#I haven’t forgotten about Congo | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beardedmrbean · 1 month ago

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[Huey Zoomer Anon]

What is it with white libs after the election and learning about a huge chunk of minorities voted for trump?

Kamala campaign fail, she talked to ACTIVE SOLDIERS IN THE FIELD like 5 years olds

And have worse vocabulary than me, wait I’m in the autism spectrum, what her’s excuse?

Than like trying to bring in the Obamas, actually I think perhaps gen x and millennials Africans Americans can explain it better

When I saw Chicago DNC clips…idk, to me it was like looking at a cult you were in. They were scared, the blacks are brainwashed to believe that Trump was going to give the KKK F22s. I mean I roll my eyes at my community

But fuck we are brainwashed to the plantation

Also the Obama thing…actually let think about when he came out

Remember it took 99 years after the 13 amendment for the civil rights act to happen. So for most blacks, a black president was a fantasy, where many blacks were told by their own teachers. There will never be a black president

Than 44 years after the civil rights act, a BLACK candidate who will when and be the first BLACK president with the first BLACK First Family in the White House?

AAAAAH DOPAMINE RUSH 9000!

I notice this with my late great grandmother who died a few years ago who had a picture of the Obama family…I mean…it was people like us in the White House not as slaves or servants, but as leaders of the free world

Than….the disillusion for many blacks began…the evil shit that happened under the Obama administration was known more. The fast and furious scandal…how shitty the economy was under him

Oh and Michelle Obama lunch programs, hmmm what slur I can use for her after the garbage I ate in school?

Than them reappearing out of nowhere for Kamala, where you two been? Wait wait Mr Obama chastising black men for openly showing more support for trump?

And he said something about how would Muslim Americans would live under trump…bitch you are called the Obomber, and if I remember correctly called the Butcher of places like Pakistan, Congo, etc?

Just because the wokies and media you aren’t part of the American military industrial complex, doesn’t mean the victims love ones haven’t forgotten

Obama came in just the right time for the asskissing (especially with the mess black America was in during the 80’s-90’s) he was seen as a beacon of hope, only to be a wolf in sheep clothing

Just shit man…sorry…just…so many elders in their 80’s-70’s was alive when it was passed to drink from the same fountain or get books from the library as their white counterparts

It kinda why I’m semi easy on elders(though I look up what theirs did to them) than many

But sometimes I want to go to progressives and say “Bitch back in the 50’s males my age couldn’t PISS in the same bathroom as whites!” So they probably struggle with that 180…than 360 society did

Also white liberals…Americans minorities been through superhells that wasn’t documented. A 2 term of trump will be okay

What is it with white libs after the election and learning about a huge chunk of minorities voted for trump? Kamala campaign fail, she talked to ACTIVE SOLDIERS IN THE FIELD like 5 years olds And have worse vocabulary than me, wait I’m in the autism spectrum, what her’s excuse?

Best guess is she thinks everyone else is too stupid to understand big words.

Than like trying to bring in the Obamas, actually I think perhaps gen x and millennials Africans Americans can explain it better

They were rock stars for some reason, ya for breaking barriers and all but let's actually look at accomplishments and all instead of riding into history on the back of 'first black president'

Identity politcs keeps on going the way it has been it's going to be a while till we get the next one because even on the left 'vote for me because I'm (insert identity here) isn't going to fly with the majority of people.

I have to wonder how many votes switched to the other side when they brought out the gender neutral prayer room. They did manage to dial up the fear mongering though.

Wonder how it would go if instead of scaring people with project 2025 bs they instead pointed out all the ways that the president lacks the authority to do the things in it.

You know like how when nancy said the president doesn't have the authority to forgive student debt and then went ahead and let him waste our money trying to do it anyway instead of pushing it through congress and getting that relief to the people stuck underneath that debt.

I do imagine that hits way different,

Oh and Michelle Obama lunch programs, hmmm what slur I can use for her after the garbage I ate in school?

They're trying to rehabilitate the image of those, was looking for some articles about it a few months ago and the old ones I used to have bookmarked are gone and most of what comes up now is glowing praise.

Than them reappearing out of nowhere for Kamala, where you two been? Wait wait Mr Obama chastising black men for openly showing more support for trump?

I liked how he tried to imply they were sexist for not voting for her the same way people implied that folks were racist for not voting for him, in some cases it might have been true, but that's the overwhelming minority of them I'd wager.

And he said something about how would Muslim Americans would live under trump…bitch you are called the Obomber, and if I remember correctly called the Butcher of places like Pakistan, Congo, etc?

They rolled the dice on who would be more likely to get a quick end to the gaza war that hamass started, likely because they also know that the bs barry and the other fearmongers brought up isn't something that's within his authority.

Also after I research that 2024 celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act being passed…I…I can’t help just look how we are basically on a fucking different planet to what my elders had to go through at my age in America Just shit man…sorry…just…so many elders in their 80’s-70’s was alive when it was passed to drink from the same fountain or get books from the library as their white counterparts

It's a shameful part of our history and a stain that will never be wiped clean, but from a global historical context we're moving at light speed when it comes to getting better, regardless of what some people might want to say.

It kinda why I’m semi easy on elders(though I look up what theirs did to them) than many But sometimes I want to go to progressives and say “Bitch back in the 50’s males my age couldn’t PISS in the same bathroom as whites!” So they probably struggle with that 180…than 360 society did

The 360 that was done in places that have openly called for a return to segregation and such has to have caused a few cases of whiplash in that community.

Create unlimited green energy by hooking up the bodies of deceased civil rights activists to generators so we can harness the power created by them spinning in their graves.

Also white liberals…Americans minorities been through superhells that wasn’t documented. A 2 term of trump will be okay

I wonder how many are fully aware of that but are just doing this to be performative about their opposition.

#zoomer huey anon

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crocusina · 2 months ago

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🙏Please donate a small amount that may save my father's life, only 37€ left to buy my father's treatment, his doctor's appointment is tomorrow, please do not ignore my message and do not hesitate to help me❤️‍🩹

Account No. 9 due to repeated deletion😭💔

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✅My campaign is verified by: @gaza-evacuation-funds

🙏

people in tumblr, i share with you this valuable info @aboodalqedra-9 shared with me. i hope it’s ok to share it publicly, more people need to know about this.

i also hope there’s much less censorship here than in tiktok (but i haven’t been here in a long time… so… we shall see…).

this tumblr account (my tumblr account) loves watermelons. ✨🍉🍉🍉🍉✨ long live watermelons all over the world! (if you know what i mean. 😉✨)

NO MORE VIOLENCE! NO MORE WAR! ✨ 🇲🇽 ❤️🖤🤍💚 🇵🇸 ✨

let me be clear: i do not support isnotreal’s government’s vile decisions and i do not support the us’ government’s cynical decisions. i do not support any government or person that is in favor of erasing other human beings (i don’t care what they think and feel about it—there’s no excuse). and, of course, i do not support zionism; it shouldn’t even exist. 😠😤😤😤

please, let’s help and support any country that is under unfair attack. congo, we haven’t forgotten about you! and we know there are more countries to mention. i repeat: no more violence! no more war! ✨✊✊✊✊

#watermelon #watermelons #olive #olives #palestine #free palestine #help #send help #let's go #send love #love

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eldergrim · 5 months ago

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@rjalker

I would like to put my two cents in on this conversation and point out just how wrong you are for what you insinuate, believe, and push. Now obviously, we do not know each other (and God willing we never shall). But from what I can tell by the way you respond to posts you are not a very nice person. You’re obviously a toxic Far-Left believer.

First off, not once did @somelonelywordmonger bring up the word minorities or even directly address minorities in general. Secondly, saying that they are a “white supremacist” is racial profiling. You do not know what they look like, you do not know who they are as a person. You sure like to talk out your ass about the greater good and unity if you’re turning around and racially profiling people.

I’ll be the first to say that I am caucasian. But I use my privilege to help others as much as I can. However in case you have forgotten there are other minorities beyond race, and I happen to fall into many of those. So my reach is not very great, but I help no matter what. Because that is what being a good human is.

Next lets touch on “You will be unequivocally supporting genocide if you vote blue no matter who in 2024.” Well…I’m waiting… Who will you vote for then? Trump? RFK Jr.? Or will you be dumb and just not vote. The majority of Democrats do not support the war on Palestine. I myself find any and all wars abhorrent. So when you say “...if you vote blue no matter who..” Who the hell are you talking about? Especially since the only Blue option IS Biden. Also I do call Biden Genocide Joe, and I do hate his guts but the reality we live in is that He wouldn’t make things worse in the US. Sure he is not really making them any better but who do we have to blame for that except the majority Republican offices. How about turning your extreme attention to reforming Trump Supporters, or Far-Right politics; instead of attacking someone who is on the same damn side as you.

That whole paragraph about you getting angry with “Democrats destroy us slower” is really not a nice light on you. Need I remind you who started the COVID19 debacle in the first place. Trump. As for the police, I am a staunch supporter of defunding the police and ACAB, but can we really put all the blame on a single president when this has been a systematically corrupt institution since its conception? As for Palestine, yes we can put full blame on Biden for that. And I encourage continuing to pressure the man about his mistakes while handling this crisis. But the world doesn’t revolve around Palestine. This is a critical moment in the US and if it is not handled with the thought and care is requires we are fucked. Honestly I’m surprised you didn’t bring up Ukraine, or Sudan, or Yemen, or the Congo, or literally any other country that is being silenced and slaughtered. You want to preach about standing up for what matters, how about you get your facts straight first.

Voting Blue is not voting for white supremacy. It’s voting to avoid democide or another Civil War. Life is messy, and there are times when you can’t avoid making hard decisions. But you seem to haven’t yet experienced or matured enough to realize this. So honestly next time you decide to bully someone on the internet just to preach about your “oh-so-great morals” do some more fucking research. Grim out.

