#all of my knowledge comes from american history or european history

[starw1sh]

folklore studies I missed you

[teaboot]

How do Canadian schools teach about indigenous Canadian history and culture? -a curious USAmerican

In my experience we learned about colonization at the same time as we learned about the formation of Canada. At first it was "European settlers came and pushed out the indigenous population", then in the higher grades we learned more about the how and the why.

For example, how carts full of men with rifles would ride around shooting Buffalo, then leaving the meat on the ground to rot, because "a dead Buffalo is a dead indian", which was so fanatical it almost wiped out wild Buffalo entirely

Also how Canadian settlers were lured in with beautiful hand-painted advertisements for cheap, beautiful, fertile land that was unpopulated and perfect, if only you'd sail over with your entire family and a pocket full of seeds- only to be met with scared, confused, and angry lawful inhabitants already run out of ten other places, and frigid winters, and rocky, forested, undeveloped dirt.

also, smallpox blankets, where "gifts" of blankets infected with smallpox were intentionally given out

And treaty violations- Either ignoring written agreements entirely, or buying them out at insanely low prices and lying about the value, or trading for farming equipment that they couldn't use because they weren't farmers.

Then in the first world war, where they told indigenous peoples here that they'd be granted Canadian citizenship if they enlisted

To Residential schools, which was straight up stealing kids for slavery, indoctrination, and medical experiments

But we also covered the building of the Canadian Railway in which Chinese immigrants were lowered into ravines with dynamite to blow out paths through the mountain for pennies on the dollar

And the Alberta Sterilization Act, where it was lawful and routine procedure to sterilize women of colour and neurodivergent people without their awareness or consent after giving birth or undergoing unrelated surgeries

But I'm rambling.

We kind of learned Aboriginal history at the same time as everything else? Like. This is when Canada was made, and this is how it was done. Now we'll read a book about someone who lived through it, and we'll write a book report. And now a documentary, and now a paper about the documentary. Onto the next unit.

And starting I think in grade 10 our English track was split between English and Aboriginals English, where you could choose to do the standard curriculum or do the same basic knowledge stuff with a focus on Aboriginal perspectives and literature. (I did that one, we read Three Day's Road and Diary Of A Part-Time Indian, and a few other titles I don't remember.)

There was also a lunch room for the Aboriginal Culture Studies where Aboriginal kids could hang out at lunch time if they wanted, full of art and projects and stuff. They'd play music or videos sometimes, that was cool

And one elective I took (not mandatory cirriculum) was a Kwakiutl course for basic Kwakwakaʼwakw language. Greetings, counting to a hundred, learning the modified alphabet, animals, etc. Still comes in handy sometimes at large gatherings cause they usually start with a land recognition thanking whoever's land we're on, with a few thanks and welcomes in their language.

And like- when I was in the US it was so weird, cause here we have Totem poles and longhouses and murals all over and yall... don't? Like there is a very distinct lack of Aboriginal art in your public spaces, at least in the areas I've been

My ex-stepfather, who was American, brought his son out once, and he was so excited to "see real indians" and was legitimately shocked to learn that there weren't many teepees to be found on the northwest coast, and was even *more* shocked when we told him that you have Aboriginal people back home too, bud. Your Aboriginal people are also named "Mike" snd "Vicky" and work as assistant manager at best buy.

If you'd ask me, I'd say that the primary difference is that USAmerica (from what I've seen, and ALSO in entirely too much of Canada) treats our European and Aboriginal conflicts as history, something that's tragic but over, like the extinction of the mammoths, instead of like. An ongoing thing involving people who are alive and numerous and right fucking here

But at the end of the day, I'm white, and there are plenty of actual Aboriginal people who are speaking out and saying much more meaningful things than I can

So I'm just gonna pass on a quote from my Stepmum, who's Cree, that's stuck with me since she said it:

"You see how they treat Mexicans in America? That's how they treat us here. Indians are the Mexicans of Canada."

[lifenconcepts]

MY UTTERLY BELOVED TF2 OC!

I’m very proud of this, I’m not one to use digits art and so think this is actually applause worthy.

IVAN “VOLK” KATERZHNIK

LORE, DESCRIPTION, HISTORY, AND OTHER BELOW \/

A soviet pilot which crashed after flying through a storm and somehow ended up here rather that anywhere near Europe.

Pretty much godly when it comes to communications as he was the one to come to if you had technical problems or needed a message sent off through morse or radio. 

HISTORY / HIS STORY: I’ve done some good research on USSR in 1960s/1970s (about where the tf2 thing is set) to be able to comply somewhat with what tech and knowledge existed then. He flew a Tupolev Tu-95 plane (a fascinating beast, truly) which bares bombs and missiles and yet after a mistakenly taken dosage of amphetamine( after taking inspiration from British/American soldiers using it to boost moral and altertness), caused a buffer between logic/reality and delusional thinking of following orders, which allowed him to blindly fly from a runway in Khabarovski krai (beside the sea of Okhotsk), before being forced to crash land by a storm in New Mexico, where after taking a good 17 hour Power Nap, ventured the land with aloofness and nonchalantness and finding the RED base (TF2 ofcourse). There, he managed to recognise Ludwig as a medical personal and insisted he get treated for injuries, all the while speaking in the common broken English/Russian that many Eastern Europeans bare with phrases like “Amerika, da! Kennedy, Elvis Presley!” and has limited yet basic conversational knowledge on Czech, German, and polish. Greatly fluent in Russian.

His character in short:

Unattached, very limited family connections before he even flew, and laughs at the concept of a relationship that isn’t strictly professional. Aroace before the term even was coined. Very docile when it comes to being questioned and happily complied with initial allegations and requests despite a language barrier. Is surprisingly hyper aware of his surroundings and has a good grasp on the moral dilemma of war but also an insatiable appetite for confrontation and blood, and despite not liking violence, can handle a gun, blade, or explosives with a steady hand. Speaks a lot with hand gestures and isn’t afraid to be a bit strange, and most notable of a hobby is going out early dawn and late dusk to enjoy the rays of sun, take some fresh air, and at times go for a walk in the wilderness. Has disappeared without a trace multiple times before venturing his way back. Good relationship with most the REDs, albeit doesn’t take them seriously apart from Engineer and Medic - who he also sometimes helps with work. Doesn’t like to be limited with rules but respects the set basis of don’t be an asshole even if he makes harsh remarks at times without really noticing it. Can uphold a certain level of banter in English, but it is very bare bone and his knowledge of words is primarily based around technical terms so he could translate “Вам ни холодно?» (are you not cold?) into “Your system froze?” while gesturing to their body.

Physical appearance & taste:

Wears an aviator’s jacket with sheep wool lining, a watch by the brand “Kosmos”, has a busted up metal flask which he usually had a bit of whiskey in - in a (handmade by a long gone friend) leather casing with an intricate soviet symbol and pattern on it, some basic military brown/gray trousers, a dusty pecan coloured messenger bag, a muskrat ushanka (it fits his head properly I just like to draw it in a stylised manner), and some basic black soviet combat boots. He doesn’t really care for branding but knows random American things through cultural osmosis and exposure via his friend back in fatherland who is obsessed with ‘western’ media and food. Has seen a few American movies (don’t ask how his friend obtained it.. it wasn’t legal) and his favourite one is “North to Alaska”! He has zero interest in politics and a lack of understanding in certain aspects of life that may be important (for example battle tactics) but is ready to follow orders and make his own decisions based on prior experiences should he have to. Considers himself a patriot although knows very little about his own country, mainly the goings on in his hometown that shall stay unnamed. Loved the radio station Mayak and the song “Moscow Nights” practically runs through his veins.

Fascinated with snow, roads, and the sun like some eternally high schizoid (edit that out in tumblr entry). Likely has some underlying condition in his mind that hasn’t gotten traction in mass understanding yet so he just is overall chill, acts more or so like a child, yet understands and does things with the precision of a marksman.

