#america farmer lifestyle

[digitaltechpro]

American People and Lifestyle

America: A Diverse Nation Ranked as the third-largest country globally, with a population exceeding 325 million, the United States has evolved significantly from its indigenous roots through successive waves of immigration. This influx of diverse peoples from across the globe has transformed the nation into one of the most culturally heterogeneous places on Earth, often referred to as a “melting…

[jansen-dean]

My Grandpa Drue with his hound dogs

[horsesarecreatures]

The Pine Barrens

[elbiotipo]

Was watching some playthroughs of Manor Lords and it's so adictive to just WATCH playthroughs it's cutting on my productivity, I can't imagine how it will be to play it yet. Anyways.

Thinking about "cozy" farming sims and the like. Manor Lords isn't aimed at that kind of stuff at least not explictly, you ARE a feudal lord (you can even walk in first person as one) and those people ARE your serfs. I guess there will be some people who interpret it as that, and let's be honest, the game is so pretty and intuitive, it's just so relaxing to see the forests change seasons, the houses being built, the flowers swaying on the wind. Working like a serf all day, not so much. No doubt peasants in the Middle Ages and all over the world had their moments of rest and respite and joy, but it was (and still is) a hardworking, exploited existence like we are not usually used to.

I think Manor Lords really GETS what a subsistence farming economy was like, at least at the very beginning. and this is really important in my opinion because it was the lifestyle of no less than 90% of the world's population until very recently. And it wasn't like in Stardew Valley where one farmer had a variety of crops all growing in the same tiny farm. In Manor Lords you usually build a small hamlet or village, every home with its own little backyard plot with vegetables, chickens, but it is actual fields what truly feeds and clothes people. The distribution and managing of these fields, and how big they are, is something that changes from society to society, but it's not like there is a single household that is able to feed itself and is able to do everything that a human needs to eat, to get clothed, to be warm in winter and more. They need to have big open fields (or pastures) to do that, where the community puts most of its time and effort maintaining.

So when you think about subsistence farming, you shouldn't think about it as peasants (wherever in the world where they are, as they still exist, why do you think we Latin Americans talk so much about the campesino struggle) owning one small plot of land and feeding their household with it. You should think of them as communities where the main and sometimes only activity is farming, and they do not farm to sell it to a market (though campesino communities can and do produce excess they can sell) but to sustain themselves and their family. They do not especialize in a single crop or industry, nor they have the time or ability to. They plant whatever helps them feed and clothe their family, that is, subsist.

In Manor Lords, you can also "cheat" a bit and get goods by trade, or survive by gathering berries (EXCESSIVELY OP) or hunting. The first was impossible in very remote areas, and the second was impossible in high-density areas. Which means that you can't sustain a community by just gathering berries or having home gardens. Vegetables and fruit CAN and do supplement the diet of people and they make life infinitely more enjoyable (some places like tropical and subtropical America are very blessed in that respect and their crops are very diverse), and indeed most people have those, but it isn't enough to feed you every day. You have to farm to it. And it's a way of life tied to the land and the seasons. You gotta have enough food and firewood before winter (Manor Lords is tied to the European temperate seasons of course, but every region in the world has its own), you gotta prepare the fields, mill the grain and bake the bread, it's all work, work, work, neverending work. There is a reason why some have said agriculture is kind of a "trap" to humanity, it allows you to feed yourself and your family at the cost of being tied to your land forever, and this didn't change until very recently. And again, while of course it's also a life that has its moments of rest (harvest festivals! and all those church days in Europe, but again, every region has its own traditions), it's still work, work, and work more.

I think this is an interesting contrast with other "cozy farming sims" of which are there are a ton, with a single character being able to produce the whole spectrum of human food and a bit more. Manor Lords to me is very interesting because by having its resource and city building in such a small scale as individual families, it captures in a rather realistic (if not completely so) way how subsistence agriculture is, which is the way virtually most of our ancestors (no matter where you are from) lived. To me that's way more interesting than the combat system.

(yes, I've said I didn't play it yet, but I've watched and analyzed so much of it I might as well have 120 hours logged on it)

[dailyanarchistposts]

Ancient Ways: In Defense of Cultivation

“We cared for our corn in those days as we would care for a child; for we Indian people loved our gardens, just as a mother loves her children; and we thought that our growing corn liked to hear us sing, just as children like to hear their mother sing to them.” — Buffalo Bird Woman (Hidasta)

With a modern food system so tied to capitalism and the industrial production-oriented model, it’s hard for us to see how to feed ourselves outside of them. While it’s imperative that we look forward and adapt to our modern context to some degree, it’s by looking back to times before institutions reigned that we start to see our way out.

