#but i still cannot believe that one of the biggest ones likes to reduce one of the main characters to

[magic-owl]

When shippers make a character into a caricature and lesser than they actually are in order to support their ship and claim that it’s everyone else in the fandom’s fault

[g0lightly]

i saw a screenshot reposted on twitter of a j0nsa explaining how to find j0nsa “foreshadowing” and genuinely at first i thought it was a parody of how some j0nsas post on here because it was so …💀

i’m not sharing the screenshot here bc no one deserves harassment or to feel bullied for what they ship. however, seeing that post helped crystallize a long-held observation of mine about a ship that i do not like yet cannot fully avoid due to the fact that it is one of the biggest in the fandom and it involves one of my favorite characters. no hate no shade to my j0nsa mutuals, my filters and i love you for tagging your posts (and also for not posting weird murder fantasies about dany!).

because j0nsa is so popular, it can set the tone for discussions about sansa on here. often times that tone comes across … god how do i say this nicely … weirdly gender essentialist. this is an observation that i’ve struggled to articulate for a while but the post in question inadvertently helped me put my finger on the reason why i am so put off by these theories (and the ship in general if i’m honest).

basically, the post claims that there is a pattern of opposite-sex characters around jon and sansa that have the traits of the other. jon and sansa are both kind of the traditional fantasy hero/heroine ideals so like … of course sansa is going to encounter men who are conventionally masculine in the same way that jon is and of course jon is going to encounter women who are conventionally feminine in the way that sansa is. and of course they'll meet people who aren't that feminine/masculine ideal. the post also says that it can still be j0nsa foreshadowing if the person in question had “opposite” traits from jon or sansa — apparently jon thinking about arya means he’s actually thinking about sansa? uh… i think you just made up circular logic so that you can claim every woman jon interacts with or thinks about is a sansa stand in and vis-versa!

in the actual text, meanwhile, jon finds himself drawn to warrior women like ygritte. in a way, sansa is too – she seems to have a fascination with mya stone. an actual parallel between jon and sansa is the fact that they each have a fascination with a dark-haired androgynous bastard of their same sex that they call pretty in their respective remote snowy locations (satin and mya). they also both remark on the beauty of the lannister twins — only, jon remarks on jaime’s beauty and sansa remarks on cersei’s beauty.

now, these examples are some of the reasons why i personally read jon and sansa as characters who are likely queer in some capacity. frankly a lot of sansa’s thoughts remind me of myself as a closeted preteen. because i read both characters as not straight, however, i find it especially restrictive when the conversation around these characters is reduced to how well they fit their masculine/feminine ideals and why that means they must be soulmates. it doesn't give them room to defy the gender ideals that define them in some fans' minds. in a series about subverting conventional tropes in fantasy, i just don’t believe that the feminine ideal girl and the masculine ideal boy are going to ride off into the sunset together.

yet, you could use the same passages from the text to say that jon and sansa’s admiration of cersei and jaime means that they’ll also do sibling incest (i don’t care that they’re cousins by blood, they were raised as siblings). jon comments on the fact that jaime looks the way a king should and sansa looks up to cersei because she wants to be queen one day – again, you could also use this to argue jon will be king and sansa will be queen. i mean, i would disagree with you, but it still makes a hell of a lot more sense than reducing every woman jon interacts with into a sansa stand-in and reducing every man sansa interacts with to a jon stand-in.

[serpentthecrow]

Sleepy time with the grishaverse characters

A/n: I... Don't even... Sorry about that. My executive dysfunction did its magic. But here you have this as a peace offering since you guys liked the crows one. I can't even believe how long it's been. I'm probably not going to keep writing too many fics, if any at all. But this one's mandatory. And short.

Summary: headcannons on the sleeping habits of (some of) the grishaverse characters.

Alina Starkov

Hear me out

The girl's out like a light

Exactly the type of person to roll around the bed, end up in peculiar positions, and mainly, accidentally slap you or kick you in her sleep

Isn't picky, but if she COULD choose- only the softest mattress, duvet and pillows

She's petty like that

Has absolutely no night routine. Like. NONE.

Owns no pajamas. Just normal clothes passing as sleep clothes.

Gonna use her sun summoner powers when getting up in the middle of the night to fetch water etc., only to curse profusely because ✨light sensitivity✨

Midnight snacks. No elaboration is needed.

Definitely owns a stag plushie. Cause poor thing.

Mal Oretsev

Sleeps like he's in a coffin

No honestly. Like, on his back, straight as a plank. Psychopath.

The nightmares tho.

The biggest duvet stealer

Never actually uses the duvet tho. Kicks it away every time

Can barely be bothered to change

Absolutely cannot be bothered to make the bed

Hasn't got a single idea how to put on a bedsheet

Red flag: eats in bed too often

Occasionally has a dream about Nikolai throwing him overboard Volkvolny and grinning down at him, saints know why.

Would fall asleep under any circumstance. Light, loud sounds, anything. Bang two pans repeatedly next to his head, and the guy will still fall asleep if he's sure he can afford to.

Has a phoenix plushie. Pun intended.

Aleksander Morozova

does this guy even sleep? Questionable.

But in case he does:

A side sleeper

Surprisingly heavy sleeper

Rarely sleeps in bed when unsupervised tho. Not uncommon for him to fall asleep in a chair.

Black silk sheets only.

Talks in his sleep

Seriously.

If someone walked in on him sleeping, he'd be long since executed for treason.

Absolutely unaffected by caffeine

Produces a whole lotta shadows before going to sleep, roused by the slightest amount of light.

The extensive night routine is canon.

Doesn't have a plushie. The only one in this hc series btw.

Nikolai Lantsov

my favorite sailor bo- anyway

(Let's ignore Volkralai for the purpose of these hc's)

A stomach sleeper. We stan.

A pillow hugger. We stan.

Mostly blue bedding, especially in the palace or the spinning wheel, since we all know he misses the sea.

Another one with a whole-ass night routine.

Reduced amount of clothes when sleeping- usually just pants

They're pajama pants tho

Has some trouble falling asleep on land, he's used to the rocking of the ship

nap king, especially as Sturmhond

Reads a LOT before bed

A night owl- has to be reminded to got to sleep

Sometimes starts to rant about some invention of his

C A N N O T fall asleep without cuddles. Like, he's physically unable

The biggest manchild about waking up early.

Has a fox plushie. A fact.

Genya Safin

babygirl has nightmares, okay? Gotta start with that.

lowkey got accustomed to some level of luxury in Os Alta

not the biggest fan of cuddling. For understandable reasons

a warm beverage before bed

fuzzy socks

tries to maintain an exact time to go to sleep but ultimately fails because she's got trouble falling asleep

probably improves on her sleeping habits once she becomes a part of the triumvirateonly cause she has to tho

overthinking before sleep queen

does she have a plushie? Does David count? You tell me.

[epickiya722]

Haha right? It's so normalized while it's actually so inappropriate to go to a stranger and talk about their sexual preferences.

I hate how "x fans" is called "x fuckers" now. Yeah I like Sukuna. No I don't want to fuck him. But all there is in his tags.

I'd go as far as to say that people don't care about characters. They just want to put them into tropes box to imagine them as their vampire/alpha male/ceo lover.

And I find it ironic how the same will trash talk about fanboys while they do the exact same thing. '"let women be horny" they will say, because reducing a story to you being horny is ok.

I still want to publish my stories because some fandom gave me hope. But I don't hold my breath anymore.

It is very inappropriate. Like, damn, I can't just like the character? I can't be entertained by their antics?

There are just so many things that shouldn't be normalized across fandoms and going into someone's inbox to be like "*insert character* fucker" is one.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people having their fantasies about their faves, let alone am I gonna police anybody on or care to. Waste of my time, I got fics to write! Posts to post! 😭

But sometimes I do think "does this person actually care about the character's story"?

Because some of those same people will have so many takes on their faves that don't even be that character. That is a whole OC you created!!

I actually wasn't aware of this until only recently that people accepted for Sukuna to become some absolute horndog when Yorozu was up all over him. Maybe I missed something, but Sukuna only ever expressed being interested in fighting and killing people and personally, he never really came across as some sexual deviant to me.

I feel like sometimes if you have this fanon version of your fave, that is not your favorite. In no way, should you feel the need to like this whole other version of your "fave" in order to like him. Then why have them as your favorite in the first place?

I like Sukuna because he entertains me. He's this evil ass menace who wants all the smoke and the biggest beef he has is with a 15 year old (who is my all time favorite of JJK). Sukuna also this mysterious air about him because we still don't know much about his backstory, let alone everything he can do. (I had this recent thought about a technique that I should probably get to writing.) I have theories about his character, like how he may really be as a person, true. But at the same time, I'm not gonna believe my theories about him are canon because "I know him better than Gege". Anything I say isn't canon unless said so explicitly. I didn't create Sukuna. I am just another fan just vibing along with the story.

And it really is insane to me that people will do that. People were saying "female fans of JJK are ruining the fandom, they're all so horny" as if all us are horny, let alone engage in the anime for said reasons.

The same people *cough cough* misogynists *cough* who say that be the same people who will have a wallpaper of someone like Nami as their header and she'll have boobs bigger than what she has in canon.

Oooh, y'all don't like folks be objectifying the JJK men, huh? Even though for years female characters have gotten the treatment in Shonen. You cannot be dragging Gojo fans when you want to be Makima's dog. Stop that now.

Also, its not just the men! Uh, Yuki Tsukumo exists! She has a lot of fans who find her attractive. There's Shoko, Utahime, Takako, Mei Mei...

I'm waiting for the day 143 gets animated because I just know people are gonna go 👀.

Like, either way, if you're a person who gets constantly horny over your faves, why are you upset with someone doing the same?

I saw this meme post about how people tend to overlook the story and its details and only focus on the attractive cast and fights. And some people were like "but people are only focusing on the fights and attractive cast".

No, they're not. You're missing the point.

For one, you can find the characters attractive and enjoy the fights. That is fine. But at the same time, don't miss the story. Pay attention to it because it's just as important, if not more.

Second, not everyone is focused on just the fights and cast. If that was the cast, why do we have theories and meta posts? Why do we have people writing fics that study the character they're writing about? If no one is focusing on the story and only like the fights and attractiveness of the characters, then those kind of posts from fans wouldn't exist.

