#but I mean also as a general principle... who is it hurting for ppl to like a certain character. why should someone have to apologize for

[annieqattheperipheral]

Ok just watched episode 3: learning to win. sway vs. mchucky

This episode was crafted so well. Gave us the introverted intellectual vulnerable hearthrob musician vs. the boisterous popular shit-talking quarterback jock storyline.

Since i like neither the bruins nor panthers it was more like watching a fun sports movie and letting the characters make me fall in love with them with those tropes in place. I really do compartmentalize how i interact with these teams and their players so ok let's break it down, here's how my heart and head battles it out:

Bruins? A bigass boo from this leafs fan. I hate them on principle just for that, for a generational og6 rivalry. But. But i respect their locker room. Their leaders have created a cohesive unit i envy tf out of for generations past present and future. They're a good group of ppl ...with a shittastic front office of old world hockeymen. Sorry to bruins fans for having to deal with that bs

Panthers? Another huge groan but for both personal reasons and the leafs thing. Yea kicked leafs ass in playoffs '23 round 2 but that's like whatever (that was leafs own doing, didn't bring it. or anything really). It's that personally i hate their style of play, it takes the fun out of watching the skill and speed of hockey. I can't abide by the dirty shit, just makes it un-fun for me.

Ok this is where it gets weird. Let's talk about the people

mtkachuk: i love him, i loved him with the flames, i love him still. Amazing kind gracious funny personable. But put him on the ice with the panthers and who? Who dis? No sir i do not know this man. I cannot explain why my brain does this but it's the only way i know how to enjoy Matthew while also having disgust for the panthers playing style. I mean maybe this is how/why we love/hate the teams we do. It hits the right or wrong chords in your own heart. So yea, that's the logic, rational or not.

Paul Maurice: i love this man and if i knew him in real life like maybe my uncle or someone, i would chat with him for hours during a family dinner party like i do with my favourite relatives who i respect so much. His interviews hug me to the core. He fascinates me with his clarity on life. I don't agree with what he has his players do, but i respect tf outta his drive and purpose and how he leads. Once again, a battle bw my heart and head *shrug*

Swayman: honestly i never paid much attention to him. I've never been a goalie crazy person so while i had classified him as one of the elite ones in the league, i wasn't ever taken by him (yes even thru all the cutesy goalie hugs). That said, it was really lovely getting to know him and what a beautiful voice. His dad was endearing as heck, reminded me of one of my colleagues. What a sweet gentle-hearted family, but also so tough mentally to get your kid into the nhl, while holding true to their vulnerable emotional side. Pretty fucking incredible i think. Sway got thru arbitration and used it as a checklist to drive himself further. Amazing. Fuck yea he's got an element of corniness to him but Matthew's corny as heck too in 24/7 florida frat boy party mode so whatever everyone's being their own true selves I'll embrace that.

I laughed very hard at the tkachuk family scenes. Good stuff. But hell no, no ty, i could not survive in that environment lmao. I do jokes yes, I'm usually the funniest person in social settings but i don't do shitting on each other stuff (why i hate hanging out with stand-up comics. improvisers tho? my favourite ppl, all about yes and'ing each other)

But all of that was great insight into the who what how why's of matthew and brady beyond any interview ever could. Pretty great what they've got going on. god how open those tkachuks can be with one another with sentiments disguised as insults and jokes, and not have feelings hurt. Ofc that family keeps on thriving. They can say anything to each other and know that they can fight back and still be supported. Like that's fuck awesome. I'm envious as hell. Just as i am tho, with how i was raised, i wouldn't survive them lol.

Lmao this epi review got loooong. Like i said,

fun sports movie vibe

Made me love sway and hate matthew lollll. I would show this to non-hockey ppl as a gateway into hockey.

Also someone pls tell matthew to get seat belts for his golf cart wtfffff!!! He's driving that shit on the road with actual cars!!! My heart could not take it😳

[tonyglowheart]

I mean, even mxtx herself said that jc isn't an evil person. Deeply flawed for sure, but not bad. It's like any and all nuance is thrown to the wind in pursuit of the next "jc hot-take"

yeah exactly, and like the whole point of Jiang Cheng's story and reveal, as other people have said before, is that mxtx wants to play with your perception of your certainty on how you judged a character/person or a situation. It's a big theme in MDZS in general, the idea that like the "certain" reading or the most popular reading isn't always the "truest" reading, but that even a "true" reading is subject to personal perspective/context. And that, sometimes there is no "true" reading of a situation, because there's always going to be someone's context and truth that you miss, or are not able to reconcile against someone else's.

sidebar: MXTX literally does this with Wei Wuxian early on, she starts off by portraying Wei Wuxian in a way that he can be read as a typically "evil" villain character (e.g. when he mentioned going to Dafan Mtn to look for evil spirits, the more evil the better! <- paraphrased she might have used a softer word than "evil" but the point is that line is supposed to make you think you're reading a book where the MC is the "villain" of the story, until you learn more about the backstory/history and get more insight into his perspective)

I'm not saying that Jiang Cheng isn't a flawed character, because yeah, he very much is. But at the same time. Like the Jiang Cheng reveal is supposed to operate a bit more like a "Gift of the Magi" situation, as well as shedding light more on Jiang Cheng's perspective and adding context to how he's come across and how he has been shown to act/react. All of these do in fact have contextual influences on how Jiang Cheng is, imo, intended to be used in the narrative & as a narrative foil.

re: lack of nuance- that's something that's definitely frustrating me a lot recently in the tone of some posts I see in the tags lol. Even now with my recent posts, the reaction(s) I've seen seem to have boiled down to "we just want canon JC characterization; why are you using culture as an excuse for the bad shit he did lol," which like... fine maybe it's not a bad faith reading of what I said, maybe I didn't convey what I was trying to convey well enough, about there being nuances to analysis that I think are being omitted or ignored, some of which imo are culturally-influenced that people seem to discount in favor of an "objective imperative" kind of standard (which imo is generally not as "objective" or "contextless" as people think, they're just not seeing how their own contexts are still acting as a lens thru which they view things).

I don't think I took it to that extreme of "I'm using culture to excuse Jiang Cheng of wrongdoing," but then again does it matter what I think I was doing if the other party is perceiving their truth of the situation a certain way? The ideal is that one's intent can be reconciled with the other party's perception, and that both parties act in good faith to try to find that overlap in understanding, but I can't force other people to engage with me in good faith or be open to interrogating their own self-evident truths or things they've taken for granted which may serve to be examined. I'm fairly cognizant that I'm probably not going to be changing the minds of people who are already made up on this subject. Experience tells me that's not how arguments on the internet tend to play out, and if I do end up swaying anyone it's usually people who are watching as opposed to the people actively arguing with me on a given topic.

Anyway, I do think a lot of this arguments of "canon Jiang Cheng" are reductive in general, but also not the whole picture as far as canon goes if we do try to take that seriously or on face value. For example, what IS Jiang Cheng's "canon" characterization? The story isn't told largely from Jiang Cheng's perspective - whatever you come up with will still largely be based on outsider perspectives (each of whom have their own interpretations and agendas which color their views). So then, are you playing with Jiang Cheng's reputation vs characterization? If that's the case, that's fine, I can't control what other people do, but then to claim a moral high ground of having a "purer" or more "complete" or "true" reading because you eschew certain nuance points (which are also canonical) or take a more cynical reading of certain aspects of a text, comes across as arrogant and narrow to me. The opposite extreme of a thing isn't more correct than the extreme one is reacting to.

[bitbrumal]

HEADCANON ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ █ ▌▌▌kaeya alberich.            morality & social urges / behaviour.

he's socially dysfunctional & channels that through his job so it doesn't ruin his fucking life ( & that of the ppl arnd him who aren't shitbags ). yes, i will expand on that lmao.      personally i don't headcanon him as like. a very kind person. at all. y'know ppl go with the 'hurt ppl are the kindest' with him a lot & i just like... for his stay in mondt to have put on healthy tracks smth that could've gone insanely badly.

i mean it coulda just been him in a ditch somewhere, but i mean... he could've been. so much worse. forever pointing at diluc for basically showing kaeya how to be an angel (lol) & feel good doing it... the merits of kindness, not as a virtue but... to get that love & belonging you want so bad.

i like to go hard on his 'manipulative / secretive' side that way,,, not that he's evil, at all. just. not a person with a lot of inherent sympathy / empathy fuelled by kindness. & he is a sadist, genuinely enjoys putting people through hell---the shit he went through before mondt absolutely put him on an awful track given nature / nurture & psychology,,, i like the spice of a morally apathetic person basically being pavlovian trained into being an Expert at being kind - safely & non-suspiciously: just went through a kind life... & was so desperate FOR kindness due to the SHIT one he'd lived before that he took that & internalised the shit out of it....

...he wants ppl to love him like he loved diluc, so he emulates--

AND I JUST THINK THAT'S SO SWEET IN A FUCKED UP LIL WAY. CUTE AF. U GO U FUNKY LIL ANTISOCIAL ASSHOLE. like he's. sadistic. but he channels it thru his work so he picks the right targets for it... i hc him as having been p fucking mean* as a child ( he still is ) & that's how he learned that.... hurting the ppl u like & who give u all that love & kindness u like SO MUCH... yeah it scratches an itch but also holy fuck.

the cons outweigh the pros... he's not kind bc he's kind but bc he selfishly enjoys what he can have when he is kind to the ppl he likes - or, rather, doesn't let out his worst impulses in their direction.      & yeah he is also a lil bit kind, actually, bc human beings are complex & nuanced & possess everything just in varying degrees... & i like for him to realise much later on that ‘’’mondt’’’ fostered that actual bit of kindness in him & that IS why he is, after all that, actually kind...

but oh, not in general.

bitch could've been a monster & thrived that way ( in an unhealthy thriving sort of way, but still ). but just goes. eh. i like these weird sensitive lil bitches with their silly principles lmao. they're mine. c: i'll kill u if u touch. c:

*mean: his inclination toward weaknesses he spots- & he spots them so, so well -is just to... pick exactly the core of it & then demonstrate it to the person in a way that causes the most havoc. it’s sadistic, but it’s also lonely as fuck---& this is why i say his earliest childhood put him on a dangerous track. his nature + nurture taught him to dig into people as the only way to know them, to feel a connection with them!         & then he was given to diluc, who... uh. y’know. for all crepus’ flaws, did have a... well, he’s in nature & nurture kaeya’s opposite. even inverse, if we take the dark start / light middle + light start / dark middle--- but back on track. diluc gives when he loves. he is just super affectionate & generous & good-hearted -- & that is how kaeya learned that good-hearted people aren’t just sensitive little butt babies ( about the only ways he knows how to touch them- ).

it feels good.

kindness. a heart you can trust to be good not bc you’re useful to them, but bc they ... wouldn’t be able to be okay with themselves if they didn’t honour that. you don’t have to feel like you’re valuable or have inherent worth ( lol what’s that can i eat it ), with a person who loves just because they are a loving person. & kaeya learned that.                       & that’s why he, despite being in a decidedly different book morally speaking ( & how that should surely put them off ), surrounds himself with good people. i don’t mean the knights ( per se ), that’s naive. amber, jean, lisa, rosa, diluc still... the traveller.

being loved by a person who is kind in their love is just so good, & all kaeya personally, selfishly desires, is to be loved in ways that fulfil instead of hurt.

& that, that is why he uses his job to go overboard here or there & go way further from the book than at times needed, & why jean lets him do it too.

because he has to somewhere channel both his nature & his traumatising nurture; can’t just not be that person at the snap of his fingers---& he is still so fucked up socially especially. because my ( & canon? ) kaeya doesn’t really get that fulfilment anymore you see bc he lies to everyone he loves & can’t feel their kind love bc he knows, he knows now they won’t keep giving it. they will turn cruel, too - & not even for the reasons that deserve it.        so he keeps it to himself & does his best to feel like this is enough, he can settle for this. he won’t set his world aflame again just to feel its warmth...

definitely being cruel isn’t the only thing so honest that it makes a bit of him feel full.

anyway sooner or later he’s either going to go completely off the rails or confess, & probably both in that order. good luck, jean! lol.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

What would you say are Rin and Haru's biggest flaws, individually?

Hmmm... I think when it comes to Haru, it’s firstly his stubborness, like he’s one of those people who would rather go broke, than budge from their life principles, which is not necessarily bad in my opinion, but it’s just very impractical and sometimes can lead to, well.. season 2 kind of thing, when you know... you gotta think about your future and realize that in reality you can’t be “fully free” in life, or like how you gonna pay the bills haha (like I skipped school a lot like him too, but this kind of thing doesn’t really matter if you can pass anyway, cause you smart without them and like reading, but after school you still gotta do smth, and even tho I undestand the whole “turning smth I adore into profession can make me hate it” dilemma, there’s still ways of figuring out how to go around it, which thanks to Rin he did, so it’s all ok).

