#freakin dr seuss name

[jurweemsm]

What even IS this thhing?!?!?

[stop-him]

Something about Roald Dahl I found meaningful

Here's a link to a piece about the Roald Dahl thing that put into words what I'd been thinking but couldn't articulate myself:

One could go on about this silliness all day, and many are doing so, but I actually think there’s an important point to be made in response to these changes: the people doing it have no right to do so. They have the legal right, but what they’re doing is morally wrong.

It’s morally wrong first of all because it’s dishonest. The books will still be sold as Roald Dahl’s – it is his name that will draw readers to these volumes – but they are in fact Dahl’s involuntary collaboration with people who find some of his words and phrases intolerable. That this is so should be announced on the book’s covers – but you may be sure that it will not be. If you own the rights to Dahl’s books but passionately believe that what Dahl wrote is too offensive for today’s readers to face, then your only honorable option is to stop selling the freakin’ books.

The thing is worth reading, but that quoted bit above made me think a bit. I was reminded of the Dr. Seuss flap a bit ago, and how people were upset - and justifiably, I think - about the estate's decision to stop selling certain works.

In light of this Dahl business, though, I think that although taking old Seuss books out of the market is bad, it would have been worse to posthumously change them to reflect newer sensitivity standards. If you can't get an author's cooperation in changing a work, you ought not to change it, simply for history's sake. If we don't mark history as what it actually was, then what revisionism will be off-limits?

"Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia."

[twin-images]

Oh My God, They Killed Pepe!

Just thought I’d share our thoughts on pop-culture’s latest debacle: namely...

...Warner Media’s decision to drop Pepe Lew from the upcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy and their subsequent decision to no longer use the character in any upcoming Looney Tunes projects:

“Pepe Le Pew?!? BURN THE LETCH! BURN THE LETCH!!!”

-Yeah, that’s the one. First, let’s get the obvious out of the way:

Like Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss, no one came for or canceled Pepe Le Pew. These were all corporate decisions made by the respective companies. Nobody picketed, boycotted or demanded that any of these things be changed, the companies came to these conclusions all on their own with the goal of what would make or cost them the most profit in mind, so you can’t blame “teh libs” or “cancel culture” or “the woke crowd” for this. With that out of the way, I think that all sides are wrong on this, for various reasons. Allow me to elaborate:

First, if the goal is to appease the people who feel that Pepe is ‘rapey’ and offensive, then it would’ve served Warner Media’s purposes better if they had kept Pepe’s scene in, because it showed a female (in this case actress Greice Santo) pushing back on his aggressive advances and another character (in this case, LeBron James) informing him that what he’s been doing all this time with the ladies isn’t OK.

Warner Media’s decision to simply dump the character is also kind of wrong, or at least lazy; if a character’s schtick is outdated or problematic, then what you do is make the character better, you only resort to dumping the character as a last resort. Pepe Le Pew is/was problematic, but not unfixable: New Looney Tunes (a vastly underrated show, IMO) found a way to work around Pepe’s potential offensiveness by re-imagining the character as a suave secret agent.

He still flirted, but now only with his female partner, fox agent Kitty Dupree..

...Who was quick to rebuff his advances and remind him to keep his dirty little mind on business. If I were head of Warner, I’d lean into that...

...Just replace Kitty Dupree with Penelope Pussycat, and you’re good to go.

Finally, the people whining about the ‘loss’ of Pepe Le Pew are also misguided, for the simple fact that, at the end of the day, it’s just Pepe freakin’ Le Pew. The character was never a top tier Looney Tune like, say, Bugs or Daffy or Porky or mid tier like Elmer or Taz or Yosemite Sam or the Road Runner or Wile E. Coyote; he’s C list at best. While I don’t think that the character needed to be tossed into oblivion, at the same time I’m not going to weep over the character’s retirement. Pepe Le Pew is no martyr; he’s a lower-tier one-joke cartoon character whose particular schtick simply hasn’t aged well.

Seriously folks, is THIS the hill you choose to die on??