[who-is-page]

Hey! (Sorry about the fever, hope it gets better soon) Read something you were mentioning about your own phantom limbs responding to painkillers and PT, and I was wondering, do you have any advice/suggestions on that front for other folks who get some degree of pain/tension apparently stored in phantom parts? S especially has that happen some, even though neither of us have 24/7 phantoms, and we've tried things like "attempting to back-calculate what muscles/spots on our human body feel like they correspond Closely Enough to the phantoms for work on those spots to help the phantom pain", but it's definitely a challenge sometimes. (For me, it's more often stuff where I can just...stretch my phantom wings, if they're aching, and it'll help loosen everything up, but for him it seems to get more 'stuck') Best wishes, L+S

Thanks for well-wishes, I am in misery but am thankfully on the upswing. Sorry it took a little while to respond to this; we got started on mobile, but then mobile Tumblr wouldn't let us continue to edit the draft when we paused to get more medication. :') Functioning app.

For us, treatment depends on the type of phantom limb pain, and the severity. Phantom pains for us tend to come in three types:

Spasms: The phantom is twitching and flailing uncontrollably, and painfully. It might also "hit" people or objects around it, which can cause further brain freak-outs. It's exhausting to deal with.

Cramps: The phantom has retracted against the body tightly and painfully, and cannot be moved or adjusted. It's stiff, it hurts like a spring wound too tight with a muscle, and it hurts double to try and force it to readjust. Like spasms, it's hugely tiring.

Aches: The phantom just aches and hurts, plain and simple.

We also get generalized discomfort, tension, and itchiness. Some people in our system are more prone to different types of pains than others. Noel most often gets severe aches along her phantom scars, for example, while I tend to end up more often dealing with cramps and occasionally spasms.

Here are some of the forms of treatment we use, how much they help us, and what types of pain they usually help with:

Medication: This is in reference to anti-inflammatory and pain reducing medication like ibuprofen. It works best on specifically aches, although it can also help to relieve some of the pain caused by cramps and spasms. This is the easiest and first line of defense-- if we can feel the pain starting up or know that something is beginning to trigger it, taking this early is a good move. Unfortunately, its effectiveness isn't perfect. It will never relieve all of the pain, it just dampens it, and some days it works better than others.

Prosthetics: This is in reference to using prosthetics that line up with and match our phantom body parts to some degree. Having a partner or ourselves gently interact with the prosthetic, especially if we can see it visibly or in a mirror, can relieve a lot of tension we've found, but usually isn't fantastic with handling outright pain just because of the limbs we typically find to be painful. We're still experimenting with this one, because we only discovered it about a year or two ago. We've found that having a prosthetic is great because we can interact with it and our brain will fully believe that we're physically interacting with our phantom limbs and will register it as such. It's like putting ice water on a fire. It's the biggest relief.

Touch: This one usually requires another person to work. It works well with all three kinds of pain depending on the type of touch, and on our lucky days can sometimes resolve the issues entirely. Having a friend or partner put pressure on the effected area, or gently stroke or massage, can sometimes convince your phantom muscles to unwind or hurt less, just like physical aches and pains. We usually use pressure for the aches; massages for the cramps; and gentle strokes for the spasms.

Stretches and Movement: This one is pretty hugely hit-or-miss, and only usually works on aches to help relieve some of the pain. Gently stretching the phantom in tandem with our physical body in slow, steady movements can sometimes help it stop hurting. We've found that it's important not to go too fast or do too much, because that will make the pain increase. We usually do arm and back stretches for wing aches (I might draw it out), leg stretches for tail aches (rare, but they've happened before).

Heat: This can be in reference to a hot compress, a hot shower, an electric blanket, anything that generates a notable amount of heat. It typically only works with our cramps and aches, not spasms, but sometimes it can resolve the issue entirely. The idea is simple: wherever on your body is connected to the painful limb, apply heat and try your best to relax.

Breathing Exercises and Meditation: Probably the most unreliable of the list for us where it rarely, if ever, works, but we personally know quite a few other people who vouch for this. It's exactly what it says on the tin-- you sit, calm yourself, and do breathing exercises. Or you sit and try to meditate. Our ADHD makes this one extremely hard and impractical, but it might be worth a whirl for other folks.

General Exercise: This is referring to light exercises, just enough to get our blood pumping, because we're disabled and our body can't handle too much. It only really helps with cramps, and only cramps of a very low severity, but sometimes it's enough to make them go away entirely. For this, lifting and taking walks are our preferred exercises, based on what we like to do.

System Shenanigans: We're part of a system with a mindscape and can interact with one another within it. Sometimes we can get pain to alleviate or lessen by interacting with the pained limb in the mindscape. We've shoved Noel into a hot spring for her phantom scar pain before, for instance. This one is a pretty big coin flip though, because sometimes it just doesn't work and I really don't understand the rules or why or how.

Obviously YMMV when trying any of these out, but you're more than welcome to mix-and-match or adjust as needed to suit your personal needs. We also always heavily encourage making sure to rule-out or treat physical causes that might be inadvertently causing or increasing what your brain is translating as phantom pain too-- things like back issues, etc. In our experiences, phantoms can and are affected by parallel physical issues. They're not neatly separated in our brains, because our brains recognize the sensations from both and wires can easily get swapped and crossed; our electric meat machines are just doing their best with the input they've got.

We're having that issue right now, as we type! Because we're so sick with the fever, our whole physical body and our entire phantom body are wracked with pain. So sometimes treatment and prevention is multi-layered and a balancing act.

I hope this helped, and I hope it made sense. We're still pretty sick, so if there's anything here that you need clarification on because we went off on a tangent or just weren't clear in what we meant, just reblog and let us know and we'll try to explain it better when we're feeling less like death.

[ominouspositivity-or-else]

“Seeing exceptions will never cause these people to rethink the rules they make up.“ But my sister in Christ, do not these “rules” apply to the Catholic Church to an extent? The Church has certain ideals of male and female behavior, there is a “complementary”masculine/feminine complementarity” and “natural law” and “traditional gender roles” are held as the ideal. I can provide evidence of this from magisterial Church documents. I admire the Church it’s just that I have a lot of confusion regarding certain topics, gender roles being one of the biggest. I’m aware the Church is not so shallow as to say “women cannot be intelligent/men cannot be emotional” and has always educated both sexes, it doesn’t think “women are actually sinning if they aren’t doing x job exactly” but it still upholds the general trends that differentiate men and women, which logically leads to the idea “men are x and women are y by nature”. Which is true, men and women are, in general, different, both physically and psychologically . This has been an endless source of confusion for me. This is also why I wonder about how many Catholics on this site seem to reject gender roles altogether which seems antithetical to Christian history (and indeed all history, all cultures have gendered divisions of labor and gender roles). For the record I’m not a particularly “masculine” man either.. so it does affect me..

My brother in Christ, of course there are differences between men and women. Spiritual, psychological, physical. I don't? Believe? I've ever said otherwise?

But what I usually say is that your masculinity and femininity is deeper than toys, books, and clothes. It's deeper than colors, than emotions, than personality types. You're inherently male because you are a man. Congratulations. If you are wholly being truly yourself, you will be a masculine person, simply because that's what you are. Likewise, if I am truly being myself, I will be a feminine person, because that is what I am. We are both created in the image and likeness of God, meant to do different things in this world, but like.

The way you cut your hair doesn't factor into your masculinity of femininity. Whether or not you wear pink doesn't factor in.

You're a man by the virtue of being one.

And none of this is to say you don't have a role that's specific to your masculinity. Of course you do! You're made to fight and to protect and to love! You're made to be a father just as I am made to be a mother.

But what I think you may be seeing a lot of on my account is not the degradation of roles that belong to the sexes properly, because I don't believe I've ever reblogged a post about how "the wife should be in charge on the home" or how "a man should obey his wife", but rather that society's ideas of masculinity and femininity are so screwed up that we reduce our ideas of what it means to be male and what it means to be female to a simple stereotype.

Because you know what? Boys can like pink and play with dolls. Girls can like trucks and monsters. None of those things make them any less of what they were created to be.

When I was a little girl(to this day, ngl to you) I always fell more in line with my male peers versus my female peers. I've got a personality that has more stereotypically masculine standings, I've got a brutal honesty to me that some women have a hard time with. I never liked dolls in the way that my female friends did, but then again I never played with them like my brother did. I have a more masculine style of dress but I like my hair long. I don't like make-up or fashion or shopping or stuff. None of that stuff makes me less feminine. Nor does liking that stuff make someone MORE of a female.

That's all I try to say.

As far as legitimate roles for each sex to play, there is definite places for that, and it specifically in my opinion exists in the construct of the family. It's not "women sit down and bite your tongue in work meetings", it's "wives, listen to and respect your husband's for they are the symbol of Christ to you and your kids."

The gender roles exist naturally and for good reason. Makes your relationships healthier if your wife is on the same page as you and is willing to let you take the lead. Likewise it's a more healthy relationship if your husband is willing to take the lead and your advice as well, to lead the family where all of you need to go.

But that dichotomy seems to exist outside all the surface level stuff.

Your wife could cut her hair into a buzz cut and wear combat boots and a military jacket. She's still your wife, and she ought to listen to you.

Your husband could paint his nails, grow his hair out long, like pink. He's still you husband, and he should love you like Christ loves the church.

Men and women are different creatures, but I think a lot of what you're seeing, anon, is our unwillingness as a group to fall in line with the idea that there are surface level boxes on what make men men and women women.

There isn't a check list. There are things you are called to do depending on your sex, but that's deeper than how you style your hair or how often you cry. I think that's what you might be seeing.

My advice is to try to separate gender stereotypes and gender roles! Ik it can be difficult but like. Don't let society tell you what to do and who you are. Let the Lord do that!

Lmk if I didn't answer this enough, or I was too broad. Praying for you, anon! God bless!

[edwinspaynes]

Okay, second controversial ask. Half the fandom has a shit opinion of Grace. On both sides, the people who don't like her, and the people who defend her.

For the people who hate her. I feel like, they cannot see beyond the fact that she is an antagonist, and they do not want to see the full picture. She had been groomed from a young age by her mother. She grew up isolated, alone, with a ghost, who as much as he wanted to protect her, could not do much. She was failed by everyone in the Clave ( it's kind of a thing for the Clave to fail kids anyway), and she did not know better. She is fucking 16, and people cannot see that some of her actions were her only way to protect herself.

