#about a generic well-off suburban girl having a minor problem

[smol-blue-bird]

not to be an annoying crotchety back in my day boomer, but American Girl dolls really were better when I was a kid, right? like, they used to have actual stories and stuff. now every American Girl doll is like “Her name is Generic Blue-Eyed Straight-Blonde-Hair Girl #128838. She comes from a painfully ordinary, modern-day upper-middle-class household, she has exactly two (2) Conventionally Feminine Girl Hobbies, and she has experienced zero real problems ever in her life”

[soleminisanction]

I still cant get over how mean spirited some people who ship t*mst*ph are about him dating bernard now and them off-screening their break up, when the way they got together in this continuity was off-screened as well and without any proper buildup at all to why they fell in love. it's just so exhausting to stumble onto someone proclaiming what a crime tim's relationship with bernard is and how they never should have broken up such an 'iconic' couple. and the comments like that are incessant and they are everywhere if you dare to venture out onto comic related sites or reddit. sorry for the rant, but I just feel so deflated and turned off from the fandom after seeing yet another case of this. there's like no safe place to be.

You're valid anon, but to be honest, I think you just need to change your perspective, curate your experience a little, maybe stick around Tumblr and stay away from Reddit, because the people who're being bitchy about it might be loud and obnoxious, but they're very much in the minority.

So seriously, just ignore and block them. And stay off of Twitter, it's actively detrimental to human life. Eventually, the homophobic assholes will either get over it or get out of the fandom, and either way we won't notice because we'll have blocked them ages ago.

I do have to laugh anytime someone tries to claim that anything involving Steph is "iconic" though because like -- one of the problems with her character is that she has nothing iconic about her. Nothing at all. She doesn't even have an icon, the one time she needed one in the comics it was literally a blank circle. The original Spoiler look had style, but ever since they stuck her in those stupid generic track suits she just has no personality, no history, no motivation, no anything.

She's a basic suburban white girl in a generic costume who clings to iconic legacies like Batgirl and Robin because without them, she's completely empty. It's kinda sad.

[benevolentbirdgal]

“Thirteen” Tips on Writing Jewish Characters / Some  Jewish Identity Stuff Explained

So you want to write a Jewish character, but don’t want to write a caricature? Or are worried they won’t register as Jewish to readers, or something will be off or wrong? Well I, friendly (virtual) neighborhood Jewish professional, am here to help! 

Note: The Jewish community is made up of roughly 14 million people worldwide with all sorts of backgrounds, practices, life circumstances, and beliefs. I’m just one American Jew, but I’ve had exposure to Jewishness in many forms after living in 3.5 states (at several different population densities/layouts), attending Jewish day school and youth groups, doing Jewish college stuff, and landing a job at a Jewish non-profit. I’m speaking specifically in an American or Americanish context, though some of this will apply elsewhere as well. 

Let’s start with the word “Jew.” It’s not inherently a slur, but can absolutely be used as one. I am a Jew. You can call me a Jew, just not a Jew. Like most minority groups, there are slurs against us, but Jew is the proper demonym. It can be used disrespectfully as a noun, but isn’t inherently disrespectful. Think “Chava is a Jew” versus “You’re being such a Jew.” 1a. Any use of Jew as a verb by gentiles (non-Jews) is not okay. Your Jewish characters should be horrified by someone telling them they “Jewed down the price.” 1b. Any use of Jewess by gentiles is not okay and your Jewish character should not be cool with it.  1c. Many Jews would actively prefer to be called such because that’s what we are and “Jewish person” is stepping away from our Jewishness. But I get that not everybody is going to be comfortable calling us Jews. That’s okay, and “Jewish person/people” or “X is Jewish” is TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE.  1d. With that said, Jewish people refers to ourselves as Jews. If Sarah is Jewish but is squicked about referring to herself as a Jew, your Jewish readers will immediately know she’s written by a gentile.  1e. Actual slurs against Jews is a post for another time (did you know K*ke literally means circle?). 

Your Jewish-American character likely does not speak Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, or any other Judeo-Language (languages that are a mix of Hebrew and at least one other language, typically written in the Hebrew abjad). Three notes on this, however: 2a. If your character is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, they might speak the Judeo-language of the old country. The most common will be Israeli-Americans speaking Hebrew, but families still speaking Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and other families do still exist. The children of Jewish immigrants might also speak another language that isn’t a Jewish one, like Russian or Spanish.  2b. If they are in a VERY religious Ashkenazi community, they might speak Yiddish at home and in the community.  2c. Odds are decent, however, that your American Jew can read but not understand Hebrew. If your character went to Jewish Day School or Yeshiva, they definitely read Hebrew, and will have some understanding of it (but likely not fluency). 

Despite what I just said above, your Jewish-American character likely drops a lot of Yiddish words and phrases into their day-to-day speech. Which words/phrases in probably a list for another time, but the most common will be foods, family names (i.e. “Zayde” instead of Grandpa), and sassy expressions. They may incorporate some Hebrew to a lesser extent. 

There’s not just one version of kosher. There’s kosher, kosher-style, Halav Yisrael, glatt kosher, etc. Depending on your character’s level of kosher, they’ve need a hecksher (kosher mark) on any given item or only eat at kosher restaurants, although not all Jews keep kosher and many keep “kosher-style” (i.e. only eat theoretically kosher things).

Your Jewish character should be a whole character, both in general and in relation to their Jewishness. This means, among other things, that they aren’t obsessed with Israel and I/P discourse one way or the other and that while writing you remember that not all Israelis are Jews and not all Jews are Israelis. Your Jewish character is not constantly agonizing over the I/P situation, has a life outside of their Jewishness, and shouldn’t be a cardboard stand-in for your desire to discuss the middle east. 