It's shitty, it's terrible, it's outright awful. We have a choice but it isn't really a choice. And now, the best option for us is to stick to the liberal proverb, "Now is not the time." Our best option is to vote blue. Our best option is to maintain the fragile status quo. Hear me out. If we maintain the fragile status quo and then get Democrats into the positions on the Hill, we can turn our focus to more productive avenues. We rally together and strengthen our positions. We use what remains of our democracy and fight to get people like Jasmine Sherman (for instance) into positions of power. They need money, they need their voices amplified, and then we can stand a real chance of thwarting the two-party system. Democrats piss me off because a lot of them aren't truly representing what I feel, and I know it is the same for many of you. Republicans are worse because they would sooner see us locked up, dead, or worse, before making any meaningful contributions to our society. Biden is worrying me with his present struggles. But he's all we got right now to at least keep things teetering on the edge. We need to avoid plummeting, and voting for something other than Biden right now will increase the likelihood of us plummeting. But if we vote for Biden, we can double down on our efforts to swing our seesaw away from the edge of certain doom. Things like this take time, and I'm facing my own struggles, but if we all bring what we can to the table, we can surely make it work. I hate that I have to vote for Biden, that yet again, "blue is the choice," and so on. But it is all I can do right now to try and fight back against the destruction and total fascism that looms on the horizon. The red horizon. Please vote for Biden. Don't let the conservatives win. At least the Democrats are destroying us slower than the Republicans. The Democrats buy us time.

#angry ramblings of grim #taking down one extremist at a time #i don't often get angry on main or angry on the internet #but when i do #oh boy does it explode #i censored myself as much as i could #if i lose followers so be it #block me if you want #i literally could care less

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shobogan · 3 years ago

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So is HoXPoX, in fact, a Pox on comics

HAH

Much as I love a good/awful pun, I’d actually say overall no? Like, for certain characters, yes. (Moira X is very much not the Moira we once knew and it bugs the hell out of me, how Karima’s been written is a travesty, there are certain BIG character/relationship leaps that COULD make sense but just haven’t been elaborated on at all, etc.)

But! This is also coming after LITERAL DECADES of a trauma congo line for the X-Men and mutants in general, so giving them Any Kind of sanctuary and security - even if it’s flawed as hell - is frankly one hell of a breath of fresh air. It’s nice to finally have different kinds of stories for them, even if I don’t love all of them. We’re finally getting characters back who were killed for shock value and forgotten about. (There are so many dead mutant kids, dude. SO MANY. Except now I can say “were” and that’s neat!!)

So, overall, I’d actually call HOX/POX and the new status quo a net good. (Especially compared to how fucking awful the Uncanny run before it was.) Not every book’s a winner, but they never are. I’m glad we got things like X-Factor and Battle of the Atom even though Editorial screwed both over. I loved Hellions and I’m loving New Mutants. (Related: MADDIE IS BACK, HOLY SHIT.) I can’t wait for Orlando’s Marauders.

This is also the closest Jean/Logan/Scott has ever come to explicit canon and look, I have my priorities.

#x men #i have a lot of complicated feelings basically #hickman does that i guess he's like morrison that way

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reading-while-queer · 5 years ago

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Hi, I was wondering if you could recommend any LGBT fantasy that isn’t based in a highschool? Thanks

Hi! Thanks for sending in this question, I would be glad to!

Books I recommend: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Review) Ensemble cast of criminals pull off a heist in a magical original setting, during the rise of a fascist regime. YA.

With Roses in Their Hair by Ennis Bashe (Review) (Read Here) Lesbian retelling of Tam Lin in a fantasy/dystopian setting. Adult short story.

Peter Darling by Austin Chant (Review) A trans and gay reimagining of Peter Pan. Adult.

Quoria by Calhoun Crimin (Read Here) An early 20th century-inspired fantasy setting starring a con man-turned-detective who gets in way over his head solving magical crimes. YA appropriate.

Amberlough Dossier by Lara Elena Donnelly (Review) Speculative rather than strictly fantasy (it takes place in a non-magical original 30s-inspired setting), the series is about spies and revolutionaries facing the rise of fascism. Adult.

Heartwood ed. Joamette Gil (Review) A collection of non-binary comics from various authors, all with fae inspiration. YA appropriate.

Huntress by Malinda Lo (Review) Two girls must go on a journey to the city of the fairy queen to restore the balance of nature. YA.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (Review) A fantasy comic about a shapeshifter, and the villainous Lord Blackheart she works for. YA appropriate.

Taproot by Keezy Young (Review) A gardener who can see ghosts gets involved with something bigger when his ghost friends find themselves transported to a creepy forest on another plane of existence. YA appropriate.

Books I’m excited about (but haven’t read): Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (Goodreads) It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again. Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew… YA. (Blurb from Goodreads)

Stealing Thunder by Alina Boyden (Goodreads) By night, Razia Khan is one of the most sought-after dancing girls in the desert city of Bikampur. Later in the night, she is its most elusive thief. When Razia finds herself dancing for the maharaja's son, the handsome prince Arjun, she knows that she's playing with fire. As a trans girl, known as a hijra, she can never be a wife to any man, and as the former crown prince of the Sultanate of Nizam, she guards her identity carefully, lest her father's assassins find her. But in the dragon-riding prince of Bikampur, Razia sees not just a ticket out of the gutter, but a kindred spirit. (Quoted from NoveList)

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta (Goodreads) When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. YA. (Quoted from Goodreads)

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (Goodreads) Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden. YA. (Quoted from Goodreads)

Pet by Akweke Emezi (Goodreads) In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam's mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster. YA. (quoted from NoveList)

Spellhacker by M.K. England (Goodreads) Magic was a natural resource until a corporation used a magical earthquake as an excuse to make magic a controlled substance - and an outrageously expensive one. Diz and her friends run an illegal magic-siphoning operation, and are about to pull their last heist. YA. (Paraphrased from Goodreads)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (Goodreads) A mix of fantasy and African history and myth. Tracker is sent to track down a boy who disappeared three years ago, and must break his rule of working alone, joined by a shapeshifting man/leopard, and other strange characters. Adult. (paraphrased from Goodreads).

The City We Became by N. K. Jemison (Goodreads) An evil stirs in the underbelly of NYC, threatening to destroy the city and her 6 avatars. Adult. (paraphrased from NoveList)

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (Goodreads) Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. Adult. (Quoted from Goodreads)

Ash by Malinda Lo (Goodreads) In this variation on the Cinderella story, Ash grows up believing in the fairy realm that the king and his philosophers have sought to suppress, until one day she must choose between a handsome fairy cursed to love her and the King's Huntress whom she loves. YA. (Quoted from NoveList)

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan (Goodreads) Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire. YA. (Quoted from Goodreads)

Shark by Kevaughn Ryder (Goodreads) Silver Shark, youngest of the royal family of Near Shallows, has been having strange dreams for many nights. He barely remembers them, except for a handsome man with a beautiful smile.On his first trip to the surface, Shark is horrified to discover that the man is human; a creature feared and hated by those of his underwater kingdom. In his confusion, Shark commits unspeakable treachery: he saves this human from drowning. Age range unknown. (Quoted from Ryderworlds.wordpress.com)

Everfair by Nisi Shawl (Goodreads) Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated. Adult. (Blurb from Goodreads).

The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith (Goodreads) After a terrible political coup usurps their noble house, Hawke and Grayson flee to stay alive and assume new identities, Hanna and Grayce. Desperation and chance lead them to the Communion of Blue, an order of magical women who spin the threads of reality to their will. Middle Grade. (Quoted from Goodreads)

The Deep by Rivers Solomon (Goodreads) Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu. Adult. (Quoted from Goodreads)

Crier's War by Nina Varela (Goodreads) After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, Designed to be the playthings of royals, took over the estates of their owners and bent the human race to their will. YA. (Quoted from Goodreads)

A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson (Goodreads) After meeting a handsome Dalucan soldier, Aqib bmg Sadiqi, a fourth cousin to the royal family and son of the Master of Beasts, struggles with his family's expectations and the love he feels for Lucrio. Adult. (Blurb from NoveList).

#asks only #miscalculated-obsessions #fantasy

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themagicalmysticalboy · 5 years ago

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Could you do an angsty/fluff of Paul trying to win George back after cheating on him?

You Can’t Do That

a/n: I sprinkled in a couple lines from You Can’t Do That bc it’s the perfect song for this.

pairing: George Harrison x Paul McCartney

setting: late 50’s or early 60’s

warnings: none

The club was filled to the brim with jostling bodies by the time the set was finished. Paul had been trying-- really his best considering the amount of alcohol he had consumed between songs-- to follow behind everyone in their usually Congo line to the dressing room. But hands upon hands had pulled his away from where they were once secured on George’s shoulders.

Laughing off the tugging and pulling, he tried to return to his mates but stopped at a suddenly familiar voice. “Hey there, stranger.”

He twisted around in the bustling crowd to find a girl who was all too memorable smiling at him. Kate was her name. Yeah, pretty, pretty Kate that came and talked to him and him alone almost every night they performed. George had taken notice of the girl's special interest in Paul and Paul’s playing into it, which resulted in the two butting heads.

“I’m not trying to shag her!” Paul had remembered yelling at one point in their last argument.

“You can’t do that, Paulie! You can’t stand here and lie to me fucking face,” George had been yelling louder and louder until Paul just kissed him. Kissed away the argument until it was all but forgotten in the pursuit of passion and lust. Because he did want to shag the girl and he hated himself for it. He could not justify within himself how he could love George so much and still have this urge to do something that could hurt him so much more.

Deep down, he knew he craved more physical contact but still had no idea how to ask of it from George. Girls were easier. They offered to cuddle first. They offered to kiss first a lot of the time too. With George, he seemed to be doing all the asking and offering and it didn’t sit right. Girls were comfortable. Girls were familiar. But they weren’t George-- Paul’s definition of unfamiliar and uncertainty.

But those complex thoughts about complex feelings were out the window when Kate stood in front of him with her perfectly curled locks and soft angle face. “Hi,” Paul finally replied with a hesitant chuckle.

“Do you want to talk outside? You’re sweating like mad in this heat.” She had to yell over the new band playing, leaning in close to his ear. Her hot breath sent a shiver down his spine and he gulped down the feeling before nodding.

With that simple nod, she took his hand and led him away- farther and farther from his mates- from his boy. The boy he should be with instead. But he couldn't think about George over the blaring music and the ghost of Kate’s breath still on his ear.

It all happened in a whirlwind. They were outside and the fresh air was cooling Paul’s sweat gleaned skin and then he was against the brick wall right outside the club's doors and Kate’s lips were all over his. His brain shut down and he was kissing her back, beginning to lead her into the small alleyway with almost no parting of their lips. Once secluded, Kate became more frantic in her kiss and touch, hands wandering all over to tug at fabric. After untucking his shirt, her hands planted on his chest, her nails lightly digging at the skin until Paul moaned into the kiss. Arousal swarmed in his stomach and he opened his eyes to find it die immediately.

