#and falling back into jim crow

[wolvebonez]

<- brainworms (constantly thinking about politics) (this post kind of expanded into me waxing poetic in the tags whoops)

[viktoriaashleyyx]

Why do some of us not *hate* Tamlin?

I am pro-tamlin, not pro feylin. I would prefer Tamlin to never have to deal with the NC ever again. If SJM never types his name out again I will be happy.

Tw: light mentions to DV, SA, and Divorce.

Feyre is written in a way that makes it feel like she is intentionally manipulating us against Tamlin to justify her leaving him the way she did, and to put Rhysand up on a pedestal.

The abrupt and sloppy way SJM handled Tamlins' character assassination induced my fight or flight. Let me explain:

My parents divorced when I was 4, and I had to learn, quickly, how to interpret people's true intentions and empathize with where they are coming from vs just blindly listening to someones account of what happened. My father got custody of us and would use the same elements against my mom that Feyre uses against Tamlin. I HAVE to read between the lines or I would fall to the intentional manipulation.

"She left me so she probably cheated" "he trapped me in the house" "she has a new boyfriend so she doesn't care about you anymore" "he hit me [when I was actively TRYING to get him to hit me to sway public opinion of him]"

Everytime Feyre left for the NC, she did so kicking and screaming. Every indication Tamlin could see was that she did NOT want to go with Rhys, until he gets a letter from her saying to not come looking for her that she doesn't want to be with him. Tamlin didn't know she could read or write. Had that been my love I would assume it was a ransom note too, written by someone else. Had she actually spent 1 hr winnowing to Tamlin, tell him face to face, then winnow back (with an escort) he MIGHT have gotten the hint.

A tithe was a weird thing to use to show how cruel Tamlin is, considering how 2/3 of the night court live in constant fear, children's bones are broken for misbehaving, the CoN are trapped there. SJM really showed us that she has no political knowledge what so ever. I barely started ACOFAS and when Feyres talking about the unnatural sum of her money, my first thought is "You don't amass that level of wealth without oppressing someone." Lucien said that Tamlin would be expected to hunt down those not able to pay the tithe, but when we get to Tamlins actual actions he just said "get it together in 3 days or pay double next time". In my initial reading, I interpreted it as another mask (like how Rhysand acts). Tamlin does this due to tradition, he is expected to act a certain way, but *I felt* he had no intention of acting out what he said. It was just a line he was expected to say to send the wraith away without others expecting the same.

Feyre and Tamlin were not right for eachother because they were not eachothers mates. People can exist fine separately, and be incredibly toxic together. From page 1 we see Feyres inherent inability to empathize with anyone, she has it bad, she has to hunt, therefore her sisters don't do anything. But she also can't cook, so who was preparing the meat she brought home? It gave me "housework isn't real work" vibes. Feyre also doesn't communicate very well, which would explain why a literal mind reader was able to help her better than Tamlin was. I saw Tamlin trying but not being able to help her because he couldn't read her mind.

Feyre didn't want to be trapped in a manor for a few hours while she was displaying manic behavior, but she condoned her sisters be trapped in the HOW for 6 weeks immediately after losing their lives. She condones the treatment of the people in Hewn city and supports the literal Jim Crow laws placed against them in Velaris when all they wanted was to leave. She condones and supports trapping Nesta in HoW after the war just to force Cassain on her so Feyre can play matchmaker.

Feyre is an inherently self centered sociopath. She can read minds and still can't develop a shred of empathy.

Just leave Tamlin alone. Damn.

[bayetea]

there are many things about hazel's povs that have an intensely de-racialized vibe to them (read: divorced from the black girl experience) but I think any black person will tell you that the most obvious sign is the complete lack of attention paid to her hair

like firstly:

she's from the 1930s her hair was definitely getting permed and straightened (it was not acceptable to just wear your natural hair out back then. optics + cultural assimilation/you'll be hard pressed to find photos of black american girls with unstraightened hair in that time period unless they're from like..... harlem)

I do believe that marie was straightening it for her For A Time but then she became more neglectful and stopped so hazel had to do it herself. I'm almost positive that hazel wouldn't have even been permitted to set foot in her school building without straightening it because that's just how much of an expectation it was

ok she comes back from the dead. what's she doing to her hair now bc it's not just gonna be cutesy effortless curls falling over her shoulder no matter what the length is

how does she feel about living in a time period where natural black hair is more accepted (read: more, absolutely not fully)

there are no black people around her At All. in fact she's around a lot of white people on the argo (+nico) so that would probably be giving her some intense feelings of double consciousness (look this term up if you don't know what it means) and that would inform how she feels about her hair

theoretically she ought to be wearing her hair in braids for simplicity's sake but I think it's more likely that she would cling to what she knows (perming/straightening) because it's not easy for a 14 year old girl (PSA hazel is 14.5 in hoo not 13 btw 👍) to go from assimilating to deeply-ingrained white hair beauty standards to just proudly wearing a distinctly black hairstyle all by herself

mind you black women and girls can do whatever they want with their hair and straightening/perming it does not always/have to come from a place of self-hatred or whatever but in this particular case back then straightening one's hair was political And a survival tactic. it was as normal as brushing your teeth. it was enforced through dominant cultural messagings about the Absolute Necessity of conforming to white conventions of beauty. if you don't understand then think of it similarly to how you'd think of 1930s women needing to be perpetually dolled up and modestly dressed in order to be considered "good women" and anyways I'm just saying that this would be a lot to unpack for a 14 year old girl so hazel's probably just continuing to do this impractical thing (straightening her hair all the time) like 60% out of habit and 20% out of shame and 20% she doesn't know what else to do

something something about a missed potential character arc regarding all of this and in general there's so little mind paid to race in hazel's povs which is just ridiculous to me because a black girl from the jim crow era should have at least a few feelings about where she fits into modern society even if that society is camp jupiter. rick demonstrates his capacity to talk about how his characters feel about their race most notably in the kane chronicles so I don't think was too much to ask for. see this quote from an early son of neptune chapter:

^ like....... hazel's feelings of out-of-place-ness are There in the text and important to take note of when understanding her character (note that she's been there for like a year already and she still feels like she doesn't belong) but the emphasis is always put on her Being from a different time or Being undead and is never put on her out-of-place-ness regarding her race as a black girl from segregation times who is literally so out-of-place in this weird post-racial camp jupiter society. it feels like such an obvious thing to consider so its glaring absence really bugs me when I reread her povs and it bugs me when her hair is never talked about by extension because It Matters

you might be thinking "well she had a lot going on and she's not a superficial person maybe she just didn't care what was going on with her hair" and my response is simply that Black girls don't get to "not care" about their hair it is not the same thing as a white person going to school with bedhead it's not the same thing At All (if you aren't black then chances are you've never actually seen what untouched black hair looks like in the morning), especially when it's been beaten into your head for your entire life that your hair is ugly and you have to "do something to it" for it to be acceptable (and again...... she's from the 1930s so that feeling is magnified like 50x over). remember that perpetually dolled up modest 1930s woman I mentioned previously. picture her time traveling to camp jupiter of all places in 2010 and struggling to drop all of her makeup/hairstyling routines and internalized misogyny and conceptualizations of what women are "supposed" to be. this is the kind of fascinating character exploration that we really missed out on with hazel (and tbh regardless of her race she was never believably written as someone from the 1930s. I don't think rick even really tried to be honest)

you might also be wondering "how was rick supposed to know/attempt to portray any of that" and then my second answer is that If you're going to write a character who is not the same race as you then you should do some research and we have the internet now so research has never been easier 👍 this would be especially important to do if that person is a poc from the jim crow era I think! (he could have at least googled black hair 1930s)

anyways what I choose to believe (this is pure fanfiction) is that during hazel's first year at camp jupiter (remember that she was there for about a year before son started) nico would have helped her figure something out after observing her distress over her hair c: like they both secretly watched youtube videos on black hairstyles circa 2010 and then they got attacked by monsters for using a laptop (neither of them know how to use a laptop but he's trying his best for her) but then after killing them he helped her do her hair as something she likes that is easy to maintain <3 (I could also see reyna doing this because she surely knows a thing or two from her spa days)

[blueiight]

“…i was haunted by my brother’s death, by the abandonment of my sister…”

majority of the conversation around paul in the amc setting revolves around the question of whodunnit, jokes about him at the second dinner table scene of the pilot, or paralleling his mental illness to louis [a parallel the show admittedly draws upon - with louis stopping his suicide attempt bc “paul forever ruining grace’s wedding night, and [louis] not wanting to do the same to claudia on the anniversary of her escape”] what i intend to focus on, is the specific nature of paul’s complaints with respect to levi, and what paul and claudia represent to louis.

in the book, paul wants louis to sell the plantations & town homes they own in new orleans, and give louis the money so that paul could travel and become a missionary saving france from the godless jacobins. the paul that we’re introduced to in the show is… similar in motivation, but fundamentally divergent. tithe the money over to st. augustine’s so the house dont fall in on them, but the first dinner table goes as this after he says that:

whats of note too is the divergence of the draft v the pilot release. the show excises the freniere family w the exception of levi himself to drive home how paul’s objections to levi’s religious and ethnic background are overruled by the lingering shadow of jim crow.

paul is also reminded that his autonomy is conditional in this first dinner scene here: louis quips back to his point about sugarcane with “if daddy was still here, you’d be locked up in that asylum over in jackson”. its a reminder of the earlier point, but also speaks to something else.

bc of paul’s profound mental illness, he would never be allowed to live an autonomous life, much less hold authority over anyone: whether its the man of the house [as louis was in the du lac family], or as a bride [grace] or as the mother [florence].

this is strongly reminiscent of claudia — someone whos personal autonomy is entirely dependent on the purview of physically mature vampires by nature of permanently being trapped in the body of a preteen. it is also reminiscent of claudia in that louis in both cases plays a sort of savior in relation to them — whether its louis taking paul out of the asylum, or louis taking claudia out of the burning rooming home. louis views paul and claudia, especially claudia, as people that save him from his own self-loathing.. claudia somehow possessing this redemptive quality re: baby jesus…

louis loves both of them deeply, but as iwtv has established, love as a feeling does not exempt someone from enacting violence toward you. in fact, the very loved one that harmed you has an entire framework of rationalizing that violent act as being ‘for your[my] own good’ as is.

the title of this little post comes from the season one finale, where louis collapses in on himself to try to make sense of why he spared lestat, invoking paul and grace to create this red herring to the ‘murder of lestat’. but truly, the thread is false. louis did not abandon grace, and lestat’s death was only an attempted murder sabotaged by louis. modern day louis in the season finale triggers himself through daniel in order to provoke armand, the “protector of his pain”, to reveal himself + question him on the death of claudia, just as he questioned lestat on the death of paul in s1e6.

[girlactionfigure]

Winning the World’s Hearts and Minds

Israel is losing (some even say she has already irrevocably lost) the information war that is being waged in parallel with the kinetic one that she has been engaged in since 1948, but especially since 7 October 2023. The usual suggestions are technical: spend more money, react more quickly to enemy propaganda, utilize social media more effectively, and so on. All of these are worth doing, but there is one factor that is even more important than all of them together, and it is both simpler and more difficult. There are four paradoxes that can be found in our situation that expose it.

The Paradox of 7 October

On that day, Israel was attacked in the most atavistic, brutal and vicious way that can be imagined. Civilians were murdered, raped, sadistically tortured, and carried off to indefinite captivity under subhuman conditions. Their homes were looted and burned. It was war as practiced before the advent of civilization. It was the greatest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

And yet, although there were many expressions of sympathy, both from people in general and from governments and international organizations, there was also an explosion of hatred for Israel as a nation and for Jews as individuals. Demonstrations were held around the world expressing support for the attackers, and incidents of Jew-hatred – beatings of Jews, anti-Jewish graffiti, attacks on Jewish-owned businesses, and so on spiked. How is this to be understood?

One answer is that people were primed by a decades-long campaign by the Soviet Union, both in the West and the Third World, to use anti-Zionism as a propaganda tool. The Soviets took advantage of the sensitivity that had developed in the West after (ironically) the racist persecution of Jews by the Nazis, and of the general recognition of the evils of the Western colonial empires. At the same time in America, people began to comprehend the horrors of slavery, Jim Crow, and the genocide of Native Americans. The struggle of the Jews for self-determination in their historic homeland was perversely portrayed as racism, colonialism, and now even genocide. The Palestinian Arabs, who were in fact invaders and migrants, were portrayed as an oppressed and colonized indigenous people. This inversion of reality, this “big lie,” was fed with a constant tsunami of propaganda that overwhelmed anemic Israeli attempts to refute or counteract it. The lies have always gone halfway around the world before the truth got its pants on.