Silly story & his plans for now: Has managed to tame a lynx cub once, well.. prior to it then mauling him. But his arm had a cool scar on it because of that! Within the lore though is more or less a helping hand towards the respawn machine and keeps the others company, as despite technically being able to return home, his superior ordered that he’d send out a message should he return from missions - and although this would be an emergency not a mission, he doesn’t want to risk being lost in Siberian wilderness should he go unguided or disrespect his fellow companion. Is trying to find his plane that he’d abandoned in some forest and scowered the place by foot for nearly a week, and once he managed to eventually find it, a good refuel and he’ll be sent off. That is.. if they manage to find it at all. And he is concrete and set about doing so and not just finding some other way about this because of a deep love and connection to the plane he so dearly piloted for nearly a decade.

Overall is a very laidback individual, physically and emotionally strong ‘n capable, loves music and often spends his free time listening to whatever the radio has to offer - and although he missed his usual Muslim Magomaev, Эдита Пьеха, or Я хожу по Москве, he still managed to enjoy the American tunes and sometimes hums Elvis Presley’s “it’s now or never”. Also adored all the various marches and anthems popular at the time. Favourite Russian song is Old maple/Старый Клён from the film Девчата (Girls).

PLEASE DO NOT use this a for your own ocs! I worked very hard :( you can take vague inspo but I’ll be heartbroken if you make harsh copies.

[normiedoctorwho]

I think about the massacre episode of doctor who a lot. Not only is it the rare companion driven story, but I truthfully love the character drama. Doctor who was originally billed as an educational program for children. The time travel so children could learn about historical events and the future stuff so they could learn about science. And what the massacre does is makes Steven an audience surrogate because he doesn’t know about this tragedy at all.

Doctor Who is a British tv show and this event was a French tragedy, so they might not even be aware this happened. Granted I’m coming at this from an American perspective and like it might’ve been mentioned in a AP European history course I took in high school but not in depth. Just another tragedy of the Protestant reformation.

But here in Doctor who, you learn what happened through Steven’s interactions with those who were there. And as it all plays out you’re forced to contend with the fact that this happened. This was real. They were real people, not just a page in the history. Steven’s reaction of shock and anger to the Doctor asserting that he was right to do as he did and that he wasn’t guilty of Ann’s possible death is how we’d all react. How could he turn that girl away! He saved Katarina from the fall of Troy after all!

But then you’d remember how that played out. What happened to Katarina. And suddenly the Doctor’s motives for leaving Ann behind become more muddled. Was it actually to preserve history? Or was it because he thought Ann had a better chance of surviving the St Bartholomew day’s massacre than she did in the TARDIS?

But Steven doesn’t think of this, and most of the audience probably doesn’t either. So he storms off. Not even caring where the TARDIS lands next. Granted Steven comes back like 5 minutes later and we don’t know why, and the Doctor is absolved of Ann’s murder via Dodo’s existence, but still.

I know I went off topic there at the end but the point is doctor who expertly educated it’s audience on a historical event. And it gets the audience invested in what happened by leveraging their lack of knowledge. So that like Steven, you never want anyone to needlessly die like that again.

It’s probably my favorite who story after remembrance of the daleks and I wish people would give it a chance, despite it being lost. The audio drama version on audible is very well done.

Edit: last thing. A subtle detail I really like is when the Doctor realized what’s about to happen, he called Ann by her name before he told her to leave asap. The first Doctor always called the young women he met my child, so the gravity of what was going to happen hit him hard and they were hiding in a somewhat famous Huguenot’s house. The Doctor was genuinely trying to save her within the rules he thought he had to go by.

[thedawningofthehour]

Hi Fai, I know it‘s evil to ask you these questions bc your worldbuilder brain might go brrrrr, but if there WAS an Atlantis, I assume it would have turtle yokai? Do u think the fact that they mostly stay underwater allow some gigantism?

But my actual question; would there ONLY be underwater yokai? I mean, Gale can breathe underwater (probably? It‘s saltwater I mean, I think you mentioned it would fuck up his skin after a while in tfts?) but if they were to visit there, could Draxum use some sort of spell or air bubble to come, like in that one Bojack Horseman underwater episode? Or would he have to keep both hooves on the boat/other side of the portal, while Donnie can keep his eyes open for any billionaire submarines

(Hypothetically, apart from the fact that Draxum obviously wouldn’t ever let Gale go there alone, I mean)

Also, entirely unrelated, if the doth cast was dropped into a beach episode how would that go? Would Gale turn into a horror movie creature? I think that would make him healthy, unbothered, moisturized

(pls don’t feel obligated to give super detailed answers or any at all, I‘m just really curious about your ideas relating that)

Love!!

You're right, you are evil. 💕

That would depend on where Atlantis is in this universe. While, most likely, Plato was using Atlantis completely metaphorically and was not referring to any historical civilization in particular, there's still a number of places proposed that he could have been talking about. The very name Atlantis implies that it was located in the Atlantic, and Plato describes it as being located "in front of the mouth which you Greeks call the pillars of Hercules." (The Strait of Gibraltar-the channel in between Spain and Morocco, if you're bad at geography) Furthermore, Atlantis is also stated to be huge, Plato says it's really more of a continent, "larger than Libya and Asia together." (to my understanding, they used 'Libya' to refer to all of Africa outside of Egypt at the time)

It sounds...weirdly like he's describing the Americas. "a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power," yeah, there were absolutely ancient American societies that grew very large and could be considered to rival kingdoms.

Except, you know, even though we know now that Africa used to be all snuggled up in between the Americas, that scale of 'used to' is measured in millions of years. Loooooong before anything resembling modern humans existed, and certainly long before we had any form of oral history we could use to pass the knowledge down. People came to the Americas the other way, from what is now Russia to Alaska, or by island-hopping the Pacific. And while Europeans absolutely did cross over to the Americas before Columbus, they mostly did this farther north. Where, you know, there was Iceland to stop at. And Greenland not too far from that. And it was a physically shorter distance from the coast of Iceland to Canada. And, important to note, this was estimated to have happened during the Viking Age, roughly a thousand years ago. Plato wrote this in 360 BCE, and claimed that Atlantis rose and fell 9000 years before his time, (though apparently he might have meant months, which would make it 750 years) I don't know much about ships but I think I can say with some certainty that absolutely no one had the technology to sail from Gibraltar across the Atlantic to hit the shores of West Virginia in, at the very latest, 1000 BCE. And even less likely that Athens would have particular beef with these people.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Plato's understanding of where Atlantis is (if there was even a historical equivalent to Atlantis at all) was misunderstood or mistranslated over the years. It's very possible that the island nation he spoke of was inside the Mediterranean-likely, even, considering the tectonic activity in many areas. We already know that Malta is merely the top part of a much greater island that has since sank below sea levels. And Greece itself is well-known for its volcanic activity-literally, it's a bunch of islands formed from the nonsense of the Aegean Sea Plate, it can't not have tons of volcanic activity. There were absolutely small island nations that exploded and were completely destroyed by Pele stretching her legs in ancient history. Hell, we have a pretty good candidate for what a Greek Atlantis might have been-

This is the island of Thera. You see that bay in the middle, with the bit in the middle not quite breaking the surface?

That's the volcano.

It literally destroyed itself. Civilization on the island was wiped out, some people survived and came back to see what they could retrieve and bury their dead but it remained unoccupied for a few more centuries. It caused earthquakes and tsunamis that destroyed settlements in the surrounding islands and as far away as Crete, causing 'apocalyptic rainstorms' in Egypt.

This happened around 1600 BCE, so while neither dates match, considering the imprecise nature an estimate on that scale would have in Plato's time, it's very possible that he was referring to the destruction of Thera.

