#GET THE FUCK OUT OF MICHELLE OBAMA'S TAG!

[pathos-logical]

haha i apparently was not on that corner of tumbls when this was happening if you have the time i would love a tumblr of yore Barack Obama dream story

AHAHA, hi anon!!!! I wasn't on tumblr at the time that they were a Thing either, but I can direct you to a sort-of masterpost and one of the ones I find most iconic! In the meantime, searching up "barack obama tumblr dreams" provides a WEALTH of results, including ones I hadn't seen before!!

Barack dreams compilations:

[ID: A long Tumblr thread that reads:

MindfulWrath: honestly "i'll do whatever you want—then perish. is the single most powerful exchange possible in the english language and it's from some bizarre "hewwo" obama rp

falling-towers: And there was that other post where someone dreamt that Obama said -violence for violence is the rule of beasts' like what is it about Obama that makes people come up with such raw fucking dialogue for him

TwoFingersWhiskey: my mother had a dream where he lived in the forest and she had a cigarette with him and he said "to become god is the loneliest achievement of them all" and put it out and walked into the mist and i've never fucking forgotten that

IHateEverythingComic: I once dreamed that a giant meteor was headed for earth, and the government had set up loudspeakers throughout the cities so Obama could give a final address - I'll never forget how strangely comforting it was when he said "there are places we've never been before. Some of us have never been to the Alps, some of us have never been to Marrakesh. The next life is simply another place we've never been before, and we're all going to go explore it together."

not-regan: I had a dream my family housed the Obamas for a weekend and one morning Obama made us oatmeal for breakfast and, looking at my disappointed face because I don't like oatmeal. he said "regardless of what we taste. if we eat together. we are happy."

tinysaurus-rex: Once I dreamt that Michelle Obama was running a campaign to give homes to all the feral pigeons and her husband came to my house and gave me a pamphlet that just had a picture of a pigeon on it and he looked me in the eyes and said "who would you be without them?" End ID]

One of my faves ever:

[ID: A Tumblr post which reads:

kumagawa: had a dream obama and the guy who plays air guitar at the mall were about to fight and obama said " violence for violence is the rule of beasts " and i woke up because that was the rawest shit i ever heard

raffleupagus: I can't fucking get over this. It has to be my favorite line of dialogue in any work of fiction in 2016

(Quote written in bold and italics) "Violence for violence is the rule of beasts" - Barack Obama. End ID]

Right also here's the post plus my tags for context :)

[lokilickedme]

A phone conversation with my MIL yesterday.  My kids were witness to this insane exchange and are still in awe about the sheer mindboggling emptyheadedness on display.  The sad thing is that this isn’t even remotely out of the ordinary.

A true story, unfortunately.

*phone rings*

ME:  *sees it’s from MIL*

ME:  Ugh.  Here we go boys.

*accepts call against better judgement*

ME:  Hello P.

MIL:  OH GODDAMMIT THIS STUPID PHONE!!

ME:  *puts call on speaker for the boys*

MIL:  WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS STUPID THING?!

ME:  Hellooooo

MIL:  *incoherent bitching and heavy anger-breathing*

ME:  Hello hello HELLO HELLOOOO

MIL:  I HATE THIS PHONE - CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?  WHO’S THAT??

ME:  I can hear you.  Can you hear me?

MIL:  HELLO????

ME:  Hello, I’m here.

MIL:  HELLO?!?!  CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?!  WHO IS THIS?!??

ME:  Oh my god

MIL:  YEAH I CAN HEAR YOU WHAT THE - I’VE GOT TWO PHONES AND I HATE THIS ONE IT’S STUPID I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT -

ME:  I can hear you, P.  What do you need?

*call cuts out for several seconds*

ME:  Hello.  Hello.  HELLO.  Hello hellooooooo

MIL:  *batshit rambling in background, breaking up randomly*

ME:  I can’t hear you anymore, I’m going to hang up so you can call me back.

*more unhinged rambling cutting in and out, cursing and yelling about her phone*

ME:  Holy shit.  Okay I’m hanging up

MIL:  HELLO YEAH WHO IS THIS??

BIG:  How does she remember to breathe?

LITTLE:  Shut up I wanna hear this.  Get her, mom.

ME:  You called me, P.  Think, who did you call?

MIL:  I CALLED TOMMY AND I CALLED R AND THEN I GOT A CALL COMING IN AND I HATE THIS STUPID PHONE WHO IS THIS??

*call cuts out again*

ME:  Should I just hang up and decline when she calls back?

BIG:  We get to take a break from school while this is happening, right?

ME:  Sure why not

LITTLE:  FUCK YEAH GET HER MOM

ME:  Alright this is probably gonna take a while, somebody go get me a can of Pringles.

MIL:  WHO IS THIS?!?

ME:  Who’d you call?

MIL:  I CALLED TOMMY!!  I MADE TWO CALLS AND ONE DIDN’T ANSWER SO I CALLED THE OTHER ONE

ME:  Well it’s not Tommy, so who else did you call?  That’s who this is.

KIDS:  *dying laughing*

MIL:  YEAH I CALLED TWO PEOPLE, WHERE IS TOM??

ME:  He’s at the doctor’s office right now, you got me, I’m the other person you called.

MIL:  YEAH.  WHO ARE YOU??

*call cuts in and out, during which I can hear the staticky squall of MIL cursing like a sailor and apparently slamming her phone into a table*

MIL:  YEAH OKAY I THINK I GOT IT.  I HATE THIS PHONE!!

ME:  Yes I know, it sounds like an operator issue.  Can you hear me?

MIL:  YEAH I MADE TWO PHONE CALLS AND THIS IS THE ONE THAT I  - WHO IS THIS??

ME:  Geezus christ

MIL:  WHAT??

ME:  Nothing.

ME:  WHO DID YOU SAY THIS IS - ??

ME:  Michelle Obama

MIL:  OH. WELL HI

ME:  Oh my god.

MIL:  I GOT THIS BAD THING HAPPENING, MY LADY THAT I LOOK AFTER ON THURSDAYS, YOU KNOW HER??

ME:  No.

MIL:  WELL I TOLD THE GIRL AT THE DISPATCH OFFICE TO LET HER KNOW I WOULDN’T BE COMING TODAY BECAUSE OF THANKSGIVING LAST WEEK, YOU KNOW??

ME:  I...guess...okay

MIL:  SO SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO TELL HER NOT TO STRIP HER BEDSHEETS!!

ME:  What in the fresh hell.  Michelle Obama doesn’t think this is her business and would very much like to be excluded from the narrative.

MIL:  YEAH AND THE GIRL DIDN’T CALL HER AND SHE WENT AHEAD AND DID IT!!

ME:  Dear god the drama.  How high was the body count?

MIL:  WHAT??  YEAH NOBODY DIED!!  BUT I’D TOLD HER NOT TO STRIP HER BED!!  BUT SHE DIDN’T TELL HER SO NOW I GOT THIS BAD THING HAPPENING

ME:  *dying inside*  Let me guess, the old gal is mad at you now because she thinks you blew her off?

MIL:  WHAT???  YES!!!

ME:  *considers hanging up because she’ll call Tom as soon as I do and I can tag out and let him deal with her insane ass*

ME:  *seriously considers this*

ME:  *like really seriously*

ME:  *decides to be horrible instead*

ME:  Oh no P that’s terrible.  That poor old lady has no sheets on her bed and you’re not coming over to help her put them back on.  This is, like, the worst thing that could have possibly happened.  If I were you I would call that office girl and give her a piece of your mind.  Michelle Obama endorses this scenario.

MIL:  YEAH SO I GOT THESE TWO PHONES AND I HATE THIS ONE, I CALLED TWO PEOPLE AND THEN I GOT A CALL AT THE SAME TIME AND I DON’T KNOW - I JUST - WHO IS THIS???

ME:  Someone who’s aged sixteen years since the start of this conversation.  Who do you think you’re talking to?

MIL:  WELL I THINK I CALLED TOMMY!!  WHERE IS HE??

ME:  Okay listen -  I have a dentist appointment at 1:00 so you and me and the boys will go into town to do our usual stuff at 2:00 when I’m done - do you want to come over here at 2:00 or shall I come pick you up?

MIL:  OH I’LL COME OVER THERE, THAT’LL WORK BEST I THINK.

ME:  Okay, you come here at 2:00 then.  Do you know where you’re going?

MIL:  THIS PHONE ALWAYS MESSES UP, IT DROPS MY CALLS AND IT CUTS OUT -

ME:  P, do you know where you’re going at 2:00?

MIL:  YEAH I’M COMING OVER THERE!

ME:  Where, P?  Where are you going at 2:00?

MIL:  YEAH I’LL COME OVER THERE.  I TELL YA I GOT THIS STUPID PHONE THAT I JUST CAN’T -

ME:  Okay listen, I’m going to tell you what I want you to do -

*call starts cutting out again*

MIL:  YEAH YOU KNOW I HAVE TWO PHONES AND THE LANDLINE IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME, I HATE THIS CELLPHONE IT ALWAYS CUTS OUT LIKE THIS WHEN I’M IN THE HOUSE

ME:  Listen to me -

MIL:  I GOT A LOT GOING ON, NOT PHYSICALLY I’M NOT DOING ANYTHING BUT IN MY HEAD IT’S ALL REAL BUSY I SHOULD GO OUTSIDE THIS PHONE CUTS OUT ALL THE TIME, YOU KNOW??

