#Race is a political debate. Gender is. Sexuality is.

[use-yr-voice]

In a couple of months, I hope to take this blog down or at least change its tone.

I’m angry about the state of US politics and I’m here to vent. But I’m gonna channel my frustration into something positive- I’m gonna speak up, lend support, and vote blue.

The discourse is over. Either you support democracy or you support tyranny. I am not going to debate the cult of the orange felon, I am only going to block them. Their minds are already made up. So is mine.

Democrats, liberals, and progressives are welcome here. Any race, nationality, religion, gender, or sexual orientation is welcome here. We’re all in this together.

The United States might have a checkered past, but its future can be one where it lives up to its ideals and fulfills its promises. Its redemption arc begins this November.

[pvssychicken]

POLITICAL POST INCOMNG

If you disagree with my opinion and wish to be vocal about that, please reach out to me via DM, please do not cause a scene in my comments.

Dividers made by @bernardsbendystraws

I have always been raised to never judge somebody based off of their political views, and normally, Im fine with that, i like to debate with people, but it doesnt change how i feel about them.

This election is different, its Trump vs. Harris, Felon vs. Prosecutor.

I genuinly do not understand how people can vote for Donald Trump, they say that their life was better under him than under biden, but biden didnt cause inflation, that was a global thing, actually, Kamala harris influenced the inflation reduction act which helped us lower inflation. Not to mention that the only reason the economy was great under trump was because OBAMA set it up that way, not trump.

You may be wondering, "how many issues do you have with donald trump?" and my answer is, alot.

Hes a 34 count felon and has been found civily liable for grape. He wants to impose tarrifs, that will make costs of goods worse. He wants to ban abortion, and impose a "normal family" law, basically demonizing gay marriage.

Thats just things that ive heard though, let me tell you some things that ive gotten from his website directly.

CUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDRENCUT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ANY SCHOOL PUSHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY, RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY, AND OTHER INAPPROPRIATE RACIAL, SEXUAL, OR POLITICAL CONTENT ON OUR CHILDREN- BAsically no more sex ed, or talking about the LGBTQ+ community in schools,

KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN'S SPORTS- Speaks for itself, he wants trans women, to stay competeing in mens sports, even though after theyve been on hormones for a few years, they have more of a females agility and stuff (idk how to word this lol)

DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN- Basically if youre pro-pallestine, then youre pro HAMAS. ANd youll be deported

I will admit, Kamala isnt perfect, but she is by far better than trump. At least she has more than a concept of a plan for our country. And at least shes focusuing more on important things other than aliens eating pets and doing trans surgeries on criminals

I know, i cant vote yet, but i still like to try to influence those who can to do the right thing.

HARRIS/WALZ 2024!!!!!

(feel fre to favt check me on any of this info, i am not an expert and i make mistakes!)

PLEASE LIKE/COMMENT/REBLOG SO IT CAN REACH MORE PEOPLE

Taglist: @flouvela @immattsslut @jamiesturniolo @baileysturns @asherrisrandom @chrislilcumslvt @whos-madi

[floyd-leech-thing]

”C’mere. I’ll give you a nice, tight squeeze”

Oi, I’m the real person behind this blog. We’re going to get a few things straight here:

no incest. Ex: Idia and ortho, or Jade and Floyd (not that I think y’all need the examples but just in case

I would prefer beings over the age of 10

nothing overly sexual (because sometimes it just gets weird)

don’t get political. This is for fun, not debates

Any one starting a ship rp can not interact with another ship rp. Friend ships and such can interact obvi but any ships can’t and won’t interact I don’t need a mess for myself

Do not but in to someone else’s RP unless you have permission. And if you do, tell me so i don’t DM you with a warning

those are the current rules, I might add some later

Things that could get your blocked are: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia

Other info: don’t be a dickhead. You can start full on Rps if you want but fair warning I get to it when I get to it if that’s what you’re doing, if you want a faster reply just do it in the tumbler DMs. This ask/chat blog supports all people of any race, gender, sexuality, religion and will remain that way

I am a multi-shipper so I’m not picky with that but I’ll probably respond more to the more popular ones so we don’t get any rude comments about that

I will get better at this whole thing over time just give me a inch to work with here

now with that out of the way, this blog is officially open to people to talk to

-Yours truly, Kris

Other blogs include: @rollo-flamme-nbc and @lilithin-the-rewriter (That’s a Heartslabyul oc) @war-of-alayda @savanaclaw-jack-howl @apple-boy-epel @rook-the-hunter @heartslabyul-ace-trappola @mozus-and-lucius @the-honest-fellow-fellow-honest (can’t @ it) @maria-hearts-jester @mama-cordelia-leech @sir-baul-zigvolt

Blogs interact with the most are:

@tea-cup-tyrant @jadeleech-official @seven-seas-octavinelle @nashi-brie @nrc-ramshackle-prefect @purplehairnpronouns

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lois Beckett at The Guardian:

Attacks targeting American public schools over LGBTQ+ rights and education about race and racism cost those schools an estimated $3.2bn in the 2023-24 school year, according to a new report by education professors from four major American universities. The study is believed to be the first attempt to quantify the financial impact of rightwing political campaigns targeting school districts and school boards across the US. In the wake of the pandemic, these campaigns first attempted to restrict how American schools educate students about racism, and then increasingly shifted to spreading fear among parents about schools’ policies about transgender students and LGBTQ+ rights.

Researchers from UCLA, UT Austin, UC Riverside and American University surveyed 467 public school superintendents across 46 US states, asking them about the direct and indirect costs of dealing with these volatile campaigns. Those costs included everything from out-of-pocket payments to hire to lawyers or additional security, to the staff member hours devoted to responding to disinformation on social media, addressing parent concerns and replying to voluminous public records requests focused on the district’s teachings on racism, gender and sexuality. The campaigns that focused on public schools’ policies about transgender students often included lurid false claims about schools trying to change students’ gender or “indoctrinating” them into becoming gay. This disinformation sparked harassment and threats against individual teachers, school board members and administrators, with some of the fury coming from within local communities, and even more angry calls, emails and social media posts flooding in from conservative media viewers across the country.

In addition to the financial costs of responding to these targeted campaigns, the study revealed other dynamics, the researchers said. “The attack on public officials as pedophiles was one I heard again and again, from people across extremely different parts of the country: rural, urban, suburban. It speaks to the way that this really is a nationalized conflict campaign,” said John Rogers, an education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the study. The frequency with which both school board members and school superintendents were “being called out as sexual predators – it was really frightening”, Rogers said. Superintendents from across the country told the researchers how these culture battles had affected their schools, and cut into resources they would have preferred to spend on education.

[...] While disagreement, debate and dealing with angry parents are a normal part of local public school administration, the researchers noted, the political campaigns that schools have faced in recent years have been anything but normal. Many of them have been driven by “a small number of active individuals on social media or at school board meetings”, and fueled by misinformation. The school-focused campaigns, which started with claims that elementary and middle schools were harming white students by teaching critical race theory and later shifted to attacks on schools’ policies for transgender students, were nationally organized, with “common talking points” that could be traced back to conservative foundations and rightwing legal organizations, and were intensely amplified by rightwing media coverage, Rogers said.

Public schools across the US burned up nearly $3.2BN worth of money fending off right-wing culture war items such as book bans, anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, anti-student inclusion, and anti-racial equity policies.

