#honestly are people not taught critical analysis anymore?

[ohnonotyou]

While I agree that cruelty is a major part of it, I don't think it's the actual point.

From what I've seen, collecting more people to jump on a person that anti's deem 'bad' is the point.

Cruelty is the choice of method they use, and it works because others don't want that cruelty pointed at them.

The majority of people will say no to someone politely asking something especially if they appear distant by just providing logic (even if it's heavily flawed), but if someone starts screaming 'think of the children! They're monsters hell bent on profiting off of survivors!' and starts waving pitchforks and torches at /one/ person or a small group of people, then others are more likely to step forward and join them.

And if you've been swallowed into a group of antis and you go 'huh, this actually is a bit much' then you're /inside/ the mob filled with pitchforks and torches.

Realistically I think the major issue is how people's online life has been so intrinsically embedded into their personal life. And how as a society we're unable to separate the two.

You don't walk up to someone watching Game of Thrones and go 'ah so you support rape and sexual assault and beheadings and etc.' we've moved on from that, but now it's 'ah you read fanfic about X so you support x'

It's the same old song and dance, and eventually it'll move on from fanfic to something else. It sucks, it really fucking sucks, but it's a a cycle that I highly doubt will be broken.

Realistically, the only thing that can stop antis is basically what we're doing now. Talking about it, supporting creators that are being targeted, showing them that they're the minority so no not everyone thinks like that and for fucks sake would you just pick up any kind of history book and use whatever critical thinking skills you've got and fuck off?

this callout couldve been a block button

[jopriyu]

Teaching Our Kids to Thrive in an Ever-Changing World: Moving Beyond Skills to Mindsets

Education and employability have always gone hand in hand. For thousands of years, parents passed down skills to their children that would help them survive and thrive. It started with hunting and gathering, then moved to farming and metalworking. Each generation taught what they knew, confident that these skills would keep their children fed and secure.

As time went on, the world changed, and new professions emerged—things like accounting, carpentry, science, and medicine. Parents would teach these trades, sure that they’d provide a steady life for their kids. But now, with the rise of computers and technology, everything feels like it’s shifting so fast. The jobs that once seemed like sure bets—like doctors, lawyers, and engineers—are transforming, and some are disappearing altogether.

In our parents' generation, IT jobs were just starting to boom, and if you got in early, it felt like you had it made. But now, fields like social media influencing, big data analysis, and AI are popping up. Even just the other day, my husband, who's deep into tech, said the “next big thing” might be prompt engineering��creating the right instructions for tools like ChatGPT to generate anything from art to code.

It’s honestly hard to keep up. As parents, we’re left wondering: What should we tell our kids? How do we prepare them for a future that feels more uncertain than ever? We want to guide them, but it’s tough when the world around us is changing so quickly.

After thinking about it a lot, I’ve come to a realization: maybe we’re focusing on the wrong thing. Instead of just teaching specific skills, maybe we should be focusing on traits. What really matters now is giving our kids the mental flexibility to adapt to whatever comes next.

We need to teach them to be agile—not just physically, but in how they think. We need to show them how to learn, so they can teach themselves anything they’ll need down the road. They have to be comfortable unlearning things that no longer work and relearning new ways to solve problems. We need to help them break free from old ways of thinking and show them how to make their own paths. "Thinking outside the box" doesn’t cut it anymore—there’s no box. They’ll need to be able to think from multiple angles, solve problems in creative ways, and adapt to whatever challenges come their way.

But here’s the thing: our education system isn’t quite keeping up with all this. It’s still focused on memorization and testing, not on teaching kids how to think critically or adapt quickly. If we want education to stay relevant, it has to change. The future won’t just need kids who know a lot—they’ll need kids who are creative, curious, and able to roll with the punches. These are the traits that will help them succeed in whatever the future holds.

Maybe this is why so many parents are turning to alternative education systems. More and more people are looking into options like the International Baccalaureate (IB), IGCSE, and even schools focused on hands-on learning, like farming schools. They may not be perfect, but they’re trying something different—something that acknowledges that the world has changed, and education needs to change with it.

For example, IB and IGCSE place a huge emphasis on critical thinking, creativity, and applying what you learn to real-world problems, rather than just memorizing facts for tests. And then there are schools focused on nature-based education—farming schools, for instance—that teach kids to be resourceful, resilient, and connected to the world around them.

None of these alternatives have all the answers, but they’re trying. They’re making an effort to rethink what education should be. They understand that what worked for previous generations might not work for the ones coming up. They’re focusing on teaching traits, habits, and mindsets that will help kids thrive in a world we can’t fully predict.

There’s no “perfect” education system out there yet, but the fact that these alternatives exist shows that we’re starting to understand what kids really need: not just knowledge, but the ability to adapt and learn in an ever-changing world. These schools aren’t just teaching facts; they’re teaching kids how to learn, how to adapt, and how to thrive, no matter what the future looks like.

As parents, we might not have all the answers, but we do know that the future isn’t about following a set path. It’s about learning how to carve out a path of your own, to tackle challenges, and to think in new ways.

Maybe that’s the best preparation we can give our children. Instead of focusing on specific skills that might soon become irrelevant, let’s focus on equipping them with the traits, mindsets, and habits they’ll need to adapt, create, and lead in a world full of uncertainty.

[sapphire-weapon]

How would you recommend someone to get into canon character analysis? Like how did you start, how did you improve? honestly so impressed by all ur takes

oh god that is a

hell of a question

I been doing this for so long, man... I don't even know.

I mean, I had an unfair advantage over a lot of people in fandom. I was taught how to do a lot of this in school and from a very early age. Like, we're talking second grade. We had entire lessons dedicated to identifying cause and effect in stories. Open-ended critical thinking questions were on every test for every story I read in elementary and middle school. They were also part of the ITBS, which I don't believe is still in use in public schools -- but, in my generation, to pass the standardized tests that we had, we had entire sections of the English/literature portions of that test that were just blank pages to write an essay-like response to an analytical question about a story.

So, I guess I would probably start there. And I would start with something short and simple that has very strong, distinct character voices. Resident Evil is huge and labyrinthine and contradicts itself constantly.

In fact, start with movies. I would actually probably start with Disney movies. And I don't say that to be patronizing to you; I say that to be complimentary to Disney movies. Films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, and Tangled have really, really strong themes, really distinct and layered characters, and a lot of very adult motivations to their villains especially.

The two big questions that you're going to want to start with are: What is the theme of the story? and What is the character I'm analzying's overall goal?

In a good story, those two answers will either be identical or very closely related. So, to use Tangled as an example: the theme of that movie is "the freedom to pursue/live your dream" and Rapunzel's overall goal is "freedom so that she can pursue her dream of seeing the floating lights." (side note: A good villain should have their goal be the photo negative of the hero's. So, Rapunzel's goal is freedom, whereas Mother Gothel's goal is confinement.)

And once you have those two things established, you can look at the actions that a character takes and see how those actions help move that character closer to achieving their goal. And this is where you can run cause and effect exercises.

Pull out an action that a character takes. Any action. Look at it, and go, "What caused this to happen?" and then ask, "What is the effect that this action has on the story/the other characters/the character themselves? What happens as a result of this?"

And just. Do that. Constantly. Run exercises like that until you want to fucking throw up because the questions seem so simple to you that you don't understand why you're bothering to ask them anymore. I distinctly remember reaching that point in school; eventually cause and effect questions on tests just pissed me off because it just seemed so self-evident.

And then, every so often, while you're doing that, ask why. "So, X happened because Y character did Z. But why did Y character do Z in the first place?" This is a more abstract form of cause and effect, where you have to then go back in the script and identify "Well... B thing happened earlier, which caused Y character to feel this way or learn this thing... so they probably did Z because of the B thing."

