure!?! The most iconic of them all. Just pure love and respect all around.

I am so proud of Erics growth over the course of the season starting from a naive and scared gay doormat to facing homophia and getting beat up by those assholes on his birthday no less to losing his best friend and becoming depressed to channeling that anger into defending himself when people tried him to getting his sparkle back and coming back more fierce that ever before.

Speaking of him getting his sparkle back lets talk about that and why that scene is so important. A random guy asked Eric for directions and Eric noticed his nails were polished and the guy was wearing earrings and he was a big ole black dude. He was like Eric. When Eric noticed that the guy was out, loud, glamorous and proud he immediately switched back into the bright colourful and wonderfully gay Eric we all know and love.

THIS IS WHY REPRESENTATION MATTERS!!!!

It shows people that its okay to be who they actually are and inspires those who are lost to find or return to their true selves. Representation isn't just some offhand thing to throw on a character last minute. And even if you can relate to other characters who arent like you, it is always an amazing feeling to have a character that IS like you. It turned Eric from a popularity seeking doormat into a hurricane with 6 inch heels who was ready to straight up beat down a bully he's had for 4 years. It even inspired him to go back to church and rejoin a community that he closed off. That's exactly how it feels to have someone successful in the media and your life to look up to. Eric only interacted with that man for a few minutes but those few minutes changed his life for the better. So that's a lovely reminder for all who love to bash representation.

Back tracking to Eric's dull colourless period after the attack and his fight with Otis. It was saddening to see one of the brightest characters go dull and even the school felt it. He turned from a guy who rarely stood up for himself and what he wanted into the sass master he reserved only for his friends. All of his built up anger was released causing him to explode on Mr Hendricks (who is adorable tbh and just trying to do his best) and Anwar (I was proud of that punch you go glenn co co) and he even sounded off on his dad who he's usually passive aggressive to at worst. Just goes to show that the happiest faces can harbor the biggest pains and can snap. Moral of the story? Protect the happy few.

Eric also has a great family. Like that obviously know Erics gay and wears dresses because its all right there in his room which his parents enter at their leisure and while it seems that they're a bit homophobic its revealed that they (Erics dad at least) just wants Eric to be safe as he's already a target for being black and apart of an immigant family. He accepts Eric for who he is and what he does he just doesnt want anyone else to give him shit for it and if that's not one of the sweetest things in this world idek what is. Eric and his dad was probably one of my favorite dynamics in the show and watching his dad slowly fully accept that his son was strong and able to stand for himself he was able to become stronger too. This dynamic is important because I never see any gay black characters have a close relationship with their fathers and it was very heartwarming to watch.

Now onto Erics love life. He has a crush on the highschools other only gay guy Anwar who's the typical mean sassy gay we've all come to expect in highschool dramas. Otis saying that Eric doesnt have to have a crush on the only other openly gay guy at school was such a mood as its commonly shown that any gays in close proximity should get together. When Eric punched him I internally went "Finally!" Because all those jeers were becoming annoying. I'm glad Anwar got to come out to his mum over it though. And straight up told the audience that Eric didn't like feminine guys (alluding to him and Adams eventual clean up scene as of we didn't see it coming already).

Moving on to Adam tho, like I said we all been knew that this

was indeed coming and even though I hate the bully x bullied trope I still ended up liking it and hoping that Adam would change. The building up to that kiss was long awaited from episode 1 straight through to 8 with all the longing looks that Adam kept side glancing Eric with and the face cupping and the growls and the lingering touches. I just kept going sthdjksksbslaldbd when one of those moments happened followed shortly after with disgust because gays falling for their abuser is washed up but then immediately going back to jajaklamabsldkd because im shipping trash so 🤷🏿. Eric stepping to Adam in at the ball was one of the most iconic scenes of the show (along with the "Its My Vagina" scene) and the exchange between him and Adam gave be actual chills. The tension was THICCCC. Erics OUTFIT to the ball gave me chills 😭😭 dude came to slay and had everyone at that school proper shook and I honestly could NOT be more proud. I was hoping Adam would become a better person over the course of the season but nope so hopefully they cover all the issues that Adam has in season 2 and properly give him a redeption arc cuz he's still a trashy pos he's just a disaster bi on top of it. (Adam immediately going to suck Eric off is confidence I can only dream of achieving 💀💀) The lab scene was also cute but made me mad because how could Adam look scared, confident and still be a douchebag all in the span of a few seconds was beyond me. A+ acting on Connor Swindells part. I can see why Adam would have to stay in the closet and keep their... relationship?? a secret because it seems like Headmaster Groff would be a homophobic piece of shit and would add to the ever growing list of things Adam did wrong. Even so it doesn't excuse the fact that Adam is in fact a bully and Eric deserves much better. Was sad seeing Adam being driven off from Eric in the end tho. Eric thought that Adam didn't want to see him at all and was probably heartbroken and probably thinks Adam left because of him (my poor baby 😭😭). I feel bad for Adam too because he was just starting to express himself and was at the beginning of a redemption arc when he was just wisked away from the boy he's loved for what seems to be a very long time. I just want my boys to be happy and non toxic and I wish their relationship and them all the best in Season 2.

