#and I say that as someone of scandinavian descent

[debbiechanclub]

TRIPLE H GAVE THE WAR RAIDERS THEIR NAME BACK?!!!!

[andiatas]

Writing Scandinavian, Nordic &/or Swedish characters

Maybe someone has done a guide like this, and I've missed it, but I wanted to gather some words and phrases for all of my writer friends who have or are thinking about adding a character of Scandinavian/Nordic descent.

This came to mind after seeing too many LITG fics where people have Henrik speaking Swedish and no shade to the writers, but it was clear as a day to me that they used Google Translate and hoped for the best. That's not to say that writers from other communities and/or fandoms can't use this guide, but just to be transparent, that's where I got the inspiration from.

With all that said, let me talk you through some basic info and phrases so you can make your bilingual or trilingual character sound legit or like a native!

Definitions

The Scandinavian countries = Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The Nordic countries = Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands and Åland.

So, an important distinction to keep in mind is if you're talking about Scandinavia, you're talking about those three "bigger countries" (aka the ones who have f*cked over the rest at one point or another throughout history). As soon as you bring, for example, Finland or Iceland into the mix, you're talking about the Nordic countries.

Language

On the language aspect, I suggest checking out this post, where I've talked about it a bit, but as a general rule of thumb, Swedes and Norwegians can understand each other while still speaking their respective languages.

When Danes and Swedes, or Danes and Norwegians speak with each other, one generally switches to English. Same when communicating with people from Iceland.

Swedish is one of the official languages in Finland and Åland, whilst Danish is one of the official languages in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Also, English is taught from first grade until upper secondary (high school) but is already introduced to children in kindergarten. I don't know how it's in the other Nordic countries, but in Sweden, it's mandatory to study either Spanish, French or German from sixth grade until the first year of upper secondary.

Swedish swear words

Fan - this is the most common swear word in Swedish & whilst the most accurate translation would be "damn" it's used similarly to how "fuck" is used in English. So, this is the word I mostly see mistranslated & the tell-tale sign (for me) of someone who has relied on Google Translate because they will have their character say "knulla" when they're swearing. Technically, this isn't wrong because knulla is slang for sex... but yeah, I think you get it

Helvete - literally means "hell" & could probably be compared to how Brits use "bloody hell". If I got a paper cut or stubbed my toe, I would curse, "Helvete!"

Jävlar - this is the one that's most difficult to translate, but one could say it means "shit" or "sodding". Whilst it's a curse word in itself, it's primarily used in front of another word. So, for example, if you want to say, "You're a goddamn idiot", you would say, "Du är en jävla idiot!"

Swedish lovey-dovey words & pet names

Älskling = Darling, love, babe, beloved

Jag älskar dig = I love you

The word "älskar" is the Swedish word for "love", so if you bend it, you get the word "älskling" which is the most common term, or nickname, for your partner. I would say it's best compared to how darling, love or babe is used in English.

Käraste = Beloved, dearest

It can get confusing because "kæreste" means girlfriend/boyfriend in Danish, but in Swedish, "käraste" is just an affectionate word for someone. If you want to say "my dearest XYZ", you would say "min käraste XYZ". The word means girlfriend/boyfriend in Danish but is a nickname for your girlfriend/boyfriend or someone else close to you in Swedish. Are you still with me?

Hjärtat = literally "the heart"

This is a bit of a variation of "älskling." While talking to a partner or someone you hold dear, you would say "hjärtat," but if you're talking about them, you could say "mitt hjärta" ("my heart"). While älskling is more versatile and can be compared to numerous pet names, I would say hjärtat/mitt hjärta is best compared to love/my love.

Sötnos = Sweetheart, honey

Sötis = Cutie

Okay, so to start, "Sötnos" is the whole word, while "Sötis" is the short version, but they mean two completely different things. If you're talking to a partner or a really close friend and go, "Oh, sweetheart," you would opt for "sötnos." But if you're talking to someone from your friend group, you would opt for "sötis."

It's not an insulting word, but if you called your partner "sötis," they would probably be offended and question what they had done to offend you. I would compare it to when your dog does something stupid, like trip over its paws and hit its head, and you laugh at it like, "Oh sötis!"

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I am creating a world where there have been interracial marriages since like they met and it's been thousands of years since. It's a very interconnected world now with basically no racial purity (is there a better way to say that? because that seems rooted in racist vocabulary and my world is the opposite). The only people who do not mingle are those akin to the uncontacted tribes in real life. Mainly, I'm trying to figure out how to figure out what people look like - there's only so few people out that are very mixed race, there's too many that are mixed but only specific mixes like White/Black, White/Asian, White/Hispanic. No..now, this isn't taking place on Earth but they are still human and I'm only able to come at it with how real actual people look like. No, bascially all of my world will be people who look White/Black/indigenous American/indigenous Pacific Islander/indigenous Asian/East Asian/South Asian/Hispanic/etc... Everything gets mingled, churned up in the gene pool and spit out. I'm not sure how to go from there. There are so so few actual examples that are very mixed. Also, I'm not at all an expert at looking at faces so yeah.. a lot of times I'm not even sure what I'm looking at in a racial trait. Hell, there are real life instances of let's say, looking at a Chinese and Japanese side by side, someone can tell them apart and where the differences. I still have no idea what they're looking at. Hell even someone actually Chinese couldn't tell what the differences were. Of course, I don't need to get very specific in details at all, but I have to have some sort of description that isn't well a lazy description that says nothing.

Feral: So, this ask gives me the idea that you were raised in a pretty racist culture (I can relate) and are trying really hard to leave that behind. And I want to encourage you to push into real education. Intention is not enough when it comes to shedding what we were taught, often subliminally, and consciously relearning - and that doesn’t feel good the way the color-blind approach many nascent liberals tend towards does.

It seems like you’re still caught in certain patterns of thinking, especially in the idea that eliminating racial distinction and sublimating and homogenizing is anti-racist when it’s actually kinda colonialism in a fancy new hat. And the “races” in your ask - a mixture of racial identities, ethnic identities, and very broad geopolitical groups - already have a huge genetic diversity within them and in several cases do in fact already overlap with each other.

There’s also a misunderstanding of how physical traits are genetically passed. They aren’t amalgamated like mixing blue paint and red paint and creating purple paint. Skin color, hair color, hair texture, and face and facial feature shapes and sizes don’t just meet in the middle between what the two parents have - and keep in mind that this kind of thinking is usually only applied when thinking about the children of a racially-mixed couple and not of say a white parent of Italian descent and a white parent of Scandinavian descent. 

 And there are traits that can seem to disappear from a family line only to pop up generations later. A more diverse gene pool will not produce a population of individuals indistinguishable from one another; there will be even more diversity of physical traits - specifically traits that we’re not accustomed to seeing together in our more racially segregated world.

Utuabzu: Something you should seriously consider is the background of your world. Is this the planet humans (or equivalent species, but let's just assume you're asking about humans) evolved on or is it a colony? Because if it's the former then it's pretty unlikely that you could homogenise the entire global population without some sort of catastrophic bottleneck event, something that reduces the global population to a small number in a single location that then recolonises the planet. Because the reality is that most people don't want to leave their communities of birth, not permanently anyway. People like to live in the place they consider home, and to live in a culture they understand, and absent a significant push or pull factor they will want to stay roughly within their home environment. This is part of why you don't generally see mass migration between countries with equivalent levels of economic development and political/social stability.

