#fair phyllis

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have John Wayne part Two of Two it has West of the Divide 1934, Winds of the Wasteland 1936, Hell Town 1937, The Lawless Frontier 1934, The Man From Utah 1934, Randy Rides Alone 1934, Blue Steel 1934, Sagebrush Trail 1933, Angel and the Badman 1947, and McLinTock 1963

[omgthatdress]

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence started when three friends banded together to dress as nuns and recite a loving and forgiving liturgy to drive homophobic evangelists off of Castro Street in San Francisco. It worked. The organization quickly expanded as an advocacy group for gay rights.

When asked why they are dressed as nuns, the answer was, "We do all that traditional nuns have done for centuries. Our look might be unique, but our ministry is common. We serve our community. We have raised lots of money for AIDS and other social causes. We visit the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and sometimes disrobe the clothed! We are 21st Century queer nuns."

The Sisters primarily made a name for themselves through their AIDS activism. In 1982, The Sisters published Play Fair! which was the first humorous and easy-to-understand sexual health and safety pamphlet specifically intended for gay men.

The Sisters also used their presence to shame homophobic public figures, performing "exorcisms" on Phyllis Schlaffey, Jerry Fallwell, and Pope John Paul II, as well as on the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2023, The Los Angeles Dodgers caused a huge controversy by selecting the Sisters to receive a "community hero award" on their Pride Night game (again, the Sisters are a legendary charity group that has literally saved lives), but then they gave in to right-wing pressure and cancelled it. Eventually, they realized how badly they had fucked up and re-invited the Sisters to their game.

The sisters remain active today with many chapters across the U.S. and Canada. Membership is open to all genders and sexualities.

[syrupwit]

Reading these three midcentury romantic suspense/domestic noir novels (I also picked up Canary Yellow by Elizabeth Cadell at the used bookstore) has made me want the following so far:

Sincere pastiche set in a matriarchy, where the main character is a bewildered and passive young man buffeted about between powerful, unreadable women in an atmosphere of menace where they (the women) seem to be the only true actors and he has to harness himself to the right one to make it out alive

Sincere pastiche where everything is the same, but the main character's focus is skewed almost entirely towards other women -- they get the worshipful monologues, the pages of fearful speculation, the big reveals and there is no husband or male lover controlling their actions

[fuckyeaharthuriana]

Arthurian non fiction recommendation list

I don't talk much about non fiction arthuriana because I usually don't read much of it but I have an immense love for some specific arthurian non fiction books.

I am not really interested in historical Arthur, but I love to see the evolution and addition of arthurian elements in literautre through time and space. For this reason, my absolute favorite is the series "The Arthur of the..."

Here are some:

Arthur of the Welsh (the one I always take with me! It has information of the triads, early Welsh texts and poems, Culhwch and Olwen and the Mabinogion arthurian texts)

Arthur of the French (in particular has a section about Arthur in modern French movies and fiction!)

Arthur of the Italians (this I did not check as I read the texts in Italian, but I know it has information on the Rustichello da Pisa text, the Tavola Ritonda and i Cantari, the ones with Gaia as a character)

Arthur of the Low Countries (one of my favorite because it has full summaries of some Dutch texts that are impossible to find in English like Walewein, Moriaen, Walewein ende Keye, Roel Zemel)

Arthur of the North (has some summaries of some really hard to find stuff arthurian like Ívens saga, Erex saga, Parcevals saga, various Nordic ballads, Hærra Ivan Leons riddare)

Arthur of the Germans (another good one! It has info on a bunch of German texts that are hard to find like Wigamur, various fragments, Tristan traditions)

Arthur of Medieval Latin literature (for the older stuff, like Geoffrey of Monmouth, Nennius and Life of Saints)

Arthur of the English (if you are really into Malory)

Arthur of the Iberians (I have not fully delved into this, but the chapters seem to be about the reception of arthurian matter in Spain and Portugal)

Basically, different authors tackle the arthurian traditions (more or less obscure) from different areas and time periods.

In general, if you like Welsh arthuriana anything written by Rachel Bromwich will be your friend, especially "Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain".

