#and by good I mean their husband doesn’t just value them for their ability to cook and clean and have sex with them

[actiniumwrites]

IM OBSESSED WITH HEIZOU RN SO I’D APPRECIATE SOME GENERAL HCS WITH HIM BEING OUR BOYFRIEND, HUSBAND, LITERALLY ANYTHINF I LOVE HIM SL MUCH OR A SCENARIO WHERE WE’RE WORKPLACE RIVALS AND SOMETHING ABOUT THAT PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE FLARE JUST MAKES HEIZOU AND READER PUSH AND PULL MORE

BOYFRIEND HEADCANONS

synopsis: what some of the genshin boys would be like as your boyfriend <3

characters: kaeya, heizou, alhaitham, and itto x gn! reader

warnings: some swearing and the fact that i’m pretty sure some of these might be ooc (i struggle with headcanons tbh)

notes: omg i love heizou sm rn too honestly when do i not 😭. anyway, i hope you don’t mind that i added in more characters for this :)

kaeya:

contrary to what some people might believe, i think kaeya would actually be a more private-relationship kinda guy

he’d definitely make it known you guys were together, but he wouldn’t flaunt his relationship all over mondstadt

he appreciates privacy and the moments he has with you

he can never wait to finish work because of how badly he misses you all the time — especially if he’s on an expedition

he’s very teasing with you still, but not as much as everyone else. he’s definitely more down to earth and himself when he’s around you

whether they’re silly or deeply emotional and loving ones, the cavalry captain definitely writes you letters

he LOVES to cook for you, but it’s even better when you guys cook together (he’ll never admit it though)

super bashful about you, but he tries to cover it up with his charming and nonchalant facade (the only person he can’t hide it from is diluc)

speaking of diluc, kaeya claims he hates that you get along so well with him, but deep down he’s so unbelievably happy about it

cold? he’ll always give you his jacket or bring something warm for you just in case (especially because of his cryo vision)

overall just a super sweet and passionate boyfriend. he’s never loved anyone as much as you and will always value you above everything and everyone else

heizou:

claims it was love at first sight when he first met you, even though you weren’t a big fan of him at first

absolutely head over heels for you and makes it known

very flirty and constantly tries pick up lines on you even though you’re already dating him

i think he’d be very physically affectionate and likely always try to be near you whenever he can, whether that’s standing next to you, holding your hand, hugs, whatever

he likes it when you fake banter with him, but sometimes he can get a little down (so don’t make jokes about his detective abilities)

when he does get down, he gets EXTRA clingy. he particularly likes to lay down with you/ on you and just rest for awhile

he’s independent and confident, but definitely needs some occasional words of encouragement/ pep talks

heizou absolutely adores when you guys just get to talk about your interests. he really appreciates when you listen to his detective work and stories and is equally appreciative of your stories and interests you talk about

he’s SUCH a good listener. anything you wanted to tell him — boring or not — he’d listen. he just loves listening to your voice

tries to cook for you sometimes, but he isn’t the best at it. he honestly loves your cooking far more than his. though, sometimes he’ll use his cooking as an excuse to take you out to a nice restaurant and have a date

he can be a little over the top, but he’s a really great boyfriend

alhaitham:

alhaitham as a boyfriend is pretty rough around the edges

he can be sappy sometimes, but he honestly usually doesn’t see the point in it and prefers to be straightforward all the time — regardless of the fact that you’re dating

his compliments can sound harsh, but you know he means well

never says anything he doesn’t mean. he just wants to make sure you understand his love for you is completely and utterly genuine

arguments happen frequently because of his personality, but he’s pretty quick to resolve them once he comes to his senses and realizes his wrongs

he’s not a shitty boyfriend though, don’t get me wrong

he’s protective of you and always watches out for you. though, sometimes you argue he’s too protective

not the most flirty, but if he sees someone else flirting with you, this man suddenly becomes a bit of a different person (jealous much?)

lends you his clothes a lot. and he won’t admit it, but he really likes the way you look in them

enjoys reading with you. days where you just get to spend quiet time leaning on one another just reading books are his favorite

cooks for you all the time and is VERY good at it. sometimes you wonder where he picked up the skill

he’s much more of a quiet and private boyfriend rather than being super outgoing about your relationship. he probably even wanted to keep your relationship secret at first

overall a very blunt but still very loving boyfriend. you love him all the same though <3

itto:

you can’t tell me itto wouldn’t be a good boyfriend

like heizou, he’s head over heels for you except he tries to play it off all the time (but fails every single time)

he just can’t hold back is adoration

he loves hugging you…like an abnormal amount. when he get’s excited, he hugs you. when he gets sad, he hugs you. when he’s laughing, he hugs you. you get the point

he’s obviously not the smartest and can be a bit dense when it comes to certain things or emotions, but he’s always willing to try to help and understand you no matter what

and sometimes he doesn’t understand you, but he’s always listening. in fact, i think itto would be a really great listener

super protective and easily jealous. that, too, he tries to play off but he’s not fooling anybody

he’s always got your back and you’ve always got his. to shinobu, he calls you his partner in crime

he uses you as motivation to not get in jail, because even though he’s always hated it, he hates it even more now because that he can’t see you

very comfortable to be around, and he does that on purpose. he’d never want to make you uncomfortable and always makes sure you feel welcomed with him and with the gang

super loving and always makes sure you feel loved and secure. but make sure to do the same for him, because he can definitely get a little insecure sometimes—being an oni and all

go beetle fighting with him and he’ll love you forever

and he’ll love you even more if you get along with his family. honestly, he already treats you as if you’re married

ugh itto would be one of the best boyfriends ever

[celinamarniss]

The chapter concludes...

last week

I'll be posting the first chapter on Ao3 shortly. I think I'll continue to serialize it in bits of this fic on tumblr first, but polished-up versions of each chapter will get posted on Ao3 as they get written.

“Have you always been a Jedi?” 

Mara shook her head. She didn’t speak for a long moment, her gaze going somewhere far away. 

“When a child has a talent like that,” she began slowly. “They can’t hide it forever. I didn’t know what I was until after I was given to a man who… used my abilities for his own ends.” 

“I think there have always been people who hunt Force-sensitives,” she continued. “Certain… talents are always for sale, and someone’s always willing to pay. In some ways, I was lucky. There are worse fates. You’re Fringe, too,” she said quietly, meeting his eyes. “You understand.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I think—” She stopped and turned to Luke and the child. A moment later, the child’s ears quivered and he seemed to shake himself awake, blinking up at Din and Mara. Luke lifted his head, his eyes opening and slowly pulling into focus. 

“Everyone’s head on straight?” Mara asked. 

“Yeah…yeah.” The expression he shot her was slightly dazed. “He gave me a lot to think about.” 

“Good things?” 

When Luke looked up there was wonder in his face, his eyes shining with intense emotion. “He was a youngling in the temple, Mara. For decades before Order Sixty-six. He was only a child, and the memories are…blurry…but he was there.” 

“Did he—witness…” Mara trailed off, leaving whatever the child might have witnessed unspoken. 

Luke shook his head. “He was taken from the temple and hidden, but his memories—I didn’t want to push too deep,” Luke said. The weighted expression that passed between them seemed to speak volumes that Din couldn’t read. 

The silent standoff that followed continued to elude his understanding. After staring at her husband for a long moment, Mara raised her eyebrows. Luke tilted his head to the side. She shook her head. The corner of Luke’s mouth quirked and Mara blew out a breath and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “Unbelievable,” she muttered. 

Luke laughed softly. “I promised Mara I wouldn’t adopt every orphan we came across,” he told the child. “But I think we can all agree that you’re a special case.” 

They were going to take him. Something heavy congealed in the pit of Din’s stomach. This was—this was good, wasn’t it? Someone was finally taking the little gremlin off of his hands, and he wouldn’t have to be responsible for protecting the child anymore. 

“You’ll take him?” He should feel relieved—lighter—not as if he were about to lose something he valued. This was the right thing to do. It would be good for the kid. 

“No,” Mara said. 

All three heads turned her way. “We can’t take him with us now,” Mara said. Her arms were still crossed across her chest but now it made her seem defensive and closed off. She glanced at Din and then back at her husband. 

“I have some things to settle and it might not be pretty. We can’t risk taking a child with us. It’s too dangerous. Not to mention the reason we came to [X] in the first place…” 

Luke sighed. “Mara’s right, we can’t take him with us now.” 

Din felt his frustration mounting, the pit in his stomach beginning to churn. “But he needs to be with his people—the Jedi. I can’t help him with his… powers, abilities, whatever you call them.” 

“And he should have the opportunity to learn to use the Force,” Luke agreed. “I would be honored to train your foundling, Mando. Just because Mara and I can’t take him with us now doesn’t mean we don’t want to. If you can watch over him for a little while longer, we’ll be back to get him as soon as we can.” 

Din looked down at the child, who was looking back and forth between them, his long ears bobbing up and down. 

“Alright.” He was glad they couldn’t see his face behind the mask. 

Luke leaned down to meet the child’s eyes. “I’m sorry, youngling. A Jedi knight can’t neglect his obligations. We’ll see each other again soon, I give you my word. Then, if you still want to come with us, we’ll take you with us.” 

The child’s ears drooped and he reached out a hand. Luke dropped his head so that the child could reach his face and lay his palm on the Jedi’s cheek. It was almost a keldabe kiss, but not quite. 

“I’d like my blaster back,” Mara said. She raised an eyebrow when Din looked her way. “And my knives.” 

Din handed over the couple’s weapons. He watched as Mara carefully and efficiently strapped the holdout back to her wrist, resheathed her knives, and reupholstered her sidearm. Luke simply smiled and clipped the cylinder back onto his belt. 

“Let’s go,” she said to Luke, moving past them to slap the release for the Razor’s ramp. It lowered with a hydraulic groan and Mara headed out of the ship. 

“Don’t give up on us,” Luke said, putting a hand on Din’s pauldron. “Our paths will cross again soon, you can depend on it.” Din nodded. 

Mara was already stepping lightly to the ground as Luke followed her down the ramp. The child hurried to the edge of the ramp to watch them go. 

Luke turned back and waved. “Goodbye, Grogu!” he called back to the ship. “May the Force be with you.” 

Grogu? Beside him, the child lifted a small clawed hand and waved at the retreating figures. 

“Grogu?” The child’s ear perked up and his head swiveled around in Din’s direction. “Your name is Grogu?” Din took the strange purring sound the child made as confirmation. 

“Grogu.” The name would take some getting used to. 

Grogu chirped happily, raising his small arms to be lifted. Din complied, picking the child up and tucking him close to his body. 

“I guess it’s just us again.”

[mariacallous]

How did Paxton’s allies defend him?

They didn’t. This is important to note. Plenty of folks got up to the microphones to argue against impeachment, but they didn’t argue that Paxton was a good man—that he had good taste in pens, or was a faithful husband. They didn’t argue against the evidence that had been presented. Paxton had given them no tools with which to do so. They argued that the process was wrong. That it had been too rushed, or too secretive. Right-wingers in the House—the sort of folks who love to bemoan the dangers of “moral relativism” and the inability of so many to deal in truth and absolutes—sounded suddenly very mushy on the idea of accountability and conviction. State representative Tony Tinderholt, a Republican from Arlington, is typically very sure of himself—the kind of fellow who has repeatedly offered bills to subject women who have abortions to the death penalty. But during the House debate, he suddenly sounded like a mid-tier psychonaut at a Phish concert. “”I believe perception is truth to the person that perceives,” he said. Pass the blunt, space cowboy!

What next?

The case now proceeds to the Senate, where Paxton will likely find more supporters. But Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who controls the Senate, has so far refused to rule anything out. While the trial goes on, Paxton is out of office: his deputy Brent Webster will replace him for the time being. If Paxton is convicted, Governor Abbott will likely appoint his successor. You can be sure he would be thrilled to do that. 

Just because representatives had trouble making an affirmative case for Paxton doesn’t mean that he doesn’t still have a lot of fans. Paxton has survived so long in part because of his ability to frame his opposition as a liberal mob, and to frame himself as the nation’s foremost warrior for conservative values. That view still has real support among the Republican base. On Thursday night, right-wing representative Steve Toth, from the Woodlands, recorded a live stream in which he said Paxton’s impeachment would set back the conservative cause and let the Biden administration, which Paxton sues regularly, off the hook at a critical moment in the nation’s history. That’s still a pretty common sentiment among conservatives. It’s also exactly backward, 100 percent wrong. As attorney general, Paxton has two responsibilities to perform for his party. He can take the fight to the Democrats in the White House and big Texas cities, and he can prosecute criminals to win positive headlines. But he’s extremely bad at both of those things. He can’t even keep the office of the attorney general staffed anymore. After he fired the whistleblowers, he had to bring in whomever would agree to work for him. As the AP reported, one of those B-team legal experts was quietly fired after he intentionally showed child pornography at a meeting.

