#but they WERE originally written in Yiddish

[mashkaroom]

HEY DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT SINGER WROTE NUMEROUS OTHER STORIES ABOUT CROSSDRESSING ALSO

[racefortheironthrone]

Why has the American comics industry been so adverse to unionization? I've been reading through the Comics Broke Me hashtag on Twitter and I've realized how difficult it's been to even get meager compensation for work that provides the backbone for billion dollar smash hits.

I would highly recommend Abraham Josephine Riesman's biography of Stan Lee, True Believer, both as an excellent portrait of the man himself and how his industry changed across the decades. (Bell and Vassallo's Secret History of Marvel is also quite good on the early history of the company.)

When the comics industry emerged out of the pulp and magazine industry in the 30s, it was not the "backbone for billion dollar smash hits" that it is today - it was a low-rent, fly-by-night industry that was associated with pornography and organized crime. Notably, it was also an low-cost industry that sold a very cheap product (the original 10-cent comic was about $1.80 in today's money) to children. More on this in a bit.

Even when it suddenly experienced a sudden increase in popularity with Action Comics #1, everyone in the industry thought that it was a passing fad that would be temporary - and so there was less resistance to the work-for-hire system that bosses like Martin Goodman used to keep their costs down. Not no resistance - as Riesman notes, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon got pissed when Goodman started stiffing them on the profit-sharing from Captain America, so they started moonlighting at D.C, Stan Lee found out and snitched on them to his cousin-in-law/boss, and that led to them getting fired - but less.

However, there was another reason why it was hard to start a union in the comics industry, which is that a lot of comics creators were vaguely ashamed or embarrasse to be associated with it. Even before Wertham and the moral panic of the 1950s, comics were (as I've noted above) seen as a bit scuzzy, a form of disposable crass commercial entertainment aimed at an undiscerning audience of children, and certainly not respectable Real Art. While they were trying for their big break into the more prestigious worlds of fine art or literary fiction, writers and artists viewed their work in the comics industry as a day job that was best kept a bit under wraps - hence why Stanley Lieber only used the nom-de-plume Stan Lee for the comics, because he wanted to keep his then-real name for the career in novel-writing that he wanted to have.

Moreover, there was a particular ethnic angle to this distancing. As I've written a bit about before, there was a tendency among Jewish creators of this generation to keep Judaism subtextual and to change their names to keep their own Judaism subtextual - hence Stanley Lieber taking on a more gentile-sounding name, hence even a proud and pugnacious Jewish man like Jacob Kurtzberg choosing to go by Jack Kirby. Partly, this was done as a means of achieving economic opportunity in a society that wasn't exactly welcoming to creators with Jewish surnames. (Hence the line in the West Wing about Toby Ziegler going by Toby Ritchie when he worked as a telemarketer.) This is another reason why these Jewish creators were working in comics in the first place, because the "Mad Men" who ran the advertizing industry wouldn't hire them.

But partly it was done to avoid becoming a shanda fur die goyim - a Yiddish expression that means "a shame in front of the gentiles" - by associating the Jewish community with a (heavily Jewish) industry that was viewed as little more elevated than the schmatta trade in comparison to the prestigious world of art and literature. It's an old story - literally, it's the plot of The Jazz Singer, the first talkie about a Jewish entertainer (in blackface, unfortunately) and his conflict and eventual reconciliation with his more traditional family.

After comics went through its first big boom in WWII and then survived the crash in the 50s and saw the second big boom in the 60s, a lot of creators realized that the handshake work-for-hire deals that they had started with had screwed them out of a lot of money. This started some very high profile long-running lawsuits, as first Siegel and Shuster and later Kirby and Ditko sought to get a portion of the rights to the characters they had created. (Some of these lawsuits settled only a few days ago, and some are still ongoing.)

As Riesman explains, the Copyright Act of 1976 created an opening for comics creators by requiring that there be a written agreement between a work-for-hire creator and their employer establishing the transfer of copyright. This created an existential crisis for the Big Two comics companies, and the new Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter immediately tried to get his creators to sign one-page contracts transferring their rights. Hotshot artist Neal Adams urged creators to not sign the contract and invited them to a meeting at his place to discuss forming a union. Shooter retaliated by threatening to black ball anyone who joined Adams' organization - and this blatant violation of U.S labor law cowed comics creators into signing the contracts and signing away their rights and the drive to unionize comics died the same way a lot of union drives die.

Things have gotten a bit better in recent decades - the 90s comics boom and the departure of the Image guys improved the situation for creators' rights somewhat due to competitive pressure, but there are still significant problems when it comes to comics creators' access to health care, pensions, and other benefits. There have been some recent union wins - the Comic Book Workers United organized Image Comics - but these tend to be unions of staff workers rather than creators. There is the Cartoonists' Co-op, which is looking to move in the direction of acting like a union but is a very nascent organization that's a long way away from that yet. And it remains galling that the most that creators see from the billions made by Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery are $5,000 checks dispensed to keep them quiet.

It's not going to get better until writers and artists unionize.

[androgynealienfemme]

"The main justification for invalidating butch-femme is that its an imitation of heterosexual roles and, therefore, not a genuine lesbian model. One is tempted to react by saying "So what?" but the charge encompasses more than betrayal of an assumed fixed and "true" lesbian culture. Implicit in the accusation is the denial of cultural agency to lesbians, of the ability to shape and reshape symbols into new meanings of identification. Plagiarism, as the adage goes, is basic to all culture.

In the real of cultural identity, that some of the markers of a minority culture's boundaries originate in an oppressing culture is neither unusual nor particularly significant. For instance, in the United States certain kind of bead- and ribbon work are immediately recogniziable as specific to Native American cultures, wherein they serve artistic and ceremonial functions. Yet beads, trinkets, ribbons, and even certain "indian" blanket patterns were brought by Europeans, who traded them as cheap goods for land. No one argues that Indians out to give up beadwork or blanket weaving, thus ridding themselves of the oppressors symbols, because those things took on a radically different cultural meaning in the hands of Native Americans. Or consider Yiddish, one of the jewish languages. Although Yiddish is written in Hebrew characters and has its own idioms and nuances, its vocabulary is predominantly German. Those who speak German can understand Yiddish. Genocidal Germanic anti-Semitism dates back to at least the eleventh century. Yet East European Jews spoke "the oppressors language," developing in it a distinctive literary and theatrical tradition. Why is it so inconceivable that lesbians could take elements of heterosexual sex roles and remake them?

*

It is June 1987, and I am sitting in a workshop on "Lesbians and Gender Roles" at the annual National Women's Studies Conference. It is one of surprisingly few workshops on lesbian issues, particularly since, at a plenary session two mornings later, two thirds of the conference attendees will stand up as lesbians. Meanwhile, in this workshop the first speaker is spending half an hour on what she calls "Feminism 101," a description of heterosexual sex roles. Her point in doing this, she says, is to remind us of the origin of roles, "which are called butch and femme when lesbians engage in them." She tells us the purpose of her talk will be to prove, from her own experience, that "these roles are not fulfilling" for lesbians. She tells us that the second speaker will use lesbian novels from the 1950s to demonstrate the same thesis. And, indeed, the second speaker has a small stack of 1950s "pulp paperbacks" with her, many of them the titles that, when I discovered them in the mind-1970s, resonated for me in a way that the feminist books published by Daughters and Diana Press did not.

I consider for several minutes. I'm well versed in lesbian literature, particularly in the fifties novels, and don't doubt my ability to adequately argue an opposing view with the second presenter. I am curious to see if she will use the publisher-imposed "unhappy ending" to prove that roles make for misery. I also decide I'm willing to offer my own experience to challenge the first presenters conclusions- though I'd much rather sit with her over coffee and talk. She is in her midforties and, although she claims to have renounced it, still looks butch. Even if she speaks of roles negatively, she has been there and I want to hear her story. Then I look around me. Everyone is under thirty. There are a few vaguely butch-looking women present who'd very likely consider themselves to be as androgynous as everyone else, and not a single, even remotely femme-looking women besides myself. I recall Alice Walker's advice to "never be the only one in the room." Quietly, I get up and walk out. I go to no other lesbian presentations at the conference."

“Recollecting History, Renaming Lives: Femme Stigma and the feminist seventies and eighties" by Lyndall MacCowan, The Persistent Desire, (edited by Joan Nestle) (1992)

[jacensolodjo]

A lot of people point to Birobidzhan as proof of the Soviet Union not being antisemitic after all. But the fact of the matter is, while Birobidzhan was partially the brain child of a hopeful Jewish population, it was in fact a place they were allowed simply because it meant fewer Jews in the more populated areas of the Soviet Union.