ME:  Holy shit I’m going to die on this phonecall.  P LISTEN TO ME, GO OUTSIDE

MIL:  SO NOW I GOTTA CALL MY LADY AND I’M NOT REALLY SUPPOSED TO CALL HER, SHE CALLS ME BUT POLICY IS I CAN’T CALL HER -

*call cutting out randomly so all i hear is crazed rambling*

ME:  For fucks sake - GO OUTSIDE P I CAN’T HEAR YOU

MIL:  BECAUSE YOU KNOW I CALLED TWO PEOPLE -

ME:  Yes I know you called two people but one of them wasn’t your lady because it’s against policy for you to call her, so mark her off the list of people you might be talking to.  We’ve established one was Tom and this isn’t him because he’s at the doctor’s office so you got me.  So who else did you call?  Whoever that is is me.

MIL:  WHAT’S HE DOING??  WHY’S HE AT THE DOCTOR WHAT’S GOING ON??

ME:  It’s a new patient contact, he’s not sick.  Who else did you call, P?

MIL:  I CALLED TOMMY AND R, HELL I DON’T KNOW!!  WHO IS THIS??

ME:

ME:

ME:

ME:  Call Tommy again.

MIL:  OH, YEAH OKAY I’LL DO THAT

ME:  Geezus christ

*call disconnects*

ME:  *looks at the boys*

ME:

ME:

ME:  Should I?

BOYS:  Oh hell yeah

ME:  *thinks about it for just about two seconds*

ME:  *dials Tom*

TOM:  Yep?

ME:  Your mom’s lost her damn mind, she called me and never figured out who she was talking to, I told her I was Michelle Obama and she just said YEAH OKAY HI and launched in a dramatic retelling of her latest dementia drama.  Oh and she’s really mad at her phone.  And she has no clue who she just talked to for ten minutes.

TOM:

TOM:

TOM:  Did you tell her to call me

ME:  She was going to anyway.

TOM:  How bad is it?

ME:  Scale of one to ten?  About eight hundred and fifty four.

TOM:  Geezus.

*pause*

ME:  You just got the call didn’t you

TOM:  You owe me

ME:  She’s your mother, I don’t owe you shit, I just gave up a significant chunk of my life and a crap ton of brain cells messing with her.  Oh, ask her to elaborate on the bedstripping thing.

TOM:  THE WHAT

ME:  Better answer her call before she forgets who she’s calling.  Tell her you’re Barack Obama.

TOM:  WHAT -

ME:  *hangs up*

.

[accras]

Blocking melaniatrumpstyle

[officialgritty]

Sometimes I ask myself

How much could the NHL handle? What would they do if I, Zoe, had the opportunity to become a GM of my own team?

Another short essay by officialgritty. Here is the masterlist, it would be best to read them in order!

The Drafting Process

First of all, I’ll only accept picks for even numbers besides 7, 13 and 69. Odd numbers can choke. 

I hate public speaking so I would nominate my assistant (still have not decided on one so feel free to send your applications into my DMs) to call out our picks. It’s probably the smartest decision considering I mumble a lot and have an accent so no ones names would be pronounced correctly anyway. 

Personally I would like to draft one (1) beer league player. I think they could really get the team riled up, maybe even rack up some decent penalties for other teams by instigating. 

“The Vermont Villains would like to select... big boy INSERT NAME.” - Assistant

“The Vermont Villains would like to select... string bean INSERT NAME.” - Assistant

“The Vermont Villains would like to select... sorry the mic cut out, after this can we have an intermission? I’m starving. Oh, we pick twinkle toes INSERT NAME.” - Me 

General Rules / Other

There are no Capricorn’s to be allowed within management or on the team besides me. I was going to say, “I’m sorry I don’t make the rules,” but I quite literally do. 

I am banning Crosby and MacKinnon from ever joining the team. In fact, when they visit for games the staff will ‘decorate’ a stall for them in particular. 

I will be starting a petition for teams to be allowed 5 non-forfeit forfeits, meaning you get 5 chances to say, “No I don’t want to play that team today.” Both teams get no points though. It’s almost like a mental health day and I think that's neat. 

The Team

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

The Vermont Villains are based in Vermont obviously, because there’s not a whole lot happening there. What even is Vermont for?

The team slogan is one everyone should be familiar with:

“No whole body, no murder.”

Our team intro song as players step out onto the ice is Be Prepared from The Lion King.

Our goal horn is someone sneezing, the audience will be sprayed with a light mist of sea water for effect. 

Our team song played when we win will be Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant.

As for team rivals, we have @chaos-hockey​‘s creation the Insert Team Heres. They seem so sweet, I think the Villains would have a great time messing with them. I also believe we would have some beef with the Penguins, I don’t really have a reason for it, I just feel it deep in my gut. Maybe they get their knickers in a twist because we keep stealing their good stuff idk.

Mascot

The mascot wears a neon ski mask that changes based on the team’s choice in jersey. His name is Monday, because he’s always creeping up on you and causing mayhem through the grandstands. He has a water pistol attached to a tool belt, what's the tool belt for? No one ever truly knows until it’s too late. 

Gritty and Monday would get along like a house on fire.

Uniform

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

You may notice the presence of three jersey’s and think to yourself, “Oh there's a home, away and an alternate.” Wrong. We have two home jerseys and an alternate. 

On Wednesday’s we wear pink. Seriously. This jersey is only to be worn on Wednesday games.

All of the jerseys have players names written on the back but it’s only in a script font so it’s hard to read. Announcers will be confused, players will be confused but fans won’t be because they are used to it by now.

All of their numbers are written out in Roman numerals.

Each season the team colours change (besides pink Wednesdays). Why? Because I don’t like commitment. We would make hella money on limited time merch too.

Speaking of merch, every player will need to design a pair of crocs for fans to purchase as merch. This is not limited to the players, management must also participate. Yes, you can buy the George from Statistics crocs. I really just want my own crocs and to not be judged for it.

“I’ll take one of the Zoe crocs please!” - A fan

Now we can’t limit the uniform just to the team, I’ll show up to games rocking a power suit Michelle Obama inauguration style. Always in the same colour as the team jersey for that night. Yes, we are implying that I am Gritty.

“I want them to fear me but also want to fuck me.” - Me

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

For all working, team socks must be worn when entering the practise and game facilities. A sock check will be conducted at security. We will not let anyone in if they are not wearing Team Socks™️

(art via @chaos-hockey, please check out their account!)

You may be wondering about the away jersey still but don’t fret. We get to the arena early and steal the other team’s clothes. Some end up in their suits, some in their away jerseys and some are left shirtless. Whatever we can or cannot find before puck drop. 

Arena

The arena won’t be boring that's for sure. 

Out the front we have a massive V sign, just like how you see a McDonald’s sign from so far away, you’ll know when you get close to the arena.

Instead of stairs, each seating section has a harness that you get hooked up to for when you want to change levels. And each time that you want to get down, there’s a swirly slide.

Music played will be my favourite mashups from the YouTube account William Maranci to psych out competitors. Here is a link to one of my personal favourites:

Obviously the team will need to listen to these before they are played for the first time to desensitise them. This will be done at the monthly team Disco.

During the intermission, all the lights in the main area will be turned off. Unofficial nap time my friends.

The menu consists of mutton, bagels on a stick, your choice of charcuterie board, fairy bread and fairy floss. For drinks you can either have carrot juice, Corona beer (we have a brand deal with them) or black tea with no milk.

In conclusion, it’s a good thing that I don’t have a lot of money and/or power, the NHL would hate me because they ain’t me and I have too many good ideas in my brain.

Thank you so sticking through it for this long, here’s all my love and affection 😘🥰❤️

Once again a big thank you to @chaos-hockey for bringing my ideas to fruition. Also thank you to Mik for encouraging this whole concept in our messages ❤️

Here is a part 2!

Tagging some of my mutuals/favourite accounts (please don't feel pressured to interact with this if it isn't your thing, I won't be offended): 

@scheifefe @nikolajehlers @kempe @bowenbyram @d00dlebob @travisgermy @ifiwasshawnmendesidslapmyself @dmonchld @kiedhara @sortagaysortahigh @matthewthotchuk @babytkachuks @bricksatlandyswindow @canadianheaters @youngbeezersmixtape @pitoftrash @perpetually-anxious @kspitehockey

Sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone, I didn’t want to tag every single person I follow 💀

[jyndor]

(Imperialism etc anon) Ok I get where you're coming from! Thank you for being understanding. While Zutara is obviously not inherently racist or anything there are zutara interpretations that *are* racist (example: fire lady katara which I can get into) and it does need to be acknowledged that Zuko's status as fire nation royalty does create a power imbalance between him and Katara. Now, this is a conversation that has a lot of nuance to it but it seems like the people harassing you are (1/2)

(2/2) just repeating some genuine critique they saw without understanding what it means just to say that they're right, harassing people in the process. I did not have that context when sending that first ask and I apologize, since anons harassing you and others are clearly doing it out of bad faith. I just didn't like the leveraging of concepts that really matter in real life (colonialism, etc), ykwim? But I get what you were trying to do.

hey anon I’m finally getting to you after 84 years XD

so first off, I want to be careful about how I approach this because I understand that as a white person (even if my ancestors experienced imperialism) in the US I absolutely benefit from imperialism and don’t want to like, idk, whitesplain XD so if anyone gets annoyed with any way I say anything, just lmk and I’ll rework it. and I also do understand that these are real world issues that are far more consequential than messaging in media (although I do think it’s very important that we challenge messages in media because of media’s influence on our thinking and politics).

but before I talk about zuko and his relationship to fire nation imperialism, and then later fire lady katara and why it isn’t INHERENTLY racist but definitely can be, I want to talk about the atla fandom and how we got here. like, why I assume that most anons who come at zutara shippers are asshats acting in bad faith. if you already know fandom history, skip this section.