[cartoonfangirl1218]

This is my son

So in honor of YJ: Outsiders and the fact that we have an onscreen view of Amistad. Here is a little fic I did ages ago of how Rocket may have introduced her son to the Team. Lots of info was taken from the comics since the show doesn’t explore Raquel’s past a lot. Hope you enjoy. 

Raquel sighed as she settled a fussy Amistad for bedtime. She had to read him three books by Dr. Seuss and sing to him before his eyes even started to droop. He was a stubborn little boy, sorta like her. She gently rocked his blue cradle before turning off the lights to his room. 

She padded downstairs and glanced at the old Colonial grandfather clock. 11 pm. It was that late, maybe if she tried to really hard, she could write her economics proposal now, half of her History essay and then finish it in the morning along with her trigonometry homework. 

She shook her head as she thought over the coming morning, she'd have to do both essays right now especially if Amistad won't eat his food right away. It's a literal battle to feed him, and then get him out of the house to daycare. She hated the thought of dealing with him when he gets older. 

She settled on the living room couch spend out the books she needed and her laptop on her lap with a tray of coffee cups. 

She had crunched through the history essay. It was defiantly not her best but it would have to do, she'd settle for a C at the least. 

Then Augustus Freeman aka the superhero alien known as Icon came in. 

"Raquel you're still up?"

"No, I'm sleep-walking. Yes I'm still awake" Raquel snapped back sarcastically. 

"You do know that you have training with the Team tomorrow afternoon right?" Raquel groaned. 

The life of a teenage superhero. She recently joined a Team of teenage superheroes who no longer wanted to be treated as sidekicks. Batman (yes that freakin Batman!) was the one who assigned them black ops missions as they saved the world. 

Unlike some of the sidekicks like Robin or Aqualad, she had only become a superhero two years ago when she and her ex-boyfriend, Noble (the irony) had tried to steal some stuff from this old Colonial house that had been standing since the Civil War. 

While Noble looked for things to loot, she had been fascinated by the immense library the house had. She always loved to read and dreamed of becoming a writer, so that room was like a personal heaven for her. She wanted to just curl up on the old couch and look at the gleaming hardcover volumes. 

Then they saw the alien technology. 

Unfortunately they hadn't counted for the house to be occupied by a superhero. Augustus Freeman, lawyer by day but in reality a three thousand year old alien, the last of his kind as all aliens that crash land to Earth seem to be, who fought for justice. 

Though they had ran away that day, Raquel had returned to the house. 

She had been the one to convince Augustus to become a superhero. He was Batman. She was his Robin. Icon had initially refused, but she kept needling him until he had decided to give it a go. 

The city sure needed them as heroes. Dakota City may not be a Gotham in terms of danger, but there was plenty of violence and injustice that needed to be righted.  

It had been a tense first months since Icon was so damn conservative and analytical while she was more impulsive, liberal and action-oriented. But they eventually made their partnership turn into a smooth in sync team. 

Back back to her impulsive habits.

Something she wished she reined her impulsivity earlier. That same impulsiveness led her to agree to having sex with Noble. Their relationshop didn't last, him being an asshole had a major part to do with it. What did last was the fact that she had gotten pregnant. 

Raquel never felt so miserable in her life. The taunts and the whispers and the same old comment, "Oh she's from Paris Island what did you expect?" 

Abortion had been an option, Augustus highly advised it, and Noble even gave her the money to do it when he found out the news. But she quite obviously didn't get an abortion. 

She asked and asked around for opinions and the answer was always "Yes, get one" but she had felt disappointed by that. She finally realized that disappointed was that she had wanted someone to say "No, keep the baby" because she, she wanted to see this through and have a baby. Not the smartest decision in the world, but it was her's nonetheless. 

Despite his disapproval, Augustus had been very helpful when she had been pregnant. He dealt with her food cravings and mood swings, and buying baby stuff, reading parenting books and eventually with the labor. Amisted's middle name was Augustus in honor of her mentor, and she had asked him to be the godfather. 

