#* international sibling's day 2020.

[stars-and-the-min]

☆ the wrong way to hard launch | band profile

the band :

empty bottles AKA EB are an australian pop-rock band based in california, usa. they released their debut album 'overtime' in july of 2019 signed under UMG. their first international tour, the overtime world tour began from november of 2019 but was later cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic; the tour was supposed to end in august of 2020. they released their second full-length album 'twelve more days' in september of 2022. their second world tour, the twelve more days world tour opened in melbourne on march 21, 2024 and has a current closing show set in los angeles on january 17, 2025.

official accounts: ↳ instagram: emptybottles_official ↳ twitter: EmptyBottles

management accounts: ↳ instagram: emptybottlesbar ↳ twitter: theemptybottlesbar

the members :

SELINA 'LINA' BUI 🩷

frontwoman of the band

plays lead guitar, also knows how to play drums and piano

main songwriter/composer

born 24 september, 2001

oscar's gf and zhou guanyu's cousin

main face claim: cheng xiao

usernames: ↳ instagram: selinabui ↳ twitter: EB_selina

LUKAS 'KAS' ZHANG ❤️

lead guitar of the band

also can play bass

secondary songwriter

grew up next door to lina

gets shipped a lot with lina but they mostly have a sibling relationship

born 28 march, 2001

main face claim: wang yibo

usernames: ↳ instagram: lukaszhang ↳ twitter: EB_KAZ

CAMELIA 'CAMI' YANG 💜

drummer of the band

also subvocal/backing vocals

graduated a year after her cohort bc of family stuff when she was still a kid

born 9 october, 2001

main face claim: n/a

usernames: ↳ instagram: cameliazzz ↳ twitter: EB_Cami

JONATHAN 'JONNY' SU 💚

keyboard of the band

can also rap but literally none of their songs need him to rap

secondary songwriter

met kas through school and soccer

born 13 may, 2001

main face claim: xu kai

usernames: ↳ instagram: eb_jonno ↳ twitter: EB_Jonny

AIDAN 'AID' PARK 🩵

bassist of the band

also knows guitar but prefers staying near the back of the stage

the second 'pull' of the band; he's the pretty boy bassist people come to watch

graduated a grade above the rest of the band (excluding cami)

born 7 june, 2000

main face claim: n/a

usernames: ↳ instagram: aidan_ebass ↳ twitter: EB_Aidan

[starberry-cupcake]

Today’s Doodle honors Indigenous Argentine human rights activist Amancay Diana Sacayán. On this day in 2012, Sacayán became the first Argentine trans woman to receive a national identity card affirming her gender. The Doodle artwork, illustrated by Buenos Aires-based guest artist Juan Dellacha, depicts Sacayán as a joyful activist whose persistence, in spite of all the violence she suffered throughout her whole life, left a huge legacy. A proud descendant of the Diaguita people, Sacayán was born in Tucumán, Argentina, on December 31, 1975. She and her 15 siblings moved to Buenos Aires, where she would spend most of her life. Sacayán enjoyed school until she was expelled as a result of coming out as transgender. She faced police persecution quickly and was arrested multiple times for her clothing choice and trans identity.  Sacayán fought tirelessly for LGBTQ+ rights during her life. She was involved with many activist groups, notably a member of the National Front for the Gender Identity Law and a leader of the International Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Association. She founded the Movimiento Antidiscriminatorio de Liberación (Anti-Discriminatory Liberation Movement), which was dedicated to improving human rights for the queer community, focusing on inclusion within schools, workplaces, and hospitals. Today, because of her activism, trans people can have their name and gender respected when they access health care.  1% of public sector employees in Buenos Aires are in the trans community, thanks to the Trans Labor Quota Law that Sacayán promoted. This law was expanded to the national level in 2020, but tragically, Sacayán was not around to see it. She was killed in a hate crime in 2015, and her murderer is considered the first person in Argentina to be convicted of a hate crime against the trans community. Her resilience and accomplishments continue to inspire. She persuaded the public sector to include trans people, advocated for hospitals to use people's correct names, and set an example by being the first legally recognized trans person in her country. Thank you for dedicating your life to vastly improve trans rights, Amancay Diana Sacayán.

Source | Art by Juan Dellacha

I am thrilled beyond words to see Diana Sacayán in a doodle. Witnessing her wisdom, kindness and activism was an honor and a privilege and she is missed every day. The artist also said something about her legacy that isn't mentioned enough: "Diana believed that the fight for LGBT+ rights also needed to have social, environmental, native and class consciousness too. It couldn’t be one without the other. I deeply agree with that and I think it’s very important to have that in mind, especially in the times we are living in." She truly lives on in the battles won and in the ones yet to win but the way in which she was taken so soon should not be forgotten.

[en-girls]

ENGIRLS, also known as ENHYPEN GIRLS (엔하이픈 소녀들), is a fictional sub-unit of the ten-member co-ed group, ENHYPEN, which was formed through the survival show, I-LAND. The unit consists of the three female members of the group: Aiko, Blake, and Ruruka. They debuted on November 30th, 2020, with the song, 'Really Bad Boy,' as a part of ENHYPEN's debut EP, 'BORDER: DAY ONE.'

Despite their victory on I-LAND, ENGIRLS had a challenging debut because they were the only three girls out of the twenty-four female contestants to make it to the debuting team. Many fans, international and domestic, accused MNET of voting manipulation or stated that they should have debuted an all-boy group by choosing three other male contestants to take their place. This only increased when their debut EP was released, and they were introduced as a sub-unit, with both the girls and the boys having their own unit songs.

Regardless, ENHYPEN went on to have a successful debut and remain one of the top artists of their generation.

MEMBERS PROFILE

Kobayashi Aiko was born on January 17, 2002, in New York City, New York, to a businessman father and a stay-at-home mother. She is the second eldest of four children and the only one of her siblings pursing a music career. From a young age, she has loved music and can play different instruments, including the piano, violin, guitar, and drums.

Later, when she was five, Aiko and her family moved to Osaka, Japan, due to her father’s job relocation. While in Osaka, Aiko continued to pursue music, picking up vocal lessons and later being scouted by SM Entertainment in 2014. Despite her parent’s disapproval, she went on to train under SM for four years, becoming an SMROOKIE and later participating in the survival show Produce 48. She was eliminated in episode 5 of the show and continued to train at SM until leaving at the end of 2018 to join BigHit Music.

After that, she had a fight with her parents, who wanted her to come home to continue her education, but Aiko stood firm and begged for another chance to prove herself. She later joined I-LAND and made it to the debuting team.

— BASICS

STAGE NAME ; Aiko

BIRTH NAME ; Calista Kobayashi

JAPANESE NAME ; Kobayashi Aiko

BIRTHDAY ; January 17, 2002

ZODIAC ; Capricorn

BIRTHPLACE ; New York City, New York

ETHNICITY ; Japanese

NATIONALITY ; American

— CAREER

PROFESSION ; Idol

YEARS TRAINED ; 6 years

YEARS ACTIVE ; 2018 - present

LABEL ; BELIFT LAB

GROUP ; ENHYPEN

GROUP POSITION ; vocalist, dancer, leader (ENGIRLS) 

— PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM ; Chisa (XG)

VOCAL CLAIM ; Chisa (XG)

DANCE CLAIM ; Soojin (soloist/ex-(G)I-DLE)

HEIGHT ; 167 cm | 5’5

BLOOD TYPE ; O

Blake Akiyama was born on December 18, 2002, in Houston, Texas, to a surgeon father and model mother. She is an only child because her mother had complications after Blake was born, which led to her being doted on by her family as the only female granddaughter. Despite this, Blake is a very humble girl because her grandmother, her father’s mother, taught her the importance of hard work and appreciation for those around her.

Blake has taken dance classes since she was four and excels in many different genres. She has a deep passion for dancing and has won many awards for local competitions. Her dance teacher at the time had nothing but praise for her and has stated that Blake is one of the best pupils she’s had the honor to teach.

Blake’s parents later divorced when she was eight, and her father received full custody of her because her mother wished to pursue her modeling career. Since then, her mother has been in and out of her life. At fourteen, Blake was scouted as a model and took on some gigs despite her father not wanting her to. Still, he allowed her in order to make her happy. Blake later stopped due to the mental and physical toll it took on her.

She was scouted online due to a dance cover she posted on her Instagram and joined SOURCE Music in 2018 until she joined I-LAND and debuted into ENHYPEN.