It was all too real and all too wrong. He realized with a stab of guilt that he wanted to see George when he opened his eyes. Kate was soft and sweet as honey but nothing like the cutting beauty of his George. The boy he had been dating for almost six months was what he wanted. It was so stupidly obvious.

He pulled Kate away, panting and trying to clear his fogged mind as her smile began to fade. “I-I’m sorry. I can’t be-“ Paul’s eyes darting down the alley just to keep from having to look at Kate but he quickly found George stood at the entrance, the backlighting of streetlights hiding his face. “George?” But Paul could have sworn he saw a tear streaming down the lad's face as he turned to run. “Wait!”

With a curse and a rushed apology to Kate, he took off after George. Sobriety began to take hold as he ran down the street, seeing George only a few paces ahead. The quiff of dark hair showed just above the crowds that they ran through until Paul had lost sight of George altogether. He slowed to a jog, eyes searching down every alley and head peeking around to every bus stop shelter. But he had no luck. George had disappeared into the night.

Fear began to rush through Paul at the thought of George alone somewhere this late at night. They admittedly weren’t in the safest part of town. Stabbings for just a couple bobs weren’t unheard of, especially as the docks came closer. That’s where the real Teddy Boys were, not the ones that boys his age pretended to be at school. Real Teddy Boys had knives and hand axes and had no qualms using them.

He ran faster and faster as horrid scenarios filled his head until his lungs couldn't bear it and he was doubled over a metal railing, heaving in air as he stared at the water below. The dark water churned and swirled in the channel, — so loud with the docks this empty— splashing up the side of the dock with only the scent of the water reaching Paul. He let himself be soothed by the movement of the water, his breathing slowing to something resembling normal.

With one last deep breath, he pulled himself up, ready to continue his search for George. He didn’t have to look far. As he turned around, he came face to face with the lad, whose face was red and whose jaw was set with a stern rigidity. He crossed his arms over his puffed chest and looked ready to murder Paul. But Paul could see the rim of red around his eyes in the glow of the street light. He might be mad but he was really sad, first and foremost. And it was all Macca’s fault.

“Stop following me, bastard.”

Paul wanted to point out the hypocrisy in George waiting here to tell him that but decided it wasn't the best time. “I was worried, Geo. Can get mugged through here if you aren’t careful.”

“Aye, worried. If that was so you wouldn’t be snogging-“ He suddenly thrust his hands forward, knocking Paul into the railing. Paul braced himself. “Some bird like I’m fucking nothing!” His voice broke into a sob.

“Listen, love-“

“Don’t fucking call me that!” He pushed at Paul’s chest again and Paul let him, keeping his hands on the railing and head hung low.

“It was stupid- I was stupid...”

“You’re right there.” George crossed his arms again. He raised his brows expectantly. “What’s your excuse then? What’s keeping me from leaving you flat? Or should I leave now and spare myself your idiocy?”

Pulling in a shaky breath, Paul tried on his gentlest voice. “I’ve got no excuse because what I did is inexcusable.” Paul looked to Geo with pleading eyes. George huffed and began to turn away but Paulie caught his arm. “Geo please!”

Pulling his arm away, he shouted, “Don’t touch me! You won't be kissing this away.”

“Just hear me out and after that, you can leave me to rot if you’d like. That alright?”

“Aye. Leaving you to rot sounds just gear.”

Paul sighed, running a hand down his face. “I thought I wanted that bird and it was tearing me up inside because I know I love you, with all my heart. I was confused and stupid and she started kissing on me and I still thought it was what I wanted but when she touched me I wanted it to be you, George! I opened my eyes to find her and I knew it wasn't what I wanted. I just wanted you!”

“I haven’t been anywhere, Macca. I’ve been by your side the whole time. You’ve always had me.” George’s angry demeanor was breaking down as he worried at his bottom lip, his hands moving up and down his shoulders.

“I know, love. It’s all my fault that I didn’t just talk to you and tell you I wanted more... more of the physical stuff, y’know? But I was scared- scared if I told you how I felt I'd lose you because I didn’t even understand what was going through my head. This is just so new and all still. I don’t- I don’t know what to do half the time.”

George was quiet, his eyes on the ground as he swayed ever so slightly on the spot. The anticipation was eating Paul alive until he just wanted to disappear into the water and never emerge again. But then George was on him, his arms wrapped tightly around Macca’s back. Paul wasted no time in burying his nose into the crook of his mate's neck.

“Don’t think you’ll get off so easy next time,” George spoke into his hair, sending a comforting buzz through his body.

“There won't ever be a next time.”

#the beatles #paul mccartney #George Harrison #mcharrison #the beatles fanfiction #the beatles one shot #ask request #angst #fluff

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yandereshit · 5 years ago

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"See, I've stalked you for some time before snatching you up!" or "I usually like to get to know my victims a little before I kill them." for Izaya Orihara please! I figured they fit him perfectly and I'm in such a dark mood so I'm down for whatever you want to throw at me! I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶s̶e̶ ̶p̶s̶y̶c̶h̶o̶l̶o̶g̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶o̶r̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶~̶

FYI I have NO CLUE how long has this been lying in my drafts but I noticed it like now oasihfoiasdhoias

Izaya Orihara x Reader: relatively innocent.

Warnings: mentions of death, mind games, torture.

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙

A simple, textile bag had been torn off your head, and your sight finally returned, giving you a very short-living sense of relief.

Your wrists were tied tightly behind your back, and you were sat on some sort of chair. Your head was still dizzy as you moved, trying to get a hold of your surroundings and the situation you found yourself in. The room was dark, with only two bulbs to allow you to see anything, yet their light being not strong enough to let you make out the exact contours of the room.

Undoubtedly, you weren’t in the room alone. On the wooden chair opposite of yours, a silhouette sat, holding the bag and staring forward at your terrified self, not bothered much by the tears that showed themselves on your face, having flowed down your cheeks sometime ago and then dried out. Maybe if the lighting was better, he could actually see them clearly. But your quiet sobs were enough of a proof, and your face didn’t have to be visible for anyone to know what state you were in.

You wondered about his own face, but it was too dark for you to make out anything specific. But the man didn’t seem to want you to memorize him, and you had a feeling that it’d be safer for you if you didn’t.

Once your sobs calmed down a little, his voice echoed in the room, making you almost jump when it rung out of blue, after such a long silence you’ve been stuck in.

“I suppose you’re good enough to talk now” he announced. He was smiling, that much you could tell from his tone alone, his white teeth only slightly visible, giving you a brief image of how he grinned.

“What do you want from me?” you snapped, but your voice betrayed you, clearly trembling through the whole sentence.

A short silence fell upon the two of you, and as soon as the man spoke again, you wished he never did.

“I usually like to get to know my victims a little before I kill them.”

You could swear your heart stopped beating for a second, and you stared dumbly at the other, waiting for him to continue, to explain what exactly he meant, clearly still not believing in such words, because how could you - it sounded too simple, too straightforward to be true, didn’t it?

It didn’t.

As your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you were starting to make out the contours of your surroundings, and your kidnapper’s wicked smile was one of them.

What kind of psychopath was he…? What did he want to do with you? Just why, out of so many young women or people in general living in the crowded city of Tokyo, you were the one who’d been chosen by this man, a complete stranger you’ve never seen or heard of, even after having been raised in the comfort of knowing Japan as the safest place to live on the earth?

“Who are you…?” you finally uttered, your voice weak, still disbelieving, still unable to proceed what was happening.

“Me?” The man seemed genuinely surprised with your question. “I assure you it’s meaningless right now. I’m no one you should be concerned about. For your information, I’m not your enemy. You’ve never done anything to me or anyone I know. So don’t try to make up any reasons, because there’s really none.”

Out of all the people in this forsaken city, you were the one who fell victim to this man. No reason, just… lack of luck, it seemed.

Yet, how could you just accept it? It was your own life that was on line here, and the perspective of losing it out of a mere accident was not what you’ve aimed for ever in your lifespan.

A quiet, frustrated sob escaped your throat.

“W-what do you want?” you asked again. “W-why would you… want to…” The words wouldn’t go through your throat, their weight - suffocating.

Not waiting for you to finish, the man shrugged, unbothered.

“Absolutely no reason. I just thought, why not? I can kill someone without getting caught, so why not do it? Oh, look, there’s that girl passing by. Wonder what she’s up to. Wonder how she’ll react if I take her, will she be scared? She sure will. Will she start yelling at me? Screaming for help? Beg for her life? Try to bargain me in some way? I was just so, so curious about her.”

His words wouldn’t make any sense in your head. Just what kind of person does that? Just what kind of person is he? Even criminals have their reasons. But this one? He seems to not have any greater purpose, other than his own twisted thoughts or desires.

“F-fine!” you exclaimed in a shaky voice. “Just kill me, then!” you yelled, more of emotions than any sort of actual wish.

“So quickly? Come on, we still have so much time. At least I do, I’m not hurrying anywhere. Seriously though, I haven’t even hurt you yet, and you’re already begging to be killed?”

“Just tell me what the fuck you want from me!”

A short silence fell upon you two, the air filled with your emotions, so strong and vivid, your fear mixed with anger, impatience and annoyance. You were like a wild animal caught in snares, still dangerous to whoever would want to set you free.

In the meantime though, the man seemed terrifyingly calm and composed. He crossed his legs elegantly, observing you with a small, polite smile on his face, completely unbothered with your rage, as if you were nothing but a random show on TV, unable to harm him in any way, and meant to be only watched until its end, and then probably forgotten.

“Let’s play a game” he suddenly spoke, smiling politely. You tried to, but couldn’t make out any more of his face features, and you came to a conclusion he just really didn’t want you to be able to see him well. Maybe you could recognize him if you did? Yet, he seemed unfamiliar. The aura he gave was nothing you’d recall, yet, along with lack of opportunity to see him whole, it added to the terror and uneasiness he caused in you, your primal instincts just screaming to run away from him - as if you could.

“What game?” you decided to ask, although your voice was quiet and weak at this point.

“Well, I’m going to ask you three questions. If you answer all of them, I’ll release you. If not - I’ll kill you. Any questions?”

“You’re insane.”

“It’s not a question, it’s a statement.”

“A pretty fucking accurate one” you snapped.

The man burst into laughter, pretty much confirming to you what you just said. But he didn’t seem bothered, instead continuing his previous monologue.

“Okay then, seems like you’re ready. Don’t worry, there’s no time limit, you can take as much as you need to reply.” He cleared his throat, switching his position a little to get more comfortable. You stared at him uneasily, focusing as much as you could on whatever he’d have to say. “First question! Who’s the prime minister of Japan?”