Since the fall of the USSR, the campaign has been taken up by the Arabs, Iranians, and international Left who see Israel as an outpost of the hated USA.

The anti-Israel campaign has been disingenuously claimed to be “only anti-Zionist” and not anti-Jewish. But underneath the surface the message has been transmitted clearly and distinctly, and has triggered the closeted anti-Jewish hatreds that have been around at least since the year zero. It is not possible today to go back and undo this.

The way anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda has been deployed in support of the desired genocide of the Jewish people (nothing less) is a triumph of social engineering. Its effectiveness is shown by the combination of murder and defamation that characterized 7 October.

The Paradox of Holocaust Education

In planning a response to anti-Jewish propaganda it’s necessary to consider the attempts to attack the anti-Jewish memes – the prejudices, stereotypes, conspiracy theories, and so on – that were supposed to have caused the Holocaust. One response has been to educate people by presenting the historical facts. Any normal person who knew the true dimensions of the horror perpetrated by the Nazis would reject the patterns of thought that were behind it and shun anyone trying to promulgate them, it was reasoned.

Much money and resources have gone into the building of museums, the development of curricula and materials, and the hiring of experts. And yet this enterprise has failed. It has been met with denial. It has aroused resentment, as Jews are accused of trying to “monopolize oppression,” or of using their own experience as an excuse to persecute others (sometimes at the same time as the Jewish experience is denied). Perversely, the very horror of the Holocaust is titillating to Jew-haters who often admire Hitler, collect Nazi regalia, and so on. Extreme Jew-haters see the Holocaust as something to be repeated rather than condemned.

The Paradox of Sympathy

This gives us a clue to the more general problem of defamation of Israel and Jews. As Jonathan Haidt argues persuasively, humans are primarily motivated by their emotions, even when they believe that they are making decisions on a rational basis. The “reasoning” is really after-the-fact rationalization of choices driven by their feelings. These feelings are often below the surface of consciousness, but they are dominant in a person’s decision-making.

These emotional responses have developed in humans after millennia of biological and cultural evolution. They vary to some extent between cultures (which leads to interesting questions about conflicts between Western and non-Western cultures), but there are also aspects that are universal. One of these is sympathy for an injured person. Paradoxically, there is also an opposite emotion of revulsion. The impulse to despise, to expel, or to flee from a defective or persecuted individual tends to favor survival of an individual or a culture, and so it is strengthened by evolution. We see this tendency among children where a bully that attacks a weak or “different” child is often joined by others.

Thus when a group is mass-murdered, along with sympathy for the victims there is also a tendency to side with the murderers. There is a feeling of safety in the face of horror that comes from the knowledge that one is set apart from the victims, that one is on the other side.

The Paradox of Strength

Another evolutionary trait is an attraction to the stronger side in any conflict. Everybody loves a winner, or as Osama bin Laden said, the “strong horse.” It’s also true that people despise a loser. And before a contest is decided, people choose whom to support based on the perceived strength of each opponent.

Yet in Western cultures people think this feeling should be suppressed. There is a belief that rational considerations and morality should override brute strength in determining the outcome of a confrontation, which results in conflicting emotions (this is one of the reasons they do so poorly when negotiating with Middle Easterners, who see “rational” willingness to compromise as weakness). Strength and honor are of primary concern in the Middle East, but even toward the West, we gain allies by demonstrating strength.

How to Win the Information War

What are the practical lessons for Israel in all this? How can she use the consequences of human and societal evolution to help her overcome the massive propaganda assault, both in the West and in the Middle East? I will offer some suggestions for how she can behave for the best psychological effect. Note that I said “behave,” and not just talk. Actions speak louder than words, especially in the Middle East. And these actions will help bring success in the physical arena as well.

1. Win the War in Gaza

We were humiliated and wounded – from a psychological point of view, critically – on 7 October. We cannot allow Hamas to remain in power and its leaders to remain alive. If we do, we will be marked as victims, in other words, targets. In the Middle East, deterrence comes from honor. If we lose our honor, everything we have is open for the taking.

2. Win the War in the North

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced to vacate their homes in fear of bombardment and invasion by Hezbollah. In effect we have allowed our land to become occupied. Again this is a massive loss of honor and must be corrected.

3. Our Lives are More Important Than Theirs

Israel lives in fear of the US and the hostile “international community” of anti-Israel NGOs and institutions, and goes to extreme lengths to warn civilians before attacking military targets, and to allow humanitarian aid to be provided to enemy populations. These policies have made it possible for Egypt to refuse to accept refugees from Gaza, and for Hamas to prolong the conflict, arguably resulting in more civilian suffering than less. Either way, they signify weakness. Get it over with.

4. Return to an Offensive Strategy

Israeli strategy, as propounded by David Ben Gurion, was to take the war to the enemy, fight on his territory, and finish wars quickly. But since Israel has allowed the US to dominate its military policy, she has moved to adopting a defensive posture. Huge amounts of money are spent on weapons like Iron Dome to bat away enemy rockets. This is economically unsustainable, since offensive weapons are much cheaper. It invites the enemy to learn lessons and try again. And from a psychological standpoint, it normalizes shooting at Jews. How can we permit that to become acceptable?

5. Responses Should Always be Disproportionate

Israel’s response should always be several times stronger than our enemies’ provocations. The fact that we responded to an attack from Iran by hundreds of missiles and drones by bombing a radar station was embarrassing, even if it was a demonstration of our capabilities. We may wish to demonstrate capabilities, but we must also demonstrate the will to fight. Deterrence means making them afraid to attack us. Power means hitting back at bullies, not trying to push them away or running from them.

6. Treat the Conflict as Zero-Sum (it is)

Do not look for win-win situations; there aren’t any. Either the Land of Israel will be ruled and populated by Jews, or by Arabs. Americans love the idea that Hamas or the PLO can put aside their desire to destroy Israel if only given an opportunity to develop a prosperous state. Nothing could be more wrong. This is a tribal conflict over land, and tribalism is another evolutionary “built-in.” When Israel goes along with these fantasies, she broadcasts weakness.

