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[writingsharks12]

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[carpe-mamilia]

AI often confidently hallucinates references that are inaccurate or completely made up.

(via the author, at the Ex Bird place)

[girlapologist]

one of the biggest issues with internet consumption and comprehension is the belief that everyone is serious all the time

[joejhang]

andrew minyard.

finally andrew is getting the essay treatment from me. i love this man and i just needed to yap about him. spoilers ahead and continue at ur own risk.

people (both within the series and in the fandom) like to think of andrew as super unemotional and stoic. i don't think people realise it but the whole "andrew is soulless" mindset has bled into the fandom, and the way people write and talk about him really makes me think they do just consider andrew to be extremely cold and unreachable as a person. i lowkey find this funny because andrew's not even that monstrous or difficult or stone cold he's literally just bipolar (canonically) with some clinical depression in there. like???

and it's weird because people like to think of andrew as super out of control and violent and yes, he was unpredictable when he was on his drugs and he does still play by his own rules, but he honestly rarely incites any violence? i can't really think of a single instance he's been violent for no reason. he punched matt for hitting kevin. he choked allison for slapping aaron. he choked kevin for lying to him and also because he was understandably panicked and angry about neil being taken from him. what i find interesting is that when one-dimensional booktok men and the stereotypical book boyfriends do this typa shit it's seen as cute and protective and bf material but when andrew does it he's seen as violent, out of control and emotionless. and what also doesn't make sense is when people see his ability to inflict fear and violence on people (usually retaliatory but whatever) they consider it to be proof of his inability to feel emotion, but it seems to me that it's proof of the opposite? all of his violent and "out of control" moments to me are literally displays of how much he cares.

andrew is such an acts of service show don't tell kinda person and you'd have to be pretty blind (or biased) to not be able to see how his actions reflect his thoughts and emotions. he agreed to everything neil asked of him because he was interested in and a little (a lot) in love with him. he agreed to let kevin stay and protect him from the literal mafia because kevin believed in him and believed he was worth something and was willing to be patient and give him something to live for. he's friends with and hangs out with renee because she's kind and honest and genuine with him and isn't immediately dead-set against him because he doesn't fit into the conventional values of what a guy is supposed to act like.

does he have problems and flaws? yes, absolutely. many of his issues do stem from his existing trauma and the biases he's developed from that, but he's working through them, with other people's help, and it's so bizarre when people in the fandom talk about him like he's so far gone and to "rehabilitate" him would be a miracle when...he's literally already in the process of healing?? and he's not resistant to it at all?? before neil even shows up, he's seeing and talking to betsy, he's doing things (in his own way, sure) to try and patch up his relationship with aaron, he's protecting the people he cares about, he isn't honestly as self-sabotaging and self-destructive as he says he is. betsy is right when she says that he's done exceptionally well despite everything the world and his life have tried to throw at him.

people like to accuse aftg of demonising mental illness and people like andrew but i actually think the aftg fandom does that a lot more than the actual books. i think anyone with critical thinking can see that despite the nickname, andrew isn't a monster at all, and i think anyone that really knows him in the novel would see that too. and people in the fandom still write him like a sociopath even though it's explicitly stated he isn't, he literally has bipolar disorder, and it's funny and ironic to me because the fandom is like the general public in aftg, and the fandom (at least to me) demonises andrew a hell of a lot more than the actual books do.

andrew isn't the emotionless, stony, cold, unreachable, violent monster the fandom seems to think he is. i think he does have some problems expressing his emotions and probably has some issues coming to terms with a lot of them, but i think he definitely experiences the full range of emotions and they show themselves pretty frequently, intentional or not.

[hazbin-but-good]

another hazbin hotel rewrite/redesign?

yup! and i'm so serious about it that i made a whole blog for it. i'm a white queer ex-cath tran doing this as an art and writing exercise, so feedback from other creatives + jewish and/or racialized folks is especially welcome.

i'm putting this post and only this post in the main tags for visibility. also, not gonna link my main, but i do make my own original stuff, and i encourage fans and haters alike to do the same.

anyway, here's a mostly good-faith 1.7k-word essay on the original. i think it's pretty funny and brings up some less talked-about points. correct me on the facts, disagree with my opinions, and ask clarifying questions, but don't come at me with any piss-poor reading comprehension.

the hellaverse is garbage, and here's why

cw: strong language, stronger opinions, intersectional feminist critical discourse analysis

1. vivienne medrano, the person

medrano was born as a well-off white-passing latina (salvadoran-american) in bougieass frederick, maryland. while attending new york's top art school, she got popular on deviantart-tumblr-twitter by being a prolific multifandom fujoshi furry who's more into ornamental character design than storytelling. upon graduation, she leveraged her fanbase and industry connections to make the hazbin and helluva boss pilots, get helluva made for youtube, and get hazbin made for amazon prime.

like every woman online, she gets harassed for no good reason, and as a certified autist, i will defend her right to be dumb, weird, annoying, and bad with words. however, there are legit reasons to criticize her:

racism, misogyny, homophobia, fatphobia, some antisemitism, past transphobia, past ableism

shitty boss, bad friend

cowardly, vindictive, manipulative, thoughtless behavior

skeevy friends

sucks at taking criticism

in short, i think she desperately needs a PR person and someone to clean up her digital footprint.

2. medrano's art

incurious

inauthentic

noncommittal

creatively stagnant

overindulgent, and the indulgence isn't even fun

shallow and childish framed as complex and mature

bland and boring framed as shocking and subversive

to be clear, i'm at peace with the existence of suckass art like this; i just think the money, attention, and praise it gets are unearned and should go to more interesting works, of which there are infinite.

medrano's had the time, money, and social cache to grow as an artist, learn from the best, and take creative risks, but she hasn't. if she truly has nothing more to offer, she should let her collaborators take the wheel, but she doesn't do that either. instead, she keeps getting more and more resources to make the same baby bullshit, and that pisses me off. she could be the nicest person ever, and this fundamental arrogance would still make her art blow.

stop with the pointless guilt: liking medrano's work does not make you stupid or evil. however, if you stay in the kiddie pool of culture, if you refuse to engage with a diversity of art, if the hellaverse is your point of reference for anything media-related, you can't expect to have your opinions on art, media, or culture taken seriously. you have not earned a seat at the table. you gotta hit the books first.

i cannot emphasize enough how much incredible stuff is out there if you're willing to look further than what social media and streaming services put right in front of you. if you come away from this blog having learned about just one new artist or piece of art, i'll be a happy camper.

