#also the irony to me of these people trying to do like Social Justice Education about other shit but neverrrr like

[c0rpseductor]

every time i stumble on some vocal incest shipper in unrelated tags i become more and more convinced 90% of people don’t actually understand what incest is. like, at all

[renaerys]

Okay I've got one: Prompt 15 with Reds. 🤣🤣🤣

15. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying, I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Somehow they can make even breathing a competition.

Send me a prompt and some characters! Reminder that the challenge is to make everything SFW, so we're getting creative here.

List of prompts

xxx

“So, we’ve called the paramedics and they’re on their way, but until they arrive it’s up to us. Remember the acronym, kids: C-A-B. What’s the first thing you do?”

Aiyeesha Simpson, a gunner in the making destined for academic greatness and social ruin, raised her eager hand. “Find a flat surface to lay him down!”

“Correct.” Blossom took Brick by the shoulders and shoved him down to the floor. A gaggle of Girl Scouts gathered around him as he wheezed for air.

“Ow,” he said.

Blossom patted his chest. “Please choke more quietly.”

I will end you, he thought so loudly he hoped she could hear him through the murder in his eyes. There was community service, and then there was cruel and unusual punishment. When his required hours were up and his record expunged, he was going to write a very negative Yelp review of the local Townsville Girls Scouts of America chapter and tank this year’s cookie sales. Supremely annoying, outrageously petty, and totally legal. That would teach Blossom for sure.

“Place your hands here between the nipples.”

Some of the Cadette Girl Scouts giggled. To be fair, Blossom of all people saying the word nipples in reference to her former mortal enemy as she trained a room full of twelve-year-old girls in CPR using him as the dummy was a perfect storm of absurd and kinky that he did not see coming. And now he was giggling himself, because he was a teenaged boy who thought the word nipples was funny regardless of the very clear contextual cues, and that pubescent shame was on him, one hundred percent.

Blossom, an ancient and inconveniently attractive evil resurrected in a lab for the sole purpose of making his life miserable, did not appreciate his amusement. “Push hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. Remember to put your bodyweight behind it, like this.”

Brick flexed, and Blossom pushed against his heart like she was trying to crush it in her hands. Once, twice, three times she administered compressions, and Brick’s eyes glowed red with impotent rage.

“Assist Blossom with her CPR lessons to her satisfaction, and we can forget this ever happened,” Mayor Bellum had promised Brick when he lost his temper and blew up an (empty) ambulance. Butch didn’t need his Super stomach pumped no matter how much he drank, so the ambulance and the four-figure bill that came with it were completely unnecessary. This defense did not convince the mayor, however.

The promise of the bill forgiven and his record cleared—and the deterrence of Aiyeesha Simpson filming the whole thing to upload to YouTube later—gave Brick the strength not to eye beam Blossom in front of the children.

“Okay, who wants to try chest compressions on the dummy?” Blossom offered to the girls.

You evil bitch, thought the aforementioned dummy.

After the third little girl properly placed her sticky, little girl hands between his nipples, Brick had had enough. “Hey, I’m still dying over here. Can we move on already? Jesus Christ.”

“Of course.” Blossom smiled, and she had never looked more terrifying.

Brick hoped Butch was suffering. He hoped he was hung over so bad he couldn’t piss standing up. He hoped Butch tried going online only to find that Brick had disconnected the Internet and cut him off from all his online games and porn because fuck Butch and his weak-ass stomach.

“Who knows what the next step is? Maybe someone other than Aiyeesha this time?”

None of the other girls seemed willing to stick their hands up. The carpet under Brick had scorched where his power leaked out in his building resentment for this entire situation. The smell of burned polyester just made him feel even more powerless to stop this.

“No? Okay, well, remember the acronym. A is for airway. You want to be careful about a possible neck injury, so gently lift the chin…”

Blossom’s hands were not sticky like the Girl Scouts’ hands, but they were cold where they touched his skin and forced his head back.

“Are the paramedics here yet?”

Brick got a tight fist in his short hair for that one, and he considered it a small victory. “No. Something about a shortage of ambulances, apparently.”

Biiiiiiiitch.

God, he was going to destroy her so bad.

“Once you’ve cleared the airway and confirmed there are no obstructions—”

“Then you kiss!”

Some girls picked up the giggling again. Blossom, ever the professional, cleared her throat. “Mouth to mouth is a life-saving procedure and not something I’d recommend doing to someone you plan to kiss.”

Wow, great advice.

Some girls still giggled and whispered to each other. Brick had a sinking feeling that this was only going to end with his embarrassment: everyone knew that the cold judgment of pre-pubescent girls was the absolute worst type of judgment a person could suffer.

“Are you gonna show us?”

“Well, I don’t think I need to show you all how to breathe—”

“It’s in the manual! You have to demonstrate every step.” Aiyeesha waved the CPR manual, and Brick realized his misjudgment. She was no vapid goody two-shoes in the making, but a future Honors Student with a secret, a Work Hard Party Harder, an Ivy League Early Decision candidate with all of senior spring semester to slack off because no one was ever going to touch her 4.3 GPA.

Aiyeesha beamed a winning smile at Brick, and it was as chilling as Blossom’s.

Jesus Christ, there are two of them.

True to form, Blossom had never been able to defy a good instructions manual. “I suppose if it says so in the manual…”

Locking lips with Blossom was not a big deal. He’d done it before when they were kids, and he could appreciate the irony of a gesture meant to save his life this time rather than end it. She didn’t even try to mess with him by using her ice breath, just went through the motions as described in the instructions. The girls were disappointed with the lack of hormonal fanfare of it all, which was probably for the best. Leave it to Blossom to make mouth to mouth the sexless, medical act it was literally intended to be. He was almost upset, because it felt like she’d won something here, which could only mean he’d lost.

Disappointed but more educated than they’d been when they’d arrived two hours ago, the Girl Scouts dispersed after the lesson, leaving Blossom and Brick to put away the equipment they’d used.

She held a dummy torso, and she was looking at him with that pinched, constipated look she got when she was about to say something especially snobby. Instead, she surprised him. “Brick, thanks for being mature about it. I can honestly say you surprised me.”

He stared at her.

“I’ll talk to Mayor Bellum. I’m sure you’ve done enough to meet your hours quota.”

He had not fulfilled even half of his required community service hours and they both knew it.

“So yeah, thanks. I can finish up here if you want to leave.”

Was she trying to get rid of him? Why?

“Brick? Why are you looking at me like that?”

When Blossom was winning, he was losing. That was simply the way of the world. So, if she was losing, it could only mean he was winning.

“Are you listening to me?”

Brick smiled in what he hoped was a cool, sexy way if he imagined looking at anyone but Blossom. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Blossom stared. “I’m sorry?”

He would make her sorry.

“Yeah, you’re a great teacher. I could really feel your passion for demonstrating the lesson correctly. With your mouth.”

Her staring intensified. “Did you.”

“Oh, yeah.” He leaned his hip against the table like he’d seen in the movies. It worked for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, and that guy had convinced Eva Green. Iconic. “I could really feel you trying to save me.”

Where was Aiyeesha with her phone to film this? There was so little he could do to rattle Blossom as they got older, and while the challenge delighted him, it was also exhausting being constantly a step behind her. Was this truly her demise? Had he won the Teenage Experience? Was this poetic justice for how she’d once killed him with a mere kiss, only to suffer the same fate in turn? He could have cackled. This was better than trolling the Girl Scouts of America reviews, although he might still do that because it was a genius idea and he had always indulged his own genius ideas when they came to him.

So infatuated was he with his own self-fellating digression that he was slow to react to Blossom sidling up to him. Her hand was still cold on his chin, and it sent a shiver down his spine. “Shall I save you again?”

Brick’s dignity drained with his blood, which was an unfortunate side-effect of being a teenaged boy that he would just have to suffer. But winning was about recognizing one’s weaknesses and working around them. He leaned into her personal space. “Please.”

He wasn’t sure who kissed who first, but it was happening and all he could think was I am better at this than you and I hate you and also Do that again. He tried holding her waist, and she fought back with her fingers in his hair. Not one to be deterred, Brick tried some tongue but pulled back when he tasted thirty degrees below zero. He immediately went back in because he could feel her superiority, her Got you, you horny idiot, but the joke was on her because he liked her cold, always had when it was hot as balls out and he’d make up any excuse to pick a fight with her just for the chance to cool off.

The Girl Scout troop leader walked in on them competitively making out in the classroom like it was an Olympic sport and put an end to things, leaving them at a frustrating draw for now. They said barely a word to each other when Brick glared at the troop leader so bad she flustered and didn’t even question them before running out of there with some excuse about getting the wrong room.

Later that evening, Brick caved and changed the Internet password back just so Butch would quit whining at him. He Googled kissing techniques and spent the next hour and a half watching YouTube videos and reading GQ articles about How to Please Her Like a Champion, because he was a champion and a winner and he was not going to lose to Blossom in this. Not a chance.

This had to be what they meant when they said kill with kindness.

“I’m going to end you,” he muttered to himself as he read about the top ten highest voted movie kissing scenes, which he would then stream and commit to memory in order to be fully armed and armored for the next time he encountered Blossom alone in a classroom. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe during their shared free period.

Truly, he had the most genius ideas.

xxx

If you enjoy my writing, check out more of my fics on AO3, link in my profile. I’m currently updating Trinity House and The Alchemy of Us. Thanks for reading!

[scientificphilosopher]

I’m still learning how to be an effective ally in the pursuit of social justice. Part of this, for me, comes through figuring out how to best support other allies, how to effectively engage with them, even when they’re not as well-versed in the issues as I’ve become through many years of education. I often ask myself this: How can I balance meeting people where they’re at while also holding people responsible for their ignorant and harmful actions and beliefs? Is there a place for compassion and patience toward well-meaning allies, even when they unintentionally harm others?

What I want to focus on for this blog post is the phenomenon of what I’m calling “anxious allyship” — what it is, how it manifests in certain spaces, and what I do to prevent myself from both being an anxious ally and driving others into anxious ally behaviors via things like gatekeeping.

Anxious allyship, in short, is the tendency for well-intentioned allies to shut down and fail to meaningfully engage with social justice work — be it online or in person — out of fear of saying something wrong or appearing ignorant or racist. Now, it’s important to keep in mind that there are MANY reasons why an ally might fail to show up. There are various elements at play that lead to white people’s fear of appearing ignorant or racist in the first place. For the sake of this blog, I want to focus on how this crops up in online spaces full of predominantly white, left-leaning allies and the tendency for these spaces to partake in gatekeeping (though much of what I’m talking about can extend beyond just conversations with allies — that is simply what I’m focusing on for now). By gatekeeping, I mean for members of these spaces to be overly hostile toward people who are presumably not as knowledgeable in the topic or who say problematic things. In some cases, this type of gatekeeping results in driving people out of the spaces or even harassing them. This type of gatekeeping can be seen as self-righteous bullying, both deliberate and unintentional. At its core, it’s shaming people for not knowing what you know and using that to drive people out of an online space. Again, this can be done with the best intentions. Sometimes gatekeeping occurs out of righteous indignation, to really show that problematic fool how wrong and ignorant their views truly are. More often than not, though, it’s done for the sake of showing off; it’s done to signal to others just how knowledgable and committed of an ally you truly are. To be clear, I am not speaking about justified criticism or the moderation of certain spaces in the service of keeping discussions civil. There are often good reasons to call people out; there are good reasons to react with anger or exasperation; there are good reasons to ban people from certain online forums or refuse to take the time and effort to have a fruitful discussion with them. Just because an ally has good intentions doesn’t mean they are immune to criticism. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as William James said. No, what I’m talking about is white folks lording their knowledge over fledgling allies for reasons like sanctimony and virtue signaling.

Just to be clear as possible, I want to emphasize what I am not saying throughout this post. I am not saying that there is no room for anger (there is). I am not saying that I shouldn’t call people out — allies or otherwise — for their harmful ignorance (I should). I am not saying that patience and effectiveness should always be the primary focus when engaging with allies. I am not saying that there is a singular way of doing any of this. The last thing I am interested in is tone policing. I am, instead, advocating for a pluralistic approach, and that means leaving space for people to be angry, enraged, unresponsive, disengaged, or any other manner of reaction. It is not my place to say that one should not react in anger or ridicule to a well-intentioned but harmful comment simply because it might not be the most effective way to engage with that person, to get them to understand or change their mind. Express your anger if you're angry. Be angry. There is a whole helluva lot to be angry about.

Instead, I am arguing that overprivileged people such as myself should, perhaps, harbor some sense of responsibility in thinking about how to respond in ways that are more inviting to allies based on where they’re at in their educational journey, especially since it has increased potential for maximizing effectiveness and minimizing anxious ally behaviors. I am coming at these issues from a very different place than a lot of marginalized folks. It does not require as much emotional labor for me — an overprivileged white male — to discuss race with people as it might for many people of color. As Audre Lorde — a queer black woman — put it, “Frequently, when speaking with men and white women, I am reminded of how difficult and time-consuming it is to have to reinvent the pencil every time you want to send a message.” White men should, I think, be more willing to sometimes take on the time and effort to reinvent that pencil, especially since other white men are more willing to see us as “objective” and authoritative merely by merit of our maleness and whiteness. In a clear case of cosmic irony, white men will listen to other white men, even in regard to realities like racism, about which we tend to be utterly inexperienced and grievously ignorant. And to further the injustice of that irony, those very white men are the ones who are more likely to harbor power and social capital, thus the ones who can leverage our platforms in ways to most swiftly bring about systemic change. That is why I think those of us in privileged positions have a moral responsibility to learn to engage effectively on these issues.

Still, I’ve certainly found myself attacking people on social media, sometimes looking for that mic drop moment, and in hindsight, I realize I was doing it simply out of self-righteousness or to look smart to my virtual onlookers. If I had taken time to step back and evaluate what was motivating me to say what I was saying, I would’ve recognized that unproductive performative allyship showing its face. I don’t want to lend my energies to creating spaces that are needlessly hostile to people, including other allies. Spaces that are highly judgmental of their participants will engender performative behaviors precisely because people become anxious that they will mess up and get shamed for it. Not a feedback loop I want to amplify.

So, what can I do? Well, I don’t know, exactly. Probably a lot of things. One thing I try to do when interacting with other people who might be in the early stages of exploring their privilege or learning about race, gender, oppression, etc., is that I remind myself of my own journey. As an exercise in perspective and compassion, I reflect on the fact that education is largely a privilege. I have been absurdly lucky to learn the things I’ve learned, to have the resources and support in my life, the patient and empathic teachers. I remind myself of all these privileges, privileges that are not present for many people. Next, I meditate on the many ignorant, problematic beliefs and behaviors of my younger self. I was still me, just a version of me who was oblivious to the fact that a world existed outside the scope of my perspective. I harbored deeply racist, sexist, homophobic, and self-serving beliefs — because I was raised in a deeply racist, sexist, homophobic, self-serving culture. We all are. And I still grapple with these things today, and I imagine I always will. Of course, it is emblematic of privilege that some of us learn about oppression in more academic, impersonal ways, rather than having to confront its realities on a day to day basis. For overprivileged folks such as myself (and, really everyone to some extent), learning about the experiences of marginalized identities is an ongoing journey. None of us comes fully equipped. I remind myself of these things in order to temper my criticism with kindness and compassion. It is an exercise in humility and empathy.

I’ve also alluded to “effectiveness” throughout this post. How can I most effectively engage with other allies? Exercises in compassion and humility are good for me for a variety of reasons. They are humanizing. They are perspective-giving. They are, also, practical. I care deeply about social justice and I want to do what I can to keep privileged eyes and hearts on progressive change. One strategy that I find particularly effective is to meet people where they’re at, ask questions, and engage with them as if they were sitting in the room next to me. I try to remember that this computer screen acts as a veil of anonymity, which gives me a felt sense of licensing in treating people more coldly or harshly than I otherwise would.

So, in discussions with fellow allies, I try to exercise compassion and humility, while still keeping an eye on effectiveness. But this post isn’t solely about what I personally do to prevent others from becoming anxious allies. It’s also about how I try to recognize and combat the anxious ally in myself. Personally, I try to steel myself against some of these more toxic tendencies by practicing these things:

Being Okay With Mistakes. In fact, I have to work to get to a place where I embrace my mistakes. I have to be ok with being dumb and ignorant much of the time. I have to embrace the fact that I will mess up plenty. I have a wrinkly monkey brain and I know somewhere in the vicinity of none percent about the world. I am human, I am fallible, I am ignorant, and my understanding of reality is inherently limited by insulating and unequal social systems. One of the most insidious symptoms of privilege is how its benefits tend to be concealed from those who reap them. White people don’t need to think about racism; men don’t need to think about sexism; able-bodied people don’t need to think about accessibility, etc. This is all expected and understandable; it’s how we respond when our privilege is challenged that matters.

Staying Open and Receptive to Criticism. Ok, so making mistakes is inevitable. What do I do once I realize I’ve made one? How am I responding? An unfortunate reality for marginalized identities is that they too often have to undertake the emotional labor of teaching privileged identities all about these issues. This is not fair. It shouldn’t be this way. This makes it all the more meaningful when I get called out for saying something offensive, ignorant, racist, sexist, or bigoted. My initial response might be embarrassment or shame, and I might take refuge in my intentions: “That’s not how I meant it!” But this is defensiveness. This is symptomatic of what Robin DiAngelo calls “white fragility.” More to the point, it’s a bad interpersonal habit. As Cori Wong points out in her TEDtalk on feminist friendship, you would not react with hostility if a friend lets you know you had a big ol’ booger hanging out your nose in public. You might be embarrassed at first, but you’d ultimately thank your friend for speaking up so that you could take care of it (by wiping it inside your shirt like every warm-blooded American would). The same goes for people pointing out my mistakes in regards to social justice. My ultimate response, regardless of my intentions or initial emotional reactions, should be to listen and to give thanks. I have, after all, been presented with an opportunity to learn more.

Engaging With the Literature. Okay, so I’m willing to make mistakes and I’m willing to listen when people say I’ve messed up (at least some of the time). Is that enough? No. There’s still plenty left to do — and I cannot simply count on the emotional labor of oppressed peoples to figure out what to do next. Thankfully, I have incredible resources at my fingertips. I have YouTube channels, I have article after article after article, Instagram feeds, Facebook pages, books, books, books. There’s so much to learn and it can feel overwhelming to get started, but it’s never too late. There’s no better time than now. (I will also be making a blog post that provides a more extensive list of resources.)

What we have now, as mentioned by activist Maya Rupert, is a climate where the only people who are readily talking about race are those who know the least (vis-à-vis Dunning-Kruger effect) and those who engage with it regularly or professionally. The center has collapsed, with too many well-meaning white people sitting in anxious silence, thus reinforcing the very status quo they’re concerned with challenging. This is not an atmosphere conducive to collaboration, democratic and egalitarian participation, and effective mobilization. As an ally, I hope to do what little I can to correct this. I want to encourage other allies to take the leap of getting engaged. Advocating for spaces that are less hostile to newcomers is only a tiny piece of the puzzle, of course. But I think it’s a good step toward combating white fragility, white inaction, and anxious allyship — though white folks must recognize that it is our ultimate responsibility to undertake this.

In short, I want to be mindful of my impact, whether I’m criticizing people for virtue signaling and engaging in counterproductive ways, or I’m the person being accused of that very thing. I strive to foster allyship environments that are more welcoming and more willing to meet people where they’re at, while also fostering a willingness on my end to make mistakes while remaining open to feedback and staying committed to learning and changing. That’s just me though. In the end, a pluralistic approach to effective social engagement is likely what’s needed. It’s not realistic or productive to prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach to such dynamic and prismatic realities. On top of that, it’s clear that what I’ve talked about so far is just the beginning. A single angry Facebook post does not an activist make. Activism is more than simply learning about a topic; it’s getting involved in ways that lead to direct social and political shifts. It’s taking concrete steps. This requires more than reading a book or posting a hashtag (though these are not necessarily meaningless steps either). Remember: this is just the beginning.

Are you an ally of these movements? Are you nervous about engaging with folks, looking stupid or making mistakes? All understandable. The key? Make mistakes! Look stupid! Wade into the muck of it. Get messy. But just be sure to LISTEN and LEARN while doing so. Put down those defenses. Own your ignorance. Don’t center discussions on your own emotional well-being, but don’t render yourself paralyzed to the point of doing nothing either. Engage. Speak up, speak out. Explore ways to be an effective activist. Understand that social justice work is ongoing. You do not arrive into a state of enlightenment. You have to keep fucking up and keep learning. The reward? A better planet. Keep up the momentum, you messy, ignorant ally, you.

[thechicchicsagency]

Can Anna Wintour Survive the Social Justice Movement? A reckoning has come to Bon Appétit and the other magazines of Condé Nast. Can a culture built on elitism and exclusion possibly change?On Monday, as swiftly as a 9-iron taken to a tee at Augusta, Adam Rapoport resigned as the editor in chief of Bon Appétit magazine after a damning Halloween photo circulated on social media that morning. Drawn from the vast insensitivity archives to which so many influential people have made inadvertent submissions, the picture, from 2004, shows him costumed in a tank top and thick chain necklace as his wife’s “papi,’’ the term she attached to it in an Instagram post several years later.As it happened, Mr. Rapoport had been facing mounting grievance from his staff about the magazine’s demeaning treatment of employees and freelancers of color and the dubious ways in which its popular video division presented culturally appropriated cooking. But these apparently were insufficient grounds for forcing him out.Over and over, power structures seem to require that accusations of racial bias are documented by photographic evidence — proof to override a reflexive or simply inconvenient skepticism. Police officers abused their authority for decades without consequence. It was not until a growing body of video footage revealed all the brutality, and the systemic prejudice at the heart of it, that the world began to express the outrage there to be mined all along — justice by iPhone.In that sense, Mr. Rapoport’s ouster at the hands of a camera was entirely fitting. Bon Appétit belongs to Condé Nast, a media empire perhaps unrivaled by any institution on earth in its supplication to image. For decades, both at the level of corporate culture and branded worldview, the company’s lifestyle magazines have held to the notion that there are “right’’ people and wrong people, a determination made by birthright. 