1. atla and the fandom has always been kind of shitty and racist

so IDK if everyone is familiar with the history of the ship war in atla fandom, but it’s regarded as one of the nastiest ship wars in fandom history which I agree lol. atla’s creators were some of the first to interact with the fandom the way they did - back then it wasn’t all that common for creators to get into twitter feuds with fans and boundaries were respected more than they are now imo. but for better or worse, and it is a mixed bag, bryke interacted with fandom a lot. certainly at cons but also on social media.

but honestly things really got extra mean in fan spaces when bryke made a “joke” atla season 4 slideshow out of fan art (some of which was really sexual in nature and totally inappropriate) that mocked fans’ creations, but especially zutara fanart and zutara itself. it was pretty tasteless especially considering how most zutara fans were teen girls, and featured some art of sokka saying that if you think zuko and katara would be good together, you’re doomed to have failed relationships. that’s where the whole “dark and mysterious” bs came from, which does describe some zutara fic but not even most of it lol. I actually do respect bryke a lot despite my criticism of them, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over that shit. like even if you hate zutara, even if it’s a joke, we were kids. and they were adults, and the whole thing was nasty.

however, the ship war was chaotic and messy, but it does feel worse now. maybe it’s because back then the fandom was MOSTLY teens and kids, and I don’t think that’s true now. we were all trying to prove our ship was best with like, content from the show and theories and all that, and now it’s like... whose ship is ~problematic lol it’s a show by white us americans appropriating from various cultures impacted negatively by us/british imperialism that they then profited off of, of course it’s racist. that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about that, and in fact many poc have been saying this shit for years - that atla is racist and colorist at many times (guru pathik anyone?) and no one really listened.

if fans are complaining only about zutara, then I’m automatically writing them off as being insincere or ignorant. and since most of these people are anonymous, I have no idea if they are having substantive discourse about colorism in avatar or cultural appropriation (even if it is mostly appreciative). if you are on anon, I have no context about what you actually think except for what you give me. and that definitely is how I view anons in general but especially within the atla fandom because for all 13-ish years I’ve been in it, it’s been messy. that’s why zutara fans have isolated ourselves from the rest of fandom, because the rest of fandom has been really nasty to us. like did we give back some nastiness? absolutely.

but I would hazard a guess that most anti-zutara shippers don’t know about the conversations we have had in this community to make it safer for people of color, conversations that centered poc and woc especially. hey, that’s okay - not to compare zutara to r*ylo because eurgh but like, idk what discourse the r*ylos have about their community. no idea, I don’t go looking for it. and I don’t go to the tags and harass r*ylos - even though they harass the fuck out of everyone else.

2. so zuko and his privilege

undoubtedly zuko as fire lord is in a fairly privileged position LMFAO. but during the show zuko is very clearly exiled - he holds very little political power in the fire nation EXCEPT for during the first season when he is in command of a ship that ozai gave him on a punishment quest lol like yeah he does terrible things and he of all people would not excuse his actions even if he was a traumatized kid, that’s the point of his arc - that he got some exposure to the rest of the world and worked to be better. and the only reason he was exiled at all was because he cares about people - he didn’t question fire nation supremacy at 13, but he sure did question the morality of his people being lead to slaughter.

but after zuko and iroh defect from the fire nation and stop hunting aang, he has next to no power, in any kind of way. like the guy is a political refugee. and yes, he goes back to the fire nation for like five minutes before realizing that he hates everything about fire nation hegemony and that he wants to end his father’s reign of terror, like that isn’t exactly someone who is going to be well esteemed by the powerful elites when he returns and takes the throne.

and I disregard the comics because they suck lol but zuko does have power as the fire lord, but he limits his power. like compared to ozai, phoenix asshole? azula? for the rest of the world, zuko is kind of an ideal leader for a former colonizing/imperialistic nation to have - someone who worked to end that tyranny, who is anti-imperialist, who believes in justice and equality, who wants to make things right for the peoples who his family oppressed.

I do think it is important to talk about power dynamics and imbalances in relationships - for instance, one could argue that mai is at a significant disadvantage in her relationship with zuko. sure she is from a powerful family but not as powerful as zuko’s. sokka? hah forget it. he’s just as disadvantaged as katara is politically speaking. toph? well, she’s definitely not as powerful politically as zuko - her family tried to silence her for years because of her disability. and oh, she’s disabled so it might be ableist for zuko to strike up a relationship with her when they’re both adults. forgetting of course that toph and sokka and katara and suki and mai are not going to be shy about their wants and needs, that these relationships are not likely to be coercive by nature of the show they’re in and the characters they involve. this is not bill clinton with monica creepiness. like, you’d have to write the relationship that way.

the only person who arguably has more political power than zuko is aang. I guess zuko can’t ever be in a relationship with anyone other than aang. and zuko’s family massacred aang’s people so I guess we can’t ship zukaang. now I know you’re not saying that, context matters. power dynamics are important. but you can’t take away the agency of characters - katara, who is essentially a princess, has agency and can choose who she wants to be with. strictly speaking, aang is more powerful than anyone in terms of political power - he’s the avatar - and of course the dynamic is different by nature of aang not being from a line of oppressors, but there still is a power imbalance in their relationship. and I don’t know how many k/ataang shippers have discourse~ on that. not that I really feel like they NEED to, um idk what they talk about lol I’m not in those circles.

3. fire lady katara is in the eye of the beholder

so fire lady katara is not inherently bad or racist, it’s essentially like saying michelle obama shouldn’t have been first lady of the us (now I get that like the obamas being in power didn’t mean black people are not marginalized lol). you can have conversations about whether or not individual versions of fire lady katara are fucked up, and I’m superrrr open to that because I’ve seen it be kinda shitty before. i’m just gonna leave this link to @shewhotellsstories and her post on this.

but often times katara as fire lady is very dominant in global/fire nation/water tribe politics, she’s a game changer ambassador (that is probably the most popular headcanon I see), she holds on to her culture (and many fans have designed her being in her wt colors, zuko is respectful af to her, she and zuko spend extended periods in the swt, etc. like... it just depends on the way it’s written.

also leaving this response by @avatarnerdkiller to the idea of katara being a prize figurehead.

anyway, thanks for your patience anon and I am curious to see if you see this or even feel like responding after all this time XD

[jedidragonwarriorqueen]

2020 Year in Review

Rules: Answer some questions about 2020 and tag some people!

I was tagged by the wonderful @anneoftheshire . Thank you!!

Top Five Films you watched in 2020:

Princess Mononoke, and a slew of other Studio Ghibli movies (before this year, the only one I’d seen had been Kiki’s Delivery Service, years ago when I was like 8. This has since been rectified.)

The Secret of Roan Inish

Star Trek: The Voyage Home (A rewatch; it’s just. A classic. I love it so much.)

…That’s honestly all I can think of? Other than my go-to rewatch movies

Top Five TV Shows in 2020:

The Dragon Prince (Through the Moon came out this year, which counts, right? At any rate I’ve rewatched it countless times)

The Witcher (“hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm—well fuck”: a mood)

The Mandalorian (obviously)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Criminal Minds (my sisters’ obsession that they got me hooked on; I binged so much of it during quarantine ahaha)

Top Five Songs/Albums in 2020:

Folklore (album) by Taylor Swift

Wolf by First Aid Kit

Lightning in a Bottle by Eli Lieb

Destiny (album) by Celtic Woman

Here’s to Us by Kevin Rudolf

Top Five Books of 2020

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (a stunningly gorgeous fairytale with lovely imagery and characters who feel so real)

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Six of Crows and its sequel Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (I haven’t seen the movie though)

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

(Bonus: I’m still working on Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson, and so far it is, as expected, phenomenal.)

Top Five Fanfictions of 2020:

Downtime in Wartime by numptypylon (along with Down to Earth, Upside Downtime and pretty much everything else)—The Dragon Prince, Rayllum

Purgatory and And They Were Zoommates by zuppi—The Dragon Prince, Rayllum

Peace is a Journey by spontaneite—The Dragon Prince, Rayllum, and a very intriguing Amaya subplot

looking for a way to break in by spiritypowers and wordswithdragons—The Dragon Prince, Rayllum

(yes, I’m absolute Rayllum trash, what can I say)

The Trouble with Ghosts by Lynse—Danny Phantom, I’m getting some GrayGhost vibes

Five good/positive things that happened to you in 2020:

Well, I got a tumblr this fall, thanks to the convincing of the aforementioned anneoftheshire!