The Jewish experience varies dramatically with geography. Jews living in Omaha, Richmond, Philly, Kansas City, Boca Raton, and New York City are all American Jews. They will have drastically different Jewish experiences. I strongly recommend doing research on the Jews in the specific place your story takes places, but generally:  6a. The closer you are to the northeast coast and NYC (except south Florida) the better and more varied your Jewish resources.  6b. NYC has the highest Jewish population of any city on the planet. Big cities like Boston, Chicago, and L.A., as well as just outside of NYC in NJ and NYS, and suburban/exburb south Florida will have lots of Jewish resources: day schools (Jewish + secular education mix), maybe Yeshivas (Jewish focus), multiple synagogues, a Jewish Community Center, Jewish dating services, social stuff, Jewish charities, and youth activities. Your character will have other Jewish friends and their gentile friends will likely know other Jews. Antisemitism is still a problem and usually takes the form of excluding Jews from activism, thinly-veiled stereotyping or excusing antisemitism from people from other oppressed groups, but it’s usually not as overt as elsewhere. Almost always safe to disclose Jewishness.  6c. Small and mid-size cities Denver, Virginia Beach, Charleston, and Harrisburg will have a JCC or Jewish federation, multiple synagogues, and maybe a Jewish day school. Your character is not the only Jew their gentile peers have met, but the bagels are meh. They will have other Jews to bond and commiserate with. Antisemitism here is mostly like that in big cities with occasional burst of overt incidents and attacks. It is generally physically safe for them to disclose Jewishness.  6d. Big towns and small cities in the south or mid-west will have maybe one synagogue - probably reform or Chabad. Your character will have to seek out Jewish spaces, but they will be easy to find. They will not be everybody’s First Jew, but it will be unusual. Antisemitism here is mostly overt - most of the antisemites your character deals with will be very obvious and many will be violent. Jews in such situations will not hide their Jewishness per se, but will be more selective in choosing to disclose it.  6e. Rural areas and small-small towns will not have a synagogue. Your character and their family may be the only Jews or there might be a small group that meets on occasion or carpools to the nearest synagogue. They will have to actively seek out the others Jews and they will be difficult to find. Disclosing their Jewishness is a serious consideration and not always safe. Odds are they are many people’s First Jew, which gets really weird real fast. Beyond the harmless ignorant-but-trying-to-learn-from-their-first-Jew types your character will interact with, there’s also violent and overt antisemitism here.  6f. If your character is in college, they will likely have a Chabad and/or a Hillel on campus if they are at a large school or a school with a significant Jewish population. 

Related: when Jews meet each other for the first time, a game of “Jewish geography” ensues as they try and trace people they know in the other person’s state/city/community. 

Jews come in all shapes, colors, sizes, genders, sexualities, politics, and religious beliefs. There are all sorts of Jewish people with tons of different intersecting identities. Don’t box yourself in to writing one kind of Jew. Just research a ton on the particular subsection of the Jewish community your character is a part of - a Mizrachi-Jewish Persian-American bisexual woman is going to have a different experience than a straight Ethiopian-American Jewish man who is going to have different experience from a queer Ashkenazi-Jewish-American girl with non-Jewish family.  8a. Jews with Ashkenazi (eastern/northern European) ancestry and customs are the biggest group in the U.S., but by no means the only group or representative of every Jew. Sephardi (Spanish/southern European/north Africa), and Mizrachi (north Africa and the middle east) are the next biggest groups. It would not be unusual for your character to have Polish-Jewish, Iraqi-Jewish, Moroccan-Jewish, or Russian Jewish ancestry or a mix.  8b. Each of these groups have their own customs, Judeo-languages, local holidays, and local historic tragedies. Generally, historic Sephardi communities were linked between themselves, historic Ashkenazi communities were linked between themselves, and historic Mizarchi communities were linked between themselves. The three had some, but limited contact. Additionally, all three major groups have subdivisions within them.  8c. There are also smaller groups that don’t fall within the three traditional categories, like the Ethiopian Jews, the Cochin Jews (India), Chinese Jews, Gruzim (Georgian), and more. Most of these smaller groups were not in contact with the wider Jewish world.  8d. All Jewish groups start from the same base texts (the written Torah), and the majority include the oral Torah as well. Local interpretations and traditions develop, these are referred to as minhag(im) (customs). For example, the biblical commandment is to not boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk. Some communities extend this to mean no chicken and milk, others reason that chickens don’t produce milk so the mixture is acceptable. Both are equally valid interpretations rooted in tradition, but they are different.  8e. Marrying between Jewish subgroups in the U.S. is super common and outside of extreme or really intense groups is not frowned upon. Traditionally, the father’s minhagim are followed, i.e. a Syrian-Jewish father and a Spanish-Jewish mother would follow the Syrian-Jewish minhagim with their children. Many modern couples choose the mother’s traditions or mix them up, but that’s the traditional route. 

Unless they are VERY religious, your character’s family is unlikely to be particularly wound up about them being LGBTQ the way a comparably Christian family might, at least not because they’re Jewish. Samuel’s Jewish mother is likely unconcerned he likes boys and is much more empathetic than he must marry a Jewish boy and raise any kids Jewish. 

There are so many Jewish holidays, and they are not all celebrated the same or with the same intensity. Probably enough material for its own post, but the ones most likely celebrated by your character: 10a. Shabbat and/or Havdalah. Shabbat starts Friday nights with candles, wine/grape juice and challah bread, Havdalah ends Shabbat with a braided candle, wine, and aromatic spices. Shabbat dinner is usually a meat meal and it is common to invite guests or eat with friends and family (in normal times).  10b. The “High Holidays” - Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Jewish students often skip school for these. Yom Kippur is a 25 hour fast with services all day, Rosh HaShanah has services in the evening and morning.  10c. Passover - arguably the most important holiday. Celebrated with two sometimes agonizingly long Seders (ritual meals), family gatherings, and abstaining from leavened bread for 7/8 days.  10d. Hanukkah - Not actually that spiritually important, but culturally important for American Jews. Typically celebrated with candle lighting, presents, visits to family members, and greasy food. 