But that was like s1-2 Haru’s problem, now he’s completely changed and grew up so nicely and behaves like an adult and does everything he needs to do, once he realized what his dream is, plus he didn’t even faulter after the Albert thing and I was so proud of him, I just didn’t expect such radical growth tbh, so it’s getting harder to find the flaws in him lol

The second one (and that once again not now!Haru related), but it’s been mentioned in the books too is his unwillingness to accept help. He’s like a real tough cookie, when it comes to this. Like the only two people who can make him do it and whom he allows to are Rin and Nagisa. And that's mainly because they manage to do it in a way that doesn’t hurt his dignity, I think. Cause like with Makoto for example, Haru stated that every time he tries to help him, he does it in a way, that makes him feel pathetic and weak, like Makoto is pitying him. And I don’t know if anybody ever experienced this, but when you feel like someone pities you, normal people’s pride just won’t allow to accept any help like this, and when it comes to ppl like Haru (and coming from a person like this xD), he’d rather die somewhere in a dumpster, than accept it haha. Which leads to situations like “I’ll let all Makoto’s mom food rot in the fridge, but won’t touch it, even if I starve and pass out.. cause I have my own rice, you bitch” haha

And I know it’s kinda a bad trait to have maybe, but I understand it. Plus it’s really mostly past Haru related, I mean, after the last movie, when they released a scene, when Haru himself went to ask Ryuuji to train him (well, in his own savage way, ofc and disrespectfully in the middle of the night haha, but still), I kinda think he’s dealing with this real good and gonna be okay. But in case something too drastic happens, everyone knows they should call Rin lmao, but now it’s okay, since he’s gonna be always near us anyways:)

Rin... well, his biggest problem in my opinion is the fact that he’s complitely oblivious when it comes to reading people’s feelings. And I mean, most might think that’s it no biggy and just a cool trick to have, but no needed in general, but to be honest it can really help you in life, and in Rin’s case, literally half of his problems wouldn’t even be there in the first place. 

I know, it’s very ironic, since he’s obsessed with watching melodramas and it’s really funny in moments, like when he thinks Gou is into Momo or smth like that... like him being clueless about other ppl is pretty harmless. But when it comes to his personal love life it’s just, it gets sad and just absurd. Like okay, he didn’t get that Haru didn’t want to let him go and that he was heartbroken seeing him cry (although since when Haru runs after people, and physically refuses to let them go idk), but he also apparently thought that Haru asking him to call him was just him being polite... and even after everything was resolved and Haru dropped the new team and everything, just to say that without him he doesn’t even need swimming, and after knowing that Haru wasn’t even swimming all these years... he still didn’t get what it was about. And let me just remind you, that he returned home on each holiday with a thought that Haru didn’t want to see him and when Gou said that it killed me, it seriously killed me!

He wants to call Haru, but then he doesn’t, cause “what if he disturbs him”... when Haru literally said to his face that he can’t wait to see him again, when they went to their sakura date, when Haru was all “pls come back soon”... but nah, Rin’s brain still went “he doesn’t want to hear you, let me pine here”.

He fucking thought that Haru called him and ran to him in the middle of the night... because he was intersted in Gou. I’m... shoot me, pls.

I literally know only two fictional characters who were oblivious to this extent. And the other one had to die, reincarnate, and be on the verge of dying again to realise this and only after he was told openly by another person “bitch ya blind”, so I honestly do not know how do we deal with this here lmao

The second one (and that once again mostly about past Rin and I think it’s fine in that age)... he was a drama queen, he’s like “I quit!!!!!!!!” and he throws his goggles and he kicks the trash bins and squeezes and throws cans around, but we all know that he just needs to calm down a bit and he’s gonna keep going xD And that’s perfectly fine, I mean, I have such days, too, but the problem is that many people around him actually take his words seriously, so like, idk... I get it, everyone gets emotional, but maybe be careful about throwing words like “I never have to swim with you ever again” out there, some things are hard to forget, even when they’re said in the heat of the moment. Like, did you ever like say smth in the middle of the fight that you didn’t mean, but just cause you knew it would hurt the other? This is like very common, but still wouldn’t recommend xD And it applies to both of them actually, like Mr.”What dream? What future?” is no better haha, although Rin still wins the crown, cause in s1 he was offended by literally everyone, and he was like little Godzilla all cause he thought Haru didn’t want him back lmao. Which really leads us back to his first and only problem:D

P.S. Their biggest flaws tbh were just like a normal part of growing up thing in my opinion. I just feel like they were both extra in their own kind of ways back then, but now... looking at them now, the way they talk, the way they behave.. I mean, they grew up so nicely and their characters progressed so nicely, that I don’t even know what flaws they have now.. well, except for Rin still not getting anything, when it comes to Haru’s feelings. He was like “you’re the one for me” and Haru went “same” and Rin went “hahaha well, okay, we must not say that, do you want me to show you how to put your seat down?” and then he fell asleep... yeah #EXTREMELYSLOWBURN #YOUMIGHTDIEWATCHINGTHEMBUTITSOKAY #TOTALLYWORTHIT

I’m just literally waiting for them in 2021 to have a scene from the memes:

Person A: I love you.

Person B *is heartbroken*: Who is You? Do I even know him?

Person A *points at B*: No. You. I’m in love with you.

Person B *turns around to see that there’s no one behind him and starts crying* Well, of course you’d love this beautiful piece of air, before you loved me.

Person A: Jesus fucking christ on a pogo stick...

[vampireqrow-moved]

um its my birthday so wait until 12:01am pst to block me if u hate this post 🥰🥰

long story short the pansexual label is redudant and actively harmful (its far from the worst problem bisexuals face but it is one issue) and i dont hate anyone who identifies as pan because A) those ppl are bi like me and B) i used to identify as pan myself.

if thats enough for you to block me and make a callout post for me then i cant stop you but pretty please either read this whole thing or just wait a few minutes for my bday to end 🥰🥰

anyways im kicking off this point with some personal experiences bc i love to talk to myself. i got introduced to the pan label at maybe 10ish years old, and started identifying with it pretty much right away. i heard about it before bisexual and it was pitched as attraction to all genders and of course trans people. i was of course a trans ally! i had trans friends! i was trans also but hadnt figured it out yet! the way i had heard of it, there was no bisexual, there was no need for bisexual, and identifying differently was excluding trans people, which I was certainly against. being bisexual was trans exclusionary and why would i exclude trans people? the 'hearts not parts' slogan was thriving around this time and i genuinely said it and meant it.

as i started to become more online, mostly through roleplaying websites and tumblr here, i started hearing of bisexuality. it was supposedly an older term, so older people still used it, but it was common knowledge that pansexual was the better, inclusive label and younger people should adopt the new inclusive language instead of the old and transphobic words like bisexual. /s

and then bi and pan solidarity was all the rage! pansexual wasnt erasing bisexuality, why did anyone ever think that? bi and pan were two separate and complete identities that were valid and had to be respected or youre a mean exclusionist. and an asexual person, hearing people labelled exclusionist always meant they were excluding people from the lgbta community who rightfully belonged, denying peoples lived experiences, and generally telling people theyre wrong about their sexuality because theyre too young. and all of those things were bad and had hurt me, so it would be ridiculous to change labels and support "pan exclusionists" because they were just as bad as ace and aro exclusionists, and they were all the same people. or so it seemed to me at that time.

then, 'hearts not parts' began getting called out for blatant transphobic by insinuating that pansexual was the only identity that loved people for their "hearts" and personalities instead of those gross gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and even straights who only saw people for their "parts". (STRAIGHT PEOPLE ARE NOT OPPRESSED. I AM MERELY POINTING OUT THAT PANSEXUALITY WAS SHOWN AS ABOVE ALL OTHERS.) many pan people, including myself, began to denounce the slogan and insist pansexuality wasnt transphobic, there had just been a coincidence that a transphobic slogan was everywhere and a huge part of people's explantions of and associations with pansexuality. hint: it wasnt a coincidence.

from my perspective, this is when i began to see people discussing dropping the word pansexual. that seemed to be a huge step from getting rid off a transphobic slogan, and these people were just meanies who hated microlabels. and i like microlabels! as a genderfluid person, and someone who has friends who use specific aro and acespec labels, ive seen how people can use them to name specific experiences while still acknowleging their presence underneath umbrella terms like aromantic, asexual, nonbinary, lgbta, and for some people, queer.

pansexuals dont do that. they dont label pansexuality as a specific set of experiences under the bisexual umbrella, they see themselves as a separate identity, and even if they started to, the history of biphobia and transphobic undeniably linked to the existence of pansexuality in enough to stop being worth using. but i digress. pansexualitys shiny new definition that many people cling to is that pansexual is attraction to all genders. bisexual is two or more genders.

which. frankly? doesnt make any sense. my guess is that its supposed to be inclusive of nonbinary genders and those a part of cultures who historically have not had a binary gender system in the first place. i cannot speak for the latter group, but as a nonbinary person, its not inclusive. anyone can be attracted to nonbinary people. literally anyone. theres no way to know if everyone you meet is nonbinary or not. whether or not a nonbinary person reciprocates those feelings and is interested in pursuing a relationship is completely up to the individual, regardless of the sexualities of the people involved.

bottom line is that you cant number the amounts of genders someone can be attracted to, thus rendering those definitions pointless. people can be attracted to all kinds of people regardless of gender, even if they are gay, a lesbian, or straight. all people can date thousands of nonbinary genders if all people involved are interested and comfortable with it. numbering the genders you can be attracted to diminishes the post of nonbinary, as it is not a third gender, it simply any experience not fitting within the western concept of the gender binary (if the person so chooses to identify as such. if you cant tell already, the nonbinary experience is varied between every single nonbinary person.) important to note also that no widely accepted bisexual text defines bisexual as attracted to exclusively two genders or even the "two or more genders". i know this is used a lot but please read the bisexual manifesto. its free online i promise.

some people also claim pansexuals experience "genderblind" attraction while bisexuals feel differently attracted to different genders. this is very nitpicky for whats supposed to be two unconnected idenities, but thats only part of the problem. this definition is also not in any widely accepted bisexual texts, and bisexuality has never excluded those who experience genderblind attraction. i am in fact a bi person who experiences genderblind attraction. this does not mean i am not bisexual. it simply means i experience bisexuality differently than other bisexuals, and thats wonderful! no broad communities like bisexuality are expected to all share the same experience. we are all so different and its amazing were able to come together under the bisexual flag.

last definition, or justification i should say, is that yes these definitions are redundant and theyre the same sexuality, but people prefer different labels and thats okay. i agree in principle. people can define themselves as many things like homosexuals or gays or lesbians or queers or even other reclaimed slurs, while still not labelling themselves under the most "common" or "accurate" labels.

but pansexuality isnt the same as bisexuality, which may sound silly but hear me out. it has been continually used as a way to further divide bisexuals, who are already subject to large amounts of lgbta discrimination. "pansexuality was started by trans people who were upset with transphobia within the bisexual community! it cant be transphobic OR biphobic!" except of course that it can and it is. to say that trans people cant be transphobic is absurd. transmedicalism is right there, but thats not what im getting at. all minorities can have internal and sometimes external biases against people who are the same minority as them.

pansexuality was started as a way to be trans inclusive at the expense of labelling bisexuality as transphobic when its not. transphobia is everywhere, and bisexuals are not exempt. instead of working on the transphobia within the community, the creators of pansexuality decided to remove themselves from it to create a better and less tainted word and community, and the fact that pansexuality is intended to replace bisexuality or leave it for the transphobes goes to show a few things. pansexuality and bisexuality are inherently linked because the pan label is in response to the bi label. due to its origins, it is inherently competing with bisexuality and it cant be "reclaimed" from its biphobic roots. pansexuality is not a whole, separate, and valid label. its a biphobic response to issues within the bisexual community.

to top off this post, heres something a full grown adult once said to me. in person. she was my roommate. "i feel like im pan because im attracted to trans people. trans women, trans men, i could definitely date them. but not nonbinary people because thats gross and weird." she saw pan as trans inclusive and defined herself that way as opposed to bi which is shitty!

also a little extra tidbit about my experiences identifying as pan. i saw myself as better than every bi person. all of them. even my trans and bi friends. whenever they brought up being bisexual i would think to myself "why dont you identify as pansexual? its better and shows people you support trans people." because i was made to believe bisexuality didnt and was therefore inferior. thats the mindset that emerged from my time in the pansexual community. i am so sorry to all of my bisexual friends even if they never noticed. i love you all and hope you have a great day. this also goes to any bisexuals or people who identify as bi in anyway, such as biromantic or simply bi. love you all.

ummm yeah heres some extra reading i found helpful and relevant. here and here. also noooo dont disagree with me and unfollow me im so sexy 🥴🥴🥴

[ssaalexblake]

iatheia I'm not entirely sure we are "meant to" considering how many visceral posts I've seen how Danny is singlehandedly the worst part of the series ever because apparently he dares to stand up to the Doctor and come between him and Clara

yeah, but they didn't hate Danny, they hated that they weren't getting their own way because Capaldi nixed the idea of age inappropriate romances with his doctor because it meant they didn't get what they wanted, so obviously in a very logical and Not Irrational At All deduction it meant, apparently, that Danny was awful.

That wasn't the writing... That was bad faith behavior from a subset of fandom whose conception of support for one thing is to viciously attack a different thing that may challenge their thing. Danny could have been like, objectively the best and most noble person on the entire planet and that group would have hated him on principle because said hatred stemmed from support of a different thing, it had nothing to Actually do with Danny himself.

This type of thing happens in every fandom, a show introduces a reasonable love interest nobody in their right mind would Actually properly feel any kind of visceral hatred for (usually, honestly, because they lack the depth to have done anything actually bad) and Those Shippers(tm) act disgracefully, off the top of my head using only things i've personally seen i can name it happening in Bones, every single ncis, caos, rizzoli and isles, criminal minds, stargate and stargate atlantis and it took me 5 whole seconds to come up with those, i didn't have to think hard (as for sg1 i mean Kerry, not Pete, Pete actually Was awful).