7. Get Revenge When Appropriate

Implement the death penalty for terrorist murder. This has the practical benefit of removing a motive for hostage-taking. The modern position is that revenge is atavistic and wrong. But it satisfies a deep need as well as sending a necessary message.

Conclusion

Acting according to the post-WWII Western conception of moral national behavior exposes Israel to depredations by its enemies who do not care about Western morality. At the same time, the climate of opinion that has developed over decades is such that the mechanisms and institutions that might protect a Western state don’t apply to Israel. She has little to lose by changing her behavior to become more aggressive, and aspiring to respect and even fear. Overall this will improve her potential to gain allies and deter enemies.

[wouriqueen]

IWTV S2 finale - General thoughts

Hmmmmmmm okay so. Top notch episode until the official end of the interview.

Post Daniel ending the session... eeeeeeh. I was disappointed. My fears about how they were going to wrap it all up ended up being founded :/ Maybe this is just because it's a first watch but Idk. The things I enjoyed were:

Jacob Anderson thank you for this 15 episodes of excellent acting, your performance will always be a classic in my house.

watching Louis be happier - I love him enough for that haha

Daniel's ending was satisfactory to me, aside from the fact that I feel we should have seen his turning for his arc to feel complete, again we needed another episode.

Here's what I didn't like or still need to think about under the cut.

No time to see Louis process the reveal + break-up. I didn't hate his reaction, though it only makes sense if he suspected it in the back of his mind, which I maintain he must have a little. The issue? We don't even see him process 77 years of Armand lying about choosing him and being sad about Claudia and/or 77 years of him lying to himself. Not even a montage. Despite the fact that it was 77 YEARS. And that seconds before Daniel threw the bomb Loumand were falling back into fond reminiscing.

Armand taking "going with the flow" to the extreme. This one might be a matter of my own competence but I don't... get it? I understand he's a character who gaslights himself into believing he can't change things. I understand he's someone who derives his own identity from serving a person or a purpose, from playing a role, and clearly is too terrified to step outside of them. But the fact he didn't take ANY independent significant step throughout the Paris era is something I'm going to have to sit with. Did he do all that because he believed Louis couldn't get rid of the coven without his help, aka without him taking action, and since he doesn't do that, everything else was an inevitability? I think what's jarring to me is that this means he never actually chose Louis in any capacity that mattered. I know he loved him but. ??

The whole Lestat thing... absolutely unearned. I just could not care because it wasn't resolved. We don't get answers about his presence at the trial. If he wasn't coerced, I don't get his defending Claudia on stage. Are we supposed to believe he only felt remorse when she looked to him for help? Sounds insane. And if he was coerced, we should have been told here. Because I can't believe Louis just... not asking these questions. Time heals, but I don't see how Louis can skip to forgiveness without any explanations given.

The "equal wrongs" vibe of the Louis and Lestat's convo. Lestat apologized for the drop, but not for everything else. As for Louis' thanks, we have seen nothing to explain this sudden appreciation for the gift. And even of we say it's been a gradual process, at the end of the day, him saying he didn't realize vampirism was a "gift" doesn't make sense because back in 1910s he was a Black man in Jim Crow America! And the gift could certainly not do for him what it's doing now! He was also losing his family in real time, which while perhaps inevitable, wasn't something he could have just chosen to not feel anything about...

Claudia. I also didn't like Louis' speech about Claudia's turning, because while factually true, the way it was written and the emphasis on "saved her from a fire only so she could die in the light" felt like he was falling in line with the whole "she shouldn't have been made "anyway". Turning her was a sin but it wasn't the only one perpetrated against her. And maybe I'm being too hard here because that's a line fandom has used, "it's sad but she shouldn't have been made", as if that diminishes the weight of the wrongs done to her. As if these vampires had any right to decide in advance that she would not make it and then make the time she did have on Earth a living hell. "It's not all on you" Louis you still haven't asked him why he was there????

Louis saying "I own the night" Wouldn't the vampires threatening him be old of part of other covens? Has he gotten strong enough from Armand's blood + Magnus' blood for that? Out of context, that was weird.

We don't see Daniel turning. Again I know we lacked time, but it would have made his arc come full circle. Especially with how present the topic of his death was in the last episode.

[margaritaville]

For the made up fic title game... how about "ship in a bottle?"

i don’t know why i reblogged this ask game bc i have enough trouble naming my own fics so the idea of working off of a name is actually a nightmare. anyway. ship in a bottle ship in a bottle……….. this might be predictable but:

so i know we have been talking nonstop about tiny ed or borrower stede with doll ed (rightfully so) so this might be redundant but there is a ship in a bottle on mary and doug’s mantle and doug tends to it day after day with his long ass tweezers and the day has finally come: the ship is ready and he’s going to introduce some little figurines to it. enter tiny stede and the tiny crew of the revenge. it’s kind of a toy story situation where while people are around/when doug is tending to them no one moves but as soon as no one’s nearby they’re all over the place. everyone except stede is. yknow. grubby. filthy. (it’s a stylistic choice doug made) so stede is made captain because who else is it gonna be. in his fancy outfit and all. they all scurry around like little bugs looking at the little model treasure chests and having little sword fights and little pete and lucius fall in love and little jim and olu fall in love and it’s all very sweet but it gets to be monotonous. and little stede is like. what’s the point of all of this. just waking up and walking around this ship but not coming across anyone else obviously. sailing the mantle for the rest of time. the most excitement they get is when they see doug or one of the kids coming and have to scurry back to the places they were last in. and stede keeps thinking. what if we just didn’t. what if doug and mary and the kids knew we were living in here? doug is so gentle with them when he fixes them up or switches their outfits. maybe he wouldn’t freak out!!

enter ed and the crew of the queen anne. and ed is new and exciting and immediately he and stede are plotting their escape from the bottle and the ship And They Fall In Love Of Course. eventually they spend so much time plotting and planning that they realize they don’t need more than this: just the two of them together on their little ship. co-captains. and yes eventually after finding little ed and little stede together in the captain’s cabin when he last put them in the crow’s nest one too many times he takes them from the ship and puts them in a little model cabin on the other end of the mantle where they live happily ever after.

[abproductions2345]

Good Omens Oc!