Also don't get me wrong, Birobidzhan is not a ghost town. A bunch of Jews still live there (though honestly only 1% of the population now is actually Jewish). But it is a dying town. As Israel became a much more viable option for 'Soviet' Jews, the more Jews left for it. Or to the United States or Canada or wherever else. Birobidzhan's highest population numbers hit 80k in 1989, just before the Wall fell. It now hosts approximately 75k people, 1% of them Jewish. But there are also Gentile Koreans, Chinese, Ukrainians, Cossacks, Mongolians, etc.,

Birobidzhan was considered to some a compromise over going to Israel. The problem of course is that Birobidzhan was still in the USSR. However, you would not get blacklisted just by whispering its name like you would when talking of Israel. Because if Jews weren't dying in pogroms or giving up their 'Jewishness', having them leave the Soviet Union to instead be citizens of Israel was unacceptable. How DARE these Jews claim to not be Soviets? How DARE they leave behind the glorious Soviet Union? Even if we treat them like crap how DARE they leave!!

The area they were given for this new 'Jewish Autonomous Zone' was pretty much a desert. Jews were essentially being sent to wander the fucking desert again. Nothing really grew in Birobidzhan that could sustain such a population increase in the 1930s and anything that started to manage it often died off. Through a lot of hard work, they have greenery going on but not necessarily food. To say nothing of the infrastructure already there and just how isolated it really was. At least half of the Jews who arrived at Birobidzhan returned to whence they came because of just how difficult it was to live there.

By the way, did I mention that Birobidzhan was a place already occupied and the original population were told to pack up and get out if they didn't want to be around *gasp horror* jews?

While many Jews left for Birobidzhan of their own free will, many more fled there after being the target of pogroms and other antisemitic attacks in the rest of the USSR. It became a place that the powers that be (in a system that was supposed to give power to the people but didn't) knew they could find Jews to either exploit or kill anytime they fucking felt like it. Think Kristallnacht but many nights and many whims. You know, pogroms against people who had just fucking fled pogroms.

In this once upon a time in so called Jew Utopia, it was illegal to not only study the Torah (and the Talmud and everything else) it was also illegal to learn Hebrew or Yiddish (frequent visitors to my blog or just ppl who know will be aware this was true of basically every language that wasn't Russian which says a lot but i digress. But that does not mean everyone ONLY knew Russian because of course people will take the risk to learn a new language if they feel they must). Birobidzhan became a place eventually where they had a newspaper written in Yiddish (Birobidzhaner Shtern, meaning Birobidzhan Star in Yiddish appropriately enough) for a population that probably didn't even have it as a third language much less 2nd or 1st. It did however get the distinction of being the largest Yiddish language newspaper in the entire Soviet Union but as mentioned earlier that doesn't say much when the people of Biro barely got away with having Birobidzhaner Shtern in the first place.

It continues to publish to the present day so it can be considered one of the longest running Yiddish newspapers in the Eastern world (though not uninterrupted. There were many interruptions). It was also written in Russian, for all those Jews who never learned Yiddish (Not just because it was illegal. It sometimes wasn't viewed as necessary to know. Hebrew was used for worship and Yiddish for a long time was considered a lesser language when you already had German, Polish, Russian, etc., but many did still use it for everyday discussion. I have seen some people even now make fun of Yiddish which is... not cool. There is a difference between making jokes and making fun.)

Essentially, having any kind of proud Jewish soul was next to impossible in the Soviet Union. Worship was illegal, the language of our ancestors was illegal, our books were illegal. Yes, many still did all that stuff anyway but that doesn't erase it being illegal. If you were caught you could be executed for it same as many were executed for speaking or learning Ukrainian in the same time frame. Again, doing all this in Birobidzhan was basically living on borrowed time. At any moment the powers that be could decide they also could not stand having Jews in the ass end of nowhere being Jews.

Those living in Birobidzhan from the 1930s onward (remember, it was already settled when the Jews got there after a very trying journey) were all too aware that they weren't hidden. The powers that be knew exactly where Birobidzhan was, many Jews had actually been sent there from places like Ukraine and Belarus for being annoying about Russian settlement in their lands but not enough to send them to gulag. So they still lived in fear of the pogroms following them. They were also on the border with China and thus served as a low key deterrent for Chinese expansion. The Soviet Union even called the mass settlement operation the Birobidzhan Experiment.

In 1948, Stalin enacted a 'campaign against rootless cosmopolitans'. Cosmopolitan was almost always an antisemitic dogwhistle. 1948 is also when Birobidzhan was nearly bulldozed entirely. It had outlived its usefulness but managed to survive just barely.

Following this, 4 years later, in August 1952 came the Night (isn't it always for tragedies affecting Jews?) of the Murdered Poets. ALL 13 victims were poets who were Jewish and wrote predominantly in Yiddish. Some had a connection to Birobidzhan. Including a man who had the strongest connection to Birobidzhan, David Bergelson who came from a Ukrainian stetl before settling in Birobidzhan. Mere months later that same year, in November, St*lin erased all doubt about whether Jews were welcome anymore (and had never really been anyway): they weren't. He used the term Jewish Nationalist (basically any Jew that didn't consider themselves only Soviet) as well as a recorded use of the phrase "eat the rich" (again an antisemitic dogwhistle in that time frame; not saying it is now. it was also used against Ukrainian 'kulaks/kurkuls' to justify the Holodomor) in a speech to the Politburo.

It also continued his campaign for the Doctors' Plot, as that same speech had him railing about his belief that many doctors were 'Jewish nationalists'. From 1951 to 1953, any doctor was suspect even if they weren't at all Jewish (this was a belief shared by many nazis as well). With all of this going on, everything Jewish culture was closed down in Birobidzhan, just as in the rest of the Soviet Union. The mask had finally fully fallen approximately 30 years before the Iron Curtain fell and only 20 years after Birobidzhan was founded as a Jewish Autonomous Zone. Birobidzhan was never a true safe haven, nor had been the Soviet Union as a whole. The Soviet Union had always had the power to shut it down, it barely tolerated such a concentration of Jews simply because it was in fact so far away from 'civilization'.

Things only got marginally better for Jews in the Soviet Union when the Purim Miracle of 1953 happened: the death of St*lin. He had been ready to give the green light on a far reaching campaign that could have seen more than 75% of the remaining 'Soviet' Jewish population eradicated but, as the mention of Perum implies, this was stopped in its tracks with the death of St*lin. Even without St*lin, however, any Jew that so much as whispered about going to Israel was, again, blacklisted (which meant losing their jobs and homes) and given the title of the very thing Soviets hated: leeches aka people who relied on welfare (because remember they didn't practice what they preached about everyone deserving to have a life worth living no matter their ability or who they were).

Birobidzhan, while still populated, stands as a cautionary tale and proof positive that the Soviet Union lied for its entire existence about Jewish treatment and that russia has inherited this tendency. If it sounds too good to be true (especially for Jews), then it probably is.

TL; DR: there has never been a fucking Jewish utopia in the Soviet Union and anyone saying as such is a liar who has gaslit themselves into believing otherwise. With often the 'but there were SO MANY Soviet Jews' line being proof while forgetting (conveniently) that the USSR was a HUGE place to begin with that swallowed many countries that already had a well established Jewish population (Ukraine, for instance). And no points are given for pointing out 'marx was a Jew'. He was self-hating (and his entire family had converted away anyway) and led the charge in insisting Jews give up their Jewishness for the sake of communism. And Marxist Jews are deluding themselves.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

hello! can i request a nikola tesla and the other scientist x male reader (plotonic with albert einstein,galileo & Alfred

as male! reader would see them as a father/grandpa figure's but with the othes scientist would be a poly relationship

[with Issac Newton, thomas Edison, Marie curie & Nikola Tesla]. if you don't want too or your not comfortable with it, it can be just a Nikola Tesla x male reader)

(this is kind of a "long" request but half of it is just information)

(alright to the the actual request)

Nikola and the other scientist with an m!s/o that acts dumb and oblivious but is basically william james sidis who is the smartest man to have ever lived and the man who had the IQ of 250-300 maybe more?and has a little tragic past?…like imagine the surprise of the others

(if you don't know who William James sidis.that's fine as i found facts about him that explains him and his discoveries and life in short with out writing a whole paragraph(which it still kind of is) so here you go(ps.if you want to know more information just type his name and you'll find it on Google♡︎:

facts:

William James Sidis

Said to be the smartest person who has ever lived, William James Sidis is the benchmark for child prodigies. He was reportedly able to read the newspaper aged just 18 months and entered Harvard University aged 11, graduating at 16

Why was William Sidis so smart?

Both his parents were highly educated, with his father being a prestigious psychiatrist and his mother graduating from Boston University in medicine. Williams's main areas of interest were mathematics, linguistics, and as an inventor. He was said to have known 25 to 40 languages

he actually went to harvard at 11 or 12 year's old… and knows around 25+ languages and dialects, including Esperanto, Latin, Greek, Russian, Yiddish, German, French, Hebrew, Welsh, Turkish, Armenian, and Sumerian, and he invented another

which he called Vendergood.In his work, The Book of Vendergood, Sidis essentially merged elements of Latin, Greek, French, German, and other Romance languages to create a new language.

his IQ has been estimated to be between 250 to 300+ or even more. And he's also known for

the book. The Animate and the Inanimate, that he published in 1925 (written around 1920), in which he speculated about the origin of life in the context of thermodynamics.