Was that it? It sounded simple. The name instantly appeared in your head, but then you thought - what if it’s wrong? Your life was on the line, you couldn’t afford yourself to be mistaken. Could you just trust your instinct? Maybe you should think more about it?

“Come on, this one’s easy, everyone knows it” the man said, laughing in a manner that could go as genuine if not the circumstances it was done in.

“Shinzo… Abe?” you answered, the end of the reply hitching in question though, as if you weren’t sure of your own words.

“You see? It was a simple one! I made it easier for you on purpose, so that you wouldn’t feel too scared. Hope it worked!” He smiled widely. “Second question. Who am I?”

Your breath got stuck in your throat for a few seconds, and there was a tense silence, the one you forced yourself to break a moment later.

“H-how am I supposed to know that?! You said it yourself, we’ve never met before! How can I answer your question?!”

You could have predicted that. The first question was too easy, to give you a false impression that he’d really go easy on you. But he wouldn’t, he never planned to, the questions he picked weren’t the ones you were supposed to know the answer to.

An unwitting sob escaped your throat, and tears streamed down your face once again.

“I-I don’t know…”

“Should I take it as, you give up?” the man asked, his face twisting in displeasure.

“…No…” you added quietly. You couldn’t give up your life, you were sure of that. You fixated your eyes on the floor, biting on your lip. “…My kidnapper. That’s whom you are to me” you finally announced, dreading for his reaction, yet fully aware that there’s nothing else you can say now. It was the only thing you knew. And it was…

“…Correct.” Said kidnapper chuckled, tilting his head. “You’re definitely correct here. I won’t break my own rules, will I? I didn’t specify what kind of information I demand from you. You’re correct.”

Your eyes blurred with tears and your breath got heavy. For a few moments, no sounds would reach you, but you couldn’t tell if the man was saying anything, you felt like your consciousness slipped away for these few brief moments, the rush of adrenaline, stress and anxiety making you pass out for seconds.

When you came back to your senses, everything was right as you remembered it. The man sat in front of you, observing you calmly, patiently waiting for you to be able to proceed. And once he was sure you were listening to him again, he also spoke.

“Last question. We’re almost there, you see? Only one question, and we’ll know what happens to you. Ready?” You sluggishly nodded your head, to which the man grinned. “So, what’s the length of Congo River?”

“What…?”

It took you a few moments of complete bewilderment, during which you only stared forward, absolutely dumbfounded.

The length of some river you recognized as African sounded like common knowledge. Probably more people knew of Congo River’s existence than they knew the name of Japan’s Prime Minister.

Yet, you didn’t know the answer. Your mind went wild, and you thought vividly of all the possible comparisons you could find. But you couldn’t even place the river anywhere on the map to even compare the lengths, and was it a long river? It had to be, since you’ve heard of it. What was the longest river in the world? How long was it? You surely had to be told it before, during geography classes. The longest river in the world… Around… eight thousands of kilometers? Did it make sense? It sounded like it did. Or maybe not… Five? Five, it had to be five.

Congo River had to be shorter, but how much? You had no clue. It wasn’t that known, the difference had to be meaningful. Half of the longest river? More? Less? Maybe less. Two thousands? He definitely didn’t expect you to know the exact number, but maybe you were remotely right?

And maybe no matter what you said, he wouldn’t let you go, anyway?

“T-two thousands kilometers” you finally voiced, staring at him intensely, waiting for him to either confirm your words or to bury your last hopes for freedom.

The man took out his phone, and the light for a short time highlighted his features, but then he turned down the brightness and you were left in almost the same darkness as before.

After a few seconds, he spoke.

“The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km.”

The breath escaped you and your head fell forwards, sobs wrecking your body and your head aching, your heart beating so fast you felt like you would die from a heart attack before the man would finally end your sufferings.

Without hurry, he stood up. You didn’t dare to return his gaze, but in the corner of your eye, you saw him pull out a small knife. Your heart only beated faster as he approached you, and then stood behind you, disappearing from the range of your sight. But maybe it was for the better, you thought. Maybe it was better you didn’t have to see him.

Would he make it fast? As painless as possible? If he sliced your throat, the agony would only last a few minutes, before your body would go completely numb from the bloodloss. Maybe it’d be worse if he cut through your windpipes, you wouldn’t be able to breathe, but wouldn’t it make it last even shorter? You hoped it would. You didn’t want to die in agony, but the shorter it lasted, the better.

What was afterlife like?

“Here.”

You heard a sound behind yourself, and soon enough, you felt the blood rush back into your hands, the rope that kept you tied to the chair falling to the ground, leaving you confused and dumbfounded.

You panted in a newfound sense of panic. Would he take you somewhere else? Make you suffer in another way? Take his time bringing you to your promised death?

“The door’s on your left” the man announced, his voice echoing in your ears for how close he was to you, standing right behind you, way too close for your comfort, if there was any of it left.

“W-what…?”

“Just go, I suppose you have other plans for today” he shrugged, pushing the blade back to his pocket and going in the door’s direction himself, as if completely uninterested in whatever you’d do.

“B-but why…”

His frame shook in a silent laughter as he stood by the door, barely visible, but apparently ready to leave the room, to - finally - leave you alone.

“The game’s rules said, I’ll release you if you answer all the three questions. You did it, hence why you’re free. I never specified I want the answers to be correct, though.”

The light of the outside world blinded you for a few seconds when the man opened the door, stepping into the outside world. The door never closed though, and you were positive by now, that it wouldn’t.

And it was never supposed to, because for all Izaya Orihara was, he definitely wasn’t a killer. A kidnapper - yes, but a relatively innocent one.

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙

#izaya #orihara #durarara #izaya orihara imagine #izaya x reader #prompt #fanfiction #kanra #nakura #have u ever realized that kanra is nakura but like with the order of letters changed?#i was shook when i noticed #like these two years ago

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justmelagain · 4 years ago

Text

Copied and pasted and 100% ACCURATE!🤣🤣 It’s looong but SO GOOD...

Dear Diary 2020 Edition, In ❄️ January, 🔥 Australia caught on fire. I don’t even know if that fire was put out, because we straight up almost went to war with Iran 🇮🇷 . We might actually still be almost at war with them 🤔. I don’t know, because 👩 Jen Aniston and 👨🏻 Brad Pitt spoke to one another at an awards 🏆 show and everyone flipped the crap out 😲, but then there was this thing happening in 🦇 🇨🇳 China, then 👑 Prince Harry and Megan ✌🏼 peaced out of the Royal family, and there was the whole impeachment trial 👩‍⚖️ , and then corona virus 🦠 showed up in the US ✔️“officially,” but then 🏀 Kobe died 😭and UK 🇬🇧 peaced out of the European Union.

In February, 🌽 Iowa crapped 💩 itself with the caucus results and the president was acquitted and the 👩🏼‍💼Speaker of the House took ten. Whole. years. to rip up a speech , but then The👨‍🔬 🌎WHO decided to give this virus a name COVID-19, which confused 🤔some really important people 👔 in charge of, like, our lives, into thinking there were 18 other versions before it, but then Harvey Weinstein was found guilty👨🏻‍⚖️, and 🇺🇸 Americans started asking if Corona beer 🍺 was safe to drink🤦🏻‍♀️, and everyone on Facebook became a doctor 👨‍⚕️ who just knew the 🤒flu like killed way more people than COVID 1 through 18.

In March, stuff hit the fan👿. Warren dropped out of the presidential race and Sanders was like Bernie or bust 💥, but then Italy 🇮🇹 shut its whole country down 🚷, and then COVID Not 1 through 18 officially become what everyone already realized, a 😱pandemic and then a nationwide state of emergency 🆘was declared in US 🇺🇸 , but it didn’t really change anything, so everyone was confused or thought it was still just a flu 💁🏻‍♀️, but then COVID Not 18 was like ya’ll not taking me seriously? 💡 I’m gonna infect the one celebrity everyone loves and totally infected Tom Hanks👨🏻, get y’all to close all of the schools so y’all can 🙏🏼 appreciate teachers 👩‍🏫 for once (because you can’t teach them anything other than how to use a touch screen🤦🏻‍♀️ ) close down all of salons so you can’t get your ��‍♂️ hair or your nails done💅 , everyone had to work from home and attend Zoom meetings in their underwear. The 📉 DOW took a crap 💩 on itself, and most of us still don’t understand why the stock market is so important or even a thing 🤔 (I still don’t), We were then all introduced to 🐅 Tiger King and the ONE thing we can all agree on this year , 👍🏼Carol totally killed her husband⚰️ ..... whacked him! And then Netflix was like you’re welcome, and we all realized there was no way we were washing our hands enough in the first place because all of our hands are now dry and gross and were all searching for lotion now.

In 🌧 April, Bernie finally busted✌🏼 himself out of the presidential race 🏃 , but then NYC 🗽became the set of The Walking Dead 💀 and we learned that no one has face masks 😷, ventilators, or toilet paper, or THE FREAKING SWIFFER WET JET LIQUID , and by now our 🦁outgrowth is showing, so there’s a shortage on 📦 box hair dye and all of our hair dressers are like , 😱 NO DONT DO IT!!! But, then Kim Jong-Un died, but then he came back to life … or did he? Who knows, because then the Pentagon released 🎥 videos of UFOs and nobody cared, and we were like man, it’s only April….

In 💐 May, the biblical end times kicked off , historical locust swarms, we learned of murder hornets 🐝 and realized that 2020 was the start of the Hunger Games🙈 however people forgot to let us know. people legit started to protest lockdown measures with 🔫 AR-15s, 🏀⚾️sports events were cancelled everywhere. But then people all over America finally reached a breaking point with race issues and violence. There were 🗣protests in every city🌃 ,which was confusing to some of us because people were definitely gathering in 👫crowds of more than 🖐🏼🤚🏼10 and for sure closer than 6 foot away ⬅️➡️from each other . Those people must have forgotten about the 😖pandemic called COVID Not One Through 18. Media 📺 🗞 struggled with how to 🤬focus on two important things at once, people in general struggle to focus on more than one important thing. A dead whale 🐋 was found in the middle of the Amazon rain forest 🌳 after monkeys 🐒 stole COVID 1 Through 19 from a lab 🔬 and ran off with them, and either in May or April (no one is keeping track of time now) that a giant asteroid ☄️ narrowly missed the Earth🌍.