The truth of the matter is, nearly anyone the governor could appoint to replace Paxton would likely be better at the job than Paxton—every bit as conservative, but also cleaner and smarter, with more integrity. They’d go after Biden with more vigor, and they’d be better at making the party look good. In Texas it’s one thing to be corrupt: to be corrupt and useless is another matter. If anything, the state’s Democrats may look back with fondness on the Paxton era.

The Texas Legislature Finally Comes for Ken Paxton

[sonicfanj]

Snowflake Shaped Tears

A short story by Joshua D Tarwater

Silence.

The sound that snow makes as it blankets forest and mountains. As pure in silence as it is white in color. A color that encompasses all.

From the porch of an abode of brick and timber, the snowfall is watched by an old man. He is joined by his wife, both bundled tightly in blankets. But they are not cold, nor are they close though huddled together.

The husband is an oddity. Not for having retired many years past from adventuring, he and his wife had both long hung up their sword and staff, but for he was a man the gods did not bless with a heart. He could not be close with anyone, yet he warmed his wife’s old bones through her love for him. It was a warmth that far outshone the simple spell she cast to keep the cold at bay.

Together the heartless man and his wife watched the snow. The world turned white before them in silence, even the forest beyond the clearing of their home disappearing. All in silence. A silence soon broken by the man’s wife.

“The snow is cold,” the man’s wife spoke with a fond smile on her lips. “It reminds me of when we first met.

“Do you remember?” the man’s wife asked him as she looked up at him. “Your words were so cold.”

“Don’t mind him,” the voice of the man’s brother echoed from memories from so long ago. “The gods did not see fit to bless him with a heart. He has to weigh the world in value to his ability to survive.”

“But to call me valueless!” the man’s wife echoed her words from long ago with a soft chuckle. “I was indignant. I had been cast from the group I had thought my friends for my ineptitude with magic. And then you said I was without value. I would have never dreamed how I would fall for you.

“I was so obsessed,” a mocking laugh slipped past the smile of the man’s wife. “Though your brother told you that you could invest in someone to create value, I had no desire for more pity after he welcomed me to travel with everyone. I studied and trained with more devotion than I had believed myself capable. I had to prove to you that I was valuable. It drove my entire life at the time.

“Do you remember?” The man’s wife asked him as she looked down abashedly. “The first time you told me I was valuable.

“Why would you run out like that! You could have gotten yourself killed! It doesn’t make sense!”

“I was indignant,” the man’s wife smiled as she shyly spied him looking straight ahead at the snow. “And yet you told me that there was more value in me being alive than dead. Never had I heard such words, and I was so taken I broke every taboo of magic to mend your wounds and save you as you had me.

“Surely the gods forsook me that day as they had you from birth.”

As the snow fell, so too did silence over the man and his wife. A soft chuckle broke it with a dimming warmth like the light of day.

“I never would have believed that a man with no heart would buy me gifts.” Turning a loving gaze onto the man, his wife smiled with fondness for times long past.

“You told me that there was value in my happiness and revealed to me that I had fallen for you, my obsession becoming love. And when you learned that you alone made me happy…

“Do you remember?” the man’s wife asked him as she extracted a hand from their blanket’s to tenderly stroke his face. “No one could believe it.”

“Even here at their wedding, I can scarce believe that he even proposed,” the voice of a companion from long ago echoed from memory amongst many more.

“It couldn’t be good. He surely sees her as just a means to survive.”

“They’re a matching set. One unblessed, the other forsaken.”

“Surely this union is not blessed.”

“Oh, how much colder than your heartless words theirs were,” a hidden rage hinted at its existence within the words of the man’s wife, a smile soon chasing it back into the shadows. “But I did not care. I was garbed in the most beautiful white dress on the happiest day of my life. Only the days of which each of our children were born was I happier.

“I remember,” the man’s wife told him as her heart ached with love to look upon him. “I remember when our firstborn asked me about you.”

“Mother, father smiles naught,” the voice of a child echoed from the past ever distant. “Not ever, no matter my achievements. He only ever speaks of their value. Tell me mother, why father smiles naught!”

“My dear child, it is because the gods did not see fit to bless your father with a heart.”

“But if father has not a heart, surely he cannot love.”

“That he cannot, yet I love him with all of mine own. And still he sees value in my happiness and knows the joy you bring me. He will never betray you or fail you.

“And never did you once,” acknowledgement of the truth of her words deepened the smile of the man’s wife. “Truly my happiness was valuable to you then, and still is now that you would sit here beside me.”

“Should the gods see fit to give us another life,” the man at last broke his silence and turned to look at his wife, “I would seek that they give me a heart as I doubt not that there is unequaled value in being able to give you love.”

“Oh, you beautiful man,” the man’s wife smiled with tears in her eyes as he made an awkward attempt to smile for her. It was an unnatural thing to smile with no heart, but it filled the man’s wife with joy more than her heart could hold. “I love you, so, so much.”

Leaning closer together, the man and his wife shared a kiss. A kiss to bring joy. A kiss full of love, joy, and passion.

Soon, the man looked ahead at the snow again. His wife’s head was on his shoulder, her eyes delicately shut fast. As silent as the falling snow she now was. The light of day further retreated as the cold grew deeper like the ever-falling snow. However, again was the silence broken.

“It was a very long time ago,” the man shared his words that forced the silence to retreat, “that I recognized there was nothing of greater value to me in this world than your love. It has granted me a very long life unlikely by one not seen fit by the gods to be blessed with a heart. Without your love, this world finds no value in my life. Truly to live, I cannot without it.”

For one moment, the man’s eyes strayed from the snow to his wife’s peaceful face. They did not linger long, the falling snow returning to its place as their focus. And even the snow for only so long as the man closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, his breath rising like a ghost.

Perhaps an instant after, or sometime later, maybe the following minute or hour, the snow fell heavier and heavier. And then at last, the gods allowed the wind to wail.

[jjraderftw]

Mobile Suit Gundam EPS #1,2,8

When you think of anime, chances are you think of huge mechs, and this is THE mecha anime. Gundam begins with two opposing sides fighting over dominance. Unlike the wars depicted in prior viewing, this war is fictional and slightly less serious in tone because of its sci-fi nature. Nonetheless, it manages to provide a few good commentaries on war in reality. Two themes I managed to decipher from the first few episodes were that of the dehumanization of people in combat and the bloodthirst associated with it and that of the repercussions of war on civilians.

Amuro is a great example of the desensitization of death that occurs in war. To most people, especially civilians, the fact that anyone dies is tragic. In the first episode, when Amuro sees two soldiers die in front of him, he is left speechless and in awe. He froze and couldn’t move. To him at that moment, the loss of a human life was unfathomable. Even when he pilots the gundam for the first time, he is hesitant to attack head on in fear of killing the pilots of the mobile suits. After he kills the opposing force’s troops, he begins feeling less guilty about the act of killing. As the show goes on, Amuro hesitates less and less, getting to the point where he doesn’t think twice about taking a life. This represents the way death loses meaning at times in the eyes of soldiers. Though killing a person is very messed up, soldiers get desensitized to it and can do it blindly. The want to win even makes certain people go bloodthirsty, wanting to kill as many opponents as possible. This can be seen with the Zeon forces when they witness the Gundam destroy their troops. Though they are in shock when their own men die, they have no second thoughts about wanting revenge on the killer and fully onslaught the Gundam on several occasions. War makes us lose our sense of value for a life and it becomes a “necessary evil” to some people which shouldn’t just be accepted as the status quo. The show may be using the mechs as symbolism for dehumanizations. Though people are dying, the mechs hide the people inside, perhaps implying how the soldiers have lost the ability to see them as people.

The last two movies I’ve discussed focused on the effects war has on civilians and the area around them. This show also provides commentary on this topic. The most evident example is the destruction of the town the mother in episode 8 was searching for. A quiet location near and dear to her was wiped out because of a war she had nothing to do with. All the innocent lives there were lost and she can never see anyone nor anything from that location ever again because it was annihilated. This touches on the topic that war takes more than it gains. The entirety of the parties involved in the war feel its effects, even the children, women, men, and elders who have never even considered taking on the fight. War strips us of everything. The mother in this same episode even said that the winner of a war is pointless because at the end of the day, it leaves “wives without husbands and children without fathers.”

Overall, I think the anime is appealing and a very entertaining watch. I will definitely be continuing to watch it on my own.

[sowingseedsandshootinghoops]

The Worshipping of Success

Note on the text: I used John Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent as published in 1961 by the Viking Press

Readers seeking to identify the fictional people and places here described would do better to inspect their own communities and search their hearts, for this book is about a large part of America today (dedication page).

Steinbeck is my personal favorite American author, and what I loved most about this book is the way in he dissects the American attitude towards success.

Strength and success- they are above morality, above criticism. It seems then, that it is not what you do but how you do it and what you call it. Is there a check in men, deep in them, that stops or punishes? There doesn’t seem to be: the only punishment is for failure. In effect, no crime is committed unless a criminal is caught (186).

Americans worship at the altar of success. We pray the prayer of “the American Dream” and crafted the mythology of America being a place where anyone can achieve anything in service of this god. We praise people (athletes, singers, etc) for being successful regardless of what they are successful for or how they achieved that success. Not only do we want to be successful ourselves, but we want others to see us as such. It’s the 20th (and 21st) century version of “the ends justify the means”. So long as you are successful, especially financially, nothing else really matters. Or do we still have values we, as Americans, want to stick to regardless of how “successful” it turns out to be? That is the question that Steinbeck is interested in exploring here.

Ethan is a lowly store clerk in a general store when we first meet him. He is a solidly middle class man who earns on honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work. It isn’t glamorous but he is able to afford to feed his family and is, by all accounts, a really good, honest, and virtuous man. In fact, most of us would be proud to be the kind of person that Ethan is. Yet neither his wife, Mary, nor his two children, Allen and Mary-Ellen, seem to be particularly proud of their dad’s moral character. They are more interested in his ability to help them keep face with the neighbors. “It wouldn’t be so bad if you were a lawyer or in a bank or [something] like that” Allen says when Ethan asks him about why other kid’s tease him. Mary is also so desperate for her husband to “be somebody” that she gets her fortune read at the beginning of the book and repeats what the fortune teller all throughout the book: “you are going to be a big shot, did you know? Everything you touch will turn to gold- a leader of men” (17). It’s not enough that he be a good man who can offer them a comfortable, middle class life. They want him to be something more.

Ethan himself also struggles with that question. He’s not sure if it’s enough for him to just be a simple, good man, who just goes to work in a grocery store and goes home: “would my ancestors be proud to know that they produced a goddamn grocery clerk in a goddamn wap store in a town they used to own?” (2).

No where is this worship of “success at all costs” seen more clearly than in Allen’s essay writing contest. Allen has competed in, and won, a national essay competition on “why do you love America?” However everyone soon discovers that he plagiarized the essay and he is disqualified from the competition. When Ethan confronts him about it, Allen says

who cares? Everybody does it. It’s the way the cookie crumbles. . . . Don’t you read the papers? Everybody right up to the top- just read the papers. You get to feeling holy, just read the papers. . . . I’m not going to take the rap for everybody. I don’t care about anything” (277).

Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t I is essentially his response. He doesn’t think that there’s anything really wrong with what he did. It was all about getting first place and the problem is not that he cheated but that he got caught.

Now in the middle of this truthful, if somewhat cynical, critique of America, comes the character of Alfio Marullo, the Italian owner of the grocery store that Ethan works in, and an underhanded, sneaky, defense of idealism. Blink and you’ll miss it.

Early on in the story, Ethan refused a bribe from a competing store to sell out his boss. When Mr Marullo finds out he says that Ethan is a “good fella” and gives some money and gifts (including some expensive Easter eggs) as a reward and later decides to sell him the store when he goes back to Italy (96). Now Mr Marullo is just as corrupt and cynical and anyone else here (in fact it’s heavily implied that he came to America illegally). He is looking for his piece of the American Dream and he doesn’t particularly care how he gets it. More than that, he doesn’t even seem to particularly like Ethan. Every time they talk, Mr Marullo always speaks to him in a gruff and dismissive way. Even after he finds out how much of a “good fella” Ethan is. So everyone is surprised when he decides to sell Ethan the store, including Ethan. So when Ethan asks another character, Richard Walder, why he thinks Mr Marullo would treat him that way and give him the store anyways, he’s surprised to hear Richard tell him that he suspects Mr. Marullo was trying to figure what was Ethan’s “racquet, and he discovered that your racquet was honesty. . . [and] he [probably wanted] to make you [into] in a kind of monument to something he believed in once” (227). Despite Mr Marullo’s cynicism and seemingly Machiavellian drive for success, he actually believes in the importance of being a good and honest person. The reason he pays and rewards Ethan for being a good man is that he thinks it will inspire Ethan to continue being a good person. He wants Ethan to be a good AND successful person.