For general information:

The Arthurian Name Dictionary (Bruce) - this used to be online, not anymore, but you can still access it through the archive here

The Arthurian companion (Phyllis Ann Karr)

The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend (Alan Lupack)

The Arthurian Encyclopedia (Lacy)

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends (Coghlan)

If you are looking for more translated texts you can check here for free downloads, but if you would like books, here are some:

The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation (Wilhelm)

This book contains translations of:

Culhwch and Olwen Roman de Brut Brut Some Chretien de Troyes Some Parzival excerpts The saga of the mantle Beroul's Romance of Tristan Thomas of Britain's Romance of Tristan Lanval The Honeysuckle Cantare on the Death of Tristan Suite du Merlin Prose Merlin Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle De ortu Waluuanii nepotis Arthuri

The Book of Arthur: Lost Tales From the Round Table (Matthews John)

This book contains translations of:

(Celtic Tales) The Life of Merlin The Madness of Tristan The Adventures of the Eagle Boy The Adventures of Melora and Orlando The Story of the Crop-eared dog Visit of the Grey Ham The Story of Lanval

(Tales of Gawain) The rise of Gawain Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle The adventures of Tarn Wathelyn The Mule without a bridle The knight of the Sword Gorlagros and Gawain

(Medieval texts) The knight of the parrot The vows of King Arthur and his Knights The fair unknown Arthur and Gorlagon Guingamor and Guerrehes The story of Meriadoc The story of Grisandole The Story of Perceval Sir Cleges The Boy and the Mantle The lay of Tyolet Jaufre The story of Lanzalet And some final notes

[desbianherstory]

Category: Woman (2022, dir. Phyllis Ellis). Stream here.

When 18-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya burst onto the world stage in 2009, her championship was not celebrated, but marred by doubt, her personal medical records leaked to the international media. The public scrutiny of her body, driven by racism and sexism, questioning the most fundamental right of who she is, a great champion. The International Amateur Athletics Federation (now World Athletics) then ruled that targeted female athletes must medically alter their healthy bodies in order to compete. Their naturally high androgen levels, 'deemed' a performance advantage. Category: Woman focuses on four remarkable athletes, from the Global South, forced out of competition by these regulations, the devastation to their bodies, and their lives. Equally arresting is their passion for sport is further emboldened by their conviction to stand up for their human rights. Following her award-winning film Toxic Beauty, filmmaker and Olympian Phyllis Ellis exposes an industry controlled by men putting women’s lives at risk while the policing of women’s bodies in sport remains, in a more nefarious way, under the guise of fair play.

Breaking from this blog's hiatus to post this in light of the racist bullying of Imane Khelif. I'd recommend everyone watch it (it's only 76 min) for an understanding of the issues at play - how the false, easily digestible narrative of "fairness" in fact means unfairness and racist mistreatment for these extraordinary women. Even the introduction is powerful:

"Some bodies are marked. The gender that goes unmarked as male. Women are maked in all the ways that they are different. The unmarked race is white. Some bodies that are black and brown and female have a particular kind of marking. These bodies are marked as insufficiently human. How do you castigate a category of people as insufficiently human? By throwing their gender into doubt."

Dutee Chand, India's first openly lesbian athlete is interviewed in this documentary about the racist mistreatment and scrutiny she received for these issues.

Please watch and spread!

[eretzyisrael]

by Phyllis Chesler

How could so much rabid and vulgar Jew-hatred suddenly erupt everywhere? Did someone flick a switch that unleashed millions of haters programmed to disrupt public meetings, graduation ceremonies, legislative sessions, and singing and athletic contests? To block streets, schools and bridges? To smash windows, deface synagogues and kosher or Israeli restaurants, and publish false narratives about Israel and the Palestinians all over the world?

I’ve been asking myself this question ever since Oct. 7. Today, I may have something of an answer.

This worldwide non-stop attack on the world’s Jews did not happen when the U.N. passed its infamous resolution equating Zionism with racism in the 1970s. It did not occur after Palestinian terrorists bombed synagogues, hijacked planes and murdered Israeli athletes at the Olympics. Nor when Arab countries launched attack after attack on Israel, subjecting it to countless wars.

It did not even happen when Palestinian terrorists blew up Israeli civilians on buses and stabbed, car-rammed and shot Israeli civilians to death on Israeli streets. Nor did it happen after Iranian proxies launched rockets at the Jewish state, sent flotillas of armed assassins in the name of “peace” and declared their intention to exterminate the Jews once and for all.

Despite incredible losses, Israel rose triumphantly each time.

Here’s what’s different now:

First, back then, the well-funded and well-organized media and university assault on Israel had not yet indoctrinated three or four generations of Westerners.

Second, on Oct. 7, perhaps for the first time, Israel looked genuinely vulnerable. This rendered both Israelis and Jews everywhere fair game.

