#capitol grounds

[istandonsnowpiles]

Sunset on Captiol Hill

[eopederson]

"It Seemed Like Reaching for the Moon," Virginia Civil Rights Memorial, Capitol Grounds, Richmond, 2015.

An image for Black History Month.

The quotation is from Barbara Johns, in the forefront of the movement to gain civil rights for those of African descent in the retrograde state.

[districtone]

i have finally read that sotr summary and see that suzanne is going to go for the most straightforward perspective, i.e. following haymitch from reaping -> post victory. i am readjusting my expectations.

rip plutarch pov 2024 - 2024. you were fun

[theygender]

Finding out that cheese dip was invented in Arkansas and that it's eaten more here than it is elsewhere is honestly so funny to me bc it's such a nothing food. I would never have realized that it's not really much of a thing in other states bc it's not something I ever think about. I mean sure there's probably gonna be tortilla chips and cheese dip at every potluck and school/work function, but if I had to rank every food at one of those events the cheese dip would be maybe like 7th place. You don't really eat it bc you like it, you just eat it bc it's there. Like don't get me wrong it's a decent snack, but it's not anything to write home about. It's kinda just like if queso was a bit boring

[capitolhost]

don't be cowards. make capitol original characters. make your thg verses something other than victors. make designers, make government officials, make peacekeepers, make gamemakers, make escorts, make stylists, make rich sponsors, make journalists, make musicians, make tv presenters, make actors, make tv hosts, make producers, make lowerclass ⸻ *as i attempt to say more a bus drives over me, tires screeching, the bus speeding up to escape the crime scene, my next words forever silenced*

[pyreshe]

one of my favorite tiktokers is on a h.unger games kick and I am being SO well fed-

[faebriel]

ough *roblox damage noise* thinking about niki’s speeches at the green festival/doomsday but in the context of hunger games au

burr kai faebriel has caused me brainrot

THE BRAINROT SPREADS

i feel like before her games and during them niki is running on pure survival mode....she works better in communities but I think part of her would be so cautious in the arena because she knows only one of them can make it out of the arena and she has wilbur counting on her, it has to be her, and the idea of betraying her allies so violently turns her stomach a little too much to be making any inspiring speeches.

after, though.....

okay it's difficult. because she is so closely monitored by the capitol, there is very little she can do - they can go back to her district and find her friends, wilbur is still in their clutches, even she and jack are not really safe themselves. and also i think something that people kind of overlook with niki (myself included) is that like... during the manberg era in canon she despises schlatt, don't get me wrong, but in the early days she is scared of him. she reacts fearfully when she sees he's online and she tries to avoid him at all costs. she'll spit in his face when she actually has to speak with him, she puts on a brave face, but that doesn't mean she's not scared. (also i think this is kind of an overlooked part of her character because we all just remember her being a fucking badass whenever she does interact with him. she's not brave because she's an unfeeling girlboss, she's brave because she's scared and she feels alone and abandoned but she stands up for herself and for l'manberg anyway!!!)

ANYWAY my point is she's still scared when she leaves the area, especially as she starts her victory tour...... she has thousands of capitol eyes on her and it's uncomfortable and she doesn't like becoming a victor and a mentor. they don't have a great reputation in 12. after all, every victor in the capitol is another person who killed 12's children, and that's exactly how she's felt about all but one victor ever since she was old enough to be aware of the games. she knows that's how everyone else in every other district sees her, she knows the capitol is always watching her, and jack reminds her that there's no chance schlatt and his pals in government are happy with the mess she made of the arena, cracking open its fuel to spread the fire. (she wasn't thinking about that at the time, she was just thinking about surviving - but now she's painfully aware of the danger she's put herself and everyone she cares about in. it's uncomfortable to say the least.)

but then. i think bonding with the other victors empowers her. she starts to piece together that even if she feels extremely alone, there are people who feel the exact same way that she does. people who are a little cold to outsiders, but who can be worn down. it starts with people like puffy and sophie, and it spreads from there. not exactly loud speeches, but these brief flashes of empassioned conversation do get to happen, even if they're constrained to hushed whispers and dark closets. sometimes it's not even whispers at all. there are ways to communicate beyond her words, she's learning that now.

i think once district 13 comes in she'd be a real passionate orator. that's when she's the perfect balance of safe and furious to stand atop an upturned crate and start shouting her heart out. it just takes a long time for her to get there.