We do something similar with our heroes. It’s not enough that our heroes be successful at doing what they do, we need them to be moral too. It’s not enough that Abraham Lincoln be a great president, he has to be the most honest too. It’s not enough for George Washington to be a successful general who helps found a country- he has to be “unable to tell a lie”. Because despite our cynicism and obsession with success at all costs, we are always a highly idealistic nation. Somehow, deep inside, as much as we want to be seen as successful, we also want to be seen as moral. It’s an interesting dichotomy. Despite all our efforts it seems like we can just give up the fight for morality. How does the saying go?: “You are obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it”.

Which is what Ethan realizes at the very end of the book. By the end of the book he has become so disillusioned by the sheer volume of immorality that surrounds him that he has resolved to kill himself. But as he reaches into his pocket to get his knife he accidentally grabs a little token, what he calls a talisman, that his daughter Mary-Ellen gave him. In that moment he is reminded of all the good people that he has known who have managed to do some good despite all of the evil in the world, and how it’s every individual’s responsibility to keep fighting the good fight and encourage each other to keep doing the same no matter what:

Marullo’s light still burned, and Old Cap’n’s light, and Aunt Deborah’s light. It isn’t true that there is a community of light, a bonfire of the world. Everyone carries his own, his lonely one. . . . I had to get back- had to return the talisman to its new owner [i.e. his daughter] [or] else another light might go out (280-281).

It was his responsibility not just to keep on shining, just as others before him had done, but to pass it forward by encouraging his daughter to keep doing the same.

We do value success highly in our society and Steinbeck is right in critiquing us the way he does. But he’s also right in reminding us that morality still matters and that we would be remiss to forget that. That, in the end, the ends might not justify the means as much as we would like it to.

[theyearthirtytwo]

Day 56.

I wrote this a while ago, but I think it belongs here:

The thing is - I think I could write. I think I could write in a way that changes a few lives, and ruins a few marriages (probably mine), and makes people fall in love and then later leave that person because that’s just who they really are - a person who leaves. But the only thing I’m writing is a template email for someone else’s career that I do not care about. I cannot stress enough how much I do not care about this other person’s career and yet? I am grateful that this other person cares enough about their career to pay me to essentially do the things it takes to have a career, but better, and once. It’s my job to make their job easier. My job that I also absolutely do not care about but that comes with partially paid health insurance benefits and bittersweet chocolate morsels of commission checks sometime after the 8th of every month even though my employment contract says they should come on the 5th. So because of the health insurance and the polly pocket commission checks and the ability to work from my bed when I want to and the ability to pretend I am working when I am not, I write these peppy and manipulative email templates instead of writing what I want to write - a letter to my best friend telling her I am in love with her (I’m not, but I’m jealous of her girlfriend anyway), a letter to my boyfriend telling him I no longer love him (I do, I’m just angry about it), a thriller or a crime novel or a short series about a woman who moves to a small town in southern Oregon and is afraid of everyone for good reason, a children’s book about a weasel, and then twenty-seven more children’s books about the same weasel that eventually make me enough money I no longer have to think about what I am not writing, a coffee table book of short stories about the make believe and reality that happens in all of our lives behind closed doors, a poem that doesn’t suck - just one poem that doesn’t suck. It’s harder than you think to write a poem that doesn’t suck. 

And I still think I’m a good writer. I still think I could ruin a few lives and change a couple of marriages (probably yours). I still think I could absolutely convince someone to leave the person they love if I wrote them the right letter at the right time - the key is the right time. 

Someone once asked me, fourteen minutes into knowing me, what I might bring to the table if I found myself in prison. How would I contribute to the society within those walls? What would be my collateral? How would I provide enough value to keep myself safe? He didn’t mean this to be as profound as it was. Then again, maybe he did, but I didn’t think he was profound. What was profound is how quickly I knew the answer - I would write for them. I would write their letters home - convince their husbands to stay or leave, to send them money or to stop calling, whatever they wanted. I would entice a lawyer to take on their case. I would secure their parole. I would win their children back over - they would start coming to see them on visitation days again - packing up their five children and a dozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the cliche station wagon and drive the 4 hours upstate to see their criminal mother because my letter changed them - warmed their heart to this stranger they used to hate - who birthed them and then sort of stuck around to raise them when they weren’t dating men who dealt cocaine or spending weekends delivering packages of said cocaine, or, I’m sorry, “unknown contents” across three states until they got caught. again.

I would write for the women in prison because I can make people laugh or cry by the way I arrange words on a page. Because I can make their own heart jump out of their chest and into their hands. Because the world that lives inside my head is more beautiful than the world that lives outside it and they remember what that felt like too. Because it's the only thing I like doing - even when I hate it. 

But I am not a writer. I am a sales manager for a company I do not care about because I am too much of a chicken shit to ruin my own life. Because apparently it would take prison - my life being ruined anyway - to do the one thing on this planet I actually care to do. Because I am playing day trader with my own dreams. I am sacrificing my words and my time for a partially paid health insurance plan and pea gravel disguised as commission checks. 

I might not be the world’s best writer. After all, I can’t even come up with a succinct way to end this rant about what a great writer I think I am. I barely even know what the word succinct means. 

But I am a good writer. I’ve ruined a few lives over it.

(mostly mine).

[theriverdalereviewer]

this resurgence of the housewife is concerning

[flower-of-darkness]

How does Mori choose his executives?

This was a question that had been lingering in my mind for quite some time now, and I finally came up with an analysis? theory? of how this ruthless and absolute dickhead Port Mafia boss carefully handpicked the people to be his executives.

My first thought was that he picked people based on their experience in the PM, but if this was the case, then why didn’t he pick Hirotsu to be an executive? Man had been around since the Fifteen novels, and is probably the oldest member of the PM, so he’s definitely one of the best candidates to be an executive. But Mori didn’t even consider choosing him, so I abandoned the thought.

The next logical reason is to pick people based on their strength and abilities, which is a very evil mafia boss™️ thing to do, but then my dumbass realized that more power = more chance of them turning against him, so that's a huge no.

I'll start analyzing the PM's individual executives and the possible reasons of why Mori selected them to be executives, minus Ace (dude appeared for 1 episode and got yeeted - we don’t know anything about his relationship with Mori besides how he was a master gambler and bought his way to the executives’ table), and Verlaine (I haven’t read SB, although I know a general gist of what happened because the bsd fandom in instagram does NOT know how to put spoiler warnings) 

Koyo Ozaki

I'll start with this absolutely gorgeous milf lady.

We know too little about Koyo’s backstory, but there are two things about her past that actually says a lot about why Mori might have recruited her as an executive :

1. She tried escaping the Mafia with an unnamed older man whom she admired, but the previous boss found out, went “ayo that’s illegal”, and just, straight up murdered the man. Rip unnamed man, you will be missed.

2. As copied from the official BSD wiki :

Koyo is an extremely cynic, jaded against things like hope and love. Koyo doesn’t believe in the benefits of “light” and claims that people born in “darkness” are destined to ever branch out for the light.

Y’all see this? Koyo both fears and despises the light, believing that people like her, who were “born in the dark”, were destined to stay there. She believes that she belongs in the Port Mafia, making her the last person to ever be tempted to defect from the organization.

What’s more, as much as an asshole he is, Mori is better than the previous boss. He doesn’t go around wreaking havoc and killing people pointlessly. He somewhat? values his subordinates, as long as they swear loyalty to him and let him manipulate them.

As we can see from multiple scenes in the anime, Koyo favors Mori much more than the previous boss, going as far as attempting to kill Tanizaki to protect him, saying that “If that man died, we would go back to the Port Mafia I hated so much”.

Does Mori, the genius dickhead mastermind know this? Of course. He knows that Koyo isn't interested in switching to the good side, and that she respects him enough to not betray the PM. That’s why he chose her to be one of his executives.

Nakahara Chuuya

Moving on to my husband when I become 20 bc istg this mf is fine asf-

Mori definitely picked Chuuya partly because of his overwhelming strength - best martial artist in the Port Mafia, gravity manipulation, has a wholeass God inside him, etc etc - but that’s not the main reason he chose him.

Let’s go back to their history. When Chuuya first joined the PM, he was fifteen, and had just gotten betrayed by his family. But Chuuya didn’t blame the Sheep at the slightest. In fact, he blames himself, thinking that this was all because he wasn’t a good leader. He sees himself as someone who failed to take care of his subordinates, and so he asked Mori what it means to be a true leader of an organization - to which Mori answers with : “A leader not only stands on top of an organization, but he's also a slave to it.”

From this moment, Chuuya saw Mori as the leader he could never be, and decided to devote his life to him, even going as far as bowing down to the PM boss.

But here’s what infuriates me the most : Mori already left a good impression on Chuuya since he was fifteen - being a seemingly good and charismatic leader, and taking him in with open arms when he was all alone after his family’s betrayal.

And being the strategic bastard he is, Mori definitely knows. He knows that Chuuya sees the Port Mafia as his saviour and will forever be in their debt. He also knows that Chuuya was a loyal person, because he saw how the boy truly cared about the Sheep when he threatened to kill them to get him to work with Dazai. 

With these two aspects combined, he knows that Chuuya will never betray the Port Mafia even if he ever got tempted to switch to the ADA like Dazai, because that’s just the kind of person he is. He’s loyal to the ends of the earth and will always repay kindness with even more. And Mori decided to use this to his advantage, being able to predict that Chuuya would be the last person to ever betray him.

Not to mention that Chuuya was just a child when he joined the PM, making it easier for Mori to manipulate him - to drill into his mind whatever ideals and false hopes that will lead him to believe that he needs to be loyal to the PM. And when the time came, Mori finally made him an executive. 

So basically, Mori chose Chuuya because it was easier to manipulate him as a child, and he has faith in Chuuya’s undying loyalty to him and his organization.

Dazai Osamu 

We know that Dazai was Mori’s right hand ever since he was fourteen, going as far as being the witness for the previous boss’s assassination. Why did he choose Dazai at such a young age? Nobody knows for sure, although the most logical reason is probably how he sees himself in Dazai and takes an immediate liking to him. 

That’s most likely also why he chose Dazai to become an executive. He knows that Dazai is similar to him - ruthless, calculating, and smart - which makes him suitable to be a high-ranking mafioso. Out of all the other executives, especially Chuuya and Koyo, Dazai is probably the only one who Mori chose mostly because he's actually fitting for the position, not because of other ulterior motives.

And that creates a huge problem for Mori, because this makes Dazai harder to manipulate. After all, he could actually take over Port Mafia if he really wanted to. But because he was a unique subordinate and was the perfect candidate to be an executive, Mori was willing to take risks. He went through extreme lengths to always predict Dazai’s next actions so that he could still control him. 

And for a few years, it worked. This was shown prominently in the Fifteen novels. From offering Dazai a painless way to die in return for working for him, up to threatening to drag Dazai down with him as the organization executes them both, Mori always had a way to somehow keep Dazai under his control.

Until one time. The only time when Mori failed to predict Dazai’s next action.

He didn’t expect Dazai to choose Oda over the PM - to choose good over the evil he had always basked in, which resulted in losing his most precious executive. Ha, get rekt, asshole.

So, what am I trying to say from this long ramble? Mori doesn’t choose his executives based on the people he trusts, he tends to choose people who trust him - which is both a genius and shitty tactic - and someone should punch some senses to him. Preferably Chuuya, because he broke a mothafcking wall with only his fist in Dead Apple, imagine the damage he could do to Mori’s face--

@yesterdays-shadowtag @tecchous-thicc-buttocks @boombboi @aki-galaxy Y'ALL I DID IT 😭👍🏻✨️

[bigstripeylie]

Ghosts theory- “sucked off” edition

Apologies for the title.

I have a theory about how each of the ghosts in Ghosts has a parallel with another Ghost and how this could be the key to them finally being able to move on, or “be sucked off’ as Mary would say.

Putting it behind a cut as this is extremely long and rambly. Spoilers for pretty much every episode of Ghosts

First of all I was listening to Mat and Jim on the Empire Spoilers podcast and Mat said something really interesting about how he intended “you stays how you dies” to refer to the ghost’s mental and emotional state, as well as physical. So Thomas always being obsessed with seeking love is because he died broken-hearted and Fanny always being so grumpy is because she died angry at her husband. 

I believe, therefore, that if the ghosts were able to overcome each of their emotional blocks that would be the thing that would allow them to move on. Furthermore, each of the ghosts has another ghost that seems perfectly suited to be able to assist them in that.