— BASICS

STAGE NAME ; Blake

BIRTH NAME ; Blake Akiyama

JAPANESE NAME ; Akiyama Chinatsu

BIRTHDAY ; December 18, 2002

ZODIAC ; Sagittarius

BIRTHPLACE ; Houston, Texas

ETHNICITY ; Japanese

NATIONALITY ; American

— CAREER

PROFESSION ; Idol

YEARS TRAINED ; 2 years

YEARS ACTIVE ; 2018 - present

LABEL ; BELIFT LAB

GROUP ; ENHYPEN

GROUP POSITION ; vocalist, rapper, dancer, face of the group 

— PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM ; Harvey (XG)

VOCAL/RAP CLAIM ; Harvey (XG)

DANCE CLAIM ; AleXa (soloist)

HEIGHT ; 173 cm | 5’7

BLOOD TYPE ; B

Nishimura Ruruka was born on December 9, 2005, in Okayama, Japan. She is the twin sister of Nishimura Riki, also known as Ni-ki, and has two other sisters. Like her family, Ruruka has a passion for dancing and has been dancing alongside her siblings for as long as she can remember. 

Ruruka has taken gymnastics classes since she was four, alongside dance classes, and originally wanted to pursue an athletic career. However, when she and Riki were eleven, they joined the group SHINeeKIDS and performed with SHINee for many stages. Through that, she learned that she loved to perform in front of a crowd and wanted to become an artist like SHINee. When she and Riki left SHINeeKIDS, Ruruka picked up vocal classes.

Between the time of her departure from SHINeeKIDS and her auditioning for BELIFT, Ruruka did some modeling gigs and was the backup dancer for other artists. Later, both Ruruka and Riki decided to audition for BELIFT and joined I-LAND, both succeeding and joining ENHYPEN. 

— BASICS

STAGE NAME ; Ruruka

BIRTHNAME ; Nishimura Ruruka

BIRTHDAY ; December 9, 2005

ZODIAC ; Sagittarius

BIRTHPLACE ; Okayama, Japan

ETHNICITY ; Japanese

NATIONALITY ; Japanese

— CAREER

PROFESSION ; Idol

TIME TRAINED ; 8 months

LABEL ; BELIFT LAB

GROUP ; ENHYPEN

GROUP POSITION ; rapper, vocalist, dancer, visual, maknae 

— PHYSICAL

FACE CLAIM ; Cocona (XG)

VOCAL/RAP CLAIM ; Cocona (XG)

DANCE CLAIM ; Chungha (ex-I.O.I/soloist)

HEIGHT ; 175 cm | 5’9

BLOOD TYPE ; AB

templates i used was created by @enchanthings link to template

[madohomo]

its my golden bday babyy i am 29 on the 29th today

life updates under the cut!!

i feel like my lifes been going 1000mph for a while now but some notable moments

- i got my masters degree and it was the hardest thing ive ever done honestly i didn't think i was gonna make it but my degree is in applied biosciences!! im v passionate abt a lot of science research so im excited to see where that takes me.

- im a homeowner now !! living w my 3 siblings and splitting a mortgage and its honestly so nice. the house so lovely and ive been through so much roommate hell in the past decade so its been nice to have housing security and ppl i can count on. house is kind of a zoo with so many animals though (2 cats, cockatiel, snake, axolotl, fish & coral) but we make it work

- I'm still working in clinical research as a coordinator on the only NIH funded long covid trial and it's been kind of brutal. not just because of the topic and the study itself being all over the fucking place, but they recently fucked me over financially and now I'm pretty much stuck working there until at least early next year.. but it does feel cool to contribute to such important research that is going to affect millions of people! I've been working on covid studies since summer of 2020 on both treatments and vaccines and now long covid. so I'm pretty burnt out but grateful that I've learned so much about how to protect myself and my loved ones because I'm pretty much the only person I know that still hasn't gotten covid yet. please PLEASE continue to mask, most importantly protect your face holes, and care for each other because everything we know so far is so horrific and we still have very little in terms of treatment options. the future is really looking so grim tbh.

- since October of last year I've been pretty involved in local organizing centered around Palestine. since then and especially during the international call for encampments I've really gotten to know a lot of amazing people who inspire me and remind me that a better world really is possible and we can really fucking build it ourselves. I feel like I've spent a really large portion of my twenties grieving my future because of climate catastrophe and endless war. but for the first time I feel safe and hopeful. I really encourage everyone to connect with your local organizations, meet people and get involved because getting connected and organized is really the only solution to every problem we face and if you're like me and feel existential dread on the daily, this is the best solution.

- and speaking of the friends and comrades we met along the way... I just want to talk about how much I love my friends and the people around me because I would have never made it to 29 without you. I love my local sapphic squad That makes that drained social battery go back to being full. and I love love all my out-of-state friends who continue to talk to me and want to be in my life still despite the distance!! I'm literally flying out tomorrow and seeing East Coast friends I started hanging out with during Homestuck days back in 2013 and now 11 years later. we're still planning shit together.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Anonymous asked: Of all the many languages you speak which is your weakest one? Do you use those languages?

It’s privilege to learn any language that isn’t your mother tongue. As Ludwig Wittgenstein correctly observed, “The limits of my language means the limits of my world”. If English is our native tongue we put ourselves at a disadvantage because we expect every other nationality to take the trouble to speak it. There seems no incentive to learn a foreign language. We become lazy not just in language but also in other ways including our cultural enrichment, our imagination, and a misplaced sense of our self-importance in the world.

Of the European languages I know, I probably think German would be my weakest. When I was in school in Switzerland you’re brought up in three languages: French, Italian, and German (even if the Swiss speak Swiss German). When I say weakest I mean I can converse fluently, but I don’t have time to read German literature in the same immersive way I would say with French literature or take any special interest in German affairs.

I would say I’m fairly fluent in French now but still prone to silly mistakes. I’ve been told that I can speak without an accent and that is heart warming to know, because that was always the goal once I moved here to France. I don’t really use French in my work as it’s a multi-national entity and so English is the default language of corporate world, but I’m speaking French pretty much the rest of the time outside of work.

I was extremely fortunate to be born into a multi-lingual family where Norwegian and English were spoken from birth. All my siblings were being versed in Latin (not Greek which came years later after doing Classics at university) by the time I was 8 or 9 years old because my father was a classicist and he felt Latin was the building blocks to mastering other languages.

All this occurring whilst we moved lived and moved around a lot in the world such as China, Japan, India, and the Middle East. When I was initially sent to one of the first of my English girls boarding schools I was horrified that most of the girls only spoke English. I thought I was the stupid one for only knowing 6. Boarding school, if nothing else, gave me a great privilege to hone in on the languages I did know and start to learn others.

My parents didn’t take the easy way out and put us children in international schools like all the other expat children. That would have been too easy given how tight knit the British expatriate community was out there. Instead we were left to sink or swim in local schools in places like Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan or Shanghai in China or in Delhi, India. It was a struggle but you soon find your feet and you stumble towards some basic level of fluency.

I’m fortunate that before Covid my corporate work took me often to the Far East and it was a great opportunity to hone what I already knew. The result is I can converse and take business meetings in Chinese and Japanese (though English gets thrown into the mix too).

I would say Chinese is more of a struggle for me these days because I’ve not been back since before the Covid lockdown in 2020. Chinese is one of those languages that can easily melt away if you don’t get the chance to converse in it on a regular basis. Japanese less so, probably because the culture had more profound impact on me than Chinese culture.

Hindi is less of an issue because I have close Indian friends and also I watch Bollywood movies as well as converse with Indian immigrants here in Paris who have local stores. Urdu I learned through the backdoor because Urdu has a spoken affinity with Hindi (if you know Hindi then you know spoken Urdu, more or less, especially in Northern India and cities like Delhi where Urdu was born in the burnt ashes of Mughal India). Reading is another matter because they each use different scripts - Sanskrit for Hindi and Arabic and Persian script for Urdu.

Strangely enough when I was doing my tour in Afghanistan years ago with the British army, I would speak Urdu with local Afghans who served as official translators or were selling goods on the base. These Afghans knew Urdu because an entire generation of Afghan boys and girls grew up in refugee camps on the Pakistani border during the different phases of the Afghan war. I have very fond memories of their friendship and hospitality, but less so of the war itself. 

With Arabic, it had lapsed woefully until I did a posting in Dubai in the past year (as catalogued in my blog) and I found myself suddenly remembering a lot and asking Arab friends. Soon I was able to hold my own amongst my colleagues and corporate clients. In these cultures it’s really hard to stay focused because so many of them speak very good English. So it’s hard to get them to stick with their own language because you want to learn from them - but they want to show off their English proficiency - and so you have to be polite but persistent to stick with Arabic.  

If you’re learning a new language then I hope you stick with it. There’s almost nothing more rewarding in your life than the disocovery a rich culture through language. The key is to find a way to make it fun rather than a trip to the dentist chair for a root canal operation.

Thanks for your question.

[patbworship]

Mod Introduction #1 (Welcome to the Blog! Narf!)