Given that, it's pretty hard to see how you could get enough migration around the world for long enough to homogenise the gene pool. There's probably always going to be general regional trends. There's also what Feral said about how genetics works. Appearance isn't just controlled by one or two genes. It's controlled by a huge array of genes that we still don't entirely understand, and many genes impact multiple seemingly unconnected things. A good example of this is that the gene for red hair also produces pale skin, because it prevents the production of eumelanin (the black pigment) while allowing the production of pheomelanin (the orangy-brown one). This is also why red haired people freckle - freckles are made with pheomelanin - and don't tan - tanning uses eumelanin.

Now, if you aren't writing about the home planet, you could have a fairly homogenous population due to something called the founder effect. Basically, because when a new population is established the genepool is limited, the traits of the founding individuals can have an outsized impact on the later genepool, with normally recessive genes spreading to enough individuals that the trait they code for becomes extremely common. So long as the population is predominantly composed of descendants of these founders, this effect is likely to remain active - so, so long as there isn't mass immigration that outnumbers the people born in the colony to at least one parent descended from the founders. This is easily enough accomplished by having the colony be really far away, and thus having an unreasonably long travel time for most people. If it takes many years to get there, few people would be willing to abandon their whole lives to migrate to a place they've never been.

A final thing to consider is that race is not and has never been a genetic or biological category. It's a social one. It can be correlated with certain physical traits, but it doesn't necessarily need to be, and in many parts of the world the salient 'racial' categories share most phenotypic traits. In others 'race' isn't particularly correlated with phenotype at all, and is instead primarily about culture or even religion. And not every society even has a concept of 'race'. You can simply not mention it, and instead have characters with a range of phenotypic features that nobody ever comments on, and it can be assumed that 'race' is not a relevant concept in that culture.

[is-the-fire-real]

I want to take a whack at "Your ethnicity doesn't colorize your race", actually.

Colorism is a poisonous part of white supremacy. The whole point of colorism is that you can't hide from it: people look at you, make a determination of your social rank, and go on to treat you better/worse because of it. That is terrifying. It impacts most of the world at this point, and white European colonizers (from whom white Americans descend) were responsible for its memetic spread. It is something we'll all have to continue to unlearn, for healing and for justice.

Nothing I am about to write contradicts what I've just written.

Colorism is not the only determining factor of race, and possessing a paler skin tone does not determine if someone is white.

When I was a kiddo, there was a category of people we called WASPs--White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. It seemed a strange division, separating these white people from all the other white people. But it began to make sense once I realized that, originally, in the US, not long before I was born, they were the only people actually considered to be white.

The "Anglo-Saxon" part? That excludes everyone not of English descent. The "Protestant" part? That excludes all non-Protestants, including most new USian religious movements which appear to be Protestant (LDS, Seventh-Day Adventist, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.).

If that sounds to you like only a small category is left over of True Whites, congratulations, you have found The Point Of Whiteness.

Italians and the Irish were famously considered to be not white in the US, because a) they weren't English and b) they were Catholic. Leaving the non-English aspect aside, a lot of Scandinavian peoples were treated as not white, because Scandinavian nations converted to Christianity later than any other part of Europe. The Spanish were not white because they were Catholic, and because, for several hundred years, they were colonized by Arabic Muslims. And Jews, regardless of where they were from, were never white because they were Jews.

"But Fire," my imaginary audience says, "they weren't treated like Black people!"

True. Because "not white" wasn't the same as being Black.

One of the impacts of colorism relates to the concept of white-passing. (White-passing people, by the way, are not white, just like cis-passing trans people don't magically become cis--a fact which we really should acknowledge more when discussing "passing privileges".) White-passing grants you some nominal privileges in a white supremacist society, at the cost of surrendering the things that made you not white.

You're pale enough. Want to be white? All you have to do is give up everything. Stop speaking that non-English language your grandparents taught you in their home. Practice hard to flatten your accent, or else everyone will know you're not white when you speak. Better hide any religious icons, Protestants don't like those! In fact, throw them away. You're Methodist now. You don't need those anymore. Change your name if your family wasn't forced to already. Burn your prayer books. Stop talking about the Old Country. Give it up.

Give it all up. We have something better for you: privileges which we will revoke if you ever step out of line, if you ever complain on behalf of people you should have left behind by now, or if you're less than pluperfect at faking being Anglo-Saxon and Protestant.

Obviously, this experience is not the same as being Black. But "not the same" and "good" are two separate concepts for a reason.

The joke here, which isn't funny, is that if your entire perception of race, racism, and racist politics internationally and in the US begins and ends with skin tone cards, and you fancy yourself an anti-racist, you most often simply reverse who you despise. You think of "white" people as being a safe, acceptable category of human to shit on. And you flatten the category of "white" to include all white-passing people, and then, here's the kicker, you spend all your time online only harassing and sui-baiting people who are not white and do not reliably benefit from white privilege!

Do you see these anons trolling folks who are actual, open, out-and-proud white supremacists? Those people exist! They are on Tumblr! They can be trolled! But no, those people are largely left alone by anons like this. Almost as though actual Nazis and skinheads and white supremacists have some sort of privilege that sets them apart and makes them too special for such harassment.

Instead, we see them and cowardly anons like them, time and time again, going after folks who they assume are white-passing IRL because they disagree with those folks politically. Mocking ethnic foods as being weird and gross and disgusting, making fun of body types and presumed nose size and hair quality, mocking religious languages as being gibberish (or, in a fit of paranoia, framing it as a secret untranslatable code), all of this and more, these are not things these racists do towards people who they perceive as actually white. They are literally attacking and mocking and denigrating non-white people for not being white, all while acting as though they're battling white supremacy.

It is the definition of chutzpah, and it convinces me that this anon must be a WASP, because nobody else would have the fucking gall.

Ethnic whites when you tell them they're white:

girl what

[mitchiegonewild]

aot character's nationalities 

okay, so from what I've found (taking things like name origins and canonical story building), im going to try and make a complete list of aot characters and their nationalities.

Eren Jaeger/Jäger: as a surprise to no one, Eren is three fourths German, one fourth Turkish.

Carla Jaeger/Jäger: Half Turkish, half German. ("Carla" comes from Germanic roots.)

Grisha Jäger/Jaeger: German. Duh.

Zeke Jaeger/Jäger: Three fourths German, one fourth English.

Mikasa Ackerman: Half Japanese, half Ashkenazi Jewish. (Duh X2. Ackerman is an Ashkenazi Jewish surname, usually hailing from Germany or Scandinavia. While I don't know which one of the two the Ackermans we see would fall under, as none of them slap me in the face as German except for perhaps Kuchel [and even she strikes me as more Italian or Dutch than anything], Ashkenazi is widely regarded as an ethnic group of their own.)

Levi Ackerman: Half Russian, half Ashkenazi Jewish. (As a half Russian Ashkenazi Jew, pretty spot on.) Levi and Russian men have similar facial structures, in which their heads are sort of heart shaped, or rounded and then pointed at the end.

Kenny Ackerman: Ashkenazi Jewish.

Kuchel Ackerman: Ashkenazi Jewish.

