#also i don't recognize their children

[radishrainbowfarm]

I've this habit of ignoring most of greek mythology women wrongs cause I think that hating them is somehow a victory for ancient greek men

anyways

have you ever thought about how truly lonely calypso is? she's imortal and hot and powerful, but yeah mostly lonely. like i am currently reading the odyssey for the first time and you got to pity this woman. when hermes arrives she's like "oh you should visit more :)" and he goes "absolute not. I'd never travel this far without being forced by zeus, seriously you live so far away from literal anything, there aren't even any mortals to worship us, it's simply not worth it" and this was after being amazed by how beautiful her island is and then he immediately tells her that she is being forced by zeus to let go of the only other person there

it's sad, like it's wrong to keep odysseus there against his will, but you see how sad this is for her, right?

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

This election day, I'm thinking of my Nana.

I'm thinking of how as a young woman, she fled political violence in her native Colombia to build a new home in a more stable country. I'm thinking about how she lived a long life, but not long enough to see her home country elect its first ever progressive president (just a few months ago!).

Coincidentally, I was living in Colombia at that time (in the very city she grew up in), and I was able to witness what felt like a miracle. A very conservative country, suffering from the violent inheritance of colonization and catholic invasion and the war on drugs, against a backdrop of the dangerous global rise of the far right--this unlikely country managed to elect one of the most progressive heads of state in the world, in 2022. That's a pretty big deal.

And I'm thinking about this, this election day, because that election was won by a very thin margin. I'm thinking about how it almost didn't happen. I'm thinking about how it was only possible thanks to the highest voter turnout in 20 year. And I am thinking about the countless number of voters who chose to vote for the first time. I am thinking of the poorest and most disenfranchised citizens who showed up at the polls. I am thinking of the indigenous women who rode 12 hours on public buses to vote at the 'nearest' polling stations. I am thinking of all the money and corruption that went into preventing minority citizens from voting, and I'm thinking about how they showed up in the millions and voted anyway.

I am thinking that I would like to see a miracle like that in my own home country.

So if you're on the fence about waiting in line today to cast your vote, I hope that you will think--about the country you want to live in, the future you hope will unfold, and about all of the people it takes to make a miracle.

Because history may deem us nameless and faceless, but when we show up en masse, we are the ones who make history happen.

And yes, maybe also spare a thought for my Nana. Who was in fact a very angry and judgemental woman who supported the republican party for 50+ years, and who would be turning in her grave right now (if the family hadn't had her cremated). Think about the mean angry ghost of my Colombian grandmother, who very much wants you to not show up at the polls to support abortion and other sinful progressive values. Think about her. Do it for her. Do it for Nana.

[apollo-zero-one]

Everybody talking about how lucky PC players are to get to play 1.6 but I've seen no one mention that aaaallll the mods don't work now and it's the first time some of us have played unmodded in years, I forgot how hard the beginning of a new save is 💀

Also hey if you can and want to, I bet your favorite mod creators would love some donations as they work on updating compatibility! I know that's what I'm doing today!

[wonder-worker]

"It is too easy to dismiss [Leonor of Navarre] as an overambitious schemer who would do anything to obtain a crown, shedding the blood of her own siblings and her subjects in order to attain the throne. However, a deeper investigation of her long lieutenancy and ephemeral reign shows a woman who fought tenaciously to preserve her place but also worked tirelessly to administer a realm which was crippled by internal conflict and the center of the political schemes of France, Aragon, and Castile. She tried to broker peace, fight off those who opposed her, repair the wounds caused by conflict, protect the sovereignty of the realm, and keep the wheels of governance turning. Leonor was not always successful in achieving all of these aims but given the background of conflict and the lack of cooperation she received from all of her family members, bar her loyal husband, it is a huge achievement that she survived to wear the crown at all. Many writers have argued that Leonor deserved the troubled lieutenancy, personal tragedies, an ephemeral reign, and a blackened reputation, basing their assumption that she committed a crime that cannot be [conclusively] proven. However, a more fitting description of her would be that of a resolute ruler who successfully overcame a multitude of challenges in order to survive in a difficult political landscape and gain a hard-fought throne.”

-Elena Woodacre, "Leonor of Navarre: The Price of Ambition", Queenship, Gender and Reputation in the Medieval and Early Modern West, 1060-1600 (Edited by Zita Eva Rohr and Lisa Benz)

[giantkillerjack]

Uh-oh! You are like, SOOO awkward!!

You're so awkward that it is occasionally mildly uncomfortable for people!

You're so awkward that sometimes people are confused by you and then there are awkward silences!

You're so awkward ...... that ultimately no one is harmed!!

Oh damn!!! What a vile crime you have committed! What an unforgivable thing it is to make a fellow human briefly confused!

Why, if *I* were ever briefly confused and kind of uncomfortable as a result, I'd be devastated.... by the absolute net zero change in my happiness and health! - From which I might never recover!! Yes indeed! No punishment can ever be enough for you!!

So you better absolutely hate yourself for it.

Better be SO MEAN to yourself about every single missed social cue so you don't forget your horrible crime! Meaner than you'd ever dream of being to someone else for the same thing! This is YOUR responsibility!