As awful as the way Danny's character was treated (in that he was created to die on the alter of clara's white woman tears), the premise of the arc is faulty and awful, the emotional plot Of that awfulness was executed competently. Had they not Meant for people to like him, none of this even makes a vague bit of sense plot wise because nobody would have given a damn that he dies and is then openly violated, which you are genuinely meant to view as awful, and we would have had much less empathy/sympathy for Clara's feelings or actions that stem from all of these things if the aim wasn't to write a benign and in general likable person.

like... of course you're meant to like him. It's basic writing 101, unless the love interest is like... Evil, you are not meant to properly hate them. Especially a man whose exit from the show is giving up the chance to cheat an early death/murder to instead selflessly save the life of a small child.

i just. Would vastly prefer the opinions of people Without a horse in this race be more valued here. I neither ship clara and 12 or danny and clara, i'm coming from a purely narrative standpoint here of what makes sense and what doesn't from a story construction side. There was no reason, at all, for the writers to want anybody to hate Danny, the aim was to make it Hurt when he died, in which case, you want the audience to like him to dig in the knife.

and thank u for the opportunity to get a rant out that's been simmering for a Really long time. Like. For 15 years. This is also terribly old and annoying involving just like. a new character not love interest being introduced and everybody hating them on principle bc they liked the person who just left. It doesn't have to be shipping. my point is just that most of the time these ppl don't give a damn Who the person/ship is they're professing hatred for, the only thing they hate is that it's not the person/ship They wanted, and that has nothing to do with what the plot of the actual show was trying to say or the content the show actually gave them. it just says 'i did not get what I wanted'.

[nakasomethingkun]

hi!! i have 2 questions: firstly, i’m about to write an aftg fic and i would love to know your technique in how you characterize andrew, because you write him, and everything else in general so well! your aftg fics, which are admittedly the only one’s of yours i’ve read, are amazing!! secondly, if you’re ever looking for prompts or requests, would you consider writing the twins and their recovery in the years after tkm? i absolutely adore your writing and would love to see your take on them!!

oh, wow. i never expected to receive a question like this, so now i’m kind of stumped lmao. when i wrote my first aftg fic, i was very conscious of how i portrayed andrew; i regularly checked some scenes in the books and the extra content to get his voice and characterization right (things like how he doesn’t speak often - so that’s one trait, and when he does speak, how does he sound like? what about any character quirks? how does neil describe his body language or his appearance? what are his principles/stances? etc.). even if i didn’t get it totally right, i at least wanted to do his character service by not making him ooc. that said, though, i rarely care if i make him ooc nowadays. the thing about joining a new fandom is that you’re always nervous when/if you’re about to write a fic and post it. it’s the same feeling, every single time. as you get used to writing for that fandom though, you stop being super fussy and anxious about keeping the characters “in character”, because you realize that if you wanted everything to fit canon to a tee, you’d just stick to the original source material and not engage in fandom in the first place. 

but i digress. going back to how i characterize andrew, i normally just try to remember some of the basic stuff, like how he’s an asshole (no, really, this is a genuine tip lol). he’s blunt but he doesn’t talk much (not unless you’re neil or bee, and maybe renee, and i’m mostly referring to sober!andrew, if you’re writing/focusing on canon compliant fics). he doesn’t lie per se, not actively, but he omits the truth and deflects a lot. he’s generally apathetic to almost everything and everyone, but when he cares, he cares very deeply; no going back, no half-assing it, which also extends to his promises (e.g. beating up people who tried to hurt nicky, almost breaking allison’s neck after she hit aaron, going berserk when neil got kidnapped, etc.). he’s petty and - i cannot stress this enough - he is a disaster gay (outwardly, he passes as a functioning gay, but hello? have you seen this boy “flirt”? if it can even be called that? anyway). 

for the more physical stuff, one of the things that i always make a point of remembering that he’s a heavy smoker, which means that he’s probably really bad at cardio lmao. ppl like to write him as this exy genius with natural born goal-keeping talent (which he is!), but also... pls remember that innate talent can only carry you so far. this is just me ranting about my pet peeve/squick but i hate it when ppl write him in situations where like, he hasn’t touched a racquet in years or put in the same amount of effort or training as the others but when he’s put in court suddenly he’s this invincible and undefeatable machine? what even? i mean, i know it’s fiction but like i said, it just irks me personally.

again, i digress. for AUs, i throw a lot of things out the window. that’s not to say that i’m writing a completely new character, but just that i rummage through the aspects of his character and choose only what floats my boat for that particular verse. it’s all part of that ‘idgaf about what canon says, this is my town now’ mentality lol. sometimes, even if it feels ooc, i just roll with it, because maybe i think that that particular scene is cute or the dialogue is funny, and i think that that’s more important than trying my damnest to squeeze him into the personality box that was created in canon. taking things from the source material and shaping them into your own product is what fandom is all about, after all :D

i don’t know if all these count as techniques to writing andrew, but i’m super touched that you’ve read my fics and like them!! thank you so much <3

and to answer your second question - yes, i would definitely consider writing something like that!

[adorable-elsanna]

I don't mean to be rude, and I apologize in advance if I am!! But why do you ship this nd WHY does this ship exist? Aren't Elsa and Anna sisters? And blood related at that. I don't want to hate on ships, you can ship washer you want as long as you aren't hurting anybody!! It's just that ships like these with incest startle me a bit. Maybe I'm just confused since I really shipped Kistof and Anna so I'm missing out on this? Ahhh sorry if this is annoying!! -confused anon

 Hi Confused Anon ( aren’t we all? ;) ),

Thanks for your polite ask, lol finally I get to dust off this blog’s ask box! :)) I’d love to respond with a whole essay xDD but I don’t really have time :’( so maybe I’ll just give a quick rundown for now. 

I might not be the most representative person to pose this question to lol because I am an outlier in general, meaning due to my life experiences, my development, my major in college, my deep meditation practice, and more, I do not abide by normative, dominant, hegemonic social structures and social constructs (nor do I actively resist them per se), so I am unfazed by anything. 

I started shipping this after I watched the first movie when it came out in Nov. 2013. One of my first posts on this blog, 7 years ago, was me explaining how I came to ship this (I had made the post private, but now you can read it here. Also this other post, but I wrote it when I was a college student, so it’s a little too analytical for my tastes now. Those were my views at the time). 7 years is a long time, so my mindsets and reasonings have changed, but all the reasons I had for shipping them from before are still with me today. 

I didn’t go into the movie with the intention to ship them, but while watching it, I picked up on a lot of chemistry between them because their interactions and even storyline were infused with strong popular romantic tropes, tropes that were used in other classic Disney movies themselves. I used to watch a lot of romantic comedies so I was very familiar with common romantic tropes. Of course, having came away from the movie having noticed all these romantic notes between them, I was a little confused and thought maybe it was just me. But when I went online to search a bit to see if others saw/felt what I saw, I found out it wasn’t just me! 

So one of the reasons why this ship exists is because people picked up on the romantic tropes that colored some of Elsa and Anna’s interactions, tropes that have usually only appeared between romantic couples, in films and in real life. Even if the creators didn’t intend to and didn’t actively put the tropes there, they are there. 

If we apply the principles of Buddhism (not the religion. Many ppl mistakenly practice things as devotional worship or for superstitious reasons. But if ppl really want to know everything about the mind, how the world works, the universe, who they are, about themselves and “other” people and why people do what they do, the meaning of life, true happiness, the end of suffering and stress and conflict, and consciousness, then forget psychology [not saying it’s not useful though]. Buddhism, or rather Buddhadharma, is the true science of mind, or at least the much more effective tool), it says that there is the law of cause and effect, the universal law. Everything that is created in the universe and each phenomenon that happens is the result of the momentary coming together of causes and conditions that make that thing happen. There are many many causes and conditions and intricacies and things are interconnected and interdependent, no one person can control something to happen (certain conditions have to be there for something to happen). Something can not come from nothing. If something happens, then certain causes and conditions have been created to bring that result. A seed was planted. If we plant an apple seed, what comes out will be an apple tree (provided the right conditions were met, like water, soil, sunlight, etc.). It will never come out as a banana tree. And so we can understand the underlying principle behind how each situation and phenomenon arises, about existence itself, why each thing exists. 

Now WHY did I go off on that tangent??? LOL All of this is to say that certain causes and conditions have been created to result in the effect of many people shipping Elsa and Anna together and there being a fandom for them. (These principles and explanations might seem very simple and like kindergarten stuff, but despite that, many people can’t accept it. ESPECIALLY when it applies to heavy stuff in their regular everyday life. Or even trivial things tbh lol) The last I checked, there were people from at least 26 different countries shipping Elsa and Anna together. 

Everyone thinks they see reality exactly as it is and takes it for granted, and thus attach strongly to the notion that they’re right. But if that’s the case, then why are there so many fights over who is right? So who is actually right? Even if someone were to follow the majority consensus or some popular, ingrained, long-standing ideas / societal rules, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right. There are many cases of the blind leading the blind. People used to follow the geocentric model of the universe before they discovered heliocentrism. Ideas are always in flux and keeps changing and transforming, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, sometimes imperceptibly and sometimes conspicuously. If you ask 100 different people why they ship Elsa and Anna, you will get 100 different answers (with a lot of overlap of course) with unique spins on their reasons. Because in the world, each person sees reality through their own color-tinted glasses and filters and adherence to labels, concepts, beliefs, upbringing, etc. And then the person seeing “reality” through red-tinted glasses gets mad at the person seeing with blue-tinted glasses for not seeing the world how they see it (and gets frustrated not understanding why), and vice versa. In this scenario, what is actually best? To realize you’re seeing “reality” through color-tinted glasses, and so you should take them off and truly see reality without any filtered lenses. (This is a little off-topic, but I had to bring some Buddhism into this because first of all, dharma applies to everything lol, and secondly, Buddhism is all about dispelling confusion. There is definitely a way to see reality exactly as it is, it typically involves meditation.) 

Yes, Elsa and Anna are sisters. But I’ve never seen any pair of sisters act like them before (if there are, then that’s great!). I have a sibling myself, and we are very close, but we don’t act like how Elsa and Anna act with each other. With most siblings, I would say there’s a lot more joking around, teasing each other, sarcasm, pranks, and casual relaxed communication than the intense intimacy, deep eye-contact, and soul-bonding that Elsa and Anna share. Disney has portrayed many other sibling relationships before, but it seems like they tried something a little different with Elsa and Anna’s relationship that made it pretty easy for many people to ship them together. 

I ship Elsa and Anna together because their pure true love for each other transcends all labels, concepts, preconceived notions, and time and space. They are completely selfless when it comes to one another and that’s what true love means. They make each other better people and it empowers them to extend this selflessness toward other people. Their sacrificing themselves for each other and selflessness in action is true love exemplified. No one deserves Elsa more than Anna, and no one deserves Anna more than Elsa (speaking from my shipper heart xD). Confining and defining their love as just sisterly seems limiting and not allowing the full potential of their true, expansive, infinite love to manifest. (A sibling relationship is really beautiful, but it still has to be shaped and look a certain way, it has to fit into a particular mold and box and abide by certain conditions. Otherwise, as we have incontrovertibly seen, people will scream bloody murder and be squicked out and all hell will break loose.)  

We can even go one step further to say that the same similarly applies to people’s definitions, notions, concepts, ideas, and beliefs about love. They say this love is like this and that love is like that, this is what love should look like, this person can love this person but only if it’s like this and not like that, this is what it means to love and to be loved, etc. Again, it’s limiting, and placing restrictions on something whose essence is boundless. In Buddhism, with the realization of Enlightenment, one realizes that true love is selfless, unconditional, boundless, free, all-encompassing, nondual, timeless, compassionate, wise, nondiscriminating, infinite, universal, endlessly flowing, non-judgmental, creative, indescribable, and inconceivable. So THIS is the love that I see and ship between Elsa and Anna. I love their relationship as sisters, but their love is so grand that it cannot be contained inside that label, so it transcends and goes beyond any attempts to neatly define and characterize it.

It’s okay if incest ships startle you. Uncomfortable feelings come up whenever the ego experiences anything that challenges its worldview and everything it’s ever known and held to be true, and that prompts it to question and reconsider its mind-constructs. We have a knee-jerk reaction to grasp, hold, and attach to what we like, and to avoid, reject, and push away what we don’t like and what makes us feel uncomfortable. For what it’s worth, Buddhism tells about the cycle of life, death, and rebirth from beginningless time, so we have all lived infinite past lives and been each other’s lovers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, enemies, grandparents, etc. at one point or another. (Deep, but intriguing!, topics for another time.)  

If you really like to ship Krist0ff and Anna, then go ahead and ship happily. First rule of Buddhist meditation: Whatever you do, ONLY DO IT, 100%. ;) And if you don’t do something, then don’t do it, 100%. And then move on to the next moment. Be in the present moment. And remember that everything is changing moment by moment. Mind is changing moment by moment. Don’t need to anticipate the next moment. Who knows where our shipper hearts will take us. 

I like to ship people based on their chemistry and characterization. Elsa and Anna have a great true love story that is theirs and theirs alone. I don’t like to ship relationships that seem contrived, thrown in there for the sake of it, not fleshed out, lacking in substance, trite, and with characters who are underwhelming or underdeveloped. 

Lol no worries, this is not annoying, I’m sorry this is so long and that I took 7 days to get back to you. I wish I could give specific examples from the movies with beautiful gifs to explain why I ship them (I’ve probably written such posts in the past. Maybe I’ll come back to edit this reply one day), but I’ve gotta skedaddle! I’d like to hear your thoughts about my reply if you actually read this, so please send me a message in the ask box again if you can. 

Also I’m a girl if that makes any difference, but yeah anyway, skedaddle time, love you all! 

Oooooh I never finished replying to someone else’s ask box message asking me why I shipped them, it’s from years ago :’(, I started typing my reasons and saved it in my drafts, but it’s incomplete. But here’s what I wrote at the time!