It’s as simple as that.

Once the terrible sight of Israeli blood, of charred and/or raped Israeli corpses, was broadcast the world over, the haters knew it was possible to chase the Jews down, to try to destroy us yet again. Who would protect us? The IDF was under the most profound siege on Israel’s northern and southern borders and in its historical heartland in Judea and Samaria.

Diaspora Jewry was seen as safe because Israel was militarily, economically, culturally, scientifically and technologically strong. Israel led the world in counterterrorism and was the only country in the Middle East that protects all religions, not just Judaism.

Israel’s strength meant that left-wing Diaspora Jews who loudly criticized Israel’s every imperfection and failure, and right-wing Diaspora Jews who kept supporting Israel no matter what, were safe because Israel existed. Israelis who excel at dissenting politics and are geniuses at criticizing their government were also kept relatively safe because Israel was and was seen as strong. Without this, we would all be subject to the historically endless pogroms and persecutions that have characterized Jewish existence in both the Muslim and the Christian world.

Things have changed. Israel looks vulnerable and the Jew-haters have been emboldened as a result.

So, if Diaspora Jews and our Christian, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim friends the world over want to help both the Jews and the West to defeat barbarism, they must strengthen the IDF in every way. These precious young men and women are on the front line fighting for civilization. However imperfect Israeli and American leaders and political systems may be, they are far better than those of Iran, China, Russia, Turkey, Afghanistan and North Korea.

Now is the time to act. I am urging you, imploring you, to do so.

Send money to the IDF and Israel’s ambulance and medical services. Volunteer as physicians and physical therapists, nurses, harvesters, fruit pickers and compassionate caregivers. Stand with pro-Israel demonstrators. Attend your local city council meetings, write articles for and letters to newspapers. Sue schools for harassing and chasing Jewish students away. Work to end the poisoned curriculum that has turned students into Jew-hating zombies.

This work may take decades to complete. Begin it today. And whatever you choose to do, never stop.

The fate of the world is in your hands

[lesbianlenses]

Castro Street Fair, 1989, by Phyllis Christopher.

[cuddlecow]

Not sure how much of a headcanon this is, but Franco seems to be very jumpy, and kind of nervous while he hunts down the player. Whenever he hears a sound from the player he almost jumps as he turns around, sometimes instinctively firing at the direction of the sound. Not to mention he says things like "My dad send you?" or even just "what the fuck is that?". I personally think the tough act he's had to put on his whole life is out of fear, mostly of his dad. I also saw someone say Franco seems more aware of what is happening to him at Mt Sinyala with Murkoff, even saying a few things directed at the "doctors". I bet he's kind of scared being there, maybe he thinks his dad did it?? Murkoff is definitely getting into his head like with Coyle and Phyllis, also. I wonder how much he is really aware of. Sorry for the angst, I feel so bad for him. He needed love and help, not Murkoff.

Ooh, I can definitely see that! I remember he says the one line where he says his father killed his mother when he addresses the doctors! Also no need to apologize, some angst is always good! Thank you for bringing up some cool points!

Author's Note: I'm going to start doing entries called "Franco For Thought" that are more talk-style headcanons or just going more in depth off of some points others make!

Franco For Thought

Franco for sure has trauma from multiple aspects in life. Growing up in a mafia/mobster family, he's had to be guarded and tough at a young age. I believe he chose to keep his head down and stay quiet or not rebel from his father so he wouldn't be cast out or killed. In the comics they did say that the only reason Franco wasn't killed by his father, Salvatore, was because he was blood related.

Franco almost always shoots in the direction of a sound because if he doesn't shoot to kill, then the other person will. Survivability is definitely a huge thing for him especially since he's such a high ranking member and at any time he could be challenged.

Based off of Franco saying "My dad send you?" I think it would be fair to assume this wouldn't be the first time his father tried to send someone after him to assassinate Franco. He whips around so fast once he hears things.

Franco for sure seems the most aware of the doctors compared to the other prime assets. Perhaps he gets into lots of scuffles with the doctors and threatens them, or perhaps he is a bit passive aggressive with it, muttering under his breath.

I think it'd be interesting to see what goes on in some sort of expop/prime asset common room or their interactions/behaviors when they aren't in the trials!

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: Week 19 (October 6)

This week we're doing a special Cozy Mystery poll to finish the first round of the Takedown! Now, I love a cozy mystery, but it's hard to find good ones - the writing is not always good or as diverse and progressive as I'd like. So this week, I have a new question for you:

TLDR: I have too many unread books, and I’m asking tumblr to help me downsize. Comments and reblogs welcome, book descriptions below the cut. See my pinned post for more info.

