#and idk if this is a factor but I don’t understand Latin | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

maneskintookawaymysanity · 3 years ago

Note

Hello there! I have a gigantic favor to ask u. I know that from the guys (måneskin), some of them quit school and some didn't. do u happen to know any more info on that, like who stopped what year and also (the favor) could u do a 'for dummies' version of the italian school system? very very briefly of course, cause I searched for it on my own and did not understand shit 😅

Thank u so much!!!!! much much love!!❤️❤️

Of course 😁😁 soo, the italian school system is a 13 years long nightmare journey divided in primary/elementary school (scuola elementare), from 5/6 to 10/11 years old, that lasts 5 years, thus '5 classes' (idk how to translate it, but for example if it's your first year you attend prima elementare or 'first elementary class' and so on). After that you have 3 years of middle school, from 10/11 to 13/14 years old, so again, '3 classes'. The last step is high school, which are 5 more years of school, from 13/14 to 18/19 years old, but this is where it gets tricky, because high schools are not all the same in italy, each of them teach different subjects, and we get to choose the type of school we want to attend during the third year of high school. In general we have the 'liceo' which is the school that you generally choose if you want to go to university or if you want a more 'generic culture' education and focus on latin, phylosophy, literature, hystory, art, maths etc. For instance, Vic, Damiano and Thomas went to a scientific liceo, which is a liceo, with focus on scientific subjects such as maths or chemistry, physics etc. Other types of 'liceo' are for example classic (you study ancient greek as well), linguistic (foreign languages), or artistic (the one that Ethan attended, and although it is named 'liceo' it is structurally very different, because they have a bigger focus on arts). Other than 'licei' there are the 'technical schools', which are schools with a traditional education but with focus also on a 'technical' aspect that can be commerce, tourism, mechanics, informatics and so on, so that you are already a bit oriented towards a job (you don't study latin, phylosophy, art hystory though). The last type of high school is 'professional school' which is very job oriented, and it basically teaches you the job that you want to do in the future. In general in the italian school system, when you enter a school, you get assigned to a class, and you spend the whole time in that school with the same 20-25 schoolmates (which means 3 or 5 years with the same people), and the scholastic program/subjects are the same for everybody and every class, so you don't choose your courses. During the year we get regularly tested with written and oral 'exams' and we get grades (from 1 to 10), and at the end of the year we recieve a 'pagella' or report card with the average score of all the grades we recieved for every subject during the year, and if we have sufficient grades (6 or more) for every subject we pass to the next year, otherwise we have to repeat the year. At the end of high school we also have this big final exam, called maturità, and if we pass it we finally get our degree.

Now, about måneskin.... from what I know (i'm not 100% sure), Thomas is the only one who has done the maturità and has a high school degree, we can see him study in the 'this is måneskin' documentary, but at the time I believe he was attending quarta superiore (fourth year of high school) so he wasn't studying for the maturità, but other exams. Damiano said that he didn't pass one or two years of high school, and he didn't get good grades in italian (which is ironic, since he can write so well), and after they went to x factor he never bothered to finish high school. Victoria and Ethan said that they wanted to finish school and get their degree, but i'm not sure they've done it yet, but they didn't mention it again.

Sorry for the terribly long post, when I start rambling I can hardly stop🙈🙈🙈🙈 thanks for the ask tho, and have a great day!😁🖤

#ask #send me asks #maneskin #måneskin #school system #italian school

48 notes · View notes

morlock-holmes · 4 years ago

Note

It occurred to me what was driving me nuts about your STEM v Blue Collar argument, you kept acting like pay was not tied to company. How much someone is paid has no bearing on how useful someone is to society, only how useful they are to the company.

You kept going on about why a biologist would be paid less than Micheal Bay, but the people paying the biologist ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE PAYING MICHEAL BAY. The amount of good for society is irrelevant.

Additionally, the demand in question is the demand of workers, not of their labor. The public does not pay the barista, the public pays Starbucks who then pays the barista for her service. Starbucks also gives the barista the the coffee to grind, the cups to put them in, the building to do so in, etc. Her labor is not her own, but is being bought by the company for a wage, and then sold to the public. The labor of the coffee bean farmer, the truck driver, the construction worker, all of it, was bought and paid for by Starbucks with the full consent of every part of the process.

Like, Jesus, I get that you want a nice, clean reason why society would needlessly boost the quality of life of people with Magic Feel Good Money, but the reason pragmatism rules the economy isn’t because the shadowy capitalist overlords are conspiring against the poor baristas. The economy is the way it is because Capitalism is a decentralized mode of economy that relies of emergent trends to self stabilize as well as maintain an entirely voluntary system employment.

Idk, maybe I am just sick and tired of seeing the same Marxist bullshit paraded around constantly, but please, if you want to discuss Capitalism and it’s features, please approach it from the point of view of a capitalist first to sniff check your position?

So, it occurs to me that what is bothering you about my argument is that you can't read and don't understand it.

I have quoted, multiple times and in multiple ways, people claiming that pay is dependent on, as you put it, "how useful a job is for society".

Since that is not, in fact, what determines your pay, but rather market forces which are only loosely based on how "useful" or "tangible" the work you produce is, I feel that people should stop claiming otherwise.

At which point I attract a bunch of people like you who condescendingly tell me that of course pay isn't based on how "tangible" or "useful" your work is.