1. I just love everything that Elsa and Anna feel and do for each other. Elsa isolates herself from Anna to keep her safe, and Anna persists in trying to get Elsa to open up to her and goes to find her when she runs away. They’re always thinking of each other and worrying about each other. They act selflessly for one another and their unconditional love is expressed so genuinely. This kind of devotion in any relationship is rare.

2. There was a lot of chemistry between them in the movie. At the coronation ball scene, I get that the creators were trying to depict awkwardness between them since they haven’t spoken in a long time, and Anna wanted reassurance that Elsa didn’t hate her so she was nervous about getting Elsa’s attention and approval, but the scene came off as Elsa being kind of suave and flirty and Anna being flustered because her crush just complimented her. Then Anna gave Elsa a playful smile when she was dipped upside-down as if she only had eyes for Elsa.

When Anna stares admiringly at Elsa as she stands atop the staircase, it was like a scene straight out of A Cinderella Story or Enchanted where the prince stares at his true love like she took his breath away.

[dontcallmecarrie]

Natasha's judgment is so off for a spy. Could we get insight as to how they're thinking? I know you wrote a chapter but maybe some backstory or such to explain why she dislikes Tony on principle? Why she's so quick to insult Maria and choose Steve? Is she caught up in the goodness and honestly Steve seems to project? Does her judgment on his decisions become biased bc she's used to reading ppl who mean harm not ppl who unintentionally/subconsciously harm? Does Steve make her feel like she's good

I’ll see what I can do to clarify this in-story, because odds are you’re not the only one who’s seeing it. Hopefully, though, at least some of my reasoning showed through.

Under the cut, because cue meta and you guys know how much I ramble when I get going:

There’s several factors to it all:

First and foremost, there’s the unreliable narrator thing to consider. 

JARVIS, for instance, hasn’t trusted her since before she stabbed Tony in the neck, back in IM2. 

Add to that how he died trying to protect Tony [and at least managed to give a bit of a warning, when the Penthouse Incident happened], coming back online [with all the trauma that entails, even if he doesn’t quite show it], to see Natasha doing absolutely nothing while Tony was a flick of the wrist from a snapped neck, and you get a budding Skynet who harbors absolutely no goodwill towards Natasha Romanov [and it shows through in his POV, even if it’s hopefully subtle].

Tony’s slightly more chill, but he’s known that Natasha doesn’t like him, and after the disaster that was his sole attempt to reach out towards Bruce, well…once bitten, twice shy. 

Then, during the Penthouse Incident, he’s 50% on the defensive while the other 50% is in shock because JARVIS died and only Maria Hill even cared. [That he was being attacked was secondary, at that point.] So when someone’s attacking the only one who gives a damn about JARVIS, Tony’s not exactly feeling very charitable towards the woman who introduced herself as Natalie Rushman. 

…also, anyone notice the codependence going on between Tony and JARVIS? There’s a reason I’ve been warning for it.

As for my take on Natasha’s perspective: I did my best, and hopefully my dislike didn’t show [much]. 

Thing is, TWiFFON is a spitefic at heart.

I started it in reaction to the turn the fandom took when it comes to Tony Stark especially after Civil War, so I’m not going to be exactly very friendly towards Natasha [or anyone on Team Cap for that matter, if you guys haven’t already noticed]. 

And that leads me to the next point.

Fun fact: I actually like Natasha, for the most part. Her characterization throughout the entirety of the MCU’s been through the wringer, fluctuating from movie to movie, though, and I took advantage of that when I outlined this fic.

See, Phase1-and-pre-AoU!Natasha’s got a good head on her shoulders. Her, I like: she’s badass and loyal to people rather than institutions and ruthless enough to do what’s necessary to keep her people safe [gee doesn’t that sound familiar]. She’s outwitted Loki [even if he was under the influence of the Scepter at the time], and survived the Red Room, for crying out loud! [If you’ve read my fic idea Welcome to the Family, you know that’s the one I had in mind at the time of writing.]

…however, that’s not the Natasha we’ve seen recently.

Phase2-especially-post-AoU!Natasha didn’t think to call the genius who’s company she infiltrated during a time they could’ve really used his expertise, didn’t see the problem in letting the fugitives she’d been helping chase go, and didn’t think twice about attacking the Crown Prince of a monarchy that just lost its King. I know it’s probably just bad writing in general [where the hell did the Bruce/Natasha thing even come from? Or the wanting a kid thing?! Canon or not, that’s just…nope], but still.

She unironically tried to go “I’m not the one who should watch my back”, in Civil War, despite having painted a target on anyone she ever worked with [yes I’m still salty about it], so it really should be no surprise that this is the Natasha I have in mind when writing TWiFFON. [Not very nice, but like I said, spitefic.]

So, that’s a good chunk on my approach to Natasha, right there. The rest involves her backstory.

I’ve yet to read a comic, but via tumblr and Phase 1, I got the feeling that the Red Room isn’t exactly very kind. [No comment on Phase 2′s interpretation bc I hate AoU with a passion rivaled only by Civil War.] As such, I can extrapolate from there that Natasha’s had some hardcore training, and to be fair, she’s very good at what she does, and her confidence in her skills is mostly justified.

However, she’s been born and raised as a living weapon, a child soldier and spy: that skillset is not exactly conductive towards being an analyst, or tactician.

Infiltrate consulates and take out hit squads singlehandedly? Sure. Reading people for the short term so she can use that to her advantage? Absolutely. But what she gets up to later on in the MCU is nowhere in her job description [coughcough*analysisinIM2*cough]. She can make a decent facsimile of it, sure, but she just isn’t qualified to diagnose people [though I have a headcanon for that scenario that explains why, but that’s something for another post].

But she can read people very well, and since it’s worked thus far, Natasha doesn’t think twice about it. Due to the life she’s had, she doesn’t look back, which I completely understand because if she had she might’ve drowned in regret because I get the feeling the Red Room’s upbringing was nothing less than cutthroat. Those two things get a special mention because of how she’s introduced to Tony.

Now, let me backtrack a little: I’ve done some meta before on how good Tony is at masks, enough so that he’s fooling everyone even as he’s dying. He grew up in front of the cameras, and learned how to work them from a master of the art [his mom, in my AUs].

So, when a spy rocks up expecting a show, Tony puts it on, and Natasha buys it. I don’t doubt she twisted some things to suit the analysis at the end, of course, but between his public image and his masks, Natasha ends up falling in the same trap everyone else does.

Anyone who gets close to him knows it’s bull, but since Tony in TWiFFON is more guarded than ever before, and he’s not about to let Natasha in now.

As for Steve Rogers…Tony’s image is a general “everyone knows” thing; it’s subtle and low-key “oh what’s he done now? Another Fashion Week Fiasco?” Kardashian-style sort of thing, which is part of why Natasha fell for it. Steve’s image, on the other hand, was blatant propaganda since the start and only became more so over time […I wonder what the Second Red Scare would’ve looked like, in the MCU now, ngl], so for Natasha, with her Red Room upbringing, it’s pretty damn easy for her to tell. 

From when she first meets Steve, and later on down the road, it’s a no-brainer to look past the propaganda and notice the lonely man who’s adrift in a world that’s moved on without him. And from there, it’s very [almost scarily, for someone who’s very guarded when it comes to personal stuff] easy to make friends. 

Steve sees Natasha where others see the Black Widow, which isn’t something many people do [Phil and Clint’re the exception, not the norm], though, so it makes sense that she warms up to him so quickly. Plus he’s a good man, and given the life she’s had, Natasha can fully appreciate just how few of them there are in the world.

And since we’ve already established that Natasha’s fiercely protective of the few people she likes, it makes sense she’s just as fierce to attack if the situation ever arises.

During the Penthouse Incident, Natasha’s immediate take-away of the situation was: Tony’d fucked up somehow and needed to own up to it, meanwhile Maria Hill was on his payroll, defending him when he was in the wrong, and had a gun pointed in the general direction of the people she liked more than the people she didn’t. Of course Natasha was going to yell at her for it! 

And it wasn’t like Thor was going to hurt Tony or anything, his hand was obviously positioned in a way that was meant to be nonlethal and if he’d really wanted to kill Tony his grip would’ve been different.

After the fact, once Ultron’s made clear just what he is, she’s mildly apologetic about it. But since she didn’t really like Tony anyway and Maria Hill seemed to have forgotten about it, well, it wasn’t like it was anything major anyway, right?

...meanwhile, Maria’s very good at hiding her grudge and venting whenever she’s at one of the SWORD meet-ups while the others are patting her on the back while continuing to plan Phase 3 and checking out rich protocols, but that’s a story for another day.

Also: bear in mind that Natasha, in my AUs, has the Red Room’s version of the serum, so she forgets that not everyone’s as durable as she is. [that’s the only explanation for why I see her being so chill during That One Scene because the alternative’s incoherent internal screaming]

[janiedean]

@nederys all of you guys kinda lost your shit but i don't think you're being consistent at all. you didn't go for it being misinformed or wrongly placed, just that it was "gross" bc it was "romanticizing" blabla, like if someone made a fic about ETA terrorists or whatever and i advocated censorship and asked for it not to exist. when you accept kink and RPF, you need to stand on that principle even when it's YOUR personal/national. shaming ppl into submission is the anti strategy and it doesnt actually convince anybody of anything, much literally if it's screaming in another language to the OPs. i didnt wanna reblog or anything but i was very unpleasantly surprised with how you guys handled the situation (and i say this bc i care and i know you value rationality, not to piss you off YOUR personal/national sensibility like if someone wants to write a fic 'romanticizing' tec bundy murders or a rape fantasy or whatever it's their field day just tag it properly, it's no different for a criminal organization as i see it. a piece of sexual fantasy or literary work is not a guarantee it's portrayed in an accurate way or that it's a moral endorsementj + I'll hear your argument on 'positive representation' so i'll take your word for now but it did really come of like "your evil porn is romanticizing evil irl so it should be censored". as for the bad taste etc thing - as long as the person in question doesn't find out i dont personally see the harm. other ppl getting second-handed distastefulness/offense about it is a slippery slope, bc again that quickly devolves into "ugh why you write about rape! / rpf! if you can write kink porn and you can do rpf (like i mean, what, we just tweak the hair color and the initials to make it 'fictional'?) - it follows you can write "distasteful" kink porn about rpf all you want. it's still fiction.okay in order

In order:

as I said in the other reply, people lost their shit because we’ve had this discussion for years and every time it happens SOMEONE (most likely american but not necessarily) shows yup informing us that since mafia in US english means generally organized crime and not THAT specific organized crime we need to chill and WHO CARES YOU’RE OVERREACTING. at some point there’s a limit to how much nice you can be when you’ve been trying nicely for years and people just dismiss you most likely also because you’re not poc enough to complain - again, when it happens with people who can fall into the POC definition doing this kinda stuff automatically means you’re racist, but with us it’s not even disrespectful? or recognized as potentially harmful? fine, we lost our shit, but it’s also not the first time it happens;

the point isn’t that they were making a fic about the mafia, but if we take the ETA terrorism similitude, it wasn’t ‘making a fic abut ETA’. it was, ‘we are making an RPF fic where we take a real living spanish actor who has a friend who died during an ETA bombing and we make him the commander of an ETA faction which plants a bomb in madrid’. I’d find it distasteful if it was about FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, but whatevr - it’s fictional. real people who are actually involved with those criminals on the other side? not so cool. and the fact that these people see nothing wrong with casting them as criminals for *the mafia* shows they have no idea of what they’re talking about and again, with fictional people you can try to ignore it (even if it irks me also because 90% of the time it shows a total failure of understanding the character just by casting them as mafiosi but never mind that’s my pet peeve), but real ones? who made a pro lgbt movie and are *allies* when a mafia killing actually was what kickstarted the creation of the hugest and first anti-homophobia/pro-gay lgbtq association in italy? like. that’s fucking with real people and honestly if I was the director and knew I’d feel personally slandered especially if I come from someplace where statistically everyone knows someone who’s been hurt by the mafia in the last fifty years if they weren’t themselves. like I had a friend whose father worked for the police and the antimafia division especially and lived in palermo back in the day and criminals did try to grab her out of her pre-school and they had to change cities VERY quickly after that, and I don’t even live in sicily. and she’s not even sicilian. it was twenty years ago when they planted bombs across the entire area and killed hundreds of people just in the 90s (comprehensive list). it’s not just WRITING FIC ABOUT THE MAFIA, which I could be relatively handwaving with if it was about fictional people and even then it irks me to hell and back, but real people? who make movies pro things that the mafia hates? really? and I have to hear ‘are you angry because you’re homophobes’? I don’t ask for it NOT TO EXIST, I’m asking a basic modicum of decency.

ted bundy vs mafia: ted bundy is ONE person and he’s been convicted and whatever. if someone’s personal fantasy is fucking ted bundy WHATEVER their problem. if THEY want to do the self-insert with real criminals whatever, idgi but if they’re aware of the implications whatever. the mafia is a bunch of people and they thrive on positive media representation and it’s such large scale that it fucks with this entire country on multiple levels (ad also other countries) and here you’re not using real criminals, you’re casting as criminals people who most likely have been hurt by that same organization. it’s a difference. and if you portray it as a nice organization where hey you help people bypassing the law and gay people are accepted it’s... just... not how it works.