Let’s go through them:

Thomas- Thomas died believing his love never loved him back and now is forced to spend eternity seeking for love as a ghost. If Thomas was able to find someone who could reciprocate his affections, this would the resolve that issue. In the Series 2 episode “About Last Night” when Alison drunkenly tells Thomas “if you were alive and I was 200 years older, then we might have…” we hear a choir start singing and Thomas is pulled, as if compelled, through the wall, similar to how Fanny is pulled forwards towards the window to jump when she “doesn’t even realise [she’s] doing it.” Thomas desperately craves love and affection from another person, but in life was constantly rejected by the people he loved most. You know who else that sounds like? Kitty.

Kitty- Like Thomas, she is from a wealthy family who sheltered her a lot growing up, but is ultimately good and tries to be honourable. Kitty also craves love and affection as well as companionship and she tries to seek it, first in Eleanor and then in Alison (because Alison reminds her of  Eleanor, like how Alison reminds Thomas of Isabelle). However it comes up again and again that Kitty’s relationship with Alison isn’t as fulfilling to her as she would like it be because her being a ghost prevents her from sharing every activity with Alison, and Alison cannot show her physical affection. Kitty is trying to recreate aspects of her relationship with Eleanor using Alison as a substitute but this isn’t very healthy for her, as it simply traps her in the constant state of seeking affection that will not or cannot be returned fully. We don’t know the exact circumstances of Kitty’s death but after Series 3, if seems likely that her sister was in some way involved. Maybe what is keeping Kitty trapped as a ghost is her need for approval and love that she never got in life? But by seeking it in people who remind her of Eleanor exclusively, she is further trapping herself.

If Kitty and Thomas could find love with each other, they could each fulfil the other’s need for reciprocated affection. They are both equally needy so this quality wouldn’t likely annoy the other. Kitty seems to genuinely enjoy high romance in earnest and in finding an outlet for her love in Thomas, she could finally move on from her sister. Thomas would also find someone to love him and could devote himself completely to someone who would actually return his love, instead of fruitlessly pursuing women who remind of Isabelle’s rejection. This could lead to the resolution of both character’s finally moving on from their deaths.

Next up, let’s look at The Captain-

The Captain’s central conflict is obviously his sexuality. I believe that the resolution to this conflict would be him finally accepting and coming to terms with being gay and feeling comfortable with that part of his  identity. Which ghost could best help him in this?

Fanny. 

Maybe not the answer you were thinking, but hear me out. The Captain already has a strong positive relationship with Fanny built on mutual respect. He is more likely to value her opinion as an equal that any of the other ghosts and he seems to align himself with her on most issues. Which makes his choice to go against Fanny and defend the same-sex wedding and its guests to her in “Perfect Day” really remarkable.

In “Perfect Day”, Fanny expresses some pretty disapproving remarks about the wedding guest’s attire and some homophobic opinions about the same-sex wedding in general, which prompts the Captain to defend one of the guests to Fanny. “It’s chic, it’s now, and if it makes her feel fabulous…”

Imagine a scene where The Captain has to defend himself towards Fanny in a similar manner after coming out, showing that he is finally accepting of his sexuality as being the right thing for him. 

Anyway, that was a slight digression…

Fanny is still struggling to deal with the circumstances of her own death which was brought about in part because she caught her husband having an affair with other men. Fanny needs to accept and come to terms with the fact that her husband didn’t love her and that while he was obviously wrong for murdering her, she needs to move on so she can stop reenacting it by jumping out the window every morning. Because she died feeling angry and betrayed, she is trapped in that state in death. Discovering that one of her closest friends is gay and realising that it is possible for someone to be both gay and a good person might prompt her to think differently about her own life, as she started do with Humphrey in Perfect Day. 

The Captain, in turn, could be driven by Fanny’s ability to accept his sexuality into thinking ‘if she can accept that part of me, then maybe I can too.’ Personally, out of all the ghosts, I think it could only be Fanny who could prompt him to think that because it would mean the most to him coming from her.

Humphrey- Humphrey died because he was trying to protect Sophie, who rejected any attempt to get to know him and who he believed didn’t even like him. In death he is trapped in a state of being a selfless self-sacrificing people-pleaser and desperately wanting to be included in the other ghost’s activities, even allowing himself be kicked and thrown around if it means he can just be involved. In ‘I Love Lucy’ he even attempts to make a relationship with Fanny work, showing he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of others.

Julian, by contrast, is the most selfish of all the ghosts at Button House. Deep down he feels guilty that his selfishness negatively affected the relationship with his daughter but seems not to be consciously aware that he feels like this. Julian’s selfishness to not spend time with his family ultimately leads to his death in Button House, as he neglected his family to spend more time at work and was clearly cheating on his wife, showing he is driven by selfish impulses.

If Julian were to perform a completely selfless act to the benefit of Humphrey, then Humphrey would get to feel as though someone was putting him first for once and valuing him the way he seeks to be valued. Julian would also break the pattern of selfish behaviour that caused his downfall.

The rest are little less well-defined:

Pat is the probably the ghost that we know the most about, through seeing his death and actually meeting his family in “Happy Death Day”, to the numerous anecdotes he reveals about his life throughout the show. However, I can’t decide for sure what is the thing that is keeping him a ghost. Pat himself seemed to think it was that he was missing his family, but this was ultimately proved wrong after he saw them again in ‘Happy Death Day’. Even meeting the boy who killed him and forgiving him in ‘Perfect Day’ didn’t cause him to move on. It could be something to do with Carol’s affair with Maurice but I just don’t know for sure. I like the idea of him fitting in with the plague ghosts. I think his personalty and leadership style would get along better with them than say, The Captain, who is too authoritarian. I also think Pat is someone who thrives in a group setting.

Robin and Mary are also tricky to work out what the thing keeping them as ghosts is because we know so little about their lives and deaths compared to the other characters. I think these are the only two ghosts who have not yet received a flashback to their lives. We know that Mary was in some way involved a witch-trail and this has traumatised her. Robin also has experienced a lot of trauma in his life but he seems to be more philosophical about it and accepting of it. He shows great empathy towards others both in trying to comfort Pat about his death in “Happy Death Day’ and Kitty in “About Last Night’, he could use his experience of trauma to help Mary deal with hers. They both seem to be looked down upon and ‘othered’ by the other ghosts due to their perceived lack of intelligence even though they are both very emotionally and socially intelligent.

If anyone has any thoughts about these last two pairings or any of the others, then please reblog and add your take!

I am not in any way saying that I think this is what will happen in the next series or what even I think should happen, but that this is one possibilities for much further down the road when the ghost are all ready to move on.

Also I have spent way too much time thinking about this…

[vivivox]

The Myth of „unromantic“ Overlays in Synastry

A lot of sources claim that there are the „relationship/ love Houses“ when it comes to Synastry Overlays (looking at where the planets of someone else’s Chart fall on your Chart, and vice versa) and then there are those that „only“ indicate friendship, a work relationship or daily business etc.

Classically those „romantic“ Houses are: the 5th (romance), the 7th (partnership) and the 8th (deep intimacy).

When you are very new to Astrology this can dishearten you and make you feel like you don’t stand a chance with a someone just because you don’t tick others „Love Overlay“ boxes.

However:

1. There is no such thing as predetermination. Astrology includes Free Will and Astrology, too, is all about learning, growth of character and the evolution of the Soul. There is no right and wrong and there certainly isn’t „this is how it’s supposed to be, or how it’s not supposed to be“.

2. Astrology isn’t here to „tell you“ who you’re meant for or not meant for. If someone’s planets don’t fall into your 7th House (classical House of marriage) this by no means means that you aren’t compatible in marriage. It just means that maybe there are other factors in your connection that play a bigger role (someone in your 1st House could make you feel good about yourself and give you a sense of identity - who wouldn’t like that?). If you feel like someone is right for you, go for it!

3. In my eyes, while some Houses can be very blunt with showing romantic compatibility, ALL Houses can contribute to attraction and healthy romance and love. This depends on several factors including your personal Charts and your preferences when it comes to love among other things (Aquarius placements usually aren’t the attached at the hip marriage types so they might value someone they have a friendship with (11th House) over someone who gives them the „marriage“ vibes).

Also, just having someone’s planets in your 7th House doesn’t automatically mean you are perfect for each other.

4. Overlays are only one part of the equation. The biggest one, in my eyes and from an astrological point of view, are Aspects. The House Overlays are more background noise (from my experience) and as there are no „unromantic“ Houses they will just set the stage according to the act of the Aspects.

Also, someone might have their DC (7th House) in Cancer while their Sun sign is in Aries. This means they find Cancer placements romantically attractive but will likely clash with them due to their fire Sun. This can go both ways, of course.

Then, there are Combine Charts - but that is another story, and as I myself don’t really use them I will leave this to other people who are more knowledgeable about those kind of Charts :)

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Anyways, in order to state my point I have created a small list.

This goes to show the energy of House x Planet (especially/ mostly Sun, Moon and Venus) in Synastry Overlays.

Usually and from experience, the House person will feel the „effect“ of the planet more while the planet person has a more passive/ reactive role. This means that i.e. if someone’s Sun for falls into your 7th House you will likely see them as a perfect match somehow and feel romantic attraction. They, may or may not feel the same, but are likely to at least notice this and maybe reciprocate just because you approach them in a more romantic manner than other people.

Another example would be that people with personal planets in your 4th House (family) feel very familiar to you and you trust them easily. You are likely to open up to them instantly and you feel at ease with them. In return, they are probably going to let their guard down, too, as they sense this, and behave in a pleasant manner with you.

However this also depends on the Houses from my experience, as well as the Chart natives (someone with the Sun in their 7th might be more prone to cater to other people’s perceptions of them, I.e. when they fall into someone’s 7th House they may be more likely to reciprocate the romantic advances)

Back to the list (I have tried to focus especially on the less classical Houses for romance).

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PLANET X HOUSE OVERLAYS (Synastry):

☀️ „Boost of Confidence“

1. The planet person will likely make you feel understood, validated and good about yourself.

You might see them as the trophy wife or husband and you might „fangirl“ them.

You are likely to look good together and be the typical dream couple, especially in public.

The planet person here gets a a healthy dose of ego boost (especially with the Sun), too.

🍀 „ Safe and Secure“

2. Usually the planet person will provide in one way or the other for the House Person (financially, emotionally, taking care of them etc). Thus, they give the House person a sense of security, stability and nourishment. The planet person will usually increase the self worth of the House person.

Also, the House person might be very inclined to touch the planet person and this placement can be great for simply hanging around, cuddling and having a cozy time.

This can be great for people who like stability, security and dependability in relationships.

👥 „Same Wavelenght“

3. People with their planets in your 3rd House usually stimulate your curiosity, communication and also social life. They will be someone you love to talk to, share ideas and socialize within a group.

As communication is key this is wonderful to have in a relationship, especially for people with an active mind! Understanding and being understood is just invaluable.

You might have a brother/ sister dynamic - in a good way! Like you just get each other.

👶🏼 “Soul Family“

4. This is an amazing Overlay to have. People in your 4th feel like family to you; they make you feel secure, nurtured and understood. It’s like you’ve known them from before (childhood or a past life even) and they almost always make you feel at ease.

This is also great for having a family together, of course! And it’s said that the planet person likely reminds you of your upbringing, has a similar approach to themes of home, family and the private life, and/or had a similar upbringing or family background and roots.

✨ „Spark and Romance“

5. 5th House overlays are usually lighthearted, fun and playful. They are about attraction and romance but they usually have an air of innocence - like a puppy kind of love!

They get a really good rap because they are usually easygoing but with that spark! It’s usually very flirty and the House person will feel youthful and stimulated when with the planet person.

They usually adore the planet person and make them feel attractive and desirable ..

This is also said to be good to have children together. The planet person may make you wanna pro-create and raise kids together with them.

🍀 „Love Everyday“

6. People from your 6th House can help you so much getting your life together. Just being around them may make you want to sort out your life and they will usually help you with your daily business, work and health (even by just being around). This does get a bad rap but your daily life is actually your DAILY LIFE. Who wouldn’t want to have someone around who is wonderful for them on a daily basis? While 5th House sometimes screams holiday romance, this person is here for you in every situation and you are compatible to be with each other on a day to day basis and share your everyday life.

It’s true that other romantic indicators are needed here but if they’re there this can be an amazing overlay. The planet person usually loves taking care of the House person‘s needs and helping them with their life. They can be very motherly (especially with the Moon and Venus there) in a good way, and they get things done together which can be so helpful when you don’t naturally have that in your Chart.

Also, this is a great overlay for living together and spending time on a daily basis!

💍 „Marry Me“

7. This is the classic „partnership“ House which basically means you are very likely to see the other person as a great match. They likely posesss qualities you value and look for in a relationship and they give you the romantic feels right away. If the other person feels similarly this is a very romantic placement and you are likely to become a couple and/or even get married (which doesn’t mean marriage is only meant for the 7th, like stated above).

🌚 „How deep is your Love“

8. This House is all about intimacy, depth and the soul. It is not as visible as the 7th and /because it usually goes a lot deeper. Someone in your 8th will stimulate your subconscious, the parts of you you didn’t know existed. Usually the planet person makes you feel like they „know“ parts of you no one else does.