3. the hellaverse

a. empty and confused

hazbin and helluva's content and marketing has no clear target audience. the subjects are inappropiate for teens, but the execution is too childish for adults, and lemme tell you what i don't mean by that, first.

not inherently inappropriate for teens:

sex and sexuality

violence, including when it intersects with the above

politics and religion

not inherently childish:

animation (any style)

comedy

episodic writing and/or loose continuity

young characters

fun, happiness, optimism, the power of friendship, cuteness, tenderness, sincerity, etc.

what i mean is that these shows are literally about adult characters who fuck, smoke, drink, do drugs, go clubbing, work full-time, manage their own finances, and deal with stuff like bureaucracy, sexual violence, domestic abuse, marriage, divorce, late adoption, and family estrangement.

however, none of these "adult" things are given enough specificity to create drama or comedy. it's all too stock, vague, flat, weirdly sanitized, and thus utterly banal—pure aesthetics on top of bad saturday morning cartoons. it's exactly what i'd expect from a sheltered disney kid who needs to log off and get into their local gay scene ASAP so their only contact with things like poverty, policing, addiction, and sex work stops being facile movies and TV.

if the shows were aware of this and played with it, that could be amazing, but they're not. they give you the mickey mouse version of the world with a straight face and then play looney tunes sound effects to try to make you laugh and sad_violin.mp3 to try to make you cry. now that's funny.

b. old and tired

let's make like americans and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist. even within the confines of the USA, home of the hays code, the red scare, and reaganite propaganda, this neopuritan fascist state ruled by 1000 megachurches in a trenchcoat, the indie/underground animation scene has been doing crazier shit for decades. anti-war films in the 60's, bakshi movies in the 70's, the simpsons shorts and r-rated movies in the 80's, adult swim and MTV in the 90's, flash/newgrounds/youtube in the 00's, streaming in the 2010's—so what are we doing in the 2020's with this wet white rice drowned in expired ketchup? i feel crazy making this point because it's obvious if you've watched these things, but if you haven't, you're gonna be like "well, there's gotta be something new here". no! there isn't! in the words of jimmy "the scot" jordan, nothing, nothing, NOTHING!

c. ideological purgatory

actually, there is one thing in these shows i've never seen before: the presbysterianism. shout out some interesting or at least intentional presbysterian art in the comments, because the way these ideas are presented here is not compelling. it just makes the rainbow neoliberalism even more confusing and contradictory.

i guess the big presbysterian things are protestanism, calvinism, and, uh, big church government? presbysterians, get your shit together. get your brand down. catholics have BDSM and vampires, evangelicals have TV and corporatism; what do you have? celtic crosses? no wonder medrano has such uninspired ideas on divinity.

d. queer deficiency

when i look at a piece of art, i ask myself: "what does this give me that i can't get from the hunchback of notre dame (1996)?" if the answer is as limp as "uhh, gay people, i guess", i can probably look for my gay shit elsewhere and rewatch the hunchback of notre dame (1996) in the meantime.

but let's say that you have no standards. you've been waiting for ages for a show about gays by the gays for the gays, and by god you're gonna get it. this is it! here we go! time for some

generic twink obliteration

male sexuality as aggression and dominance displays

WLW (sex and chemistry not included)

a couple straight femdoms

and the stalest sex jokes known to man

...yeah, it's not very queer. and by "queer", i mean "questioning or subverting gender norms (including sexual roles) within a given cultural context regardless of creator identity and intent". i'm not a queer studies scholar so LMK if there's a more specific term for this, but whatever you call it, it's not in the hellaverse much.

there's not even any transness, literal or metaphorical, just ancient drag jokes. i guess the writers thought we would've been too controversial. so much for an indie animation studio that prides itself in the diversity of its staff both above and below the line, bakshi-style. i wonder how medrano, a bisexual woman, would've felt if told that a lesbian main couple in hazbin would be "too controversial".

4. spindlehorse and the vivziepop brand

spindlehorse toons underpays its overworked staff and keeps outsourcing more and more labor to even more overworked freelancers overseas to cut costs. a rainbow sweatshop is still a sweatshop, and just because these practices may be "industry standard" doesn't make them any more ethical.

the studio has also been repeatedly accused by current and former employees and contractors of creating a hostile and abusive workplace. AFAIK, it still has no dedicated HR person, and victims are too afraid of retaliation like blacklisting and online harassment to speak out.

this is exactly the stuff that unions exist to prevent. as i'm writing this, the IATSE (the parent union of TAG, which is the parent union of all US animation unions) is negotiating with entertainment industry executives for better working conditions, and if the execs fuck around like last year, it's strike time again. so watch this space, voice your support, and don't cross any picket lines.

i hope spindlehorse unionizes, but until then and for these reasons, i don't think you should give money to the company.

first of all, all content on amazon-owned platforms is ok to pirate, and all youtube ads are ok to block. everyone involved in making the episodes has (or should have) been paid upfront, so you're not taking the bread out of anyone's mouth.

next, let's look at the succulent offerings of the official vivziepop merch shop:

$10 pins and keychains

$15 sticker packs

$20 mugs and acrylic cutouts

$25 shirts

$30 metal cards (not even tarot)

$40 lounge pants

$50 mini backpacks

random $80 skateboard deck

forgive my latin americanness, but this is all stuff you can get made by a local metalsmith, print/sublimation shop, or just crafty people in your life. it's cheaper, customizable, and better for the environment to skip all the shipping and packaging. also, not painting your own skateboard is poser shit.

the hazbin website also has $15 pins, one $20 keychain, and $6 trading card packs. people are weird about trading cards, so if for some reason you wanna gamble for a mass-produced bit of cardboard, plastic, and tinfoil, at least bulk-order for all the vivziepoppers in your area so it's less of a huge waste. better yet, trace the designs and make infinite bootlegs.

at the end of the day, buying merch is not activism. your bulk order of trading cards will not save any wage slaves from getting evicted from their overpriced studio apartments. however, the shop links you to all the credited artists/designers, and more of your bucks will actually reach them if you buy their designs directly, then turn them into body pillows or life-sized bronze statues or whatever the fuck.

go through the credits of any episode of helluva or hazbin, and you'll find even more creatives you might wanna support. get jinkx monsoon's albums on CD. subscribe to actually good artist, animator, and composer gooseworx. lots of voice actors now have patreon, cameo, or self-hosted pages where you can write better lines for their characters and have them read it. these things may not look as shiny as Official Merch™, but we all need less plastic shit and more culture anyway.

[astercontrol]

On the subject of problematic stories, fanfiction archive policies, and "(x) fans DNI"…

Here's my analysis on… well, how a visceral moral/ethical response can never fully work in tandem with the practical considerations of policy and enforcement.

Yes, there are some stories that I find irredeemable, stories so upsetting that I would genuinely not want the writers of them to ever interact with me. Mostly these are stories about truly horrible acts-- things like rape, child molesting, domestic abuse, racist hate-crimes, genocide--

--and I don't just mean any story that mentions or depicts these acts in any way, because lots of stories can talk about those concepts without making me hate the author or wish the story would disappear.

No, I'm specifically referring to stories that portray these things in a way that strongly suggests the author likes them… a lot, to the point of probably wanting to commit these acts in real life.

And yes, there are some stories that do convey that feeling quite strongly, without much room for other interpretations. I'm not gonna claim that every story has the right to a charitable interpretation. Some people do just… write to express really hateful, toxic thoughts without any redeeming quality about them.

And yes, I do think that there are certain stories that "All Reasonable People" would agree fit in that category.

Not many of them. The vast majority of stories have some room for sympathy. And even for the worst ones, reasonable people can disagree a lot on just what should be done with such stories. But I'd say that for those few, bottom-of-the-barrel worst stories, those same reasonable people would at least be in agreement that the writer is someone they would not want to ever be around, and that the stories do nothing much except spread hate and encourage hurtful ideas.

Practically speaking, though-- just how could you structure the rules and rule-enforcement of a fiction site to exclude those stories specifically?

For instance. Say I'm a site-owner writing my terms of service and trying to make it clear there's no tolerance for rape or abuse, underage sex, racism or sexism or homophobia…

Well, for one thing, there's all the technical detail of how you define every one of those things. And that's its own whole set of challenges, which have been explored in many many other essays. Do stories about sex-pollen or mating cycles count as rape? Can a coffeeshop AU romance between customer and employee ever truly be consensual, with that power dynamic where the employee knows she can get fired if a spurned customer makes a retaliatory complaint to a manager? And how clearly do you have to show characters planning out healthy boundaries to stop BDSM play from being abuse? Is it abusive to ship characters who have had fantasy or sci-fi battles with each other? In a world that has magical beings, robots and clones and space aliens of all kinds, what even counts as a race? And in that same diverse setting, is a character's age defined by number of years, mental maturity level, appearance, or some combination thereof?