Like, yeah dude, that's what I'm fucking saying, so instead of complaining to me me maybe complain about the people who keep saying that some jobs pay better because the work they produce is more tangibly useful.

Like, seriously I don't know how I could be more clear about this!

People go, "I think STEM jobs pay well because of X"

I say, "No, X isn't the determining factor, Y is the determining factor, and X is only tangentially related, at best"

And you say, "Of course Y us the determining factor and X is only tangentially related, why are you acting confused about Y? Y is obviously the determining factor, you weirdo Marxist, and everyone knows it! Nobody ever said anything about X being important, you pedantic weirdo."

Am I talking latin here or something?

22 notes · View notes

jaeminlore · 4 years ago

Text

To Live and Let Go | Renjun

summary: if there’s something left to be learned, then my time is running. why would i waste it all, wasted on you?

words: 2.3k+

category: librarian!renjun x tutor!reader, fem!presenting!reader, adventure au, a bit meta, what’s going on idk ur guess is as good as mine, some sections are written better than others, reader is a tutor for prince jaemin, this sucks so bad i’m so sorry.

note: this was a commission for @yrb-reads who donated to a charity of their choice. thank you :) i’m terribly sorry it took so long and it's definitely not up to par the way it should be. if you want something else written to make up for it let me know. there was depression, full time job, and a death in the family i would like to blame, but i should’ve prioritized this story more for you, and for that i’m sorry. thank you so much for donating, and i hope this serves as a holiday gift for you. again, sorry about the short length

To Renjun, libraries feel like home. Especially the castle’s library, located just west of the kitchen; a hidden gem unknown to most people. Really, only known to Prince Jaemin and Renjun, if he really thought about it. Perhaps a few tutors and scholars as well.

But these factors don’t make it home. Instead, it is the wooden walls of thick cedar trunks, built long before the castle walls were put up; when the builders didn’t have the heart to tear such a piece of architecture down. It’s the way it smells like a forest at all times, and how the inside walls are chipped and falling onto the bare floor. It is the large shelves, made just decades ago, crammed up against each other and overflowing with the royal family’s books. Each piece of literature is practically an heirloom, save the small shelf in the corner where the prince hides his new romance novels he gets delivered straight from the village of Rubin.

The library feels like a bridge between the kingdom and the village. Inside these four walls, wooden and chipped, Rubin feels like one entity, undivided by classes or rank.

It also happens to be the one place Renjun is allowed to hang his paintings.

Ever since he was younger, it has been Renjun’s dream to be a portrait artist. To be able to place his thumbprint in Rubin’s history by painting the royal family or a few important nobles, is all he has ever wanted. But the King and Queen prefer a man of nobility to do the work, so Renjun was shot down. Since he sold everything he had to come and shoot for his dream, the royal family had offered him a pity job.

Correction: Prince Jaemin had begged his parents not to turn Renjun away empty-handed and convinced them to let him earn his pay here in the castle.

Prince Jaemin does a lot for Renjun. He had introduced him to his friend and closest servant, Donghyuck, who has a sharp tongue but no real malice to back up anything he ever said. Renjun had moved in with him, and used his side of the house as his painting room. Donghyuck barely even complains about the scent of oil paint anymore.

Prince Jaemin also got him his current job as a bookbinder. Which, in itself, is a very lonely and tedious job. Perfect for a boy like Renjun who only wants to work with no outside distractions. Aside from his friends in the castle, that is. Or the prince’s tutor, who comes in for study material.

Most importantly, Prince Jaemin lets Renjun hang up his portraits in the library. He had said that they deserved to be hung up, even if it couldn’t be hung up in the royal hall. Renjun had nearly burst into tears in front of the hyperactive prince.

They had met during a touchy time in the prince’s life. He had just returned to the castle after a trip to the village. There, he was hiding from potential assassins, but for some reason, the prince seemed more upset about coming back.

It was in the quiet of that library that Jaemin let Renjun, a complete stranger at the time, in on the secret that he was in love with a girl from the village. For the young artist, it wasn’t hard to imagine. Prince Jaemin was known for his free spirit and hyperactive personality. There was no way he could become attached to a noble raised under discipline.

Of course the prince was raised under the highest of discipline, but he somehow found a way to rebel against it all and stay true to himself, even if it meant hiding the portraits he liked the best in a forgotten library, or befriending the healer and servant of the castle instead of the lords.

He was wonderful, and Renjun couldn’t wait for him to be king.

The library was home because Prince Jaemin made it home. He had crafted a place between the castle and the village — a place of seclusion — just for Renjun and his thoughts.

“I just want them to listen to me,” Jaemin moans, dropping his chin onto his open romance book. “I’ve been asking them for almost a year and a half to let me go back to the village, but they refuse to listen to me.”

Renjun hums non-committedly. “Chin up, please. I’m not finished.”

Jaemin glares at Renjun through his eyelashes but obliges, a pout still evident on his face. He returns to his casual pose of leaning his cheek against his fist and turning the pages of his book. “Anyway, I really want to go back to the village.”

“I know,” Renjun sighs and dips the tip of his paintbrush into the copper-colored paint he had mixed. “Right now, you have to obey them. You may be the prince but obviously they’re the king and queen.”

“I’m about to be nineteen,” Jaemin mumbles angrily.

“And when your coronation arrives, you’ll have more freedom to do things like visit the village.”