They are likely to get under your skin, make you feel like they see right through you and have the ability to transform you somehow. The connection is felt on a „soul level“ and the merging can be very deep and profound. It’s also the House of sexuality but in my eyes that is only an expression of intimacy that this House arouses.

🌅 „Broadening of Horizon“

9. The 9th House is great for having your horizon broadened, your views expanded and a new world to be opened up to you. A person there will likely have an exotic vibe to them, like they have the ability to show you things you didn’t know existed. They may make you feel optimistic and adventurous and it’s a great placement for traveling the world together as well as to talk about everything under the sky, especially world views, spiritual, philosophical and religious matters. They will light up your world!

🥇“Going Places“

10. People in your 10th usually have something going for them that you admire and that if you follow them can get you right where you’re meant to be in life. They can act as a sort of natural authority that you willingly follow and where you never regret doing so because you have an adequate amount of respect for them.

This overlay is amazing for following your life’s path, achieving things and it will usually always contribute to your growth and level of maturity.

It’s a beautiful placement and shouldn’t be limited to „someone helping you with your career“.

Your relationship could be in the public eye somehow, also.

👫 “Best Friends and Lovers“

11. Whoever said friendship isn’t love? Many times you will read that this is the classical „friend zone“ overlay placement but who said lovers shouldn’t be friends or friends shouldn’t be lovers?

It’s true that if there are not so many other romantic indicators between the Charts (Venus/Moon, Mars/Venus etc) you are more likely going to see them on a platonic level but that doesn’t necessarily exclude other instances.

Some people value friendship over everything and all they want in a relationship is a partner in crime who is their best buddy!

You are likely to share ideals and more often than not a similar social circle which can be so great because who doesn’t love having your lover in the same friends group!

🌊 „Soul Connection“

12. Having a prominent Neptune in my Chart I have never understood how some people could view this placement as unfortunate.

With the 12th House Overlay you have a spiritual, otherworldly and soul connection to the other person that includes a selfless kind of love and karmic / soul ties (which def aren’t bad!).

You can likely sense what the other person feels and can easily connect through dreams. This placement is ethereal. The planet person will usually shed light on the hidden parts of the House person and help them heal.

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Thanks for reading and always love to hear your feedback, guys 😊☺️

Credit:

@vivivox

[kickthecan-revolution]

Savasana

I called my friend who is leaving the company at the end of April. She is in Human Resources after having been in L&D with me for years here in San Francisco. After meeting her now husband (who she proposed to like a boss),  he was moving to Seattle; she said “I don’t care if I work here or not, I am going with him”. She’s so good - so smart - and has such integrity, they found her a spot being HR for stores there. She called me yesterday to tell me and ended up texting the news, so I wanted to hear the story. 

She’s turning 50 this year. October is her 20th year anniversary with the company and it’s a huge milestone - you get a pretty incredible reward and it’s a big moment. I asked her why she doesn’t hang on and she said, I have seen so much suffering - I’ve had to hold so much for the last two years. Comfort relatives and co-workers of those that have died, called the suicide hotline more times than I can count - and I could do it, but now I work weekends and I do not want to give one more day of my life outside of work to work.” 

She’s not bitter. It was a global pandemic, that was her job, and she did it well. She helped a lot of people. And she’s grateful to this company for the ability to do this now and take so many friends with her. No anger. Just done with this now. 

I asked her what she’s going to do next. She doesn’t know but she has a plan. She asked me if I know what Savasana is in yoga - the corpse pose. I didn’t. She explained it briefly and told me that for the next month, she’s going to Savasana. Do nothing. And she’ll pay attention to what she wants to do as she does nothing, and that will be her sign the month after that to do what is next. To do what she wants. Our friend Ted retired a couple of years ago and wrote in his blog, “To know what you want to do next, do nothing of what you used to do. Pay attention to how you spend your time. THat’s what you want to be doing. You learn what you want to do from stopping what you’re doing now.” 

I looked up what Savasana means: “With the world moving so quickly, cultivating the art of Savasana is more valuable than ever. Our society tends to place greater value on speed and productivity; learning how to do nothing is a skill that can help you become more productive when you need to be.Savasana helps us learn how to completely surrender, stop fighting the clock, and make space for peace and harmony to fill the soul. Savasana is like turning off your computer when it’s acting up. Once you reboot it, the computer often has greater functionality.”

What an incredible testimony to a liberated mind and a determined heart. 

For her going away party, she’s asked us to choose a song that represents her time here. And that will be her playlist of this chapter. I know my song, and I can’t wait to share it with her. She’s always been a figure for the ‘nobody’, for the store teams. There’s genuine care for them but she is an advocate at all costs. She stood up to some seriously crazy egos in power and came out the other side,. She’s a true fighter for those with no power. So this is for you, A. I love you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEFxfVyz4Uc

[apenitentialprayer]

I hit the breaking point as a parent a few years ago. It was the week of my extended family’s annual gathering in August, and we were struggling with assorted crises. My parents were aging; my wife and I were straining under the chaos of young children; my sister was bracing to prepare her preteens for bullying, sex and cyberstalking. Sure enough, one night all the tensions boiled over. At dinner, I noticed my nephew texting under the table. I knew I shouldn’t say anything, but I couldn’t help myself and asked him to stop. Ka-boom! My sister snapped at me to not discipline her child. My dad pointed out that my girls were the ones balancing spoons on their noses. My mom said none of the grandchildren had manners. Within minutes, everyone had fled to separate corners. Later, my dad called me to his bedside. There was a palpable sense of fear I couldn’t remember hearing before. “Our family’s falling apart,” he said. “No it’s not,” I said instinctively. “It’s stronger than ever.” But lying in bed afterward, I began to wonder: Was he right? What is the secret sauce that holds a family together? What are the ingredients that make some families effective, resilient, happy? It turns out to be an astonishingly good time to ask that question. The last few years have seen stunning breakthroughs in knowledge about how to make families, along with other groups, work more effectively. Myth-shattering research has reshaped our understanding of dinnertime, discipline and difficult conversations. Trendsetting programs from Silicon Valley and the military have introduced techniques for making teams function better. The only problem: most of that knowledge remains ghettoized in these subcultures, hidden from the parents who need it most. I spent the last few years trying to uncover that information, meeting families, scholars and experts ranging from peace negotiators to online game designers to Warren Buffett’s bankers. After a while, a surprising theme emerged. The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative. I first heard this idea from Marshall Duke, a colorful psychologist at Emory University. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Duke was asked to help explore myth and ritual in American families.“There was a lot of research at the time into the dissipation of the family,” he told me at his home in suburban Atlanta. “But we were more interested in what families could do to counteract those forces.” Around that time, Dr. Duke’s wife, Sara, a psychologist who works with children with learning disabilities, noticed something about her students.“The ones who know a lot about their families tend to do better when they face challenges,” she said. Her husband was intrigued, and along with a colleague, Robyn Fivush, set out to test her hypothesis. They developed a measure called the “Do You Know?” scale that asked children to answer 20 questions. Examples included: Do you know where your grandparents grew up? Do you know where your mom and dad went to high school? Do you know where your parents met? Do you know an illness or something really terrible that happened in your family? Do you know the story of your birth? Dr. Duke and Dr. Fivush asked those questions of four dozen families in the summer of 2001, and taped several of their dinner table conversations. They then compared the children’s results to a battery of psychological tests the children had taken, and reached an overwhelming conclusion. The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. The “Do You Know?” scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness. “We were blown away,” Dr. Duke said. And then something unexpected happened. Two months later was Sept. 11. As citizens, Dr. Duke and Dr. Fivush were horrified like everyone else, but as psychologists, they knew they had been given a rare opportunity: though the families they studied had not been directly affected by the events, all the children had experienced the same national trauma at the same time. The researchers went back and reassessed the children.“Once again,” Dr. Duke said, “the ones who knew more about their families proved to be more resilient, meaning they could moderate the effects of stress.” Why does knowing where your grandmother went to school help a child overcome something as minor as a skinned knee or as major as a terrorist attack? “The answers have to do with a child’s sense of being part of a larger family,” Dr. Duke said. Psychologists have found that every family has a unifying narrative, he explained, and those narratives take one of three shapes. First, the ascending family narrative: “Son, when we came to this country, we had nothing. Our family worked. We opened a store. Your grandfather went to high school. Your father went to college. And now you. ...” Second is the descending narrative: “Sweetheart, we used to have it all. Then we lost everything.” “The most healthful narrative,” Dr. Duke continued, “is the third one. It’s called the oscillating family narrative: ‘Dear, let me tell you, we’ve had ups and downs in our family. We built a family business. Your grandfather was a pillar of the community. Your mother was on the board of the hospital. But we also had setbacks. You had an uncle who was once arrested. We had a house burn down. Your father lost a job. But no matter what happened, we always stuck together as a family.’ ” Dr. Duke said that children who have the most self-confidence have what he and Dr. Fivush call a strong “intergenerational self.” They know they belong to something bigger than themselves. Leaders in other fields have found similar results. Many groups use what sociologists call sense-making, the building of a narrative that explains what the group is about. Jim Collins, a management expert and author of “Good to Great,” told me that successful human enterprises of any kind, from companies to countries, go out of their way to capture their core identity. In Mr. Collins’s terms, they “preserve core, while stimulating progress.” The same applies to families, he said. Mr. Collins recommended that families create a mission statement similar to the ones companies and other organizations use to identify their core values. The military has also found that teaching recruits about the history of their service increases their camaraderie and ability to bond more closely with their unit.Cmdr. David G. Smith is the chairman of the department of leadership, ethics and law at the Naval Academy and an expert in unit cohesion, the Pentagon’s term for group morale. Until recently, the military taught unit cohesion by “dehumanizing” individuals, Commander Smith said. Think of the bullying drill sergeants in “Full Metal Jacket” or “An Officer and a Gentleman.” But these days the military spends more time building up identity through communal activities. At the Naval Academy, Commander Smith advises graduating seniors to take incoming freshmen (or plebes) on history-building exercises, like going to the cemetery to pay tribute to the first naval aviator or visiting the original B-1 aircraft on display on campus. Dr. Duke recommended that parents pursue similar activities with their children. Any number of occasions work to convey this sense of history: holidays, vacations, big family get-togethers, even a ride to the mall. The hokier the family’s tradition, he said, the more likely it is to be passed down. He mentioned his family’s custom of hiding frozen turkeys and canned pumpkin in the bushes during Thanksgiving so grandchildren would have to “hunt for their supper,” like the Pilgrims. “These traditions become part of your family,” Dr. Duke said. Decades of research have shown that most happy families communicate effectively. But talking doesn’t mean simply “talking through problems,” as important as that is. Talking also means telling a positive story about yourselves. When faced with a challenge, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter to their life story that shows them overcoming the hardship. This skill is particularly important for children, whose identity tends to get locked in during adolescence. The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come.

- Bruce Feiler. Emphases added.

[amphtaminedreams]

Why Ethical Fashion Doesn’t Need to be Boring (In the Words of a Shopping Addict): Lookbook no.14

Hi to anyone reading,

Arghhhh.

I never know how to start posts when I literally just uploaded the other week because I tend to follow the very formulaic approach of summarising what I’ve missed due to sporadic posting…I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still posting sporadically, it just so happens I’ve had more content to get up recently-sometimes lightning strikes twice, ya know, and I have a brief, if chemically fuelled, reprieve from the permanent state of exhaustion. It’s not like there isn’t stuff to talk about- the last month has seen a horrific murder and public outcry in response. There are a lot of important conversations going on about women’s safety and misogynistic violence that I really cannot do justice to in a paragraph and feelings that have been brewing for a long time that I can’t articulate yet and will not attempt to offhandedly do so in this post. Right now I just wanna say that I stand in solidarity with all those with histories of experiencing violence at the hands of men, those who aren’t here with us anymore as a result of that violence such as Sarah Everard, and those marginalised women whose stories don’t make national news. It’s very telling the way Sarah’s vigil was responded to by the same police force that have allowed mostly male anti-mask protests to go ahead with protestors unscathed, and solidarity with the women who were treated with such an unjustifiable amount of force at the vigil too.