You need to show the world that you KNOW you are bad by punishing yourself constantly! After all, think of all the people who BENEFIT from you punishing yourself! - No, really! Think about it! Think about who benefits from your pain.

Think of alllllll the definitely-good people that your definitely-necessary self-torment definitely helps! I mean, you can't just cut off their definitely-life-sustaining supply of your suffering, right?? Sure, everyone else has a breaking point, but you're probably the only person in human history who doesn't, right? Best not to question it probably. Sure, it's a symptom that billions of people with trauma have had, but who knows? You could be a one-in-seven-billion exception. Anything's possible!

Instead, better just accept that idea that bullies carry like guns in holsters - the idea that people who have trouble with social cues deserve to suffer. Better carry on the burden they placed on you until you drop. Aid the cause of the callous by enforcing shame and suffering upon yourself extra hard; try your best to do their work for them. They're very busy.

Better not recognize that you need patience and kindness to heal from your trauma. Better not find out that it was trauma rather than personal weakness filling your head with self-hating thoughts. Better not find out it wasn't your fault.

Better not find out that awkwardness is not inherently harmful or unkind, and, in fact, the people who act like it is *are the ones enacting harm and being cruel.*

Better not get righteously angry when you realize just how much unnecessary damage this has done to you. After all, if you get mad, you might realize you deserve better. You might even feel brave enough to DEMAND better! You might build boundaries that keep you safe! You might make other people think they deserve to feel safe too! And we obviously can't be having that, so...

Better not show yourself even a little kindness a little bit at a time.

Better not make a habit out of it after all that practice.

Better not get confident.

Especially if you can't first wipe out every trace of awkward. (And you probably never will. Because people who experience absolute social certainty at all times tend to be insufferable assholes that enforce the status quo. And you just don't have the stock portfolio for that.)

Better not be confident and awkward because then you might confuse and delight people

- you might accidentally end up making other people feel less shame for their social difficulties

- you might make isolated, traumatized, and shy people feel like they deserve to be included in social situations

- you might even make them feel they can be themselves around you

- you might start loving the effect you have on a room

- you might enjoy conversations more

- you might forgive yourself and bounce back from shame more easily and frequently

- you might come to enjoy some of those moments of harmless confusion you cause because NOBODY expects the Confident Awkward, and that can genuinely be an advantage in social situations

- you might stop apologizing so much.

- you might find that socializing is like a video game: it requires practice but also a safe space for it to be fun and positive.

Or if you can't become assertive and confident, better not remain awkward and shy and quiet, and then love and forgive yourself anyway!

Why, it would be carnage!!

In either scenario, you run the risk of finding out that it's not your fault that safe spaces full of kind people can be really hard to find, create, and nurture. You could end up building a skillset that helps you do those things if you're not careful!

If you start giving yourself even the tiniest amount of grace at a time, you will find that you've accessed a gateway drug with extreme long-term side effects:

- You might realize that it was never your fault that it took so long to like yourself.

- You might realize that you were always worth talking to, even when you didn't like yourself and communication felt impossibly difficult.

- You might realize that you'll still be worth talking to even if communication becomes harder as you age and/or experience disability.

- You might come to know that you deserve to be heard even on bad days when words come slow and blurry.

You might discover that you were always deserving of kindness, first and foremost from yourself.

So. As you can see, it's FAR too much of a risk to start granting your awkward self free pardons for your many heinous and harmless crimes. Better to just leave it there.

[lullybaju]

Random Funny Fact: Rebeca Andrade spent last friday and last saturday (september 13th and september 14th) enjoying Rock in Rio at, well, Rio, but it seems she watched the headliner of the first day (Travis Scott) next to Avenged Sevenfold members, as Johnny Christ was recognized in one of the stories pictures that she took of the place while waiting Travis start his concert.

[myimaginationplain]

imagine: professor utonium mentoring dexter vs professor membrane mentoring mandark

[gaytranszoro]

sorry okay im rewatching whole cake w a friend and got obsessed with the vinsmokes this time around okay. sorry. however i am a liker of themes and motifs and doomed characters. sorrey.

[blujayonthewing]

I'm really glad elyss came several years before melliwyk, because mel's alignment shift from chaotic neutral to chaotic good sometimes feels a little embarrassing in an 'I can't keep my own feelings to myself for the sake of committing to the bit' sort of way, but the counterpoint to that is that elyss, steadfastly true neutral, just simply Does Not Care about anyone other than her own loved ones or anything outside her own immediate interest no matter how much I sometimes wish she would

[recitedemise]

𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗵𝗶𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱. This, beyond being a testament to his softer heart, his rather sizable well of care, is a consequence of his time shared with Mystra. Being a worshipper, a follower and lover both to the mother of magic, Gale is far more familiar with giving than receiving. A tremendous deal more. Beyond those illusions of love, Mystra granted him nothing, and whenever she was troubled, even sour or short, it was Gale, doting Gale, who would smooth it out. In truth, short of the stars, he had offered her everything. His whole life to boot. Still, living for some years prioritizing Mystra, Gale's grown notably reluctant to ask for help. It's why, when strapped with the netherese orb, newly blighted and rotting to death, he'd sooner clamored in his tower than look to friends. He's loathed to show his folly, of course, and is far from a fan of stirring worry, but with Mystra, any ask he'd made was resolutely shunned, and from his lover, his deity, that left its mark. Gale--a giver, a man that wants to hope but doesn't dare to--is not a man to ask for anything. If ever he does, the ask is comically small, and even then, he expects to be denied almost immediately. Consequently, an eager kindness leaves him floored. Gale can read displeasure. (See: Mystra.) Gale's trained to soothe it, too. Yet, when confronted with the novelty of that same generosity, your resident Gale of Waterdeep is like a fish out of water.

[requiemforthestars]

Asari Parents, Gendered Titles & Linguistic Pet Peeves

I need to talk about something that has always frustrated me about Mass Effect and the fandom.

Asari wouldn't have words like "mother" and "father". They. Would. Not! Liara's "My father, if you want to use that word..." or Shepard's confusion when Aethyta calls herself Liara's "father" make no sense.

Unless you assume that they're speaking to Shepard in perfect English? But why would they be? What we get told in game is that each alien speaks their own language but they have automatic translators. But if Liara and Aethyta are speaking in the Asari lingua franca they would be, by default, using non-gendered terms. It would make sense that Asari have a word that means "birth parent" and "non-birth parent/genetic parent" in order to describe that person's biological relationship to the child, but those words would not have any gendered connotation at all. It would be like saying "biological parent" or "adoptive parent". Titles that describe a kind of parenthood but make no reference to gender. So, if they're speaking in the Asari tongue, it'd make no sense that they know that for humans there can be a gendered distinction and they mention that to Shepard (maybe, maybe, when Aethyta says "I didn't pop her out" re: Liara, it's because the Asari words that got translated to her from what Shepard says is something about how she is the Asari term for "birth mother" but even then, it doesn't make sense throughout the whole conversation). They're speaking to Shepard as if they have gendered terms in their language which makes no sense.

And, let's say all three of these characters are speaking the same language (which I assume people in the ME universe would do, nuances are always lost in translation), they would not choose fucking English, or any human language for that matter as a way to communicate, they would be speaking in whatever the most common Asari language is. Asari are arguably the most powerful species in the galaxy? Why would they use a human tongue as their way to communicate with humans? It's humans who probably have to learn at least one of the main Council races' languages throughout their education. That's a must. Think of how people from different countries often default to speaking English. Here they would default to speaking the Asari tongue.

But even if they were speaking English... there's a gender neutral term for "father" here. It's "parent". This is the 22nd century, I know these games are over a decade old but like I don't understand how they can make good points re: how Asari would not understand the human concept of gender but then not think how that means they don't use gendered words in their language? And how humans would obviously know this?

It's just... very lazy worldbuilding? And I know it's only a tidbit but it's personally very annoying to me. And it's only possible if you're a monolingual English-speaking American and think everything works like it works for you and everything is governed by the same rules that you live by. Which, while I understand all of this is subconscious, makes for shoddy worldbuilding.

And it's not just the devs, these English-centric ideas permeate the fandom as well. I have seen more than once femshep Shiara fic where it's post-war and they have/are going to have biological children and Shepard is like "I don't want to be called 'father', I want them to call me 'mother' " and it's this nice affirming moment but realistically Liara would be like "??? But you're not giving birth?" because to her these words have no gender at all and Shepard wanting to call herself "birth mother" is like her calling herself "four legged" when she has two legs. Because again, it'd be a purely biological gender-neutral concept.

Tldr; English-speaking people widen your thinking challenge.

[mashmouths]

anyone want to pull an edna pontellier with me

[giantkillerjack]

Anastasia the Musical sucks so bad. They really said "We're gonna cut the best song from the movie - just axe the absolute banger that is 'In the Dark of the Night' - because we are being SERIOUS and GROWN-UP now. We are A Big Historical Realism Musical Now. This is FOR REAL, okay!? We don't have a SILLY villain like Rasputin! We have Gleb! [Please Just Clap.] We are HISTORICALLY GROUNDED. -- Anyway, here's a musical unironically glorifying the Russian monarchy~~ 💖😌💖😌💖😌💖"

[spite-and-waffles]

One thing about me is that I would feed Bruce Wayne into a trash compactor with considerable relish.

[kingtycoon13]

somehow it's always the BG3 fandom that fucking fails the challenge that you can prefer to romance one character over the others without having to shit on other people's favorites

[neganium]

finding a new fic in my current hyperfixation's tag on AO3 (y'all know what it is) that is an interesting AU, and hoping all the while as I read that the author isn't fucking nasty like the last person I ran into was (and somehow saw me posting about it even tho I didn't tag it or even mention the fandom in the post itself, and bitched at me for it). They have a twitter handle on their profile, but it's not one I recognize (tho since I go there so infrequently, and have been actively avoiding the place for months now, that doesn't really say anything); idk if they're on tumblr too or not. hh.