The erosion of traditional foodways began at different times for different cultures. A basic misconception (or perhaps miscommunication) about “primitivist” theory is that the dawn of food cultivation some 10,000 years ago represented the “fall from grace” of humanity, and that everything that has been developed since that point has been tainted with die impurity of “domestication” and “civilization”. But this simplistic analysis reflects the same reductionist logic that has led to the social diseases of modern life. What was likely a simple adaptation for survival in die face of massive climactic changes did in many, cases lead people down a slippery slope toward domination of nature, but in many cultures, this was simply not the case. Even today, many indigenous cultures thrive on horticultural, village-scale food systems. At the time of white settlement of North America, dozens of indian groups practiced such methods without the trappings of civilization. (See Native American Gardening By J, Bruchac and Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden: Agriculture of the Hidasta Indians as told to Gilbert L. Wilson, also available online at www.digital. library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html)

The fact that many native cultures have endured using traditional horticultural methods, while remaining free from the trappings of civilization (aside from that which was imposed upon them) is testament to the possibilities of egalitarian social relations coexisting with the cultivation of food.

Contrary to the fundamentalist viewpoints that see cultivation itself as inherently dominating, the simple act of collecting seeds and replanting them elsewhere to provide more food sources could actually be seen as a complementary development to a gathering-hunting lifestyle. The transportation of seeds through feces is the basis of much plant reproduction in the wild and in the garden, and may have been the inspiration for humyns to begin cultivating certain plants. Even the selection of certain seeds for desired traits is a way humyns have actually enhanced biodiversity by “opening up” a species to diverse, highly adaptable variations. Instead of viewing the original cultivators with suspicion and doubt, why not appreciate the sensitivity and creativity it required for them to adapt to conditions by entering into a more complex and interactive relationship with nature? Can we make a distinction between cultivation and domestication?

In her book Food in History, Reay Tannahill theorizes that at the beginning of the “Neolithic revolution,” nomadic foragers began camping beside meadows of wild grains waiting for the brief window of ripeness when they could catch the harvest before it fell to the ground. After returning to these places annually, they eventually realized that if duty left some of the grain on the stalk they could expect a heartier harvest the next year. The next logical step was to begin scattering the seeds on the ground, at which point foragers became farmers. Responding to anthropologists’ assumptions that a large labor force was then required to harvest and process grain, thus giving rise to civilization. Tannahill quotes an archaeological study from the mid 1960’s: “In a three week harvesting period, a family of six could have reaped enough wild wheat to provide them with just under a pound of grain per head per day for a whole year” (J.R. Harlan, 1967)

The development of what we know as agriculture was not an overnight phenomenon, but rather a several thousand year-long project. In some places in the world, the earliest stages of cultivation were never surpassed, and remain sustainable today. In many more places, the pressures of the global economy have corrupted these practices just in this last century. But in most of the world today, we are witnessing the full-blown colonization of native foodways, and a nearly complete dependence on western industrial practices. To trace this “biodevestation” directly back to cultivation itself, is to ignore the history of conquest and land displacement that pushed the food systems of subsistence cultures to the brink, where they now teeter on the edge of extinction.

The loss of native foodways in favor of cheap, overprocessed industrial USDA staples has uncoincidenially served as one of the many vehicles of colonialism. The disconnection of food traditions from indigenous cultures has paved the way for illnesses like diabetes, cementing their dependence on western medicine in yet another way. In the Global South, traditional cultures are losing control of their food supplies faster than ever before. Distinct and diverse peoples of the world have become a prime target for conquest by western food producers like Archer Daniels Midland and Caigill. These modern day conquistadors ride the tails of the “Green Revolution” in chemical agriculture of the 50s. After replacing traditional food practices with a cynical “development” agenda based on monocrops and cheap exports, the conquest continues as structural adjustment policies and the current biotechnology phenomenon.

The logic of biotech makes complete sense as planned obsolescence: the same corporations who pushed the Green Revolution and all its chemicals and hybrid seeds, now seek to milk more profits out of fee sterile soil and resistant insects (and displaced peoples) that have resulted. New seeds are developed to adapt to the conditions that were caused by the same companies’ products 50 years ago! Decades of chemical intensive methods have created resistant weeds, so genetically engineered seeds are designed to withstand higher doses of chemicals. Industrial agriculture depends on these methods. At this point, we either turn away from industrial methods, or we accept the fate of high-tech food.

[andreal831]

TVDU: Vikings in the Americas

I do a decent amount of research for my fic (which is more than the TVDU writers can say) so I thought I would share some.

For my story, You're On Your Own, Kid, it is based on the Mikaelson's human life. This is a period for TVDU that I find very problematic, specifically how whitewashed it is.

The Mikaelsons would have been one of the first Norsemen to come to the Americas as the first recorded instance of 'Vikings' coming to this area was about 980. Even then, they predominantly landed in areas like Greenland and would not have moved so far away from the coast as where Mystic Falls is supposed to be located. It wasn't until around 1,000 that they sailed further south and landed in what we today refer to as the United States. That being said, the writers have always found geography to be more of a guideline than a rule. Even Elijah mentioning wild horses he remembered from his childhood is inaccurate. During this period, horses were not native to North America and were not reintroduced until the 1400s.

