#and can be such a great learning tool

[onceuponamako]

i like to think that simulation games (creation) is a such great learning tool and a good coping mechanism to deal with any range of emotion especially loss and pain.

[soup-is-here]

Mouthwashing Spoilers

TW: Addiction and Self Harm

I wanna go on about Swansea's final monologue but it's hard to put into words, but I'm gonna try anyways cause it's a short, but strong story about autonomy again. This post ended up significantly longer than I wanted though

It's the autonomy to choose the "less healthy" option because it's appealing to you. It's the moral assignment to normality and stability. An alcoholic is an alcoholic by choice, technically, but do they owe us otherwise? Is it morally reprehensible to enjoy taking LSD at a party? Should we see someone as less than because they relax with a xanax instead of a hot shower? It's not healthy. We know that. We've seen anti-drug ad after ad after ad. But is that the part that's morally wrong, in and of itself? Does enjoying the drugs and chaos make Swansea a worse person?

Like him talking about his entire life and ending it by saying between the "stable" "normal" life and him waking up every morning with a new hangover, he preferred the latter. People always talk about getting clean and fixing their lives and Swansea did it! He did the thing "good men" do! A wife and kids and a trade job and sobriety! He was doing it! He was finally "worth" something!

And he hated it! I mean I don't know if he actually hated/despised it, but he misses his previous life. He misses drugs and partying and living like you might not wake up the next day. He said the thing that changed him was seeing himself dead in a ditch under the bright beam of a streetlight. Now he's looking down the barrel of a gun. And as he looks down it, he looks back. That was his preference. It felt good to be like that. And he wouldn't be here if he stayed there

We always have a narrative about drugs or gambling or sleeping around where a person suddenly realizes that they aren't "doing anything" with their life and becomes stable and it's always played like addiction is a false pleasure. Swansea got to the stability people said would be the real pleasure of life and that just wasn't true for him. One bad paycheck could've been the difference between his stable life and falling apart anyways. His lifestyle was going to kill him someday apparently, yet he's staring down the barrel of a gun at his steady trade job to feed his wife and kids.

I don't know quite how to word it but Swansea is the poster child for rehabilitation. There's this weight to him saying his alcoholic period was the best time of his life. Like it just hits at that pang that makes people wear DARE shirts while smoking weed and post those videos of smoking 100 cigarettes at once. Anti-vaping ads tell you about the damage they do to your body but everyone knows that already. Everyone knows "this is what your brain looks like on drugs." I smoke medical marijuana and it isn't good for my lungs but it's good for my pain. Doing drugs isn't good for me and I know that and that's sorta the point sometimes.

I don't know it's just this weird pang where I know what Swansea means, just not to nearly the same extent. I don't have an addiction so I don't think I could fully understand it. Maybe a better thing I could relate it to for myself is self harm. It's not healthy sure, but who do I owe health? Myself? Other people? And what is healthy? Is it feeling better now? Is it resisting now and feeling worse for it until it stops? What if the coping skills I learn make it worse? What if they make it better? Do I want it to get better? Does Swansea want to get better? What would better feel like to either of us?

Who knows until you try. Swansea got a collared shirt, a mortgage, and a credit card. He got a job and a wife and kids. He got sober. He got healthier, depending on your definition.

But did he feel better? He's looking down a barrel of a gun and he has to decide if he feels better. It doesn't seem like he regrets his new life. He says he wants his kids to be better than him. He wants good things to happen for them. He saw himself as one bad slip away from falling again. I don't think he felt better though. I think he got healthier. He likely would've ended up in the ditch he dreamt about, but we don't know that. We also don't know if that's what he'd prefer. But, we do know he got healthier, depending on your definition.

[jellypawss]

any response to butteredfrogs post?

I did use ai for that image before I knew how shtty ai was and haven't used it since and I apologize.