There are the rich, and there are the dismissible; the great looking, and the condemned — a paradigm that has now become dangerously untenable, and one the company has been striving to change.Within the Condé Nast framework, autocratic bosses were left to do whatever they pleased — subjugating underlings to hazing rituals with no seeming end point. So much was excusable in the name of beauty and profit. “Difficulty,” Kim France, a former editor in chief of Lucky magazine, told me, “was regarded as brilliance.

”No one at Condé Nast has had more of an outsize reputation for imperiousness wed to native talent than Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, the artistic director of the company and more recently its “global content adviser’’ as well. Mr. Rapoport, who spent 20 years at the company and turned around an ailing product in Bon Appétit, reported to her.What sort of management cues were to be taken? Famous for a self-regarding style — she might demand that subordinates arrive 30 minutes early for certain meetings she attended — Ms. Wintour was obviously not in the best position to try to convince him, for instance, that he should not ask his assistant (black and Stanford-educated) to clean his golf clubs. (That was one of the many revealing details in a Business Insider exposé of the food magazine that arrived this week.)Race is a fraught subject at Condé Nast. Several employees of color I spoke with, all of them laid off over the past few years, talked about the challenges they faced. They struggled to be heard or get the resources they needed to do their jobs at the highest levels; they faced ignorance and lazy stereotyping from white bosses when the subject of covering black culture came up; they all said they were exhausted by always having to explain it all.

Even though they were no longer at Condé Nast, not one of them felt free to speak on the record out of fear of retaliation from the company or the concern that they would be looked at as complainers, making it much harder to find work.Editors’ PicksHotels Transformed New York’s Social Life. Now What?Solving the Mystery of What Became of J.F.K.’s Other Patrol BoatOne former staff member who is black could not fail to see the irony in being made to go to unconscious bias training — which became mandatory at the company early last year — only then to lose a big chunk of his portfolio shortly thereafter. “I felt so devalued,’’ he said, “after working so hard.’’Unconscious bias training is supposed to alert you to your blind spots in your perception of people and ideas. But at the level of corporate and creative governance, the programming at Condé Nast has not been seamlessly woven into the company’s broader philosophy. Last month, during a round of layoffs, in which 100 people were let go amid the economic calamities of Covid-19, the company dismissed three Asian-American editors, all of whom covered culture at different publications.Among the top 10 editorial leaders listed on Vogue’s masthead, all are white. According to a spokesman for Condé Nast, across divisions on Vogue’s editorial side, people of color make up 14 percent of senior managers. On June 5, amid global protests spurred by the death of George Floyd, Ms. Wintour sent a note to her staff, acknowledging that “it can’t be easy to be a Black employee at Vogue,’’ and that the magazine had “not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.”Although Vogue has made a greater effort to feature black women on its covers in recent years — Rihanna, Serena Williams, Lupita Nyong’o — the gate swings open far more easily for those who are not. And in this particular area, too, legacy weighs heavily. When LeBron James made history as the first black man to grace the cover in 2008, he shared the space with a white supermodel, Gisele Bündchen, who appeared as a damsel in his clutches, an unmistakable reference to King Kong.

A spokesman at Condé Nast admitted that much progress needs to be made in regard to diversity at the company, but he defended Ms. Wintour’s record, pointing out that she has passionately supported various designers of color throughout her career, helping to raise money for them through her work with the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She also installed two black editors to lead Teen Vogue, genuinely radical in its content, one following the other (Elaine Welteroth and then Lindsay Peoples Wagner).At the same time, Ms. Wintour has presided over Vogue for 32 years, and during that period she has done more to enshrine the values of bloodline, pedigree and privilege than anyone in American media. A brief and very inconclusive list of Ms. Wintour’s assistants in the 21st century includes the Yale-educated daughter of a prominent Miami dance director, the Dartmouth-educated descendant of a major bank president, the Princeton-educated daughter of an Oscar-winning screenwriter and so on. For so long it was central to the Condé Nast ethos that you had to be thin, gorgeous and impeccably credentialed to retrieve someone else’s espresso macchiato.

Even now, as the publishing industry continues to implode and wonderful writers who could really use the work (or at least the prestigious affiliation) abound, Vogue continues to list among its contributing editors people like the German heiress Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis and many others among the well born. Five years ago, Ms. Thurn und Taxis posted a picture on Instagram of a homeless woman reading Vogue, seated on the sidewalk, with the words, “Paris is full of surprises.” Vogue quickly issued a statement, calling the gesture distasteful, and then proceeded to run her byline on its website at least 10 more timesLast year, Grace Coddington, another contributor, who had held enormous influence over what was shot for Vogue and how, in her many years as the magazine’s creative director, was photographed with her collection of “mammy’’ jars, racist ceramics depicting African-American women as servile maids.

Ms. Wintour clearly believes that she can break from the past and kill off any vestiges of a system steeped in the benighted values for which she has become the corporate avatar. The public apology from Bon Appétit was quite startling in its admission of failure, particularly its concession that the magazine “continued to tokenize” the people of color that it did hire.As part of her contribution to this new wave of progressivism, Ms. Wintour wrote a piece for Vogue.com a week after the death of George Floyd, aligning herself with Black Lives Matter and calling on Joe Biden to select a woman of color as his running mate.For someone who had seemed so averse to activism as the world has roiled from inequality for years, it felt like a desperate grasp for relevance. A spokesman for the company bristled at the suggestion, arguing that it is Condé Nast’s job “to cover what’s going on in the culture in the moment.”As it happens, André Leon Talley, who recently wrote a memoir about his complicated relationship with Ms. Wintour, as a black man and longtime former editor at Vogue, also has a lot to say about the current moment. This week in a radio interview with Sandra Bernhard, he offered his opinion about his ex-boss’s professed transformation.“I wanna say one thing, Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad; she’s a colonial dame,” he told Ms. Bernhard. “I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege.”

[shock]

Can u expand on the point about fetish language/jokes being common? And all that stuff. (I totally agree with the point, but I just.. wanna hear your thoughts on this a bit more) it's totally alright if u don't want to. Thanks for writing it in the first place

i just think it’s uncomfortable how encouraged it is often for people to separate explicit content from being explicit by making it ironic/into jokes/memes because

1) explicit content being presented as “ironic” is one way i was often sexually harassed as a kid. jokes were ironic, flirting towards me from adults was ironic or silly or “just fake RP”, talking about sexual things with each other was funny, ironic, a source of humor - except it wasn’t.

2) i work with kids a lot, and i have absolutely heard kids as young as, like, 10 joking about vore and foot fetishes and stuff, and plenty of people want to take advantage of that “irony” and “humor” through the normalization of sexual content to groom kids, to amass porn, or other disgusting shit. it’s been done time and time again, you can see it everywhere. that guy from nickelodeon, i think, with the fetish stuff that he funneled through content of children. normalizing it. 

i remember that a lot of my sex ed was self-taught in an unstructured, unsafe, unmoderated environment which on one hand, taught me a lot about things school never would (LGBT identities, for one) but it also presented things in a very sexual way. often, too, with a lot of fear - things kids would tell other kids to google that were disgusting, explicit, often things we didn’t even understand that still stick with us today because of how graphic they were, and there was no education to back that up. i don’t want to use examples because i don’t want people following me looking it up, but i still remember, vividly, how often certain things were brought up by other kids telling us to google XYZ... in elementary and middle school. and how terrified i was of some of them. and how i can still remember them in my head, and how because there was no educational backdrop, it made me misunderstand my own body and made me terrified of things i didn’t understand. 

and sexual, explicit, suggestive content was something i didnt have the capacity to separate from educational material while learning - so they became the “same thing” to me. expressing myself sexually so young was encouraged, normal behavior in a lot of online circles... especially from adults. “experimenting”, all that stuff, all in the company of adults who absolutely did not care about education.

and it puts you in this scenario where you can’t talk about it with them or tell them it’s inappropriate without explaining the sexual nature of the context behind them that i would absolutely not want to tell a kid, it’s ‘just’ “meme language” and it’s very hard to break through that barrier with someone once they’ve normalized it as a funny meme.

it’s just a very difficult subject, i think, but i’m always trying to be very cautious of my own behavior and language in front of kids, as well as watching out for what the other adults around me are encouraging through their behavior and language. and it’s difficult, because i’m in a position here too with my blog where this is my personal diary, i post about my life, a lot of deeply personal stuff and i talk about adult things, but i also make a lot of informative (or so i’m told) and educational posts about things like HRT, mental health, and social justice that i think would’ve been so invaluable to the me 8 years younger. they’re all personal posts, but they do get spread around. and sometimes i don’t think about that when i post and where they’ll go. so i have certain things i do to try and make it a safer place. 

a lot of the sources of these things are also adults talking to other adults, i know that the vore thing really started becoming “meme language” after, i think, a monster factory video or something? so controlling that is difficult when it’s not even made *for* kids but i think it does make a difference in helping by being aware of how other people are interacting with that kind of language around kids and watching out for it.

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam season 3, episode 9 reaction

Hey everyone! It has been a while since I posted one of these, but I wanted to talk about O Helga Natt around its anniversary. And I also wanted to post this before the bloopers were released, heh.

Talking about this episode and especially O Helga Natt almost makes me want to throw my hands up in the air, because how can I possibly do justice? This is where the story has been heading this whole time; this is what Isak’s story has been building to. It is truly extraordinary film-making and storytelling. Watching it in real time and getting to cry in unison with fans across the globe was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had watching a television show.

Episode 9

Clip 1 - To Isak my son

deLillos’ Hjernen er alene is playing at the start of the clip - an obvious reference to episode 5 cuddle scene. Also Tarjei is a big deLillos fan so that’s cool they used that band.

I have no adequate words to describe Tarjei’s acting in this scene. It’s so good and full that you just want to appreciate it frame by frame, so I apologize if I sound redundant singing his praises.

The irony of the title of this clip - “Life is good” from the “Cherry Wine” lyrics Even sends - should be pretty apparent since life is clearly anything but good for Isak at this time, and anyone still reeling from the hotel scene would not need to be reminded

Poor Isak. He’s gone through hell in the past few hours. Tarjei’s value as an actor is never more apparent than in scenes like this. He can convey so much with his eyes and just the littlest facial reaction. Isak looks so wiped and despondent without being over the top sad. Even his body language tells you so much! The completely deflated shoulders, the stillness. You know how all the energy and happiness has been sucked out of this kid.

Good job Isak for going and looking up mania, by the way. I mean, Wikipedia is maybe not the best source, but he went and educated himself. Though obviously he’s probably burning with more questions, it’s a start.

The section of the Wikipedia article on screen mentions depression, as slight foreshadowing for later in the episode.

Isak’s phone is getting texts, though we don’t see them yet. They must really be like pinpricks to his heart. He must know or guess they’re from Even (or someone connected to Even like Sonja) and he just doesn’t want to deal with it or potentially see more bad news.

It’s only been like 9 hours since the end of the hotel clip. How much sleep do you think Isak got? (None.) Did he cry for hours? Did Eskild give him a hug and make him something to drink?

When Eskild appears in the door and asks if Isak needs anything, Isak doesn’t answer for a moment. Because really, what can he possibly say? What does Isak need in this situation that Eskild can provide? Because no amount of comfort or a cup of tea or anything else is going to change the fact that Even is apparently bipolar and not legitimately in love with him, that this incredible relationship of his dreams was fake. What Isak needs is to be told that last night was a dream and Even walking out of that hotel room didn’t really happen, but Eskild can’t provide that honestly.

Eskild, bless him, is still in the doorway, and he’s weighing what he needs to say. You can tell he wants to say the right thing or at least something that will genuinely help Isak, but the guru is stumped. This is not an experience he’s handled.

Carl also plays this really well. Eskild is dialed down a few notches and what he brings to this scene isn’t Eskild’s playfulness or humor, which would be out of place, but his kindness and desire to help the people he cares about.

What did Isak tell Eskild about how everything went to hell, anyway? The whole story, or the abridged version? Because I wouldn’t be surprised if Isak just didn’t talk much or explain the situation, other than it was over with him and Even, or Even didn’t really love him.

I’m also not sure how much experience Eskild has with something like bipolar disorder, so if Isak in fact told him something like “Even is manic and our relationship was fake the whole time,” he might not have been equipped to explain that’s not how mania works.

When Eskild says, “It will pass, Isak,” Isak is barely reacting (Tarjei’s acting!!!! So subtle but so good!). You can tell the words don’t land like Eskild wants them to - maybe Isak doubts this pain will pass, or he know it will but doesn’t feel like this heartbreak can last anything but forever. But I also think Isak doesn’t want it to “pass” - what he wants is to cling to the happy moments when his time with Even felt more real than anything in his life.

Eskild tells Isak that it might not seem like the heartbreak will pass, but it does. Not gonna lie, I want to know all about Eskild’s heartbreaks, because this part, at least, is him speaking from experience.

Isak doesn’t even reply to that. Not out of rudeness or anything, just because I don’t think he has the words or the energy at this point. 

When Eskild says to let him know if he wants to talk, Isak just nods after a few moments. Man, Isak barely speaks in this scene. I mean, most of it is him on his computer, but even when Eskild’s around, he can’t summon more than a few words.

When Eskild leaves, he shuts the door but doesn’t completely close it. It’s open just a little bit, which was very smart and perceptive of him. Isak spent so much of his time shutting himself up in his room (something that Eskild would have noticed) as well as shutting himself off from the people around him, that Eskild is wise not to close the door all the way. By keeping the door slightly open, he gives Isak that one bit of connection to the outside world even if he understands Isak isn’t in the mood for talking or socializing at the moment. It’s just a reminder that Isak isn’t alone.

Isak gets another sound of notification from his phone for a text message, and again, TARJEI’S ACTING. You can see him dreading to pick up his phone and read the message, but he knows that he better do it and rip off the Band-Aid. Or he better read the messages because it’s eating him up not to know.

The texts are of course the lyrics to “Cherry Wine” by Nas and Amy Winehouse.  (There’s a typo in the lyrics that I think indicated that Mari or whoever copy + pasted the lyrics from a specific lyrics site that also had the typo, lol.) 

Even does a lot of communicating in lyrics and drawings and other artistic or abstract methods, and it’s not different when he’s manic, except that the level is more … fervent, shall we say.

But man. These fucking lyrics. I think it’s clear that Isak doesn’t really get what Even’s trying to say. He associates the lyrics wtih Even’s mania, like Even going too far again and doing too much as with his Pretty Woman fantasy in the hotel room, or with Even’s pre-hotel texts from Thursday night (which are now making more sense to Isak in context). And Isak probably associates them with his mom’s Bible verses that she spams to him at length.

But Even is trying to convey something real to Isak. We don’t know his exact mental state at this time but there’s an obvious sincerity behind the text. He wants Isak to understand. The lyrics refer to the “noise of my head” and to intense feelings - mania, the idea that Even’s emotions are too much to bear. But that the solace in this point is “an immaculate version of me and my baby / With all respect cause you the only one that gets me” - Even is trying to single out their connection and their relationship, especially that Isak gets him. I think he’s trying to remind Isak of what he said about Sonja - don’t listen to her, because she doesn’t get us, you’re the only one - last week, Isak understood what Even was saying about “only you can feel what you feel” and now Isak needs to remember.

“Where is he? The man who was just like me / I heard he was hiding somewhere I can’t see” - Even wonders where Isak is, how he’s doing - he wishes Isak were still there with him. He also singles out the connection he feels, “just like me” - they have a bond and a natural connection.

The lyrics about it being good and pouring some cherry wine - Even wants everything to be okay with them, wants to return to normal, to the place of domesticity and comfort they had prior to what happened at the hotel

“Life is good no matter what” - I think he definitely implies that life is good no matter what with Isak. With Isak, nothing else matters. 

Additionally we know Even is a Nas fan, but it’s possible he also selected that song because he knows Nas is something he shared with Isak, Nas is special to the two of them as a duo.

Isak does not know what to make of these lyrics, though. I think he gets maybe a little that Even is trying to reach him and reference their relationship, but he doesn’t understand the depth, and he assumes it’s just manic rambling (again, not helped by the resemblance of Isak’s mom’s texts with her Bible quotes to Even’s texts with song lyrics). Even only thinks he feels this way about Isak. It’s so painful.

Isak’s reply to Even is something that, on the one hand, I completely understand from an emotional perspective, but on the other, I yelled “NO!” when I read the subs. I get it, it has been a very long night and Isak is still confused as fuck, he’s only beginning to process what happened and make sense of it via Wikipedia, and he thinks that their relationship was all fake. He needs space, he needs to not get more messages from Even that will confuse him. And yet, this is of course painful as hell and you want to yell at Isak not to send that message.

I think a lot about what Even was going through after the hotel scene, and this is really one of the most heartbreaking parts for me to imagine from his POV. He’s trying to reestablish this connection with Isak and assure him that their love is real and emphasize the singularity and importance of their bond, and instead Isak sends him this short, blunt message that doesn’t give away any warmth toward Even and asks him to stop contacting him (for now, anyway). Imagine how Even felt reading that message. All of his worst fears are coming true. Isak has seemingly rejected him on the basis of his mental illness, Sonja has intervened … “life is good” with Isak, but Even can’t have life with Isak, it seems.

“Slutt å meld meg” - stop texting me - that’s kind of an echo of the end of episode 7, where Isak asks Even to break up with Sonja or let him be, except this time Even can’t run to him.

I fucking love how Isak writes the message and then hesitates before sending it, and then when he does send it, he does it quickly and forcefully to get it over with before he changes his mind. Almost like it pains him to send the message, too.

Guys, I cried the first time I saw this scene, and I’m tearing up now. When we hear the sound of the new text message coming in, we expect it to be Even again. It wouldn’t be unlikely for Even to reply something soon after Isak sent him something, even a brief acknowledgment like “OK, I’m sorry.” Although from Isak’s reaction, I wouldn’t be surprised if more likely he thought Even was so manic that he couldn’t stop himself from texting lyrics and other things that would confuse Isak. And if you were watching this scene in real time, or even binge-watching it after the fact - all that is on your mind, probably, is the hotel scene, Even’s mental illness, and Isak’s heartbreak. In real time, we were all a mess speculating what would happen to Even and to Evak and crying over the hotel clip. I mean, Julie had to apologize to her own crew for inflicting such torment on them! She had to post an “Alt er Love” to her own Instagram to keep us from losing hope! So I think most of us, in that chaos, forgot about what happened at the start of that hotel clip, when Isak carefully types out that text to his mom where he comes out and tells her that it will be OK. Hell, I think Isak forgot that he did. He got distracted by Even surprising him with the suite and them having sex and eating burgers and getting the creeping feeling that something was wrong with Even, and then obviously everything that happened once Even left the suite naked. Coming out to his mom must feel like ages ago even though it wasn’t even 24 hours.

You see Isak dreading that next text message, and then picking up his phone and staring at it, and for a long moment we the audience don’t get to see the text itself, we only get to see Isak’s stunned reaction to it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something he expected. 

Julie is honestly really gifted at timing and editing the actors’ reactions for emotional impact, and this is one of the best examples in the show. That extended pause is so we can just soak in Isak’s astonishment and Tarjei’s wonderful acting, the slow, small smile that gradually starts across Isak’s face. That delay before we get the beautiful message, and it wasn’t what we expected, but it was exactly what we needed in this moment of hopelessness. We had forgotten about the text to Isak’s mom, and likely so did Isak, but her reply came at the best possible time, with the best possible message.

This is one of the moments that solidifies the 21:21/birth/rebirth metaphor, like this is actually the scene that demonstrates it was a deliberate choice by Julie rather than some random happy accident where Julie unintentionally created that symbolism and zealous Skam fans overanalyzed it. We find out from the text message that Isak was literally born at 21:21 on June 21, and maybe it’s a lot of 21s but it works, we know that his literal birth is connected to his spiritual rebirth.

Mama Valtersen telling him that she will love him always is so reassuring. Especially when Isak is doubting someone else’s love (Even’s) is real, it’s extra good to be told he will always be loved by someone.

Also I just loved the way she said it? It feels like Biblical and epic to me, and her Bible texts haven’t always been the warmest and fuzziest but here’s one where the tone adds to the message. She has loved him from the moment she saw him.

Additionally, not to make this touching mother-son reunion all about Evak, but … guess who else has had significant feelings for Isak from first glance?

To expand on that topic, though, I do think while Isak’s relationship with his mom obviously serves its own purpose and has its own weight in Isak’s life and his arc, it also serves as a mirror of sorts to his relationship with Even. Obviously one is familial and one is romantic, but these are two mentally ill people he loves and chooses to accept in his life. Isak’s father doubted that his mother would be able to accept Isak with a boyfriend, but when given the chance to speak for herself, she subverts those expectations and reveals that she will always love Isak, conveying her acceptance of his sexuality. Sonja thinks Even’s feelings for Isak aren’t real, but when Even gets to speak for himself (particularly in the O Helga Natt text,but really any time he’s with Isak) he subverts her expectations and makes abundantly clear that he loves Isak and that his feelings are real. Two mentally ill people subverting the expectations of others who try to speak for them. Two mentally ill people Isak will decide that his life is better off including rather than rejecting.

That tear rolling down Isak’s cheek. He has likely cried so much in the past few hours, but now he’s crying over something positive rather than something painful.

I don’t think Isak realized exactly how much he wanted her to accept him until he read that message. Just the sheer relief of it! I kinda feel he always kept that fear at bay, out of sight, just like his relationship with her. Trying to minimize her importance, such as in the locker room scene. Like well, if she doesn’t approve of his sexuality, he doesn’t fucking care. She’s not in his life anyone. Who gives a shit what she thinks? (But of course he really does care and it’s been giving him anxiety all season.)