There’s a lot of wine involved in Jewish ritual, so it’s unlikely your character’s Jewish family are teetotalers. 

Jewish families tend to be very intense, loud, opinioned, caring, and involved, compared to many other assimilated American families. Shabbat dinner is not quiet. Dissent is a Jewish value - differing opinions are allowed (and expected in many circles), as is the ability to argue/defend competently. 

Jewishness can mean ethnic identity, cultural identity, and/or religion. There are several major denominations religiously, although that needs to be its own post in detail. The noteworthy movements at this point are Orthodox (further subdivided into Ultraorthodox and Modern Orthodox), Conservative (middle of the road, no relation to conservative politics), Reform, and Reconstructionist (both very “choose your own/your community’s adventure).

Probably will write more parts in the future, but this is heinously long already! Hope this is helpful!

[timeisacephalopod]

Company Twitter

Random lil superfamily AU (with stony and Peter as their kid).

Tony sighs, leaning into Steve’s warmth. “We need to talk to Peter about running the company Twitter,” he says. He thought hey- Peter is young, he knows how to market to people his age, and unlike some random forty year old suburban mom of three he’ll know how to interact with the site in a way Tony’s generation just doesn’t understand. Its genius really. The problem is that Peter is a little too good at casual. Its not that SI is getting bad press, its the opposite really and people actually think its him running the Twitter account, but Peter should probably maybe not respond to people with reaction GIFs.

“What’s he doing?” Steve asks, raising an eyebrow.

He has no idea how to word Peter’s weird responses. “Okay, I’ll give you an example. So someone tweeted the company talking about some difficult customer and long story short the woman was a real jackass. Peter’s response? ‘Girl, they need to throw the entire customer out’ with a trash emoji. He can’t tell people to throw customers out,” Tony says.

“If she was a jackass to the employee they should throw the whole customer out, Tony. Workers shouldn’t have to put up with verbal abuse- Peter is right. And also hilarious,” he says, laughing a little.

“Yeah, but like people like this are the minority, right? Like this doesn’t happen a lot? I still don’t think you should tell people to throw customers out.” He has a business to run, he can’t just throw people out that’s not how things go.

When Steve starts laughing, like genuinely laughing, he figures he’s wrong about the shitty customers being in the minority. “Honey I did a brief stint in an SI call center for tech support and let me tell you nine out of ten calls are irate people pissed off that they’re too goddamn stupid to figure out the phone they got for zero down and they feel entitled to an immediate solution. I had one lady tell me three minutes was too long to find a solution. Three minutes, Tony, and half that time was verifying who she was. Shitty customers are the norm and until you work customer service you just don’t get how hard that job is.”

Tony frowns, “I don’t think its that hard. I mean in a store you’re just ringing people up basically, that’s not that difficult,” he says.

Steve gives him A Look, the one he gets when Tony has said something particularly stupid and Steve wants Tony to know how stupid what he said is. “I can guarantee you will last five minutes or less in a customer service job Tony, you’re shit with people and have no patience. Emotional labour is a person you don’t know and if you aren’t good with it you can’t do customer service well,” he says.

“I think I’d do fine,” he says, nose in the air.

Steve snorts, “yeah, let me know how many people you deal with before you think Peter’s ‘throw the entire customer out’ solution is the right one,” he says, patting Tony on the head. Which, rude, and he will prove that customer service is not that hard.

*

Peter sits with Kate, the current supervisor of the SI store Tony decided to test his customer service skills in, eating pop corn. He happens to know her from school though she’s a few years older than him and graduated last year but he couldn’t have chosen a better person for commentary than Kate Bishop. “You know he wasn’t that bad at first,” she says wistfully as Tony quickly becomes worse at trying to deal with people.

“Its been a fast devolution,” Peter agrees. Dealing with people who generally know what they’re talking about? He’s fine with that because he’s enriching existing knowledge, but a person who has no idea what they’re talking about? He’s less good with that. He and Kate have found he’s ok at explaining things to people who don’t mind listening, but has zero patience for people who don’t know what they’re talking about and think they do. And he has even less patience for people who straight up have no clue what’s going on and a device already.

Kate nods, “but watching him tell a customer that he ran a diagnostic and the problem is a user error will forever be the highlight of me working here. I wish I could get away with that,” she says.

Peter snickers, “the look on his face when that lady asked what a home button was, though.” He’s never seen Tony look like he genuinely wanted to die before but in that moment Peter watched him pray for death.

“I think his mentally shorting out when that woman locked herself out of her StarkPad for thirty years was my favorite,” Kate says.

“Not when he got annoyed when the PoS system crashed for the third time today?” he asks. Because that’s so in his Top Ten Favorite Moments list. And its so hard to choose them when Tony’s so expressive that every time someone says something stupid he basically turns into that white guy blinking meme.

“Okay that was pretty funny, but the polyester uniform tops that,” she says.

Peter laughs, “oh my god, right? How does he not know?” And he’s spent half the day whining about it being itchy.

They turn back to watching Tony, who clearly thinks the woman he’s talking to is utterly stupid, before he shakes his head. “Okay, you know what lady- I’m just going to be honest. I don’t have enough education to deal with your brand of stupid and I have two bachelor’s degrees, four masters degrees, and seven PhDs. Do you understand how absolutely-” Kate shoves him out of the way to deal with the now pissed off lady.