As for posting text written by chat gpt, I had chatgpt write an idea for a sims 4 expansion pack, similarly to how students use chatgpt for homework and general knowledge, which I don't see a problem with.

[itspileofgoodthings]

I was teaching Ophelia’s death scene this week and one of my classes spontaneously giggled when she died (because they are 16 years old and emotionally immature) and I said, in a shocked voice, “it is NOT funny” and they all insisted that it was and so I let it go but then the next day I showed them some Ophelia art, made them think about how sinister it was that her death happens offstage but is still described in such detail for the viewer, which tells us she was WATCHED but not HELPED as she died, and then played a clip from Branagh’s Hamlet of Kate Winslet singing a mourning song for her father and when I tell you how satisfying it was to hear a total and complete hush fall over the room

[alicefromwhichplanet]

THIS.

(Been trying to find the original post but failed on tumblr. But I want to repost this so much. Tell me if the author thinks it’s a violation of their copyright. I’ll delete it.)

[linabirb]

i really wanna go back to traditional art bc come on i literally could only draw on paper until like. maybe four or five years ago?.. and even when i started to draw digitally i still tried to draw on paper as well bc i didn't want to forget my roots but now the roots sure have been Forgotten. the worst part? it doesn't even spark joy anymore like i feel like my traditional art just does not look as good as my digital art

[livetogether--diealone]

Maybe charles will only change when he is in his 30s like seb and lewis did lol

He can also start now though! No age limit for it

[exculis]

i like knitting way more than crocheting and yet i own way more crochet hooks. fascinating.

[tunapesto]

picking a course makes me want to cry and throw up so bad

[mountmortar]

sometimes things suck but at least i live in a time period where you can get your entire college degree online

[wavetapper]

final inane rhythm game post, ive been playing bms with ran+ on a lot recently just to get used to scracth/key patterns and like. it sucks ass. but its helping

[timeisacephalopod]

On one hand my one sister is Big Stupid and pregnant again, which I wouldn't care as much about if this wasn't the fourth kid with the fourth shitty fucking father who will do nothing but cause even MORE pain and suffering to my sister's life, and on the other hand my other sister keeps sending me apartment ads which is very sweet because she ALSO just had a baby (in August and also her situation is stable, I'm very proud she managed to pull off what she did considering where she's come from. Her boys, especially Older Nephew were SO excited for the baby and I love listening to Older Nephew talk about his sister, it's so heartening to see him so happy and excited. Something tells me my other sisters 3 girls won't be nearly as impressed, especially not Oldest Niece and it's gotten to a point where I feel somewhat compelled to try and mentor this poor kid but I don't know SHIT about kids and don't want to let this poor kid down like everyone else has, she deserves better than that).

Granted my whole life I've preferred Apartment Sister to Making Poor Life Choices sister but also recently Making Dumb Choices has made some serious improvements to her life, very impressive ones too, so it's just disappointing to watch her backslide especially into the same bullshit she's been doing since she was 18 and is now 32. But at least I'm not the only one apartment hunting 😂😂 her efforts are super appreciated given that she just moved herself as well, plus having a fresh baby (very cute baby too). Now with any luck my OTHER sibling will get her shit together hopefully before we're on child number six with father number six with all the same fucking personality flaws and mental health problems not one of these men take even remotely seriously because that's exhausting to me let alone my damn sister.

[heireign]

@worthyheir : does your muse value their legacy ? what have they done to ensure it ? ( ZODIAC HEADCANONS )

