#Forgotten women of French Resistance

[alanmalcherhistorian]

Forgotten Women of the French Resistance during WW2.

For eighty years thousands of women who were members of the resistance during the Second World War were rarely mentioned in history books. According to history professor Laurent Douzou only 6 women were recognised for their work with the resistance by being awarded the Companion of Liberation compared with 1,038 men. Though civilian resistance was mainly the work of women they were not counted…

[its-suanneschafer-author]

Book Review: The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood

The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris is a nicely-written historical fiction following two timelines, the present and Paris during World War II. In the present, Juliette and her husband, Kevin, have taken a trip to Paris, an event she is more invested in than he is. While there, it comes to light that he’s having an affair with their neighbor down the street. Juliette decides to stay in Paris to think…

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Josephine Baker (The Siren of the Tropics, ZouZou)— Josephine Baker was an American born actress, singer, and utter icon of the period, creating the 1920s banana skirt look. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion film. She fought in the French resistance in WWII, given a Legion of Honour, as well as refusing to perform in segregated theatres in the US. She was bisexual, a fighter, and overall an absolutely incredible woman as well as being extremely attractive.

Joan Crawford (Dancing Lady, Mildred Pierce, The Women)— God, where do I start!!! Her face is so UNIQUE and compelling and stands out so much. I love her thick brows and high cheekbones. She has a school-marmy hardness too her that makes her a little scary and therefore sexy. Her low thick voice also does it for me. Despite being an unusual looking woman with an unusual face, she never loses her glamour. Just a gorgeous talented actress, AND she was some sort of gay!!!

This is round 5 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut. the famous banana skirt is mildly NSFW.]

Josephine Baker:

Black, American-born, French dancer and singer. Phenomenal sensation, took music-halls by storm. Famous in the silent film era.

Let's talk La Revue Negre, Shuffle Along. The iconique banana outfit? But also getting a Croix de Guerre and full military honors at burial in Paris due to working with the Resistance.

She exuded sex, was a beautiful dancer, vivacious, and her silliness and humor added to her attractiveness. She looked just as good in drag too.

So I know she was more famous for other stuff than movies and her movies weren’t Hollywood but my first exposure to her was in her films so I’ve always thought of her as a film actress first and foremost. Also she was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture so I think that warrants an entry

Iconic! Just look up anything about her life. She was a fascinating woman.

Joan Crawford:

I just love women that are very mean.

she was a smoke show in every decade, from the 20s to the 60s.

The classic matronly beauty with amazing eyebrows

of course there's a space for MILF joan but i want to just take a second and say she was so cute in her early movies (like grand hotel and the women)! those parts often get forgotten but her stardom shines in them just as much as in her older #queen #icon roles

Misremembered for wire hanger hatred, this original screen queen mastered the art of the comeback and refused to let Hollywood toss her aside as she aged. The term “auteur” is usually revered for directors or writer-directors, but most critics have one actor they’ll give that title to as well: Crawford—anyone who knows classic movies already has a “Crawford picture” in their head. She knew how to style herself and promote herself. She made herself a star and kept herself fixated in the Hollywood firmament. What’s hotter than knowing just how hot you are?

(don’t think about Mommie Dearest right now) Joan was known for being super nice to all the like crew of the movies she worked on and she’d get everyone gifts. Joan would hold movie nights at her house and knit at the back of her home theater. Joan was sooo obsessed with other women including Greta Garbo, whos dressing room she would obsessively and purposefully walk by. She said that while working on Grand Hotel, Garbo grabbed her face and “if there ever was a time in my life where I would’ve been a lesbian, that was it.” But like Joan also probably did sleep with women including Barbara Stanwyck. Joan was so obsessed with Bette Davis, screening multiple movies of hers in a day at her watch party, constantly trying to spend time with her or do a movie together, insisting on the dressing room next to hers at Warners and sending her daily gifts… etc. Once Bette said that sex was gods joke to humanity and Joan said “I think the joke is on her.” Joan fucked a lot. Joan got caught publicly fucking a man and sent a letter to the woman who saw them basically saying “I bet it excited you” and the woman was like you know what. It did. Joan was best friends with a gay man. Joan was an actually genuinely good actress even though people mocked her a lot for being like cheap and stupid (partially because she never finished school because her family was broke). Joan was so insane and so cool that’s all.

[nesiacha]

Mini Portraits of Three Revolutionary Women from Overseas Territories

French womens revolutionaries from mainland France are largely forgotten in France. But those from the Overseas Territories and Haiti are even more overlooked.

Victoria Montou aka Aunt Toya (presumed portrait)

(? – 1805)

A former slave working for the colonist Henri Duclos, she would be considered a second mother by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the future Lieutenant General under Toussaint Louverture, who briefly allied with General Leclerc as a strategic move before fighting against him again and becoming Emperor of Haiti. It is believed that she taught Dessalines about African culture and some combat skills while they were enslaved. Duclos saw their association as dangerous and decided to get rid of them by selling them to different slave owners, ensuring their separation.

On her new estate, where she was exploited again , Dr. Jean-Baptiste Mirambeau, who would later become the Emperor’s physician, noted, "Her commands are identical to those of a general." This observation would prove accurate as events unfolded. Toya led a group of slaves she was affiliated with, and together they took up arms, fighting against a regiment. According to Mirambeau, "This small group of rebels, under Toya's command, was quickly surrounded and captured by the regiment. During the struggle, Toya fled, pursued by two soldiers; a hand-to-hand combat ensued, and Toya severely wounded one of them. The other, with the help of additional soldiers who arrived in time, captured Toya."

Upon the proclamation of independence in January 1804 and Dessalines’ coronation as Emperor, he made Victoria Montou an imperial duchess. However, she fell gravely ill in 1805. Jean-Jacques Dessalines tried to heal her, saying, "This woman is my aunt; treat her as you would have treated me. She endured, alongside me, all the hardships and emotions while we were condemned to work the fields together." She died on June 12, 1805. She was given a grand funeral; her funeral procession was carried by eight brigadiers of the imperial guard and led by Empress Marie-Claire Bonheur.

Marthe Rose-Toto (1762? – December 2, 1802)

Marthe Rose-Toto was born around 1762 on the island of Saint Lucia, which became free following the abolition of slavery in Guadeloupe in 1794. According to some sources, she became a close companion of Louis Delgrès, an officer and fervent republican revolutionary, so much so that he was called a "Sans Culotte" by Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse ( I've already discussed Louis Delgrès here: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/751677840407330816/on-this-day-die-louis-delgres-freedom-fighter?source=share) . However, in 1802, Bonaparte sought to reinstate slavery and sent General Richepance. Louis Delgrès and many others took up arms. It is noteworthy that women were as present as men in this struggle to maintain their freedom and dignity. When all was lost, Louis Delgrès and 300 volunteers chose to commit suicide by explosives, shouting the revolutionary cry "Live free or die," after ensuring the evacuation of the estate for those who were not willing. The repression was brutal.

According to historian Auguste Lacour, during the evacuation, Marthe Rose-Toto broke her leg and was brought to the tribunal on a stretcher. She was accused of inciting Louis Delgrès' resistance and inciting the murder of white prisoners. It should be noted that these accusations were generally false, intended to legitimize death sentences. She was hanged, and according to Lacour, her last words were, "Men, after killing their king, left their country to come to ours to bring trouble and confusion: may God judge them!" In any case, Marthe Rose-Toto is considered one of the most important women in the fight against the reinstatement of slavery, alongside Rosalie, also known as Solitude. Their struggles and sacrifices should not be forgotten, and they were not in vain, as slavery was once again abolished in 1848.

Flore Bois Gaillard

Flore Bois Gaillard was a former slave and also a leader. She was reportedly one of the leaders of the "Brigands" revolt on the island of Saint Lucia during the French Revolution. Little is known about her as a former slave, only that she lived in the colony of Saint Lucia. Local historian Thomas Ferguson says of Flore Bois Gaillard, "A woman named Flore Bois Gaillard—a name that evokes intrepidity—was among the main leaders of the revolutionary party," and that during the French Revolution, she was "a central figure in this turbulent group that would be defeated by the military strategies of Colonel Drummond in 1797."

The group that included Flore Bois Gaillard consisted of former slaves, French revolutionaries, soldiers, and English deserters. They were determined to fight against the English regiments, notably through guerrilla strategies. This group won a notable battle, the Battle of Rabot in 1795, with the help of Governor Victor Hugues and, according to some, also with the help of Louis Delgrès and Pelage. However, this group was ultimately defeated by the British, who retook the island in 1797. At this point, Flore Bois Gaillard’s trace is lost. Writer Édouard Glissant imagines in his book that she was executed by the British after the island was retaken in 1797. Nevertheless, she remains a symbol in this struggle and a national heroine. The example of Flore Bois Gaillard is also interesting because it clearly shows us once again that the French Revolution was also taking place in the overseas departments and that slaves or former slaves played a crucial role there in order to make her revolution triumph and were in all the battles.

[enlitment]

ask game: 1, 26, 27

Thanks for the asks!

1. Who is your favourite historical person?

I have a lot of favourites, so it's hard to choose! But I'd have to go with Camille Desmoulins. He was very talented, though he arguably kept making bad life choices. I also really appreciate his views on divorce and women's rights in general (it was far from perfect but I'd argue it was quite progressive for its time). Him and Lucile seemed to have a genuinely nice relationship. And, judging from the anecdotes I've read, there just seems to be something deeply human about him, reflected in a way in which he reacted to the things happening around him.

For a woman from history, I'd have to go with Émilie du Châtelet. I devoured the book of her collected writings yesterday, so I'm very biased at the moment. I definitely think that she must have been one of the brightest minds in the 18th century. Her writings on the role of women and happiness just really resonate with me. Her life story is a bit all over the place but very entertaining, until it gets tragic.