Eric Effiong is my favorite character in the show and I really want to thank Ncuti Gatwa for portraying him so well and for the shows writers who gave him a very fleshed out character with an amazing storyline and conclusion. His growth was incredible and his strength is immeasurable. I'm 100% certain that he will be a character the community remembers for years to come. Patiently now waiting on what's to come in Season 2 💙🙌🏾.

[reading-writing-revolution]

This is long but an important insight..m.

Yu Li - Posted originally

February 8 at 8:09 AM ·

Thanks for speak out! Mario Cavolo

-------

加油中国！When the United States 2009 H1N1 swine flu emerged, an international emergency, a declared global pandemic, it eventually infected 60 million and initially killed a minimum of 18,449 cases that year. But the final story of the H1N1 global pandemic was far worse than that, with close to 300,000 deaths, according to the final tallies in 2012 reported by the CDC, as you will read below.

Which is why I am scratching my head at how bizarrely negative forces are attacking China and Chinese people as it engages a remarkably aggressive front addressing this Corona virus outbreak which started in Wuhan, central China. I am forced to ask and answer a few questions.

During 2009 H1N1 outbreak, I don't recall xenophobic anti-America attacks across the globe, do you? In fact, do you recall it took six months for the U.S. to declare a national emergency? Did any government from the onset in April 2009 through the end in April 2010, including the month of June, when H1N1 was declared an international emergency global pandemic, then send out a notice to its citizens that they should leave the United States? Close their borders to American travelers? Nope, not a peep.

Like I said, something's not right, folks. I am reading hateful vicious attacks on the Chinese government for their supposed intentional conspiracy to intentionally under report the number of infections, yet that is exactly and always the case with such flu outbreaks no matter what country and the CDC reports illustrate that crystal clear. The U.S. H1N1 swine flu numbers were vastly underestimated and updated three years later, because dear friends, that is the nature of such viral outbreaks which don't care which country they started in. There is never enough man power, there are never enough test kits, there is never enough medicine or medical supplies. China is not trying to hide these hardships, they are well known, they are being reported on the news daily in China. There are always people who die, thousands of them whom we'll never know if they actually died because of a particular virus. Those are the facts, not any problem unique to China's healthcare system or government.

Its not a conspiracy, its just tragedy.

According to the June 27, 2012 research report followup three years later, it gets much more disturbing when you learn about the CDC's final estimate of the H1N1 virus global death toll. You and I find at this at this article at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy website, the CDC's 18,449 total deaths number was "...regarded as WELL BELOW THE TRUE TOTAL, mainly because many people who die of flu-related causes are not tested for the disease." So during the 2009 outbreak, was anyone accusing the American medical and government authorities of hiding the numbers? Were Americans with hidden cameras strolling into the Mayo Clinic to PROVE how many people were really dying? The absurdity of these vicious attacks are that whether or not a person specifically does have the Corona virus or some other viral bug presenting as pneumonia, the treatment is the same supportive treatment anyway.

Something's not right here folks. The world should be applauding China's unprecedented, broad, aggressive response. (WHO officials and many other government and healthcare officials across the globe are.) I am on the ground here in China READ IT HERE watching with my own eyes and it is quite incredible by any measure, not to mention an enormous economic sacrifice.

Instead of looking at the will of an entire system of government acting faster than any other government on the planet could, we are one month later, still busy bashing a few local government officials in Wuhan who should have told us a couple weeks sooner. And yes, that is true those local officials screwed up. And by the way, those officials are in deep trouble for it. Just like the recent Puerto Rican politicians who are in trouble when we learned they didn't distribute hurricane emergency supplies that were sent to them to help during last year's terrible hurricane. A disgrace. Individual people screw up all the time and hopefully justice gets served later, but that's not an indictment of an entire country's government. Secondly, on this point, every provincial government has sent out a notice to its government officials pretty much saying that if they are stupid enough to do the same, they will face the wrath of harsh punishment. I don't doubt it for a moment. Lets contrast to what countless western politicians have gotten away with and remain in office to remind all of us that human error, stupidity and greed is not unique to any particular skin color or race or country. "What about..." reactions don't help.

And here's the mic drop for you: "The CDC researchers estimate that the H1N1 2009 pandemic virus caused 201,200 respiratory deaths and another 83,300 deaths from cardiovascular disease associated with H1N1 infections." Total: 284,000 deaths. Shocking, isn't it?

Was there a travel ban for any length of time to and from the United States?

Did China, Germany, Japan or any other country close their border to American travelers?

Today I noticed in the updates that following the United States Department of State policy suggesting U.S. citizens leave China, the United Kingdom embassy just released the same recommendation to subjects of the kingdom.

In 2009, did UK subjects in America get a notice from their kingdom to leave America? No.

Did the world suggest we isolate from America? Close the U.S. borders!? No.

Did Americans get xenophobically attacked and targeted by anti-American sentiments like the Chinese are experiencing now? Um, no.