“Sorry, he hasn’t had his Snickers today and its made him bitchy, he’s very fired. So if I understand correctly you’re having trouble turning the device on?” she asks quickly, clearly trying to calm the woman’s nerves.

“You can’t fire me, I’m the CEO of the company,” Tony points out.

Kate gives him a look, “honey, you might be a genius inventor but you obviously aren’t good with people or you wouldn’t have told someone you just insulted you were the CEO of the company she probably hates now and I can’t blame her,” Kate says though Peter knows its for the woman’s benefit.

“You should consider yourself lucky your employees aren’t as awful as you,” the woman says, obviously vindicated though Peter is half shocked Kate didn’t get that computer tossed at her. He’s seen Ned deal with worse and with less reason to be angry.

Twenty minutes of Tony curiously watching while earning dirty looks from the woman he insulted later he lets out a noise of disbelief so loud the whole store turns to look. “I want to die,” he mumbles and Peter was wrong, his soul didn’t die earlier, it was only wounded. It only died just now.

*

Steve watches Tony throw himself on the couch in obvious despair and he turns to Peter, grinning. “Did it go as badly as I think it did?” he asks.

He nods, “he made one woman straight up abandon the company and the two thousand dollar laptop she brought in,” he says, laughing.

“She didn’t know it needed to be charged,” Tony mumbles, lifeless eyes staring forward at nothing. He frowns but Peter explains.

“Okay so she was having trouble turning the computer on but she was explaining it terribly so dad’s all ‘I’m not educated enough to deal with how stupid you are’ and Kate somehow saved his ass but then it turns out the computer wasn’t turning on because it needed to be charged and for some reason this woman didn’t realize computers need to be charged and I think dad died inside, I’m worried for him,” Peter says, giving Tony a concerned look.

Steve can’t help it, he’s had to work shitty jobs where he gets asked stupid questions his whole life until meeting Tony. Its just too good not to laugh at, the CEO of a company realizing that maybe his workers are doing a difficult job and maybe they aren’t wrong for not wanting to deal with preventable bullshit. He can’t resist laughing, its just too funny. Tony turns his dead eyed stare to him and Steve lets out a loud snort. “I’m sorry baby, its just that your suffering is hilarious and chicken soup to my previously poor soul. Now do you think your workers should be able to throw customers out?” he asks and Peter frowns, confused about the context they obviously hadn’t mentioned to him.

Tony goes back to staring at nothing. “I had someone ask what the home button was, Steve. I can’t go on living with the burden of that knowledge.”

“Well honey, now you know that your workers have to live with knowledge like that all day every day and that’s not even the stupidest thing I’ve heard as far as tech questions. Do you realize its not an easy job to deal with that now?” he asks.

“I’d throw myself off a building if I had to work that job. People who don’t know computers need to be charged shouldn’t be allowed near technology,” he mumbles.

Yeah, not false really but people who have no tech ability will always buy tech and someone has to deal with them and contrary to Tony’s previous beliefs that’s pretty difficult. “Now let your workers throw out assholes since you can’t even handle people with stupid questions let alone irate customers,” Steve says.

“Oh he did that, but mostly with insults,” Peter says. 

“And here he thought throwing people out was bad business,” Steve mumbles.

“Michelle told me about one time a woman got mad at her- she works in a fast food place- and a woman popped a squat, took a shit right there on the floor and flung it at them all. People are animals,” Peter says, looking haunted. Literally but Steve doesn’t mention that because Tony looks disgusted.

“There is no way people have done something like that in an SI store,” he says.

Steve snorts, “ten bucks says Florida has had something worse happen in its stores,” he says and Peter laughs.

“Everything weird happens in Florida,” he agrees. “Its America’s armpit.”

*

Peter sighs, “we need to ban dad from the company, I’m tired of old people tweeting the company and complaining about that time he called that woman dumb. Like yeah he was wrong but also he was right, he just shouldn’t have said it. And I can’t respond to them in meme because they don’t speak that language and I’ve issued like four apologies,” he says.

Steve laughs, shaking his head. And Tony thought Peter was the problem here. “People have tried, honey, but he’s like a cockroach- impossible to get rid of.”

“Am I going to have to do this every time he does something dumb?” he asks and Steve nods. “This is the worst job ever except maybe Michelle’s,” he mumbles.

“You get a yearly wage that’s higher than what I made for four years woking full time after I adjust for inflation, kid. And all you do is tweet and apologize when your father does what he always does. You don’t want the job I’ll take it,” he says. He knows how Twitter works and he’s sure he can talk to the youths. He manages with Peter just fine.

Peter frowns, “do you even know how to work Twitter?” he asks and Steve sighs.

“Why is it that you and Tony think I’m bad with tech, I’m not!” But they act like he’s crawled straight out of the nineteen forties or something.

“Pa, you can’t even figure out the coffee machine,” Peter says and Steve throws his hands up.

“Tony made that damn thing too complicated! Coffee is supposed to be simple but you have to hit like five hundred buttons to get the damn thing to work!”

“There are only three buttons on the machine, pa, the problem is you. Please stay away from the company Twitter, the only thing worse for SI than dad is you. I love you both but no.”

[groundramon]

*eyes light up with anger and passion*

WHERE DO I EVEN START

So I guess the best place to start is that in Jessie, every single one of the characters is an appearance-based stereotype.  Every single one of them.  And almost all of them are racial stereotypes.

The main four characters (minus the titular character, who I’ll get to later) are all racial stereotypes.  All of them.  And two of them are white.  How do you even do that.

- The youngest kid is a black girl named Zuri.  Guess what her personality is.  She’s sassy, rebellious, and mean to those around her.  I’m 99% certain that she says “mmmmhmmm” multiple times in the show.  I know she says it at least once because I can literally hear her saying it in my brain while I’m writing this.