But the problematic part is how whitewashed their village is. Everyone we see in the flashbacks is white, except for Ayana and they give no explanation of why she is the only woman of color in the village (where is the rest of her family?). Even the werewolves who were supposed to be native to the area (*cough* indigenous erasure*cough*) were shown to be white. The show later goes back and shows the Lebonair pack to be indigenous but doesn't explain how Ansel and his pack are white.

And yes, it would make sense for them to settle in an area where other Norsemen have settled, but that raises the question of who they were training to fight. Like most white colonizers, it was likely they were raiding and fighting the indigenous people of the land. We even see a scene where Klaus goes to show someone mercy and he looks as if he could have been an indigenous person.

Many Vikings who came to the 'New World' traded with indigenous people, but here we see Mikael keeping the land by force. To me, this is an unnecessary choice by the writers when Norsemen had a history of trading, they didn't have to be murderous colonizers.

We also see a lot of modern-day stereotypes/assumptions placed on the village. Like Rebekah not being able to hold a knife, when in fact the Norsemen actually valued their women and many of them learned to fight. While women were still viewed as inferior to men and it was very much a patriarchal society, the representation we see in TVDU is more of a European-centric view of women.

Additionally, Vikings were not all warriors. Most of them were farmers. Yes, they wielded swords when necessary and as a culture idolized their warriors, but for the large majority of the time, they spent their time farming or fishing. This is especially true before the religious conflicts between England.

When they did fight, much of their success was due to their navy (which would not be very helpful in land-locked Virginia). They also have such a fierce reputation because the English believed them to be 'barbaric' much like they described the natives when they colonized the Americas.

Elijah mentions that Mikael was a wealthy landowner when we first learn about his family. Land he likely stole from indigenous tribes. Additionally, who is farming all of this land? Vikings were known for taking slaves from lands they raided (we even see this is how Dahlia and Esther are taken), which here would be indigenous people. While Mikael is not a character that is glorified, the indigenous erasure is wildly problematic.

I know it is just a fun CW show, but a little research and sensitivity on these topics would have been appreciated. Throughout the show, we see the (white) Mikaelsons living quite lavish lifestyles but the show fails to acknowledge the people that got them there.

[todaysjewishholiday]

17 Menachem Av 5784 (20-21 August 2024)

Many people are familiar with the stories of Ashkenazi Jewish mass migration to the United States, seeking refuge from pogroms, economic hardship, and drafts into the czar’s army. What is less well known is the story of extensive migration from the same Eastern European shtetls to the plains of Argentina.

That story begins on the seventeenth of Av in 5649, when 824 Russian Jews landed in Buenos Aires, eager to start a new life together free from the constant threat of violence they’d lived with in the pale of settlement. They had been given a fabulous vision of the wonders of life in the Argentine countryside by the Argentine immigration bureau in Paris. The reality proved rather less rosy, but the new arrivals were determined. Since the entire Jewish population of Argentina had been under 2000 persons at the time of their arrival, that initial group of 824 was a significant increase to the nation’s Jewish community.

Denied their first homesteading location when the landowner they’d purchased it from decided he could get a better price, and finding the second property they were promised utterly lacking in any of the housing or farm goods they’d been told it would have, the settlers reached out to the French Jewish railroad magnate and philanthropist Baron Maurice Moshe Hirsch for financial aid for their settlement.

Hirsch was not only happy to assist, he thought the idea of Russian Jewish immigration to Argentina was brilliant and created an expansive plan to fund Jewish emigrants seeking to establish new lives in agricultural communes in the Argentine grasslands. To this end, Hirsch established the Jewish Colonization Agency, which funded land purchases and the costs of emigration and farming equipment for Russian Jews seeking to follow in the footsteps of that initial group of 824 settlers. Within 30 years, the Jewish population of Argentina had swollen from under 2000 to over 150000.

The initial group named their farming settlement Moïsesville in honor of the Baron. The cooperative structure of the Jewish settlements, who pooled resources for purchases of seeds and farm equipment, made them resilient in the face of the challenges of rural living. They learned from the surrounding gentile farmers and ranchers, adopting to the gaucho lifestyle but with distinctly Jewish touches. It is this legacy of successful rural agricultural communities that differentiated Jewish immigration to Argentina from Jewish migration elsewhere in the Americas.