I'll be taking a break after this poll but will be back in November for round 2 with my Goodreads TBR!

* * * * * *

Foul Play at the Fair by Shelley Freydont

When a rotten apple spoils the local harvest festival, event coordinator Liv Montgomery becomes an unplanned amateur sleuth in the first mystery in the Celebration Bay series.

As more and more tourists flock to Celebration Bay, New York, to enjoy their seasonal festivals, the town is in need of a professional coordinator. Enter Manhattan event planner Liv Montgomery, tired of big-city stress and looking for an idyllic spot where she and her Westie terrier, Whiskey, can put down roots. The Harvest by the Bay Festival is Liv's first chance to prove herself, and everything from apple bobbing to pumpkin painting goes perfectly--until the body of an itinerant juggler is discovered stuffed into an antique apple press.

With a murderer on the loose, town leaders threaten to shut down the upcoming Halloween and Christmas festivals. But the town's livelihood is at stake, and there is no way Liv is going to let that happen, even if she has to solve the murder herself. No matter how many balls she needs to keep in the air, Liv is determined to find a killer who's rotten to the core...

The Pickled Piper by Mary Ellen Hughes

After her dreams of romance are crushed, Piper Lamb decides to pursue her dream of opening her own shop of pickles and preserves, called Piper’s Picklings, in the idyllic small town of Cloverdale. But she isn’t in town long before she encounters a barrelful of trouble…

The Cloverdale fair offers Piper a sweet opportunity to promote her business. With her new assistant, Amy, she sets up a booth centered around an eye-catching display of the ever-popular dills in an old-fashioned barrel of brine.

But things soon turn sour when fairgoers witness a fight between Amy’s boyfriend, Nate, and town council blowhard—and bagpipe player—Alan Rosemont. When Rosemont is found floating in Piper’s barrel, Nate becomes the prime murder suspect. With Amy’s boyfriend in a pretty pickle, there’s no time to dillydally. But as Piper searches for the real killer, she needs to be careful to preserve her own life…or she may end up a pickled Piper herself.

How to Wash a Cat by Rebecca M Hale

Two cats are better than one...

A deceased uncle and a surprising inheritance propel a woman and her two very curious cats into the mystery surrounding his death.

An investigation that starts amid the curios and novelties of a San Francisco antiques shop follows a twisted trail of dangerous deception that leads all the way back to the days of the Gold Rush itself.

A Peach of a Murder by Livia J Washburn

All year round, retired schoolteacher Phyllis Newsom is as sweet as peach pie-except during the Peach Festival, whose blue ribbon has slipped through Phyllis's fingers more than once...

Everyone's a little shook up when the corpse of a no-good local turns up underneath a car in a local garage. But even as Phyllis engages in some amateur sleuthing, she won't let it distract her from out-baking her rivals and winning the upcoming Peach Festival contest.

She and all the other contestants guard their secret, original recipes with their lives-and talk a whole lot of trash. With her unusual Spicy Peach Cobbler, Phyllis hopes to knock 'em dead. But that's just an expression-never in her wildest dreams did she think her cobbler would actually kill a judge. Now, she's suspected of murder-and she's got to bake this case wide open.

[calicohyde]

lol nvm I think this person is trying to scam me? they want to pay with check. they "don't have apps right now" whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean when said in an Instagram message lmao.

girl we are almost halfway thru 2023. I will accept a PAPER check from phyllis the eccentric 83 year old grandma of 12 on the last day of the summer craft faire. are you phyllis the eccentric 83 year old grandma of 12 on the last day of the summer craft faire, with a paper check? no? then get venmo.

do you want the fucking cake or not ginger dot mp4

[kesbeacon]

Reading your sock post, I realized you might just be the person to ask a question that a friend posted on FB: a knitting worldbuilding question!

In A Tale of Two Cities, Madame DeFarge knits the names of targets for the guillotine into her work. What was her coding scheme? The friend speculated that Dickens had met Charles Babbage at some point and was doing something with binary. After poking around a bit on the internet, I decided Dickens made it up, not knowing anything about knitting.

I did find schemes for encoding messages in two dimensions, possibly using colors. But such a scheme seems unlikely to encompass 26 letters and 5 accents in a way that can quickly encode a name (since there was a fair bit of volume to keep up with at the time).