Hellooooooooo Tumblr!!! If you are seeing this, you have stumbled across the newest Pinky and The Brain exclusive blog (as hinted by the title of course!) that will be dedicated to celebrating the legacy, brilliance, and gayness of the PaTB franchise! I am Mod Pinky (my other half will be making an intro very soon) and many of you may know me from my main blog @theonethatyaks93 where I post Animaniacs and PaTB content for a living. I am really glad to share this fun new project with my bestest partner and we are both excited to be sharing our love for the mice with all of you! Now I am aware that the fandom is not as active as it once was, and many blogs like this one have been abandoned. Still, we are excited to be keeping the fandom alive and we are looking forward to helping cement this show into public conscious for a while longer. But enough about that; we'll be making another post to describe the blog in more depth at a later time. Let's get to the fun, actual introduction part of the post:

Name: Please call me Pinky or Mod Pinky if you'd like

Pronouns: She/They

Basic Interests: Writing, Singing, Acting, Animation, Drawing,

Dream Job(s): Voice Actor, Author, Writer on a PaTB Reboot

OTP: Brinky

My History in the Fandom: Surprisingly, I've been involved in the Animaniacs fandom since 2020 and the PaTB fandom since 2021. I got into the show thanks to the trailer for the Animaniacs reboot and I instantly fell in love. I was actually more into the Warner Siblings when I first watched the original series and I spend the first months in the fandom obsessing over them. However in 2021, I got really, REALLY into Pinky and The Brain. I believe it was because I saw people talking about them everywhere. And I started shipping Brinky as well. The mice just appealed to me specifically, and as I was going through the worst time in my life, they were there to help me out. Since then, nearly three years later, I've become an expert in all things PaTB. Pinky and The Brain has actually gotten me interested in other things shockingly, including neurological science and even rodent care, believe it or not. These mice have a death grip on my life and I am looking forward to growing my love for the series even more.

Favorite Episodes of PaTB (All episodes that I've seen so far) (In no particular order):

A Pinky and The Brain Christmas

This Old Mouse

A Pinky and The Brain Halloween

Broadway Malady

Brinky

Brain's Way

Talladega Mice

Narf Over Troubled Water

Of Mouse and Man

That Smarts

Megalomaniacs Anonymous

Snowball

Welcome to the Jungle

Future Brain

How The Brain Thieved Christmas

Groundmouse Day

Pinky Suavo (Yeessssss)

Plight of Hand

Brainie the Poo

Brain's Night Off

Happy Narfday

Mouse Madness

Royal Flush

Mouse Congeniality

How To: Brain Takes Over the World

Spell-Bound

Yes, Always

Brain Meets Brawn

Bubba Bo Bob Brain

Inherit the Wheeze

Where Rodents Dare

Pinky POV

Favorite Moments from PaTB: You guys are going to have to wait for the blog. I wanna make posts about them and talk about why I love them so much. But one of my favorite moments, of course, is the ending of the Christmas episode because it makes me sob every time I watch it

Most Underrated Episodes (Again, in no particular order):

Brain's Song

Pinky's Dream House

Anything from the Animaniacs Reboot

Melancholy Brain

The Pinky and The Brain Reunion Special

But That's Not All Folks!

Dangerous Brains

Beach Blanket Brain

Pinky at the Bat

You Said a Mouseful

Brain Drained

Hoop Schemes

Napoleon Brainaparte

Battle for the Planet

Win Big

When Mice Ruled the Earth

Favorite Songs:

Just Say Narf!

Brainstem

Pinky's Memories

Cheese Roll Call

The Really Great Dictator

A Meticulous Analysis of History

I Ate a Rock

Pinky's Dream House (Song)

Brain Doggie Mambo

International Mouse of Mystery (For the vocal performance alone)

Most Interesting Opinions on the Show:

I really like Snowball. He's my favorite side character from any iteration

Julia (from the reboot) is AMAZING in her second and third appearances. Not in her first

I prefer the fan versions of Billie to her canon character

I do not like Phar Fignewton very much. She isn't a very interesting character

I think Pinky and The Brain thrived in the late 90's while Animaniacs faltered a bit. Seasons 3-5 of Animaniacs had some good episodes but quite a few duds while PaTB had an incredible third and fourth season

To me Brinky is canonized in the reboot. Not in the traditional sense but it's pretty obvious

The reboot PaTB episodes are really good

I am not a big fan of the episode Brainania. It's not bad but I find it a bit slow in the pacing department

Mousechurian Candidate (from the reboot) is the worst episode of PaTB ever made

Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain is not as bad as people think and there are some good jokes. But it is nowhere near the quality of the rest of the franchise

Pinky is the best character ever created (not biased)

My favorite episodes of the show are usually the ones that focus more on character dynamics and emotion

The animation of the show is very inconsistent. My favorite studios are TMS and Rough Draft since I think they capture how they characters look the best. Wang could be pretty good too but in other episodes they made the mice look strange. Akom did some weird lighting techniques but they did great on the episode Snowball, and the less said about Startoons the better.

I like Pinky and Brain's reboot designs a lot. And I think there are some improvements (i.e. Brain's more expressive face, the details in the designs, Pinky's more angular body, Pinky's tail, their cute little fangs). But I like them in the original series for the softer edges and more classic feel

What am I Going to Do on this Blog: One of my biggest ideas (along with getting to share my love of the mice with everyone and my partner-in-crime) is maybe to do a weekly thing, where I analyze an episode or moment from the show. I also want to review fanfictions and post random funny mouse things. Maybe I can show you guys the comics I have or my ever-growing merchandise collection. I will be opening the ask-box to suggestions at some point so if you want me or my partner to look at a specific moment, feel free to ask. I might even make some Tumblr-exclusive fanfics to post on here too. This is mainly just a fun place for us to express our love for Pinky and The Brain so it might seem random at times. But I can assure you all that I want to do some fun stuff to build up excitement. These are all things I wanted to do on my main blog but I think it will be better to do it here.

Once again, I would like to say that I am really excited for all that we have planned! This is a project I have been secretly wanting to do for a long time, and now I have someone to do it with. My Brain is perfect and I know that we're going to do so many amazing things with this blog! She's the greatest. Stay tuned for another intro coming soon and be prepared for more regular posts to come out in the following days.

The Revolution for Gay Mice Supremacy begins!

Mod Pinky over and out! Narf!

(this is not an elaborate plan to take over the world I promise you)

[mariacallous]

When U.S. President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in 2020, Europe breathed a sigh of relief after four traumatic years.

A return to diplomatic normality would, many hoped, provide headspace for the old continent to recover from what had been a tumultuous period. European leaders and diplomats had been shocked by an American president who made policy decisions, from 2017 to 2020, that seemed driven by anger and had scant regard for how they impacted allies.

Multiple officials in institutions such as the European Commission and Parliament privately admit that they set alerts for Trump’s tweets on their phones while he was president, as his sudden swings were often the dominant news of the day.

The damage of Trump’s first term hasn’t gone away. The former president’s scrapping of the Iran nuclear deal, agreed under the auspices of the European Union, emboldened the anti-Western hard-liners in that country. Pulling out of the Paris climate accord created space for climate skeptic figures to gain influence across Europe at a time of soaring energy bills, and encouraged anti-green rhetoric to creep back into mainstream politics across the continent. And Trump’s comments on NATO led to uncertainty and disagreement about how Europe should be protected and who should pay for it.

European officials predicted that the MAGA presidency would leave exactly this kind of contrail, which is why his defeat at Biden’s hands presented an opportunity to Trump-proof Europe. The calculation that officials made in 2020 was that while Trump had lost the election, the divisions in the United States that led to his rise had not gone away. If he happened once, then Trump—or some other carrier of the torch of isolationism and aggressive hypernationalism—could happen again.

Trump-proofing, a term that gained popularity among officials and experts after the end of his term, meant different things to different people, but essentially boiled down to three points:

The first was to stop European security being reliant on the goodwill of the United States through NATO. The second was Europe developing a foreign policy that was sincerely independent from that of the United States, which meant divergence on issues such as China. And the final objective was a true diversification of economic partners, leaving Europe less vulnerable to trade wars with the United States. These objectives would be achieved through institutions such as European Union and NATO and would serve two purposes: to make Europe itself more stable and, in turn, give Europe a stronger voice on the world stage.

These are all complex problems that require sophisticated solutions—and funds. Over the past four years, global conflict, pandemic hangovers, and inflation have created even more obstacles. But the biggest obstacle to Trump-proofing over the past four years has been disagreement between European nations.

The result? As we count down the days till the U.S. election, few officials sincerely believe any meaningful progress has been made on these priorities. Bluntly, whoever wins the election, Europe is still stuck as the United States’ little sibling, fatally dependent on Washington for both military and economic security.

Most agree that defense and security are the most pressing international challenges for Europeans. The war in Ukraine revealed not just how ill-prepared Europe was for a land war, but also how divided European countries were on how to protect the continent.

