#Deirdre English

[haggishlyhagging]

“By 1900 child mortality was already declining—not because of anything the medical profession had accomplished, but because of general improvements in sanitation and nutrition. Meanwhile the birthrate had dropped to an average of about three and a half; women expected each baby to live and were already taking measures to prevent more than the desired number of pregnancies. From a strictly biological standpoint then, children were beginning to come into their own.

Economic changes too pushed the child into sudden prominence at the turn of the century. Those fabled, pre-industrial children who were "seen, but not heard," were, most of the time, hard at work—weeding, sewing, fetching water and kindling, feeding the animals, watching the baby. Today, a four-year-old who can tie his or her own shoes is impressive. In colonial times, four-year-old girls knitted stockings and mittens and could produce intricate embroidery; at age six they spun wool. A good, industrious little girl was called "Mrs." instead of "Miss" in appreciation of her contribution to the family economy: she was not, strictly speaking, a child.

But when production left the houschold, sweeping away the dozens of chores which had filled the child's day, childhood began to stand out as a distinct and fascinating phase of life. It was as if the late Victorian imagination, still unsettled by Darwin's apes, suddenly looked down and discovered, right at knee-level, the evolutionary missing link. Here was the pristine innocence which adult men romanticized, and of course, here, in miniature, was the future which today's adult men could not hope to enter in person. In the child lay the key to the control of human evolution. Its habits, its pastimes, its companions were no longer trivial matters, but issues of gravest importance to the entire species.

This sudden fascination with the child came at a time in American history when child abuse—in the most literal and physical sense—was becoming an institutional feature of the expanding industrial economy. Near the turn of the century, an estimated 2,250,000 American children under fifteen were full-time laborers—in coal mines, glass factories, textile mills, canning factories, in the cigar industry, and in the homes of the wealthy—in short, wherever cheap and docile labor could be used. There can be no comparison between the conditions of work for a farm child (who was also in most cases a beloved family member) and the conditions of work for industrial child laborers. Four-year-olds worked sixteen-hour days sorting beads or rolling cigars in New York City tenements; five-year-old girls worked the night shift in southern cotton mills.

So long as enough girls can be kept working, and only a few of them faint, the mills are kept going; but when faintings are so many and so frequent that it does not pay to keep going, the mills are closed.

These children grew up hunched and rickety, sometimes blinded by fine work or the intense heat of furnaces, lungs ruined by coal dust or cotton dust—when they grew up at all. Not for them the "century of the child," or childhood in any form:

The golf links lie so near the mill

That almost every day

The laboring children can look out

And see the men at play.

Child labor had its ideological defenders: educational philosophers who extolled the lessons of factory discipline, the Catholic hierarchy which argued that it was a father's patriarchal right to dispose of his children's labor, and of course the mill owners themselves. But for the reform-oriented, middle-class citizen the spectacle of machines tearing at baby flesh, of factories sucking in files of hunched-over children each morning, inspired not only public indignation, but a kind of personal horror. Here was the ultimate "rationalization" contained in the logic of the Market: all members of the family reduced alike to wage slavery, all human relations, including the most ancient and intimate, dissolved in the cash nexus. Who could refute the logic of it? There was no rationale (within the terms of the Market) for supporting idle, dependent children. There were no ties of economic self-interest to preserve the family. Child labor represented a long step toward that ultimate "anti-utopia" which always seemed to be germinating in capitalist development: a world engorged by the Market, a world without love.”

-Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women

[b1tch-calling-you-out]

Just finished reading Witches, Midwives, & Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English for free on Internet Archive! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❝Women have always been healers, and medicine has always been an arena of struggle between female practitioners and male professionals. This pamphlet explores two important phases in the male takeover of health care: the suppression of witches in medieval Europe and the rise of the male medical profession in the United States. The authors conclude that despite efforts to exclude them, the resurgence of women as healers should be a long-range goal of the women’s movement.❞

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Barbara Ehrenreich, Deirdre English - Le Streghe Siamo Noi - La Salamandra - 1975

[marchioness-of-the-flowers]

Stupid FE4 translation names my beloved

Fury.. Deet'var... Noish.. Diadora

[matt-murdick]

why does everyone make such a big deal about the name Deirdre in the S08E01 of Psych? I’d assume it was just Shawn but Despereaux also gets it wrong. Has the name just never made it to America?

[childofaura]

So as I’ve been playing Engage with the Japanese voices, I’ve noticed very clearly that voice lines absolutely don’t match up to what is being spoken a good chunk of the time. I know FE translation is notorious for censoring (as apparently the only closest official translation of a FE game we’ve had is Echoes), but playing a FE game with Japanese audio for the first time is really driving it home. I can’t speak a lick of Japanese but I know some basic words, and I’ll notice small things like where a character clearly apologizes or thanks someone and it doesn’t show up at all.

