#grad apps are in

[miserye]

oh man

[o-wild-west-wind]

While I’m still a bit bummed that they didn’t go with a more book-aligned POC Fiyero for the Wicked movie, I’ve been thinking (heheh) about how his being white highlights the really interesting foil relationship between him and Glinda (and, in many ways, the audience yourself).

At its core, Wicked is a cautionary tale about propaganda, (literal) scapegoating, and what it means to uphold the status quo. The audience is watching through Glinda’s eyes—it is through her, arguably the most beautifully tragic character of the show, that we learn how lonely life becomes when you forfeit your values in favor of systemic power and likability (“No One Mourns the Wicked” is, in many ways, about HER).

Now, this is where Fiyero’s whiteness can get interesting—if you consider him and Glinda to share roughly equal footing at the beginning in terms of privilege/how much they have to lose (applying our real-world lens of race and power here, where whiteness is the apex), his storyline essentially represents what could have happened if Glinda had made the brave (and arguably wise and loving, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down 👀) choice to go with Elphaba and fight the good fight (this is also why I feel like a queer reading of G&E’s relationship is almost implicit to the story, but I digress).

As the POC/marginalized allegory, Elphaba has much less of a real choice in her curtain-pulled-back turning point. But Fiyero and Glinda—both representing privilege—get to choose. So in Act II, we see the consequences of both the choice to stay (Glinda) and to go (Fiyero). In Fiyero’s case, his ultimate rejection of his own power, privilege, and even beauty leads to immense physical loss—including his own body—but that is then compared to the loss of love, community, and identity that we see Glinda left with by the end. And this brings us to the question that the audience is left grappling with: in an unjust system where loss is inevitable (a.k.a. our own world, as the Wizard himself represents), which of these things are YOU more willing to give up?

It’s important that Glinda is an empathetic character because, in reality, most people are going to be Glindas (obvi this is nuanced among us Elphabas of marginalized identities, but I’d still argue that there’s some level of Glinda in us all)—and it’s important to be rattled by the end of the show when you realize that she is the one who has the sad ending. But it’s also so important that Fiyero is empathetic (which I’m SO glad this movie leaned into)—because he’s ultimately who Glinda—and thus we, as the audience—should have been.

And especially given the state of US politics right now…this is just all more relevant than ever.

[sellieaa]

distracting myself from a roman sculpture essay

[mafuyuakgae]

2/2 charm designs [ preorder ]

[pinkeoni]

Introducing Conversations in Fandom: A Byler Fandom Journal

Title and cover design not final

In my last semester of undergrad, I worked on my school's literary journal. It was a lot of fun working in a group on the project and seeing all of the cool work that went into it, so I wanted to create something like that for the byler fandom.

What I aim to create with this project is a collection of well made fanart, fanfiction, analyses, theories, critiques and other fan creations that showcase unique ideas and promote healthy debate and conversation that pushes the boundaries of fandom work.

With a team of people, these works will be put together in an online journal, creating one piece of art that displays many different fandom voices together.

Below, I have used some of my own work to create an example of what this might look like (click images for better quality):

Does not reflect final layout or journal content

Submissions will open in early November

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, be on the lookout for a post regarding submission rules and guidelines.

If you would like to keep up with this project, I will be using the tag #byler journal for everything related to the journal. You can also follow the official account for this project @bylerjournal for updates and to ask questions.

EDIT: You can now submit to the journal HERE

[dixoterin]

Zero Escape 2024 Census Results!

FEATURING

500+ Responses

200+ Slides of Data

Plenty of funnies

⚠️ SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE TRILOGY⚠️

Sorry about the wait, I finally got around to compiling all the data! This was extremely fun (and time consuming) to do, so I hope you all enjoy the presentation! 🙏

Here are a few of my favorite (non spoiler) slides so you can get idea of what you're getting into:

Thank you all! My ask box is open for any feedback and/or questions ���

[sleevebuscemii]

and for her next trick she wrote goldfinch fanfiction in 2025

[otaku553]

Unfortunately there will definitely be a hiatus on spade pirate sabo comic tomorrow since I don’t even have lineart done yet but I’ll be back next week for sure :)

[marzipaint]

extremely late barricade day post. barricade month

[butchhamlet]

also hi i miss being batshit crazy about shakespeare all the time. unfortunately my last semester of undergrad is eating me alive. but hopefully soon i can bring some productions to butchhamlet poobtv such as:

i'm (irrationally?) scared that sharing my senior thesis online will get me doxxed but i also REALLY want to yap about it because it's just shit i'm interested in. SFF/genre fiction. cleopatra. gender. shakespearean adaptation. a dash of judith butler. so i will be sharing at least excerpts once it's polished (atm it is Emphatically Not)

big tier rank / listicle of all the king lear retellings i've read and what i thought of them (but i need to read a few more first. i will take recs. also, do i put movies/non-book material in this list? i think the only retelling-not-just-filmification i know that isn't a book is kurosawa's Ran)

excerpts from the scholarship i've been reading, maybe, if i ever have time to read again,

?

send me an ask if there's anything you think i should yap about. or cool stuff you want to show me. or if i missed a big development in the shakespeare wars. did he drop love's labour's won or is he still on hiatus

[zodiacstrap]

degas was so correct abt ballerinas actually

[tranquilstudy]

march 28th 2025

manifesting good news 🧿 reminder that you can tag me in your stuff with #hiyatranquil !

📖: mockingjay — suzanne collins

🎥: Dracula (1992)

🎮: Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor’s Gambit (A Turnabout Forsaken)

📺: The Pitt

🎧: lasts forever — scenic route to alaska

[minmin-vs-physics]

[22/3/25] long time no see huh? i spent the past few weeks becoming a cautionary tale. the funding situation in the us is kinda hmmmm. and lets just say i will be applying to programs abroad now! bc i just got an acceptance rescinded and my plans have upended lol.

anyway, this was an oddly freeing experience bc idk im worrying less and i can finally focus on physics again. but idk it does not feel good to make another set of applications bc you got a full round of rejections. or maybe its time to get LinkedIn-pilled and look for a job idk lmao

[racerback-parallels]

every time impulse imagines something in yj98. part 1 of 2

[lovesodeepandwideandwell]

Some days it's important to dress up nice and proper to feel great, and SOME days it's important to dress like a deranged weirdo to emphasize that It's Not That Important Actually

[bloomingtrans]

in the google doc straight up "ignoring it". and by "it" haha well lets justr say. My essay