For years, European leaders have talked about common defense policies that would consolidate spending, procurement, and even troop-sharing. The European Commission published its Strategic Compass, a plan that addressed some of these issues at the Brussels-level. But when push came to shove, some leaders were not comfortable moving away from the NATO model and spending more money on something that they didn’t believe to be a priority.

Ukraine forced European NATO members to take a hard look at themselves. What they saw was the brutal reality that Trump’s criticism—that Europeans weren’t spending enough on their own defense and relied too heavily on America—was true.

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, most European countries agreed to supply Ukraine with arms and money, as well as increase their domestic defense budgets. However, plans for common industrial and procurement strategies that would make Europe less reliant on Washington soon shifted focus to meeting minimum requirements to keep the United States engaged.

“NATO hasn’t functioned as a true alliance for years – it’s lopsided; American-dependent,” said Benjamin Tullis, the director of the Democratic Strategy Initiative, a Berlin-based think tank.

“In the long term, we need to return NATO to a mutually beneficial alliance,” Tullis added. “Right now, as a minimum, we need to meet our financial and military targets, whoever ends up in the White House. But we are not even collectively doing that.”

Even with a war on their doorstep, getting European leaders to agree on a defense policy has proven tricky. Hungary, in both NATO and the EU, has dragged its heels on almost every proposal to send weapons to Ukraine or impose sanctions on Russia. France has objected at various points to EU money being spent outside the bloc—including in the United States—even as stockpiles of European weapons and ammo evaporated.

“In terms of defense, we are a vassal state of NATO, which is a vassal state of America,” said a senior European diplomat who agreed to speak under the condition of anonymity. “When we saw that it would take 20 years and a lot of money to genuinely build up European defense, we gave up, and our strategy became ‘keep America happy’ because why bother blowing up something that benefits us when we can spend our money on other things?”

“Strategic Autonomy” is Brussels speak for diplomatic independence. In simple terms: By balancing diplomatic and economic relations between several allies, Europe can avoid overreliance on one partner. In even simpler terms: Find ways of working with both the United States and China so you don’t get squashed by either.

In December 2020, the EU and China finished their seven-year negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Economic ties with China had been a key EU priority in the 2010s and became a central plank of aspirations for strategic autonomy.

One small snag: In the intervening years, the EU—along with the United Kingdom, United States and Canada—imposed sanctions on Chinese officials alleged of involvement in human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims. China responded by sanctioning members of the European Parliament, and the pact has been on ice ever since.

European countries are divided on the path forward with China. Lithuania, for example, caused a diplomatic stink—and a headache for the EU—when it allowed a de facto Taiwanese Embassy to open in Vilnius. However, many other Eastern and Central European countries are reliant on Chinese investment, while wealthy (read: frugal) Western European nations, such as Germany, see trade with China as a lucrative export market and as the cheapest way to reach their climate targets. Why build our own solar panels or electric cars when China has warehouses full of them?

Disagreement on Chinese engagement can even be seen in the fudge of Brussels’s formal position on China. The European Commission officially adopted a “de-risking” policy for security reasons earlier this year, but didn’t go so far as to “decouple”.

The EU has, for example, launched its own plan to rely less on China—or any other power—for semiconductors. And some European countries, notably the usually cautious Netherlands, are in favor of U.S.-style hostility toward China in the so-called chip wars. The difficulty, however, is finding sufficient commonality among 27 countries with different economics and priorities.

Even under Biden, the United States has taken an increasingly hard line on China. It is unlikely that this will change any time soon, and it’s expected that if Trump wins, he will put maximalist pressure on Europe to make a choice. That could get messy in a dangerous world where Europe’s economy remains sluggish but also relies on Washington for security.

Economically, meanwhile, no amount of diversification can mask the harsh reality that the United States is still Europe’s largest export market. No amount of EU directives can change the fact that U.S. protectionism hurts European countries. Under Trump, talk of secondary sanctions for companies working with Iran and threats of trade wars sent Eurocrats into meltdown. Major disasters were averted, but the United States is not a bastion of free trade. Europeans were extremely unhappy with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, claiming that its subsidies for U.S. companies unfairly discriminated against European firms.

Europe does have tools at its disposal if a trade war kicks off, and it has used them in some cases—most notably the Boeing-Airbus dispute, during which each side accused the other of using subsidies to give its plane manufacturers an unfair advantage. Both imposed tariffs on other goods as punishment, but they ultimately resolved the issue in 2021.

Yet diplomats fear that in the current geopolitical climate, getting into a dispute of this scale would spill into Europe more than the United States. The United States has recovered far more successfully from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still dragging on the European economy.

Many of these problems go back to Europe’s fundamental divides. There is a maxim in diplomacy that only a nation with stable domestic politics can have a meaningful foreign policy. The idea is that for foreign policy to be taken seriously, you need to know that it has the support of your own legislature.

In Europe, this is multiplied across the 27 EU member states, the non-EU countries that are reliant on the bloc, the European institutions, and NATO. If that wasn’t complicated enough, few European countries have stable internal politics. Recent gains from populist groups whose priorities range from being rampantly nationalist to overtly aggressive will have a knock-on effect.

It is not just the case that on issues such as defense, economics, and foreign policy, Europe has a binary divide; each country has subtly different positions on each issue. In many cases, because of the fact that many European governments are formed through coalition, those positions are not even consistent within their own governments.

“The EU’s inability to assert a unified leadership role on the global stage, particularly in response to crises like the Ukraine war, reveals a political vacuum,” said Velina Tchakarova, a leading geopolitical strategist based in Austria.

“As a result, Europe may find itself increasingly reactive to U.S. decisions rather than charting its own course, especially if Trump returns to office with a more unpredictable foreign policy. … Should Trump adopt a more isolationist or transactional approach, these divisions within Europe could deepen, weakening its ability to respond to global challenges,” Tchakarova added.

Division breeds inertia, which leaves vacuums that must be filled. And with the world looking so unstable, the United States is still the best answer to many of Europe’s toughest questions. Whoever ends up in the White House, Europe must make its case on Day One for Washington to remain interested and actively friendly. It simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to deal with upsetting the one constant truth that has played the most important role in stability for decades: Europe needs America.

[realmadridfamily]

1.

How long have you known Brahim?

Since beginning 2020.

2.

What have you studied and where?

International business management & Marketing in Barcelona - Belgium - London. And acting in Spain ❤️

3.

What do you do for a living? Have you always wanted to do the same thing?

I am an actress. Since childhood, I have always had this clearly defined. I spent whole days inventing characters and looking for jobs in which I could take part 🥹😊 Now thanks aleighthouse I can continue doing it 🥰

4.

What products do you use for your skin? You have it great 😍

Well, I've used a thousand products before and sometimes my skin was bad, patchy or dry. I decided to take everything off and use only the most natural cosmetics. Now I only use Vinoperfect from @caudalie and solar projects. This combined with monthly visits to @templa.medical makes my skin feel amazing.

5.

You are beautiful and did you like Morocco. I love you my beautiful ❤️🫶🫶

I loved it. I always wanted to visit it, my parents have been so many times and it's always been my mum's fav place on earth. Already been two times and loved everything about it. It's very magical and special for us and I can't wait to be back ❤️

6.

Do you have siblings?

I have an older sister Garle ❤️

7.

I'm curius about your beautiful 🐕 name 😍 He is so cute 🥹❤️

Simba 🥹😍 He's turning 2 years next month, such a teenager.

8.

How old are you?

I'm 26 ❤️

[what-breaks-my-heart]

Watched in 2023

Korean Drama:

Apple of My Eye (KBS daily drama, 2023)

Between Him and Her (Channel A, 2023 - ongoing)

Can We Be Strangers? (Genie TV, 2023)

Check Out the Event (MBC short drama, 2021)

Elegant Empire (KBS daily drama, 2023 - ongoing)

Lady Durian (TV Chosun, 2023)

Live Your Own Life (KBS weekend drama, 2023 - ongoing)

Meant to Be (MBC daily drama, 2023)

My Dearest (MBC miniseries, 2023)

Numbers (MBC miniseries, 2023)

Pandora: Beneath the Paradise (tvN, 2023)

Perfect Marriage Revenge (MBN, 2023)

The Real Has Come! (KBS weekend drama, 2023)

The Third Marriage (MBC daily drama, 2023 - ongoing)

The Witch’s Game (MBC daily drama, 2022 - 2023)

Three Bold Siblings (KBS weekend drama, 2022 - 2023)

Unpredictable Family (KBS daily drama, 2023 - ongoing)

Woman in a Veil (KBS daily drama, 2023)

KBS Drama Special:

To My Assailant (2020)

While You're Away (2020)

One Night (2020)

Scenery of Pain (2021)

Siren (2021)

Ordinary Jae Hwa (2021)

The Effect of a Finger Flick on a Breakup (2021)

Underwear Season (2022)

Do You Know Ashtanga (2022)

Silence of the Lambs (2022)

The Distributors (2022)