Started writing fanfiction this summer. So far I’ve had a blast!

Switched departments at work, which in addition to being a better pace for me, also allowed me to switch from night shift to day shift. I knew being on nights was really starting to affect me, but I had noooooo idea just how much until I made the switch. (Where did all this energy come from??)

As one of the good consequences of social distancing, spent a lot more time exploring the outdoors! I finally visited some lovely landmarks relatively close to where I live that I’ve been meaning to see for like, ever. And went on an overnight hiking trip for the first time in yearsJ

Despite the odds, had one of the best Christmases I can remember

I don’t have anyone to tag because I am afraid of seeming Presumptuous but anyone who sees this is welcome to try it! ❤

[barfzal]

tag game

i got tagged by my good pal @h-ockey and bc i love her i will totally do this. also i never do this much anymore, so i’m nervous don’t judge me.  

rules: answer the questions, then add one of your own! tag 5 people to do it too!

1. who is your idol(s)?

i don’t know if i have one? i guess i really admire like michelle obama and toni morrison, and i don’t think i’ll ever be as impactful as them, but they’re some incredible women. i just also temporarily fall in love with all black women so that’s that. 

2. if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

i guess i’d probably want to go to like greenland. i’d love to hike, go snowmobiling, stuff like that.

3. what decorates the walls of your room?

i have a chalkboard above my desk just with like my workout schedule, therapy appointment, big assignment/test dates stuff like that

a led zeppelin poster tapestry thingy 

a wooden sign of illinois 

a little rock on hand cross stitch 

a felt letter board with proverbs 16:24 on it 

a little art print 

4. favorite color combination?

i’m a big fan of dark blue and orange. i love the bears color scheme i just don’t know why haha. 

i mostly just wear black, white, olive green though 

5. what’s on the top of your bucket list?

ever since i was like nine, i’ve wanted to adopt a baby haha, so that’s a big bucket list/goal thing 

6. height?

5′7″ otherwise known as a giantess in heels and platforms haha 

7. favorite animal?

elephants!! i just want to kiss every elephant right on their cute lil trunks 

8. what’s the last song you listened to?

shut up kiss me by angel olsen 

9. how many/what kind of pets do you have?

omg i have a sweet 13 year old puppy named buster. he’s a puggle (pug + beagle) and he’s the most precious thing i’ll never shut up about it. 

10. last movie you saw in theatres?

once upon a time in hollywood! 

11. comfort food or favorite food?

mac and cheese or like any pasta. carbs has never hurt my feelings. 

12. why did the chicken cross the road?

i dunno man, you gotta ask the chicken 

13. book you’re currently reading?

stay sexy and don’t get murdered by karen kilgariff and georgia hardstark 

14. your favorite season and three things you like about it?

fall (but also winter) 

i love wearing my big sweaters that i can tuck my knees into and napping while burning fall candles 

i love the haunted houses, pumpkin carving and scary movie marathons

hocus pocus?? halloween town?? absolutely

the food! pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, apple cider donuts, hot apple cider, spiced chai lattes give it all to me 

15. you are about to get into a fight, what song comes on as your soundtrack?

oof like i hate fighting. i hate verbally fighting and i’ve never gotten in a physical fight, but i guess if i have to fight like bulls on parade by rage against the machine would be good 

16. (+1) if you won the lottery tomorrow, what is the first thing you would buy yourself?

gosh i don’t know. i think i’d just pay off my education all the way and set it aside for that, and maybe buy my mom a new car since i took the one she likes haha. 

17. (+1) what fictional world would you want to live in?

oh my god the 6th grade loser in me would never shut up if i didn’t say twilight. listen vampires are cool, and i guess wanted to fuck one lmao. like don’t give a girl about to hit puberty a book with a vampire fucking a girl so hard she got bruises because that’s how u turn into a sub. 

18. (+1) if you had to learn a completely new language, what would it be?

i’d love to fully grasp italian because it’s so hot? like i once heard a girl speak italian fluently in college and had a sexual identity crisis. but i’d also like love to learn german and swedish. 

19. (+1) if you could only choose one celebrity or athlete to make out with who would it be? 

okay i’m gonna tag @bnebishop, @lilburky, @hmmmleafs, @m00nlightdelights, @vitosfangirl, and also @laurelp

[starlightinhumanform]

OC’s Answer 15 Q’s Tag

So I KNOW I was tagged in this almost two months ago but I’ve had,,, a lot of shit going on. Finally got it finished though and it was a lot of fun!! Thanks @puzzledorange for the tag! 

I answered using my three protagonists from Of Blood. They’re hanging out in Andrea’s room and answering some questions in a kinda vlog format, so it’s very relaxed. Their names are Romeo, Cleo, and Andrea and I think you figure out the rest! 

Rules: Answer the 15 questions, then tag 15 people 

What is your full name? 

A: My name’s Andrea Valentine.

C: I’m Cleo Ashlen!

C: Also our friend Romeo Sanchez might be butting in every now and then 

What is your gender?

R: I’m a guy. These two are gals. 

What does your full name mean? 

A: I’m sure it does have a meaning but I forgot it lol. I should look it up on ancestry.com or something

C: I really don’t think my name has much meaning. I think my parents just liked it

R: what can I say? I’m a lover-boy- my parents knew that from the start. So they named me Romeo. 

Any nicknames or other names? 

A: I mean sometimes Cleo or Romeo will call me An but other than that not really 

What is your sexuality? 

R: Before these two start staring into each other’s eyes dreamily, I just want to say that, despite popular belief, I’m straighter than the pole your mom danced on last night.

C: anywaaaaaaays, I’m bi; Andrea’s lesbian

A: yup just girls for me! 

Where are you from? 

A: I’m from a little town in what is now the Czech Republic.

R: I’ve lived in the same damn Texas town my whole life

C: I was born in California but we only lived there for like three months before my mom moved 

When were you born? 

A: uhhh a long time ago

C: October 16th, 2002

R: What is the point of remembering such dates if only to witness the slow march towards death?

C: oh shut your dramatic ass up. His birthday is April 4th.

A: and he expects you to get him gifts. 

How old are you? 

C: 16

R: 16

A: 396 

Where do you live? 

C: We all live in the same city together. I live in a house with my mom. Andrea and Romeo live in apartments a few minutes a way in either direction so I’m right in the middle of these two idiots.

A: Babe, you’re a friend sandwich!

C: I’m a friend sandwich.

R: It’s also worth mentioning that Andrea pays for her apartment all by herself and lives alone. I have to live with my whole fucking family. 

What are your quirks? 

A: um.. I’m a vampire?

R: Ooo! I can do full face makeup in under 10 minutes. And I mean primer, foundation, contour, bronzer, full eye make up (including eyebrows), lips, everything

C: uh. Nothing really

A: ah come on that’s not true!!

C: I can eat an entire extra large pizza by myself?

A: Yeah!

C: You shouldn’t sound so proud

Who are your family members? 

C: Me and my mom. Dad’s kinda out of the picture. Get the occasional phone call but it’s usually to apologize for not remembering my birthday a few months ago. I don’t really care though. My mom’s great and we do just fine by ourselves!

R: Mom, Dad, Grandma, an older sister, two little brothers, and a little sister.

A: uh my mom and dad passed away a long time ago. I didn’t know much about my extended family on my dad’s side and my mom was kind of a bastard child so... not a lot of contact from that side other. Hell, I might have great-great-great cousins out there somewhere that I just don’t know about.

R: we really need to get you a DNA test

Who are your pets? 

A: my apartment doesn’t allow them. Which make me big sad. I’d love to have a horse or something.

C: Are you saying that if your apartment allowed pets, you’d keep a horse in there?

A: ...

A: yes

R: I have a 4 year old brother, does that count?

C: #1 yes. #2 I have a lizard named Norbert and a cat named Richard so I can call him a dick 24/7

What do you look like? 

C: Potato

R: James Charles but better. Also Mexican

C: And a hell of a lot shorter.

R: Hey shut up I’m taller than you.

C: Hmm fine that’s true.

A: Ok, well, I’m pretty tall. I like bright colours and shorts. I’ve got dark tan skin and long hair. Also acrylic nails are so much fun so I get those sometimes.

C: so if we’re actually doing this: I’m short, pale, I tried to dye my hair black and it kind of looks like shit but I’m too stubborn to actually admit it.

R: You just did.

C: Shut up. And... I never wear acrylics but I do paint my nails. I don’t like bright colours, I usually wear band tees. Also my hair is pretty short.

Who’s your hero? 

C: I’d probably have to say Kurt Cobain and Audrey Hepburn.

R: My god damn self lmao

A: Michelle Obama woop woop. Also Mary Shelly. 

What’s your moral alignment? 

R: Chaotic ✨Fabulous✨

A: He’s a Chaotic Good.

C:  I’m a True Neutral.

A: Aw come on you’re on the good side of the spectrum!

C: Nah that’s you; you’re a Lawful Good 100%

A: Ha yeah right

C: no really!

R: ok so I’m gonna leave before these two just keep arguing about who’s better and then resolve it by making out. Byeeeeee!

If you want to learn more about these characters, check out my Of Blood tag and to see more of my writing, look at the starlight writes tag! 