Armin Arlert: Okay, so (slightly?) hot take (lukewarm at best), but Armin's half German, half Finnish. He has a similar rounded face structure to most Finnish people, not to mention the hair and the eyes. (Seriously, the hair texture looks so similar.) Plus Arlert is an OLD Germanic surname, which often coincided with people of Scandinavian descent. Half German because Armin is a German name. Plus, if you look at pictures of his parents, his father resembles men of Finnish descent and his mother of women of German descent. So, tl;dr: Armin's half German, half Finnish.

Sasha Braus: I can take this one out quick as a bitch; Austrian with some Czech sprinkled in. ('Braus' is an Austrian surname. So, woo-hoo for my home country, LOL! And before people say something about how her name is a play on a German language saying...what language do you think us Austrians speak?) While not definitively Czech to the point where she can say specific family members have that descent, it's made its way into her gene pool with the hair color and texture, cheekbones/shape, and nose. (I would not say she's Russian even though 'Sasha' is definitely Russian, mostly because the other indicators point to Austrian and Czech being more likely.)

Conny Springer: Alright, hear me out AGAIN. Conny's half Slavic, and more specifically, he's half Serbian. Springer (or Špringer) is an Irish/Slavic surname often found in Serbia. Your average Serbian man and Conny share deep-set eyes, nice brows, a face that curves in that particular Conny shape, and a similar hair texture. Conny, and also John Constantine (which is what I believe is his canonical full name, someone correct me if I'm wrong), but specifically Constantine, has origins in both Old English and in Slavic language. Which brings me to his other half: German. Because when in doubt, in AOT, they're part German.

Erwin Smith: ENGLISH. next.

Hangë Zoe: Half Greek, half German. They're half Greek because the name Zoe is of greek origin. Hangë also shares qualities similar to Greek features; a Greek nose, tan skin, and dark hair. Plus with Greece still overcoming an emigration crisis as of 2019/2020, in the future, its quite plausible that many Greeks (including Hangë's possible ancestors) wound up in Germany. Hangë is a loose translation of the name "Hans", which is a VERY stereotypical German name. I mean, you literally cannot get more German than Hans unless you pull out Gretel. That being said, I do also believe that Hangë has some Indian heritage, and this is because the surname "Hange" without the umlaut gives us that of an Indian descent. Seeing has "Hangë" is, as stated before, a loose form of "Hans", the addition of an umlaut could also be just another loose form of "Hange". Although that last part might be a reach, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that one or two of their ancestors were Indian.

Ymir: So, with Ymir, it is a COMPLETE toss up because her name was given to her by the cult as a namesake and not as a geographically given name. What we know about her is that she is; most likely fully caucasian; she has dark hair and freckles; she's taller than most of her other women comrades at 5'8"; her eyes are darker in shade and droopy. So, using that information to our advantage, I would say that she is some mixture of Dutch, and most of all, Romanian and Hungarian. While she has the sort of long face that the Dutch do, she has the complexion and facial structure of Hungarian people. Even her skin tone, which looks to be slightly more tan than everyone else's, matches that of the Hungarians and Romanians.

Historia Reiss: Half German, half Swedish. Reiss is a German surname, and Historia just fits the whole BILL (minus the height) for the average Swedish woman. I also think Historia has some Jewish in her, because Reiss is an Ashkenazi Jewish surname. (Plus, and this might be personal bias, but I'm a blonde & blue eyed Ashkenazi Jew, LOL.)

Jean Kirstein: Hear me out! Jean is not German at all; but instead, he's half Danish, half Icelandic. The first records of the name "Kirstein" were in Denmark and Prussia (a state of Germany), but was more common in Denmark and then Prussia as time went on. A quick google search of "Danish men" will show you men with Jean's striking eyes and brows that are thick at the beginning and thin out towards the end. The Icelandic is even more clear, with the two sharing very similar facial structures, with high, prominent cheekbones and a strong nose; that good ol' fashioned "Horse-Face" clear as day.

Marco Bodt: Whew. Okay, so obviously when I first heard the name 'Marco', everyone thinks; oh, he's Italian! But 'Bodt' is actually a Dutch surname, and I believe that Marco is purely Dutch. The typical Dutch man and Marco share similar face shapes (Angular and somewhat blocky), noses that have a strong base but upturn a little at the end, and slightly bigger ears that stand out a little bit.

Moblit Berner: Okay, this one's also very easy. Moblit is German and English. "Berner" is an Old Germanic name, and from what little I could scrounge up on "Moblit", it's an Irish/English name given to those with red hair. So while not a ginger, he's a English/German, probably more German than English.

Onyankopon: This one's rather easy for me as well. A very quick google search will tell you that Onyankopon is typically a Ghanian name. Given that it's a religious name, too, and Onyankopon seems to be a religious man, I think it checks out. Also, he's easily one of the coolest new characters we've seen. Give him more edits!!

Reiner Braun: Do I even have to do this one? Really? Reiner is as German as they come.

Bertholdt Hoover: Now at first, I was inclined to say that he's just German as well. But he's also Swiss! He shares LOTS of Swiss facial structures and hairlines, and "Hoover" is an anglicized version of the Swiss-German "Hubar". While I cannot account for that boy's freakishly insane height, I guess he just got the luck of the gene pool draw. So more Swiss than German, but German all the same. I'd give it a good 2/3s Swiss, 1/3rd German.

Annie Leonhardt: Okay, so fairly easy, like her other buddies; half Russian, half German! Annie is a Russian name, and she shares many characteristics of Russian women. "Leonhardt" is a German surname.

Falco & Colt Grice: Half French, half Swedish. "Grice" as a surname occurs in both old French and Scandinavian languages, and Falco (plus Colt) both look similar to Swedish men. Although we can't say for sure what Falco will look like fully grown, as we've only seen him in a few manga panels, we can look to Colt to see what he will look like. And hot damn, the resemblance is there! He's got that nose that widens a bit towards the end and eyebrows that rest sort of heavy on his eyelids. For the French aspect, we get the long, smooth facial structure and sort of pillowy-thin lips. So, safe to say that Falco and Colt are French-Swedish.

Pieck Finger: Okay, so Pieck is 3/4ths Ashkenazi Jewish and 1/4th German. "Finger" is originally derived from the Ashkenazi surname "Fingar", and can be traced back to old North Germanic origins. "Pieck" is often primarily found in North Germany, so she might actually also have some ancestors from Denmark, as they share similar jawlines and drooped eyes.

Yelena: Yelena might be the easiest one on this list besides Erwin. RUSSIAN!

If there's any I left out, lmk, I would love to do them! Thanks for reading, and remember that this is just my person head canons. You can all believe whatever you want. <3 Have a nice day!