- The second youngest is an asian boy from India named Ravi (was that how it was spelled? do I care?).  Guess what his personality is.  He’s a nerdy, awkward social outcast who gets perfect grades, is cowardly, and is made fun of for his awkward behavior.

- The second eldest is a white boy named Luke, who makes fart jokes, slacks off in school, and makes a lot of bad snarky jokes.  I guess that’s not necessarily a white person stereotype but... //shrugs

- The eldest daughter is a blonde white girl named Emma.  She loves makeup, boys, gossip, being pretty, and is self-centered and disrespectful to everyone around her.  She’s the epitome of the “blonde bitch” villain trope you see in so many school-centric shows, except she’s a protagonist that you’re supposed to sympathize with and care about.  Idk if this is a white girl only issue (i dont think that blonde bitch in Miraculous Ladybug is white [i dont remember her name bc i havent watched the show in like a year, sorry] but I might be wrong) but I’ve literally only ever seen this character with blonde-haired people so I’m counting it as racist.

As for the titular character, she’s from Texas.  She had an overbearing, possibly abusive military father (which is only used for laughs, obviously), she’s helped a cow give birth, she knows how to handle a gun, and im p sure they made fun of her for having an accent (even though its so incredibly neutralized in the actresses’ performance. Debby [her actress] isnt even from texas so like....no wonder)  I mean I dont really have much of a problem with like half those things bc the cow and the gun are just harmless stereotypes.  Nobody’s going to be hurt by those; they just arent funny.  BUT DONT MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE WITH ACCENTS OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE ABUSIVE PARENTS, JESUS FUCK.

And then there’s another, more minor main character whose name I’m too lazy to spell so I’ll just call him Fat Butler Dude and....I think you can guess his personality based on that description.  He’s lazy, he loves food, he complains about his job, ect.  And listen.  Buddy.  Bro.  Dude.  I dont have a problem with fat characters who like food.  I dont have a problem with lazy fat characters.  I’m a fat person, and I’m a lazy person who likes food.  People who “meet” stereotypes exist.  But those are pretty much his only defining traits, and when you do nothing but build your character outside of a stereotype (which is true of all the above characters) then you’re doing it wrong.

And the show in general is just paper-thin and unfunny and not good.  I guess it depends on your style of humor whether you’ll find it funny or not (some people would be too revolted by one episode to analyze it, but I can handle the writing and even laughed at a few jokes while watching it) but the humor is not very intelligent generally.  Also there are like...a lot of innuendos in this show??  In one episode, Zuri says “you should’ve seen what [insert this other young kid bitch] did to Mr. Bearyton! (her stuffed toy bear)  Now he’ll never have children!”  And I’m just...........ok, sure, pretend like anyone who will find that joke funny is watching your show.  I’m sorry but personally I’m of the mindset that if your show isn’t trying to be something mature and appeal to all ages, you shouldn’t use innuendos.  Either make it bland, forgettable, and non-offensive, or try to do something great with your kids show - dont try to sneak in a joke for the adults if your show has no fucking adult audience because the rest of your writing is so abysmal.  Also that joke isn’t even remotely subtle or cute in any way.  I would rather not think of a young child mutilating a bear’s genitalia, thanks

As for the paper-thin part, it tries to sneak in emotional bonding moments between the four children characters (the racial stereotypes) and the babysitter/titular character (Jessie) and even the butler gets to join in sometimes, but honestly? nothing they do is remotely emotional, to no one’s surprise.  If I cant at least say “aw, that’s cute” because the characters are so infuriating, you’re doing it wrong.  Not every emotional moment needs to have people in tears, especially in a sitcom, but for fuck’s sake...

BUT BUNK’D IS WORSE

Take all the paper-thin emotions out of Jessie and replace them with even shittier jokes and even shittier writing.  Take out the three least racist characters (Jessie, the butler, and Luke) and replace them with:

- An overachieving asian girl with overbearing, abusive parents.  Yes, somehow they got TWO stereotypes in for the same goddamn race.  She has intense anxiety over doing things perfectly, takes on way too much for her mental health, and expresses legitimate fear over her mothers’ reaction to her doing anything other than be perfect.

- A fat mexican kid who likes food, is lazy, is dumb, and farts a lot.  I bet he got more racist as the show went on but I dont care enough to go and check.

- A Hot White Boy (TM) who is just eyecandy for Emma.  He plays guitar, he’s good-looking, he has a high-ranking position at the camp....i want to call him a Gary Stu but if there’s one thing Jessie got right, its that they at least gave all their characters discernible flaws (the problem is that they have no personality outside of those flaws :/ how do you even make a character too flawed when they arent a complete evil bastard, like what the fuck, i wish i could fuck up writing that badly)  Also his name is Xander.  I forgot the names of the above two characters but i looked em up but honestly idc enough to write them down

- A white girl named Lou who I had completely forgotten about but she’s like Jessie except on country steroids and 10x more annoying from what I remember.  She’s still the most tolerable character in the show.

- A LITERAL FUCKING STALKER, WHO STALKS XANDER, AND ITS PLAYED FOR LAUGHS, WHAT THE FUCK.  She’s an antagonist clearly BUT STILL WHAT THE FUCK.  She’s also blonde

- There’s also this evil camp councilor that is played by Freddy Benson’s mother.  She’s a stereotype too, probably a suburban white mom stereotype, but she’s still the last racist of all the characters.  She’s still annoying tho.

There are other characters too but I dont ever remember seeing them in the episodes I saw of the show, so whatever.

Basically Bunk’d is a more racist, more paper-thin, more toilet humor/bad humor-filled, more “lol random xd”-filled version of Jessie, which was already all of those things.