Sidis predicted the existence of regions of space where the second law of thermodynamics operates in the reverse temporal direction of our local area.

and By the time William Sidis was two he could read English and, at four he was typing original work in French. At the age of five he had devised a formula whereby he could name the day of the week for any given historical date. At eight he projected a new logarithms table based on the number twelve. He entered Harvard at the age of twelve and graduated cum laude before he was sixteen. Mathematics was not his only forte. At this age he could speak and read fluently French, German, Russian, Greek, Latin, Armenian and Turkish. During his first year at Harvard University the boy astounded students and scientists with his theories on "Fourth Dimensional Bodies."

The "man behind the gun" in this boy's amazing intellectual attainments is supposed to have been his father, a graduate in psychology at Harvard and a close friend of William James, after whom the boy was named. Dr. Boris Sidis believed in awakening in the child of two an interest in intellectual activity and love of knowledge. If you started early enough and worked intensively, Dr. Sidis claimed that by ten a child would acquire a knowledge equal to that of a college graduate. The boy’s father published articles urging other parents to follow his methods. He castigated the school authorities for their "cramming, routine and rote methods," which he said, "tend to nervous degeneracy and mental breakdown."

Sidis pointed to his son, William, as a successful example of his methods. He wrote: "At the age of twelve the boy had a fair understanding of comparative philology and mythology. He is well versed in logic, ancient history, American history and has a general insight into our politics and into the ground-work of our constitution. At the same time he is of extremely happy disposition, brimming over with humor and fun?"

Whether or not his childhood life was psychologically normal, William's life after Harvard was a series of unhappy incidents. He engaged in obscure mechanical jobs because, it was reported, "he did not want to think." At the age of twenty-four he estranged himself from his parents and to his last days the gap between parents and son remained unreconciled, though toward his sister he always felt a brotherly love which was expressed by a bond of friendship and mutual interests. Toward the press, William Sidis bore an everlastingly strong hatred.

From this story the newspapers and the general public drew some ill-formed conclusions about William Sidis and genius in general. Newspaper writers pointed out that his "genius had burned out," that he was "tired of thinking." By comparison it was stated that musical geniuses are less likely to burn out. The father’s system was held responsible for making the boy a prodigy. The parental pushing was blamed for the mental breakdown and antisocial attitude. From his desire to keep out of the limelight and taking obscure jobs that would pay for his subsistence, William Sidis, the boy prodigy, was made out to be at the time of his death a lonely, eccentric, prodigious failure" whose intellect had deteriorated.

so when m! reader got to Valhalla that's why he acted so oblivious and dumb as he was actually so tired of thinking back when he was alive but now since he was in Valhalla he can finally do whatever he wanted when he wanted and finally rest but it did take him a year or two to get back to his genius self Back.

(to the surprise of the others who first met him as a "obvious man and Dumb man" so there very VERY surprised seeing his theories and achievements he had at such a young age that he kept secret from them while he was finally relaxing only wanting a time where he didn't have to think all the time)

(and how did they find out? they accidentally walked in on

m!reader casually solving a problem they we're having trouble with so they just look at him in shock as he was known to be oblivious and being not so smart to say…they also did get confused when m!reader speaks in Vendergood)

(and i thought it would be funny to see nikola's and the other scientists finding out that nikola's/there

M!s/o who is known to be oblivious and dumb is actually more smarter than them cause why not)

-Valhalla was a place of peace for you- a place where you could just relax, enjoy yourself, there was no pressure to do more- to be the best- no people breathing down your neck, watching your every move, wanting to know how you were so smart.

-You made friends, good friends with other geniuses throughout history, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Galileo, Isaac Newton, and Thomas Edison- and you enjoyed watching them work, but not for any goal they had specifically in mind- no they did it for fun.

-You kept quiet on how smart you really were- not wanting to relive what you had to live through on earth, being pressured by your parents, your teachers, everyone around you- to be a genius.

-You remember the pain well, when you finally broke, unable to handle their pressure- their expectations, and you turned away from science and knowledge, just wanting to be a normal guy!

-That’s why you hide your intelligence in Valhalla, pretending that you weren’t as smart as the others around you- you were afraid of their expectations of you if they were to find out, afraid of their questions because in actuality you were smarter than all of them.

-You adored your friends, growing close with all of them, they were like brothers or father figures to you, real father figures who just sat and talked with you over coffee and cake, asking about your day, the weather, and other random topics.

-They never made you feel inferior however, never looking down on you that you were not as smart as them, they made you feel welcomed, asking for your opinion, or rambling on about their newest discovery, as you would sit there and listen to them without a care in the world.

-You loved watching them work, seeing their joy- their passion, in the pursuit of knowledge, wanting to know more and more. It reminded you of when you were young on Earth, you were so full of hope and joy, only to be snuffed out by pressure.

-You walked in with a large box from the bakery you all enjoyed, “Food!” and heads turned from all over the lab, seeing you there, heading over to the large, mostly empty table that was half taken up by Marie’s own research.

-You looked over at the problem they had been researching for days now, each of them taking turns being in charge, each of them researching the factors and theories that went into the equation, but with nothing adding up.

-The equation looked simple, but you could see errors all over, which was the reason why they weren’t getting any results.

-You ushered all of them away from their work, pushing on Nikola’s back, “Go take a shower and get something to drink- I got everyone’s favorites!”

-Not wanting to leave their work, they did as you told, all of them leaving the lab to clean up, as you told them it might help to take a break then come back with fresh eyes and with baked goods in their belly.

-Once they were gone, you got to work, helping clean up their dirty dishes around the lab, straightening things up like their paperwork, but for the most part leaving everything alone.

-You then looked at the massive blackboard you saw Thomas and Nikola working on and you bit your lip lightly, looking at the mistakes, before looking at the closed door.

-They had been all working so hard and you could see their frustration mounting, you felt bad as you worried about them, before you sighed softly, “If I can be quick!”

-You grabbed the chalk and the ladder Thomas was on before you ascended, going to the top of the board, where the first mistake was, and you corrected it, before you noticed that due to that mistake, everything was now messed up.

-You looked back at the door, before you quickly started erasing, filling out the correct formula, turning it into a race to be done before your friends got back.

-You reached the bottom, going into zone before you pulled back, setting the chalk down, “Finished!” a mug hitting the floor had you leaping out of your skin, turning to see Thomas pointing up at the board, seeing the corrected formula, ending with the solution, as he had been the one to drop his mug.

-You blanched, terrified and they could see the terror before you were quickly scooped up by Isaac, “Y/N this is amazing!!” you cried out, being spun around before you were sat down, your eyes twirling around in your head.

-You were nervous as the others quickly, Nikola wrapping an arm around you, pulling you close, all of them elated that you solved the problem so easily!

-You twiddled your fingers bashfully, “You’re not mad?” Galileo turned, taking your hand before leading you to the box of treats you had gotten, “Mad? Why would we be mad? This is amazing! We knew you were smart but this is…” he trailed off, just in awe.

-Marie giggled softly, pinching your cheek as you looked shocked, “Didn’t think we didn’t know about you, right Y/N? We’ve known since we met you- but we saw how nervous you looked- for good reasons- so we never pushed you.”

-You felt foolish, your cheeks growing red which made them all poke fun at you, teasing you harmlessly before Nikola looked up at the board, “How did you figure out where we went wrong?”

-You pointed at the point of the chalkboard where you started writing, “That math equation there was calculated wrong, so it gave you the wrong answer, and with the wrong answer going all the way down, you would have never gotten the correct solutions.”

-They all gaped up at you, blinking owlishly before it was your turn to playfully tease them, “And that’s why I tell you all to take breaks!” laughter quickly filled the room, research done for the moment, as you sat with your friends, enjoying your snacks in this rare quiet moment, your fear and anxiety now gone.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Hey, how about I give you an easy ask to take the bad taste out of your mouth? Do you think the Jedi have their own Language? I mean the Mandalorians have Mando’a, Jewish people have Hebrew and Yiddish, Catholics have Latin, and Muslims Arabic. We know all Force wielders can communicate telepathically bc of Grogu and Nubarron. But do you think there is an ancestral or classical language either written or verbal for the 25,000 years of Jedi?

Ooof that's an old ask 😅 I only vaguely remember what the drama was that time around.

Hehhhhhhhh... I know there’s a Legends-inspired fanon conlang called Dai Bendu but I’m not super into tbh, and those examples you listed are interesting because as far as I can tell they wouldn’t actually apply to the Jedi.

I won't try to give history lessons on languages I'm only superficially familiar with, but as for the one I do know the full history of... Mando’a isn't even the unifying language it's made to be. It’s spoken all of twice in canon afaik (by Sabine in Rebels when asking to land on Krownest, and a dialect by Satine and a dying Death Watch terrorist in TCW), and even ultra traditionalists like the Children of the Watch don’t speak it onscreen among themselves. (Obviously because conlangs are a pain to get right. Not everybody can be LotR Elvish or Jason Momoa's Dothraki.) So it's only a big deal in Legends, really. Which is not to say it's not interesting, but that means I can't compare the way the Jedi Order works in Lucas' canon with the way the Mandos work in Legends.