See Also:

The Advocate: U.S. public schools lost $3.2 billion fighting conservative culture wars: report

[thestupidhelmet]

In what ways would you say the T90S gang don't feel like 90s teenagers at all? The scene where Gwen is like: "let's just say it: masturbation" out loud in the Hub comes to mind, but I am sure there's more. I am curious what your take is.

"Speaking as a child of the nineties ... " -- Eddie Vedder, "Habit"

Kurt Cobain's suicide was a traumatic and divisive tragedy that impacted '90s teens significantly and in a variety of ways. That '90s Show begins a little over a year after his death, yet no one mentions him or Nirvana. Watching Courtney Love read portions of Kurt's suicide letter, hearing her voice, was a collective experience. Many teens grieved deeply. Some contemplated suicide, some attempted it, and some sadly succeeded.

Insensitive teens reacted with ridicule, contempt, and glee to those who grieved his passing.

The Pacific Northwest rock scene (dubbed grunge as a joke, but the name stuck), its meaningful lyrics and '70s-classic-rock- and punk- influenced music, and the social activism of bands like Pearl Jam had a profound impact on teens in the '90s. That influence is wholly missing in That '90s Show.

East Coast and West Coast gangsta rap was also a big part of teen culture in the '90s, including the deadly feud between the two groups (granted, Tupac's murder occurred in September 1996, and T9S season 2 ended in August 1996).

At the most positive end of the 1990s social spectrum, kids grew up with a diverse group of friends and peers -- not only in terms of race, ethnicity, religion (or the lack thereof), sexuality, and gender, but also personalities, life backgrounds, music preferences, and all levels of academic and emotional intelligence (from Kelso to the direct opposite of Kelso 😂).

Multicultural clubs were a thing, where people shared their cultures (e.g., food, family history, religious rituals, etc.) and empathized with one another as humans first.

Differences of all kinds were points of connection, not division. This inclusive, accepting majority of students across grades 9-12 stood in sharp contrast to the small group of exclusionary, (hard) drug-addicted white kids who believed in a Jackie-esque social hierarchy / popularity. They'd ruled in middle school, but the majority of high school students didn't fit their ideal.

Gay-straight alliances were also a thing, with openly gay teachers running them. Teen drag queens performed at school talent shows. Gay teens brought their same-sex romantic partners to Prom.

But, as I said, this was the positive end of the spectrum. At the most negative, '90s kids grew up with other kids who had neo-nazi leanings and felt pressured to join for fear of becoming isolated and/or a target. X-ethnicity or X-race kids vs. Y-ethnicity or Y-race kids was a thing, with both being victim and perpetrator depending on the school. Homophobia was normal, as was ableism.

The '90s teen experience was not homogeneous.

Many teens had troubled family lives with some level of instability. At the worst, teens became emancipated from their parents before the age of eighteen and financially supported themselves. Some teens lived in trailer parks with Edna-esque mothers and absent fathers. Others lived with their adult boyfriends by choice. Still others were kicked from their mom's house because Mom was bipolar and unmedicated or teen was addicted to speed; these teens found shelter at their best friends' more stable homes.

Teens could be politically active or ignorant, but they weren't necessarily dogmatic in their political leanings. They debated each other respectfully.

Shows like Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Beavis and Butthead, Ren and Stimpy, the WWF/WWE, Seinfeld, and My So-Called Life were consistently referenced and discussed.

People living with AIDS visited schools and spoke about their experiences, as did Holocaust survivors.

School sports teams, whether small scale or large, were very much a part of '90s teen life. Either one was in a team, a cheerleader or step dancer, or had friends on the teams.

But teens' sense of safety and place in the U.S. was different than today. Again, it wasn't homogeneous, but it did have an essence specific-to-the-decade -- and this essence is not portrayed in That '90s Show. The '90s for teens was a combination of urgency, seriousness, self-importance, self-sacrifice, narcissism, empathy, kids having life experiences (due to parental neglect or willful ignorance) that were far too dangerous for them to have.

The Internet was only starting to be used by teens, and it consisted of message boards and twenty-five cent emails. Then chat rooms.

Playing video and computer games together, in the same room, was a common pastime.

Sexual activity was discussed among the closest of friends, as was masturbation, but in private and generally one-on-one. But teens made out in school stairwells. Couples had arguments in school stairwells. They broke up in school stairwells. 😂

Parties at teens' houses included everyone from freshmen to seniors. Freshmen binged forties, bottles of malt liquor. Lots of kids smoked pot on the balcony. Sex happened in bedrooms. Teens danced drunkenly.

Some girls went to age-appropriate clubs, and others used fake IDs to get into twenty-one-and-over clubs ... got into vans with men twice their age and survived the experience. Sexual consent was dubious at best but, in reality, non-existent. Lots of statutory rape of drunken teens who didn't view or understand what happened as rape.

Schools were filled with a measure of high functioning alcoholics and stoners (both academically-minded and not), kids who did hard drugs like speed and heroin -- and sadly didn't survive the experience.

They were also filled with academically-focused students who were relatively straight-edge. They were friends with the stoners and high-functioning alcoholics -- and were never pressured to join in on their drug and alcohol use (yet again, not a homogeneous experience).

Some students (of all races and ethnicities) were drug dealers.

That '70s Show, while the era is part and parcel of the characters and stories, captures the essence of what '90s teens experienced to a good degree. It successfully explores the seriousness of teenage struggles while also being funny.

The superficiality of That '90s Show and its characters is why I didn't connect with it deeply. For example, Leia's '90s Lisa Loeb fantasy is funny but fluff. I didn't want or need her to be a high-functioning alcoholic who's also class president with a GPA of 3.7. 😅 She also didn't have to be bisexual or gay.

But the reasons given for her struggles as a teen in Chicago are flimsy. She comes across as somewhat depressed in T9S's first episode. She's portrayed as having two loving and emotionally stable parents, as well as an equally loving and stable extended family. Being an outcast at her Chicago school because she's on the debate team and in band -- it's possible but unlikely.

Higher emotional stakes were necessary, and they would've made the humor more impactful. Perhaps Leia actually suffered from depression, likely reactive as it's portrayed on the show. It clears up once her friendship with Gwen (and Gwen's friends) begins. Why? What about her life in Chicago is so painful? Not fitting in with her peers, sure, but give a deeper and more realistic/tied-to-the-'90s reason.

As I've discussed previously, I would've written her as bisexual or gay. But she could also have a learning disability -- and frustrated, emotionally disregulated reactions to it that established a reputation among her school peers from first grade, a rep she couldn't shake even as she learned tools to work with her learning disability.

Or maybe her group of best friends excluded her once they reached middle school because their interests no longer aligned. They moved fast toward older activities (e.g., sex, drinking, drugs) while she remained focused on academics and being twelve and thirteen. And/or became invested in what was going on in the country and the world.

Or she was bullied at school from day one with a headmaster who didn't care.

Or Eric and Donna's parenting style put too many limits on her.

Or anything that carries some weight.

Gwen's character in season 1, by comparison, is more connected to the '90s era. Not by much, but her home life is a strange mix of stable and messy. She has riot grrrl vibes, but the show doesn't dive deeper into this aspect of her. Instead, they make her rebelliousness generic and not specific to the feminist movement of the time. The show should've embraced the specificity of the '90s instead of sprinkling it on like glitter.