rpf: I’m generally pro rpf as long as people don’t go to the actual real people and don’t harass them irl (which would make a lot of rpf shippers inappropriate) but like... idk if you were around in spn fandom at the time of the infamous j2 haiti fic, but if you weren’t, tldr: person sees the aftermath of the haiti earthquake on tv, thinks ‘well that’d make a perfect setting for my j2 bigbang fic’, writes an entire fic where jared and jensen go to haiti the month it happened, her artist makes art for it photoshopping those two over like... real pictures of real dead people and three betas don’t find nothing remotely cringy in this concept. the fic gets published. it gets slandered to hell and back and while I didn’t agree on assuming the author was a pre-trump (she most likely had no idea that stuff was kindaaa racist) and that she should have been educated, I’d like to presume that people would think thrice before setting a Romance Story TM on a background where when it was published people were still excavating corpses from the rubble. it’s about the same concept as the romantic mafia fic. but with the haiti fic anyone on tumblr would agree that it’s hardly appropriate, with mafia fic it’s just ‘meh shut up you’re whining’. also, while I do agree that jared and jensen, as famous people, signed up for this, too, I don’t really think using real people for this kind of thing is fair, educated or a favor to them. I get it’s all fantasy and so on, but at least use the fictional characters. I can imagine j2 wouldn’t be happy with knowing noncon fic where they’re protagonists exists, neither with the haiti fic, but the noncon is standard fandom kink and whatever and no one else is involved, the haiti fic DOES. and while the people in those pictures wouldn’t even know, if that’s what you jerk off to at least be aware that it’s not exactly tasteful. and the people mentioned had zero idea that jerking off to the *mafia* au is not tasteful and that the *mafia* is *not* random organized crime. no one would have a problem if they called them CRIMINALS or mob or whatever without using the specific mafia word, but they like it because AESTHETICS which 90% of the time aren’t even true because the godfather aesthetic is so NOT the camorra aesthetic it’s not even funny. and of course we shoudl educate people instead, too bad that if it’s about haiti they listen and if it’s about us, they don’t;

 kink: same as above but like, again, let’s always use the poor j2 guys. the j2 mafia au as above is absolutely ew to me but at least j2 are american and most likely didn’t grow up somewhere the mafia could kill their relatives or friends. guadagnino did. and whether he knows or not (HOPEFULLY HE NEVER FINDS OUT) it’s another level of disrespectful to take a guy who made a pro lgbt movie you liked and putting him in that scenario without being aware of it. and they don’t listen if you tell them. that’s the problem. I can be very tolerant, but good god at least hear people out on the subject. and if it concerns a situation that isn’t even old or a dead organization but one that’s thriving in the country still and fucks people over every day I’d like for these people to recognize that at least it’s something not cool and not just their jerk off fodder material. at this point do the GODFATHER AU, which is what they want anyway, stick with the american mafia and try to not give them positive rep, because this idea of the mafia as a cool thing plays a major role in actual mafia organization marketing themselves as a good thing and makes the work of people actually fighting them way harder. if no one thought it was cool, it wouldn’t have half the influence it has. but do I ever see mafia aus with cops or conflicted henchmen or the likes? nah. it’s all SAD ROMANTIC BACKSTORY WITH CRIMINALS. call it some other way. it’s not asking that much.

also: I am entirely down with mafia stories in media and stuff - again, I ove my sopranos and boardwalk empire and goodfellas and I actually do like the godfather when a lot of people here at this point hate it too, but none of those things make it look like it’s palatable to be in the mafia. people can jerk off to it I suppose, but at least they should be aware of that. lowering the bar, it’s why I get pissed at people passing jc as a healthy nice relationship - at least own up to your badwrong and don’t sugarcoat it. in this case they don’t even own up to the fact that it’s a real thing that hurts real people, never mind caring for the feelings of the people they’re fans of - I could jerk off to my rpf faves in anything but I’d like to know I’m not doing it to something they would loathe, and if you have to at least use the fictional characters as the jerk-off material. I mean I’d feel uncomfortable af using them as jerk-off material to something I know they as people would hate. obviously I’m pro write whatever you want, but I’m also pro ‘be aware of what you’re doing and know you’re possibly jerking off to things that are actually harmful to a lot of people and if you do and are cool with that whatever but at least try to not make it look as it’s a good thing’ while at the same time assuming that someone who tells you it’s not cool is doing it because they’re HOMOPHOBES when the mafia is the most homophobic organization in existence or close to it. we do need positive rep when it comes to mafia stories and we never get it.

like, final example: if I had seen one ‘steve rogers is a cop who wants to take down the mafia-like organization’ for every ten ‘tiny boss steve rogers and his russian henchman bucky are THE POWER COUPLE OF THE NY CRIME SCENE AND THEY KISS IN FRONT OF EVERYONE AND HELP THE WEAK WHEN THE POLICE SUCKS ASS’ fics I ran into it’d be lovely, but the point is that I’ve never seen one such fic even if it’s a lot more IC for steve rogers to take down criminals than being a criminal, and if you make people notice that nicely (which we did more than once) the usual answer is ‘go fuck yourself it’s just aesthetics the mafia doesn’t hurt anyone’ when it actually did, does and will do as long as they have means to, and since this recasting of canonically good characters as *mafia* henchmen who are happy to be there and not itching to get out just really makes pass the concept that the mafia isn’t really that bad I think I/we affected people have the rights to point out that it’s already a distasteful thing that people should at least read about before assuming it’s random organized crime that can be substituted for whichever worldbuilding they like, and if they don’t care for that fine, at least avoid involving real people who actually would loathe that irl in it or, if anything, at least recognize that it’s fucked up to hell and back. and none of the people in that thread had the grace to do that.

I mean, obviously if I had to take the choice between one such fic not existing at all but censoring stuff and it existing without censoring stuff I’d pick the latter even if I absolutely don’t like it, but what irks me and the other people involved in this debate is how nonchalantly people do these recasting assuming that they’re not romanticizing the thing (which they’re doing) and then don’t listen to others when they’re pointed out that they’re doing it and they should be aware.

like, again, I think the haiti fic was a thing that no one with some salt in their brain and a basic amount of decency should have published. someone did. they got criticized for it and it sprung a lot of discussion (including comparing it with a gen kill fic set in east timor during the war which actually did it right and so no one actually thought it was exploiting a tragedy or being in bad taste) and tbh I think that when doing fic about serious things you should at least read up on that. but the point is that these people don’t listen, haven’t listened for years and most likely will keep on not listening and sorry but seeing a person from palermo who shoots movies that would make any cosa nostra boss mad being recast as a cosa nostra/mafia sicilian boss who, if compared to a, uh, real life person who died recently would deal with people seceding from this organization by ordering to kidnap their children and have them dissolved in acid at the ripe age of nine is really goddamned distateful and hearing ‘so your problem is that they’re gay is that why you’re so angry’ as a response instead of reading it and thinking ‘damn maybe that was a bit out of line’ isn’t exactly that great.

especially because again, these organization thrive on people assuming they’re less bad than they actually are and we’re not talking about stuff that happened three hundred years ago - the kid dissolved in acid happened in 1996 and it’s hardly the last time something like that happened. it’s not a general crime organization, it’s a very specific one, and I’ll be fine with people jerking off to any italian stereotype in existence while I roll my eyes and be fine with it, but at least I’d like these people to know what they’re doing. and they aren’t. and they should be. and on top of that some positive rep where the mafia people are inherently bad and the good guys want to take them down would be nice. I do get that it looks like I’m being incoherent but I’m not saying they can’t do it, I’m saying they should show a minimum of consideration, and they aren’t. then no one’s stopping them from doing it of course but just the fact that they-won’t-listen kind of says a lot. :/ and when it comes to real people and real things it’s not just fiction and you should at least be aware of that.

[tinybeanhealing]

May I have a description please? I'm an Aquarius sun/mercury/uranus/neptune, Aries moon, pisces venus, Scorpio mars and Leo ascendant💖

Hi yes of course ! 

U are like the ultimate friend in this world. U everybody’s best friend but u have like 2 best friends lol. U have this like friendly charm in the world. Ppl can’t help but notice u. U can talk yr way into or out of anything. U love to be recognized for how cool u are (cool as in calm cool collected, but also cool as in rad as well i suppose). U love to be seen as friendly, warm, generous. But u are also detached from emotion in a real way. Once ppl wanna get to know u better, it can be hard for u to express yr full personality to them in a way they can understand. I have a Capricorn friend who says they can see their air sign friends floating away during the conversation. For u that means u probably float away inside of yrself. U have a tendency to retreat. U would be passive except for yr scorpio mars (i have that placement too !) n aries moon so u have the ability to be direct. U get what u want, for sure. Be careful what u manifest for yrself bc whatever u tell yrself, u will get/accomplish. Lack of earth in these placements listed could mean u aren’t always focused on details but Aquarius can focus better than the other two air signs. Ultimately u are concerned with humanity. U want to create change in a peaceful way for the betterment of human kind. U are progressive, idealistic, n u want ppl to thrive in the world. Every belief u hold, every principle u defend is bc u truly believe it is for the good of humanity. U are probably the most stubborn person u know x30. U have so much fixed energy in yr chart. Also aries is pretty stubborn too haha. U can have quick temper moments of anger or frustration but it’s actually rlly hard to get u to Full Anger. once yr there, I’d definitely stay out of yr way tho. U have a creative ability that allows u to trail blaze in unusual situations. U are comfortable dropping friends when they don’t provide value to yr life anymore (not like u use ppl, u just recognize when it’s time to let go, usually before the other person). That’s kinda offset by yr pisces venus tho. U are in love with love. U would suffer for love, even if no one is rlly making u do that. U are very emotional n sensitive but it’s hard for u to let other ppl see that, especially if u don’t trust them. U are compassionate, even if ppl can’t tell right away. U are attached to the arts, music, poetry. Sometimes u allow ppl to think they’re able to take advantage of u but yr honestly too smart to have one pulled over on u. If u have been hurt before, in love esp, tho u are not quick to let ppl know what u know. U make cautious decisions, usually but sometimes can be spontaneous. U have an interest in sex/death/magic/taboo/occult. U are attracted to ppl who are sweet n soft like u but who will be respectful of yr tough n cool side too. 

I hope this description feels real for u ! Let me know if u have any other questions (:

[comicteaparty]

August 26th-September 1st, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from August 26th, 2019 to September 1st, 2019.  The chat focused on Principles of Magic by Sarah Hopkins.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Principles of Magic by Sarah Hopkins~! (https://principlesofmagic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until September 1st to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Do you believe that girls truly are disproportionately affected by magic in the comic’s world, or do you think it is a form of sexism/old world values? What is your reasoning? What is your overall opinion of how girls are treated in the world?

snuffysam

my favorite scene was the most recent principles of magic lesson - where the girls are having fun & messing around while miss ghelhel just gets angrier at them until she snaps and accidentally uses magic. not only does it show that the "just stamp the magic out of 'em" technique doesn't work, but it shows why the program is dumb in the first place. these girls aren't menaces - they're just kids being kids. some magic like pepper's can be harmful, but lots of fun activities are dangerous. that doesn't mean you have to send kids to a special school for them.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Why do you think magic is so feared in the comic’s world, and why do you think the headmaster in particular wants to stomp it out? What has been your favorite aspect in how magic has been presented in the comic?

Doodyp0p

1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it? I have not read much at all, but I do like the boy crazy reveal. Also the "Please be aware of my deafness" dialogue felt nice to see. Instead of just having a disability to round out characters there's actually confrontation and talk about the struggles. Very good 2. Do you believe that girls truly are disproportionately affected by magic in the comic’s world, or do you think it is a form of sexism/old world values? What is your reasoning? What is your overall opinion of how girls are treated in the world? I can't say just yet with confidence, but I think it is a sexism situation, it feels as though this world generally has a "if it's inconvenient, throw it away" attitude. And maybe there are complications with women and magic naturally, but instead of looking for ways to improve the situation towards equity, the solution is to lock away and hinder their lives.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What moment surrounding the theme of identity and growing up did you enjoy the most and why? Overall, what do you think we can learn from this story in terms of growing up and the way society helps or hinders that?

RebelVampire

1) For my favorite scene, I have to second @Doodyp0p on the part of being aware of the deafness. I really just liked how natural the interaction felt. Since it portrayed both sides in kind of a not evil light. Since it's not like Pepper and Avery were ignoring Charlie on purpose. So I like the story showed there was a middle ground. You can confront someone, but also show that sometimes ppl aren't being jerks on purpose. Sometimes they just aren't in your shoes and aware of how their actions are hurting. So I appreciate this scene for being able to capture both sides in a relateable way. 2) Honestly, I'm not sure in regards to girls being disproportionately affected. On a surface level, we haven't seen or heard of any guys with magic yet really on a significant level, so it can be argued that they are being disproportionately affected. but on the other hand, I would not be surprised if they just had a different word for it when it affected men. Like "Enhanced Traits" or some bs like that. I do think regardless there is a degree of sexism at work though. So even if there is disproportionate affects to girls, the society is probably using it as an excuse to make dumb, oppresive rules. Which that is my opinion of the world. Old world sexism at its worst/best.

3) My favorite character is probably Avery. This selfishly just has a lot to do with personality. I find Pepper and Charlie to be too energetic and in your face. Which don't get me wrong, I like them, but if I was in Avery's shoes I'd be so overwhelmed by them. But then here's nice Avery just calm, polite, and coming at you with some nice plant powers. She is a breath of fresh calmness. 4) Magic is feared, because people throughout history really struggle with the line between respect and fear. For example, cars. You gotta respect the power of cars, cause while they're cool, they're also likely to kill you if misused. This is why we have rules, regulations, and so forth. Because while a great tool, its dangerous. So we respect cars for that reason. Magic is kind of the same way. Magic is cool, powerful, great tool, but if people wanted to, they could use it for some really bad destructive shit. Like even inviso girl could turn invisible and rob a bank, and that's bad. The problem is, too often, that respect for the power becomes fear, because people have a bias towards seeing the negative side and thinking "but what if." So in general here, I think this is just societal panic and bias at work. They fear is cause they ask themselves what if too much and imagine death instead of cool stuff. As for the headmaster's vendetta, eh, probably just actually thinks hes doing a good thing from the viewpoint of society. My favorite aspect of magic is actually how they made a small mention of hunting cause its a good way to tie in the concept of witch hunts with the world and such.

