#I mean I like me a broken fictional men that's cured by the power of love

[not-so-secretfangirl]

Why

Why is Helvetica hotter as Nicola if we don't get that route

[floralkittygambler]

Reposting for reasons

Response to Honest’s post here: Doing this to spread this awareness more as I know theres a bit of a rift in the critical community - plus I really fucking go on. Im PISSED and I do apologise however it NEEDS urgent addressing. I know people will hate me for it but Im used to hate and honestly? Hating rather than helping to solve the issue only furthers my fucking point here. So yeah this is so more people are aware (no offense to any of those involved in said rift either, but this is an important message. Thank you for understanding and if I can do anything to make all sides comfortable, then please message me and I’ll do my upmost.) “ More awareness of this is needed. Even if it’s your favourite, you can’t justify their shit but rally against another’s shit. Have people tell you you’re experiences arent real or invalid because, like Husk, people have - in real life - shipped you with someone you are far from comfortable with but you still treat them like a person. Because you have basic respect. And people force you to accept harassment, touching, stalking, advances for THEIR satisfaction. People use you for their fantasies. But you’re just a ‘tsundere’ for it. Or you have addiction issues but people think being with another addict will ‘save’ you because you’re apparently too incompetent to save yourself. Love isnt some magic fuckin cure so stop romanticising it as a fuckin saviour. It’s gross and fuckin creepy. Get stalked and have someone NEVER accept your no just because you show youre still decent enough to not treat them shitty or any different from anyone else. Try having someone way older or way younger (both in morally fucked up ways) advance on you and people encourage that. People you’re supposed to feel safe around.

People touch you when you pull away or show discomfort. Follow you home. Have pictures of you and wont accept you dont like them like that and it’s not ‘playing hard to get’ or ‘the thrill of the chase’. Fuck. OFF. In fact, Im not only disappointed in the fandom. Im disappointed in the entire team who some should know better from their OWN personal experiences - or at least the bare minimal of being a fucking adult. Im disappointed in especially females (sorry idk whether girl or woman is more appropriate here-) who statistically are more likely to have experienced something similar at some point in their lives think this is a cute gay moment. No. Angel is made out as a fucking predator - Im not saying he is, Im saying that his persistence is very fucking unwelcome like one. People like Husk dont need that fucking invasiveness. They/We need patience and someone on our level. Angel’s I know are the fuckin polar opposite - and some of them I know are very sexually harassing, including unwanted touching. It’s a shitty way to present gay people. Gays are fuckin people. Some are cunts and some arent. It’s a HUMAN thing. But considering the shit theyve been subjected to, presenting a gay as a victim only to also show them as a perpetrator is insulting! And for those Ive seen argue this about how people like AD wouldnt know how to express their love normally and whatnot? His pig. His best friend. He’s in his fucking 30s. There are literal real life criminals who get molested as kids and then go on to molest kids. Not all who grow up like that turn into nonces. Stop just fucking STOP justifying and romanticising this bullshit! I used to see the good in AD but now he makes me fucking sick. Especially with my verrrrrry fucking real traumas and connections. But fuck me, eh? Because this fictional guy matters so much more. Fuck real victims. And whilst we’re at it, fuck AD too when it suits your fetishes! Sarcasm aside, the fans and the team need to straighten up their abhorrent behaviour. Stolas. Fucking clearly having an affair, knowingly fucking up his daughter’s mental health and bribing a guy into sex who only wants the book and nothing more. He even has a fucking warning button over Stolas- Guys, how do you think any of this is cute? Even the team gross me out- I genuinely see potential and talent and it’s all gone to shit to satisfy horny teens, horny adults, and literally everyone who doesnt for the life of them understand being an adult is more than sex, drugs, violence and swears! I REALLY want to keep enjoying HB/HH but it’s getting harder and harder with such ignorant and bordering lazy creators (note: lazy as in wont do the fucking research or actually listen to real criticism and victims), such despicable fans (yeah, some HDers fuckin mocked that they triggered my ED, yet they had the fucking NERVE to support Angel’s potential ED AND laugh and blame me for me getting treated so badly for actually having the balls to call Angel and the teams hypocrisy. I got told to kill myself, that my problems arent real - oh but Angels apparently is! Which... They *are* but AD isnt real so technically only onlookers will suffer and not a drawing  - and they just excused their toxic behaviours. These people are like “aww poor angie babey!” yet fuckin INSULT sex workers. All this red in Hazbin yet it feels everyone and they mama colour blind. The issues are getting worse and fans are outright becoming EVIL, VILE, Vindictive little bullies - from kids to adults. You SHOULD be ashamed of yourself if you conduct yourself in such a manner. And you need to readjust your attitudes and behaviours because the only fuckers getting hurt are actual fucking victims. Ever been violated and been gaslit so much you STILL fucking question it’s reality? So you drown that shit out yet somehow it’s effects still hit you? Fetishise it. Make it your uwu gae couple goals, you’re no better than people believing Harley and the Joker werent toxic af. If this shit happened to you, most of you would actually SEE where we’re all coming from. Also, stop making gay a fetish - you’re like those creepy old men in the alley heckling lesbians to make out so they can wank off. Gays, no ALL the LGBT+ are fucking people too. So dont give me that bullshit then start turning everything just gay or just straight to mentally wank off to. It’s degrading and dehumanising. And yes, fiction does effect reality. You crush on a fictional character? Mourn one? Support one? Hell, fuckin jerk off to one - that’s affecting reality. Remember how in fiction all blacks were treated as villians? Look how theyre treated IRL. JAWS, great classic unfortunately their was a spike in shark killings over a fucking movie - the shark in the movie wasnt even real for the most part because they dont behave like that! (Also the animatronic was so shit they genuinely had so many issues - I think they even took to naming each one! Some fun trivia there!). Tiger sharks are more nasty than great whites as tiger sharks will hunt and eat a human. Great whites prefer seals and dislike human flesh, they just mistake us for seals. Hell, theres the toothless basking shark - theyre often SWAM WITH by divers for being so friendly. Yet Jaws made people think all sharks are bloodlusting over humans. Slenderman was created for a fucking contest and that influenced a stabbing (NOT Victor’s fault). Watch a horror movie that isnt based on a real life event and tell me that at least ONE has left you peaking over your shoulder. Stella may be a bitch - we dont know for certain - but try getting cheated on. Y’know what? Try growing up in such a broken home like Octavia. Yeah reaaaaaal fucking cute now, huh? Funny how as well y’all petition for male victims to be taken seriously then laugh when fictional males experience this abuse, further adding to stigma. You can be hit on by the hottest mf on the planet but if you arent interested, that should be respected! Also we’ve all been inspired by at least one fictional character so yeah. Yknow, since I was little Ive been fighting for sex worker and homeless rights. But HH/HB treatment of both leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I’ll still fully support sex workers and the homeless, but that’s the fucking effect this show is having. Bearing in mind I wont ever share everything Ive been through - and I shouldnt fucking have to in order to be believed and validated (obvs proof is required in a legal case but that’s a whole other topic). Why should I share MY fucking pain especially when you fuckers have belittled and triggered it more so? We have our rights to our secrets but fuck ME you lot NEED to start acting appropriately and like decent fucking humans. ‘iTs HeLl’ yeah and welcome to Earth- the team and yourselves live HERE. You obide by THESE rules. And as someone with beliefs (and a LOT of ancient fucking texts and studies on this shit) their Hell isnt even a proper Hell! It’s closer to purgatory and even then it’s not. Regardless, it’s a poorly built world with the lore consistently changing per episode and tweet, with many plot holes, and is apparently easy to get into - even via accidentally watching porn according to a stream. If youre gonna parade youre a fucking expert and research into demonology and use real believed figures, at least get THAT right. In fact, Lucifer and Lilith (and Stolas tbf) are ESPECIALLY risky as theyre a lot more complex than most easy access texts will tell you. Likewise, Stolas’s first introduction and main focus is sex. He’s one of the FEW Goetia demons that dont have some involvement in relationship issues at ALL. He’s known for astrology, crystals and herbs but hes also known to aid MONEY troubles (it’s lesser known but it’s true! HB Stolas is an insult to the Prince). Turning Vodou into something evil is vile considering it’s powerful and liberated slaves. Pentagrams are nothing to do with Satan, they’re magic based sigils. Upside down cross is the symbol of a SAINT. It’s just some edgy attempt to trick people into believing they know more than they do. Also you should NEVER dabble and doodle sigils without knowing the meanings or respecting what they behold. Vox and Val, real fuckin cute way to make them look like a stupid fucking highschool drama instead of a fucking SEX TRAFFICKER (note: real pimps often target YOUNG folks too - aka minors - and groom them into sex work. Theres different types of pimp. Viv has shown barely any understanding of ‘the game’ and its a fucking insult to injury. Yes we KNOW what a fucking pimp and prozzie are! We dont need to see it. We need REAL AWARENESS.) and a fucking scheming bastard of a CEO salesman botman. And yet even THEN lets go a step further and make some yandere wuv on boyfweind aboose! Fuck off- Now I love a good anime but these tropes are getting fucking dangerous now. And unrealistic to real love and relationships. Kids nowadays know fuck all on a healthy relationship (neither did the fuckin 50s tbf) and Im seeing more romaticism and glorifying abusive situations. Like the show ‘You’. Ok, there’s a fuckin bloke online who slaughtered innocents and kidnapped yet people commented how cute he is on his IG and that they want to be kidnapped or killed by him next. Dont believe me? Look up Peter Manfredonia Connecticut and the comments people left him and then tell me why shit like whats being presented in HH/HB ISNT fucking concerning - because it is. For a series about redemption, it’s brilliant at the opposite (Quote from the creator herself, Viv has posted that it’s influencing her bad choices. Even as a joke, proof’s in the pudding). And the overall focus on sex in the way Viv does is so immature and really creepy, and this is from an ADULTS perspective. From one adult to another, Im concerned as to why any of them think this is a normal fixation. Then again they’ve hired quite a large amount of dodgy folks and even a child. Most of this shit gets avoided with a basic background check like most companies run. I DO like Hazbin. Or the premise. I love some of the cast and spite the others. In Helluva, I just like a tiny portion of the cast. And I critique it so harshly because Viv DOES need a wakeup slap, grounding to reality, people who arent going to big her up or kiss her arse for once and shape her up to be the best she can be. The actually reach and even surpass her potential. And to reach where you need to be, there’s a lot of harsh lessons youll face. That’s life. Shes chosen one of the most HEARTLESS industries and if she blocks out critique as ‘hate’ then she’s not strong enough and wont last. It’s just another unprepped YanDev again (except I dont believe Viv to be a nonce. Even with her dodgy past and dodgy present, I think her perspective on sex and relationship with sexuality is FAR from healthy BUT I dont believe she’s a pedophile. Ive bled my fair share and so far, I just think her sex perspective isnt healthy or mature for her age. But there’s little to nothing to suggest actual noncery - dont worry about accusations there. But YanDev is totally a dirty predator. Just clearing that up). Viv NEEDS some harshness and stability if she wants to do things right. And it’ll make her fucking cry but if she loves these projects as much as she claims to, then you’ll sacrifice blood, sweat and tears for that shit. Even the strongest points are mediocre at best when properly observed. She CAN do more, but she’ll have to face the harsh music. Viv wont see this, but if she does, I dont care if it upsets her. Why? Because this is that much of an issue - something she’s cultivated - that she needs to take action and not ignore it or be secretive about it. She needs to grow up and get tougher skin. Im not saying this to cause her pain. In fact, I wouldnt waste my fucking limited time if I DIDNT care. Trust me, I have duties to be met at a certain quota every single day. I say this shit only because I give a shit and care. If we met, she’d fucking hate me. But people like me are good for shaping people up to their potential. And we arent always this ‘tough love’ either. But when someone needs that level of harshness to help themselves, we’re not afraid to lose people or cause upset if the results end up being the best for them. If she ever saw this, she needs to re fucking evaluate her message, her story, and those she’s choosing to welcome into her circle. And all Im seeing is one rookie mistake after the other. Her paid patreon discord. Just like the messages Honest has posted on her side of being harassed (not in Vivs fyi), Ive experienced shit and bullying and even stay silent on their for being attacked for a group I fuckin paid to be in and yet I feel isolated. It’s all arsekissing and ‘thank you viv’ (thats an actual channel-) and it feels like a place of borderline worship and people trying to appease her 24/7 whilst kicking others with different opinions down. There’s so many I love but I aint kissin yer fuckin arse. Ask the closest friend I have - we’re fucking raw and wont just side with each other just because. We’ll call each other out if we think they’ve fucked up and then help each other build themselves up better. Because real fuckin people who actually care wont just want to be adored by you. They’ll care enough to point out your bullshit and help you, even if they upset you at the time. They’re real and upfront with you. People like us arent always the easiest to be close to either because we arent afraid of upsetting someone if it’s in their best interest and to help them. Likewise, we dont go out looking for fights either. Most times, we’re fuckin soft bastards- All this shit listed is the fuckin surface level of the real life hell of this fandom. And unsurprisingly, those who experience little to no toxicity have always been higher on that popularity ‘food chain’ - enough admirers and shared opinions that people wanna arse kiss regardless of their OWN feelings as well as neutral perspectives. I’d say you’re the lucky fans, but you’re not. You’re sheltered, and that isnt always the best way to be sadly. As for the fans. If Ive upset you. Well... I dont care. Because many of you have actively sought me out and weaponised my traumas against me. You never cared about my feelings then. Why should I care about yours? Im not doing this out of malice. Im fed up of humans behaving so pathetically yet claiming to be high and mighty. Most of you have been arseholes to those in and out of the community. The victims and non-victims alike. Hardly any of you considered once my real suffering. You put a drawing over a life. Many lives. You had the audacity to tell me Im full of shit. Some even using my real traumas to make a mockery of me and those Im around with a very similar history. Some with traumatic histories that differ from my own. You hardly ever considered the real lives of those effected. So no, Im not sorry for having the fucking balls to this day to still stand up for our rights and give us a voice that’s long been stolen. Im not sorry for being a fucking victim. Im not sorry for saying what desperately NEEDS voicing. And Im not sorry for not conforming to you or any fandom just to belong. We deserve better than to constantly be your fuckin arse monkeys (well... the trope is butt monkey but yknow-) and to be mistreated, misrepresented and harmed by you. You’re no different to the school bullies who give speeches on anti-bullying day. And I hope every single one of you starts looking into yourselves and improving. PS: Depending on the texts you read, Lucifer is said to have been redeemed or to be redeemed. Fun fact to haunt yalls with~ “