It's all been analyzed into oblivion, without ever reaching an overall consensus.

But even on the topics where there is consensus-- even regarding scenarios that that are very obviously rape or abuse or racist violence or child molestation in the consensus of All Reasonable People-- even there, how would I word the policy so I'm not prohibiting critical discussion of those topics?

If I just say, for instance, "stories can't have child sex abuse or racial hate crimes in them" …

...then, I'd be making it technically against the rules to post a story in which, say, a traumatized character talks to a therapist about their childhood experience of being a victim of sexual or racial violence.

And of course I don't want to ban that kind of story! Being free to talk about traumatic experiences is vitally important. Being free to show fictional characters having that kind of talk can also be vitally important.

And, personally, the degree of detail or explicitness also isn't what I'd try and regulate. The gist of the rule I'd want to write would be something along the lines of, "I don't want any stories that show these things and glorify them, eroticize or romanticize them; that portray them in a positive way."

But this rule-- like most definitions and rules, honestly-- cannot be written in a way that inherently, explicitly forbids all the stories I want to keep out, while inherently, explicitly allowing all those I want to allow.

Language simply can't do that.

Apart from rules written in programming language for governing the activities of software, rules never work "inherently" and "explicitly," anyway. They work in conjunction with human rule-enforcers.

The closest I could get to my goal, here, would be to use something like that vaguely written rule, "No stories that glorify, eroticize or romanticize these things," and then have a team of moderators interpret it on a case-by-case basis.

A case-by-case basis is the most high-effort way to enforce anything. But for a LOT of things, it's the only way that comes close to working. Anything that can only be defined as "I know it when I see it!" …has to be regulated by people knowing it when they see it.

And yes, if all those people had the same general common sense that I consider myself to have, and enough time and freedom to exercise it-- yes, I think they would be able to weed out all the stories that "All Reasonable People" would consider so toxic as to have no redeeming value.

But two big problems here:

This would require the moderators to read every story-- or at least to read and make a decision on every story that got enough reports from users who felt it broke the rules. Unless the site was very small, this would be a huge undertaking, requiring many hours of labor from the mods.

Unless the site was very small, they would not be able to do it without also weeding out some stories that do have redeeming value.

Because they would have to draw the line somewhere.

And with a large enough population of site members, a large enough team of moderators, and a large enough volume of stories posted, they could not draw that line consistently.

There would, inevitably, be complaints from all directions-- writers of all walks of life making accusations of bias, citing specific stories that got allowed, and contrasting them to other specific stories that got taken down.

There would be bias. There would be unfairness. It's not avoidable. And no matter who you are and what your tastes in fiction may be, it would, without fail, happen to some things that you think it shouldn't happen to.

Now, depending on your tastes, you may feel this would be a fair tradeoff for a site that successfully kept out most or all of the fiction you consider the worst.

But, so far, that has not been the case with any big fanfiction site.

On every large site that bans certain types of fanfiction identified on a case-by-case basis, there is widespread dissatisfaction with how it is or isn't enforced. It just isn't possible to do that kind of enforcement, on that kind of scale, and keep any large percentage of people satisfied.

Even AO3, which has very few rules of that sort, still gets its share of complaints. It does have some rules-- no monetizing fanfiction, no plagiarism, no doxxing-- and those are, to some degree, things that have to be interpreted and identified on a case-by-case basis by individual volunteer moderators.

And even with these comparatively simple decisions, there is a limit to how much of that they can get done in a day, and how consistent they can be at it… and, therefore, a limit to how much of the userbase they can satisfy.

And if you want to understand why they won't make more rules about the content of the fiction--

--just try to imagine, for a few moments, adding all that, on top of the current enforcement tasks those volunteers already do.

Imagine the logistics of it, the details. The work of reading and categorizing everything that gets reported. The dilemma of where to draw the line in each and every case, without those decisions forming any unfair pattern of inconsistency.

It could be done, maybe.

But it hasn't been done successfully, on that scale, ever.

If you were in their position, would you want to take that risk?

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

David Rowe

* * * *

The power of not giving up!

November 15, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

After the preposterous nominations of Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth1 on Wednesday, my inbox and the Comment section experienced a spike in reader comments that were a variation of, “This is too much! I give up. Democracy is done for!”

Those reactions are completely understandable. Trump has managed to exceed our worst fears for his cabinet picks. He did so again on Thursday by nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead Health & Human Services. Just weeks ago, RFK Jr. was too nutty and toxic for the Trump campaign, which had begun to distance itself from Kennedy, who believes that all vaccines are harmful, antidepressants are responsible for mass shootings, and COVID was engineered to target Caucasians and Blacks while sparing Ashkenazi Jews.

I get it. At this moment, it is easy to feel hopeless and powerless. That is the point of mind-numbing nominations that seek to place federal agencies under the control of unqualified hacks intent on destroying the agencies they will lead. The strongest defense against a psychological terror campaign designed to instill dread and provoke despair is to refuse to give up!

It is not a given that Trump's ludicrous nominees will be confirmed. Nor should we assume that they will be able to do their worst in agencies staffed with hundreds of thousands of qualified, dedicated public servants.

I am not saying that things won’t get bad. They will. I am saying that they will get worse if we give up merely because of threats and bluster by a man schooled in the dark arts of the long con and the Big Lie.

My favorite political writer, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, wrote about the dangers of giving up in advance. See The Most Pernicious Anticipatory Obedience Hides in Plain Sight, Talking Points Memo. (Although the discussion takes place in Josh’s paying members-only newsletter, this article should be accessible to all. My subscription to Talking Points Memo is the best investment I make.)

Marshall writes in part,

You may think there’s some kind of psychic or moral merit in jumping into every conversation and saying “No, it’s over! He said he was going to be a dictator! He said who he was! Believe him! Don’t be so naive!” But really that’s just rolling out a red carpet, the ultimate capitulation in advance. At the very least, put him to the task. Make him execute on what he’s trying to do. It won’t be easy and there are a lot of ways to make it even less easy. That’s the first role of a political opposition. [¶¶] [Giving up is] the most pernicious form of anticipatory obedience. Deciding that all of this stuff has already happened is not only inaccurate but self-defeating. It’s amplifying threats Trump hasn’t been able or willing to make good on. A better answer, both more effective and more dignified, is to say, “Okay, let’s see you try.” It’s not easy. There are lots of road blocks. It requires maintaining a lot of public support. It requires patience.

In citing Marshall’s essay, I do not mean to criticize anyone who wrote to me in exhaustion and fear today to say, “It’s too much. I give up. All is lost.” If that is how you feel, those feelings are understandable and firmly rooted in reality.

But as I responded to some readers today, “You don’t mean that. It is exhaustion and despair talking. You aren’t giving up. You and I both know that.”

There is power in the simple act of not giving up. Even if there is little that we can do in the moment to stop the ludicrous nominations and threats.

Do not give up. If the only thing you can muster is the will not to give up, that is enough—for now.

But we can do more than not giving up. We can engage in small acts of daily resistance. Make a phone call. Write a letter. Send a text or email. For those of you already involved in the grassroots movement, you know the drill.