Jay is a modified Kelso clone who says bro with Nate to the point of torture. He and Nate resemble Joey Lawrence's character on Blossom to a degree, a '90s sitcom produced in the '90s (and used the Pinciotti kitchen set before T7S did). But Jay and Nate are both cartoonish, Nate less so in season 2, and they could be plucked out of the 1990s era and placed into today's without any consequences for their characters.

The above is true for all the T9S kids. Nothing about the '90s era is fundamental to who they are.

[mariacallous]

I first heard about Rocklin, California, back in 2019, when a bitter fight there over gender and sexuality in the schools made national headlines. In this small city outside of Sacramento, hundreds of parents were holding their kids out of school to protest a new social studies curriculum that, among other things, highlighted contributions of major LGBTQ+ figures in history. Some parents argued that the curriculum introduced the topic of sexuality before kids were ready for it; others said the curriculum sent a message of LGBTQ+ approval that was at odds with their religious beliefs.

The debate felt very novel at the time and slightly weird, given that it was in a state known for its progressive bent. That may be why it made an impression – and why the story was still rattling around in my head two years later when similar fights started popping up in other communities around the country. Some of those debates took place in Michigan, where I live and was covering the governor’s race. Eventually I got the idea of going back to Rocklin to see how the debate had turned out there, thinking it might be a case study.

I hadn’t planned to spend a lot of time on the article because I figured the controversy had died down and most of the residents had moved on. I couldn’t have been more wrong. That 2019 fight over the social studies curriculum turned out to be the opening salvo in an ongoing, escalating war that has engulfed Rocklin and its neighbors -- most recently in a fight over the future of an LGBTQ+ youth support group and a debate over “parental notification” rules that would require teachers to let parents know if their child asks to be identified with a name or pronoun different from the one on school records.

My HuffPost article tells the stories of these fights. It’s based on dozens of interviews, spanning the better part of a year, and features an array of characters, including a progressive gay pastor and the leader of a right-wing megachurch, along with cameos by the conservative organizations Moms for Liberty and Project Veritas. It also includes some scared, struggling LGBTQ+ kids who say, quite reasonably, that they are the ones with the most at stake. 

[little-elf-wanders]

Veilguard Vault: Character Planning

~ Warrior Role ~

Basics

Name: Marsh (Aka Rook)

Age: 29

Gender: Male/Nonbinary 

Height: Average (Note: Short for a Qunari)

Race: Qunari // Tal-Vashoth

Faction: Lords Of Fortune

Class: Warrior // Two-handed

Subclass: Reaper 

Sexuality: Closet Bisexual (He gay panics)

Possible Romance: Lucanis (He makes him feel tall)

Possible Friends: Taash, Harding, Assan, Davrin?, Emmerich, Varric, 

Possible Yikes: Solas, Neve, Davrin?

Possibly Unsure: Davrin, Bellara

Personality

Likes: Money, Loot, Breaking things, Stealing things, Shady business schemes, The ocean, Biting, Changing his hair an ungodly amount of times, Sharp teeth, Coffee, His rings, Bright colours, Adventuring, Flirting his way into and outta situations, Singing (though he won’t like comments about it).

Dislikes: Orlais, Politics, Solas, The law (sorry Neve), Slavers, Being stared at, Big statues, Long debates (he has no attention span), The Qun, Being told what to do. 

Quirks: He picks his teeth when he’s bored, He sharpens his teeth because sometimes he likes to bite people in the middle of battle, Very self conscious that he’s not as big as most Qunari so out of sheer spite he’s learned to use a battle axe, He has a big mouth that often gets him in trouble but he’s also very good at getting out of it, Really wanted to explore under the ocean but it was impossible. (He tried and nearly drowned. Twice.)

Backstory: Marsh was always a scrawnier Qunari than the other boys, which you’d think would mean he’d have more incentive to behave, obey and fit in. It had the opposite effect, as instead it spurred him to rebel and prove himself even harder – growing to quickly learn he hated being told who he was and what he should do, tension built between him and… everyone around him. Somewhere along the way, he developed behavioural issues. He was cocky, had a smart mouth, a shit eating grin and talked too much smack for the kid who got his ass handed to him by the bigger peers. Marsh wasn’t a happy kid, he was an angry kid, leading to multiple incidents in his youth that didn’t earn him any favours. “Marsh” - not his Qun name -wasn’t fit for the Qun. After one incident once he was fed up with his assigned job as a blacksmith, he got into it with his teacher when he kept pocketing materials meant for weaponry, he was caught red handed. A bad fight broke out, which cost him half his horn and earned him half an ear from his assaulter, and although deep down he knew stealing wasn't a smart move, he was too angry at everything to admit it when he had the chance. He was promptly sent to re-education which broke the final straw for him. Unable to accept the Qun or his role, or how everything he did was always wrong, bad or against the Qun, he snapped and snuck away from his home in Kont-aar, moving further into Rivain where he disappeared into trading markets. It was a long journey just to get there and it really let him experience more than he ever would with his teacher. He escaped young at the age of 15 and became a dreaded Tal-Vashoth, where he’d scrap and scavenge anything and everything he could to survive. As it turned out, he was exceptionally good at it. His life in the Qun and his breeding as a Qunari gave him more of an edge than he realised. Inside the Qun, he was weak, yet out here? He had options. So many options. Which he took full advantage of; he watched merchants, watched pirates, watched the people of Rivain and grew incredibly fascinated by their customs, their blatant acceptance and reverence of magic, and just everything he came across felt like seeing colour for the first time – it felt like life, life perfectly wrapped in sea salt air. Marsh swiftly discovered he wasn’t as bad socially as he initially thought – where he’d get pushback, chiding, scolding or flat out strict snaps with the Qun, here he was more… accepted. Some younger kids even began to look up to him when he stuck up for them, and they helped him get better accustomed to life in Dairsmuid. They welcomed his conversation, taught him their language and from there he began to network.

At 17, he established many groups or... gangs, might be the better word, networking with his own little group of troublemakers. Finding information, items, lost things... it all became his talent, of course backed up by his teeth and battle axe. He especially learned of his love of trade through those years. Money, shiny things, bright fabrics, unique items, you name it he got it. He got a hunger for it and a passion for finding things people wanted, things he was never allowed to touch before. 

This led him right into the arms of the Lords Of Fortune, whom he worked with for a good sum of years, and eventually that brought Varric. 

[Image was made on picrew]

[savanaclaw-jack-howl]

”If you're scared, tuck your tail and get outta here. I'm more than enough for them on my own.”