[troybeecham]

Fr. Troy Beecham

Sermon, Proper 13 A, 2020

Matthew 14:13-21

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

More often than not I have heard this Gospel narrative of Jesus feeding the multitude preached as some version of "Which is actually the greater miracle in this Gospel narrative: for Jesus to miraculously transform those few loaves into an abundance of loaves, or for Jesus to change the hearts of the people there to teach them how to share?" Growing up in church, I heard this, and all of the miracle narratives of Jesus, preached with full confidence in the miraculous provision of God to meet the needs of people in need, miraculous as in supernatural, creation from nothing. The longer I am in the Church, the more I am hearing these narratives being preached with an almost apologetic tone. I mean, after all, who really believes in the supernatural world presented by the writers of the New Testament? Aren’t we much more advanced than they were, having come all these centuries out of the world of superstition?

Well, no, actually, we haven’t. We may like to think of ourselves as having evolved beyond “all that supernatural nonsense”, but at best we have simply traded one world view that requires faith and belief for another world view that requires just as much faith and belief. Before you assert that they were hopelessly primitive, remember they built the pyramids, mapped the heavens and the movement of the planets, discovered algebra and trigonometry, and developed deeply sophisticated philosophy. We humans are curious beings, not in the sense that we arouse curiosity in those who might be viewing us, but in the sense that we look out at the universe with curiosity: we ponder and dream, and we have an insatiable desire to know what are the causes of all the wonder and horror that we see. From the Enlightenment to the present day, Western culture has been on a crusade to wipe out any belief in things that cannot be rationally explained or reduced to the “laws of nature”. We have made ourselves the measure of all things! If we cannot achieve it, then it must not be possible!

We have been crowding out belief in the miraculous, the supernatural for centuries. The problem is that the harder we push these out of our world view, the greater a vacuum we create in our attempt to understand or find meaning in the events of our lives or the changes in the universe around us, and that vacuum naturally draws all sorts of things in to fill it. And the things that fill that vacuum require just as much faith and belief as that which it has supplanted. Rather than go on for another thousand words about the history and nature of the theory of knowledge, that is, how do we know what we know…what are the parameters, modes, and conditions for knowing…I will simply say clearly that I fully believe the supernatural nature of the miracles of Jesus, and in the miraculous nature of his conception and birth, and in his full divinity along with his full humanity. I do not labor with the burden of needing to demythologize the life of Jesus, or to succumb to the habitual practice of reading the narratives of his life through any philosophical lens that renders his miracles into narratives about political justice for the poor or into miracles of sharing, overcoming ethnic, cultural, religious prejudices, all of which reduce the life of the kingdom of God into something produced solely by human action.

Certainly, when the kingdom of God is made manifest amongst us, we do see the miraculous breaking down of all of our prejudices: ethnic, cultural, economic, religious, et al. When the kingdom of God is being made manifest amongst us, of course we begin to see true justice begin to blossom. But these are the free gift of God to a people being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of his Son, Jesus. Far from any belief in the ultimate, eventual, and inevitable evolution of humankind into fulfilling the greatest dreams of science fiction utopian splendor, we humans have continuously shown ourselves to be unable to redeem ourselves.

It is beyond human ability to engineer our way back to the Garden of Eden. Paradise was lost to us forever because our first parents decided that they could create and sustain the Garden without need of God. We continue to believe in this first lie, and the pursuit of it has led, time and again through the bloody pages of human history up until this very day, to war, misery, untold suffering, and even genocide. Do we understand this, that every time we have committed to war or genocide, we have done so fully believing that our actions would ultimately end in the establishment of a utopia of peace and plenty? The Garden is just beyond our reach only because there are some humans who stand in our way, either because they have the wrong political ideology, religion, or ethnic identity. If only we could get rid of them, cancel them, then we would have a world of peace and plenty! I see this in the news every day, in our own nation and around the world.

Do we see how these ideas require as much faith and belief as accepting the witness of the Holy Scriptures to the miraculous and supernatural reality of God? Yes, I know the arguments that believing people have committed atrocities in the name of God. But this is human nature: we commit atrocities and always appeal to whatever is available to excuse ourselves of culpability, whether we appeal to God, communist/socialist economic and social justice theory, the pseudo-sciences of intersectionality, eugenics, or any other means by which we excuse our sinful and selfish desires for control, power, and authority to do as we wish.

In the contest of world views, faith and belief in God, and in his Son, Jesus, wins for me. I believe that Jesus miraculously, supernaturally fed the multitudes. I choose to place all of my trust in God, and in his promise to restore all of creation to the innocence and splendor of his kingdom. I will read our Holy Scriptures using all the critical tools at hand: archaeology, linguistics, comparative literature, comparative history; and I will read them through the eyes of trust and belief in Jesus, who has redeemed us, and teaches us to patiently wait for that day when, at long last, God our heavenly Father shall renew of his creation with the splendor of a new and conjoined heaven and earth, and he shall reign for all eternity. That’s something I can believe in, and a hope that endures. My prayer is that the Church may continue to proclaim this Faith, or return to it where it has departed, with honest conviction and in loving compassion to all the peoples of the world.

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[scientificphilosopher]

Book List 2018

I’m a couple weeks behind on this, but here’s the list of books I read in 2018. I’ve broken it down by category, though this is pretty loose since, you know, genres bleed into one another and such. You can also find reviews of some of these books here, and I always take requests for reviews as well. Follow me on Goodreads to see what I’m reading and rating. 

Let me know what you think if you’ve read any of these books or have recommendations, and, as always, please feel free to send me malicious personal attacks if I say something you disagree with.