Now for the people who defend her. I cannot stand the opinion that the fandom hates/dislikes Grace just because of the ship, and then branding the misogyny card on every person who has reasons to dislike her. For the 1st time, we have a brown female protagonist in a fantasy book. For a lot of readers, they finally saw themselves in an adventure story. And the person who is in a way responsible for some of the sorrows of said brown protagonist, is the most mediocre (at best) white female character, who has a tragic back story. Stories are not written just to be in a weird vacuum world. For a lot of these young brown readers, including myself, the antagonists were white women, and some of them had tragic stories. And I feel like reducing the dislike for Grace to a ship war is just ignoring/erasing the feelings and sentiments of a lot of young non-white readers.

Same with the SA, and what she did to Matthew, Charles, and James. There should not be an "I know what she did is wrong BUT", " "her brother should have been kinder when she learned what she did", and "the other characters don't have to accept her apologies but should not be rude to her" rhetorics. There is no need for the but in these cases. I'm going to go a little personal here, but as someone who is in her 20s now, (and kind of sees beyond my nose), do not care about the tragic back story of the person who SAed my sister when she was a preteen. And I can acknowledge that maybe they grew up in an abusive household and that it's a disgusting cycle. It is still not the job of the victims to accommodate the feelings of the assaulters once they realise they fucked up.

Overall, I do believe the character of Grace was ruined in cot. I always thought that she should have killed Tatiana and that she should have left London by the end of the series, for her own sake and healing, and the sake of the other characters, who will always remember her as the blade of Tatiana. The fandom needs to see that she is one of the biggest victims in the series, while being one of the worst characters. Both can mutually exist.

I'm a massive Grace stan, lol. Please keep that in mind when reading my response.

There's a lot here, and I agree with some of it but disagree with a lot of other stuff. (This is a great ask, btw - I am SO GLAD we're in the age of fandom with nuance. Because the Grace situation is SO NUANCED and I think we should talk about it.)

Starting off on a positive note, I 100% agree with your takes on the people who hate her. She was a child that was PURCHASED by a batshit crazy woman that enchanted her when she was like 11 and pimped her out in Paris to practice the powers that were forced on her. Grace Blackthorn is actually one of my favourite TSC characters and I will always be in her corner.

Moving on, I actually haven't seen people say that they think others just hate Grace because of the ship. Where have you seen that? Not saying it didn't happen, bestie! I just haven't seen it.

OKAY SO let's get on with the Grace/Cordelia stuff.

I am a huge Cordelia stan and will defend her to the death. I have a lot of controversial opinions about her, specifically the way that the fandom treats her. My opinion is "yeah she's the main character but she's super overlooked/sidelined by basically everyone and I think we should address that because she's really awesome." I make a point to post about her sometimes because I think she doesn't get the love she deserves, and always want Cordelia-related asks (so go for it, anyone reading this!)

I do disagree with your assessment of Grace as "mediocre at best," but I'll get to that in a minute. I do agree that it's really fucked up to dismiss readers of colour for siding with one of the few main WoC protagonists in mainstream books.

This is a good segue into my next point. I actually am 100% on Cordelia's side in this particular situation. I do not think Cordelia has any obligation to befriend Grace, and I do not think she has any reason to, either. If I were Cordelia, I sure as hell wouldn't forgive Grace. I also do feel irked when people act like James and his loved ones should all accept and embrace Grace with open arms because, like, no. She totally violated James, and Matthew and Charles, too. No one in the main TLH group has any obligation to forgive her whatsoever, though I have a different take specifically on Jesse (you can read it under the cut because I hardcore dislike that character). I do hope that she can find friendship with Alastair, because I think he can understand and empathize with her, but he's sure as hell not obligated to.

You're right about the fact that there shouldn't be an "I know what she did is wrong BUT" for them. They owe her nothing.

Grace does, however, deserve a second chance. I adore her and will die on that hill, too. Not a second chance with this lot, but with other people. I will die on the hill of "Grace should have been sent to another Institute never to see any of these people she's traumatized again." Both because she's triggering for them AND because she deserves a better situation where she has the chance to be forgiven and loved and heal.

Back to Grace SAing people, yeah, you're right. She did that. It's shitty, and we should talk about its impact on James and Matthew and even Charles. I was absolutely furious with her after ChoG specifically on Matthew's behalf because Matthew is precious to me. Like, I cannot put into words just how precious Matthew is to me. And I hope James and Matthew aren't forced to interact with her anymore. They don't need to care about her backstory. They should not accommodate her feelings.

And yet.

YET.

I love the character of Grace, and I love her personally despite her actions. I definitely did not feel like she as a person was ruined in ChoT, and I love the character even more after the book. (ChoT hit a REALLY good place for me that I don't think it hit for a lot of people. It's my favourite TSC book, and probably my favourite-ever book.)

HOWEVER, I do think that the character, as she was written, was handled very, very badly. Her storyline is the only one I'm super dissatisfied with in ChoT (and Kit's, obviously, though my problem was more how the death was handled than the death itself). Grace should have killed Tatiana and left London; that's the arc I wanted for her, too. Grace also should have been able to rely on Jesse for support, and she should have been allowed to go start over at another Institute. She also should have gotten more development. It was very clear that Cassie just got bored with the character and didn't know what to do with her, so she just winged it.

I'm sorry I have ADHD so I ranted a lot but I'll stop here.

At this point, I'm also going to talk about Jesse/address him. I'm doing this at the end so I can put it under a cut. Devoted Jesse fans, exit stage left. This is not Jesse friendly.

In my opinion, Jesse is the only person in the main cast to owe Grace support. She did everything to resurect him, and he knows that he is the ONLY thing she has. And, even more importantly, Tatiana fucked him up, too. She made him an anchor for a prince of Hell. She left him half-dead for years. He of all people should understand what she went through, and he of all people should know that she didn't have a choice (as he didn't when Belial possessed him and murdered a bunch of people). Jesse was such a huge fucking asshole to Grace, and the ONLY reason he was not treated as she was is that he is a) a boy, and b) biologically related to Tatiana, which only may have made the difference. If I were Grace, I would never forgive Jesse for what he said. I hope she doesn't. After everything she has done for him, after everything he has gone through, and after all he knows her for, he OWED her compassion. Once again, a great reason for her to cut ties and be sent somewhere else. I'm captain of the fuck Jesse Blackthorn crew, especially since he has 0 canonical personality traits besides "jackass to Grace."

[annealeph]

Cross-post from a Youtube comment I wrote on a video about Hermes which I feel would be right at home on Tumblr too

SPOILERS FOR FFXIV ENDWALKER

Something I believe is very important to always to is to be capable of criticizing actions but still empathizing with people

I do not forgive or dismiss Hermes actions, especially not the one s after hearing the Meteion answers to his search for meaning. He undoubtedly doomed the universe to a fate we only managed to escape because **we cheated his challenge by both travelling back in time and escaping with our memories** and for that it is best that he is no longer around

However, we cannot hold his perspective on one hand while holding the gavel on the other, to understand we need to cease judgement, we can condone or condemn to our hearts content afterwards

Hermes was broken, he was filled with existential questions created by the society around him, and questions that were dismissed by the very same, He wanted to cherish life (And I hear you thinking about the video counter argument given in the video, but remember to put the gavel down) but at every turn what he perceived as life was discarded, and thus, the things that troubled him grew and festered.

Ideally, he would be able to talk this out with others, and with us he did, and though we did not have time to sit with it I believe that our presence would have helped him clear his mind a bit, he couldn't find any connection with the other ancients on his existential dead because the source of it is something no one bats an eye to, no one would understand it, and even outside the game many people don't (Gavel down please)

And just as he found someone he could share his burden with, he received a response from his other recourse to set his minds at ease, the Meteion, and the answer was simple...

Pure Nihilism

The lives you thought shouldn't be discarded like used up parchment? They are pointless. The strife you wanted to believe had meaning? It does not. All life ends and that is the only truth in this existence. There is no meaning, and even this race of yours that puts itself above their creations will cruble onto itself one day, and all that came in between was worthless (Again, gavel)

Hermes just had his biggest fears confirmed to him, and despite Hades himself pointing out that the premise of the question is flawed, he has already lost, Hermes is no longer capable of thinking properly not because "he crazy", but because his life, and the lives he mourned, are **entirely meaningless**, he as well as the rest of the ancients and their creations would be discarded just like that one creature he had to put down

And this is where my talk of setting aside judgement and arguments ends, because unfortunately, I cannot sympathize with his actions after that. To me his actions are no longer rational, and just like the beast that was goung rampant just a few hours before, he needs to be stopped or else Meteion will bring forth the Final Days, them being fueled by the nihilism of a dozen stars that could not provide them with a meaning, only providing tales of loss and fire and pain with no succor at the end

I can understand what led Hermes to losing himself to the point of completely breaking, I do not agree with his conclusions or even with his questions however and neither did the writers, seeing as Hades himself criticizes his though process, Hades as an outsider can see that the mission and purpose for the creation of Meteion is going to fail spectacularly but he only knows what that is **after** everything goes to shit, and thus, cannot prevent it.

And like I said before, Hermes very much **had** to be stopped at that point, I can empathize with him, but when push comes to shove, he was about to doom his own world and we cannot let that happen

We have all the right and some would argue even the duty to adequately judge the actions of others, but reducing them to only their actions is counter-productive, the writers had moments making you Sympathize with him not as a "uwu plz fowgive me fow my fucky-wucky" but as a way to explain why he lost himself and cursed the world to oblivion, again, not to justify it, but to **explain**, after all, "would you be happy had I a good reason?"

Hades had a reason, and I understand his reason, but I do not forgive him, he cause calamity after calamity and we are still untangling the mess that is the 13th, a mess that **his group** caused. I will not forgive Hermes either, he had a reason, and I understand his reason (In short, desperation and nihilism, not disagreeing with the ancients), but he still created a being for a mission he did not realize was doomed from the start

This is a tendency of his as he also gave humanity a mission that would have been impossible were it not for us disregarding its rules and running with our memories and Venat (Who is also on paper-this thin ice which only hasn't broken because I did not give her a lot of thought)

In the end, his reasons are not meant for you to condone his actions, as they are unforgivable and driven by anguish and despair, not logic, but it is also not without reason that he reached the point he did

[akemshow]

Health And Fitness

Analyze and Change Your Lifestyle into A Healthier One

In modern times, life is very tough and competitive. You have to work hard, in order to stay in this society, and in this hectic work routine, you often forget to take care of yourself. I have seen people who work for more than 12-15 hours a day and still, they feel unsatisfied with their work. In this kind of lifestyle, there are so many glitches that you can fix to optimize your routine.