Now for the irl languages:

Not all Jewish people speak Hebrew, or Yiddish (Yiddish is Ahskenazi, not Sephardic, for one thing) - and that Hebrew is even a living, thriving language again was a huge and conscious effort born out of extreme necessity. It's so unique that I can't compare it to anything.

Most Catholics don't know Latin (and it's a dead language anyway) and though the use of the language in liturgy started because the early churches were living under the Roman Empire and Latin was quickly replacing Greek as a 'universal' language, it carried on as a religious tool specifically to prevent expression and to further class divide. Having all holy or political texts written in a language even the small literate portion of your lower class wouldn't know was a device for control.

There are many, many Arabic dialects and not all Muslims speak them, and just like Latin, and English (and French, and Spanish, etc) the reason why so many people speak it is a tangled mess of religion, commerce, colonialism, convenience, etc.

But yes, those languages have a huge historical/religious/traditional/cultural and spiritual importance to them - but all for very different reasons, as their histories are all pretty unique. Again, I don't know nearly enough to try to say any more about them. But.

The political, religious and cultural incentives to have their own common language wouldn't exist for the Order as far as I can tell.

For one thing, because the Galaxy has its own common language. (I don't know if there's anything in Legends that gives an indication of how long Basic has been around for, but I'm assuming it's at the very least as old the Republic.) Just like the early Church didn't randomly pick Latin and Greek even though all but one of the writers of the New Testament weren't (there's good evidence that at least two of the Gospels were originally written in Aramaic of Hebrew) but used those languages because they were conveniently what everybody else could understand, the Jedi would have had every reason to use Basic as soon as it was available to them and they started to grow into an actual Order. And unlike Catholicism, the Order never grew so much that it took over the government it developed under, so Basic had no reason to become just theirs.

Would they have a language created (or resurrected) piecemeal, like Esperanto, as a way to foster unity and communication? As I said, they had Basic already - just like Esperanto was more or less a failure on account of English and a few other languages already filling the role of universal language.

And as a way to keep their more arcane/dangerous lore from falling into the wrong hands... Well, they have holocrons, and most people don't have the Force. The Order had no real reason to develop a way to keep their writings and teachings safe from outsiders - by the very nature of their connection to the Force, outsiders can't use Jedi lore. You can use holocrons to preserve your history and your culture, in a way that's much more effective than any language you could ever develop.

(Remember, Sith struggle to open Jedi holocrons and vice-versa. It's as perfect of a safeguard as you're ever going to get.)

Plus, the Jedi aren't really that concerned with being a closed group. Rather, their entire job description is opening themselves up to the Galaxy around them. They are originally diplomats, ambassadors. They have more reasons to learn the native languages of the people they help - the people they all come from - rather than to have one of their own.

What's more, in regards to the languages you cited: their cultural importance developed over centuries of shared history. Languages are transmitted through the generations, to your children and grandchildren - that's how accents and dialects come about in the first place. The Jedi are unique in that every single one of them is adopted. And so 'ancestral' just can't have the same meaning for the Order as for, say, an actual ethnic group. They start with a clean slate with every generation, so to speak - or rather, they're constantly flooding their own culture with contributions from all over the Galaxy, constantly mixing rather than being a closed circuit. Just take the iconic Jedi tunics - not only are there plenty of Jedi who don't wear them, but there are plenty of non-Jedi who have a very similar dress style (see the average Tatooine farmboy).

And basically all Jedi have different accents - which suggests that they hold on to their native languages. Even Piell and Aayla definitely don't sound like they're native Basic speakers, Obi-Wan has his own accent, Gungi or Byph don't speak Standard at all... Just like Jedi don't take away names, they don't seem to take away language. I don't think it's culturally Jedi to see being a Jedi as quite its own culture. More like, being a Jedi is a calling, a life commitment and a community, and the cultural aspects are what you bring over from your roots (which are not Jedi) and what you use to reach the people in the Galaxy who need you. Jedi, by design, are extremely multicultural - I just don't see them smoothing that over.

Even the super duper old 'Sacred Jedi texts' from the Sequels aren't just in one language:

Although...

In a sense, the Jedi do have kind of their own language after all, as you mentioned - empathy (telepathy seems to be more of a specific ability some Jedi have, like psychometry), which can't be codified into either words or written symbols, which I really like. It's much more unique than giving them a conlang that echoes to some distant origin of the Order (because as I said, they renew each other with each generation which is very special on its own) or mixes all the languages they bring with them (because, again, the point of those languages is to be focused outward, not inward).

Jedi can do what real people can't: they can speak to each other from the heart with no language actually required, and that's the greatest communication ability of them all!

Interestingly enough, the Sith do seem to have 'classical' languages for their occult rituals:

(Hey kinda like what happened with Latin lmao) But yeah, the Sith use secret languages to remain closed off and keep their lore to themselves, which isn't in the Jedi's nature. That's an interesting parallel.

Obviously this is all my very subjective interpretation. I've got an old post touching on whether or not the Jedi can be considered a 'minority' in SW and I'm gonna say more or less what I said then: they are comparable to plenty of real life groups and cultures (including many that do have their own languages), so if my take doesn't convince you, headcanon away! I couldn't find anything in support of it in the movies or TCW, but there was nothing that directly contradicted the idea either so it's a free for all!

Mostly I stuck to my guns because from a Doylist perspective while absolutely amazing when done right conlangs tend to be a fandom catastrophe. It typically reveals that most people using them have no idea how bilingualism works or how the conlang itself works (if you've read 2000-2010 era LotR fanfiction... you know. You just know) and it becomes absurd to the point of parody. And just look at Mando'a. Not using it is sometimes denounced as ooc despite its near complete absence in canon.

So yeah, tldr: subjectively, I wouldn't really want the Jedi to have one (because fandom), practically, I don't really see how they would have developed one + empathy/the Force kind of counts as its own method of communication, thematically, Jedi culture is much more focused outward rather than inward, but for funsies go crazy.

[goldheartedsky]

tagged by my beloved @ongreenergrasses for this writer's ask so here we go!!

1) how many works do you have on AO3?

Right now, 192, though some of them are art. So if we're talking strictly *fics*, then I think around 180?

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

a whopping 1,012,726!!!! 😵‍💫

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Right now it's almost entirely TOG, but I have written for Captain America, Agent Carter, Wolf, Close Enemies, and there are a few orphaned hockey RPF fics written by me floating around Ao3 🫣

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Carry the Field, When All The Boys Can’t Be Men, Fireproof, Lines in the Sand, and Tripping On Stars which, honestly I kind of expected, though it does bum me out that none of my AndyBooker fics made it into the top 5

5) Do you respond to comments?

almost always unless it's like... real weird or an emoji that I don't know how to respond to hahah

6) What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I might have to go with Beginning to Feel the Years, solely because it's so open ended with the angst. I really love angst with a happy ending because I love a little ray of hope through the clouds, but the morning after this fic is just going to be so hard, no matter what.

7) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I really gotta hand it to North Star for the softest ending in the world. I said fuck the haters and gave Andy a husband, 2 kids, and a picket fence with zero regrets

8) Do you get hate on fics?

not usually, people tend to save that for Tumblr, but I did get a little whining on Change Your Ticket when I started redeeming Francesca the way she deserved.

9) Do you write smut?

the fact that this is even a question and not an automatic yes is so funny. Of course I write smut. Raunchy smut, romantic smut, angsty smut, you name it, I've written it.

10) Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Other than old Bandom crossover fics, I don't think so! I think the only thing that might count as a crossover fic is the MajidxManuel Wolf/Close Enemies fics

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

NO thank god 🥲

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not, but I've gotten a few podfics done by @cookiemom6067

13) have you ever cowritten a fic before?

no, but I'd honestly love to cowrite one!

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

As much as I want to say it's AndyBooker, I really gotta give it up to Steve/Bucky. They were the blueprint for a lot of my shipping patterns now.

15) What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Everything gets finished eventually, though it might take me a bit right now

16) What are your writing strengths?

Other than my smut writing skills, I think either dialogue or handling a lot of tough topics with nuance. People in fandom right now love their black and white subjects and I am all about that grey matter.

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

action sequences, without a doubt.

18) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I tend to either keep it to small little pieces of dialogue in latinized form (especially with stuff like Arabic/Yiddish) but with Prodigal Son, I really wanted the language to be a little symbolic of how othered Ilan feels. Because most people can't read Hebrew, keeping it in its original form felt the most isolating. If you're not Jewish and know Hebrew, you won't know what Ilan's saying unless you *try* to translate it, which is more than what he gets in the fic.

So I think it can be an interesting plot device, depending on how you use it.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter but I was like...12 and that fandom got abandoned quick ahahah

20) Favorite fic you’ve written?

FAVORITE? Oof I usually say the Cherry Wine fics or North Star, but I'm gonna broaden my answer this time and offer a couple little one shots. I REALLY love Color Him Father just because I love the idea of transmasc!Booker, and then the one I love that doesn't get enough love is From Adam’s Rib, my golem!Winter Soldier fic

tagging @druckkugelschreiber @quinbi @captain-grammar and @shatterthefragments, as well as anyone else who wants to do this!