“Her grandmother died, you know,” Jaemin says, morose. “I could’ve been there for the funeral, at least.”

Renjun grabs a slimmer paintbrush and begins to note the details of Jaemin’s face. “I know, Your Highness. But if she’s anything like you’ve told me, then I’m sure she understands.”

Jaemin bites his lip and looks at the book sadly. “I just miss her.”

“It’s your duty to stay here. I’m sure she realizes that.”

Jaemin rolls his eyes, albeit sadly, and goes back to posing.

“Your Highness! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Renjun’s brush shakes slightly as his mind registers the new voice. It is Jaemin’s tutor. You, a servant the same age as the prince, seem to be the only one he will actually listen to. Perhaps because you entertain his many ideas. Perhaps because Renjun had begged him to keep you around.

Because you not only entertained Jaemin’s ideas, you also praised Renjun’s art. You are a no-nonsense tutor, but as a friend, you have had neverending praise and encouragement to the two boys.

Renjun longs to be around you as much as Jaemin is. In fact, you are the only real reason Renjun finds himself being jealous of the prince. He often wonders how Jaemin could even think about a villager he only knew for a week, when you are right there beside him, every day.

Just the blossom of your smile could make Renjun’s mind freeze in all it’s concerns. Suddenly, the portrait in front of him means little to nothing, and all he could really think about was how many different shades of pink and brown he’d have to mix before he matched the color of your lips. “Hello, Y/n.”

“Good day,” you greet, bowing slightly. “What are you painting today?”

Renjun almost forgets to breathe when you walk toward him and lean your head over his shoulder to inspect his art. He can smell the amber musk on your collarbones and feel your soft hair tickle his cheek. “J-Jaemin.”

“You always paint him,” you murmur, almost in boredom. “Say, do you do favors?”

“Come again?”

“Like, if I paid you, would you draw a portrait of me? I think my mother would really like it— she’s always asking me to get a portrait done.”

Renjun feels his tongue rest heavy in his mouth. Before he can speak, Jaemin grabs your arm. “He can do it! Now let’s get to my lessons!”

And that was that on that.

The stream trickles loudly, leaping down and over the rock formations and falling into the pool with grace. This is where Renjun comes to find inspiration. It’s also where he comes to practice his art.

It’d be nice to do it into the library, but Renjun knows that he would abandon all his actual duties — the ones that he gets paid to do.

He eyes his oil paints, color coordinated from lightest to darkest shade. He dips his brush in pure white, to lay a foundation coat atop his canvas.

Truth be told, he could paint you from memory. But if he told you that, he’d have to admit to his crush on you, and that’s far too embarrassing. No, thank you.

Renjun takes off his sandals and plants his feet on the soft grass. The blades tickle his toes, so he tries to relax his muscles. He has the canvas stretched out on his knees, which is a bit unconventional, but it works. He looks up at the afternoon sun; his straw hat scrapes the trunk of the tree he’s leaning against.

“Sorry I’m late. Jaemin needed help with Latin...” You wander in and trail off, looking at the pool in wonder. “This is beautiful.”

You’re dressed in silver shades — Renjun wonders if you intentionally made yourself look extra beautiful, or if that’s you, in the reflection of the water. He clears his mind and his throat. “I figured It’d be a nice background for a portrait.”

“How do you want me posed?” Your lips are upturned, soft, and Renjun starts a mental list on how to keep you smiling.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” Renjun hurries. “We’ll be here for an hour or so each session until it’s finished.”

You sit in the grass, atop your knees, and smooth out any wrinkles in your garments. “My Mother is going to be so thrilled, Renjun. Thank you so much for doing this.”

His tongue feels heavy at the compliment, so he settles for a simple nod. The foundation coat is still drying, so Renjun pulls his sketchbook and a pencil out of his bag. “Do you mind if I start with a few sketches?”

“Of course not,” you say. Your eyes clip to his, bright and clear, and Renjun thinks this is going to be a lot harder than he initially thought.

(The next session, Renjun is so focused on getting the outline of your back right that he doesn’t even notice you moving towards him.

“You’ve got paint on your brow,” you say.

Renjun reflexively wipes at his face, feeling himself blush at your observation. “Is it gone?”

You grin — looking straight at him — and reach up. Gently, you use the pad of your thumb to scrub off the paint. ��Now it is.”

Renjun thinks he’d rather melt into the floor than finish the rest of this session.)

Renjun threads the spine of his latest project: scribe records from the recent knighting tournament and ceremony. Even as he pulls the last thread tight, his finger raw and screaming, he’s thankful that he wasn’t the one editing these records.

Jaemin hasn’t been to the library in awhile. His current betrothement has him in a frenzied mindset, and Renjun is sure he has more important things to do than hang out with his friends.

Still, he misses the company.

He sets the glue along the spine and aligns the pages with the leather backing. He’s so busy focusing on making sure the lines are straight that he doesn’t notice someone walk into the library. “Hello, Renjun.”

Renjun jumps, and the spine of the book misaligns. He leaves it on his table, and when he turns around, you’re there smiling at him. “Hey, Y/n. I didn’t know you tutored Jaemin today.”

”I don’t,” you admit. A bashful look overtakes your face and you focus on one of the books in Renjun’s return pile. “I wanted to thank you for the portrait. My mother loved it.”

“I’m glad!” Renjun says, brightening up. He notices that you still look rather distant. “Is something wrong?”