GOOD OMENS OC! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR S1-S2

Name: Marie Fell/Crowley Age: 5 (S1) 9 (S2) Gender: Female Species: Human Sexuality: Bisexual Family: Aziraphale (Adopted Father), Crowley (Current Guardian/Father) Backstory (before s1 events) Aziraphale found her infront of the bookshop's door late at night and like the angel he is he took her in and raised her as his own, she learns he is an angel when she was 5.

in Season 1: Marie usually helps around the bookshop and gets snacks for aziraphale, she meets crowley when he visits and he finds her annoying, but when the antichrist rolls around aziraphale had to leave her being babysat by maggie the record shop owner, good thing she wasn't in the bookshop when it lit on flames , crowley thought azi died and how was he going to explain it to marie but good thing he wasn't and things slowly went back to normal

in season 2 Marie spots gabriel who was naked infront of the bookshop and aziraphale told her to go into her room as he deals with this problem, she doesnt know why crowley and aziraphale were so scared of Jim (Gabriel) she finds him nice and like a cool uncle to her, when aziraphale goes on his trip, crowely is left to babysit marie as they try to get nina and maggie to fall in love with some rain, there she and crowley form another father daughter bond, when the ball was set in motion and the demons arrived, marie helped hide jim and she hide in her room, but in the end of all of it she creeps on the stairs witnessing her papa kissing crowley and over hears that aziraphale was leaving, when he did, marie runs after crowley and hugs him, he was now her protector, for s3 its unsure but marie being in crowley's care makes her feel abandoned by aziraphale, she calls crowley "Dad" and its uncertain if her "family" would be whole.

The difference between Aziraphale and Crowley's care of her.

Her ask box is open btw

[lboogie1906]

Barbara E. Pope (January 1854 - September 5, 1908) was born free to former enslaved Hannah and Alfred Pope in DC. Her parents were enslaved in New Jersey and her father, Alfred, became famous as one of a group of enslaved people who tried to escape in 1848 on the schooner Pearl.

She began writing short stories, and four of her works were printed in 1881 in the weekly women’s publication, Waverly Magazine. She worked at Tuskegee Institute for one year (1884-85) before she returned to teaching in Washington. She was assaulted by a student in 1888, and she refused to allow the student back into her class without an apology. When she did not find the student’s apology to be sufficient enough to match his actions, she resigned. She was making a comfortable living publishing fiction.

In 1906, she boarded a train at Union Station, headed toward Paeonian Springs, Virginia, to vacation. She noticed that the “Colored Car” was small and uncomfortable, and the seats faced backward. She chose to sit in the main compartment of the train, despite her awareness of Virginia’s Jim Crow laws. As soon as the train crossed over the Potomac River, the train conductor asked her to move to the “colored” car, and she refused. She was arrested at the Falls Church station and fined $10.

Members of the newly formed activist group the Niagara Movement, convinced her to appeal her conviction in the Virginia Circuit Court. They argued that as an interstate traveler, she was not subject to Virginia’s Jim Crow laws. She lost the appeal but filed the case with the Supreme Court of Virginia. The Supreme Court overturned the verdict of guilty, exonerating her, and ordered the fine be refunded. She sued the Southern Railway Co. for unethical treatment when it segregated her. She asked for damages of $20,000. The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia found in her favor but awarded her $0.01.

She paid a high personal price for her actions. She lost her income and suffered scrutiny and criticism from her family. This led her to months of depression and insomnia. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[minervas-hand]

Ineffable May Day 12: Clue

Day 12 for @blairamok's Ineffable May 2024

AO3 link here

[S2 Ep 2. Aziraphale talks to Jim after flashback to end of Book of Job (Companion to Owls minisode).]

Aziraphale floated back out of the bonds of memory. "Crowley- "

But Jim's voice answered. "He... went away." Aziraphale turned. "While you were thinking." 

He didn't blame Crowley. That had been a very difficult day, defying both Heaven and Hell. Hearing the Voice again. And yet it was the demon who had comforted him, after. After he had to lie to Gabriel, to God, to preserve what they had done. What Crowley had done. 

The right thing. 

The Gabriel of memory clashed with the corporation standing before him. Anger flowed through his form. "You know, you really used to be...awful. I mean, so awful."

He thought of Gabriel's extraordinary indifference to human suffering, to human culture, to human anything. They had been commanded to honour and love God's younger children. He didn't know if he could think of a single angel of his acquaintance who actually did.

And that snaked too closely to another angel whose love for Creation had brought him only dire calamity. Yet he was the one who hid kids in crows and children in pots. 

There simply was no comparison. 

Jim looked perplexed. "Am I awful now?"

He should be reassuring, but he just couldn't. He was too upset. "I don't know."

And Crowley had been so upset at the thought of harbouring Gabriel. Because of what Gabriel had done to him, when Crowley was him. 

"I hope not."

And Jim smiled, he actually smiled. Like this was all just tickety-boo. "Oh. Good." 

He stared, unable to shake his frown as he watched Jim wander off among the shelves. It was like he had - well, all the goodness of the original angels. Before the Fall. The quirky habits, the open enthusiasm, untempered by fear of reprisal. Asking questions...

A beloved face beaming with delight against the backdrop of stars...

He firmly shut the door on that image. 

Gabriel, of course, hadn't Fallen - after a 6000 years acquaintance with an actual demon, he could tell.  But all that had made him the Supreme Archangel was simply - erased. Leaving a sweet, if childishly annoying, entity in his place. 

And if he had to admit it, already more a person than Gabriel had ever been.

What had happened? And did he want to find out? Did he want Gabriel back, really?

But how could he not know? What if what happened to Gabriel could happen again - to any of them?

He picked up the record Maggie had given him. A mysterious Clue. 

He went out to find Crowley.