[streetkid-named-desire]

🔫 FREEZE this is a STICKUP

gimme 5 great lines that you wrote (whether you’ve posted them or not) and 5 great lines someone else wrote (whether published or fanfic) and nobody gets hurt!!

Noooo this haaaarrrdddd because I can't choose just individual lineeessss

From chapter 1 of Streetkid Named Desire: Definitive Edition

He wanted to create an astronomical anomaly with her the likes of which any universe had never seen. Something that would finally satisfy and quiet the black hole. He wanted to consume her as she consumed him.

From Who else would ever stay? One of the weekly song challenges in the wonc server

Because he realized he loved Johnny, too. Never in a romantic sense, but something deeper, deeper than his love for Bea. <Brothers in arms, V.> V, Johnny, <and Bea>, against the world.

From Teenage Depression, a VG origin fic detailing how he got the ritual scars on his face and back

In the haze and delirium from pain he saw his life laid out before him. His mistakes, his triumphs, his conquests. He never wanted to die. He wanted to live forever, to experience everything life had to offer even if all it offered was pain.

From Shut up, Skippy! And absurd smut fic where Skippy is simply trying to be a good wingman.

"If you ever put a fucking AI personality in my gun, V, I will do unspeakable things to your corpse."

From 12/13/2080 a fluffy domestic fix where Bea and V celebrate Hanukkah for the first time together...and V meets Arnie and Greta for the first time. I like this just because I'm proud of my fusion of cyberpunk slang and Yiddish lmao.

The man waved his hand, dismissing V's answer, "No no, gonkeleh. Your ancestry, who you come from, where your shema comes from."

Okay so the ones from other people then

From Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

[with heaven-splitting violence]:

From Tennessee Williams' interview with himself. This speaks to me so much especially considering the dark themes I love to lean into in my fics.

I have never written about any kind of vice which I can’t observe in myself.

From Devolution by Max Brooks

Looking at the ape, watching him work, it kind of dawned on me how vulnerable our house, all houses, really are. They’re not built for physical safety. That’s what cops are for.

From Hearers of the Constant Hum by William Pauley III (REALLY good weird fiction)

We are all part of a grand design, and we all play a part in our own demise.

From Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

It was as if there were an unspoken agreement on the mountain to pretend that these desiccated remains weren’t real—as if none of us dared to acknowledge what was at stake here.

[zweiter-blog-me]

Excerpt from Babel - R.F. Kuang & Shelley

Just two excerpts and some thoughts while reading, in which I will attempt to not bring up too much linguistics (the beast in the closet).

This section from Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang is the main character's reaction to his friend group's receiving of their Daguerreotype, a kind of early photo.

The next day, they retrieved their finished portrait from a clerk in the lobby. "Please," said Victoria. "That looks nothing like us at all." But Letty was delighted; she insisted they go shopping for a frame. "I'll hang it over my mantel, what do you think?" "I'd rather you throw that away,' said Ramy. "it's unnerving." "It is not," said Letty. She seemed bewitched as she observed the print, as if she'd seen actual magic. "It's us. Frozen in time, captured in a moment we'll never get back as long as we live. It's wonderful." Robin, too, thought the photograph looked strange, though he did not say so aloud. All of their expressions were artificial, masks of faint discomfort. The camera had distorted and flattened the spirit that bound them, and the invisible warmth and camaraderie between them appeared now like a stilted, forced closeness. Photography, he thought, was also a kind of translation, and they had all come out the poorer for it. Violets cast into crucibles, indeed.

Now Shelley's section – A Defence of Poetry, 1821 – that which Kuang is referencing.

The vanity of translation; it were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language to another the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear no flower.

My section - This post, 2024

Firstly, this is an excellent abstraction of Shelley's work on the difficulty/fragility/violence of translation. This can be so easily extrapolated to all art in such an interesting way. Is any artist not translating something in some way? Is not any end goal the fulfillment of an idea, that which will be made incarnate? For Kuang, it's the photograph, taking away the life from living. But when characters live in a world with paintings, have they not already seen this process before? I think it important to bring up as well that not all the characters have the same reaction. Letty does like the photo, for her, the magic (or soul) has not been lost or distorted. This too, of course, applies to the work of written translations. And her appreciation is not any more or less valid than the others' lack of it. Hell, at the end of the day, none of them are the original artist. They're what's being translated into the new medium; they're the very violets going into the crucible. What's more the spark of this post for me is how it thrusts my very interests and their innate problems upon me. It's like Shelley, and now Kuang, have sat me down and surprised me with an intervention for a vice. In a given week, I look at Latin, Old English, and Old Norse from the old, but also Yiddish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic from the new. The old are more salient here, but the new now embittered against me all the same. I write them out, separated with a line in between where none had been. I begin to carve out a meaning for myself, haphazardly consulting glosses and grammars. I begin to transcribe them anew in my own tongue, with my own view of beauty in mind. I cannot understand how their authors or original audience would have perceived them, I can only attempt to place them into the patterns I enjoy. Too can I not understand fully their context from before. I can study what we know of the cultures, the wars, the religions, but I'll never truly get it. I don't really know what the point to this is, but simply, my beloved, inherited violets have a singe from my crucible on them. For this I suppose I must answer to someone. It will probably just be when my own violets meet their fates.

There you go, just a ramble from a sleep-deprived student

[power-chords]

PAULA VOGEL, the Pulitzer-prize winning dramatist of How I Learned to Drive, has again collaborated with director Rebecca Taichman in Indecent. Taichman, who just won the 2017 Tony for best direction of a play, is billed as “co-creator” of Indecent, having worked with Vogel to devise the play’s highly theatrical presentation. The play is at once a compressed history of a daring Yiddish play, God of Vengeance, written by the Polish novelist Sholem Asch in 1907, and a celebration of the stagecraft that makes theater distinct from film.

[...]

Scandalous in its time, God of Vengeance was nevertheless celebrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow and in other European capitals. On first hearing play, the founding father of Yiddish literature I. L Peretz advised Asch to “burn it.” Peretz and other naysayers were reacting as much to the implicit critique of Jewish life as to the idealistic yet carnal presentation of two young women in thrall to each other. Asch’s depiction of flawed, complex Jews and his willingness to approach lesbianism in his play may well have been the very ingredients that allowed sophisticated theater-goers before the Great War to find God of Vengeance worthy dramatic fare.

[...]

Sitting out World War I in New York, Asch visited Europe after the Great War and was deeply shaken by the depredations visited upon Jewish communities. Back in New York, his devoted wife was alarmed at his increasing depression and his quick temper. An English-language production in Greenwich Village in 1922 was another success, but the play’s move uptown to Broadway encouraged the producer to cut the crucial “rain scene” with its joyous lesbian kissing and embraces, and to shift the lesbian relation to one of female manipulation. The troupe protested this desecration of the text, but Asch yielded to the producer’s reading of the uptown audience. Even with the cuts, however, the entire cast and the producer were indicted for obscenity and found guilty at trial, although the verdict was overturned on appeal.

Living in America, Asch seemingly abandoned his play, refusing future performances of God of Vengeance in the wake of Nazi restrictions on Jewish life. However, Vogel shows a group of desperate Jews, confined to the Lodz ghetto, performing the Asch play under the leadership of the original stage manager, a character here called Lemml. Vogel uses Lemml as a distant echo of Thornton Wilder’s Stage Manager in Our Town, a “narrator” who breaks the fourth wall and introduces us to the world of the present drama and the past history of Asch’s play.

[...]

The world in which Asch came of age has almost disappeared by the time we see him in the early 1950s. This is toward the end of Vogel’s play; he is being interviewed by a young Jewish student from Yale. This prompts an embittered Asch to quip—I paraphrase—that it is easier for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a Jew to enter the sanctum of Yale.

[33-108]

ZOHAR AND LILITH:

"References to Lilith in the Zohar include the following:

She roams at night, and goes all about the world and makes sport with men and causes them to emit seed. In every place where a man sleeps alone in a house, she visits him and grabs him and attaches herself to him and has her desire from him, and bears from him.

And she also afflicts him with sickness, and he knows it not, and all this takes place when the moon is on the wane.

This passage may be related to the mention of Lilith in Talmud Shabbath 151b (see above), and also to Talmud Eruvin 18b where nocturnal emissions are connected with the begettal of demons.

According to Rapahel Patai, older sources state clearly that after Lilith's Red Sea sojourn (mentioned also in Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews), she returned to Adam and begat children from him by forcing herself upon him.

Before doing so, she attaches herself to Cain and bears him numerous spirits and demons.

In the Zohar, however, Lilith is said to have succeeded in begetting offspring from Adam even during their short-lived sexual experience.

Lilith leaves Adam in Eden, as she is not a suitable helpmate for him.

Gershom Scholem proposes that the author of the Zohar, Rabbi Moses de Leon, was aware of both the folk tradition of Lilith and another conflicting version, possibly older.

The Zohar adds further that two female spirits instead of one, Lilith and Naamah, desired Adam and seduced him.

