#and I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE READING

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[moghedien]

Minthara says “in Her name” when you first meet her and she’s following the Absolute but when you recruit her and she expresses that she no longer follows any god, but she still has an intact paladin oath, and she says “in your name” occasionally because she’s no longer Lolth’s paladin or the Absolute’s paladin, she’s your paladin

[heritageposts]

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Ilan Pappé (2006, p. 72)

The rhetoric from Israel and their defenders really hasn't changed one bit, has it? Months and months of terrorizing Palestinian villages, and the moment they retaliate, it must be because the Arabs are violent Nazis set to exterminate the oh-so-peaceful Zionist settlers for no other reason than them being Jewish

And what were the Zionists settlers - with Ben-Gurion's explicit approval - doing at the time?

Pappé (2006, p. 58)

Similarly, in the villages:

Pappé (2006, p. 57)

Still the same playbook, 75+ years later...

Also, it's important to understand that these violent attacks against Palestinian cities and villages - and there were many more in the winter of 47/48 than the examples included here - were part of a larger, deliberate operation meant to 'drive out' (i.e. ethnically cleanse) the Native population of Palestine. It didn't matter if the Palestinians were just quietly living their life in the countryside; if they were not Jewish, they would had to go. And if the Zionists could not find a pretext for retaliation, they would make one.

In the aftermath of the UN partition, this operation of ethnic cleansing - without 'pretext' - was not only openly discussed, but approved of, by Ben-Gurion and the rest of the Zionist leadership:

Pappé (2006, p. 64)

What we're seeing today in Gaza - with the collective punishment of 2 million Palestinians - is the continuation of this very same Zionist program of ethnic cleansing that Israel was founded on.

[bizarrelittlemew]

top/bottom discourse and dom/sub truthers this and that, none of that can touch me because i headcanon them as vers and switch and whatever is best for the bit and therefore always win. look at all the beauty in the world

[foolishlovers]

WIP Wednesday Good Omens Recs

let's spread some love and share some wips this wednesday. writing can be hard and lonely sometimes, so let's hit the kudos button and post a comment or two on some ongoing fics today!

[amyrosedaily]

Day 63: Stupid

It's ok to be wrong sometimes.......right?

PLEASE! Donate to help save Safaa and her family! | Main post | Gofundme

[r0bzombixx]

— unsent letters, margaux paul

[m-ilkiee]

"Omg ur exposing minors to bad stuff" if a minor can read and understand fanfiction, they can also read and understand the following words. RATED 18, DARK CONTENT, TW. INCEST, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

And if they can't understand simple sentences, then Wattpad is right there for them. Not tumblr.

You can bitch and moan about how writing shit like this is "bad", but really the closest thing you've read to an actual book with nuance is ... actually nothing, you don't read anything. It's always the smau writers who just entered tumblr, like shut up and sit down. If you're worried about kids, host a security seminar to parents to monitor their online presence or teach kids internet safety and how to use the block option. No one is obligated to hide their content from you because you think you're on a moral high ground compared to the rest of us. People like you are the reason why we can't say murder and kidnapping and call real pedophiles pedophiles because you don't want "kids" knowing bad stuff, but in reality you're doing more harm than good with your chronically online takes.

Respectfully take a break from smaus and pick up a book. I may not endorse many things but I'm on the side of artistic freedom and blocking people. I'm on the side of writing about darker topics and exploring trauma, because talking about pedophilia was how I discovered that I was assaulted at seven. Something I didn't know because adults with YOUR mindset refused to let me know that it's wrong for an adult to touch a child because "what about the kids."

I'm not saying children should be exposed to reading r 18 fics, god no. I'm saying that 1) people should write wtv the fuck they want without being looked at as a bad person. 2) kids should have a safe space, preferably with a trusted adult that is NOT on the internet who will not be afraid to talk about darker topics that can affect them. 3) enough of what about the kids or the mentally ill people, why should a kid be on my account?

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

The "wow this relationship was so compelling and/or queer I'm sure that there is much fan stuff" to "Oh yeah I forgot the fandom branded these characters as having a familial relationship such as siblings or parent/child and harassed people who said otherwise" pipeline

[eliyips]

The server erupts in celebration, as the Wither falls. Grian cries out for Jimmy, and Joel for Lizzie. Pearl and Bdubs share a glance. Words aren’t needed, they cry out in silence for their fallen Mounder. The remaining three walk home together, over broken terrain.

“We can deal with everything in the morning.” Joel’s voice quavers, but he smiles for them, before leaving.

Pearl hugs Bdubs. His thoughts are burning and hers must be, too. The anvil, the betrayal, Mumbo’s delirium, then his death.

“Get some rest, mate.” She whispers, before leading her dogs inside.

He’ll sleep at Etho’s tonight.