It's basically the literary version of

If A + B = C, then C - A = B

or

If A = B and B = C, then A = C

Read into the concept of catharsis in stories and how things are set up in order to pay off later, and that will help you with these exercises.

And once you have that down, read up on the difference between character arcs -- identify a positive arc, a negative arc, and a flat arc. Determine what kind of arc the character goes through. Characters can sometimes have multiple arcs. Look into character archetypes and see how that archetype informs the character's behavior (how many times have I yelled about Leon being "The Protector" archetype?).

If you're interested, here's a whole video of me and @friedesgreatscythe mapping out Rufus Shinra's multiple character arcs, to give you an idea of how that all shakes out.

Once you are able to actually build that outline/map in that video, that's where the actual analysis part starts. Because that's what I'm really doing in all these posts. I'm just applying all that shit ^^^ simultaneously to create these posts. Like this is a really easy to see example of me using those skills from those exercises in order to create an analysis of one part of Leon's character.

And when you get really really advanced at all that shit, then you can start looking into things like symbolism and imagery and camerawork and unreliable narrators, and all that other fucking shit that goes into telling a story.

It's a lot. You're basically going to have to teach yourself several years' worth of skills that school just never taught you. And that fucking sucks. But if that's something you're really interested in doing, I think you should do it. It's never too late to learn a new skill.

[minthe-lover]

I think we are in an era of confusion here. People try to cancel everything some don't agree with them. Isn't it though common sense to respect a different opinion? Didn't our parents and school taught us that? Like it's basic polite behaviour, also more democratic.

But no entitled people on the Internet try to force their opinions by calling you slurs if you don't agree. They play with emotion and ignore the facts. In LO they try desperately to make the series look good and even the author herself sides with them, like they are a little mean girls group.

Also the author herself doesn't take criticism well. Of course i have trouble with criticism as I am a little sensitive but i would try to improve. But what does an author with million readers of her work does? Creates a toxic fandom...no wonder many are leaving then the series is that even logical? For her work to have people not supporting her anymore?

People have a very screwed sense of scale, there is difference people media with bad story, media with bigotry and a bigot piece of media. There are very much media that is just a bigoted piece of shit that should never have been made, alot of which are still being made and given support (just look at the movie the whale.. that story is just fatphobia and ableism)

There is alot criticism that is unfounded and often bigoted, um go watch hbomberguys analysis of rwby he has a section that makes good points about this that I am just fully stealing. Where yeah alot of bigots use the excuse of criticism as a shield to hate of media which again is shitty behavior that should be called out... And then blocked but there is also alot of good faith criticism out there. Authors shouldn't waste their time on bad faith criticism, they often step over people making good faith criticism to either just point out bad faith criticism or use that to paint all critic as horrible.

The honestly surprising thing about lo.. is just how little actually bad faith criticism is. I'm sure it exists, it is the internet and their is alot of people who would be mad simply by a women talking in a comic but like 90% of the critics and doing it cause they do enjoy lore Olympus. Most of them used to be fans, alot are still in the fandom. We're making art and stories, we have a community around lore Olympus.. it's just not fully blind praise.. and that's okay.

People need to have a better scale, and understand that just cause a piece of media you enjoy has something bad in it doesn't make it's all bad. People can enjoy media ironically or critically and that is okay, it's fun to have discussions like this... It can be alot of fun!

It's also important to know that on the internet, you will see things you don't like. It isn't the fault of the person posting it, you have to curate your own experience. Block tags, block people don't go into discourse or discussions you aren't ready for. Block over the smallest thing.. doesn't matter if it's just a single post that you find a bit annoying. Like Christ I've block probably ten times more that I've followed, your on tumblr.. this is the best social media to truly curated your own experience... So do it-

[genderisareligion]

Have you noticed that a big part of the unconditional support transactivism receives from women despite this movement being built on misogyny is because many MANY so called feminists don't want to actually acknowledge male supremacy? They eventually will criticize/oppose to one or another sexist event (like the abortion ban in USA) but as time goes on, they just forget it and even manage to despolitize them. Now, reproductive rights isn't an integral part of women’s rights anymore, it's “queer/lgbtqia+ rights”, “bipoc with vaginas rights”, etc.

But nothing makes it more obvious than the fact that women(even black/indigenous women) easily accepted they're “cis” - implying they have privileges for their womanhood not being denied - which is laughable because how being “acknowledged” as women is a privilege when to be a woman - specially a woc - in a misogynistic world is oppressive? The acceptance of the infamous “cis” also implies that both men and women are equally oppressive towards trans people, thus the analysis of male violence lost space to the more malleable “gendered violence”. By place both “cis” men and women, any observations of male patterns of violence is discouraged because it's “transphobia” (but why it would be transphobia if trans women are women like “cis women” and are targeted by men most of the time? Hmmmm) and a vile MRA rhetoric start to take place in feminism disguised as a true compromise with “gender equality”: women can be as bad if not worse than men. Women aren't victimized by male supremacy, in reality it's men who are the biggest victims. In the name of “not infantilizing women” for JUST acknowledge that misogyny exists, people are infantilizing men and giving them a free pass on their mistreatment of women.

Many so called feminists also lack sex class consciousness and they internalized all the sexist shit we have been taught by our society. So they really act that trans women are the ones who bring humanity to women's status, this is why claims like “If you don't think trans women are women, it means you think women are inferior” what is the connection between a man thinking he is a woman because he identity as one (whatever that means) with women supposedly inferiority? Women literally carry the whole humanity! Our bodies are complexes and prepared to survival and they pull out this weak guilt tripping rhetoric and women eat this up, think the only way they can achieve humanity is through males? Pffff

Honestly, after reading The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner(a must read to any feminist), this actual state of feminism became even more clear: men have stolen women's humanity, women's knowledge of our bodies, even the position of the creators of life, despite the fact that they can't get pregnant. The next step is stealing the womanhood itself and it isn't a random event, it's part of their colonization of females. Understanding how they operate helps us to fight back.

🙏🏽

“Cis” is the biggest pile of horse shit and my #1 source on this has always been and will always be my girl Audre Lorde. Who in the entirety of the book Sister Outsider goes to great lengths to emphasize: women can simultaneously have different lives/womanhoods (ex.black versus white womanhood, ie intersectionality) while working together against patriarchy. I think it’s funny/sad that today the white man’s “intersectionality” hates black women like me who reject gender roles and claims there is a sweeping “cis” womanhood privilege that’s so universal it automatically places all non trans “afabs” (nearly 50% of the goddamn globe) above trans “afabs” and “amabs” in status and life quality. Audre also goes to great lengths to support the statement “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” which I’ve always pretty plainly taken to mean that gender will never dismantle sexism.

You’re 💯 on these feminists who can’t deal with the reality of male supremacy. Gender framework is a sugar coat that makes things easier to cope with. I get it, sexism is pervasive and normalized as fuck and it’s scary to think about how angry a lot of men would probably get if things actually changed and they didn’t have access to female abuse as often as they do. But I’m personally also fed up with being scared and highly prefer just being pissed off back lol and trying to actively do something about changing it. They can be mad all they want, I’m not stopping until we get our humanity back fully even if it’s not within my lifetime and step #1 is naming the problem

[sepublic]

So between Lost in Language and First Day it seems that Amity developed a crush on Luz. I wonder where in Adventures in the Elements made Amity go ❤️😍 and realize her potential feelings for Luz?

Well, there’s this other post (shoutout to @the-goat-carnival for greatly informing/inspiring this analysis) speculating that Grom was when Amity first figured out her true feelings on Luz, that her uncertainty over the invitation was partly over her trying to decide if her affection towards Luz was romantic, or just more intensely platonic than any of her previous friends (and Luz doesn’t really have much competition besides Willow)… Amity is asking herself, DOES she romantically love Luz?