The issue of these unions were demons and spirits called "the plagues of humankind", and the usual added explanation was that it was through Adam's own sin that Lilith overcame him against his will.

17th-century Hebrew magical amulets

Medieval Hebrew amulet intended to protect a mother and her child from Lilith (see picture)

A copy of Jean de Pauly's translation of the Zohar in the Ritman Library contains an inserted late 17th century printed Hebrew sheet for use in magical amulets where the prophet Elijah confronts Lilith.

The sheet contains two texts within borders, which are amulets, one for a male ('lazakhar'), the other one for a female ('lanekevah').

The invocations mention Adam, Eve and Lilith, 'Chavah Rishonah' (the first Eve, who is identical with Lilith), also devils or angels:

Sanoy, Sansinoy, Smangeluf, Shmari'el (the guardian) and Hasdi'el (the merciful).

A few lines in Yiddish are followed by the dialogue between the prophet Elijah and Lilith when he met her with her host of demons to kill the mother and take her new-born child ('to drink her blood, suck her bones and eat her flesh'). She tells Elijah that she will lose her power if someone uses her secret names, which she reveals at the end: lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash, avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota ...

In other amulets, probably informed by The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, she is Adam's first wife. (Yalqut Reubeni, Zohar 1:34b, 3:19

Charles Richardson's dictionary portion of the Encyclopædia Metropolitana appends to his etymological discussion of lullaby "a [manuscript] note written in a copy of Skinner" [i.e. Stephen Skinner's 1671 Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ], which asserts that the word lullaby originates from Lillu abi abi, a Hebrew incantation meaning "Lilith begone" recited by Jewish mothers over an infant's cradle.

Richardson did not endorse the theory and modern lexicographers consider it a false etymology."- Adam van norden

[berio-visage-asmr]

I don't know who coached the actress but the character, episode and words would have been written by Jewish showrunner Steve Blackman who I assume did not have antisemitic reasons in mind when doing so. (At least that's what he said in response to claims of antisemitism.) The Handler happens to speak many different languages, Yiddish being one of them. Her Swedish is appealing as well, by the way. As is any other non-English language used on the show.

(sorry in advance for the long response but a lot of this couldnt really be condensed) yeah her swedish is appaling lol. also, just to be clear: the reason umbrella academy is kinda antisemitic isn't because of the bad yiddish (which I thought was pretty clear from my post but it might not have been idk). Umbrella academy is antisemitic because it's about a "cabal" of wealthy elites who run an underground society to control the world (I've linked an article that discusses this pretty well). Even if none of the characters in the NWO are explicitly jews, it still invokes the language and tropes of antisemitism because NWO conspiracy theories are so entrenched in jew-hate that its impossible to separate them.

And if you want less ambiguity, "cabal," which is a world that they use explicitly in the show to refer to the bad guys, is antisemitic in origin; it comes from the Hebrew word "kabalah," which refers to Jewish mysticism. It was appropriated by people who hated jews because they thought it was some kind of new world order.

Also, Blackman is the showrunner and did write some of the episodes, but UA also had a whole staff of writers as well (as do most shows) and is also based off of a comic by Gerard Way, who is not Jewish. I haven't read the comic so I can't speak to who's decision the protocols of the elders of zion-esque plot was, but the show was written by people who were not Jewish, even if the showrunner was. And, EVEN IF EVERYONE ON THE TEAM WAS JEWISH, it still invokes the tropes and narratives of antisemitism, whether or not it's accidentally.

[mchiti]

tagged by @leclesbian hayati thank you ♡♡♡

Currently reading: Currently I'm reading a novel by Israel J. Singer called "The Ashkenazi Brothers" - obviously his name has nothing to do with ~ the state of ~ as he was born in Poland in 1893, flew from it because of nazis and died in new york in 1944. His brother Isaac is more famous - won the Nobel too. Both antizionists!! This novel is a long ass story on two jewish twins born in Poland in the second half of the XIX century - talks about jewish communities in central europe, poverty, how they were treated by tsarist russia and the spread of socialism. It's very pretty and I'm fascinated by it. It was originally written in yiddish, the language of the european jewish communities - a mix of german, hebrew, polish... and I'm fascinated by hebrew too, being a semitic language as arabic. It just makes me sad all this cultural jewish-european background was wiped out by nazism, as it makes me sad to think what's left of it is now inevitably linked to an apartheid zionist and terrorist state.

Favourite colour: red, green and orange

Last song: Moha K x Dystinct - Darba 9adiya - ...yah

Last movie: Compartment n.6. It's a movie about a Finnish student in the late 90s who goes to North Russia see an archeological site and on the train she makes friend with a russian worker who's going to work in the mines. pretty, lovely, delicate, beautiful

Sweet/spicy/savoury: I like moroccan sweets, im not really into italian creams and stuff - too sweety for me. spicy with moderation. Savour oh yes all the way.

Currently working on: we have lots of stuff at work and i'm happy bc I love it, even tho i'm part time atm bc of uni. I work in a local ngo and i'm looking forward to become full time when I graduate. (inchallah)

I don't know who's done it bc i'm so late. but im tagging: @0alanasworld0 @bostonoriginal @mavieesttriste16 @zbee @seedlessmuffins @swaggypsyduck @cryingforcrocodiles @mrs-bellingham @roobylavender @books-loverss @grizoulvr no pressure etc <3

[doitinanotherlanguage]

January 2023 Wrap-up: 1900s (+ pre-1900s)

The first month of the Reading Through the Decades challenge has blown past, and it’s time to wrap-up the first decade: 1900-1909 (+ the turn of the century in general).

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Gloriana; or, The Revolution of 1900 (1890), Florence Dixie -> A highly intelligent and enterprising young woman disguises herself as a man and becomes a Member of the British Parliament. She leads a revolutionary women’s movement, but encounters trouble when she’s falsely accused of murder. -> Apparently, there was a huge rage of utopias written in the late 1800s?? And no one told me??? I have about a half a dozen other ones on my TBR list now, but I decided to start with Gloriana because it’s written by a woman and it’s about women’s rights. And there is an epilogue set in 1999! (I love reading stuff that shows that “everyone thought like that back then” and “people back then just didn’t know better” are talking out of their ass. A multitude of values and opinions has always existed among people. From any era, you will find a person who spoke out against injustices of that time.) Anyway, Gloriana is a fascinating look at debates and themes that were topical during the early women’s movement. Although, to my liking, there’s a little bit too much emphasis on militarism (and imperialism).

📖 Emily of New Moon (1923), L.M. Montgomery -> The first book in the three-book Emily of New Moon series about a Canadian orphan girl growing up around the turn of the century and working towards her dream of becoming a successful author. -> Everyone seems to be all about Anne of Green Gables, but my childhood favourite was Emily of New Moon. I read it over and over again in Finnish when I was a kid, and for a while now I’ve wanted to come back to it in the original English. The reading experience definitely lived up to my memories. It’s always interesting to go back to childhood favourites and recognise the ways in which they have shaped you as a person.

📖 גאט פון נקמה (1907; God of Vengeance), Sholem Asch -> This is a play, originally written in Yiddish, about “a Jewish brothel owner who tries to become respectable by commissioning a Torah scroll to be written. Meanwhile, his daughter has a lesbian affair with one of his prostitutes downstairs.” -> A very interesting, short play that on the surface feels quite ordinary (thematising bourgeois aspirations and hypocrisies). Yet there’s also blasphemy and lesbianism (the love scene between the girls is very cute and romantic and features a kiss!), and definitely a lot to bite your teeth into if you’re interested in queer history. The cast of the first English-language production got arrested and sued for obscenity in 1923 (the verdict was overturned after a two-year battle).

📺 The Nevers (2021-), created by Joss Whedon -> An epic steampunk sci-fi drama about a group of people, mostly women, known as the Touched, who suddenly manifest unusual abilities (due to alien intervention). Set in London, 1899. -> I’m a huge fan of historical sci-fi and fantasy, and the first 6 episodes of this series are amazing! The series is women-led, the focus is on the marginalised of society, and it’s all just pure fun, excitement, and mystery. (Sadly, this show was cancelled last December, although apparently the second half of the season is already filmed and might be streamed on another platform. I do hope they find somewhere to release the rest of the episodes, because this is a delight to watch and I am so curious to see what would happen after the sixth episode.)

🎬 Сере́бряные коньки́ (2020; Silver Skates), dir. Michael Lockshin -> An epic period romantic adventure film set around Christmastime in 1899. Matvey, the fastest courier on the frozen canals of Saint Petersburg is recruited by a group of pickpockets working the winter markets. -> A charming love story, which I found surprisingly good, although the workers’ rights side-plot/theme kind of got sidelined in the end imo. A very beautiful, atmospheric film to watch during winter.

📺 Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) -> An Australian mystery romantic drama TV show. On Valentine's Day, 1900, three students and their governess from a school for young ladies mysteriously vanish. Their disappearance leaves a devastating impact on students, staff, their enigmatic and formidable headmistress and the township at large. Theories abound, secrets are exposed and hysteria sets in. -> Queer extravaganza and mystery. WOMEN. Natalie Dormer as the mysterious and morally questionable headmistress! This was definitely my favourite thing this month, and I am planning to pick up the 1960s book this is based on asap. I go feral over stories about women trapped in a restricting society, longing to be wild and free.