[pseudophan]

thoroughly obsessed with how quickly everyone's falling right back into proper phannie tendencies. sure some of us have stayed degenerates this whole time and never stopped pointing at them going You Are Gay For Each Other, but at first when the gaming channel returned it seemed like most people were kinda cautious like.. we're grown now. we are better than this. we do not need the rpf. and now we're three videos in and everyone's like oh my GOD they touched hands

[madebypointlesswords]

So my parents dragged me to a christian festival today. Here are some of my favourite interactions I had

My father: this is my eldest daughter, *deadname*. She really wanted to be here

Me, a nonbinary person with heaps of religious trauma, definitely not there out of free will: ‘sup

—

Me, just chilling around some stands:

Random christian: hey do you have a boyfriend and is he catholic

Me, a lesbian: Jesus is my boyfriend

—

Random christian again: do u want a t-shirt with “hype jesus” on it to show that ur christian

Me, a pagan witch: yes

—

Random christian yet again: what are u listening to?

Me: Take Me To Church from Hozier

Christian: Oh I love that song. Very nice to encourage young folks to worship god

Me: uh-huh

—

Me: I’m gonna read Catherine Nixey’s “The Darkening Age” in front of this pastor

My brother: now why would you do that

Me: for the aesthetic

[winteriron-trash]

rdj the (whitewashed) electric boogaloo

This is a reminder to everyone who's excited about RDJ's casting as Doctor Doom that this casting is whitewashing. Victor Von Doom is a Romani character and has been a Romani character since his introduction in the 1960s. (Fantastic Four Annual #2 [1964]) Not only that, but his Roma identity and the persecution he and his family faced due to it is integral to his character, it is what forms his identity. (Books of Doom by Ed Brubaker) Even if on the off chance this casting is meant to not be Victor but instead be some variant of Tony or whomever else becoming Doctor Doom, it is damaging to the character to rob him of that important cultural background. Doctor Doom does not exist without that history. Fans have been pushing hard to cast Doom as a Romani actor for years, especially since the MCU has whitewashed other Romani characters. (Wanda, Pietro, etc) This casting is not a celebration moment, it's fucking heartbreaking that the MCU repeatedly ignores the important and nuanced cultural backstories of characters.

I know I can't change anybody's mind on whether or not you want to be excited about RDJ's return to the MCU. But I do think at the very least you should be mad that the MCU is baiting us all and destroying nuanced and interesting characters for the sake of self-referential easter eggs and nostalgia bait. Because that's what it is. Feel how you'd like to feel about RDJ's return, but personally, this is soul-sucking. I had such a deep love for the MCU as a teenager, it was obviously something incredibly formative to me, especially Tony Stark. This isn't recreating what I fell in love with the MCU for. This is turning a well-planned and artistic storyline of adaptations into cheap cash grabs and fan service. Because, I think we're past the point of being able to call the MCU an adaptation of anything. They can use existing characters' names and powers, but to say they're being properly adapted is laughable.

This is not an adaptation of Doctor Doom. This is RDJ the Electric Boogaloo because Marvel's fear of losing the interest of dedicated MCU fans overrides their willingness to tell stories that are genuine to the characters. I don't know what there is to be excited about that. The MCU has lost its authenticity and aside from a few projects, feels heartless. Every movie is a copy of a copy. This announcement isn't something celebratory, it feels like a death knell of a cinematic universe that's so desperate to cling to relevancy it's resorting to nostalgia for a character/actor who hasn't even been dead for a decade. We're not getting anything new, we're just rinsing and repeating the same song and dance.

I get it. I love Tony Stark, his death destroyed me and I to this day, rue the ending he got in Endgame. It misunderstood his arc and it robbed him of a satisfying conclusion. But the solution to that isn't dragging the corpse out of the grave five years later to whitewash an existing character with rich and interesting nuance, just to forcibly tie his existence in the MCU to Tony. Whether he is a variant or not. Why would you want someone else's fave's legacy to be destroyed simply so your fave's legacy can go on? Hell, if we were really all so hellbent on the return of RDJ and/or Tony to the MCU, we have the multiverse for a reason. There were other ways to do it that didn't whitewash and ruin someone else. This just. Isn't something to be happy about.

[unexpectedbrickattack]

heehee (pepstavo under the cut)

[cameliawrites]

holy shit, I just realized I passed 250,000 total words posted on ao3 with the oneshot I posted earlier today. okay. wow. that’s a lot of kanej brainrot!

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Dorothea Hackman (Euston Food Bank director) shares how Liam Payne secretly gave up his time to help feed hundreds of struggling families in Camden:

“Liam Payne was the kindest, most sensitive young man I have ever met over an incredibly long period of time.”

“He got in touch out of the blue and offered help. We desperately needed the money at the time. We were dealing with a massive increase in demand – because of lockdown people were desperate for food.”

“He got in touch and asked what we did and what we needed. We told him about our work and he said, ‘Right, I’m giving you £80,000.”

“He came down to the food bank and really got involved, really rolled his sleeves up. He carried crates, packed boxes and bags, he visited us, supported us and  was always charming”

“We are all incredibly upset and sad to hear the news. He really got it. He really understood his social obligations as a successful and rich person. He stood up to be counted. We will miss him terribly.”

“He never once asked for anything. He did not want publicity, he did not want people to know, he just didn’t have that motivation – he saw a need and knew he could help.”

Food For All director Peter O’Grady recalled the singer turning up at a kitchen in Holborn and helping make giant pots of curry. He added:

“He actually saved the day during the pandemic. He made the biggest single donation we have ever had, with no fuss. He didn’t want anyone to make a thing about it. He let nobody know of his generosity.”

Source: Camden New Journal