So then today, this pops up in my recommendations:

And honestly I’m actually pretty peeved. We’re going back into Fates levels of censorship and I really don’t like that. Yes, I know I was concerned about being able to support characters like Clanne and Framme, but I thought that was addressed as an overall part of the game, not as a move of censorship. It would creep me out, sure, but I’d rather it be put in the English version of the game as-is, especially because it’s not like I have any interest in supporting them so it doesn’t concern me anyways. I’m really not happy that our localization practices still think that it’s okay to censor anything problematic. I want to play the game as it is, and if there’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s being lied to. That’s what censorship is. Keep the weird personality traits. Keep the lines about being afraid of gaining weight. Keep the support options. I’m an adult who understands what fiction is, not some dainty little Southern belle who will faint at the slightest offense to my frail sensibilities.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

50 Dark Academia Names For Your Female Characters + Meanings & Origins

Alecto - unceasing in anger (Greek mythology)

Ariadne - most holy (Greek mythology)

Cassiopeia - she who entangles (Greek mythology)

Circe - hawk (Greek mythology)

Drusilla - dewy-eyed (Roman)

Eris - strife (Greek mythology)

Fionnuala - fair shouldered (Irish)

Galatea - she who is milk-white (Greek mythology)

Hekate - will (Greek mythology)

Idony - ancient wisdom (Scandinavian)

Isolde - ice battle (Arthurian)

Kore - maiden (Greek mythology)

Lenore - light (Spanish/French)

Lilitu - monstrous woman (Mesopotamian mythology)

Maeve - she who intoxicates (Irish)

Nyx - night (Greek mythology)

Orion - rising (Greek mythology)

Pandora - all-gifted (Greek mythology)

Queenie - noble queen (English)

Rhaenyra - dark reign (Game of Thrones)

Selene - moon goddess (Greek mythology)

Themis - justice (Greek mythology)

Ursula - little female bear (German)

Valeria - strength (Roman)

Willow - willow tree (English)

Xanthe - golden flower (Greek)

Yseult - ice battle (Arthurian)

Zelda - dark battle (Germanic)

Zephyrine - from the west wind (Greek)

Aella - whirlwind (Greek mythology)

Brynhild - armored battle maiden (Norse mythology)

Catriona - pure (Scottish Gaelic)

Deirdre - sorrowful (Irish)

Elspeth - God's promise (Scottish)

Felicity - good fortune (Latin)

Gwendolyn - white ring/circle (Welsh)

Harlow - rock clearing (English)

Idalia - from Idalium (Greek mythology)

Jericho - scent of beauty (Hebrew)

Kalliope - beautiful voice (Greek mythology)

Lumen - light (Latin)

Morana - death (Slavic mythology)

Nerissa - mermaid (Greek mythology)

Octavia - eighth (Roman)

Persephone - bringer of death (Greek mythology)

Quintessa - fifth (Latin)

Seraphina - fiery serpent (Hebrew)

Theda - goddess (Greek)

Umbriel - shade (Roman mythology)

Xenia - hospitality (Greek)

[vinylshifting]

ᘛMy Introᘚ

꒷︶†︶꒷˚̣̣̣︶ ͡𑁬♱໒ ͡ ︶˚̣̣̣꒷︶†︶꒷ ˚̣̣̣

Hei!! i go by Vinyl or Väinö (Mostly Vinyl on this blog)

Ive been in the shifting community for well over 2 years i first joined in around 2022-2023

Mystery age shhh (somewhere between 15 to 17)

I was on shifter tiktok for the start, but i actually spent most of my journey on shifter youtube. Ive been on and off on tumblr for a while, but im here now!

Im Finnish, but will only speak(mostly speak) english on this blog

I dont care what pronouns im called, But She/Her are fine (Even though im a guy in person lol.. im basically a girl in all of my drs tho-)

My lucky angel number: 77

Im in many fandoms and have many interests:

Music (All sorts of music, mostly metal, glam rock, or specifically just my queen, lana del rey), Crypitds/Mythical stuff, True crime, HTTYD, MLP, Visual novels, Lords of Chaos

Hobbies/Stuff i like to do:

Writing, Making scripts, Making moodboards, Worldbuilding, Reading, Making Drs, Shifting (ofc)

Im a strong believer of you can script anything, theres infinate amount of universes so it already exists

I make moodboards and take moodboard requests! (The only time i probably wont do a request is if i dont know the character/media srryy)