No Path Back (2023)

Half Lies (2023)

Do Hyun's Confession (2023)

We Were There (2023)

Dog Days of Summer (2023)

The True Love of Madam (2023)

Love Attack (2023)

Korean Movie:

Confidential Assignment (2017)

Confidential Assignment 2: International (2022)

Emergency Declaration (2022)

Exit (2019)

Gate (2018)

Recalled (2021)

The Roundup (2022)

The Roundup: No Way Out (2023)

The Tower (2012)

Chinese Drama:

Gank Your Heart (2019)

Love You Seven Times (2023)

Nothing But You (2023)

She and Her Perfect Husband (2022)

Song of the Moon (2022 - 2023)

The Romance of Tiger and Rose (2020)

Chinese Short Drama

Love at Second Sight (2023)

Chinese Movie:

My Blue Summer (2022)

Yesterday Once More (2023)

Taiwanese Movie:

Someday or One Day (2022)

Taiwanese Drama:

Someday or One Day (2019)

Japanese Drama:

Bokura wa Koi ga Hetasugiru (2020)

Japanese Toku Series

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (2016 - 2017)

Avataro Sentai Donbrothers (2022 - 2023)

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger (2023 - ongoing)

[coldpintglass]

For the ship Bingo (tysm for using my bingo board btw <3)

Saw your blog header and have to ask for Jarcus(Jesse Lingard/Marcus Rashford)

THE BOYS!!!! 

First, thank YOU for making a ship bingo just for us footblr shippers! Ahah it’s much nicer than the generic one. 

I have to say I have such enormous soft spots for both of these guys, especially Rashford. Together they are sooooooo funny and such a joy to watch, one of those friendships that so effortless. 

Touch more thoughts on them:

Absolutely platonic, I can’t see either of these guys together romantically/sexually but that’s because never have I seen a footballer friendship scream SIBLINGS more. These two are absolutely brothers, thick as thieves together 💖🥺

On that note please watch this short video that makes me laugh every time I see it. Jesse is such a menace!!!! (Affectionate) 

Coming up through one of the biggest clubs in the world (Man U) is going to do a number on you, I think both of them have navigated it exceptionally well (eh, bar a few bits but I digress!!!) and this has probably made them even closer. Especially on the international scene, they’re both so bloody young!!!! Exceptional talents and to keep a level head through it, Jesus, it’s so be commended. 

I wasn’t aware of Jesse having to be a young carer for his siblings/deal with his mums depression (chronic illness) at a young age. Him and Rashford (with his own challenging childhood with food insecurity/single mum doing her damn best but holy shit the woman worked so hard) mirror each other beautifully, having to grapple with some of the most difficult challenges at a young age. That shit is TOUGH and no emphathy/sympathy from someone whose not been through that will every quite be the same as someone who HAS been through it. And this is before getting to the fucking vile racism both of these guys have faced.  Especially Rashford after the penalty incident in the Euros 2020 final (PS: Gareth if I see you it’s on SIGHT for what you put Sancho, Saka and Rashford through). 

What hasn’t been said about Rashford? A sincere and wonderful role model, he’s saved lives with his campaigns and put his neck on the line for equality. He is absolutely an hero but still that lovely young man. Ah, could spend all day waxing lyrically about him. Lingard seems like a great lad too (bar drink driving lol) and these two clearly care about much more than themselves. 

Finally:

Shallow woman point coming: these two are both so hot LMAO, absolutely delicious. Their fashion sense is sooOOOOOOOo WOOF WOOWF WOOF BARK BARK BARK LINGARD IN GLASSES?????? I AM GNASHING MY TEETH AND WAILING. MEN WHO DRESS WELL WILL BE A WEAKNESS FOR EVER XXX

I have a very vanilla fantasy of going for a long dog walk with Rashford were we hold hands. He’s just 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 AHHHHHH makes me feel like a teenage girl I can’t help it ahahah

Their accents when they’re arguing blend into an utterly euphoric hilarious noise 

The way Lingard teases Rashford despite being older is too fucking funny

WHY WEREN’T THEY AT THE 2024 EUROS GARETH?????

[3dsangel]

I love when things wrap back around for me with interests its so awesome <3

ramble below about how things I love now wrap back into things I loved as a child, how other interests or favorite creators intertwine etc.

For BFDI:

I remember seeing scale of the Universe when I was likeee 8-9 years old w/ my older brother and being like. soooo mind blown. (Seeing the minecraft planet made me genuinely believe that minecraft was real ... I remember thinking that would show on International television soon 😭)

then like. i think from 15 years old I got into Kurtzgesagt : In a Nutshell youtube videos and it was kinda lowkey but I think in around 2020-2022 I started really loving their content ...

And then in 2023 I binged BFDI ^_^!! And It wasn't until I believe in November I found a video on carykh's channel about how he was mentioned in a Kurtzgesagt video (WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!) so I clicked and it was cuz HE MADE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE.!!! mind freaking blown ... Cary teaching me 2 love science and the world when I was a little baby 🍀

For Pokemon:

I enjoyed pokemon very casually compared to my brother, but I still loved the franchise as a kid. The piece of Pokemon media that influenced me the most was the Pokemon 2000 movie... I think everyone and their dog remembers the scene where Ash turned to stone and all the pokemon and their dopplegangers started crying </3

After I gave away my NDS to a childhood friend/sibling I never really touched another pokemon game for some time. Even for Pokemon Go I didn't use it all that much....

In early 2016 I watched a playthrough of Undertale and it changed my brain chemistry TBH (first instance of young fran seeing the usage of a singular "they", and I knew the characters did it out of respect for the player character, not because they didn't know the gender of frisk). And well Undertale will remain a game close as hell to my heart. for more reasons than just the game cracking my egg

Literally day one of 2020 I got myself Pokemon Shield while drugged on novocaine (I had 4 of my molars removed in the morning, and the night before i had 2 best friends cut me off... not the best day) And played the hell out of it to ignore my problems. I know the game isn't the best but I still do love it okay........

Then on Twitter I see the official pokemon twitter talk about collabing with Toby Fox. freaking hi ... (I learn about the mpreg reference later but thats not important 💙)

and okay one more thing to wrap it up. well two i guess. I didn't realize Weird Al's "Polkamon" was an official(featured in a pokemon movie soundtrack) pokemon song ... for Pokemon 2000 Specifically... Weird Al omnipresently polka dancing around my whole damn life forreal

And well before I learned about weird al's (official) contribution to pokemon I hear about "Project Voltage" with a bunch of voca producers coming together to make pokemon themed songs using Mikus vb!!!! with designs for miku based on pokemon types!!! However when I heard about this I really didn't GAF despite all this love i have for vocaloid and pokemon ... you'd think I'd be hype over this <_<

[twotimeracewinnerlandonorris]

i know i do this quite a lot already but before i disappear into nothingness i wanna talk a bit about someone called lando norris.

born 13th november 1999, in bristol. his father is english, and his mother is belgian. he holds dual british and belgian citizenship. he barely speaks either language. he has three siblings, two younger sisters and one older brother.

in 2010 he placed 3rd in super 1 national championship, and then 2nd in 2011. in that same year he won formula kart stars and placed 3rd in copa de campeones. in 2013 he won the wsk euro series, the cik-fia european championship and cik-fia international super cup while placing 2nd in the wsk super master series.

in 2014 when he was 14, he placed 3rd in the ginetta junior championship with 4 wins, 11 podiums, 8 poles, 2 fastest laps and 432 points in 20 races.

a year later, he partook in the msa formula championship with carlin where he placed 1st, beating ricky collard and then teammate colton herta. that same year he also raced in the inaugural season of adac formula 4. he entered in 8/24 races, won 1 race and got 5 other podiums and ended in 8th place out of 51 drivers.

2015 also saw him race in the italian formula 4 championship where he placed 11th after racing in 9/21 races, and the brdc formula 4 autumn trophy where he placed 5th after racing in 4/8 races.

2016 was a busy year for 16-year-old lando. as a rookie he won both the eurocup formula renault 2.0 and formula renault 2.0 nec with josef kaufmann racing, and also the toyota racing series - also as a rookie.

he drove 11/24 races in the brdc british formula 3 championship, winning four races and getting on the podium for four others, resulting in an overall p8. he drove as a guest (ineligible for points) for carlin in the fia formula 3 european championship and placed 11th in the macau grand prix after having started the race p27.

in 2017 lando entered the fia formula 3 european championship with carlin. he won the drivers' championship with 441 pts. during 30 races he won 9 times, got on the podium 11 other times, got 8 poles and 8 fastest laps. he became the first non-prema driver to win the championship.

he also won the fia formula 3 european rookie championship with 628 pts, beating drivers like jehan daruvala and mick schumacher.

in the macau grand prix that year, he placed 2nd. he made his debut in round 11 of the fia formula 2 championship with campos racing, replacing ralph boschung, retiring in the feature race and placing 13th in the sprint race.

also in 2017, lando was signed as a junior driver with mclaren. he tested for mclaren in a scheduled mid-season test and set the second-fastest lap in the second day of testing at the hungaroring. later that year he officially became the mclaren test and reserve driver for the 2018 season.

in 2018 he entered the formula 2 championship with carlin. as a rookie, he placed 2nd with 1 win and 7 other podiums. current f1 drivers that competed alongside him are george russell, alex albon and nicky latifi.

he also drove daytona 24h with fernando alonso and phil hanson in a prototype car on continental tyres, recovering 33 seconds in 20 laps.