[rulanreads]

You’ve [Mike Davis] been organizing for social change your whole life. How do you deal with a future that feels so bleak? For someone my age who was in the civil rights movement, and in other struggles of the 1960s, I’ve seen miracles happen. I’ve seen ordinary people do the most heroic things. When you’ve had the privilege of knowing so many great fighters and resisters, you can’t lay down the sword, even if things seem objectively hopeless. I’ve always been influenced by the poems [Bertolt] Brecht wrote in the late 30s, during the second world war, after everything had been incinerated, all the dreams and values of an entire generation destroyed, and Brecht said, well, it’s a new dark ages … how do people resist in the dark ages? What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight. Can you share some of the messages you’ve received? [Davis picks up one stack of papers from his printer, and opens a drawer and pulls out another stack, and begins to read passages aloud.] “We’ve never met but like many people out there I’ve been changed by your work. I’m a brown kid from Orange county who spent many years trying to understand and articulate the complex but unshakable love I have for our home, its haunted uncanniness, its beauty, its cruelty …” “I hear you are in the final stretch of, well, all of this. I write to you from Paris a few hours before I fly back home to LA, and I know that when we make the final descent into the LA basin this afternoon, I will cry softly, as I always do, so in love with the place I call home …” “You came on my podcast back in late 2020 and we talked a lot about rural America. Right now my community is in shambles, because last week eastern Kentucky was hit really bad by a one-in-a-thousand-year flood. I’m having a real hard time time finding any hope anywhere. But I read this interview you did, and it made me feel, not necessarily more hopeful, but more at peace ...” “It is pretty common for people to underestimate their own legacy. So allow me just to say that I’m glad that you did not die on the barricades too soon, before we had your wonderful books. After all, aren’t they a kind of barricade for the ages?” There is so much un-mobilized love out there. It’s really moving to see how much. What are you and your family doing with the time you have left? Avoiding this trap where writers feel they must weigh in with famous last words or a long essay on dying. We’re watching a lot of Scandinavian noir on HBO. In the last month, I’ve started consuming immense amounts of military history, an infantile throwback. I find the counterfactuals – this battle, what did it decide, what was the alternative – deeply fascinating. You can’t expect to die at a very heroic moment. It’d be nice to die in 1968, or with the liberation of Europe in 1945. You’re on the barricades in 1917, 1919. Go out of life with the red flags flying. But despair is useless.

— snippets from an interview with Mike Davis, by Lois Beckett for The Guardian; Aug 31, 2022 (x)

This summer [summer 2022], the 76-year-old stopped treatment for esophageal cancer and began palliative care, giving him an estimated six to nine months to live.

[lisinfleur]

It’s kinda cool that you believe in the Norse gods in my opinion. I am curios for how you found them though because the aesir faith is not commonly practiced any more and from what we’ve been taught it’s practically a dead religion.

You spoke of how you felt it connect you to your origin (are you of Scandinavian descent or did you mean something else) is that how you found the Norse gods or was it something else?

Something else :)

My mother's side of the family is from Germany and my father's side's origin is unknown to me. So, I'm not a descendant of the Scandinavian people and I have little contact with my actual bloodline origins. :( What I refer to when I say "my origins" is something more connected to the spiritual. What the Christians will call "the soul". It is more with my origin of creation, what I feel is the universal energy that vibrates in the same frequency as mine. Where I belong. I used to have this joke around when I was Christian, saying that I was born in Brazil because God was trying to make something fun and so he took me - someone who likes cold weather, wine, rock'n roll, and an introspective way of life - and threw me in a country where everyone is extrovert, loud, fans of beaches, Summer and funk or samba. But it was a mocking way to say I never felt I belong where I am. I don't feel like a part of Brazillian culture - in spite of how amazed I am by its richness and beauty - and I always saw myself attracted by the colder places of this world. I think, like Ragnar, I'm a curious person! Before me, my husband started watching Vikings, and to be honest, I didn't want to see it - cause I thought it was a historical series and I knew I would fall in love with characters that would die in the end. But the fact was that the idea of watching the series pushed me into searching about the story of the characters - trying to see which one of them should I avoid falling in love with to avoid the suffering of losing my favorite ones. It went miserably wrong - I fell in love with Sigurd and he was killed right away. Thanks for the accuracy, Mr. Hirst! - but it ended up pushing me into a whole new world of knowledge that, at some point, threw me into the mythology and the study of their gods. Then I knew a girl who's here by the name of @elysias-temple. And everything changed in my life. :) She opened a whole new world to me when she accepted my questions, talked to me about my feelings, and allowed me to approach the feeling I had that I was being called towards the Nordic Pantheon. I deepened it by myself, my researches fell into discovering there are a lot of followers of Odin around the world - no, it's not a dead religion haha there is a lot of information missing, a lot of misinformation going on, and a lot of white suprema-stupid-cists stealing our symbols and messing up with our gods, but it is not a dead religion at all - and I accepted the call I was feeling into me, allowing it to become a part of my life. And I can say with property: never have I ever felt so at home like I feel since I did this acceptance. I'm still learning, studying, and I think I'll always be nothing but a learner, but I feel I belong in this path and this is why I chose to follow it :) I guess the challenge of searching for the gods attracts me especially because we literally have to carve our way towards them, follow little signs, clear our path in a world taken by different practices and faiths. It makes me feel every answer from them is a reward. And to be really honest here, I may be dealing with what a lot of people will call "dead gods" now. But the so-called "living God" never made me feel so answered, received, welcomed, and embraced like the Nordic Gods make me feel since I arrived. So, I chose to live like a wolf of Odin instead of a lamb of God, and like a wolf, I must hunt if I want to eat, search if I want to drink. I must fight my way towards the gods I chose if I want them to show me the next step. I like the feeling of every piece of information I reach. It's an every-day challenge of connecting me to my roots in a deeper and tighter way. What to say... Challenge accepted? :)

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Wasting your time? How. You have the choice not to respond at all.

Also:

My entire point: He specified Scandinavian. He meant white

No he didn't. IMAGE is the issue. THE APPEARANCE OF. As it were. Black people can not APPEAR historically scandinavian. You are arguing semantics. He was not. I am not. The mention of Scandinavian was a means to say, "This person does not appear scandinavian." If you take that to mean, "Oh you mean not white" then sure view it as such. But that's not what he means. A white person playing a scandinavian could well BE a scandinavian. We don't know unless we look it up. And that's the whole point.

It's playing a part. Besides, we can't magically see someones 23 & Me and assume they AREN'T of Scandinavian descent. At which point you are arguing that they might not have cased a FULLY ethnic Viking so GS should not be mad. But again. ACTING. You are to appear as a role. That does not always as you said imply white. They could have opted for a person with more pronounced Scandinavian features outside of "White". So again, missing the intent of the argument.

@yourtoradorasextendedwarranty

Actually, we were having an extremely long-form debate about absolutely nothing, so you returning to the base topic which we had left behind eons ago was pointless.

But of course race swapping is lazy, annoying, etc. I just don't think you should care and I think Dave is 100% lying when he said it was about them being Scandinavian. I just wanted him to admit it. Also, he will later screenshot this to prove I'm acting in bad faith (he doesn't understand what bad faith means or basic social rules).

[everydayanth]

STARTING AT 21:48

TRIGGER WARNING: The thumbnail doesn’t convey the tone here. This is footage of anti-protestors “protecting” a columbus statue in a park in PA. Things get violent, over-sensory, and include mob-mentality stress. Shortly after the timestamp indicated, there is mad disrespect to Native history and culture, a lot of ignorance and generalizations about the local Black communities.

If you don’t want to watch it: I am referring to a point where many white Americans are challenging a journalist asking them about policing, BLM, and politics, and one, to paraphrase, is worried that the journalist is going to cut it to make them look racist and call them white Americans, and he wants to be clear that they are “white Americans of Italian descent with deep roots in the area!” When pressed about Native American roots in the area, they erupt in swears and cuss at him, the same guy yelling “what do you want me to do about it?” Throughout the exchange, another guy is riling them up about media twisting their stories while the journalist continues to explain that he is live streaming and it therefore cannot be cut up. The Italian flag can be seen on shirts, bags, and waving in the background.