The success of Jewish settlement in the hinterlands also swelled the urban Jewish population, and Buenos Aires soon became a major hub of global Jewish life and literature, with three separate Yiddish language daily newspapers, numerous Yiddish publishers, and an active Yiddish theatrical scene. In addition to the large influx of Ashkenazim, Sephardi Jews from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire also came in large numbers, which meant that in addition to Yiddish a visitor to a synagogue in Buenos Aires in the late 5600s might also hear Haketia, Ladino, or Judeo-Arabic. Over time, the children and grandchildren of these immigrants became primarily Spanish speakers. Argentina now has the largest Jewish population in South America and the seventh largest in the world, but is no larger now than it was a hundred years ago and is approximately half the size of the Argentine Jewish population’s peak. For the most part, the Jewish gauchos are a thing of nostalgic memory rather than a contemporary reality, but the migration they spearheaded has grown into a community with deep roots in Argentine soil.

[elancholia]

(via) This paper (preprint) essentially argues that the Indo-European expansion into Europe was accompanied by zoonotic plagues which arose in the Steppe, to which the IEs were adjusted (gently, via "long-term continuous exposure") and the Early European Farmers (the neolithic inhabitants of Europe) were not. They analogize this to the plagues which afflicted the Americas after the arrival of Europeans, correlating it with "increased genetic turnover" (population replacement) in Europe.

(So, two instances of Indo-Europeans conquering a continent in the wake of apocalyptic plagues. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.)

Their method is to check for microbial DNA in samples of human remains. What they demonstrate, afaict, is:

a) Zoonotic diseases first appeared around the time of the IE migrations, being first detected in samples from 6,500 BP and peaking around 5,000 BP.

b) IEs are consistently more likely to be infected with zoonotic diseases than non-IEs. (This greater incidence of infection seems to persist throughout the period.) This "suggests that the cultural practices and living conditions of the former might have been more conducive to the emergence of novel zoonotic pathogens." (14)

So they don't directly demonstrate that EEFs were ultimately hit harder by these illnesses, they just say that it would make sense for IEs to have adapted to them. As far as I can tell, this is fair; they cite a paper which claims that increased disease pressure may have resulted in adaptations to multiple sclerosis in the Steppe and another which suggests a similar trend among Amerindians after the Columbian Exchange.

Things I don't know:

In a population being ravaged by epidemics, would you would expect the infection rate to remain lower than that of a (more) immune population, or would you expect the infection rates to equalize? Would you expect to see spikes in one population and a more consistent line in the other, or some other indicator of differential impact? I suppose you'd just need comparative evidence, presumably from the Americas.

As lifestyles equalized (until you're comparing an 80% IE and a 40% IE guy who live in adjacent villages in Italy 500 BC), why would the IE effect persist? Wouldn't you expect the correlation to fall over time?

Do pastoralists we can directly observe have higher rates of zoonotic disease than animal-having agriculturalists or animal-eating hunter-gatherers? That seems to have pretty direct bearing on their lifestyle hypothesis.

Is there a similar effect in other places where IEs migrated during the Bronze Age (say, India or Iran), or other places within Eurasia where agriculturalists came into contact with Steppe peoples? They have a couple of data points in Iran and Anatolia and a bunch in SE Asia (for some reason), but everything else is in Europe and central Asia/Siberia.

There's also an odd effect where the two major genetic contributors to the IE population have different effects, Caucasus hunter-gatherer descent being associated with all the zoonotic diseases and Eastern HG being associated mostly with black plague, which is sort of odd, if these are one population with similarly disease-fostering lifestyles.

[grfn-btbtas]

naive belief: without rural America, without her farmers, America would starve

consequence of naive belief: rural America and the farming lifestyle is intrinsically noble and beautiful because of the raw life it supports. cue Cop(e)land.

reality: rural America is an saddening pastiche of deeply impoverished areas, subsidized cornfields, subsidized fallow fields, nothing in particular you'd care to eat, labor rights abuses, the occasional industrial complex pumping out cancer and aids and plastic,

and also vast tracts of empty nothingness which are genuinely kinda based ngl,

relatively current belief: rural America must be fixed and made productive, fair and clean so i can listen to Aaron Copland guilt free.

[crodur]

The Selk'nam (I): Quick historical recap

One of who knows many posts I'll write about the Selk'nam (AKA Ona) culture. In this post I will mostly talk about historical context. So whenever I get into mythology, religion, folklore, etc, you can come back here and read this if you want to know the specifics.

Located in the south of Chile and close to Argentina, the Selk'nam were a group of somewhat recent tribes. They diverged from the Tehuelche people in the 1300s, only a century and half before the Spanish crown arrived and claimed most of the American continent!

They displaced quickly the closely related Haush, and both cultures dsitributed the land between themselves.

(Curious fact: They used Yagan dogs for hunting, that they domesticated from a different canid than wolves unlike most of the modern dog breeds [the south american fox, that despite it's name, is not an actual fox, but resembles one in it's build]. The same evolution path, from a different starting point!)