Honestly Bunk’d and Jessie are by far two of the most hateful sitcoms I’ve seen, and I’d say they’re a bad influence on kids of today.  The show isn’t...flat out saying its okay to be racist?  But literally I dont even think I can chock this up to ignorance or accidental racism.  Every character of a racial minority, and even white characters, and fat characters, and characters from the country.... just so happens to fall perfectly into a racial stereotype.  If it was one or two characters? maybe I could pass it off as “well television writers are just fucking idiots” (like I do whenever the PPG reboot tries to say it’s making a difference in the world lmao).  But EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. IS A RACIST STEREOTYPE.  And the fact that Jessie ran until 2015ish (and started in 2010ish) and Bunk’d is still running?  If that doesn’t tell you racism is real in hollywood, idk what will.

I never see anyone talk about this either, and ive hardly seen people talk about the show in general, and it makes me rlly mad because ???  I thought you guys cared about this kind of stuff??  I understand most people dont pay attention to sitcoms but still.  You’d think SJWs would be more concerned with LITERAL TRANSPARENT AND UNDENIABLE RACISM in KIDS SHOWS but apparently they arent.  Or just nobody knows.  But that makes me even madder because we should be calling this kind of trash out.  You say that media is important but then ignore one of the biggest genres of children’s programming, which is arguably the most influential television of them all....like idk it just seems hypocritical to me.

 so yeah tldr Jessie is just a bad/eh show in general but its made 100x worse by racial stereotypes, obesity stereotypes, jokes about things that shouldnt be joked about (especially in kids show), and lots of other things - and Bunk’d is even worse in all those regards.

[malkakugel-blog]

My Hometown; Crown Heights

From the In-Towner’s Perspective

Crown Heights is known to the world as Chabad’s Powerhouse and home of the Rebbe. But Crown Heights is also home to many locals. Those who grew up in Crown Heights or moved in after they got married and raise their children there, have a lot to say about it as much more than just Lubavitch Headquarters, but as home. This report will serve as an eye-opener to what Crown Heights looks like from the point of view of the in-Towner. I’ve interviewed many friends and family that were either raised there, or are raising children there now. Based on my compilation, although there are some oppositions, the views are mostly shared on what it’s like to live in Crown Heights. The purpose of this research paper is to give you a peak into life in Crown Heights

To really explore something, one must ask himself, “Why does this thing exist at all?” So, why do we have a small community of Lubavitchers, supposedly serving a crucial purpose, situated in the middle of Brooklyn?

No one can really know why the Rebbe did certain things, but when the Frierdiker Rebbe came to America, the Rebbe made it clear that America was a good, free land. When the Rebbe Rayatz was in Philidelphia, someone asked why it was so important for the Rebbe to visit famous American landmarks such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The Rebbe answered: “דאס איז געווען מיין ערשטער וואונש ביי מיין אנקומען קיין  אמעריקא צו זעהן דאס וויגעלע פון דער אמעריקאנער פרייהייט“My first wish, coming America, was to visit this cradle of American freedom.” The Rebbe also laid a laurel wreath at the Liberty Bell and declared “The freedom which is based on religion is the strongest freedom”. Although Crown Heights isn’t specified here, The Rebbe Rayatz made a point of declaring his alliance with America. [1]

The Rebbe and Frierdiker Rebbe needed a powerhouse community to support all the Shluchim that would later be sent out all over the world. Crown Heights was apparently the best place to plant the seed of the tree that would grow to reach every corner of the world. Crown Heights is in the center of the world, NY, and only a subway ride away from Manhattan. But it also has the advantage of being slightly suburban (in comparison to Manhattan). This is conducive for raising children in a closed environment in which the influence from the world can be somewhat limited and controlled.

So Crown Heights seems like a great place to start a movement like Crown Heights. But what actually goes on inside this tight knit community? Is it as perfect as the Rebbe may have envisioned it to be? Is it as productive as the world demands of it? Are we producing strong Lubavitcher Shluchim with the ability to change the world once they leave the nest?          

This question can be explored with the resources collected from my fellow Crown Heights residents. I interviewed twelve seminary girls who have been brought up in Crown Heights, a few of my immediate family members[2] ,as well as my parents who raised their children in Crown Heights. I asked them three questions to start off the conversation.

The first question, was; “Is there anything about living in Crown Heights that makes you proud?” 3/17 said they did feel proud about living in Crown Heights. From all of those yesses, all 13 were proud of general community facts and efforts like the child oriented rallies, hosting Shluchim Kinnus weekend, Simchas Beis Hashoeva, Tishrei, 770, Chessed, being the Rebbe’s home, Ahavas Yisroel, diversity, frum atmosphere, kosher food and Tzedaka. One interviewee voiced that her personal pride came with time and maturity. “It takes time, but then I realized that it’s a good foundation and a great place to find yourself as a solid Lubavitcher.” For example, many people say that they don’t like to daven in 770 because it’s so stuffy, smelly and unpleasant. Really, if they would get past the superficial aspects of 770, it’s clear that there’s much more to this place than just a pleasant davening experience.[3] I couldn’t agree more. Yes, Crown Heights isn’t California or the Hamptons or even New Jersey. It can have rainy days, soggy newspapers, germy subway stations, low class neighbors, litter, stuffy buildings, stained trash cans and inside-out umbrellas. But are these what make it or break it for the Capital of Chabad’s worldwide outreach effort? Crown Heights is special. The shul may not be the most majestic but it is the one that the Rebbe, our leader, taught, inspired, and guided us from. I’m sure there were no demurring feelings of the benches in 770 while the Rebbe was saying prophecies about the world’s ultimate redemption.

The second question they were asked was; “What would you like Crown Heights to have offered you when you were growing up or raising your children?” Many didn’t answer this question too quickly. 11/17 had ideas of things they wished Crown Heights would have offered. From those 11, 7 thought the education could have been better with extracurricular activities, secular education for the boys, more individualized school structures, and smaller classes. 2/11 wished Crown Heights would have offered a warmer and welcoming attitude towards everyone without being so judgmental. One wished there would have been more trees.