Fascinating and disturbing to say the least. If you're an expat currently in China, unless you're in Wuhan, fact is that you're most likely safer and more peaceful and more stable by simply staying put than by leaving right now. You couldn't be safer than in this country, where almost everyone is staying home and dutifully isolating themselves with awareness. Not to mention that the Chinese government's decision to safeguard the society, the families, the people, is coming at a devastating economic cost in the hundreds of billions.

I have a friend in Mesa, Arizona. He told me earlier that the big popular China City buffet, a huge busy place, has no customers. Does that make any sense at all?

Let's test our ability to reason, to be rational:

If you were in Miami and you heard that there was a virus outbreak that started in Milan, in central Italy, would you cancel your dinner reservation at the Italian restaurant that night in South Beach? No. Would you buy a pizza next week at Joey's Pizzeria in Delray Beach?

If you were in Singapore and you heard there was a virus outbreak in Dallas, Texas in the central United States, would you stop going to your favorite local Texas southern BBQ restaurant with the owner from Houston, in Singapore?

Would you avoid olive-skinned dark-haired Italian-looking people on the street in Chicago? Would you avoid big guys wearing cowboy hats, cuz they're obviously from Texas in Singapore cuz there's a virus in Dallas and they might have just gotten off the plane? There's a strange senseless bullying extremism and activism in today's society and you should do your best to avoid it and not be a part of it. It is fomented by a small group of extremist activists while definitely not supported by your average mainstream person who is simply exhausted by their outrage-inducing antics.

Finally, here are some straight up, sensible accurate descriptions of this Corona virus which started in Wuhan, China. Its not called the China virus and neither was H1N1 called the America virus. Whether two weeks or two months from now, this flu season type virus will have passed and the joy of Spring will have arrived. Just like every flu season. However, don't misunderstand me. The extra caution and the remarkable response by the Chinese governments and people together to quell the spread of this virus was warranted because, yes it is correct that this corona virus is nastier than the usual annual flu bug, as was H1N1 in 2009. As of now, what we can confidently note the following regarding this Corona virus:

This Corona virus is highly contagious, it spreads quite easily. It binds to lung tissue and so in particular, likes to cause pneumonia, that's what infection of lung tissue is. That's more severe than a respiratory infection which is only in your throat or bronchial tubes.

The Corona virus currently has a 2% death rate. That's a lot higher, around 20x higher, than a more typical annual flu virus with a death rate of 0.1%. However, a 2% death rate is still much lower by comparison to the SARS virus which had a 9% death rate or the MERS virus with a really nasty 37% death rate.

The Corona virus is causing severe symptoms in 10-15% of cases. 80% to 90% of deaths from this virus are happening in elderly patients, mostly with other existing health problems, not younger people. That characteristic by the way, is in contrast to the America 2009 H1N1 swine flu virus which in fact had a higher death rate amongst younger people including children rather than those over 60 years old.

China identified and shared the Corona virus genome in record times, in only days and of course, immediately shared it with all international health and disease organizations. Medical researchers are already discovering that certain existing anti-viral medications seem to be effective against this Corona virus.

Its impossible not to marvel at China's broad and aggressive domestic response directed by the provincial level governments to restrict movement, restrict transportation, restrict business for a period of time combined with the voluntary dutiful cooperation of its 1.3 billion citizens who are in the majority quietly staying at home these weeks to let the virus pass; this model response is already being hailed by the international community as a remarkable unprecedented response setting a new standard in understanding what is possible for future outbreaks in whatever country they may occur. Is it inconvenient and costly. You bet.

Like I said, something's not right with the way humanity is responding to what's happening here. I haven't put my finger on it because well, its certainly complex and the world is upside down in many other ways that I also can't for the life of me understand or explain without ending up writing a very thick book.

But I do know this: It needs to stop. This vicious, political, xenophobic racist attacks and smearing of all things China needs to stop. Its really not helping anyone in the political corridors of Washington nor is it doing anything to help the man on the street who is just concerned with taking care of his family.

My family is originally from the Basilicata region of Italy, the little hillside Italian towns of Potenza and also, Grottola, which is just outside of Matera. They left their home country and moved to America where I was born, in Yonkers, New York. America became their home and it was my home until I left, too. Now over two decades ago, I left the United States, the country I was born in, the country that has plenty to admire and plenty to improve. But I left and I came to China and now China is my home. If you had asked me thirty years ago if this was my life plan on planet earth, I would have said you were nuts or a really bad fortune teller. But that's how it has turned out. I am truly blessed with my lovely Chinese wife and our family living here in Shenyang in China's northeast. You get my meaning? I am a mature adult like many with the powers of observation. I can easily see that whether we are talking about China or the United States or any other country, their societies and their governments have good points and bad points.

The xenophobia needs to stop now. Whether in a couple of weeks or months later, this nasty flu type Corona virus will begin declining and the joy of Spring will arrive. Between now and then if you don't have anything good, anything supportive to say about China or Chinese people, how about you just keep your mouth shut.

Mario Cavolo, Shenyang.