[darthnell]

hey. Hey lionsgate. Capitol academy seems great and all.. but what about the fucking hunger games

[weberlifedesign]

September 11 Significance in 2024: Freedom and Democracy

The September 11 significance in 2024 should convey the remembrance of how we all came together after that fateful moment to work as one to save our democracy and freedoms. As we ready for an upcoming presidential election all should be standing together to fight, as we did in the aftermath of the horrific terrorists’ attacks on our nation 23 years ago. We must be vigilant in not allowing 9/11…

[popcornbutterfly]

[istandonsnowpiles]

Flowers on the Capitol Grounds

[eopederson]

Building at the edge of the State Capitol Grounds, Richmond, 2015.

I am uncertain of its present use, but the building was originally constructed as a hospital adjacent to the campus of the Medical College of Virginia. The bays at the south end of the building were constructed to allow patients ample sunlight and fresh air. That was especially important, it was thought, for those suffering from tuberculosis, and similar hospital buildings were built in many places in the US.

[tamahori]

The way these laws are written, an annoyed cop can probably hit anyone with them if they feel like it.

At the very least I'm just waiting for the first time a cop that thinks he's funny writes a bagpipe busker in a kilt.

At the end of the day though this is heading towards strict rules on what people are allowed to wear day to day.

I'm not gonna put any particular discussion on the spot here, but y'all, the reason those anti-drag bills are aimed at "any man or woman" performing "exaggerated femininity" isn't because they have a problem with cis women who enthusiastically perform their gender, or because they're not thinking shit though.

The "or woman" clause is there in order to guard against the possibility of future federal mandates obligating states to recognise legal gender changes granted by other jurisdictions. Making the language of anti-drag bills gender neutral allows them to be enforced against trans women even if the state is obliged to recognise them as women.

[sreegs]

I reblogged it earlier but I'm glad the Something Awful Forums 9/11 thread was archived because it's an incredibly important slice of internet history. For the record I think 9/11 was thousands of personal tragedies for the direct victims of the attacks but one big national farce that led to America's ongoing slide into fascism, and the nationalism and remembrance around it is a joke especially in the wake of the same amount of deaths every fucking day in the US during the height of coronavirus.

Nevertheless I think it's important that if you do not remember because you were too young or just didn't exist on Sept 11, 2001 to read the Something Awful 9/11 forums to get an idea of what the internet was like at the moment when America changed to 24 hour news cycles and renewed hyper-nationalism not seen since WWII.

This all happened before Twitter, Facebook, before Discord. Before smart phones. Before most people had cell phones. When a lot of people still had dial-up internet, even. Some people in the thread were relying on radio because internet and TV weren't keeping up.

It was a live event of internet denizens reacting to the biggest national event (and among the biggest international events) of the past 25 years. It was also a slice of what the internet was like at the turn of the millennium. Not only that, but people accurately calling out who was responsible, and what would result before the attacks even finished.

Keep in mind that the links that follow contain images of the event, lots of Islamophobia, people calling for the Middle East to be nuked, people blaming Palestine, casual racist and homophobic language (this was Something Awful after all), etc etc. They preserved the first 17 pages which spanned about 24 hours during the events. It's the origin of the "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR" screenshot.

Links under the fold. I've also annotated the pages with notes regarding the timeline and any posts of interest. Note the thread was preserved in Pacific Time even though the page says times are Eastern. That's incorrect. Post timestamps are 3 hours behind Eastern Time, which is the time zone where the attacks occurred:

Page 1 - Note the first post was edited to include images of the second attack. The thread started after the first plane hit. Second plane hitting the WTC happens here too.

Page 2 - Poster accurately calling out Bin Laden was responsible at 9:14 AM EST

Page 3 - "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR"

Page 4

Page 5 - First official acknowledgement it was a terrorist attack.

Page 6 - Pentagon hit

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9 - Commercial flights grounded by FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

Page 10 - First mention of towers collapsing at end of page

Page 11 - More reactions to collapse of first tower. People thinking it was a bomb or yet another plane. Rumors about a fourth plane just missing the White House (these are false and predate the actual 4th plane crash by minutes)

Page 12

Page 13 - By this point there's just rampant speculation about more bombs at the WTC, the US Capitol building being hit, etc (all false). Remember this is all just people reacting to TV news and radio and the rumor mill via phone, AIM, IRC, and maybe text messages.

Page 14 - By this point internet news sites are overwhelmed

Page 15 - Second tower collapses. First acknowledgement of the fourth plane that crashed in PA.

Page 16 - There's an abrupt time jump in the threads, I think it was the result of admins pruning the activity or the SA forums going down. This page starts on 9/12 even though it is page 16. American flag signatures and ribbons start appearing.

Page 17