Non-Fiction

Philosophy

Pragmatism and Feminism: Reweaving the Social Fabric by Charlene Haddock Seigfried

The Pragmatic Turn by Richard J. Bernstein

Race Matters by Cornel West

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West

American Philosophy: A Love Story by John Kaag

Ethics Without Ontology by Hilary Putnam

Meaning in Life and Why It Matters by Susan Wolf

The Variety of Values: Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love by Susan Wolf

The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World by Owen J. Flanagan

Meaning in Life by Thaddeus Metz

The Human Eros: Eco-Ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence by Thomas Alexander

Naturalism and Normativity by Mario De Caro (Editor), David Macarthur (Editor)

Truth in Context: An Essay on Pluralism and Objectivity by Michael P. Lynch

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks

The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison

Experiments in Ethics by Kwame Anthony Appiah

Ethics in the Real World: 86 Brief Essays on Things that Matter by Peter Singer

The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir

A Very Easy Death by Simone de Beauvoir

The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant

Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment by Robert Wright

A Defense of Buddhist Virtue Ethics by Jack Hamblin

Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought by Dennis C. Rasmussen

The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama XIV, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams

Reality, Art and Illusion by Alan Watts

Democracy and Social Ethics by Jane Addams

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds by Daniel C. Dennett

Science

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Stephen Brusatte

Why Dinosaurs Matter by Kenneth Lacovara

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—And Us by Richard O. Prum

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us by Sam Kean

Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne

What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics by Adam Becker

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

The Physics of Time by Carlo Rovelli

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration of the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

The Spinning Magnet: The Force That Created the Modern World--and Could Destroy It by Alanna Mitchell

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan

Visions for the 21st Century by Carl Sagan et al.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage by Chet Raymo

The Virgin and the Mousetrap: Essays in Search of the Soul of Science by Chet Raymo

Politics/Race/Gender

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay (editor)

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper

Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin

The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Race Matters by Cornel West

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

Tears We Cannot Stand: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

The Common Good by Robert Reich

Transgender History by Susan Stryker

Memoir

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

South of Forgiveness: A True Story of Rape and Responsibility by Thordis Elva

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker

The Last Jew of Treblinka by Chil Rajchman

My Own Life by David Hume

Tough Shit: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good by Kevin Smith

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton

Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime by Ron Stallworth

Calypso by David Sedaris

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Ink Spots by Brian McDonald

No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin

History/Biography

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan

God: A Human History by Reza Aslan

One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin M. Kruse

The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language by Mark Forsyth

Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang 

Fiction

Literary Fiction

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Another Country by James Baldwin

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin

Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

Home by Toni Morrison

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

The Dead by James Joyce

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

A Confederacy of Dunces by Jonh Kennedy Toole

The Dork of Cork by Chet Raymo

Genre Fiction

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Slice of Life by Kurt Vonnegut

2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Pure Drivel by Steve Martin

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

The Green Mile by Stephen King

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

The Bad Beginning: A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 by Lemony Snicket

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Worst of 2018

Every single book I read this past year had redemptive value. Even if it was total garbage, it still taught me some stuff (like how not to write a book). Even a bad book can be a good book if you let it be.

So, here’re a few books that didn’t quite hit the spot for me:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Ink Spots by Brian McDonald

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

Best of 2018

It was genuinely difficult to choose my top books of 2018. What a literary year it has been for me. 2018 marks the most books I’ve read in a year, and I was lucky enough to come across some real game-changers. I finally read the Harry Potter series and, boy howdy, did it ever live up to the hype. What took me so long?? But this was, more than anything, the year of James Baldwin. He has made an indelible mark on me as a reader, a writer, and a human. What a year this has been! I hope to read a fraction as much beautiful, lovely, challenging, profound prose in 2019. 

In no particular order, here are the books of 2018 that most moved me, shook me, rattled me, rolled me:

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks

The Pragmatic Turn by Richard J. Bernstein

Pragmatism and Feminism: Reweaving the Social Fabric by Charlene Haddock Seigfried

The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir

What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics by Adam Becker

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan

The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage by Chet Raymo

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

Well, there you have it, folks. Here’s to many more good books in the years to come! 

The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story. —Ursula K. Le Guin

[talvin-muircastle]

Fic: Otherizing

[I gotta say it: writing this one scared me. It's not a horror story. It's arguably not even sci-fi or fantasy: "speculative historical fiction" is about right. It scares me because I am taking a risk: I promised myself that I would try to have better representation in my stories by women and people of color. This is both. And I am not dodging issues, either. As for the setting: I did not do exhaustive historical research for this. The setting can be considered an America about like ours, before a Civil War much like ours, in a place like the Gulf Coast, in a culture that is approximately ours in that time period. It's not the setting, it's the situation that matters.]

Long-time readers of my column know that I will brave many things to bring them the Truth: fire, flood, riot, or storm at sea, I will get the Story. This time, I was headed into the wilds, the deadly swamps, in search of Wild Aliénor, the legendary escaped slave woman who is rumored to have abilities that border on the supernatural. After days--nay, weeks!--of searching, I found her. Or rather, she found me...

The musket ball smashed the alligator back into the water before the sound and fury reached me. I lurched and nearly tipped the small, flat-bottomed skiff I had purchased, groping for my own rifle as I looked for whomever had saved me. I had not seen the beast approach.

"Do not touch the gun if you would live." The voice was female, not unpleasant to hear, accent noticeable but not strong. I froze, and turned toward the source of that voice. Standing on the shore was a Negro woman of average height, wearing pants and loose shirt as a man might. In her left hand she held a musket braced on the ground. Her right hand aimed a pistol at me, and I saw another like it stuck in her belt. She also wore a scabbarded sword: an infantry officer's blade once, by the looks of it. I brought my hands up slowly, and attempted a smile.

"Aliénor, I presume?" She snorted.

"You presume much if you are going to come into my swamp no better prepared than you are. Who are you, and why have you been looking for me? I have been watching you for some time now. You are no slave-catcher, no bounty hunter. What do you want?"

I swallowed. I well believed her: every story said she moved through the swamp like a panther, and hunted like one as well. "I am a reporter, and I have come to tell your story. I am prepared to pay...."

"And where would I spend your silver? Foolish man!" She tossed her head contemptuously, but she lowered the pistol. Ah! I had her!

I gestured at the contents of the boat. "I bring supplies. Beans and cured bacon, and flour, and salt, and yeast, some good wine, some spices you cannot get in the swamp, even sugar. Also cloth, and needles and thread. I did not know what you might need. If you will give me the story I come for, I will even let you have the boat--after you drop me somewhere I can walk safely into town."

She shook her head and laughed ruefully, then. "What is your name, reporter?"

"Derek Sullivan. I write for the Chronicle." This won a smile from her, the first I had seen.

"Yes, I know. I have read your column, though I did not know your face. Very well, Mr. Sullivan! Paddle over here if you can do so without being eaten, and I will take you somewhere you can get your story. Afterward, I will take you to safety." I lowered my hands and carefully paddled over near shore. She boarded neatly and sat facing me. At her direction, I set off deeper into the swamp.

I could not tell you where we were: I could make no sense of the landmarks she used, though surely she must have used them. We fetched up on a small island, and she helped me pull the skiff up where it would not float away. Soon she had a small fire going, adding the supplies I had brought to a cache she had left there. We opened the wine, and I noticed that she waited until I had tasted something before she did, and she was never without her weapons to hand. Mine had been left in the boat.

She began to tell me of life in the swamp, of the hazards, and the bountiful forms of life, and even some of the people, though she gave no names nor indication of how they might be found. They were a community of sorts, it seemed, that aided one another in their exile in this place. Some were runaways, others were people who disdained civilization. Finally, as the fire burned down to mere coals, I ventured to ask the questions I had come to ask.

"They say a dozen men or more have died trying to capture you, and many more wounded. How do you do it? One woman, alone...."

She smiled at me, and there was sadness in that smile. "How does Wild Aliénor do it, you mean? What is the source of her magic? What powers do I possess, that I can do the impossible?"

I leaned forward eagerly, quill wet with ink, ready to record these secrets. "Yes, please! I do not expect that I will understand it all, but some hint, perhaps?"

She shrugged and poked the fire with a stick, causing sparks to fly up into the moist air. "I do it just as a man would," she replied simply.

I pulled back, nonplussed. I tried a different tack. "Your Master...your former Master, I mean...was he the first man you ever killed?"

"Owner," she corrected me.

"Your pardon?"

"Your laws said he owned me, but he was never my Master." She reached out and touched the sword laying in easy reach, "In the end, I was his master. And yes, he was the first I killed. It was not so very difficult: he got his commission by paying for it, and he knew more of dressing prettily and bellowing than he did of fighting. I learned to fight with three older brothers, and I was stronger than he was--and I had far more experience with sharp things, and while he was the first man I ever killed, he was far from the first pig I had slaughtered."

"Was it he who taught you to read? To...speak well?"

"His wife did. It amused her, and she thought nothing of the laws against it. I did her a favor by ridding her of that man."

"So, he was hardly a fitting opponent. I can accept that. But the others! The slave-catchers, the bounty hunters, the lawmen, how did you fare so well against them?"

"Ah, yes! Aliénor took down a man with a shot between the eyes at thirty paces! Aliénor took a Sheriff's manhood with her blade and salted the wound! Aliénor braved their volley with a laugh and no bullet could touch her! Aliénor played cat and mouse with the posse for three days, until the alligators took two, her rifle took three, and the survivors were hunted by her pet panther all the way back to town! Are these the battles you wish to hear the tales of, Mr. Sullivan?"

"Yes!"

"They are lies, Mr. Sullivan. Lies they told themselves and then told others because they could not face the truth. I am only what you see. Yes, I can survive in this swamp: so can many others. I can shoot: so can you, though probably you do not have as much practice. I can chop and slice, as can any housewife or butcher. Those stories you were told, Mr. Sullivan, they tell them because they cannot face the truth!"

Her voice had risen at the last, and I stared at her across the fire. She took another pull from the wine bottle and continued in a calmer voice.

"The shot between the eyes was at five paces, he surprised me, and I was aiming for his chest. So with the Sheriff: I was thrusting for his belly, hit him lower than I meant, and I hardly stayed around to salt him down for the winter! Braved their volley? I was running for my life, and I took a ball through the arm, and you may see the scar if you wish! The posse were half-drunk fools, I shot two and one was shot by his fellows in the dark. As for the tamed panther, you see none."

I coughed, "Yes, well, stories will grow in the telling, of course...." She laughed without humor, and I saw that some of her teeth were broken. That lack of perfection bothered me, somehow.

"You still do not understand! I am twice cursed: I am not White, and I am not Man! I am less! Less intelligent, less strong, less capable, less, less, less! In everything, less! They cannot accept otherwise! Yet I have proven I can hunt, and shoot, and run, and think as well as any man. To accept that I am their equal--YOUR equal, Derek Sullivan!--would be to destroy everything they believe! So much like they do with the red folk, they make of me a myth, a demoness. I defy their Natural Order, and so I am Supernatural! They tell themselves they face a witch out of Hell, Satan's Handmaid sent to test them and taunt them, and so take me out of comparison with their wives, their daughters, their servants! Do you not see it now? This is the story, Mr. Sullivan: I do what I do just as any man would do, and that terrifies them more than lightning from a clear sky!"

My quill dripped ink, unused. I had no answer to this.

"Sleep, Mr. Sullivan. Tomorrow I will take you to a place not far from a road. From there you can find your safe little world where women are not your equal. Sleep."

I pitched my tent near the fire, but I did not sleep that night. Her words had troubled me greatly. Her story...my story...had I found what I had come for?

In the morning we packed the boat in silence. I paddled this way and that as she gave curt directions, her eyes ever on our surroundings, her weapons always at the ready. Finally we touched dry land again.

"Through those bushes and on a ways you will find a path. Turn right, and soon you will be in town. From there you can get a coach to your train. Thank you for the supplies,"

"Of course. Thank you for telling me your story, Aliénor." I carefully stepped out onto land.

"What story will that be, Mr. Sullivan?" Her voice was soft, and my ears burned with shame. I finally turned to face her. I expected to find contempt in her eyes, hate, anger. Instead I found something worse: acceptance. Calm acceptance that I was not prepared to tell others a story they were not prepared to hear.