RebelVampire

5) My favorite illustration is probably the bottom half of this page. https://principlesofmagic.com/comic/page-67/ I really liked the emotional montage here and how each situation was framed. I think it really expresses isolation in each picture, so as a whole you can really get the emotional sense of that, which in turn adds to the dialogue. 6) In terms of growing up, I actually liked the moment after the girls realize that stomping out magic is a crock and that the adults are full of bullshit and just kind of denying parts of who they are. Cause honestly, I think this is an important lesson to life. Just cause someone is an adult, doesn't mean they know whats best for society or even just for you. And half the times adults don't even really know what they're doing; they're just flailing around with power hoping something sticks and makes things better. But in the end, this can hinder growing up healthy, because so many kids put like 100% trust into adults, and honestly, that's not good. Not to say complete distrust is good either, but it' just good to remember that the adults don't actually always know what's best for anyone.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What do you think Pepper, Avery, and Charlie will do to try and save other girls from being imprisoned like them? Do you think they can actually succeed in stopping it, or will their efforts be in vain? What will be the consequences of their efforts?

Doodyp0p

3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor? Charlie, just enough spunk to sweet ratio. 4. Why do you think magic is so feared in the comic’s world, and why do you think the headmaster in particular wants to stomp it out? What has been your favorite aspect in how magic has been presented in the comic? Control I imagine is where is fear stems. There's a big gap as to what people can do with or without magic and the people without likely are afraid of being put in a submissive role with no freedoms. Headmaster feels like the type to be about money, likely sees a big government envelope with dollar signs stamped all over it.

5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like? https://principlesofmagic.com/comic/page-75/ The page has hardly any script but I feel like the cuts and pacing gives you a lot. You can hear the words in their heads.(edited)

RebelVampire

7) Right now, I actually enjoy the headmaster and Aurelie interacting the most. Mostly because I can't make heads or tales of what their relationship is. Do they like each other? Do they hate each other? I just don't know, so I like exploring it so we can put a label on it someday and come to a better understand of what their relationship is. 8) First thing I think will happen is Pepper will set fire to the headmasters office thinking, "He can't work if he has no office." And then the headmaster will make due. But after that, maybe they'll form a secret club. Kind of like what happened in HP Order of the Phoenix. Just with less lightning scars and more girls trying to better control their magic in a different way. As for stopping it, eh, I don't know. I think that depends on if they can get an influential adult involved. Cause magic or not, they're still kids and people aren't apt to listen to children, I'm sad to say. They're definitely going to become notorious in society though, even if it's as a group rather than individuals.

snuffysam

My favorite interactions are between Charlie and Pepper. They've clearly been friends for a while, and it's cool to see them stick up for each other. For (6), I just think the use of magic as allegory for anything society sees as "defective" is very clever in general. There's nothing wrong with you, it's just society's fault for not accepting you. I think that's a lesson we can all learn from, even if magic isn't the specific reason society is against you.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. What do you think Aurelie’s backstory is given her outbursts of magic, her close relationship with the headmaster, and so forth? Do you think Aurelie could be persuaded to help the girls fight oppression? Overall, what do you think Aurelie’s role will be?

RebelVampire

9) A detail I appreciate is just how everyone's powers are a bit different. That takes a lot of creativity to have since it can actually be easy to blend powers too much if youre not careful about showing their inidividual traits. So I like seeing the variety. 10) I honestly think Aurelie was somewhat like Pepper, tbh. Rambunctious with her powers, defying authority, etc. But then one day I feel like she actually hurt someone badly or something. Not enough to get her in major trouble, but enough to leave an emotional scar on her. So she came to accept that maybe magic really was dangerous. However, I definitely think she can be persuaded to help fight the headmaster's plan, since she seems the most likely to become disillusioned that the system works.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic's strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate. QUESTION 12. What moment or implication of oppression seen in the comic caught your attention the most? What about it caught your eye, and why do you think the moment/implication is important to consider?

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Given Pepper, Avery, and Charlie’s differing personalities, in what ways do you think the trio will clash? How will those clashes present obstacles as the story goes on? Also, what roles do you think their backstories will play?

11) I think the comic’s strengths are honestly just how it portrays society and how those portrayals. Like it’s not afraid to be really cold and factual about it, showing things like corporal punishment and the like. The way each of these moments flows is really superb as well, since there’s often no to very little dialogue, which lets you take in the horrors of the moment. There aren’t a lot of comics out there that manage to make me feel uncomfortable and unsettled (in good, intended ways), but this comic managed to do it. Cause I felt very uncomfortable and upset at a lot of scenes. 12) Honestly, the moment of oppression that caught my attention was probably the corporal punishment. Which I’m sure isn’t limited to girls, but is certainly a way to oppress “free-thinking” with children in a lot of ways. It was honestly a gruesome scene despite there being no blood. I think the part that really got me was when she was told to turn her arms over. Cause that facial expression, just dang. No forgiveness on the teacher’s part, full acceptance she has no power. It was uncomfortable and horrible. As for why it’s important to consider, because the obvious reason. Physically hurting someone is never right, and is generally a shitty way to discipline children because children tend to just rebel or fail to thrive when subjected to these sorts of things. And even if it’s an obvious lesson, since child abuse still is a thing that exists, it’s apparently not obvious enough. 13) I’m actually looking forward to finding out more about the girls’ home lives before they came to the school. I think it’ll be an interesting moment of character development that I’m hoping is delved into. Otherwise, I’m looking forward to learning more about how young boys are treated in the society. Cause I think that will be very telling how much is fear of magic, how much is sexism, and how much is somewhere in between.

14) I think there is potential for each of them to clash with the other two as a group. Like for example, Charlie will once again be faced with the fact that Pepper and Avery have an easier time talking and leave her out of things. Avery will be overwhelmed and not always want to take the aggressive, war root that it seems like Pepper and Charlie would want to. Meanwhile Pepper will see the other two as not being as dedicated to stopping the headmaster as the other two, if only cause Pepper strikes me as the type to consider inaction as the worst thing possible even when sometimes it is the best route to take for a short amount of time. So I think this will definitely sabotage their efforts on occasions since personal drama always gets in the way of productivity. As for their backstories, I don’t know about Avery and Charlie, but I feel like Pepper’s got some secret she’s not saying that will come up. Though I can’t imagine what it’d be. It’s more just a gut feeling given her personality.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Principles of Magic this week! Please also give a special thank you to Sarah Hopkins for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Principles of Magic, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://principlesofmagic.com/

Sarah’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sarahmhop

Principles of Magic’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/pomwebcomic?lang=en

Sarah’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahmhop

[yenneferw]

For the character thing: Oswald (Gotham), Max, Anne, Jack, Thomas, John, James, and Billy (Black Sails), and the Doctor :D (il your blog)

tAww thank you! :-D And thank you for all the characters! Sorry for answering this so late lol

Also I didn’t even realize I wasn’t doing it in order I just saw James’s name and I fuckin went for it lol oops

Aaaalso sorry it’s so long I have a lot of feelings

Oswald Cobblepot:

Why I like them: Oswald’s such a cute little fuck and he’s very devious and the underdog so I latched onto him early on and he’s one of the only things left about Gotham that doesn’t make me sad after all the queerbaiting 

Why I don’t: I really didn’t care for when they always had his teeth dirty that was,,,,,,,,,,, too much. Also some of his hairstyles have been a bit more questionable than others. Also the fact that he was made canonically gay just to queerbait like yay a gay guy but,,,,,,, meh 

Favorite episode (scene if movie): It’s been a bit since I watched it but the episode where he was pining over Ed and trying to tell him he loved him was a good one for him he looked cute and I liked his plight 

Favorite season/movie: I really liked his rise to power in season 1 and if I remember correctly he finally ended up somewhere in the end after all the shit with the gangs so that was really cool 

Favorite line: I can’t think of one right now but I’ll make up for it with my favorite Look ™ which is how he’s always able to look like he’s kind of on the verge of tears

Favorite outfit: Idk anytime he’s wearing a suit is good

OTP: Os and Ed obvs 

Brotp: Mmmmmm idk him and Ivy seem cool as friends even tho I haven’t watched in a while

Head Canon: don’t ask me headcanons,,,,,, i’m so bad at headcanons a lot of the time

Unpopular opinion: I don’t know the fandom well enough lol i’m bad at his

A wish: Nygmobblepot,,,,,, alas,,,,, which isn’t to say it’s bad to hold out hope but i’m so cynical and bitter :-/

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Death, heterosexuality

5 words to best describe them: clever, manipulative, ambitious, cowardly (but shh it’s okay he’s not always cowardly), vengeful 

My nickname for them: Os I love when ppl call him Os lol

James Flint:

Why I like them: do you want me to write a book,,,,, I love him so goddamn much it hurts…….. He’s just so smart and he deserves so many hugs, he’s a gay icon, he tries so hard to do right even tho he’s a fuckin murderous pirate, he’s a murderous pirate that likes his books and his tea and gardening with his best friend, his eyes are the prettiest things on god’s green earth….. love him 

Why I don’t: not applicable I refuse to insult my boy lmao

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Probably the one where Miranda died or the one right after bc Toby Stephens is such a good actor and also he fuckin burned the town down for hurting his best friend and??? goals. Or the last couple of episodes bc that shit iwth John………… and then the reuniting with Thomas………… wow

Favorite season/movie: I really liked his rise back to the top from season 2 bc it makes me sad to see him failing and he starts going on a mad and grieving downward spiral after season 2

Favorite line: “This ends when I grant them my forgiveness, not the other way around” I’m sure there are more bc his speeches are all beautiful (like the “there be dragons one”……. kill me) 

Favorite outfit: Everything he wears is perfect 

OTP: flinthamilton is literally the only thing that waters my crops anymore, although silverflint gives them a nice solid rain every once in a while and is hella valid too

Brotp: James and Miranda is so beautiful that I regularly cry about them but I also liked when James and Madi were teaming up

Head Canon: He and Thomas break out of the plantation and become feared pirates again, also he was dating John and Gates lmao

Unpopular opinion: He’s gay and not bi like not for bi erasure or anything but like he just gives me such a gay feel you know what I mean. And also I don’t think what he had with Miranda was really anything 

A wish: for him and Thomas to be happy 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: for him and thomas to be sad lmao

5 words to best describe them: Intelligent, vengeful, loving, sad, amazing,,,,

My nickname for them: idk I don’t have nicknames I guess I always call him James and not Flint and it seems like a lot of people just call him Flint lol (also “lvoe of my life” does that count)

Max:

Why I like them: oh my god. oh dear i love her. When will your fave. She’s so brave and smart and loving??? like I called James loving but Max is on another level. She’s so protective of the people and the things she cares abotu and loves, and she’s so fucking smart. And she’s so brave to pursue everything she wants to pursue, like she’s a wlw of color in the 1700s and yet she still rules Nassau without giving any fucks about conventions and shit

Why I don’t: oh man is there a reason. I don’t like that she went to Woodes Rogers’s side for a while and betrayed Anne and Jack but I understand why she did so I’m not angry with her for it

Favorite episode (scene if movie): whenever she walks on screen,,,, but idk I can’t think of anything specifically but I liked it when she took over Nassau from Eleanor 

Favorite season/movie: I liked her arc in season 4 even if I really didn’t like all the decisions she made, and I really liked how she ended up in the end so probably season 4

Favorite line: she’s so smart and wise so like everything she says but also I really like her speech to Anne “I am so sorry for working so hard to protect the wrong things, for failing to see that there is nothing important that does not include you” 

Favorite outfit: that yellow dress oh my god! does anyone else remember that yellow dress! it was so pretty she looked so pretty! She has really good style in general but I love that yellow dress 

OTP: Maxanne

Brotp: Her friendship with Idelle is nice and also I like her friendship with Jack

Head Canon: again I’m so bad at headcanons

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think I do

A wish: For her to rule Nassau and continue dating the love of her life Anne Bonny and support her piracy and have her position in Nassau fully supported by everyone alive 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: death? sadness? she deserves literally the best all the time

5 words to best describe them: compassionate, perceptive, brave, honest, wonderfulbeautifulgorgeous i love her

My nickname for them:I don’t have one for her

Anne Bonny:

Why I like them: She’s amazing honestly I love her sailor’s mouth and I love her bravery and her principles and how logical she is. And I love how kickass she is and how she’ll do anything for the people she loves and I love when she stops being guarded around people and her face Softens, I’m gay for how she looks out from under the brim of her hat 

Why I don’t: I honestly can’t think of a reason……. ok I guess I don’t like that she got violent with Max in the beginning when she was having her gay crisis and like killed Idelle’s friend…….. but honestly reblog if you get murderously violent while having a gay crisis

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I can’t think of something specifically but like when she was with Max and they were just soft and dating that is my reason for waking up in the morning, AND when she saved the ship with the glass and all god wow i died

Favorite season/movie: Mmmm season 2 was prime maxanne season wasn’t it…….. good shit

Favorite line: I can’t think of any rn but wow every time she opens her mouth it’s a gift

Favorite outfit: idk generally her pirate outfit? and her hat is amazing

OTP: Maxanneeeee

Brotp: her friendship with Jack is something I would die for they make me so happy

Head Canon: I don’t know that I have any idk maybe that she and Max are still dating after the show ends?