I can’t stop thinking about this. 

I ran into this in every corner of the US except the deep south cus I haven’t really been there yet (teen years don’t count). White Americans who want to belong to a cultural community continue to cling to their heritage culture in often stereotypic ways as a a way to separate them from the “whiteness” of white America and belong to a local community.

I can’t stop seeing it everywhere. But I know there is no one line, its all grey, and belonging to something bigger than yourself is a powerful connection for humans, as social creatures with dynamic identities and emotions, it can be a grounding place. 

But when I see stuff like this, I wonder how the heritage cultures see it. What do you think video clip of this in Italy? 

What do the Dutch think of all the Calvinists and Dutch Reformed Church communities in West Michigan? I actually asked a few Dutch people once, and one old guy goes “well... they left for a reason, and no one stopped them for a reason” lol.

Cultural identities were assimilated harshly, or else held onto in unexpected ways. When I look at it, my Dziadzia is Polish, from Poland, but he was a baby when they came, or born shortly after, so his siblings speak Polish (you know I hung out with great aunts and uncles all summer), but he doesn’t, he was pushed to be American. Technically, he’s a first generation immigrant, and I’ve connected to a lot of Polish-Americans and Polish people through experiences and linguistic pieces I never considered to be Polish before. 

In contrast, my dad’s Dutch parents lived in the Dutch part of town and went to a Dutch church and read from the Dutch (well, Frisian, I was in my 20s when I learned what that meant or why it was important) family Bible and my nana spoke to us in her thick accent and the d and v sections of my schools were the largest (de- and van- surnames) and we did Tulip Time and renamed areas Holland and Zealand. So while they had assimilated, it was in a VERY Dutch area, and assimilation was quite minimal. Some of my aunts and uncles are very... white-American, while others and my dad (he’s one of 6, my mom is one of 8) are very much Dutch and stayed in the Dutch neighborhoods and churches. It took me a lot of training to start capitalizing proper nouns guys, you don’t understand, then I studied German and I turned in a paper to this really harsh English teacher and he made me stay after class and yelled at me because proper nouns had been left uncapitalized while regular nouns were capitalized... it was a bad day lol.

The Irish are critical of the Americanized St.Paddy’s day (understandably) and the souvenir shops seem to welcome Irish-Americans with open-arms and family crests on every type of knick-knack tchotchke you can imagine, while I have also heard Irish-American claims of identity dismissed in documentaries and series about Gaeilge as their own separate thing, with their own history that has become distinctly not-Irish in culture, location, language, or history (though the British enemy stayed the same).

There are tons of anglophiles in America who idealize England and watch the royal wedding and consume British media with glee. 

I’m not too sure about Spanish or French identities in America because growing up in MI, I learned the basic French from Canadian friends and their families, but I associated that with Canada, not France. When did it become different? Like Cajun, is it its own identity? Seems like it, tbh. And I associated Spanish and Portuguese language with friends from Central and South America because I didn’t really know of anyone from Spain or Portugal heritages and learned about them in school as the colonizers (along with Italian). Strange how that framing works to displace blame/responsibility, huh. In that Dutch school and I had to learn about the Dutch East India Trading Co from frickin’ Pirates of the Caribbean? Psh, says enough.

Bavarian has become the American stamp of German heritage, despite many families being from the lowlands or surrounding areas. A German friend got so fed up with the association one time, he yelled at everyone about electronic music, jumpstyle, and green energy so long that we ended up not playing soccer and just listening to him rant about what “German” was not. It was Oktober, and it was a college town, so I get it lol.

Eastern Europeans seem to often get stigmatized while Scandinavians... I dunno, seem to assimilate or keep to themselves? There’s a Danish population in a small town in MI that is very proud of its roots but beyond a parade and some flags, some round pancakes and me struggling eternally with the Danish language, there wasn’t too much of a focus on it. There’s also a large Finnish population in the UP (NOT Scandinavian, Nordic, I know, sorry), and they retain many Finnish words and phenotypic traits, flags wave over porches, but again, for the most part, they’re just... Michiganders. 

My view of this could also be very skewed because while I’ve lived in tons of states over the past 6-7 years, that doesn’t change the 20+ I spent growing up in MI, a place that is very insulated and island-cultured, making a steady clash of hot/cold and high/low-context cultures in a concentrated area.

Anyway, European friends (or anyone), do you think about this? Is this a conversation topic for you? How do you view white Americans who stand by or maintain ownership of a European identity? 

White Americans who know or claim a heritage often have a story about a family member who rebelled and came to America. Do you have those stories from the opposite POV, a wayward family member who left to America and was never heard from again?

For everyone: is there a point where a cultural heritage becomes an idealization? Where you are no longer an active participant but a bystander? Is there an American replacement or did assimilation remove that? Or did assimilation create it?

There’s an Ancestry.com commercial I think about a lot. The guy wears a kilt or Leiderhösen, I forget which one first, then does some research on ancestry, and finds that his family had their history wrong, so he traded in one for the other. Is this cultural appropriation? At what point do you lose ownership? Or do we always own our roots? What about when our roots get too tangled to trace, or cut off altogether, by our own family’s nonchalance (as in, not remembering or maintaining) or forced by a stronger power? 

Is it a different conversation when talking about personal costuming for an event vs anti-protests using their European heritage as a platform to deny change? Or is it the same act to different degrees or in positive/negative lights? 

If you are White-American, did you grow up with a heritage culture in your family or community? When did you start to notice it? How has it impacted your identity?

I know these questions also extend to BIPOC and immigrant/religious minority cultures in America, but due to histories of stigmatization, demonization, oppression, genocide, slavery, and appropriation, it seems like that has to be a different conversation. Clinging to roots when someone has cut you away or is trying to uproot you to assimilate is different than willfully leaving, which seems different than being forced out as a refugee or due to internal conflict/crises (famine, war, etc.), these are different conversations to me. 

I’ve just been thinking about this a lot. 

[genderplaylist]

(this is a submission that i’m reposting by itself because the coiner requested to remain anonymous! everything below this was not written by me!)

-

this is the first time ive tried to coin anything :0

i have decided to coin new gender identities, specific to boys/masc-aligned this time bc they’re based on swedish words, and because they’re kinda for me, but they could easily be changed to be fem- or non-aligned! the words are swedish because im swedish and that is an important part of my personal identity so i should say these terms aren’t exclusive to people of scandinavian descent, but they are definitely made for us especially <3

pojkevän “loverboy”

also a word for “boyfriend” but dont worry about it lol. a masc-aligned or male gender identity for someone whose personal idea of masculinity is characterized by loving, protecting, kindness and taking care of others. to this person, masculinity and manhood are inherently gentle and caring.

stjärnpojke “starboy”

this gender could mean a number of things. it could be somewhat of a synonym for stargender, in that it could simply be a gender related to stars, space or the night sky. it could mean the person’s masculinity is related to what stars represent to them in a spiritual sense. it could mean that your masculine identity is meant to be pretty, or shining, or glowing. stjärnpojke is a word i use to describe myself and identify with heavily. so, what it means to me is that my identity is meant to be a source of light in an otherwise dark place. for myself and for others, it represents the stars that light your way when it’s dark outside, so the night doesn’t feel scary anymore. it can also refer to a masc-aligned person who feels spiritually or elementally aligned with night, without being related to the moon, which is typically associated with femininity.

i also tweaked some pronouns to use for myself, but they’re somewhat related to the genders themselves, so i thought i’d throw these in too. they might already exist in some variation so i dont wanna take credit.

lo(v)/lov(e)/loves/loveself

de/dem/dems/demself (based on the swedish words for it/its)

[angelofarts]

Of Crochet and Comas Part Two

Me visiting the hospital on a Sunday was practically unheard of – I had last minute assignments and chores and a dozen other excuses I’d used over the years. And yet I must have been losing my mind, because here I was, sitting in the hospital, anxiously crocheting at my brother’s side. I was listening for the slick sound of leather brogues, and wasn’t focusing on the hat taking shape under my fingers, so when I finally heard the clicking of high heels, I fell backwards in disappointment.