"I...I suppose I will write what my editor expects me to write. We have papers to sell, after all." She nodded. I hung my head. "I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, Mr. Sullivan." She pushed the skiff away from shore and made her way out into the swamp.

After this momentous introduction, she took me to her camp, a place decorated with souvenirs from the men she had bested. I would tell you where it is, but I cannot: the fog rolled in as if she had summoned it, and who am I to say she did not? She told me of the swamp, its inhabitants. She knew every animal by first name, it seemed, and they knew her. Even the snakes refused to challenge her, but moved aside as she passed. I was not so respected, but a stamp of her foot and a sharp word sent the serpent back to its lair before your correspondent suffered a misfortune....

[I first conceived of this while watching some videos of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. Glad as I am to see Aveline, I was struck by the concept that she (and another supporting character) were not "normal" women, but effectively "magical" ones. So, I must give a nod to that game as inspiration for this tale, though it is not set in that universe nor does it use its characters or plots. (Hence, not fan-fic.) As I said: writing this scared me. I had to get out of my comfort zone for this one in a big way. I hope I didn't screw it up. Oh yes: Aliénor is (I am told) based off a French word meaning "Other" or "Foreign"--as in "Alien". It seemed fitting.]

[scarletwitching]

why is house of m offensive?

I’ve typed five different answers to this, and they’re all terrible. Maybe I’m just rusty at complaining about this awful story. I started my blog because I wanted there to be meta about Wanda that wasn’t “House of M sucks and is bad.” Not because I don’t agree with that sentiment – House of M DOES suck and it IS bad – but because that was 90% of all Wanda meta back then. And 90% is probably lowballing it.

I think I’m incapable of giving a good, scathing response because it’s boring to me. What’s bad about House of M? Literally everything. It’s not bad in an interesting way, and watching Wanda’s entire history be deemed meaningless because one (1) white man couldn’t stop masturbating while he was writing is depressing.

About a year ago, I started working on an essay about HOM and elements of its terribleness that I felt like hadn’t been explored enough. Namely, the connection to the Victorian concept of hysteria and the undercurrent of fetishization. I never finished it because I am a quitter and I got distracted. Then, yesterday morning, while researching another topic, I found this paper that addresses, among other things, House of M in relation to the Victorian concept of hysteria and its undercurrent of fetishization.

You should read that. I don’t agree with the way it addresses everything. Among other things, the writer doesn’t know what Schizophrenia is and misuses the term more than once, but it’s a good primer on some of the problems with depictions of women’s trauma and mental illness in superhero comics.

(It also refers to Wanda as a refugee, which is the first time I’ve seen anyone do that and it’s an intriguing idea that I need to think more about.)

There are a couple of other things that are worth mentioning though. The first is, coincidentally, Schizophrenia. Insomuch as HOM is about Wanda (it’s really not), it’s about psychosis and why people experiencing it are dangerous. It’s an extremely brutal, dehumanizing caricature, and the people who defend it don’t seem to understand that.

The easiest way I can think to break this down:

- The media tends to depict people with Schizophrenia and other related disorders as dangerous and specifically as killers.

- Those depictions – and the lack of counter examples – hurt real people. They have done lasting damage, irreversible damage, to the lives of already vulnerable people. This environment where they are seen as inherently scary not only marginalizes them; it also puts them in danger.

- House of M is one of those stories.

It’s a horrible misrepresentation by someone who does not even know what Schizophrenia is. His ignorance doesn’t undo that damage. Other people choosing to not care and view this as some beautiful story about Depression or whatever (we’re back to the fetishization again) doesn’t undo the damage. One bad comic book doesn’t cause systemic oppression, but this comic exists in conversation with many generations of similar stories. The cumulative effect of that conversation has helped craft a world that is hostile to people with psychotic disorders. A conversation that does not include them because it was designed to screw them over. 

And then there is the thing about infertility, which I’m putting under a cut because it gets personal.

So, I have a medical condition that causes infertility.

I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain why House of M’s handling of that issue is bad. There is no reason to think Wanda can’t have children. She was married to a robot. She made children with magic because she was married to a robot. HOM says, nevermind, she made up kids because she can’t have them, and bitches love babies, amirite?

She suddenly gets retconned into the comic book equivalent of the ~barren woman~ who kidnaps someone else’s kid because she just! wants! a baby!!!! Her infertility (which doesn’t exist) and her mental instability and her murderous tendencies are all linked.

No, women with fertility issues are not viewed as dangerous the way people with Schizophrenia are, but we are seen as broken. As incomplete. As pitiable and sad and unwomanly. Wanda gets retconned into being unable to have kids on her own because, in the greater cultural imagination, infertility is a woman’s problem. It is a woman’s failure. Men who can’t have kids are rendered invisible because it doesn’t matter if they can’t have kids. It’s a huge deal if a woman can’t because that means she’s not fulfilling her only reason for existing.

The infertile woman is seen as both sad and suspicious. She is suspicious because she’s sad. How can she possibly deal with not being a Real Woman? She must be very damaged.

House of M is almost absurdly bad example of this mentality. You’d be hard pressed to find its equal. Is there another story where you can draw a direct line from a woman being “unstable” because she can’t have children to genocide? There are a million “it’s okay, Jon Snow will cure you with his penis” moments, in fiction and in life. Those are worth examining too, but HOM is a special kind of awful.

This being an extreme example makes it easier to point to, but there is a pervasive problem with the way we talk – and don’t talk – about women’s fertility that led to that story existing and to people thinking it’s tragic and moving instead of insulting. No one knows how to talk about infertility. I don’t know how to talk about it. We don’t have a proper cultural vocabulary for it, at least not in the US, where I live. 

You can talk to someone about it on a deeply personal, intimate level and feel understood or at least heard. The broader understanding of how to talk about it is not there. We don’t know what not to say or how to fit this into a greater feminist context. Or, if someone does know, it’s not me.

That’s enough talk about infertility. Let’s talk about genocide!!!

Genocides are not committed by a single mentally ill, minority woman who is mad at her dad for something he didn’t do.

That’s not how they work, and depicting them that way is symptomatic of the genre’s desire to play at “real world issues” while ignoring (and sometimes defending) the systems of power that allow them to occur in the first place.

…and that’ why House of M is offensive. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

It's time to reclaim singledom as a symbol of power

"Are you swiping?" my best friend asks me over breakfast one morning. I gulp down a spoonful of woefully bland porridge and think for a moment about how to reply. 

The answer was no, I wasn't swiping. But in saying so, I was met with a bewildered expression. I'm reluctant to swipe these days, or just to date in general, due to a long, troubling pattern of power imbalances that have occurred in every single relationship I've had since I started dating when I was 15. 

Now, at age 30, my status as the perennial singleton is firmly established after taking countless protracted hiatuses from dating. Not because I don't like the idea of being in a couple, but rather because I find dating really hard. Let's be real, it's a truth universally acknowledged that dating is plain sailing for literally no one. But, as a woman who dates men, I've found that every breed of relationship I've ever had — from casual sex to long-term relationships — has felt completely antithetical to the vision of equality I've envisaged for my own life. The lack of agency I feel in my love life made me want to remain single just so I could cling on to any semblance of control. So, in order to avoid feeling disempowered, I have periodically opted out of dating.

It strikes me as odd that even in 2019 — in this new wave of the women's movement — my lack of a partner renders me something of an anomaly, an outlier among my friends and family. For decades, we've been trying to rebrand the trope of the single woman from sad lonely spinster to something more reflective of reality: an independent, discerning woman who is resistant to the pressures of the patriarchal social values we've inherited. But, is this rebrand even working? Because, from where I'm standing, the very same pressures Bridget Jones and Carrie Bradshaw were up against in the '90s and '00s feel just as prevalent today.

At every single step of dating and in every genre of relationship, I come face to face with power disparities and micro-aggressions that are tinged with misogyny. During my last serious relationship, my boyfriend hurled gendered insults — "bitch," "crazy," "insane" — at me when I tried to assert myself or express that I wasn't happy about something. He would openly objectify my female friends, appraising their physical attractiveness with nominal values. I dumped him and vowed to be more discerning about the next man I called my boyfriend. The next person I dated rolled his eyes when I spoke and replied "come on, Rachel" when I asked questions about subjects I didn't know much about. The realm of online dating brings other headaches, like being pressured by matches to send nudes, receiving unsolicited dick pics, and harassment, and verbal abuse if I take too long to reply to messages or don't want a second date. 

In my sexual experiences with men, a marked power imbalance has left me feeling vulnerable and, at times, traumatised. When I look back on past encounters through a post-#MeToo lens, I can see that a troubling proportion of my sexual experiences fell into what I'd characterise as "grey areas"— sex that's non-criminal, but can feel violating. I experienced coercion, pain, and violence during sex that caused me trauma. During one experience, I asked the guy I was having sex with to stop because I had changed my mind. He proceeded to shout at me and yell insults until my housemate  intervened and helped remove him from our house.

Perhaps it's me, perhaps I'm picking the wrong men, I've told myself countless times. In an attempt to address those concerns, I have re-calibrated the choices I've made in selecting a partner. A few years ago, I vowed to only date men who identified as feminists, but in venturing down this path, I encountered a slew of other hurdles, principally so-called performative wokeness. This term, which has recently entered the popular lexicon, refers to people who publicly claim to care about social justice, they identify as allies to women, people of colour, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. In some of my liaisons with men who identified as feminists, their behaviour during our relationship ultimately did not match the values they purported to hold. Behind closed doors, there'd be micro-aggressions like gaslighting and subtle ways of patronising me that made me question my own intellect. 

SEE ALSO: Stop telling women how they should talk

In reality, it's far more complex than simply the choices I make about the type of guys I go for. Humorist and author Blythe Roberson, author of How To Date Men When You Hate Men, says dating is hard for everyone, but "dating as a straight woman is complicated by the fact that the gender you're attracted to has vast systemic power over you." 

"This can manifest in large ways, but also in more insidious ways I used to brush off: men saying they could never be in a relationship with someone more successful than they are, or men treating me as frivolous for thinking and writing about dating at all," says Roberson. 

My experiences are, of course, not representative of all men. Nor do they represent the experiences of all women. Trans women who date men face a different set of challenges when dating, chief of which is being sexualised but not respected. 

Paris Lees, British Vogue columnist and trans awareness campaigner, says there are some men who are happy to have sex with trans women, but feel shame about dating trans women in a serious capacity. "It's really interesting when you tell guys that you're trans because immediately it's like, 'Oh we don't have to treat you with as much respect now.' Not all of them, but a lot of guys, they think 'Oh, this is the one I'm gonna fuck, but I'm not gonna take home to meet mum and dad.'" 