see, that's a difficult question because the answer is both absolutely and not in the way you'd think - like she wants to be remembered well, she wants to have been considered a good queen, and a good person to have so many people hedging their bets on her ascension and throwing their support behind her - she wants to make that worth it. though she can not really do as much during her own reign as queen that she may well want to, and she does want to, but she can shift the general perspective and feeling toward absolute primogeniture into an air of potential acceptance that can be implemented during the reign of her son. she does not have any illusions that she can push so far down the path of progression its a law she can pass herself. but she can set them on that path by ruling, and ruling well, and giving the realm a prolonged period of stability and prosperity under a female ruler - and that way, jacaerys can pass that law that makes absolute primogeniture set in stone in westeros. she is under no illusion that her legacy is going to be one of such monumental change, because she was always aware that she was by and large considered the exception by even the lords and ladies who supported her as queen, she was hoping that her reign and she herself would embody a new precedent being set. she was hoping that her ascension would crack open the door a little bit so that if jace named his daughter as his heir, it would be a lot less difficult to do and there would be a lot less push back to the potential ascension of her granddaughter then what she herself faced as heir to the throne.

she cannot say any of this out loud, of course. she cannot verbalize what her intentions are for the realm as queen in that sense because that would imply that she was going to muddy the waters a bit too much. she was going to do something that would endanger the powers of the lords of the realm who had elder sisters who could potentially rival their own claims and take that power from them - because it would be theirs by right. she has to play very much on the straight and narrow when it comes to her political career so she can advance in a way that plainly, does not make her more trouble then what she's worth. but it is an end goal that she has shared with her son, it's an end goal that she has talked with at length with her boys. she's engrained at least in her eldest two sons the importance of the subtleties of manuevering politics and the art of moving and advancing in a place where one wrong move can have the whole palace whispering behind your back and plotting your downfall. she's engrained in them the virtues that she herself prioritizes and holds the most dear like the importance of honor, and duty, and loyalty and adhering to oaths and promises that one makes. she's brought them up with a prioritization for family, and familial loyalties as opposed to personal ambition and brought them with the understanding that jacaerys is gonna be king, and baela is gonna be his queen, and they're all gonna have places in his court.

her own legacy in her eyes pales in comparison to what her children embody in that sense. she wants to be remembered as a good, stable choice for queen that only brought betterment to the realm and gave them a king that brought real, lasting change for them. she does not care if she's remembered less then they are, she doesn't care if she is remembered at all, in truth. even if the memory of her fades between one generation and the next, as long as she did do good in the long run she doesn't care if her memory lasts in the hearts of people who did not know her. she wants her children and her grandchildren to be left with a memory of her that they're proud to claim. but she wants them to be remembered, she wants them to be great, and she wants them to be remembered as well as the conqueror or king jaehaerys was remembered. she wants them to have a lasting impression in this world - and she has taught them how to handle the weight of it. because she does have such a genuine belief in their potential, she believes that they can be great in a way that she can't inevitably because of how stymied her political career is by her gender. and how little she can truly do because of it, and like, they embody so much of her hope, they are her hope - her own, and her hope for the realm at large. they are her legacy, and they are what she hopes is remembered that she did. above all that she's done, she hopes that they are what she's remembered for.

[sullyeduc5103blog]

Last, but not least!

Group 6: Boosting Student Motivation - Bola & Marie

Bola and Marie wrapped up our student-led presentations with a bang! Their presentation covered some tools to make our classrooms more engaging that made educational use of popular technology applications. From Duolingo to Minecraft, they expertly showed us how to make applications work for us in the education system, which again aligns with the Five Pillars of Online Pedagogy, which calls upon us to allow students to develop mastery of tools and use what they know to demonstrate learning.

I often do not like breakout rooms. Forced discussions often end up with me doing most of the work, usually as the only one with their video and audio on. It is more isolating than collaborating. However, the breakout room I was in was likely the most helpful group I have had yet. We were tasked with discussing Duolingo, and I expressed that my knowledge extended only so far as my kids' obsession with maintaining their streak. This opened the dialogue for others to share that they did not use it, and they asked questions about my children. I shared that it is motivating; they like to compete, and most of our family fights are over, one or more needing to “Save my Streak!!!!” precisely at bedtime. A classmate asked if I had noticed an improvement in oral language acquisition, and I shared a story with them. My wife has taken our kids to her school, where someone who speaks Spanish would be. She thought they could try out their knowledge, and while they were great at their “canned” phrases, moving beyond the common conversational phrases was unsuccessful. The learning extended as far as knowledge about words and memorized phrases. A classmate shared that his friend was obsessed with the platform and had a streak 4 times the length the streak my kids had, and said he also had limited ability in open dialogue format. Fun fact: when I shared this with my teenage son, he vehemently denied it and said he could speak fluently to anyone. I laughed. Not my best parenting moment, but honestly, his viewpoint is inaccurate.