If you are just joining the fight, there is no better place than Jessica Craven’s Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter on Substack. Jessica’s daily column includes small acts that you can take to make your voice heard.

On Thursday, Jessica Craven’s newsletter included a script and directions for calling your representatives in Congress, urging them to reject the nomination of Matt Gaetz. Check it out!

Take a small action and feel the power of refusing to give up!

Recess appointments

As Trump's nominations become ever more ludicrous, the reason for his demand for recess appointments becomes clearer: Many of his nominees will never make it through the confirmation process. See Salon, "Totally unqualified": Congress reacts to RFK Jr. nomination.

When Trump first floated the idea of recess appointments, I assumed it was bluster. I now believe he is deadly serious. Senator John Thune, the new Majority Leader in the Senate, says that recess appointments are “still an option.”

The issue of recess appointments is complicated and nuanced. Previous presidents have made recess appointments, although the trend over the last two decades has been to block all recess appointments. See generally, Vox, Trump’s demand for recess appointments, explained.

But here is the constitutional takeaway about recess appointments: The rule is that nominations are confirmed by the Senate and recess appointments are the rare exception. Trump seeks to make the exception (recess appointments) the rule.

Whatever the history and nuances of recess appointments, no president has ever demanded that Congress go into recess for the purpose of circumventing the Senate’s obligation to provide “advice and consent” regarding presidential nominations. See Can  the  President  Adjourn  Congress? - ConstitutionNEXT.

Trump's demand that the Senate abdicate its constitutional duty is the first step in abolishing the constitutional system of checks and balances. If Republicans agree to surrender the constitutional oversight role of Congress, they are co-conspirators in an effort to overthrow the Constitution.

Don’t let anyone tell you that Trump's demand that the Senate go into recess is consistent with historical norms. It is not. Trump's demand is outrageous and should be condemned by every member of Congress and every responsible media outlet in the nation.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a danger to America’s health

Trump's nomination of RFK Jr. crossed another line of sanity and decency. Kennedy is a dangerous, unserious, deeply flawed choice who will imperil the health of Americans if he is confirmed. See The Guardian, RFK Jr condemned as ‘clear and present danger’ after Trump nomination.

Per The Guardian,

Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit organization focusing on consumer advocacy, said: “Robert F Kennedy Jr is a clear and present danger to the nation’s health. He shouldn’t be allowed in the building at the department of health and human services (HHS), let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency.” “Donald Trump’s bungling of public health policy during the Covid pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives. By appointing Kennedy as his secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another, policy-driven public health catastrophe,” the organization added. Alastair McAlpine, a pediatric physician at British Columbia’s children’s hospital, wrote: “It is hard to overstate what a terrible decision this is. RFK Jr has no medical training. He is a hardcore anti-vaccine and misinformation peddler. The last time he meddled in a state’s medical affairs (Samoa), 83 children died of measles.”

Despite the danger presented by Kennedy, no congressional Republicans have gone on record criticizing Kennedy. To the contrary, they have described him as “brilliant” and “exciting.” It is despicable that Republicans would play politics with the health of America’s children, elderly, and vulnerable.

Update on Matt Gaetz

Shock over Matt Gaetz’s nomination continues. One reason (among many) are allegations that Gaetz was involved in moving underage girls across state lines for sex. On Thursday, the attorney for one of those underage girls spoke out. See Newsweek, Lawyer for Teenager at Center of Matt Gaetz Investigation Speaks Out.

Per Newsweek, the girl’s lawyer said,

Mr. Gaetz's likely nomination as Attorney General is a perverse development in a truly dark series of events. We would support the House Ethics Committee immediately releasing their report. She was a high school student and there were witnesses.

It is bewildering and maddening that a president-elect who is an adjudicated sexual abuser nominated a man under investigation for transporting underage girls across state lines for sex to be the Attorney General of the United States. Most of the Trump voters who are parents of teenage daughters would not allow their daughters to remain alone in the same room with Trump or Gaetz. And yet, they voted for Trump.

Concluding Thoughts

It has been a tough week. Part of the reason is that we can’t play defense yet. We are simply waiting as Trump makes one outrageous announcement after another. I admit to feeling frustrated. Over the summer, the Biden and Harris campaigns raised the alarm about the anti-democratic, revenge-based agenda planned by Trump. Pundits and scolds warned that “democracy issues” were not resonating with voters and Democrats needed to shift to “kitchen table issues.”

Kamala Harris made a masterful pivot to policies focusing on the middle and working classes. Those campaign themes gained some traction, but not enough. And now we are faced with the anti-democratic, revenge-based agenda that many warned was coming. That agenda is surprising Trump supporters and some Democrats. And it is worse than we imagined.

We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. There is no such thing as raising the alarm about Trump's dictatorial aspirations too loudly or frequently. We must resist every step of the way.

I have largely abandoned the NYTimes as a source of news. Today, as I was fact-checking this newsletter, I clicked on my icon for the NYT, expecting to see full-throated condemnation of Trump's ridiculous anti-government, anti-science, anti-America nominations. Instead, I saw David Brooks (still) explaining to Democrats how they (allegedly) blew it. At some point, Brooks will have to find something new to write about. I suggest he start with an alleged child sex trafficker heading the DOJ, an anti-science anti-vaxxer heading HHS, a Putin-friendly neophyte heading the DNI, and a white nationalist heading the DOD.

While there is power in not giving up, at some point we need to rouse righteous anger about what is happening to America. It is not right. It is not acceptable. And we should not let it happen on our watch.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

American Riviera Orchard sounds like the name a 14-year-old would use in a fanfic. Or give a horse.

My work involves looking at companies and I’ve looked at hundreds. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like ARO and I’ve come across Harry Potter-named companies and companies with “Top Secret” in the name. American Riviera on its own would have actually been a lovely name imo.

I checked on the California Business Search and American Riviera Orchard, LLC was incorporated in California on 28 February 2024. I was expecting it to be registered in California but incorporated in another state like Delaware, where company disclosure requirements are much more limited. (Very common for Californian-headquartered businesses to be incorporated elsewhere for this reason).

About Goop: Gwyneth Paltrow reportedly owns only around 30% of Goop, which is very normal even for non-celebrity companies. I would expect Meghan to also have below 50% ownership in AOR if she does it right. A lot of the successful celebrity entities / business ventures like that of Reese Witherspoon have the celebrity at the front-end and experienced executives and directors at the back-end (both important roles, not meant as a put-down comment - RW is a very underestimated kick-ass business woman).

I’m not surprised that the likes of Meghan got backing for a venture like this. I think the massive catch for her investors will be whether she can make a return on their investments. It seems to me while Goop’s… questionable items get news coverage, there is actually a range of different offerings like Goop Kitchen that has made it go past a merch-fest. (But my knowledge of Goop is limited - blessedly.) I can’t see Meghan matching that sustainable growth and variation based on her history. And the ability to take massive criticism and lawsuits like GW / Goop.

My celebrity knowledge is severely lacking, but I believe GP still has that Hollywood sparkle, despite having a reputation. It seems like Goop is supported by the stars, which then trickles down? If so, AOR will be Meghan’s ultimate test of her love-bombing Hollywood. She cannot get to Goop status off of the sugars alone. If she doesn’t get Goop status, she will need to strike a deal with the likes of Walmart / Target to really make money off of it. Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty seems to be a successful, non-luxury line like that?

Sorry for the essay, I saw “new company” and my brain immediately went “I’m so ready for this!”.