Before continuing on to the third question, let’s discuss education for a minute. Allegedly, a big percentage of my interviewees wished the education in Crown Heights was better. For many, Education is a major problem in Crown Heights. Although this isn’t everyone, it’s enough to be a problem. My mother had the most to say about this in her interview[4], and rightfully so, she is in the process of finishing \eleven children’s’ schoolings in Crown Heights. My mother believes that although we shouldn’t complain as we have several of the Rebbe’s Mosdos within very close proximity, the schools could really use some help. For starters, we need more outside support for those kids that need a little extra help. We can’t forget about the kids here. Although they can get lost in big crowds, every child deserves the best education that works. Many of our finest teachers are on Shlichus that is one of the sacrifices of Lubavitchers in general. But there are still many talented people in Crown Heights, they are just a minority. We need to work with what we have and share, and it’s hard.

From the students point of view, many responses effect of; we need better education, better teachers, better school building (feel like my education is second-hand or being settled for),more extracurricular activities (as a joint effort between the school and the community), opportunities to work with your talents, more of a focus on the arts, secular education for boys etc.

I was in Bais Rivka my whole life. I can’t say that I’m 100% happy with the education I got, I think I could have gotten better. Obviously there is no perfect school, and I grew from Bais Rivka in ways I couldn’t have grown in any other school. But it would have been nice for my teacher to ask me how I was doing in the class, if it was hard for me, help me with my study habits etc. Many students love Bais Rivka for the freedom of being in such a big school, for the independence from the staff, the ability to get lost in the crowd, but it doesn’t work for everyone. So when majority of disappointments from the community are rooted in the education systems, I can understand.

On the other hand, many student’s board and dorm in Crown Heights just to be able to go to Bais Rivka and experience that education. There definitely are special qualities to Crown Heights schools that not many others have, for example, hosting the Chof Beis Shvat convention, Lag Baomer floats, yud tes kislev programs, etc. but there’s always room for improvement.

This brings us to our third interview question of “do you see a future for yourself here?” Most answers were to the effect of “Yes, not my first choice but I would be very happy here”.2/17 gave a firm NO. Both the ‘no’s were to dodge raising kids in Crown Heights, one was against the system and the structure while the other was against the lack of friendly people and individuality. Both didn’t want to expose their children to that kind of neighborhood.

4/17 gave more ambivalent ‘no’s. These 4 didn’t think that they wanted to raise their children in Crown Heights because it has changed since their childhood and they don’t trust that the good will overpower the bad. Also, there is a very legitimate fear that parents and/or future parents can have, of their children being exposed to somewhat religious people who aren’t quite up to the standards (that they would wish their child to understand) as a frum Jew. Most of those worried (from my research) prefer their children to be exposed to complete non-Jews or complete non-religious Jews over “religious Jews’ that pick and choose what to oblige by.

This brings us to the big question of raising children on Shlichus/out of town or in Crown Heights. Everyone wants the plain and simple answer; what is best for my child’s frumkeit? Unfortunately, I am not qualified nor experienced enough to give advice on this topic, but I can state what is known and explain each option.

One resident, while being interviewed, mentioned her fear of the “Chabadlite” movement. For many, this is a legitimate concern and can serve as a reason for people to specifically not want to live in Crown Heights or move away. With every religious community, there is the concern of bad influences to be infiltrated into the safe haven and spoil the holy atmosphere. Crown Heights happens to be a very welcoming and open community. This has always been its pride and to its credit. But this can be dangerous. There is an advantage of living amongst non-Jews or non-religious Jews. This advantage is that there is and will always be the consciousness that I am different and we are coming from different places. Once our very own Lubavitchers start picking and choosing, things get confusing. However, two examinees brought up the following valid point; a strong and stable home will be strong and stable wherever it is. Chinuch starts from the home. This was brought up in several interviews as it is a major factor in raising a family in Crown Heights.

My father was raised in Crown Heights and lived there most of his married life. Crown Heights is constantly growing and my father was able to experience the changes as a first-hand resident. He sees Crown Heights as a refuge to the impurity that surrounds it, an example of what a community should look like, a growing family, a commercializing family, a connected network that unites us all around the world, a happy place etc. Regarding the problems of Crown Heights, he believes that all problems can be solved by the individual defeasance of my temptations. We must always remember that we are constantly being watched by our children and by the world and we must stay living examples[5].

These brief interviews hopefully served as a portal to everyday life in Crown Heights. Honestly, the real reason why I performed these interviews was to find a solution or at least some validation for a dilemma I am going through right now. Unfortunately, I feel some slight resentment toward a certain aspect of my education that had been inescapably overlooked.

When I was growing up, every special day in school was honored by a program, including a special guest speaker to address us. These speakers were almost always Shluchim from out of town. This was a real treat for us, we got to hear inspiring, entertaining, funny success stories uncovering the great achievements of the all Shluchim living so far away. These success stories, never before heard, always new and fresh, inspired every girl in the crowd every time, making us feel so proud to somehow be associated to the Shlichus movement.

We were also always taught to go out to the world and change it for the better, to destroy the bad in the world, to do this in the world, the world, the world. I can’t say this about everyone, but because of these speeches and talks, I convinced myself from a very young age that “there is no way I can stay here.” I couldn’t bear the idea of staying in Crown Heights, living life and wasting my talents in Crown Heights while real Lubavitchers have crazy, dare-devil stories of how they affected 500 people in their community and how this person walked out of my house and came back 10 years later with a husband, sheitel and ten kids etc. etc.