The way Isak holds the phone to his chest, over his heart, like he’s going to hold on to this feeling. The intense relief, that his mom accepts him. The hope that maybe their relationship isn’t dead and buried. It’s just what he needs at this moment.

Clip 2 - Magnus saves 2016

Jonas and Mahdi are having a conversation about Dennis Rodman and “Kim.” At first I was like … Kim Kardashian? And I was prepared to write this huge screed about how great it was that Isak mentioned Eskild’s interest in Kim Kardashian as a thing that marked him as too gay or gay-gay in the Pride clip, but now we had two apparently straight boys also talking about Kim Kardashian to subvert those expectations. And then I remembered that oh yeah, Dennis Rodman is pals with fucking Kim Jong-un. Wah-wah. In 2018 that seems so much less weird than everything else wrong with the American political hellscape.

Isak shows up with waffles and Mahdi takes that as his cue to exit. SEE YA!

Now the first time I saw this clip, I thought, while it was great, parts of it were a little contrived. (A not-entirely-positive opinion about S3? GASP.) It’s not a big thing and I’m a lot more fond of its role in the season now since I recognize its overall purpose, but one of the parts was that Jonas didn’t know why Isak was gone from school and that Isak hadn’t told him. I do think that I understand why Isak didn’t tell him - he was so depressed that he just didn’t want to talk about it, he wanted to retreat from the world. So I buy that. But I do kind of doubt that Jonas wouldn’t check in with Isak if he had been noticeably absent from class, considering all the bullshit that had just gone down with Isak so recently. Isak missed a week of class not long ago, if Isak is missing again it’s cause for concern.Jonas isn’t a pushy friend and gives Isak his space, so I can expect it from that perspective, though.

This is one of the downsides of Skam’s real time format - sometimes I do feel that they draw out events that would have been covered more quickly, or handled off screen, just so we can see the big reactions and moments in a clip instead of handled briskly in a text. Like I think the real reason Jonas didn’t know was so Isak could tell him in this clip, in front of Magnus, and Magnus could tell him about bipolar disorder.

But also, this season is so good that I can easily overlook nitpicks like this. The show has built up more than enough goodwill at this point, and I do enjoy this scene as a whole.

Anyway, Isak says he’s a bit down, Jonas asks what’s up, ever the helpful bro. Isak says that Even went out naked in the middle of the night and that he’s apparently bipolar, just as Magnus plops down with his mouth full of sandwich.

Oh, Magnus. We thought you were just a fool, but it turns out you’ve got unexpected reserves of wisdom. Kind of a theme in this season, all the people who turn out to have good advice if you just talk to them and listen to what they’re saying!

Magnus casually says his mom is bipolar when he sits down, like it isn’t a big deal at all. He might have said, “My mom’s an accountant,” or, “My mom’s a Libra.” He looks completely chill when he says it.

This is another thing I thought was contrived the first time I saw this clip - that Isak just happened to have a friend with a mentally ill parent with the exact same MI as his boyfriend, who could give him advice on how to handle it - but now I love it.

Think about it: all this time, Isak has been struggling with his relationship with his mom - keeping it kind of vague, really, just alluding to stress and family problems - and all this time, he’s had a friend who also has a mentally ill mother. Someone who has kind of a clue what he’s going through. Magnus’ relationship with his mom is a parallel to Isak’s with his mom, but unlike Isak, he apparently has a very close, seemingly untroubled relationship with her.

Isak learns a lot this season about sexuality, religion, and mental illness, but one of the other lessons he learns - one of the strongest, in my opinion, in how it’s developed in the narrative - is pretty simple: Reaching out to your friends is one of the best resources for help you can get. Imagine if Isak had happened to talk to Magnus much earlier about his mom. Imagine if Magnus had mentioned his mom had bipolar disorder, so that when Even turned out to be bipolar, Isak wasn’t so in the dark about the disorder. I mean, maybe Isak wasn’t at the stage of development where he could accept this kind of message, but still! Magnus wasn’t someone he was super close to like Jonas, but Isak has appeared to know him and hang out with him from like … S1 or S2, actually, and they’re been hanging out regularly for a few months now.I’m not saying everything would have been okay if Isak had been aware of Magnus’ mom earlier, I don’t think it’s that easy, but Isak has been holding back and repressing himself so much, and this knowledge may have helped out his knowledge of both his mother’s and Even’s conditions. It’s when Isak shares his problems with his friends that he can get advice like this.

Isak is so taken aback by this information. Magnus also has a crazy mother?? (Again … all this time, Magnus has had a crazy mother? Magnus has known someone with bipolar disorder? And it wasn’t this huge dramatic thing that Isak would have known about because of the pain and sorrow and stress it caused Magnus? It was just flying under the radar this whole time?)

“She’s not crazy, she’s bipolar.” AHHHHH, MAGNUS. That line is so simple but so important. Magnus treats his mother’s mental illness as a factual condition rather than an area for judgment.

Isak’s interest is piqued. Magnus: not only good for weird hookup anecdotes and BDSM dreams.

He wants to know what Magnus’ mom is like. Magnus is like, my mom is AWESOME. (There’s a text message from one of the previous episodes, I think it’s episode 5, where he does mention his mom with like, heart emojis). 

A really great detail is that Isak has met Magnus’ mom. That’s something that really confounds Isak, because evidently this women seemed normal. She didn’t give off vibes that she was craaaaaazy. She was just Magnus’ mom. Isak is flabbergasted that she was normal - she’s normal but also has bipolar? Does’t compute.

And I mean, I think it is important to note that Isak’s mom seems to have more drastic symptoms of mental illness, and maybe doesn’t come across as “normal” with how she talks or at least with what she’s saying. And Isak just experienced Even’s mania by seeing him ramble nonsensically and walk out in public naked in the middle of the night. Isak’s experience with mentally ill people, that we know of, has involved them acting in more extreme ways - and I think that hotel incident is contorting a lot of Even’s actions in his mind, and Isak is forgetting that Even was “normal” most of the time, too.

When Isak says Even is bipolar, Magnus just nods, like it’s no big deal. Because to him, it isn’t! It’s something that’s an everyday fact of life, having a loved one with bipolar disorder. 

Isak mentions that Even went out naked in the middle of the night, and Magnus’ response was to laugh.

I remember when this season was airing, around this episode there were a lot of like ... Skam antis cropping up in response to the show’s sudden popularity and hype - and obviously no one has to like the show, but frankly a lot of the backlash was coming from people pissed that this thing they didn’t care about was suddenly everywhere, or that their own fave TV show wasn’t getting as much attention (or GOD FORBID, had to share the attention with a new, shiny show). And I remember some cries of ableism around this time because of some of the mental illness discussion, a lot of which I thought was purposefully misinterpreting the story for Woke points. Stuff like Sonja’s speech in the hotel scene was ableist (yeah … it was. That was the whole point,and it was specifically refuted within the narrative) or that Even’s text message was ableist because it was him groveling to Isak for forgiveness and that he apologized for being mentally ill (no, he didn’t, and in any case it was the text of a suicidal person, not something we’re supposed to take as right and justified).  One part that also had people upset was that Magnus is dismissive of Even walking out naked because he thinks it’s funny and like … okay, I can get why people would find that dismissive, although Isak himself is like “It’s not funny” so I’m not sure why that context is ignored. Like, the thing is that we as audience members saw the hotel scene from Isak’s POV, and it was this horrible, shocking thing. We were worried about Even’s well-being, we were worried about Isak’s reaction.

But for Magnus, who sees bipolar as a normal, everyday fact of life, it’s a funny anecdote! And I mean, I’m on Isak’s side because that is a holy-shit kind of incident. I absolutely do not blame him for not being amused when Magnus starts laughing, because it was a traumatic and potentially dangerous thing. But I don’t think Magnus is an awful guy for hearing a brief summary of what happened and laughing. He’s coming from the perspective where he’s dealt with these kind of incidents and he survived, his mom survived, and they probably laugh about them later. Magnus shares an equally outlandish story about his mom sending in a resignation letter for the regional director of the railway, and he can laugh about it. Maybe at the time it was stressful and caused problems, but in retrospect it’s funny.

(Also, Magnus reacts differently from Jonas - Jonas was like What??? Because in his mind, it is a wild thing. Magnus laughs because he’s used to stuff like this, apparently.)

Magnus asks where Even is, Isak says at home, and Magnus clarifies that he means mentally, not physically. I LOVE that little moment, that Magnus’ instinct is to ask how Even is doing mentally. I think it says a lot about his experience level, that he knows how these manic/depressive episodes go.

Isak says he hasn’t talked to Even because it’s all been bullshit from his side, and you can see Magnus be like, “...what? I saw him giving you those heart eyes in the hallway, man, I don’t buy this for a second.”

I love Magnus just saying what we were all thinking at this point. Watching in real time, we were so desperate for someone to just sit down Isak and explain to him that Sonja was wrong and Even loved him and his feelings were real, and here’s Magnus being our unexpected savior.

Magnus is so confused, because these things are so obvious to him that are not obvious to Isak. Isak has been with Even a while and he hasn’t been manic the whole time, so why would his feelings not be real? When Magnus’ mom is manic, it’s like he can’t reach her. Sort of like Isak not being able to reach Even in the hotel room, when they were eating burgers and Even’s speech had clearly gone farther than Isak could get to him. But Isak has been able to reach and connect with Even plenty of times before that.

Isak says that Sonja said he had been manic the whole time. Magnus asks who’s Sonja? Isak: “His ex.” MAGNUS’ FUCKING FACE. Like, oh, Isak. You are dumb. You are really dumb.

And they call Magnus a doofus, when here’s Isak believing everything his boyfriend’s ex told him.

Lmao, I love that a lot of this scene is Magnus speaking from experience as someone with a bipolar loved one, and then this part is like … just plain relationship common sense that even someone with as little game as Magnus can understand. You don’t just buy everything your boyfriend’s ex is selling. Are you really going to trust his ex telling you he doesn’t have feelings for you?

“Wow! Wowwww.” That’s one of the best deliveries on the show, and we don’t even see David’s face.

Also, props to David for this scene. He gets to show off Magnus’ hidden depths, obviously, and he plays it so naturally and is such a funny voice of reason that again, I can totally roll with this late development. I like this inclusion of Magnus’ mom because it does give depth to a character who had previously been the goofball friend.

What would a Magnus season have been like? Would we have met his mom? It doesn’t sound like there would be a lot of ~drama to mine from that relationship, but it would have been nice to see.

Magnus tells Isak just to talk to Even, he isn’t brain dead just because he had a manic episode (excellent job, Magnus) and says to talk to him when he’s calmed down. Jonas says what we’re all thinking, that Magnus is pretty cool. Magnus: You’re just realizing that now? But he also says that Jonas is pretty cool, too, which is just fucking adorable.

Meanwhile, Isak has this tiny, tiny smile break his tired expression, like he has gotten just a sliver of hope from this conversation. This whole clip has been him getting his world turned upside down, all his preconceived notions about mental illness being turned on their heads, getting some sense knocked into him. It’s beautiful.

Clip 3 - Twisting the knife, thanks Julie

Oh Jesus. I believe this scene was submitted to Gullruten for Tarjei’s acting nomination, and you can easily see why. He’s acting off basically nothing, just him and a phone, a voice on the other line, and yet he manages to do so much.

I’m going to link @toneelspeler’s post about Tarjei’s acting in this scene, because she’s the acting expert and says it way better than I ever could. Give it a read (and check out her other acting posts!)

Isak studies his phone, preparing to call Even. (Even Kosegruppa, may it forever be that way. May Isak and Even both take that as their name upon their marriage. Or Even Kosegruppa and Isak Mannenimittliv.)

Isak stresses about calling. He just stands there for a moment, clutching his phone to his chest as he mentally prepares himself to call. He wears a shirt with “The Scream” by Edvard Munch on it. Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter who is widely believed to have suffered from bipolar disorder, and “The Scream” was inspired by a hallucination he had. It’s a small detail, but a clever one. 

He finally calls Even and you can see the debate still raging inside him as the phone rings, wondering what he’s going to say, how he’s going to deal with this. But then when it goes to voicemail, you can see he’s somewhat conflicted. On the one hand, he doesn’t know what he’ll say to Even, he doesn’t know what he’ll hear or how the conversation will go, but he always wants to hear Even’s voice again, he wants to speak with him. It’s disappointing because he misses Even. Also, if Even isn’t answering, then that might not mean anything good. It might mean Even has slid into a depressive episode.

Someone does call back, but it’s not Even, it’s Pappa. And you can tell Isak doesn’t really want to have a conversation with him at that moment, and that he’s weighing whether to answer, but he does anyway. Which I think is because he’s decided it’s better to face his problems head on, maybe, and because he knows he can’t put off a talk with his dad forever. Or maybe he’s just like, well… how much worse could it get?

Isak’s dad over the phone seems kind of falsely jovial. Or maybe not false, but like he’s consciously trying to inject some levity and pleasantness into this conversation that he knows probably isn’t going to be very warm. If you want to think more positively about Isak’s dad, maybe he’s trying for warmth because his son did just come out to him the last time they spoke, and he wants him to know that he is okay with it. The fact that he brings up Isak’s boyfriend on his own suggests to me that he wants to talk about it.

Isak just sounds tired, of course. Not really in the mood to talk, just giving short answers and getting the necessary info.

The camera cuts from the wider shot of Isak in his room, visible from the waist up, to just Isak’s face after Pappa mentions the boyfriend. Because of course that’s the jolt for Isak, a shift in the mood of the conversation, and visually the cut signifies that. It also gives up a closeup of Isak’s face not just so we can appreciate Tarjei’s acting, but see this very bare, raw moment from him, with nothing else in the way.

That blank reaction and pause from Isak at first, and then going into saying it was just a joke. Maybe because he just doesn’t want to get into the topic right now and it’s the fastest way to shut it down. Maybe a reflex left from when Isak wanted not to seem gay. Maybe because he still isn’t sure that Even’s feelings are real and that it wasn’t a joke. Maybe because it’s easier to say it was never real than to acknowledge that all that Isak has lost if it were real.

Isak’s dad doesn’t really know how to react to that. Like, Pappa Valtersen is not the best dude, but I think he probably knows enough about his son, or at least about parenting, or human emotion, to suspect that Isak is perhaps lying about it being a joke but knowing not to push it at this point. Either that, or he’s taken aback that Isak apparently opened up to him about something in his life, however flippantly, but it turned out to not be real.

Pappa turns the subject back to the concert, saying he’s looking forward to seeing Isak and his mom. I think from the second Isak said his relationship with Even was a joke, he has been regretting it, or turning over whether to tell the truth, until finally he needs to take back his comment. Tarjei’s acting with his eyes is so good here! Isak needs to say it wasn’t a joke, because he can’t dismiss the weight of what he and Even had. It wasn’t a joke to him. And now he’s heard from Magnus that it probably wasn’t a joke to Even, either. Isak can’t throw away this relationship and say it was nothing.

“It wasn’t a joke. It’s just over.” Ouch. You know, I’ve always wondered why Isak says it was over here, when he was just calling Even, and when afterwards he sends him a text? It feels as if Isak is trying to salvage the relationship from those actions. Maybe this is his worst fear, worsened by Even not answering his phone, that it really is over.

Additionally, though it’s a painful moment, I’m proud of Isak for admitting that it was real and not walking it back - it’s another step in him being comfortably out of the closet, he didn’t take back his coming out to his dad.

Isak’s dad asks whether he’s sad about it - again, Isak’s dad kind of sucks overall, but I kinda feel for him here, like it’s not necessarily the most elegant or sympathetic way of asking, but you can get that he’s fumbling to reach his son. 

And of course Isak sheds that single tear just as he denies that he’s sad about it. Oh, baby.

Oh man, the way once that first tear falls, the sadness and emotion just starts to escalate, and you can see Isak racing to end the phone call, because in a second it’s going to be too much. And once the call is finished, he has to wipe his face and compose himself, his breath coming shakily, because he’s overwhelmed with all the emotions.

Lmao, I remember that watching in real time, this was the equivalent of Julie kicking us while we were down. Just what we needed: another clip of Isak crying to himself, yayyyyy.

Anyway. Bravo, Tarjei. Some of that was clearly one take, and he managed a wonderful emotional transformation. He doesn’t overact, he doesn’t underact. He gives you exactly as much as you need to understand Isak’s state of being, and to leave us on a bleak but open-ended note before the Friday clip we knew was going to make or break Evak. Even if you thought a happy ending was coming based on Skam’s idealistic nature, it was easy to put yourself in Isak’s shoes and feel the uncertainty if things would turn out okay.

Clip 4 - O Helga Night

So here we are. I’m not even sure where to begin. There’s so much to say about this clip that I really think I might forget something, and two days after posting this I’ll have a 3 AM epiphany about something that wasn’t mentioned. I apologize if I leave out a big part of the clip’s significance or symbolism. But that’s a testament to how incredible the scene is, that there are so many layers.

I’ll start with this: This scene works brilliantly on all levels. It works as an individual scene; I’ve seen several Tumblr posts with the video of this clip that have garnered thousands of notes and lots of comments like “I’ve never seen this show, but this is beautiful” or “I don’t even know what this is and I’m crying???” It works even better as a climax to the entire season, tying together multiple threads and themes, incorporating several types of symbolism that have developed throughout the story, and involving several areas of growth from Isak’s arc that demonstrate what he has learned over the last few months. It works on an acting level. On a writing level. On a directing level. The music works. The editing works. It works as a romantic scene and as a spiritual scene and as an inspirational scene. We start to cry because we are worried when Isak gets that text message, and we remain crying long after the scene ends not because we are sad, but because we have seen a moment of unparalleled tenderness. There aren’t a lot of series or films that I can point to where the tears feel so earned; not mechanically drawn up by routine tearjerker dialogue and events,but created naturally because this is the point the story has been building to all along. There aren’t a lot of canons I can point to that can pull off a scene like this and have it come from such a genuine, profound place.

Also, if you were in the fandom and diligently waiting for that Friday’s clip, you probably remember that NRK originally reported this episode as being like 40+ minutes long, which would have meant a giant Fredag clip. Then shortly before the clip dropped, the episode length was changed to 18 minutes, which had everyone going WTF and wondering how they could possibly fix Isak and Even in that amount of time. After the clip aired, I don’t think anyone was complaining.

Let’s see if I can write about this scene without sobbing. 

Prior to this clip, Isak’s mom sends him a text message saying that this is the church where Isak was baptized, adding another element of rebirth to the story.

In the full episode, this scene doesn’t have the usual timestamp indicating when the clip is happening, probably because the scene is just too pretty to have that plastered over it, and like … fair.

From the second I pressed play on this clip for the first time, right after it was uploaded to the Skam website, I knew it was going to be special. Look at how gorgeous the opening shot is. We see the wide shot of inside the church, the neon blue cross, the two people gathering in front. I love that there is a moment of silence, just before the organ starts where there are just some hushed sounds, whispering, maybe. It gives you chills before the music even begins.

I love that we start at the back and the camera slowly moves up the aisle, because we are with Isak, literally in step with him as he advances toward his parents. This is a tremendous moment by itself for Isak, who has no idea that he’s about to get a text from Even; he only thinks that he’s going to be facing his parents after a long time. I don’t think he’s seen them in months. You can see the trepidation on his face. I don’t think it’s dread, I don’t think it’s like he doesn’t want to be there, it’s just that he knows there’s so much going on in his family dynamic and there’s a lot to deal with. And Isak isn’t the same person as when he last saw them! He’s grown a lot, he’s changed, he’s come out to them, he knows that he doesn’t have the ideal relationship with either of them.

He’s a little unsure when he greets them. Not unhappy, just unsure, a little awkward. He hugs his mom and his dad and of course we don’t see their faces, which is probably for the best - it would have been a distraction and interrupted the flow of the scene.

I think he relaxes a bit when he sees that okay, he met with his parents and the world didn’t explode, they’re going to get on with this concert. It’s fine. It’s a lot, but he’s fine. (Tarjei’s face!)

Isak gets the text notification and pulls out his phone. We then get this incredibly powerful text message that tears our hearts to shreds. So much to say about this message.

Now, when I watched this clip for the first time, I was sitting there refreshing the Skam website, and so I watched it without subtitles. Obviously I didn’t know exactly what it said, although it was clearly from Even, and there were several phrases that jumped out at me: 21:21, bipolar. I knew what “Elsker deg” was because the Skam fandom was making plenty of posts about how to say “I love you” in Norwegian in the hopes that Isak and Even would say it. So this was definitely a bit of relief at first glance. And I mean, hey, it was Even, finally breaking the silence after almost a week! We were so worried about Even, but he wrote something to Isak, yay!

I realized it was a suicide note not based on the words of the note itself, but from Isak’s flashbacks during Nils Bech’s singing. The R+J reference with the neon cross, scenes I recognized as Even talking about death or tragedy, a Wiki article about depression. The whole season was hinting at something to do with suicide, so I was primed for it, and I figured Even was suicidal from those images, plus Isak’s reaction afterwards. I mean, he was running out of the church, I don’t think he would have done that without good reason. 

That being said, when the subtitles were released, the text immediately pinged me as a suicide note. It might not read to everyone as a suicide note, for reasons I understand (because it doesn’t read that way to Isak at first, either) but it did for me, for a pretty obvious and personal reason: I have written a suicide note. More than once. At a couple of dark times in my life, I sat down and tried to write my final thoughts in this world to my loved ones. I found it really hard, because there was an infinite amount of things I wanted to say, but my suicide notes were full of comments similar to Even’s. Lots and lots of apologies to the people I thought I had wronged. Mentions of things that I thought were significant to them, places and experiences that we had shared. Pessimistic statements like how I was alone, it was never going to change. Asking them to remember the good times or the positive aspects of our lives together. Saying I loved them. The whole thing rang so uncomfortably familiar that it was impossible for me personally not to see the signs of Even saying goodbye.