26. Forgotten hero we should know about and admire?

This is a story on a very small scale, but I've recently learnt about Jindřiška Nováková and it really moved me. She was only 14, yet she participated in the resistance during the time in which Czechia was occupied by Nazi Germany. She helped to move and hide a bike used by one of Heydrich's assassins, which may not seem like much, but back then, it meant risking not only her life but also that of her family. Someone reported it and she was taken away for questioning, and yet she didn't reveal anything.

Unfortunately, she was later killed in the Mauthausen concentration camp, making her the youngest victim there.

27. Favourite historical “ What if… ” ?

Oh, that's a good one! I don't really have the sufficient expertise to answer it, but I sometimes wonder if things would be different if the US came to help the French people during the revolution? Namely in a form of a military aid?

I'm not sure if things would be better, but it's an interesting thought.

Though maybe it's just residue from my past amrev obsession and the echoes of Cabinet Battle stuck in my brain.

[mywifeleftme]

222: Metal Urbain // Les hommes mort sont dangereux

Les hommes mort sont dangereux Metal Urbain 1981, Celluloid

This past summer I listened to a bunch of archived John Peel radio show broadcasts from 1978. Aside from the considerable pleasures of soaking in Peel’s dry, sardonic point of view, there was something voyeuristically thrilling about hearing how familiar punk anthems first hit the airwaves. Whether it be listening to Peel enjoy the Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks” so much he’s compelled to play it twice in a row; hearing the introduction of Los Angeles’s X to UK audiences; or even realizing that in the heart of the punk era he was still playing Van Der Graaf Generator and the Albion Band right alongside the new wavers, the exercise offered a context to the songs and era that experiencing the tracks as discrete works lacks.

It was also a reminder of just how fertile the scene was, the programmes studied with (mostly) forgotten bands who disappeared after making a handful of miraculous seven-inches. So, let’s Remember Some Guys.

Remembering Some Guys: John Peel Discoveries Edition

Llygod Ffyrnig: An incredible Welsh punk band (trans. The Ferocious Mice) with one three-track single that everyone should hear this instant: “N.C.B.”

Radio Stars: English New Wave band by one of the other guys in Sparks. They made a song about Baffin Island (called “Baffin Island”)!

pragVEC: Cool London post-punk band with synth contributions from Jim Thirlwell: “Nervous”

La Peste: Boston punk band and authors of one ink black perfect single called “Better Off Dead”

Snakefinger: Okay, the Residents aren’t a discovery, but the Snakefinger solo track “The Spot” sure was to me! It’s so good!

Tyla Gang: Pub rock that kicks the unsuspected crotch that joins Johnny Thunders with the J. Geils Band, they have at least one track that I could carve on my heart: “No Roses”

Automatics: “When the Tanks Roll Over Poland Again” was a new wave number one track in 1978! I ain’t never had heard of it neither. C’est parfait.

Fabulous Poodles: Probably should’ve found them sooner! The Who/Kinks-y rock, let’s hear “Mirror Star” again why don’t we?

Strangeways: “Show Her You Care” is pure shake & pop heaven, feels so giddy it might shake itself and you to pieces.

The Desperate Bicycles: DIY never had a truer troupe of champions and were it not for their refusal to reissue their material in any form, they might be known as punk’s Beat Happening. Try “Smokescreen”!

Skids: Art punks from Dunfermline, Scotland, they’re heavy enough to be a NWOBHM band, but with all sorts a weird skittering going on. Six times? “Six Times”!

Metal Urbain, about which more below.

Metal Urbain were one of France’s first punk bands and a Peel fav that skipped right over a few stages of evolution and hatched fully formed with 1977’s “Paris Maquis” (a reference to the WWII French Resistance) single as a “synth punk” band in the same year the Damned and the Pistols were just getting off the blocks. (The same year, incidentally, that Suicide’s first LP dropped on the other side of the Atlanic.) Employing a cheapo drum machine in place of a human percussionist, Metal Urbain were nasty, snarling anti-everything punks with a laudable hatred for fascists and some rather less laudable hatred toward women (the grotesque shocker “Crève Salope,” or “Die Bitch”). The drum machine gives their simple songs a jerking, pitiless momentum, and if most of their songs sound pretty samey, at least they’re all playing the same pretty great punk song. Singer Eric Débris sounds kinda like a harsher Joe Strummer (plus that sort of wet, venomous quality French speakers get when they snarl), and they consistently find riffs that feel like exposed switchblades.

Still, they do have a hair more range than most retrospectives grant them. The skulking “Snuff Movie” finds them traipsing onto Suicide’s streets, while “Pop Poubelle” (“Pop Trash”) pulls the archetypal punk move of dolling out a super catchy surf-inspired lick on the song about how catchy pop music sucks and is bad. 1981’s Les hommes morts song dangereux (Dead Men Are Dangerous) compilation rounds up nearly everything they did during their original run, and makes for a convincing statement: every punk fan should hear the likes of “Futurama,” “Panik,” and “Hystérie connective”—so what’s stopping ya?

222/365 

[tehuti88-art]

12/6/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Janette (last name never given). She's a reclaimed character from the old character list, previously a nurse with the Trench Rats, yet now I believe she's going to be with the resistance and helps Sgt. Camo after his escape. Still developing her. There'll be more about her later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

Regarding her design, she has quite long hair so it doesn't all show up here. I drew the part a bit odd, oh well.

TUMBLR EDIT: Here's the original (2002) character list description of "Nurse Janette":

JANETTE: Nurse serving Burgundy in the hospital ward. Also the target of most of Gold's unwanted attentions; tolerates him for the most part, but isn't averse to slapping him across the face. Is attracted to Mahogany, as Gold suspects, yet neither of them is willing to admit it at first. Calm and coolheaded, yet turns out to have a friskier side. Current storyline

Janette, from my vague recollection, was originally an American nurse who served with the Trench Rats but technically wasn't one. This is a complication, given the Rats' obsessive secrecy regarding Headquarters, whose location is revealed only to Rats, at least until this information is compromised by Anna Julian and HQ is attacked by the Germans. Even then they seem to still abide by blindfolding everyone they transport there, until very late in the story near the war's end. (A big exception to all this is French partisan Papillon, who discovers the location of HQ while scouting--he's a bat--and reveals it to Champere, but they never share this info.) How would it work for Janette to live at HQ yet not know where she is? It's possible, just not that feasible. I let her character fall by the wayside and placed more emphasis on actual Trench Rats serving in the medical ward, including Lyndsey Skye (herself originally not intended to be a Rat), Indigo, and Amaranth, with Skye taking on a lot of Janette's characteristics (including being the focus of Gold's attention--you can see this in what little of the story was written).

(Brief aside to add that there was yet another female Rat who was mentioned in the ORIGINAL existing written version of the story (quoted partially in Anna Julian's entry), it's iffy whether she was an official Rat or not, but anyway...ugh, here goes...her working name was "Mam Rat" and she was literally just an updated version of Mammy from Gone With The Wind. Urgh God I hate typing this. She was pretty much a servant type who cooked and cleaned and occasionally served in the medical ward, because I guess the male Rats were too inept to do their own chores. As you can see, even back in 2002 I must have known how problematic such a character was, as, like Nightstalker, Deserta, and Woofwoof Hitler (though for different reasons), she never even made the character list. THANK GOD. Sorry, Mam, hardly knew ye, it's for the best. Anyway, I believe Janette may have dated to roughly the same time but she was allowed to remain on the list. I could be wrong though, there's a slight chance she was intended to replace Mam's character. Mam will NOT be resurrected for this reboot. Maybe someday I'll dedicate an "abandoned character" page to her and the others. Nightstalker and Deserta--possible unintentional prototypes of Gunter Hesse and Theodor Schulte--were kinda fun and should not be forgotten.)

In light of this newest reboot, Janette's character is being heavily modified. This is still highly a WIP and much info is unknown or contradicts previous material given in this blog, particularly the account given in Camo Rat's entry. But hey, that's just how this goes. So here's what little has developed so far.

Janette is now French; she's still a "nurse" (not official, she just provides medical aid like one), not associated with the Trench Rats, but with the resistance. As neither Champere's French forces nor Didrika's mixed forces allow women (the lone exceptions being Jade, who passes herself off as a man, and Didrika herself), this--and the previous version of Camo's writeup--indicate that she's in the Diamond Network. The Diamond Network is kind of downplayed on the rodent side of this story, as Josef Diamant is a canine character, and Champere's and Didrika's groups appear solely in the rodent side of the story, yet it does appear in limited form, for example, the Wolfsteins and Noah Kirchheimer are involved in it. The Network operates mostly in an urban environment while the other groups are in the country, though there are exceptions, such as the Network's operations in the Junker homes. Janette appears to serve in a rural part of the Network and so likely has lots of interaction with the partisans; this leaves room for her services to cross over and for her to function as a sort of go-between when necessary. She seems to do a lot of work on her own, which is unusual for a woman in such a hostile environment, so obviously she's not easily frightened, and has lots of interpersonal skills.

She offers aid to whoever she encounters and so I assume this is why almost nobody is interested in harming her, and that includes the Germans (for the most part). This leaves the potential for lots of interesting interactions, not just with allies but with "enemies" such as Ratdog and Klemper, and Himmel and Jäger. Yes, somebody could always theoretically capture and interrogate her for info on the Network, but she's useful as she is, and there's likely an additional reason why they let her be...maybe a superstitious one, like with Didrika. She probably has also earned a nickname like Didrika (die Scharlachrote Zigeunerin, the Scarlet Gypsy--Nazi terminology, not mine, Didrika is Romani), though I'm not sure yet what it would be; maybe die Nachtigall, the Nightingale, after Florence Nightingale? *shrugs* In any case, she seems most active in the woods that open up well outside the unnamed city, and I believe this is where she meets Sgt. Camo Rat.