These glitches are also not very hard to find and with very little attention, you can get them and repair them easily. You must have heard this too often that you should live a healthy lifestyle but have you ever thought about what actually a healthy lifestyle is? Is it just about not smoking, doing exercise, and keeping your weight under control? This formula sounds simple but believes it or not, it takes some time and hard work to be implemented in real life.

If you do not exercise, and your eating habits are also unstable then, it will take very small steps to bring you on track. You just need to make some very slight adjustments in your daily lifestyle and these adjustments will make your life healthier and fit.

Lack of Physical Activity

The biggest drawback of modern office life is the lack of physical activity. You have to sit in your chair throughout the day and after a tiring day in the office, you go to your home and after taking your dinner you cannot even walk and go to sleep. This is a very dull and unhealthy routine but you can make it a little more energetic for you and that will also not get too much attention or time from you. You can just get up 20-30 minutes early than you do now and go out for a short walk.

Even if you think that is not possible for you then, you can just take a bus to your office instead of your car. This will add some walking to your routine. This much movement and activity can be so much advantageous for you that it can save you from lots of heart diseases as well will improve your respiration and will make you feel your weight. Your joint stability will get improve and you will be flexible enough according to your age. It will also help you in reducing anxiety and depression and will improve your mood and you will be able to work with more concentration. Smaller movement schemes like gardening on weekends, daily walks,s and similar other activities can also help you to control your weight.

Control Your Weight with Little Extra Movement

There are some very simple and basic things which you can do to make your life more active and to increase your physical activities. It is not necessary that you pay heavy gym fees to exercise and to do proper weight loss instead if your weight is not alarmingly high and you just want to control it then, you can do it by adding some simple thing like you can go out for a walk daily with your family instead of just sitting on the couch and watching TV. No matter whether that walk is to your local grocery store but it will be a lot more active task than just sitting on the couch. Walking is a very important aspect which can help you to reduce and control your weight. There are so many ways which can add some walk in your life for example instead of going to the mall in your car, taking a walk, taking your dog for some extra outing in a nearby park and similar other things can be very healthy for you.

Some people and especially men have this habit of not doing any home chores. This is also an unhealthy lifestyle because house chores like gardening, some light cooking, and other similar things which you can do on your weekends are very healthy activities and these activities will increase the physical workout.

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These chores will also give you a chance to facilitate your partner and she will feel very happy as you are helping her in her work. The best way to add physical activities to your daily routine is to make a list of everything you do in one day and analyze that list. If you find yourself sitting around too much then, try and look for some alternate time where you can add some physical activity.

Check Your Eating Habits

Eating is another thing which can impact a lot on your daily life and especially on your weight management. A healthy diet plan can always keep your weight in check and if you are eating without any certain plan then, it will create chaos for your body and will ultimately increase or decrease your weight alarmingly. You need to know how many calories you are consuming every day. There are lots of different calorie meters available which can tell you the exact amount of calories in your daily diet. Following

are some of the general trends which you can follow to make your diet plan healthier.

First of all, you need to add more fruit to your diet. Fruit is the healthiest natural diet you can get and almost every fruit is enriched with different vitamins and these vitamins are available in their purest form in these fruits.

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These days, people are very afraid of vegetables and they do not like to add vegetables to their diet because vegetables are not very spicy but you should not be a victim of this trend as it is a very unhealthy trend and you need to add a good amount of vegetables in your diet.

Even if you do not like to take vegetables in their traditional form then, add them to some snacks and eat them every now and then with lunch or dinner. You should also try and add a salad to your dinner and lunch.

This is a very healthy habit which can make you cut your appetite and you will be eating healthier food. Cut the use of fat and try to use some fat-free dairy. Try to avoid junk and fast food as much as you can because it is very unhealthy food full of unhealthy fats.

Secrets of Health and Fitness

What’s Behind It

First of all, you need to know that, in order to achieve a healthy and fit life, you must be living a very healthy life with a proper and healthy lifestyle. There are some very important ingredients in making your life fit and healthy and without those ingredients; you will not be able to get that precise health and fitness.

Most people think that without adapting to a certain tasteless diet plan and working hard in the gym, they cannot get a healthy and fit life but this is not entirely true. Although doing exercise and keeping your diet healthy is important but this is not everything that you have to do for maintaining your health.

There are some other secrets that you must know and these secrets are also very easy to implement and execute. No matter how busy your life is you can always find some time to execute these things which I am going to tell you now.

Healthy Eating

This is a well-heard word that almost every person tells you that to get a healthy and fit body, you need to control your eating habits and make it healthier but no one tells you some easy way to do that. When it comes to healthy eating then, it does not just include eating healthier food but it also includes avoiding eating all the unhealthy stuff.

You need to add natural elements like vegetables, fruit, unsaturated fat, and unrefined carbohydrates. At the start, you will find it difficult to integrate these things into your diet plan but with time, you will learn about the nutritional values of different diets and it will become a lot easier for you to pick up the best diet plan. You should avoid eating junk and fast food because these food items contain unhealthy fat, refined carbohydrates and other similar things which can be very unhealthy and can increase your weight a lot.

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Regular Exercise

Another very important thing is exercise and you must include some sort of exercise in your daily routine. Some people have this misconception that only joining a gym and paying a heavy fee for that gym will give them a proper workout routine but this is not necessary secondly, people do not have that much time these days to go to the gym daily. Office routines are very tough and to survive and make it work, you need to work more than 12 hours a day.

You need to find some alternative to that gym. You can add some light walking and jogging either in the evening or you can get up 25-30 minutes earlier than routine and go out for a walk. You can also add some walking to your routine by minimizing the use of the car. You often use the car for going to the grocery store as well as to other routine places but you can avoid that car and go on your foot.

Stress Management

Being stress-free is another thing that can give very positive effects on your life. A hectic work routine and no relaxing time can increase the stress level a lot and in lots of cases I have seen people going through sleeping disorders due to this constant stress. To avoid this stress and to minimize its effects, you can adopt some relaxation exercises like yoga or you can opt for a massage after every 2-3 weeks.

These methods will help you a lot in decreasing the effects of stress and will make your life peaceful and stress-free. When you are less tense then, you will be able to concentrate even more on your work and will increase your overall productivity.

Alternate Health and Medicine Options

Traditional doctors and medicines also have some side effects on your health and you should avoid them as much as possible. If you happen to be suffering from some minor health problems like temperature, flu, and other similar problems then, you should not look for more traditional antibiotics instead look for some unorthodox medicines and look for side effect-free medicines like homeopathic, massage therapy, and other similar methods.

These methods will not also get you rid of that health problem but are also made from totally natural elements which makes them even healthier for your body. In other alternate medicine options, you can look for herbal medicine, massage therapy, meditation, Ayurveda, reflexology, and aromatherapy.

Sleep Well

Sleeping is another very important aspect of your life and it is the basic thing which helps your body and brain to relax and get ready for work. If you experience problems in getting good and proper sleep then, you must do something to make this state better because I have seen people going half mad just because they cannot get proper sleep. In order to make your sleep more proper and better, you need to make sure that you are not taking your work to your bed. Make sure that before going to bed, you have solved all of your office and work problems, and even if there is something left then, forget about it for the night and concentrate on getting good sleep.

To implement all of the above things in your life, you need to make your life disciplined in the first place. You need to make a commitment to yourself that you are going to make your life better and then follow that commitment to your fullest effort.

Some people try to adopt such schemes as proper diet plans, and proper exercise plans but they tend to execute them just for a very small period of time. This is also not very effective because you need to be very consistent for proper results. This is the reason that I have described some very easy-to-adopt things that you can continue doing no matter what your daily life is.

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Healthy Nutrition and Its Benefits

You would have heard lots of people saying that healthy nutrition is important for a healthy body but you need to know that is the actual meaning of healthy nutrition and why it is so important. Let’s define nutrition.

“Nutrition is the process of giving your body all the important and necessary elements which can help it to grow in a proper and balanced way.” This is the simplest definition which tells you that you need to get proper food and a proper diet which can help your body to grow in a better way. Healthy nutrition can make your body strong and can help it to grow and repair itself while an unhealthy nutrition plan can make your body weaker and can make you ill and you will not be able to fight against certain minor diseases.

Understanding Nutrition

The purpose of nutrition is quite simple to understand and there are three things that can tell you its importance and purpose. First of all, you have a body and secondly, that body needs some very precise things to nourish and grow. Thirdly nutrition includes all those things which can help your body to grow. Now after this understanding, you need to know what the actual relationship between food and nutrition is. First of all, make this fact concrete that food and nutrition are not the same things and there is some difference present between both of these.

Every food has not got nutrition and the degree of nutrition in every food can vary. It may happen that some food items may contain a high percentage of nutrition while some food items may not contain any nutrition at all. For example, an apple can provide your body lot more nutrition than a doughnut. You can make it more interesting by understanding that when an apple goes into your system then it breaks down in substance which your body uses for growth and blood production but when you eat a doughnut then, your digestion system will say “hmm, I do not need much of this stuff, so, either throw it away or store it somewhere like in butt cheeks.”

Relationship between Food, Health, And Nutrition

Food, health, and nutrition all are very closely related. The food which you eat can be either full of nutrition or it can not contain any nutrition. The nutrition which you provide to your body affects your health directly. The basic goal of everyone is to improve health and to improve health, you must provide enough an adequate amount of nutrition to your body, especially for your physical health and fitness, you must make sure that you are providing enough nutrition to your body. There are four categories of nutrition that your body always need in enough amounts. These four categories are protein, fat, carbohydrate, and vitamins. You need to make sure that the food you are eating contains the necessary amount of these elements and if you observe all the processed food then, you will know that all of these are labeled with their nutrition values and these labels are there for you to make an informed choice about your nutritional needs.

Guidelines for Proper And Healthy Nutritional Food

In order to provide your body with proper nutritional elements, you need to follow these very simple food guidelines and these will help you to make better choices of food. You should have a general idea of healthy and unhealthy food in the first place and this idea will allow you to choose healthier food without going through lists of food items.