Oi, I’m the real person behind this blog. We’re going to get a few things straight here:

no incest. Ex: Idia and ortho, or Jade and Floyd (not that I think y’all need the examples but just in case

I would prefer beings over the age of 10

nothing overly sexual (because sometimes it just gets weird)

don’t get political. This is for fun, not debates

Any one starting a ship rp can not interact with another ship rp. Friend ships and such can interact obvi but any ships can’t and won’t interact I don’t need a mess for myself

those are the current rules, I might add some later

Things that could get your blocked are: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia

Other info: don’t be a dickhead. You can start full on Rps if you want but fair warning I get to it when I get to it if that’s what you’re doing, if you want a faster reply just do it in the tumbler DMs. This ask/chat blog supports all people of any race, gender, sexuality, religion and will remain that way

I am a multi-shipper so I’m not picky with that but I’ll probably respond more to the more popular ones so we don’t get any rude comments about that

I will get better at this whole thing over time just give me a inch to work with here

now with that out of the way, this blog is officially open to people to talk to

-Yours truly, Kris

Other blogs include: @rollo-flamme-nbc and @lilithin-the-rewriter (That’s an oc) and @floyd-leech-thing

[rollo-flamme-nbc]

‘Rollo Flamme’

Oi, I’m the real person behind this blog. We’re going to get a few things straight here:

no incest. Ex: Idia and ortho, or Jade and Floyd (not that I think y’all need the examples but just in case

I would prefer beings over the age of 10

nothing overly sexual (because sometimes it just gets weird)

don’t get political. This is for fun, not debates

those are the current rules, I might add some later

Things that could get your blocked are: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia

Other info: don’t be a dickhead. You can start full on Rps if you want but fair warning I get to it when I get to it if that’s what you’re doing, if you want a faster reply just do it in the tumbler DMs. This ask/chat blog supports all people of any race, gender, sexuality, religion and will remain that way

I am a multi-shipper so I’m not picky with that but I’ll probably respond more to the more popular ones so we don’t get any rude comments about that

I will get better at this whole thing over time just give me a inch to work with here

My other Blogs: @floyd-leech-thing and @nrc-plus-misfits

and now without further ado, it’s open to talk too

-Kris, The one and only creator of this blog

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Jun 4, 2024

Here we go again. The culture war is apparently nothing more than a myth, a fabrication intended to distract the lower orders. It’s like the “bread and circuses” of Ancient Rome, or the Easter Bunny, or Milli Vanilli.

On this week’s episode of Newsnight, the former Tory MP Dehenna Davison was asked whether she welcomed Kemi Badenoch’s recent attempts to clarify the Equality Act in order to ensure that women’s rights to single-sex spaces are protected. “I don’t at all,” she said. “I think regrettably the debate around trans issues right now seems to be used as some kind of political football for this mythical culture war that the Conservative party seems to be fighting.”

That’s a relief. So the disabled women who are smeared as bigots for requesting female carers are simply fantasists? And the female prisoners who are terrified of being accommodated with convicted rapists are just worrying over nothing? And victims of sexual assault being turned away from rape crisis centres because they don’t want to speak to a male counsellor have just imagined the whole thing?

Apparently, yes. Here’s what the Tory Reform Group had to say in a post on X:

“The Conservative Party has to think very carefully about the type of campaign it wants to run, and the longer term impact of stoking culture wars. It is clear that voters are rejecting the politics of division. We must not run on ‘wedge issues’ for a narrow core voter base alone.”

I remain unconvinced that the rights of 51% of the population qualifies as a “wedge issue”.

Of course the culture war doesn’t end with the ongoing erosion of women’s rights. Gay people are being shamed for being attracted to their own sex by the very organisations who were set up to protect their interests. We have men demanding access to lesbian dating apps and speed-dating events. We’ve had gay youth medicalised on the NHS for being same-sex attracted. We have the bullying and harassment of gay men and lesbians in the name of “progress”. And yet in her Newsnight interview, Davison claims that same-sex marriage is one of the Conservative government’s “proudest achievements” while in the same breath dismissing these attacks on gay rights as trivial.  

And what about the ongoing assault on free speech? What of those activists who demand that we should be prosecuted if we do not adopt their language (something that is actually happening in Canada and is likely to come to Ireland with the proposed new “hate speech” laws)? And what about campaigners who now leverage huge influence in all our major institutions attempting to rewrite our history, remove statues and monuments that they find “problematic”, censor books, and criminalise dissent? What about the ideologues in schools who are teaching highly contested theories as fact, from Critical Race Theory via Brighton School Council’s “anti-racist schools strategy” to this week’s revelation that 95% of Scottish schools are allowing pupils to self-identify their gender?

At this point, it’s difficult to believe that anyone genuinely believes that the culture war is “mythical”. There is an abundance of evidence of the antics of culture warriors who seek to reconstruct all the fundamental aspects of our society in order to better align with their ideology. I do make a point of assuming that people are telling the truth, and so the charitable explanation is that Davison and her ilk are simply ignorant of some of the most significant cultural developments over the past decade, from the fallout of the Black Lives Matter protests to the Scottish hate crime bill to the campaigns of harassment against gender-critical feminists. Perhaps she doesn’t read the newspapers. If only someone had written a book that provides a wide-ranging overview of the countless examples of how culture warriors have sought to reshape the world. Oh well…

Of course Davison is not the only political commentator to imply that the rights of women and gay people simply don’t matter. Former Labour strategist Alastair Campbell was quick to jump on to X to offer his contribution:

“I’m sure the world of trade and business will take note that the actual Secretary of State for trade and business has decided that the biggest issue on her agenda on her first big election outing is the weaponisation of trans rights. Anyone might be tempted to think Kemi Badenoch has less interest in the general election than the internal ideological shitshow likely to follow.”

As J. K. Rowling pointed out, Campbell seems to be unaware that Badenoch is also the minister for women and equalities, and so it’s hardly a stretch to suppose that women’s rights and the Equality Act fall within her remit. As Rowling put it: “Thanks once again for highlighting Labour’s complacency and indifference towards the rights of half the electorate.”

The culture war is often misunderstood as a matter of Right vs Left, but the ill-informed comments of Davison and Campbell show that it’s nothing of the kind. As I have pointed out many times, the Conservatives have presided over the worst excesses of the culture war during their time in office. We shouldn’t give them a free pass simply because matters are likely to get a whole lot worse under Labour.

Far from being trivial, these issues could not be more important. If we can’t preserve the rights of women and gay people, how can we claim to be living in a civilised society? And when activists are successfully pressurising governments to force citizens to declare falsehoods, how can we in good conscience remain silent?

The claim that the culture was is a “distraction” is, in itself, a distraction. Yes, other issues are crucial and require our attention. But resisting the creeping authoritarianism of our times should also be a priority. When those in power are not only insisting that 2+2=5, but demanding that we all repeat the lie, we cannot afford to be complacent.

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

maybe not a trope strictly speaking but college au? who would be who? what would they study/teach/be like?

OOH tyy! so fun to think about...

I'm thinking of all of them as non-students, partly bc Elena, Cecio and Dina have all been to uni. under the read more bc i went for everyone

Muro would be an engineering technician. I love him but hes not getting anywhere near a degree let alone a phd even if we make it modern day. Cherry would teach engineering [more the maths and physics area but also more general] and they would have a legendary rivalry. Muro has been widely accepted into the group of professors/lecturers and is 'totally just friends' with Elena 😉

Elena would teach art history :) specifically with a focus on non european & modern american art history. Everyone jokes that she should also be a fashion professor given the clothes she designs and makes to wear but she teaches art history not art itself for the same reason of not turning her creative passion so directly into her work.

Tesoro... he either teaches english literature or psychology. or sports if he wants to keep up the jock mask. Media analysis [& wider literature and language classes] he lovess breaking down what pieces of media say and imply and how effectively they do so. his students joke that his lessons double as english 101 because of his love of english language media, but he makes sure to look at Italian classics & contemporary media as well. Him & Elena have a friendly rivalry where they debate the boundaries of their two subjects.