I have no DNI! Just please dont be weird

Dont be afraid to DM me! im alsways open to be friends, i just stuck at conversations wahh. especially small talk

Some of my DRs

† Vampiric WR: My WR where im an immortal vampire living alone and i can travel to all my drs through this WR (probably will permashift here someday). I live in Transylvania

† Hogwarts DR: Current main dr, im a student at hogwarts but im also a half vampire and know dark magic and am having my own side adventure from the golden trios adventures

† Jail Fiancée DR: Dating my boyfriend whos in jail wahhh, i can fix him i swear (i am fixing him and we will live happily together… when hes out on parole). Takes place in Ukraine

† Rockstar‘s Gf DR: Dating Kelly Nickles, My man. God i love him so much mmmmhhhehehe. I come from a rich family and live in Nevada <3

† Моргевейн Dr: An alternative Cr where im a Russian metalhead living in America, Im in a Band. Just living my life. I also live neer the woods and some lakes so i love walking there!

† Mermaid DR: Just a mermaid Dr, based off both H2O and the Waterfire saga. Im so excited to live underwater ahhh i love marine animals. (Havent created a script yet, mostly subconscious based and Also i have a pinterest board for it lol)

† Deirdre Eilís DR: An Alternative Cr where im Norwegian/Irish andliving in america and dating my rapper boyfriend. Im also pretty as hell in this Dr like omfg.

† Red Hot DR: A dr where im just living life in the 90s-2000s and also im Dating Joey jordison teehee. I might turn this into where i have my own band (will probably be based off Kittie, Hole, or/and Genitorturers..). This dr is also mostly Subconscious based + With a pinterest board

Drs im working on/want: A hogwarts Dr 100%(even though i havent even started the script wahh), Model/Actress Dr (i have moodboards and a small pinterest board for it already..), The LOC Dr i started today but haven’t finished yet

(I forgot who made these cute borders, if anyone knows who made them please comment so i can give creds! <3)

[sororfeminarum]

My Dianic/Female Centered witch reading list (will update as I get more)!

The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries by Z. Budapest (because obviously)

The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler

Who Cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles

The Skeptical Feminist by Barbara G. Walker

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk

Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries by Ruth Barrett

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying by Starhawk

Moon Time by Lucy H. Pearce

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English

Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

WomanRunes by Starhawk and Molly Remer

Whole and Holy: A Goddess Devotional by Molly Remer

You are the Placebo by Joe Dispenza

The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile

Feel free to leave some recommendations! I really like hearing especially about non-pagan books that influenced your practice (like the last two listed here were for me)!

Blessed be! 🌙💫✨

[thatscarletflycatcher]

One of the interesting excursus I must force myself not to explore right now XD is about Elaine Showalter's A Literature of their Own (1977), one of the most important/foundational works of feminist literary criticism in the English speaking world of its time. It is, in general broad strokes, a book that seeks to identify and characterize a tradition or traditions of the women's novel in Britain, as separate from that of men.

It's an interesting text in terms of the ways in which it identifies the strategies used in general Victorian culture to put down women's writers, the weaponization of Austen to put women writers "in their place" (cfr. that exchange of letters between Charlotte Brontë and G.H. Lewes that is used to this day to dunk on CB for disliking Austen's novels), the ways in which women themselves reinforced this (cfr. George Eliot's extreme reluctance to acknowledge genius in women that weren't herself) etc.* And in this way it accidentally illuminates A) how much of persistent criticism of Gaskell is just a continuation and rewarming of those same prejudices B) how much the establishment of the narrative of the great female novelist as a sort of Romantic genius/tortured artist -comically owing in no small degree to Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontë- made of Gaskell a safe scapegoat, and significantly drove readings of her as inferior and a failed artist.

Showalter uses as an example of certain insidious practices of certain male critics, a passage from J.M. Ludlow's review of Gaskell's Ruth (1853):

"Now, if we consider the novel to be the picture of human life in a pathetic, or as some might prefer the expression, in a sympathetic form, that is to say, addressed to human feeling, rather than to human taste, judgement, or reason, there seem nothing paradoxical in the view, that women are called to the mastery of this peculiar field of literature. We know, all of us, that if man is the head of humanity, woman is its heart; and as soon as education has rendered her ordinarily capable of expressing feeling in written words, why should we be surprised to find that her words come more home to us than those of me, where feeling is chiefly concerned?"

If you have seen me rant and complain these past few months about 20th century critics of Gaskell, you cannot fail to recognize here the same touchstones of discourse. The target has just been displaced from "all women are unintelligent and sentimental" to "all married women with children are unintelligent and sentimental".