At first, they were somewhat lucky. The spanish crown took as it's property all of South America. But actually, it never went that far into the south. The Onas were not discovered until 1520, while Magallanes was trying to travel the whole world for the first time in history. Even then, they were not contacted until 1580, and for a couple centuries, they were mostly left on their own. So you can have a vague idea of how feeble was the influence on them until the latest centuries.

To the left, an image of Spain (orange) claims on SA, to the right, the tribes present. While the crown had Selk'nam territory as claimed, those lands were very disjointed and there was barely a couple settlements.

The Selk'nam were very stable population wise. By the time they were counted by censuses in the late 1800s, their numbers were somewhere between 4000 to 5000. Like other civilizations, they sometimes engaged into conflicts with their neighbours, and sometimes kept peaceful relations (the noble savage myth is a racist and condescending idea, they were human with all the shades and lights). In other words, their population was in a very delicate balance, able to get through with no external pressures.

Until that changed.

1860. The Gold fever arrived to all the americas. Scavengers frantically looked for gold in water sources to make quick money. Not only the gold, but all the economy moved by it made countless businesses flourish, and lots of people interested in claiming lands for exploitation.

The Selknam happened to be located in the Land of Fire (Tierra de Fuego), a very exploitable place for rich outsiders. Multiple farmers arrived to Chile and wanted to extend their crops and livestock there. Onas were in the way, and the now independent Chilean goverment was either powerless, or did not even care, to stop them from attacking their own people.

(PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU'RE SENSITIVE WITH THEMES OF GENOCIDE AND CULTURAL DESTRUCTION, SKIP TO ''BUT NOT ALL HOPE IS LOST'')

For the next 40 years, the Selknam were not merely killed. As if they were prized animals, they were hunted down. Their fragile balance was not prepared to cope with an external force that put literal bounties on their heads for the crime of existing, and happening to be there.

I'd put photographies some of the settlers took, posing with their corpses, plundering their tents, shooting at innocents fleeing, because trust me, they took many, and nowadays they're still out there. A quick google search shows them. But that's gratuite, gruesome and plainly unnecesary. I think my point is driven home.

Julio Popper, one of the instigators, and even direct participant in the killings.

The numbers dropped massively. The Selknams were soon forced to abandon their lifestyle, and by 1900, their numbers were in the low 100s. As they were pushed away from their land and driven into a corner, Selknam groups resorted to infighting to get a hold to the last of the land and resources.

Some Christian missions took pity on them and helped them relocate, but whilst doing that, they lost what little they had left of their culture and ways of living. On top of that, the poor living conditions, and many contagious diseases they had no response for (same situation that killed millions in central america back when the spanish set foot for the first time).

Close to 1910 the massacre finally stopped, but it was too late. Their numbers sunk further. By 1950, only a dozen or so remained. In 1966, Lola Kiepja, last of the Selknam who fully knew the culture and customs, passed away.

But not all hope is lost!

The Ona tribes may be extinct functionally, but their legacy has not dissapeared. In fact, there's chance of a comeback!

Some mestizos (mixed descendants, with Selknam ancestry) have reappeared after the 1980s, now that the stigma started to wane. A 2010 census in Argentina found over 2000 proclaimed Selknams, and another in Chile, over 1000.

Not only that, one of those mestizos, Joubert Yanten Gomez, managed to reconstruct the Selknam language (passed down by the last survivors), and self taught it to himself! A crude version of the original, maybe, since there's no native to compare it, but still saved from total extinction!

There's recordings, photographies, and accurate protrayals of their rituals and dances. The states started to support their people, and effords of revitalization started in the late XX century. Every day, more is known and shared about the Ona people.

The story of the Selk'nam is not one of defeat, but of superation. Even if their people was exterminated, enough managed to survive and pass the torch, defying all odds.

No matter how oppresed is a culture, if the will of it's population prevails, they will keep living on.

I can't wait to actually get into what they achieved, what they believed, and how they viewed the world around them.

Part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/crodur/760627846854164480/the-selknam-ii-mythology-overview

[ladyimaginarium]

okay so i hate to be Like That™ but like. i kinda have to laugh at people who think it's just sooooo easy to do this cutesy witchy western cottagecore farm type beat. & that's not even getting into the historical & political context that a lot of y'all settlers in the americas (especially white queers) seem to either fail to grasp or straight up don't give a fuck about. but also from a personal perspective. lemme take y'all back through my family line.

these are my great great grandmother (who was born in 1860 & passed in 1934), great grandfather & great grandmother (who were born around 1894 & 1898 respectively) & my grandfather (on the right, born 1933, he passed when i was really small), my granduncle (he also passed when i was young when i was about 8-9) & their siblings respectively in my maternal line. my great grandfather worked his ass off to get & buy our family this relatively small plot of land (to the point where my specific family has our own street). he worked & farmed the land, & he taught his sons including my grandfather how to farm, hunt & fish. my grandfather like his brothers (& i'd imagine his sisters, too) barely had the chance to be a child because he had to work to support the family. i need y'all to understand that it was hard, backbreaking work. i can only imagine how difficult it was in my great(x2) grandmother's time. family friends & my mom would say my great grandfather was so damn tough he would straight up go into the woodstove & get wood while it was still hot with his bare hands. he died of a heart attack. my mom would talk about how hard my grandfather worked, how he worked for himself & how he'd lend out a helping hand for free to those in need & how at his funeral the church was PACKED to the brim with some people having to linger outside to pay their respects. that's how loved & respected he was.