Conficcare teaches nursing/caring and i pity the poor people who end up in his classes and as trainees in the hypothetical university hospital nearby. Hes a decent teacher, just also a fucking nightmare of one. Contrary to expectations, if you want to calm him down just drag Muro over, not Tesoro his boyfriend.

Dina teaches... data analysis and security! also ethics. some of her students may complain how much she stresses ethics but the world is better when those students give up on the degree. She crosses over to teach the programming side of engineering as she has to deal with her wife Cherry enough she understands engineers

Cecio teaches law! He avoids the rest of them [Bar Rametta] like the plague bc being co-workers with basically your family is awkwardd but hes a decent professor and also goes heavy on how the law should protect and not be abused

Rametta teaches gender studies, though shes much more focused on research than the rest, because growing up around Muro, her brother, Tesoro, Elena ect, as well as being trans herself, made her think about the complexities of gender and their intersection with race and class and sexuality a whole fucking lot. Everyone is banned from her lectures bc it would get obvious how a lot of what she learned started from observing them.

Mura would be a politics professor and be a walking mystery who sometimes has a little to much insight into politics and is a legendarily brutal professor to have

Georgie would teach agriculture! he would be a sweetheart of a lecturer<3 doing plenty of research into conservation and how to update farming methods to be ore long term sustainable

[writteninlunarlight-years]

Hello! If you're still doing them, could I please get a Baldur's Gate 3 matchup? I'm bedridden right now from joint pain and need a pick-me-up, but if they're closed feel free to ignore this.

Gender: Genderfluid, but leans towards feminine

Pronouns: Any, but I tend to use she/her because it's honestly just more convenient

Sexuality: Any gender is fine. I might slightly prefer a man but if you think a girl would fit better don't let that stop you ☺️

Appearance: I am a 4’ 10” (147 cm) tall fem-aligned person with long wavy auburn hair, glasses and a fashion sense that varies widely from masc to fem. I'm almost never seen without my compression braces on because I have pretty terrible joint pain, so I've got compression socks, knee braces, shorts for hip pain, gloves for finger joint pain and am generally carrying quite a lot of medical equipment on me at all times lol. That being said, I try to work out when I can so I am getting pretty muscular and enjoy impressing people with my muscles because nobody really expects it.

MBTI: INFJ-T

Personality: I'm a very kind, friendly person but I still have a bit of fiery energy. I'm very passionate and will stand up and verbally smackdown anyone if I feel it's deserved, though generally I'm quite polite. I know tons of random trivia because I research and take notes obsessively. I have autism so the main way I communicate is by infodumping, and I can get easily thrown off in conversation when someone says something I don't expect. I love debating people respectfully, but I really do try to be very nice and as helpful as I possibly can be. I also kind of struggle to ask for help when I need it because I get embarrassed. Plus I am a very stubborn person in general. But most of all I'm very dedicated to self improvement and always strive to be a better version of myself.

Likes: Books and researching, Plants, Witchcraft and occultism, Mythology and religious studies, Linguistics, Exercising and working out and especially Science in general

Dislikes: My chronic illnesses, Heights, Being teased or made fun of (I make a point of not doing this to others either and even when debating I never go for personal jabs), People who are obviously misinformed but refuse to change, Rude and toxic people (If you're going to waste my time being a jerk you're not worth my time at all)

Extra Fun Fact: I currently work at a library and am hoping to become both a researcher and spirit medium

Race: Given my height, probably a halfling or dwarf of some kind

Class: Probably a Paladin or Cleric, maybe with a Wizard multiclass because I'm such a nerd lol

D&D Alignment: Neutral Good. I'm committed to doing good but not too strictly. Basically the “Yeah, but it would be funny” type of morality

Thanks so so much, I hope you have a fantastic day! Take care of yourself!

I hope this helps you feel better! I wish you nothing but a speedy healing process. You seem like a fantastic person. Thank you for letting me write to you!

~~~~~ MATCHUPS ~~~~~

BG3

Wyll Ravengaurd

~~~~~ HEADCANONS ~~~~~

Wyll is a gentleman with you, always seeking to get to know you and respect the newfound leader.

He was a lone wolf for so long that now, having a crew of friends and someone he holds near and dear is a fresh summer's breath for him.

He is afraid of Mizora, though. Not that she would hurt him; she wouldn't get anything out of that. He fears the restrictions, rules, and stipulations she would put on him if he sought you out.

Due to this, Wyll tried so hard to keep you at arm's length, only letting you know small fragments of him.

When Mizor made her debut, he felt better about his chances with you. He knew having someone as kind, understanding, and warm as you by his side was just what he needed.

Wyll courted you properly, asking if you would like to explore romance with him, go on small dates, and even take a dance lesson here and there.

No matter how badly he wanted to kiss you, though, he kept refraining until you asked him.

Once you two were past courting and officially together, he made it a point to get explicit permission from Mizora to tell you about Avernus and the Demons who inhabited the other planes.

He may have had to do a shady thing or two to earn this privilege, but it was worth seeing your eyes light up when sharing this limited knowledge.

When freed of the illithid, he would happily give up galivanting across the sword coast to settle down with you. He would only leave because Mizora asked him for assistance.

Wyll watched you flourish as a shopkeeper for books and magical resources, things only your humble shop could attain because of Wyll's Connections and adventures.

If you ever had a tough day or became bedridden, Wyll would drop everything to assist you. He would be your personal nurse. He'd even call Halsin or Shadowheart to help if he was worried about his lack of skill.

~~~~~ BLURB ~~~~~

It was a cold day in Faerun; snow had just coated the land and would soon fall again. You were seated in the foyer of your new home, watching the outdoors grow colder. You, however, were quite warm. A hand-knitted blanket was wrapped around you, and a warm fur pelt Mizora gifted you adorned your shoulders. Wyll was by the fire, tending to it. Today was tough for your body; everything was sore and hurting. Wyll did everything he could to help, even utilizing the books and notes Shadowheart and Halsin left for him.

As soon as the warmth was at its peak in the home, Wyll kissed you atop your head and made his way to the kitchen. He would prepare a meal for you two and ensure you had some sustenance. While still staring out at the beautiful white blanket of snow, the thought occurred to you that you were the fearless leader of the band that killed the neatherbrain. The illithid gave you an extraordinary gift of no more pain for the price of being turned. To think you almost took that risk but instead knew your humanity was far more a gift. Plus, you would have lost all the amazing friends you made.

Now, by your partner's side, you were even more confident in your choices because you wouldn't have him. Wyll returned some food and assisted you when you needed it. Once satisfied, you two decide some more rest would do you both well. Wyll had just returned a day or two ago from a grueling task from Mizora. Wyll gently picked you up and walked you back to your room. He knew just as well as you that you could take care of yourself, as you have done this time and time before, but his help was always so warm and appreciated. Once in bed, Wyll curled in behind you, holding you close. With one final kiss on your head, you both fell into a simple slumber. You might feel well enough to build a snowman when you wake.

~~~~~ EXTRA ~~~~~

(Just after the freedom of the shadow fell, your group was looking over the security tower at the beginnings of Baldur's Gate. Taking camp before continuing on to your final destination.)

Y/N: Wyll, look at this someone left an enchanted Rapier!

Astarion: ooooh, and quite the liquor selection.

Shadowheart: Please share that with the rest of us.

