#and her friend gave her this app

[pen-guin-writez]

regular show (pamson)

pam can always tell whenever benson’s upset. even if he tries really hard to be subtle about it. so pam has this stress toy app on her phone and whenever he gets upset she’ll just hand her phone to him and he’ll play around with it for about ten-twenty minutes

“which one are you on?”

“the poppet thingy”

“huh. usually you just go straight for the swirly one.”

[lucky-clover-gazette]

if you think it's exaggerating when i write my self-insert character bluntly jeopardizing a romantic scene to talk about feelings and philosophy, consider that i literally did that with a guy for like 3 hours last night

[superbeans89]

HER STEED HAS ARRIVED

[reesescuffs]

I used to go on quotev all the time when j was 10/11 years old (i put ago on acciden. I am not that old. I was a small child then.), and I blame it to this day for the reason I turned out how I did

5th grade me had no business reading fanfics and taking sans au quizzes (the sleepover ones hold a special place in my heart (I kinda hate them)) on that site

[yourqueenb]

you’re not wrong at all but i guess im just used to mcs having absolutely no backstory, feelings, or definitive character traits. the plot just happens to mcs, mcs don’t make the plot happen. even though expectations are higher for blades its still choices with all the limits and misses opportunities of any other book. i cant really think of an mc that feels like their own character before the book and plot starts, besides maybe cop mc in the first book and th:m mc

Just wanna start off by saying I’m so sorry that I never actually responded to this! I could’ve sworn I had already posted, but found this fully typed up sitting in my drafts just now 😵‍💫 But yeah anyway…

See I don’t normally have a problem with “blank-slate MCs” though. I actually prefer them because I can use my imagination to create a backstory and (ideally) give them the traits I want through my choices. My main problem is that the few choices we are allowed to make usually just don’t matter beyond like a slight variation in dialogue as a result. And even bigger than that, there isn’t much diversity in the options we’re given to begin with.

I think if those problems didn’t exist, Blades MC was allowed to react to whatever happens on a deeper level, and our so-called friends showed more concern through their actions, then the story would be a bit better for me. However, I will say that I also think that’s the bare minimum, especially considering the fact that the writers already gave MC a partial backstory but decided it wasn’t important to have that affect present MC and the story for whatever reason.

Doing that worked in a series like TRR/TRH because, in the grand scheme of things, that MC’s backstory didn’t really matter and the plot was a little more cut and dried. But with Blades, the stakes are incredibly high and everyone is basically questioning the meaning of life and existence itself, what morality means in a world where things are a lot more gray than previously thought, and the roles they play in that world. So although I usually don’t mind it, I don’t think keeping Blades MC’s background from affecting anything significant really works.

Not sure where I’m going with all this though because none of it really counters your point. You’re right that it’s still Choices after all, so our expectations should be a bit lower even for a book like Blades. But it still sucks because I feel like PB really didn’t have to push too much further to make it an outstanding story. They were the ones who gave themselves all this material and then just didn’t follow through :/

[dreamyberry]

/3.11.24

[monstermp3]

.

[congolese-kitty]

time to cry 💀💀💀

[shewantsitall]

When you experience a thing that seems like a set up for a soulmates au irl and it is the weirdest feeling of all time what in the world is happening??????

[lwveless]

my friend told me that god brought me a chai tea latte today and i can't stop thinking about it

[muppetsnoopy]

im an ipad baby

[neverendingford]

.

[redgoldsparks]

My very last comic for The Nib! End of an era! Transcription below the cut. instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

The first event I went to with GENDER QUEER was in NYC in 2019 at the Javits Center.

So many of the people who came to my signing were librarians, and so many of them said the same thing: "I know exactly who I want to give this to!" Maia: "Thank you for helping readers find my book!" While working on the book, I was genuinely unsure if anyone outside of my family and close friends would read it. But the early support of librarians and two American Library Association awards helped sell two print runs in first year.

Since then, GENDER QUEER been published in 8 languages, with more on the way: Spanish, Czech, Polish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portugese and Dutch.

It has also been the most banned book in the United States for the past two years. The American Library Association has tracked an astronomical increase in book challenges over the past few years. Most of these challenges are to books with diverse characters and LGBTQ themes. These challenges are coming unevenly across the US, in a pattern that mirrors the legislative attacks on LGBTQ people. The Brooklyn Public Library offered free eCards to anyone in the US aged 13-21, in an effort to make banned books more available to young readers. A teacher in Norman, Oklahoma gave her students the QR code for the free eCard and lost her job. Summer Boismeir is now working for the Brooklyn Public Library. Hoopla and Libby/Overdrive, apps used to access digital library books, are now banned in Mississippi to anyone under 18. Some libraries won’t allow anyone under 18 to get any kind of library card without parental permission. When librarians in Jamestown, Michigan refused to remove GENDER QUEER and several other books, the citizens of the town voted down the library’s funding in the fall 2022 election. Without funding, the library is due to close in mid-2024. My first event since covid hit was the American Library Association conference in June 2022 in Washington, DC. Once again, the librarians in my signing line all had similar stories for me: “Your book was challenged in our district" "It was returned to the shelf!" "It was removed from the shelf..." "It was moved to the adult section."

Over and over I said: "Thank you. Thank you for working so hard to keep my book in your library. I’m sorry you had to defend it, but thank you for trying, even if it didn't work." We are at a crossroads of freedom of speech and censorship. The future of libraries, both publicly funded and in schools, are at stake. This is massively impacting the daily lives of librarians, teachers, students, booksellers, and authors around the country. In May 2023, I read an article from the Washington Post analyzing nearly 1000 of the book challenges from the 2021-2022 school year. I was literally on route to a festival to talk about book bans when I read a startling statistic. 60% of the 1000 book challenges were submitted by just 11 people. One man alone was responsible for 92 challenges. These 11 people seem to have made submitting copy-cat book challenges their full-time hobby and their opinions are having an outsized ripple effect across the nation. WE NEED TO MAKE THE VOICES SUPPORTING DIVERSE BOOKS AND OPPOSING BOOK BANS EVEN LOUDER. If you are able too, show up for your library and school board meetings when book challenges are debated. Send supportive comments and emails about the Pride book display and Drag Queen story hours. If you see a display you like– for Banned Book Week, AAPI Month, Black History Month, Disability Awareness Month, Jewish holidays, Trans Day of Remembrance– compliment a librarian! Make sure they feel the love stronger than the hate <3

Maia Kobabe, 2023

The Nib

[lunmos]

bro i shouldve had my first heartbreak like waaaaay earlier like im too old for this tell me why i still think about her but might also be falling for someone new and logically i know it's probably normal but also it feels so so weird and

[greaseonmymouth]

The last time I held a check in my hands was in the 90s when my mum let me hand it to the cashier to pay for our groceries, until the next time I held one in my hands - a few months ago when an American customer mailed me a check to pay for an order even though we’d sent them a digital invoice with our bank details on. I dropped the check off with accounts receivable for them to deal with because fuck that, just pay the invoice the way we instructed you to???

Checks have not been widely used in Denmark for decades and some ten years ago the National bank shut down checks entirely. You can’t pay with checks there anymore, banks don’t issue check books in the first place, and nowhere can accept them for payment. The only exception to this is international checks specifically because the United States is behind the times and still use them, and some companies obv trade with American companies.

I now live in the UK and I don’t get the impression checks are common here; there was only one person on the finance team who knew how to handle the American check I’d dropped off with them.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[moonlitlex]

actually heartbreaking when you realize that someone you thought you knew is actually a complete loser with nothing going for them and you wasted 8 years of your life caring about them and loving them and being their friend