What do you think? Is there a plausible scheme today? And would such a scheme have a chance of being available at the close of the 18th century?

So, I'm not an expert on this either! But I'll give it a go.

The first thing I remembered was that this has been done, albeit long after Dickens' day. I have seen videos and posts in which people talk about knitting as spycraft during the world wars. The challenge I then had was 'is this all just a giant game of internet telephone?'

And, my friend, this led me down a rabbit hole. I’ll get to your question in a bit, I just need to go on a detour about checking your sources. Because most of what I could find online was from sites with names like ilikeknitting500 dot com or girlbosshistory dot net (not real examples), all with the same vague story – in Belgium, the resistance would have people sitting by trainyards knitting, and they would drop a stitch for one kind of train, and purl for another, and so on and so forth. As a result, the government banned exporting knitting patterns! But they can’t even agree on what world war it was or which government banned it.

So where does this claim come from?

It took me a little while to find real articles with sources. What I eventually came away with was an Atlas Obscura article that has citations. One citation was a book I can't access by someone who, while I can't find any evidence she's a historian herself, has been endorsed by at least a couple. The link did give me an excerpt about a woman who would use her knitting to cover for tapping information about troop movements in code to her children below, who would write it instead of doing their schoolwork. In a similar vein, I could find information on people who used knitting to hide their spy work, as in the case of Phyllis Latour.

The other relevant citation was to a journal article in a (student-run, admittedly, but in some fields this isn't abnormal) peer-reviewed Open Access journal by an Jacqueline Witkowski, who is now an Associate Professor of Art, even if she wasn't then. This was the best of the bunch, because this cited a BBC Radio 4 program on the history of MI6. I thought this was going to be the end of the road for me, but then I realised you don’t need a TV licence to listen to the radio and that I do have a BBC account, so I logged in and listened to it and – bingo.

Alan Judd, a writer and ‘former soldier and diplomat’ according to Wikipedia, is the biographer of Mansfield Cumming, the original head of MI6, and he tells us about Belgian professionals recruiting little old ladies to go sit by train stations and knit, with the dropped and purled stitches. (He mentions nothing about banning sending knitting patterns.) Crucially, this is definitely during the First World War. I can’t access the book (and certainly can’t be bothered), but I would call this reasonably credible – it’s not as good as something from an actual archive, and I don’t automatically trust the BBC, but this radio series seems serious and also has the involvement of Actual MI6. So I think this is about as good as I’m going to get in a single evening.

We still don’t have the other half of the claim, the censorship. Witkowski says, “This [...] led to the Office of Censorship’s ban on posted knitting patterns in the Second World War, in case they contained coded messages.” There is a citation. But the citation is a Telegraph column by people involved in QI. QI, or Quite Interesting, is a British comedy panel show that I would place in the ‘edutainment’ category – it is an endless source of weird little facts, some of which are even true. Wikipedia has a section on mistakes and fact correction, and I can tell you from having watched the programme that it is usually correct on a surface level, but if you know anything about the relevant topic you’ll immediately start going ‘well, it’s actually more complicated than that…’

The QI column says, “During the Second World War the Office of Censorship banned people from posting knitting patterns abroad in case they contained coded messages,” and gives no sources. On historyhub.history.gov, someone has asked if there are any primary sources for this claim. Textual Reference Archives II Branch (RR2RA) replies that ‘some articles specify that this was a practice by the British government, whereas others attribute it to the United States,’ and gives the asker links to the records of the American Office of Censorship, and where they can learn more about British censorship. There are no more replies. I would hazard a guess that QI meant the Americans; UK censorship was handled by the Ministry of Information, which is common knowledge here and not something they would fuck up.

I originally was going to wash my hands of it, but then I thought… just one primary source? Just try? So I looked at a US government printout of their censorship regulations from 1943. No mention of knitting patterns, but all printed matter is banned for export to Europe, which would presumably encompass commercial knitting patterns by default.

So that’s that tangent, I wrote, thinking this was over. Because Charles Dickens died in 1870 and published ToTC in 1859, long before ANY of this happened! Also, Madame DeFarge’s code is far more sophisticated than any of this stuff. So let’s get back on track.