Let’s take Even’s text message line by line, for the most part:

Dear Isak - This is a very formal way to begin, like an actual letter Even has prepared, not just a casual text message. It sounds like he has written out this message beforehand and given it a lot of thought. 

I’m sitting where we met for the first time and I’m thinking about you. - First of all, my fucking heart. Just picture Even sitting in the bathroom for God knows how long and thinking about Isak. Like this damn school bathroom holds such sentimental value to him because it was where he first met Isak, the man of his dreams. The first place he spoke to this guy he’d been pining for from afar for months. A guy who turned out to be even better than Even expected. Even is thinking about Isak. He’s about to end his life and he’s thinking about Isak, wistfully. Returning to sentimental or nostalgic places is unfortunately pretty common for suicidal people. It’s a way of saying goodbye. So that’s another tip-off of Even’s mindset.

It’s soon 21:21 - I’ll get into the 21:21 significance to this clip in a little bit, but let’s just acknowledge again that Even treasures everything he shares with Isak. Isak and Even ran off at 21:21, now 21:21 is theirs. (I know Julie included more 21:21 stuff in her scripts for S3 that we could discuss, but I want to focus on stuff that is in the show itself now.)

I want to say a thousand things to you. - This line might go a little under-looked, in my opinion, and I get why because it’s not as Evak-specific like some of the others with their 21:21 and parallel universe mentions, but honestly, it gets me right in the gut? It just conveys the enormity of Even’s feelings for Isak and all that he wants to share with him. All that he never thinks he will get the chance to do.

I’m sorry for scaring you. - This refers to the hotel scene, obviously, and a large part of me wants to be like, “Noooo, Even, don’t apologize for that.” The way Even apologizes for so much feels like it’s another factor of his suicidal mindset - he wants to make amends with Isak before it’s over, and he also just feels terrible about himself and what he’s done to someone he loves.

I’m sorry for hurting you. - This is probably not just in reference to the hotel scene and the aftermath but every part of their relationship where Even thinks he may have hurt Isak. Breaking things off with him in episode 5 without explaining why, running hot and cold on him or going back and forth between Isak and Sonja. Though I do think that Even thinks he really hurt Isak with the hotel incident, too, especially if he has an idea of what Sonja said to him. Even thinks his mental illness hurts people around him by default.

I’m sorry for not telling you that I’m bipolar. - To clarify, not that he is sorry for being bipolar (although I think Even has plenty of negative thoughts about that) but sorry that he didn’t tell Isak. I don’t think this is something we’re supposed to judge Even for, by the way, or think is justified - he is suicidal and he blames himself for all that went wrong. It’s his call when to disclose his mental illness, but because he didn’t tell Isak, the hotel getaway went awry, and so he feels guilty for that.

I was afraid of losing you. - AHHHHH. This line hurts so much. To have it put so plainly and vulnerably what we suspected previously - that Even was hiding his mental illness from Isak out of fear of rejection - breaks my heart. It was the worst thing to Even, the thought of losing Isak.

Had forgotten that it’s not possible to lose someone, that all people are alone anyway. - This is when the note takes a dark turn, really. The lines before that give off some warning vibes but could be assumed as an apology text. This is when it really becomes clear that Even is in a bad place mentally. It sounds so fatalistic - Even was worried about Isak when he shouldn’t have wasted the effort, because he could never have Isak, anyway. That he was always alone. That his relationship was Isak was destined to end in disaster. Like the brief period of happiness they had together was never meant to last. Even doesn’t have anyone, he can’t have Isak, he’s alone with his thoughts. And as he told us in episode 5, he only way to escape is death.

In another place in the universe we are together forever, remember that. - Another line that set off warning bells for me. Asking Isak to “remember that” - why does Isak need to remember if things will turn out okay with him and Even? Shouldn’t he just know that? Saying that it’s another place in the universe that they’re together forever - why another place? Why not this one where they can be together? It’s lovely and romantic that he imagines them together forever, but alarming that it has to be a different world then theirs.

Love you. Even - The first time we hear Even (or either of them) say I love you, and it’s beautiful, we all know they love each other, but consider that Even is saying this now, in this text, because he thinks it’s the last opportunity for him to say it.

Skam didn’t do a lot of big dramatic speeches with Evak. We got some with Jonas and Eva (for example, after she kisses P-Chris or in the skate park or in the S1 finale) and some with Noora and William (Noora talking to William before he leaves for London) but a lot of the dialogue between Isak and Even is more on the sparse, understated side, in my opinion. That doesn’t make it any less meaningful, it’s just that Julie tended to pack a lot of meaning in one or two lines rather than a whole paragraph. There are worlds of feeling in the short, simple lines between Isak and Even ( “Can I stay in here with you forever?”/”You can” for instance). It’s really effective for me especially because Isak is not a very verbose person and Even often communicates in gestures, drawings, or song lyrics to illustrate his feelings. 

This text is one of the closet things we get to a big dramatic speech, and it’s a text message, not a verbal monologue. Even, who has been the mysterious new boy for much of this season, leaving us constantly guessing as to his motivations and secrets, has finally laid himself bare, exposed his feelings in detail. Except for one little thing, which is that he plans to end his life.

Isak doesn’t realize the nature of the the note at first. I don’t blame him. The text is worded ambiguously enough that it’s easy to miss, and we know Isak doesn’t have suicidal or depressive thoughts like Even (remember, he flat out doesn’t get what Even is saying in the cuddle scene and calls Even’s POV dark) so he’s not drawing from his own experiences. A ton of viewers didn’t recognize that it’s a suicide note at first, and no shame in that.

I think Isak is just overwhelmed by the fact that Even has finally contacted him again and Even is telling him all this heavy romantic stuff. I’m thinking about you, we’re together forever, etc. I mean, Even tells Isak he loves him for the first time! You can imagine that the “Elsker deg” overshadows anything else at first. Even does love him, Even’s feelings were not fake. What Isak and Even had was real. Isak must feel relieved and overjoyed; a small smile spreads on his face as he reads the text and Nils Bech starts singing O Helga Natt.

So now we’ve got Nils singing, and it’s really cool how involved he was in this season! His song “Waiting” was in the S3 trailer, “That Girl” was in episode 2 as the closing song, and now he’s got the climactic music for Isak’s story. In fact, I believe this scene was written with Nils’ singing in mind. He is also, just to reiterate, the “Bech” in Even Bech Næsheim. It’s awesome that they used the music of a real-life gay man so heavily in a season about a gay kid.

Not gonna lie, my eyes can never stray from his pants. Also, his orchestra appears to be all women, which is neat! And of course we have that giant neon cross just hanging out being him, resembling the one from Romeo + Juliet.

To discuss the choice of song a little bit, not to be mega obvious, but … O Helga Natt is a Christmas song, and this clip starts at a Christmas concert. Christmas - again, not to be massively fucking obvious - is a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. So it’s another clear birth/rebirth reference. O Helga Natt refers to the holy night Jesus was born; “O Helga Natt” as a clip refers to this night of rebirth for Isak.

I want to tread carefully because I don’t speak the language, but some of the lyrics of O Helga Natt line up with certain actions in the clip. Norwegians/Swedes (because the song is in Swedish), feel free to correct me if I make a mistake. I’m going off a translation of the lyrics.

For one example, Isak realizes Even’s text is a suicide note after the lyrics are something like “for us he suffered the pain of death.” It’s not right on that lyric, so maybe a reach, but I think it’s worth mentioning. After all, the references to death were included throughout the season as clues to Even’s state of mind.

Isak is watching this performance and everything is normal until Nils looks into the camera, effectively making eye contact with Isak. Which, from an in-universe perspective, is perhaps coincidence, but it’s that shift that signifies Isak’s transition from just watching this concert to making the connection to the text message from Even. I mean Nils might as well be Isak’s guardian angel telling him to haul ass out of there.

It’s pretty subtly acted and effectively directed. Isak is just watching Nils and then he blinks and his gaze shifts from Nils to the neon cross. We get a very, very quick montage of flashbacks, from Isak and Even lying in bed during the cuddle scene, Juliet lying on her deathbed, Even in the Mikael video.  Cut to Isak making the connection, it’s written on his face. Cut to another quick montage: the Mikael video again, Even’s note with “I don’t sleep cuz sleep is the cousin to death,” Even lying in bed at the hotel, the Wiki article about bipolar disorder (specifically the lines about depression). These are rapid fire images, and honestly the impact of some of them really depend on your memory of this season, if you have been filing away the clues episode by episode. They’re all moments linked to depression or death. The Romeo + Juliet suicide, Even lying in bed telling Isak the only way to escape your thoughts is to die. Even saying an epic love story has to end with death. Even mentioning song lyrics about death. Even saying that the only way to have something forever is to lose it. I think this was really rewarding if you were watching in real time and making note of these recurring hints, because this was quite literally the payoff for noticing. All those moments were presented in this montage that flashes by in like a second or two.

Isak puts the pieces together. Man, imagine if he hadn’t seen Romeo + Juliet and that neon cross didn’t trigger any associations in his head? Would he have realized and made it in time? In-universe, it’s a good thing Isak decided to stalk Even on Google and watch that video so many times it aroused his curiosity about Even’s favorite director. And that he went for R+J instead of like, The Great Gatsby (Nils would needed a random green light instead of a neon cross).

Isak’s look of realization is really well acted. It’s not too obvious or overplayed, it’s just this dawning sense of placing Even’s text in a different light. He pulls out his phone and we see the text message again, so we can contextualize it with that talk of dying and depression. We can see what might be romantic imagery and sentiment, a love confession, start to seem like a goodbye.

Isak doesn’t waste any time, he gets up from the pew and walks out of the church. I wonder what his parents thought? Like he probably texted them afterwards that it was an emergency, but damn, their son just up and left. They thought he was going to the bathroom or something and he just peaced out for the evening.

Notably, in Romeo + Juliet we have Romeo going toward the altar, toward his doom. In Skam, Isak turns away from the altar, rejecting this fate.

We get one last shot of Nils singing before we take a break from his angelic voice, and then we get another montage. This fucking montage. This is what made me start to cry the first time I saw this scene. Christ, okay. I’m going to try to type through misty eyes. There’s a lot going on here so hopefully I don’t miss anything.

The first time I watched this montage, I was such a wreck. I was sobbing, and while up to this point I was very convinced Julie was not going to kill off either Isak or Even, and that they would get a happy ending, this montage managed to make me doubt. While it was playing and Isak was running, I really genuinely feared that Isak would get to Even but like, there would be an ambulance and paramedics would be wheeling out a body bag on a gurney. And in that brief moment I felt with such conviction that my heart was going to be absolutely broken if Even was dead. I was going to feel such a sense of anger and betrayal that I had gotten sucked into this story and it hurt me that much. I legit did not know how I would deal if Even died. I mean, I thought I would function as a human being, but I was like … I will never be able to trust any canon again if they fuck this up. So thanks for that minute or so of sheer terror, Julie Andem.

The montage runs chronologically backwards. It starts from the most recent time Isak and Even were together, this moment of perfect unity and happiness where they kissed in the elevator, and travels back through the big moments of their relationship: Isak and Even reuniting and having sex for the first time in episode 7; Isak and Even kissing and affirming their feelings and seemingly about to enter a relationship in episode 5; earlier that episode when Isak and Even lay in bed kissing, tucked away from the world; bursting out of the pool kissing in episode 4, then Isak kissing Even for the first time underwater; Isak and Even locking eyes across the room while kissing girls in episode 3; Even looking at Isak in the windowsill in episode 2. Then Isak approaching Even on the bench in episode 1 for their first real conversation,and finally, Even in the bathroom, “meeting” Isak.

It runs backwards for two main reasons. First, Even has told Isak that he is in the place where they first met, and the montage is a visual countdown where we go back, step by step, to that place. It indicates why Isak is running and where, just in case you missed it. We travel back through their relationship as Isak travels back quite literally to the beginning. 

Second, symbolically, this is part of the rebirth metaphor. If the pool scene is the spiritual rebirth of Isak as he accepts his sexuality and begins to live as a more authentic version of himself - including as a gay man - then the church scene stands out to me as the rebirth of Isak and Even as a relationship. We go back to the beginning of Isak and Even so they can be “born” again, this time with their big secrets and insecurities exposed between them so they can be together honestly. Additionally, it is another form of rebirth for Isak as a person. This scene combines the various threads of the season and the lessons he has learned. I wouldn’t say this scene is a test, but it’s a demonstration of how Isak has grown as a character - can you imagine the fuckboy Isak of the season premiere in this situation? It’s a rebirth of Isak into the person he’s meant to be.

The montage also serves the purpose of absolutely fucking you up by making you remember these glorious, beautiful moments with this amazing fictional couple that you have been getting to know over the past few months/weeks/hours. You really feel the scope of Evak, the depth of the feelings there in the development. And no doubt this is what Isak is also remembering: all that he and Even have gone through up to this point. All the wonderful times. Everything he has to lose. He is incredibly in love with Even and at this moment he is so fearful he might not reach him in time.

We see him Isak running through the streets of Oslo and I doubt he stopped to take a bus or whatever, he just had to keep moving, it didn’t matter. Isak finally arrives at the school and comes into the courtyard, out of breath and petrified. We see the flashback of Even and Isak meeting on the bench, because that’s probably what Isak thought of where they met - it’s where they had their first actual conversation, where Isak learned Even’s name, etc. In the present, Isak sees that damn bench and it’s empty. No one is there. Isak and the audience feel our stomachs sink into the ground. You know he’s thinking he’s too late.

But then - one last flashback clip as Isak realizes maybe Even didn’t mean the bench. We again see Even being a charming weirdo at Isak in the bathroom, inside the school. It’s like a life preserver. A moment of hope. Is that what Even meant by the place they met? Because, of course, it’s where they technically met even if they didn’t really talk inside of it. (And because Even is a sentimental weirdo who would hang out in the bathroom just because he met Isak there.)

We see Isak turn toward the school, and hallelujah, just as Nils starts singing again, Even comes out of the school. THANK GOD. Everyone in the whole world collapses in relief. Isak is not too late, Even is alive, Even is here. Even doesn’t look particularly well - he’s all bundled up in a hoodie, like he wants to hide from the world, and you can tell from his body language that he feels done with it all - he’s slumped over and not full of energy. But he’s still here.

Even sees Isak and stops in his tracks. He just freezes. The look on his face is pure shock. He did not think he would be seeing Isak. He didn’t think Isak would come for him - Isak has been thinking for days that their relationship might be over, but at the same time, Even was also thinking it was over. And maybe it’s just such a big moment crashing through his wall of sadness, that Isak is there with him now, that he can’t even move. How do you cope when the person you most want to see but thought you’d never see again is suddenly right in front of you? That Isak read his message and ran to their special place, where Even said he was?

Isak looks back at Even and of course goes to him. They walk toward each other and the shot is absolutely beautiful, it’s dark but the light is warm. How lovely is it that they walk toward each other? And slowly, too, not running into each other’s arms. The emotions, the relief, the love, they’re just too big, and these boys are so vulnerable right now (especially Even) that they need to take it slow. Isak doesn’t overwhelm Even, he approaches him carefully.

Their faces as they approach each other, damn. Especially Even’s, because again, he is completely thrown by this moment. He can’t believe it. And I bet you anything he is scared, and nervous, because this is Isak, beautiful Isak, seeing him for the first time after learning Even is mentally ill. Isak now knows this truth about Even that Even is ashamed of and tried desperately to keep hidden; Isak, who said he was better off without mentally ill people in his life. Even thought he would lose Isak if Isak learned that Even was bipolar. And yet here is Isak. Even doesn’t know what to expect.

Isak and Even are once again dressed somewhat similarly. They have on a kind of maroon sweater or hoodie, jeans, brown shoes. But the way Even is dressed is very guarded, with his hood up, hair covered by a hat, very closed off from the world, while Isak - who we’ve seen dress like Even before by retreating into his hoodie when he’s at a low point - seems more open in his appearance. His head is entirely uncovered, no hat or hood, and his jacket seems open and unzipped. Because it’s now Isak’s turn to be warm and open, he’s not the one struggling here. In fact his purpose is to bring Even out of that shell and make him feel like he’s not alone.

This scene is one of the big 21:21 moments - because Even brought it up in his text, mentioning it was almost 21:21 (the clip was released at 20:24). Besides Isak’s mom’s text earlier this week, the other big scene I associate with this imagery is of course the clip titled 21:21 (pool scene) and O Helga Natt mirrors the pool scene in its imagery. Like with that scene, you have Even standing still on the left as Isak approaches him from the right, with a bright light between them in the distance. There’s even some rain as a counterpart to the water of the pool, and I don’t know if that is just a happy accident of filming, but it adds to the baptism imagery, the water coming down over them.

In both the pool scene and O Helga Natt, you have Isak approaching Even - you have Isak making the decision to act on his own. He’s being proactive to reach Even. Again, this is a rebirth of the self, his character maturing and growing.

By the way, the image of Isak approaching Even? That shot’s one of my favorites in Skam, ever. It’s so simple but so full of feeling.

This is where I’m not positive about the translation again, and feel free to correct me, but the lyrics of “O Helga Natt” at this point when they’re approaching each other contain “du ser en älskad broder” which I believe to something like “you see a beloved brother.” Seems fitting that this plays when they see a loved one.

While there’s a level of caution, especially from Even’s side, Isak doesn’t pause or hesitate as he approaches Even. When he gets close to him, he just immediately leans in for the life-saving nuzzling to happen.

Many shows would have them fall into each other’s arms or start passionately kissing, or Isak would make a dramatic speech, or there would be a lot of dialogue. Skam goes for such a raw, tender approach that it makes a lump rise in my throat. Isak slowly and carefully rubs Even’s face with his. He makes sure that Even can feel him there, feel his warmth when it’s cold enough to see their breath. It is simply about making Even realize that Isak is present and close to him.

Isak also gets in a nose rub, because that is Isak and Even’s thing, that is their gesture of comfort and affection and love. That is a grounding technique that’s developed between them, without even talking about it.

Also, so often we have seen Even initiate these touches. He’s the more experienced one, the more confident of the two, the more extroverted and less repressed. Isak isn’t totally shy about touching Even, but he has often followed Even’s lead on how to touch him. Now it is Isak’s turn to initiate this physical contact.

Even kind of accepts this face nuzzling but he’s also clearly in disbelief, and he closes his eyes. Like he can’t believe it. But when he closes his eyes, he’s blocking out everything but Isak’s warmth and scent and the feel of him nuzzling his cheek.

That fucking muscle in Henrik’s cheek as Isak nuzzles the side of Even’s face = A+ acting, bury me. (This is so obvious I feel ridiculous saying it, but Tarjei and Henrik act the hell out of this scene.)

There are so many spectacularly gorgeous moments in Skam, that you could single out a number as the most beautiful, but for my money: I don’t think any single image gets me quite as strongly as Isak paused with his cheek to Even’s, and Even deciding to nuzzle Isak’s cheek back, and rubbing his face along Isak’s.

Jesus Christ, that moment. Even has been in disbelief and now he’s accepting the love Isak is offering, he’s settling back into himself. He’s showing that Isak has gotten through to him. What a character moment.

Isak takes Even’s head in his hands after that, because it was the turning point, he knows Even is responsive. They look into each other’s eyes, because Isak needs Even to see him.

“You’re not alone.” The one line of dialogue in the clip.

That is the only line of dialogue you need. Not “I love you” or “I’ll always be there for you” or a long monologue. What Even has been indicating all season, both directly and indirectly, is that he is afraid of being alone, or he is convinced he is alone. He just stated it definitively in his suicidal text message, like that is his final conclusion. Even needs to be reassured otherwise. And Isak has made sure that Even is not alone, he’s run to him, and he’s gotten close to him physically, and he’s going to make sure Even isn’t alone after this, either.

The way Isak says it with such simple assurance, and the way Even has to close his eyes because the feeling is too overwhelming. Ugh, crying now.

If you were in the fandom at the time the season was airing, you may remember that after this clip aired, someone posted a picture they snapped of Tarjei and Henrik filming this scene and standing in each other’s faces. There’s a cut between shots before they kiss, and I’ve always wondered if that was because the person stopped to take the picture at that point, lmao. You can see a car drive by in the background. (Or maybe not, because I remember the picture didn’t have Tarjei cupping Henrik’s face? I’m not sure. Anyway, the person who snapped that pic is blessed for not spoiling the fandom.)

That kiss between them. Isak is firmly cupping Even’s face, not letting him go, but he’s not pushing the kiss. There’s this pause before it happens. Because it’s overwhelming, and because I think Isak wants to make sure Even is comfortable with this kiss, so he’s not going to initiate it. He’s letting Even know that he wants to, but he’s waiting for a signal from Even before they proceed. And it’s when Even indicates that he is on board that they kiss.

This kiss is one of my favorite Evak kisses for the sheer amount of emotion behind it. The feeling that this kiss carries all the weight of the world behind it for these two characters. I adore it.

Also, I love the timing of the music with the editing of the clip? For instance, Nils’ voice during this part with the kiss feels particularly angelic, and then it cuts out and we hear just those strings … it’s so powerful.

You know what else is powerful? How Even breaks off the kiss, because the kiss is so much. It’s completely overwhelming, and a lot to handle for someone who’s in a very fragile state. But I think he also can’t quite believe it, still. He thought everything was over. It isn’t. Isak is here, kissing him, showing that he still wants to be with him. Isak has saved him, like in his dreams. 

The lyrics to “O Helga Natt” are about salvation. “O helga natt, du frälsning åt oss gav / Oh holy night, our salvation you gave.” This whole night is about salvation. Isak who had been saved by Even from loneliness and living a fake life now saves Even from being alone and death. That’s where “I’ll save you right back comes in.” 

That shot of them looking at each other, before Isak goes in for the hug - breathtaking. Another one of my favorite images in the whole series. They are too far gone for words at that point, and a hug will say everything that is needed, anyway.