Her friend, Denise even stood in as Rocket for her while her baby bump started to show. Make that ex-friend. The girl ran off with Noble awhile later, insisting "He changed." So what? You don't date the ex that got your friend pregnant, it is a common friendship rule! She hoped they gave each other syphilis.

Eventually she settled into a routine of taking care of Amisted in the mornings, drop him off at daycare, go to school, take care of him until he fell asleep and then do homework at whatever hour at night. In the weekends it had been easier since she could spend the whole doing Mommy and Me stuff with Amistad and more leisure time while he napped. 

Then she joined the Team, and things started to go a bit downhill. Besides the missions, they had required training sessions with Black Canary, and strategic planning with Captain Atom. And then, Miss Martian, such a sweetheart, always had plans for Team bonding time. It was a bit stressful with work and such, not that the team members didn't get that, they went to regular school too. But... She hadn't told them she had a son. 

It's been four months now, and they had no clue. Just as she wanted. It had been a struggle, with the lies on why she was so tired, her refusals to join Team bonding (on account of being needed at home), her worry during overnight missions (IT WAS OVERNIGHT, WHO KNOWS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO AMISTAD WHEN SHE'S GONE!!). She'd saying that she was babysitting her baby brother, but Robin was starting to question why she was always babysitting when her parents could do that. 

There was one embarrassing incident, that she had fallen asleep next to Wally, when she heard the alarm, mistaken it for the baby monitor and started rocking Wally's head like how she usually rocked Amsted when he was crying. That involved a very interesting yet lame explanation about her Rosemary's Baby inspired dream.  

It's just she always swore to herself that she wouldn't be the kind of teen mom that let all things go. That she failed at school, hardly cared for her child and did whatever she wanted. She did want to get straights As and be a good mother. She loved Amistad more than she loved anyone else in the whole world and the thought of someone trying to harm him made her want to kill. But it was all so stressful. 

"You know, Raquel I'm sure they would understand.." Augustus started to say, 

"Don't finish that sentence" Raquel scowled. 

They had been having this argument ever since she joined the Team. "Just tell them you have a son, they'll be understanding." Augustus insisted. 

Oh, no they wouldn’t. They're teenagers. No offense to her own kind but teens are very critical. And she did't want to further the stereotype that girls from the 'hood' were sluts that had babies and nothing else to show for the life.

Okay, yes she was from the hood and yes, she had a baby but that was where the parallels stopped!

Besides she wanted so badly to impress the Team with her maturity and bravery and just general heroics. The whole having a son thing would kind of ruin it. 

Oh and ruin any possible love life. 

Most boys at her school avoided her like a plague and those who didn't. Well they thought she was so easy because she had a child. Perverts. 

She hated school for all the people and the Team was the only place she wasn't judged. Sure, she wasn't spending so much time hanging out with them as she would like too but she still appreciated hanging out with them. They were chill, and mature and they understood all the grey in life. 

Grey like death, cloning, discriminations, things out of their control. They couldn't be blamed for being a White Martian, or raised by villains or having to kill people.  

But grey situations like teen pregnancy hadn’t been out of her control. It had been her own stupid decision and there wasn't anyone to blame but herself. 

"Raquel, they've been through a lot. They won't judge you so harshly." 

"Yes they will" Raquel muttered bitterly. 

"Raquel please think about it. It would be a lot easier on yourself. You could take Amistad to the Cave, and I'm sure Red Tornado could take care of him while you're on missions, I'll help of course. Please consider it." 

Raquel didn't know why, but she was tired of hearing the same explanation of why she should tell. Augustus didn’t understand. It wasn’t like he went to work where people stared at him as if he were trash. He didn’t have to deal with the mothers gossiping about him when he picked Amistad up from daycare. He didn't have to explain to Amistad, why no one wanted to go on playdates with him. 

"No, I cannot tell the Team, I just can't! Once I tell them, they’ll think I'm just another idiot that sleeps around. I have been trying so hard to go to school, and take care of Amistad, and live a normal life. But I can't! Sometimes I just wish he hadn't been born. Then I feel like a horrible mother because I do love him, I love him, he's he's my baby boy but it's it's... 