This is honestly super interesting, anon! Thanks for sharing! (And everyone can write an essay any time...god knows I put you through it sometimes!)

What's surprising about your research is that the registration was done just a couple of weeks ago. All the PR that I've seen has talked about how this has been in the works for over a year. If that's true, then why wasn't the registration done earlier?

You do it hit on the head with Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop. Gwyneth has real Hollywood bona fides - she has an Oscar, an Emmy, two SAGs; she's in Marvel; and she's a legit Hollywood nepo baby (mother is an award-winning actress, father is a director/producer) - and that rubs off a lot. As silly as Goop is and as much as everyone jokes about how out of touch it is, it's actually a real juggernaut in the luxury space that Gwyneth occupies. Goop serves a purpose and fills a necessary gap in the market - luxury wellness.

Just like Reese Witherspoon. Her brand serves a purpose and addresses a gap in the marketplace - classic Americana with a feminine twist and female-driven entertainment. It's purposeful. It's different. Not everyone can do a book club but she did, and it's wildly successful.

Meghan's American Riviera Orchard is just another in a long line of luxury wellness/lifestyle brands trying to copy Goop's success. Like Blake Lively. She launched her wellness brand, Preserve, in 2014 but it was just a Goop copy with nothing unique or different. It didn't fill a gap or offer a service, and it floundered, shutting down after less than a year. That's what I see happening with Meghan. There's nothing unique about about American Riviera Orchard that sets it apart from every other lifestyle brand and company. Meghan will be lucky if she can keep this going for at least a year.

But she isn't helping herself with that name. American Riviera Orchard. It's a mouthful, and it's such a mouthful that people will abbreviate it and however the abbreviate it, Meghan will hate it. It sounds like something one of the knockoff Kennedy family members would do to try and reclaim the JFK/Jackie/RFK aura, maybe the one who's married to StarLord.

IMO, Meghan should just lean into the wino allegations and buy a vineyard to make wine. It'd be very Brad and Angelina of her and the Sussex Squad would keep her in business year after year.

[nursingassignmentshelp]

Best Nursing Assignment Help Service

Nursing is one of the most challenging yet rewarding professions in the healthcare industry. However, the path to becoming a nurse isn't easy. Nursing students often find themselves overwhelmed by the rigorous coursework, clinical practice, and the countless assignments that come with the territory. These assignments play a critical role in their education, helping them develop the knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality patient care.

But what happens when the pressure becomes too much? Many students turn to nursing assignment help services to ease the burden. In this guide, we’ll explore why nursing assignments are so important, the challenges students face, and how nursing assignment help can be a valuable resource.

The Importance of Nursing Assignments

Nursing assignments aren’t just busy work. They are carefully designed to help students grow academically and professionally. Through assignments, students learn how to apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios, preparing them for the real-world challenges they'll face in clinical settings.

These tasks also serve as a tool for educators to assess critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills—key traits of any competent nurse. Furthermore, nursing assignments contribute to a deeper understanding of patient care, medical procedures, and ethical considerations.

Common Types of Nursing Assignments

Nursing students encounter various types of assignments throughout their education, each focusing on different aspects of nursing practice.

Case Studies: These assignments require students to analyze patient scenarios and develop care plans. They help in understanding patient care from diagnosis to treatment.

Research Papers: Research assignments encourage students to engage with the latest medical literature and contribute to evidence-based practice.

Care Plans: Developing individualized care plans allows students to apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios, ensuring patients receive tailored care.

Reflective Journals: Reflective writing helps students think critically about their experiences in clinical practice, encouraging personal and professional growth.

Challenges Students Face in Nursing Assignments

Nursing assignments come with their own set of challenges. Balancing academic work with clinical practice, family obligations, and personal life is a struggle for many students.

Time Management Issues: Nursing students often juggle tight schedules, making it difficult to complete assignments on time.

Understanding Complex Medical Terms: Nursing is a specialized field with its own language. Mastering medical terminology can be daunting, especially for those new to the field.

Critical Thinking Development: Transitioning from textbook knowledge to real-life application requires strong critical thinking skills, which many students struggle to develop.

APA Referencing and Formatting: Academic writing standards, like APA formatting, are strict and can be tricky for students unfamiliar with them.

Why Seek Nursing Assignment Help?

Given these challenges, it’s no wonder that many nursing students seek outside help to complete their assignments.

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Improving Grades: These services provide expertly written assignments, often resulting in better grades.

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Time for Clinical Practice: More time can be allocated to hands-on learning, which is crucial for any nursing student.

Features of a Good Nursing Assignment Help Service

When looking for nursing assignment help, there are a few key features to consider:

Expert Writers with Nursing Background: Look for services that employ writers with nursing or healthcare backgrounds. This ensures the assignments are accurate and relevant.

Timely Delivery: Meeting deadlines is crucial in nursing school, and a good service will always deliver on time.

Plagiarism-Free Work: Originality is key, and the best services will provide plagiarism-free assignments.

24/7 Customer Support: Look for services that offer around-the-clock support for any last-minute questions or changes.

Customization and Adherence to Guidelines: Every assignment is different, and a good service will tailor the work to meet your specific requirements.

How Nursing Assignment Help Services Work

Most nursing assignment help services follow a simple process:

Submit Your Requirements: Provide detailed information about your assignment, including the topic, word count, deadline, and any special instructions.

Work with Expert Writers: The service will assign your task to a qualified writer who understands the subject.

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Final Submission: After making revisions, the final assignment is delivered to you, ready for submission.

Tips for Choosing the Best Nursing Assignment Help Service

Not all services are created equal, so here are some tips to help you choose the right one:

Look for Expertise in Nursing Field: Ensure the service has writers with healthcare qualifications.

Check for Reviews and Testimonials: Student reviews can give you a good sense of a service’s reliability and quality.

Consider Pricing and Budget: While you want quality work, make sure the service fits within your budget.

Ensure They Offer Revisions: Revisions are crucial to getting the best final product.

The Ethical Considerations in Using Assignment Help

Using nursing assignment help services ethically is important. These services should be seen as a learning tool rather than a shortcut to success.

Ensuring it’s Used as a Learning Tool: Use the assignments provided as a study guide to improve your understanding of the subject.

Avoiding Plagiarism: Always ensure the work is original and properly referenced.

Fostering Independent Learning: Nursing students should use these services to complement their learning, not replace it.

How to Write a Nursing Assignment on Your Own

While assignment help services are great, learning to complete assignments on your own is crucial for academic and professional growth.

Understanding the Question: Break down the assignment question and identify what is being asked.

Researching the Topic: Use credible sources like peer-reviewed journals and textbooks.

Developing an Outline: Plan your assignment structure before writing to ensure clarity.

Writing Clearly and Concisely: Avoid unnecessary jargon and keep your writing precise.

Citing Properly: Follow the required citation style to avoid plagiarism.

Common Mistakes in Nursing Assignments

Many students make similar mistakes when completing their nursing assignments:

Failing to Answer the Question: Always ensure your work directly addresses the assignment prompt.

Poor Research: Relying on non-credible sources weakens the quality of the assignment.

Inadequate Referencing: Ensure you cite all your sources correctly to avoid plagiarism.

Not Proofreading: Spelling and grammar mistakes can easily lower your grade.

How to Improve Your Nursing Assignment Writing Skills

Improving your nursing assignment writing skills takes time and practice:

Practice Regularly: The more you write, the better you’ll get.

Seek Feedback: Always ask for feedback from professors or peers to help you improve.