Things get more interesting when Deirdre D'Albertis in Dissembling Fictions, one of the more cited books on Gaskell, takes Showalter to task (with Gilbert and Gubar, the authors of The Madwoman in the Attic) for more or less acritically subscribing to Virginia Woolf's conception of a woman's tradition of writing as both being evolutionary (meaning later works are better than earlier works) and pyramidal (in order for there to exist geniuses like Austen and Eliot, there must be lesser authors that provide the bases for those pinnacles of achievement). And, you know, passages like this from Showalter herself, at the very opening of the acknowledgements section of her book:

"In the Atlas of the English novel, women's territory is usually depicted as desert bounded by mountains on four sides: the Austen peaks, the Brontë cliffs, the Eliot range, and the Woolf hills. This book is an attempt to fill in the terrain between these literary landmarks and to construct a more reliable map from which to explore the achievements of English women novelists."

seem to entirely justify it.

This is, however, not yet the twist. D'Albertis' argument about how the tradition of feminist literary criticism has been extremely uncomfortable with Gaskell because of the ways in which she doesn't fit the molds of the Woman WriterTM is functionally placed in support of the main thesis of her work, which isn't that Gaskell is actually good. No. The thesis is that instead of being bad on accident, she's bad on purpose and a consummate liar. No, I'm not joking. The argument is that Gaskell's fiction is literary broken and the endings such failures because she's questioning genre and the uses of genre from masculine authors, but that she covers this protest with lies to protect her respectability.

While I cannot prove that this assertion of the self evident character of Gaskell's fiction as failure specially in closing is due to D'Albertis belonging to the Marxist critical tradition through Williams and Kettle -because both are referenced, but not extensively-, there's something very ironic to me in these layers of discourse in which the basic, unproven assumption (that Gaskell's fiction is actually not good) remains unquestioned, even when everything else is.

God forbid Elizabeth Gaskell writes anything.

*reasons why I cannot forgive Chesterton's The Victorian Age in Literature (1913). Chesterton is the kind of author that is prevented from becoming insufferably pedantic only because he's clever, well read and witty (much like Oscar Wilde), but when it comes to women writers this book is so insanely superficial and flippant he comes across as an unmitigated ass. The author of The Man Who Was Thursday (an excellent novel, btw) comparing Victorian women writers with headless chickens because of their unaustenian flights of fancy IS RICH.

[haggishlyhagging]

“Dr. Edward H. Clarke's book Sex in Education, or a Fair Chance for the Girls was the great uterine manifeso of the nineteenth century. It appeared at the height of the pressure for co-education at Harvard, where Clarke was a professor, and went through seventeen editions in the space of a few years. Clarke reviewed the medical theories of female nature—the innate frailty of women, the brain-uterus competition—and concluded, with startling but unassailable logic, that higher education would cause women's uteruses to atrophy!

Armed with Clarke's arguments, doctors agitated vociferously against the dangers of female education. R. R. Coleman, M.D., of Birmingham, Alabama, thundered this warning:

Women beware. You are on the brink of destruction: You have hitherto been engaged in crushing your waists; now you are attempting to cultivate your mind: You have been merely dancing all night in the foul air of the ballroom; now you are beginning to spend your mornings in study. You have been incessantly stimulating your emotions with concerts and operas, with French plays, and French novels; now you are exerting your understanding to learn Greek, and solve propositions in Euclid. Beware!! Science pronounces that the woman who studies is lost.

Dozens of medical researchers rushed in to plant the banner of science on the territory opened up by Clarke's book. Female students, their studies showed, were pale, in delicate health, and prey to monstrous deviations from menstrual regularity. (Menstrual irregularity upset the doctor's sensibilities as much as female sexuality. Both were evidences of spontaneous, ungovernable forces at work in the female flesh.) A 1902 study showed that 42 per cent of the women admitted to insane asylums were well educated compared to only 16 per cent of the men—“proving,”obviously, that higher education was driving women crazy. But the consummate evidence was the college woman's dismal contribution to the birth rate. An 1895 study found that 28 per cent of female college graduates married, compared to 80 per cent of women in general. The birth rate was falling among white middle-class people in general, and most precipitously among the college educated. G. Stanley Hall, whose chapter on "Adolescent Girls and their Education" reviewed thirty years of medical arguments against female education, concluded with uncharacteristic sarcasm that the colleges were doing fine if their aim was to train "those who do not marry or if they are to educate for celibacy." "These institutions may perhaps come to be training stations of a new-old type, the agamic or agenic [i.e., sterile] woman, be she aunt, maid—old or young—nun, school-teacher, or bachelor woman."”

-Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women

[theeccentricraven]

Gail Carson Levine’s Character Profile Tag Game

Hey everyone 😊😎

Lately I've been reading Gail Carson Levine's "Writing Magic" a hugely helpful resource for aspiring authors. I especially liked her character sheet template.

Rules: Copy and paste the template, fill it out for one or more of your OC's, then post your OC's and the blank template for others to copy and paste.

Name:

Nickname:

Kind of being:

Age:

Sex:

Appearance

Occupation:

Family Members:

Pets:

Best friend:

Describe his/her room:

Way of Speaking:

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): 

Items in his/her pockets or backpack or purse:

Hobbies:

Favorite sports:

Talents, abilities, or powers:

Relationships (how he/she is with other people):

Fears:

Faults:

Good points:

What he/she wants more than anything else:

Here's the profiles of some of my MC's:

The Blood Cleaners

Name: Justin South 4th Tunnel

Nickname: Jus

Kind of being: Human tunneler

Age: 16

Sex: Male

Appearance: Light brown skin, dark spikey hair, long jaw, short chin

Occupation: Street Cleaner, becomes a Blood Cleaner

Family Members: Elena, Miriam, the late Deirdre, his deceased birth mother and birth father

Pets: Feral orange cats Cameo and Lucky who hunt the mice

Best friend: None until Joselyn

Describe his/her room: metal frame bed, cotton and wool sheets and blankets, hand-me down wooden desk, childhood drawings, closet of work clothes, dresser of work clothes, DVD player

Way of Speaking: Standard tenor sounding voice, sarcastic, jokester 

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): stands upright, lounges when sitting or lying down, walks around with a tough attitude look, looks hostile toward others

Items in his/her pockets or backpack or purse: a knife

Hobbies: hanging out at public places, wrestling, reading, watching movies, lifting weights

Favorite sports: Wrestling, racing

Talents, abilities, or powers: Able to speak to objects and move them, also obtains the blood cleaner powers

Relationships (how he/she is with other people): He gets on well with his mother and sister, though they have strong disagreements. He’s nicer with Joselyn than he is with most anyone else. He feels his peers are against him and distances himself from them. 

Fears: Being poor, losing his family, losing dignity

Faults: Temper, self-centered

Good points: Selfless, motivational, compassionate

What he/she wants more than anything else: To be a blood cleaner and own a house on the Mount

Name: Joselyn East Second Quarter

Nickname: Jos

Kind of being: Human surfacer

Age: 16

Sex: Female

Appearance: Long flowing black hair, dark brown eyes, light brown skin, tall, long chin

Occupation: Farmer, Blood Cleaner

Family Members: Papá Jorge, Mamá Jennifer, Sisters Esperanza, Selena, and Alina

Pets: Pancho the Golden Retriever

Best friend: None but Justin

Describe his/her room: Colors of orange, red, and yellow; shelves of colorful rocks, desk with flowers in vases

Way of Speaking: Speaks English and Spanish, primarily Spanish, low toned voice

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): strands straight, likes to touch, fluctuates from tough girl to meek girl

Items in his/her pockets or backpack or purse: Her doll Gatita, spare clothes, letters from her Abuelita

Hobbies: Played with dolls as a little girl, wading in water or swimming, reading, watching movies

Favorite sports: Baseball

Talents, abilities, or powers: Talented in cooking, strong in emotions, learns blood cleaner powers

Relationships (how he/she is with other people): Avoids her parents, loving to her sisters, closest to Justin, tries to be welcoming with peers

Fears: Losing her sisters, falling victim to abuse

Faults: Lacking self-confidence, overly emotional, stubborn

Good points: Brave, kind, caring, compassionate, more competent than she realizes

What he/she wants more than anything else: Be competent and free

Sanctuary Calling

Name: Nari Choi

Nickname: none

Kind of being: human, Korean from 758th District on Mars

Age: 14

Sex: female

Appearance: She wears clothes made from the futuristic synthetic material called reponere pallio created in Marian labs; she stands 5’4’’, her clothes are blue and styles after the style of traditional Korean clothes

Occupation: Student about to graduate early 

Family Members: Her mother Gyeong and father Dae-Jung

Pets: betta fish named Po

Best friend: Soo (but they’ve grown apart)

Describe his/her room: twin sized bed neatly made, sheets with patterns of shapes, blankets with Korean art, a desk with a reponere pallio chair, a nightstand with her smart watch, a computer on her desk, lights on the ceiling, Korean art decorating her room, white carpet

Way of Speaking: not too fast, not too slow, pronounces cleanly, medium tone, speaks Korean and English 

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): She keeps upright while spending time on her work, but is loose and relaxed when she’s free, she uses many Korean gestures such as the thank you symbol by snapping fingers