She believes the conversations surrounding whether or not trans women are "real women" have heightened misogyny for trans women. "At the height of the 'are trans women real women' debate in the British media about a year ago, I was actually dealing with bullshit from a man and I just remember thinking, 'This is bullshit,'" says Lees. "Seriously, these people are telling me I'm not a real woman, and I'm out here getting all the misogyny." 

Indiana Seresin, an academic specialising in feminist and queer theory, says she believes that "heterosexual dating is often just tiring for women." 

"Dealing with issues like men's entitlement, the unequal division of physical and emotional labour, and men's ignorance about women's sexuality is exhausting," Seresin tells me. "As a queer woman I can confidently say that we don't face a lot of these issues, thank God. On the other hand, there are still cultural norms that we've regrettably inherited from heterosexuality, one of which is the couple form itself."

Rebranding the trope of the single woman 

The hegemony of the couple form is something we, as a society, are struggling to shed. And it's standing in the way of our perceptions of what it means to opt out of traditional dating structures, like not participating in dating. When we look back on the pop culture poster girls for singledom — Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennett, Carrie Bradshaw, Bridget Jones, Kat Stratford — all their stories end happily with them finding Mr. Right. The story ends with these shrewish bluestockings finding a cure for their ailment — and that cure is a man. Not only do I not want to take this medicine, I know for a fact I'm not ill. 

This notion of single women needing to be fixed is one that frustrates sex and wellness writer Maria Del Russo. "I feel like there's still this idea among women that 'single' is a negative state of being instead of just another label for society to slap on you," Del Russo tells me. "When a woman is single, there's something wrong with her, and she needs to fix it. There's this idea that single folks need fixing, and it's pretty messed up."

Not only do we think of single women as broken and waiting to be fixed, there's also the stereotype of the 'sad single gal' (think Bridget Jones in her PJs singing Céline Dion's "All By Myself" on her sofa). 

Roberson says there's "definitely a trope of sad single girls or frustrated single girls" — a label she feels has been applied to her. "I think a lot of people conflate my book title and my relationship status with me being, like, an incel," says Roberson with a laugh. 

Don't villainise women who don't date

Dating shouldn't be considered a compulsory module in the curriculum of life. Roberson says women's "increased access to education, jobs, birth control, abortion, and divorce means women don't have to structure their lives around men." 

"So, if women have more financial choice, trying to shame women for making the choice to be single is another way that patriarchy tries to control them," she says.

This shaming can manifest itself in what Seresin calls "faux-concern" — something that many single people might be familiar with. Think about the moments people have cocked their heads to one side and said, "oh you'll find someone" or "he's out there" when you tell them you're single. 

"Women who opt out of dating will be villainised by the broader culture (even if that comes in the form of faux-concern)," says Seresin. "I think the important thing is to see that villainisation itself as proof that you are doing something radical."

"Our society is still terrified by women who realise they don't need heterosexual partnership," she says. "But this is actually a major trope in early science fiction. Lots of this literature features worlds that have developed technology to reproduce without men and realise men suddenly have literally nothing to add to that society." 

When a woman says she's happily single, believe her 

In the same way that childless women are stigmatised, we're also socially conditioned to think that single women are tragic figures deserving sympathy, not admiration. In some cases, that social conditioning makes us disbelieve our own happiness when we're single. Lees says she feels very conflicted about how her views on other single women tally up with her own experience of singledom.

"Deep down at the back of my mind if I'm completely honest with you, I never really believed people that they're happily single," says Lees. "I have been single for the past year and honestly I am so happy. It's like I couldn't believe the evidence of my own life?" 

Lees even found herself thinking that she was only telling herself she was happy to make herself feel better. But, over Christmas she did some stocktaking of her life and thought to herself: "No, maybe you are happy, Paris." 

Question who society prizes as icons of singledom 

In our pop culture celebrations of singleness, we need to think about how race also intersects with those we herald as the forerunners of the single-by-choice movement. "There's everyone going crazy over Rihanna saying she isn't looking for a man, or that video of Eartha Kitt laughing at the idea of compromising for a man," says Seresin. "They are both amazing statements that I totally agree with, but I think we need to be aware of how our culture frames black women as patron saints of singleness, because black women have always been excluded from mainstream narratives of romantic coupledom." 

"In romantic comedies, for example, there is the role of the single, 'sassy' black best friend of the white woman who gets the man. By having Rihanna and Eartha Kitt be the major voices of refusing heterosexual coupledom, we are forcing them to play that role in the culture at large," says Seresin. 

Throughout history the single black woman has been vilified. In the 1960s, the Moynihan Report — a report on black families authored during U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration — essentially blamed black women for the demise of the traditional family structure. In 1976 and 1980, Ronald Reagan stirred up racist rhetoric by using the term "welfare queens" — a label historically applied to single black women — as a cautionary tale against people defrauding the welfare system. As our culture slowly re-calibrates its position on the palatability of single women, it's important to recognise the cultural legacy of scapegoating the single black woman.  

See relationships as a side order, not a main course

It's hard not to think about dating and relationships when they're such a ubiquitous theme in mainstream culture. Love is on our TV screens, on the pages of the books we read, in our Instagram feeds, and in the conversations we have with friends. We might not be able to do much about the wider cultural fixation on love, but one thing we can try to change is how we, as individuals, prioritise relationships. 

Del Russo, the sex and wellness writer, says that "until the culture as a whole changes, and stops selling us this package of relationships as a goal to clear, people need to start changing their own perceptions." 

"I've started to think of a relationship the same way I think about a scented candle. (Stay with me.) Is it a nice thing that makes the space a little nicer? Sure. But is the space still a complete space without this scented candle? Absolutely," she says. 

In order to start trying to change our perceptions about the importance of relationships, Del Russo advocates posing yourself two questions: "Why do I want to be in a relationship? What do I think a relationship could give me that I couldn't give myself?" 

The weight of society's trepidation should never have to fall on just one woman's shoulders. And, as Seresin says, "no woman can change these things on her own — you can't be a one-woman revolution." 

What we, as individuals can do, is interrogate our preconceived notions about dating. Like the idea that single women can't possibly be happy on their own. Or that even our most iconic single leading ladies eventually will succumb to love in the end. 

Love or no love, I know I'm already complete and that's all that matters to me. 

WATCH: Here are the top five moments where women stole the show at this year’s GRAMMYs

[cupidsbower]

When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men

In light of Supernatural 12x10 "Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets,” I want to ask a serious question.

Why are angels dicks?

Were they made that way, or did they become that way? And in either case, why?

Is it jealousy? Racism? A subtle defying of their Father?

I mean, if we accept that angels actually do have free will (and ignore for a moment that they are fictional constructs), then they are responsible for their own dickishness. I don’t want to diminish their own responsibility for the choices they make, given that is a pretty central theme of the show.

But putting that aside for the moment, what led so many of them to have that huge streak of dickishness, and for them to express it via such scorn for Humanity?

Here’s the thing, right. Jesus Christ is a son of God, born to a daughter of man. The show is very careful to tiptoe around Christ, mostly leaving us with suggestive themes and imagery. Despite that, it’s hard not to draw conclusions about how Christ fits within the Supernatural ‘verse, as I’ve talked about in terms of the trinities that keep turning up on the show.

What interests me here, though, is that the definition of a nephilim we’ve just been given -- a being with a human soul mixed with angelic grace -- along with what we know of a nephilim’s powers, begs the question of what makes Jesus Christ so different? There doesn’t really seem to be much. They are both demi-Gods which combine grace and soul, two of the greatest sources of power within the Supernatural ‘verse. Yet nephilim are “forbidden by the oldest lores/laws in Heaven,” while Christ is the redeemer who signals the start of the New Testament and a more loving and forgiving God.

In other words, we’re circling around again to nature vs nurture. Are nephilim intrinsically dangerous, or do they become dangerous? If they become dangerous, how so? And who do they pose the danger to? Humanity or God?

Come to that, is the angel lore even right? Are nephilim really forbidden by the oldest lores/laws in Heaven? Why did God do that, if He did? Is that lore/law the source of the angels’ racism towards Humanity and all that “mud monkey” stuff? Is the scorn actually an expression of thwarted love and desire? Is Ishim jealous of Castiel for more reasons than he speaks out loud?

Here’s how the nephilim are described in Genesis, just before the Flood:

1And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for I am sorry that I have made them. (x)

So to recap... the daughters of men were so fair that angels were falling for them left and right, and having awesome heroic kids with them and loving them and all that, and suddenly God’s all, “Fuck these Humans and these powerful hybrid offspring. Time for a purge!” Then later on, he gets a case of the guilts, and lo, Jesus Christ is born.

God doesn’t really come off all that well in this scenario, is all I’m saying. It basically sounds like the biggest sour grapes of all time. It’s all of a piece with him banishing Lucifer after sticking him with the Mark of Cain. Which, if you think about it, kind of makes Lucifer a Christ figure, as he was the one bearing the sin of others -- the original sin even. Ugh. This show.

Anyway, you can probably see where I’m going with this. Even if we accept the angels’ words at face value, the implications are pretty interesting for both nephilim and for Human/Angel relations..

Is Lucifer and Kelly Kline’s nephilim child even that big a threat? Or will it only become so if, for example, it’s captured by the British Men of Letters and raised in Toni’s an agent’s attic so they can use it as an attack dog down the line? Maybe Castiel’s better way is actually showing kindness and love instead of the blade.

Quite apart from the whole nephilim issue, though, is the love and love issue. If lying with the “daughters of men” is one of the oldest crimes, there are some interesting contrasts between Lucifer, Benjamin, Ishim, Akobel and Castiel’s relationships with Humans.

Lucifer is clearly giving a huge fuck you to God by breaking this law, but he probably also had plans for the nephilim too. Benjamin and Akobel found ways to love Humanity without crossing that line, although both edge right up to it -- co-raising a child, and actively sharing a vessel. Ishim is a fuckboy who is full of rage about being friendzoned; we all know he would have broken that law if he didn’t need that pesky “yes”.

And Cas... has he already broken this law, either as Emmanuel or as Steve? There’s some ambiguity there, but I think it’s clear enough that he now would break it, if he had enough reason. He really is a rebel -- more profoundly so than other angels get, I think. He calls the Winchesters his “friends,” at least to other angels, but I do wonder if that’s really how he thinks of them, or if that’s what he thinks it’s safe to admit.

(x)

Interesting. INTERESTING.

We are meant to take that “friendship makes me stronger” as a metaphor -- that his character is stronger. But is it (just) a metaphor? There he is in a church, healing Ishim beneath the crucifix -- the symbol of Christ’s loving sacrifice for Humanity -- and Ishim tells us afterwards that he’s not been so strong in years. All of this with the specter of Billie’s death and cosmic consequences (ie. another sacrificial death) looming over the narrative, and only a couple of scenes away from Castiel’s heartfelt and healing apology to Lily.