In the previous version of Camo's story...he escapes Nazi custody in Project Doomsday (with the unknown, to him, aid of project supervisor Capt. Otto Himmel, who's sabotaging the project from the inside) by breaking out of the complex; he disguises himself (as he's wearing very distinctive stripes, and a red triangle marking him as a Sonderhäftling, a political prisoner of war and special detainee) and, using some old info, manages to locate a Diamond Network checkpoint where he's retrieved by allies and transported to safety. I didn't really care for this exact version of events because it's a bit iffy; how did the Trench Rats, who struggle to make connections at first with the various resistance groups, obtain the info about the checkpoint in the first place? And why? Their connection to the Diamond Network, in particular, is quite weak, and is mostly represented by Jakob Wolfstein and Helena Urbach, the latter of whom is actually recruited by the former, and both of whom come into contact with the battalion only after Camo's capture. So they aren't the source of the info. Despite their alliances, the various resistance factions are all rather leery of the Rats for a long while, and it's hard to imagine a Network member passing off such info so early on. Camo's introduction to the Network is likely more coincidental.

There's another complication here I haven't made much mention of yet: Camo is a morphine addict, and without the supply Dr. Kammler pushed on him in the project, during his escape he almost certainly goes into withdrawal. He still breaks out of project headquarters, still probably steals a coat to cover himself a little, yet doesn't reach a Network checkpoint. Similar to Wolfstein and Silver Rat much later on, he manages to escape into the countryside, though by the time he reaches the woods he's in rather bad shape. He finally manages to drag himself into a small hollow at the base of a tree, covers himself with some leaves and debris, and curls up in a ball of pain and nausea, dozing fitfully.

He comes to--somewhat--who knows how long later, shaking violently, sweating and freezing; there's a silhouette peering down at him. It speaks in a woman's voice, but he doesn't understand it. After a pause it moves nearer and starts checking him over; pulls open his coat, sees his red badge, presses a hand to his forehead, feels his ribs and limbs, checks his pulse and his eyes. Upon doing this last thing the silhouette murmurs, lets go of his eyelid, pulls up his sleeve. Murmurs again upon seeing the bruise where an IV had been recently. It--she--sits back on her haunches and digs around in a bag before pulling something out and shaking him a little to get his attention. She holds something small in front of his face; he blinks blearily and manages to focus. It's a tiny syrette; Camo recognizes it immediately. The small morphine doses are often included in first aid kits. He feels terribly torn--he doesn't want it, but he needs it. And that much must be obvious, if this stranger was able to figure it out. He hesitates long enough that she at last says something--again, he doesn't understand--and finally administers the dose herself while he shuts his eyes and turns his head away.

His shaking abates after a while, and after another while he's able to slowly push himself upright without throwing up. He's still pretty weak and unsteady; the woman holds something out--a canteen--and he takes a long drink. She hands him a small chocolate bar which he eats; not exactly nutritious but better than nothing. The sugar wakes him a little, the woman says something, and finally he gets why he can't understand her; she's speaking French.

He understands enough to know she's asking if he speaks French; he shakes his head. "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" she says next, and he shakes his head: "I don't speak German." "Anglais," she says, in an "Of course" voice, to which Camo says, "American." She shrugs and although he doesn't speak French he's pretty sure she's saying, British, American, it doesn't matter, she doesn't speak English. So, here we are.

He gets a better look at her now that his head isn't so fogged with pain. She's young and pretty, not that he's interested, and what he'd thought was a hooded jacket is in fact her hair. Women around here usually wear their hair in buns or braids or at least keep it cut shorter, so hers stands out. She's carrying a makeshift medical bag and has an improvised arm band with a red cross; "Medic?" he inquires, pointing at it, and she shakes her head; "Infirmière," she says, then, to his blank look, "Krankenschwester...?" A very long silence; finally she says, "Hmmmm...nurse?" Camo nods. She offers him the canteen again since obviously they will not be engaging in conversation, though--"Camo," he says, putting a hand to his chest; she follows suit, replying, "Janette."

They can assume a few things about each other just by looking. She knows by his striped shirt and red badge that he must have escaped from a camp or something similar; "Sonderhäftling," she says, and although Camo doesn't speak German, Dr. Kammler taught him that particular word very well. He can safely assume she's somehow associated with the partisans, though when he mentions Champere and Didrika, she indicates that she knows them both, but doesn't work for them. "Le Réseau Diamantaire," she says, and makes a diamond shape with her hands, so Camo nods; he's not nearly as familiar with the Diamond Network as the partisans, but you'd have to be living under a rock to have never heard of them. (Heheh...my translation efforts are Google based and may sometimes suck. I tried to make sure I had the correct French word for a resistance network, as opposed to, well, any alternate meaning of network, you know? And Googling the word "réseau," after consulting Google Translate, brought up this: "1. a network or grid" (meh...no, not what I meant :/ ) and "2. a spy or intelligence network, especially in the French resistance movement during the German occupation in World War II" (well...huh!--there we go).)

Janette waits for Camo to compose himself before gesturing that she wants them to get moving, though he doesn't know where. He tries to explain that he's the Trench Rat sergeant and wants to get back to Headquarters; she doesn't seem to understand him, though when he gets up and tries to leave on his own, she forcibly stops him, exclaiming, "Non!" Her increasingly frustrated gesturing convinces him she does in fact understand his plan--she even uses a stick to gouge in the earth, a miniature trench. And she shakes her head. "It isn't safe yet?" he says, not understanding her refusal to let him go back; she shrugs, then takes his arm, waves him to follow. Taps her armband--she'd like him to get more medical care--and makes the diamond sign. Camo furrows his brow; "Le...le res..." he says, "Le Réseau Diamantaire," she says, nods, gestures. He suppresses a sigh; he really wants to get back to his men--if any are even left, Dr. Kammler insisted the Rats had been annihilated but the Nazis are well known for their demoralizing lies--yet Janette is insistent that he accompany her, and without knowing WHY she thinks he shouldn't return to HQ yet, he's resigned to following her to her fellow operatives, instead. He isn't even sure how long he can hold out physically, to be honest. So he shrugs himself, waves at her; she pauses, then relaxes, gestures, shoulders her medical bag, and they head into the woods.

I already said the Diamond Network doesn't have a strong presence in the countryside, though they have rare small outposts. The partisans don't exactly trust them a whole lot, but they do manage to collaborate, mostly by exchanging goods and services. Janette is on good terms with pretty much everyone, though Camo has no real way to know that. When he gestures in the direction of Didrika's camp--he starts recognizing his surroundings--and traces an eye shape on his hand (Didrika has such a tattoo), Janette again shakes her head, so he pushes down another sigh although he's annoyed. They finally reach a small temporary encampment, an old military truck with some bedrolls on the ground around a fire pit; a few men pop to their feet with guns drawn but Janette waves at them and points out Camo's red badge to allay their fears. She starts gesticulating and talking in rapid-fire French, only for one of the men to brusquely cut her off, earning an irked look; he tells her something, then speaks in English: "I know who you are. The Germans have been telling everyone you and your corporal are dead."

Camo takes a breath. Feels his knees nearly buckle, and Janette hurries to take his arm. Murmuring in French, she guides him over to the fire pit and helps him sit; the leader instructs the other men and they warm up a meal for him. Dr. Kammler was careful to make sure he was better fed than most prisoners, but he was still fed like a prisoner, so he really does need the food; still, Janette has to coax him into eating it. In between bites, Camo asks for more information. The leader describes how the devastating news of the attack on Trench Rat Headquarters reached everyone, how the partisans were too late to help in the fight itself but showed up in the aftermath; Didrika's men were first to arrive and provide aid to the surviving Rats, and yes, there were survivors--while Alpha and Bravo Companies (both present in HQ) were largely decimated, Delta and Echo Companies (outside HQ) survived largely intact, and Charlie Company (on patrol in the woods) escaped harm completely, apparently avoiding an ambush before heading back to HQ to assist. Champere's partisans arrived after Didrika's, offering supplies and medical attention; there was some contention between the two factions, with Didrika almost needing to be physically restrained from attacking Champere, battering him with a stream of invective instead over how long it took his party to respond, while Champere retorted by calling her hysterical in return; despite this, they managed to set their dispute aside long enough to help provide aid and start the cleanup process. The Rats have since started rebuilding their damaged HQ, as well as contacted their British allies to get in touch with the American military for new recruits.

Kammler had gloated to Camo that almost all of his battalion was wiped out, so it's a relief to learn how many of them survived--including all the company leaders, Copper, Indigo, and Silver, along with the surgeon, Burgundy, and the chief engineer, Doomsday--even though he still grieves the immense losses. He hates needing to report that his corporal, Drake, while still alive, is also still in German custody, and he was forced to leave him behind (Drake insisted at least one of them needed to escape, better than no one); the other corporal, Anna Julian, was executed by an SS officer (Himmel). He asks for their help in contacting HQ and getting back to them so he can resume leadership; to which the Diamond Network guy responds, "I don't believe that's a wise idea."

Camo is stumped; how could it not be?? His men need him, and he needs to do his job. The leader explains that the Trench Rats acted quickly, and have already sent out a request for a sergeant and corporal to assume leadership--Camo and Drake are about to be replaced. Their roles aren't staying vacant for long. Camo doesn't have any sentimental feelings about this, of course the Rats would promptly request replacement leadership, especially if they thought he and Drake were dead. He can still go back and help whether he's in charge or not. Still, the leader insists this is his chance to do something else: Everyone thinks he's dead, and that the Trench Rats are demoralized. Why not take advantage of this? Camo furrows his brow; what good can he do away from the Rats? The leader reminds him of the tactic the Rats originally used when they first came to Germany: For a brief time, they succeeded in convincing the superstitious German soldiers that they were ghosts from the Great War, what with their unusual uniforms and actions. Of course this ruse fell apart rather quickly, but it helped them out long enough to gain a foothold in the area and establish their HQ. Well...rather than head straight back to HQ and reveal that just one Rat made it back alive--leaving the other behind--why not play into the belief that he's dead, and become a ghost? Not just any ghost, either, but one who collects information.