Every food which can be metabolized means that can be converted into a substance that is needed to grow healthy food. You can make a measuring foot that can tell you the health value of a particular food item. Make it in three parts and first of all think about those foods which are totally processed and baked as these foods have almost zero natural elements in them like doughnuts, fast food, and other similar items. These foods have absolute nutritional value and in most cases, they are found to be harmful to your body. Second is that food that is cooked with natural ingredients like meat, chicken, vegetables, and similar other items. These foods are nutritional to some extent because they contain natural elements and you can add these food items to your regular diet. Third are the food items that are totally natural and have no preservatives and other similar things added like fruits, fresh juice, milk, and other similar items. These are the items that carry the most nutritional value.

Read more here

[lavenderspence]

(anon with the controversial opinions about spencelle, postprison!read, hotch and dating,.. again)

You’re actually so sweet for answering all my yapping!!

I didn’t even realize the low blow for the Aaron one, I‘m so sorry 😭, it might be my tism and not being able to be great at conveying what I mean without sounding mean if you get what I want to say?

anyways I completely agree with your take on writers can take a character and write them in the way they want! On the flip side I still believe there are more canon ways and more fanon ways to write a character, and writing a character ooc to fit a certain idea is ok! Like I know it‘s kind of one of the biggest compliments to get ,,oh you write xyz so in character“ but at the end of the day, as you said, writers should enjoy to write a character as they like!

I just have a slight problem with it if they kind of..complete overwrite certain traits? And not in a way where I send hate or whatever, just in a way of ok this irks me so I‘m either gonna block or simply scroll, while I do believe we should call out writers if they e.g write a lesbian character as a non-lesbian one or an autistic character as an allistic one if that makes sense!

Then again we should not reduce a character to only one of their traits, idk I just think there should be less..shame about not writing a character 100% canon but also on the other hand acknowledging that there is this fanon version

I probably make zero sense and maybe you won’t even get why it‘s so significant to me, it’s just when I‘m hyperfixating on a topic/character it‘s unreasonably frustrating to read about mischaracterization but again I keep it to myself or, like now, tell you about it as a controversial opinion!

But what really shocked me is you not shipping jemily!! Jail time!!! /j

Anyways I was yapping again and thank you actually for taking time out of your day to answer!!

hi babe! I'll forever and ever answer any and all yapping, so no need to thank me🤭💕

well, he is my husband, so it was in fact a low blow, but I'll forgive you this time 🙄 (you didn't sound mean, I promise, I'm just joking around it's all in good fun!)

I do think it's amazing when a writer makes the character seem like he's plucked straight out of the show/movie, by writing him to a complete T because it does allow the reader to feel even more connected to the fic itself.

I'm going to be completely honest here again, and I hope I don't catch any negativity, but as someone who really cannot read autistic traits, most of what's associated with spencer I take as full on personality traits for him without any association. I would actually love it if you shared a bit more about how you see his autistic traits portrayed, or maybe what specifically you associate with. I don't really know how he's been portrayed in my own writing thus far when it comes to those specific traits, I'd love to hear too, what youve noticed.

I think at times it depends a bit on the concept of the idea of the fic itself, if it would be well placed to touch on those traits (I do hope I'm making sense without sounding ignorant or something). like at times, a fic is so fast-paced or incredibly specific, you can't really touch or figure out where the mention of those traits fit.

I absolutely think both should meet in the middle, and there should be a level of understanding when it comes to, like you said, canon and fanon. I find it a little bit entitled at times when I see hate about it, when you take into consideration the amount of spencer fics out there, and how you can find something to satisfy your need/craving, and skip whatever you don't vibe with. I think there's a place for every idea, every fic, every person, and every opinion, but the main thing is to always be polite about it.

jemily...I'm sorry, I really don't see it. maybe in evolution, with the s17 scene, and in "200" when jj is being tortured, but not much else😭😭

and please don't worry about yapping, this blog is always a safe space to do so, or be controversial 🤭

[ledenews]

Chacalos: 'I Will Sincerely Miss Everything but I have Places to Go and Things to Do'

It seems like it was just yesterday that I started teaching at WPHS.  As I passed my 30th year, friends and colleagues often asked, “How much longer are you going to go?” My standard reply was, “When I wake up one morning and do not want to go to work, that will be the day.” Fortunately, that never happened, however, as I began my 35th year, I realized that time was near.  At the end of the first semester, I knew the time had come. There were still so many things that I wanted to do and so many places I wanted to go. My biggest fear as I retired was the void that would be left when the next school year began. I knew I would miss my students and student-athletes. I loved them all as if they were my sons and daughters. The relationships that had been built were very special to me. My kids had all touched my life. I hoped that, in some small way, I had touched theirs.  With a strong sense of purpose and a determination to make a difference, I decided to run for the Board of Education seat. Ohio County Schools, both as a student and an educator, had given me so much, and I was resolute in my commitment to give back. The role of a school board is to set policy for the school system and to hire the superintendent. Board members must also be wise custodians of the county’s funds. I firmly believe that a board member should not be a micromanager. It is not a board member’s job to order specific policies concerning individual schools or teachers.  The recent bond projects is one part of serving that Chacalos is proud of because of the added safety to each of the district's buildings. I also firmly believe classroom teachers should not be excluded from decision-making. Working in the trenches, teachers know the needs of their students, and they must have a voice. I listened to their concerns and visited many of our buildings to speak to them. Even before the election, I knew it was impossible to please everyone. I made a firm decision always to do what I believed was right when the Board faced any situation. This resolve and resilience in the face of challenges should reassure you of my commitment to the role.  Never in a thousand years would I have believed COVID-19 would consume the first two years of my term. It also revealed many people knew all the answers, and if you disagreed with them, you were the enemy. Unfortunately, I did lose a few “friends” during this time. However, we did learn one thing from COVID. Remote learning does not work! Kids need to be with their teachers in person, not seeing them through a video screen. It is impossible to establish the student-teacher relationship this way.  Teachers cannot know their kids unless they have in-person contact. Teachers and administrators did the best they could under the circumstances. All spent countless hours, but remote learning did not work. Learning loss was a huge deficit to overcome. Our teachers and school administrators did yeoman’s work in reducing that loss, and the Board was informed of every step. The Board did nothing to mitigate this loss but approved steps being taken. Test scores are slowly but surely increasing. The majority of the credit belongs to our teachers.  However, we cannot judge the effectiveness of a school or teacher solely on test scores. Doing so is blatantly unfair. It is ludicrous to say low test scores are caused exclusively by the quality of instruction. These tests do not measure a student’s intelligence, creativity, etc.  The improvement of several athletic facilities was something Chacalos supported during his tenure on the Board of Education in Ohio County. Several other things factor into low test scores. For one, students MUST be willing participants in their learning. Parents and guardians must also be participants. Other factors that can affect student achievement include poverty and hunger. Children sometimes wonder where their next meal is coming from. Many children in West Virginia are often the victims of abuse or neglect. These children may develop academic, social, or behavioral issues that will adversely affect their psyche and begin a downward spiral that is difficult to escape.  The bottom line is this: when the cycle of poverty and its adverse effects are broken, test scores will undoubtedly increase significantly. The decision to cut library funding was a source of deep disappointment. The library, a place I often visit, is a hub of activity for many kids, especially after school and in the evenings. For some, it's the only place to study and get work done. The library also offers excellent programs for kids of all ages. This cut was a blow to our community, and I felt a strong urge to make my feelings heard. I felt the library funding needed to be restored to its previous level.  The best way to do this was to write it into the excess levy. Thanks to Mr. Croft, Mr. Garber, and our county administration, a unique way was found to do this, and as you are aware, the School Excess Levy and the Library Levy were passed overwhelmingly.  One of the crowning achievements of my term was seeing Dr. Miller and Mr. Jones's long-term vision for Ohio County Schools come to fruition.  Every single building in Ohio County saw significant improvement. Some elementary school additions provided much-needed space to comply with state code. The addition of man-traps greatly enhanced security at every school. The renovations at Wheeling Park High School included a state-of-the-art science department with a space for our State Champion robotics program. In addition, the Innovative Learning Center (ILC) includes a space for our award-winning Speech team.  Our athletic facilities are second to none. Turf softball and baseball fields, gym makeovers throughout the county, and a new track at WPHS give our student-athletes the best facilities to practice and compete. As a member of the Ohio County Board of Education, Chacalos attended a trout streaming along Big Wheeling Creek. Madison School has had a dental clinic for quite a while. I was also excited to learn about the plans for a medical clinic there. I had hoped this clinic would be operational before my term ended. I was looking forward to voting in the affirmative. However, all the T’s must be crossed, and all the I’s must be dotted before that project happens. The lion’s share of the funding is in place. I hope that our current board gives its approval.  Some people have told me it must be easy to be a board member and attend only two monthly meetings. It is much more time-consuming than that. I did not even fully comprehend the time commitment involved until I served.  All board members, past, present, and future, have my utmost thanks and respect for the time devoted to the Board of Education. One of my favorite things of the past four years was WPHS graduation. I was thrilled to present a diploma to my nephew, Cal, and to the children of some of my former students and athletes. I have also immensely enjoyed attending our schools for various programs and events. The Get a Life Programs at Bridge Street and Triadelphia Middle Schools, reading to third graders at Warwood Elementary and kindergarteners at Middle Creek, and the fish release event at Elm Grove Elementary were only some highlights of my experience as a board member. I will sincerely miss everything, but I have places to go and things to do.  It is time to think about me. I have written two Civil War-related books (one about West Virginia) and am working on my third. The working title is The Thunder Rolled: Wilson’s Creek to Pea Ridge. Hopefully, it won’t take as much time to write as the first two did. I recently visited four Civil War Battlefields: Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, and Fort Donelson. The information I was able to gather will be invaluable in this writing.   I will also be able to devote time to my photography business, something I haven’t done in the past few years, and to travel with my wife. In addition, I have always wanted to see a baseball game at every Major League stadium. I am currently a little over halfway there. I will continue to keep statistics for the WPHS football team and to keep the scorebook at WPHS boys' basketball games.  So you see, I will have plenty to do in “retirement.” I leave with absolutely no regrets. I know we didn’t always agree as board members, and sometimes, that is a good thing. Rest assured, however, that I always respected the opinions of my fellow board members. I thank them for always respecting mine. Read the full article

[midnight-in-town]

Hey Anon! Thanks for your thoughts. :)

I'll admit that I'm not the biggest Seb fan (tho I enjoy his character very much) haha, so my thoughts can pretty much be summed up by my answer above and what Yana previously explained about his character (see links above).