Lily = purity

Sunder = part, separate, sever

The apology is what puts her back together. Not that it fixes anything, but there is a power in acknowledging the pain of others, especially when we’ve caused it, and Castiel is, I think, the only angel we’ve seen who has learned this particular lesson.

Castiel isn’t just a student of Humanity, he’s in love with Humanity; by this point we all know that. What we’re less sure of is what that actually means, but the implication of this episode is that a) all angels have the capacity and quite possibly the desire to love Humanity (’How could anyone know them and not love them?”), b) it’s forbidden and so has turned toxic (”taking up with filthy animals”; “I’m gonna cure you of your Human weakness”), c) Castiel breaking the rules and loving Humanity makes him stronger (and a Christ figure -- which is worrying as we all know how that story goes).

Interesting, isn’t it, that with all these mirrors, we haven’t actually seen an angel and a Human in a consensual loving and sexual relationship, with a child planned for and wanted. We’ve seen all the fragments in different combinations, but not that one.

And then there’s Kelly and her unborn nephilim child.

Dean points out, “at the end of the day, it’s a mom and her kid.”

It’s not quite as on the nose as using the title of the movie in a bit of dialogue, but it’s a pretty solid encapsulation of this season’s themes. A mom and her kid. At the end of the day. Just like Lily and her daughter, Toni and her child, Mary and her sons. The other Mary too.

Okay, heavy brick of foreshadowing, I see you there.

I didn’t like the direction of Castiel’s journey after last week’s episode, but this ep has redeemed it somewhat, because it’s given us a greater understanding of his motivation. This is a story about Castiel’s heart and his love of Humanity. I’ve mentioned this before that heart imagery is a recurring visual theme this season, and while I’m not so big on the self-sacrificial aspect of this particular theme, I do like this idea of the “better way” that Castiel has raised. It’s a nice segue from last season’s finale, and it’s hopeful. It would be pretty great if our trio finds a way to express their love that isn’t toxic.

There’s a lot more I could talk about with this ep, as it’s got a lot of meat, but I know a lot of meta has already covered it, so just a few highlights.

I really liked seeing more angels and angel politics, as you may have gathered, but I also especially liked that Cas has a female vessel. Nice.

I love Lily Sunder. I hope we see her again, but even if she’s a one-off, she was fab.

I’m pissed off that we got another woman of colour dying on our screen this week. Great character, but I’m just so tired of dead black bodies as entertainment. :(

Sam’s face! We’ve all been there, right, and his epic done-ness while still being there to back them up was A+. Also Jared looked particularly fine in this ep.

The Dean and Castiel snark. Hahahahaha. So satisfying.

A great ep. I’ll take more by this writer, please.

Previously:

The Ministry of Information vs Wayward Sons Carrying On (12x01)

My, my, how can I resist you? (12x02) and follow-up about Bohemian Raphsody

So what am I so afraid of? (I think I love you) (12x03)

I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart (Where?) (12x04) and a follow-up about the codependency and about Dean’s self-flagellation and issues with space

There can be only one! (12x05), and a follow-up conversation with elizabethrobertajones on Freud vs Schwartz.

They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes (12x06)  

Presenting the Immaculate Heart Reunion Tour (12x07)    

I’m still living the life where you get home and open the fridge and there’s half a pot of yogurt and a half a can of flat Coca-Cola. ~Alan Rickman (12x08, 12x09)     

[forbessierra95]

Karuna Reiki Symbol Rama Incredible Useful Tips

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Can I Learn Reiki

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Where To Learn Reiki

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[loveandbeatings-blog]

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[lycorogue]

About the WIP tag post: What's "Glitches"? How did I miss this?

For those curious about the WIP list this references, you can find my entry to this game here: WIP Tag

Glitches is probably the original work with the most world-build completed. Mainly because it originated as the play-by-post X-Men RPG my husband ran (runs? It’s kinda still going?): X-Future.

I just loved my characters Willow, Lia, and Trish too much to not have them be characters in their own original work. And in truth, I loved Chayse (hubby’s character), and Devon (coincidentally Cyhyr’s hubby’s character) so much that I kinda wanted to bring them along for a ride. (Full disclosure, since I haven’t gotten to the point of seriously writing this thing yet I have yet to ask Ronoxym for permission to adapt his character, but it WILL be done before I actually use Devon). I also loved Lucas and Lincoln (two characters created by another player), but that player specifically asked me to not use his OCs, which I totally get, so sadly I have to leave them behind.

The hardest part of creating Glitches is actually two fold:

1. Trying to rework and rewrite both the setting and some of the canonical characters from the X-Men universe into originals. It’s always going to have that FEEL; that nod to X-Men, but I’m trying my best to switch it up JUUUUUUST enough that it is technically original. Just…. inspired largely by X-Men.

2. Trying to figure out an actual plot for this thing. I have an awesome world and amazing characters, but since it was inspired by both a comic book series/franchise and a role playing game, the story has a more comic book/webcomic/TV series feel to it. A more serial feel to it. Trying to either find a production crew and cast to make it into a visual series (TV/webisodes/streaming), or to find an artist who can bring it to life as a comic of some sort will be quite the struggle. So the actual tale probably won’t see the light of day for about a decade… :P

I’m going to gush about the world history I have created thus far, so if you want to keep reading you can do so below the break.

The world of Glitches is vaguely Cyberpunk, and takes place somewhere between 2070 and 2130. I haven’t locked it down exactly because I’ve always been terrible with science, and creating speculative fiction kind of scares me because of that. I need it to be enough into the future that humanity can “evolve” into the species I need, but not soooo far in the future that I have to pretty much re-invent society.

Alternatively, it could be an AU contemporary time where the evolution of humanity started it’s rebooting in the 70s, 80s, or 90s… part of me also fears that option because then I have to take into consideration how evolved humans could have altered the history of our world…. Either way; world building is terrifying for me.

Now onto the fun part! Regardless of the time frame Glitches takes place in, here’s the breakdown of this world’s history.

Human evolution jumpstarted again. It largely went unnoticed at first. Things like albino children, or children with extra fingers/toes being born more frequently. Eye and hair colors branched away from the blonde-to-black/blue-to-brown spectrum as babies were being born with hair on the blue-to-purple spectrum: dusty sky blue being the equivalent to platinum blonde, magenta being the equivalent to redheads, and a deep violet being this variant’s black hair. The eyes were also unnatural colors: red; orange; purple; yellow.

Next came the telepaths and the telekinetics. They were born with such increased frequency that science was able to finally confirm that they existed. It was then that they realized all those savants and geniuses? Everyone on the Autism spectrum? They were just humanity rewiring how its brain functioned. They were all the first wave of telepaths, telekinetics, and other powerful mind users.

It wasn’t until the first baby deafened everyone in the delivery room with her crying did people get scared. This child had a vocal range that was so high pitched it literally burst ear drums, and there was no way for such a young thing to know how to control it.

A large percentage of that generation - The “Broken” Generation - were born with preternatural abilities or physical alterations. Children were born with functional tails, or amphibian-like webbed appendages, or rock-hard skin. It was an age of panic as fewer children were being born “normal.” One scientist made the mistake of dumbing down the situation for a reporter: explaining this new evolution of humanity as “it’s like their DNA has a glitch in it.” The sound bite birthed the name of a species. From that point on, anyone born with dramatic physical anomalies or preternatural abilities were dubbed “a glitch.”

Panic ensued because parents weren’t sure how to handle their children - especially the more “dangerous” ones like the baby who could deafen any who heard her cries, or the first pyrokinetics who were born - and society had no way of handling these new abilities. Plus, humanity always was the kind to fear what they couldn’t understand; what was different than the majority.

Soon the fear became that Homo Sapiens were the new Neanderthals; the next evolution of humanity to become extinct as this new breed took over as the main species.

That’s really when the hate crimes started. Glitches were rounded up in Native-American-like “reservations” to try to “keep them safe”. In truth, these were little more than ghettos, and were mostly to help “normal” people feel safe from the Glitches. There were massive clashes and polarizing views to everything.

Yet Glitches kept getting born, and kept becoming more powerful with each generation. Some called for a cure. Others knew it was a natural evolution. Some believed Glitches were the superior version of humanity, others wanted to eradicate them in order to preserve Homo Sapiens. Some liked the segregated communities, others wanted full integration, and still others wanted to have a portion of the world cut away as a nation of Glitches.

In America, one of the ways the government decided to help keep the peace was to create the Glitch Protection Service. Their sole purpose was to keep hate crimes down between the two breeds of humans. They were to protect Glitches from being harassed and harmed by humans, but also keep the humans safe from Glitches trying to retaliate or exterminate their “inferior” cousins. In the end, most from GPS took it upon themselves to be the “jailer” of the Glitches; keeping them fully isolated in their ghettos.

While modern society may have impolite names for the police, such as po-po, pig, bacon, donut dunker, etc., the world of Glitches have the same concept for the GPS, nodding to their unfortunate abbreviation by calling them vintage GPS manufacturer names: Tom-Tom, Garmin, Navi, Magellan, etc. (I think I’m having rookies be called ‘Map Quest’). Part of me loves this, but another part of me has been living with this joke since like 2014, and so it just sounds like lame dad puns now…. So I dunno…

Anyway, about 20 or 30 years before my official story starts, Glitches with very severe and extreme powers were born and/or discovered - as latent powers manifested at puberty - governments realized they could weaponize these people. A lot of the environmental users - pyrokinetics, geokinetics, hydrokinetics, aerokinetics, etc - seemed particularly aggressive (mostly due to the bullying they endured growing up), and gladly joined the military’s Glitches units.

Soon there was a new-age Cold War. An arms race focused on these powerful Glitches. Nuclear war was no longer the biggest deterrent; having a Glitch who could single-handedly pull a dozen fighter jets out of the sky was.

That’s when Glitches started disappearing. There had been an epidemic for decades now where parents were appalled by their Glitch children, and abandoned them, or the parents were killed in hate crimes. Orphanages had overflowed, and most didn’t want to take in Glitches, claiming safety for the normal children. Glitches who made it to adulthood had a higher chance of homelessness as the ghettos became overpopulated. Streets were filled with these homeless and abandoned adults and children. Citizens called for something to be done to get these people off the roads and out of public parks. So at first people didn’t care that these Glitches went missing. It was the government finally doing what they promised: getting them off the streets. No one asked where they went. No one cared if they were safe.

It wasn’t until Glitches with families went missing did the dark secret become revealed: the government had millions of secret labs where they experimented on abducted Glitches. Some labs were used to find a “cure” for the abnormalities. Others were used to see if they could manufacture the abnormality in order to give it to non-glitches (an act that would later be called “hacking”, and anyone born human who was given an abnormality later in life would be deemed “hacked” by Glitch DNA). Labs were used to study ways to control Glitches; to weaponize them; to take them down should they try for an uprising. Most were little more than concentration camps. These labs were never official public knowledge, but they were dark whispers; an unspoken communal knowledge.