Or is Luz just a better, closer friend than she’s ever had before, even moreso than Willow… And that’s about it, because Willow was her only decent friend she’s ever had? And it’s been SO long since Amity had a real friend, so maybe she’s just on the emotional high of this, and it isn’t actual romantic love!

The way I see it, I think Amity was mostly just excited at the idea of someone who was genuinely interested in who she was, really, in Adventures in the Elements… And so her mind was more fixated on the concept of proving herself as a worthwhile friend to Luz, of not butchering things up like she did with Willow, and also discerning if Luz really WAS genuine and could be trusted!

Then Luz proved herself, and onto The First Day, and Amity doesn’t know why she’s so flustered at the idea of Luz being at school with her… Because a part of her is still wondering what this girl sees in her, and I don’t think the possibility of romantic affection necessarily entered her mind yet? It’s just that Luz, up until then, had always been shattering Amity’s pre-conceptions of the world and all of the abuse and toxic mentalities that her parents had worked painstakingly to establish…

Luz makes Amity question things, not just her relationships with others but her own beliefs in herself, her ideas of strength and hierarchy, etc.! Luz makes Amity feel confused, so being around her can sometimes be stressful, not necessarily in a BAD way…? Sometimes Amity doesn’t just want to think about it, Luz is someone who changes things up and is unusual and predictable, and she likely prefers order, consistency, and predictable schedules that she can anticipate…

Especially if she’s autistic, Amity would find Luz enjoyable, but also exhausting! Sometimes she just needs a break from social interactions with someone you want to impress, I can relate. Luz is challenging for Amity in certain ways that, while productive, she just doesn’t have the energy for and thus it can be uncomfortable.

…But then Luz saves her from the Greater Basilisk, a creature that took on Principal Bump and other teachers, as well as other schools and THEIR faculty… Amity was Grudgby Captain, she knows that the kids alone can be brutal opponents and that’s WITH sports regulations, what about the actual teachers operating in a life-or-death situation with others’ lives at stake? And Luz BEAT the Greater Basilisk, with the help of the Detention Kids… And while it wasn’t deliberately shown, Amity was right there when Luz changed Principal Bump’s mind on multi-track learning!

So, Luz is already impressing Amity with how adept she is, how charismatic… How she can do things that seemingly nobody else can do, it’s inspiring and it makes Amity feel inspired to change herself even more, and Luz has already done so beforehand! Not to mention the idea of Luz being Amity’s fantasy novels of a mysterious outsider/cryptid from another world who comes in and changes the status quo…

And then you’ve got Understanding Willow. Amity initially burns the memory, not only for the ‘reputation’, but also because I think she was genuinely scared of what Luz would think of her, and of losing her! But then we have Luz not only doing everything for Willow, but for AMITY’s sake as well, being patient with her, even forgiving Amity’s mistake when as far as Amity knows, the only other people who would do such a thing are her siblings!

Luz is giving Amity so many chances, she seems really happy and eager to be around her… She’s inspiring to the girl and makes Amity feel like she can be a better person and WANT to be, like she’s worth something! Nobody’s ever made Amity feel this way before! Amity was basically ‘clingy’ to Luz in an emotional and physical sense, and Luz didn’t even bat an eye at it; At times she even initiated contact, wanted it, and continued it until Amity herself ended it out of awkwardness!

Throughout that episode, Amity no doubt expected Luz to leave her behind at any moment. That with each revelation and mistake that Luz showed tolerance for and accepted, there was always going to be another, bigger one, waiting to happen, one that would finally cross the line and be too much for the girl… An incident that would finally convince Luz to abandon Amity! To Amity, part of the reason she burned Willow’s mind was likely because she feared what Luz would have to say once she learned the truth…

So when Luz hears the truth, AND what Amity did now by setting the photos on fire? She’s still critical, but Luz is also 100% willing to listen, help Amity fix her mistakes, and even forgive! Luz is someone who genuinely loves Amity for who she is, while forgiving any mistakes she makes, and not enabling nor allowing Amity to do bad things like Boscha and the others would; She brings out the BEST in Amity, she doesn’t just make Amity feel good, she makes Amity a better person in general!

That’s where Boscha lowkey failed, Amity didn’t just want someone who made her happy and supported her, but a friend that made sure Amity didn’t become a terrible person; And Amity LOATHES being awful to others! Amity doesn’t just want to be validated, she also wants to feel like she isn’t hurting people anymore, so having someone who both helps her fix past mistakes, but prevents Amity from causing more harm in the future…?

Amity can trust Luz and her judgment, trust Luz to make sure she doesn’t become a bad person! That was something Amity was afraid of, and critical of herself because she felt she was actively becoming more and more terrible, and thus more and more resigned to her ‘fate’, who she ‘really’ was… So to see Luz actually provide an opportunity away from this ‘destiny’, to actively imply that even without Luz, Amity was fully capable of doing this on her own, that Amity is still her own person and worthwhile without someone else to compensate for any lacking goodness?

Luz’s open-mindedness towards Amity is ALIEN to her, and keep in mind, she’s never had an actual big crush on someone beforehand, which… that only makes it all the more confusing to Amity, as she questions; IS she in love, or is she just very affectionate and appreciative of Luz? Besides, even if it wasn’t romantic love… If there was anyone in Amity’s life she WOULD choose to fall in love with, it’d obviously be Luz because she’s the person who’s shown the most consistent, unconditional, love and support for who Amity, and has made her feel more valued and genuinely worthwhile than anyone else!

So to Amity, who is inexperienced with love and warm feelings in general? Even if it wasn’t romantic love, her unrivaled affection for Luz may as well be, and then there’s the question of if Luz really WOULD like her back? And then comes Grom, and how patient Luz is with her, vouching to be her fearless champion… That brilliant dance, Luz offering for Amity while trying not to get between her and what Luz assumes to be somebody else she’s crushing on…

And that night ends with Amity yearning as she realizes- Uh oh, I’m gay for Luz! I’m in lesbians with her, I am an official Luzbian! What will my parents say, how will others react?! And now that I’m so head-over-heels for Luz, it’s just going to make the potential pain of rejection unprecendentedly agonizing…! And Amity isn’t quite ready to invest that much feeling, that much trust with her heart, into somebody else she’s only known for a few weeks…!

But her brain can’t control her heart. Grometheus taught Amity that she loves Luz more than she fears anyone else, and while emotions can be illogical and not prioritize properly… She still feels this way, and it’s why Amity’s such a gay mess during Wing it like Witches!

So if I had to say… I’d say Amity TRULY realized her crush on Luz after Grom, and it’s why she’s so flustered around Luz ever since… Maybe she realized right in that moment when Luz pulls her in for the photo with Willow and Gus, after Grom’s defeat! Look at those lovestruck eyes and those blushing, cherry-tomato cheeks…

But as for when Amity specifically felt romantic affection for Luz, regardless of when her mind realized it? I can’t say, and honestly… I don’t think there was one particular turning point. No event nor incident that just made Amity’s mind click. I think it was a gradual, steady process that slowly transformed from platonic affection to romantic love, that there is no single inciting incident that Amity can blame and try to ignore for her love; That it was just an inevitable byproduct of any and all interactions with Luz, period! Obviously I feel Understanding Willow did the most in progressing that love, but in the end…

…Amity was arguably hooked the moment Luz showed unconditional compassion and care for her. That once Luz offered that willingness to hear her out, once Luz went out of her way just once to make sure Amity was okay and prioritized her feelings… It was too late, and the two of them were on an inevitable roll towards sappy Sapphic love! Just getting to know one another was all it took, the rest is history… It was going to happen no matter what, so long as Luz and Amity got to be kind towards one another!

[hilli98215]

I am confused. I am hurt. I don’t know what to think. This is a long post. A very long post that is personal but I’ve had it in my head for a while to write. You don’t have to read this. This post has no real meaning. It’s more of a rant of how I feel in the world of fandom, my experiences, and why this posts exists. 