And that hug! Of course, the hug. Wow. That the clip ends with Isak clutching Even for dear life, and then we pull back to see that Even is clutching Isak back. Our final image is two boys holding each other in the warm light of the schoolyard. By themselves, but not alone. It is exactly the message we needed: one of unwavering kindness and support. And just like that, Isak and Even’s relationship is reborn, starting over again from the beginning, this time with no secrets between them.

Do you think, when Even saw Isak on the first day of school, that he imagined Isak was capable of running to him and saving him and loving him so thoroughly?

There’s no music during the end credits, because I mean … what are you going to play, even? Just let the viewers cry in peace.

This scene won a Gullruten, for good reason. I know it was because we fervent Skam fans went wild with voting, but come on, it still deserved everything.

Thematically, this clip combines many of the lessons Isak has learned throughout the season:

Isak has learned to accept his sexuality, so he does not hesitate to run to Even because he accepts that Even’s love for him is real and he loves Even. His internalized homophobia doesn’t play a role in this scene. He has grown enough to embrace his love for another boy rather than trying to repress his sexuality.

Isak has learned that he wants to accept mentally ill people in his life. Not only does the scene start with him reuniting with his mom at the concert, but he has educated himself enough to recognize symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts, and presents himself as fully on board with Even and ready to support him.

Isak has learned to reach out to the people around him for help and to take their advice. Eskild, Sana, Jonas, Magnus … he has a strong support network for himself and he’s learned not to isolate himself. And it’s because Isak has learned not to isolate himself and cut himself off that he is able to extend this lesson to Even. He is able to take the support he’s received and turn it into support given. “You’re not alone” is the lesson Isak has been learning all season.

When I was writing this reaction, I managed to come across in my drafts a post I wrote back in 2016, not long after Skam season 3 aired. I didn’t post it at the time, I guess because I wasn’t as involved in the fandom and the draft felt pretty personal and overly earnest, and I never posted it probably because I just forgot about it. It was by accident that I found it now. However, I want to include what I wrote then, back when S3 was still new, because not only does it explains how this clip pays off the 21:21/rebirth symbolism and the R+J references, but I’m not sure I could say it any better now than I did then about the outstanding relief of this clip:

it’s kind of incredible how during s3 there was always this low-level prickle of dread, especially watching in real time, because the possibility of suicide was always there, starting from 3.02, when Even says that the main characters in a love story have to die for it to be epic. there were the blatant references to Romeo + Juliet, a well as Even’s recurring comments about death (“the brain is alone” in the bed scene, “Did you think I’d died?” in the pool, “I don’t sleep ‘cuz sleep is the cousin of death”) which were this dark cloud over even the happier moments. after the locker room scene, when people really began to hypothesize Even was mentally ill/depressed, it seemed inevitable from all the clues that the story was pointing at a future suicide or an attempt, and that informed the ongoing audience reaction. whenever Even was absent from the clips for a while or didn’t reply to a text, I would see speculation and worry that he had killed himself. and it wasn’t just with Even, either - remember when Linn’s sleeping pills were mentioned during that miserable week of episode 6, people were freaking out that Isak was going to steal her pills and OD. because there were all these thematic hints that you couldn’t get away from, that left a sick feeling in your gut even when Even and Isak were kissing in a pool or cuddling in bed. 

and yeah, some of it probably was because we are so used to seeing stories like this where the lovers do die, that Even’s remark about love stories needing to be tragic to be epic seems like a common enough sentiment. especially stories where gay couples or mentally ill people need to die for it be Meaningful and Deep. we’ve seen plenty of those. it says something that even after Skam had built up enough goodwill in me that I trusted the show to know better than to pull some Bury Your Gays BS, or to kill off a mentally ill kid after taking the time to stress how people with mental illnesses can lead normal lives, I was still crying and yelling at my laptop the first time I saw Isak running from the church, because I was terrified of what he would find.that I could not turn off the part of my brain that said suicide was a very real option and the inevitable conclusion of this storyline.

and then, instead of a story about suicide, we got a story about rebirth

the biblical references have already been pointed out many times (Genesis 21/the birth of Isaac/21:21, baptism/the pool/the rain, the God costume, the Christmas concert/O Helga Natt/birth of Jesus) as well as the ultimate subversion of the R+J suicide (Isak turning away from the church altar rather than going toward it).

I think part of the reason why the O Helga Natt clip struck viewers so profoundly is that the show finally acted on this underlying thread that had caused us so much fear and dread day by day with every ominous comment about death or unanswered text message or shout-out to a sad movie. it finally and explicitly put the pieces together with that quick montage of Isak in the church where he realizes all the hints that had been haunting us for months, it finally got us to the place where we could acknowledge that yes, Even is depressed and suicide is a real possibility

and then it washed away our fears by rejecting this ending as inevitable or showing us the “epic” love story ending in tragedy. instead it showed two people who don’t die, but go back to the beginning (quite literally). we already have the “rebirth” of Isak in the pool, as he begins to accept this huge part of himself that he had denied and start moving toward a better, happier, more authentic version of himself. and now there is another. because of their unconditional love and acceptance, they get a chance to start again. a spiritual and personal rebirth.

Skam played me like a piano and I genuinely feel like a better, more hopeful person for it. thanks, Julie Andem

Social Media/General Comments

I was fucking distraught this week thinking about Even. I get so damn sad thinking about him and what he would have gone through this week. In real time we were all beside ourselves with Even’s absence. We were practically begging for any news of him. But of course Julie held out on us for maximum tension and despair. 

Really, though ... my heart breaks thinking about how miserable he must have felt when he realized what had happened in the hotel, and how Isak told him to stop texting. I know Isak had it rough this week, but Even was going through a depressive episode and I don’t think he had the support network Isak did. He has his parents and Sonja, but Sonja was probably not someone he wanted on his side at that point, regardless of her intentions.

I already talked about the Isak and Eskild text post-hotel scene in the last reaction, but I’m going to say again: one of my favorite moments on the show. And while I’m not sure I’d call it a direct parallel to the end of this episode, it is notable that when Isak texts Eskild, Eskild too drops everything to rush to Isak’s aid, just like Isak ends up running to Even. Again, not that Isak isn’t a nice kid on his own, but I think Isak learns from the kindness and support he gets from others during this season so he can ultimately be there for Even.

There’s a Kollektivet text early in the week. They’re out of toilet paper. Why is it always toilet paper they’re out of? Didn’t Eskild win a year’s supply of toilet paper in S2? Is Isak hoarding it all for his bedside?

Linn gets unusually talkative in the text message, describing her previous heartbreak, so she’s clued in enough to know that Isak is going through some shit. She talks about at first she was depressed, but then comes the hate. 

Isak says he will never hate Even. I love that line so much. At this point Isak thinks his relationship with Even was fake, that it was all a lie, a result of Even’s mania. And Isak isn’t angry with Even, I think. He doesn’t hate Even for it. He doesn’t blame him. It’s a mark of how much he loves Even and a sign that he understands that Even’s mental condition is not Even’s fault.

There’s a very short biology buddies text, as Isak skips another day of school and Sana prints his homework for him. She asks him if everything is ok - a nice little sign of concern - but he doesn’t reply. Awww. Isak, don’t cut yourself off again.

Isak has several significant texts with Magnus in the middle of the week that add to Magnus’ role as Evak cheerleader and bipolar expert.

Apparently Isak and Magnus both watch Westworld. Narcos, Stranger Things, Westworld … regardless of your opinions on those shows, those aren’t trash TV, those are pretty well-regarded series. I’ve mentioned it previously but I’m firmly against Isak’s taste in films and TV being super lowbrow.

Isak texted Magnus first, so Isak is learning that Magnus can help him and he should reach out to his friends for advice. Magnus asks about whether Isak has contacted Even, bless him. I bet that was helpful to Isak if it wasn’t sure how to broach the topic to Magnus.

Magnus doesn’t know a lot of specifics about Even’s condition (like how long he will be depressed) because of course everyone is different, people’s conditions vary based on stuff like whether they’re taking meds. Isak has a lot of questions like whether Even would be hospitalized. Magnus says he’s probably not and encourages Isak to just talk to him. He gives Isak some fake advice about not using words that start with ‘p’, but he’s just messing with Isak, probably because he can tell Isak has a million questions and is worried about the whole thing. And Magnus, of course, has a super chill attitude toward bipolar disorder, this wouldn’t faze him.

After that text, we get the clip where Isak talks to his dad, which is the day after the clip with Magnus explaining bipolar disorder, so Isak waited a day to call Even. I guess he was gathering his courage. (Or they just wanted to show Isak calling him and didn’t want two out of the week’s four clips to air on the same day). After that clip, Isak texts Magnus back, telling him Even hung up on him (did Even actually hang up or did he just not answer?)

Magnus advises Isak to text Even, which Isak does. The text is short, sweet, and polite. Isak says he hopes Even is well. The most important thing, I think, is that Isak tells Even to call him when he feels like it (so on Even’s own terms) and sends a heart emoji, which they’d exchanged before in their episode 8 text messages, when they were together and all lovey-dovey. So he’s letting Even know that he cares, he wants to hear from Even. A turnaround from the previous text to Even, which was “stop texting me.” But I think Even is so depressed though that this sweet text message can’t get through to him. He probably still focuses on that “stop texting me.” Maybe he’s afraid of what Isak will say. Or he just thinks Isak is better off without him, or he lacks the energy to talk to him.

There’s a fair amount of time between the first Magnus-Isak text and the clip, then to the second text with Magnus, then to the Even text. Especially that last one. I think Isak was really debating what to say and dealing with a lot of nerves (or you know, they wanted to stagger the updates a bit).

I love the Isak and Vilde texts from this week. Not that they’re great or happy to hear, but they’re important to the narrative.

Vilde drops in and is like, “Not to gossip but here’s some gossip.” She heard Even has psychological problems. Not content with just asking Isak whether he is gay, she’s got to get in on that craAAAaazy Even gossip train.

Why did she feel the need to tell Isak this? She said it’s because Isak has a relationship with Even, but … why? Is she that concerned about Even being a psycho? Is she that much of a busybody? Does it make her feel important to have this information and bestow it on Isak? Like … what is she expecting, Isak to go, “Gee, thanks Vilde, I didn’t know that and I’m so glad you told me!” (But I mean, him saying that sincerely, not in a sarcastic way.)

What does knowing her S4 home life say about her sharing this with Isak? Consider that Vilde has, similar to Isak (though she doesn’t know), a parent with mental health issues who seems to have problems with depression or alcoholism. Vilde would no doubt hate for people to go around talking about her secret problems (and it is shown to hurt her in S4) so why doesn’t she bestow the same courtesy to others? I think it is largely about wanting to be important in people’s minds and be in the know about the gossip.

Isak just wants to know where this rumor came from. Vilde says it was someone from Bakka who said Even snapped and wrote crazy stuff on the revue Facebook wall. So just like that, the pertinent parts of Even’s backstory slide into place. The odd details like Even transferring in his last year, repeating a grade, not having social media … this one bit of gossip puts those clues into perspective. I mean, if this was all we had gotten about his past, this would have been enough for me? Of course I would be hungry for more, but this says enough.

I like that this season never actually has a big moment where it’s like “and that’s why Even transferred!” It’s up to the viewers to put the pieces together. And it’s through a text that we get this final piece.

Vilde’s reason for sharing this information is confirmed for me when Isak is just like “OK” and she felt the need to reply, “I just thought you’d want to know,” as if she’s disappointed he didn’t have more of a reaction to her graciously telling him this bit of information. She wants to feel important for having the gossip. Isak is like, why would I need to know that? Vilde says she’d want to know. I’m sure she would, she’s concerned with appearances.

Isak shows a huge moment of maturity, by saying what if Vilde fucked up, would she want people to spread rumors about it a year later?(Another thing that makes me feel terrible for Even - he’s switched schools for a fresh start, but as we see, he can’t totally escape his past.) He tells her to grow up. It’s not very nice, but of course he’s not wrong.

Vilde gets defensive and says there’s no need for him to get mad, she was telling him as a friend. I wonder if Vilde was also sharing the gossip to get some points with her new Gay Best Friend. But I’m very proud of Isak here. Even’s past doesn’t bother him, and in fact he gets mad on behalf of Even. The Isak of early s3? He might have cared about what Vilde has to say. This gossip may have bothered him about Even. This current Isak, though, shows compassion and empathy for Even’s struggle and realizes Even is more than his mental illness.

Like some of this is the crux of Isak’s development - the way he defends Even here and says he won’t hate him in an earlier text, not judging him for his past. Isak doesn’t ask Vilde for more details, there’s no indication he’s disturbed by this information. In fact, it’s possible he’s just slotting into place moments from the past, like why he couldn’t find Even on social media and why Even is the same age as Sonja but she’s graduated and he hasn’t. If anything, I think this information just made him understand Even more rather than turning him off.

Then the next morning, Vilde sends him another text message apologizing and saying it was a jerk move, and Isak says it’s OK. I wonder if Vilde took in Isak’s words - that if she fucked up, would she want people spreading rumors a year later? Not just about her mom and home life, but about what happened with William in S1, if people were still talking about that a year later. 

Additionally, probably for the best that she’s on Isak’s good side if she wanted to hook up with Magnus (not like this was a hard feat, though). I don’t think that was the main motivating factor for her apology, I think she sincerely regretted it, but I’m sure the Magnus factor helps.

There’s a late-night text with Jonas, so maybe Isak’s insomnia is back, although Jonas is up at that hour, too, so who knows. Jonas wants to know if Isak’s heard from Even, too, and tells Isak to go to him. Jonas, giving the good advice and supporting his BFF’s happiness as usual.

Isak says Even would have answered his call if he wanted to talk and that he’ll check in over the weekend. Which is both Isak respecting Even’s boundaries, perhaps, and Isak maybe being afraid of pushing things and Even rejecting him.

This time Isak’s “family” event is real! Can’t blame Jonas for his skepticism, though, or his joke about Isak raging against Mahdi.

As mentioned above, Isak’s mom texts him again about looking forward to seeing him in the church where he was baptized. It’s the last text from her of the season, in either social media or a clip, and it would have been nice perhaps to get another in the final week, but I’m fine with this as a sendoff. Isak and his mom aren’t 100% perfect now, but they can work on having a relationship. And of course, it’s a good lead up to the church text and the symbolism there.

As always, please let me know if I misunderstood something from a language or cultural perspective.

If you’re still reading these, thank you! Especially after the long break I took. I’m almost done with this season’s reactions and I’ve loved talking about it with people and hearing from you all ❤️

[steampunkworldsfair]

Reasons to never attend anything run by Jeff Mach

We’ll let him speak for himself.  Published on Medium on 2/25/19. Not directly linked because he shouldn’t get the clicks. TW: Rape, consent violations, general grossness

TL:DR as posted elsewhere by David Christman: Jeff Mach, the former owner of Steampunk World's Fare and Wicked Faire, boasts about how being accused of sexual misconduct has made him more sexually desirable.No. Really. He brags about it. That he's more desirable since being labeled a sexual abuser.This is the kind of person Jeff is. This is the twisted pile of flaming garbage he truly is. And he's no longer trying to hide it.

----------------------------

Jeff Mach

Feb 25

So when I was a Fetlife darling, one of the top ten Kinky and Popular writers, running well-known fetish events, I got quite a lot of offers — partly due to those things, partly due to my book on submission, my visible skills, and the knowledge you earn after 25 years in the kink world. And partly, of course, due to my politics, my strict social-justice, ban-’em-all-and-let-God-sort-’em-out stances.

When I was accused of horrible misconduct and “Jeff Mach allegations” became the phrase which followed me on Google, all that stopped.

…YEAH, RIGHT!

I can’t begin to describe how many more offers I get from people, now that I am “banned”. As it turns out — and this is not public knowledge — I’m recovering from my divorce; I have trust issues; and I have dedicated myself to rebuilding things like Evil Expo and recovering from the ending/divorce of a 13-year relationship. I am actually a celibate. But that’s not the point.

It’s true. I have experienced a 90% drop in offers short-haired (and blue/pink/green-haired) women who wear politically progressive t-shirts. Which is a pity, because I’m a fan of those people.

But I’ve received about a 200% increase in somewhat more traditional women who have asked if I’d like to “get together”, “spend a weekend”, or, in many cases, “take a quick trip to the restaurant”. I thought “want to try my new whip?” and “I’m not wearing panties” were pick-up lines of the 90s. But no, they’re quite real.

I’m NOT denigrating people who are offering my sex or play — not by any stretch of the imagination. I feel grateful, I feel flattered, and some of them have been the most interesting, articulate, attractive people I’ve met in almost three decades of the scene.

I’m just fascinated.

I embarked, by choice, on a trip of semi-celibacy, and semi-monogamy, especially during the first year of my exile, while I was working hard on myself.

But I simply had no idea what was going to be offered to me.

And I don’t go to kink parties — I wasn’t a big partygoer back in the day. Doesn’t matter. Happens at Goth events. Happens at concerts. Happens online. And these aren’t people who are ignorant of the allegations, or even people who think they’re not true.

They think the allegations are true, they think I’m a Dangerous Top, and they consider it HOT AS F*CK.

I’m not sure how to feel here. I was never a “consent advocate” to get laid. I expected that I’d date people with similar politics. But those things were never part of how I met or played with people; those things tended to rely on short discussions in person, then long, long correspondences, long negotiations, long discussions in person, more negotiation…

…..a lot of people dropped out during this process. Or were pretty much picked up in front of me by people who said, “Hey, let’s go do a thing. Just tell me where I can’t leave marks and what I’m allowed to penetrate.”

Now that I’m labelled a Dangerous Top, an Unsafe Dominant, a Manipulative Monster Who Forces His Will On Those Around Him…

…..I could start a Japanese vending machine with all the panties that get handed to me. I could take a vacation just travelling to the places where people invite me to their homes and hotel rooms.

Here’s a thing, O best beloved:

The Kink Scene of 2017 was a time of shakeup, power plays, and redistribution of authority. Applying current social norms to kink events of five or ten or fifteen years later meant that most people who’d done a reasonable amount of play were now considered Guilty of Abuse — and the more people who label you guilty, the more others are encouraged to come forward. It’s natural; they see others getting acclaim and support and status and (frankly) social media clout and influence by taking you down; they hear you’re a Horrible Person; and suddenly, they remember that scene they had with you ten years ago, when you did That Unmentionable Thing.

(Current favorite moment of irony: I have a very vehement accuser who claims that I did [nonsexual] play with a [legal] sixteen-year-old college student. I’ve got a picture of him beating her — in public. It’s ironic. And it’s sad. But his friend runs the website that’s gone after me; they’re not going to post stories about him.)

And it doesn’t matter, because this is all a sidenote. To the proponents of Social Ostracism and Shaming, I say:

It ain’t working.

Or — I definitely know some of my brethrin who, like me, are heartbroken, unsure about the world, traumatized, and spending their time in self-recrimination.

But we don’t have to be. We COULD just be screwing our brains out.

And those of us who are accused, but just plain don’t care? (Yes, Tim, you’re the first person I look at.) Well, everything he said is starting to make sense. Is he giving submissives what they want? Does he deserve to be at the top of everyone’s playlist?

I don’t know. All I know is that M has gone silent and underground. I’m here, writing books. But it’s really, really clear that there are a LOT of bottoms who were turned off by my bland, hyperconsent-focused, heavily-negotiated, cautious, “Let’s talk more” kink, who figure that now that I’ve left that world, I’m DTF, hardcore, and ready to give them erotic satisfaction like Robert Downey, Jr. being paired with the Winchester brother’s in someone’s 300-page erotic BDSM novel.

So now I know a secret. I’m not sure I wanted to know this. I don’t know what to do with it — so far, I’ve done nothing (except, of course, write):

Being taken down for #MeToo allegations, in the kink community, has opened up the doors to more kink opportunities than I’ve had in the past 25 years combined.

In addition to all the other problems — the witch hunts, the mob mentalities, the cultures of fear, the damage to (and death of) kink events, the discrediting of kink in news media, the disillusioning of a younger generation —

— it’s just possible that the “punishment” of exiling a dominant for being “too much like the sexy, rapey protagonist of the stories to which we get off” might not actually work.

If I could sail, do needlework, or take vacations, I’d be able to hoist a mast made of panties sewn together, and set off for Tahiti.

I really feel like that’s not what was intended when people decided I was a monster.

Here’s the bottom line:

Mob justice doesn’t work. Social shaming is a blunt instrument which does extraordinary harm, whether or not it also does good. But even if you ignore those things —

Calling #MeToo and shutting off kink practitioners, trying to remove their voices, attacking them and never having conversations —

— simply results in a world where they have more opportunities than you can imagine.

This is a bad method for dealing with consent issues. We need a better one.

Jeff Mach

(author, educator, dominant)

[progressivejudaism]

I have included the entire text of this article.  It is worth reading the entire text here from Rabbi Aaron Brusso of Bet Torah of Mt.Kisco, New York’s beloved Armondo:

A week before the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer told him he was going to a detention facility, Armando, our synagogue’s custodian for two decades, had come in to work on President’s Day to be there for my family as we held a small service to celebrate my son’s upcoming bar mitzvah.

Afterwards, as we ate lunch, Armando stood at a distance smiling. A week later, when I spoke to him in custody, he said through tears, “I have seen your son grow. I wanted to be there for the big celebration. ”My son, by happenstance of birth, is a United States citizen, and simply by reaching the age of 13 he becomes a full citizen of our religious community. Armando has worked and lived in this country more than twice as long as my son has been alive, has two boys of his own, no criminal record, steady employment and a community of hundreds of families who love him.

Yet in an instant, he was taken away.

Like my son, I did absolutely nothing to earn or deserve my citizenship, it was gifted to me at birth because of a decision my great-grandparents made. I didn’t have to work for it, sacrifice for it, travel for it. It was given to me before I knew to dream of it, before I knew what dreams were.