The plan comes together only gradually, as Camo needs to strongly be persuaded that he can serve the Rats better from afar, and might actually endanger them right now, if the rest of the German army learns that not only did he survive the initial attack, but he escaped their custody as well--Drake is in an especially tenuous position. The Network can leave behind a dead German soldier dressed in Camo's clothes for the Wehrmacht to find and report back to Kammler; this could help buy time for Drake. Whereas if Camo is known to still be alive, Kammler will surely use this information to torture Drake further and probably end up liquidating him. If Camo comes back as a ghost, he can spy and collect information for the Network and keep a closer eye on German activities than he could back with the Rats, who are about to get another sergeant anyway. He just needs his own contacts to report back to, and a few tweaks to his look.

Janette, what with her itinerant routine, would make a good go-between for Camo and the Network (she can also keep him supplied with morphine); she volunteers, despite them being unable to understand each other. The leader decides upon them sharing a code which will add a layer of security to their communications. She and Camo can exchange information and in addition he can point her in the direction of any wounded he comes across. The Network designs a new outfit for him, similar to the Trench Rats' original German-style uniforms; a gas mask will conceal his face. For he'll need to use this ruse to keep his fellow Rats as in the dark as the Germans. Most should catch on soon enough that he's not really a ghost, but the hope is that the mystery surrounding him will continue to trigger the Germans' superstitions anyway; for example, their near-supernatural fear of Silver Rat and Didrika.

Time is allowed to pass after the Germans find their own dead soldier--his body just badly burned enough to conceal his identity, though his red Sonderhäftling badge remains visible--and report this back to leadership, before Camo is given his new uniform, drops his name, dons his mask, and heads off into the woods for his new job as a spy for the Diamond Network. He keeps in frequent touch with Janette to pass coded messages along; ironically, he spies on his own guys about as much as the enemy, this time on the outside looking in. It's a strange experience, and rather bittersweet, seeing what should be his own life but no longer is, while hoping he gets the chance to go back and retrieve Drake--and, possibly, kill Himmel--sometime. Despite his new job, his end goal remains the same as that of the Trench Rats: To put an end to Project Doomsday, somehow.

I haven't yet determined Janette's past, how this French woman ended up in Germany, aiding the resistance; there's also the matter of what becomes of her after Camo's identity is revealed to Corporal Gold and Mahogany--does she still express interest in the latter?--and how does it go? These might be further developed at some future point.

[Janette 2024 [‎Friday, ‎December ‎6, ‎2024, ‏‎12:00:31 AM]]

[nastyavodianova]

Mulatresse Solitude

Mulatresse Solitude is a name that should resonate through history, a powerful symbol of resistance against oppression. Born around 1772 in Guadeloupe, a French Caribbean colony, Solitude's life story is a testament to the unyielding spirit of those who fought for freedom from slavery.

Solitude was the daughter of an African slave woman and a white sailor, living in a time when the French Revolution's ideals of "liberty, equality, fraternity" were beginning to ripple through the colonies. In 1794, France officially abolished slavery in its colonies, sparking a brief period of hope for enslaved people. However, this was short-lived. In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte re-established slavery, and the French forces arrived in Guadeloupe to enforce his decree. This betrayal ignited a fierce resistance among the Black population.

Solitude, by then pregnant, joined the Maroons, groups of formerly enslaved people who had escaped into the mountains and forests, forming communities that resisted colonial rule. She became a fierce warrior, embodying a spirit of defiance and freedom. Though details of her life are scarce, Solitude's bravery during the 1802 rebellion made her a legendary figure. Even with her unborn child, she took up arms against the French forces, fighting side by side with men and women determined to reclaim their freedom.

Captured by the French after a brutal battle, Solitude was imprisoned. Despite her pregnancy, she was sentenced to death. In a cruel twist of fate, she was forced to wait until after giving birth to her child before she was hanged on November 29, 1802. Her death was meant to serve as a warning to others who dared to defy the colonial authorities, but instead, it immortalized her as a symbol of resistance and courage.

Today, Mulatresse Solitude stands as a powerful figure in the history of anti-colonial resistance. She represents the countless women whose contributions to the fight against slavery and oppression have been overlooked and forgotten. Her story is a reminder of the relentless struggle for freedom and the role that women have played in that fight.

Solitude’s legacy is one of courage, defiance, and resilience. She reminds us that the fight for justice and equality has always required great sacrifice and that the voices of the oppressed, especially women of color, must never be forgotten. Her spirit lives on, inspiring new generations to continue the fight for a world free from oppression and injustice. ⚒️✊

Share her story. Let her name be known. Remember Mulatresse Solitude, not just as a figure of the past, but as a beacon for the future.

[mirandamckenni1]

I Read The Most Misunderstood Philosopher in the World See Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend here - https://ift.tt/szHcko3 Support this show on Patreon - https://ift.tt/Pp0mOEj MUSIC: 'Underwater' and 'Click Synth Soft Bell Piano' by Nina Richards https://ift.tt/KroRMVj BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sara Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of Emotion Lily Alexandre, Fear of Trans Bodies Lily Alexandre, The Feminist to Far-Right Pipeline Fran Amery, “Protecting Children in ‘Gender Critical’ Rhetoric and Strategy: Regulating Childhood for Cisgender Outcomes,” in Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies Mira Bellwether, F*****g Trans Women Talia Mae Bettcher, “Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers,” in Hypatia Haley Marie Brown, “The Forgotten Murders: Gendercide in the Twenty-First Century and the Destruction of the Transgender Body,” in Denial: The Final Stage of Genocide? Shelley Budgeon, “Identity as an Embodied Event,” in Body & Society Judith Butler, Excitable Speech Judith Butler, Gender Trouble Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Subordination” Judith Butler, Precarious Life Judith Butler, Who’s Afraid of Gender? Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” in Theatre Journal Andrea Long Chu, “Freedom of Sex: The Moral Case for Letting trans Kids Change Their Bodies,” in The New Yorker Caelen Conrad, “Gender Critical: Conversion Therapy” Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex Julia Dauksza et al., “Salve Maria, Or Millions Made in Poland,” in VSquare Julia Dauksza et al., “The Golden Boys of Fatima,” in VSquare Julia Dauksza et al., “The Golden Lion Roars from Cracow,” in VSquare Petula Dvorak, “LGBTQ+ Teens Won A Grant for Their School. Adults Sent the Money Back.,” in The Washington Post Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Agnieszka Graff and Elzbieta Korolczuk, Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment Mauro Cabal Grinspan et al., “Exploring TERFnesses,” in Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies Virginia Guitzel, “Notes from Brazil,” in Transgender Marxism Sally Haslanger, “Feminism in Metaphysics,” in Resisting Reality Claire C.A. House, “‘I’m Real, Not You’: Roles and Discourse of Trans Exclusionary Women’s and Feminist Movements in Anti-Gender and Right-Wing Populist Politics,” in Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies Innuendo Studios, “Endnote 5: A Case Study in Digital Radicalisation” Eleanor Janega, The Once and Future Sex Julia Kristeva, "Woman Can Never Be Defined," trans. Marilyn A. August, in New French Feminism Harry Lambert, “Rosie Duffield: “You Never Change Sex”,” in The New Statesman Stephanie Mayer and Birgit Sauer, “‘Gender Ideology’ in Austria: Coalitions Around an Empty Signifier,” in Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe Michael Naas, “Comme si, comme ca,” in Derrida From Now On Leah Owen, “Parasitically occupying bodies: Exploring toxifying securitization in antitrans and genocidal ideologies,” in Peace Review Alison Rumfitt, Brainwyrms Julia Serano, Sexed Up Julia Serano, Whipping Girl Shaun, J.K. Rowling’s New Friends Shaun, Kelly Jay Keen and the Neo-Nazis Shaun, Palestine Laura J. Shepherd and Laura Sjoberg, “Trans-Bodies in/of War(s): Cisprivilege and Contemporary Security Strategy,” in Feminist Review C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides Darin Tenev, “La Déconstruction en enfant: the Concept of Phantasm in the Work of Derrida” Monique Wittig, “One is Not Born A Woman” 00:00 - 02:31 Introduction 02:31 - 04:10 "I'm You From the Future" 04:10 - 10:15 Judith Butler and Performativity 10:15 - 10:42 "Just listen to me!" 10:42 - 20:33 Biology & Social Constructs 20:33 - 36:52 "Politics in the future gets weird!" 36:52 - 55:29 the Anti-Gender Movement 55:29 - 57:08 "The personal is political" 57:08 - 1:04:37 What can we do? 1:04:37 - 1:15:08 This is what we can do. #books #philosophy via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVilpxowsUQ

[cleoenfaserum]

JO (2013) PARISIAN COP ENGLISH SPOKEN TV SERIES

This is a TV series I came across scrawling around on OK.RU and detained my scrolling because of the actor Jean Reno, who I think made a name for himself as a good actor, which he is. The movie series of the only season of 8 episodes (which I have included) Reno playing the main character is well played out, though, as far as I am concerned, not his best acting, though, he did perform well. The bottom line, I enjoyed the series, however, the script was simple with some intrigue but the highlight was Reno.

Jo (previously known by the working title Le Grand) is an English-language French police procedural television series created by Canadian-American screenwriter René Balcer with French writing team Franck Ollivier and Malina Detcheva.

The series, shot entirely in Paris, is centered on Jo Saint-Clair, a cop played by French star Jean Reno in his first lead TV role. Along with his team, Jo attempts to solve murders taking place around some of the French capital's most famous locations. (Jo (TV series) - Wikipedia)

Let's let the show speak for itself.