Like always, I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I’ma tag @bumblebeesonpaper 🖤✨

[whitehotharlots]

M.I.A., Fariha Róisín, and the rhetorical triumph of passive listening

I’ve been thinking about the rise and fall of M.I.A., the might-aughts musical sensation who was briefly the most celebrated alternative pop artist in the world. 2004’s Piracy Funds Terrorism and 05’s Arular generated some of the most positive press I’d ever seen from outlets like Pitchfork (which, back then, still kinda counted as an alternative to dominant culture). 2007’s crossover hit Kala was one of the most genuinely dangerous and experimental records ever to enter the mainstream of American culture. Then... she just kinda went away. 

M.I.A.’s politics were miles beyond the limp, bland positivity of the era’s liberalism. She was literally militant, lending her support for the Tamil Tigers. A lyric on her song “Sunshowers,” (“Like the PLO I don’t surrender”), was considered dangerous enough that it got her banned from entering the US for several months.  This was not the fuzzy, feelgood liberalism of Obama, nor even the “fierceness” of someone like Beyonce, whose material accomplishments are considered a substitute for actual politics. This was a literal refugee woman telling the world that, actually, things really fucking suck, and if you want them to get better you you’re going to have to fight.

Of course, this engendered pushback--first and foremost from the “liberals” at Pitchfork. M.I.A. complained, rightfully, that music reviewers tended to give far too much credit to the male collaborators of female musicians. No one would attribute the genius of Purple Rain to Wendy and Lisa, so why did all of her reviewers spend so much time talking about Diplo? Pitchfork responded by viciously smearing her next album and accusing her of uneven and naive politics. Other outlets followed suit, and by the turn of the decade she had fallen out of mainstream favor.

And so you’d think, with recent developments, that the liberal-leaning press would have switched positions in regard to M.I.A., maybe even apologize for the horrible treatment she received. After all, the meat of her criticism is now practically unquestionable. And so I was confused by this article from affidavit.art, which is a rather woke-leaning website. The piece’s author, Fariha Róisín, purports to demonstrate herself taking a nuanced and forgiving tack toward M.I.A., but in doing so she reinforces some of the most reactionary and regressive impulses of our current social justice paradigm. In reading through it, seeing how deftly it continues to smear M.I.A. for the crime of being a genuinely dissident artist, we can get a good bead on the self-destructive tendencies of wokeism.

Róisín’s article is a personal reflection upon her relationship with M.I.A. as an artist, starting with her infatuation with the M.I.A’s early work, and moving into political disappointment that culminated in her asking hostile questions to the artist at a MoMa panel. She frames things by explaining

I hadn’t listened to Maya’s [M.I.A.’s] work in a couple of years, after she somewhat embarrassingly responded off the cuff to a question about Black Lives Matter: “Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters?”

MIA’s comment, I would argue, is tone-deaf. Within the context that Róisín presents it, it certainly comes across as insensitive. The US criminal justice system is a world-historic atrocity that has ruined countless lives. It should be discussed in stark terms, and it’s fine to criticize someone who appears to not regard it with the severity it deserves.

But let’s look at MIA’s full quote, as it appeared in The Daily Standard:

“It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s. Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it on an American TV programme, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back”

Knowing anything about MIA’s personal history makes it clear that she did not intend to diminish the horrors of American judicial violence. When one reads the full quote (oh, the horror of having to parse an entire paragraph!), it’s clear she’s stressing a bigger picture here, criticizing the fact that the vast majority of US liberals still refuse to criticize US militarism, even as they’ve become near-pathological in defining themselves as social justice crusaders. She is, in short, criticizing the ineffective and narrow politics of people like Róisín.

I cannot speak for Kendrick and Beyonce in specific, but I have known dozens of putatively woke people--people who consume all the right cultural artifacts, who would never speak over a black person in a workplace meeting, who have been very vocal critics of police violence for upwards of 4 whole years--who still proudly celebrate the armed forces.

Through direct military action, support for brutal dictatorships, and otherwise meddling in the affairs of other countries in pursuit of our own financial interests, the American Military Industrial Complex has been the single biggest purveyor of human suffering worldwide for the past 70-odd years. They have killed literally tens of millions of people, ruined the lives of a few hundred million more, and immiserated billions. US foreign policy spends trillions of dollars killing brown people and enriching a handful of elites. And, to most American wokeists, that constitutes at best a complicated situation worthy of consideration and debate--unlike, say, someone who supports the wrong movie to win best picture, or who doesn’t celebrate Cardi B--these people deserve uniform and unambiguous condemnation. This perplexing mindset is what M.I.A/ was criticizing.

Of course, those who operate within this mindset are going to reject this criticism. They will refuse to just listen to those who question their approach to social justice. They will speciously declare such criticism as evidence of the evil nature of the person who uttered it, demand the “cancellation” of said person, and use all criticisms of their condemnation as proof of their own righteousness--if what they were saying wasn’t good and true, then why did so many bad and wrong people disagree with it?

Unless, that is, they take so-called “nuanced” route outlined by Róisín. In the face of overwhelming evidence of the vicious self-certainty of her peers, Róisín  attempts to deflect such criticism by introducing a new plane of equivocation. MIA isn’t evil, she says. The artist is just deeply ignorant, a defect born of her inability to listen in the correct manner:

Cancelling people is exhilarating, especially when it’s done by marginalized folks, those who so often experience the world through white supremacy—sometimes as a soft and subtle barrage, other times through vicious and terrifying means. The ability to dictate someone’s fate, when you’ve long been in the shadows, is a kind of victory. Like saying “Fuck You” from underneath the very heavy sole of a very old shoe. But while outrage culture has its merits, nuance has evaporated. So often it involves reducing someone to their mistakes, their greatest hits collection of fuck-ups.

This does not mean that we should simply forgive an untoward statement. It certainly does not mean we should try to understand where that statement came from. Nor does it even mean we should read a statement within the context of the full paragraph in which it appeared. Oh no. It means, instead, we should ascribe that statement to ignorance:

What I believe Maya is trying to say is that American issues have become global. What she lacks the language to say is: how do we also care about the many millions of people around the world who are dying, right now? Why does American news, American trauma, American death, always take center-stage?

It’s pretty fucking insulting to insist that M.I.A. “lacks language.” But Róisín makes the exact same assertion again, a few paragraphs later.  She ends the lead-in to her description of the moment in which she calls out M.I.A. (which is interminably long and ponderous) with the following, deeply chilling quote: “You can understand Maya’s perspective without agreeing with her, but I had another question. How do you hold someone you love accountable?” Indeed. Even if you try in earnest to understand someone’s perspective, that does not absolve you of your duty to punish them for their word-crimes.

During the talk, M.I.A, rightfully, defended herself against accusations of racism. We can all agree that’s a mistake. In reality, it’s a mistake because wokeists considering defending oneself to constitute proof of guilt. In “nuanced” woke framing, it’s a mistake because it reveals a refusal to just listen:

Her incomprehension that people could be upset by her remarks reflected her naivety about how the internet kills its darlings. Two weeks prior to our meeting, Stephon Clark was murdered, shot twenty times in the back by two police officers. To this she responded: “Yeah, well no-one remembers the kid in Syria who is being shot right now either. Or the kid that’s dying in Somalia.” It made me wonder if she was unwell, not on a Kanye level, but just enough to lack the mechanisms it takes to understand perspective.

[ … ]

Laconic and aloof, I remind Maya on stage that anti-blackness is not an American issue, it’s universal. Perhaps it’s ego, or shameful anger, but I know she cares. Before she begins to speak I realize that you have to build empathy when someone fails you. That they’re not yours to own. You have to try your best to talk to them, and that it’s never helpful to reduce them to a punchline. I believe in Maya’s possibility to grow. I believe in the possibility of change. Maybe that’s my own naivety, but it’s also my political stance. It’s not about compromising ideology, or even making space for the existence of those ideas. It’s about creating dialogue. She begins to speak, and I listen. Holding space for her when I can without biting my tongue. But, mainly, asserting myself as hard as I can, with as much compassion as the situation deserves. We are sisters in this fight, and we’re butting heads—but both critique and accountability are important. So I remind her with a glance, with an interjection, that I’m here to talk, too.

Ascribing an ideological disagreement to one side’s refusal to listen to the other side is perhaps the laziest form of argument. It is, after all, the preferred tactic of Jordan Peterson’s idiot fans. The assumption is that one side is manifestly correct, and so the only way someone could disagree with them is they didn’t bother to listen to what that side had to say. Even if they claim to have listened, they must have listened incorrectly. Otherwise, they would certainly agree with what the other person was saying.

Róisín takes this process well beyond the Peterson fans’ simple wailing of “you need to watch more of his videos!”  She instead crafts an ethos of false humility out of a long and detailed description of attempting to not dismiss MIA’s viewpoint even as she does exactly that, of announcing how little pleasure she’s taking in describing the manifest evil of the horrible, ignorant pop star.  

This displays the bizarre definition of “listening” as the act of simply remaining silent while another person speaks. You’ll notice that Róisín doesn’t bother to cite anything M.I.A. said--it’s unlikely she retained anything, other than perhaps appropriate pull-quote that would, outside of context, allow her to present the artist as an ignorant racist. Listening remains, by definition, a unidirectional affair. But turning it into a completely passive act turns it into a powerful rhetorical tool. Listeners need not attempt to understand speakers (that might actually go against the spirit of proper Listening). It’s still okay to demonize someone for something they never actually said. The power of passive listening is that it allows us to feign humility and claim its mantle of righteousness, to disguise dismissal as empathy.