In ☀️ June, science and common sense just got thrown 🤾🏼 straight out the window and somehow 😷 wearing masks became a 🏛political thing, but then everyone sort of remembered there was a pandemic, but then decided that not wearing a mask was somehow a ✝️God given right (still haven't found that part in the bible or even in the constitution). then 👨‍🔬scientists announced they found a mysterious undiscovered mass at the center of the earth, and everyone was like 🙅🏽‍♂️🙅��‍♀️🚧DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH IT, but then everyone took a pause to realize that people actually believed Gone With The Wind 💨 was like non-fiction, but then it was also announced that there is a strange 🛰radio signal coming from somewhere in the universe 🌌 that repeats itself every so many days 🗓 , and everyone was like 👽 DON’T YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE WITH IT‼️🚫 but then America reopened 🙌🏼from the shut down that actually wasn’t even a shut down, and so far, things have gone spectacularly .... not that great 👎🏼. All of the Karen’s came out at once, and people started tearing down 🔨 statues. Everyone is on Facebook arguing 🤼‍♀️ that masks kill because no one knows how breathing works 👃🏼, but then Florida 🏖 was like hold my beer 🍺 and let me show you how we’re number one 🥇 in all things, including new Not Corona Beer Coronavirus. Trump 👱🏻‍♂️decides now is a good time to ask the Supreme Court 🏛 to shut down ❌Obama Care because what better time to do so than in the middle of a pandemic 💁🏻‍♀️ , but then we learned there was a massive dust cloud ☁️ coming straight at us 📍from the Sahara Desert 🐫 , which is totally normal, but this is 2020, so the 👻 ghost mummy thing is most likely in that dust cloud. We then 📚 learned of meth-gators 🐊 , and I'm like that is so not on my flipping 2020 Bingo card 😡 can we use it as the free space?? 🤷🏻 Then we learned that the Congo's worst ever Ebola 🚨 outbreak is over 😓, and we were all like, there was an Ebola outbreak that was the worse ever? 👀 ....... and don’t forget we just discovered FLYING SNAKES! 🐍, seriously! FLYING SNAKES!!!!

So here comes July…. at this point we are over it , just tell us what’s next .... 👽 Aliens? 🔱Zeus? ☄️ Asteroids? Artificial Intelligence becomes self aware? Can it just be something cool 😎 or fun for once? Maybe even a good laugh , like hahaha 😂 April Fools! We all actually wouldn’t mind that joke at this point.

I have no idea who wrote this.

Also, why didn't I know about the whale in the Amazon? Or a few other things because I just can’t keep up anymore!

But I’m sharing it because as long as we make it through 2020, I really want this to pop back up in the memories a few years from now.

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plunder-heaven-and-devour-god · 6 years ago

Text

I harped on what made Notre Dame De Paris a great novel and definitely worthy of its longevity. But now I need to rip it to shreds because sometimes cultural and historical relativism can fuck itself. I need to have this discussion with the void.

I have 206 bones to pick with Hugo and his bullshit.

Don't come at me with your bullshit 1800s enlightened poet’s soul with pretenses of progressivism. Your 15th century sexism is just 19th century misogyny is period attire. The racism is ABHORRENT. Like, I'm not an idiot. Medieval cities like London and Paris were FRAUGHT with people of color, not just the Romani who are so gruesomely marginalized in real life but also in the book. There were "Moors" and many people of the Arab world who passed through Paris. They held rights, they held positions of power and they held positions of servitude equally.

Hugo's era reeks of the eugenics employed to wipe out cultures, skin colors, and ethnic physical features. From the Belgian Congo to the north American destruction of its first Nations cultures there is so much of that coloring Hugo's work. Not to go into it too much but the racism is a different flavour in the 19th century and that’s what you taste reading this book. It’s not the racism that we know today.

Here is what shocked me to my core. I had to stop the book and put my head in my hands.

Quasimodo is black.

And I don't mean the strange colloquialism of a "black countenance or a black attitude" that Romantic writers like to use to mean a dark figure. Neither do I mean the terms old literature uses to call a white person ugly with ethnic features.

I mean fully black. Hugo's 19th century racism in 15th century clothing rears its head. They call him an ape, a contorted construction of the Orient, he describes his black back while being whipped like an animal. When Esmeralda gives Quasimodo water to drink Hugo describes the water falling slack from his surprised and big black lips. His visage and body are ugly because they are black.

Yes there are layers to this, there is the perceived xenophobia, paranoia, and racism of the 15th century but there is also Hugo's which comes after slavery, after the rise of capitalism, after the racism that started with Europe's quest to dehumanize whole ethnicities to justify a global market. You can't sympathize with what isn't human, and that is the motive behind any dismissal of race, gender, etc.

I say this because the racism of the 15th Century is different than how Hugo imagines it. And that is what adds that layer of incredulity to my reading of the text.

Quasimodo is black. Idris Elba taking the role is FINALLY ONE THAT WILL BE ACCURATE. And what's more is that we have recontextualised the story in order to make Quasimodo a sympathetic hero so I'm glad that we call all collectively destroy this image of ugly=black. We can have a narrative that puts black at the forefront of marginalization and mistreatment.

But the Romani, oh my god. They are so persecuted by the fictional parisians and the parisian who writes about them, and the audience that did not want to sympathize as human.

There is, I swear to God, one of the longest chapters about these three women who talk about how this "village whore" had a beautiful daughter and she was supposedly "stolen" by "gypsies". The mother went mad and is later found in what is essentially a public oubliette. She's a pitiable recluse, a feral disgusting husk of limbs. There is SO MUCH TO UNPACK. Apparently her baby was replaced with a disgusting "black/brown gypsy" child who almost killed the mother upon seeing it. We find out later its Quasimodo.

This recluse screams abuse at Esmeralda who passes by just as we are about to witness the famous scene of her feeding Quasimodo water upon the pillory. But yet when one of the women's children shows up this recluse and childless mother has a breakdown. We are supposed to feel bad for her. Hugo does nothing to devillify the Romani people, we are supposed to feel sympathy for this childless mother who has become feral in this public oubliette; she was driven mad by gypsies, the gypsies are evil look at what they did to this not so innocent woman.

All I could think was "you should die in that hole too." PERISH.

We are supposed to sympathize with the White Parisian Power Structure which does indeed think itself superior to the Romani. We are supposed to think this recluse woman has a point, we are supposed to look upon the Romani with revolt in them and think: EW I KNOW RIGHT. But we don’t, not today, we think: what an awful caricature.

To his credit. Hugo does a good job of showing us the fickleness of public sympathy, the parision mob screams for blood and laughs like the Roman mobs in coliseums. I get that. The woman, like many characters are multi faceted, neither good nor bad to a 19th century audience.

Not to mention the Court of Miracles and all the "dark skin personnages" who populate it are done such a crime to them.

Hugo is OBSESSED WITH WHITE BEAUTY. White swan necks, pale hands, rosy feet, white virginal bossoms. He, like every single gly fucking Westerner in yesteryear and today that prizes near a aryan level of beauty. I'll go into this more but Esmerelda is not actually Romani, she's apparently got that "attractive skin that Roman women or andelusians have" and I'm paraphrasing but apparently a slight olive sun tan was a stratification of skin color too fucking dark for Hugo. And as a woman who is often not dark enough to be indian and not white enough to white I find this SO CONDESCENDING AND SO AWFUL TO WOCs.

I can't tell you how many times he trivialises their poverty, their tricks, their mysticism when in reality they are an excommunicated people by the pope. They cannot go anywhere and are not allowed to make a living. There's a reason that Diederle's 1939 version took an anti-fascist position to this opinion and MARGINALLY cracked open some sympathy for the Romanis. He was fleeing the Germans, and according to Lindsay Ellis his film was the only film shown at Cannes that year, a festival created against Naziism. The terms, stereotypes, abuse, and ugly caricatures of the Romani (sometimes called Egyptians, lepers, Jews, blacks, Moors) have literally not changed in centuries, I wouldn't even say after the Holocaust. One can see why this film was used to such a great affect against Faciism, all the terms and abuses which are identical in many places are showcased here.

It's frustrating because some people imply that : "well that's the point, the people in the book are bigoted, unsympathetic, and awful, and that's really how it was in 15th century Paris". To the latter I say no and I've explained why it may be true on a case by case basis. But it’s really REALLY NOT historically accurate and Hugo CLASSIFIES THIS HIMSELF IN THE BOOK AS A HISTORICAL FICITON. And to the former I also say: that's not the point.

Hugo's narration is not just a third person narrator, he refers to himself, asks the reader to permit him things or moments, he clearly sports opinions of art, architecture, the abject deplorability of living in medieval squalor, the ugliness or stupidity of one or another. He is very clearly a character in the book, one that has to differentiate his stance from other characters. His voice, his narration does nothing to exonerate or make a moral statement out of his foes and heros. Which is strange because his self insert character puts on a morality play at the beginning staring the marriage of "commerce and agriculture" and "clerical with noble". Basically Capitalism and Catholicism. He even calls it not very good afterwards. Hugo is a famous playwright. He is occupied with his moral plays and questions. He has Les Miserables to show his support, and exoneration for the people of Paris.

The difference is that he is tackling marginalized people's, people of color, disabled people of color, monstrous people of color, women of color, persecuted and excommunicated people's, pedophilia (yeah I'll get to this.) And he's a white guy. He really isn’t the man who should be writing this.

He venerates the building of Notre Dame which is a beautiful chapter in the book yes. But it is made of stone it cannot feel, it cannot feel the years of mutilation it experience so says Hugo.

The LAST LINE of the 1939 version is Quasimodo looking upon the happy crowd after saving Esmeralda, she goes into the sunset. He is left bereft, alone, still ugly, still forgotten by the narrative. He clutches a gargoyle and says: “Why was I not made of stone like these.” We are at a place in our society that values the individual enough to realise that the Cathedral doesn’t have any FUCKING FEELINGS. Quasimodo does!

Moreover, if the printing press killed architecture as a register human history, it means we get a fundamental shift from

Cathedral important to------>2)Characters are important

Which incidentally, Hugo really did not care about his characters. In visual mass media killing the book, this phenomenon has accelerated and now Notre Dame is not the focus but the setting and circumstances of the story. The characters and their plights are what is more important.

And again, people would say: what were you expecting? To which I say: yeah. I wasn't expecting much more. To be honest, sometimes I even expect worse. He is a man of his time. And for a man of this time the very clear anti clerical, and anti establishment sentiment is already progressive by the standards of his epoch and that of the historical setting of the book.

But.