Items in his/her pockets or backpack or purse: Backpack contains booklet on handcraft airplane building and operating, her studentware - a computer for everything that students need including thousands of textbooks, her apron for when she's in the shop, backup clothes

Hobbies: Making handcrafted airplanes, fixing things, carpentry, solving math equations 

Favorite sports: soccer

Talents, abilities, or powers: High IQ

Relationships (how he/she is with other people): Nari loves her mother and father, but they constantly pressure her to follow the path they believe is best for her, Soo was her best friend until Soo didn’t like the things that Nari liked and they grew too different

Fears: She will be forced to follow the path her parents want, she will lose her future

Faults: Too much of a perfectionist, overconfident, too dependent on tech

Good points: humble, kind, always wants to improve

What he/she wants more than anything else: Work fulltime building things and fixing things

Name: Abraham Miller

Nickname: Abe

Kind of being: Human, Amish from Ohio

Age: 15

Sex: Male

Appearance: 5’5’’, has blue eyes, short brown hair, long chin, long nose, wears big straw hat, blue shirt, trousers and suspenders

Occupation: farmboy

Family Members: Father Obadiah, Mother Anna, sister Rebecca, sister Rachel, brother Ezekial, brother Jeremiah, sister Ruth

Pets: horses, dogs, cats, cattle

Best friend: John Schumaker 

Describe his/her room: two beds for him and his brothers, chamber pot in a corner, bowl and vase for cleaning on one desk, closet with clothes for a farmboy

Way of Speaking: Has a lisp, he speaks Amish, slow with words, sweet tenor voice

Physical characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude): gentle, meek, passive, a little clumsy with his long legs and growing hands

Items in his/her pockets or backpack or purse: coins for buying candy

Hobbies: ride horses, play softball, do things with best friend, hunt in the woods

Favorite sports: Softball

Talents, abilities, or powers: calms animals 

Relationships (how he/she is with other people): gets along well with his parents and sisters, but tension arises when he wants a different life than them, his friend John is his comrade

Fears: Dying young from disease or animals, losing family, never fulfilling dreams 

Faults: He can be too emotional and insecure

Good points: He is kind to everyone

What he/she wants more than anything else: Live an adventure

Tagging (no pressure): @kaylinalexanderbooks @buffythevampirelover @willtheweaver @poethill @tilldeathdousart @rickie-the-storyteller @somethingclevermahogony @selenekallanwriter @winterandwords @happypup-kitcat24 and open!

[writerwhowritesao3]

Disclaimer: I am not Catholic. Everything I know about Catholicism is from friends and internet searches. Let me know if I got anything egregiously wrong!

Every few weeks or so, Neil would decide that the family would be going to church on Sunday. 

Billy hates it. It isn’t even just the fact that mass is boring as shit and Billy doesn’t even believe in god. It’s the fact that his dad makes the decision for all of them—him, Susan, and Max—that they would be going. 

Susan was raised Catholic, but she doesn’t personally identify that way anymore. She hadn’t in a long time. And Billy knows, from snippets of conversations between Susan and her sister Deirdre that he overheard, that Susan fucking hates the Catholic Church. Even so, Susan had taken Max to church a few times before marrying Neil. Pretty much just for holidays though, and only for the community aspect of it all. To her credit, Susan always made sure that Max knew that the Bible was not to be taken literally and that most of the religion was bullshit. 

Neil was raised Catholic. His father had been Catholic. His mother, on the other hand, had been part of the Eastern Orthodox minority in Hungary. Neil’s father had forced her to convert to Catholicism when they got married even though he wasn’t a particularly religious man. He had also all but forced her to speak only English in their home. So. Neil had been raised in the Catholic faith and only learning bits and scraps of Hungarian. 

Anyway. 

The Hargrove-Mayfield family rolls into St. Vitus one Sunday. The night before, Billy had missed curfew and Neil hadn’t believed him when he said that he had been studying with Nancy and lost track of time. To be fair, that story had been a total, blatant lie. The truth was that Billy had been at Steve’s house getting railed on top of his pool table, but obviously Billy couldn’t tell his dad that.

The logical thing to do when you know your teenage son is lying to your face is to make your family go to church and make your son go to confession. At least according to the Neil Hargrove Guide to Parenthood.

Neil walks Billy to the little alcove where the confessional is to make sure he gets in line. 

“We’re sitting three rows from the back,” Neil says. “If you and Max behave yourselves, we can go to Waffle House after.”

The night before, Neil slammed Billy against a wall while he was demanding to know why he had missed his curfew. He probably would have beaten him, but he got distracted enough to snap out of his rage when Susan “accidentally” knocked a glass off of the counter. 