Again, you do not have to read this. 

You have been warned.

DO NOT REBLOG THIS POST!!!! 

When I became an English major in college, I did so knowing several things. One of those is the fact I love literature and I love discovering why authors, creators, and artists wrote what became their most well known work.

Where am I going?

My first fandom was when I was in Junior High (about 13-14 years old) that I was a part of, meaning I read fan fiction and discovered fan art of, was either Naruto or Pokémon. To me these works were escapes of my real confusing life. Especially when I moved states and schools. I had no one. Through this, I discovered what I liked and didn’t like in the world of fiction and was introduced to fandom words/slang such as shipping, fan fiction, lemons (which I don’t think is used as often now), different types of writing, yaoi, yuri, and a few more I can’t remember. This also included the all important phrase Don’t like don’t read. This was when I was in my early teens. 

But I was in a phase where I could find what I found interesting and that was that. 

When I got to high school, I was still this awkward quiet kid with no friends. But I did have marching band so that was something. 

At this point was was interested in Ouran Highschool Host Club, Death Note, a series called Beauty Pop, Fullmetal Alchemist, and a few others. This was also around the time where I began writing fanfiction for OHSC and even began buying manga. Anyway, this was my introduction to fandom as a teenager. And this is before Tumblr.

All I had were my friends, videos on YouTube, and my own interests. No one really understood why I loved all these things. 

Then came the very first fandom I became fully obsessed in my sophomore year: a small series called Hetalia Axis Powers. I was completely invested in this fandom. So much so I wrote fan fiction, bought merch, and read a lot of fan fiction myself. I think it was because, at the time I thought it was because the art style was cute, the voice acting wasn’t half bad and it had to do with history. But this is where things got interesting for me and learning about fandom as a whole. 

As a teen, I hadn’t known about AUs and this series had a lot of them. From the usual school AUs to odd ones. I usually stayed in my bubble and kept up the mantra Don’t like Don’t read. 

But why talk about it?

Well, let’s just say a lot of the content later on became weird and new. I learned a lot about new terms like de-aging and ABO. But this leads to interest which once again let me know what genres of fan fiction I like. 

I continued on with this fandom for about 3 years. And what broke it was the drama and how people were finding a sudden moral compass for personified countries. I mean there are other problems with that show that I recognize now as an adult and didn't see as a kid but that’s for another time. But I quietly left because I was beginning to understand that the drama wasn’t worth a tv show.

I would say the next fandom I was invested in and loved and I think had the least amount of drama was Fairy Tail. Now I fell in love with this series because of the story, characters, and the welcoming fandom. Overall there was rarely any drama because I think we all knew that we had to be civil with each other and respect our ships. While I’m not part of that fandom anymore a lot of people on Tumblr and FFN were very welcoming. The main series kinda fizzled out but that was one of the few positive fandom experiences I had.

I was at that point in my life where I was in college, created my Tumblr and posted regularly to escape life. 

Coming off that fandom, I was part of the Yuri on Ice! fandom from beginning to the end. I mean it’s a sports anime that’s about men's figure skating and how it can affect athletes just to get a gist of it.

That’s when my experience with fandom became interesting because these characters were being paired in a way that made me feel like they can’t be paired with anyone else. Like, there was a pairing we were all cheering for to happen by the end. 

This is the first series I was highly interested in as an adult where the ages of the characters were defined. There were a few in their teens, some in their early to mid 20s, and a couple in their 30s. Now this was a historic anime for several reasons. The main being there being a gay relationship being shown in a positive light and mental illness being shown in a way that wasn’t patronizing and negative. I loved this show for those reasons. But I also quickly learned how people would take these characters (especially those with huge age differences) and pair them up. That was my first introduction to criticism of how ‘gross’ it would be for a 15 year old to be paired up with an 18 year old. But I saw a problem that made me second guess my thinking. When I was in high school, I knew someone who was a sophomore at 15 and dated someone who was 18. Why was there a problem? 

I knew if I voiced this that I would be shamed and told that I was disgusting. Eventually I had enough and left shortly after the series ended.

Then came the Voltron: Legendary Defender series. Oh boy.

Now that series came out while I was in college and I often viewed it in a critical perspective similar to one would a piece of literature because my major was in English and that was what I was taught. Like YOI I was part of this fandom day 1 because it was so different from the original Voltron series from the 80s. I loved how the fandom dissected everything in every episode. There were watch parties, analysis videos, and even skits at conventions. It was a fandom I knew I wanted to be a part of. But then there was fanfiction that I found odd and knew that I never wanted to read that. People were writing about topics that made me uncomfortable and I didn’t know how to deal with it. After a while, I questioned why I was forcing myself to read them in the first place. So, I stopped reading them. This was also around the time where I discovered AO3 and their amazing tagging system. Because if the tagging system was not there, I probably would have stopped reading fanfiction all together.

But then there was drama, shipping wars, morality wars, and I had enough. I was there until it ended and left quietly. Which is sad considering I loved the experience but it was ruined by what people thought was right for fictional characters. 

Now you may be asking “What was the point of this post?”

To answer your question, I don’t know.

I have loved reading since I was a kid. And when I got to high school, I had this AP teacher who told us something that has stayed with me to this day.

‘As a reader we are detectives. We want to know why the author wrote this book. We want to know what influenced them.’

I took that saying to heart and approach everything through a critical lens. Which is difficult in a fandom. It’s hard to have a critical approach to a series that everyone takes for a grain of salt.

I have been exposed to a lot of books and pieces of literature that have been considered controversial because of their content. When I left high school, I began to realize what genres of books I like in the YA genre and in literature. 

I experimented.

And when you think about it, that’s what you do with fan fiction and fandom. We are always experimenting. We are always finding what we like and don’t like. 

But recently I’ve noticed a new fandom term that makes me wonder where I fall in all of this craziness we call fandom. 

Pro-Fiction/Pro-Shipper

It wasn’t until last year I saw this word thrown around in a new fandom I am in. I tried to do some research but I couldn't find anything. Nothing. And then I learned it’s a new term in itself.

I won’t go into detail but it reminds of the ‘video games are violent so that makes so-and-so violent’ argument parents made when Mortal Kombat came out. 

Well you still didn’t answer the question.

And you’d be right. I saw a post from a follower that saddened me and honestly freaked me out. Why announce that you hate a specific group? It felt like a call out post without saying any names. A warning that states: Block me or out yourself. Or rather: Block me or else.

Do I identify as this? To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I think critically and see things differently. In fact everyone does. 

We are always going to be influenced by the media whether it be a movie, television, a book, or a video game. We will always love these storylines and characters. We will always take the messages to heart. We will always cheer for the hero and maybe the villain too. 

I do want you guys to remember this, make your own fandom experience. Block those who make you feel uncomfortable and make you feel like you don’t matter. You do.

You are your own person. No one can tell you otherwise. If you feel uncomfortable, then maybe you need to leave the fandom. Or find a space in the fandom that you can be yourself. Or don’t care what people think and do what you always do.

It’s all up to you.

[blindedbythedarkness]

Josh,

Sometimes it's really fucking difficult to not believe that the universe is personally biased against me. And I know that's kind of rich coming from the one of us that didn't get driven to suicide. But I just, I know you of all people would understand. I wish I had you to really talk to right now.

I'm gonna ramble because I just need someone to listen. But where to fucking start? Life right now is just spinning plates. On one day this week I found out a critical hospital referral I was relying on had never been made; I was rejected by yet another landlord for a house next year that I'd really been betting on; my supervisor met with and bullied me for a solid two hours and my one social event of the week got cancelled. So, that's about when it all started to get too much.