I mean yeah, I always talk about how the Team is so mature and how they’ve been through stuff, but they wouldn't understand this. They're still teenagers. They’re gonna be like the kids at my school, offering me condoms and sending notes on HOW TO USE a condom. 

You’ve got to believe me I did use one. I just didn't know how put it on okay. No one teaches you how to do that. They just say use it and you'll be safe. Well that didn’t worked did it? 

The team cannot accept me. They won't. I'll spell it out for you. My own parents didn't accept me. They took me to the hospital, confirmed I was pregnant, and left me. They left me in the hospital and drove away. I spent three days in that hospital with nurses pitying me or scolding me on how I could have done this to myself and how I ruined my life!" Raquel shouted.

After those three days in the hospital, she had gone to Augustus’ house in tears and explained what happened. He had offered for her to live in the third floor of the old mansion and that's where she had stayed. 

Eventually, months later, with a lot of prodding from Augustus she decided it was time to face her parents and confront them for what they did to her.  She told him that they had refused to see her, but it didn't exactly go that way. 

"And that time I told you I would face my parents after what they did to me. I lied. I didn't see them at all. I mean I was going to, but they weren't home. My sister, Denise was. And she was so surprised and happy. Know why? 

Because my parents told him I was dead."

Augustus stared at her in horror which only made her talk faster to get the whole awful explanation over with. 

"They said that on that day they drove me to the hospital. They collided with a car and it burst into flames. They couldn't have my funeral because they didn't know which ashes were mine.

They went through so much trouble pretending to grieve and needing their privacy and lied to my sister about it. 

How could I face them after hearing that! 

My own parents would want me dead then have to admit to having a teen mom.

My own parents who were suppose to love me unconditionally, left me! That's why I can't tell the Team. I mean if my own parents who cared for me for 13 years want me dead then how can people I know for less than 7 months ever understand." Raquel slammed her laptop shut and stomped up to her room where she fell onto her bed, crying. 

It had felt good to let it out in the open. The whole thing with parents had bothered her. 

She agonized over it for days afterward as. And for a short period, she acted extra nice to Augustus, in case he ever decided it was stupid to keep taking care of her. Until she realized he would never do that. Sure, he could be critical of her choices but he wasn't heartless. 

They developed a respect for one another. He had became her grandfather figure. Plus she was pretty sure if he hadn't ran for the hills after she gave birth to Amisted, he wasn't going to leave any time soon. 

Agustus entered her room a few minutes later, cautiously knocking on the door before he sat at the edge of her bed. 

"Raquel, I'm sorry about your parents." He whispered softly. 

"S'okay. I've gotten over it." Raquel mumbled to her pillow. 

"I promise I won't badger you to talk to the Team about Amistad." He told her.  

"Thank you" Raquel sighed, turning over to face him. He looked so grim and forbidding in the moonlight. It was so unlike him to her. She was used to seeing  the soft smile that she had seen wear when he played with her son. To her, he was far too compassionate and mellow to be intimidating. 

He let out a deep exhale, his large hand ruffling her cropped hair affectionately. "You must know, not everyone is going to leave you for your mistakes. You are a very smart lady, and you have been a better mother to Amistad starting at 14 than many have been starting at 30. I think we've both learned a lot life lessons from taking care of him. He brings a certain liveliness to the house, and I'm never been prouder to be called Uncle Auggy." 

Raquel gave a thin smile, "And what about my parents?”  

"I can't condone what they did, Raquel. But I promise I will not do that to you. I'll even fight Batman myself if he or the Team thinks less of you for this. You are more than your mistakes. It’s what you have done to fix them and improve yourself that makes you a good person. You haven't lost your drive, your integrity or your spirit, and you are willing to make sacrifices for your child. If the Team can't see that. You should feel that they are less than you instead of the other way around." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------—————The next afternoon at training, Raquel kept glancing nervously at the door. 