If a Yokai Atlantis did exist somewhere around Greece, or somewhere around Italy where there's also a lot of that nonsense, it would likely built upon a now-submerged island. Maybe even get some coral reef activity going on? 'Googles something' Okay no, apparently coral reefs aren't very common in the Mediterranean. I guess it's too cold? You don't really think of Greece or Italy being cold, but compared to the waters around the Philippines and Indonesia I guess it is. Well, the map in Wikipedia shows some coral reefs off the coast of Sicily, plus we're playing with magic here so I'm saying it could happen.

And that would be sick. Like, sooooo many possibilities for aquatic Yokai. How their city is set up, their architecture and culture. How they communicate with each other, with other Yokai.

It would be pretty unlikely for gigantism to occur there though. I know we talked in the doth comments about how the difference in gravity underwater allows animals to grow absolutely huge without putting their bodies under such immense strain, but that's only half the equation. The other half is why they would need to.

Animals don't just evolve for no reason. I mean, sometimes weird mutations do occur spontaneously and end up getting bred into the species because it isn't detrimental enough to impact their survivability, (this is actually what happened with humans and why we can be vitamin C deficient, we lost the gene that handles producing it and it just straight-up wasn't an issue until we moved out of sub-Saharan Africa because we were living in the tropics with so much vitamin C-rich foods available) but if something's not broke they don't fix it. In this scenario, in a coral reef ecosystem or neritic zone, there would be little reason for gigantism because they wouldn't need to conserve calories so much-they have plenty of food available, and they'll have plenty of food tomorrow. They might get bigger, but there would be no reason to become truly giant. Getting big might cause more issues than it's worth if the waters are shallower, (it's my understanding that the Mediterranean isn't particularly deep on average, and this Yokai settlement would be built on a seamount and would be closer to the surface anyway) and would be hard to maneuver. Plus they can upset the food chain by becoming too big and consuming too much, which would cause a collapse and kill them anyway. Just too much of a risky move for evolution to take.

(of course, we're talking about a magical world where humans can be crossed with goats and then can go on to give turtles depression, so it's not out of the question that the mutation itself can give people gigantism but let's stick to science for now)

But as cool as that is, I know that isn't what you're asking for, so let's move to the other locational option.

So. In the Atlantic, but before you hit the Americas. What's there?

Uh...not really a whole lot.

Like, there are some islands and seamounts, but nothing compared to the Pacific. Someone smarter than me can explain how that works with tectonics and why so many islands arose within the Ring of Fire, but if I go down that Wikipedia rabbit hole I'll have written a dissertation on this. Basically, the Atlantic Ocean is pretty deep, and it just kind of...stays deep. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still on average about a thousand feet below sea level, so even the high points are barely breaking the photic zone.

And the problem is, there at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, is that there's no sunlight. And you kind of need sunlight for a viable ecosystem-like, even if you're a carnivore, what you're preying on is probably an herbivore. Even if it's not, there's an herbivore at some point in the chain-and the plants it eats needs sunlight. So down at the bottom of the sea, where no light penetrates, they have to subsist on what floats down there or go to shallower waters to eat.

A lot of deep-sea creatures live off of marine snow, which is that shit that floats down I mentioned earlier-dead things, phytoplankton, and literal shit. These guys actually tend to get smaller in the deep sea-predation is much rarer down there-to reduce the amount of food they need to sustain their bodies. And a lot of them are hermaphrodites literally just because sexing is hard and they don't have the energy to fuck around finding one of the right sex.

The guys who travel to shallow waters for food, like our friends the colossal and giant squid, they tend to exhibit gigantism because the body becomes more efficient at processing and storing food the bigger it gets.

That's what this girl was doing when she was caught. She'd come to shallow waters and was chowing down on a toothfish she'd pilfered from their line. (she was already very close to death, deep sea creatures like this are adapted for high water pressure and low temperatures and don't fare well if they swim too close to the surface) So they do have to put themselves in danger to feed, and have to eat a lot to fuel their giant body. But they only have to make this trip every couple of years or so. The rest of the time homegirl was just floating and vibing in the deep sea, not doing much of anything to conserve that last meal. Their size also makes them quite able to defend themselves, and threatening enough that most predators won't bother.

(just to note, this beautiful lady was estimated to be about 10 meters long when they pulled her up-33 feet in freedom units. And her beak was significantly smaller than the beaks we've found before, implying that she wasn't even fully grown. These things are massive)

So how would that translate to deep-sea Yokai? Well, I think it would be really hard for intelligent Yokai to exist down there at all. Not to say it can't happen, but our big brains are very resource-intensive. Like, that's the whole reason we eat meat while other apes are mostly herbivores, our big brains needed more energy. (generally herbivores, they eat insects and will eat small game if they can get their hands on it, but that's true for most herbivores) And the combination of needing more fuel for our big brains and having the capacity to be bored would greatly interfere with the 'just vibing' method of survival and force them to be more active-which would require more calories, and thus the problem snowballs. They'd probably be blind, since there's no light down there. They also probably wouldn't be nearly as active as the Yokai we see, since moving their giant bodies and doing things and socializing would take so much energy.

Unless they can get their energy from like, geothermal heat or something? That might work. We're talking about magical creatures after all, it has to make sense but that doesn't mean it has to be realistic.

But generally, for deep-sea giant Yokai to work, they'd need to be migratory and return to shallower waters quite frequently to eat, which begs the question of why they don't just stay in those shallower waters and stop being so giant since they're already there all the time.

Or maybe they just have their own little greenhouses at the top of their city like these dudes:

[honeysuckletoast]

a somewhat history of American peculiars that ridiculous but kinda fun? My mind has blanked a bit but I'm gonna try anyways✨

1775-1815

-I like to think America was a bit unstructured form the start in terms of peculiardom, with even ymbrynes fighting for the top spot. Miss Hawk was the one who finally got it and remained as a "leader" until the 1830's

- there was an academy for Ymbrynes in America, ran by miss Conure and miss Dovekie. It ran from 1808- 1862, and it was a houseboat (nothing really fancy) It was ultimately destroyed during one of the numerous battles in the Mississippi. Miss Conure drowned and miss Dovekie is missing without a formal cause of death.

-many ymbrynes were trained by single mentors still (like in Diane Buntings case)

1815-1827

-not much contact was made between the small groups of Peculiars who didn't want to be governed the the council's, (these are Peculair organizations who follow their own rules)

- mostly everything was peaceful. A few issues with the normals, but nothing too bad.

-most of the ymbrynes in America had stable loops at this time, and most only had one loop with minimal wards to take care of, but they were steadily growing.

-in the 1820's virus's started to become more worrisome as it was mutating as it went from one peculiar to the next, causing certain loops to have to be deemed as "uninhabitable for reason of disease" and had to be collapsed due to how rampant Cholera and Scarlet fever were spreading around the loops. Many children were left without ymbrynes and fled due to the loop being collapsed without another loop to take them in, and they aged forward.

-in 1822 a decree was passed by the American council that any Ymbryne in training was to abandon their studies and be sent to loops in dire need of assistance to keep the loop going. This lead to many unstable loops with Ymbrynes that had very limited knowledge of what they were doing. (Miss Bunting was one of these ymbrynes in training)

-alot of the smaller Peculair organizations offered to take in any peculair children who fled from their loop's due to disease and instability and then aged forward as a result.

- It became incredibly easy for these aged forward peculairs to be brainwashed as it was a naive child's mind in an adults body. This lead to them being indoctrinated to believe that the ymbryne's caused the mass diesease and that the Ymbryne council was using this to show their power over the American peculiardom. This started to lead to a rift between common peculiar's and the Ymbryne council

-Miss Hawk begged the European council to help, but Miss Shrike (the leader at the time of the European council) denied the request for unspecified reasons. She also sent an SOS to the Asian council but they voted and denied on grounds of not being willing to get involved in foreign affairs, plus they were dealing with their own issues. The African council sent over a few ymbrynes but they were much smaller than the other two councils and this weren't much help at all.