The doctor I've been seeing has been incompetent from the start and made so much work for me in the 6 months I've been in her care. Despite diagnosing my Potentially Life Threatening connective tissue disease, she never even named it in our appointments, leaving me to discover the true horrors of my body through playing detective with my blood results. Long story short, to be confident that I can go on a treatment for it without bleeding out, I need to see a geneticist. But despite agreeing that I should see one, she's refusing to refer me to one directly. Instead, she's referring me to a pain rehab clinic at a separate hospital and saying they can internally refer me to genetics. The wait on the pain rehab clinic? At least two years. Plus, of course none of this information was forthcoming and required weeks of emailing back and forth. So now I'm angry, anxious and stressed about my health. I want to make a formal complaint but I don't know when I'll find the time.

That wasn't even the worst thing, though. The worst thing was uni reminding me just one last time that it truly doesn't give a shit about its students and why I hate it to its very core. The final piece of work I have left to hand in is a research project that I've been working on all year. However, my supervisor is an utter cunt, and I don't say that lightly. He's incredibly narcissistic and rude for a start. For a presentation I had to do, he forced me to use his own slides without ever looking at mine. He once ended an online meeting because I misspoke when explaining a figure, telling me to call him back when I knew what I was on about because he "never forgets what he sees and doesn't want his brain soiled with incorrect information." Given he never remembers what we've spoken about from one meeting to the next, I call bullshit. Oh and this week? He asked me to explain a figure to him and when he said he didn't understand I asked him if he was looking at my screen share. He said no. I just despair!

To make matters worse, he's never fucking happy with me. He's made me start my work from scratch 3 times now and had a different problem each time. We're rapidly approaching the deadline now, so to get all the work done for the 3rd time I've been working 9am-5pm 6 days a week. Not that he cares. The results don't fit his hypothesis, so I must simply be incompetent. He even once had the audacity to suggest that I "didn't want to do the work" while looking through a 70 page document of my results, because I couldn't explain the findings of a figure I'd made a month ago off the top of my head.

In this weeks meeting, he again gave me an extortionate list of new tasks to do, while berating me at every turn. With a month left submit my thesis and my write up not started, I tried to explain to him that I wouldn't have time to complete the list. He just shrugged and said, "Well I think you should do it." And yes, this man is aware that I have been struggling physically and mentally recently.

I didn't know what else to do to make him listen, so I contacted the course supervisor (who I'd already briefly made aware of my issues with him). She told me to "quit" and "just get on with writing my thesis"... until four hours later after she had spoken to my supervisor and completely changed her mind. She video called me to tell me to do the work and I just broke down. I don't make a habit of ugly sobbing in front of people I've only ever met twice over Microsoft Teams, but this was a particularly bad day.

"Trying to do this work is going to destroy my physical and mental health."

"I can't do this anymore."

"He never listens to me."

"I've been working 6 days a week and it's killing me."

She didn't care. She told me that since my supervisor is an experienced professional, he must know how much he's asking of me and since he insists it's quick and easy stuff, it must be. This man has never done this analysis himself. He doesn't even know how; half the stuff one of his lab workers taught me and the rest I taught myself.

"Chill out" and "calm down" she told me, "do the work and if you have any problems ask John (the lab worker)"

By the time I pressed the leave button, I could barely breathe, let alone talk. I was just choking and sobbing and had snot pouring down my face. I was just so tired. So stressed. So... ignored. I didn't know where I would find the hours in the day, but I started by cancelling the trip to see my parents this weekend. To them I am not a student, and a student with health problems at that. I am simply a machine to use for free research.

I just wanted the stress to give me a break. I just wanted a break. I was genuinely afraid that my heart was going to stop from the stress alone. I didn't know where else to turn. The counseling service put me on a waiting list. My tutor told me to "just keep trying my best". My mentor told me to talk to my course supervisor. My course supervisor told me to work. A was busy revising for an exam the next day and I didn't want to bother him. So, I turned to my unhealthy coping mechanisms instead.

I didn't mean to do it as badly as I did. I just wanted to scratch my skin enough to feel it burn and give me something else to feel instead of the huge mass in my chest. But the scissors were sharper than I thought and when I looked down there were four long cuts that had gone through the skin and fat. I knew immediately I'd fucked up. There was no way those edges were coming together on their own. Honestly, I was just mad I'd given myself something else to do. So, I covered them with gauze and tape and kept on working. Because I needed to work. I needed to get it done. I would deal with going to the hospital later but I couldn't lose these working hours.

Once the blood was dripping from the gauze I finally, begrudgingly, went to the hospital. Honestly? They were surprisingly nice. They were understanding and they listened. I was so worried that they'd think I was some cringy emo kid looking for attention. I honestly felt like a total knob going there, but I didn't have a choice. I never felt judged or like they thought I was wasting their time or that it was all my fault. Of course, I know that it was my fault and I felt like a fool. But I also don't blame myself for becoming so desperate. At one point a doctor came in with a medical student who was visibly shy and embarrassed when examining me. I told her I had a place at medical school, so not to worry as I'd be in her place soon. And again, I was shocked because they didn't once tell me not to go. I thought they were going to say "if you can't cope right now, starting medical school isn't for you!" But they never said anything like that. Instead they were shocked I'd gotten in to such a good uni and seemed incredibly genuine when they wished me well.

Oh, and the wounds? Thankfully I didn't need stitches so I got them pulled together again with steri-strips. And in case you didn't believe me that I didn't intend them to be so bad, I nearly passed out three times after looking at them. So, I truly am a fucking idiot, Josh. Lesson learnt, I suppose. Though I'm still afraid what will happen next time I run out of options.

It's finally the end of the week now, but the universe still hasn't given me a break. My mum called earlier and told me my rabbit will be crossing the rainbow bridge tomorrow as he seems to have had a stroke. I mean, it's a small mercy that he's an old bunny and he's been unwell for a long time, so it's not a shock. But it's still so sad and I'll miss him so much. What really tops it all off is that I was going to see him this weekend until I had to cancel my trip home due to the workload.

Man, I just. Why does shit stuff seem to come so easily to me? It's difficult not to feel personally victimized when shit news after shit news lines up so well. I wish good things came as thick and fast. I hope to fuck my luck changes soon because honestly I'm terrified that it's taking years off my life.

Thanks for listening, Josh,

C

[c-ptsdrecovery]

Fanny Price and Emotional Abuse

colubrina replied to your post “Emotional Neglect in Austen”

I would actually love to read your analysis of Fanny Price if you ever had time and inclination to write it out.

Oh my goodness, where do I start?

Fanny Price is abused and neglected from start to finish of that novel. She suffers direct emotional/verbal abuse from Mrs. Norris, bullying from Maria and Julia, excessive criticism from those three AND Sir Thomas, and emotional neglect from Lady Bertram and Tom. She also suffers PHYSICAL abuse and neglect, mostly from Mrs. Norris, who does not allow her to have any heat in her room in the winter and forces her to work beyond her strength in the summer even though Mrs. Norris KNOWS she’s chronically ill (and it’s no wonder, considering the amount of emotional strain Fanny’s under, that she should be chronically ill!). 

The only person in that house who even notices that she’s utterly miserable from the trauma of being torn from her family is Edmund: he’s the only one who treats her like a person and is kind to her. It’s no WONDER she falls in love with him: he’s the only person in the entire family who doesn’t treat her like SHIT. But while Edmund recognizes Mrs. Norris’ behavior toward Fanny to be beyond the pale, he generally does not seem to notice that his more immediate family also treats her horribly. Lady Bertram treats Fanny as a servant, putting her own (Lady Bertram’s) needs and wants before Fanny’s (”You don’t want to go to the party, do you? You want to stay home with me because I get bored if you don’t!”). Sir Thomas is generally so critical and cold that when he greets Fanny kindly on his return from Antigua she is “nearly overcome” by his kindness. Even Edmund himself begins to both emotionally and physically neglect Fanny the moment he gets interested in Mary--leaving Fanny for ages on the bench alone, keeping her waiting too long for her horse when she needs to exercise, etc. Fanny only gets noticed and included as a member of the family when Maria and Julia are both gone and the family is apparently bored without them--the same reason Henry decides to flirt with her.