That being said, women’s rights are something I wanted to talk about in this post, with regards to the way it ties into ethical fashion. None of us are perfect and it’s easy living in a first world country to detach yourself from the issues stemming from fast fashion, especially when you don’t have the time or money yourself to be selective about where you buy from. Don’t get me wrong, I do treat myself to some new clothes from fast fashion companies like ASOS and Urban Outfitters a few times a year so this is NOT coming from a place of preaching, but I have drastically reduced that to buying about 90% of my new clothes either second hand from Depop or charity shops or clothing stores that are upfront about their outsourcing practices. I love putting outfits together and updating my wardrobe and I don’t want to abandon that as a medium of self-expression because it does bring me joy, but to continue to update my wardrobe with the frequency I do by buying from fast fashion retailers on such a regular basis I accepted was going against the things I care about; around 80% of textile workers on poverty wages in developing countries are girls and women (opensocietyfoundations.org), and whilst fast fashion companies in the West continue to outsource manufacturing to said countries to cut costs and there is little regulation enforcing employers to pay women the same amount as men or even adhere to a minimum wage, they will continue to be forced into these roles where they are subjected to horrific working conditions, impossible production targets and frequent abuse (according to an article published in the Guardian in June 2018, 540 incidences of abuse, often of a sexual nature, were reported by women working in factories supplying the retailers GAP and H&M when they were interviewed on the subject). There is no denying that the fast fashion industry depends on and perpetuates the subjugation of women and systematically prevents them from making steps towards gender equality in their countries, be it through greater financial independence or the freedom to pursue higher education; the popular current practice by western fast fashion companies of outsourcing manufacturing to factories unhindered by workers rights and gender equality laws by association condones the sexual and physical violence that occurs as a means of punishment for not meeting targets, the exploitative pay which affords women little independence from husbands and families dominated by patriarchal values, and the long, exhausting hours which women have little choice but to take in order to avoid their contracts being terminated and to put food on the table. No, one individual completely abandoning fast fashion isn’t going to put an end to these unethical practices but if all of us make a conscious effort to reduce our consumption at least a little and make it clear why we’re doing so, we put greater pressure on fast fashion companies to act in a more responsible way. There isn’t going to be any kind of miraculous change of heart, so to force them to change we have to hit the industry and the people at the top who benefit from such practices where it really hurts: their profit.

SO, for this post I thought I would highlight some of my favourite more ethical online clothing companies to buy from; the more popular these more socially responsible brands become, the more apparent it becomes to fast fashion companies relying on an exploitative business model that how they treat their workers is of growing importance to consumers. It’s all very well and good Missguided and PLT talking about empowering women and making “girl boss” slogan tees but we need to make it clear that we’re aware of the hollowness of the gesture, and that we want less hypocritical talk and more action to actually enhance the lives of the women that work for them, not just the ones they show in their flashy offices on TV. I’ve included my favourite Depop shops too, because if you can shop second hand, that’s even better; though I like to treat myself to new clothes now and again, I’m aware that the impact the manufacturing process in general, whether or not the company acts in an ethical way with regards to their employment practices, has on the environment is more often than not detrimental. Depop has really been my saving grace this past year-if you know what you’re looking for and have the time and patience, you can find so many gems, and at this point the balance of my wardrobe is tipped firmly in the favour of the reuse and recycle approach to shopping. In the vein of reusing fashion, I thought I’d also include a mini lookbook for a cardigan I got from one of my favourite online retailers, The Ragged Priest, just as a reminder that 1). The best way to be sustainable is to rewear and 2). That with tweaks, one piece alone can give you multiple completely different outfits. Like honestly, outfit repeating doesn’t have to be a literal repeat. Sometimes it’s worth spending a little bit extra on something that looks good with everything, and making that investment into your ability to fool people that you’ve got your shit together by wearing something cool as fuck.

Quickly before I get into it, I’m aware that some ethical companies are a bit out of the average consumer’s price range, and so I wanted to sort them into price point categories which will work as follows:

£= most of their stock is £40 & under ££= most of their stock is between £40-£100 £££= most of their stock costs upwards of £100

Now, in no particular order (and starting with online retailers before moving onto Depop shops), here’s the list!

1. THE RAGGED PRIEST

PRICE POINT: ££

Using recycled fabric to construct their pieces where possible and releasing clothing in small drops designed to sell out rather than following the typical fast fashion model of outsourcing the production of vast amounts of clothing overseas, the Ragged Priest is my absolute favourite clothing brand out there. It’s *semi* affordable and because they are all about those bold, in your face, your-grandma-will-probs-think-it’s-ugly kinda pieces, just one can do SO much for your wardrobe.

I recently bought this cardigan from their The Simple Life drop and had so many outfit ideas for it that I thought I’d put a few of them together for this post just as an example of how you can take the same piece over and over again and still make it interesting, even when you don’t feel like straying too far from your personal style preferences. While we’re at it, I also wanted to use this mini lookbook to point out how fucking great Depop is! Literally everything in these outfits is from there apart from the shoes and the jewellery, the leather blazer on the right I bought a few years ago and then the top and skirt in the outfit from the far left which are both from Ebay. The shoes with that outfit are from Koi Vegan footwear-I didn’t include them in this list because I wanted to keep it consistent and focus on ethical clothing companies rather than retailers that focus on one specific thing such as shoes or jewellery, but they are my favourite place to buy shoes from and focus closely on ethical production too so definitely recommend.

2. MINGA LONDON

PRICE POINT: ££

Towards the lower end of the ££ price point, Minga is probably the closest you’re gonna get to an ethical version of the Dolls Kill Deliah’s range. Their focus on being a socially responsible business is a huge part of their ethos and their pieces are put together in Portugal, where they're based, by a small in-house team; the majority of their fabric is sourced from local Portuguese businesses and even more amazingly, they recycle the fabric of the pieces they don’t sell in new designs. They are just a generally amazing company and I wish more people knew about them because their pieces are fucking adorable and wouldn’t be out of place (or overpriced) in your local UO.

3. ELSIE & FRED

PRICE POINT: £

A small, black owned business set up by 3 siblings from Coventry, Elsie & Fred have earned themselves a reputation as a staple provider of the festival season wardrobe. Being an independently owned business, they have strict standards that their manufacturers must adhere to and a close working relationship with the owners of the two factories who oversee production in Guangzhou, China, to ensure fair wages and a safe working environment. On the environmental side of things, Elsie and Fred are working to incorporate recycled fabric into their designs as much as possible and have this year introduced compostable mailing bags.

4. HOUSE OF SUNNY

PRICE POINT: £££

Follow enough British instagram fashion influencers and you are bound to have heard of House of Sunny in 2020-snagging what is probably my all time favourite coat from there in 2019 before all the hype is a humble brag I will allow myself on the basis that I haven’t been able to afford anything since, lol. Along with kooky, one of a kind designs, being decidedly anti-fast fashion is a huge part of their branding; HoS only drop 2 collections of limited stock a year, thoroughly screen suppliers and on their website you can find a tonne of information on how they’re working to offset their environmental impact too. If you can treat yourself to a piece from there at any point, the quality of the garments truly make the price point worth it.

5. JADED LONDON

PRICE POINT: ££

Similarly to The Ragged Priest and House of Sunny, Jaded London go the route of dropping limited collections on a less frequent basis intending to sell out (particularly popular pieces are occasionally restocked) rather than needlessly manufacturing vast quantities of garments to flog for whatever they can get and cutting corners with fair employment practices to offset any losses. By employing independent staff in the manufacturing plants with which they liaise to ensure fair, dignified working conditions and also by working closely with charities such as the Trussel Trust and Stand Up to Racism, Jaded London demonstrates a level of commitment to corporate responsibility that set them apart from a lot of similar online retailers. They are at the top of their game when it comes to daring and experimental yet wearable pieces and so it’s cool that they recognise the need to conduct their business in a considerate way too.

6. THE HIPPIE SHAKE

PRICE POINT: ££

Owned by UK based bohemian queen Naomi Hession, the Hippie Shake is not only a great small independent business to support but is also the definition of slow fashion. With a limited number of opulent 70s style pieces, I have always wanted to purchase something from here. I’ve yet to do so but I’m gonna make it my mission eventually.

7. VINTAGE HEARTS

PRICE POINT: £

An affordable, gorgeous array of quirky handpicked vintage pieces that would probably take you forever to find in a charity shop or that you’d be charged a small fortune for if you found it in a high street second hand store, Vintage Hearts is where you should go if you want a timeless statement piece that may have otherwise ended up in a landfill. The added benefit of vintage clothing is that it is, by its nature, great for the environment, but you can also look fab and groovy as fuck as you do your bit for the planet<3

8. WE ARE COW

PRICE POINT: £

Offering both original vintage pieces and reworked pieces using recycled fabrics, We Are Cow has both basic branded second hand items but also handmade streetwear style original designs all for a fair price. You can tell that it’s all high quality stuff consistent with their modern, functional aesthetic and it’s clear that the team behind the shop has a real vision in mind when they’re designing. 

9. OUT OF THE ORDINARY CLOTHING

PRICE POINT: £

In the words of Corrie Davis, founder of OOTO "I start with the belief that fashion will be always be worn differently by the individual that wears it. Every collection from Out of the Ordinary is different to the last but undeniably Out of the Ordinary. I champion flamboyancy and embrace the cultures I've experienced around the world, merging the two and creating popular style trends in exciting textiles, prints and techniques to bring to you something a little Out of the Ordinary." That pretty much sums up the vibrancy, vivacity and bold elegance of the brand’s aesthetic perfectly, which is reflected by Davis’ commitment to ethical manufacturing based on relationships forged between the founders and family artisans and the sourcing of fabrics from textile markets around the world. Everything you need for a boujie summer holiday in the Mediterranean-when leaving the country is finally allowed again, lol, EVERYBODY GET YOUR FUCKING VACCINE-is here.

10. WILD THING

PRICE POINT: ranges from £-£££ depending on the brand

Probs the closest thing you’ll get to an ethical ASOS, Wild Thing brings together a host of sustainable and independent clothing brands and puts them all in one place to present to us all a collection of the sickest festival style fashion out there. Whilst it’s super cool that this already exists and a slice of humble pie for myself to remind me that I am not in fact the revolutionary marketing genius I thought I was, I’m bummed to know that my idea of said ethical ASOS style website is already out there. Fingers crossed for the next grand money making scheme that comes to mind that I can use to distribute some wealth (yeah, there probably won’t be any because very few original thoughts enter my head, clearly, tehe) xoxo

11. SHOPFLUFFY

PRICE POINT: ££

I know it’s 2021 and we all kind hate the idea of girl boss feminism and the connotations of privilege and exploitation that come with it but can we bring it back when we’re talking about women who embody what it was actually all supposed to be about? Because the owner of ShopFluffy, @lulutrixabelle embodies everything good about the term. Somebody who genuinely does (cue Ramona singer voice here) empower other women through her celebration of powerful female friendship and free spirited sense of personal style that should inspire every one of us to wear whatever the fuck we want (clashing patterns and over-accessorising be damned), Lulu handmakes all the designs on her site and very much places an emphasis on slow fashion by releasing only a few collections a year which you can clearly tell a lot of painstaking effort and talent went into. ShopFluffy is on the pricier side but the adorable crocheted coords LuLu specialises in, reminiscent of carefree childhood days and picnics in meadows picturesque enough to be the backdrop of a Jacquemus runway presentation, are a bold and beautiful expression of playful femininity worthy of departing with a bit more than you’d usually spend. After all, if you are gonna spend that money on a piece of clothing, supporting an ethical, independent woman owned business clearly built on carefully honed skill, passion and authenticity is the way to go.

12. SHOPEASYTIGER

PRICE POINT: ££

It feels correct to follow up the ShopFluffy mention with ShopEasyTiger given the friendship between the former’s owner with Tigerlilly Winfield (is that not the most wonderfully storybook character sounding name of all time?), owner of Easy Tiger. Up there with my most revered style icons, Tigerlilly’s designs are as flamboyant and glamorous and daring and dramatic as her own personal style, and again, they are ethically made! If you want to get that psychedelic rock n’roll groupie that’s actually way cooler than the band itself kinda energy too, her shop is the place to start.

13. HOTTTRAMP 

PRICE POINT: ££

Founded by the incredibly hot Belle_hott_tramp on Instagram, HottTramp is a collection of both handmade pieces and carefully selected vintage finds that blur the lines between 90s Courtney Love style grunge and 70s summer of love hippy that make me want to start my own all girl rock band and hire a camper van to paint black and road trip through the American desert. Given my complete lack of hand eye coordination, I’ll most likely never have the instrumental skills to do that but I never said it was a realistic fantasy, okay?

14. LAZY OAF

PRICE POINT: ££

Is it just me that always thought Lazy Oaf was within the same kind of price range as The Ragged Priest? Because it’s a lottt more expensive than I thought. That being said, if you’re going for a playful, toned down Molly Goddard kinda look, anything bright and youthful, Lazy Oaf’s clothes 100% fit that brief. You are paying more, but part of that markup is reflected in their transparency when it comes to their ethical code, which includes ensuring that statutory minimum wage laws are adhered to in the supply chain as well as that all workers are of the legal working age for their countries and that their working hours do not exceed the legal limit. They are also steadfastly committed to donating a portion of their profits to charities dedicated to improving mental wellbeing such as Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, and Young Minds, something that is hugely important to me given my own experiences and the line of work I want to go into.