”it’s just...” you bite your lip. “Do, um, do I really look like that?”

Renjun wants to ask what you mean. But he sort of knows. “Your portrait? Is it not to your likeness?”

You furrow your brows. “I just... You made me look very beautiful.”

“You are very beautiful,” Renjun replies, voice low and steady. “Surely, you know that.”

Embarrassment paints your face and you shrug. “I dunno...”

“I know,” Renjun says, surety building in his voice. “Whether you believe it or not, it’s a fact that you are very beautiful. I hope my painting portrayed even an inch of your beauty.”

You look aghast at his words, mouth open in shock. “Are you… Are you serious?”

Renjun stares at the way your lips look, pursed in confusion. “Why on earth would I lie to you?”

“I don’t mean to insult your integrity,” you say, eyes wide. “It’s just that no one has ever been so upfront with me.”

This is it, Renjun thinks. This is my chance to confess. He takes a deep breath, steps closer to you. Toe to toe, so that your chest is brushing against his. And the outside air lessens it’s chill, so that Renjun is sure he’s sweating, nervous and hot and wanting.

His luck hasn’t run out yet. “Can I be upfront again?”

Your breath hitches, leaving Renjun’s own words isolated, suspended in the air between you. “Yes,” you finally say, honeyed lips nearly brushing his own.

“I’m in love with you,” Renjun allows himself to say. “And I want to kiss you. Selfishly.”

“Then do so.”

Your lips are honeyed; candied peonies against his own cruel briars and thorns. Renjun wonders if he’s good enough for you. If book binding and tutoring go hand in hand. If he’ll be stuck forever in the royal library, giving you books to read to the prince. He wonders if this is the life of a peasant, always one step behind the nobles.

Two people in service to a prince can never truly serve each other.

But Renjun doesn’t hold on to that thought. Instead, he surges forward, holds your body like it’s falling, kissing your mouth and your chin and your neck and your skin and—

“Hey,” you cup his face in his hands. “This isn’t the last time you’ll have me. There’s no need to be urgent.”

So he slows down. Gentle touches and warm gazes. Tastes you as much as touches you. All lips and no teeth. Memorized the palm of your hand against his jaw.

You’ll still be here, you said so.

Renjun decides to let go.

#the last paragraph is good but the rest sucks srry #renjun fluff #renjun angst #adventure au #nct dream fluff #nct dream angst #nct dream au #renjun au #destwrites

76 notes · View notes

batmansymbol · 5 years ago

Photo

hello! the iowa caucus is a week away, which is wild. just in case any of y’all are still undecided this primary season and looking for reasons to swing one way or another, i figured i would make a post declaring my camp and why.

to be clear, i think any dem would represent an improvement over trump so huge as to be almost immeasurable, in terms of competence, moral leadership, and basic decency. i’m so ready to stop bracing for the next racist comment, the next open display of hypocrisy, the next embarrassing show of schoolyard boasting. obviously, i’ll be voting and volunteering for any dem after the convention (as i did for HRC, enthusiastically, in ‘16).

i’m also making this post in part because of the, mm, shall we say, less than ideal reputation of bernie supporters... heh... rest assured that my support isn’t based on disgust or condescension for other democrats, or for their supporters, but on enthusiasm for his candidacy and what he stands for. if you thought you didn’t know a bernie supporter, especially one who’s not straight, white, or male: you do!

so: i struggled this year to choose between sanders and warren, both real progressives who would represent a major step forward in terms of addressing class inequity. for me, the deciding factor between the two has been foreign policy. domestically, the presidency is necessarily limited by systems of checks and balances; the president has far more influence when it comes to international affairs. and while bernie and liz both support e.g. troop withdrawal and an end to forever wars, bernie’s approach uniquely stems from a larger framework of anti-imperialism and global peace strategies. the way bernie talks about the US’s place in the world recognizes that american exceptionalism isn’t just a patriotic blind spot - it can be a danger to the freedom and stability of our fellow nations. i don’t view this as an anti-american position. you can love the US, appreciating unique american strengths like our presence in innovation, art, and higher ed—and still recognize that our often unilateral decision-making about foreign governments is oddly imperialistic, even paternalistic behavior.

as an american with no family in the united states, i’ve grown disillusioned with America First rhetoric. why should we be first? what is genuinely good and morally right about being a “global superpower,” rather than an equal partner on a planet that desperately needs our help? there is, actually, something trumpian about it. and yet no democrat except sanders, not even warren, eschews the America First perspective entirely. (i guess gabbard, too, but i have issues with her candidacy that i won’t get into here)

policy is shaped by these kinds of differences in perspective, and the next generation is shaped by presidential values. i will never forget when, in 2018, i saw an 8-year-old kid in a class that was 75% Latine making a joke about “building the wall,” to the discomfort of the other kids at his table. i think it would be amazing if more americans grew up with the understanding that we’re just one country in a world of countries, all of whom have intrinsic value—and rather than painting the US as a heroic protagonist figure, swooping in to save the day, we can see ourselves as part of an ensemble cast working in tandem to ensure peace and prosperity for everyone.