2019 was his rookie year in f1, the youngest british f1 driver of all time at age 19. he was partnered with carlos sainz at mclaren. that meant mclaren had a brand new driver line-up, with carlos having signed a two-year deal after a two-year stint at renault. lando finished 11th in the drivers' championship with 49 points, while carlos scored 96 points. lando did outqualify carlos at 11/21 races. during this season lando signed a new contract keeping him at mclaren until 2022.

due to covid the 2020 season started in july, and it started with a bang with lando qualifying p4 (elevated to p3 because of a hamilton penalty, the highest grid position of lando's career at the time and the highest for mclaren since the 2016 austrian gp). lando finished the race p3, getting his first f1 podium and his first fastest lap (he got his second at the turkish gp). scenario 7 lando was born. this also made lando the third youngest podium-finisher in f1 history (a record formerly held by jenson button). he finished p9 in the end, with 97 points, almost doubling his 2019 points. carlos finished 6th with 105 points but once again, lando out qualified him 9/17.

2021 was lando's best year in f1 to date. he got a new teammate, daniel ricciardo, who, like carlos, came from a two-year stint at renault. lando amassed four more podiums this year, three p3's and one p2. he started on the first row for the first time when he got p2 in quali in austria, but went on to do better as he got his first pole in sochi, and a first real shot at a win while also recording the fastest lap at the same race. he finished the season in p6 with 160 points, 45 more points than his teammate. he also out-qualified dan 14/22. this year he also set a record for consecutive points finishes for a mclaren driver, with a streak of 15 races in the top-10. the record was previously held by two-time world champion fernando alonso. lando signed a new contract locking him down at mclaren until the end of the 2025 season.

the 2022 season isn't over, but while the car hasn't really been up to speed, lando has done everything and more to keep mclaren in the p4 fight. he has one podium, a p3, the only driver outside of rbr, ferrari and merc, and he has 109 points, 79% of mclaren's 138 points. he's currently p7 in the standings, behind the rbr, ferrari, and mercedes drivers.

he also did all three days of preseason testing in bahrain after daniel fell ill, raced in monaco with tonsillitis securing the fastest lap and has only once, in 79 races, been eliminated in q1 (never this year). he has made it to q2 since silverstone 2019, one of the longest streaks of any current driver on the grid.

in 2016 he won british club driver of the year and the mclaren autosport brdc award at the autosport awards.

in 2018 he won national driver of the year at the autosport awards.

in 2019, 2020 and 2021 he won british competition driver of the year at the autosport awards.

in 2021 he was nominated for fia personality of the year at the fia prize giving awards, alongside drivers such as max verstappen, lewis hamilton and sebastian vettel.

tldr; lando isn't just someone who stumbled into f1 back in 2019 with nothing to show for it, with no accolades or experience on his back. does he have a disproportionate amount of privilege coming from a wealthy family? of course, he does, but so do most of the grid in one way or another. whether it's monetary, being connected to the former president of the fia or getting personally invested in by a team principal of an f1 team when you're still in karts.

there are a lot of talented drivers that never get into f1 because of reasons; there are some drivers who lack the talent to drive an f1 car yet still get into the series. lando doesn't fit into either category. he's there because of a lot of things, but the main ones are talent, speed, dedication, teamwork, focus, preparation and the willingness to learn and partake in building a car for the future, whether it's giving feedback through sim work or working with the mechanics to figure out how the car works.

tldr2; lando deserves to be in the sport, on the grid, to be lauded and loved and applauded.

[of-canes-and-manes]

001: Back in the Saddle Again

After years of severe chronic illness, last week I got back on a horse for the first time in over a decade. I found riding to be more doable than I was expecting; it wasn’t easy by any meaning of the word, but it also wasn’t impossible, and even though those seven minutes in the saddle pushed my body to the limit, I would have been able to ride more later in the day if I had had a long enough break.

A brief history of my health before I get too ahead of myself:

I’ve been chronically ill since late 2016, when I started working and began needing to sleep upwards of 16 to 18 hours a day to feel rested at all. Over the years I progressively got worse, until summer of 2019 when I had to call out of work more than I could go in and I was either in bed, in the bathroom, or at work. When covid hit in 2020, I went from being able to leave bed for work to only being able to leave bed for the bathroom and the occasional doctor’s appointment, but due to the pandemic, even my appointments stopped before I had any sort of diagnosis besides fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

In November 2020 I had a near-death experience that resulted in getting my first ever blood transfusion; then I moved back home to my parents’ farm at the beginning of 2021. At the time it was an admission of defeat, but with the help of my parents, my health has slowly improved over the last two and a half years that I’ve spent on the farm, to the point where not only am I spending all day almost every day anywhere but my bed, I’ve able to leave the house upwards of three times a week and drive myself the majority of those times to boot.

As I’ve improved, I’ve experimented with doing more activity both physical and mental. For the first two years, physical activity was next to impossible and mental activity was all I could handle on a regular basis. Then I was blessed enough to get the first of two gender-affirming surgeries in December 2022, and since then I’ve been finding that while I’m now more physically capable, my mental energy has become unreliable.

While it’s of course a bit of a pain to be unable to read or write consistently, I’ve enjoyed the increased ability to bake, do canning, and get back to playing a musical instrument. This past spring I even planted a garden of pumpkins while learning to find adaptations for the various activities I have an interest in, and next year I’m hoping to plant more than just pumpkins!

I’ve spent the last eight months slowly but surely building up my physical activity to the point where when I had my second surgery in June, I was able to get back to my life with relative ease by mid-July. At this point in time, as long as I’m sitting down I can do whatever I’d like to, within reason, and if I need to walk somewhere, as long as I have my cane and take breaks every five to ten minutes, I can get where I need to go.

And how does this all come back to getting back in the saddle?

I had grown up going to a local stable with my siblings while our mom took lessons and cleaned stalls. My sisters and I were always more into riding than my brothers were, and once I hit puberty I stopped riding altogether as it, like most of my childhood passions, was too much for my dysphoria. Eventually, my sisters also stopped riding, though my mom continued on for years until she and my dad could afford to build a barn behind our house and bring her horses home. Since then, she’s slowly stopped riding as often as my dad’s health declined and our farm grew to include chickens, goats, and geese, but the horses have stayed a part of the daily chores all the while.

After stumbling across the International Gay Rodeo Association (a story for another time), and after realising that I am significantly more physically capable if I just have the right accommodations, I decided it was time to try riding again, just to see if I could do it. My mom was game to help me saddle up, so all we had to do was wait for the weather to cooperate.

I was able to borrow my mom’s tack and her old helmet, and with the help of an overturned bucket, I was up on top of the gentle giant Tiny Tim, a half-draft who gets along with everyone and everything. It’s been a while since he was last ridden; as such he was just as out of shape as I was, and I managed to last longer in our ride than he did!

We walked around the edge of the arena, first in one direction, then the other. My mom made a point to ask who was leading, me or Tim, and unfortunately my answer was a resounding “Tim is!” Then she asked us to do a serpentine across the arena, and I had such difficulty with that that she had to come out to walk with us. By then Tim was ready to be done and I was ready for a break, so I dismounted and led him back to the barn.

All in all, those seven minutes were some of the most wonderful I’ve had in a long time. Going forward, I hope to ride at least once a week for however long I can, and my only goal is to be able to go on trail rides in the future, no matter how long it takes.

May you have a peaceful day.

[grandmaster-anne]

Inside Princess Anne's lifelong love affair with horses

By Ellie Kelly | Published 14 August 2020

The Princess Royal has spent a lifetime with horses. Like her siblings, she started riding at the age of three. But what makes her remarkable is the success she achieved as a competitor. Aged 21 she was crowned European Eventing Champion at Burghley. She was riding Doublet, a horse bred by the Queen, for polo, and gifted to the Princess. 

At the 1975 European Eventing Championships, she finished second on Goodwill, another horse owned by the Queen and her mount at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, where she became the first member of the British royal family to compete at an Olympic Games. She rode winners in horse racing too, notably in the Grand Military Steeplechase at Sandown over jumps, and the Diamond Stakes on the flat at Ascot. No wonder she won BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award in 1971 - the first ever event rider to carry off the trophy. 