Yet again, we haven't had a version of the story that has ever shown the plight off the marginalized. Not properly.

We have had a black Quasimodo yet on screen because I think many content creators and audiences did not want to sympathise with a black quasimodo. And Esmerelda of color is supported, I think, because the gendered benefit of her beauty for consumption. And the added benefit of any and all racism taking on a gendered role. We never truly get to see the Romani demystified or devilified. They’re still goofy and charletons in the Disney movies in 1996.

However, the Disney movie made Quasimodo its hero, they gave us the corny yet poignant: internal beauty is what matters. The question who is the monster and who is the man is posed to the audience. We only ever get to see Frollo's abusive relationship with the Hunchback. We get to sympathize with quasimodo. AND AGAIN Lindsay Ellis does a MUCH better and succinct job than me of explaining this. (its a great video, half of the articulations here come from her forming the idea first).

In the 1939 film we see this anti fascist, anti Holocaust sentiment in the treatment of the Romani. They are still cartoonish, and treated badly. But Esmerelda is actually Romani in this one, although white washed to hell and back.

I can't say yet, because Esmerelda and Frollo haven't actually had a scene together yet in Notre Dame De Paris. But the Disney version and the 1939 version are the only two insofar that treat Frollo's obsession with Esmerelda as violence. His lust for her is abuse, it is racial and sexual violence. His absolute anti-romani mania that equals his clerical devotion is manifested in this. And stupidly enough the fucking Disney version does this on film the best in my opinion. There was room for melodrama in the book and even less in the 1939 version. But the Disney one doesn't fuck around. To quote James Janisse from Drunk Disney: "monsters are rapey". They take the subtext of his lust for this “gypsy girl” and spell out physically in a short amount of time and leave you no wiggle room.

And Frollo is one of my favourite fictional characters because it's rare for me to watch a Disney movie between my fingers in disgust and horror. I love him because of Tony Jay's tar gargling voice and the blaspheming Catholic imagery and the disgusting split we witness down his deplorable excuse of a human soul.

But I want to get the issue of Frollo out of the way. The Disney version took its Renaissance formula and made him, although more dimensional than let's say Ursula or Radcliffe, is still a maniacal, evil laugh, and Disney-fied villain. We are never to question who is the monster and who is the man.

That isn't the issue with the book, Hugo writes this as a commonplace occurrence, this repressed lust for the object of his hatred. Which is fair and fine. And for the audience he is a prominent face in a heartless medieval mob of horrid antagonist/villains.

However, I don't know if Hugo cared if you did know who the main antagonist was. He oscillates from condemning the artists who ruined the gothic soul of Notre Dame, to the White Whole Foods mom's of 15th century Paris to the people who stone Quasimodo on the pillory. Jehannes Frollo is a douche, and unlikeable, so is Phoebus, oh god so is Gringoire. Literally every mob or crowd scene we see that all of Paris is an antagonist. Hugo almost says: look at all these awful ugly disgusting people, they're all gross and awful now moving on to my sweeping 20 page description of this corner of the cloisters.

Hugo described awful people doing awful things and then pipes up and says: aren't these people horrible! He just doesn't...do that with Frollo? Mostly because Frollo has been wholly inactive until Book 7 of 21. But when he is he doesn't say: this near forty year old is getting flushed and possessive of a sixteen years olds virginity and throws gringoire on the floor out of jealousy because he hears about his peep sow.....ISNT THAT HORRIBLE. I haven’t heard Hugo do a condemnation of that yet, which wouldn’t be strange if he hadn’t done that for literally everyone else.

There are several chapters explaining how smart Frollo is, how voracious his mind is, the depthless love he has for his spoiled and ungrateful brother Jehannes. We find out he's reviled by the public because he knows alchemy, mathematics, and languages. He's considered to be a sorcerer WHICH IS IRONIC considering that he's tasked the head torturer to track down la Esmeralda for witchcraft. This is purposeful on Hugo's part. The judge who condemns Quasimodo to be whipped at the pillory is also deaf. It's a whole farce. It's meant to be. Deaf men condemn deaf men. A perceived Sorcerer condemns a perceived Sorceress. Blah blah blah I’m Victor Hugo, the building is the only sacred thing.

But to be frank, Hugo hasn't been like: if the audience permits we would like the examine the horrible defection of Frollo's predatory nature. He calls Frollo a bird of prey once but that's it.

The mob and Frollo become unbalanced and sooner rather than later Frollo becomes the major evil. Even Frollo, is a quiet evil in this book, and the 1939 version does a good job of capturing this in the God Help the Outcasts scene. Again, in the written word killing the edifice we have reshuffled the roles and priorities of the story. Frollo is the major evil. And that's fine with me.

And I'm not trying to fish out a message about how Hugo feels about Frollo or who the true evil of the book is. That is clear to the audience. It's a varying and fickle degree of personnages who do awful things. In later adaptations the preoccupations of individuals leads us to draw greater conclusions from them. I'm just hoping we get one good condemnation out of Hugo, regardless of the obvious plot and set up as the antagonist.

EDIT:

Now that I'm further into the book I can safely say Hugo makes Frollo one of the most despicable villains in all of literally fiction. It's disgusting and nauseating. And the reason Hugo never says: look at how wrong this is is because this book is very anti clerical and anti Catholic church. Its not anti-spiritual or against faith I would say. But Hugo was progressive in the sense that he was anti establishment to a degree. Frollo is this exemplification for the hatred and bigoted mania the Catholic Church was exuding at the time. Between excommunicating an entire race, inquisitions, monstrous campaigns of slaughter, there is also lots of sexual misconduct. Rampant sexual misconduct. The clergy abusing their power. The repressed sexuality associated with evil and wrongdoing takes a definitive example in Frollo. He is positively obessed with Esmerelda to the point where Hugo spells out to us in big letters: this is sexual violence.

He is the main villain, literally no one can fucking take that mantle away from him. I was going down the wrong vein of thought above. So ignore it. Because Hugo takes a while to get to the plot of his story it means that we don't have Frollo truly do anything until the seventh book of 21. And when he does...

I wanted to vomit to be honest. I couldn't listen to the audio book. I kept putting down my ebook and walking around and avoiding it. It was one of the hardest reads. Phoebus allows Frollo to be a voyeur as he coerces Esmerelda to have sex with him (she's sixteen literally all the men in this book have to die). He plants a horrid disgusting putrid kiss on her after she faints in a pool of phobus blood. He is one of the hooded figures who puts her to the leather bed and tortures a confession out of her next to Charmoulue he heard torturer. He comes down to her oubliette to just literally beg for sex, he implores her begs her, literally even if she were to hurt him. Then when she is about to be hanged he leans down in front of the whole crowd (so some people think he's hearing her last confession) and tells her again the offer to bang is still there. She only says no because of Phoebus (who is actually alive and feeling up his fiancée within seeing distance). He starts associating the bodily harm of Esmerelda with sex and it's just so disgusting.

God and when Esmerelda gets her sanctuary in one of the appartment of the belltower Quasimodo never went the appartment. He brings her birds and flowers, respects her space. But that fuckwit Frollo can see the appartment from his office, i guess you'd call it where he's been angsting for weeks as he voyeuristlically sees Esmerelda go about her day. Then he remembers that he has a key, assaults her again, and Quasimodo pretty much almost shanks him.

Now Frollo is trying to get Gringoire to lure Esmerelda out.

Anyways this is all to say this Frollo is the worse one, Hugo went there, i was so wrong. This version made me so nauseous and terrified. Hugo doesn't mince words with who he thinks is the villain. The sexual obsession is racial violence, the racism is gendered. Vice versa.

Anyways it so bad I cant wait til every man except quasi dies in this book. Though, to the other men's credit sometimes i hate grigoire and Phoebus more than Frollo. Idk it really depends on who is doing what and when.

But let's get back to Hugo.

Where do I start when it comes to Hugo and La Esmerelda. Again, it's a useless discussion to have, we know this is a misogynistic and bigoted warp of a set of female stereotypes.

But I'll start with this.

Esmerelda is sixteen years old. She's infantilised, ridiculed, condescended to, abused, and so so so much more. Not to mention Hugo seems to revile and hate women despite his prolific attendance of 19th century brothels.

Yeah and I think Frollo is supposed a thirty nine year old who looks twice that age already. Which you know is pedophilia. Which Hugo just presents for you to make your judgment, hopefully congruent. Duh.

That's not my beef with how Hugo writes Esmerelda.

It's how the narration goes out of its way to sexualise that innocence. Nothing new, mind you of 19th Century Romanticism or 15th Century historical setting. But as a modern reader it can jar you out of the experience. Gringoire literally says: “she doesn't even know what the difference between a man and a woman in her dreams". And he revels in peeping behind a curtain and sees her in her shift while UGH explaining this to Frollo who wants to know if she's still virginal. Literally locker room talk about a child and her body to an old priest from a shitty poet.

Esmeralda is not sexually mature, when she dances she does it with a child’s abandon and to put bread on the table. She doesn't understand what her sexual appeal is, and it makes the dances feel voyeuristic and nonconsensual. And it's stupid. Making her older gives her agency when this book literally robs her of agency. Making her younger gives her no agency and makes us observant in her abuses, or at least that is how I felt.

Hugo writes others calling her: girl, little girl, gypsy girl, "the Esmerelda", the sorceress". You're probably asking: why are you surprised. I'm not I'm just aggravated at times when faced with a time capsule from the 1800s. It’s hard listening to Frollo, every judge, mother, petty bourgeoisie, Phoebus, and Gringoire call her “little girl” without thinking she’s eight years old.

There is a scene where Phoebus calls Esmeralda into a home where he's hanging with his fiancée, her family, and bitchy friends. And BECAUSE WOMEN CAN’T BE FRIENDS the minute Esmeralda comes in, Hugo describes that each of the women turn on their bitch switch because she's prettier than they are and they all want the one man in the rooms affection because ALL WOMEN WANT IS A MAN’S ATTENTION. So they start tearing her apart. Phoebus is gross, a pig, a soldier more likely to force a women than not. He infantilizes her just as much as the narrator.

The women start verbally shaming her, they slutshame and everything else they can think of. Until she just? Feels like she's given leave to go? Esmeralda only speaks when spoken to, she only came in when she was bid to. For such a free spirit according to Hugo she’s the perfect docile and desirable woman when need be.

Her beauty and sexuality are made appealing and un-romani for consumption, for the men in the book and the reader. Because Hugo like most men of the time and many of today are obsessed with white beauty. She has no faults, she is literally described as being perfect if not for her "pout" which, again, feels SO SEXUAL for a childlike sixteen year old. The only faults she has is the ones litigated against her for things she cannot change like her gender and supposed race.