Wyll: Why don't you all head to the fire and celebrate our accomplishments? Heard Gale cooked quite the feast.

(You walked up to Wyll and leaned your head on his shoulder)

Y/N: What do you think will come of us?

Wyll: Whatever you desire, my love, whatever you desire.

[starblightbindery]

Editor's Note from my bind, Designs of Fate, an anthology of Star Wars stories by Patricia A. Jackson.

Patricia A. Jackson is a criminally underrated Star Wars author.

I’ll explain.

Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was challenging to be an adolescent Star Wars fangirl, particularly an Asian American one. Back then, fandom meant negotiating male-dominated online message boards where identifying as a teenage girl meant inviting a ‘fake geek girl’ grilling at best and sexual harassment at worst. Most of the published Star Wars books were about Han, Leia, and Luke. Han and Leia were in their thirties and the parents of three children...not super relatable for preteen me. As far as character development was concerned, our “Big Three” had established characterizations coalesced firmly on the side of good. For our heroes, there was no moral ambiguity as, novel by novel, they tackled the galactic Threat of the Week.

Bildungsromans, those books were not. When Jackson started writing Star Wars in the 1990s, there were no women Jedi or protagonists of color. If you wanted stories with original characters coming of age, your primary recourse was the West End Games’ Star Wars Adventure Journals and their published anthologies, Tales from the Empire (1997) and Tales from the New Republic (1999). I remember avidly poring over my dogeared paperback copies and stalking the internet for scans or transcriptions. Although I never played the D6 role-playing game, the short stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journals helped me envision that a character like me—a young Asian girl coming into her own—did have a place in Star Wars after all.

As evinced by the vitriolic reactions towards John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran during the production of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars fandom can be a hateful environment for proponents of diversity and inclusion. A small but irritatingly loud faction of fascist-leaning, cishet, white male fans are actively hostile towards fans who advocate for change; they are more troubled by the presence of queers, women and BIPOC than our absence. Because of the ubiquity and popularity of Star Wars in America’s cultural milieu, the sentiments from these self-appointed gatekeepers have been—and continue to be—amplified by right wing extremists, and, to some extent, even by the Internet Research Agency as tools of Russia’s psychological and cyber warfare against the United States. During his Ph.D. candidacy with the Department of Information Studies at UCLA, Morten Bay, PhD., studied negative tweets about The Last Jedi and found that 50.9% of negative tweets were “bots, trolls/sock puppets or political activists using the debate to propagate political messages supporting extreme right-wing causes and the discrimination of gender, race or sexuality.”

“Russian trolls weaponize Star Wars criticism as an instrument of information warfare with the purpose of pushing for political change,” he wrote, “while it is weaponized by right-wing fans to forward a conservative agenda and for some it is a pushback against what they perceive as a feminist/social justice onslaught.”

The creation and inclusion of characters with minoritized identities in Star Wars is, therefore, an act of resistance. As far as I’m aware, Patricia A. Jackson was the first woman of color and Black author to write for the Star Wars expanded universe. Jackson has described the fan environment in the 1990s thusly; like many minoritized fans of color, she would be given pithy justifications such as "Well, there’s no Africa in Star Wars, so there are no Black people." Jackson noted, aptly, "That was just translation for “’You don’t matter. You don’t need to be here.’” Jackson's work for West End Games, particularly her sourcebook The Black Sands of Socorro, is a subversion of those expectations.

Before anyone else did, Jackson showed fandom that dominant mayo masculinity did not have to be the only way to tell Star Wars stories. Her stories existed before the prequel trilogy and three decades of Star Wars publishing, before FanFiction.net, Archive of Our Own, or Wattpad. She is the forerunner for BIPOC writers in Star Wars, followed by other luminaries like Steven Barnes, Daniel José Older, Nnedi Okorafor, Rebecca Roanhorse, Ken Liu, Greg Pak, Alyssa Wong, Sarah Kuhn, Saladin Ahmed, C.B. Lee, Justina Ireland, Alex Segura, Zoraida Cordova, Greg VanEekhout, Mike Chen, Charles Yu, R.F. Kuang, Sarwat Chadda, Sabaa Tahir, and Renée Ahdieh.

Jackson had and continues to have an incredibly prescient understanding of what makes a good Star Wars story. Any of the stories in this anthology could find a home as an anime short from Star Wars: Visions (2021). Ideas from Jackson’s Star Wars short stories have appeared in later media, sometimes decades later. Whether convergently evolved or directly influenced, the parallels are astonishing: Kierra, the snarky feminine droid consciousness who inhabits Thaddeus Ross’s ship, is a spiritual predecessor to L3-37, Lando Calrissian’s snarky feminine droid companion from Solo (2018) who ends the film uploaded to the Millennium Falcon. Jackson addressed concepts like slavery and Force healing predating the prequel and sequel trilogies. In “Idol Intentions,” she created an adventuring academic on the hunt for artifacts long before Kieron Gillen brought Doctor Aphra to life. Squint and the upturned red salt on the planet Crait in The Last Jedi becomes flying red soil on the planet Redcap. Dark haired, dark side tragic emo boy starcrossed with a fiery girl Jedi?—I think Jackson understood intuitively the appeal of this trope to a woman-dominated contingent of fandom well before “Reylo” topped Tumblr’s fan favorite relationship charts in 2020.

Jackson’s work is also significant for deepening world building. Much like how Timothy Zahn introduced analysis of fine art to Star Wars with his villainous art connoisseur Grand Admiral Thrawn, Jackson’s stories introduced concepts such as the evolution of Old Corellian, the acting profession, and Legitimate Theatre. These elements added verisimilitude to the expanded universe; it makes sense that different cultures in Star Wars would have archaic languages, folk songs, and old stories of their own from even longer ago in galaxies far, far, away. More recently, the franchise has started to flesh out in-universe lore in Star Wars: Myths and Fables (2019) by George Mann. Still, Uhl Eharl Khoehng in “Uhl Eharl Khoehng” (1995) remains the finest example of mise en abyme in any Star Wars related work.

Themes from Jackson’s Star Wars works, particularly around Drake Paulsen and Socorro, also connect contemporaneously with our real world. When the Seldom Different is essentially ‘pulled over’ by Imperial authorities in “Out of the Cradle” (1994), stormtroopers lie about Drake Paulsen having a weapon as a pretense to terrorize the teenager. It’s a collision of space opera with Black youths’ past and current experiences of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence. Accordingly, this capricious encounter is the rite of passage that jars Drake out of his childhood. I cheered when I read The Black Sands of Socorro (1997) and saw that the Black Bha'lir smuggler’s guild is named for a bha'lir, depicted in the book as a large...panther. Few Star Wars expanded universe authors—particularly in the 1990s—leveraged their influence to center characters of color or to allude to racial justice movements. Jackson did both.

For this anthology, I have copy edited and also taken the liberty of, when applicable, substituting some gendered or sanist language with more contemporaneous wording.17 The stories are otherwise intact. It would be remiss of me if I did not note; however, that one of the stories, “Bitter Winter” (1995), has sanist and ableist tropes that could not be contemporized without making dramatic changes to the story. In this story, the fictional disease brekken vinthern drives those impacted to violence; while it’s real world correlate of major neurocognitive disorder can include symptoms of aggression and agitation, extreme violence is rare and people with this condition are also at great risk of being harmed by violence. The tropes “Mercy Kill” and “Shoot the Dog” are depictions of non-voluntary active euthanasia, typically from the perspective of the horrified “killer” placed in an impossible situation. These tropes frame murder and death as “putting someone out of their misery” while downplaying any alternatives (ie: sedation to alleviate suffering, medical attention, or, say, ion cannons to render a ship inoperable without killing.)