as you can see, they're indigenous (although it wasn't ever really talked about aside from the occasional whispers, because remember, being indigenous, especially if you were back in the day — & make no mistake still is — was basically considered shameful & inferior to whiteness due to systematic racism & nobody was allowed to practice their culture and/or spirituality and/or religion and/or speak their traditional languages at risk of being imprisoned or sometimes even killed so i'd imagine that played a part on why it wasn't talked about so they assimilated, context matters). they had to work their asses off for what they had.

so when i see all these settler queers, especially queer white women or queer white men talk about how it'd be oh so nice to move away into a seemingly abandoned cottage in the middle of the forest or have a barn with their partners with conveniently abandoned lands i immediately have my eyebrows raised & im immediately sideeyeing you with wary suspicion. my ancestors were hunters, fishers & farmers because they Had to be or else they fuckin starved. & even then they didn't just give a shit only about themselves, they focused on helping others in their local communities because that's how it Works irl. i'm not saying you can't enjoy an aesthetic, hell, i love the pretty visuals & i intend to live out a similar life when i get older (you know, living on MY own traditional land) but if you can't do your own work that's required to sustain the lifestyle responsibly, if you think your queerness or your white/settler status somehow excludes you from this whole manifest destiny but its queer now bullshit, if you think there's no historical or political context behind this & you think it's completely apolitical or you don't respect the lands & the rightful stewards & guardians of those traditional lands (aka indigenous peoples) of the land you live on (because they're STOLEN land & this doesn't just apply to the americas, this applies to asia, africa & oceania & parts of europe too because let's be so ffr indigenous peoples are on every continent) then you're a fucking colonizer. tl;dr: for the love of creator just be aware of the political & historical context of your aesthetics before you start being obnoxious & listen to & center indigenous voices (& poc) in your aesthetics.

[vyuntspakhkite-l-darling]

Tired but can't sleep so I'm modern AUing my little guys. Keep reading for my insane (and probably unrealistic) rambles

Arsioly is born in a southern US state and has a southern accent and lots of misogyny and he plays a little too much Call of Duty and decides that the military would be fun even though he hates the country. He briefly struggles with what exactly to do because on one hand he's really curious as to what it'd be like to kill someone up close and personal but he also fucking loves planes and wants to do everything with planes he loves them a lot and so he decides to go with the air force so he can fly planes and jump out of them. Makes it through some of the training before getting discharged because he's a hothead and would either get into too many fights or do lots of insubordination. I mean I can just imagine this guy getting into an argument with his superior and getting super off topic and being like "by the way i hate america you all are shitty people for killing people and bad politics and i hate all you scumbags go kill yourself' and everyone's just like?? let's get this guy a drug test (he is not on drugs just unhinged). Once military is no longer an option he probably either becomes like a security guard personal security whatever and takes his job far too seriously. That or a chef or a linguist. Goes recreationally skydiving on the regular.

Visralion is a nurse. A correctional nurse specifically. He started out as whatever the regular one is (i don't know anything about nursing he just would definitely be one) and was like 'you know what actually? Jail. Literally me.' and followed that career path. I doubt he'd want any sort of serious relationship until he's in like his late 30s so he just fucks around and lives his best life.

I think Virava would like to have a simple life. She lives in Maine and tries desperately to make painting be her main job but she gets more money from doing furry commissions and selling tattoo designs.

Sibatol becomes a pole dancer and clutches onto that lifestyle until he finally decides he's too old for that. Bounces between jobs for a few years while going to the gym every to do his magical girl transformation but like reverse. He goes from a twink to a hunk, starts working in adult entertainment and rides that train for a while before he either loses interest or gets too old to even be considered a silver fox anymore, then he just becomes a house boyfriend for his working partner/partners.

Rasiel goes to jail. Every time.

Pio is Italian because he is, he's born into a family of very Catholic olive farmers and does that until he's old enough and is like 'um actually I would like to maybe not do this my whole life' and his family is like okay go to seminary then and he's like.... okay but what if I went to college i don't think i belong there actually haha not for any reason though. Not any reason just maybe not. So he goes to college and becomes a teacher and he really loves teaching about math and art.

[felinefallout]

ɢʀᴇᴇᴛɪɴɢꜱ. ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴇʟɪɴᴇ ꜰᴀʟʟᴏᴜᴛ.

(My main blog is @kittieshauntedourfantasy.)