Using what they learned through these labs, and through more…. humane means… the UN decided to put together a sort of registry of Glitch powers and abnormalities to try to categorize what humanity knew of Glitches (you know humans and categorizing!). Just describing the world background is epic, so I’ll go into more detail about these categories in another post. The main thing is that when a child is born with a physical abnormality, they are instantly registered by the doctors. If a power manifests with age, this is registered as part of the health records needed for the child to go to school. Before being able to register to vote, any human whose powers were not yet marked in the Glitch registry must first be defined. Since the registry is titled Glitch Registry and Identification Database, most Glitches try to remain “Off-GRID” (again with the dad puns. Sorry, not sorry?). They fear that being on the GRID will make it easier for the government to abduct them.

About five years before my official story starts, there was a massive win for Glitches. It was deemed unconstitutional for Glitches to be required to be registered with the government. Now most doctors, parents, and teachers only use the GRID to better understand a child’s abnormality and help them control it so their own life is easier, and so they don’t accidentally harm themselves or others. Glitches are no longer added to the GRID except for anonymous submissions if a new power or physical abnormality is discovered.

However, there have been numerous appeals already to overturn this decision. Mainly because if a person needs to be registered as a gun owner, and most of the modern powers can be used offensively as weapons, these powers should be registered as well (plus it helps keep law enforcement safe because they know how to handle/lock-up Glitches with certain powers). The legal battle between registering and not registering powers is still going strong as my story begins, and is a major debate between two of my adult characters.

And of course, what is a polarizing subject without terrorist hate groups?

There is a “keep humanity pure” group - the equivalent to X-Men’s Purifiers - who don’t have a name quite yet. Their big thing is to “cure the virus that is the Glitch populous. If they are a glitch, we just need to fix the system to eradicate them.” I’m thinking of going with Rebooters for the group name, but it doesn’t have the right ring to it for me….

Alternatively, a street-gang (like Latin Kings sort of thing) turned terrorist group and rebranded themselves The Virus. The leader figured “if humanity thinks Glitches are a virus, then let’s show them how dangerous a virus can be; and how hard to kill.” These guys are my version of “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants” and their goal is to prove that Glitches are the next stage of evolution; that they are superior to Homo Sapiens, and that they will rule the world as the true humans.

Whoo! I haven’t even talked about the CHARACTERS yet and how they’re trying to survive in this world as teenagers learning how to control their powers. Trying to decide for themselves which side of these fences they belong on.

So, yeah, sorry for the long response, but I HAVE been working on this world build for roughly 4yrs already. :P Thanks for asking, and thank you to everyone who actually read all the way down to this sentence! *mwah*

[dorothydelgadillo]

Writing Tips From Journalism, Aristotle, & of Course, Childish Gambino

Real-life mad man, Howard Gossage is quoted saying, “people don’t read advertising, they read what interests them. Sometimes, it’s an ad.”

I think the Socrates of San Francisco was being a bit generous — it’s usually not an ad.

Then again, Gossage wasn’t fighting for the attention of consumers with ad blockers, instant notifications, and millions of terabytes of media at their fingertips.     

However, in the era of branded content and inbound marketing, his point is more prophetic than ever.  

When we write copy, we aren’t competing with other copy — we are competing with our persona’s favorite publications, television shows, social feeds, movies, and music.

We are competing with everything they would rather consume than what we just wrote to promote our businesses.

Now, I know you’ve heard this before. You get it. There is more content than ever and we need to write better copy if we want to stand out -- but we are failing, marketers.

Most content kinda sucks -- and it’s a shame.

Because when done right, content marketing can spur incredible business growth.   

4 Non-Marketing Sources of Inspiration

I want to acknowledge that there is a ton of great marketing-specific content advice out there.

IMPACT’s very own Marcus Sheridan wrote a book called “They Ask, You Answer” that is one of my favorites and I highly recommend content guru Ann Handley’s “Everybody Writes” (See her at IMPACT live 18’).

Lessons from the golden age of copywriting also remain relevant.

The classic formula “create the problem, agitate the problem, and solve the problem” isn’t going out of style (I’m using it for this post) and you should always kill feature-heavy copy to highlight benefits.  

But those two paragraphs are the last in this post that will mention advice specific to marketing or advertising.

Great copywriting can and should draw inspiration from divergent sources.

I firmly believe if we want to create business-changing content, we need to take a hard look at what our personas are consuming instead of our blogs, social posts, and landing pages.

These are 4 non-marketing forms of media that helped me learn to write better copy.

1. Journalism

In his hallmark writing how-to “On Writing Well,” William Zinsser wrote, “The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead.”

Readers Follow the Lede

Long before the goldfish attention spans of today’s web readers, journalists understood an article lives or dies with the lead (or “lede” if you want to be old-timey).  

A lead is the first 20 or 25 words of any article and how journalists hook their audience.

Leads can be as simple as a straight news lead that provides the reader a summary of all the most important facts.

This is commonly done for breaking news, like this example from today’s New York Times:  

“A California man suspected of accessing and defacing numerous military, government and business websites, including that of West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center and the New York City Comptroller’s Office, was arrested Thursday on computer fraud charges.”

Although, in feature stories or non-hard news, journalists often employ other types of leads that may inspire you to write better introductions.   

One such type is an anecdotal lead that uses narrative to draw you in.

Here’s a narrative lead from a 2006 pulitzer prize winning article written by Andrea Elliot in the New York Times:

“The young Egyptian professional could pass for any New York bachelor.

Dressed in a crisp polo shirt and swathed in cologne, he races his Nissan Maxima through the rain-slicked streets of Manhattan, late for a date with a tall brunette. At red lights, he fusses with his hair.

What sets the bachelor apart from other young men on the make is the chaperone sitting next to him — a tall, bearded man in a white robe and stiff embroidered hat.”

What makes this lead so strong is that it introduces the main tension of the story, that this young Egyptian bachelor must reconcile modern dating rituals with those of his traditional beliefs, without explicitly telling you all the summary facts.

It draws you in. You can’t help but want to keep reading.

When you’re writing meta descriptions, think of leads. What are the 300 characters you can write that will leave your audience with no choice but to click for more?

For some of your content, particularly educational content, that may mean the straight facts. Other content may be better teased with tension-filled narrative arcs.

Avoid Cliches & Jargon

Now, before any journalists call me out, I know my lead for this post is the much-maligned quote — but I like to think all rules are made to be broken.  

If there is anything else editors hate, it’s cliches. Avoid them like the plague (yes, I did that on purpose).

In marketing, think ____ is dead, or ____ is king. No one really believes SEO is dead anymore and we get that content is king.

Also, eliminate all jargon.

We may say things like leverage, ten thousand foot view, and thought leader to each other, but our audience doesn’t. All jargon does is alienate them and demonstrate what a hard time we have talking like humans about our profession.

Don’t Ask “Yes or No” Questions          

Another truism from journalists that may help sharpen your writing is Betteridge’s law.

Betteridge’s law states that any headline that asks a question can probably be answered no. It is designed to bring attention to the fact that if a journalist is using a question, it probably means they are trying to over sell what is in fact a pretty dull payoff.

If you were breaking the story that cancer has been cured, you wouldn’t write, “Have we found the cure for cancer?” You would simply write, “Cancer cured.”  

Keep Betteridge’s law in mind when you are writing headlines or page titles. Otherwise, you risk alienating your audience with clickbait that only lets them know they shouldn’t click again.

The Inverted Pyramid

And last, but not least, always remember the inverted pyramid.

Relevant for almost all media writing, the inverted pyramid states that the most important information in any article comes first, followed by gradually less important information throughout the story.   

Don’t bury your lead or the most interesting thing about your content. Journalists are hard wired to use the inverted pyramid to give their stories structure and ensure that even if someone doesn’t make it to the end, they’ve gotten all that really matters.

The same should be true of your marketing content.  

Think about that the next time you are writing a web page. If 50% of your users aren’t scrolling past the fold, is your hero copy communicating all that they really need to know?

2. Fiction

If we want our marketing content to resonate, it needs to tell a story.

An actual story. Something that moves from A to B to C to D, that has internal or external conflict, tension, closure, or hell, even a lack of closure.

To tell better stories, we need to recognize when one is right in front of us. For that, I will defer to master sci-fi author, Kurt Vonnegut (“Slaughterhouse five” is his most known work).     

During his anthropology graduate studies at the University of Chicago, Vonnegut noticed that the Bible’s New Testament and the enduring folk tale Cinderella followed nearly the same shape.

He posited that the “shapes” of the stories a culture holds most valuable reveal things about that culture, and submitted his findings for his master’s thesis.

While his professors rejected the thesis (because “it was so simple and looked like too much fun”), Vonnegut considered the shapes his “prettiest contribution to culture.”

I’ll let him explain:

Credit: Maya Eilam 

These story shapes are everywhere.

Almost every episode of every sitcom uses “man in a hole.” Our favorite lovable cast of weirdos gets into a pickle, then they get out of it.

I would argue that the classic copywriting formula “create the problem...” is just the “man in a hole” story shape.   

Rom-coms are always the “boy meets girl” shape — star-crossed lovers find each other, then lose each other, but luckily love’s eternal power always conquers all in the last five minutes.   

Forget Cinderella — “Rocky,” “The Karate Kid,” and most sports movies always steal her shape.

Think about how you structure your marketing and sales stories.

Is it like this?

This is the way things are, now let me tell you why they will be a million times better.

We only tell our audience why our product or service is the greatest thing that anybody has ever conceived with no tension or conflict, but this doesn’t make your message persuasive -- it makes it sound like BS.

We cannot be afraid to introduce points of tension and conflict into our content.

People love stories because they love struggles that mirror their own. Human existence is a binary struggle between the way things are and the way we want them to be.

Effective copy can and should mirror this.    

Or as I’ve heard Marcus Sheridan say (and I’m paraphrasing), “your content shouldn’t be just about the good, but also the bad and the ugly.”

Say the ugly that your competition is too scared to.

Explain who shouldn’t  buy your product or service.      

It takes guts, but you’ll wind up with better leads, more satisfied customers, and less churn.   

3. Speechwriting

Aristotle taught his students that if they wanted to persuade an audience, they had to use three rhetorical appeals.

Logos or logical appeals. These are supporting details and facts that bolster your point or argument (i.e. social proof, references, etc.). When I share all the ways Vonnegut’s story shapes work in popular media, I am making a logical appeal to convince you that you should try it with your content.     

Ethos or ethical appeals. These speak to your credibility to deliver that message. Extrinsic ethical appeals speak to your experience — I’ve driven results for clients with copywriting, so I feel credible to write about it. Intrinsic appeals are how well you deliver your message — if you think my writing sucks, you aren’t going to trust any of my writing advice.      