The lifeless body of famous organist Johan Van Vliet is found at the foot of the "Portal of the Last Judgement" of Notre-Dame. His eardrums were pierced and his face set towards the statue of the angel who plays the trumpet to sound the waking of the dead. An outstanding musician, Van Vliet was also an egocentric man known to be a womanizer. In making the victim symbolically deaf to the call of the angel, the killer seems to have wanted to prevent the victim from receiving divine mercy.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3513989466807

During a Fashion Week show, a 38-year-old former model is hurled off the Eiffel Tower. Her lover's wife is initially suspected, but Jo then follows a trail back to 22-year-old Jasmine, a showgirl in Quartier Pigalle and the dead supermodel's abandoned illegitimate daughter.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514004736695

Mountaineer Bernard Lang's body is discovered with a broken neck in climbing gear at the foot of the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. Fascinated by the obelisk and its history, Jo knows that the monument is also a great vantage point of the surrounding area, including the suites at the Hôtel de Crillon. And in one of them, that evening, a well-bred young woman (Miranda Raison) was cheating on her husband.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514071321271

Charlotte, a 35-year-old Mirage pilot, is found dead in front of Les Invalides, wearing a ring stolen a year earlier during the murder of a family in the south of France. Her lover, a mysterious mechanic, is quickly suspected, but while unearthing the details of that forgotten crime, Jo discovers a conspiracy.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514266159799

In a parking lot on Place Vendôme, firefighters uncover the charred body of Philip Roquin, an accountant for one of the square's many jewelry stores. His wife admits that he was kidnapped and that a ransom was requested. The investigation leads Jo Saint-Clair to a prison where a woman called Lisette was incarcerated.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514280184503

Marie-Eve Lambert, a young gallerist, is found lying on the Place des Vosges, killed by a violent blow to the head. Believing at first in a crime of passion, Jo discovers a mysterious message in the victim's hand which leads him to the Archives Nationales, where Marie-Eve was doing research on women in the French Resistance deported to Auschwitz.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514295323319

Leaving the Palais Garnier where he had just dropped off his daughter for her dance class, Raymond Sittler is assaulted on the steps of the Opera. A few seconds later, he starts convulsing, collapses on the porch and dies. Initially suspected, his mistress is also murdered at the Barbès-Rochechouart station, through poison. The investigation leads Jo to the prestigious Sorbonne University and to the door of a troubled student and his ambitious girlfriend.

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514326452919

A young geneticist was stabbed in the Paris Catacombs, a Satanist symbol etched on her back. Jo is convinced that this is a crime of passion. But the case takes an unexpected turn when the team discovers that the victim was conducting experiments with plague bacteria recovered from skeletons of the catacombs. The trail leads to a mysterious woman who could well be a serial killer on the run. She seems to already have chosen her next victims: the family of a prominent politician. The killer turns out to be Nicole Wallace (played by Olivia d'Abo), the one-time nemesis of Det. Robert Goren in the series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (also created by René Balcer).

LINK: https://ok.ru/video/3514344016567

[aksarabumilangit]

Trace Charles de Gaulle’s struggle: Inspirational Story in the film De Gaulle (2020) by Denny Ja

   Historical films are often an effective medium for commemorating influential figures in history. One of the figures that cannot be forgotten is Charles de Gaulle, a French general who is a symbol of resistance and leader during World War II. The extraordinary footprint of his struggle was raised in the film “De Gaulle” which was released in 2020, which is the brilliant work of Denny JA.    This film presents a deep picture of the life and struggle of Charles De Gaulle in maintaining French integrity and dignity in a riot. In this film, the audience was invited to see how De Gaulle led his country against the German Nazi occupation who occupied France in 1940.    In the film “De Gaulle”, Denny JA managed to show the eyes of the French people at important moments in the history of their country. The audience will be presented with dramatic scenes that describe the tension and dispute between the French political elite at that time. Smart, this film also highlighted the role of women in resistance, especially through the character of Yvonne de Gaulle, the wife of Charles De Gaulle, who is a strong figure and supports her husband in his struggle.    Not only that, this film also gives an intimate view of Charles De Gaulle’s character and personality. The audience can see the personal side of a strong leader and never give up. Denny JA succeeded in describing the visionary and firm leadership nature of De Gaulle to its principles, which became an inspiration for many people to date.    In addition to a strong portrayal of character, this film also offers stunning cinematography. With a neat artistic touch, the audience was brought in the atmosphere of World War II era and a hot political atmosphere in France at that time. Each scene is displayed with charming details, creating unforgettable cinematic experiences.    Of course, this film is also inseparable from the acting appearance of the extraordinary players. Vincent Lacoste as Charles de Gaulle and Isabelle Carré as Yvonne De Gaulle managed to revive these characters very convincingly. The chemistry that exists between the two of them is able to make the audience carried in the emotions and the journey of life they live.    Through the film “De Gaulle”, Denny Ja also gave an inspirational message to the audience. Charles de Gaulle’s persistent struggle and his determination to fight for French freedom and dignity reminds us of the importance of maintaining the values and principles we believe. This film teaches us not to give up when facing challenges, and always dare to stand up for what is right.    It is undeniable, this film is a brilliant work from Denny Ja. In “De Gaulle”, he managed to describe the traces of Charles De Gaulle’s struggle with full admiration and revive important history. The combination of strong stories, extraordinary acting, and stunning visuals makes this film one that should not be missed.    Overall, the film “De Gaulle” by Denny Ja is an inspirational and impressive work.

Check more: Trace Charles De Gaulle’s Struggle

[maximotts]

𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑧 • 𝑤. 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑓𝑓

a/n: I'd forgotten to put this prologue on the masterlist, but I did it so.. surprise! Let's meet these French gays

words: 1.3K

warnings: This is an 18+ series, minors DNI; smutty intentions/happenings, but no actual sex; flirting; public horny actions

desires unspoken AU; game nights were typically insufferable, but once you see Wanda, there's a much more enticing game you'd like to play

desires unspoken series. || main masterlist.

a𝘭𝘵𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘻 𝘯. 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥

She saw you before you did her.

You met those wide green eyes for only a second before she ripped them away, robbing you the pleasure of studying them from across the room. Even from a distance, you kept track of her, watching how she was required to be present, but never allowed close enough to actually interact. When one of the other obnoxious guests you so reluctantly called your fellow businessmen needed even the smallest of things, she flew away to fulfill the request before retreating back to her corner. You would’ve thought her a maid if you didn’t already know her to be the new wife of the man’s house you currently sat in.

Wanda Maximoff was nothing short of beautiful, a delicate nature about her only enhanced by the very few words you’d heard her speak. She only talked when spoken to and when left to her own devices for long enough, you swore you could visibly see her drift off to some imaginary dream land. You wanted to know where she flew to— and if you could accompany her.

She was off limits, you knew this. Wanda was someone’s wife; to a man who barely had a backbone and clung to the thread of life harder every waking day, but still, she was married. Additionally, two women in an obvious relationship, particularly an affair, likely wouldn’t go over well with the people of the city; it wasn’t illegal, but that didn’t mean it was favored. There was risk in the simple act of approaching someone with the proposition of an extramarital affair, much more so on the homosexual front. Something told you though, as sweet and innocent as Wanda appeared, she had potential. And so you waited.

After a few rounds of play, you bowed out gracefully, ignoring the protests and weak jabs with the excuse that you needed air away from the smoke-filled room. The perfect reason to slide across the floor to where that curious woman sat, far enough for any conversation to go unheard. If she was trying to pretend you didn’t see her, she did a terrible job, her gaze following your path towards her until you were practically just a few feet away. In leaning against the wall closest to her you could just barely make out that Wanda’s face was flushed; whatever she thought about for so long must’ve been more riveting than the sloppy card playing actually in front of her. “Are you alright?”

Addressing her earned you a shocked look, as if she had to make sure you were in fact speaking to her. Your wide grin likened you to a wolf and she, your sheep; oh what you would give to reach out and brush the back of your hand against her pink cheeks right this moment. You could, brushing off any questions with the explanation that a doctor has a duty to look after anyone in need, but you resisted. Your touch would be too gentle a caress to convincingly pass as a neutral temperature check and besides, when you first met her skin, you wanted to be alone. Maybe you were getting ahead of yourself, but Wanda’s darkened pupils revealed something more than the surprise on her features. There was something salacious about the way her eyes kept dropping to your lips, especially as she licked her own subconsciously, how she fiddled nervously with her hands to keep them distracted from whatever she couldn’t get out of her head.

Eventually Wanda seemed to remember there was a question she needed to answer because she straightened up, picking up her jaw where it’d gone a little slack, “I’m fine, simply daydreaming.”

“Oh? What about?” You wanted to know, needed to. There was no reasonable excuse for why you were so immediately enthralled with this woman other than she had a way about her. A way that no one you’d seen have in way too long a while; you wanted to keep it, study it. Maybe it was selfish, but you wanted to know every layer Wanda Maximoff had to offer and then some… it remained to be seen if she’d grant you that privilege.

Wanda attempted to erase your inquiry, dismissing her own thoughts before you could get too invested. “Nothing interesting. I just have a tendency to have my head in the clouds,” her small smile ensnared your heart further and you found yourself smiling back. You barely knew her, but you wanted to; to be privy to all of her innermost thoughts and emotions, eliminate her insecurities and encourage her desires. “And you, what brings you over here?”

So many feelings were hitting you at once and it was your turn to stare blankly as your brain worked to catch up and rationalize this sudden intensity. Try as you might, there was no rhyme or reason except instant attraction and your mind wouldn’t rest until you had her. You’d make it happen. “I needed air not tainted with cigar smoke. Besides, it smells much sweeter over here with you.” The simple compliment had the other woman suppressing a whimper; this might be easier than you’d thought.

“Then I’ll open a window, wouldn’t want you to get lightheaded.” The brunette hurried over to the small window quickly as she could, struggling to open the window. Cool night air would calm the rapid beating of her heart, freeze away the invisible flames kissing her cheeks, anything to pull her back together a fraction. But try as she might, the window refused to budge.

Sadistically you watched Wanda struggle, admiring her long hair tied modestly behind her and imagining it down, free as the rest of her would be in the private world you vowed to create for the two of you. Eventually you helped, sandwiching the woman between the stone wall in front of her and your body behind. “Here, we’ll fix it together.” The position did nothing for her flustered state, but everything for her dreams of you. And you hoped she would dream of you.