1827-1860

-many of the ymbrynes-in-training started to join the peculiar organizations, claiming that they were unfit to even run a loop and the council had left them no choice but to abandon the council of Ymbryne and join the organizations.

-Miss batHawk was deemed unfit to continue as the leader of the council in 1830 meeting due to her inability to even walk anymore and barely talk (the job was Litterally killing her) She passed a few months later at 218 years old from heart failure.

-Miss Owl took her place, she was much younger and more straightforward and more of a threat towards the organizations, but they just upped their game by capturing and murdering her 2 months into her run as the council leader, and they left her body display as a warning to the council.

-a decree was issued for the organization who killed miss Owl to come forward, but none did. This shown the American peculiars who we're still going back and forth between leaders that the council could be unseated as the leaders of American peculiardom, and thus lead to bloody uprisings, esspecially in the south.

- several peculairs and ymbrynes were accused of starting bloody clashes and put in trial by the council, many ending up being sent to Devil's acre in Europe.

-Miss Swan took over in 1831, and she struggled to maintain what Miss Bat Hawk had dedicated her life to building, but being bold and witty, she was able to hold the position (while having to watch her back)

-a rapidly expanding organization called the Blue cost society for peculiar advancement. (started in 1817) Took control of the southern United States, but has reach all the way up into the Canadian Territory.

-the blue coat society was lead by a peculiar man by the name of Mr. Tuck, (his peculairity is still unknown to this day) who stated their goal was to to divide North America up into 4 divisions with a set of government for each, cutting out the ymbrynes fully.

-Their other goal was to eliminate any peculiarity that was seen as inferior and unnecessary to their organization, and find a way to cause babies to be born with certain "useful" and "controlable" peculiarities.

-They started to track Ymbryne's down to their loops through their aged forward children who they brainwashed. They typically killed the Ymbryne and kidnapped the rest of their children, conducting many unethical experiments on them, but sometimes they woulda also use the Ymbryne for testing.

- The blue coat uprising ultimately failed due to infighting and issues on ethicality and they disbanded, but alot of damage had been done to the public's view of the Ymbryne council and how they handled the uprising which killed many peculiar children and adults.

-Peculiar diseases were also still running wild around this time due to certain Peculiars using thier peculiarities to causing multiple brutal pandemics amongst the peculairs (way worse than the 1820's) to shift the view on the council's inability to handle them.

-The weakened Ymrbyne council structure found it near impossible to govern the adult Peculiars who were trying to overthrow them, the children that were being killed or dying from pandemics, and The uprising clashes left and right, plus ymbrynes were going missing without trace and being excuted.

-Miss Swan struggled and finally died from exhaustion and from a peculair fever while trying to run 7 different loops in her sick state, which set them on a path to the new clans uprising sense no other Ymbryne was willing to step up and take her spot, and the already weakened council crumbled to the ground.

1860's-1880's

-Balenciaga who was brand new to being the leader of the council at the time when the American council fell, she got together with Miss Waxwing (leader of the Asian council) and they each sent scouts to America to track down any remaining ymbrynes, but most were never found, with a only s handful of a few traumatized ones returning. There is a huge list of ymbrynes that are missing or have been confirmed dead with no bodies to be found. Only 8 bodies have been found over the 159(ish) years and laid to rest. Any time they find a body all 3 council leaders (miss Wren, miss Waxwing, and miss Stork) come together to pay their respects.

1880-1900

-Jack saw what was going on in America, and started to takes notes. Miss Avocet was a bit worried he was becoming a bit obsessed with it, and she started to limit his access to the library books published by various American Peculiars about their experiences.

-Miss Bunting writes and publishes a book about the struggles of Peculiardom in America

-the 3 modern clans came about, many peculiars from the old clans that had fallen joining into one of the three.

I'm gonna end it here but yeah, this is just a head cannon history on how America became so unstable and the clans came to be. This might be messy to read I'm so sorry😂 I tried to organize it into a cohesive timeline.

[haggishlyhagging]

Sarah Grimké, like prior commentators, stressed the early version of Genesis as decisive. She argued that Creation was filled with animals who could have been companions to Adam but that God wanted "to give him a companion, in all respects his equal; one who was like himself a free agent, gifted with intellect and endowed with immortality." She interpreted the Fall as showing Adam and Eve equally guilty, an interpretation we have previously encountered on the part of a number of writers. But Sarah Grimké's interpretation of God's curse on Eve—"Thou wilt be subject unto thy husband, and he will rule over thee"—was innovative. She argued that the curse is

simple prophecy. The Hebrew, like the French language, uses the same word to express shall and will. Our translators having been accustomed to exercise lordship over their wives and seeing only through the medium of a perverted judgement . . . translated it shall instead of will, and thus converted a prediction to Eve into a command to Adam; for observe it, it is addressed to the woman and not to the man.

The "prophecy" interpretation of this section had been earlier made by Mary Astell, but there is no evidence Grimké knew of it. Her effort to base her interpretation on linguistic grounds is original with her. More important is her insistence on the bad faith of the translators and her feminist effort to historicize their gendered view of the text. Sarah Grimké pursued that theme vigorously in succeeding letters. She charged that man had exercised "dominion" over women "for nearly six thousand years" and continued:

I ask no favors for my sex. All I ask our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God designed us to occupy. . . . All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to his sensual pleasures, to be instrumental in promoting his comfort; but never has he desired to elevate her to that rank she was created to fill. He has done all he could to debase and enslave her mind; and now he looks triumphantly on the ruin he has wrought, and says, the being thus deeply injured is his inferior.

Here Grimké moved far ahead of her predecessors and her contemporaries. Men have not only degraded women, but have made them mere instruments for their own comfort. They have enslaved women's minds, deprived them of education and finally robbed them of the knowledge of their equal humanity. These charges will not appear anywhere else until the 1850 Woman's Rights Convention held in Ohio and even there they appear in isolation, not as part of a feminist world view which dares to challenge patriarchal thought.

Sarah Grimké proceeded to build her challenge to patriarchy by critically surveying various aspects of women's conditions at different times and in different places. She gave a cursory overview of women's status in Asia and Africa and in various historical periods ranging from Ancient Mesopotamia to Antiquity, through European history to the American present. She attacked discrimination against women in education, law, economic opportunities and within the family. Her exposure of the sexual exploitation of women in marriage was particularly advanced for her time. She argued for women's equal access to the ministry and outlined in detail all the biblical passages authorizing women as teachers and prophets. Her analysis of St. Paul was historical and critical, and she pointed out every contradiction in the biblical account. She asked, if women are not allowed to preach or teach, why then are many young women now employed as Sunday school teachers, ostensibly breaking the Pauline injunction and yet "warned not to overstep the bounds set for us by our brethren in another? Simply. . . because in the one case we subserve their views and their interests, and act in subordination to them; whilst in the other, we come in contact with their interests, and claim to be on an equality with them in . . . the ministry of the word." In an earlier passage she had summarized the most advanced part of her analysis, which would be "reinvented" many times over by future generations of feminists:

I mention [this] . . . only to prove that intellect is not sexed; that strength of mind is not sexed; and that our views about the duties of men and the duties of women, the sphere of man and the sphere of woman, are mere arbitrary opinions, differing in different ages and countries, and dependant solely on the will and judgement of erring mortals.

Here, Sarah Grimké, reasoning by way of a close reading of the scriptural text and relying only on her own judgment and interpretations, defined the difference between sex and gender and stated, in terms which would not be as clearly stated again until late in the 20th century: gender is a culturally variable, arbitrary definition of behavior appropriate to each of the sexes. Feminist Bible criticism had reached the point where it led directly to a feminist world-view.

-Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Feminist Consciousness

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Aaron Kimberly

Published: Dec 18, 2021

The Queer lobby keeps adding letters to their banner to signal their holier-than-thou “inclusivity” and “diversity”. One of the more recent inclusions has been the 2S, which stands for Two-Spirit”, but what does this mean and where did it originate?

The english term “Two-Spirit” was coined in 1990 during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The congregants wanted to distance themselves from European concepts of “gay” and the word “berdache”, a label given to the gender non-conforming natives by white settlers. “Two-Spirit” is a translation of the Ojibwe niizh manitoag.

I grew up in Manitoba. One Scottish branch of my family travelled here on Lord Selkirk’s ship to build and work for the Hudson’s Bay Settlement, which is now Winnipeg. Despite living in close proximity to many Cree, Ojibwe and Dakota communities, I know embarrassingly little about their cultures. I have (also embarrassingly) heard countless Queer activists over the past 20 years cite Two-Spirit as a local example of “transgender” history, but I’ve rarely heard this mentioned by First Nations people themselves. So, I’m curious: what were the historical and cultural meanings of the term? Ask, and the Universe/Creator/God provides.

I was introduced to a Dakota woman who resides in Winnipeg, not far from where I was born. She has several friends who attended the 1990 conference. I’ll call her “Teara” to protect her privacy. (She chose the pseudonym "cause I'm gonna tear this crap down...for my community's well being"). Teara reminded me a lot of my own grandmother, a powerhouse of a woman with a big heart, a loud voice and a sharp mind that can detect bullshit up wind. She’ll call it like it is.

Here's what she told me:

Dakota culture is organized around the Creator. What is given by the Creator is to be respected and appreciated. Teara comes from a long line of “seers” – a visionary gift. The Dakota people have long believed that everyone is born with two spirits – one masculine and one feminine. She gave examples of times when she draws from her male spirit when she needs to be strong, and from her female spirit when she needs to be gentle. Sometimes, one of those spirits is innately stronger in a person and so, some women tend to be more masculine, and some men tend to be more feminine. Since all natural traits are seen as the gifts from the Creator, they are honoured. Women with strong masculine spirits were permitted to go hunting with the men. Likewise, men with strong feminine spirits were permitted to participate in some activities with the women.

She explained that this understanding is very different from the contemporary “transgender” movement. Two-Spirit people were not seen as a third sex, nor the opposite sex. They understood that female and male are biological/reproductive categories. To “change sex” would be at act of rebellion against the Creator who gave us the gift of our bodies.

Queer politics have made their way into Teara’s own Manitoba community. She sees this as a threat to her culture, an attack on native women, and an effort to divide and conquer. She has raised her concerns in her community and met with hostility. She’s been asked to leave council meetings and has been physically attacked and intimidated.

I saw no hate or deceit in Teara. She was generous and gracious with me, freely offering her wisdom to a stranger. She has insights into the disruptive and divisive nature of critical gender theory which echo academics like James Lindsay.

Teara is a Knowledge Keeper.

For more information:

Dr. Myra Laramee, B.Ed., M.Ed., Ph. D (Education) of Fisher River First Nation discusses what it means to be Two-Spirit, as well as the term’s history and origin.

If everyone is two-spirit, then nobody is "Two-Spirit."

[distinguisheddwarffriend]

Hi! I know I'm late with this, but if you still feel like it, do these questions from the fanfic writers ask game maybe? 🫶

7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

20. what is your favorite trope to write?

47. what story are you most proud of?

Hi & thanks for the questions, I'm always happy to do the fanfic writers ask game!

7. The first fanfic I ever wrote:

When I was 15 (so half a life ago) I discovered Tolkien & High Fantasy for myself, and started writing an original work called "Elven Blood", that may have had original characters& my own world, BUT almost all of it was inspired by Tolkien. Each "race"/ elven sub-race, the societies etc all were VERY Tolkien, it basically WAS a fanfic.

The plot was the beautiful cliché of a young girl waking up on a beach without any memories of who she is. She wanders & gets found by the wood elves(her best friend is an Arwen 2.0), a reclusive kind of the elves (there also were Firn-Elves, Light-Elves, Night-Elves, Blood-Elves), and later, for some reason, runs away from them and comes into the kingdoms of men, falls in love with a young king that travels the world in disguise of a Story-Teller(Aragorn), because he does not want to be king, and while there was a 'big evil' somewhere(Sauron), and the peoples fought that.

I had this really funny twist planned, where there is this legend of the Queen of the Light Elves(Galadriel), that was enchanted by someone evil (Annatar) & cheated on her husband, having a bastard child. Her husband killed the child in anger, and the Queen faded in grief.

However, the MC later finds out that she is said child from the story, the King of the Light Elves could not kill her after all, and her mother did not die but turned insane, leading her people into a hidden exile (Lorien) and secretly planning her revenge against all elf kind by teaming up with her Ex Lover (Sauron/Annatar).

Maybe one day I'll finish/ revamp it.

11. For one of my current WIPs "Homeward bound", I had to research certain parts of European and American history.

I learned about the war between Denmark & Schleswig Holstein around 1850, the Northernmost German state & close to where I live. I had no idea this war even existed!

If I do research, then I really research things, for example I now even know the exact dates& places of various battles, how the different uniforms looked, what happened to wounded sell-swords after battle etc.

20. My favourite trope to write BY FAR is Modern Girl in Middle Earth.

It's funny, because I used to think of it as cringy for years, because I mostly knew about the "messy-bun, blue-orbs Mary-Sues", but when I needed a change from my usual stuff, I gave it a try & now I'm forever lost.

47. What story I am mostly proud of?

Ooof, tough one.

It's easier to answer what idea I'm proud of the most, because much of my work is unpublished/unfinished, so I cannot be proud of it yet.

Therefore: I'm proud of the idea for my "Opus Magnus" that could be a Tolkien fanfic, but is also a very original work.

It's far from finished, but it combines the MGiME trope with The End of Our World, the "saving" of parts of our humanity by the Valar, the Building of a new, utopian society, the interaction of Tolkien & his characters, the moral question of 'what is the MC allowed to do/change' and the dangers of our world's knowledge encroaching into a fictional & medieval world.

[conjuremanj]

Questions & Answers

Here are some questions and there answers.

Why is Voodoo and Santeria are both such powerful systems in magic?

Religions traditions such as Vodou and Santeria (Lukumi or La Regla de Ocha) to be “systems of magic” They are religious traditions born from the cultural traditions of west and central Africa. They are religions with rules, ceremonies, hierarchies, spirit's, deities, and priests and lay people. Like paganism, Wicca, etc. These traditions are powerful because the people have faith and belief in its practitioners and that's the reason it “works” Same as a pastor, or Catholic priest, the faith people have in them when they commacate with their spirits or Saints; is the same faith people have when a practitioner commacate with the Lwa or Orisha, that they will respond and assist them.

Faith can motivate it can moves mountains it can heal. So have faith. Now however, In a magical sense, faith and the results from our devotion does fit well in “magic” so again faith can help your magic work.

Can i try to do a African Diasporic rituals myself?

In my opinion yes you can do certain rituals as a practitioner and become knowable and powerful doing so. But In order to do any "religious ceremonies" in a African Diasporic religion like Santeria, Vodou, 21 Divisions, Palo to name a few, you must have the licence to do so, "or" be under the guidance and or trained under a person who does have the spiritual license like a priest. Like my religion we are community based, and initiation is necessary to conduct actual existing rituals, ceremonies and deviation all must be trained. Like I'm a Minister I was trained to do funerals, baptisms, blessings and other ceremonies (Now there are initiation where you don't have to join there house it's a outside initiation) like becoming a minister you can do it online and do the same ceremonies and blessing but you need to have the faith and knowledge to be successful in preforming certain rituals, that's where your training comes in. So, I say yes to some rituals and no to certain ceremonies without guidance it can be dangerous. The reason is, even priests must have several people to help with most ceremonies and that can go for others practices like paganism, wiccans etc. The more people in your house or coven preforming a ceremonie the better.