Use Online Tools: Grammar checkers, citation generators, and other tools can help you refine your writing.

Benefits of Collaborating with Peers on Nursing Assignments

Collaborating with classmates can be a great way to tackle nursing assignments:

Sharing Knowledge: Group discussions can lead to better understanding of complex topics.

Different Perspectives: Collaboration exposes you to different ideas and approaches.

Improving Problem-Solving Skills: Working together helps develop better solutions to nursing challenges.

Nursing Assignment Help and Academic Integrity

Maintaining academic integrity is essential, even when using nursing assignment help services.

Maintaining Integrity in Academic Work: Always use the service as a tool for learning, not just for completing tasks.

When Help Becomes Cheating: Ensure that you’re still doing your own work and using help services ethically.

Conclusion

Nursing assignments are an integral part of the educational process, preparing students for the complex world of healthcare. While they can be challenging, nursing assignment help services offer a valuable resource for those who need assistance. However, it’s important to balance external help with personal effort to ensure true learning and academic integrity.

FAQs

What are the most common nursing assignments?

Case studies, research papers, care plans, and reflective journals are the most common nursing assignments.

How do nursing assignment help services maintain academic integrity?

Reputable services provide original content and encourage students to use the assignments as learning tools, not as a way to cheat.

How can I ensure my nursing assignment is plagiarism-free?

Use a plagiarism checker and ensure all sources are properly cited.

What should I do if I struggle with referencing in my nursing assignment?

You can use online citation tools or seek help from your institution’s writing center.

Are nursing assignment help services ethical? Yes, as long as they are used to supplement learning and not to replace personal effort.

[vide0n4sty]

i just read the whole issues with forcemasc scenes and while im agreeing with it, i wanna add my points into it: the scene is heavily white and eurocentric standards focused. like its always about "cutting your hair", not knowing in some cultures, like native american, its a masculine standards to keep a man's hair long. the whole ideas of masculinity has to be rough and shit. you have to have a beard, you have to have fat on, you have to wear this and that. and i remember there were some posts making fun of transmascs wanna be a "twink". like yes i know the existence of conventional beauty standards are harmful, but as long as it made said people happy about their choice and they don't force it into other people, what's the odd? plus this lowkey implying the idea of "you will regret when transition" radfems saying even and it made me cringe. and what about transmasc already had that type of body i thought yall agree on not bodyshame anyone?

do i like forcemasc and the idea of it? yes! but do i like how the community practicing it? i dont. tbh, the only forcemasc post i ever liked is like, something about letting your hair grow and you can wear a dress, you would still be a man

btw you are the only one i trust writing this kink lol no other people could do this justice

i appreciate that a lot, and yeah, i think there are definitely criticisms to be made about how forcemasc positions itself as like. the clean kink as opposed to forcefem, and yet falls back on eurocentric/white centric ideals of masculinity in service of its goal of gender affirmation as opposed to titillation. like if you're going to go into 'shave your head, be a bear' etc., commit to the bit, ya know?

i read this very good essay/post about why forcemasc is largely an obsolete fetish which references "disidentification" (codified by a queer person of colour) as a driving force behind forcefem;

forcefem kind of WORKS because it's a survival tactic, which the original text also connects to being a queer person of colour, taking these absurdly misogynistic and shameful fantasies where Woman is abject, the Othered object of desire (as women so often are in a patriarchal society), and reinterpreting into sexual gratification, gender affirmation, comfort, security, freedom

forcemasc doesn't scratch that same itch because Man (and wanting to be a man) simply is not abject in a patriarchal society, Man is not Othered, Man is not shameful.

and i think the forcemasc boys kind of KNOW THAT, so they have to push it further and lean into. like. eurocentric ideals of masculinity for their lame tboy poetry, as opposed to having a fetish about injecting T and getting a big cock and ooooo you wanna jerk off five times a day, you dumb gross boy, which i think is a little more generic but also a lot more overtly sexual too lmao

IDK!!! FORCEMASC IS A SEX THING. LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY, LOVES AND LAUGHS XOXO

[lemonhemlock]

My all time favorite angle of the Valyrian gods versus the Faith debate, is that a lot of the fics/takes around it by Team Black seem to like the Old Gods (which fair enough, I too like the creepy trees. team stark 5ever) or at least play lip service to it to make the Faith of Seven seem less cool (no one has the vision for how insane fantasy Catholicism can be except for GRRM himself) but also including Targaryen characters being respectful/kinda into the Old Gods, which KILLS me. I blame the wildly non-canonical weirwood in the Red Keep’s godswood in the show. It drives me INSANE. What is that doing there!!!!!! The Red Keep has no weirwood!!! Who planted it there???? You telling me that Maegor or Jaehaerys took the time to plant a weirwood for the Old Gods???? If I see one more fic where a Targaryen marries someone not of the old gods under a weirwood tree I’m going to kill someone.

I’m SO defensive of the weirwoods because I know none of them have delved into the fucked up human sacrifices that likely created weirwoods plus the rich symbolism that they create (hello Sansa in the Eyrie, I love you), the erasure of the North-South religious and cultural divide, and acting like the Targs would be so cool with the Old Gods for no reason is driving me nuts.

I just hate the show’s weirwood tree, it makes no sense. I will never find peace as long as I keep seeing scenes from the show set under it.

(Sorry for being insane in your inbox again )

Don't worry about it, your inbox drops lead to interesting discussions! 💚

Totally agree with you on the Old Gods & the unsavory blood ritualistic imagery (like hanging entrails from the branches of weirwood trees). I mean, it may sound heavy metal, but if we're supposed to be critical about religion,* this should definitely come under the magnifying glass, too. As is the super creepy idea that Bloodraven is spying on everyone using the weirwoodnet and manipulating historical events like that.

I also don't see why Targaryens should be Old Gods fanboys either - what could they possibly gain from this? It's such a fanon interpretation, because the old religion doesn't have any organized structure that could act as a political actor. There's this projection happening, because Christianity has flaws IRL and a fraught history, when people encounter its fantasy equivalent, they automatically think any other religion is better. I'm waiting for Cult of Starry Wisdom acolytes to come out of the woodwork and preach how much better Nyarlathotep is than the Seven Gods puts together.

As for the godswood in the Red Keep - Ned tells us it has an ancient, huge oak. That kind of tree can only grow like that over a very long period of time. There's no mention of a weirwood in KL that could have been cut down; also I don't think you can plant weirwood trees? Else I think people would do it more often in the North. I honestly think it's there just for nostalgia reasons for the audience. Though I wonder if George agreed with this addition and why. Maybe the lack of a weirwood in KL was an in-universe limitation he imposed on Bloodraven's power?

*at least that's what they think they're doing, by writing all these critical essays on how problematic the Faith is, but they never bother to do a comparative analysis with the other religions available in-universe. Or they peddle their own headcanons as fact, like how supposedly Valyrian society would have been so much less sexist than Faith-worshippers, ergo their religion should reflect that.