The result is that Fanny has almost no self-esteem. She has completely internalized Mrs. Norris’s lesson that “Wherever you are, you must be the lowest and last.” At one point she parrots the lessons she’s been taught by the treatment of the entire family:

“I can never be important to any one.” “What is to prevent you?” “Everything. My situation, my foolishness and awkwardness.” “As to your foolishness and awkwardness, my dear Fanny, believe me, you never have a shadow of either.”

She believes she’s foolish and awkward because the family harped on her lack of education and “refinement” when she first came to them, and they have drilled into her, not only that she is not important to them, but that she can never BE important to ANYONE. Classic result of emotional neglect. And Fanny NEVER actually gets over it, throughout the entire book.

She’s nearly silent through much of the book too, mostly because she’s too terrorized to talk. As someone who was similarly brainwashed by emotionally abusive parents, I can tell you that taking any attention under some circumstances feels excruciating and guilt-inducing, because you’ve been conditioned so hard to believe that “being the center of attention” is somehow morally WRONG. Fanny suffers from precisely that false belief (note her distress when she is required, by the social rules of the day, to start the dancing at her own ball--Sir Thomas basically has to SCOLD her into it!).

That said, it’s amazing to note the one way in which she DOES have self-esteem: she believes in her own moral judgment. This is the only basis on which she is able to think and act independently of others. When Edmund treats her badly, she gets seriously annoyed. When she notices Henry’s bad behavior toward Maria, she is indignant. She secretly judges Mary Crawford the whole way through the book. I would attribute this trust in her moral judgment to be the result of the kind of long walks and talks she has with Edmund in the text and has had her entire life: he has molded her to think of things with the same moral judgment he uses and to think herself capable of being superior to others in that moral judgment. Of course, since she has absorbed the moral tone of Edmund, learned from Sir Thomas, she is pretty judgy sometimes, since Sir Thomas clearly feels himself and his moral code to be superior rather than conservative. She certainly feels superior to her birth family (with some reason, honestly lol), because in this one thing she has been taught that the family she grew up in was superior to others. She has imbibed this superiority and acts it out when at Plymouth.

Let me give you an example of Sir Thomas’s conservative moral code. You might think, from reading Mansfield Park, that Jane Austen disapproved of private theatricals, and that they were generally considered too naughty by the Better Sort of Person. It turns out that this isn’t true at all. Not only were private theatricals popular, but Jane Austen enjoyed performing in them and even WROTE some plays for that purpose! One of them involves a gentleman sitting on a lady’s lap!! It turns out that the strait-laced tone of the novel is not so much a reflection of the author’s standards of conduct, but of Sir Thomas’s, imbibed by Edmund and then Fanny. Edmund, Fanny, and Sir Thomas’s dislike of private theatricals would have been a bit PRUDISH at the time, not the obvious standard of Good Breeding.

Another thing the novel has imbibed from Sir Thomas is its insularity. The modern criticism of Mansfield Park talks a lot about the family’s isolation. Now, I don’t hold with the criticism that makes a big deal out of Fanny marrying her cousin and implying that that’s incestuous, because in the 19th century, cousin marriage was not only acceptable but a norm. Marrying your cousin was often considered desirable because it strengthened family ties and kept money in the family. BUT, I completely agree with the observation that the Mansfield Park family seems to shun the outside world. 

One thing that I don’t know if the criticism has commented on is that dysfunctional families often function like cults. Offspring of dysfunctional families tend either to rebel and “run away” (Maria elopes, Julia elopes, Tom rebels) or to fail to establish autonomy (Edmund takes a living in Sir Thomas’s gift and later the house right down the road; Fanny never gets out of the family at all because she marries Edmund). Dysfunctional families also teach their members not to trust those outside the family circle. They don’t tend to socially interact much with others. I can say from personal experience that my parents have VERY few friends that they see outside of work or church, and only one couple that they invite to the house regularly. As a child, I rarely got to have birthday parties with my friends: my parents would instead invite my extended family. I was taught not to establish strong bonds outside the family, to trust the family only to be generous or to help and support me. I find it difficult to establish strong ties of friendship outside the family or to trust those friends to support me the way my family might.

The Bertrams are the same way. Maria and Julia go to local balls, but that happens offscreen, and we never meet any of their acquaintances except Mr. and Mrs. Rushworth (who become family). The family disapproves strongly of Tom’s having such an active social life away from home, and disapproves when he brings home a friend (Mr. Yates) to stay. Even when Sir Thomas holds a ball for Fanny in the house itself, we never actually meet any of the guests except the ones we already know! And the “last straw” that causes Edmund to agree to join the theatricals is when they start asking people “outside their circle” of Mansfield and the parsonage to participate. He also deplores that they might invite in an audience of these personae non gratae. Frankly, it’s amazing that the Bertrams were willing to open their family circle enough to let in, not only the Grants, but the Crawfords.

I’ve gone on for quite awhile, but I’ll close like this. When I first read Mansfield Park, I hated it and I hated Fanny, because she had no backbone and cried all the time. Then I watched the 2007 adaptation with Billie Piper, and realized that although Fanny was so shy and retiring and weepy, she had an iron backbone in that nobody could make her do what she thought was wrong. Mansfield became one of my favorite Austen novels.

At the moment, I don’t feel like I can reread MP. I’m dealing so much with my own history of emotional abuse and neglect that MP strikes just waaaay too close to home (also the reason I can’t rewatch Tangled right now). I’m not sure how much I like MP anymore, frankly. Austen did a fantastic job of accurately portraying a victim of emotional abuse. And she gave Fanny what she wanted at the end, which was Edmund. But I can’t help wondering if Austen herself wished she could have ended the novel differently. She comes right out and says, authoritatively, that if Edmund had married Mary, and Crawford hadn’t run off with Maria, that Fanny would have married Crawford and been happy. She could have escaped from her abusive family, with someone who really sees their abuse: “And they will now see their cousin treated as she ought to be, and I wish they may be heartily ashamed of their own abominable neglect and unkindness.” If Crawford and Maria hadn’t run off together, the ending of Mansfield Park might have been entirely different--and it MIGHT have been better.   

[saizoswifey]

Can you do a character analysis on Ieyasu?

Sure! I’ll place it under a cut because of spoilers. This is also pretty long. 

Firstly, I don’t have nearly as many SS as I thought I did for this post LOL. I am very sorry! I promise I’m not talking out of my ass, though. 

So, on the surface and what we see through the beginning of Ieyasu’s route (and the majority of his Event Stories) is a man who’s quick to insult, shut off from most everybody around him. Cruel, honestly. 

His intense distrust of people more than borders on neurotic. To the point that he would rather starve himself than accept food from anyone serving under him. 

Most of his stories surround his struggle to trust his retainers and rely on them, as well as his growth to understand, let alone communicate, his feelings better.       How did he end up like this? 

We know Ieyasu was a child who was sensitive, he cried often. 

But Nobunaga taught him to hide his emotions behind the mask of a smile. 

Ieyasu had a pretty traumatic upbringing. He was clearly unloved by his father, who didn’t hesitate to tell his captors to just kill him (Ieyasu) when they threatened to. He got tossed around a bit as a hostage, his worst times seem to be his life living as a hostage of the Imagawa (where he was emotionally and physically abused). 

We learn in an event story that because of the way he was treated there, even Cherry Blossoms are a huge trigger for him. 

Ieyasu struggles a lot with the fact that he has no ‘free will.’ It’s constantly brought up, the fact that he feels trapped under the name Tokugawa Ieyasu. To the point that he actually hates to even hear his own name, it makes him sick. The first time he actually enjoyed it was an epilogue where MC was moaning it and he was surprised to not despise the sound. 