Pathos or pathetic appeals. This is very different from our interpretation of the word pathetic. These appeals speak to the emotions of the audience. I started this article strongly implying that your content may suck to appeal to your emotions of fear, “am I leaving money on the table because I’m not communicating my message well?” Instead, I may have actually appealed to your emotion of hate, “will this pompous marketer get off his high horse,” If so, thank you for hate-reading this long.    

The world’s best speakers intrinsically use these appeals to hold attention, earn trust, and ultimately, inspire action.   

Hours after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed, Robert Kennedy stood on the bed of a pickup truck in Indianapolis to announce the news to a predominately African American crowd.

Despite concerns from campaign advisors about his safety, he delivered an improvised speech that is widely considered to be one of the most poignant addresses of modern politics.  

This speech has taught me more about copywriting and rhetorical appeals than any other. I will resist the urge to go line-by-line but share select passages that highlight Aristotle’s appeals.  

Logos

“For those of you who are black — considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible — you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization — black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.”

RFK is making a logical appeal. MLK stood for peace and nonviolence — to respond as a country to his violent end with violence is to betray the compassion and love he preached.  

Ethos

“For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.”

To show the audience he understands their pain, Kennedy evokes the loss he felt when his brother John was killed by an assassin's bullet. His call “to go beyond these rather difficult times” doesn’t ring hollow because he too has struggled to move beyond deep despair.

Pathos

"My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: 'In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.'"

While nearly every line of RFK’s speech has an emotional appeal, it’s hard for anyone reading this beautiful passage not to feel universal human truths and emotions. We all try to forget pain, that one day, against our will, becomes perspective.   

Kennedy is not merely using rhetorical appeals, but also rhetorical devices. These tools, developed by Greek masters of persuasion, are tried and true messaging techniques.

We are all familiar with metaphors -- Abraham Lincoln once said a political adversary, "dived down deeper into the sea of knowledge and come up drier than any other man he knew.” -- But there are many other devices that you may or may not be familiar with that can level up your copywriting.

To keep it in the Kennedy family, JFK loved rhetorical devices. Think "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." This is called antimetabole, and it’s a reversal of repeated words or phrases for effect.

Another, “let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate” -- This is called chiasmus and it’s a repetition of words and phrases in reverse order for effect.  

If you want to try rhetorical devices to be more persuasive in your copywriting, here’s a list of 50.

4. Songwriting

There are few forms of art or media that evoke as visceral a reaction as music.

Songs that mean something to us stick to our souls. They become defining parts of who we are.  

How many times do you hear a song and almost feel like you’ve stepped in a time machine to the first time that song meant something to you?

Because the experience is so personal, it is also wildly subjective from one person to the next.

A skilled songwriter creates this thing that is very personal to them and then releases it into the world to be interpreted.

Sort of like what we do as marketers, right?  While everything filters through the lens of a brand’s needs and objectives, there are bits of us in all the creative and strategy we do, but I think, as marketers, we can learn a lot from how songwriters are able to create very personal works of art that somehow become universal.  

When writing marketing and advertising copy, it’s so easy to try to create something universal.

No matter how much we keep our personas in mind, I think we all fight a voice in our heads that wants the copy or content to work for everyone. We don’t want to alienate anyone.  

Great songwriters, however, understand all they can share is the truth of the story in their head and the more personal and specific they are, the more it gets at fundamental human truths.

As of writing this article, less than a week after it was released, the video for Childish Gambino’s “This is America” has 75 million views.   

A still from Childish Gambino's "This is America" music video. (source)

For the sake of simplicity, the song basically has an A and a B part.

The A part is upbeat, has lots of melody, and jubilant singing buoyed by a choir of voices. The instrumentation includes gentle guitar, a danceable drum loop, and percussion.

The B part is dark and uncomfortable. There is no longer singing but Gambino now rapping with ad-libbed voices stabbing in rough vocalizations.

The instrumentation becomes something in the vein of southern trap hip-hop. There is bassy synths and the drum loop adds sub-divided hi-hats (they stay in the A part after the first B part).

Lyrically, the song is sparse.

The A parts are pretty much “We just wanna party, party just for you, we just want the money, money just for you (yeah)” or Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, tell somebody, you go tell somebody, Grandma told me, get your money, black man (get your money).”

The B parts are always “This is America, don’t catch you slippin’ up” repeated before simple phrases like “look how I'm geekin' out (hey), I'm so fitted (I'm so fitted, woo), I'm on Gucci (I'm on Gucci), I'm so pretty (yeah, yeah).  

There isn’t much to it, right? Relatively simple lyrics over only 2 alternating musical themes --so why does the video have 75 million views?

Why is it seemingly the biggest pop culture moment that has happened in recent memory? Why is every news outlet and publisher trying to interpret, analyze, and discuss its significance?

The answer lies with Ernest Hemingway, who called his style of writing “the Iceberg theory.”

It’s a minimalist style that focuses on surface elements without explicitly discussing underlying themes. He believed the deeper meaning of a story (in this case, a song) should hide under the surface (like most of an iceberg), but be implicitly understood.  

There is an adage in copywriting, that much like Hemingway’s 6 word story on a napkin, probably never happened, but persists because it contains an important lesson.

Legend says that famous ad tycoon David Ogilvy was walking down the street when he saw a homeless man with the sign, “I am blind, please help.”

He didn’t give him money, but rewrote the sign. When he walked by later, the man’s cup was overflowing. The sign now read, “It is spring, and I am blind.”

By adding “it is spring” Ogilvy gave everyone walking by the opportunity to attach their own connotations, experiences, and stories about spring to the sign.

That is what Gambino did.

Childish Gambino’s song has 75 million views because the imagery in the video and his SNL performance show a glimpse of what is under the iceberg of those simple A and B parts.

A still from Childish Gambino's "This is America" music video. (source)

The parts are suddenly exposed as a pointed narrative about his experiences as an African American. The juxtaposed sections take on entirely new meaning as a critique of the dissonance between the perception and reality of his experiences, and how pop culture distracts us from turmoil.  

He is communicating a very specific and personal truth with “This is America,” but its simplicity leaves enough below the iceberg’s surface for everyone to bring their individual perceptions of our country’s current political turmoil to their experience with the song.

It’s an uncomfortable, but profound song and video that speaks to a very universal discomfort happening in America right now.

Excuse the Cliche, But: Think Outside-of-the-Box

  Don’t write generic marketing copy and content.

The next time you write copy, ask yourself, “is this an ad, or is it interesting?”

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/writing-tips-from-journalism-aristotle-childish-gambino

[vernicle]

She returned from Iraq to a broken family. Then writing changed her life.

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Kate Hoit generally dreamed of becoming a member of the FBI. Then she was deployed to Iraq in 2004, and her everyday living took a distinctive change.

"I was a seventeen-12 months-outdated lady from the suburbs, I was a cheerleader, shitty at math, and I was just really fascinated in staying an FBI agent," she states. Following a few several years in the Military Reserves, she been given that sudden telephone contact that she would truly be transport off to war.

Her official assignment? Functioning for the resident newspaper on the base, covering a vast wide range of subjects, from the building of drinking water cure facilities in regional villages to reporting from the hospital as wounded soldiers ended up airlifted in. She spoke with Iraqi civilians and Australian soldiers alike and witnessed every thing from terrible injuries to opportunistic generals posing for push images.

Hoit on deployment in Iraq. All images by Kate Hoit, used with permission.

"Through that time, I really fell in enjoy with the ability of storytelling and journalism and images," Hoit states.

"It was really just a way to see the war at distinctive amounts in a way I under no circumstances would have if I had just sat powering a computer all working day," she proceeds. "So that impacted me on the floor, and I realized I could explain to tales and aim on the far more humanized features of that."

Hoit noticed a ton of issues in the course of her 12 months in Iraq, but what she failed to see was the impact her deployment had on her spouse and children back dwelling.

Her father was a veteran, way too. But his working experience in West Germany in the early nineteen fifties was practically nothing compared to the risks of the Iraq War, and he fearful immensely about the protection of his daughter. This lead to a relapse into alcoholism, and later he was identified with early-onset Alzheimer's.

Before long her mother struggled with alcoholism, way too. The spouse and children finished up shedding Hoit's childhood dwelling when her father was checked into a nursing dwelling.

Hoit with her mother and father just before her deployment.

Hoit returned to a very distinctive everyday living than the a single she had left.

"I did not have any individual to change to," she states. "My buddies received it as very best they could, [but] at the time, I was a very little bit frustrated likely by means of this entire working experience: My family’s destroyed, kind of, and I can’t connect with any individual."

Hoit re-enrolled in faculty with a freshly impressed interest in pursuing a journalism profession, but the changeover wasn't quick.

She was indignant and isolated, and it only received worse — until eventually a single of her professors encouraged her to write about her ordeals. As several psychological scientific studies have shown, the act of storytelling can have a profound impact on traumatic therapeutic.

Hoit found a new enthusiasm for the methods that storytelling can connect with the veteran working experience. "I was like, oh, I have a local community yet again," she states. "It aided with my changeover mainly because I did not really feel as alienated when I started off composing."

Then a couple of her criticisms drew the notice of the Veterans Affairs division.

They caught the eye of now-Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who had just taken more than as the VA's assistant secretary for general public and intergovernmental affairs, and Hoit was quickly recruited into the department's freshly formed digital engagement crew.

Through her time with the crew, Hoit released the department's social media existence and also labored on several critical general public relations strategies, like Veteran of the Day and Robust at the Damaged Sites, which aimed to break down stigmas close to veterans and mental overall health.

Because then, Hoit has designed a profession of helping veterans explain to their tales — and producing certain the general public hears them.

Hoit left her function at the VA and labored in a congressional communications function though she pursued a master's degree in non-fiction composing.

Because then, she's observed a new dwelling as director of content material at Acquired Your six, a nonprofit that will work with the leisure business, veteran groups, and govt businesses to normalize depictions of veterans in the media and empower veterans to make communities and explain to their personal tales.

And all the though, her mission has remained the very same: "You can attract on an emotion or a wrestle, and even if men and women are on the opposite facet of the spectrum, you can make that link with men and women. That’s my goal with content material."

Among their several applications, Acquired Your six delivers official certification for movies and Tv set demonstrates ranging from Marvel's "Daredevil" to "Megan Leavey" in recognition of their initiatives to depict the veteran working experience with greater accuracy and humanity.

"It can be a problem when men and women only want to see veterans as broken with PTSD or as superheroes," Hoit points out. "They really do not want see the normalized, nuanced tale."

Hoit and her colleagues from Acquired Your six.

It really is been far more than a decade because Hoit returned from Iraq, and strangers nevertheless e-mail to request about her working experience.

"I really feel like, at the conclude of the working day, if you are helping men and women and producing a distinction, then you really should use your voice for some greater superior," she states. From what she's observed, most veterans are eager and ready to communicate about their assistance and all the difficulties that appear alongside with it. They just require anyone to listen.

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