[not-really-a-poet-blog]

but I am starlight 

you try to put me out,

like water,

to the delicate wings

of a firefly,

I wonder how much hatred 

you have for me,

because you have robbed

me of my creativity,

you have put logic

and realism,

in place of the imaginations,

that craft my core

I am no longer myself,

because you meddled in my life,

because of theory,

I wish to be whimsical,

I was,

but no longer am I,

able to shift my hands into leaves,

without thinking of the pain they have caused me,

because you meddled,

And you forced me to know 

Let me read my books,

Without scooping brains out,

over questions 1, 2, 3

Let me see myself in the reflection of

Water,

Without asking why,

Let me discover the beauties of calculus,

without your “critical insight”,

Let me be my own teacher,

Let me form my own thoughts,

Let me cry over death,

And sadness,

And love

Not the words on a page,

that mean not much

beyond their service in an essay,

beyond their relevance to answers

A B C D

Let me love learning,

please, please, please

I am made of starlight,

so leave me be,

To see the stars,

As they see me 

By: the “not really poet” who runs this account!

Hi y’all, my name’s Eve Loven and this is one of my poems! Its a free verse and not very polished (is essentially a first draft). The purpose is to express my frustration with schooling, which I know a lot of people share. Im not against education, I just hate how its presented and how much of a competitive game that has emerged out of it. I’m constantly incredibly stressed, and when I’m incredibly stressed im also mad and when im mad I write poems… so here we are! let me know your feedback and thank you for reading!!!!

[those70scomics]

As requested by @hydesjackiespuddinpop

Tell Me About Your OTP

I've written a lot of metas about Jackie and Hyde over the years (a sampling):

And many more that can be found here (on my meta master list page).

I'm a firm believer that canon stems from character consistency as well as growth and change that is grounded (or set up) properly in storytelling. Writers for a show can and will force characters to act against their long-established natures to fit a plot idea, and T7S unfortunately does this a lot with J/H in particular during the last part of S5, beginning of S6, and too much of S7.

I can't and don't consider canon the choices, actions, and feelings that inherently and significantly contradict previous years of consistent character building -- not without a carefully written storyline that substantiates those changes from the core of the characters. Just because people who write for the show put out-of-character episodes or scenes onscreen doesn't make that writing canon.

If X character is firmly established as someone who would never do Y, but that character does Y onscreen because a show writer decided to make it so ... that's bad writing and breaks the fictional dream. In novels, an editor would (hopefully 😅) catch such an error and tell the author to revise.

I've seen plenty of non-canonical writing disrupt or even wreck otherwise consistently (well-) written shows. It's frustrating.

I've made a few comics where the T7S characters react to the OOC actions their show counterparts were forced into. Those were fun. ☺️

I've also read plenty of T7S fanfic where the authors write the characters in a far more canonical way than the T7S writers eventually did.

What we see onscreen doesn't automatically make a plotline or character development canon. Story elements must not break the fictional dream. If they do in an episode (or season) that airs on TV (or streaming service), then it's a non-canonical episode as far as I'm concerned, and I dismiss it; otherwise the internal cohesion of the fictional universe unravels. Only by embracing cognitive dissonance and not engaging in critical thinking can one accept all the contradictions as being canon.

[rainsandrains]

John Keats and Atheopagan Sainthood

So, I recently changed my PhD topic somewhat - from my perspective it is a drastic narrowing down of my original topic, but from the faculty's perspective it's a change of topic that required rewriting my proposal, submitting it for review, etc. It got accepted, so after a year of limbo and depression I have a new supervisor (which should make a big difference to my ability to jump through the arbitrary academic hoops while my keeping both my academic integrity and my mental health intact) and renewed motivation for my work.

My new project is on John Keats and parasocial interaction. I'd love to chat about it if anyone is curious, but that's not really the point right now. The point is: I am SO happy to be reading and writing about Keats again. I feel like my interests in Keats and in paganism have been complementary in a way, whereas previously I felt like my spiritual life and my academic life were vastly different, often competing, spaces. I have a couple of thoughts I wanted to share, and would love to hear what people think.

1) the idea of "saints" from an Atheopagan perspective. I toyed with Keats as an "ancestor" of sorts, specifically with his idea of Negative Capability (see below) as a sacred concept, but it never felt quite right. I know I COULD see him as an ancestor, especially as I enjoy writing poetry and think I'm reasonably good at it, at least some of the time. But still, it never stuck. Today, the word "saint" came to mind, and I really like that. First, a saint is someone you look up to, not just for their accomplishments but for their suffering and faith (or, for our purposes, dedication to their values etc) throughout it. Keats suffered plenty - not just his own infamous early death to TB but by losing multiple family members to it as well. He also suffered the slings and arrows of the classist reviewers and such, and that caused him to doubt himself a great deal. And yet, despite all this, before he died at just 25 he had written poetry that has been beloved for two centuries, inspiring to many, and that is extremely beautiful. He trained to be a doctor originally, and in Aileen Ward's essay on Keats and the idea of fame (in 'Critical Essays on John Keats, edited by Hermione De Almeida, available to read on archive.org for free) she discusses his internal battle regarding what his ambition should be: he wanted to be of service to others, and felt guilty that he was pursuing poetry rather than medicine, yet felt a calling to poetry he couldn't ignore. Ultimately, he seems to have mixed the two: on good days, he saw poetry as a way to be of service, and honestly I think he succeeded. So, Keats was dedicated to his values (service to others, and the value of beauty (one of the Atheopagan pillars), as well as others) throughout a great deal of suffering, and I find that greatly inspiring.

The other thing about saints is that, from a Catholic perspective at least, they're meant to be able to intercede on our behalf. Of course we don't believe in that sort of thing - but perhaps, in a ritual context, there could be some use for a metaphorical or imaginary intercession. I'm not sure precisely how this would look; I've never found ritual easy, it doesn't come naturally to me. But there could be some value in "invoking" the "spirit" of Keats to aid in a task, to making a talisman related to him that you keep around when struggling with a task you feel he could help with. I don't know.

2) Negative Capability as a sacred concept. There are several sections of his letters that are taken together in the many interpretations of the idea of Negative Capability, but the main one is this: "I had not a dispute, but a disquisition, with Dilke upon various subjects; several things dove-tailed in my mind, and at once it struck me what quality went to form a man of achievement, especially in literature, and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously—I mean Negative Capability; that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half-knowledge. This pursued through volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration." I actually want to quote my college chaplain on this, from an email exchange in June 2021. I hope he wouldn't mind! After relating it to some aspects of Christianity, he wrote: "Our own struggles do not become easier when we accept the mysteriousness of them, but we do perhaps save ourselves an extra level of pain in denying ourselves the possibility of being “content with half knowledge”. It also might help us support those who are suffering more if – unlike Job’s companions in that extraordinary book about suffering – we resist the temptation to try to wholly explain or fix something through a delimited vision of our own rational capabilities. In simple terms I guess we’re talking about a posture of humility!" Negative Capability has been interpreted in various ways by different critics over the years. I personally like Walter Jackson Bate's interpretation, which is based in part in ideas about empathy and the imagination (the latter of which being a vital concept to Keats and to most, if not all, Romantic poets): “into the Imagination’s apprehension of an object are woven the very subtlest threads of association” which “escape the scrutiny of the intellect” but are picked up by the intuition. (Bate, Negative Capability: On the Intuitive Approach to Keats, 1939 - I think also available on archive.org) Moreover, he defines Negative Capability as “an acceptance […] of the particular, a love of it and a trust in it; and an acceptance, moreover, with all its ‘half-knowledge’, of the ‘sense of Beauty,’ of force, of intensity, that lies within that particular and is indeed its identity and its truth, and which ‘overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration.’” I love this - Negative Capability not as a commitment to agnosticism in all things, nor as a fanciful belief in whatever feels beautiful (as it can easily sound like he's saying) - Keats studied chemistry and botany in his medical training, and was certainly not anti-science - but, from a moral and artistic perspective (which were greatly intertwined in the cultural view of the "artist" or "poet" at the time), accepting mystery, humbly accepting what we don't know, and letting our sense of beauty (which I read as encompassing gentleness, softness, solidarity, vulnerability, kindness, radical acceptance of self and other...) "obliterate" the capitalistic and religious concerns we've been raised to see as reasonable.