After her talk with Augustus yesterday and a long restless night, no thanks to Amistad’s latest nightmares about It. She and come to the decision that she would finally tell the team. She agreed with Augustus that she should stop pinning shame onto herself and she should judge the Team for their reaction. 

Also she knew what harm secrets had done to the Team, and it was unfair that she knew so much of their struggles and they didn't know hers.

Besides she remembered his other points, it would make life a whole lot easier for her if the other members took turns to take care of him. It wasn’t like everyone was going to react like her parents. 

Worse case scenario would be that she got kicked out of the Team. Augustus leaves the League. Then they both would be banned from ever super-heroing again.

Okay that was probably an exaggeration. 

But then again, Batman could do anything. Especially if he got angry that she lied to him.

With those doubts swirling in her head, Raquel didn't feel like a good idea any more, and was trying to think of a way to contact Augustus before he entered the Cave. 

I should leave. I'll stop them before they even enter. This is stupid. I'm right. What kind of person WOULDN'T judge a teen mom. They're all gonna think I'm a slut! Why would that want to work with a slutty superhero? I'm going to get kicked out for sure.

She glanced at the zeta-beams, wondering if she could make her escape before anyone would notice. 

Just then the computer announced,  "Entering Icon A-14. Entering Unknown Person" 

Raquel let out a silent moan. Here comes the judgement day.

The whole Team, and Back Canary looked questioningly at the two entering. 

"Awww Rocket, is this your baby brother?" Zatanna asked.

Icon pried a nervous Amisted clinging from his leg, handing him to her told and and went to talk to Black Canary about the situation. 

Raquel bit back an instinctive aww as Amistad tried hiding his face into her shoulder. He was just so adorable! 

"He's so cute!" Miss Martian squealed. 

"I guess he's cute" Superboy grunted. 

Raquel took a deep, shuddery breath "Uh well...That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I haven't been entirely honest with you about my home life and the exact way we are related. You see, Amistad isn’t my brother. 

They stared at her questioningly. 

"He's my son," They stared at her in silence with confused looks on Miss Martian and Superboy's faces. The others gave embarrassed glances at her. 

"I don't get it. Aren't you only 16?" Miss Martian asked innocently, Raquel nodded reluctantly. 

More staring. This was as awkward as she feared. They were never going to treat her the same way again. Forget getting kicked out, she might have to quit. She wouldn't be able to deal with this kind of silence and pitying stares aimed her. 

Since it seemed like her announcement had stunned them into muteness she decided to make an exit. "So, yeah. That’s my big..secret. I should be going." 

She turned to leave when Wally zoomed in front of her. "Can I hold him?" 

Raquel was so surprised that she almost dropped Amistad. Hold him? No one ever held him, but her and Icon. 

Yet she saw the sincerity in Wally's eyes, and the encouraging smile, nodding at her to say yes. No one had ever looked at her that way after they realized her teen mom status. No one ever looked so eager to hold her son. 

"Yeah, um here you go.” She placed Amistad in his arms, and corrected the way to hold him. 

"Hey Amistad, it's your Uncle Wall-man. We are gonna have a blast when you get older" Wally said holding out a finger for Amistad to grab. 

"Wall-e?" Amistad asked, wonder and amazement streaking across his face, making him look even more adorable in Raquel’s eyes. 

"No, no not the robot. I'm the greatest speedster of all time. Superhero of this Earth. I save the day with charm, and wit and the amazing power of science!" Wally gestured exaggeratedly.

Raquel smiled at him. She never been so grateful for the hungry speedster in her life. 

"Thank you" she mouthed to him, and he mouthed back "No problem," as he continued detailing his amazing exploits to the boy who was clearly going to idolize him when he got older. 

Slowly the others gathered around them.

"Is he gonna be visiting more often? I have the perfect bat light he'll love." Robin said. 

"We can be like his honorary aunts and uncles," Zatanna chimed in, cooing at him.  "That would be great, that would be really great.” Raquel smiled, feeling like she was starting to truly become apart of the Team’s ragtag family at last. 