It made me want a story told from Esmeraldas point of view, written by and for WOC. I want to see Esmeralda bandaging up her feet after a day of dancing, her toes and knuckles bloodied up from trying to earn a living. After a day of dancing she would glance over at the meagre coins in her hat and sigh at how little food she will have. I want the exoneration of the Romani people and treat them with dignity. Her poverty is unattractive and not noble but imposed on her by a system that hates her for something she can't control. I'd want an older Esmeralda with more agency, more control over herself. Shes be romani, or not. You commit to one. I'd love to see a scene where she is on the run and she does feel the entire world hate her and she is allowed moments of imperfections and cry. The world is on fire, the flames of Esmeralda as the book calls it, but their the flames of an ignoble archdeacon, the pursuit of an ingoble Archer and a wretch treated as badly as her. I want to see Esmeralda rage against an effigy, a saint and swear on her knees that she would kill all four of them with her bare hands, Frollo, Quasimodo, Gringoire, Phoebus for making her the literal objectified vessels of their want. I’d want her to kick Frollo's dead body. I would want to see her in Notre Dame by herself under the rosary window while we get lighting to denote what alignment our leading men are as they watch her and pour all of their hates and wants and make her into a vessel for themselves. To make that clear to the audience is so important. I would want her to have friends, female friends. I'd want her to stab AT LEAST ONE TO THREE PEOPLE. I would want her to be shown intelligent because she's put down for being illiterate. I want to see Esmeralda so righteously mad that God would have to beg for her forgiveness. I'd want her to leave Paris after the epic affair of Notre Dame and set back on her nomadic path convinced that no man or place is good enough for her. But when all is said and done, even when she has nothing, she has always had herself and that has been enough. She has herself and her people and that is what she needs.

And don't get me wrong I STILL LIKE THIS BOOK A LOT. And even with these parts being wholly unacceptable to me as a modern person I can enjoy the book, and not even have to practice a 2018 woke awareness to it. If I didn't read books by authors who thought that darker skinned people were inferior I'd pretty much be reading almost nothing. The story is genuinely interesting and so are the characters, stunted and pushed aside by the author as they are. But I just needed to do a comparison. To lay out all the thoughts on the table with the facts and go pretty much say what Hugo does: Not much changes in all this time, and at the same time nothing is the same.

#meta #longpost #notre dame de paris #victor hugo #also i do love this book a lot i just have frustrations and feelings #and now i have to watch the 1939 version again because i love that movie its so bad and so good #also #esmeralda #needs her own platform #and her own story from her perspective #and more merchandise #so we can all make hugo fucking roll in his grave #just let me know if these longposts are annoying

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bgmxbbj · 6 years ago

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7 Ways to Spend First Year with Your Baby

A week or so after I had my first baby, my friend Susan stopped by -- just in the nick of time: Will had been crying for what felt like hours and nothing I did helped. Susan, who'd just had her second daughter, calmly scooped up my inconsolable newborn and did a sort of combo side-to-side swaying and up-and-down jostling that magically lulled him out of Waa-Waa Land.

I've had three kids since then, and Susan's "mommy jig" has been a lifesaver with every one of them. But I never would have known it if I hadn't let her help me out -- and that's exactly why she, and I, and other moms who've been there want you to remember these seven rules:

1. Asking for help does not make you incompetent.

Precisely the opposite, in fact. Sometimes, there's no other way to get from point A to point B. Even if there is, getting there alone can take twice as long and make you crazy.

Kim Ganier of Huntington Beach, California, was always a self-sufficient person -- until her first baby, Laci (now 3), was a week old and Ganier found herself doing laundry while "someone else was sitting in my glider and cuddling my baby. The lightbulb went on," she says. After that, visitors were put to work so Ganier could enjoy Laci. Her advice now: Speak up, be specific about what you need, and say yes when offered help of any kind. "You'll feel guilty at first, but you'll get over it," she says.

It'll be easier if you remember that someday you will reciprocate -- if not to the particular mom who helped you out, then to another. Several months ago, I was having dinner out with my kids when the mom at the next table asked if I had an extra diaper. I happily handed one over. Sure enough, not long after that, I discovered I'd forgotten to bring a clean swim diaper to the pool and had to go begging from lounge chair to lounge chair for a spare. A better-prepared mom than I saved the day.

So never let guilt or embarrassment or even your ego get in the way of accepting help. Improvising a diaper is a lot harder than returning a favor.

2. Babies don't need as much new stuff as you think.

They seem to outgrow everything from stretchies to bassinets overnight, so why stock up? "I wish someone had told me not to buy cutesy, expensive clothes for my newborn," says Kristine Shuler, mom of 3-year-old Kaylee in Baroda, Michigan. "Little did I know she would spend most of the time in T-shirts from Target. She didn't wear half the clothes I bought!"

There are two lessons here: First, take your time when deciding what you'll really need. Do a little research, make a list, and stick with it. book is a great resource for teasing out what to buy and what to skip, by the way.) Second, as tempting as it is to buy everything fresh and new and adorable for your first baby -- resist. Some items, like swings and bouncy seats, are used for such short periods of time that they never see much wear and tear. Can you borrow from a friend? If not, check out

Marilyn Sklar swears by a children's resale store in her town. "When my daughter, Raquel, was born, I started buying gently used clothes from there. Later, I brought in some of Raquel's clothing and took an in-store credit to purchase more," says the mom of two in Phoenix. "Now I recycle that way whenever possible. We're saving money and being green!"

3. Getting a baby to sleep is worth the trouble.

This is a matter of basic maternal math: baby zzz's = mommy zzz's. Veteran moms will tell you that figuring out, early on, how to get your baby to go to sleep, stay asleep, and take regular naps is key to getting through that entire first year. "Being sleep-deprived is a fact of life, but the sooner you get sleep figured out, the better," says Michelle Wilkins, a mom of three in Blacksburg, Virginia.

For Theresa Cole, mom of Ethan, 5, and Jordan, 1, in Kansas City, Missouri, the trick is to get your newborn used to falling asleep on his own: "Think twice about feeding your baby to put him to sleep. He's a clean slate, waiting to learn how to do things. If you teach him he can only drift off with a boob or bottle in his mouth, that's the only way he will -- even at two in the morning. And, seriously, who wants to deal with that every night for the next couple of years?"Follow more to check african congo mask

I'm a firm believer in consistency. When my third baby was 9 months old and not taking decent naps during the day, I came up with some new routines. I stopped letting him catnap in the car while I ran errands, and planned outings around his naptime, to make sure he could go down in his crib. I also turned his room into a sleep haven (blackout shades, white-noise machine). Pretty soon he was napping twice a day, and snoozing better at night, too. To keep daytime noise to a minimum, Jamie Pearson, mom of Avery, 7, and Max, 5, in Palo Alto, California, adds this tip: "Make a diplomatic front-door sign that says, 'Baby napping. Please visit us another time.' "

4. Competitive parenting: not cool.

Of course you already know that babies develop at their own pace. And of course you know there's more to your baby than when he hits milestones. But when it seems like every kid in the playgroup except yours is sitting up or saying "Mama," it can take all your willpower to act like you just don't care.

It's totally understandable to compare. But for the sake of your sanity, it's worth trying to stop. "I made the conscious decision to believe the experts who said that the spectrum of normalcy was wide," says Susie Sonneborn Blim, a mom of three in Montclair, New Jersey. "I also stopped hanging out with moms who were constantly boasting about or obsessing over their babies' milestones, because that played a huge part in how caught up I got with comparing my baby to other babies."

Pearson had a similar tactic: "When Avery wasn't the first -- or second, or third -- baby in my mothers' group to crawl, I told myself that the impatient, intense, irritable babies were always the early crawlers and walkers," she says. "I kept these theories to myself, of course!" If you're truly worried that your baby is falling behind, bring it up with your pediatrician. She should be your go-to expert when it comes to your child's health and development -- not the bragging, pitying other moms.

5. You and your baby don't have to be joined at the hip.

Experts say: Being touched, held, carried, and cuddled is vital to a baby's development. Moms answer back: There's nothing more delicious than touching, holding, carrying, and cuddling a baby -- to a point. When it's clear that you and/or your baby need a break from each other, take it. This is especially true when your infant's wailing or your pre-toddler's whining is about to push you over the edge. Hand her to Daddy or send out an SOS to a friend or relative.

If there's no one you can call on for help, take a tip from Christine Klepacz, a mom of two in Bethesda, Maryland. "When your baby is crying and you could burst into tears yourself, or when you're just overwhelmed, it's okay to put her in her crib for a while and sit by yourself. She's safe, and sometimes she needs time away from you, too. It's okay. We all do it!"

It's equally important to carve out time for yourself regularly -- not just when you're about to go off the deep end. If there's one thing Jennifer Geddes, a Parenting staffer and mom of two girls, learned during the first year, it's that "you have to take a few minutes for yourself here and there. It's essential to being a happy and healthy mom. I was so concerned with attending to my daughter's needs that I neglected my own. I barely ate, slept, or left the house," she says.

If you're thinking, "Yeah, right -- I can barely get a shower," wait: It's doable. You just have to plan ahead, be creative, and adjust your definition of what constitutes a relaxing break. Where, prebaby, you were used to spur-of-the-moment shopping sprees or on- a-whim workouts, you might find, like Marilyn Sklar, that your idea of a good time now is "a glass of wine and a good book after the children are in bed." Or a brisk walk in the morning before they get up. Me, I swear by weekend matinees. I can get a lot of regenerative mileage out of two hours by myself in a cozy, dark theater with a bag of popcorn, lost in a great story onscreen.

6. The best baby stage is the one you're in.

"They grow up so fast." The reason you'll hear this from everyone and her grandmother: It's true. Kim Lavergne of Nashville, mom of 2-year-old Justin, remembers feeling like time was crawling after he was born. "In reality, the days go by so fast that the next thing you know, your child is no longer a baby," she says. "I've learned to cherish and enjoy the time I spend with Justin."

Charlene Kochensparger of Centerville, Ohio, who has a daughter and a son, seconds that. "First-time parents tend to wish the time away -- 'I can't wait for her to crawl, walk, talk' -- and not enjoy the moment," she says.