Those who have actually studied race theory might notice a pretty incredible contradiction in Róisín’s penultimate paragraph. Her belief that anti-blackness is a universal constant is perhaps ascendent now, at least within middlebrow woke media. But this is by no means an accepted understanding within actual scholarship: Adolph Reed, Barbara and Karen Fields, Asad Haider, Walter Benn-Michaels, Stephen Steinberg, and Kenneth Warren would all strongly disagree with such an assertion.

Broadly, these scholars (and dozens of others, all erased by Róisín) argue that such a conception of anti-blackness is actually incredibly regressive, as it is based on an understanding of race that cannot be combatted through personal or political action. If Róisín had bothered to actually listen--in the sense where she not only received but actively engaged with what other people were saying--she might not have made such a comment. But that’s not what she does. That’s not what is safe. That’s not what is possible. What is safe, and possible, and popular is exactly what Róisín does in this article: she presents an incredibly imperious argument in the guise of pathological humility; her perspective becomes validated precisely because of its dismissiveness. Nevermind its self-contradictions. Nevermind its profound inefficacy. She’s right, her critics are wrong, and that is all that anyone is allowed to say.

[thusspoketrish]

tag game strong af!

Thank you @the-cellar-spiral for the tag! It’s always a pleasure to fill out this kinda thing. ALSO, thank you for the little shoutout in your own tag game response! You’re so lovely <333!

relationship status: recently single! (I've been listening to a lot of Adele these last couple of weeks ::sigh::). 

favorite color: When it comes to clothing -- black. I hardly ever wear anything colourful (I mean, I think I have a purple dress somewhere in storage???) 

In general though, I really like the colours navy blue, purple, and teal (especially when it comes to makeup!)

top 3 ships: draco x harry; sirius x remus; ginny x pansy 

lipstick or chapstick: definitely a lipstick girl! I do keep some Burt’s Bees somewhere in my bag now that it’s cold out.

last drink: Yellowtail Shiraz

last thing you watched on tv: Season 1, episode 8 of 30 Rock

last song: Genius, by LSD. To break up the monotony of all the Adele songs. 

last movie:  the hangover part 1. I was bored and it was on Netflix. 

currently reading: The Harveste Addams series! I’m always so late checking out stuff! Though, i’m sad it’s not completed, I literally found myself so sucked into it that I stopped caring along the way that it hasn’t been updated in forever -- I just found myself thinking, “fuck, thank fuck I found this fic!” It’s dark and weird and hilarious. It mixes The Addams Family with Harry Potter. Just so perfect to indulge in! 

AKA: IT’S AMAZING. GO CHECK IT OUT.

last fic: Away Childish Things by Lettered. Absolutely beautiful! I found myself crying a lot while reading this story. Gahhh. Please go read it.

last book: Michelle Obama’s Becoming. A friend gave her book to me and seriously -- I was so touched by her story! I’ve always admired her, so it was great to get such an intimate insight into her life! Loved this so much! She’s also doing a book tour and will be at Southbank Centre on the 3rd. I’ve got my ticket ready!!!

I’mma tag some very recent followers! Let me know a bit more about yourself!!!  Also, no pressure <333. 

@norelationtoatticus @dracospubichair @random-realist @drarrypercicolover @slythersoft

[thewolfbroughtindoors]

Long overdue tag meme from @thrassisfras !

Rules: Name 10 of your favorite characters, then tag your cherished mutuals! I'm including descriptions because I like to talk a lot.

In no particular order:

1. Medic, Team Fortress 2.

Meet the Medic was the first SFM I ever saw, I don't even recall how, and I've been lost down the rabbit hole ever since. It's been a great few years though.

2. Kraglin, Guardians of the Galaxy.

Cute beanpole second-in-command who loyally follows his irascible captain into fun and danger alike? Count me in!

3. Inquisitor McNuggies, Dragon Age Inquisition.

Yes I'm including my own Inquisitor on here, and yes his given name really is McNuggies, and no the rest of the clan doesn't laugh at him for it. It's Thedas, McDonald's doesn't even exist. He's a precious tol saint who loves parkour and his family and also can't swim.

4. Michelle Obama, real life bro.

Ok she's not a character but she's still one of my absolute favorite people in the world. She's brilliant and strong and gorgeous and kind and wonderful and I really really hope she's having a fantastic week. Thanks Obamas.

5. Nicholas Rush, Stargate Universe.

This man I don't talk about much due to the woefully short run of SGU but I do love this mean little bastard. He so smart and sad and stubborn, he makes my heart hurt. *blows a kiss to the stars* That's for you, you rude little gremlin.

6. Frog, Chrono Trigger.

This guy is quite the oldie. I've loved him since I was like 7, when I first unlocked his tragic backstory, but at the time I couldn't beat Magus, so I wasn't able to continue. Once I got the Playstation re-release, I finally made it past Magus to Enhasa and god I've never looked back. As of the DS release, I've gotten every single ending at least a dozen times, including soloing Lavos, which is such a rush. Anyways Frog is my boi and I will slap anyone and everyone who hurts him.

7. Julian, my OCs.

Y'know how you're not supposed to have a favorite child? Well that's a lie everyone has a favorite child and mine is Julian. He's arrogant, evil, clever, and he loves his hapless twin very very much.

8. Parker Luciani, Resident Evil Revelations.

Surprise surprise, another thing that I don't talk about on this blog but love dearly is Resident Evil. I love Wesker and Jill and Sheva and CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS, but the real star of my heart is Parker. When I first got my 3DS, Target was having a bogo sale, so I perused my Game Informer to see what a good game to get besides Ocarina of Time would be. I saw RE:R had a 10/10, figured I liked the movies well enough, so I bought it and the rest is history. Except it isn't. The game was fucking terrifying and I couldn't play it for more than 5 minutes at a time before I had to put it down. But then I'd think of Parker, who I was abandoning to those monsters, so I'd pick the game back up and play again before having to put it down when it got scary. Eventually I did beat the whole game, and went on to become an unstoppable Raid Mode master before hanging up my G18 and moving on to RE5.

9. Dinobot, Beast Wars.

This one was a toughie too. TF dominated my formative years, and got me serious about drawing, as well as being the first thing to pull me into fandom spaces on the internet. I was absolutely head over heels for Starscream and Cyclonus, and had the handle of Rodimus Convoy on TFArchive for many many years, but Dinobot is my true love here, and much for the same reasons as Frog earlier on the list, only from a more villainous perspective.

10. Plastic Lawn Flamingos, Fallout series.

Look man, there's just something about these lil fellas that drives me absolutely bonkers with love. When I first saw them coming out of Vault 111, I knew I needed them in my life. Their reign of joy continues in Fallout 76, except now if I don't see them, my buddy Ryan points them out for me so I can take pictures like some sort of visiting tourist. I also love my Vault boy Miles, but god these flamingos are just... beautiful.

[neverlearnedtoread]

Becoming

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; reads like a cozy talk over tea and snacks at a corner coffeeshop with one of the most well-informed, eloquent women in the world

Oh?? 👌😉😏

one of the only autobiography/memoirs that i genuinely didn’t have to struggle to get through because i knew it was important for me to read it. i dont read memoirs/autobiographies well, and this one made it look easy

if you don’t like the personal anecdotes, there are some cold hard stats, and if you don’t like cold hard stats because that’s kinda boring, then there are some really good personal anecdotes! michelle was good at picking out stories from her childhood and life to pulling them into a well-constructed narrative

really, really quotable (as evidenced by my pages and pages of notes)

the perspective on barack obama, and how it was never totally about him - michelle made her own decisions about how much to get involved with his presidential campaign and later presidency, and she devoted herself to her own projects

frank discussions about her choices regarding marriage and family and raising children - every decision she made, every worry she had, every backtrack - i enjoyed getting to see her thought process and concerns, and how she dealt with them

No.. ❌🤢🤮

i really can’t think of any, other than the fact that while it’s a good starting-off point for open discussion of racial issues, but that’s not the focus. this is Michelle Obama’s memoir, not a get-woke-quick read you can tag as your current book and consider yourself totally informed on the subject (which, realistically, will never happen; the point is to never stop finding out more and doing something about it)

Summary: A memoir by the one and only Michelle Obama, that manages to tell a deeply personal story about the first African American family ever to live in the White House alongside a frank and open discussion about racism, classism, and sexism in modern times. A thoroughly honest book with a unflinchingly honest writer.

Concept: 💭💭💭

I struggle with memoirs and autobiographies - when it’s someone’s life, and not fiction, the story tends to be muddled and meandering. Real life is like that, because not every event or moment in your life is drawing you unerringly towards something - there’s no overarching theme or narrative. Which is to say, I find memoir and autobiographies hard to follow - they’re too personal, and sometimes feel too private for me to digest properly. This is someone’s life - who am I to pass judgment?