Unpopular opinion: I don’t know that I have one about Anne

A wish: That she’s happy with Max and potentially Mark/Mary too if she wants to be

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Being unhappy,,, not being with Max or Jack,,

5 words to best describe them: strong, logical, angry, devoted, the world “fuck” 

My nickname for them: I don’t have one for her

Jack Rackham:

Why I like them: he’s so funny and I really like his goals and his arc like he starts out as this guy who just wants his name remembered and that’s still him in the end and I like that that goal doesn’t change, but he finally gets to be the single pirate captain in Nassau which is really cool for him, and he’s also super smart I love him

Why I don’t: I didn’t like his first reactions to Anne and Max, he was kind of a dick about it, but I’m glad that he eventually accepted them and got closer to Max and all

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I liked his scenes with Blackbeard and I also like his earlier scenes where he’s more comic relief-y and I really like when he gets to be a Pirate Captain Dude, that’s not an episode but I just like these particular moments with him. I really liked when that one girl at the Guthries’ was like “Do you know Captain Jack Rackham????” and he was like…………………….. i’ve made it guys

Favorite season/movie: Mmmmm honestly Jack is really consistently awesome throughout like so is everyone else but he’s really well-characterized and grows a lot throughout and I can’t really pick which season of him I like the best

Favorite line: there are so many “if you’re all going to act like children, then I will be your daddy” it’s not my favorite but it plagues me every waking moment of my life and I can’t ever escape it, to rogers: “you and I were neck and neck in this race til the end. But, jesus, did I make up a lot of ground to catch you,” and I really like his speech to Teach about Vane but I can’t find it for the life of me

Favorite outfit: man all of them, Jack Rackham is the most extra well-dressed man in Nassau

OTP: Jack and happiness…….. 

Brotp: if anyone answers this with anything other than Jack and Anne then I’m not sure they watched the same show like to each their own but I can’t imagine a life where their friendship isn’t my fuel

Head Canon: he had a major crush on Charles Vane. I don’t always love Charles Vane so I think he could’ve done better but he definitely had a crush on him

Unpopular opinion: again I don’t think I have one I”m not good at this

A wish: for him to be the most feared pirate around just like he wants to be i’m so proud of him

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: for him to be hanged or something especially if it was in front of anne or for him to have to watch anne die

5 words to best describe them: cunning, ambitious, sarcastic, idealist, stubborn

My nickname for them: i don’t have one but like….. another love of my life….. actually everyone that anon asked me about is one of the lvoes of my life anon must know me well

Thomas Hamilton:

Why I like them: oh my heck he’s beautiful. He has such a good heart and such a good vision of the world. He wants things to be so good and the world doesn’t deserve him at all. He’s so caring and loving and gentle and understanding and he just wants to see a world where people aren’t afraid of him and his sexuality and people aren’t afraid of pirates because he understands that a lot of them are just people who society has really hurt like James turned out to be, he’s such a good leader and if England didn’t suck he could’ve done so much

Why I don’t: the wig that’s all that wig killed me like I don’t even like regular wigs but that big ass brown wig haunts me

Favorite episode (scene if movie): the flashback scenes even tho it’s very short they kill me. His smile as he looks at James. I too would go to war with society over that smile 

Favorite season/movie: lol i mean he’s really only in season 2 unfortunately for us all. That little bit in season 4 is revolutionary but season 2

Favorite line: I feel like I’m not gay enough if I don’t say “Know no shame” bc god can you get a better gay line than that I’m in love

Favorite outfit: anything but the fucking brown wig I’m sickened by that wig

OTP: flinthamilton is unbury your gays, straightbait, and overall beautiful so like………. gay icons

Brotp: his and Miranda’s relationship was not as characterized as James and Miranda obviously so I’m not as undyingly in love with them but they were super good and I’m sure they were just as good as James and Miranda but for obvious reasons that wasn’t onscreen as much

Head Canon: he becomes a pirate dude with James after escaping the plantation no one can convicne me otherwise

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think so 

A wish: for him to just live in peace and for him in another universe to actually get everything he wants out of life

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: what if he had actually died. my heart hurts. why did i type those disgusting words

5 words to best describe them: visionary, optimistic, sympathetic, intelligent, twink extraordinaire. that’s six words you say? how can you counter twink extraordinaire 

My nickname for them: my boy james’s SOULMATE

John Silver:

Why I like them: He’s so…………. like I like his self preservation and I fucking LOVE his characterization and his journey from selfish coward to selfless leader, he might be the best characterized character in this show like the show is really really good at characterization but John Silver obviously had a long way to go to become Long John Silver and He Did That. He’s also so sweet and soft sometimes and I love his curly hair

Why I don’t: I just………. my heart is always with James so when he sort of went the opposite ways I couldn’t help but be on James’s side….. like I still love him and understand his view……. but i’m sad

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I really like the episode where he starts talking shit at dinner to the entire crew and outing that guy for fucking a goat and I also really like the episode where he loses his leg and I really liek the last couple of episodes. I just like a lot of him ok he’s great

Favorite season/movie: I like the beginning of his Long John Silver story when he redeems himself to the crew in season 2 but I also like his coming into Long John Silver in season 4

Favorite line: oh my god he says a lot of good things but I don’t know who I would be if I didn’t say “I will stand here with you, for an hour, a day, a year while you find a way to accept this outcome so we might leave here together” and then the parallel speech to Madi…….. I’m alive and living and this is going to kill me

Favorite outfit: anything but his beginning blue jacket that jacket is the worst lol

OTP: silverflint or him and Madi

Brotp: before Billy…… was cancelled, him and Billy were good buds and I liked it

Head Canon: that he dated that one guy who drowned with the goat Muldoon or something 

Unpopular opinion: do people like his blue jacket? I hate it

A wish: that he can at least be happy with Madi at the end and their relationship is eventually fixed which I think the thing on the cliff alludes to

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: death…… sadness…….

5 words to best describe them: manipulative, secretive, loving, enduring, perceptive as fuck

My nickname for them: none but what if everybody called him Johnny

Billy Bones:

Why I like them: ok have you seen him. he’s so handsome CHRIST. But also he’s always like the voice of reason which is really nice up until season 4. I think I latched onto him bc I already really liked Tom Hopper because of Merlin but he’s also pretty strong in the face of torture and everything he stands for being turned against on his ship, even if it’s not always what I stand for

Why I don’t: season 4? I don’t know her. Also he doesn’t like James and I. would die for James

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I liked it when he was quartermaster for a bit he was a p good quartermaster in season 1 and I also liked the episodes where he “made” Long John Silver and Captain Flint

Favorite season/movie: Idk probably season 1 bc that is when things are still gentle…… innocent…….. good…..

Favorite line: the fuck tent line is iconic. “perhaps we can all agree to forgo, you know, just this once, a fuck tent” when will your fave

Favorite outfit: shirtless 

OTP: idk he definitely dated Ben Gunn js

Brotp: him and Gates

Head Canon: he is asexual as fuck have you ever met him? asexual biromantic. sorry i make the rules and I stick by them 

Unpopular opinion: this isn’t an unpopular opinion i’m sure but billy after s3 can choke. before s3 he’s fine. after…… don’t talk to me about that 

A wish:for him to come to his fucking senses and stop being a horrible idiot

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: for him to stay a fuck lik ehe was at the end fo s4

5 words to best describe them: headstrong, loyal, sentimental, ideological, determined

My nickname for them: i dont’ have one but can you imagine if ppl called him bilbo 

The Doctor:

Why I like them: I mean this really depends on which Doctor you know? this one’s probably going to be long bc I’m gonna do a bit about all the new whos. So 9 I like because he’s very brave and determined in the face of everything he just lost and because he has such a good heart when he easily could have been so cold. And when he is faced with how he has hardened some, he always works on getting better and being a better person. also idfk but like christopher eccleston is all of our uncles who brings us the cool like $20 iTunes cards. 10 I like because he’s so loving that it kind of ruins him. Like that kind of is the way of the Doctor but he just keeps on loving and loving and loving until he’s traveling alone desperately looking for some fun and some companionship so he doesn’t have to feel the hurt of Rose and Donna and doesn’t have to feel how badly he misses Martha. He’s like. He’s like the guy that goes and gives you a giant bag full of shit that would suck if you just got it alone but in bulk like deodorant and tissues and socks and shit. 11 I like because he’s very fierce and fiercely protective but also silly and fun like I like how he can be bouncy and stuff and then the next moment he’s been quiet and scary or loud and scary or gentle and wise. 11 forgot to get everyone anything but he’s the main source of laughter so everybody pretends they’re not disappointed bc his gifts are usually cool. 12 I like because. Eyebrows. But also because he’s a lot different than other Doctors like hte Doctor tends to do morally ambiguous things sometimes but it feels like 12 is so much more morally ambiguous than others. He’s angry about everything that’s been done to him and he feels grief from things he hasn’t thought about in a while and it’s an interesting and different twist on him. 12 intentionally got everyone nothing and ate all the vegetables and left. why am i relating them to christmas? i’m materialistic 

Why I don’t: I don’t feel like going that in depth again but I’ll just say I don’t like how Moffat’s Doctors become what the story is about. The story I feel like is supposed to be about not only the Doctor, but the story and the companions, but Moffat’s Doctors are so much the centerpoint of the story that it loses some of the really really cool things from RTD’s era and some of the spirit of the Doctor. moffat is why my farm animals have all run away 

Favorite episode (scene if movie): this is really hard lmao. I’m gonna pick an episode a Doctor. 9- The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. I like “Everybody lives!” that’s the best. 10- Midnight. That acting tho and really seeing 10 scared and helpless is something different and really cool. Also The End of Time bc it’s literally the best episode of anything in existence. 11- Idk I can’t really decide. Maybe “The Big Bang.” I love 11 but for the life of me I can’t ermember a fave ep. 12- I’ve onyl seen s8 and part of s9 but I like that one episode where the Doctor thinks he’s dying with Missy I can’t remember what it’s called

Favorite season/movie: 9 lol he only has one. 10- 2 or 3 I really can’t decide. 11- 5. 12- I’ve only seen 8 fully lol

Favorite line: that requires…… so much thought and so much work. They say a lot of cool things. The Doctor is all about speeches and one-liners lol

Favorite outfit: 11 has the best outfit ngl but 10′s is a close second

OTP: Rose and 10 obvs who doesn’t love them, I mean River and the Doctor have always been good, idk my otps for Doctor Who usually involve companions and their partners

Brotp: all the companions every single one of them I’m alive. have you ever met amy pond. have you ever met martha jones or donna noble. have you ever MET jack harkness 

Head Canon: I have……….. a lot I feel like i couldn’t type all of them up first of all the doctor is gay so jot that down

Unpopular opinion: mmmmmm I’m sure i have some but I can’tt think of them 

A wish: FOR THE DOCTOR TO BE ANYTHING BUT A STRAIGHT WHITE MAN

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: for 13 to be a straight white man or for Chibnall to be as bad as Moffat :-/

5 words to best describe them: genius, kind, hopeful, loving, vengeful

My nickname for them: I don’t know that I have any but I might that I’m not remembering

[verbam]

I'm literally all for sex positive thinking and letting ppl write smut how they want, but can I ask why you like sub!bellamy so much? like that concept makes me physically uncomfortable. he's been through so much and his character history w abuse is heart breaking. i don't see clarke wanting to have that much power over him, even in an intimate setting, but that's just me. sorry if this ask comes across as rude. just trying to understand ur perspective more

So first off, anon, I would definitely urge you to do some further research on BDSM and the psychology on why different people enjoy being in sub/dom situations. This link is a nice place to start....

 https://sexgeek.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/10-principles-for-healthy-247-ds-and-ms/ 

I also want to link that article, because it sounds like you, anon, are coming from a place where you assume that being a sub means that you are automatically out of power, out of control, and in an abusive situation. Which is... not what healthy, consensual, dom/sub dynamics are about. It does concern me if you are only upset with Bellamy being a sub and not Clarke, if that is your reasoning of what BDSM is. Obviously, I have no idea who you are/what you generally like, but I’m hoping the link above can clear some of those misconceptions up.

I’m going to try to answer your question as honestly as I can, because I am really hoping that you are coming from a place of genuine curiosity and not malice. 

The reason I like sub Bellamy so much is because of some of the reasons listed in the article. Healthy, consensual BDSM employs communication, trust, respect and love for you partner. In all safe scenes, there are hard limits in which all players understand, and safe words that all players respect. I think most BDSM fics you’ll find in this fandom, including fics by myself, @raincityruckus, @alienor-woods, @missemarissa and @bellohmyblake all recognize and discuss consent, safe words, and convey the love and respect that is so strong between Bellamy and Clarke that makes BDSM such an interesting dynamic to explore between them. 

Obviously, in the authors listed above, we’re split. Some of us prefer Clarke as the domme, and some prefer Bellamy, but again, I just want to stress that none of these writers see the sub as losing control or putting him/herself in the line of abuse(?) or disrespect of their partner.

So why Bellamy for me personally? I think what you might interpret as abuse, and I’m taking a wild stab at this, but I think you’re referring to his childhood on the ark and then his torture at the hands of Mt Weather, I interpret differently. 

Bellamy’s life on the Ark was all about strict control. At the age of five or six, he was handed a his baby sister, after, we assume, that Aurora prepped him for all the secrecy that this new life would have to entail, how much control, and told that she was his responsibility. Obviously, some of this comes down to headcanon and conjecture, but I see Bellamy clinging with bloodied nails to control to the next sixteen years of his life. He has to control his emotions, his fear, his schedule, his diet, and even his little sister, and anyone who’s been around young children knows how exhausting and nearly impossible that is. Bellamy adored his family, yes, but that control wears thin. 

In s1a, we see Bellamy attempt to take sole control of the 100 in order to take care of Octavia and slowly begin to hate himself and what he pushed himself to do in the name of leadership. In Mount Weather, we see Bellamy chained and tortured, and at the end of 216, we see Bellamy face the daunting, lonely task of facing control again as his best friend walks away.