Slightly calloused hands covered her delicate ones and together you pushed and pushed, using each thrust forward as a chance to push your hips into her ass, suddenly glad you’d worn pants tonight and cursing her many layers of dress if only because the fabric kept you from feeling the full outline of her against you. When the window finally opened, you let your body fall against hers heavier than it needed to, trapping Wanda in place while she failed to suppress her squirming. You wanted to comment, to lean in and whisper how you’d seen her face in the reflection as you pushed, brows furrowed and her lip between her teeth to silence any accidental noises— but you didn’t. Today wasn’t the day. “We make a good team, don’t we?”

Wanda nodded as you pulled away and she busied herself with straightening her dress, rumpled from being rocked against the thick wall. “I’d say so… Thank you for your help.” Her voice was quiet as always, but there was an airy, out of breath tone to it that exposed her arousal; she wanted you too, that was certain.

“Anytime, Mrs. Maximoff.” The buffoons behind you were beckoning you back to the table now, no doubt bored of each other’s terrible gaming skills. You could care less about them, but if you chose to stay with Wanda, they may have wondered why so reluctantly, you were forced to excuse yourself. “Ah, I’m being summoned… You should come see me about that faintness of yours. Dizzy spells and headaches can be nasty things if not properly dealt with.” When Wanda almost pouted with want you knew she’d understood your intentions. “Visit my shop whenever you’re free next; I’ll fix you right up.”

“I’ll make it my top priority.” Wanda rushed out, hands fisted in her dress to quell whatever impulsive action running through her devious little head. As soon as she could, she’d find her way to you

[beardedmrbean]

I don't want to be a buzz kill over the free Iran campaign, but how does spreading hashtags solve anything? This isn't bringing back a McDonald's dipping sauce, this is changing a stubborn theocracy. Like, I doubt president Raisi and mullahs are gonna recognize religious freedom over tweet trends and a protest in Huston. So, is the hashtag activism doing any good, other than reminding us what we already know about the IR?

not much we can do from here, undeniable.

There's awareness that's a big word when these things happen, mostly pointless we're aware that being gay carries the death penalty there and nothing's really changing.

It's still really good for people to feel like somehow in some minuscule way they're contributing, maybe someone gets a picture through and some folks there that are running out of steam see some weird group of white girls with whatever makeup deal they do and frosted tips and all those weird becky with the good hair things they do, and all 3 of the girls are displaying in some way shape or form some kind of attempt at solidarity with the people of Iran and the womens struggle to choose their own clothing maybe they like wide brim nike baseball hat, nice stetson still need to keep the sun out of your eyes and Persia just layered with sunlight.

But ya, maybe something like that gets through got some people that were on their way out, can't keep up, ready to throw in the towel. Random twist of fate on the local bluetooth repeater network or whatever that was they had running in Hong Kong before the plague, weird pic of 3 random white chicks that you don't know, they don't know, nobody but the local football team really knows them, since they're kinda slutty like that, but it's ok.

Few random people about to give up, do the reverse of throw in the towel where instead you put it on your head and call it a hijab see these random people that are rooting for them, you'll never encounter them in this life astronomical odds of that but they're there back at their home thinking of you and your fight.

corny as fuck I know, tf 3 slutty beckys have to do with anything

corny like I said, super corny. Cliche too, people start chanting and Hulk Hogan suddenly can defend himself and withstand any blow level corny and cliche.

There's a reason the cliche exists, French resistance in WW2 no hash tags, no cell phones, but people managed to get messages through that folks back further where it was safer maybe folks in England were cheering for them

Then you had De Gaulle coming in on radio waves telling people they were not forgotten or abandoned.

Pretty fuckin cool huh.

Knowing there's people out there cheering for you, might just get you the inner and outer strength to slap some slave on you bruises grab your water and get ready to tell your government you're not going to put up with it anymore.

Becky cubed back in the US they somehow played a part in that by showing that they cared.

Or not, maybe nobody will ever see becky cubed, but they still get to feel like they contributed which is good for them too, people want to help even where there's not really anything they can do.

Same thing as thoughts and prayers, why I think is such a messed up thing to get annoyed over.

People want to feel like they're helping, guy working moon base alpha says a prayer for the folks trapped in a mine in Romania just wants to help and that's the way they know to do it.

So lots of reasons to do those things, in the end you may never know if you had a tangible impact but you will know you tried.

nice thing to remember in tough times

[maxwell-grant]

Brazilian character review: Jose Carioca

I can't say I have too many strong feelings on Zé Carioca as a character, but in retrospective, I think the existence of Zé Carioca is very emblematic of the way Brazil is viewed overseas, and the contrast between this sort of idyllic postcard fantasyland version of Brazil that gringos see, and the reality.

The first thing that comes to mind when I look at Zé Carioca, other than he's a popular Disney mascot, is that contrast. He's intended to look like a carefree young carioca (a term we use for people that come from Rio), but he's perpetually dressed like a 1920s caricature, the kind you only really find in pictures of your grandpa, and attempts to modernize his look have robbed him of his charm. His name is "José", which is a common Portuguese name usually abreviated to "Zé", but in pretty much every media he shows up in, they always say his name the Spanish way, instead of the Portuguese way.

The Zé Carioca that people outside of Brazil know is a character that only exists in the context of an ensemble with Donald and Panchito, mostly defined as a suave, romantic party goer, the phlegmatic opposite to the choleric Donald and the sanguine Panchito (I haven't checked out the new Caballeros cartoon, although I intend to). The Zé Carioca that Brazilians know is largely defined as a charismatic scammer who keeps going to great lengths to avoid work, the joke being that usually he goes through a lot more work to do so than he would have otherwise.

It's based a lot on the stereotype of cariocas as lazy beach-dwellers who look down on honest work to instead cheat and take shortcuts. Every region of Brazil has it's own stereotypes, in fact, Zé Carioca in Brasil has a lot of relatives to embody those, but gringos treat Brazil like Rio is the only city in it, which is why this stereotype gets applied to Brazilians in general, and, well, it is a stereotype to begin with. It's a change that allows him to work as a solo protagonist, but it also leads to a disconnect where fans of Zé Carioca don't quite see eye-to-eye with most depictions of the character not made locally, because it's not really the same character.

I gotta stress that I don't dislike Zé Carioca, not at all, I do think the idea behind his creation was a good one. I can't think of any Brazilian character, either created here or just coming from Brazil, who was a popular name overseas during this time period (could be wrong though, but nothing comes to mind). He gets credit for that, if nothing else. He's a fairly cute character and I do like seeing him when he does show up. But Zé Carioca seems like one of those characters who is popular as a mascot, but not so much as a character.

I think the best way I can explain this disconnect between what Zé Carioca is by sharing this text I found, written by Gabriel Bayarri here, that I translated and post below. I think this kinda gets to the heart of how I feel about Zé Carioca, which is not a dislike, just a disconnect.

Brazil was the land of Zé Carioca, he who had shown the world in 1942, during WW2, a Brazil that seemed cordial and happy, a Brazil that valued it's mixed heritage as a symbol of national culture. The parrot presented to Donald Duck a city proud of itself, joyfully beautiful, where samba, cachaca, parties and romantic rascals all mixed together.

Now, he's watched, terrified, as his wonderful city embraced armed heroes, and took flight perplexed, trying to understand what had changed in a city he recalled painted in watercolor strokes. Zé Carioca flew to the heart of the tropical city, where spaces of resistance stood symbolized, straggling remnants of a democracy that he used to think was harmonious and shielded against the monsters that ruled it.

The parrot fluttered its wings between the hills, and rested its feathers in its beloved square in Cinelândia, and breathed its history, of which he only recognized the harmonious part: the square had become a central place for beginnings of the 20th century, representing the Belle Époque of Rio de Janeiro. Cinelândia acquired French features, so desired by the recent Brazilian Republic, and it tried to become a Tropical Paris. At it's center, slaves recently freed from plantations arrived, while the square acquired a cosmopolitan personality. This was all familiar to the parrot, who found in history a joyful account.

From abroad, the narrative of a happy and harmonious Rio de Janeiro recovered the idea of a cordial Brazil, without racism and without violence, promoted by Zé Carioca. In addition, this imagery of the city was promoted to foreigners as the period of a “Golden Brazil”: the drop in poverty rates, the increase in investments and the enormous influence in the Latin American and global context.

The bird breathed the chronicles of literary bohemians who populated the surroundings, and who built in their writings the characters who walked the square, its muses, its rogues, its carnival heroes or its capoeiristas. Authors built at that time a model of the “carioca people” that the parrot Zé Carioca repeated and synthesized in his image: a kind, cordial and warm character who crossed borders, transmitting to the world a image of Brazil harmonized and absent from conflicts and violence. It was that conception that, in Brazil, everything would tend to soften and adapt.

Cinelândia had begun to fill with cinemas, rooms of spectacle. Hotels, restaurants, night bars. The arrival of hotdogs at the Square was a revolutionary bridge, from North-American influences to the carioca lifestyle.

The parrot was proud of his city, until a woman approached him: “Our hot dog is carioca to the core”, explained the street vendor who was carrying a T-shirt with the face of Marielle Franco. Who was this woman who wanted to explain to him what was like to be brazilian: Who was this woman on her shirt? Where was Carmen Miranda, with the fruits on her head?

Then, the parrot listened in the square to the story of the murder of the councilwoman Marielle and her driver, and the new reports of violence on “carioca nights”, and its police conflicts against immigrants.

But Zé Carioca did not believe that his beautiful city was affected by these issues.

The parrot was aware that Cinelândia represented an image of the essence of what it was to be Brazilian, the construction of its own unique soul in a public space, the creativity and trickery and joy.

But he was surprised to hear that his happy and dancing people were also active warriors, who had used this square over the decades as a historical space for building demands, from The March of 100.000 against the military dictatorship, and the recent manifestations against the new president.

In one of its streets, the square bore the name of Marielle herself, the murdered councilwoman whose plaque had been broken publicly by the current governor of Rio, and whose death had become a symbol.