bernie’s consistency on not only this but pretty much every issue is also immensely reassuring to me. even his most ardent detractors admit the guy is like a broken record. he was fighting for civil rights decades before i was born, talking about wealth inequality ages before jeff bezos was worth $115 billion. to be clear, i don’t believe the people who call warren an opportunist or go after biden and buttigieg’s innate character; i trust most of our candidates not to renege on who they say they are. but in an age of constant lies from the current administration, i find something deeply reassuring in bernie being so, idk, blunt and obvious.

no candidate is perfect. i’m occasionally irritated by the anti-media rhetoric his campaign leans into, suggesting bernie is a poor martyred victim rather than the leader of an impressive grassroots achievement. some bernie supporters do themselves no favors by spreading outright horseshit about other candidates, and tbh, i don’t think this is unrelated to the campaign’s approach of portraying bernie supporters as a marginalized demographic. but it’s not a demographic at all. it’s a coalition across demographics, and regardless of the politics that his campaign engages in, i trust bernie to stand for his own, and my, values in office. that’s why i’m voting for him, and i’m happy to discuss it anytime in a friendly and non-angry way. :)

#politics #bernie sanders #democrats #bernie 2020

43 notes · View notes

hellaheckingay · 6 years ago

Text

Lucid nightmares and sleep paralysis

I used to have them so bad and together literally every night!

One of the most common factors was demons, evil spirits, and the Devil himself.

He would haunt my dreams. If I slept with the light on it would turn from a good dream to a nightmare. Or if I slept in my haunted af house.

But,, am I the only one who’s dreamt of the devil with dark hair and pale skin?

Who wouldn’t ever actually harm me but got off to scaring me instead?

In my nightmares certain events would happen that tbh after a lot of reflecting and searching for parallels have come true.

I am living in parts of my nightmares that when growing up I’d be scared shitless and bc it feels like I’ve already been through it before I’m desensitized?

Idk. The devil never actually harmed me. He’d just tell me I can’t get away and no matter how much I’ve prayed when awakening I could still hear his voice laughing.

Like one time when I was fifteen I had a nightmare I was in a room similar to the one I’m in now. Trapped on a bed with a demon roaring above me holding me down. The devil himself sought to be there for the occasion. I don’t remember what he said but I just remember my family bursting through the door telling me to please don’t go and to please fight it. I remember being scared because he was telling me that he finally had me and he wasn’t going to let me go. I was going with him whether I liked it or not. Whether I was awake or not.

I remember begging him to please let me go. I didn’t want this. My father was in the background reading scriptures from the Bible that he’s had memorized from when he was a preacher. (My Dad has the whole bible memorized word for word it’s kinda scary how accurate he is after all these years tbh, but also impressive) my step grandfather was the one who inevitably told me to start praying. That the devil couldn’t keep me if I prayed to god.

So I prayed. I sobbed as this demonic roar came from this beast above me. I’ve never heard a noise like that in my life. But in my dreams it was always the same roar. The same demon. He was the devils pet.

When I awoke I could still hear it as I felt this invisible force holding me down. My body wasn’t paralyzed in the sense of sleep paralysis but in the sense that no matter how much I tried to get off my bed s o m e thing was there. Keeping me in place.

I remember waking up to hearing my own prayers leave my lips “I rebuke you in the name of god and jesus and the Holy Spirit” chanting it over and over like a mantra. I remember him feeling so damn real as if he was still in the room. I was sobbing in the awake world too. Screaming. My mother was so drugged out she didn’t even stir in her sleep.

But idk what the scariest part was.

Having that nightmare or when I was awake I could hear his voice just on the otherside of my bed. Right over the edge progressively getting louder as he was getting closer. He was whispering in a language I cannot understand. Latin of course but I sure as heck am not fluent in it.

But no matter how many nightmares I had. No matter how many dreams the devil would curse by showing up,, he never once actually harmed me.

And now, when scary shit happens i am the first to jump into action and call whatever it is out. I am the first ready to fight whatever invisible force or paranormal entity is here or there or anywhere.

I am not scared of them. Because the devil used to haunt me and still does on occasion, so why should I be scared of a lower class evil creature?

But,, I just wanna know, in all seriousness, am I the only one who’s experienced shit like this?

I could write a novel of every nightmare he’s been in. I can almost tell you every word he’s ever spoken to me.

But are these just my subconscious thoughts and fears or perhaps someone else knows the answer?

Because I sure as fuck don’t.

1 note · View note

dudeimsolgbt · 7 years ago

Text

Queer B👁

Haha get it- anyway I've decided to post this answer to an anon ask publicly because it didn't publish the way I expected and I don't understand tumblr idk. Anon asked that people who don't id as bi stop trying to define what I means to bi people. While I personally see a clear difference between langauge that opens up a dialogue and language which aims to shut it down, I totally agree with that sentiment. Thank you anon for opening a discourse!

So, while we're on the topic, I'd like to talk a little bit about the nature of identifiers (like "bi", "pan", "queer" etc) in the current culture of the LGBTQ community. On the one hand, they're just that - identifiers, which means both that we can adopt them and display them and change them around as our identities shape and grow, and also that they're inherently personal to every individual that carries them. This means that while some people wear the "bi" identifier proudly and claim that for them, it signifies a love of/attraction to people of all genders, others do adhere to the Latin root and the binary implication of the term, and they're only attracted to the binary genders. (Whether or not that includes trans people also varies.) I've known all these kinds of bi people. They are all valid people and while I always enjoy talking to them about what our different identifiers mean to us, I never try to push my own definitions on them. Again, that's not what we're about - not on this blog, not irl, not in the Qmmunity.