I know this is wrong, but I can’t help it. Maybe this means that I’m cut-out for Shlichus, Maybe this means I need to change the world, maybe this means I have to learn to be happy with what I have. Having this problem could mean a lot of things. But this could turn my life very sour, very fast. Practically speaking, I will G-d willing get married, and settle in Crown Heights at least just to start out. But will not be happy because of this fear of feeling useless and wasting time. So far, no one has been able to help me with this problem. I am adamant that the solution is not to just escape and move on Shlichus. I want to be able to be happy and feel useful wherever I am doing good work.

There’s also something about being from out of town that will just always be cooler than being from Crown Heights. Without blaming schools or friends or anyone for that matter, many people don’t speak too highly of Crown Heights citizens or ‘Crown Heights-ers’. Chof Beis Shvat always brought Shluchos from the coolest places on earth. I always felt jealous of those girls who were able to stand up and say a story from their Shlichus. Whose parents were always honored and asked to speak, who were constantly asked to state where they were from. This is no one’s fault, I was just always jealous. Always ashamed to say where I was from, trying to hide it, trying to ignore the reliable reactions I got from people after I said where I was from. “Oh, so you went to Bais Rivka…” which sounds to me like “oh, I know your life story…” or “oh, you’re one of those”. Its ok, it really is, in fact, I would probably act the same way if I grew up from out of town. But why shouldn’t I be proud of living in Crown Heights? Why should I feel embarrassed from my background?

This problem is due to stereotyping. We all stereotype sometimes and its usually the product of harmless chit-chat. But it can get out of hand. Sometimes generalizations about mass groups can be understandable, logical, but they will never be 100% true. I hear things about my home place that really breaks my heart. Things like “I went to a stupid Crown Heights-er doctor that doesn’t know what he’s talking about” or “Crown Heightsers NEVER say good Shabbos” or “that skirt is so Crown Heights-ey”. Things like “she’s such a stupid, racist Crown Heights-er”. Yes, we hear the, and yes, they hurt.

I know that Crown Heights is one of the most interesting mix of people living in one place, making it extremely diverse and colorful. I would try to figure out what was ‘Crown Heights-ey’ about me, so that I can quickly change it. But we aren’t robots, we are all different and when I am glued to someone else, no matter how different we may be, all individuality just disappears. My faults become hers and hers become mine and there is no escape since we live five blocks away from each other. This only brought me to the conclusion that these stereotypes were simply wrong, false, made up and fabricated. But we still hear them, they still come up, and they still bother me.

There’s no way, however, that I can let these petty remarks bother me so much. It’s important to be able to live life confidently, and to be able to try your best to disregard what others say about you.

One of my personal pros of living in Crown Heights; my father was raised there but my mother is the only one in her immediate family that lives there. This automatically opened my house to my mother’s extended family as a guest center. My house is sometimes referred to as ‘the train station’. We are always hosting people, feeding people and welcoming people on a regular basis. And this is not just my family. Families in Crown Heights are known for their incredible Hachnosas Orchim that I was always very proud of. Some more advantages; the Ohel is very close by and we have access to it whenever we need to go. We have 770 and the Rebbe’s House. We have kosher food, we have frum neighbors we have many shuls to choose from, we have tznius clothing stores, classes, shiurim, job opportunities, women’s exercise, and for those that can appreciate it; a beautiful Brooklyn setting.

Aside for all that, I am proud to live in Crown Heights. There aren’t many places out there that are bursting with opportunities like in Crown Heights. Everyone can find his or her place in Crown Heights without being unnecessary. Let’s not forget about the problems in Crown Heights that can be solved with hard work, the Rebbe’s Bracha and dedication.

Crown Heights serves many purposes. It is the crash center, the powerhouse, the home, the heart, the source of everything. How can we neglect this treasure of ours for reasons like rainy weather or less than perfect education systems?

There’s so much to do. For example, Teenagers tend to get lost in Crown Heights. As a young adult living in Crown Heights, I personally never liked going to Shul on Shabbos. None of my friends went to the one my family went to, I wanted to be able to hear the Chazzan, and many more reasons. Youth programs, teen clubs, after school programs, extracurricular activities, more opportunities for self-expression etc. These are only some examples of how there are amazing people out there, being Shluchim, holding up the world from Crown Heights. I want to be able to be that kind of person, who doesn’t need to leave to feel like she’s doing something.  It is our job to repair and improve these flaws and make Crown Heights what it could and should be. Each and every one of us have an individual obligation to do all we can to make Crown Heights a place we, the Rebbe and the world can be proud of.

  [1] להעיר מהמסופר בספר המאמרים תש"ד ע’ 114 בהערת כ"ק אדמו"רץ ספר השיחות תר"פ-תרפ"ז ע’2. I found this in an article about The Rebbe’s travels written by Yosef Shandling.

[2] Chaya Neubort, Shterna Fridman, Cherry Wolff, Sara Junik, Mali New, Shana Brawer, Mirel Deitch, Chasha Wuencsh, Mushka Napparstek, Batsheva Rivkin, Rachel Saginor, Esther Malka Cohen, Shevi Wolvovsky, My Brother Zevi Kugel, My Sister-in-law Tova Kugel. (all current residents of Crown Heights and were raised in Crown Heights)

[3] Mali New

[4] My Mother, Chana Kugel. Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but moved to Crown Heights permanently in 1995 after having already started a family. Although all children weren’t necessarily born in Crown Heights, it’s safe to say that the majority of their childhood was after we had moved. This makes my Mother a very experienced and knowledgeable figure in this field, specifically in education.

[5] My Father, David Kugel. Born and raised in Crown Heights. My father knows Crown Heights since its younger years, when all adults were survivors and had a story. Crown Heights is constantly growing and my father was able to experience the changes as a first-hand resident.v