[neotrances]

i can never take transphobia and “terfism” seriously because they willingly side with white supremacist just to get a dunk in on trans people, ur celebrating anti drag bills and bans on transitioning pushed by people who are also asking to bring back lynching and jim crow? ur clapping and cheering on when a trans person gets murdered for their gender and somehow don’t see those same people want to kill you too? you’re going to protest where they’re referencing hitler and saying he was right and don’t see what your lending your time and energy towards? fuck you, no matter what i believe no matter what political party i fall under no matter what my life experiences are i could never and will never understand pushing for ur own eradication

[black-paraphernalia]

Did Nathaniel Alexander invent the folding chair? Nathaniel Alexander Inventor of a Folding Chair - ThoughtCo On July 7 1911 an African-American man named Nathaniel Alexander of Lynchburg Virginia patented a folding chair. According to his patent Nathaniel Alexander designed his chair to be used in schools churches and other auditoriums. His design included a book rest that was usable for the person sitting in the seat behind and was ideal for church or choir use.​

Fast Facts: Nathaniel Alexander

Known For: African-American patent holder for a folding chair

Born: Unknown

Parents: Unknown

Died: Unknown

Published Works: Patent 997,108, filed March 10, 1911, and granted July 4 the same year

Patent 997108 is the only invention on record for Nathaniel Alexander, but on March 10, 1911, his application was witnessed by two people: James R.L. Diggs and C.A. Lindsay. James R.L. Diggs was a Baptist minister from Baltimore (born in 1865), who was a member of the Niagara Movement, and holder of an MA from Bucknell University and a PhD in Sociology from Illinois Wasleyan in 1906.

in fact, Diggs was the first African-American to hold a Sociology Ph.D. in the United States. The Niagara Movement was a Black civil rights movement led by W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter, who assembled in Niagara Falls, Ontario (American hotels barred Blacks), to discuss Jim Crow laws following the Reconstruction.

 Folding chairs allow the space to be used for other purposes when there is not a class or church service.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL

OUR ANCESTORS ARE SAYING " NOW THAT IS A NEW MEANING TO THE SAYING HAVE A SEAT, WE SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT"

LITTLE DID NATHANIEL ALEXANDER REALIZE IN 1911 HIS INVENTION WOULD BE USE AS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION THAT WOULD MAKE THE ANCESTORS PROUD.

HOW IRONIC IS THIS

" ANCESTRAL BEAT DOWN" TOOK PLACE AT THE MONTGOMERY DOCKS IN ALABAMA - THE RIVERBOAT IS CALL THE HARRIOTT AND THE DOCK WAS A SLAVE TRADING PORT.

The Harriott was a slave ship back in the 1700s. From 1798 to 1805, it carried thousands of slaves to Barbados and then back to Liverpool. However, it was owned by Barton & Co and also cruised between Liverpool and Africa. It now serves as a relaxing cruise and is one of Montgomery's tourist attractions.

SO ALL THE ANCESTOR ARE STANDING SMILING PROUD

AT BLACK PARAPHERNALIA BLOG WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANY FORM OF VIOLENCE OR PERPETUATE THE BEHAVIOR OF WHAT WAS NOTED. WE HAVE ENDURED AND SUFFERED FOR CENTURIES OF THE WS AND THEM ENTITLE MANNERISM, AGGRESSIONS, BEHAVIORS AND VIOLENT RACISM. THIS IS A NEW ERA IN THIS 21TH CENTURY WE SAY NO MORE - WE ARE SICK AND TIRED, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND WILL NOT TOLERATED ANY SUCH BEHAVIORS, NOT TODAY SATAN. MOREOVER, IT IS OUR BELIEF THAT WE SHOULD AND MUST DEFEND AND PROTECT ONESELF...... LIKE IN THE WORDS OF OUR ANCESTOR MALCOLM X *BP*

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

ALL VIDEOS ARE UNDER THE FAIR USE ACT AS LISTED ABOVE

BLACK PARAPHERNALIA DISCLAIMER - PLEASE READ

[misterspectacular]

GOOD OMENS 2 SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, JUST STATING MY THOUGHTS BASICALLY

SO MY FRIEND AND I BINGED SEASON 2 OF GOOD OMENS THE SECOND IT WAS RELEASED! What an adrenaline rush pahahahaa to have waited that long, and finally get it, it was a lot, I think we almost died.

(I dunno how to do the "keep reading" thing so have some dots)

.

.

.

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I honestly would say that season 2 of Good Omens is better than season 1. Nearly the entire thing was Crowley and Aziraphale. YES. They're what I want.

Also, the way the flashbacks were arranged -- perfect! They were longer and more fleshed out and we got continuations of some of them! Huzzah!

Gabriel was hilarious, as usual. Jim was even funnier. Conflicting feelings about Gabriel for most of the season, I started forgiving him towards the end though. The thing with Beelzebub was pretty nice.

It starting off with angel Crowley, he was such a dork, finding out he KNEW AZIRAPHALE THEN, wow! Highlight!

The apology dance was a highlight,

Crowley drinking poison and shrinking/growing and sounding like a Leprechaun was a highlight,

All of Crowley's different accents -- all highlights.

THE FACT THAT CROWLEY IS THE ONE THAT GOT AZIRAPHALE EATING, THE WAY THAT WHOLE THING HAPPENED, THAT WAS CERTAINLY A HIGHLIGHT.

Crowley pretending to be EVIL!!! I didnt fall for it for a second, I was like, yeah okay so where did the goats actually go hahaa! Into the crows, amazing!

Aziraphale with his halo, that was freaking awesome -- he was pretty badass in this season, at some points.

THEM DANCING TOGETHER!!! Jfhsnsnehdiend

The magic act! And it working, even without using actual miracles!

Crowley making it rain, ha, I did that in a RP.

Aziraphale being... look, he's freakin adorable, the way he cradled the, well, the tumor -- I mean, it sounds weird, but it was actually incredibly endearing -- he was very endearing, as always.

THINKING HE WAS GOING TO FALL, and crying about it, and Crowley cheering him up!! YESSS

And... Crowley's realization... SAYING AZIRAPHALE COULD NEVER BE A SIDE PIECE jddjsbdje

Crowley FALLING APART as he OPENS UP TO AZIRAPHALE!!! OUCH! That was like being stabbed, but somehow in a good way, because YES HES SAYING IT, JESUS FUCK

And...