There were always ponies around during her childhood. Both her parents rode regularly, as did her older brother, Prince Charles, who developed a keen interest in polo and was considered a gifted player.

In those days polo was a men-only game, so not something his sister would have pursued, but she was a member of the Pony Club where she would have tried most equestrian disciplines with other young enthusiasts. Perhaps the attraction to eventing was the camaraderie that is always synonymous with a risk sport; horses are no respecter of titles. 

When she became more serious about eventing, her parents arranged for training with Alison Oliver, wife of international show jumper Alan Oliver, who was based near Windsor. She is widely credited for propelling the Princess on the road to international equestrian stardom. 

Lucinda Green, one of Princess Anne’s eventing peers, describes her as the pin-up of their era. Lucinda was a fellow team member at the Montreal Olympics and remembers the Princess having a crashing fall halfway around the cross-country course and suffering concussion. She remounted and finished the course but to this day cannot remember the rest of the jumps. 

“She was extremely brave and good enough to get on the British team on two very different horses. Goodwill, her horse in Montreal, was not easy. He was big and had no brakes - I definitely wouldn’t have ridden him,” says Green.

With animals so often comes heartbreak, which even Princesses cannot escape. Her partnership with Doublet, a diminutive chestnut with the heart of a lion, ended in tragedy. The pair were destined for the Munich Olympics when the horse who had defined her career shattered a hind leg in an accident at Windsor and had to be put down. 

At a time where security at sports events was minimal, The Princess was hounded by the media. “I always admired the way she coped with the press. That added the most unbelievable pressure on top of trying to do her sporting best. Tough for her but she put our sport on the map and kept it in the spotlight,” observes Green.

In 1985, she was persuaded to ride in a charity horse race at Epsom (home of the Derby). By this stage she’d hung up her eventing boots and had two young children. Yet she was always game for the challenge, if it involved horses. 

Horse racing requires a very different technique from eventing, so she approached trainer David Nicholson for help. Known as “The Duke” because of his imposing personality, he suggested she come to his Cotswold yard, little expecting she would turn up almost every day for several years to ride out. 

His wife Dinah became familiar with the Princess, as she would join them in the kitchen for breakfast after exercising the horses. “She was so dedicated and determined, driving 40 minutes every morning and arriving at 7.15am on the dot, so she could tack up her horse before riding out on the gallops. Then she would have breakfast with us and sometimes there would be a jockey - Richard Dunwoody or Peter Scudamore. The conversation would mostly be about horses. After breakfast, she would set off for a busy day of royal duties.” 

Even if she had a royal engagement in London that went on late into the night, she would still get up after a few hours sleep to drive to the yard in Stow-on-the Wold. Acquaintances say her security detail looked permanently exhausted from keeping up with her. 

After the charity race, in which she finished a respectable fourth, she asked Nicholson if she could continue riding out at his yard. It seemed the attraction was as much about the camaraderie of yard life as it was the actual race riding. “She became very fond of the people in racing and was always very natural with the stable lads, who liked her.” 

There was a horse she was very fond of too, called Cnoc Na Cuille. He was a big winner for her in her career as a jump jockey (including the Grand Military) but soon after finishing third at Warwick, he dropped dead, probably from a heart attack. 

“The Princess was not one for showing emotion but she was clearly very upset about it,” says Dinah. Soon after this she gave up race riding, although she has bred a few race horses herself at her home, Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire. 

For 37 years, thanks to the Princess, Gatcombe has hosted eventing competitions, including the prestigious Festival of Eventing. The cross-country course is designed by her former husband Captain Mark Phillips, an Olympic medallist and four-time Badminton winner (once the golden boy of British eventing), and the Director is their son Peter Phillips. 

Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, a former European and World Champion event rider and silver medalist in the London 2012 Olympics, regularly competes there and the Princess hands out the prizes.   

Tindall has even more eventing accolades than her mother and, like her, she was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (in 2006). Her mother has always been hugely supportive of her children’s interest in horses. Every Christmas, the Princess would drive the children’s ponies up to Balmoral herself in a horsebox so they could all ride. 

There is also a strong equine theme to the Princess Royal’s charity work. She’s President of World Horse Welfare and the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) as well as Patron of the Pony Club and the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF). She was President of the International Federation of Equestrian Sports (FEI) from 1986 to 1994, a role she took over from her father, Prince Philip.

Roly Owers, CEO of World Horse Welfare, describes the Princess as having a deep love of horses, devoting a huge amount of time to all aspects of horse welfare. Former champion jockey John Francombe describes her as the best after-dinner speaker he has ever heard, with a great sense of humour, persuading well-oiled guests to open their wallets for charity and even persuading them to adopt horses themselves. 

Rehoming unwanted horses is a large part of the World Horse Welfare’s work and the Princess is a rehomer herself. “On one of her visits to our rescue centres, she met a Welsh Cob called Annie and asked if she could have her. I believe she still rides her today.”

“She has always had a clear opinion but understands horses better than anyone,” says Owers. That once got her into trouble, at the 2013 World Horse Welfare conference when one of the topics was the European Horse Meat scandal. “She made a comment about the value of horses that was translated as ‘Princess Anne eats horse meat’ by certain journalists.”

What the Princess had actually said was: "Should we be considering a real market for horsemeat and would that reduce the number of welfare cases, if there was a real value in the horsemeat sector? I chuck that out for what it's worth because I think it needs a debate." 

As Owers remembers, “it was unfortunately the first time we filmed the conference and broadcast it live, so you can imagine it created 48 hours of hysteria.” Though whether the Princess actually sits down to pony steak for Sunday lunch is not known. 

Caroline Ward of the RDA remarks on her extraordinary empathy. “She understands the challenges our participants face and what they get out of the experience of riding horses. She will talk to them about their ponies and what it means to them to spend time with horses. 

“These riders, many of whom find communication and mobility so difficult, will always open up to her. They are bound by this common interest and love of horses. She will also chat to the volunteers, to make them feel all the more special.” 

Ward recalls the time Princess Anne helped a rider load her difficult horse into the horse box. “She came to our RDA National Championships at Hartpury College. She saw this struggle and despite not being dressed to get stuck in, she clearly couldn’t walk by without offering assistance. Well, this horse took one look at her and realised this was someone who meant business, and walked straight into the horsebox.”

Ex-jockey and racing journalist Brough Scott has known the Princess for many years through sport and her support of the IJF. “At charity events, rather than entertaining the fat cats, she is happiest talking to the ex-jockeys, many of whom are in a wheelchair. One really likes her for that, even though she is not trying to be liked.”

To be a successful rider, you have to build a relationship of trust and mutual understanding with your horse. That means controlling your fear and emotions. Eventing, a combination of the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping, is perhaps the truest test of all-round horsemanship, demanding both accuracy and courage. It is only for the bravest of the brave, says Scott. 

“Princess Anne wasn’t simply a Royal who rode, she was an athlete who achieved great things in her eventing career and rode courses that would have terrified most people. That must have given her self-confidence and fulfillment.”

In her public duties too, the Princess Royal has given her all, incidentally personifying the characteristics necessary for a fine horsewoman: discipline, dedication and courage. Are they a matter of her breeding and upbringing, or do we have her love of horses to thank for that? 

[nikostewart]

𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠.

A spoilt rich kid who doesn't know where he fits in the world. An only child to two high born people who had no time for "the burden" of a son, which led to a lonely and isolated life that has continued into adulthood. Longs for something real but doesn't know how to be vulnerable when its seen to be weak...

Full Name: Nikolaos Stewart

Nicknames: Nick to colleagues and Niko to friends

Age & Birthday: 35 years; 13th November, 1987

Preferred Pronouns & Gender: He/him; cis-male

Ethnicity: White

Sexuality: Bisexual (closeted)

Hometown & length of time in town: Atlanta, Georgia & been living in town for 5 years

Neighborhood: Briar Ridge Hills

Occupation: Attorney/Partner in a top law firm

PLAYLIST | CONNECTIONS | PINTEREST

𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕥𝕤.

Eye color: Brown.

Hair color: Medium Brown.

Height: 6".

Weight: 178lbs.

Accent: Southern Accent

Tattoos: Two - one on his left calf & one on his right forearm

Scars/Birthmarks: No notable scars but a heart shaped birthmark on his right shoulder blade.

Fashion style: Expensive. From the best Italian suits for work to the best brands for casual wear. Everything looks clean and elegant, and most importantly, rich. Very good fashion sense, and always complimented on it.

Weaknesses: His inability to bite his tongue. It comes in handy at work, as he fights for people with passion, but at work he is prepared and experienced. Socially? He is a mess. He is not prepared and lacks a filter, which gets him in trouble... a lot.

𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖.