[foularcadebanana]

Just Some Questions

Tagged by @snortinglaughter, becaue you’re so amazing!!

name: Sherry

gender: Female

star sign: Pisces

height: 5′3.5″

age: 21

sexuality: Straight

house: Gryff, thinks JKR, me thinks Slyth. So a little of both to be honest

what image do you have as your wallpaper?

Four different varieties of Fries, and Spaghetti

have you ever had a crush on a teacher?

Nah.

where do you see yourself in ten years?

With my Dream Job, the love of my life, living a lavish luxurious life 

if you could be anywhere else right now, where?

With Dad in Seattle tbh. LOVE the people and the weather there and the coffee

what was your coolest halloween costume?

Ahhh, when I was six, I went as a clown. I was so into it back then. But the best HAlloween costume EVER has got to be my dad’s last year. HE did his own makeup and went as an extremely convincing Frankenstein’s Monster. 10/10 would recommend his as a makeup artist to anyone interested

what was your favorite 90′s show?

Hmmm...

last kiss?

Nobody...sorry to disappoint ;)

have you ever been stood up?

As in on a date? No. By friends...yes.

have you ever been to las vegas?

OH YES!!! We stayed in Circus Circus where there was gambling for kids and I was sixteen I think. And I had the spicy Cheetos for dinner, breakfast and lunch I shit you NOT. And the streets and....GAH! 

favorite pair of shoes?

My floaters, I’m sorry I just love ‘em. Even though hey make me look like I’m walking like a duck

favorite fruit?

Jackfruit, it’s a thiing and it tastes like heaven, just look it up.

favorite book?

I have SO MANY. I loved Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon, I love If You Could See Me Now by Cecilia Ahern, her books are brill, and I loved Dr. Seuss as a kid and then Darren Shan as I grew a bit older. There are so, so many good books worth mentoning, I can’t.

stupidest thing you’ve ever done:

NO. But the stupidest thing Gigi has ever done...

all-time favorite tv shows:

Supernatural (YES!), Once Upon a Time, White Collar, House, NEW GIRL, 2 BROKE GIRLS, Beauty and The BEast

the last movie you saw at the theatre:

Ummm...Jumanji 2...it was freakin hilarious 10/10 would recommend!

I tag: @violetclarity! If it’s okay with you, I mean.

[jayleeg]

Yeah, pretty sure most soldiers don't give a shit about fictional characters.

Wow Anon. Yikes. A hasty generalization in one short sentence - impressive.

Do you often speak for entire demographic? I mean is this a compulsive habit for you? Because I know several officers, personally, who are the biggest freakin nerds on the planet - who will sit there in their Cap t-shirts, while sipping out of a Starfleet coffee mug, while jokingly picking up a roll of wrapping paper, brandishing it like a sword, and proclaiming “There can only be ONE”. And the author of the article I linked was, herself, a soldier (which I assume is what prompted this ask) who had a group of soldier friends she referenced who felt the same about Cap as she did, so I’m just wondering if making blanket generalizations is the norm for you? 

Here’s the thing about recreation, peaches, the more stressful your life, the more attractive it becomes. Especially when, in the past, Marvel provided special Military editions of the Cap comics. That’s aiding and abetting soldiers ‘caring about fictional characters’.

Moreover, let’s look at some other veterans who have very much cared about fictional characters, shall we?

Jack Kirby

Joe Simon

Stan Lee

…I shouldn’t have to continue. I mean, I think I’ve made my point with just those three names, but I’m going to continue anyway, because I don’t believe in doing things by halves. Other names you may or may not recognize with military records who very much cared about fictional characters…

Gene Roddenberry

JRR Tolkien

CS Lewis

Roald Dahl

Isaac Asimov

Dr. freakin Seuss

…wow I mean it’s almost as if soldiers/veterans are real people with similar interests to you and me, who would have thought?!

Also, please don’t come here and try to defend Nick Spencer, even vaguely. You’re wasting your time. I happen to dislike the bastard. And hate - with the passion of a thousand burning suns - what he has done to my favorite character. Moreover, I think what he has done is an insult to the names Kirby and Simon. That sentiment is highly unlikely to change.