Your friend is not the only person to have speculated on the Babbage connection – Paul Curzon of Queen Mary University London also raises the possibility that Dickens was thinking of Babbage and Lovelace’s work –

Wait. Is that… I thought I’d escaped my tangent! But Curzon has dragged me back in! He adds an interesting note at the end of the article, though he doesn’t cite it - “In the Second World War, the United States censors held on to a letter that contained a knitting pattern so they could knit the jumper in case it did contain a message. Ultimately they banned people from posting knitting patterns overseas at all (along with playing chess by post) in case people were hiding messages in them.” I wish he’d cited it, but this is at least a real academic – a little more credible than QI! I hoped that this would be the source of the QI claim, but unfortunately I think it post-dates the QI article – it’s hard to tell. But QI could easily have got hold of that censorship decision.

YANKS SELF BACK WITH THE BIG HOOK.

Dickens was, in short, probably making an almost science-fictional prediction. He moved in the Babbage/Lovelace circle and would have known about their work. What Curzon does not say is that this is also the age of Morse code, which came into use in the 1840s, and the beginning of Boolean algebra! It’s easy to imagine him taking these ideas, along with any knitting knowledge he may have had, and coming up with the concept. Madame DeFarge is ahead of her time, but not too far ahead of Dickens's.

Now, I’m not a Dickens scholar, but I happen to be friends with someone who is and is also a knitter. So I’ve asked her if he might’ve known diddly squat about knitting, and we’ll see what she says.

…

How might it have worked? Well, knitting is versatile. You can, for instance, knit Doom. But Doom is already binary, because we have established systems of binary coding. DeFarge does not, and it wouldn’t be intuitive to convert these into names, especially before Boolean algebra. She might’ve had a Morse code-like framework. Morse code isn’t actually binary – it’s sort of trinary, because you need to space the letters. This isn’t necessarily a problem; you can use a yarnover (followed by knitting/purling two together, obv) to separate the letters, with, say, knit being dot and purl being dash. If you’re experienced, you might be able to read it as fabric, but it would be easiest to read it back in reverse as you unravel it.

Knitting this would likely be pretty quick. She can’t be using actual Morse code for the very simple reason that she pre-dates Mr Morse, and I also don’t know how actual Morse code handles French diacritics, but it took me, a person who has never done this before and doesn't understand Morse and had to make some modifications on the fly, about quarter of an hour to knit the Morse code alphabet (minus Z bc I reached the end of a row and got bored). It would be easier if you were using colours; you could have one colour for dot, one for dash, and use purl stitches to mark the ends of words. I cba to do that right now though.

In summary, clearly Madame DeFarge is an extremely adept code-maker of a kind that is… easier to have in fiction than in real life. She's ahead of her time and in some ways ahead of twentieth-century spycraft, but not implausibly ahead of Dickens's. And I’m a fucking nerd.

And @ the internet at large, generalised-you should check your fucking sources.

[ohhappyday123]

Office Dynamics - Part 3

The sun streamed through the windows of Dunder Mifflin, casting a warm glow over the desks and adding a sense of coziness to the office. You made your way to your desk at the end of the table, right between Stanley and Phyllis. It was your favorite spot, not just because of the location, but because Stanley and Phyllis treated you with the utmost kindness.

Stanley greeted you with a rare smile. “Morning, Y/N. How’s it going?”

“Morning, Stanley. It’s going well, thanks,” you replied, returning his smile.

Phyllis, always the motherly figure, offered you a piece of homemade fudge. “I made these last night. Thought you might like one.”

You accepted the treat gratefully. “Thank you, Phyllis. You always know how to brighten my day.”

The camera crew caught you at your desk, munching on the fudge, and you gave them a thumbs-up.

Interview with Y/N: “Stanley and Phyllis are the best. They’ve kind of taken me under their wing, and it’s really nice. It makes coming to work even better.”

The office was still buzzing with excitement from the Renaissance Fair, and everyone seemed to be in high spirits. You glanced over at Jim, who was deep in conversation with Pam. He caught your eye and winked, making your heart flutter.

As you got settled, Michael burst out of his office, his usual enthusiasm on full display. “Alright, everyone! Today is a special day. We’re going to have a team-building exercise. Trust falls!”

The office collectively groaned, but you couldn’t help but laugh. Michael’s attempts at team-building were always entertaining, if not entirely successful.

The day progressed with the usual antics. Stanley kept a crossword puzzle on his desk and occasionally asked for your help with a tricky word. Phyllis shared more of her delicious treats, making sure you were well-fed and happy.

Interview with Stanley: “Y/N is a good kid. She’s respectful, hardworking, and knows not to bother me during my crossword time. That’s all I ask for.”

Interview with Phyllis: “Y/N is like a daughter to me. She’s always so sweet and appreciative. I love having her around.”