Execution: 💥💥💥💥💥

That said - what a powerful narrative voice! Michelle Obama impressed me so much with her writing style, the entire book feels homey and comfortable, like a quiet little coffee date with the author, even as she takes you through moments of her life and of America’s recent history that are as painful as they are real. The way she explains herself and presents her point of view - it’s like she’s telling you all this in confidence, a private understanding between the both of you, when really, she’s putting her life story out there for the entire world to see. I hope she’s proud of this book, because it was a blitz to read.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤❤

I bookmarked what felt like half the book, and highlighted so many quotes that I reread multiple times, or teared up at, or both. She backed up her personal anecdotes with cold hard facts, and her statistics with personal experiences - nothing was left to chance. I spent two days copying down - word for word - entire pages out of her book, because I wanted to carry them with me. I mean even the pictures she chose to include in the centre of the book - everything was so lovingly put together and constructed. It kind of made me want to cry.

Favourite Moment: SO. MANY. I’m not kidding. I have pages and pages of notes to prove this point. One that sticks in my mind was Michelle explaining how they made an effort to include African American artwork and decor when they were in charge of furnishing the White House - and how they did their best to make the White House more accessible.

Favourite Person: Michelle’s narrative voice was so compelling and controlled and powerful. In my lifetime, if I could have an ounce of her eloquence and poise for even five fucking minutes, I would count myself blessed. The care and love she put into those 8 years as First Lady, and into this book, was so strong and all-consuming to me I physically felt inspired, which is what I think the Obama administration made so many people feel at the time...it’s bittersweet, but I think the important thing is to take their lessons and their momentum and to let it carry you as far as it possibly can, and to walk the rest of the way after that.

[megacircuit9universe]

Lemons

THU AUG 20, 2020

I never thought I would write these words, but Joe Biden delivered a nomination speech at the Democratic Convention tonight, that made me cry.

For a virtual convention, the Democrats had been knocking it out of the park with the speeches all week, especially from Michelle and Barack Obama, and it seemed like maybe they’d done enough to set the tone and keep Joe’s lead in the polls from slipping away...

... but man!  Joe himself really brought it tonight!  If this is what he brings to the final nine weeks of the campaign... I do believe he’ll unseat Trump in a decisive victory, on November 3rd, and become our 46th President!

This is a strange thing to see myself write, because... in the world we always knew... the one with no President Trump, and no Covid 19... a Joe Biden Presidency had always seemed laughably impossible.

Nobody even questioned why Joe didn’t run in 2016.  We assumed he just knew there wouldn’t be a point... and had to be told that no... his son had died of cancer, and that that’s the only reason he sat that race out.

Had he not, neither Hillary, nor Bernie Sanders would’ve have gotten any traction at all in the primaries against a sitting VP.

As it was, Sanders came so close to nabbing the nomination that he forced the Democratic Party onto a more progressive path, which they are still on today... even if they once again snubbed him as the nominee.

The problem for Sanders in 2016, was that Hillary still had a valid, “it’s her turn,” card to play, and so the DNC made sure to honor it.

As I’ve looked at in past entries, it turned out that her, “it’s her turn,” card was radioactive... thanks to the impeachment of her husband back in the 1990s... because impeachment by the House is always radioactive and destroys the political careers of all Presidents, and those close to them... even though they’re never actually removed by the Senate.

Sanders’ problem in 2020 was... as I looked at in a more recent entry during the primaries... Obama had spent four years developing a master plan to defeat Trump.

Biden was dead in the water... I called him the walking dead... it seemed like Bernie would have the nomination in the bag... until!... Obama made some phone calls, got all the other Dem contenders to drop out, and pulled off the miracle of reanimatig the corpse of Joe’s campaign.

A clever mastermind... capable of performing miracles... and I complained that he’d better damn well be able to follow that up with even bigger miracles in November, or Obama had just damned the nation to a Trump dicatorship for life.

Since then, we’ve had the big pandemic... which has been the thing that’s really fucked Trump more than anything else... and given the lead to Biden more than anything else.

While I refuse to believe Obama or any other human agent, or agency conspired to create the pandemic... It does seem plausible for Obama to have anticipated that something would come along to screw Trump in 2020... because he’s been neglecting so much, and coasting for so long.

And anybody who’s been President of the United States for eight years would know, a global pandemic could easily be on such a list of somethings... that would fuck the economy hard enough to give Biden a fighting chance.

The impeachment, last January... was another factor, already set in stone.  Trump was already radioactive before the primaries began in 2020... which must have figured into Obama’s calculations.

Now, however, in late August of 2020, we’re finally beginning to see this election the way Obama must have forseen it... with huge hunks of the Republican party jumping on board for Biden, because they so loathe Trump, and can stomach Joe (because he’s conservative enough)... and then BAM... Joe actually exceeds expectations with a rousing, lucid, heartfelt, perfectly timed speech to show us he’s not just NOT Trump... but the honest embodiment of everything both parties used to hold dear, before this whole nighmare began...

...not just some place holder, but a principled guy with the merits... the hard won merits... to lead our great nation.

And Biden’s acceptance speech really took away whatever onus there was on Kamala Harris as his VP pick.  Because she looks amazing, being both a woman, and a person of color... 

...but that could have been a bit too much if there were any credibility to the fear that Kamala would assume the Presidency three weeks in, after Joe caved to dementia.  That would’ve made this race, Kamala V Trump... which would have been a much tougher sell to the weird new coalition between leftists, centrists, and never-Trump conservatives.

As things are tonight... those fears have been put to bed.

And with that... Harris is a safely brilliant VP pick.

As a VP... who won’t be running the nation tomorrow... she’s conservative enough for the right wing of the coalition to feel comfortable... because she was a cop after all.  And we gotta back the blue!

Politics is a very complex game... but Obama is better at it than Trump... especially when Trump’s already been President for four years and really shown the planet the true horror of his criminality, stupidity, misleadership, and willingness to destroy both the constitution and the planet.

In my last few entries, Trump was trying to send in a rag-tag force of paramilitary Federal thugs, to terrorize protesters... and promising to ban TikTok... before relenting on both those horrifying plots.

Since then, he attempted to destroy the US Post Office, appointing a sycophant as Postmaster General, who immediately began a campaign of removing post boxes, shutting down sorting machines, and generally defunding the fuck out of every aspect of USPS operations, in a desperate attempt to suppress mail-in votes this November... when they would be more important than ever, due to the pandemic.

The PMG even warned the public that due to the slow downs, he could not guarantee any mail in votes would get in on time, and Trump ran with that ball and began raising the specter that the results of our next election could be in limbo for months or years!

Blatantly attempting to soften the ground for a claim to stay in office past the election... seemingly unaware that his term constitutionally ends on January 20th, 2021, election or no... and also that the Post Office is a constitutionally established entity, overseen by Congress.

And Congress reconvened early from their August Recess solely for the purpose of calling in this new Postmaster General for questioning... which has not yet happened, but was enough to weaken his knees and have him roll back all the draconian changes he’d made... saying he’ll do those budget cuts later after the election.

Score another one for Pelosi.  And hopefully they will grill the fuck out of the new PMG, under oath, facing criminal charges... and make his backpedalling stick until after November... if he doesn’t go straight to prison.

And in today’s news, a different branch of the post office we did not know existed... which investigates crimes, and can arrest people... arrested Steve Bannon on mail fraud charges, for defrauding idiot Trump supporters who donated to a fraudulent, “build the wall,” fund.

That, and an appeal Judge also said today that Trump must turn over his tax returns.

It’s all coming up lemons for Trump right now, on the old slot machine... just before the RNC convention... and just as Biden is about to get a huge bump from the DNC convention.

September and October are the gauntlet and the crucible for this, most critical Presidential election in American history.

We’ll see how it plays out.

But at the moment, things are looking up.

And with that... it is most definitely time for bed.

[chisanto]

a tag thing

Tagged by @emcakira! YAY A THING TO UNBORE ME :D

Rules: Always post the rules, answer the eleven questions, then make up eleven more and tag eleven people. 

Right now: where are you and what are you wearing?! /wiggling eyebrows/ 

I’m in bed, wearing pajamas and slippers. 

If you could gather the 7 crystal balls and ask Shenron a single wish, what would it be?

Michelle Obama running for president, not that I care THAT much but wait for question 6.

What’s the closest book to you right now?

“Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West”.

That song that is the biggest guilty pleasure that you have! Tell me!

Do I even have any pleasure considered “guilty” anymore :’)

Uuuuh, here’s one of them https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=42

What was the most wtf thing I ever said to you?! :D

Just a while ago, “Aren’t you a Slytherin?!”, like. ???! How could I, when I have this roaring lion inside-- ah nvm, it’s just my stomach again after all.

Who’s the famous person you would kidnap and take home with you if you could?

Ok so I’d take Michelle Obama, who’s running for president thanks to Shenron, right? Now I would ask the americans for a ransom. Each american should give me 1$ if they wanted her back. She thinks it’s hilarious and even enjoys my delightful company, so no cops will be after me. No one gets hurt, no one starves, the american people are thankful to me for my wish to Shenron, Michelle is back, Trump is out and I earn a generous amount of money, which was the point all along, making most my problems gone.

Pen-pineapple-apple-pen?

No, Oppa Gangnam Style, actually.

When was the last time you laughed out loud and why? (And like, for real, not just the internet “lol” with a poker face - I’m looking at you, Sara!)