I believe this is why (during his route) Sakai sends MC out with Ieyasu, not as Ieyasu, but as a normal person. When Ieyasu can think of himself as anything BUT Ieyasu, stripping the weight of that title away, he opens up and is quite kind (sometimes even boyishly cute) and that’s what Sakai wanted MC to see in him. 

Although his father may not have held affections for him, his mother was very kind and affectionate with him and would cradle him in her arms, and I think he is starved for that sort of warm touch that reminds him of the handful of happier moments in his childhood. He wants to be held, coddled, and wrapped in his MCs warmth. 

He craves being touched. And often times uses touch to convey his emotions, as it’s the only way he knows how. You can see this in the cheek pinches he gives MC (something that likely happens due to him being emotionally stunted and unable to express that particular emotion in any other form), and in just about every epilogue where there is smut he mentions kissing being the only way he can convey how he feels to MC. 

He still has problems with communication in the verbal form, and often finds himself spewing harsh comments/criticisms and saying the opposite of how he feels, which is probably a result of having to keep himself and his true emotions guarded from his captors, never wanting to appear weak or show when he is hurt or happy about something. It’s not intrinsic, but second nature at this point, for him to rattle off insults or lies instead of tell what’s in his heart.  

Part of his sour disposition stems from envy. After spending so many years in solitude and unhappiness he finds it hard to find joy in much of anything, and thusly he attacks verbally when he sees other people smiling or happy. Because this certainly can’t be a problem with him, right? They all must just be stupid and beneath him to be able to be happy while he is broken inside. Right?… Facing this fact, the realization that there is something wrong with him, that the people of his past hurt him to the point that he isn’t normal anymore, makes him lash out. 

All in all, Ieyasu seems to be a culmination of defense mechanisms and traits he has learned while passing through hands as a hostage. He picked personality traits up like a child collecting shells on the beach, filling his pockets with them in order to guard himself against the “den of wolves” as he regarded his living situations as. 

He is intrinsically Takechiyo, the sensitive, touch-starved child who cries openly (we see a glimpse of him after MC slaps Ieyasu in his route, where Ieyasu’s shields drop completely, he openly weeps while telling her he isn’t worth anything). He’s Ieyasu Tokugawa, a pawn, and a hostage only worth anything to anybody because his mother happened to birth him. He’s a Lord of a castle with a brave face and a poisoned smile, much like Nobunaga. He’s charming in the face of company and secretly cruel to those who serve him, much like Imagawa (though, he works through this with MC’s help when he realizes this is not the person he is at heart). 

The journey he and MC take together is one of Ieyasu growing out of all of those traits he’s had to shield himself with, and finding out just who he is–not as the young Takechiyo–but as a man now. His own man, who has the love and support of those around him and the capability to evolve out of his hardships and forge his own path for once. Someone who can finally feel free. 

[austinsirkin]

“The Blue Door Symbolizes Sadness”: Lies Your English Teach Told You

It seems to have become a point of shared American culture that Gen-X’ers and Millennials hate how they were taught literature in high school. Nearly everyone from those generations has the memory of sitting in English class, listening to their teacher explain how something in a book meant something that seemed ridiculous, especially if said teacher was explaining that some minor detail, such as the color of a door, was a part of an elaborate plan by the author to express something incredibly subtle. As a result, many of those students came to feel that literary analysis was stupid, and honestly, I can’t blame them. However, today I’m going to explain why literary analysis is important, and why you’re right to hate the way it was taught to you in high school.

Who Were Your English Teachers?

I’m going to go ahead and throw high school English teachers under the bus, metaphorically speaking. I apologize in advance if you’re a high school English teacher and are reading this (I love you, you’re under-appreciated, and you do important work), but nevertheless it has to be done.

I’m not currently aware of the education levels of high school teachers around the country at the moment, but back in the 80′s, 90′s, and 00′s, the vast majority of high school teachers, especially in English, did not have post-graduate educations. The only requirements to teach in high school were to have either a Bachelor’s degree in the field you wanted to teach, or a Bachelor’s degree in education. In some places you didn’t even necessarily need that, and you could just get a certification. I say this not to diminish teachers themselves, but because it’s important to bear in mind when considering what these teachers said in their classes that they were not experts in these fields. Most of the time, they were teaching from a primer of sorts, which effectively told them what to say. These were the “teacher versions” of the textbooks you had in high school, which came with footnotes containing not just solutions to problems or answers to questions, but general knowledge that would be useful for a teacher to know.

So really, the people who wrote those books that your teachers used are the ones responsible for this whole mess. In that sense, it’s not your teacher’s fault, and you shouldn’t hold it against them; if we’d required advanced degrees in order for someone to be a high school teacher, there’d be teacher shortages all over the country. At least, that was the case a decade or two ago.

While I don’t know exactly who was responsible for writing all of those textbooks, my best guess is that whoever it was, they wrote them a long time ago. I mean, after all, it’s not like Shakespeare’s works have changed in the last few hundred years, right? Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” is still going to be “The Scarlet Letter” a hundred years from now. Right?

Well, not exactly. And that brings us to my second point.

Living in the Past

While specific works don’t change over time (with some notable exceptions including translations and multiple published versions), our understanding of them certainly does. For example, if you’d asked someone to analyze “Romeo and Juliet” in 1597, I guarantee you that their analysis would be markedly different from our analysis today; it’s well known that his plays were seen as common entertainment of the time, rather than high-brow performances for the educated only.

This is important to note, because the field of literature analysis and criticism is a constantly-evolving, changing environment, and what’s most relevant to this article is the idea of “author intent”. This is what lots of us learned in high school, and hated; the idea that by picking apart certain details of a given work, we could discern the intent of the author, where we assumed that every detail was consciously chosen to represent something. For example, as in the name of this article, that the author intended for a blue door to symbolize sadness. Or for a green light to symbolize greed.

The problem with this was that as anyone who has ever written anything knows, sometimes you just choose things arbitrarily*. Note the asterisk there, as we’ll come back to this later.

As a result, the idea of considering author intent was largely abandoned by literary scholars in the 1960′s, so the fact that it was still being taught to high school classes as late as the 00′s (and maybe even still today, but I’m out of touch with high school educations of the 10′s) is not just ridiculous, but rather deplorable. It did a disservice to multiple generations of students, and turned them off to something that’s a precious skill of tremendous importance: reading. Reading critically, specifically.

If you hated the idea of being told what the author thought, or what something symbolized in a book in high school, you were probably right, and your teacher was wrong. As the 20th century went on and the field of psychology developed, literary scholars came to realize that not all decisions in a book were conscious choices by the author. However, that doesn’t mean that those choices have no significance whatsoever. Remember that asterisk up above when I said that things were chosen arbitrarily? Well, we’ve come to understand that when it comes to a creative work, nothing is truly arbitrary, as the human subconscious is full of all sorts of weird things just waiting to get out. So if, for example, you’re writing a story and choose to use a blue door, that may not necessarily mean that you consciously intended for it to represent sadness. Instead, perhaps the scene in question reminded you of an experience you had as a child, where there was a blue door, and you drew upon that as you wrote. If someone were to ask you, “Why did you make this door blue?” you’d likely respond, “I don’t know. It doesn’t really mean anything,” but the reality is that it DOES mean something, it just wasn’t an intentional choice. The author made a correlation in their own subconscious that informed their work, and we may never be able to know exactly why that choice was made.

Thus, the deeper we delve into the idea that the author doesn’t necessarily consciously control every element of their work, the more we undermine the idea of the author as an expert of their own work. That’s why in modern literary analysis, scholars will explicitly ignore things that an author says about their own work (in most cases), and why we don’t usually ask authors questions like “what does this mean?” anymore.

That’s because there’s been a larger paradigm shift in our understanding of literature; we’ve shifted from using literature to explore the one specific person who wrote it to instead using literature to explore humanity. That is, to explore everyone who isn’t the author. And as every reader of a given text has a unique set of experiences and associations, there are huge numbers of possible readings of any single given work.