Honestly, Bellamy has been stepping up and taking control his entire life, and that shit gets tired man. So, when I look at Bellamy and that interpretation of his journey, I see someone who, in the hands of someone he loved and trusted, would find relief in handing over the reins of control, just for a little while. 

Obviously, if you are familiar with BDSM culture, you know that generally a sub still has an endless amount of power in a scene. They can end it whenever they want, and usually their desires and their limits set the tone of the scene. Obviously, the dom/e has limits and desires too, and good scene partners are ones who understand each those things about each other and respect each others desires, goals and limits.

So, honestly, I do really like the idea of Bellamy and Clarke as both being switches. When one needs to submit or take control for a night, they are both eager to play. I think Bellamy does have a lot of trauma and in being able to safely give up control in an environment where he knows he’s respected, loved and cared for, and when he can tap out at any time, it would be deeply healing and soothing for him. I also think, for Clarke, taking care of Bellamy in that situation would be really good for her too. It gvies her a chance to prove to herself that when she’s in charge she can make someone feel good, and that her touch doesn’t always hurt people.

All that being said, if you don’t like, don’t read! You have no obligation to read something that makes you uncomfortable, but I do think if you wanted to see what that dynamic looks like in fic form, rcr has a beautiful sub Bellamy fic:  Long Time Now, and I wrote one also, which you can find here.

[zvaigzdelasas]

got a couple ppl ask me this, so i wanna go more in depth. A natural question ppl ask almost reflexively when confronted with the idea of Prison Abolition is some variant of “what will replace prison then?” the answer to which like... depends on what you consider the role of prisons to be.

If you consider prisons as a way of “dealing with crime”, then you’ve gotta admit.... they do a pretty damn lousy job at that, since we in the states have got 1 in 4 prisoners in the world, but still a ton of crime. If you want to deal with crime, it seems natural to examine closer what drives people to commit them: obviously it depends on the specific situation, but most crimes can be attributed to either economics (stealing, selling drugs & the violence associated w/ it, “white-collar” crime - tho u don’t usually see them in prison for ~some reason~ - public homelessness, etc), violence (including what u mentioned), and obviously the two sometimes overlap. Since the former is a huge amount of the prison population, if we reorient our economy from one based on wage labor and endless accumulation, to one where people are provided everything they need for a comfortable life for free without having to prove their worth as a human being, immediately a huge proportion of what we consider to be crime is a thing of the past.

But what about the rest of it, right? What about that violent minority who still for whatever reason still want to hurt and abuse other people? What do we do with all of them then? and the truth is, there is no one answer, because there is no one situation that causes people to act violently. That totalizing logic of having one set way of dealing with people who don’t fit nicely with society is at the heart of the the carceral complex.

The remaining root causes are less straightforward to deal with, bc they’re usually either nebulous social systems of domination like white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, and so on (which although will lose much structural power when we overthrow capitalism, will still be significant issues on an inter-personal level), or the result of people reaching a breaking point of massive alienation from any actual human communities and reacting violently to those around them (or they abuse drugs to try to cope with that sense of isolation)

Education is a huge component of dealing with these violent social relations, and i don’t mean that in terms of just telling kids about consent from an early age, but also to have the cultural messages they receive while growing up actually demonstrate that communication and valuing one another’s autonomy actually creates a cohesive and harmonious society, instead of one that shows that greed, selfishnesss, exploitation and dominance can make you successful (say, even make you president). Kids absorb an astonishing number of social cues, norms, and boundaries without even realizing it, and that has a significant role in shaping how they will view and interact with other people.

“but!” i hear a thousand anons begin typing, “what about the people who already did commit a violent crime?” and even ignoring the shallow, easy rhetort of “well what do we do about them now?” alluding to the fact that the vast majority of people who commit violent assault (especially those of a sexual nature, or that done by cops) don’t generally see the inside of a jail cell, and if they do it’s generally not for that long (for a multitude of reasons, some to do w culture, some to do w legal manipulation, some to do w biases). That’s just a deflection. In reality, if someone has demonstrated that they will continue to act violently towards others, if they’re unwilling to reconcile with their victim(s), if community/close social circle interventions don’t change behavior, any sort of counselling or therapy doesn’t change it, if expelling them from a community would assuredly revictimize whatever community they then join... then i’m not in principle against enforced detention (with an orientation based on self-improvement instead of protestant repentance) but if a community comes to a situation that would necessitate that (which i think all things speaking, would be a pretty small minority of cases), then it’s not something that should be taken lightly, and should be subject to the most piercing, constant scrutiny and room for restructurement.

So much of this society, from our schools to our workplaces, from the streest to our highways, from the cityscape to our own home environments is structured in relation to the prison and Carceral logic, so questioning it understandably makes many uncomfortable. But a world not based on that logic is possible, and we can build it together :)

if u want to learn more, here’s some information and resources you may find helpful

Chelsea continues to be an icon

[timothyabernard]

“Vocal Athletes” for World Voice Day by Dr. Paul E. Kwak (NYU Voice Center)

Featuring: Dr. Ryan Branski, “Dr.” Drew Gehling, and Dr. Paul Kwak

Hi everyone!

Thanks for staying tuned, and for sending in such great questions. We love seeing your responses and inquiries, and for all of the energy and enthusiasm you’ve generated during this initiative. I’m going to try to answer as many of your questions as possible. 

But first, I’m going to start by listing all of the great questions you’ve asked which I’m NOT going to answer, because they are questions that your voice teachers and coaches are better equipped to answer! I want to emphasize how important I think it is that you get information from experts in the areas of their expertise – which is to say – doctors can be great at answering questions about medicine and surgery, but I am not an expert in vocal technique or sound production. Similarly, your voice teachers may have opinions about reflux, allergies, and medications, but I am specifically educated to answer those kinds of questions. Admittedly, there is inevitably some overlap between form and function, between anatomy and physiology, and when we have to make decisions about things like considering an operation to address vocal fold pathology, I believe these decisions are best made collaboratively, with the input of everyone on your vocal squad. But for the purposes of this forum – and because it’s the space in which I feel best positioned to speak – I’ll focus on answering the questions about medical and/or surgical aspects of voice that you all sent to us!

So, these are the questions I’d encourage you to direct to your voice teachers and coaches (note, this includes the questions about vocal stamina and endurance, which I may partly address later when I address your questions about vocal rest – but fundamentally, I believe that understanding your own stamina and endurance has mainly to do with developing and understanding your singing mechanism and technique):

How tired should I be at the end of a long day (4-8) of singing? Should I be slightly hoarse? 

Best ways to warm up belting voices without hurting the voice? 

What is a healthy way to do physical workouts without causing tension in the neck area? 

My voice doesn’t hurt but I’ve lost my higher register for the last month!! Help!!

How do you regain lost range after a long singing hiatus? (a few years!) 

Tips for a soprano learning to belt safely?

Can vocal chords adapt to stress with a certain training to extend tone ranges forever? 

Tips for healthy belting? 

When does singing get unhealthy? (e.g. too much air, too much mass?) 

What can I do to keep up my vocal endurance through a long run of shows? 

I’m learning how to belt and after 30 mins lesson, I feel pinching in my throat. Help!

Is it okay to do vocal exercises daily, or should you take breaks? 

How do you know you’re singing in the safest way? 

How can you relieve tension? (like in your jaw) 

How much singing is too much singing? 

Should your throat hurt after you belt or sing? Like lowkey? 

What are some vocal exercises that you can do while you are trying to get over fatigue? 

What are the best ways to release tension in the throat or to lower the larynx when singing?

Is it normal to feel vocally tired after singing for an hour or two? 

What are the best vocal recoveries to do nail (besides vocal rest)? 

If you’re not supporting your voice, could you damage your voice and does tea help damage? 

Many of you asked questions about various forms of hydration:

Is it best to sip or guzzle water to promote hydration for the voice? 

Any natural remedies you recommend during winter months when it’s dry? 

How do you best deal with singing in cold, dry climates? 

Tips to keep your voice from drying out?

Does steaming really do anything? 

How can you steam without one of those expensive steamers that bway ppl have? 

Is a nebulizer good and safe for everyone to use? How often should it be used? 

Does steaming actually help the voice, or just work as an anti-inflammatory mechanism? 

There are many general health benefits to maintaining good overall hydration (i.e., drinking enough water), but it is especially important with regard to the vocal folds, because good hydration helps keep the vibratory layers of the vocal folds (beneath the surface) soft and supple. Steam is hot, aerosolized water, and the reason this can be helpful to singers is because it can moisten and lubricate the surfaces of the vocal folds. Remember that when you drink, the liquids that you drink do NOT make contact with the vocal folds – in fact, the body works hard to keep fluids away from the vocal folds, so that they don’t go into your lungs! But, because it is aerosolized, steam can indeed reach the vocal folds, and lubricate their surfaces. This is a temporary effect, so often performers find it helpful to do 20-30 minutes before a show and/or when warming up. If you use a steamer regularly, it makes some sense to invest in a portable one, but steam is just boiled water, so any way you can think of to make that happen wherever you are is equally good!

A few of you asked questions about vocal fold nodules:

Is there any way to catch problems like vocal nodules before they get too serious? 

How quickly can vocal nodules develop? What can I do to prevent them? 

Is it possible for the vocal cords to recover by themselves after injury? 

Vocal fold nodules do not arise suddenly; they tend to develop over time, and represent a kind of wound healing response to phonotrauamatic injury. The best way to start to navigate concerns about vocal nodules (and, I believe, any concern related to the voice) is with the guidance of a multidisciplinary voice team. At the NYU Voice Center, and other leading voice centers across the country, singers are cared for by laryngologists and speech-language pathologists, and we communicate directly with your voice teachers and coaches so that everyone has the same information and understanding of the state of your voice. 

I have written in previous posts about my belief that we do not make decisions about a voice and a singer based on one piece of data. A laryngeal examination (scope exam) is one piece of data. It is important that that piece of data is considered alongside all the other data about the health of your singing voice – including but not limited to, the acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics of your voice; stamina and efficiency; genre, style, and repertoire.  One of the many reasons I’m so invested in this partnership with Fit for Broadway is that I believe it is essential that we change the culture, the paradigms, and the beliefs we have about what it means to be vocally healthy. 

Indeed, there were many questions that revolved around the theme of staying healthy while vocally busy, and how to recover vocally. 

What’s the best way to keep your voice healthy when doing 2 show days? 

Best daily remedy keeping a clear and healthy voice? 

How can you heal your voice within a few hours before a show? 

When sick or with swollen chords, should we warm up and sing for rehearsal or vocal rest? 

When should you go on vocal rest? How long before a show, should you when you’re sick?

How do you properly vocal rest? I feel like I’ve heard a lot of different things. 

How resilient are our vocal folds / what’s the best way to maintain beyond steaming? 

What are your go to remedies for 5 show weekends? 

What can I do to be sure I am singing safely? How can I keep my vocal chords healthy? 

What’s a way to rest your voice without actually going on vocal rest? 

Best tips for someone studying voice in college? Staying healthy, prioritizing, when to rest, etc?

When do i have to “check up” at the ENT? 

I think that one of the only pieces of universal advice that I have for singers is to maintain an awareness of the balance between vocal activity and rest. That may seem simplistic to you, but I believe it is the most central and important thing that busy singers should bear in mind. This is the crux of the reason Fit for Broadway and NYU Voice initiated this series – to heighten your awareness of the athleticism of a singing voice. (And I encourage you to go back and read, and re-read, posts 1 through 3!) In that context, I believe that the most important principle in long-term health of a busy singing voice is protecting time for vocal recovery and rest. There are no shortcuts. There are no quick fixes. I would, in fact encourage you to be suspicious of practitioners who promise shortcuts in the long game. 

Similarly, each singer is an individual, so there are no hard and fast rules about when to rest the voice. This is another decision that is often best made with some guidance from a good voice coach or teacher. In general, I think that if you start to experience pain in the throat while singing, or you feel especially fatigued, or you start to hear disturbances in the sound of the voice, it may be wise to rest the voice, and consult a laryngologist for an examination so you can make a decision about how to move forward. Voice rest can be helpful, but too much voice rest can also be counterproductive (see again our earlier posts for additional explorations of this theme!).

Finally, I would reiterate that I believe that all singers should have a squad.  It can be difficult and daunting, sometimes even scary, to navigate these kinds of decisions by yourself. Having great minds and ears listening to your voice – especially from people who know your voice and work over a long period of time – is the best asset in keeping your voice healthy in the long term.

Thank you again for your energy and enthusiasm!  Our doors are always open at the NYU Voice Center – come visit us!  (And, though your response to our FFB x NYU t-shirts was incredible and nearly cleaned out our inventory – there are a few shirts left! Grab your own swag and let everyone know that you’re a vocal athlete!)

Contributed by Paul E. Kwak, MD

Featuring: Jane Jourdan, Dr. Ryan Branski, “Dr.” Drew Gehling, and Dr. Paul Kwak

Featuring: Isabel Leonard & Jessica Vosk

To get your limited edition, FFB x NYU Voice Center “I’m on Vocal Rest” shirt, email jane@fitforbroadway.com (limited sizes left in NYU X FFB).  To learn more about the NYU Voice Center, visit www.nyuvoicecenter.org

“I’m on Vocal Rest” is an original Fit for Broadway Apparel design. We are so grateful for to be a part of this mission with NYU Voice Center and believe this message is worth spreading in our global community!

The post “Vocal Athletes” for World Voice Day by Dr. Paul E. Kwak (NYU Voice Center) appeared first on Fit for Broadway.

Article source here:Fit for Broadway