During one of the trust falls, Dwight insisted on demonstrating the proper technique. He climbed onto the table and called for everyone’s attention. “This is how you do it!” he declared, arms outstretched.

Just as Dwight was about to fall, Jim walked over and stood beside you, his arm brushing against yours. You looked up at him, your heart skipping a beat.

“Ready to catch me, Y/N?” Jim asked, his voice teasing.

You laughed, nodding. “Always.”

As Dwight fell, Jim and you caught him, albeit awkwardly, causing everyone to burst into laughter. Dwight stood up, adjusting his tie with a huff. “That’s how it’s done.”

The rest of the day was filled with more team-building exercises, each one more ridiculous than the last. Through it all, Jim stayed close, making sure you were always included and having fun.

Interview with Jim: “Y/N and I are really clicking. It’s amazing to have someone here who gets me and makes every day better.”

By the end of the day, you were exhausted but happy. As you packed up your things, Stanley and Phyllis approached you.

“Y/N, would you like to join us for lunch tomorrow?” Phyllis asked, her eyes twinkling with kindness.

“We’re going to the new Italian place down the street,” Stanley added, a rare hint of excitement in his voice.

You smiled, feeling touched by their invitation. “I’d love to. Thank you.”

As you walked to your car, Jim caught up with you, his hand slipping into yours. “Hey, I was thinking… how about dinner again tonight?”

You looked up at him, feeling a rush of warmth. “I’d love that.”

Interview with Y/N: “Jim and I are taking things one day at a time, and it’s been amazing. The support from everyone here, especially Stanley and Phyllis, means the world to me. I feel really lucky.”

That evening, you and Jim had dinner at a cozy little restaurant. The conversation flowed easily, and you felt a deep sense of connection with him. As the night came to a close, Jim walked you to your car, his hand never leaving yours.

“I’m really glad we’re doing this, Y/N,” Jim said, his voice soft.

“Me too, Jim,” you replied, your heart full.

He leaned in and kissed you, a sweet, lingering kiss that made you feel like you were floating. As you drove home, you couldn’t help but smile, knowing that this was just the beginning of something truly special.

The next day at work, you settled into your desk with a renewed sense of happiness. Stanley and Phyllis greeted you warmly, and Jim flashed you that charming smile that always made your day. The office was buzzing with the usual energy, but everything felt a little brighter, a little more hopeful.

Interview with Y/N: “Life at Dunder Mifflin is never boring, that’s for sure. But with friends like Pam, Dwight, Stanley, and Phyllis, and something special with Jim, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

As you looked around the office, you felt a deep sense of gratitude. You were surrounded by people who cared about you, and you had something special with Jim. Whatever the future held, you knew you’d face it together, one day at a time.

[flowerbritts]

So i made my mom watch Dead Boy Detectives, and she’s obsessed with Niko (fair, understandable)

But when she watched the confession she was like ‘oh i could never, and in hell? Dude (Edwin), priorities? Oh my god, that’s heartbreaking, his face’

And like, Phyllis, you are correct, but please don’t say that and then tell me the actual monster made of babydoll heads actively chasing them is cool looking????

[queenkenzo24]

Greetings to all you call the midwife fans. I wanted to give some clarification on the poll I created about Miss Higgins. I’ve spent a long time thinking deeply on how I wanted to word this in a way that makes my opinion clear in a meaningful way without sounding mean.First of all, thank you to everyone who gave thoughtful and detailed responses to my poll and their insights on the character Miss Higgins. I wanted to clarify that my dislike of this character in no way is me trying to discredit Heidi Thomas and all the beautiful things she’s created. This will however provide some criticism on how she’s written and how I think her character could be improved. Before my poll, I genuinely thought Miss Higgins was a character that was intended to be disliked. I thought the point of her character was that she was constantly being made fun of to the point where no one liked her. Obviously I was wrong in that assumption. I understand my generalization of just calling her annoying and rude in my poll was an overstatement made when I thought that was obvious. Since it isn’t obvious, I want to go into my reasoning for disliking this character.