The time slipped away from Loretta Sehlmeyer of Dix Hills, New York, because she was so focused on being a perfect parent to her son, Christian, now 4. "I fretted so much over caring for him that I missed the entire experience. I honestly didn't notice that my baby was growing and changing a little bit each day. I spent a lot of time looking at him, but I was way too distracted to actually see him," she says.

"So take some time each day, real time, to hold your baby and do nothing else but use your senses to connect with him. Smell his sweetness, and look at those tiny fingers and toes and amazing little nose."

7. There's no one else like you.

Only a handful of babycare rules are written in stone (specifically, those having to do with health and safety -- like, you really should always put a baby to sleep on his back). Most everything else is up for interpretation. "It's great to read up, solicit opinions, and listen respectfully to advice you haven't asked for," says Michelle Wilkins. "But you know your baby and yourself best. You'll know when an idea resonates."

Adds Chantel Fry, mom of Dylan, 3, and Madalyn, 7 months, in Pittsburgh: "You're going to be different than the next mom. Not better, not worse -- because you do the best you can, and if at the end of the day your child has laughed, and is clean and fed, you can go to sleep knowing that you did what is expected of you." No matter how you did those things, exactly, you can be proud that you're inventing your own special way of being a mom.

#baby products #best baby products

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031cinephile · 3 years ago

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The 42nd Durban International Film Festival - Framing the Future, Cinema Unleashed

Durban International Film Festival has selected films with the theme “Framing the Future, Cinema Unleashed”. The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts will host the Durban International Festival (DIFF) from 22 July to 1 August 2021. This year, for its 42nd edition, the festival curated a film programme that focuses on narratives that will speak hope for tomorrow.

The programming team received over 3000 films, and after an intense selection process, the festival has curated a film programme consisting of over 120 shorts, documentaries and feature films.

With the theme “Framing the Future, Cinema Unleashed”, the plots in the selected films, through different lenses, provide meaningful solutions on how to adapt to our dynamic and ever-changing environment. The programme includes several films that offer solutions to questions that haven’t been asked yet, broadening our viewpoints and allowing for robust critical discourse.

"The Durban International Film Festival has been a platform that celebrates a legacy of supporting South African and African filmmakers as well as our partnership with a global film industry. Programming DIFF 2021 was fascinating, given the challenges faced in 2020 globally across the different industries that contribute to the film landscape. The diversity in the narratives in the submissions is a testament to the resilience shown by filmmakers who continued to work their craft. As is every year, the selection is a daunting task, which the programming team took to diligently and as it is for me, yearly, the heartbreak that comes with not being able to screen more films than allotted. We hope that the selections, a culmination of months of hard work, will speak to our audiences as much as they have moved us.” says Head of Programming Chipo Zhou.

At the heart of the Durban International Film Festival is a mission to enable partnerships that aim to strengthen the film industry and create opportunities for African, and newer voices.

Encounters Documentary Film Festival will co-premiere four African documentaries in partnership with DIFF. Murder in Paris, directed by Enver Samuels, a political crime-thriller that traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist Dulcie September. I Am Here, where we meet the phenomenal 98-year old Ella Blumenthal through the eyes of the director Jordy Sank. The Colonel’s Stray Dogs, a profile of political activist Ashur Shamis, who lives with a million-dollar bounty on his head after a lifetime in Muammar Gadaffi’s crosshairs, directed by Ashurs father, Khalid Shamis. The Last Shelter, by Malian director Ousmane Samassekoou, in which we journey to the Malian city of Goa on the edge of the breathtaking Sabel Dester, where audiences get an inside look into the infamous House of Migrants. Zinder, directed by Aicha Macky, is a town in Niger, where in the impoverished area of Kara-Kara, which used to be the lepers’ district, a culture of gang violence reigns. In I am Samuel, directed by Pete Murimi, we are given a window into the life of Kenya’s LGBQTI community where Samuel, a gay Kenyan man, has to balance his duty to his family with the care of his partner.

The missions to create inclusion in the film industry is emphasised through a robust community engagement programme titled isiPhethu. This year, the programme will host various online workshops and seminars. Additionally, through valuable partnerships, some films by up and coming filmmakers will be screened as part of the DIFF programme. One of these partnerships is the one with Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects (STEPS). This non-profit media company works with documentary film to connect filmmakers, audiences, and organisations, giving marginalised and disadvantaged communities a voice to inspire social change. The recent Mzansi in the time of Covid-19 project, a collection of four documentary short films on Covid-19 that engages diverse audiences in open discussions about the impact of the virus on South African individuals and communities, will screen at DIFF. These films are Lindela under Lockdown, directed by Sihle Hlophe, Schools Shut Down, directed by Kastarine Kgola, Jeanette Makes Masks, directed by Nadine Cloete and Lefu – The Funeral, directed by Omelga Mthiyane.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts (CCA), will host the Durban International Festival (DIFF) from 22 July to 1 August 2021. This year, for its 42nd edition, the festival presents a programme of close to 140 feature films, documentaries and short films alongside an exciting industry programme: Isiphethu.

On 22 July, DIFF 2021 opens with a virtual screening of the action-thriller, The Eagle’s Nest, by Cameroon Born British director Olivier Assoua. From 23 July all other films will be available to watch for free online. Documentary ‘Threshold’ by the Brasilian Coraci Ruiz is the closing film and will be screening on 1 August just after the annual DIFF Award Ceremony. The DIFF jury is consisting of an international team of industry specialists including South African producer Cait Pansegrouw, filmmaker Sam Soko from Kenya and Dutch producer Raymond Van Der Kaaij.

The DIFF Awards Head of programming, Chipo Zhou is proud to announce the films in competition, that are diverse but have a common thread. “The DIFF deliberately cultivates indigenous talent development and grants access to audiences and aspirant filmmakers particularly women, children, LGBTQI+ communities in highly conservative regions of the world. Ultimately, all the narratives in competition speak to this vision and are an illustration of the challenges of overcoming adversity and adapting to an altered world — one where, sadly, not everyone has fared so well. These are the kinds of stories that DIFF sought out this year, stories of hope, stories that show the light at the end of the tunnel, even if for now, it seems like just a flicker. “ says Zhou.

Documentaries in the 2021 Competition:

Areum Married, in which director Areum Parkkang tries juggling her film and her marriage in this autobiographical documentary. The Republic of Korea, 2021

As I Want, directed by an emerging voice in Arabic documentary film making, Samaher Alqadi, who picks up her camera as a form of protection and begins documenting the growing women’s rebellion. Egypt, 2021

Downstream to Kinshasa, in which director Dieudo Hamadi shares the forgotten tragedy of the victims of the six-day war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2021

Hard Livings, a film about a city, a country and a continent plagued by ills stemming from inequality, directed by Solomon Staggie, South Africa, 2021

I Am Here, in which we meet the phenomenal 98-year old Ella Blumenthal through the eyes of the director Jordy Sank. South Africa, 2021

I, Mary, in which director Aliki Saragas Georgiou shares a lyrical telling of Regina Mary Ndlovu’s story who is a survivor of a lifetime of sexual abuse, and a fiercely determined woman with Albinism. South Africa, 2021

Mein Vietnam, about a Vietnamese couple that has been living in Germany for the past 30 years by director Thi Hien Mai. Germany/Vietnam, 2020

Murder in Paris, a political crime thriller doccie that traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist, Dulcie September by director Enver Samuel. South Africa, 2021

Postcard, Finding an old picture postcard of a mountain village marks the start of an existential journey for director Asmae El Moudir. She explores life in Zawia, Morocco, where her mother was born. Morocco, Qatar, 2020

The Colonel’s Stray Dogs, a profile of political activist Ashur Shamis, who lives with a million-dollar bounty on his head after a lifetime in Muammar Gadaffi’s crosshairs, directed by Ashurs father, Khalid Shamis. South Africa, 2021

The Last Shelter, by Malian director Ousmane Samassekoou, in which we journey to the Malian city of Goa on the edge of the breath-taking Sabel Dester, where audiences get an inside look into the infamous House of Migrants. South Africa, 2021

The Sit-In, Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show, in which director Yoruba Richen examines the importance of this lost broadcast history through vibrant interviews. USA, 2021

Zinder, directed by Aicha Macky, is a town in Niger, where in the impoverished area of Kara-Kara, which used to be the lepers’ district, a culture of gang violence reigns. Niger, 2021

Features in the 2021 Competition:

Coming of age story, A Little Bird Reminds Me, directed by Shi Xin, follows the joys, sorrow and struggle of a Chinese boy and his family during the last decade of the 20th century. China, 2020

Granada Nights, directed by Abid Khan, in which a British-Pakistani tourist must mend his broken heart before he can restart his life in the transient city of Granada in Spain. UK, 2021

Psychological thriller Lost directed by Driss Roukhe in which a young woman finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy. Morocco, 2021

My Son, directed by Equan Choe, in which a father, taking care of his 18-year old, handicapped son, can’t turn his son down as he declares his independence, Republic of Korea, 2020

Nandi, directed by Khalid EL-Jelailati, follows the spiralling journey of Nandi in the underbelly of the criminal world. South Africa, 2021

Pusha Pressa Phanda, directed by Dick d’vLz Reubïn, follows the story of street youth Mandisa as she struggles to obtain medication and sanitary pads for her sister who is under her care, South Africa, 2021

Rickshaw Girl, a personal story, directed by Amitabh Reza Chowdhury in which a daring and artistic Bangladeshi teenaged girl disguises herself as a boy and braves the dangers of the big city. Bangladesh, 2021

Sons of the Sea, directed by John Gutierez, in which a gifted reclusive teenager from a poor South African fishing community, is pressured by his older brother to steal two bags of ocean treasure – abalone, from a dead man. South Africa, 2020

Valentina, directed by Cássio Pereira dos Santos in which trans girl and her mother move to a new town in order to start fresh, but quickly face dilemmas when the local high school needs a second parental signature for enrolment. Brasil, 2020

The opening film, action-thriller The Eagle’s Nest, directed by Olivier Assoua, a story set in Africa on migration and poverty.UK/Cameroon, 2021

The full programme of shorts, consisting of a selection of 52 powerful short films that were thoughtfully curated for DIFF2021, are in competition.

Programme and details The full programme, alongside all the films that will be screening, is accessible through www.durbanfilmfest.com. Tickets for the virtual screenings are only available from South Africa for free, and are only accessible through a booking system, which opened on 21 July.

The 42nd edition of the festival is organised by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, in partnership and with the support of the KZN Film Commission, the National Film and Video Foundation, Department of Arts & Culture, the Film and Publications Board and other valued funders and partners.

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