After humanity in North America was wiped out by “The Great Light”, felines had to explore and survive in the world without them. In order to do so, the cats created "Colonies" – groups with their own skills, demeanors, etc.

ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ɪꜱ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜᴛ.

ᴄᴏʟᴏɴɪᴇꜱ

The Curet Colony rejects the ways of humans and domestic cats, instead favoring the lifestyle of their primal ancestors. They value independence, strength, and pride.

The Exim Colony cats dedicate their lives to everything the humans left behind, such as their technology, theories, and laws. They value knowledge, pragmatism, and ambition.

The Dacia Colony is a nomadic Colony that travels for trade and thrill. They value teamwork, courage, and athleticism.

The Mitis Colony embraces the lifestyle of farmers and shepherds, tending to whatever plants and livestock remain. They value compassion, wisdom, and patience.

The Vagari Colony roams the empty lands, scavenging through whatever the humans left behind to survive. They value resourcefulness, frugality, and perception.

Some cats choose not to be in Colonies. They are called “Solusses” (“Solus” singular).

Some cats may have been driven out of their Colonies. They are called “Exuls” (“Exul” singular).

ᴅᴏꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛꜱ

These cats are my OCs, and I'd love to see them be admired and have my fanbase grow! Despite this, I feel that there is a list of things you should and shouldn't do.

DO:

Make headcanons! I'd love to see what you come up with for these characters.

Ship! Yes, there will be canon ships, but I'd love to have people make other pairings.

Make your own designs! I may draw my own designs for these guys, but you are more than welcome to create your own designs!

Make art, as long as you credit me for the characters/story! I'd love it if you tagged this blog so that I can see it!

Make OCs! I think it'd be fun for people to create their own Colony cats.

Make AUs! AUs are always very fun (at least in my opinion), and I'd love to see AUs for the Colonies and their cats!

DON'T:

Sexualize these characters! They're CATS. Zoophilia isn't cool.

Use these characters/this story without credit! None of this belongs to you, so don't act like it does! This should go without saying, but just in case!

Repost! You are allowed to reblog, and I encourage reblogging, but do NOT repost anything! Again, this isn't your work!

Of course, I may have forgotten some things, but I will edit this list from time to time!

This list was updated on: 12/31/2023

ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ/ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ

This story and blog will contain themes of:

Murder

Animal death

Injury

Blood

Gore

Fear

Like the dos and don'ts, I may be forgetting something! If so, I will update it.

This list was updated on: 12/30/2023

ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍᴇ

My main blog is @kittieshauntedourfantasy, but I will put some basics about myself here!

I am Courtney. I go by Court. I use she/they pronouns. I have autism, so I'm sorry if I come off as rude sometimes! Tone tags help me, but they are not at all required.

[acti-veg]

I'm taking an environmental course this semester and one of the required readings ("The Ecological Indian: Myth and History" by Shepard Krech III) brought up some interesting points that I hadn't considered before that I thought should be part of the conversation when non Native American anti-vegans try to justify themselves using indigenous folk as a scapegoat for personal choices.

The book basically discusses and questions the validity of Native Americans being as truly environmentally conscious and as respectful of the earth as we as a society generally believe. It looks into the origins of that stereotype, and suggests that the idea that indigenous folk are more connected to nature stems from racist roots. To summarize, when colonization of North America began there were two stereotypes that arose surrounding indigenous people, the negative violent stereotype, and the more positive environmentally conscious stereotype. However, both still spawned from the idea that Native Americans were 'less advanced' than Europeans. Thus, the idea that indigenous folk are the idealistic examples of how humans and nature should interact is a racist characterature of actual Native Americans, and said Native Americans historically leaned into the stereotype because at the time it was helping pave the way for the environmental movement.

There are, of course, a lot of stewardship techniques and beliefs that are adapted from indigenous lifestyles and traditions that are used in environmental conservation to this day, so obviously non Native Americans can learn a lot about how to care for the earth from these groups, but I think that understanding this history puts a lot into perspective, at least for me. It certainly makes non-indigenous individuals using indigenous people as excuse to continue meat consumption that much grosser in context, considering it is just another way they are using yet another minority to fit their narrative regardless of how much it hurts said minority (in this case resorting to racism to make their point, intentionally or not). This of course, is made that much worse by the fact that Native Americans are amongst the groups that are most negatively impacted by the animal agriculture industry. Like, the absolute nerve of anti-vegans to act like they are preaching for these groups when end of the day they don't actually care enough to understand nuances of what they are arguing for or against.

Some great points raised here, and I'll definitely check out this book. I really think it all stems from this colonial idea that you can really say anything about 'indigenous people' and what they do or believe, as if they were some homogenous group and not a collection of peoples as diverse as any other continent. It's like trying to talk about the entirety of Europe in general terms, what we end up with is this simplistic, over-sanitised noble savage stereotype that just is not at all helpful to the cause of indigenous sovereignty.