To elaborate though, I agree with you: indeed Seb is far from emotionless, he mostly lives by his demon's aesthetics, he takes his job as our!Ciel's butler very seriously and he does differentiate easily between humans, despite overall reducing them to "grasshoppers".

However, while some fans like you might disagree with this, I highly doubt (as presented above) that Seb is capable of getting challenged emotionally, meaning he's not capable of much development (which is why I'm not his biggest fan). That's because, as a demon, he's an All Black character (unlike human characters in Kuro who mainly take a stroll on the grey spectrum of characterization).

So, no matter what may happen in Kuroshitsuji, to give a few examples, I believe humans are and will stay grasshoppers to him and he will probably never hesitate to eat our!Ciel's soul (as ch95 proved), despite also saying he's enjoying his dynamic with our!Ciel a lot.

That being said ! Kuroshitsuji wouldn't be as compelling and enjoyable as a story if our!Ciel's lack of self-worth and faith wasn't supported by Seb acting as a catalystic abyss. That's why they make such a good duo and I love reading about their dynamic. :))

Also, to quote @chibimyumi's (whose analyses about Seb's character here and here I really recommend to read), despite his lack of achievable development, there is still a lot of nuances in Seb's character and I really enjoy that Yana allows us to speculate about aspects such as "how continued servitude may have made Sebas into what he is now. Sebas is a powerful demon, and yet whenever he is summoned onto earth by a human, he would be in some type of servitude to ‘a mere mortal’, or to him, ‘cattle’. How does this influence Sebas’ proud mind? How does a frequently repeated sacrifice of authority and autonomy affect the mind?"

TL;DR Seb has many layers as a character, as you and others have presented so well ! However, it's the fact he's not capable of being challenged by his surroundings, precisely because he thinks humans are grasshoppers and way below himself, that creates a void of development, leading to some kind of intertia that cannot fully influence the narrative. That's why, despite Seb being the main character, the plot is mostly driven by our!Ciel's predicament.

That's a rather unique writing choice by Yana-sensei (so kudos to her) and I think she's managed to write both our!Ciel and Seb quite well so far, which is why I also (mwhahahah) hope to see a possible conflict arising between them. Because, if one part of a good-working duo cannot change (Seb) while the other can have his views challenged (our!Ciel) then, ultimately, we're bound to have a gap to discuss. :))

Sorry for rambling? I don't know if that answers your question, but I wish you a nice day Anon!!

Hello! :D

Is it just me or does Sebastian treat Finnian oddly gently throughout the series? (sure, ignoring the whole ordeal in the green witch arc)

Ofc ik hes not an UwU demon who won't hurt anyine but his methods when it comes to reprimand Finnian or scold him seem to be more gentle in comparassion to him punching Bard or yelling at Mey rin.

The fact he let Finnian hugged him 2 times when he could've simply avoided the hugs, he gave Finnian money to plant the garden when Sebastian could've let Ciel deal with it for Finnian to get the right reprucussions, he also gives him gentle reminders about to not use his strenght with normal people, and he calmly accepts when Finnian accidently breaks a shovel or any gardening tool, Sebastian also praised Finnian during his first harvest and calmly answered Finnian's question about the orgins of peas lol.

And also this may be rather small, but in the book of murder arc when Sebastian wakes up Bard to give him instructions but also accidently wakes up Finnian, he apologizes for waking him up and tucks him in?? Like?? There was absolutely no need for him to do that??

And yes, Finnian has been scolded by Sebastian alongside Mey Rin and Bard but hes rarely seriously reprimanded by himself (even in the green witch arc when Sebastian kicks Finnian out he goes out of his way to thank him for what hes done for the young master and didn't injure Finny enough to get a scar or anything of the sort)

Idk... I just find it oddly nice that whenever Finnian is distressed he chooses to go Sebastian and even go as far as hug him, and Sebastian instead of telling him to stop, treats this like a normal occurence and just tells him to not y'know... Accidently throw people across their room and break their backs.

Like I said earlier, I know Sebastian isn't a soft UwU character and he may have his reasons for this but I don't quite know why... Or maybe this is all far fetched and im reaching too much lol.

Hello Anon and sorry for the delay! Sorry, but no I don’t think anyone gets special treatment from Seb, aside from our!Ciel since they have a contract and Seb legally can’t hurt or lie to him... to a certain degree (*cough*ch95*cough*). 

When it comes to Finny, I’d say that he used to be rather unpredictable with that strength of his...

and Seb was on the receiving end of it more often than not before Mey, Bard and Tanaka were around. In that scene above from ch163, I always had the feeling that Finny was simply too quick for Seb to stop then. 

Anyway, to Seb who’s an elite trash demon, humans are grasshoppers, so whoever that is...

...

...

Seb treats them all the same way, especially when he becomes not so patient.

TL;DR Finny is as much a grasshopper as anyone else in Seb’s surroundings, so there is no special treatment. 

Have a good weekend Anon!

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

I wonder if you could give us your opinion (and knowledge) about a certain part from the TIME article:

His aides are keenly aware of that mission, and some give Zelensky mixed reviews. “Sometimes he slips into the role and starts to talk like an actor playing the President,” says Arestovych, who was himself a theater actor in Kyiv for many years. “I don’t think that helps us.” It is only when Zelensky is exhausted, he says, that the mask comes off. “When he is tired, he cannot act. He can only speak his mind,” Arestovych told me. “When he is himself, he makes the greatest impression as a man of integrity and humanity.”

I think it was pretty mean from Arestovych to say something like this. Zelenskyy's enemies are going to use this against him.

Like...are they having some kind of old feud or something?! It's just such an odd and weird statement to make during times like this. And also kind of offensive.

Alright. I'm going to answer that in two parts (and it's going to be a long one - I also hope this will make some kind of sense because there are a lot of thoughts I wanted to put in this answer, and it was somehow difficult to say it in English).

About Arestovych

Look, I'm going to be honest. I'm not his biggest fan for several reasons. Mostly because I think he has a rather…odd…way of saying things. While I get what he's trying to say most of the time, I think he manages to say things in a somewhat arrogant/offensive way or just in a really weird way, so people misinterpret it. Not to mention that he has some…questionable views on specific topics and a really blunt way of saying things.

I still don't get why he's part of Zelenskyy's team. This is probably because Zelenskyy wants all kinds of opinions. Arestovych certainly offers some contradicting views compared to other people's opinions in Zelenskyy's team.

So...about that part in the TIME interview.

I get why Arestovych said this, and I get what he wanted to say, but I think he said it in quite a disadvantageous way. So yes, the Kremlins will use that against Zelenskyy since they try to reduce him to "just being an actor" the whole time. Did he do Zelenskyy a favour with how he said it? No. Did he do Zelenskyy a favour with what he actually wanted to say? Kinda yes.

Let me explain because even if Arestovych said it in a pretty wrong way, he's not wrong about it entirely.

When Zelenskyy announced his candidacy, he was mostly known as an actor and comedian. He was also mostly known for playing the president in SOTP.

He was always open (to a certain point) about his (private) life, mainly because there is nothing to hide: He's a good human being, he has an "impeccable" character, has a lovely and sweet family and believes in Ukraine and being able to make it a better country. Hooray. That is what people knew about him and how they viewed him. Because despite all the fame and money he always proved over the years, he's still a regular guy like them. He's like everybody else, and he doesn't attempt to be something he's not. You get what you see and what's the first impression. He can openly talk about his strengths and flaws and the mistakes he made in life.

Well, all of this works perfectly if you're an actor/comedian/celeb and want to stay down to earth and if you're really just like that. People liked (and voted) for him because he was different. He was normal, almost boring. No scandals, no drama. He wasn't a career politician. He did the whole campaign differently. While Poroshenko and everyone else did the usual stuff, he played his shows, shot SOTP season 3, toured with his team and released videos and pics on social media. When his opponents made fun of him (like him being a clown), he laughed about it, didn't take it personally and made fun of them making fun of him (like when he started the "Clown Challenge"). When Poroshenko accused him of not having a program, he created one - based on what the people wanted and not mainly what he wanted. When Poroshenko criticized him for not being in talk shows and political debates, Zelenskyy did what he does best: he entertained people. So instead of some boring talk show, no one would watch, he invited everyone to the stadium. Instead of trusting the media owned by enemies and opponents, he used social media and created his own content. He barely gave interviews or press conferences. (Which turned out to be a problem sooner or later because they looked for revenge and wrote negatively about him all the time - but's that another post.)

So basically, Zelenskyy proved over and over again that he's not like anyone else, like all the other politicians and certainly not like the previous presidents. That he's just a regular Ukrainian who's ruining for office, loves his country and wants to change things for the better. And in SOTP, he proved he could be president.

Well…all this worked perfectly fine during the campaign. And then he became president. And that was a problem.

Because suddenly Zelenskyy had two problems:

He's not Goloborodko.

He's Zelenskyy.

People who voted for him partly did that because they saw Goloborodko in him. Goloborodko solves problems in Ukraine quickly and easily. He walks in and announces what he's changing. He tricks the "bad" guys. He may be a bit awkward, but in the end, everything plays out in his favour, and he wins because he's also a bit smarter than everyone else in the room. And politics are a relatively easy to understand topic in the show.

Unfortunately, this is not how reality works. And that was a problem for Zelenskyy. Because people held him accountable to Goloborodko-standards, which he never could fulfil. Because in real life, he can't change laws just like that. Oligarchs are not that easy defeated. Corruption is not over when you stop one person. And while Zelenskyy may be smart, there are also other intelligent people in the room, trying to trick him into making mistakes and setting up traps for him.

People had such high standards set for him that it was impossible to reach them. People didn't expect him to make mistakes. And when he did, he lost the support.

So during the past 2 1/2 years (until the war), Zelenskyy struggled with his role as president. And the whole world could see it.

I wouldn't call him naive because that wouldn't quite catch it. But I think Zelenskyy imagined this would be a lot easier than it actually was in the end. I think he overestimated his power and ability to change things a bit and underestimated people in general. People who previously worked for or with him switched sides after the election when he didn't do what they wanted him to do. Or when he turned out actually be different from the previous presidents. Or when he didn't tolerate certain behaviour. His enemies also made sure to make his life as difficult as possible and tried to stop the progress and sabotage him whenever possible.