The parrot had Disneysified the image of his city, in a portrait of heroes, castles and tropical princesses, which made it difficult to understand now the political victory of monsters.

It seemed as if the history of Brazil was rebuilding itself before his eyes, and its people were now made up of activists, women warriors, LGTB+ collectives and anti-racism movements that defended civil rights and identity demands, of a Brazil that could not be pigeonholed, because it wasn't made for beginners.

What had happened to his colorful Brazil? – he asked himself nervously, replacing his straw hat and plucking his feathers.

Something transformed in the parrot's gaze, and after a brief disturbance, he decided to regain his composure. The bird spread its wings and took flight to Copacabana Palace, the place where it had been born from the hand of Walt Disney 77 years ago. He needed to reflect, think of the the gray tones of truth that splashed in his colorful costume, and seek new spaces to resist the monsters.

Perhaps the world had believed Zé Carioca's colorful report, in the palette of illusions that an emerging Brazil offered, and they had forgotten that, like every grown child, Brazil had nightmares. Kicking up at night over its racism, structural militarism, murderous violence, patriarchal inequalities.

Perhaps Zé Carioca had fallen in love with the exuberance of a land of fruit, sailors and smiles, and the world had listened to his account, a lovable sales pitch to tourists and sporting mega-events, and they had forgotten the voices of their people who watched helplessly the approach of a military parade from congress.

Zé Carioca's flight transformed the parrot, and in his old age, he went through a rite of passage to adulthood. After years of blindness to the violence of a post-colonial society and it's extended torture under jackboots, Zé Carioca opened his eyes, and faced the hidden part of a wounded Brazil.

A Brazil that had been dressed up in tropical colors and that now had to be sincere, with the world and with itself, in order to overcome the times of monsters.

[dwellordream]

“Henry's marriage to Catherine had long since grown cold. Though his wife remained, and would remain, loyal and devoted, Henry was in very different case. The raptures of the early days had faded and the consequent demands upon him for self-discipline and generosity had found him wanting. Catherine was five years his senior. In I527 he was still in his prime, in his mid-thirties, she over forty. As king he could satisfy desire all too easily, for who would refuse a king easily, especially a king such as he? Fidelity was rare among monarchs and the temptation besetting him, in particular, strong.

At first Henry had been a gallant husband. Catherine had accompanied him to every feast and triumph, he had worn her initials on his sleeve in the jousts and called himself 'Sir Loyal Heart'. He had shown her off to visitors, confided in her, run to her with news. Though there had been talk of a lady to whom he showed favour while campaigning in France, he had slipped home ahead of his army and galloped to Catherine at Richmond in order to lay the keys of the two cities he had captured at her feet.

We cannot know when he first succumbed to the temptation of adultery, but it must have been within five years of his marriage, when there appeared on the scene one Elizabeth Blount, a lady-in-waiting of Queen Catherine and a cousin of Lord Mountjoy - and she may not have been the first. She caught the king's eye during the New Year festivities in I5I4, that is, shortly after he had returned from the first campaign in France. Bessie Blount eventually bore him a son, in I519. Subsequently she married into a gentle family, the Talboys of Lancashire, with a dower of lands in that county and Yorkshire assigned by act ofParliament. Hers, then, was a fate less than death; and her son, the duke of Richmond, was occasionally to acquire considerable political and diplomatic significance.

Next there was Mary Boleyn, since 1521 wife of William Carey, daughter of a royal councillor and diplomat, and sister of Anne. That Mary was at one time Henry's mistress, and this presumably after her marriage, is beyond doubt. Years later there was a strong rumour that she too had born Henry a son, but we cannot be sure. Anyway we may guess that the liaison was over by l526, and when her younger sister climbed on to the English throne, with perhaps pardonable pique, she dismissed Mary from the court. The latter was to do well enough, with her family at the centre of affairs during the reign of her niece, Elizabeth I - which was more than could be said of Bessie Blount. And finally there was Anne, Thomas Boleyn's younger daughter.

Following in the wake of her sister, who had been in the entourage that accompanied Mary Tudor to France in 1514, Anne had crossed the Channel about 1519 to enter the household of Queen Claude, wife of Francis I, an amiable lady who had several young girls in her care and supervised their education. The newcomer to the royal school must have been about twelve years old. She stayed in France until the out- break of war in 1522 and then came home, by which time she was on the way to becoming an accomplished and mature girl. She does not seem to have been remarkably beautiful, but she had wonderful dark hair in abundance and fine eyes, the legacy of Irish ancestors, together with a firm mouth and a head well set on a long neck that gave her authority and grace.

On her return, if not before, her future had apparently been settled, ironically by Henry and Wolsey. She would marry Sir James Butler, an Irish chieftain and claimant to the earldom of Ormond, to which the Boleyns, rivals of the Butlers, had long aspired. Anne was therefore to mend the feud by uniting families and claims. Had this familiar kind of device been executed, and had this been the sum total ofher experience ofhow marriage and politics could interweave, things might have been very different for England, if not for Ireland. But Butler's price was too high and Anne remained in England.

Her father, aided perhaps by her grandfather, the second duke of Norfolk, had meanwhile brought her to Court, as he had her sister before her. There she eventually attracted attention, first from Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet, a cousin of hers; then from Henry Percy, son of the earl of Northumberland and one of the large number of young men of quality resident in Wolsey's household. Alas, Percy was already betrothed. At the king's behest, Wolsey refused to allow him to break his engagement and, summoning him to his presence, rated him for falling for a foolish girl at Court. When words failed, the cardinal told the father to remove his son and knock some sense into him. Percy was carried off forthwith- and thus began that antipathy for Wolsey that Anne never lost.

But it may well be that, when Henry ordered Wolsey to stamp on Percy's suit, it was because he was already an interested party himself and a rival for the girl's affection of perhaps several gay courtiers, including Thomas Wyatt. The latter's grandson later told a story ofhow Wyatt, while flirting once with Anne, snatched a locket hanging from her pocket which he refused to return. At the same time, Henry had been paying her attention and taken a ring from her which he thereafter wore on his little finger. A few days later, Henry was playing bowls with the duke of Suffolk, Francis Bryan and Wyatt, when a dispute arose about who had won the last throw.

Pointing with the finger which bore the pilfered ring, Henry cried out that it was his point, saying to Wyatt with a smile, 'I tell thee it is mine.' Wyatt saw the ring and understood the king's meaning. But he could return the point. 'And if it may like your majesty,' he replied, 'to give me leave that I may measure it, I hope it will be mine.' Whereupon he took out the locket which hung about his neck and started measuring the distance between the bowls and the jack. Henry recognized the trophy and, muttering something about being deceived, strode away.

But the chronology ofAnne's rise is impossible to discover exactly. All that can be said is that by I525-6 what had probably hitherto been light dalliance with an eighteen or nineteen year-old girl had begun to grow into something deeper and more dangerous. In the normal course of events, Anne would have mattered only to Henry's conscience, not to the history of England. She would have been used and discarded - along with those others whom Henry may have taken and who are now forgotten. But, either because of virtue or ambition, Anne refused to become his mistress and thus follow the conventional, inconspicuous path of her sister; and the more she resisted, the more, apparently, did Henry prize her.

Had Catherine's position been more secure she would doubtless have ridden this threat. Indeed, had it been so, Anne might never have dared to raise it. But Catherine had still produced no heir to the throne. The royal marriage had failed in its first duty, namely, to secure the succession. Instead, it had yielded several miscarriages, three infants who were either still-born or died immediately after birth (two of them males), two infants who had died within a few weeks ofbirth (one ofthem a boy) and one girl, Princess Mary, now some ten years old. His failure to produce a son was a disappointment to Henry, and as the years went by and no heir appeared, ambassadors and foreign princes began to remark the fact, and English diplomacy eventually to accommodate it, provisionally at least, in its reckoning.

Had Henry been able to glimpse into the second halfofthe century he would have had to change his mind on queens regnant, for his two daughters were to show quality that equalled or outmeasured their father's; and even during his reign, across the Channel, there were two women who rendered the Habsburgs admirable service as regents ofthe Netherlands. Indeed, the sixteenth century would perhaps produce more remarkable women in Church and State than any predecessor - more than enough to account for John Knox's celebrated anti-feminism and more than enough to make Henry's patriarchal convictions look misplaced. But English experience of the queen regnant was remote and unhappy, and Henry's conventional mind, which no doubt accorded with his subjects', demanded a son as a political necessity.

When his only surviving legitimate child, Mary, was born in February 1516, Henry declared buoyantly to the Venetian ambassador, 'We are both young; if it was a daughter this time, by the grace of God sons will follow.' But they did not. Catherine seems to have miscarried in the autumn of 1517 and in the November of the following year was delivered of another still-born. This was her last pregnancy, despite the efforts of physicians brought from Spain; and by 1525 she was almost past child-bearing age. There was, therefore, a real fear of a dynastic failure, of another bout of civil war, perhaps, or, if Mary were paired off as the treaty of 1525 provided, of England's union with a continental power.

Catherine, for the blame was always attached to her and not to Henry, was a dynastic misfortune. She was also a diplomatic one. Charles's blunt refusal to exploit the astonishing opportunity provided by his victory at Pavia and to leap into the saddle to invade and partition France had been an inexplicable disappointment. Of course, had Henry really been cast in the heroic mould he would have invaded single- handed. But established strategy required a continental ally. Eleven years before, in 1514., Ferdinand of Spain had treated him with contempt and Henry had cast around for means of revenge, and there had been a rumour then that he wanted to get rid of his Spanish wife and marry a French princess.

Whether Henry really contemplated a divorce then has been the subject of controversy, which surely went in favour of the contention that he did not - especially when a document listed in an eighteenth-century catalogue of the Vatican Archives, and thought to relate to the dissolution of the king's marriage - a document which has since disappeared - was convincingly pushed aside with the suggestion that it was concerned with Mary Tudor's matrimonial affairs, not Henry's. Undoubtedly, this must dispose of the matter even more decisively than does the objection that, in the summer of 1514, Catherine was pregnant. In 1525, however, the situation was different. Charles had rebuffed Henry's military plans and, by rejecting Mary's hand, had thrown plans for the succession into disarray.