THE

KISS

Like holy-fucking-moly! Dream come true, right there!! I did NOT expect things to go in that direction, I thought we were going to play it safe, and I am so glad that I was wrong. I've wanted these two to kiss for A LONG TIME, I've role played kissing AZIRAPHALE SO MANY TIMES, I've written stories, that was -- well, this was my response at the time: hfjdnelsneksndkwndjskwjznwjs jdneksneksjs disndjsnskw djjwdne idens! LITERALLY A DREAM COME TRUE, NEARLY EXPLODED!!! Like Crowley and Aziraphale literally kissed, mouth to mouth, its canon, it happened, the music swelled, they did it, it's real. Never thought I'd have pictures of men kissing up on my wall but I think I might need to print that out and hang it up, this was not just a highlight of season 2, this was A HIGHLIGHT OF MY LIFE! THANKS FOR THE NOURISHMENT, GAIMAN

and the nightingale thing -- "I don't hear anything" "that's the point, no nightingales", killed me man. THE NIGHTINGGALE, WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE NIGHTINGALE! OW! I DID NOT CRY ABOUT IT, I SWEAR ! ! !

Aziraphale saying I FORGIVE YOU ksndjwnsje I dont understand why he said that when just seconds ago he was saying LET US BE TOGETHER HOORAY, my friend and I were talking and I said, well last time he said I FORGIVE YOU it was after Crowley called him stupid, and my friend was like, well didnt Crowley call him an idiot this time, call back, so maybe that was it,

Aziraphale touching his lips like that after the kiss, holy fuck, A++++, but a painful A++++

and then CHOOSING METATRON!?!? WHAAAAAT?!?!?! I was reeeaaallly hoping he'd run to Crowley and KISS HIM or SOMETHING, but he -- METATRON, NOOoooOooOooo!!! So that was an extremely painful ending. and I realize that for Season 3 to happen, something would HAVE to push fans into creating that build-up and that NEED for another season, but.... OW! how long do I have to live with this pain??? If season 3 is NEVER MADE, it's going to end on this note??? it'd better get made jdbekdnwksn HOLY FUCK, I also better not DIE BEFORE IT'S MADE. I'll be over here, guts out, "cant die... yet... need... to see... Aziraphale and Crowley... make up...! Need... season... 3...!"

So yeah I'll be watching that over and over and over and over and over and over and ov

[izzysillyhandsy]

Look what I found at my parent's house over Christmas! Proof I was always into pirates 🏴‍☠️.

This little book is from approximately 1990, with real photos and everything! I was about 12 back then and my sister 7.

My sister's bed is the pirate ship here, with an all-female crew. Teresa in the blue dress is captain, and Peggy in the green skirt is 1st mate.

"The following photos are from the play PIRATES!" "Anne on the way to Teresa's pirate ship. Let the adventure begin!"

As far as I remember, Anne was from a workhouse and really poor. This was her last chance.

"Everyday life on the pirate ship."

Look at the detail! Tara's the scribe, there's cooking, cleaning, treasure, provisions and a large comfy bed in the background. I've always loved the pan because it looks so used and realistic. Teresa's blue dress was specifically bought because it looks so piratey. The rest of the crew is dressed according to their status/back story.

"Hostile pirates under the command of Captain Jim enter Teresa's ship! Peggy comes down from the crows nest and knocks Tom to the ground with her feet. Tara falls to the floor screaming."

I think we didn't really like Tara. And Peggy is a perfect 1st mate, strangling the attacker with her skirt.

"Jim threatens Teresa with a club but Anne rescues her with the pan. And Jeany counters Ken's attack with a casual Judo grip."

Finally, it's Anne's moment to shine! And Jeany was always effortlessly cool.

"Teresa's crew has won. Slowly, the girls are starting to make friends with the hostages." "Here we see a romance under the moonlight. Ken and Jeany ❤!"

Yeah, of course there has to be romance in the end 😅. You might have noticed that male crew members have no shirts. It's the pirate way.

"Teresa and Jim have also fallen in love. But the next excitement is already waiting! Thanks to a treasure map, men and women have to search for the treasure together... and they finally find it in the form of gold and jewels!!! THE END"

What's going on in that last picture? Where are the men? We'll never know. Love the little spotlight on the map though!

I really hope this was interesting for someone, to me it feels like a historic document - almost 35 years old!

My sister and I were so thrilled to find this again... and I remembered how long it took us to get everything just right for the photos - our pirates kept falling over. And then the 1 week wait for developing...

Also, I'm tagging this OFMD - there are some parallels, I swear!

[the-nosy-neighbor]

TV from the Period of Welcome Home

TV from the period, continued.

There is a part 1 on the blog if you are interested.

So, three channels on a good day, and there were local TV shows, news, but also like around noon there was like a Farm and Ranch Report and some show I remember being suuuuper boring where old ladies with poofy hair would talk. Granted, given how women were judged as old at 30, they were probably younger than I am now.

As a kid, after school cartoons were a thing, but mostly old ones like Bugs Bunny, or Rocky and Bullwinkle or Hanna Barbera cartoons:  The Flintstones, and Scooby Doo for example.  There were cartoons on Saturday morning; they stopped around 11, and then it would either be Wild Kingdom or some old TV show like Land of the Lost.  There were also reruns, like Little House on the Prairie(!) and game shows (No Whammy!).  I watched more episodes of The Newlywed Game than was probably good for a child. 

My parents, however, had a very early form of at-home movie watching, the Laserdisc.  I have only seen this at my parents’ house. 

In this image is the exact machine we had at my house.  Based on the pictures I found, this wasn’t as common as more of a cd type machine.  However, those things on top of the player were the movies.  They were kind of like cassettes in operation.  You took that cartridge (which was about 18”x18”) and you slid it into the machine.  The case would come back out, but the disc remained inside.  Eventually, we got curious and pulled the middle out of one, and discovered the disc on the inside.  The wild part was that there would be a pause as the disc came to the end of a side.  Yes, like a record.  Then you had to put the cartridge back in, and pull it out.  The disc was now in the cartridge.  Then, you turned it over (seems ridiculous in hindsight) and pushed it back in, and the cartridge remained.  I could still tell you exactly where that break is in The Great Muppet Caper. 

So, I mention this, as a rural kid with very little money and even fewer trips to the movies, because my parents bought us kids movies on this thing, and while there weren’t a lot, we had The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper.  Oh, and we had Hey Cinderella! and The Frog Prince (both on 1 disc) and Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.  The Cinderella/Frog Prince was one of my favorites.  I still think the jokes are super solid in that one, as well as has good music.  We also had Watership Down, which we couldn’t get past the intro as it was too spooky.  We watched a lot of The Secret of NiMH, which was also spooky, but less bloody.  Plus that crow is hysterical.  We watched these over and over. 