Can white people practice African traditional religions?

Yes of course they can do anything they want to there's no rules about it., but I do have a problem with the fact that people with non African descent wants to practice African religions which is awesome, But some go on to monopolize (obtain exclusive possession) these practices, then claims them as their own with out knowing the whole history of it first. I don't care how many religions you practice or if you incorporate them but to find the essence and have it work for you one must know where the came from first, knowing there deties or spirit, and what they how to Summon then there correct offerings. You know the whole history before preforming the rituals or spells. Here's two examples, 1st. Is Hoodoo and the 2nd is Santeria. Some white people try to add the practices with Wicca and European New Age Religions. Which again is fine if it works for you. But then there some who open online and retail stores and profit from African religious traditions and and make themselves out as being experts. They pretend they know more about Hooodoo than Black, Creole and other minority people raised in these traditions and this becomes the problem. People and not just white people tend not to simply practice religions from black cultures but they have to change it around and call it traditional. This is also being done with Native American Shamanism and religions. If you want to learn and call it traditional do it the right way. In some practices there are family members that have their own spells or ways of making oils etc but the basics are the same and these can't be changed.

Remember spiritually is universal when a person goes to learn a practice like this is mostly because they don't have one of there own or can seem to connect to God in their father. But another thing understand that teaching white people isn't so that they can become black, or contact our ansestors is that we teach them how to contact their own ansestors and God through these systems.

[lesewut]

"I spoke to a man who has been to hell."

“World-Travels - Contributions to the Country and Nations, III. Volume ” by Prof. Dr. Phil. Wilhelm Joest. Published 1895 in Berlin by Imberg & Lefson. Three volumes with thirteen plates and one card. The book is devided in four parts: The Ainu - Siberia - Habit of Eating Lices - Eau de Cologne Drinking

Travel reports from the past are combining cultural aspects with the feeling of trippin' into history. Suddenly all the bygone events are relatively vivid through your inner eyes, the native folks that were rare at that time, are nowadays forgotten, but brought to live through words. Sometimes those ethnic minorities are all of a sudden submerged, without a hint, lost without trace and if they enter again the earthy stage, they kind of seem half mystified. It is also not really possible to tell how many assimilated with the local society, in fact, it will often stay a guessing like speculation, when it comes to the knowledge of the own ancestry. Which is also again a sign, that all kind of man-set-borders can be crossed... Nevertheless, it is always a gain to read about less known folks and cultures. The human history is full of interesting cultural habits and the many aspect that influenced the customs, practices and traditions.

In this travelouge Prof. Joest is presenting the Ainu (or Aino, Utari) Folk. With caution should some parts been read, but according to my reception, even if some statements are shining with social darwinian interpretation, it really surpised me, that the description of the Ainu Folk as "more European" than "Mongolian" looking has evidences from the newest research results: It is not clear how and why, but it seems that the Ainu were not an homogeneous group (less than usual in tribal unions) as they have reached "Japan", 14,000 years before the Common Era. Despite the descriptions, Prof. Joest is critisising researches of using his findings, as their own (documents he published, where integrated as own research and development. So allegations of plagiarism is not a phenomenon of modern times. And the accusation goes on in the report about Siberia. George Kennan, an American explorer, who was noted for his travels in several regions of the Russian Empire, wrote about Siberia in three volumes.

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

Prof. Joest is criticising Kennan's lack of authenticity, comparing his report as "speculative backstairs of the novelist" and that the representation were hyperbolic. Through the distortion of events, Kennan would "blurring of the reader's judgement". The used sources are questionable, the interviewed persons, used as "key witnessess" (mostly young political prisoners of female gender) are giving incorrect information to awake (false) sympathy. What is very notable, is that Prof. Joest is frequently using the term "Russophobia" to describe the motivation of Kennan. In the way of presenting the prisoners as "innocently locked in" and "in other circumstances, they would have been appreciative for the fatherland", the report of Siberia turns fastly into a scarestory. And still today, the collective memory is getting shivering fit, when thinking about this ice desert, known for forced deportations and gulags.

Due to lack of time an energy, I will present the following part in notes:

Correction & True Statements

-> Underground dungeons, blood on the walls and hard, forced labor

Kennan has never seen those underground dungeons - the blood is the result of bedbugs pressed to death by the prisoners - lack of work would be the reality (cf. Dostoevsky "The House of the Dead", do not want to tell too much, but for me Dostoevsky is the hero for the forgotten of society, he survived those horrors becoming a better human-being, washed in the same basin with the others and felt every distance too much, wanting to bridge with brotherhood, but Oscar Wilde drowned in the basin of his heavy narcissism...)

-> Overcrowded prisons

At this time, Europe had to struggle with overcrowded prisons and it can be seen as a fundamental problem (cf. Mazas Prison in Paris or Plötzensee in Berlin) - How often I had to think of Marx and how he emphasized the higher standard of living in the prison in comparison with the everyday life of the labouring poor (more space, food and warmth in the prison!) plus it was common, that Russian convicts were accompanied by the whole family...

-> Tolstoi is lacking pathos for the situation of the inmates

Kennan is contracicting himself, as he mentions "The Count apparantly did not even want to be charitable to men and women, whose actions he disapproved of." In addition, Tolstoi should not be count as a judge for morals :')

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Recommended travelogue about Siberia

Experienced traveller and with respects of Katherina II. "On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian lepus." by Kate Marsden

"Best book that was available about Siberia" wrote Prof. Joest about "Siberia" by Jadrinzew, translated by Prof. Petri-Bern

Well traveled pastor "Through Siberia" by Landsdell

Experienced and traveled extensively "Siberia As It Is" by Harry De Windt

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Side note:

The parts "Habit of Eating Lices" & "Eau de Cologne Drinking" has really frightened me, particularly the "creativity" of human to get intoxicated by alcohol, wether there are import bans or prohibitions, always are new ways found. First I thought, that the lices-theme would psychologically evoke itching, honestly it did, but it was nothing compared to the shocks I conquered with Eau de Cologne... You just can not imagine, what especially fine aristocratic women, used as gadgetry to get their dosis of alcohol. So many hidden alcoholics, trying to conceal their addiction and falling even deeper. Fake flowers with sprayers of alcohol, amputated fingers to hide little bottles in the gloves, walking sticks as movable bars... Fascinating and scaring at the same time!

[tvstvnvkke]

We arrived here before Columbus!

A common theme I've seen a lot recently is talks of who "arrived in North America before Columbus". While I don't think the question in and of itself is harmful, I think the root of this question has VERY harmful origins.

If you are involved in indigenous spaces, you may have heard "(insert group or culture) was in North America before Columbus.". Nearly always the claim is false. There is some evidence to suggest spanish explorers who landed in south America explored higher north, although nothing concrete to my knowledge. There is also a few viking encampments found in the far north, including one in L'Anse aux Meadows that was dated to the year 1000. So unless these are the two situations being discussed, approach the subject with a LOT of skepticism.

During colonization a lot of colonizers knew what they were doing was horrible. Sometimes you'll hear a narrative that it was 'just how things were' or 'people didn't know better'. However, we know this isn't true as we have documents from the time that very clearly question how horrible some of the actions were. In order to avoid taking accountability for these actions you see a lot of stories or 'relics' pop up around this time trying to push the idea that Europeans were in North America for much longer and thus have a right to do what they were doing. Many of these stories were altered older stories while others were pure fabrication. Most 'relics' are fakes or indigenous pieces being stolen.