We took our discussion back to the larger class, and we all echoed the same sentiment. These tools are great as additional educational components but cannot replace learning. They are great for precisely the topic of this presentation - Boosting Student Motivation. They cannot take the place of education.

[samwisethewitch]

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

[thisismenow3]

I feel like this is missing the forest for the trees. You keep decrying “virtue” when art that is made in a certain way is often different categorically from art that is made with other tools. People are getting caught up in the metaphors here so let me try my best; this ain’t “digital music” vs trained musicians using analogue instruments, this is a painting of food vs a website for a restaurant. The way you create something often separates it categorically within artistic persuits not just from analysis but from experience.

Human history can be simplified to be just us “finding the easier way with better and better tools” but that reaches oversimplification here cause that has more to do with tech broadly, not with art or politics/culture I’d argue. With music people ain’t just reacting to the sound, we are always conscious of many layers of context. That’s true of all art. Knowing someone wrote their own lyrics can enhance a song for people, knowing that the sounds were created using live instruments can help a listener feel the feeling they want from the sound better because their ideas of what music is come from an idea that it is “primal.” People ain’t wrong to say they prefer someone who’s more than just a parrot for the words, especially with genres where half the point is this idea. And live recordings exist to help further a “primal” feeling for people who prefer their music mostly analogue.

But in all these analogies the common thread ain’t “human uses tool” it’s “human uses tool but in a way that has to have some work to it because that work is a prerequisite for it to be the art we agree meets this definition.” A person dancing, however subjectively good or bad, is very different than a person rendering a 3D subject doing the same dance. We can all argue over which we like better but both are a kind of art.

‘machine learning art’ is a person asking Siri to render a 3D model dancing for them. That ain’t art, that’s fundamentally different than the digital counterpart in the dance example because at a certain point sufficiently advanced tools change the category of art and machine learning art is sophisticated enough it’s essentially just making a DJ request to the universe. There can be uses for people obviously, but those uses don’t change the fundamental nature of the thing. Not everyone can draw or play guitar or sing well or dance well or take a sample and change it enough to meet a know it when you hear it level of effort be their own, and all of that can be deemed still whack by someone with different tastes. Machine learning art is actually not art because it is both theft and even in hypotheticals where it’s fed all things given willingly the lack of anything other than guidelines means no one created it, it’s shapes in the cloud that haven’t been photographed or painted yet.

Your turning on a light analogy worked perfect except for where you landed with it. When we say we turn on a light we don’t think about how this is shorthand for “I manipulated one switch that only helps bring light because of work someone else did installing the wiring and etc.” But turning on a light is using FL studio to make an instrumental, machine learning art is a CEO giving parameters to RandD about making a product they envision but don’t have the skills to tackle even a piece of the creation on their own.

My god my girlies

MY GIRLIES. I am still crying, I am still crying about this. Every day I cry about this.

You bitched so hard about being forced to read 1984 in school when it’s so problematic (tm)

Maybe you should have actually paid attention when you read it

Because all these AI fics

You are LITERALLY MAKING THE GARBAGE NOVELS FROM 1984 that are written by machines

You have literally recreated the worthless soulless machine-made books

Literally,

Literally. Every once in a while it hits me in a fresh wave of disbelief and anger. You have literally created the dystopian book from the dystopian story about why dystopia is bad, and you are passing it around like it’s this amazing thing. I’m crying, I’m crying.