Oddly enough, my parents had a few Mel Brooks movies, so I grew up on The History of the World, Part 1, though mostly just noticed the slapstick.  I didn’t get the jokes until much later.  We also had Young Frankenstein, which continues to be one of my favorite movies.  I must have been an oddball kid to be able to recognize Mel Brooks in The Muppet Movie. 

Look!  James Frawley, Jim Henson, and Mel Brooks!

We lived in a community that was rural, like a subdivision 15 minutes from anything, and most of us could not afford cable.  I mentioned my dad was an electrician, so he somehow looped most, if not all, houses into cable through the rich guy’s cable.  (He had an indoor pool and a soda machine.  It was decadent.)  I’m not sure how that worked, because we weren’t limited to what the main house was watching.  I don’t know how long we had it before the cable company figured it out., probably close to a year.

TV shows didn't really try to appeal to children, as far as I can remember, so it was nights of watching whatever was on, because you had two choices:  either this or the other channel.  Plus, at the time, it was expected that the adults would pick the show.   I remember watching lots of crime dramas. Magnum PI, CHiPs, The Fall Guy, etc. When I was older, The Cosby Show was the best thing on TV.  But, the most amazing thing as a kid were the Special Presentations.

If you saw this guy, you were in for a nice time.

Not to be confused with "A Very Special Episode," which meant some lame thing where they had your favorite TV characters talking about something really depressing or scary, also known as an “After School Special,” though a lot of times those were not filmed with known characters, just really lame low budget deals.  The most famous example of this is where a character on Saved by the Bell was taking diet pills (so excited and so scared).  Definitely worth a watch.  I actually didn’t see this at the time, and only learned about it as an adult.  Two TV stations.  If Clown does “A Very Special Episode,” I will die.

So, Special Presentations were your really good things. It meant either you were getting something you didn't see a lot (Miss America), a once-a-year treat (Wizard of Oz), or cartoons (Holiday Specials!) I remember how excited we were to have the Wizard of Oz every year.  It seemed random when it happened, but I’m sure there was a schedule that I wasn’t aware of as a kid.  I don’t think we even got the TV guide.  However, there were TV listings in the newspaper. 

Once a year treats included things like "Circus of the Stars." I had forgotten about it until I googled Special Presentation to get that graphic. Actual TV stars would learn to do circus stuff, like trapeze. I am going to drown in nostalgia. Here's a later one in 1992, (Downtown Julie Brown!) with Weird Al, because Weird Al is synonymous with TV. Apparently.

Also, the first home gaming consoles were coming out. I remember that we had an Intellivision, which was one of the earliest consoles.

Given we had that and one of the first home computers (Commodore 64), maybe we were more middle class than I realized, or my dad just liked technology.

That's it for now. If i think of something that could be especially helpful in understanding the world of Welcome Home, I will add it, but for now, I am sure this is more than enough. I am working on a personal history post about The Muppets and Jim Henson as well.

[polizwrites]

Braking Their Fall

This is a fill for today's @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt [#FFF212 Gotta Go Fast] along with my @allcapsbingo Pararescue Sam Wilson square. It's a remix of my Stony No Powers AU in-progress fic Falling for You and contains spoilers for Chapter Two (coming this weekend) - so read at your own risk!

Fandom: MCU/Marvel Pairing: Sam Wilson & James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes (background Steve Rogers/Tony Stark) Rating: Teen Tags: No Powers AU, Skydiving, Peril, Remix

“Shouldn’t Steve and Tony’s drogue have deployed by now?” Jim shouted over his shoulder as they cleared the plane. Sam had been a little iffy about having another airman as a tandem skydive client - the phrase ‘knows enough to be dangerous’ came to mind - but Jim Rhodes had been great so far, paying attention during the briefing and listening to Sam’s instructions as they buckled themselves together and headed out the door.

“Yeah,” Sam shouted back - his partner and client had jumped first and were almost a minute into their freefall. “He’s probably showing off a little. Trying to impress your friend.”

“I’m sure Tony was impressed the moment he laid eyes on Steve. Probably like to lay a lot more on him, if you know what I mean.”

“He would be totally down for that,” Sam replied, but he was starting to get a little concerned. That drogue was an important element of a tandem jump and it wasn’t like Steve to hot dog this much. Then he spotted the plume of red smoke.

“Shit,” Sam swore.

“I see it too,” Jim replied. “They’re in trouble, aren’t they?”

“Looks like it – you up for a real dive?”

“Just tell me what I gotta do.” Jim was immediately all business; anticipating Sam’s instructions by pulling his arms back into his body and straightening out his legs. Sam in turn jettisoned their drogue and shifted them into a head-down position so they could pick up speed.

Years of pararescue experience had honed Sam’s reflexes, and he and Steve had practiced this kind of maneuver before, but never when they were both tandeming. While Jim’s extra weight should overcome the additional air resistance during their dive, it was still going to be a real close thing as to whether they could catch up to Steve and Tony in time.

As they approached their fellow skydivers, Sam strained his eyes to see what had gone wrong. It looked like the release cord had separated from the handle and was flapping just out of Steve’s reach. Jim was doing an amazing job of holding still and letting Sam control the dive; clearly he understood the gravity of the situation.

Sam steered them as close as he dared; it was going to take perfect timing to grab the cord and then pull it hard enough to release the chute without sending Steve and Tony tumbling out of control.

“I got you!” Sam shouted, darting out his hand at the last second to yank on the cord. They shot by, Sam leaning hard to one side to clear their airspace, then looking back to see Steve’s chute filling with air.

“Did it work?” Jim craned his neck around to try to spot their companions.

“Hell yeah it did!” Sam crowed triumphantly. “Hang on - blowing our chute now!”

It was a harder jolt than usual; going from what must’ve been over a hundred and fifty miles an hour to right around twenty. But Jim just let out a grunt. “Are they going to be all right?” he asked a bit breathlessly a moment later

Sam looked again to make sure Steve had control of the chute and was heading toward their drop zone. “Yeah, looks like it. Might be a rough landing for them, though.” He steered their chute back on course. “Speaking of rough - you okay?”

“I’m not used to losing a couple hundred feet in altitude without a plane around me,” Jim replied, “but yeah.” He looked back over at their companions drifting earthwards. “You know, if things work out between them - they’re gonna have a hell of a meet-cute story.”