For a moment the king evidently thought of advancing his illegitimate son - who, in June 1525, was created duke of Richmond. But this solution was to be overtaken by another which Henry may have been contemplating for some time, namely, to disown his Spanish wife. Catherine, therefore, was soon in an extremely embarrassing position. Tyndale asserted, on first-hand evidence, that \Volsey had placed informants in her entourage and told of one 'that departed the Court for no other reason than that she would no longer betray her mistress'.' When Mendoza arrived in England in December 1526, he was prevented for months from seeing the queen and, when he did, had to endure the presence of Wolsey who made it virtually impossible to communicate with her. It was the ambassador's opinion that 'the principal cause of [her] misfortune is that she identifies herselfentirely with the emperor's interests'; an exaggeration, but only an exaggeration.

The king, then, had tired of his wife and fallen in love with one who would give herself entirely to him only if he would give himself entirely to her; his wife had not borne the heir for which he and the nation longed, and it was now getting too late to hope; he had been disappointed by Catherine's nephew, Charles V, and now sought vengeance in a diplomatic revolution which would make the position of a Spanish queen awkward to say the least. Any one of these facts would not have seriously endangered the marriage, but their coincidence was fatal. If Henry's relations with Catherine momentarily improved in the autumn of 1525 so that they read a book together and appeared to be very friendly, soon after, probably, Henry never slept with her again.

The divorce, which came into the open in early 1527 was therefore due to more than a man's lust for a woman. It was diplomatically expedient and, so some judged, dynastically urgent. As well as this, it was soon to be publicly asserted, it was theologically necessary, for two famous texts from the book of Leviticus apparently forbade the very marriage that Henry had entered. His marriage, therefore, was not and never had been, lawful. The miscarriages, the still-births, the denial of a son were clearly divine punishment for, and proof of, transgression of divine law. Henry had married Catherine by virtue of a papal dispensation of the impediment of affinity which her former marriage to Arthur had set up between them.

But Leviticus proclaimed such a marriage to be against divine law - which no pope can dispense. So he will begin to say. And thus what will become a complicated argument took shape. Henry had laid his hand on a crucial weapon - the only weapon, it seemed, with which he could have hoped to achieve legitimately what he now desired above all else. How sincere he was is impossible to determine. More than most, he found it difficult to distinguish between what was right and what he desired. Certainly, before long he had talked, thought and read himself into a faith in the justice of his cause so firm that it would tolerate no counter-argument and no opposition, and convinced himself that it was not only his right to throw aside his alleged wife, but also his duty - to himself, to Catherine, to his people, to God.

At the time, and later, others would be accused of planting the great scruple, the levitical scruple, in Henry's mind. Tyndale, Polydore Vergil and Nicholas Harpsfield (in his life of Sir Thomas More) charged Wolsey with having used John Longland, bishop of Lincoln and royal confessor, to perform the deed. But this was contradicted by Henry, Longland and Wolsey. In 1529, when the divorce case was being heard before the legatine court at Blackfriars, Wolsey publicly asked Henry to declare before the court 'whether I have been the chiefinventor or first mover of this matter unto your Majesty; for I am greatly suspected of all men herein'; to which Henry replied, 'My lord cardinal, I can well excuse you herein. Marry, you have been rather against me in attempt- ing or setting forth thereof' - an explicit statement for which no obvious motive for misrepresentation can be found and which is corroborated by later suggestions that Wolsey had been sluggish in pushing the divorce forwards.

Longland too spoke on the subject, saying that it was the king who first broached the subject to him 'and never left urging him until he had won him to give his consent'. On another occasion Henry put out a different story: that his conscience had first been 'pricked upon divers words that were spoken at a certain time by the bishop of Tarbes, the French king's ambassador, who had been here long upon the debating for the conclusion of the marriage between the princess our daughter, Mary, and the duke of Orleans, the French king's second son'. It is incredible that an ambassador would have dared to trespass upon so delicate a subject as a monarch's marriage, least of all when he had come to negotiate a treaty with that monarch.

Nor was it likely that he should have sug- gested that Mary was illegitimate when her hand would have been very useful to French diplomacy. Besides, the bishop of Tarbes only arrived in England in April 1527, that is, a few weeks before Henry's marriage was being tried by a secret court at Westminster. The bishop could not have precipitated events as swiftly as that. No less significantly, another account ofthe beginnings of the story, given by Henry in 1528, says that doubts about Mary's legitimacy were first put by the French to English ambassadors in France - not by the bishop of Tarbes to his English hosts.

He and his compatriots may have been told about the scruple or deliberately encouraged by someone to allude to it in the course of negotiations, but did not invent it; nor, probably, did Anne Boleyn - as Pole asserted. It is very likely that Henry himselfwas the author ofhis doubts. After all, he would not have needed telling about Leviticus. Though he might not have read them, the two texts would probably have been familiar to him if he had ever explored the reasons for the papal dispensation for his marriage, and he was enough of a theologian to be able to turn to them now, to brood over them and erect upon them at least the beginnings of the argument that they forbade absolutely the marriage which he had entered.

Wolsey said later that Henry’s doubts had sprung partly from his own study and partly from discussion with 'many theologians'; but since it is difficult to imagine that anyone would have dared to question the validity of the royal marriage without being prompted by the king, this must mean that the latter's own 'assiduous study and erudition' first gave birth to the 'great scruple' and that subsequent conference with others encouraged it. Moreover, Henry may have begun to entertain serious doubts about his marriage as early as 1522 or 1523, and have broached his ideas to Longland then - for, in 1532, the latter was said to have heard the first mutterings of the divorce 'nine or ten years ago'.'

By the time that Anne Boleyn captured the king, therefore, the scruple may already have acquired firm roots, though probably not until early 1527 was it mentioned to Wolsey who, so he said, when he heard about it, knelt before the king 'in his Privy Chamber the space of an hour or two, to persuade him from his will and appetite; but I could never bring to pass to dissuade him therefrom'. What had begun as a perhaps hesitant doubt had by now matured into aggressive conviction.”

- J.J. Scarisbrick, “The Repudiation of the Hapsburgs.” in Henry VIII

[abybweisse]

🧐 Ronald Knox. He's cheerful and appears to be your typical aloof, slacker kohai guy, but like the other reapers I'm sure he's hiding a lot beneath the surface. Like Lau, the more he smiles the more suspicious I get! Of all the reapers we know of he seems the most aloof despite appearing amicable. I don't know how to feel about him honestly. Maybe I've missed or forgotten some interesting things about him...

I’ve got a few headcanons about Ronald Knox, and he’s an interesting character... partly because of his namesake.

Some actual info:

(I’m providing post links to some things, but other topics are covered by so many posts... or discussed in one long thread with numerous reblogs. So, I’m just putting pictures of his items. Feel free to search my blog and tags for these various topics. @abybweissekuroshinigami will have most, if not all of this, too. Oh, and @abybweissekurorefs, as well!)

His lawnmower death scythe is a direct descendant of the scythe, unlike most of the gardening and agricultural tools the other reapers go for. For example, Grelle’s chainsaw is the direct descendant of a surgical tool used to help with childbirth...! (Please ignore the pronouns. It’s a really old post.)

The invention of the lawnmower made huge changes to the rules of modern lawn sports. (See same “lawnmower” link from earlier.)

The historical Ronald Knox was a priest who was also an early radio personality and detective fiction writer. He came up with the Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction... and Yana-san has already broken Every. Single. One. (Go to that link for more about Yana-san’s rule-breaking.)

His watch is a Pasha from Cartiér (French, Est. 1847), and it’s actually not even just a watch. His model is a chronograph: a sports watch with a stopclock. It should also be water resistant.

His hat is likely by the brand called Knox (American, Est. 1838).

His agenda (death list holder) is by Bottega Veneta (Italian, Est. 1966)

The trunk he takes aboard the Campania is by Goyard (French, Est. 1853)

Yana-san originally gave Ludger/Rudgar an exorbitantly expensive watch model from A. Lange & Söhne, but she later changed it to a lesser model (still crazy expensive) and explained in a tweet that he couldn’t afford their most expensive watch model. So, being a kohai, Ronald cannot afford anything crazy expensive... but these are still expensive brands.

He could be using a particular brand of pocket knife, but I don’t know which one it would be.

Some headcanons I have for him:

He’s the スポーティー type. Sporty as all get out. I haven’t been able to confirm whether he tends to end sentences in “-su” in the original Japanese, like a typical jock would, but that’s how I picture him. His accessories suggest it, too. Chronographs are used in sports, and Knox hats also tend to be for sports and leisure.

He chose his death scythe modification to rebel against the old-fashioned scythe but also wanted to have something related to sports.

Since he has accessories that are from French, American, and Italian makers, I like to think he travels quite a bit. He does have expensive tastes... but cannot afford anything extremely expensive. He is a kohai, like you said. He puts on airs, regarding his salary. Just think about how he says he would give his girlfriend champagne and expensive food... if he had a girlfriend.

I think he flirts with human women so often because there aren’t enough women in the reaper realm (more males commit suicide, statistically) AND the women in the reaper realm are mostly taken. I have a strong feeling that a lot of male reapers try to mate with human women... and then get punished... if there are children from it....

Since he displays his wristwatch so many times during the Campania arc, and he also brings our attention to a pocket knife, I think he might have slashed his wrists... as his suicide method.

He strikes me as the sort who might have killed himself because he felt like no one understood him. Like he was too ahead of his time, and everyone undervalued him. He also strikes me as the sort who might have had a gambling problem; he might have owed a bookie more than he could possibly pay. So, taking his own life could have been in response to either or both of these things. Nobody understood him and/or he was trying to escape from a gambling debt.