15. NEVER FULLY DRESSED

PRICE POINT: ££

Similar in their aesthetic to Out of the Ordinary, Never Fully Dressed is big on colour, print, and elegance. They have both specially selected second hand pieces on offer and original designs too and the about us section of their website clearly states how passionate they are about their ethical manufacturing process, which takes place both here in the UK and in China.

16. TUNNEL VISION

PRICE POINT: ££

Offering the dreamiest, one of a kind vintage 90s pieces, Tunnel Vision could just as easily be a grunge girl band come the craft themed moodboard as it is an online retailer. If the 90s isn’t for you-I mean, I don’t wanna question anybody’s taste levels but…-they also have the option of shopping by era, which I think is a really cool feature I wish a lot of irl vintage shops would incorporate.

17.  LOVE TOO TRUE

PRICE POINT: £

Everything on Love Too True is fucking gorgeousss and it is no surprise that they manufacture their garments here in London because I feel their brand totally encompasses that stereotypical 90s East End punk vibe perfectly with a shit tonne of chunky boots and show stopping plaid pieces that makes my heart ache for a riot grrrl renaissance. Yes, when it comes to feminism’s place in mainstream culture, making sure the political goals and structural changes we’re aiming for are visible to all is by far the most important, but let’s have a resurgence of the grunge girl’s armour along with that and PLEASE let’s leave athleisure in the 2010s. No more Kardashian nude leggings, I beg (I AM being lighthearted, wear whatever you want! We’re not policing women’s clothes in this neck of the woods).

18. NINE LIVES BAZAAR

PRICE POINT: £££

Eurgh. Nine Lives Bazaar. I want it ALL. Their clothes give me all the Etro, Zimmerman, Torey Burch, modernised Stevie Nicks vibes on a slightly more realistic budget, though unfortunately for me said budget just isn’t realistic enough. You would think pieces being ethically produced is just a given when it comes to clothes within this price range but that’s not necessarily the case and Nine Lives Bazaar is one of the ones you can trust to actually be considerate of their employees needs when it comes to their approach to business. To anybody who can afford to shop here, I am insanely jealous. The rest of us, for now, can just browse the website n feel the fantasy, channel a Valentina level of delusion and pretend it’s just the import taxes from Australia that’s holding us back from making a purchase.

-DEPOP SHOPS-

1. @HOUSE_OF_EROTIQUE

PRICE POINT: ££

Everything handmade and latex and form fitting to make you the baddest bitch in the room, I’ve got myself a few pieces from this shop over the past couple of years. Customer service is a bit hit or miss and there’s been times when I’ve had to wait a while for my purchases to get to me but because they’re all one of a kind and custom made to fit, it’s worth it, and when they have messed up they were kind enough to add something to my order for free.

2. @SACREDHAWK

PRICE POINT: ££

If you picture raiding the wardrobe of a biker gang, snatching the Coachella bound suitcases of the Revolve ambassadors at Palm Springs airport, and then jumbling all those clothes together, that’s probably your best bet at getting an idea of Sacred Hawk’s aesthetic. Formerly an ASOS concession, the brand is now available on Depop and is a collection of the most lavish glam grunge pieces, all vintage or reworked vintage. Some things are a bit on the pricey side but I would say they are all priced fairly considering how unique and ornate a lot of the pieces are, and I reeeeally wanna be able to say I own something from there one day.

3. @IDENTITYPARTY

PRICE POINT: £££

I struggled with how to categorise this Depop shop in terms of price point because although there are some fairly low-priced pieces, the standouts are the vintage coats which are understandably a lot more expensive-if you want to fully immerse yourself in the Almost Famous Penny Lane fantasy, you’re gonna have to fork out a little bit.

4. @RETRO_RAIL

PRICE POINT: £££

Retro_rail is of a similar vein to IdentityParty, in that the standout pieces are the vintage coats which are usually upwards of £100-if you’re looking for one-of-a-kind statement outerwear to invest in, I can’t recommend this shop enough. If you’re like me and you’re looking for something more within the £ to ££ price range, Retro Rail is still worth a browse as inspiration for the kind of styles you might wanna try and find elsewhere on Depop.

5. @5THSEASON

PRICE POINT: £

Most of the quirky vintage pieces you’ll find on offer on this Depop shop are within the £25 to £40 price range and though you’ve got coats similar to those you’ll find on Identity Party and Retro Rail and they are sill slightly more than the tops and trousers and dresses on sale etc., they are more modestly priced than the other 2 listed.

6. @DREAMERSREBELS

PRICE POINT: £££

Another v pricey one, dreamersrebels specialises in the daintiest, most whimsical 60s style co-ords I’ve ever seen. Handmade upon purchase, which in turn guarantees little textile waste, you can find the kind of pieces you’d expect to see on a 21st century incarnation of Audrey Hepburn, all the soft pastels and timeless, retro silhouettes you could possibly wish for. I mean, wishing is pretty much all I can do rn but anyone with a near minimum wage retail job knows you need something to aspire to, lol. I managed to budget enough to treat myself to a Selkie dress so I’m manifesting that same level of self-discipline to get me a dreamersrebels piece next.

7. @AWKWARDPHASE

PRICE POINT: £

Very affordable vintage pieces that range from cutesy mid-century style dresses and coats to grungy 90s jackets, perfectly styled and presented too in a way that will have you wanting to order something for yourself to replicate that modern spin on old staples and give them a second life.

8. @EVIEHALLOWS

PRICE POINT: £

Another Depop shop where the clothes are styled so well, it’ll have you thinking you can make anything from a floral 1950s housewife style cardigan to a lycra jumpsuit look very intentionally on trend.

9. @JAHOOLI

PRICE POINT: £

There’s also Jahooli, which I will just say ticks all the same boxes as the other two aforementioned stores to avoid repeating myself.

10. @LOVELYANDLOVELESS 

PRICE POINT: £

In terms of price, I would put Lovely and Loveless into the same category as Jahooli, Awkward Phase and Evie Hallows, the difference being that the clothes available are more on the dainty, classically feminine side. People who have a Pinterest board dedicated to the cottagecore or light academia aesthetic (whew, the gen Z is showing), this one’s for you.

11. @CHLOESTJOHN

PRICE POINT: £

Finally, we have the ChloeStJohn Depop shop and it’s definitely a good one to end on; picture the wardrobe of Carrie Bradshaw if she’d lived in Camden instead of New York in the 90s and hung out with a slightly edgier crew than Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha and there you have it, the vibe of the pieces on offer. Does it belong to a girl who probs lives near Primrose Hill and has access to all the boujiest second hand clothes shops available which she most likely routinely raids to resell on Depop? Potentially, but hopefully not because I am very here for this whole red wine in one hand and a cigarette in another back when people were allowed to smoke inside bars aesthetic. I’m sorry that the gen Z part of me once again jumped out in such an aggressive fashion with that last sentence, but I know you know what I mean.

And that’s everything! 

I did wanna close off the post with a reminder of how nuanced a discussion this is-having the time and money to be more conscious about your ethical footprint when you’re buying clothes is in itself a privilege; fashion shouldn’t be an interest reserved for only those who have the means to pay extra or spend time scouring the internet. It’s also important to be aware of the lack of size inclusivity-a lot of the “trendy” sustainable fashion brands tend to not stock anything larger than a size 14 and attempt to deflect attention away from this by categorising clothes as either XS, S, M, or L, which is in itself a bit of a pisstake considering that 12-14 is the average clothing size here for women in the UK, and so in no way large. Shopping from Depop and Ebay is hard too when so many brands fail to understand how to fit a non-straight size body which in turn necessitates trying stuff on before you buy it, something that isn’t possible when you’re shopping second hand. A lot of Depop shops fail to offer returns and even with those who do, chasing up that return can be a time-consuming and generally all round frustrating process.

Basically, when we’re having these kinds of discussions it’s important to consider everyone’s situations and avoid sitting on some kind of high horse. I feel like things have become even more complicated lately- with the recent closure of once popular high street stores such as Topshop and Miss Selfridge, it has got me thinking a lot about just how many people’s income here in the UK is dependent on fast fashion retailers too and their popularity. The job scarcity resulting from these kind of closures, which are often all that is available to a lot of people with the demands of the job market seemingly becoming more and more impossible each day even for those who have been in higher education, is clearly an issue when the kind of support you can expect from the government as someone out of work is so woefully inadequate and likely to become even more so as the conservatives push for further cuts to UC and PIP. The past year has really shown us just how shaky the ground that an intensely capitalist society stands on is and how quickly everything can go tits up when we don’t invest in a safety net for those who are struggling. People seem to have realised more than ever the extent to which those whose jobs we deem “low-skilled” are actually the backbone of society, and yet even here, whilst the situation may not be quite as desperate as it is elsewhere, we still haven’t seen pay rises that reflect that. Turns out all the clapping WAS an empty gesture, who’d have thought it (for fuck’s sake)? Fair wages really are a global issue that starts with paying people enough for them to comfortably live on and in time should lead to a shift in consciousness away from the concept of profit before everything else and towards an equal playing field for everyone, something we should take every opportunity to speak up about and demand from our “leaders”, however shit a job so many of those leaders do. It’s frustrating how the focus on making ethical purchasing choices is so often on the overconsumption of things that women historically are more actively interested in such as clothes and accessories and make up when the reality is that the wealth of every industry titan on this planet, NOT just the ones who dominate the fast fashion sphere, depends on them continuing to get away with exploiting people-we should be looking at how we can show our dissatisfaction in all areas. Maybe I’m perpetuating that with this post, since a lot of the online retailers I mentioned only sell women’s clothing, but that being said, I’m not about to do men’s work for them, lol-they should make the effort, if possible, to research into sustainable clothing alternatives too.

Anyway, that’s the end of this post! If you read to the end, thank you so much! If I’ve made any errors in my research or there are more sustainable clothing brands that I could’ve mentioned, feel free to inbox me them too, and I can add them to this post if Tumblr allows. It’s usually a little bitch when it comes to editing long posts but I’ll try my best:) Again, thanks for reading! And if you are, I hope you are safe and well!

Lauren x

[miyanom]

A-Z FLUFF ALPHABET (j.kirstein)

A CTIVITIES - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Jean loves spending time with you, no matter what you two happen to be doing. Though his favourite thing to do with you is just watch a movie and relax, especially because he loves resting his head in your lap while you run your fingers through his hair.

B EAUTY - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

Jean, being the person he is, would say everything.

He loves your laugh, your smile, the way you look at him when he says a stupid joke that no one else enjoyed.

C OMFORT - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

If you’re feeling down, he’ll buy/cook your favourite food and just stay by your side till your ready to talk. And if you just want time alone, he’ll give that to you but will always make sure you know he’s there when you’re ready.

D REAMS - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

He’s been dreaming about a future with you from really early on. Similar to the dream he has in canon, he sees you both moving in together one day and maybe starting a family together.

He wants kids, but it wouldn’t be a deal breaker honestly. He loves you so much, and if you don’t want kids, he’s fine with settling for a dog or cat.

E QUAL - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

Things would be super equal for the two of you. If there’s something concerning the both of you, he would never make a decision without trying to get your opinion on it first.

He values communication in the relationship, so you both come to decisions together unless it’s an on the spot thing.

F IGHT - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

While Jean hates fighting with you, he’s also pretty stubborn, and it makes the fight worse than how it originally started out.

Due to how much he hates fighting with you, Jean separates himself from the argument, either going to a different room or leaving the apartment altogether to give you both the time to cool down.

G RATITUDE - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

He’s very grateful! He loves doing things for you, but when you do things for him? He’ll hug you and tell you how much he loves you, even if the thing you did was something super small.

H ONESTY - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

Jean tends to share everything with you. In general, he’s just a very honest person.

I NSPIRATION - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

Before meeting you, Jean was constantly in a crappy mood, usually taking it on Eren more than anybody. He was also quite a flirt, not a serious player but like annoyingly flirty.

After meeting you, he calmed down a little. He swears it wasn’t because of you or anything, but his friends say otherwise.

J EALOUSY - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

I wouldn’t say it’s often, but when people neither of you know start getting a little too close, he does get jealous.

He’d probably try keeping it to himself, but communication is a big thing in your relationship so he does let you know. At least after he intimidates the person by wrapping his arms around you and kissing you in front of them.

K ISS - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Jean is a great kisser, at least he is when you both get past the shyness and awkwardness of the first stage in the relationship.

Despite how much of a flirt he was before meeting you, you were probably his first kiss. So you can guarantee he was a stuttering, blushing mess when you pulled away after the first kiss.

L OVE CONFESSION - How would they confess to their s/o?

I talked about this in another post!!

M ARRIAGE - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

Jean definitely wants to marry you, and he would know that from pretty early on in the relationship. Waking up by your side after you stay the night just isn’t the same, he wants to wake up and call you his wife/husband/partner.