Billy knows that sometimes, rarely but still sometimes, his dad feels guilty about getting physical with him. Guilty enough that his dad tries to make up for it with things like buying a pint of Billy’s favorite flavor of ice cream at the supermarket or taking the family out to get breakfast after church. 

(Sometimes when his dad hurts him badly enough, he “makes up for it” by doing things like helping Billy pay for his car or taking the family to the animal shelter to adopt a dog)

Before Billy walks into the confessional, he watches Neil walk over to where Susan and Max are sitting. There have been times where his dad would stay in line with him, waiting for his own turn or just making sure that Billy actually went in.

He walks in the booth. It’s one of those that’s divided by a screen. When Billy had his first Communion, the confessions were done face-to-face. It had been awful having to tell a grown-up man—that he had to call “Father”—how he had pushed Lance Shepherd off the jungle gym at recess because he had put a wad of gum in his friend Amy’s hair. 

Billy kneels and makes the sign of the cross. 

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” Billy says rolling his eyes. “It’s been, like, three months since my last confession. I think.”

“Unburden yourself.”

Billy blinks—he’s never heard a priest say “unburden yourself.” He’s only ever heard the standard “tell me your sins.” Billy recognizes the voice from the other side of the screen as Father Peter. There are two priests who preside over St. Vitus: Father Thomas, who’s old as fuck and rarely cracks a smile, and Father Peter, who is in his 40s and always greets people by their names.

“I let my friend cheat off my quiz in History class,” Billy begins. in his defense, it was a pop quiz and Jonathan’s grade in that class needed all the help it could get.

“I picked a fight with my sister,” he continues. That little spat with Max had been so fucking stupid; it was over whose turn it was to clean the bathroom. The fight had only lasted about seven minutes and they had both gotten over it quickly. 

“I talked back to my parents...um...a fair amount,” he says. He stops speaking for a moment, wondering if he should just end his confession there to save everyone a whole bunch of time.

“Anything else?” Father Peter asks. 

This was stupid. Church was stupid. Confession was fucking stupid. Catholicism was a nasty, fucking system invented to make people feel bad about shit like having sex and being gay.

“Yeah actually,” Billy snarks. “I missed curfew last night and lied to my dad about where I was. I told him I was studying with my friend, but I was really having sex with my boyfriend. Pre-marital, gay sex. ‘Cause I’m gay.”

Billy has no idea what Father Peter’s response to that is going to be. In a million years, he never would have predicted that Father Peter would say: 

“Do you think that’s a sin?”

“I mean, isn’t it?” he asks, thrown off. “Like from a Catholic perspective?”

“Some people interpret Scripture that way,” Father Peter says. “But when you read the Bible, it’s important to consider the historical context. And important to remember that it’s been translated and revised many times over the centuries.”

“Do you think it’s a sin?” Billy asks. Even though he really couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what a priest thinks.

“No, I do not,” Father Peter says. “As long as it’s done with love and respect and not with malice, I don’t believe that any expression of sexuality is a sin.”

“Oh,” Billy says. “Um, cool.”

“God does not hate gay people, Billy,” Father Peter says softly. 

Billy digs his fingernails into his palm. He didn’t think that Father Peter would recognize his voice.

“For your penance—”

“Wait, you just said it wasn’t a sin.”

“The sex is not a sin,” Father Peter clarifies. “But helping your friend cheat on their test is. And so is disrespecting your family.”

“I guess.”

Billy swears he hears Father Peter chuckle at that.

“For your penance, say three Hail Marys,” Father Peter continues. “Help your parents out around the house. Do an activity with your sister that she chooses. And help your friend study so that they’re prepared for the next test.”

“Okay,” Billy nods. 

He listens as Father Peter intones a prayer of absolution and leaves the confessional to join his family in the pews. 

Nothing’s really changed. Billy still doesn’t believe in any sort of god. He still thinks religion is bogus. He’s only going to say those Hail Marys because his dad is there and the promised trade-off of Waffle House for good behavior is too good to pass up.

But he does make a mental note to share his class notes with Jonathan and study with him. And also to take Max to the arcade and maybe let her win a game or two.

[landofspaceandrainbows]

Commissions / Fundraising Post!

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Hello! Basically the thing is I'm a bit short of funds, and could really use some proper, new binders and some other compression garments. Plus some other daily supplies perhaps.

So I'm opening up commissions for gift cards. First, from Underworks, and Second, if there's any more interest and so forth - from Amazon.Com.

( My goal for Underworks is $80 in cards, so I can get the free shipping and not have to worry about calculating shipping. )

I am offering Short Stories, Graphics Edits, and Tutoring / Proofreading / Homework Help.