📖 The Complete Sherlock Holmes (1887-1927), Arthur Conan Doyle -> Short stories and novellas about the iconic “consulting detective” and his sidekick, set between the 1880s and 1914. -> The Complete Sherlock Holmes has been my forever project for the past five years. I started it in January 2018, and I finally finished it this month. It has definitely been fun to read it in bits and pieces, reading one story now and then before bed. If TV is more your cup of tea, I highly recommend Granada Holmes.

📖 Imre: A Memorandum (1906), Edward Prime-Stevenson -> “A little psychological romance" about two men who meet at a cafe in Budapest, Hungary. Oswald, a 30-something British aristocrat, and Imre, a 25-year-old Hungarian military officer, feel an immediate kinship and closeness and soon realise that the other is what they have been looking for their whole lives. (SPOILER: There’s a happy ending.) -> What a book! I love reading obscure, forgotten-by-the-general-public works from the past. This contains a lot of musings about being queer, and really pointedly affirms the existence and validity of queer people and queer feelings in the world and throughout history. There’s not much going on plot-wise, but this novel is simply wonderful.

📖 The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891), Oscar Wilde -> An essay in which Wilde expounds a libertarian socialist worldview and a critique of charity. -> I love The Picture or Dorian Gray and it has long been a goal of mine to read more of Wilde. This was a fascinating essay; a lot I agree with, a lot I disagree with. I whole-heartedly concur that a big problem is that people in a capitalist society do so much to treat the symptom but not the cause, and we can only get rid of stuff like poverty by reconstructing society, i.e. going to the root of the problem.

🎶 Claude Debussy: Clair de lune (1905) 🎶 James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson: Lift Every Voice and Sing (1900/1905)

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Is There Such A Thing As A 'Sexual Soulmate'?

Trust me, there's so much more to it than what meets the eye, chile.

Shellie R. Warren

Dec. 03, 2021 06:06PM EST

Let me just say, before we deep dive into this particular topic, that I'm pretty sure that it's not going to go in the direction that a lot of you think that it's going to. In fact, the inspiration for this piece came from a series of conversations that I've had with a male friend of mine who is in one of the dumbest (meaning it's counterproductive, so not what he truly wants or needs and is proving to be a total waste of time, even as we speak) relationships ever. So, why is he in it? I would say about 70 percent of the reason is because he and his girlfriend have, what he calls, some really amazing sex. What brought me to this conclusion? It's because when he's complaining and I ask him why he stays, something about the sex almost always comes up. I mean, always.

Listen, I will be the first one in this class to say that you can easily confuse great sex with a solid relationship (check out "14 Lessons I've Learned From 14 Sex Partners," "Don't Mistake A Great Sex Partner For A Great Life Partner," and "What GROWN Women Consider Great Sex To Be"). I will also say that there comes a time in all of our lives when we have to learn what the difference is. And that's where the subject of sexual soulmates comes in. So, if you've ever wondered if such a term exists and/or if you've ever truly had one before, I'm gonna take a few moments to share a little food for thought.

First Up: Disney and Rom-Coms LIED to You

Before we get into the sex part, let's talk about soulmates first. Y'all, if there are two things that irk the entire mess outta me, it's when folks talk about following their heart (when the Bible says to do the exact opposite — Jeremiah 17:9-10) and when folks just toss "love" and "soulmate" around. Just because someone makes your heart and/or body feel good, that doesn't mean they are your soulmate. Not by a long shot. For one thing, a soulmate's purpose isn't really about giving you butterflies all of the time; that's simply what Disney and chick flicks want you to think. If you really want to take the "grown approach" to having a soulmate, they are someone who helps you to become a better version of yourself. And sometimes? Sometimes that is going to be uncomfortable. Sometimes, you're gonna be challenged like a mug. Sometimes, you're probably not going to like your soulmate very much. Doesn't matter though, because, unlike any other person, they are able to help you along your journey in some very powerful and incomparable ways.

Yeah. I already know. You've probably heard that a soulmate is like a mirror reflection of you; that you are so drawn to them because they are like another version of yourself. Eh. And why am I so firm that it's not this, in spite of how many Google links say otherwise? Because I've looked deeper into certain words that are connected to it. This brings me to my next point.

Are You Familiar with What a Bashert Is?

Something that I've been super fond of for many years now is Hebrew culture. The Scriptures were originally written in Hebrew. My name is Hebrew; it means "Mine; Belonging to Me" (meaning God) and it's such a rich culture (one that has gotten super whitewashed but that's another topic for another time). And so, the more I learn about it, the more enlightened I become. Take the Yiddish (interestingly enough, a language that was used by Jews in Europe before the Holocaust) word "bashert," for example. It means "soulmate" which translates into "destiny."

Because I work so much in the area of relationships, folks ask me often if I believe that we've all got one person who we're destined to be with. Personally, I do believe that there is a "one best" (who most people are too impatient or not tapped into the purpose of relationships enough to recognize/accept); however, realistically, you can probably be married to at least 100 other people on this planet and live a pretty good life (I venture to say that most marriages are an example of this). I also discern that it's important for people to remember that when you're picking a person, you're also picking a life path. And that's why the word "destiny" is so important because, it's not just about things being predestined for you; it's also about your fortune and one definition of fortune is "a power or force, often personalized, regarded as being responsible for human affairs." In other words, your bashert ultimately is a driving force who plays a role in how your daily life is lived. And y'all, that's a pretty big deal.

That's why I'm not a huge fan of the flippant attitude behind casual sex. For one thing, I know what "casual" means (check out "We Should Really Rethink The Term 'Casual Sex'"), and secondly, life is too short and too precious to be out here just giving our heart and parts to folks who can literally reroute our destined paths. So again, before getting into what a sexual soulmate is, first ponder what a bashert is. Then build upon that with this next point.

What Is the Purpose of a Soulmate?

Next up. Twin flames. While both it and bashert (and soulmate, really) can all get articles of their own, probably the short-long of this definition is it's when one soul (check out "I've Got Some Ways For You To Start Pampering Your Soul") is dwelling in two people. What I like about twin flames is they complement the responsible perspective of a soulmate pretty well because they are considered to be someone who challenges and heals you, almost at the same time.

What are some signs that you've encountered a twin flame? You complement each other well. You both want to see the other evolve. You both bring each other closer to fulfilling your lives' purpose (if you are caught up in someone who is hindering you from purpose fulfillment, that IS NOT a twin flame, sis). There is typically quite a bit of intensity (not drama, but intensity) between the two of you. Life seems to bring you back to each other, one way or another, kinda like a form of serendipity (not because you're forcing it to happen either; it's more like a series of coincidences). The connection feels very sacred; divine even. And, perhaps most importantly, twin flames help you to learn how to love yourself, usually better than anyone else has in your entire life.

When you let all of this really sink in, soulmates and twin flames are basically the opposite sides of the same coin. Romance isn't really the (ultimate) point of either one. Personal growth and progress, while being in a safe space…is. With this in mind, let's get into what a sexual soulmate is, shall we?

From a Holy Book Perspective, Your Sexual Soulmate Is Your Spouse

It's no secret that all three major holy books say that sex is for marriage. A part of the reason is because sex isn't just a profound pleasure; sex is a HUGE responsibility and when you're in a dynamic where someone has fully committed to you, you tend to feel more at ease to trust, to give your all, to thrive. At the same time, I also know that not all people subscribe to a religion (check out "7 Signs You're Spiritually Compatible With Someone"); still, I do think that it should go on record that if you factor in all of what I just said about soulmates, basherts, and twin flames if there is a common thread among them all, it's that a soulmate has a spiritual component and a profound effect on a person. And you know what? So does sex.Oxytocin alone speaks to that; that's why it's got the nickname, "the love hormone." Yep, just sleeping with someone can make you feel bonded by them because this natural hormone elevates in your system. So, just imagine how much more this intensifies when there is a mental, emotional, and spiritual connection there too.

That's why, I do believe that when you take in the purpose of a soulmate, bashert, and twin flame when it comes to who your sexual soulmate ultimately is, it's probably your spouse. 

They might not be the best you've ever had (in bed). They might require some sexual adjusting to (check out "8 'Kinds Of Sex' All Married Couples Should Put Into Rotation"). Yet still, if it's all about bettering you as an individual, the person you share life with and (in most sexual agreements) only have sex with? How could they not, as time progresses, become your ultimate sexual soulmate? The two of you are becoming one and consistently participating in an act that makes that possible (check out "10 Wonderful Reasons Why Consistent Sex In Marriage Is So Important," "10 Simple Ways Married Couples Can Make More Time For Sex," "The 'Seasons Of Sex' That Married People Go Through," "8 Sex-Related Questions To Ask Your Spouse ASAP" and "What You Should Do If You Find Yourself In A Sexless Marriage")? So yeah, that's a huge part of the reason why I've come to this resolve.