Anti-vegans lean into this stereotype for one reason only: It serves their own narrative. Look at what happened when that misogynist cosplaying as an indigenous person put out that video about how 'veganism is colonialism,’ it was eaten up by hundreds of thousands of people without anyone bothering to really examine it. Compare that to the attention indigenous groups get when they oppose deforestation by cattle ranchers, or god forbid, talk positively about veganism in public?

It's just one more string in the anti-vegan bow, they use indigenous people as pawns. Just like quinoa farmers and crop pickers, their concern extends right up until these groups start saying things that don't reinforce their existing beliefs, and sometimes not even then. People didn't even bother to find out what the issue with quinoa was even supposed to be they just made up ‘quinoa child slaves’, and they didn't pay attention to the fact that cattle ranching was and is a key driver of the destruction of indigenous lands.

It's very depressing, but unfortunately we really can't have a constructive conversation about indigenous issues in relation to veganism until people on both sides (because I see vegans do this too) stop reducing indigenous people to an idealistic stereotype. We all need to stop supporting people who very clearly only bring up indigenous issues when it serves their own interests.

[marcusbutnotgarvey]

No Regrets for Our Youth was a peculiar movie at first because I felt the plot was not easy to discern at first. The confusing part about watching it especially for an older movie was the shifting around from scene to scene. It would go to a scene at the Yagihara household to Japanese students singing in a bar about fascism and then to them on the street singing in a drunken state. The balance to this all was that unlike an Ozu film, I felt that the actors were able to actually act and convey emotions into each of their scenes. For instance, while Yukie’s mother did not have too many lines throughout the film, I felt she was able to convey each line with emotion that was able to be picked up easily.

After continuing to watch, but not until towards the end, the plot start to come into view. Yukie’s commitment and the commitment of Noge to their ideals and what they believe was the right thing to do. Noge wanted to stand up to the militarism of Japan, fascists ideals and a looming war effort. Yukie wanted to be true to herself and follow the one she truly loved. Yukie was tied between marrying the guy with a stable life outcome and less risky, or marrying the man who had a strong desire for doing what was right even at the risk of his own life. Ultimately, she chose Noge with the more passionate and emblazoned secret lifestyle. The real intensity and enjoyment of the film came after Noge’s passing and Yukie going to see his parents.

Yukie stayed at Noge’s parents and began her new life there supporting them however she could. She did this to as a form of solidarity and respect to Noge who brought her the happiness that she craved. Casting aside the easy life of living with her parents, Yukie picked up farming tools and began to help her parents-in-law. Not only did she take on the physical burden of working as a farmer but also the harassment and beratement brought on by Noge’s choice to stand against militarism of Japan. Another important thing to focus on was the fact that Yukie was main protagonist in this film. During this period women employment was a significant movement in America and it is comparatively important to see women take a leading role in film during this time.

I believe this film is harmonious with the message that not only men are capable of great things but women also. Yukie, through her own commitment, patiently endured the harassment of the villagers and forged her own path standing up for Noge’s image. She also picked up the tools to work alongside her mother-in-law. This was important especially since her father-in-law did not help in the farm until the latter portion of the film signaling the just as important role women play in society. In all, this was a great film and provides a wonderful backdrop to the encouragement of women’s rights and the changing of the hearts and minds of the Japanese people after WW2.

[tsunflowers]

I don't want to talk about "a woman's touch" bc i think that's reductive and ultimately does a disservice to female authors. at the same time there's a certain sensitivity to leigh brackett's "the long tomorrow" that I don't often see in these kinds of post-apocalyptic novels where people are reduced to superstitious farmers leaving in fear of technology. but I guess it's silly to say I think ms beckett has a uniquely feminine approach when her protagonist len colter reminds me so much of ender from ender's game, without being the single specialest boy in the entire world. it's just that he has a quiet inner strength that keeps him going which I find appealing in a protagonist

in this vision of future America the most prosperous people are the "new mennonites" who didn't care for technology before bombs were dropped and adapted the most easily to a low-tech lifestyle. but they're fervently religious and disallow technology and scientific knowledge. our protagonist len and his reckless cousin esau escape this upbringing in hopes of reaching a city called "bartorstown" which is said to be just like a city from the pre-war days where they keep the old knowledge alive. of course when they finally reach it the city isn't the paradise they dreamed of and the beliefs they were raised with turn out to be harder to shake than they thought

I think it's a novel about how you have to believe in something to keep going in the world and people who can't have blind faith suffer. people of god and people of science are not that different after all. both can have their faith shattered and rekindled. it's a very human story in that way. it has all the things you expect from this kind of story with mob violence and preaching about how the nuclear bomb was sent by the devil and secret underground bunkers but it's very candid about also being about asking the question "why are people the way that they are?" I liked it a lot