Like in our society, the societies in Star Wars have consistently framed mental illness pejoratively. There are certainly valid critiques of the utter inadequacy of health care in Star Wars. Ableism is ubiquitous in entertainment media, and even with it’s problematic tropes, “Bitter Winter” remains one of the more humanizing depictions of a mental health condition in Star Wars fiction. I have included it in this anthology as a rare example of moral ambiguity in the franchise.

With the exception of “Fragile Threads” and “Emanations of Darkness,” the stories here are presented not in published order, but in chronological order as they would have occurred in the Star Wars universe. Ordering the stories chronologically helped clarify timelines; it also allows the anthology to begin with “The Final Exit,” which was a fan favorite back when it was first published. I’ve interwoven the Brandl family stories with Drake Paulsen’s coming of age adventures, as the Paulsens are such a strong foil to the Brandl family.

Since “I am your father” dropped in 1980, Star Wars has been big on Daddy Issues—intergenerational trauma, parental relationships, broken attachments, identity development, and initiation into adulthood (or, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would put it, “taking your first steps into a larger world.”) With Drake, we see that Kaine Paulsen is a father who is gone but ever-present. With Jaalib, we see that Adalric Brandl is a father who is ever-present but clearly far gone. Drake knows his Socorran roots; he has community and found family. Fable’s identity is adrift; she was torn from her roots after her fugitive Jedi mother’s death. Jaalib’s roots are scaffolded by disingenuous artifice. There is a diametric interplay of identity formation and parental legacy in these short stories that captures classic themes from Star Wars. And, the stories challenge readers to consider how we interact with shame, guilt, and obligation. Through the morally ambiguous dilemmas that are her oeuvre, Jackson’s characters discover who they are and where they stand.

While the thrill of having an Imperial Star Destroyer drop out of hyperspace is pure Star Wars energy, Jackson’s stories also disrupted what fans had come to expect. Published online as fan fiction, “Emanations of Darkness” (2001) polarized fans of the previous Brandl stories, particularly with Fable’s decision to throw her lot in with Jaalib and his father. At the time, Star Wars fan commentator Charles Phipps noted how the story dealt with the insidiousness of the dark side by taking potential heroes and crushing them. “Star Wars, I've never known to leave a bitter taste in my mouth,” he wrote, stunned. “I don't like what it's brought out in my feelings or myself...Bravo Brandl, you have your applause.” Although the Brandl stories were written and published before Revenge of the Sith (2005), Fable and Jaalib’s relationship mirrors the relationship between Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, down to both Jaalib and Anakin selling their souls to the same Emperor in hopes that will spare the women they love.

The prequel trilogy introduces the Jedi Council’s detached approach to attachments—don’t feel it, emotions like fear or anger are to be shunned, else suffering will follow. Anakin Skywalker’s broken attachments to his mother and Padmé lead him to turn against his values; his inability to integrate or tolerate his attachments is his downfall. It’s the same in the Brandl stories where, trauma bonded, Fable and Jaalib cannot let each other go. While Jaalib credits this as how he was able to preserve a bit of himself while under the Emperor’s thrall, his inability to extricate himself from his father’s influence or to let go of Fable ends up dooming her.

This is why I was thrilled to discover “Fragile Threads” (2021) on Wattpad twenty years later. In this story, Drake Paulsen helps his lover Tiaja Moorn save her sister, at the cost of losing their relationship when she decides to remain on her homeworld. Drake doesn’t fight her decision, he accepts it. He can hold onto that connection to Tiaja, just as he knows he will always be connected to Socorro, his father, and the Black Bha'lir. Drake can love freely because he knows what Luke Skywalker told Leia in The Last Jedi: “No one is ever truly gone.” He is able to straddle the fulcrum of attachment and love without letting it consume him, and that is balancing the Force.

Contemporary fandom discourse is also a struggle with attachment; the parasocial relationships we form with characters and stories are similar in process to how we attach to the important people in our lives. We imbue with meaning and carry these stories with us. As Star Wars storytelling enters its fifth decade, the divide between affirmational fandom (allegiance to manufactured nostalgia) and transformational fandom (allegiance to iterative and transgressive fan engagement) has factionized fandom. When Star Wars is seen as a totemic object, right wing fans have agitated for a return to a mythic past where white men were centered and morality was Manichean. From where I stand, at the heart of this debate is whether or not the reader or Star Wars is permitted to “grow up”—to leave the cradle, to evolve new identities and explore shades of grey.

To me, Jackson’s stories are a reminder that characters of color and complex moral dilemmas have always been a part of Star Wars. We have always been here. No other Star Wars author has been as exquisitely aware of the significance of storytelling; how it can help people challenge existing beliefs and discover themselves. Since the beginnings of the expanded universe, Patricia A. Jackson has spun yarn, and those fragile threads have tethered readers like myself to a galaxy far, far away.

Ol'val, min dul'skal, ahn guld domina, mahn uhl Fharth bey ihn valle. (Until we next meet, may the Force be with you.)

[pinkacademic]

Themes, Context and Problems of Studying Literature

We’re dealing with old books written by old people who had old views, so pretty frequently, we’re going to come across attitudes and language that… well, I hope none of you agree with it… but that’s not a bad thing. We should challenge our worldview, we should learn how to debate it eloquently, learn the context of why people thought the way they did, and learn how to discern between good intentions with bad choices of language, and bad intentions even with good choices of language.

I’m going to be coming back to Dracula a lot as my go-to example text because we all have ease-of-access to it through Dracula Daily, even if we aren’t participating, and I think its fair to focus on one we could all be reading for free.

Common Themes

Themes that come up a lot in any analysis of literature are always the major political issues of the world at the time the text was written, and that still widely apply eg racism and xenophobia, feminism/sex and gender, religion, environmentalism, class… Then, on top of that, there will be motifs that are specific to the book in question. For example, Wuthering Heights, as the name suggests, has a constant refrain that takes it back to pathetic fallacy- which means weather-based metaphor. And actually, the storms which can often in literature be forboding, to Cathy and Heathcliff represent thw call of the wild drawing them home to the moors.

It begs the question that many of you have probably encountered in that cringe Facebook meme about the curtains being blue.

Sometimes the character likes blue and has blue curtains and that’s it- and it is worth knowing that that can be true- but sometimes the curtains are blue because everything is blue and has been since the character’s mother designed the house, and blue is the oppressive colour of an old attitude but the main character wants to live in a modern world of yellow. Maybe, as soon as the mother dies, the main character is going to redesign the house that felt like a trap for so many years and the curtains will be yellow.

More on symbolism, metaphors, and other methods next week!

Interpretation

So, what are you supposed to do with this information? Well, pick an angle and defend it with your entire being. Here comes the Dracula because firstly, do you feel like Jonathan is a sexist because he expects Mina to be in the kitchen cooking paprika hendl for him? Or is he a true romantic who is thinking of her always on his trip to Transylvania?