“Well, well, if it isn’t His Superior Craftiness the High Lord of Crochet,” a sarcastic voice intoned from the door. I almost gave myself whiplash as I swung my head around, and immediately wished I hadn’t.

Not only was Tesha there, so were Richard, Lisa, and a girl who looked so much like Lisa that she had to be a close relative. I felt blood seep from my neck into my face, making a blotchy flush that I hadn’t experienced in years, as I realized that Tesha must have complained to her friends about how I had spoken to her.

The younger girl crossed her arms. “So you’re the one who was mean to Tesha.”

“His name is Aaron, Julia,” Richard muttered. It was gratifying to see that at least he seemed as uncomfortable as I was, stuck in his wheelchair and thus forced to watch, since the girls were blocking the door.

“It doesn’t matter what his name is,” Lisa declared loftily, leaning against the door. “He was mean to Tesha, so we want him to apologize.”

“I’m right here,” I pointed out. “You shouldn’t talk about people in front of them.”

“You shouldn’t insult people’s hobbies and handmade gifts either, yet you did both,” Lisa countered.

I groaned quietly. “Just leave. You’re going to upset my brother.”

Tesha shook her head at Richard when Julia snorted out, “Your brother isn’t going to get upset, he’s asleep.”

I gestured for them to enter, which they did warily, as though scared I would use my big bad crochet hook to bite them. I pointed at one of the monitors.

“Look, you see that spiking? That measures brain activity. Kenzo is very much awake, so if you could please stop dressing me down in front of him, I’d appreciate it.”

Tesha smiled and took Kenzo’s hand, squeezing it softly. “Hi, Kenzo. It’s nice to think that you’ve heard me every time I come in here. Sorry that your main source of conversation is your self-entitled brother who can’t understand the value of a craft he doesn’t perform.”

I groaned again. “It was a misunderstanding! I didn’t know you knitted it yourself!”

While Julia and Lisa laughed together at my exasperation, I leaned over to reach my backpack.

“And actually I did come with an apology, I just didn’t think I’d be delivering it in front of anyone else. Here.”

I passed her a light blue lacy hat. Made in subtle heathering yarn, it had a pattern that seemed like it would suit her nineteenth century aesthetic, and surprisingly it matched the legwarmers that slouched over her calves and high heels where her knee length dark green skirt stopped.

“Oh it’s lovely,” she breathed, pulling it on. Richard reached up and pulled on the back of it, allowing the slouch to form, and suddenly Tesha looked less like a girl from the 1950’s and more like a girl from this century. As she moved into the sun to thank me, I was struck by the silver of her grey eyes – that couldn’t be a natural colour, could it?

“Where are our hats?” Richard demanded, ruining the moment. It was a good thing he did, before I blurted out something to embarrass myself.

I raised an eyebrow. “Were you not just telling me how Tesha’s stuff is better?”

“No,” Julia said as she folded herself onto the floor. “We said Tesha is nicer so we like her better. She actually talks to us.”

Lisa looked a little embarrassed at the way her - sister? Cousin? Random acquaintance that shares enough in the genetic pool that she looks like her and thus has claimed a strange form of family? – was talking to me, but she didn’t correct the statement.

“Is that what you think of me?” I demanded hotly.

Richard shrugged, making the blanket around his shoulders slip again. “Well, yeah? You only ever talk to Bert and Lizzie, and that’s if you talk to anyone before you rush in here.”

Tesha absentmindedly pulled the blanket back up to cover Richard’s bony shoulder as she addressed me. “I didn’t even know you existed until yesterday, and I’ve been volunteering for a year.”

“I tried to say hi to you once in the parking lot,” Julia piped up. We all stared at her, until she grumbled, “Okay, fine, but still.”

“Anyways,” Lisa said, resuming unofficial leader of the team, “what we’re trying to say is that you can’t say we don’t try to be nice to you.”

I shrugged. “I don’t have time. I have to see Kenzo.”

“Yes, because your brother is such a good conversationalist,” she replied drily. “If he was awake, can you honestly tell me he’d want you here instead of with people your own age?”

“He is awake,” I reminded her. “He can hear everything you’re saying. And yeah, Kenzo was never big on telling me what to do, so he’d let me stay here if I wanted to.” Lie. Big fat lie. In the way of older siblings everywhere throughout all of time, Kenzo adored telling me exactly what to do and how to do it, confident that a year gave him some kind of mystical ability to boss me around.

Julia stretched out on the floor, letting her blonde hair fan out. “It doesn’t seem like you talk to him much anyways, since when we came in you were quiet.”

“Aren’t you worried about dirt?” I inquired, distracted by the light hitting her hair. It was almost light enough that I could imagine it to be reflective, the kind of white blonde you only ever see on people of Scandinavian descent.

Lisa scoffed loudly. “It’s a hospital. This is probably the cleanest floor in the whole of the village, she’s fine.”

“I dunno,” Tesha said, sounding like she was reluctant to agree with me. “You never know what someone may have trekked in from outside.”

She and Lisa began to debate back and forth, until Richard interrupted with a loud cough that started fake and quickly turned real, hacking and deep.

“You okay Rick?” Julia asked, real concern clouding her features. He held up a dark hand, warning her from coming closer.

“Fine,” he said after clearing his throat three times. “Tesha, could you help me get back to my room?”

I was surprised at the request. From what little I knew of Richard, he hated to seem reliant on anyone, often rejecting the assistance of his nurses and operating the wheel chair himself on pure determination.

“Of course,” Tesha murmured, grasping the handles. “Lisa, Jules, don’t go anywhere.” They left the room in a blur of dark green skirts.

Lisa exchanged a worried look with her… relative. I was almost positive they had to be relatives of some kind. You don’t get eyes that pale a blue on two people by chance.

“Tesha will take care of him,” Julia reassured her. “And you know he doesn’t mind it. She doesn’t baby him.”

Aha. That answered one question at least.

Hesitantly, I sat back down and picked up the project I had been working on before this whole fiasco started. A bright red beanie, using a puffy popcorn stitch, and with a button band on the side for decorative purposes. The feel of the yarn gliding through my fingers soothed me, and I was surprised to find that I felt real concern for the boy I’d known in passing for a year. Knowing he was sick, and understanding the reality of that, appeared to be two different things.

“What’s that?” Lisa asked, clearly trying to distract herself. “What you’re making, I mean.”

“Another hat. My mom struggles with winter, so it’s an easy way to make sure she doesn’t get sick.”

Julia plopped down next to me and examined the portion I’d finished. “You know, I bet Odette would love this,” she mused. “She’s always in red.”

“Odette?”