We enjoy tremendous privilege and access simply because we were born in the right place at the right time. Not so for Armando.

We got a call that Armando had been arrested over the weekend and was in the county jail. He was in a restaurant with family when a fight broke out. The police were called and they arrested a number of people, including Armando. Aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was completely exonerated in court.

But during his time in the county jail, ICE was sent a list of inmates. An ICE officer came to the jail to let him know he was going to be brought into detention.

Armando came to this country nearly 30 years ago. In the 20 years he worked in our synagogue, he paid social security, Medicare, state and local taxes. As far as we were concerned he belonged in every way. But others apparently saw that differently.

As soon as Armando was in ICE custody, our community sprang into action. As a rabbi, it has been particularly moving to see my synagogue live out the value of chesed, or loving-kindness. Community members collected money, secured legal representation and wrote dozens of letters attesting to his character. We reached out to his family and assured them we would be there for them and would not let him be deported.

One family’s letter mentioned that Armando was a guest reader in their child’s preschool classes. Another parent talked about how Armando convinced her hesitant son to get out of the car and go inside for religious school. Then there was the parent who had a medical emergency and had to rush a child to the hospital with only time to ask the closest adult — Armando — if he would get her other son after class and stay with him. I was so used to seeing Armando taking care of our families that I was a bit ashamed of how little thought I had given to him being a father to his own sons.

I accompanied Armando’s son to visit his dad while he was being held at the county jail. Armando looked at his son and said “I don’t want you to stop your education. I want you to have what I didn’t.” I imagined the same conversation between my great-grandfather and my grandfather, just with a Yiddish accent.

The attorney we found worked quickly to put together a plea for a stay of deportation and get in touch with immigration authorities. He put together a character profile, but how do you characterize the look of embarrassment on Armando’s face when the synagogue staff brought out a cake and sang happy birthday to him? Or the way he made our kids feel at home when they high fived him in the hallways? Or the smile on his face when he would explain to people how often he brought his own son to synagogue? “He grew up here,” Armando would say.

The ICE officer, who the lawyer informed us had complete say over Armando’s fate, didn’t return the attorney’s call for days.  A week after Armando entered ICE detention, I called the attorney to check in. “An hour ago, he was taken from the detention facility and is being moved,” the lawyer reported. “We don’t know where to. All they know is that he is in transit.” The only way Armando’s family knew any of this was because the attorney had reached out to ICE.

Later that day, Armando called his family from Tijuana, Mexico, his country of birth. He had been brought over the border and left without bank cards, cash, cell phone or ID. He was given no time to gather any belongings or to call his family to say goodbye. As Armando told his son, an ICE officer who escorted him with others to the border told the group, “You’ll all probably get kidnapped.”

When I heard that, I thought about how carefully Armando cared for the families in our community and how unthinkable it would be for him to purposefully cause anyone discomfort or fear. Earlier, when rhetoric around immigration was heating up and people born in Mexico were being referred to as drug dealers and rapists, I had stopped Armando in the hallway; I felt the need to apologize for the cruelty we in the United States had enabled. He shook his head and said, “I just don’t understand why people need to talk like that.”If crossing a border to seek a better life is in and of itself such a crime, why would anyone need to characterize people like Armando as cruel and brutal? If anything, the exaggeration reveals how insufficiently transgressive it is to dream of a better life. If anything is brutal, it’s the enforcement system itself. It is now built for speed and efficiency, for maximum action and minimum thought. When we don’t feel the need to understand a person’s story,

it becomes much easier to taunt them with fears of being kidnapped. In fact, it becomes necessary, because if we all realized immigrants were human beings, who could sleep at night?

But didn’t he break the law by coming here?  If we are a nation of laws then don’t we have to respect the law? Good people, people who love Armando have asked these questions. I think it’s important to make a distinction between procedural justice, the idea that the law should be applied equally, and substantive justice, the notion that law should produce good in the world. Right now we are applying the law strongly and across the board. But we also have to own the consequences of doing so. We are breaking up families that include U.S. citizens, depriving them of income and taking parents away from children. We are creating greater dependencies in our society and millions are vulnerable to this fate. Circumstances change. What begins with good intentions can end in cruelty. It is possible for a law to be both legal and cruel at the same time. Like good parenting (don’t drink, but if you do I’ll come pick you up no questions asked) it is possible to send clear, mixed messages.

A pathway to citizenship can be created for those who are here at the same time as laws for orderly entry are reaffirmed. We can apply the law equally and assure that it produces good in the world. We can reestablish the integrity of our communal body without losing our soul. Apparently these kinds of distinctions were appreciated by a judge in New York. Shortly after Armando was deported we found out that the motion for stay of deportation had been granted. Department of Homeland Security acknowledged receiving it, the day after Armando was deported.

Now Armando’s absence weighs on me. Before February, every day rushing to a class, a meeting or a counseling session, I would catch Armando out of the corner of my eye and we would quickly smile and wave. Since he was taken, there have been moments where I thought I saw him and turned, but there was nobody there. A phenomenon even more painful for his sons.

After Armando was dropped off with nothing across the border he made his way to relatives. We didn’t hear anything from him for 24 hours. I finally got a text from his son saying his dad was ok. We have been in almost daily contact with the family since. His oldest son is incredibly positive, but I have talked to him enough to have built up trust.

Through tears he will say that he just wants to get his dad back. Recently, a delegation from my synagogue joined Armando’s son and flew down to San Diego to meet Armando in Tijuana. We wanted to be with him as he walked to the border to seek asylum.

They told us that they did not have the “capacity,” and turned him away.

We will try again soon.

One thing is for sure: our community will not give up. As I crossed back into the U.S. from Mexico, having left Armando behind, I handed over my passport to be scanned. For the first time I did so without pride. I was a citizen, but of what kind of country? The irony is that in enforcing so callously the line between citizen and non-citizen, we don’t affirm, but actually cheapen, the meaning of citizenship.

As citizens, we are all implicated in our country’s behavior. If human beings without our status can be treated, in our names, in such cruel and thoughtless ways, then of what value is our status? The truth is that when Armando was taken, we didn’t just remove a father from his family and a member from a community, we deported a piece of our humanity as well.

The picture I can’t get out of my mind is of Armando and his son holding each other and saying goodbye through tears last week in Tijuauna. This past week I stood next to my son as he read from the Torah for the first time. Fathers have so many hopes for their sons.I hope my son uses his unearned citizenship to make this country worthy again of people like Armando.

[raimagnolia]

The irony

But seriously? It's a debate; she was putting pressure on him to defend his position. That's the whole point of a debate.

Was this kid failing the class or something?

Here's the transcript:

“All of them?” Salim says in the video clip of her class.

“I'd say a good majority. You have bad people in every business,” Ellis responds.

Salim says, “Yet, a lot of police officers have committed an atrocious crime and have gotten away with it and have never been convicted of any of it.”

Ellis says, “This is what I believe. I do support our police. We have bad people, and the people that do bad things should be brought to justice. I agree with that.”

The exchange continues, with Salim saying she has family members who are police officers, and asking if police officers belong on TV shows for children, alongside other kind of heroes. She also argues that modern policing has its roots in groups who tracked down runaway enslaved persons in South.

Ellis asks who else there is to call in an emergency, such as when an armed intruder enters one’s home. Salim interrupts, saying she would not call the police in that scenario. “I don’t trust them,” she says.

The clip attracted click after click. Ellis was quickly invited on Fox News to talk about what he described as the “liberal agenda in college.” He said he believed that Salim was trying get a “gotcha moment out of me.” Nevertheless, he said, conservative students should respond to such interactions with “gentleness and respect.”

Cypress College did not name Salim in an initial statement about the incident, saying that a faculty member who had previously indicated she would not be returning to the college was on leave for the rest of the semester. Salim's statement does not address the circumstances of her leave.

“Cypress College takes great pride in fostering a learning environment for students where ideas and opinions are exchanged as a vital piece of the educational journey,” the statement said. “Our community fully embraces this culture; students often defend one another’s rights to express themselves freely, even when opinions differ. Any efforts to suppress free and respectful expression on our campus will not be tolerated.”

Threats, and a ‘Failure to Be Anti-Racist’

The college said it was reviewing the full recording of the exchange in question “and will address it fully in the coming days.”

Several days later, the college temporarily limited on-campus operations, citing a “threat directed at the campus community.” The college said its information technology department would continue to monitor “attempts to compromise our technology security.”

“Several emails, social media comments and other correspondence have been referred for examination throughout the week,” the college also said.

According to the union statement, several of Salim’s colleagues have been mistaken for her on or through social media and dealt with “very traumatic experiences involving racist and sexist attacks, a tarnishing of their reputation and sharing of their personal information.”

Underscoring these attacks and the suspension of on-campus classes, the union said the college district’s “poor handling” of the Salim case has had a “chilling effect that compromises academic freedom and the safety of our workplace. This is a direct result of the failure of NOCCCD to engage meaningfully and take a strong and clear stance to protect their employees.”

District faculty members of color or those belonging to other minority groups have been disproportionately affected, the union said, as they are “more likely to become targets of white supremacist organizations, news outlets, and individuals.” Ultimately, “the failure to issue a clear and strong statement of support for faculty under the existing circumstances is a failure to be anti-racist. It is a failure to protect our most vulnerable faculty.”

The Latino Faculty and Staff Association said it agreed that “We must be united and support one another if we are truly an anti-racist educational institution.”

Salim’s statement, which was read at a recent faculty meeting on her behalf and then posted to Facebook by a colleague, said “the narrative” thus far is that Ellis “was not allowed to talk.” In reality, she said, his speech “was 6:57 minutes of uninterrupted time. The virtual videos that have been shared show the end of a question-and-answer segment of our class.”

For context, Salim said that Ellis and other students had been “taught the skills to stand their ground, substantiate their claims with facts and citations, and maintain control of the floor against critics” over the course of the term. Even so, Salim said she circled back to Ellis at the end of the class to ask, “Was there anything that you want to share to get off your chest?”

She says he declined.

Who’s Getting Canceled?

“Now, let’s take a moment to frame what you saw for what it was: the tail end of a question-and-answer session taken out of context and distorted,” Salim said. “During his speech, Ellis made a series of seemingly unrelated claims that lacked proper support and evidence, which warranted questioning. Again, a skill we have worked on over the course of the semester. It is also important to point out that the video streaming was lagging and causing delays and some unintentional interruptions.”

Salim said that JoAnna Schilling, Cypress College’s president, “has advised me not to speak up. To wait until this storm passes. To the district, I will say, if we have a right to representation, you should have let me know. If academic freedom only belongs to one group, let me know. If our campus culture is based on performative inclusion, and performative diversity and equity, let me know. I am unapologetically Muslim and queer. Our class members knew this, it came up during our discussions, and now you know, too.”

Quoting Ellis, Salim also said that “Cancel culture is tearing apart our country.” Supporters of Salim have started a GoFundMe account, writing that “The student presented his opinion of police officers without acknowledgement of the context and the array of perspectives that it evokes -- 2021, amidst the largest mobilization in U.S. History against police brutality, specifically for its toll on Black lives. Then he decided to ‘cancel’ the professor for challenging his incomplete narrative.” (The account accuses Ellis of a flashing a white supremacist symbol in a photo. Ellis has denied this, saying that he was imitating a gesture commonly used by Donald Trump.)

Cypress College did not answer specific questions about what policies Salim had violated, if any. It did not share information about how or why the class clip was uploaded to the internet, though faculty members across the college district have publicly raised concerns about the fact that it was apparently uploaded without Salim’s consent.

The college said in an updated statement Friday that it “remains committed to protecting the individual rights of all those in a class video circulating in the media and acknowledges the importance of an objective review process that will help us understand the full context of this situation. We hope to bring closure to this matter in the weeks to come.”

Cypress “has supported and will continue to support the academic freedoms we know are essential in an institution of higher learning,” it also said. “Equally important is our mission to serve our students in a safe learning environment. Our faculty remain committed to a culture that fosters a free exchange of ideas in the classroom while supporting the educational needs of our students. We are proud to provide an inclusive and welcoming educational environment -- especially for those students whose only access to higher education is through the community colleges.”

 

Read more by 

Colleen Flaherty



WANT TO ADVERTISE? CLICK HERE.

WANT TO ADVERTISE? CLICK HERE.

TRENDING STORIES

Military historians battle over Texas meeting boycott

U of Wisconsin Board of Regents approves new tenure policies, despite faculty concerns

Colleges mandating vaccines see progress toward compliance

Survey Finds ‘Openly Jewish’ Students Feel Unsafe on Campus

The Other Kind of Exposure | Confessions of a Community College Dean

WANT TO ADVERTISE? CLICK HERE.

Inside Higher Ed Careers

Hiring? Post A Job Today!

Faculty Jobs

Administrative Jobs

Executive Administration Jobs

Jobs Outside Higher Education

 

Browse Faculty Jobs

Choose a Faculty JobsArts & HumanitiesEducationEngineering & MathematicsHealth & MedicalProfessional FieldsScience & TechnologySocial SciencesTechnical & Vocational Fields

We have retired comments and introduced Letters to the Editor. Letters may be sent to letters@insidehighered.com.

Read the Letters to the Editor  »

You may also be interested in...

Supporting adults at historically Black community colleges

Yale-NUS in Singapore to Close in 2025

Amherst College President to Step Down Next Year

Today’s News from Inside Higher Ed



Climbing Toward Vaccine Compliance

 



A ‘Forceful Voice’ for Community Colleges

 



Battle Over a Texas Boycott

Inside Higher Ed’s Quick Takes

Survey Finds ‘Openly Jewish’ Students Feel Unsafe on Campus

Baylor Moves Class Online Over Instructor’s Mask Protest

Professors Sue College to Keep Their Jobs

Arkansas Will Soon Be Without a Dance Program

GAO Report: Office of Federal Student Aid Is Understaffed

The Pulse: Dan Avida of Engageli

BACK TO TOP

News & Views

Admissions

Student Voice

Teaching & Learning

Diversity

The Key Podcast

Careers

Find a Job

College Pages

Career Advice

Job Alerts

Post a Job

Events

In-Person Events

Editorial Webcasts

Vendor Webcasts

Reports & Data

Special Reports

Surveys

Booklets

AAUP Compensation Data

Quick Takes

 

Views

 

Blog U

 

Letters to the Editor

 

Podcasts

 

Topics

 

Sponsored Content

 News & Opinion Jobs 

Free Newsletters

 

Contact Us

 

About Us

 

Hire Faculty & Staff

 

Advertise

 

Work For Us

 

Testimonials

 

Rights and Permissions

 

Privacy

 

Share our content

Copyright © 2021  •  Inside Higher Ed  •  1150 Connecticut Avenue NW Suite 400  •  Washington, DC 20036  •  Ph: 1-202-659-9208  •  Fax: 1-202-659-9381Do Not Sell My Personal Information

  

 

You have 4 of 5 articles left this month. 

Give this woman her job back and a raise

[dog-day-morning]

THIS AIN'T LEGAL

Have you ever heard of absolute immunity? Federal officers who violate the Civil Rights of American citizens in an attempt to do harm with recorded video evidence of the violation in action or officers who willingly falsify a police report of a violent attack in order to frame the victim while the antagonist sits before a judge and jury perjuring herself with alligator tears before an all white jury with her blonde locks, and blue eyes, damn devil, and goes free while an innocent child spends 17 months behind bars. To say that Amerikkka is unjust is an understatement. Too many times Black people are dragged into a court that's already biased, having to face a judge, and jury who may have a vested financial interest in the private prison industry, but let's be real. The school to prison pipeline is not a myth, it's a bloody bruise on the face of Lady Liberty. Liberty, and justice for all never applied to the indigenous people of Amerikkka or any of the ADOS, and FBA citizens whose roots are entrenched in the Earth bleeding from a wound the wicked do not want to heal. The above mentioned scenarios actually happened to one of your own Amerikkka, and a child from the Middle East. It's funny that Amerikkkans appear to want peace seemingly always, but you're forever raising hell outside of your jurisdiction? Joe Biden is deporting Haitian refugees out of the country ASAP, while transporting inland, and giving amnesty to Afghan refugees, and South Americans even so far as to offer them free secondary education, and housing. The culture of Amerikkka is against a Black man ever rising up to experience the American Dream in a Taliban like Aristocracy or Totalitarian society that started centuries before Biden became president. He's not the answer to our problems nor is he the root of the issue. Amerikkka is a canker sore, and a blight that impedes the progression of a once dominant, but humble people. No one needs to preach of racial superiority and use terror tactics in order to justify a calloused approach to validate this viral disease that affects everyone with a modicum of common sense, decency, and compassion. Amerikkka was a Nation before Amerigo Vespucci set foot on these shores. Alkebulan was inhabited by some of the most brilliant minds, and still is before Scipio Africanus named the dark continent after himself, an albino. Ohhh the irony, and moral hypocrisy. Timbuktu, and the city of Alexandria were well established kingdoms in Alkebulan where Greek, and Roman scholars went to gather much needed knowledge because they were dumb as hell. Egypt is a mystery that none can determine for now. When the prophecy is fulfilled by the Father whom the Prophet Joel spoke thereof He would pour His Spirit down upon all flesh, the truth will set you and I free. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. What's impeding us from this prophetic word? Keep your thoughts to yourself. That's a luxury I haven't had since the age of stupid. Not wanting to call you out on the sins of your fathers, but you are just like him. I hope, and pray the Father fulfills His will in time before our hearts wax cold, too late. Amerikkka’s public enemy will not be our Black sons or daughters that are trying to follow the rules of man whose lawlessness has revealed itself to be an entire race of people. You create the laws, and break them leaving everyone with a bad taste in their mouth except those who profit from our pain. Chris Rock said this years ago. “The white man is the only one who profits from everyone's pain, especially a Black man’s.” you see how they treat us, and you have no inclination of what your future will hold for your people in the aftermath of the Zombie Apocalypse. I hate this form of pop culture rhetoric. There will be souls inhabiting these bodies that were once dead, and decomposing. God will deliver the dead from the sea, and He will deliver the dead from death, and hell.

Isaiah 26:17-21

17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.

18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain..

When our Lord Christ Jesus does this work how do you think those who've hated, and betrayed us for a season of sin will react in the oncoming horror set before mankind? God has placed us on the Earth for a purpose, not to suffer. I can't put the blame on Joe Biden or those who came before him for what this nation or planet has done, and is doing to us; psych!!! The God of our fathers will judge you according to your works which has wrought death and destruction. The wrath, and judgment Joe Biden, trump, and their people will incur, and experience is worse than any Stephen King novel or Jordan Peele, and M. Night Shyamalan movies can induce in your alleged, fragile psyche. I've told Jacob, and warned the gentiles of God's incoming judgment, but no ones willing to heed the words of an idiot savant. I'm guilty of many things by way of my woeful condition. I'm compelled to elaborate these truths to you as they become relevant at a particular hour. Watch out for your young children who may be a pain, but they're innocent, and they're yours. The world sees us as prey, a potential payoff for an organ harvest, and fodder for the wickedly unjust. This woman that they have been searching for these last 5 or so days in a National Park has this Nation all a buzz. Who is she? Do you know how many women of Jacob go missing everyday without any press from the media? We can blame them, but are they at fault? Hell yeah!!! Continue to read. Our people have been limited by those who control the information, the social media platforms, infighting within our own tried Black media organizations that have blessed us over the years who are left open to attack by oppressive censorship that purposely restricts what they can, and cannot reveal to the Black masses. I was amazed to find out in 2017 that Coretta Scott King, and her family successfully sued the US government over the assassination of MLK Jr.; that was in 1999. The Atlanta Black Star might have covered the litigation process, but I didn't hear a peep from anyone I knew or even hear about it on any news media platform, especially from the major media news networks. That's how they've Silenced the Lamb with threats, and bullying tactics. We've come too far to go back to Egypt. The only time I wanna hear mention of going to Egypt is if my Church takes a sabbatical to the Motherland, and my Apostle takes the trip with us to seek the truths that have been denied us. Reference Joel 2:28. Those who stay committed to this ministry will see beyond the veil. If you placed all of your faith in me or Apostle Johnson you have overlooked the reasons God led you to this Church, Elders, Evangelists, Prophetesses, Deacons, Ministers, and the entire Church family. He nor I can do anything without the will of the Father, and I’m stuck on dufus. Get yo tail back to Church ASAP!!! We place our faith in men who have let us down many times. Apostle has done much for me, but Jesus has done everything. God will do a good work in all of us. I want every man, woman, and child in this ministry to reap what they have sown; don't leave. When the sky turns black, and the heavens roll back, peeling back the clouds, that's when you will see or hear the Son of God coming for His faithful. Apostle has taught us of the temporal mental mindset many times. Evidently it’s true as many of us have forgotten his teachings. My mind went off on a tangent, excuse me, where was I ? BET is owned by Jews, who used to own us. They run the entertainment industry that Buck breaks our men, and you wouldn't believe what they do to black women, and children who are all looking for a way to display their talents in order to get wealth, and their name up in lights. Leroy has the talent, all Mr. Epstein can offer you is a bogus contract that rips you off in the end leaving you po, broke, and lonely with a busted a-hole. Those who beat the system at their own game wind up 6 feet deep. Why do you think they murdered Michael Jackson, Prince, Sam Cooke, and James Brown? Michael owned half of SONY BMI. Prince owned all of his Masters that his

siblings sold for pennies on the dollar. Sam was going to start his own label, and brother James who had a label, but the IRS falsely audited him several times forcing him to sell his label keeping Soul Brother number 1 from becoming the first billionaire recording artist decades before JZ did. THIS AINT LEGAL. All that glitters isn't gold people. Ask Mr. Goldberg who runs several porn studios in Silicone Valley California. They run the majority of that particular industry as well as recording, movie and TV production studios while controlling the financial institutions. The majority heads of the Department of the Treasury including the current, Janet Yellen have been Jewish. Not trying to be a dissenter, but someone’s getting screwed. It's the middle class, and our fat, Black… ? William Randolph Hearst made the movie Reefer Madness which was a propaganda film not because hemp was a gateway drug to other crap, hell a pack of cigarettes has killed more people than ten thousand blunts. Smoke a blunt, and 30 minutes later you wanna eat. Smoke crack, and 30 minutes later you're sucking d**k. Hemp can be used in a vast amount of ways that would’ve crippled Mr. Hearst’s other industries. You can use it as fabric for clothes that's stronger, and more durable than cotton. The hemp plant had more useful potential than the soybean, and peanut combined!!! Marijuana isn't a drug at all, it's an herb. The Egyptians used it to cure many ailments including cancer. If I were still on Instagram Mark Suckerberg would personally shut my page down himself… again. That's why I no longer use white run social media websites. Mr. Hearst's only interest in getting the government to make hemp illegal was to keep his financial, investment interests ever increasing. In the end it turned out to do more harm than good. Now that the government has managed to tax the herb, they've made it legal. Why in the hell are Black men, and women still serving draconian, archaic prison sentences for minor marijuana drug offenses that don't make sense to a mongoloid retard?!! Like I said: “THIS AINT LEGAL.” Babylon the Damned will fall on its pancaked derriere soon enough. Pray to God the Zombie Apocalypse runs right past your abode or get some pads from your son's football uniform in order to appease the dead in Christ who may want a ham sandwich or your daughter Becky. This too shall pass. Try lamb's blood? The closer I get to death or that visitation with someone I've been wanting to see for a long time because I can't see, the more these things come back to my remembrance. This is enough for today. Whatever God reveals to me in the next few days hopefully I’ll relate some of that information to you. I thank those for judging me as a simp, punk b**ch, p**sy a** n**gah, punk a** n**gah, sorry a** n**gah, faggot, and everything you project or judge according to your flesh. I have no secrets so what am I trying to hide? Get your house in order Jeff, your life may be required of you, and ya boy in the wheelchair. Still someone else's identity Yippie Yai Kai Yay mother!@#$%& 9/21/2021