To emphasise, it's difficult, even as a bi-identifying person, to define bisexuality. It has a long, troubled and triumphant history in the LGBTQ community and has picked up a lot of diverse meanings to different people along the way. Which one rings true to you is a personal choice.

Then you've got me. 👋 I'll answer to bi, pan, omni, queer - heck, sometimes I even love to call myself gay - because they could all identify me depending on the definition you wanna go with. Depending on what mood or headspace I'm in. Depending on the company, the environment, and other factors. But if someone were to ask me, open-endedly, what I identify as, I favour pan, because I like the implication of "all", and anyone can tell you it's a great conversation starter. No, mum, I don't get a boner in the kitchen department at IKEA. But thanks for wanting to clear that up.

So, what does pan mean to me? It means that while I do see gender, because it's an important part of a lot of folk's identities - whether they're cis, trans, agender or nonbinary - it is not a factor for me. I like ALL the genders.

If you're reading that and thinking, hey, that's me, but I identify as bi! Then that's awesome. Keep wearing that identifier with pride. No one else is gonna tell you how you should define yourself or the terms you use. At least not here. They might just want to open up a discourse with you and learn a bit in the process. Much like how 80% of people I talk to about my identity want to ask about skillets and woks. It's chill.

- Els

#lgbt #lgbtq #lgbt discourse #bi discourse #pan discourse #queer discourse #labels #sexuality

1 note · View note

grammarkid · 7 years ago

Note

can you rant about Jennifer's body plz? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on it

oh, my dude.. my dude, ur rly gonna regret asking me this. like, i legit wrote a paper on this film. i analyzed it for a month straight and did research. for ur own sake, i’m so sry. for everyone else, i’m gonna put it under a cut, bc.. it’s a lot.

ok, i just want to preface this by saying that i know that the movie is objectively just bad. tbh, the writing is terrible, and diablo cody? thought she could tap into the hip cool teen lingo™️? but she was rly just pulling words out of her ass, so i always get torn between finding the dialogue laughable and cringe-worthy.

but i love the movie to death and i actually got the chance to write a big paper about it in college. long story short, i took this english/social studies class that was all about monsters – vampires, werewolves, zombies, cyborgs, etc. – and how they were representations of society’s fear of those who transgress social norms. so, basically we spent an entire semester studying ‘monster culture,’ a way of reading texts that parses the social anxieties from within their monster stories, bc the word ‘monster’ comes from the latin ‘monstrum,’ which literally means “that which reveals or warns.” so in monster theory, a monster always signifies something other than itself. & our final assignment was to analyze a monster film that we hadn’t discussed in class and explain the issues behind the film’s monster – but i won’t get into all that, bc that’s kind of a diff story.

but without going into all the social anxiety stuff about teenage sexuality, simply put, the film is an allegory for the ways in which sexuality and one’s self-esteem are intertwined. literally, jennifer gets turned into a demon, and the only way she can remain healthy and beautiful is to kill/feed off the guys at her school – but, rly, the story behind that is about jennifer’s insecurities.

listen. jennifer slept with a lot of guys, even before she was transformed into a demon. needy said that jennifer lost her virginity in junior high. did u know that adolescents who have sex earlier are more likely to be depressed and to have issues with their self-esteem? (i told u, i did the research.) and teens with high levels of “sexual permissiveness” are often low in self-esteem in comparison to those who abstain. (no judgment at all, that’s just what the studies say. and let’s talk about the word ‘permissiveness’ here – it’s explicitly stated that jennifer’s already done anal. i’d say that’s permissive for a teenager.) and studies have also found that ppl who do participate in sex will often experience a temporary boost in self-esteem afterward, bc it makes them feel desirable – shocking!!

so, ok, the point is, what jennifer does with boys after she becomes a demon is rly not that different from what she did with boys before she was a demon – she uses them to improve her self-image. (the only difference now being that she.. u know.. kinda eats them.) bc as confident and pretty as jennifer is, she has a lot of problems with her self-image. she’s peppy and vivacious whenever she looks pretty, but rude and mean when she feels ugly. & like, the biggest fuckin’ insult needy could use against her was that she was insecure?? literally nothing else that needy said had any effect on her, but she rly cracked when needy accused her of being insecure. i mean, she literally starts crying as she’s putting on her makeup for the winter formal bc she can see herself in the mirror and she’s ugly, and the only way she can fix that is to, u know, eat a guy – and it’s not just any guy, ok? she’s not just going around murdering the random 65y/o dude in the mcdonald’s drive-thru or the lady running the convenience store. they’re all young guys, around her age, who very obviously find her attractive.

hmm. deteriorating demon eats boys who are attracted to her to regain beauty vs. human teenage girl with deteriorating self-worth and self-esteem sleeps with boys who are attracted to her to feel beautiful again. and uh let’s not forget that girls who regularly use guys are often called ‘man eaters.’ like, it literally could not be more obvious?? yet so many ppl i’ve talked to about it are oblivious.

but the thing that rly gets me about this movie? it’s the relationship between jen and needy. and i’m not just talking about the fact that they made out in bed for thirty seconds – although that does play a factor. i’m talking about how the film is rly an exploration of how these issues literally destroy their relationship.