“One of the cancer kids,” Lisa explained. “She comes in twice a week for chemo and treatment. She used to have this gorgeous mane of hair, like a mermaid, and it was about hip length, but she lost it about three months ago. Shook her, hard.”

“Odette?” Tesha asked, entering the room again. She took disinfectant out of her skirt pocket and wiped her hands carefully. Lisa nodded.

“Well, it was very nice shaking you down, Mr. Aaron,” Julia said as she rose, “but unlike my sister, I have school tomorrow and have homework to catch up on. Nice insulting you though!”

My confused, “you too?” was lost as she left the room in a rush, and Lisa, after waving at me, went after her, thereby confirming – sisters.

Tesha looked at the slim silver watch on her wrist and sighed. “I have to go too. I have homework due for two classes first thing tomorrow, and I should help Julia study for maths, otherwise Lisa and her roommate will end up killing her.”

I rose, unsure of what exactly I was planning to do, until I held my hand out awkwardly.

“Nice seeing you again?” I offered.

“Nice not being insulted,” she returned, laughing lightly as she slipped her hand into mine. “Let’s try this again next week, yeah?”

I stood staring at the door stupidly long after she left, my murmured “yeah” ringing in my ears softly.

*

I opened up my laptop, staring at the draft of my essay. Slowly, I pressed the backspace key and erased the words I’d typed last night. When a blank page stared at me, I took a deep breath and, for the third time, attempted to define myself.

Today, I spoke to a knitter, a sister, and two fighters….

[androshchuk-run]

A wrong turn– “Race “Autumn Leaf””

Everybody has their stories Some of us are being sorry Most of all 'bout things we've never done Thinkin' that the time's been stolen That we'll never have this moment  Anyway we keep going to run Melovin – ‘Wonder’

Prologue

While writing an article about Ukrainian half marathons, I came across a rather interesting «Autumn Leaf» run. Why was I interested? This is the "oldest" race on a 21 km distance held in Ukraine - in 2018 it was its 43rd start. In addition, it is carried out on the territory of Borispol Forestry, so it is not urban, but trail.

I registered on this website: athletic-events.com. The time of the race was the last Sunday of October, which was really cool, because at that time, in the middle of autumn, the forest was especially beautiful and full of bright colors. Despite the fact that it was my 9th half marafon, it was my first trail run for a distance of 21 km. In order to understand what a "trail" is and look at what was waiting for me, I additionally registered for the Didorivka Trail Run event with a smaller distance of 10 km. As it turned out later, this was a fairly appropriate decision, since the trail strongly differed from all previous starts.

Start numbers and run routes

Following my tradition, I went for the start number a day before the race. You could get it in several locations:

For Kiev, the item was located at the Joma store near the Lisova metro station, it worked on Friday from 14.00 to 20.00 and on Saturday from 12.00 to 20.00.

Bright sports hub in Brovary on Friday from 18.00 to 21.00 and Saturday from 10.00 to19.00.

You could also get a number right before the run in the starting town from 8:00 to 9:30. The starting number consisted of an envelope with the number in the middle, studs and sponsor brochures. Distances in which you could take part: 21 km, 10 km - main races; 5 km, relay race 2 * 5.5 km, Scandinavian walking for 5 km and children's distances - additional races.

Race Track

For the 21 and 10 km, they used one root, so 21 km consisted of two circles of 10 km. The participants of distances 10 and 21 km started simultaneously, and then all others. There were 2 graduation points one one circle: the first was at 2.5 km from the start, the next one - at 7.5 km.

The road to the starting town

In order to get from Kiev to Brovary, first of all you must to the Lisova metro station. Then the bus 404 will take you Terminal stop, from where it takes only 5 minutes of walking to the starting town, which is located on the territory of the forestry. A lot of rumbling runners on the way. 

On the lawn in front of the forestman's house they placed a scene, tents with numbers, delicious food and sporting goods.

The participants of the race dressed up in the house of the forester, there a storage chamber was arranged and a massage device, which you could use after the run.

When I got to the starting town, I quickly changed my clothes and went looking for a luggage locker.

Start of the adventures 

As in any adventure film, the beginning did not promise anything interesting. Everything was the same as in all previous races: the runners were going under the START frame, a countdown sounded and everyone ran forward. The beginning was successful, which was not surprising: the road began with, asphalt coating, after which it gradually switched to a ground road, deepening into the forest. The running process did not bring any discomfort.

After the first 2.5 km of the route there were a hydration point, where I kindly drank a glass of water to slightly wet the throat. Everything went perfectly, until I reached 2 miles. I read the map well before the run and was sure that there was a turning point in there, but there were absolutely no directions. The flow of runners divided: one half ran in one turn, and the other - in the second one. I decided to turn and plunge into adventures in the autumn forest. The more we went deeper, the more the track destroyed the ground cover, it became more and more sandy. I can not say that it was good, especially when several dozen people ran in front of me. After notifying on the phone that it was already 4 miles, but there was no turning, my head was filled with thoughts that something was wrong. But everything came to its place, when others began to turn around. But I knew that the sign with the inscription "FINISH" sooner or later should appear.

I could just enjoy the magnificent views and colors of the forest, meeting the mushroom pickers from time to time. I remembered to the movie "Marsh or Die", which in my case sounds like "Run or Die". From time to time someone overdrived me, and sometimes I did the same. Somewhere on the 15th kilometer, I realized that this run could smoothly pass in 30 km, or even a marathon. Some of those who came to run 10 km, as a result, ran all 21. The second point of hydration I was located at 17.5 km, which I really enjoyed.

Finish

What happened to me

I can’t find the words to explain how happy I was, while crossing the finish line! After all, on the watches there were 1:58. Honestly, I did not think about the result at all, when I knew that I was not going right. Finishing, I found where to quench thirst and went to take things. I did not want anything more - just make a couple of photos, get a medal and go home.

Impression

Impressions remained very strange. But so far I can confidently say that the race "Autumn Leaf" is exactly the most memorable in this season. Before it, I was sure that it would be 10 miles in Antwerp, where the alleged route for 10 miles actually went up almost 13 miles. On the one hand, a lovely autumn forest, good emotions: although at first I could not call them good, but eventually they turned into positive ones. Good trail: lots of sand, small climbs and descents. A great result for me. On the other hand, the route was not marked by the organizers. You're like running what you planned, but no. The participants ran to the finish from different sides of the forest. It was a pity for those who were forced to run all 21, in particular girls, instead of 10 km, I doubt if I would want to run after that, if it was my first run. But in general it was a good experience and a lot of positive emotions. I can confidently say that the race, despite the adventures, was the best for me.

Organization

A good starting place with delicious food, tea and broth. But all this was overshadowed by the markup of the trail. When you finish and understand that you like did not run, it is difficult to find even a drop of positive. A smaller minus is a queue to take things to the luggage room.

Although it didn’t turn like I wanted, I still want to thank the organizers for these positive emotions, for allowing me to test myself in a new location and with new outcomes.

Source: androshchuk.com/autumn_leaf

[thehadeancoven]

— Meet the Coven.

Here in this post, you are introduced to some of my characters & their faceclaims ( aka, what they look like ).

Everything is both written & made by me.

. . . Now onto the characters !

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⁣⠀

⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

— selene morozov — the ved'ma.

the eldest empyrean hadean coven member.

she’s a loyal member of her coven, having no qualms about searching the ends of the earth for their one & only leader-to-be.