He would want to plan the most cliche date, a fancy dinner, maybe a movie, before going someplace important to the both of you where he would pop the question. However, he just can’t wait. He’ll probably wake up beside you on one of those mornings, and just ask you out of nowhere.

N ICKNAMES - What do they call their s/o?

Of course he calls you the common ones like babe/baby, mostly in a joking manner. When he’s seriously being all lovey-dovey, it’s nicknames like sweetheart, princess/prince, angel.

O N CLOUD NINE - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

Jean, when in love, is so obvious about his feelings. He’s always blushing around you, he has a hard time speaking to you clearly, and he stares at you in such a loving manner.

He expresses his feelings through actions, as he’s a believer that actions speak louder than words! However, that doesn’t stop him from also reassuring you with words too, as he understands that some people need to actually hear it.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

At the start he’s fairly shy, not doing much when others are around. But when you two grow comfortable with each other, and he knows whether or not you also enjoy pda, there is no stopping him from straight up kissing you in front of other people.

He’s also the type to always be holding your hand when you’re out and about. He’s such a touchy boyfriend, always wanting to be touching part of you in some way.

Q UIRK - Some random ability they have that's beneficial in a relationship.

This dude can cook. Having spent a lot of time with his mother growing up, he picked up on a few things from her.

A lot of your dates are just staying home, enjoying meals that Jean makes for the two of you.

R OMANCE - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

Jean is a huge romantic. But he’s constantly torn between cliche dates and creative ones. You go from dates where you draw each other at the park, to fancy dinner dates and a movie.

S UPPORT - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

Jean calls himself your no.1 supporter for a reason! Whether it’s staying up till 2am to help you study, or running errands for you in his free time so you don’t have to worry about anything other than your goal. He’s there for you every step of the way!

T HRILL - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

I personally feel like when you fall into comfortable routine, Jean loves it the most. But if you want to spice things up, it’s not like he’ll stop you.

U NDERSTANDING - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

Jean knows you pretty well, he’s good at reading people. When you’re getting to know each other, he takes notes in his head about things you like and dislike, and probably never forgot them.

If you’re in a bad mood, he can tell just from a simple text, and you can bet he’s already on his way to pick up your favourite sweet food.

V ALUE - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

Like I said earlier, Jean is absolutely in love with you. So the relationship means a lot to him, especially since you both were friends before anything began to take a romantic turn.

If Jean listed the people in his life, it would be his family at the very top of the list, followed by his friends: lucky for you, he counts you as his family.

W ILD CARD - A random fluff headcanon.

Jean rides a motorcycle. He has a car too, sure, but whenever he picks you up he takes the motorcycle. He knows it’s dangerous in comparison to a car, but he likes the security that comes with having your arms around him when riding.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Jean is very very affectionate. If you’re together at either of your apartments, there’s no way you’re not cuddling. He’ll be complaining about having to let you go even if you only need him to so you can go to the bathroom.

Y EARNING - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

Jean hates it when you’re not around, whether you’re super busy or you’ve just gone away for a little, he hates it.

He likes being around you even if it’s in utter silence, so you two often FaceTime while just going about your daily night time routines. He probably watches you for a minute or two if you fall asleep on call, and he doesn’t hang up until the next morning.

Z EAL - Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

I think Jean would go to great lengths for the relationship in terms that he would branch out of his comfort zone just to understand you a little better.

If a bad fight broke out between the two of you, and he realises that he’s being just a little too stubborn, he would let go his pride and be the first to apologise in fear of losing you. It says a lot, because he’s not usually like that. Typically he lets things cool down a little before trying to apologise.

TAG LIST (JOIN HERE)

@haiqnation @dai-tsukki-desu @may-machin @answer-the-sirens @ley-writes @sashaisangel @french-girl-online @megumiisee @wonhyuksstuff @milk-n-cuwukies @jeanbabygirl

[adifferenttime]

Andrew Ryan vs. Robert House

On almost every House post I make, someone in the notes will reliably reference Andrew Ryan. I totally get it - they look similar, they're based on the same guy, the parallels are so clear that the NV dev team added an achievement for killing House with a golf club - but I think these commonalities tend to engulf both characters, blotting out some of their more interesting ideological/personal differences. It's useful to examine them in relation to one another, but part of that is figuring out what distinguishes them, which is just what I’ve attempted to do.

It's difficult for me to talk about Randian objectivism because I don't think it's sound enough to address on its own terms, but considering this is the philosophy Andrew Ryan has adopted, I kind of have to. What I’d identify as the core premise of Randian ethics is this: altruism is a moral wrong. Some Randians have argued that isn't really what they believe - that the real point is anything resembling altruism is self-interest in disguise - but they're departing from the beliefs of their icon when they make those claims. Per Rand:

The irreducible primary of altruism, the basic absolute is self-sacrifice – which means self-immolation, self-abnegation, self-denial, self-destruction – which means the self as a standard of evil, the selfless as a standard of the good.

The way Rand defines altruism is by linking it to self-sacrifice, which she uses to differentiate it from kindness or benevolence. Aiding others at no cost to yourself is benevolent, but not altruistic, and therefore not evil. Sacrificing your happiness to help another human being is, from Rand's perspective, evil, as is any philosophy that prioritizes the other at the cost of the self. This whole idea has been broadly rejected by most scholars on account of it being really fucking stupid. What justifies the leap from "man is naturally selfish" to "selfishness is good"? If selfishness is moral, wouldn't the most moral behavior be to exploit others through whatever means necessary, favoring force over the market? Rand defines happiness as "using your mind’s fullest power," achievable only when you "do not consider the pleasure of others as the goal," but why is this the only definition? What if your only options are self-sacrificial in nature? How do you weigh them if neither sacrifice is linked to values, individual achievement, or "your mind's fullest power" at all? Rand didn't care because she was too busy trying to ethically justify cheating on her man with her best friend's husband, but nonetheless, this is the philosophy Andrew Ryan’s adopted. He claims that "Altruism is the root of all Wickedness," in what's almost a direct quote from Rand herself.

To that end, Ryan builds a system that doesn’t just accept selfishness but actively incentivizes it. Every other principle he expresses is subservient to the ideas that selfishness rules man, and that for Ryan to act on his own selfish impulses is the highest good in the world. His lesser political principles (individual liberties, negative rights, the creation of a stateless society) don’t matter to him as much as the central precept from which they stem: that selfishness is his moral imperative.

What is the greatest lie every created? What is the most vicious obscenity ever perpetrated on mankind? Slavery? The Holocaust? Dictatorship? No. It's the tool with which all that wickedness is built: altruism.

It doesn't come as a particular surprise to me when he starts imprisoning dissidents or executing rivals or banning theft (standard practice in most societies, but not what an egoist would pursue; if you can get away with taking it, you deserve to have it, or so the thinking goes). I’ve seen him described as a hypocrite, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true considering everything he does is in line with his opposition to altruism. He'll adhere to his other principles only if they don’t sabotage his pursuit of personal power. This is evident in the fact that he only adopts a negative perception of Fontaine when his own interests are threatened, but doesn’t give two shits what Fontaine might be doing to sow conflict and harm people before that point. A guy named Gregory asks Ryan to step in against Fontaine early on before Fontaine's fully established himself as a threat to Ryan's power, and Ryan's extremely blase about it.

Don't expect me to punish citizens for showing a little initiative. If you don't like what Fontaine is doing, well, I suggest you find a way to offer a better product.

Contrast this with how he reacts when Fontaine has risen as a genuine business rival. This is from the log titled "Fontaine Must Go."

Something must be done about Fontaine. While I was buying buildings and fish futures, he was cornering the market on genotypes and nucleotide sequences. Rapture is transforming before my eyes. The Great Chain is pulling away from me.

This double standard is the natural outgrowth of his prioritization of self-interest. If your most deeply-held belief is that you should never give up your interests for others, ancillary rules become flexible in times of personal crisis, and Bioshock makes the case that putting someone like that in charge of a city will leave you with a crumbling, monstrous ruin.

Superficially, House has some similarities. Ryan executes political rivals; House has you blow up a bunker of his ideological opponents. Ryan is the highest authority in Rapture; House is the absolute monarch of Vegas. Their goals and moral codes, though, are almost diametrically opposed. When you ask House why you’re expected to trust him when he’s openly admitting to installing himself as the despot of the New Vegas Strip, he says this:

I have no interest in abusing others... Nor have I any interest in being worshipped as some kind of machine-god messiah. I am impervious to such corrupting ambitions.

Most of his resources are devoted to large-scale, impersonal projects, aimed either at building the power of Vegas or securing his long term goal of “progress” as he sees it. He’s rejected selfishness as a moral good because House is very far from Randian objectivism. He's a Hobbesian monarch.

In that respect, he shares an outlook on human nature with Ryan that I deeply disagree with (that human beings are essentially selfish), but in terms of what that means for the structure of a utopian society, House takes a very different position. From his perspective, human nature breeds suffering, not industriousness, and the only way to stamp out conflict - and, in a post-nuclear age, ensure the continued survival of the human race - is through a strong sovereign. The purpose of a state as laid out in Leviathan aligns very, very closely with the one House expresses.

...the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of war which is necessarily consequent, as hath been shown, to the natural passions of men...

The monarch's successes are reflected in his society and the well-being of humanity as a whole. To subvert his goals is to subvert society's goals, and to doom humanity to the war, death, and suffering that exist in a state of nature. When you destroy his Securitrons/kill him, he doesn't plead for himself or get offended on his own behalf. He accuses you of betraying not him, but mankind.

Single-handedly, you've brought mankind's best hopes of forward progress crashing down. No punishment would be too severe. Fool... to let... personalities... derail future... of mankind? ...Stupid! Slavery... the future of... mankind? What... have you... done?

An important corollary of this idea which again distinguishes House from Ryan appears in Leviathan’s description of the political/moral responsibility of a monarch to his subjects:

...that great Leviathan, or rather, to speak more reverently, of that mortal god to which we owe, under the immortal God, our peace and defence. For by this authority... he hath the use of so much power that, by terror thereof, he is enabled to form the wills of them all, to peace at home, and mutual aid against their enemies abroad.

Hobbes and House give the monarch virtually unlimited power but match it to the monarch's duty, which he lives to fulfill. His obligation is to speak for the people, act for them, and protect them from all threats, internal and external. House generally abides by this, orienting his decisions around his goals for society irrespective of the personal cost (the negative consequences of his actions are a product of his fucked evaluations of what’s best for society, not personal greed). It’s not just a departure from Ryan’s philosophy but a complete refutation of it. He's almost died for what he's misidentified as the greatest good.

Given that I had to make do with buggy software, the outcome could have been worse. I nearly died as it was…. I spent the next few decades in a veritable coma.

This is not the behavior of an egoist. This is the behavior of an extremely arrogant but marginally altruistic (from a Randian perspective lmao) guy. This is some distorted “from each according to his ability” shit if you’ve managed to convince yourself your abilities exceed those of everyone else who has ever lived and that you can get the Mandate of Heaven by being really good at statistics.

The reason these guys develop such similar structures and hierarchies despite the ideological gulfs between them is because both of them are elitists who’ve experienced a massive failure of self-consciousness. They’re unable to conceive of other people as being fundamentally like them. Ryan separates people into the clearly-delineated classes of “producer” and “parasite,” ignoring the fact that everything he’s ever “produced” was reliant on a huge, coordinated effort between workers, architects, accountants, middlemen, and others, all of whom, in conjunction, contributed more to the realization of his dreams that he ever could have alone. Rather than realizing his own position is more parasitic and reliant on other people’s labor than that of anyone else in Rapture, he adheres to his doctrine of selfishness even when it’s not reflective of reality and is ruining the the lives of an entire city of people. He deludes himself into believing he’s a superman among ants instead of one flawed man who is reliant on the goodwill of others to help him survive, as are we all.

House, too, thinks he’s exceptional. Unlike Ryan, he acknowledges the necessity of the worker to a functioning society, but while he’ll accept his reliance on that labor, he doesn’t trust the laborer enough to share political power. House knows he’s invested in humanity’s survival and the creation of a better world, but he refuses to consider that he might not be alone in this goal. He chalks up the existence of the Legion to fanaticism/the ambitions of a sultanistic dictator and attributes everything the NCR has done to greed, without it ever occurring to him that the massive harm these nations have done was partially motivated by the same goals he’s devoted himself to - and that the atrocities he’s committed since his rise to power are, in some respects, very similar. House knows himself to be invested in the well-being of humanity, but he’s too arrogant to ask himself if his methods are wrong or trust other people to build a new path, one that doesn’t necessitate his complete control over the land and people of the Mojave. Ryan and House’s worldviews are distinct, and their flaws, as highlighted by their respective narratives, say some interesting things about how each set of devs view power and the pitfalls of elitism.

Anyway. If you put these two men in a room, they would probably try to murder each other, and I think that’s great.