So while Zelenskyy deeply loves his country and is 100% committed to his job…he had no idea how to be The President because he's still a regular guy. And that was not only a problem for him but also for the world, hence why literally everyone underestimated him. So now everyone is surprised about what he is capable of (not to mention that not many people took him seriously, listened to him, or decided to believe the lies and just repeat them). It's basically what his wife says about him right now: She and Zelenskyy's friends always knew he would make a good president. But the people and the world didn't know that.

I think Zelenskyy learned in quite a hard and painful way what it means to be The President and that he either has to change parts of himself to be the president or find another way to be the president. Because you can't make faces during a press conference with the American president, despite that guy being a lunatic and talking bullshit. You can't just release videos and state your opinion on your social media as president. You can't just go on a vacation after a business trip as president. You can't do an opening speech at an international conference like you would do an opening speech during a show when you're the president. You can't pose for official photos like you're on the red carpet. … … …

The world has a very clear image of what a president should look like. How he should dress, what he's supposed to say or not to say, how he's supposed to act and what he's supposed to do. It may be a problem that we're too used to the presidents we all know, and we're not more open-minded to new presidents like Zelenskyy. But we have a specific idea about how someone should be if he's the president. And Zelenskyy didn't do any of what we expected. He was just himself, saying whatever came to his mind and not being very presidential at the same time. This is admirable - that he stayed true to himself - but still, a problem if you're the president of a country. Especially if you want to achieve things.

And while being himself gave him votes, it was now a problem as president.

You can actually see quite a difference during the first 2 1/2 years of his presidency. Every time he has to be the president, he acts (as president). He isn't the president at that moment, but he gives the people what they want. Basically, what Arestovych said in that TIME interview.

And when Zelenskyy acts to be the president, he's much more reserved. He holds himself back. He says things diplomatically. He acts presidential because that's what people want. When you watch speeches and he acts as president, you can see that he's not really relaxed. Never. He's pretty tense. Constantly aware of the cameras around him and people watching him. You can see him getting nervous and always looking around the room. Trying to keep a poker face. His speeches are also "polished" and very diplomatic, polite and what you would expect from a president.

Because he learned to act as the president a hard way.

Especially during his first year, he had some kind of reality check on what it meant to be The President. In the beginning, he acted as president like he was used to it as an employer. He has a problem with someone? He openly addresses this and talks about it. There is some problem? Let's name it, and let's talk about it. Someone misbehaves and is showing bullshit behaviour? Zelenskyy is calling that person out.

That works if you're the employer, but not if you're the president. During his first year (1 1/2), he fought with many people openly (he also still did that later, but not as much as before). Not only politicians but all kinds of people because he openly criticized them. He was not only losing sympathy with that, but it also stopped him from changing things in the country for the better. Because on the one side, his enemies tried to start fights with him to discredit him and keep him busy. On the other side, he scared supporters away with his behaviour. They began to work against him and his plans.

He started to have friends around him who worked for him and advised him because he could count on them. But he also learned to act as The President. And "act" because he can't just change who he is as a person. And he doesn't want to do this. So he acts as the president everyone wants and expects.

What he probably only slowly realized (and we're back to Arestovych's statement): while being himself is his biggest weakness, it's also his biggest strength.

He has his best "president moments" when he is just himself. Not when he interacted with politics or other politicians. But when he was the president and talked with other regular people. When he's just himself. When can say whatever he wants. When he can openly show empathy and genuine interest in things and his country and people. When he can do whatever he wants. When he can be the leader of the people and not of the country. That's also when he had his greatest speeches. When they were open and honest and when he could interact with people. Say things without having to pay attention if he's diplomatic or not.

When he sits in someone's kitchen, with no shoes and talks with that person. When he hosts a barbecue with reporters, dressed in jeans and a shirt. When he posts selfies from trips. When he goes grocery shopping like everyone else. When he goes to the theatre or visits the Christmas market with his wife. … … …

That's when he's the most authentic. Or how Arestovych said it: "When he is himself, he makes the greatest impression as a man of integrity and humanity."

When he's Zelenskyy, the president. And not Zelenskyy, THE President.

So yes, it took Zelenskyy a long time to understand his role as president and find his peace with it, understanding that sometimes he has to act as president and sometimes he can just be the president. And ironically, he needs both sides during this war.

Because while President Zelenskyy makes a big impression on the world stage, making sure his country gets weapons and money while he delivers mind-blowing and impressive speeches (as well as video addresses)…he has his biggest (and most human) moments when he's just Zelenskyy. This guy is president of a war country. His speeches in parliaments may be part of history books one day, but what people will keep in mind are his human moments. When he needs ammo and not a ride. When he called Russians "bastards". When you could see the grief and horror during his Butcha visit. When he talks about his possible death or how he misses his family and what it's like to live like that during the war. When he's still making jokes, he's humble and kind despite and after everything that happened to him. When he's holding back tears. When he just says what comes to his mind in his video addresses and selfie videos and doesn't control his movements or face, and slams his hand a bit too hard on the table because he's angry or when he's visibly moved or when he shows a little smile because he's happy about something or when he is completely exhausted but still shows himself working, loving, being thankful and optimistic Ukraine is going to win. … … …

So yes, Arestovych is right. While President Zelenskyy (when he acts) may help the country get weapons and money, the regular guy Zelenskyy is helping much more. Because people can connect with that guy, have empathy and sympathy for him and feel with and for him. Because the regular guy Zelenskyy is making sure Ukraine still gets attention and help. And Zelenskyy is the best version of himself when he's himself. Because while this has been a problem in the past, it's now extremely helpful and a good thing.

[namtanlovesfilm]

Hi Axelle,

I cannot verify the source from where this news came from,..but it is true that to a great extent lobbying works in the BL industry.

I mean,...Glamour & Entertainment industry through out the world is extremely competitive, and ruthless. And BL is no exception to that. And though BL isn't a sub-genre anymore,...it's still evolving. So what applies to other industries, applies to BL as well. Having said that,...news spread fast, and rumours spread even faster in the BL industry.

Now,...

Does Godji have anything to do with the whole fall-out between Mike & TopTap? Because,...it's believed that Godji is one of the influential person in GMMTV, and that she is close to Mike, and did not like the close proximity between Mike & TopTap, that's why the whole fallout.

And since TopTap is almost reduced to a side-character now,...GMMTV is launching Krist and Mike as a couple, trying to mint money out of their popularity.

If this is news to you,...how far do you think it's true?

And,...

Do you think the BL audience will accept Mike & Krist as a BL couple?

xoxo

Arjuna

hi! personally I think it's kinda annoying how people always find a way to blame women for everything lol. at the end of the day, none of us really know what happened, and all we can do is speculate on a situation we don't even have all the facts on. so yes, godji has some influence in gmmtv but I don't believe her to be THAT influent either, she's just overly present in projects bc she's primarily a mc so she's chosen to basically do most lives & events gmmtv have. and I don't believe in the slightest that toptap is getting sidelined, seeing how he's one of gmmtv's biggest actors & people love him. sure, he doesn't have the most front & center projects this year, but we don't know what the future looks like so it means nothing for now. what I believe happened was that mike & toptap fought, because godji is very close to mike she got involved by also unfollowing toptap so sadly people started blaming things on her, and then mike & toptap decided to get on slightly better terms but clearly didn't mend their relationship entirely, causing their ship to die. since both toptap & mike don't have a ship anymore and krist doesn't either bc singto left gmmtv, gmmtv paired krist & mike together (probably to krist's demand who's a huge opportunist.) I really don't think it's that deep tbh, and all the theories about toptap being in love with mike but him rejecting him bc he's with godji... these are all pure speculations that frankly people have gotten out of their asses. so clearly we should let them both do what they want to do, which is move on from their ship. as for whether or not mike & krist will be a successful ship... I have trouble seeing it happen considering half the fandom hates krist's guts, but also I've learned along the years that manage my expectations bc there's always some surprises down the line. we shall see!

xxx

[earthly--truth]

What I believe in

These are my beliefs as someone who aligns with democratic socialism and progressivism. Feel free to critique it, challenge it, even just a few sections, whatever, but this is what I believe will make the world a better place, because people (and animals) deserve to live the best possible lives they can live with the only chance at life they got. This is going to be super general and long, and not get into nearly everything, but I hope it sheds a positive light on leftism.

Strong unions so that workers (the majority of people in society) have the ability have better footing to negotiate better wages, work hours, vacation days, benefits, etc. I also believe that in instances where it’s pragmatically viable that there should be a push for more worker co-op’s, in which every employee has a stake in the company they work at, and the ability to give their input (all companies should strive for more democracy). Both of these contribute to healthier, happier, and, and better payed people.

Raising the minimum wage in the U.S to $15 an hour. The current wage of  $7.25 is way too low. It’s just not a livable wage. There’s a reason why McDonald’s and Walmart are called corporate welfare queens, and it’s because they’re employees require welfare to survive, despite being the biggest corporations on the planet with multi-billionaire CEO’s. The richest in society should also pay more in taxes.

Stop investing so much in the American military, cut it by a third if you can. (Firstly this frees up a lot of money for other things) Get the military out of the middle east, and create other more peaceful avenues to ensure it doesn’t crumble like every single time the military pulls out and doesn’t try to actually fix the mess they created. The people in the middle east deserve to be able to rebuild and they’ll need help to do that (just not the type of help where america installs their own leaders).

Healthcare should be universal, paid for by taxes. Every developed nation is capable of doing it. Many developing countries are doing it. Americans pay more in taxes for healthcare than so many other countries, yet a trip to the hospital still can put you in debt for the rest of your life. That is inhumane, and people shouldn’t have to choose between crippling debt and their health.

There’s also an argument to be made for free/way cheaper university, since countries like Canada or America force people to get a degree if they want to live a decent life, yet in order to do that you have to pay $15,000 a year for university. A system like that either forces people to skip out on uni, or again go into major debt. If Europe can figure it out, I think the U.S and Canada can figure it out too.

Black Lives Matter. To be more specific, I want police/criminal justice/prison reform. I want police de-militarized and to stop acting so abusive towards to civilians and real justice for the police that do, I want an end on the war on drugs (this helps drug addicts get help and delivers a blow to gangs and the cartel). I want an end to mass incarceration and laws that make it easier to throw people in jail for years for basically nothing. I want an end to for profit prisons. I want an end to the policy of retribution rather than rehabilitation for inmates (countries who rehabilitate are way more successful at non-returning inmates). I want an end to treating prisoners like slaves so corporations can get cheap labour. I also want the government to actually start caring about the poorest communities, many of which are predominantly black and latino (in cities anyways). (Also the indigenous in Canada). Better infrastructure, better public works programs. These all contribute to the proliferation of these communities and helps lessen the potential for criminality by making their lives better.