1987: Born 1998: Camila is arrested and gone from Niko's life 2005: Goes to College & had first sexual experience with another young man 2010: Goes to Harvard Law 2013: Graduates with first class honors from Harvard Law 2014: Intern at law firm 2015: Made youngest partner ever at law firm & starts having drunken one night stands with men 2018: Moves to Briar Ridge Hills 2020: Sets up charity & adopts Apollo (his dog) 2020 - Present: Continued success as lawyer, dog dag, & rich asshole but confused and lonely.

𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕤.

Significant other(s): None.

Lover(s): None.

Parents/Guardians: Alexandra Samaras (Mother). Andrew Stewart (Father).

Children: None

Family: No siblings/ Only child

Pets: Apollo - Golden Retriever

𝕓𝕚𝕠𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕪.

trigger warnings: abandonment, child neglect, drug mention, stereotype of mexicans (white rich pov)

Born in 1987, Niko came into the world as the only child of a prominent family in the southern elite. He should have been the heir to their kingdom, but his parents had little interest in him, viewing him as nothing more than a means to preserve their family legacy.

Niko's childhood was a lonely one, spent in a grand but empty house. His toys and teddy bears became his closest companions, reminiscent of Christopher Robin's bond with Winnie the Pooh, one of his favorite cartoons.

Amidst this isolation, Camila, a young Mexican woman, served as Niko's nanny and beacon of warmth. She was beautiful and kind, and Niko adored her as the mother he had always yearned for. He followed her around the mansion, sharing stories and questions, forging a deep friendship with her.

As the years passed, Niko watched in anguish as his parents mistreated Camila, displaying cruelty and callousness. He couldn't comprehend their actions but knew they were wrong. When he dared to confront his parents, he was punished and sent to his room without dinner or toys. Yet, Camila always reassured him that everything would be okay, and he held onto her words as truth.

Tragically, one fateful night, Niko overheard adults shouting, and the next morning, Camila failed to appear. Days turned into an agonizing week, during which the little boy cried incessantly, demanding Camila's return. His parents made feeble attempts to console him, but their hearts were not in it. Instead, they concocted a lie, claiming Camila was a criminal who would never return.

Niko's heart toughened that summer. He abandoned childish games and tears, becoming silent and resolute. The boy who had adored Camila vanished alongside her.

Niko channeled his energy into academics and social observation. He excelled at school and soon became one of the most popular students, as he had learned to understand and manipulate people. This skill carried over to college, where he honed the art of influence without cruelty. The pain of losing Camila had darkened his heart, turning those around him into pawns to control.

Despite his manipulative tendencies, Niko found solace in his career. He channeled his experiences with Camila into a vow to defend the voiceless against the rich and powerful. With charm, manipulation, status, and wealth, he took on cases others avoided. This earned him a reputation as the most sought-after defense lawyer on the east coast. While lucrative cases poured in, Niko never forgot his commitment to helping those in need. He established a charity to support Briar Ridge and its surroundings, though he kept this side of his work mostly concealed, preferring the image of a formidable legal shark.

Currently, Niko faces a new battle. Throughout his life, he grappled with a personal struggle, hidden away with no one to confide in for advice or support. He couldn't even find words to describe it. His secret liaisons with other men on drunken nights in bed were a source of inner turmoil. To the world, he appeared as one of the most eligible southern bachelors, yet he feared that someone might discover his truth. It wasn't shame that plagued him but confusion. Fearing exposure, he relocated to Briar Ridge, still that lonely little boy in the big house, yearning to understand the complexities of his own identity.

[mariacallous]

In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of complicity in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children (a war crime). According to Lvova-Belova herself, 700,000 Ukrainian children have been transported to Russia since February 2022, including 1,500 who allegedly ended up in orphanages. Media reports indicate others have been placed in foster homes or been “adopted” into Russian families. In a new investigation, the independent outlet iStories identified several Ukrainian children being held in Russian orphanages and uncovered how they’re being “reeducated” and taught the “patriotic values” of their “new homeland.” Meduza is publishing an English-language version of the story.

A new homeland

Valeria stands on the stage of an orphanage in Nizhny Novgorod, dressed in a traditional Russian folk costume. She’s performing for a Russian Unity Day celebration. “We are [one] people, and we are united — together we are invincible!” she recites. The teachers praise her and the other children for their “good knowledge of the history of the big and little Homeland.”

Valeria’s homeland is Ukraine. She, her siblings, and other orphaned children were taken from the occupied Donetsk region following Russia’s full-scale invasion. Their profiles are included in Russia’s federal orphan database, where Russians can look for children to foster or adopt. iStories estimates that by summer 2023, there may have been nearly 2,500 orphaned and unaccompanied Ukrainian children in this database. All of them, like Valeria, are taught to love their “new homeland.”

In February, a year after Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Naryshkino orphanage solemnly unveiled a memorial plaque in honor of one of its graduates: Ramis Isaenko. In fall 2022, he enlisted in Wagner Group from a prison where he was serving out a sentence. Two months later, he died in Ukraine. “He fought for the freedom of the ‘LNR’ [the self-proclaimed ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’] and died a brave death on the battlefield, showing courage and valor,” the plaque reads. It makes no mention of his criminal history.

Isaenko had three convictions: for stealing, buying drugs, and failing to pay alimony. He first went to prison in 2017, on drug charges. In 2020, he tried to steal from a store and got a suspended sentence, but six months later he was back on trial for a series of car battery thefts. Isaenko was given four years in a high-security prison. After his death, his record was expunged due to “pardon and death.” Isaenko was already a combat veteran when he received his first conviction. By the second, he was under the care of an addiction specialist and seeing a psychologist for “disturbing changes in personality.”

While Isaenko was at war in Ukraine, nearly 60 children from the Donetsk region were brought to his orphanage. A few months later, they took part in the unveiling ceremony for his memorial plaque — a plaque honoring a man who fought against their country.

At the Naryshkino orphanage, great attention is paid to patriotic education. The children regularly meet with a Soviet–Afghan War veteran turned priest, who tells them about “true patriotism” and “the feats of the holy defenders of Rus’” whom “the Lord called to service.” The students dedicated a “hero’s desk” to a graduate who died in Afghanistan, celebrated Russian Flag Day, met officials from the Russian Federal Protective Service, Interior Ministry, Prosecutor’s Office, and Federal Security Service (FSB). Children who have suffered through the devastation of Russian aggression were made celebrate “Reunification Day” (a new holiday marking Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories) and listen to stories from active military personnel (orphanage alumni) about their “feats” in the war against Ukraine.

iStories identified seven children at the school who’d been taken from the Donetsk region and attended these “patriotic” events. They’re all listed in the Russian federal orphan database. One of them was ceremoniously given a Russian passport on their 14th birthday.

In October, the Naryshkino orphanage was under threat of closure. The staff appealed to Putin with a request to save the institution. “We currently house children brought from the Donetsk People’s Republic. These children have been so united by a common tragedy and constant relocations that they live as one big family, helping and caring for each other as if they were real brothers and sisters. Moreover, many of them are indeed blood relatives,” the petition read.

The management forwarded questions about the orphanage’s closure and the fate of the children to the regional education department. At this writing, there was still no response.

A new family

In October 2022, at least nine new pupils from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine arrived at the Trajectory Center, an orphanage primarily for children with special needs. At the center, students write letters of encouragement to soldiers fighting in the “special military operation.” Some of these letters read, “Our dear heroes, defenders, we’re proud of you! Thank you for your courage. There’s nothing stronger than the heart of a soldier! The strength and spirit of the Russian people is with you!”

iStories was able to identify three of the children at the Trajectory Center taken from Ukraine’s Donetsk region. All of them are up for adoption, not just guardianship. Unlike guardians, adoptive parents receive the same rights as biological parents and can change the child’s name and personal information. It would be extremely difficult for relatives to get deported children back if they’ve been adopted.

Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova has repeatedly emphasized that Russians cannot adopt children from annexed territories. (Although she herself “adopted” a teenager from Mariupol.) It’s unclear why children taken to Trajectory are up for adoption; the center told iStories that some of them were placed under guardianship.

The center teaches the deported children to be true “patriots.” The director, Dmitry Batishchev, also heads the regional branch of the pro-war “We don’t abandon our own” movement. The children help weave camouflage nets, make trench candles, and collect socks and balaclavas, all of which the movement sends to Russian military personnel. They also send video messages to the soldiers thanking them for their service, wishing them victory, telling them the “truth” is on their side, and praising Russia as a bastion of “hope, compassion, military valor, and honor.”

Russian authorities don’t believe these kinds of activities are harmful to children who were taken from occupied territories. On the contrary, Lvova-Belova says that “it’s important to understand that the ‘DNR’ and ‘LNR’ territories have been shelled by the Ukrainian army for many years, and most of the orphaned children from the republics’ social institutions are aware of this.” According to her, “the children don’t see Russia as an enemy: they expect protection and assistance from it, so being placed in safe Russian [adoptive and foster] families isn’t a traumatic experience for them.”