bc jennifer is detrimentally obsessed with being pretty and popular and ‘socially relevant’ but she can’t let go of needy. needy even says that it’s to the point that kids at their school literally can’t understand why jen hangs out with her?? and i think that reason is pretty obvious.

like, ppl have their opinions, but i feel like there is clearly something between jennifer and needy beyond just friendship? jennifer is constantly sizing needy up, flirting with her, touching her, etc. jennifer even says that they used to play ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ when they were younger. like, idk, that doesn’t seem like something friends do to me?? & it definitely doesn’t seem like something needy would suggest. no, that had to have been jennifer’s idea. but why? bc she has feelings for needy. hint: jennifer didn’t go after anyone in the film other than ppl she could use to her advantage – she explicitly mentions wanting to sleep with ahmet, jonas is the quarterback so ofc sleeping with him would be a boost to her esteem, colin asked her out on a date despite her lackluster appearance, and she also mentioned finding chip attractive. (if she could get him to choose her despite his loyalty to needy, wouldn’t that be a rush? why do u think she was so adamant when she said ‘tell me i’m better than needy’??) she doesn’t even attempt to approach anyone else in that way except needy. immediately after jennifer’s transformation, she goes back to needy. she’s the first person jennifer thinks of, and the first person we see jennifer approach in that way. and the scene definitely isn’t lacking sexual tension?? but ultimately it just suggests that needy could, in fact, give jennifer the same thing she got from the boys – i would even go so far as to say that, as a whole, the film suggests that needy is the only one who could give her that – but she can’t bring herself to do it. she cares too much about her to hurt her, to use her like that, and she even admits that later in needy’s bedroom. she literally says “i couldn’t hurt you.”

like omg the real tragedy of the movie is that needy and jen are torn apart by their missed opportunities. they’re constantly reaching out for one another, but they’re never in sync. after jen’s transformation, needy tries to be there for her, asks her questions, wants to be sure she’s okay, but jen can’t let her in bc she can’t even cope with the truth herself. after she kills colin, jen goes to needy’s room and tells her what happened to her bc it’s taking its toll on her and she’s desperate for needy’s support and validation, but needy is already convinced that she’s evil and her aggressive questions make jennifer retract. and without needy, jennifer has nothing. that’s why she goes after chip, bc it will hurt needy the same way needy hurt her. & personally, i don’t think jennifer was ever truly attracted to chip – i think she was attracted to his loyalty. & she was jealous of needy’s relationship with him bc it was steady and respectful and jen had no way of obtaining that for herself. and at that point in the film, she’s got nothing left to lose. honestly, like, with the others? jen didn’t hesitate. she made out with them and tore them apart at the first available opportunity. with chip? she took him to the pool and they just.. fucking sat there?? she tells him “i feel so empty” and yea most ppl probably take that to mean that she’s hungry, but if she was starving, then she’d just have her way with chip and be done with it, wouldn’t she? but she didn’t want to. she feels empty bc it’s all catching up to her and she doesn’t even have needy to help her through it. needy pushed her away.

which is why i personally think that jennifer looks her absolute worst in the final scene with needy in her bedroom. she fed a bit off chip, obv, bc it was enough to kill him, and enough to completely heal the giant gaping hole in her stomach – which she plainly says to needy only happens ‘when she’s full.’ and yet she’s still so ugly. her skin is pale and her eyes are yellow and bloodshot, why? bc her physical state is a literal representation of her self-image and she feels terrible about herself so she looks terrible. ok, another hint: immediately after jen dies? she’s beautiful again. you literally watch it happen. & yeah, bc the film is about demons and the occult, u could say that the demon left her body, blah blah, but i think she becomes beautiful again bc that’s what she looks like when it’s not being distorted through the lens of her own self-view. all her insecurities aren’t killing her anymore, bc there’s nothing left. (and, just one last note about this final scene. what allows needy to kill jen? she tears off her bff necklace. and then jen literally loses all her power. she falls out of midair. it’s like everything stops, bc she still wore the necklace, she was still holding on to needy, even tho needy pushed her away. that was the last thing holding her together and needy took that too. and i think, rly, that’s what ultimately killed her. sure, the boxcutter had something to do with it, but there’s a reason that moment took up so much screen time, why it had such an impact, whereas the knife going in and that stupid ass ‘my tit’ line were so rushed in comparison.)

ugh, gosh. ok, i rly need to stop now. all that is already all twisted up and it hardly makes any sense bc i was rushing. i could literally go on for days about this movie, but this has already taken up like an hour of my day?? and i’m sure no one has even read this far anyway. but yeah. i have a lot of feelings about jennifer’s body, because imo it’s rly a tragedy disguised as a horror film.

#r u sry u asked?#i'm p sure u are #i'm also sry i'm such a loser #feel free to unfollow me i'm trash

21 notes · View notes

flappyfluellen · 8 years ago

Text

So I read the Merry Wives of Windsor

...and I have a lot of thoughts!!

To tell the truth, I got into this play because of Hugh Evans. And my theater friends.

Basically what happened was—I was surfing the Shakespeare internet when suddenly I came across a page on how Shakespeare writes accents. There was one on Welsh accents, which intrigued me. After all, Fluellen is quite possibly my favorite character in Shakespeare, and I’m pretty interested in Welsh culture, thanks to him. However, I was under the impression that Fluellen and Glendower (and that one random Welsh soldier dude from Richard II) were the only Welsh people in Shakespeare. Turns out I was wrong—Sir Hugh Evans is a Welsh parson from Merry Wives. And, then to my utter astonishment, it turns out he has more lines than Fluellen or Glendower!