***

So, for a $40 gift card, I will offer to write you two 250+ word short stories, fanfic or original fic your choice.

For an $80 gift card, I will write you four 250+ word short stories OR one 900+ word long short story.

I've written for Lord of the Rings, other Tolkien media, Narnia, Homestuck, The Dark is Rising, Hermitcraft/Life SMP Series, Cultist Simulator, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Shakespeare Plays, Dracula, and Dr Faustus. - And I can also do original fic, especially sci fi, fantasy, historical romance, and furry.

Graphics edits can be negotiated individually.

For tutoring, you can get an hour of tutoring online / in voice call, split up in sections however you'd like. I can do math up to Calculus 1, biology, meteorology, geology, and environmental sciences, history, English lit, or I can help with very beginner's Spanish or Welsh.

Background for the tutoring: I have a science degree and have done paid tutoring and been a uni TA before.

***

Links:

Underworks - https://www.underworks.com/egift-card

Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PCMWTSG

Gift cards can be e-mailed to - cactusreadingft@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

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Credit: the picture is courtesy of The Lowell Observatory and Deirdre Hunter.

[popculturelib]

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (1973) by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

[crapmagak]

Fe4 Remake Predictions

Alright, yet again, a nintendo direct is around the corner. And yet again, we might get the Genealogy of the Holy War remake revealed. Personally, my guess is probably not, but it’s a soft probably not.

That all being said, every time a direct arrives, I tell myself I’ll post my predictions for what the Fe4 remake will look like, but never get around to finishing it. So fuck it, Imma post my predictions today before it’s too late.

Prediction 1: The map design will remain mostly untouched. Fe Echoes had a lot of respect and reverence for the old game, and those maps arguably need much more touching up than Genealogy’s. 

Prediction 2: Presentation wise, however, I think these maps will be stylized visually in some way. After all, most maps in Fe4 are the size of entire countries. Maybe the overworld units will be sprites again. Maybe the maps will do some fancy HD2D shit. Can’t say it will be either of those for sure, but some kind of visual abstraction will be employed to make the maps work.

Prediction 3: There will be slight adjustments to the trading system. Characters can still only do it with their spouses, but there’d be slight quality of life changes like getting to choose exactly how much money is given. Still gotta due pawn shop shenanigans to give weapons to non spouses, however.

Prediction 4: The love system will be fully replaced with a simple support system. Pretty much everyone is expecting this, though.

Prediction 5: Only the Castle Towns you start a chapter in will have free roaming segments where you can talk to characters, give them gifts, order food, ect. Since usually there’s a bit of a time skip between chapters and all. The castle towns you visit mid chapter will be more like the towns in echoes.

Prediction 6: There will be an avatar character. I know, I know, it’d be for the best that there wasn’t. However, the main reason an avatar wasn’t included in echoes was because of the story structure. It’d be a lot easier to introduce an avatar character in Fe4. And of course, this is the entry in the series that introduced romance. Story wise they’ll be a tactician for house Chalphy. I also think they’ll make the avatar another manakete who never actually transforms, mostly so they don’t visibly age during the second generation (So it’s less weird when they let you romance those characters as well). You will also get your own child unit/ an apprentice character if you haven’t S supported anyone yet. There will also probably be a lot of “I’m sad my S/O died” angst.

Again, this is not the timeline I desire, merely that which I believe will most likely come to fruition.

Prediction 7: There will be a small handful of new playable characters in the game. Most likely there to round out the cast balance wise, so probably a new ax unit for each generation, and maybe a new mage or wyvern knight. Maybe we’ll even get a token good dark mage.

Prediction 8: The replacement gen 2 characters will still be in the game. They’ll probably get their own unique supports as well. 

Prediction 9: The child characters will probably be rebalanced a little, most so the players can sail their favorite ships without crippling the usefulness of their children. 

Prediction 10: Most of the cousin incest will be removed in the english version. This will mostly come in the form of every potential second generation cousin pair having their S support be written more platonically, and if they actually are cousins, they’ll become “companions” instead of married. Think Owain and any of his potential cousins in Awakening. However, some pairs will slip through the cracks. Like a Lissa sired Morgan with a Chrom sired Inigo/ Brady in Awakening. Arvis and Deirdre’s situation will remain uncensored since it’s both plot important and not exactly a good thing. 

Prediction 11: There will be references to Thracia 776, but mostly in Lief’s support. A whole lotta “You remind me of an old comrade of mine” and “Hey Nana, this reminds me of…”.

Prediction 12: The DLC will be some kind of non canon alternate timeline thing where you get to control both the first and second generations, and you get a lot of interactions between them.

Can’t wait to see how wrong I end up being.