A lot of the reasons I don’t like Miss Higgins actually boil down to the fact that I think her character has shown little growth in her time on the show. Someone on my poll commented that she was only mean to Shelagh at the beginning of her time on it because they had disagreements about record keeping. I don’t see this hatred as something that is only limited towards her first few episodes, or something that is only directed towards record keeping purposes. To be fair, a lot of their disagreements do seem to be record keeping based, but I don’t think Miss Higgins handles these nicely. There’s a polite way to ask for your policies to be respected, and then there’s what she does. She’s constantly scowling any time Shelagh wants to look at records, rudely telling her that her way of handling the Asian records were ineffective, and scowling when anyone asks for Shelagh’s organizational help(she got so upset when Sister Julienne went to Shelagh for help typing up and printing satisfaction questionnaires). Shelagh isn’t stupid, untrustworthy, or bad with records. She was Dr Turners receptionist for years before Miss Higgins came along. Miss Higgins also seems to have a disdain for Shelagh and Patrick’s relationship. When Patrick gave Shelagh flowers after seeing the Sound of Music, Miss Higgins practically scowled at them. In season 13 episode 1(Spoilers I guess) Miss Higgins looked pissed off just because she walked in on them being all cute as they ate lunch together. It feels as though whenever Miss Higgins sees them being a normal couple doing cute couple things, it makes her angry. Here’s where the growth element comes into it. I was expecting after a while of her being on the show of someone talking to her about this issue she seems to have with Shelagh. I was expecting that Phyllis, or maybe even Timothy, was going to pull her aside and ask her what her issue was with Shelagh(and also her relationship with Patrick) I saw an excellent fic once where this happened and Phyllis figured out that Miss Higgins was judging them because of the rumors she heard years ago about Shelagh being a nun and the improper things that might have happened between her and Patrick. I saw another fic where Trixie pointed out to her how hard Shelagh was working raising 3 young children(and obviously Timothy but he’s older) at the same time as she’s working so hard as a nurse and it changed her whole perspective and attitude towards Shelagh. A conversation like this would certainly be uncomfortable, but it would provide growth.

Another opportunity I feel they missed out on showing growth was when Miss Higgins stayed at Nonnatus house. She seemed to make everyone uncomfortable and had several habits that made her hard to live with. I wish a conversation had taken place where Phyllis pointed out to her that she was being horrible. Demanding your friends make you special meals(which you then complain about), taking long baths when there’s a roster, and forcing everyone to listen to your instruments when no one asked to listen to them are not polite roommate behavior. Her music is another opportunity where growth could be shown. She seems to have no concept of peoples lack of interest in her musical abilities( when that’s even obvious to the girl with autism that’s embarrassing). Phyllis really seemed embarrassed by the fact that Phyllis wanted to do a history of woodwind instruments for the talent show and yet at no time did they show her having a conversation where she voiced that concern. These conversations are really hard. Trust me, I’ve had more than enough hard conversations about social cues and polite behavior as someone with autism. It’s never fun. But those conversations would provide growth to a character that I don’t feel has changed very much in the time she’s been on the show.

Now let’s talk about things that don’t excuse her behavior. I don’t think her being raised in India changes how her behavior should be seen. Do you know who was also brought up in India? Chummy. While being a little socially awkward, Chummy doesn’t have any of the same issues with being a nice, polite, courteous human being. I’ve seen a lot of people say that her personality flaws can be looked past because she grew up in India. Growing up in India doesn’t give you an excuse to be a jerk. The other excuse for her behavior I’ve seen is that she’s just a quirky character that a lot of people in this fandom can relate to. Being quirky also doesn’t excuse you being rude. We should hold everyone to the same standards of being polite and kind people no matter what. Other characters in the series get backlash for their objectivity rude behavior. Chummy had Sister Evangelina to(sometimes unfairly) call out her behavior and push her towards growth. When Patsy was first on the show, she was shown to be not very conscious of the feelings of the mothers she was treating. She was a bit brash and wasn’t very comforting to them. She was quickly told that her behavior wasn’t great, and it was uncomfortable, but she learned and grew from that situation. That’s what I really want for Miss Higgins. For someone to push back against her behavior and cause her to change and grow.

In conclusion(I legit feel like that’s such a high school English paper thing to say but it works) I feel like Miss Higgins actually has potential to be a decent character, but she has too many flaws that have been overlooked and remained unchanged to the point where it’s made her an unbearable character for me to watch in Call the Midwife. I hope her character can improve, but I’m honestly loosing hope of that at this point.

I hope that this all made sense. I tried so hard to keep this concise(obviously I failed at that but I have lots of opinions) and well thought out. I really don’t mind if anyone likes Miss Higgins. It’s simply a difference of opinion that I know I can’t change. I just really wanted to show why I feel the way I do.

[annoyinglyperfectartisan]

Cary Grant and Phyllis Brooks, 1939 World's Fair