From a Broader Perspective, a Sexual Soulmate Impacts Your Life — Even Outside of the Bedroom

So, what if you're not married, you're divorced or you have absolutely no intentions of ever jumping any broom? Does that mean you can't — or have never had — a sexual soulmate before? Remember how I said earlier that I do believe there is a best for you and then there are 100 others that you can build a solid life with? Again, the commitment that a spouse makes, both in and out of the bedroom to their partner, yes, qualifies them to be a soulmate of sorts, even sexually. However, I do also believe that there can be people who still reveal some really deep things to you about yourself, who you have a really strong connection with, who teaches you how to love yourself quite deeply, in a way that others cannot — and a part of it came from being sexually involved with them.

Because I'm not married (yet), I have yet to have the peak sexual soulmate experience. However, there is a guy from my past who — whew. While I was initially involved with him, I thought it was all about how in sync we were sexually (never get two Geminis in the same room, chile. It's something fierce!). Looking back, though, he came at a time when I had recently lost my fiancé, he listened, he affirmed, he helped me to see the situation and who I was becoming due to it in a way that no one else was quite capable of doing. And although he was (and continues to be) fine and some mo' fine, I get that the sex was so passionate and satisfying because I felt a connection deeper than just the physical act. And to this day, when I think back on my sex life, he is someone who I have very little regret. He is someone who I still think fondly of. He is someone who cultivates a lot of inner peace.

Yeah, that's something else to keep in mind about sexual soulmates. Let the media have its way and you'll think that if you and someone are tearing each other's clothes off one day and then acting out some version of a crazy Lifetime movie the next, for months or even years on end, the two of you must be sexual soulmates. 

Chile, a soulmate — a true one — is a blessing and benefit NOT an addiction or obsession. Being a-dick-ted doesn't make someone your soulmate. However, if you know, that you know that you know, that you can directly associate what happens in the bedroom with how you're shifting, for the better, outside of it and you've never really quite been able to say that about anyone else before, you just might be onto something. Real talk.

This topic could be a series. I just wanted to make sure that in a world that wants to cheapen sex at every turn, that we all remember that the act can — and should — go so much deeper than the surface. A sexual soulmate can be a really beautiful thing…so long as you keep it in its proper perspective. Your body is precious, so please make sure that you do.

For more love and relationships, sex tips and tricks, and marriage advice, check out xoNecole's Sex & Love section here.

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So, I've been posting my Kingdom Hearts fanfic, I'm working on it and. Between the last time I posted an update and now I upped the rating, because I remembered. I already had a torture scene in this fic. And. There might be another, and some fucked up dreams, possibly dealing with gender and some body horror shit.

Beneath the tone and vibes of Kingdom Hearts there's tons of things and themes and ideas that are, in fact, really fucked up, and have really fucked up implications. And the quality of the animations. Like, there's implications, in one game, of physical child abuse, of things that they don't show us, even when they show teenagers actually being physically struck by adults, because it's an action video game with elements and the trappings of a battle Shonen Manga anime series.

And, the game in particular that I'm roughly adapting, in the alternate universe I'm working in, was already a tragedy, where the lies and secrets between three friends (one of whom was an Adult, albeit one who was immature and unable to develop and grow properly because of past traumas he suffered, and had the responsibility of caring for two kids thrust upon him, when he didn't think he was capable of caring anymore) drive them apart, and essentially lead to them dying, scared and alone.

And beyond that, viewed from one perspective, the game is also a psychological, existential horror, where, for two characters, they fundamentally don't understand certain truths about the essential nature of their beings, and everyone around them, all the adults around them, are lying to them, and using them.

And, anyway, in this chapter I decided to reference Alien, because I saw Romulus, I like the Alien series, Disney owns Fox, and I think body horror is cool.

And, while there are a lot of things I want to talk about, and I want comments about on the fic (hint hint), and justifications I can make about choices I made, which I worry might have been the wrong choices. The thing I want to talk about most is actually about what I intended to be the brightest, happiest scene of the chapter. And its the scene I actually had the hardest time with, and feel I got wrong the most:

In a scene in this chapter, I have 5 disney princesses, Alice from the 1951 film Alice in Wonderland, and the Kingdom Hearts original character Kairi, all singing, and they all sing the song "Simple and Clean", by Utada Hikaru.

It's a song I think most Kingdom Hearts fans are familiar with, especially in the English community. And, English is basically my only language I know, (I've taken other languages, but they were romance languages, it was years ago in college, when I was attending instead of teaching like I am now, I'm Jewish but i was never good at Hebrew or Yiddish, and never been devout or practicing and if you don't use it you lose it,) and I write my fics in English.

Now, Kingdom Hearts is partly Disney, an American company, Utada Hikaru is American-Japanese, and I know for a fact series director Tetsuya Nomura does consider the English version of the series a bit, because he handpicked Haley Joel Osment, Christopher Lee, Mark Hamill, and Leonard Nimoy for roles in the series. But he's still a Japanese man, and the series is written in Japanese first.

I'm not getting into the series translation here though, just, the music. Because the most impressive thing Utada Hikaru does in the entire series is that, because she knows both English and Japanese, she writes the opening and ending songs for the mainline numbered games, which people hear for the first time when they start a new game, and are the first impression the series leaves. She writes them to the same melody, so the English and Japanese songs can be considered the same.

And I'm not a songwriter, and I don't speak Japanese, but she has said in interviews that one of the difficult parts of the series, even if she does love it and is proud of her contribution and her role, is that doing that is really fucking hard.

However. My understanding is that, that was mainly true for KH2 and KH3. For KH1, however, when the game first came out in Japan, it used the song 'Hikari', (meaning "Light") which was a song Utada had already released, in Japanese, in Japan. Nomura asked her permission to license it. And, there's even some acknowledgments in places that Hikari, because it wasn't actually written for the series. Has the least to do with the series and its story and themes? Though, then again, it's plausible Nomura directed the first game with Hikari in mind, so maybe it's more that the causal relationship is reversed. The KH2 and 3 songs are based on the games, while KH1 the game is based on. The Japanese version. Of the song.

After KH1 was released in Japan, and they got to work on the North American release, Nomura asked Utada to write an. English version. Of Hikari. And that ended up being the song Simple and Clean that we all know and love today.

What I'm getting at, though, is that. Simple and Clean and Hikari are more different to each other than any of the other songs. And I mean that not in terms of the lyrics, but in terms of the. Melodies. The actual rhythms. The notes. The beats. I don't actually know anything about music, I just. Have ears.

It's mostly the beginnings of the songs, and they get more similar towards the end, but. The opening parts, where she sings "When you walk away," in English, and "どんな時だって" or "Don'na toki datte" in Japanese (I copied those lyrics from the KHWiki) sound so radically different from each other.

But, Kingdom Hearts came out in Japan first, in March of 2002, and the North American version came out in September. And when it released it had an amazing soundtrack and score composed by Yoko Shimomura. And part of that score, was an orchestral, (or the nearest equivalent for the PS2 anyway) and instrumental version of. 'Hikari'. It mainly played during the 'attract movie' or 'attract screen' when you left the game on the main menu, without selecting 'new game' or 'load' or 'continue' for too long, but. To my knowledge, Hikari is unique in the entire series, because while other games have attract movies, where instrumental versions of their main themes play. Hikari and Kingdom Hearts 1 are the only instance where it plays during the game's actual runtime, in an actual cutscene.

This is one of the most important scenes in the Kingdom Hearts series, ultimately, that has knock-on effects for multiple other games, and while this isn't aspect as relevant to those other games. One of the focuses within that scene itself is the hearts, the light of the group known as the 'Princesses of Heart', which includes Kairi, as well as the six Disney characters. This is a moment where all of them are saved, and. It's a sad moment, of sacrifice, that makes people tear up and cry (I was already an adult when I first saw it and didn't even know the characters yet and it still got to me, it's why I even like the series) but there's also. A sense of. 'Light' to it. Where the princesses get saved, from eternal sleep, at the climax, by the story's hero.

Setting aside the gender implications and criticisms of that, and I think maybe more importantly the way one of those princesses, specifically the original character theoretically most unrestricted by Disney's guidelines gets handled by the series after that. It's still a genuinely beautiful, amazing moment.

And, I wanted to call back to it, which, is probably futile of me. To do it justice, I'd need, like, to be able to do blender animations, and character models, and be able to do impressions of the singing voices of seven fucking characters. Or hire people. I sure as shit wouldn't do ai, ever.

Or I'd have the moment be silent with an instrumental of the song playing over it. That would be better, if it was audiovisual and not a purely written fanfic.

And, I'm a single parent to a child whose 8th birthday is coming up, and I teach full-time. It's a goddamned miracle I have been able to post anything at all, ever. And I've probably been irresponsible and maybe shouldn't be doing it, I don't know.

But, I wanted the reference to land, and make sense, in the language I'm actually writing in. But the problem I knew, that I know, in my own heart and mind, that bothers me the most about my decision is that it's the wrong song.

Because "Simple and Clean" wasn't the song that played in that scene. "Hikari" was.