The book of Mormon is a far more glaring example story wise, but smaller less well known examples exsist and are still spread around today. The story of Madoc is one I saw recently discussed. While Madoc IS a old story, the story was altered during colonization to claim he arrived in North America. Prior to this change he simply found an island paradice. However, this story encouraged the idea of "Welsh Indians". That certain groups of indigenous people have welsh ancestory because of Madoc arriving. The idea of 'Welsh indians' helped encourage further expansion west across North America.

In reguards to 'relics', you will often hear of 'rune stones' being discovered all across North America. There is a location here in Oklahoma but others exsist. Most of these 'rune stones' are found isolated from anything else that would suggest people had stopped in the region which is the most glaring evidence against their authenticity. Carving these stones would require stopping and such stops would have evidence beyond just a carved stone.

A more shocking one was a story I heard through FaceBook. The poster believed the Sami people were in America first, then indigenous people brutally killed all of the Sami and stole thier culture. This is, of course, completely unfounded and little more than a racist conspiracy heory.

These are just examples I can name off the top of my head, however I have heard similar stories about Africa, Asia, Russian, Australia, etc.

Some evidence does suggest indigenous populations could be from a mix of different groups, but this mixing would have occured so long ago (like 200,000 years) that trying to make a tie to any modern culture is just false. Often the urge to claim "(insert group) were the original Native Americans" or "(insert group) was actually here for hundreds of years prior to Columbus" comes from a desire to feel like the colonization of the Americas was not as bad as it was. It was bad, and that needs to be faced. Trying to use unproven stories to make yourself feel better about it is attempting to dodge the fact this event in history was as bad as it was.

Please be cautious believing such stories, and ask yourself why you want to believe them so much.

To note: this is pretty North America focused because I'm not super well informed on what similar stories exsist in South America. I'm sure they exsist, I'm just not knowledgable on them.

[nerdlearnslanguages]

Finally making a new pinned post lol

Hi! I’m Em and am a huge history and linguistics nerd from the NW United States. Most of my posting here will be rambles, history, and language related reblogs.

If you’re into warrior cats, I’ve got a blog for that @skyscratch-wc, but this is my “main/personal” blog. So, if you’re into history and linguistics, you’re in the right place.

My main topics are:

1) evolution of religion and mythology (for the record, I’m agnostic, so that’s where my pov is coming from)

2) Northern European history from 1st - 14th centuries (late antiquity - the plague). Especially textiles and other archaeological finds type stuff

3) Archaeology. I think that’s all that needs to be said there.

4) linguistics! All of it. Most of my knowledge is European languages (especially the Celtic Languages) and North American languages. I am conversational in Spanish and Irish and I have dabbled in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, and German. I also grew up being taught little Tlingit lessons in school, so I know some bits and pieces there.

5) i’m also an engineer by day so i might post engineery type stuff here too lol

Hopefully you find something interesting here and thanks for stopping by!

[karenpulferfocht]

The Stax Documentary

A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART FOR STAX

STAX ARTISTS THROUGH THE YEARS

SOULSVILLE: The neighborhood around Stax, and home to many musical greats!

It’s no secret that what made me fall in love with Memphis and made me want to stay in Memphis for so many years was the music. The people, yes, the warm climate, yes, the fantastic professional opportunities, yes, the central location, yes and the low cost of living, yes. But the music-- absolutely yes!

I‘ve always loved jazz and the blues. My father entertained me with silly songs any child would love, like Slim Gaillard- Potato Chips and “Flat Foot Floogie.” He went to an elite school in the northeast and had to listen to this “race” music secretly, as it was frowned upon.

Memphis is home to The Blues Foundation because of the rich blues musical history and heritage. Memphis and the Mississippi Delta are like Mecca for blues fans and blues pilgrims.

As long as I’ve lived here, I have noticed that Europeans were very knowledgeable about Memphis music, much more so that many Americans. Americans came to Memphis to see Graceland.  But it’s always been the Europeans who were savvy on the blues, R&B, and the soul music that has its roots in Memphis. The Stax Documentary explains this.

There is the Poretta Soul Festival, in Rufus Thomas Park the third week of July, every year, in Porretta Terme, province of Bologna. Graziano Uliani, frequently comes to Memphis seeking out new local talent for his festival.

I have a vivid memory of Rufus Thomas telling me how excited he was that they were naming a park after him.

It’s the music created here in this region that draws people from all over the world, to Memphis.  

In the last decade, Memphis has risen to the top of places to visit by influential travel magazines like National Geographic and Condé Nast . “Memphis is one of two destinations from the U.S. highlighted in Condé Nast Traveler's “23 Best Places to Go in 2023,” which covers 22 countries and six continents,” a Commercial Appeal story reported.

I got to know Stax artist Rufus Thomas when I first moved here from Chicago. Rufus captivated me right away and quickly became of of my favorite entertainers. He was SO MUCH FUN! He was an amazing entertainer with roots in vaudeville. He could still get a crowd going with Funky Chicken and Walking the Dog, into his 80’s. I have many fun memories of seeing him perform on Beale Street. He used to say, “If you could be black for one Saturday night on Beale Street, never would you want to be white again.”

His daughter Carla, who still lives in Memphis, was also a successful Stax artist. You can still find Carla out buying flowers, or as a guest at one of the many Memphis music events held over the years. Carla is Stax royalty. She had the good fortune to record with Otis Redding before he was killed in a plane crash in 1967.

Redding’s music is so soulful, it just pierces right into your heart.

As with many great artists, he died way too young at age 26.  Stax music was experiencing some real success when Redding and many band members died in a plane crash.

As a photojournalist in Memphis, over the years I covered the only survivor of that plane crash, Ben Cauley.  Other influential Stax artists like Booker T. and the MG’s, Isaac Hayes, Albert King, Marva Staples, David Porter, Steve Cropper and Sam Moore have all been in my camera’s viewfinder.

The documentary goes into the run of bad luck that followed Redding’s death, the assassination of MLK in Memphis and the signing of a bad contract by Stax owner Jim Stewart, who in a very Memphis way, trusted the people he was working with.

By the time I had come to Memphis, Stax had closed. But there was an appreciation for the Stax contribution to Memphis music legacy.

The documentary helped me appreciate more deeply the people, their experience and the music that is so deeply woven into the fabric and culture of Memphis.

I covered the opening of the Stax Museum and the music programs they had for the kids of Memphis. These programs are still teaching our city’s youth about the magical musical legacy here while cultivating the next musical generation. I went to New York City to cover the Stax Kids when they played at Lincoln Center and I also was on assignment when Memphis Music, including several Stax artists, Justin Timberlake and harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite were honored at the White House by Michelle and President Obama.

Wayne Jackson , and his wife Amy, were good friends of ours. He was one of the Memphis Horns.  Jackson and partner Andrew Love were on hundreds of Top Ten and Number One hits, gold and platinum records. They were considered the Rolls Royce of horn sections. Jackson fully appreciated the experience and he tells about it here in this short video I did before he passed away.

Memphis is just such a musical treasure box that never ceases to amaze and entertain me. Living here you run into these folks here and there. Most of them have always been very accessible.

“Indeed, many musical luminaries either hailed from or resided in the Soulsville neighborhood,” writes Alex Greene in Memphis Magazine.

Even though I felt like I knew the Stax story and many of the players and much of the music, the Stax documentary opened my eyes with more intimate details, historical glimpses, and great storytelling to help me appreciate what the artists and producers went through, good and bad to create and capture the “Memphis sound.”