So of course I was very interested in finding out just who this Evans guy was. Originally I didn’t plan on reading the entire play—just looking through a couple summaries, maybe. However, the factor that fully convinced me was that some of my theater friends (who were in Henry V with me) were currently in a production of Merry Wives. I had a good conversation with them about it, as well as talking with some of my other Shakespeare-obsessed friends (shoutout to @tragicdanishlesbians !), and decided—this play sounds interesting; I’m gonna read it, why the hell not.

…Anyway, all that goes to show that I read the play (in three days actually), and quite thoroughly enjoyed it.

I feel like I should primarily address Evans, since he got me into this whole thing. He’s great. Arguably extraneous, but eh, I love him. He gets mocked for his accent and Welsh-ness a couple times, though, which is… unfortunate. Lots of references to stereotypically Welsh things, like cheese or flannels. Especially cheese. (also, perhaps he and Fluellen could be brothers?) My favorite scene of his is certainly the one where he’s quizzing William on Latin verb conjugations and Nell Quickly entirely misinterprets it… that was pretty hilarious. And he sings to himself when he’s scared?! Aww.

Also the best line in the entire play: “Heavens defend me from that Welsh fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!”

I feel like I’ve spent way too much time discussing Evans. He is in no way the most important character in the play. Here, let me speak to some of the others.

Mistess Ford & Page? The badass women Windsor deserves. 10/10 love these women. They take no shit from Falstaff nor their husbands, and are pretty much the driving forces of the play. Honestly, what more can I say? And Ford’s line about them is pretty great: "I think, if your husbands were dead, you two would marry.”

Even the play is named after them—they are the Merry Wives: "We'll leave a proof, by that which we will do, / Wives may be merry, and yet honest too: / We do not act that often jest and laugh; / 'Tis old, but true, still swine eat all the draff."

However, in all honesty, I think that Ford is the most interesting character in the play. At the beginning, he’s just kind of your standard jealous husband. It’s all fun and games. But then Falstaff calls him a cuckold about five times in one speech, and suddenly this happens…

"Would any man have thought this? See the hell of having a false woman! My bed shall be abused, my coffers ransacked, my reputation gnawn at … Terms! names! Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer, well; Barbason, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends: but cuckold! Wittol! —Cuckold! the devil himself hath not such a name. … I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese … than my wife with herself; then she plots, then she ruminates, then she devises…"

This soliloquy of Ford’s really struck me because it’s so intense. He’s essentially saying that being called a cuckold is worse than being called a devil: I would certainly liken it to some of Othello’s or Leontes’ speeches. Though of course, Ford is different from Othello or Leontes (or Claudio from Much Ado) because he actually has pretty good reason to suggest his wife is unfaithful. And yet… he’s actually a lot more humane about it? Yes, he has this intense speech (which really speaks to his anxieties)—but he doesn’t slander or kill *cough* Othello *cough* his wife. And he apologizes to her afterwards. Which is great!

Of course, since Merry Wives is a comedy, it doesn’t explore these darker themes as much as a play like Othello or Winter’s Tale would. However, I would still argue that there are elements of darkness in the play. One is the theme of cuckoldry. Another is the treatment of Falstaff.

For the most part, Falstaff’s humiliation is hilarious. He deserves a lot of it. The whole laundry-basket thing is fantastic. But… it seems to me that they almost go too far? “We cannot misuse him enough,” says Mistress Page. The last scene is pretty great, in my opinion, but still—they burn him with candles! I’m not sure how I feel about that! It seems to parallel the treatment of Malvolio in Twelfth Night, almost...

Some more thoughts!

Poor Quickly, working for all those different people. Also, she’s not as badass in this play as she was in Henry IV—but, well.

I wonder when this play is set, in regards to Henry IV? The only mention of characters in H4 looks to be this offhand line of Page’s regarding Fenton: "The gentleman is of no having: he kept company with the wild prince and Poins; he is of too high a region; he knows too much."

I find it kind of hilarious that Slender and Caius ended up accidentally marrying boys.

Re. Caius… wtf dude?? He is a little Too Obsessed with Anne Page. And then when he hears that Evans encouraged Slender to woo Anne, all of a sudden he’s like I WILL KILL YOU EVANS and it’s actually really intense and disturbing. Dude. Chill. Please. Evans deserves 0% of this and tbh neither does Anne nor Simple.

I don’t really understand how Caius and Evans got revenge on the Host…? Did that ever happen? Was it connected to that random horse-stealing incident? idk.

Re. the whole subplot with Anne Page and her suitors—I’m glad she got to marry who she wanted in the end! That was really great.

There was so much horn imagery… obviously relating to cuckoldry, but still interesting.

Most of the play is in prose! It was interesting to note the rare places where they switch to verse (most notably, when talking about magic, Herne the hunter, etc)

Bottom line? Merry Wives is a fun play. It is in no way as deep as some of Shakespeare’s other comedies—but hey, it’s a comedy. It’s fun. It’s got a good story. Lots of laughs. And even some little hints at a darker nature. Not for people unfamiliar with Shakespeare—but for those who are, I would recommend it!

#my post #long post #merry wives of windsor #analysis #evans #ford #review #fin reads plays

1 note · View note