[iamhowardbrown]

i am greta

I Am Greta "I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice." Please comment on this quote by Greta. How does it differ from the priorities of many teens? Do you see any irony in how popular Greta has become worldwide? This Quote by Greta is intriguing because she is not looking for empathy for herself, yet empathy for the planet. Many teens today are growing up in a world where narcissism is socially acceptable among all ages. Many people try very hard to share their life views with the world in hopes of some grand recognition or payout. Almost to the point where it is abnormal to not post about your life. In fact to the point that you have no life if your not posting in some sort of way. Many people are falling in to the’ look at me look at me’ ‘look what i can do’ category of life and just desire to be seen. Although this has positive qualities in some instances like during a quarantine, it is the reverse for someone like Greta. Whereas shes saying listen to my words and think about your actions. She has become no more popular than any activist making strides. She just happens to be young. Did you attend the #ClimateStrike just one year ago in Foley Square in NYC? If yes, what was your experience first hand? If you tuned in virtually were you surprised how many people across the world were galvanized by her message? I did not tune in or attend the climate strike. Personally I work every day to reduce my carbon footprint. I also express the same passion to my peers and encourage them to do so. I feel that many of the strikes and protests that are happening around the world are designed for a different audience and have been effective. The youth are often forced to sit by and watch as adults put in the backbreaking gut-wrenching work. It is phenomenal that a young girl not even of voting age can inspire so many to pay more attention to something they should already be doing. I love that people have recognized her worlds and are rallying together in an effort to create a larger voice around climate justice as well as social justice as a whole. Most people don't realize the impact of climate change, or the importance of bees and pollination and these are issues that shouldn't make us uncomfortable yet more curious about how we can live differently together. Greta is doing that by the impact she's having on the youth of the world. Why do you think a girl with Asperger's syndrome has inspired a generation of young people to rise up for climate? It's easy to sit by and watch. Its always harder to get out and do something and i think that Greta is helping people wake up. Particularly when it comes to the current youth generations who are spoiled and lazy. She is classified as having a syndrome yet does not let that define her. There are many youths in standard good health who are slowly realizing that they have no excuse and should be doing more. She is also showing how important it is to apply yourself to what you believe in and is reminding people that if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything. I believe that many youths have been waiting for a superhero/heroin type of figure or an underdog if you will to actually have an impact so they can see that confidence is a state of mind and that coupled with the accessibility of media and narcissistic culture has ushered in a passive-aggressive guilt trip era. Almost to the point your not cool if your not doing something about the issues we face. Its almost as if Greta has made the challenge to everyone to take your pick whether it be climate change or injustice around the world, if your not constantly educating yourself and acting then you may not be as cool as you think you are. Do you think the pandemic has dampened or amplified the climate situation? How can we innovate beyond the limitations imposed by the pandemic to create new strategies for activism? Please provide specific examples. I do feel the pandemic has affected climate change. For a while, there were fewer people traveling, which in turn reduced pollution from the burning of fuels. Factories were closed etc., I would like to think that had some environmental impact although I'm not certain. Additionally, it reduced surface pollution as well because people were managing their garbage from home, and most likely creating less waste globally due to the lack of availability to goods. We shifted online which I believe affected tree farming and paper production, however brief it was id also like to believe this had some impact of some sort. The same goes for water pollution, less people in the water or on beaches should have had some impact even if minuscule. This Pandemic has created a new platform for digital activism. Whereas more people are reading and creating messages that can be seen around the world and taking time to look closely at global issues and personal behavior choices that can have a more positive and efficient impact. "...if a few girls can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school for a few weeks, imagine what we could do together if we wanted to." --Greta Thunberg, 2018  What are your thoughts on this quote? I absolutely agree. There is strength in numbers.  That is a known fact, and that it can be used for good or bad. Women are finally catching the rhythm of social recognition. This is past due, and it has been to often the women who have the most positive impacts are overshadowed by anything you can think of. To that fact the idea of the issue becomes more important than gender I suppose, however, I feel it is also a common thread in social history that not all women get along. I feel that its past time to undo this reality for some and misconceptions for others because it does affect how we get things done. Yes, we must all work together, but an organized group of women young or old can have major impacts on how the world responds to an issue. I think this quite by Greta is important because it points out the fact that we will easily pay attention to something simple like education but not the planet. It is important for girls to go to school especially after such a long history of oppression related to education and all the women that suffered for trying to learn. I also feel the fact of the matter is girls need to stand by one another and lead the world into the next phase problem solving and troubleshooting, and Greta is challenging girls to imagine what that could be and to not be afraid to be more than they are expected to be. Choose one favorite quote from the "Our House is on Fire" speech included in No One is Too Small to Make a Difference and comment. Why do you think this speech inspired so many memes? Find a meme to include on your blog. No one is too small to make a difference. “Greta Thunberg is the Spark but we are the Wildfire.” this quote reminds me of the impact of what's going on now with wildfires in actuality. Then if you couple that with metaphor look how many people's lives have drastically been impacted, look at how bad the air is, look at how widespread the damages are. This idea or metaphor is the level of impact we can have if we work together to start focusing all efforts on saving the planet. It is true government and big oil are a leading cause, but it's only because we allow them to be. We arent striking fuel-based cars, and machines. We aren't limiting our elected officials to those who only have plans to save the world. It is up to us to make the choice to raise our standard for the global quality of living. The rich and the poor will perish all the same if the world goes to shit. There will be no rich if there's no one to do the work that puts them in the high chair, and greed will soon be overshadowed by the desire to sustain basic needs for survival. No one is too big to make a difference either. It's just a matter of making the choice to do something. There were so many memes because we live in a time where humor is interchangeable with sarcasm and naivety. These issues are not funny however if making a joke about it brings awareness and change then maybe it should be welcomed, however, I don't feel that it should be at the expense of someone or something sad. “Greta Thunberg is the spark but we are the wildfire.”--Naomi Klein. Please comment. Has Greta's activism lit a fire inside you? What actions have you been inspired to take? How have your habits changed? I would say Greta has lit a fire in me too when it comes to activism, making me want to get out to some of the protests to take more photography if I ever get a chance to. I am proud of what she's doing and very happy about it. When I was 16 I was a freshman at Parsons and had no interest in activism, yet now, I definitely feel more passionate about climate change and take action every day even with the simplest tasks. I also believe I experience the effects of climate change every day as well. So it's important to me that young people keep making strides, working together, and sharing awareness. Teen Girls are Leading Climate Strikes Helping to Change the Face of Environmentalism

(Washington Post) "“We have a new wave of contention in society that’s being led by women. … And the youth climate movement is leading this generational shift." 46% of girls consider climate issues extremely important compared to 23% of boys. Why do you think this gender disparity exists? Why are girls stepping up to helm the movement? Varshini Prakash is a 26-year-old activist and the co-founder of the Sunrise Movement. They are facilitating conversations with lawmakers like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Diane Feinstein to take the lead on saving the planet and influencing political change that will support this effort. Varshini was exposed to the impacts of climate change at age 11 and by the time she was in college she was already involved in activism. With support from elected officials like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, she has been able to expand her voice on issues and become an even bigger role model. This is great for influencing other women and young girls to be active and vocal. When you see someone that looks like you doing something and making a difference, that can have a huge impact on the choices you make in some cases. I believe society is getting more in the habit of glorifying heroins across the world and particularly as it relates to social injustice. I believe that this trend of recognition will do the world a lot of good by undoing the warped barbie images that have long been portrayed and used to facilitate control. On the other hand, when it comes to boys it is often the case where there are so many male figures, whether it be in public policy, sports, media, or service, that get recognition for the most minuscule of deeds that it clouds the idea of what should be recognized or what is ‘doing good’, and this has been the case for many years. For instance, men work hard and get dirty, women do the dirty work and stay behind, this has been a reality for many generations. Although much has changed I feel boys are taking a back seat in many cases simply because they are not raised to make noise. Whereas women's voices have been repressed for so long that shouting and speaking out is an understatement. Therefore the call to action is inherent in women of today with more figures in the light and leading the conversation, there is an opportunity to be involved that didn't exist for many years on this level. I also feel that it's important for us to unassign the gender association when it comes to fighting for the planet compared to fighting for national security, they are one and the same. Fighting for the planet has to become a ‘tough guy/gal’ thing, and killing people should/could be viewed as weak. We need each other to persevere and it's only these types of disparities that will hold us back from saving the world.

[kittycatchat]

Greta Thunberg and the fight for climate change.

1. "I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice." Please comment on this quote by Greta. How does it differ from the priorities of many teens? Do you see any irony in how popular Greta has become worldwide?

I think this quote really shows why Greta has had such an impact since starting her climate strike. She is a rare exception to many teens today, using social media solely for educational purposes whereas many use their platforms for self promotion. Greta is exceptional and her passion has inspired young people all around the world. Her ability to speak clearly and eloquently is one of the many reasons she has been able to incite change and become the face of this movement. I believe it is ironic that she has risen to fame when it was only her goal to save the environment, but we are lucky to have someone like her who is so determined and outspoken leading this movement. Her not caring about popularity gives her the ability to speak out against ignorant politicians and withstand criticism. 

2. Did you attend the #ClimateStrike just one year ago in Foley Square in NYC ? If yes, what was your experience first hand? If you tuned in virtually were you surprised how many people across the world were galvanized by her message? 

I did not attend the climate strike but I kept myself up to date while it was happening through news articles and photos. I was pleasantly surprised how much of an impact Greta was able to have especially in a big city like New York. She has certainly inspired me to change aspects of my life that were harmful to the environment. Looking through the photos the one that struck me the most was “When leaders act like kids, the kids become the leaders.” This is something that Greta has said many times in her speeches. She wants to go to school, and she doesn't think kids should have to be taking charge. But since it is their future, and the people in charge aren't protecting it, they have to take it into their own hands.

 3. Why do you think a girl with asperger's syndrome has inspired a generation of young people to rise up for climate?

I think one of the reasons Greta has inspired so many young people is that for so long there has been a stigma around mental illness and those diagnosed have been made to feel less than. Now, seeing Greta explain that her mental illness has helped her and been the reason she is able to tackle this problem so effectively has inspired young people struggling with mental illness realize that they are just as capable as anyone else. Also, as she states, her ability to see things in black and white has been a huge tool for her in understanding the urgency of our need to act, and I believe that the people who have struggled the most often are the strongest and most determined.

4. Do you think the pandemic has dampened or amplified the climate situation? How can we innovate beyond the limitations imposed by the pandemic to create new strategies for activism? Please provide specific examples.

I believe that the pandemic has had both positive and negative effects on the environment. For example the amount of fumes emitted by cars, busses, and airplanes has dropped significantly due to quarantine and travel bans which scientists predict could lower the amount of greenhouse gasses being put into the atmosphere. However some grocery stores have banned the use of reusable bags in order to prevent the spread of the virus and this has caused an increase in plastic waste. Starbucks and many other coffee stores refuse to accept reusable cups which also leads to an increase in waste production. However I believe there is hope that the good habits being picked up during the pandemic can continue when we reach the other side of it. Perhaps more people will be inspired to walk or bike to work after being cooped up in their homes for months on end. I believe this pandemic can unify us if we allow ourselves to be inspired by the positive changes we’ve made so far.

5. "...if a few girls can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school for a few weeks, imagine what we could do together if we wanted to." --Greta Thunberg, 2018  What are your thoughts on this quote?

This quote is one that really stood out to me when reading Greta’s book. I think it is true not only for climate change but with everything. When we are united we are so powerful. This has been proven during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Thousands of people are marching everyday and we will continue to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain and so many others. We have never had such a huge impact before and that is because we have never been as united as we are now. It is imperative that we keep this momentum going not only for BLM but for Climate Change and so many other issues.

6. Choose one favorite quote from the "Our House is on Fire" speech included in No One is Too Small to Make a Difference and comment. Why do you think this speech inspired so many memes? Find a meme to include on your blog.

This speech as a whole is brilliant, but the quote that spoke to me the most is, “...now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly.” If a woman were to say the things that Donald Trump has said she would be chastised and ridiculed, yet somehow this man has acquired the most powerful position in America. With this quote Greta is denying the notion that women should watch what they say in order to make the men in the room feel better about themselves. She knows that what she is saying is essential and she will not back down for anyone. 

7. “Greta Thunberg is the spark but we are the wildfire.”--Naomi Klein . Please comment. Has Greta's activism lit a fire inside you? What actions have you been inspired to take? How have your habits changed?

I find this statement to be incredibly true. Greta is constantly saying that we need to unite and create public awareness. She has certainly inspired me to change some of my habits. I have cut red meat out of my diet and try to always choose the veggie option when eating at restaurants. I have also been much more conscious when choosing my produce and shop at farmers markets whenever I can. Unfortunately due to covid many grocery stores don't allow reusable bags, but I always have them on hand and utilize plastic bag recycling centers. 

8. "“We have a new wave of contention in society that’s being led by women. … And the youth climate movement is leading this generational shift." 46% of girls consider climate issues extremely important compared to 23% of boys. Why do you think this gender disparity exists? Why are girls stepping up to helm the movement?

I believe women are causing more of an impact because women have always had to work twice as hard to earn recognition. Whenever someone considers me weak and incapable based on my gender it lights a fire under me and makes me want to prove them wrong. I think a lot of women feel this way and it is so amazing that instead of feeling defeated we can rise up and accomplish more than we ever thought we could. I felt particularly inspired by the young activist Jamie Margolin who as well as co founding the youth climate action organization Zero Hour is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She also sued the state of Washington for their inaction against climate change, particularly after the wildfires of 2017. Reading about women like Jamie inspires me to speak up about issues that I am passionate about and to examine the way my personal habits affect the environment.

[truemedian]

Can Anna Wintour Survive the Social Justice Movement?

big city A reckoning has come to Bon Appétit and the other magazines of Condé Nast. Can a culture built on elitism and exclusion possibly change?

Anna Wintour at the Coach show last spring.Credit...Vincent Tullo for The New York Times

June 11, 2020 On Monday, as swiftly as a 9-iron taken to a tee at Augusta, Adam Rapoport resigned as the editor in chief of Bon Appétit magazine after a damning Halloween photo circulated on social media that morning. Drawn from the vast insensitivity archives to which so many influential people have made inadvertent submissions, the picture, from 2004, shows him costumed in a tank top and thick chain necklace as his wife’s “papi,’’ the term she attached to it in an Instagram post several years later. As it happened, Mr. Rapoport had been facing mounting grievance from his staff about the magazine’s demeaning treatment of employees and freelancers of color and the dubious ways in which its popular video division presented culturally appropriated cooking. But these apparently were insufficient grounds for forcing him out. Over and over, power structures seem to require that accusations of racial bias are documented by photographic evidence — proof to override a reflexive or simply inconvenient skepticism. Police officers abused their authority for decades without consequence. It was not until a growing body of video footage revealed all the brutality, and the systemic prejudice at the heart of it, that the world began to express the outrage there to be mined all along — justice by iPhone. In that sense, Mr. Rapoport’s ouster at the hands of a camera was entirely fitting. Bon Appétit belongs to Condé Nast, a media empire perhaps unrivaled by any institution on earth in its supplication to image. For decades, both at the level of corporate culture and branded worldview, the company’s lifestyle magazines have held to the notion that there are “right’’ people and wrong people, a determination made by birthright. There are the rich, and there are the dismissible; the great looking, and the condemned — a paradigm that has now become dangerously untenable, and one the company has been striving to change. Within the Condé Nast framework, autocratic bosses were left to do whatever they pleased — subjugating underlings to hazing rituals with no seeming end point. So much was excusable in the name of beauty and profit. “Difficulty,” Kim France, a former editor in chief of Lucky magazine, told me, “was regarded as brilliance.” No one at Condé Nast has had more of an outsize reputation for imperiousness wed to native talent than Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, the artistic director of the company and more recently its “global content adviser’’ as well. Mr. Rapoport, who spent 20 years at the company and turned around an ailing product in Bon Appétit, reported to her. What sort of management cues were to be taken? Famous for a self-regarding style — she might demand that subordinates arrive 30 minutes early for certain meetings she attended — Ms. Wintour was obviously not in the best position to try to convince him, for instance, that he should not ask his assistant (black and Stanford-educated) to clean his golf clubs. (That was one of the many revealing details in a Business Insider exposé of the food magazine that arrived this week.) Race is a fraught subject at Condé Nast. Several employees of color I spoke with, all of them laid off over the past few years, talked about the challenges they faced. They struggled to be heard or get the resources they needed to do their jobs at the highest levels; they faced ignorance and lazy stereotyping from white bosses when the subject of covering black culture came up; they all said they were exhausted by always having to explain it all. Even though they were no longer at Condé Nast, not one of them felt free to speak on the record out of fear of retaliation from the company or the concern that they would be looked at as complainers, making it much harder to find work. One former staff member who is black could not fail to see the irony in being made to go to unconscious bias training — which became mandatory at the company early last year — only then to lose a big chunk of his portfolio shortly thereafter. “I felt so devalued,’’ he said, “after working so hard.’’ Unconscious bias training is supposed to alert you to your blind spots in your perception of people and ideas. But at the level of corporate and creative governance, the programming at Condé Nast has not been seamlessly woven into the company’s broader philosophy. Last month, during a round of layoffs, in which 100 people were let go amid the economic calamities of Covid-19, the company dismissed three Asian-American editors, all of whom covered culture at different publications. Among the top 10 editorial leaders listed on Vogue’s masthead, all are white. According to a spokesman for Condé Nast, across divisions on Vogue’s editorial side, people of color make up 14 percent of senior managers. On June 5, amid global protests spurred by the death of George Floyd, Ms. Wintour sent a note to her staff, acknowledging that “it can’t be easy to be a Black employee at Vogue,’’ and that the magazine had “not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators.” Although Vogue has made a greater effort to feature black women on its covers in recent years — Rihanna, Serena Williams, Lupita Nyong’o — the gate swings open far more easily for those who are not. And in this particular area, too, legacy weighs heavily. When LeBron James made history as the first black man to grace the cover in 2008, he shared the space with a white supermodel, Gisele Bündchen, who appeared as a damsel in his clutches, an unmistakable reference to King Kong. A spokesman at Condé Nast admitted that much progress needs to be made in regard to diversity at the company, but he defended Ms. Wintour’s record, pointing out that she has passionately supported various designers of color throughout her career, helping to raise money for them through her work with the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She also installed two black editors to lead Teen Vogue, genuinely radical in its content, one following the other (Elaine Welteroth and then Lindsay Peoples Wagner). At the same time, Ms. Wintour has presided over Vogue for 32 years, and during that period she has done more to enshrine the values of bloodline, pedigree and privilege than anyone in American media. A brief and very inconclusive list of Ms. Wintour’s assistants in the 21st century includes the Yale-educated daughter of a prominent Miami dance director, the Dartmouth-educated descendant of a major bank president, the Princeton-educated daughter of an Oscar-winning screenwriter and so on. For so long it was central to the Condé Nast ethos that you had to be thin, gorgeous and impeccably credentialed to retrieve someone else’s espresso macchiato. Even now, as the publishing industry continues to implode and wonderful writers who could really use the work (or at least the prestigious affiliation) abound, Vogue continues to list among its contributing editors people like the German heiress Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis and many others among the well born. Five years ago, Ms. Thurn und Taxis posted a picture on Instagram of a homeless woman reading Vogue, seated on the sidewalk, with the words, “Paris is full of surprises.” Vogue quickly issued a statement, calling the gesture distasteful, and then proceeded to run her byline on its website at least 10 more times Last year, Grace Coddington, another contributor, who had held enormous influence over what was shot for Vogue and how, in her many years as the magazine’s creative director, was photographed with her collection of “mammy’’ jars, racist ceramics depicting African-American women as servile maids. Ms. Wintour clearly believes that she can break from the past and kill off any vestiges of a system steeped in the benighted values for which she has become the corporate avatar. The public apology from Bon Appétit was quite startling in its admission of failure, particularly its concession that the magazine “continued to tokenize” the people of color that it did hire. As part of her contribution to this new wave of progressivism, Ms. Wintour wrote a piece for Vogue.com a week after the death of George Floyd, aligning herself with Black Lives Matter and calling on Joe Biden to select an African-American woman as his running mate. For someone who had seemed so averse to activism as the world has roiled from inequality for years, it felt like a desperate grasp for relevance. A spokesman for the company bristled at the suggestion, arguing that it is Condé Nast’s job “to cover what’s going on in the culture in the moment.” As it happens, André Leon Talley, who recently wrote a memoir about his complicated relationship with Ms. Wintour, as a black man and longtime former editor at Vogue, also has a lot to say about the current moment. This week in a radio interview with Sandra Bernhard, he offered his opinion about his ex-boss’s professed transformation. “I wanna say one thing, Dame Anna Wintour is a colonial broad; she’s a colonial dame,” he told Ms. Bernhard. “I do not think she will ever let anything get in the way of her white privilege.” Read More Read the full article

[jonstavk]

it's honestly incredible to me that people are holding jack to the standard of a grown ass man. he literally just turned FOURTEEN. people also fail to realize not everyone is raised to be/grows up in an environment where ""wokeness"" and social awareness/sensitivity is made a top priority. most people learn those things as they grow and mature,,,,as kids do ??? twitter fandom just repeatedly saying a 14 y/o is "cancelled" after a joke made in poor taste is... beyond frustrating to say the least

I fucking feeeeel this!! I’m 21 and a well educated woman and if had a kid and they laughed at a rape joke at Jacks age I’d be educate him/her not be like “lol ur a piece of shit, kill yourself” but honestly anyone that is saying this shit is probably a 14 year old kid who wants to jump on the social justice band wagon with out actual knowledge of what it means to be a person with a passion for social justice. ALSO the irony is that these people are like “anyone that laughs at a rape joke should kill themselves” do they not realize that’s a completely back handed statement? Telling someone to kill themselves is just as shitty as Joking about rape so idk what point they’re trying to prove? Thatttt they’re a piece of shit too? Hmmmm.