By Karen Pulfer Focht ©2024

Memphis Photojournalist

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/waynejackson-memphishorns

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Paul Schwennesen

Published: Jan 22, 2024

Higher ed is certainly facing its reckoning — “reaping the whirlwind” comes instantly to mind. As I watch Harvard squirm under the international spotlight, I find it difficult to be very sympathetic. According to an email I received from its new interim president, Harvard is being “subjected to an unrelenting focus,” a “persistent scrutiny” that has pushed the college into an “extraordinarily painful and disorienting time.” All I can honestly say is, I know how you feel…

I graduated from Harvard years ago and can’t pretend to have kept my finger perfectly on the pulse of campus politics there. Nevertheless, I am a newly minted PhD from a mainstream university and I can easily extrapolate. My experience on campus these past few years has, I do not doubt, mirrored exactly the kind of shenanigans that has gotten Harvard into such “painful” straits. And without wishing to sound too gleeful, I admit to feeling a certain sense of gratification at watching academia reap what it has sown.

I entered my doctoral program in history in a fit of innocence. I genuinely sought a community of the mind — a place where ideas could be freely exchanged and interesting knowledge gleaned. While the experience was not altogether miserable, I have to say my overarching sensation after getting the degree was one of relief. Yes, yes, everyone is relieved to finish a doctoral degree, but there was something else compounded on top: the sense of finally not having to watch what one says, the feeling I imagine one would feel on leaving a political reeducation camp. No more eyes, no more veiled threats, no more biting your tongue.

I had been ostracized, for instance, at the very outset by a clique of the exquisitely sensitive for my attempts at open conversation about gender politics. I wondered aloud if the au courant trans-movement might itself be a “social construct” and was told that my questions were “violent” and could not be tolerated on campus.

During my portfolio exam, when I was declaiming on the perennial ‘Man vs. Nature’ tension, I had a tenured professor stand up and order me to “STOP saying man” and to only use the word “human.” The incident was so embarrassingly egregious, it derailed my exam. It even caused a neutral member (a paleontologist, bless him) to submit a formal complaint to the dean. The complaint went nowhere of course.

After a few years, I didn’t even bother to apply for most of the choicest scholarship opportunities, since they overtly proclaimed that “preference will be given to historically disadvantaged students.” I didn’t presume that “historically disadvantaged” meant someone like me — rural, mid-life, veteran, and leftist-nonconforming… 

Not that it is any kind of revelation, but the growing chorus of concern over out-of-control Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) thought-control is well earned. In none of my classes could students or faculty engage in anything like open inquiry about race or gender. A discussion about the history of enslaved Europeans alongside the history of enslaved Africans? Crickets. A contextualization of gender roles that defied the standard “oppression” narrative? No. 

After years of reading my work with nothing but praise, my advisor suddenly required me at the eleventh hour to replace the word “Indian” with something more palatable (ludicrously, the Spanish “Indio” would suffice). Another member of my committee offered to take umbrage at my comparisons of documented ethnohistoric rituals on Native Americans’ behalf, a patently paternalistic and insensible thing to do.

Look, I’m not claiming to have been surprised. I knew what I was getting into and had harbored suspicions from the outset. Moreover, I am quite prepared to admit that some of the disaffections with my academic experience were self-induced. But to ignore the pervasive cloud of weird, semi-threatening tension which swirls around a modern faculty corridor does a disservice to a long and venerable academic tradition. Students like me have not been well supported or encouraged intellectually these last years. Academic activism has squandered the talents of an entire generation and appears hellbent on doing so again. 

Yet, for all that, there is an optimistic silver lining. Now, for the first time in recent memory, the hyper-politicized woke orthodoxy is being successfully challenged. The cracks in the ivory tower have become fissures for the whole world to see. My warning to my college-aspiring children that I won’t spend a brass farthing on tuition seems to be an increasingly widely shared sentiment. Meanwhile, The Harvard Business Review, attempting to make sense of the precipitous collapse of DEI initiatives, now advises companies to “explore DEI actions that are identity-neutral but remove bias from the workplace. Examples include creating structured recruitment and promotion processes with clear, transparent, merit-based criteria…” In other words, “enough with the racism already.” Maybe the lunacy is coming to an end.

Harvard’s high dudgeon over outside scrutiny is indicative. And despite all the “painful and disorienting” turmoil at being held to account, the message seems to be getting through. The interim president tells us that “[r]ededicating ourselves to free inquiry and expression, in a climate of inclusion and a spirit of mutual respect, has never mattered more. Upholding a paramount commitment to academic excellence has never mattered more. Pursuing the truth has never mattered more.” Indeed. Maybe the reckoning higher ed faces will begin the long course-correction it so badly needs. Maybe it will even return to the sort of place I had hoped to go.

[bradiaga]

Hello. You may call me Zoia. I am a self-identified "armchair magician" with a passion for occult, mystery, and ancient civilization. I am passionate for all things sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, religion, and biology. I am fluent in english and currently a beginner in Romanian and Russian.

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I believe in shedding light to that which has been hidden in the dark and in showing the darkness of that which has been cast in the light.

I believe in balance, mirrors, exploration of the psyche. I believe in egoism and selflessness, life and death, justice and evil. I know it to be true that the world lives off of these rules:

• Nature knows no kings. All things are connected. No man is above another. The body is nothing and the body is everything. The soul is eternal, singular yet all-encompassing. Everything with a yes is a no, and good and evil live inside all living creatures, and often in the non-living as well.

•Constructs like gender and ethnicity are meaningful as they provide personal identity and connection to true self and ancestry, but the obsession of the criteria needed to meet these roles and the existence of them at all aside from their ability to provide joy or knowledge binds people into egoism, insecurity, + delusion, causing intense division and often violence.

•The body is just as important as the soul as it is a vessel for which we are able to utilize our free will in favor of our needs, wants, desires. It houses our soul and all the souls before us, and should be treated with respect and love, but not narcissism. The body is not something to be escaped, it is a tool to be used to shape the earthly world to your desires. As above, so below. Do not obsess over ascension lest you never come down.

•Science is real, with exceptions for magical circumstances. Magic is real, with limits for scientific circumstances. They are one in the same.

•All things are magic. The ability to speak, to move your body where you wish, cooking, cleaning, sewing, gardening, masturbating, eating, listening to music, the fact that you are who you are exactly where you are and not somewhere else being someone else. Even if accommodations must be made and certain handicaps may limit you, the ability to be alive at all is magic. We are all chosen for something earthly and divinely unique.

•Your ancestry has the answers you seek. So do the ancestors of someone on the other side of the world. Know yourself, and know others as you know yourself. There is wisdom in connection, in difference.

•No one knows the land better than the natives of it. Pay no mind to new age snake oil salesmen who's only connection comes from distant observation. Dive deeply into whatever it is you are researching, speak to those who truly live it, listen to and accept all perspectives, and know your boundaries. Show respect and never get too smart for your own good. You should know well enough of the consequences if you don't.

•There is a counterpart and equal to all things. We are conceived from a spirit, born through the waters of the womb, ignited like a fire with passion to exist, and buried in the dirt. No man is above another.

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I am currently studying eastern european and slavic mysticism, paganism, and ancient history. I am inspired most by Grecian + Roman Religion, Jewish Mysticism + Qabalah, Abrahamic Religions + Eastern Orthodoxy, Gnosticism, Native American Religions and Spirituality, Druids, Sorcery, Hermeticism, Thelema, Hinduism, + Zoroastrianism.

I have slavic and Romanian heritage, but reside near the Appalachian mountains in America and grew up in Dakota/Lakota territory, and am very inspired by First Nations beliefs as I know they truly have dominion over this land and know it better than anyone else would.

I am also undergoing a personal journey that seeks for me to get in touch with my ancestors and thus I am creating this blog as a collection of information which I will be using to get back into practical magic and sorcery. I am solitary and have been non-practicing for some time now, so I may not be the most knowledgeable. I am always open to learn and be challenged with new or differing opinions and beliefs.

I have no label and am a wanderer, both in spirit and in earthly life. My story is long and confusing, one of seperation, loss, abuse, isolation, heartbreak, and—ultimately—victory and true peace.

Zoia, Damă Babylon, High Priestess, + Lonely Child—Binecuvântat Să Fie.