The dismantling of gender norms and roles, and de-stigmatization of LGBTQ+ people. I want people to be whoever they want to be. For far too long we have expected men and women to act a certain way. Women have come a long way, but there are still remnants of the old way of looking at things. We still have a lot of social stigma about how women should look, and that they are not worth even paying attention to if they aren’t conventionally attractive. We still have social stigma about sexuality and sex work. We hyper sexualize women in the media, yet shame women as sluts if they have a lot of sex. We shame women who choose abortion as murderers, yet don’t offer any support for the mother once the child has arrived. On top of that, the positions of power are still predominantly very old men. I also believe in helping men. Men are lonelier, men are increasingly staying sexless (not by choice), men are getting more suicidal. I want to address this two ways. One, by tackling toxic masculinity (not masculinity itself, just the bad parts). TM is telling men to man up and not to cry, TM is telling men not to act feminine or gay. TM is telling men to bottle up their emotions and resolve their problems through violence. The second way to address this is through my beliefs about workers. Men are the most suicidal in countries where there is a heavy work culture, like Japan and South Korea. Where they can’t have lives, and live to make money for the company they work at. That isn’t good.

When it comes to LGBTQ+ people, we need more positive representation in the media. We need people to see gay, trans, and non-binary people as normal people. When it comes to trans people specifically, we need to end the constant wars against them. Whether you’re talking about bathrooms, or sports, or children/teens receiving trans affirming healthcare. Let trans people be the gender that they say there are in the places they want to be, and allow them to receive the healthcare they need which is just the overwhelming medical consensus. This, combined with more supportive parents. all goes a long way to reducing the suicide rate amonst trans people.

The proliferation of the developing world. I want developing countries to be more autonomous, and to stop being under the boot of western corporations. I want an end to sweatshop labour or borderline sweatshop labour. I want the west to stop treating these actual people like their robots for pennies to produce our ungodly amounts of junk, and to actually pay these people decent wages. I want the world bank to stop giving money in an exploitative way to poor nations so that they cave to western business interests. These are people, human beings, and they deserve to develop and live good lives just like us. I also want them to fight for democracy in their countries.

Environmentalism. To go off the last section, 100 Corporations are contributing 71% of greenhouse gases. That needs to change. Corporations are participating ungodly amounts of devastations to eco-systems and the atmosphere. Ecosystems destroyed, and the exacerbation of the climate crises. I want a green and blue earth, and that can start by a) changing to green energy as much as humanly possible; solar, wind, and even nuclear (and whatever we come up with in the future) are far better than the fossil fuels we use now, which we’ll run out of anyways. And second we need to hold corporations accountable for destroying the planet. If we don’t do this, we risk the climate crises getting really bad. Oceans rising which will flood coastlines, creating millions of refugees, more periods of extreme dry (no water/bush fires) and extreme cold (look at what happened to texas). Something needs to be done about it.

Finally, veganism, for many reasons. One, the switch to veganism will be a big contributor to saving the planet. Whether you’re talking about the devastation we do to places like the Amazon Rain forest and other ecosystems to clear the way for animal farming, or whether you’re talking about reducing emissions. Most emissions and waste from agriculture are from the production phase of animal farming. So much food, water, and energy is wasted by giving it to billions of animals that we purposefully breed into existence, then slaughter, rinse and repeat, every single year, when we could just grow food and give water to people and skip out the middle man (think about how many people are hungry and without water in the world).

Philosophically, it is also wrong to kill a living creature that desires to live, that is able to connect with other living things and it surrounding, to form bonds. A cow, pig, chicken, lamb, sheep, are no different than a dog, cat, or rabbit, and they should not be killed, exploited, and tortured (confinement, abusive conditions in industrial farms) for pleasure. I know it’s pleasure for most people, because vegans are living proof that you can live happy and healthy lives without animal products. Vegans are statistically healthier than non-vegans, and we can get all the nutrients we need, even on an inexpensive diet. There are exceptions of course. A very small portion of people literally cannot eat plants and can only eat meat, and the developing world doesn’t have the same access to vegan products as the developed world does. Those people are valid, but many many people can make the switch and they should, especially in the developed world

All I see from this is making the world better. Hopefully you can too.

[illuminatedquill]

Nevertheless, An Analysis

Do Hyeok vs Jae Eon

Hello, again. Today I’m going to talk about Do Hyeok versus Jae Eon; specifically how love affects both of their characters relationship with Na Bi. Love, as presented in Nevertheless, is the driving factor behind nearly all the actions and dialogue between our main leads. In this post, we’re going to focus on our two male leads and how love acts as a megaphone for their personalities.

Park Jae Eon, Frankenstein’s Creature

“I have love in me the likes you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy one, I will indulge in the other.”

- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Jae Eon, at this point in the story, is a man undone. The smooth playboy, content with keeping a safe distance from the women he chases, has crossed numerous lines and broken all his rules for Na Bi. All in the name of love. And Na Bi burned him for it. It was a long time coming and much needed for his growth as a person. Time will tell if he learns from this experience and moves on to a happier, healthier version of himself.

Love, as some people say, is a transformative emotion. I don’t really believe that. I think people can change but not their entire personalities or the core of who they are. I think back to one of my favorite shows, Modern Family, where one of the characters says that people in a relationship can change maybe fifteen percent of their personality. But that fifteen percent can be enough.

Maybe that’s right. But, in my opinion, love is less a transformative element rather than it acts like a megaphone for your personality. It doesn’t give you the ability to do things you couldn’t before but instead allows you to be more of who you are. And that holds true for Park Jae Eon. Love unlocks these deeper parts of him, shedding light on thoughts and emotions long buried from whatever trauma (we still don’t know, thanks writers) he’s experienced.

But does that make him a better person?

No.

It makes him worse. At the end of episode 9, we see him at his lowest; his most manipulative, toxic, and cruel. What he did to Do Hyeok, and how he used Na Bi to do it; it’s not something I could say the Jae Eon from the first half of the series would do. But love makes him desperate and drives him to act on his darker impulses.

He’s become a monster, single minded in his pursuit. He can’t control himself when he’s around her and that does lead to acts of genuine sincerity and kindness. But when she’s not around and spending time with Do Hyeok, that loss of control cuts the other way, leading into possessiveness and rage. There’s no balance with him; it’s all or nothing to get Na Bi back to his side and away from Do Hyeok.

These toxic qualities were always a part of him but they were reigned in because he had not acknowledged his feelings. Jae Eon always kept his distance, preventing something like this. But now he’s drowning in them, lost as Na Bi was (but she had a life raft, a way out: Do Hyeok).

All this leads to his undoing. And the end of his relationship with Na Bi.

Maybe, for a time, his relationship with Na Bi was exactly what she needed; something passionate, stormy, and tumultuous enough to wipe away her pain from her abusive ex. But while storms can clear away anything in their path, they do so by causing massive damage to anything they touch; reducing structures to rubble or uprooting trees from their places and flinging them away. The cure for Na Bi’s pain ended up being worse. She only just managed to avoid the worst of it.

Ultimately it was not meant to be for Jae Eon and Na Bi. They were two people who were unable to find balance with each other and did irreparable damage.

Let’s talk now about his rival, Yang Do Hyeok, and what love’s megaphone reveals about his character. How does his love succeed for Na Bi in a way Park Jae Eon’s didn’t?

Yang Do Hyeok, Love’s Paradox

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt; only more love.”

- Mother Teresa

Yang Do Hyeok is the embodiment of the above quote. He unwittingly joined the rollercoaster ride between Jae Eon and Na Bi but it’s not until episode 8 that he willingly chooses to go for another round. He’s quite possibly the craziest character in the drama; in a sane world, we’d all be advising him to run for the hills while he still has a chance and let Na Bi and Jae Eon’s train wreck of a relationship continue to it’s inevitable conclusion.

But, he’s Do Hyeok and he loves Na Bi. So, he must try.

We see Do Hyeok at his lowest in episode 9; in a similar position to his rival, jealousy and insecurity threaten to overcome him. He can’t focus on his cooking and he’s irritable; his trademark smile is not present. He thinks to himself whether he should give up. Jae Eon’s little trick is hurting him bad and he doesn’t know how to handle it.

So, like Jae Eon, he falls back on what he knows. The hurt is there, but he accepts this is part of the risk in loving Na Bi and he continues to be there for her when she needs him. The megaphone lets Do Hyeok be more of himself, just like Jae Eon, but the qualities that are magnified are his kindness, his sincerity, and his pure, unconditional love for Na Bi.

He bites down on his hurt and continues to love. Where Jae Eon’s hurt poisons his love for Na Bi, Do Hyeok lets the hurt inform of what’s most important to him - Na Bi - and it sharpens his focus and allows him to move past Jae Eon’s trick. He doesn’t hide or shy away from his pain; he reveals it to Na Bi. This further strengthens their friendship to the point that Na Bi, upon discovering Jae Eon’s manipulation, finds the resolve to end it with permanently or else further risk more harm to her relationship with Do Hyeok.

The megaphone reveals something essential about Do Hyeok’s character to us and Na Bi; that in the face of heartbreak like this, the solution isn’t to hide away or hurt those who hurt us. It’s to love more. Trust more. And that’s what he does.

It’s what he’s always done. Because it’s what Na Bi needs and deserves. A partner who reassures and comforts in the worst moments and lifts us up when we feel down.

If Park Jae Eon’s love is the thunderous storm, relentless and all consuming, then Do Hyeok’s is the gentle green of rolling hills and pastures. The storm may come and threaten to shake apart everything but it always passes. And the hills and pastures are still there. And they endure, to grow again and again, no matter the damage.

That is what Na Bi needs. The promise of spring. That life can be good again and that she can be happy, that she deserves to be happy. And her friendship with Do Hyeok is the biggest indication to me that she is going to make it. With him by her side, she can get through this last hurdle.

Do Hyeok’s love is big and selfless. Where Jae Eon wants to possess Na Bi, Do Hyeok wants to simply be the one by her side. And that’s why he’s the last one standing in this rivalry.