I hope that some of what I've said made SOME sense. Much, much ink has been spilled trying to parse what Keats means on this topic and others, so please don't take my interpretation as any kind of authority. I just find the concept fascinating, and inspiring, and beautiful, and... maybe sacred.

3) FInally, the thing that actually prompted me to write this in the beginning: Keats and paganism. Specifically, quoting from John Barnard in his essay in De Almeida's book cited earlier,

"Keats owned a copy of William Godwin's The Pantheon: or Ancient History of the Gods of Greece and Rome… (1806), a book aimed at the young reader and published under the name of "Edward Baldwin." Godwin writes: '[...] it is a delightful thing to take a walk in fields, and look at the skies and trees and the corn-fields and the waving grass, to observe the mountains and the lakes and the rivers and the seas, to smell the new-mown hay, to inhale the fresh and balmy breeze, and to hear the wild warblings of the birds: but a man does not enjoy these in their most perfect degree, till his imagination becomes a little visionary; the human mind does not have a landscape without life and without a soul: we are delighted to talk to the objects around us, and to feel as if they understood and sympathised with us: we create, by the power of fancy, a human form and a human voice in those scenes, which to a man of literal understanding may appear dead and lifeless.' Hence, according to Godwin, Greek religion 'gave animation and life to all existence: it had its Naiads, Gods of the rivers, its Tritons and Nereids, Gods of the seas, its Satyrs, Fauns and Dryads, Gods of the woods and trees, and its Boreas, Euros, Auster and Zephyr, Gods of the winds.'"

Keats was evidently inspired by this idea - we do see it also in other Romantic writers as well, for example Percy Shelley (who married Godwin's daughter and was a big fan of Godwin as a young man), but Keats's approach to paganism has inspired me in my Atheopaganism a great deal, and this passage in Barnard helped me to understand why. Keats writes about Apollo a great deal, which makes sense as Apollo was god of both poetry and healing - and often he figures himself as an Apollonian devotee, both in lighthearted and more serious ways. I don't get any sense from his writing that Keats believed in Apollo, but the way he writes about him is so evocative that it makes me wish the god was real sometimes... that passage in Barnard made it make sense to me: Keats felt (intuitively, in a negatively capable way) the interconnectedness of life on Earth, the vitality of the natural world, and paganism was the way he was drawn to express it. Ancient Greek and Roman religion (and art, and everything) was fashionable at the time, which likely influenced his choice of gods (because those would have been the books available to him at the time), but in general Keats uses pagan imagery to reflect the "visionary" quality of his imagination, an imagination that enables him to feel the vitality, the beautifully interconnected life, all around him. Isn't that what we're doing as Atheopagans, whether we use metaphorical deities in our practice or not? Godwin wrote that we imagine the natural world to be sentient and alive - well, we know it's alive, even if it's not all sentient in the same way we are. I see what Keats is doing as an 18th/19th century version of what I see in Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life, or Robert Macfarlane's writing on landscape, or the music of Spell Songs, or Robin Wall Kimmerer's approach to the natural world. It's beautiful.

[will1]

dude your art is so good, do you have any advice for how to improve as an artist who hasn't been very consistent ? I'd love to know what resources you use for studies,how you lay out sketch pages,what you choose to study,any websites you use for art,etc? No pressure ofc! You don't even have to post this, just know you're one of my biggest art inspo blogs 😊

gahhh aehehahe i really appreciate this ^_^ really kind words :D, anyway my one advice is get incredibnly obssesed with a ccharacter and draw them over and over for 5 years. jk.. i hsve other advice 2 :grin: i think, personally what helped me grow was really having other artists evaluate my art and really taking constructive criticism to heart and working on whatever issues i have consistently in my art whether its anatomy or coloring or rendering. i think it is great 2 have other artist friends who can help you and eachother imrpove! i think also pushing yourself to draw things your uncomfortable with like strange angles and different features and really just working on understanding the human form helped me draw more consistently, for me im now at the stage where i am experimenting with my style but before that i was focused on really getting the basics, i think now that i understand like, figure drawing and such i have been able to focus on getting a consistent art style if thats what you mean? but again ive done alot of figure drawings and loose poses. i remember watching this video a couple years ago that helped me get on the track 2 studying figures specifically !! i do not know if it will be of service to you but here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGhYfLQWbp0 , also ive done some studies of figure drawings from other really good artists i was looking at this one book ill try to see if i can remember later. but yea i study from life and other artists, when it comes to painting i find alot of inspiration from stuff i find on pinterest and also other artists on tumblr lol gahh i have been writing alot my bad, but yea i usually google references for poses i dont really use any like, artist reference websites even though i should lol. but yea overall i have done like soo many gesture drawings, and when i frst got into tf2 i studied the comics artstyle alot which i think helped alot with my style and understanding all the muscles in the face you know, also for sketch pages i literally just start a drawing of something and draw around the empty space around it lol, i do not really plan them ever, in like physical sketchbooks i try to fill in the space between all my other sketches so all my drawings kind of meld into eachother cause i think it looks neat, anyway sorry 4 the essay and i hope any of this helps!! '^_^ if u have any more questions feel free 2 ask

[nanjokei]

the new fr*drik kn*dsen video is so mid. loses steam halfway. why didn't he split the video in half and post the second part at a later date? it would have ensured quality and clarity throughout instead of it turning into a slog after the 4 hour mark. by that point flow of information becomes cumbersome and difficult to follow. no, it's not because "there's too much to keep up with". that's not an excuse. there are ways to write it to make it much easier to digest and not be a clusterfuck. so glad i downloaded the video so he didn't get a cent of my revenue, the guy is weird as fuck anyway.

but you know, people cream their pants over any video over an hour, and they put it in the background and barely listen to it anyway, then act like it was amazing. but if you asked them 10 questions about what they watched, they would only be able to answer like two of them. so this is the audience that youtubers are playing to these days. i'm not saying he didn't put effort into it, but people praising it and saying it's the greatest youtube video they have ever watched, i truly do feel bad and hope you engage with better videos. i have no idea what corner of youtube you are inhabiting, the video overall was very okay if i average out my experience throughout the six hours.

btw, before any of you get mad, i'm not saying i don't do "passive watching" or whatever, i absolutely listen to podcasts and videos somewhat passively while i cook or draw, but please be more critical about it. if i realize i didn't absorb what i heard, i rewind however many times it takes until i get it and process it properly, and if i realize im not absorbing shit at all, it means the video is boring and/or badly written. you have to internalize that many youtubers are not as good at writing essays as you think they are. LISTEN discerningly. do yourself this little service! i promise it will make everything more enjoyable!! there is a quote i wanna share one day by fran leibowitz about how audiences need to be more discerning about what they consume because they are just as important as the art and people making said art. sometimes editing and diction saves certain poor script/essay writers, but others cannot be saved. for what it's worth, i don't think kn*dsen sucks at it, but he bit off more than he can chew and could not handle it. if i said who actually sucks at it i might get death threats lol (but i'll say one of them is a certain lying white woman here on tumblr who has a danron url and blocks everyone. absolutely dogshit videos and SHE HAS A SCRIPT EDITOR. JESUS)