[livingwithashipname-blog]

Ermanda’s Inner Sanctum: Scorpion 4.05 “Sci Hard”

Later than usual since I am caught up in the World Series.  Go Astros!  Here you go!

This was a solid episode!  The mission was simple and the subplots worked well with the main.  I loved all the parallels in this episode between Richard Elia and Walter and Quintis and Waige.  Scenes that reveal Cabe’s age are always a hoot!  Sylvester showed his lawyer potential, showing that he is more than just a brain that processes facts.  The end scene had me rolling!  My only issue was the purpose of these bad guys who were Spanish-speaking.  The accents were not that great and I just don’t see how it related to heist.  Reminded me a bit of how I felt about the dialect of Spanish utilized in 3.05 Plight at the Museum. 😂  Anyways, this review is not particularly long!  Most of my thoughts will be in my “drabbles” section!  So peep that for some good points!  Let’s do this!

Cabe: A New Normal 

Cabe is trying to adjust to a new normal so he flocks to things that reinforce the idea that old and worn things are still valuable.  Given his personal financial situation highly influenced by his pride, he can not afford personal luxuries just like everyone else.  He really wants to escape from all of these problems because they are attacks on his identity as a protector and enforcer of law.  He still wears his suit and functions in his usual position with Scorpion (but as an intern) to keep a sense of normalcy.  This parallels similar actions he took when the team was stranded in 3.25 Scorp Family Robinson.  It will be interesting to watch Cabe continue to navigate his emotions throughout his court proceedings. 

Quintis & S.T.O.R.K. 

If you have forgotten Quintis’ conception creed, let’s review!

Sexy Time Temperature of the goody Organic Reduce Stress Keep the tenants of S.T.O.R.K.

Considering how P.A.N.N.S. went, this plan doesn’t work either.  It’s hilarious to watch them try to keep one another accountable even though they are secretly violating a term of the conception plan throughout the day!  But is this stopping Quintis from creating a new one?!  Nope!  Onward to focusing on F.U.N. aka. Free-wheeling Unencumbered Newlyweds! 😂😂😂  These dorks!  How many more acronyms do you think we will get from Quintis for the season?!  Send me your guesses… I’m curious!  I’m gonna go with 3. 

Walter x Elia: Two Sides of a Coin 

Richard Elia appears every season and his appearance reminds us of the similarities he shares with Walter.  In this episode, he and Walter are struggling with the same thing - acceptance from their peers.  Elia is willing to present a project that isn’t even remotely complete in order to have a product that keeps his business on the map and impresses the younger generation of Silicon Valley to stay competitive with them.  (Side note: It’s a bit of a coincidence that this story about Elon Musk and Tesla Motors released. His name is mentioned in this episode.) At the same time, Walter wants to get back into the VOR Collective to be a part of an exclusive group of individuals described as the Mensa of Mensa.  He hopes that Paige’s communication skills with mentally-enabled individuals like himself will be enough to convince them to reinstate his membership after his crazy mishap with the other members. But unfortunately, it isn’t enough and he is deflated.  The portrayal of this reality really exposes a truth about human beings in general.  Genius or not, we all seek acceptance and/or companionship.  It’s an innate human desire described by evolutionary science as a means to foster survival.  Two minds are better than one.  As smart as both of these men are, they can only do so much by themselves to achieve their individual goals.  Plus, it is always comforting to interact with individuals to whom you relate.  The real Walter O’Brien does this when he schedules a yearly dinner for the greatest minds of various crafts he knows to come together and speak freely in ways they may not be able to do on a professional/business level.  It is always nice to have reminders like this within the story because it presents a bigger picture and expands the perception of emotionally-stunted individuals.

Drabbles… 

Walter and Paige clean up nicely!!! 🔥😍😍😍😍😍  

Vidal: Hold a moment. She’s with you? Walter: Yes, she is my girlfriend. We’ve been intimate. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀

A small disagreement, Walter? You gave them explosive diarrhea! Not even Paige’s social skills can help you! *facepalm* 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

This shot of Happy coming out from under Cabe’s new car is a bit nostalgic to me. Takes me back to the scenes of her working on her motorcycle and other cars in season 1. It would be nice to see more shots of her working in the background on large mechanical projects in the garage that don’t involve poisonous material (*cough*cough* Cadmium) regardless of possible adjustments made to the character with upcoming foreshadowed storylines.

Cabe gave everyone $10K for their troubles. That’s really sweet! Gotta love Papa Cabe! 💛💛💛

I am with Cabe. What is up with Quintis and these acronyms?! 😂😂😂

Notice that Toby says they need to drum up work to fill little Tobina’s college fund. This is a feminine nomenclature twist on his name, which reinforces the idea that Baby Quintis will be a girl. 😉🍼👨‍👩‍👧

Toby is really working the word “gooty!” How long before the others start repeating it?! Happy has done it once already!

Happy: No way am I getting into that death trap! That thing is on its last legs. Come on husband, I’m driving. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Gloria by Laura Branigan is iconic! Bring back the 80s! 

I have never mentioned this in my reviews, but Toby and Cabe are similar people. They love the classics of their young adult lives. Plus, they also make jokes about the past that the others don’t always seem to get. Reminded of this after “Gloria” plays in this episode and Toby played and danced to The Commodores in 4.04 Nuke Kids on the Block. 😉😂😂😂

Proctor (to Sly): You don’t have a law degree? How do you expect to pass the bar? Sly: I studied on the flight. 😂😂😂😂😂🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

Paige: … They’re a bunch of nerd-turds. Who cares if they don’t like you, Walter? W: Uh, that is easy for you to say. You… you waltz in and in 2 seconds they are eating out of your hand. I can’t get humans to like me. I can’t get the mentally-enabled to accept me. I’m a man without a home. 😂😂😂

P: You have a home. Scorpion is your home. I’m your home. W: Yeah, I know. Me: Aww!!! The home parallels with Quintis in 3.23 Something Burrowed, Something Blew. Give me all the Quintis and Waige parallels!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

Paige reminding Walter how he fired her when stating her knowledge of Elia’s latest project… 😂😂😂😂😂😂

BEHOLD THE RAYTURN!!! That video was 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀💀

That sleep pod looks awesome tbh!

W: Richard. Elia: Why is it every time you guys are around things turn to crap? The fandom: We could say the same about you! 😂😂😂😂

12 people at gunpoint?! Umm, there were clearly more people in the theatre, but this gets a pass considering they have no eyes inside.

How does Sly have his cell phone in the room during the exam? One usually has to place all belongings in a locker before entering the testing area, phones included. These tests are usually filmed to monitor for cheating, so evidence of Sly even looking at his phone should nullify his test. And proctors don’t usually follow test takers if they leave the testing area before finishing. Nonetheless, the moment between the proctor and Sly is hilarious!

Explosive diarrhea beats wrecking a Ferrari, destroying a smart building, and launching rocket! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀

P (to Elia & Walter): Psst… am I the only one who sees that light blinking? W: It’s Morse Code. It’s Happy. E: How do you know? W: Because the doorbell just said, “It’s me, stupid.” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀 Only Happy would send a message like that!

Vidal and Walter fighting over helping the robbers to buy time and save the other hostages… 😂😂😂

There’s no money or software?! Well, that’s a wrinkle! *insert facepalm here*

Go Sly! Tell it to them!!! Serving up that justice baby!!! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

Look at Walter worried about his lady love… 😍😍💙💙😍😍

Cabe as Barnaby the banking butler?! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀

Toby: You sure about this? H: No, but we need the password and this is the fastest way to get it. Now let’s go. T: Uh… uh… ju.. just read the note one more time. H: “This is a robbery. Give us your server password and no one gets hurt.” T: It’s direct and clear. That… that’s a good note. Good luck baby! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. H: (stares) T: Fine. It… It really only takes one person to hand over a note. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀

W (to Vidal): Scorpion is a group of professionals. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Oh the irony!

Anyone else notice that Happy’s truck is actually parked in a “No Parking” zone? 😉😂😂

When Toby dumps his hat after the description… 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀

H: We are not going to prison. T: Can you drive faster? I can’t shower in front of other people. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀

Cabe getting sacked and Sly telling him to hurry up… 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀

Whoops! Toby is wearing tights whities, not boxers because his boys don’t like to be jostled! S.T.O.R.K. violation!!! 🙅🏾😂😂😂😂😂 Side note: Given the passage of time, should that coffee still be hot enough for alarm? It makes more sense for Toby to remove his pants because the spilled coffee stained the crotch of his pants.

Waige wrapping their hands around one another when the robbers states he is going to wound everyone badly enough to keep first responders busy… 😍😍💙😍😍💙💙😍😍💙😍😍

H: Don’t you wish you wore boxers now? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💀💀 How many more times this season will we see Toby do something utterly embarrassing this season?! 😂😂😂

I really tire of these moments when there are all these gunshots going off and not one person gets at least nicked by a stray bullet. The robbers are shooting blind here!

Wait a minute! If the detonated bombs went off, doesn’t that mean the same for the ones the robbers placed in the theatre that we didn’t see? Doesn’t that endanger the hostages who are now underneath the stage even though they may not be directly affected?

Why didn’t the proctor tell Sly that his time was almost up? That’s irresponsible. Lol!

Mr. Curtis & Mrs. Quinn? And neither Toby or Happy corrects the detective to remind him it’s Dr. Curtis? 😂😂😂 Well, I’ll do it! It’s Dr. Curtis, sir! You know, like he said earlier! 😂😂😂😂😂

EKT really has nice legs! 😍😍😍😍😍

E (to Paige): You know, quick thinking with that trap door. Any chance I could steal you back from Scorpion? P: Nope. I kinda got a thing for my boss! 😍😍💙😍😍💙💙😍😍💙😍😍

Sly is a JD!!! Say hello to Dr. Dodd even though most lawyers don’t use the term. Now Scorpion has two members with doctorate degrees in a field of study! Notice that Toby is trying to hilariously downplay that like Happy used to do with him in the early Scorpion days! 😂😂

The team is about to get a workout since they have to push that car 3 miles! Have fun guys!

[womenofcolor15]

NFL Airs Anti-Police Brutality Ad During The Super Bowl + Blackballed Colin Kaepernick Does Charity Instead + The Carters Criticized For Not Standing During National Anthem

There’s drama following Super Bowl LIV! (Shocker, right?) The NFL interestingly aired an anti-police brutality commercial during the game, sans blackballed player Colin Kaepernick. Find out what Kap was doing during the game, plus the controversy surrounding Beyonce & Jay-Z sitting during the National Anthem inside…

The behind-the-scenes drama seems to be just as entertaining as the actual game for this year’s Super Bowl LIV.

As we all know, the commercials that play during the Super Bowl are a big deal, so when an anti-police brutality ad popped up during the big game it def took folks by surprise. Like, the hypocrisy and irony is unmatched.

After blackballing former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick for kneeling in protest of police brutality, the National Football League had the nerve to air an anti-police brutality commercial during the big game. The spot featured the murder of Botham Jean – a black man killed inside his own apartment by white cop Amber Guyger. In the clip, Botham’s family share photos and videos of Botham, explaining how the world lost a wonderful human being in a senseless act of violence.

Check it:

  https://t.co/0k9IQU4xM5 We are in this together.#EveryonesChild #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/yaH04eG2OA

— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2020

  The commercial was good. There’s no taking away from the message of the commercial. However, isn’t this what Kaepernick was kneeling for? To bring awareness to police brutality?

In 2016, Colin Kaepernick started a silent protest where he took a knee during the National Anthem to help bring awareness to police brutality and racial injustices. His actions eventually resulted in the former QB being blackballed from the league, yet they air a commercial with the SAME message he has been trying to spread to the masses?

The ad seems to be part of the NFL’s initiative called Inspire Change, which is a campaign spearheaded by Jay-Z last year when he inked his deal with the league. The campaign is dedicated to “education and economic empowerment, police and community relations, and criminal justice reform.”

So why now does the NFL seemingly see the issue with police brutality, but didn't see the vision about why the NFL platform IS a place for this to be discussed when Colin Kaepernick took a knee?

It didn't go unnoticed:

  And then, in an ultimate hold my beer moment, the @NFL, who blackballed Kaep for years for protesting cops killing unarmed black men, had an ad about effecting social change by fighting to reduce the number of unarmed black men killed by police.

You can't make this shit up.

— JayQwellin (@DarkCovfefe) February 3, 2020

    lmao the fucking nfl has an ad about addressing police brutality hmmm if only someone was trying to do that years ago pic.twitter.com/XWRaacUg8j

— jordan (@JordanUhl) February 3, 2020

    No, no, no @NFL! DO NOT HALF-STEP!!! You want to do the right thing by running the "Inspire Change"/ Unjustified Police Brutality commercials? I sincerely think that's great. But don't you dare continue to do it without giving @Kaepernick7 a fair shot at getting back into the NFL

— Cornell Lawrence (@CornellLawrenc3) February 3, 2020

    Black people are not to be tokenized for political exploitation.

Two rich, racist presidential candidates conveyed white savior complex.  @Kaepernick7 took a knee to protest police brutality, only to have the @NFL publicize an ad on police brutality.

Billionaires are https://t.co/ZynV6GOL6d

— Shaniyat Chowdhury for US Congress NY5 (@Shaniyat2020) February 3, 2020

  The hypocrisy.

Meanwhile...

  February owes me nothing..#SuperbowlSunday #BlackHistory365#Harlem#ColinKaepernick pic.twitter.com/CrYYRz4G8R

— K. Poitier! (@harlemhoney77) February 3, 2020

  While his former team played in the Super Bowl, Colin Kaepernick was busy giving back!

The former NFL star made his way to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem yesterday where he spent time meeting the employees and touring the building. Then, he teamed up with Carolina Panthers safety/his friend Eric Reid and 100 Suits for 100 Men at the SCO Family Shelter in Jamaica, Queens to pass out suits to men. The organization 100 Suits for 100 Men is a non-profit that gifts clothing to men and women looking for jobs.

After that, Colin helped serve meals at the Shelter with help from the LES Girls Club and Know Your Rights volunteers.

Check it below:

  THE GIVE BACK   Yesterday at SCO Family Shelter in Jamaica Queens, NYC @Kaepernick7 @E_Reid35 @100suits @girlsclubny #imwithkap #nokapnonfl pic.twitter.com/5y50XWng0s

— Know Your Rights Camp (@yourrightscamp) February 3, 2020

  There was more controversy from the Super Bowl...

  WATCH: While thousands of proud Americans stood in-allegiance for the National Anthem, Jay-Z and Beyonce sat in silence.

America has no place for unpatriotic scum like these two.

Kick them and Colin Kaepernick right down to Mexico!#fixit pic.twitter.com/4JlEAKhd4i

— Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) February 3, 2020

  As Demi Lovato belted out the National Anthem, Beyonce & Jay-Z were recorded sitting during her performance. And that caused social media to go into a frenzy.

  Beyonce and Jay-Z should be thanking America not disgracing it! pic.twitter.com/Zu6iw7kReK

— ACT for America (@ACTforAmerica) February 3, 2020

    There was backlash when Kaeprnick kneeled during the Anthem, and now Beyonce and Jay-Z. Thing is, there's too much information on this matter for people not to understand why African Americans are disinterested in standing during the Anthem.

— SirVincent Rogers Sr. (@SirV55) February 3, 2020

    What a disgusting act of shame.

Beyonce and Jay-Z remained seated during the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

This country has given them the opportunity to be everything they are, and they reward it by disgracing the Flag and Anthem!

Our service heroes deserve more respect!

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) February 3, 2020

  Beyonce and Jay-Z should be thanking America not disgracing it! pic.twitter.com/Zu6iw7kReK

— ACT for America (@ACTforAmerica) February 3, 2020

Eric Reid also posted up on tweets, seemingly firing shots at the Carters:

  https://t.co/yhenyO2oex pic.twitter.com/Khr9Leuf53

— Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) February 3, 2020

  He also retweeted these tweets on his timeline:

  Ladies and gentleman, I present Mr. “I think we’re past kneeling.” https://t.co/f4GXDjio8r

— Resist Programming  (@RzstProgramming) February 3, 2020

    Y’all the fake caring about Black people and injustice ads aren’t for us. It’s for white people, to make them not feel bad about supporting racist politicians & policies. Why would you think they care about us when they continue to kill us?

— Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) February 3, 2020

  After news of Hov's deal with the NFL, the Hip Hop mogul said he still supports Kap, but said, “We’ve moved past kneeling. I think it’s time to go into actionable items.” Mr. Carter also said he had spoken to Colin about the deal before it was made public, but the former QB denied those reports.

After Bey & Jay's video went viral, Colin himself even fired a shot. He reposted an IG Stories originally posted by Miko Grimes, the wife of Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes, where she's criticisizing Bey & Jay sitting during the National Anthem with the "thinking" anamoji and the caption, "I thought we were past kneeling tho?":

Bigot Barbie Tomi Lahren didn't waste any time verbally attacking The Carters on social media:

    Beyoncé & Jay-Z (former crack dealer)sit for the national anthem because apparently the United States of America has oppressed them with millions upon millions of dollars & fans. Sounds rough. Maybe they should try another country that allows them a little more freedom & success?

— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) February 3, 2020

  "Beyonce & Jay-Z (former crack dealer) sit for the national anthem because apparently the United States of America has oppressed them with millions upon millions of dollars & fans," she tweeted. "Sounds rough. Maybe they should try another country that allows them a little more freedom & success?"

She's always looking for her little 15 minutes of fame. She knows more than anyone that exercising the right to protest is more American and shows more love for this country than anybody in her party.

Decked out in Ivy Park x Adidas threads, daytime talk show host Wendy Williams said Bey & Jay should have stood during the anthem while delivering her Hot Topics segment today:

  @WendyWilliams  her always telling it like it is! pic.twitter.com/nvTppyhGv2

— vanessa zayas (@silzayas) February 3, 2020

  So, she's dragging Bey while wearing her clothing? Oh. She also threw in that her stylist "received the clothes a few weeks ago," seemingly trying to hint Beyoncé - who is known to not have a relationship with Wendy - gifted the clothes to them.  But who even knows.

Outside of the drama, Bey shared flicks from her personal stash of her Super Bowl outfit:

          View this post on Instagram

                      A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Feb 2, 2020 at 4:37pm PST

  The Lion King star rocked a green Balmain suit accessorized with Messika Paris jewelry.

The Carters brought their daughter Blue Ivy for the Super Bowl festivities:

  Jay-Z x @MeekMill at #SBLIV

: #SBLIV | 6:30pm ET on FOX : NFL app // Yahoo Sports app pic.twitter.com/aUDcoSc6Lw

— NFL (@NFL) February 2, 2020

    Blue & JAY-Z at the Hard Rock Staduim #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/xtNxw2gZJA

— Moe Samir | Pop Culture & Music Expert (@TheMoeSamir) February 2, 2020

    pic.twitter.com/g2v5TIhoXX

— Família Carter (@familiacarterbr) February 2, 2020

      Beyoncé and Jay Z have just arrived at the Hard Rock Stadium #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/19AytDhSrl

— Moe Samir | Pop Culture & Music Expert (@TheMoeSamir) February 2, 2020

    Beyoncé   pic.twitter.com/vCM3u3yOPO

— Família Carter (@familiacarterbr) February 2, 2020

    Beyoncé e JAY-Z  pic.twitter.com/JR0JhHfY79

— Família Carter (@familiacarterbr) February 3, 2020

  So, what are your thoughts about the NFL's anti-police brutality ad? Also, how do you feel about The Carters sitting out the National Anthem?!

  Photo: Twitter

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/02/03/nfl-airs-anti-police-brutality-ad-during-the-super-bowl-blackballed-colin-kaepernick-give