Today, probably, I might have even laughed at a joke I told, idk. I’m always laughing at stupid shit.

Most perfect romance in the world? Why?

Me when I’m hungry X pizza slice. Because it’s steamy hot and involves stickiness, teeth, tongue and swallowing. The !Hungry component appeals to the wild, primitive side of it, and also makes it natural and not forced.

Life role model?

Idk, but when I feel like complaining I think of my mom who Has It Worse and Still Fights, no matter where it’s taking her. So I keep on going with a similar attitude, but in my own direction, or so I like to think. Idk man. Tough question. 3deep5me.

When are you coming to visit me?????

IDK, WHERE ARE YOU ANYWAY ;_;

Here are my questions now. They are very complex and hard.

-Which anime character would you take with you to your cabin in the woods? And yes, you have a cabin in the woods now.

-When did you quit eating nose boogers?

-Describe the shade of brown and physical shape of the last turd you pooped.

-Would you rather become a fisherman or a lumberjack? Probably a lumberjack now that you have a cabin in the woods I guess, but imagine it’s now GONE, POOF, so answer honestly, this is serious.

-Why did/didn’t you quit eating nose boogers anyway?

-Alright, fucking weirdo, geez. Ok, so imagine this: if you could eat a chunk of my flesh under consensual circumstances, would you? Which part? But none of that raw devouring savagery like, this is not where western civilization brought us, ait, I mean properly cooked with any side dish or drink of your choice.

-Whatever your previous answer was, you have weird tastes. Anyway, we’re back to your cabin in the woods- shut up, it’s back now. You’re there with me (and I’m whole). It’s 3am, the light is on, what the hell are we doing, any idea?

-Which Hogwarts House common room would you like to visit and why?

-Imagine greenest-alien, brainlessbunny, nadirising and I in a horror movie/setting with a context of your choice. Ok? So, in case someone dies, who dies first and why? In case someone survives, who manages it and why?

-After taking a dump, ever felt hungry (or disappointed at the waste) looking at the whole bits of food your stomach was too lazy to digest that are now stuck to the-- ok, I’m not gonna ask this, this is a bit too much and there are other people reading it, probably. ANYWAY, do you, uuuhhh, like... mushrooms? Do you like mushrooms? What about corn? And sunflower seeds?

-Anyway, thanks for answering, in case you did, that’s super cool of you. One last question, whacha doin? c:

tagging

@brainlessbunny @greenest-alien @nadirising

I got tagged to share some selfies too, but no way I want this post to be associated to a FACE. Besides, I don’t really take selfies anyway. Thanks for tagging me anyway <3

[cutegirlsaremyfavorite]

so i want to talk about doomfist but i feel like he deserves another day. so instead ill talk about how i said that fox news uses fallacies in their argument and often makes misleading claims by cherry picking. now i know i didnt provide examples when i did that like a week ago. so today im going to provide 2 videos from fox news and argue against them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncl3ZFitt84

this ones about the stance on transgenders and how this person believes that it is child abuse. the first thing that i did was look up the sources. the first is from dr michelle cretella who is the president of the american college of pediatricians. the american college of pediatricians was tagged as a hate group from the southern poverty law center who uses their power to advance their political agenda. the SPLC is a nonprofit that works with the FBI. i refuse to trust a source that is categorized as a hate group. im just going to post the wiki page but feel free to dive deeper. there are some big red flags going on, one of which is that fox news trusts in the probability that their viewers arent educated or have the care to look up these things. (btw, there are many studies that would argue the exact opposite of whats being said)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_College_of_Pediatricians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnMBoqLY83c

alright, second one and this one is packed. the thing that pisses me off the most about the claim that the media is biased against trump is that fox news IS MEDIA. they are part of that. they cant just claim that theyre not media when theyre the number one news source among republicans. anyways the claim that leftist media is only talking about russia and trumps ratings tanking because of russia is bold and stupid. the problem with the claim that theyre only talking about russia is stupid because russia is a current, large, and likely illegal, scandal. also healthcare is pretty big right now too. the media is supposed to talk about the things that the president fucked up on, we cant just turn a blind eye on the possibility that the strongest man on earth cheated by partnering with a hostile foreign power to rig our supposed to be fair election. imagine the shit hillary wouldve gotten if she did the same thing. speaking of hillary, fox is still obsessive about hillary too and its a little unfair. russia is not the reason trump is tanking, trump’s ratings are tanking due to a number of various factors and russia is only one among many. another would be healthcare which was the leading policy that all republicans banded over (remember repeal and replace?). next he pulls out a phrase “watch the people not the polls” because statistically trump is failing in almost every way but his rallies are packed. look, obamas rallies were also packed but were we supposed to believe that everyone liked obama because of it? no, thats why we have polls and statistics. this claim is basically saying that we should ignore the majority of the population for a bias and select few. and he tries to appeal to the feelings of the viewers by talking about how those republicans are real american people who care about their families and in doing so dehumanizes liberals by saying theyre not real american people who care about their families. next he talked about the presidents speech at the boy scouts jamboree and how the washington post criticized trump for being very political with his speech that has always been nonpolitical

political.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/boy-scouts-leader-apologizes-for-trump-speechs-political-rhetoric/2017/07/27/374fefd4-72f4-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?utm_term=.c1cac4d8ff46

fox news just writes it off as the washington post having problems with the boy scouts which is very misleading when even the chief scout of the boy scouts had to apologize to the kids and parents for the political rhetoric that the president put out. then he talked about how republicans will be ridiculed for listening to the people and not the liberal propaganda.

thats only the first half of the video. its clear that fox news wants to bring out the feeling that the republican party is the underdog and theyre rising to power behind trump who is doing great things (hes not). theyre even willing to say that fox news is the “people” and not the media when it is the media. they also tell people to essentially be ignorant of the truth and live in the small world of only the republican party. and they call liberals sheltered and special snowflakes.

edit: before i get off for the hate messages, i should probably add that liberal media can do similar shit however its usually not as bad and sometimes the facts are partisan.

[kendrickthegay]

Tag Game

Tag game! Rules: you must answer these 85 statements and tag 20 people

i was tagged by @writersblockisabitch :) 

I’ve not done one of these in years and idk who even uses Tumblr anymore so I’m gonna tag: @cobie-smulders, @liaratsoniii, @snixjuicetho, @vickydoodledandy89, @sorceryandchips, @nodungareesinthishouse, @findapaththatisyourown and anyone else who wants to :) the last: 1. drink: pepsi max 2. phone call: my papa 3. text message: sarah :) 4. song you listened to: Ice Cube — Natural Born Killaz 5. time you cried: like 2 days ago lol

have you ever: 6. dated someone twice: yes 7. kissed someone and regretted: oh god yes 8. been cheated on: yes 9. lost someone special: yeah :( 10. been depressed: loooool 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: yeah but I don’t drink anymore so

3 favorite colors: 12. yellow 13. rose gold 14. pale blue

in the last year have you: 15. made new friends: yes 16. fallen out of love: no 17. laughed until you cried: yes! 18. found out someone was talking about you: yes lmao  19. met someone who changed you: no? 20. found out who your friends are: actually... yes 21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: yeah 

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: idk the majority 23. do you have any pets: 2 cats 24. do you want to change your name: nah i’m grand 25. what did you do for your last birthday: i don’t even remember 26. what time did you wake up: 9:35am 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: watching ghost adventures

28. name something you can’t wait for: my holiday with my bff

31. what are you listening to right now: i’m watching difficult people 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: yeah 33. something that is getting on your nerves: lmao too much lets not go there 34. most visited website: probs Ao3 rn or twitter

35. hair colour: brown 36. long or short hair: long-ish 39. piercings: just my ears 40. blood type: idk 41. nicknames: dan, mini d, twerkdale 42. relationship status: in a relationship 43. zodiac: sagittarius 44. pronouns: she/her 45. favourite tv show: buffy, parks and rec, orphan black 46. tattoos: none 47. right or left handed: right 48. surgery: none yet  49. piercing: ears 50. sport: lol my lazy ass does not do sports 51. vacation: cornwall earlier in the year 52. pair of trainers: white converse

more general: 53. eating: daily 54. drinking: also daily 55. i’m about to: watch the next episode of difficult people 56. waiting for: bedtime cos i’m so tired omf 57. want: to go back to america 58. get married: ehhhhh idk 59. career: IT related 

which is better: 60. hugs or kisses: both pls 61. lips or eyes: both  62. shorter or taller: i don’t care 63. older or younger: older  64. nice arms or nice stomach: daaaamn arms tbh 65. hook up or relationship: relationship 66. troublemaker or hesitant: maybe a little bit of both?

have you ever: 67. kissed a stranger: yes 68. drank hard liquor: yes 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: nope 70. turned someone down: yaaaaa 71. sex on the first date: no 72. broken someone’s heart: not sure 73. had your heart broken: yeah 74. been arrested: no 75. cried when someone died: yes 76. fallen for a friend: no

do you believe in: 77. yourself: good joke 78. miracles: nope 79. love at first sight: kind of 80. santa claus: no 81. kiss on the first date: if it feels right 82. angels: no

other: 83. current best friend’s name: vicky 84. eye colour: blue 85. favourite movie: honestly too much to choose from I CAN’T PICK