— she is of slavic & indian descent.

❝ she may be a woman of few words, but her signature icy cold stare gets the point across just fine. ❞

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

— tobias valentine — the troublemaker.

known as the one who caused the rivalry between the imperius coven & the empyrean coven.

the causing of the rivalry made it harder for him to court the coven leaders daughter, but who cares ? It’s not as if he could get into any more trouble . . .

— he is of irish descent.

❝ how can somebody who caused our coven so much pain be able to call himself a member of this coven ? go ahead & exile him already ! ❞

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣

— anastasiya ivanova — the vampiress.

daughter to the late empyrean coven leader, the highest of high standards were never enough; her brother was always overshadowing her, despite him doing the bare minimum to impress their parents.

tired of the treatment her family gave her, she did the only thing that would get her disowned from the Ivanov lineage — she became a vampire ; the very thing her father hated. She didn’t regret it one bit . . . well, apart from the fact that it brought out the worst in her.

— she is of slovakian & russian descent.

❝ that thing is no daughter of mine — she betrayed us in the worst way possible. next time I see her, I won’t hesitate to set her on fire. ❞

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

— felix evensen — the warrior.

the longtime warrior of the empyrean hadean coven, along with his half-sister, daphne.

felix is someone who often means well, but has the tendency to say & do the wrong things . . . a lot. He struggles to relate to the modern world, often getting confused with slang, and how open people are nowadays. You shouldn’t take that as a weakness, though. After all, he is the coven’s most skilled soldier.

— he is of scandinavian & nordic descent.

❝ he may be a pain in the ass, but there’s no way in hell we’re letting the imps take him from us. ❞

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

— ravena valencourt — the investigator.

the leader of the investigative team in the coven ; with her willingness & creativity, she always finds a way to get the truth out of anyone / anything. she works closely with felix & daphne ; finding ways to conquer the supernatural creatures that often cause havoc.

undercover operations are her favourite missions, as it requires a certain amount of acting in order for it to go smoothly. If it weren’t for her place in the coven, she’d be making her dream as an actress come true.

— she is of afro-french descent.

❝ if curiousity was a person, it’d be ravena valencourt. ❞

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

— daphne fontaine — the strategist.

don’t let her youthful look fool you ; she’s got decades worth of experience, often being the voice of reason within the coven’s discussions. she’s bold ( read : egotistical ) , not fearing whether she’s right or wrong — because in most cases, she’s the former.

— she is of french & nordic descent.

❝ i would’ve killed her a long time ago, if it wasn’t for the fact that she always has a point.

⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣

⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀

⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ ⁣⠀⁣⠀ ⁣⠀

[anewdirection-ff]

You mentioned Bai has an Asian heritage. Which Asian heritage do you mean specifically?

Short Answer: He is mixed, half European and half Chinese-Malaysian.

Okay, this is one of those things where I will admit that I’m not the most educated, so if someone has more information or finds something I say inaccurate or offensive, please let me know so we can correct it.

Ross Butler (Tobias’ faceclaim) is mixed, his father is Britsh-Dutch and his mother is Chinese-Malaysian. So the idea is that Bai’s father is Caucasian, and his mother is Chinese-Malaysian. I couldn’t find a Chinese-Malaysian faceclaim for his mother, so I went with Grace Park, who is of Korean descent, because she’s the right age and I think they look enough alike for her to be his mother (in this kind of context). I don’t know if this is problematic here, because I’m not very familiar with Asian ethnic identities. With european ethnic identities, they’re all pretty much interchangeable, so it doesn’t matter what an actor’s ethnic background is, they can still play any other european ethnicity (at least pretty much, maybe don’t hire a Scandinavian actor to play an Italian). So I don’t know if that’s very different in Asia, if a Korean actor shouldn’t be cast as a Chinese person. 

If you’re more informed about this than me, I would love to hear your input!

[ivy-miranda-2390]

What’s weird about liking military history? Every culture has military history. If they didn’t, they probably don’t exist anymore.

Since when does society dictate what we should and should not study? Or what we should celebrate and enjoy in our own culture? All because it’s been tainted by lunatics?

I’m of Norwegian/German/Irish descent, but have been told that I can’t say I have European culture because that’s a ‘white supremacist ‘ term.

I don’t understand some of these people who trash on ‘European culture’ while simultaneously benefiting from it. History Channels program, Vikings, is a perfect example. I’ve come across fans who clearly claim that they hate ‘white culture,’ but are obsessed with Norse/ Viking culture. Probably the absolute pinnacle of white culture.

On social media too it’s a problem. If an actual Scandinavian has an account dedicated to their own culture they get called out for being a white supremacist. Yet it’s acceptable for someone of South American descent to benefit from that same culture for enjoyment and entertainment, while not being called out for cultural appropriation.

Sorry for the long rant, but this is a problem I’ve dealing with for a long time.

felt inspired to make this after reading some of the comments on my post about liking history

[blackbirdie1022]

the rules: post the rules | answer the questions given to you by the tagger | write 11 questions of your own | and tag 11 people

tagged by @thatdamnokie

1. what’s the last picture you took on your phone?

saved some screenshots a friend sent me of a mutual friend’s info...last one i actually took myself was of another friend’s cat.

i take more pics w/ my ipod tho: most recent pic is screenshot of info abt some bill that may become law; last pic i took w/ the cam function was of smthng fr. The Beltane Papers abt cover art

2. when was the last time you had a run-in with a cop?

last summer a cop was directing traffic and i stopped to ask him a question abt the roadblock and he got mad at me and told me to keep moving.

3. what’s your heritage?

of German, Irish, English (incl. Cornish), Dutch, French, and Scandinavian descent

4. are you good at keeping secrets? why, why not?

yes.  i respect ppl’s secrets b/c  i like to be honest, and if i say i’ll keep ur secret, i’ll keep it. also i like people to be discreet abt stuff i tell them in confidence too

5. what have you always wanted? did you ever get it?

well i wanted a library job for a long time, and i got it...but then i lost it

6. have you ever faked an illness to get out of school/work? no

7. what was the last lie you told?  well in 2012 i told someone “i don’t care” when really i just didn’t wanna talk abt it

8. what was the last truth you told even though you really, really didn’t want to? i usually keep mum abt things i don’t want  ppl to know. so.

9. have you ever danced in the rain? i don’t remember having done so

10. what’s your blood type? i don’t remember oop

11. you have the opportunity to change one thing about the plot of your favorite book, movie, etc. what do you change?  something in Winter Soldier implying more strongly (or better yet, making plan) that Steve and/or Bucky are queer.  

well you did ask.

my questions: 

1. what’s the story behind your url?

2. last time you got ticked off, why?

3. do you remember your dreams? if so tell me abt a recent one

4. if you have pets tell me abt them

5. what do you think abt the subject of extraterrestrial life?

6. do you like your job?

7.  famous person you’d like to meet

8.  any connection to famous ppl you’d like to talk abt

9. do you have a twitter?  if so what’s ur handle?

10. last song you downloaded?

11. what movies are you looking forward to, if any? 

tagging @lady-mewling @altarofearth @rosylips-and-broomsticks @baileywilson013 @magickal-hazel @whimsicallystarstruckbouquet @lunareremite @blood-honey-witch @basically-a-tall-hobbit @sereneandcelestial @thevampywitch