This is the importance of opinion. Answering essay questions has, in my experience, always meant picking a side and gunning for it to the death. You have the evidence for your case. Look at this asshole Van Helsing being so condesceding to Mina, he’s so sexist! Alternatively, look at this feminist icon Van Helsing treating Mina as the only one with the brain cell.

It’s up to you, and that to me is the value of studying literature because it forces you to think for yourself. And the thing is, you can’t be wrong if you back it up.

Context

I think it’s important to understand where the author was in their lifewhen they wrote their book when we’re analysing its contents. I think the content should be the dominant force in your interpretations, but understanding some of the context matters.

Taking our faithful companion Dracula, it is important to know that this story where the beautiful Lucy is viciously attacked by a creature of the night was written in 1897, and that the murders of prostitutes committed by Jack the Ripper were less than a decade prior. It is also worth noting that the predominantly English cast of characters were written from the point-of-view of Irishman Bram Stoker who supported Home Rule for Ireland.

It can be useful to familiarise yourself with the language of the time, particularly when referring to issues such as sexuality, class, and race, when looking at broad questions such as, for example “is Dracula racist?” Not really, it mostly just uses period-typical language, but Jonathan himself can be pretty xenophobic because he represents the typical Englishman of the day.

That is also one hypothetical interpretation- it’s not even necessarily what I think- so, always keep these things in mind too.

My point is, understanding the time period can help you understand the work in question.

Why it is Important?

Ok, girls, I’m about to start PREACHING! As I mentioned, I think the value of a literature degree is how much it forces you to engage with challenging material, understand the nuances of creativity, and messages versus enjoying art for art’s sake. I think the reason creative subjects and humanities are underfunded because (tinfoil hat voice) THEY WANT US STUPID!! But in all seriousness, take every opportunity to expand your media literacy, your worldview, and your understanding of what counts as art, a classic, literature, and something worth thinking about.

Ok, girlies, I’m leaving it here for this week. This is my absolute PASSION, so I could talk about it FOREVER, but I’ll stop now to focus energy on the actual study section for next week!

[puddlellama]

Decided to put all my stuff in one post at the top of the blog so I don't have to repeat things.

My name is PuddleLlama, or just Llama if you're short on time. I'm a panromantic abrosexual, non-binary person from the UK. they/it/ey pronouns. Right off the bat. if you are discriminatory on the basis of gender (as assigned at birth, or through identification as transgender in any way), race, sexual or romantic orientation (or lack thereof. Aphobes, you aren't welcome here), gender non-comformity, physical or mental impairment, religious practice, system, or hobby: leave right now. I will not put up with you. I will not debate you. you will be blocked and reported. I do not have the patience to deal with your bullshit. I am active here and on Discord, and have an inactive Reddit account. if people want to get in touch with me through Discord send me a message here and I'll send you my Discord name. I believe in peace and empathy. I would consider myself to be a pacifist, but pacifism only gets you so far. In cases where peaceful protest has failed, I support the use of careful force, avoiding as much collateral damage as possible. I will treat a person as a person, and I do not have the patience to coddle you if you cannot do this. Militarists, fuck off. I believe in the climate crisis, and disavow any environmental fuckery. Flat Earthers, fuck off. Climate deniers, fuck off.

I believe in modern medicine, including psychiatry and medical transition techniques. However, when a proven natural remedy can be approximately as effective as synthesised drugs, the natural remedy is superior. Anti-vaxxers, fuck off. Transmedicalists, fuck off. Essential oil pyramid scheme fuckers, fuck off.

I do not believe in the right of any person to claim ownership over a land or a people group. People deserve to travel freely and safely, with restrictions only serving to protect others. Restrictions should only serve to protect others and the individual freedoms of someone who acquired the rights to ownership over their land. Nationalists, fuck off. Zionists, fuck off. Monarchists, fuck off. Anti-democracy idiots, fuck off.

I do not believe in capitalism. I view capitalism as a system designed to squeeze profit from the people and funnel it into the hands of the elite, to the detriment of the people. Throughout my life, I have seen my family and people around me suffer as a result of capitalism, and I cannot in good conscience support its continued existence. Capitalists, fuck off.

I disavow the right-wing of the political spectrum. This includes British Conservatives and Labour, American Republicans, the Polish PiS, Canadian Tories, German AFD, and any others. I disavow religion as a dominant power in any area: religious-run parties are unacceptable to me, no matter their placement in the political spectrum. I especially disavow far-right movements such as authoritarianism, fascism, neo-Nazism, racial supremacy, and supporters of ethnostates. If you belong to any of these groups, seriously fuck off.

I do not tolerate exclusion of "fringe" communities, such as the furry community, the plurality community, the ASD community, communities of those with mental health issues. so long as your community is good-faith, you are welcome here. exclusionists of these communities, fuck off.

Pedophiles, fuck off. Zoophiles, fuck off. Groomers and manipulators, fuck off.

[beardedmrbean]

Claims that a California school told students that white people had "no culture" have sparked controversy, with a parent expressing outrage about the alleged incident.

The mother of one of the students reported the claims to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District last week, saying that her daughter was taught about white privilege during a choir class and was told by an "equity teacher" that white people have no culture.

The school district is working with an "equity teacher on special assignment," according to its website, to "interrupt any inequitable practices in school culture and curriculum and eliminate barriers to personal and academic success."

"As a parent of a choir student, having outside instruction regarding white privilege with the choir students was incredibly hurtful, demeaning, and demeaning to many students in the class," the woman said on September 12. "It not only created division and confusion between the students, but it was also incorrect information."

She added: "During this, the teacher's discussion with the class, she stated that white people had no culture and any culture that they did have was stolen. She gave inaccurate information that the students could quickly google and figure out that was wrong." She said the U.S. number one condiment is not "salsa," as the teacher apparently claimed, and that the number one American dish is hamburgers, and not "chicken tikka masala."

The mom asked for the district to investigate the incident and "rectify it." She also called for more parents' involvement in the teaching at the school district.

"It is apparent that there are things that are being taught to our children where the district or the school does not provide a necessary opt-in or opt-out form for parents," said the woman.

A video of the school board meeting with the woman's intervention is available on YouTube.

The woman, who remained unnamed in the video and in the following news media report, has been noted as being part of Moms for Liberty—a conservative political organization advocating not mentioning LGBTQ+ rights, race and ethnicity in school curricula.

The Indiana chapter of the group recently came under fire for sharing a newsletter containing a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler, for which it later apologized, condemning the Nazi leader.

A spokesperson for the school district told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) on Monday that a "guest teacher" had recently discussed "content that was not applicable to choir instruction because it related to a non-school sponsored excursion to South Africa" with two choir classes. The spokesperson added that the content of the discussion "was not an appropriate topic for this class and may have been offensive to some of our students."

Newsweek contacted Moms for Liberty and the San Ramon Valley Unified School District and the district's director of educational equity for comment by email on Tuesday.

It isn't the first time that the San Ramon Valley Unified School District has come under fire on such issues.

About a month ago, tensions rose during a public debate over a resolution on whether the school district should mandate flying a Pride flag during the month of June, with those in attendance split between support and opposition.

CBS News reported that some questioned whether the school district should discuss issues related to sexuality and gender at all, instead of leaving them to parents. Among the dozens of people in the room were several members of the Contra Costa County chapter of Moms for Liberty.

Despite the opposition of some members of the public, the school board passed the resolution unanimously.