Often, scholars will perform a reading of a work according to a given critical framework, such as a feminist reading, where they read the text for feminist themes, or a Marxist reading, where they read the text for classist themes. But these themes all exist separately and together all at once, and there’s no longer any misapprehension that we’ve “solved” a text, and have come up with the single, unchanging meaning of the work. That’s because the things that are important about a given work aren’t the things that the author intended to put in it, but the things that the readers took away from it.

What’s It All For, Though?

Thanks, I’m glad you asked! Seriously, though, what’s the point of studying literature from 1597 or 1895 or whatever? You probably thought something like, “I understand why we should read these things in order to understand the greater context of the works of today, but why do we need to analyze them? It seems like a waste of time, and like it doesn’t accomplish anything.”

Well, I can see why you’d feel that way. Performing a poststructuralist analysis of a novel from the 1800′s, for example, may not seem like it accomplishes much. No one is going to use that analysis to stop people going hungry, or create peace in the world. Then again, neither will most work done in America.

What literary analysis does, though, is provide insights into humanity itself, and our search for meaning, not just of our own lives, but of the human condition. Learning it in high school helps guide students toward critical, self-evaluative thinking in a way that no other class does. When there’s no “right” answer, students need to be able to evaluate a text, identify correlative elements, and create an argument around them. That’s a valuable skill on its own.

What’s even more exciting is that as you progress in literary criticism, you come to understand that a “text” is more than just a book. A video game can be a text. A TV show. Even a billboard. Or a chair. Anything created by humans is something that can be analyzed and interpreted. So literary criticism is sort of a middle ground between philosophy and anthropology; it studies things that humans have made, and asks the question, “What does this mean?”

If you don’t care what things mean, and how the things surrounding you in your life fit together into a framework that helps explain who we are, where we are, and where we’re going, then cool. You don’t have to, and that’s fine. But that’s what literary analysis is for, and maybe now you understand why people want to do it. I hope, too, that you can forgive your English teacher for lying to you; they likely didn’t know they were doing it, and they were probably just trying to do their best to help you learn and grow as a person.

Also, you can abandon your dreams of going back in time to ask an author what they meant in the hopes of proving your teacher wrong. You can now prove them wrong without going anywhere at all!

[illegiblewords]

Critical Role Campaign 2: Episode NEIN Spoilers

Ima use some cuts here ‘cause I have friends who haven’t seen the thing yet, but HEADS UP YO I HAVE ACTUAL LEGIT ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT BESIDES JUST SHOUTING SHIT.

Just Shouting Shit:

- GODDAMN IT JESTER. GODDAMN IT. I LOVE YA GURL AND I GET U AND I FEEL 4 U BUT GODDAMN IT.

- No but people in tags are either >:/ at Jester or talking about how Caleb is gonna go full revolution because of extreme poverty, and honestly I think that feels dishonest. Sometimes shit just hurts and I am extremely sure Caleb’s problems are going to get vomited out with a vengeance at some point and I’m getting an increasingly clear oh fuck well that’s analysis. But yeah, full explanation in the analysis bit but I seriously fucking bet that Caleb is going down a sadder and more self-destructive path rather than a “destroy-the-government-for-porn” path.

- But give him his porn.

- And kill that guard.

- People in search be all “Jester’s Mom is dead/kidnapped/unaware”. My dudes, I do not know Matt Mercer well and am new to this campaign, but I take him for both a respectable storyteller and someone who I can look in the eye and find a kindred spirit who twists knives like tops. It would be far, far too clean for Jester’s mom to be off the hook. It would offer less character development. Jester’s mom is a mean lady, didn’t send shit, and was probably full neglectful. Plus Jester (who adores and admires her) would never want to admit that this is the case. Jester was possibly never loved (by her mom at least) but desperately tells herself she is.

- Traveler interaction is extremely cute, I don’t trust him AT ALL but I hope he likes Jester. More discussion in analysis.

- Lol Beau just wants to get in Yasha’s pants. But honestly I think we need to get to know Yasha better.

- Nott and the ponytail scene and the swimming scene.

- Molly’s the hero we deserve. Tbh I could see him and Caleb being interesting ship-wise, but even if it doesn’t happen I think that dynamic is gonna boom.

- FJORD AND BEAU.

Legit Analysis:

- Seriously tho Caleb’s gonna be real fucked up. Right now we know he has some kind of dislike for the government, we know that he has a problem with fire in the specific burning-people-to-death sense, we know his parents are no longer alive to be making money, we know his parents were destitute, we know that from his first appearance he has been called dirty and smelly and barred from various establishments due to poverty, we know he is very afraid of dying but will put himself in harms way for friends, we know he sometimes can be an actual dick granted (he destroyed the ring for the pearl Nott gave him and he also encouraged Nott going into danger while she was drunk), and he is gathering components for a spell possibly for Winter’s Crest that include body parts and mud. I have bet in the past on both the possibility of his trying to resurrect someone he killed and him trying to make himself a lich so he won’t die. I think both of these things are still possible, with the added possibility of trying to resurrect someone he hadn’t directly killed depending on circumstances. But I think whatever he attempts will be extremely dangerous and unhealthy and have a horrible cost. He has been humiliated repeatedly, and I think while it’s possible there was a period of his life when he WASN’T dirt poor I think if that’s the case then covering himself in filth thing is a really close-to-the-bone, uncomfortable cover. Being repeatedly reminded that he is gross and poor (looking at least) is just making it worse. If it’s always been the case that still sucks like hell, but I honestly think this is a return to something he never wanted to go back to. Why? Because it will mean at some point in his life he had hope, and that hope had to be extinguished and he is miserable and because I suspect Liam is also someone who twists knives. I don’t know what nature of spell Caleb is pulling but I am very sure his main motivation isn’t anger, and I’ll put some money on either guilt or fear or both. I don’t think the government is his main enemy but more of an incidental one that fucked him over. I don’t know if he killed family or a significant other, if he left his parents to be a war mage or pursue wizardry, if he just had to make a sacrifice at some point for unknown reasons, if it was magic or mundane fire that fucked him up... but I bet it will be brutal as the day is long, and I bet that part of why he isn’t telling the party is because he wouldn’t be able to take being humiliated and pitied too. I think Caleb wants dignity, and he knows that while the group is unlikely to turn on him for whatever he did they wouldn’t talk to him normally anymore either.

He gonna fuck us all guys. Just buckle up because it is coming.

- I don’t know if the Traveler likes Jester enough not to screw her later for his own purposes, because if that happened the only person who Jester could feel loved her would have been using her all along. If this happens, it will probably be waaaaaaaaaay down the line because Jester would need to have formed strong enough connections to the rest of the cast in the meantime. AND I might be wrong, it depends a lot on the Traveler’s character. So basically, ATM I dig the guy but I think he’s fully capable of crushing my beating heart and I respect that.

- We got some party themes and I think that’s significant. Besides Caleb being traumatized by fire (water puts out fire eyo), Nott being terrified of drowning but taught a little bit how to swim by the team, Mollymauk’s name coming at least in part from a sailing song type deal, Fjord having made a pact with a giant tentacle monster that makes him barf up saltwater occasionally, Jester being daughter of the Ruby of the Sea and growing up in a port area, Yasha worshiping a storm deity massively revered by sailors, and Beau ????? wears blue ???????? some shit goin’ on with water and oceans.

Naw but watch Beau lol some connection’ll come up.

- I think Nott is going to have her heart broken in the future. I don’t know exactly how. Some of this is just instinct, but I think it ties to Caleb being kind of a dick sometimes and also Caleb being self-destructive, and also Nott gradually growing close to the rest of the party when she clearly has trust issues.

- Enjoy the sun erryone my narrative senses are tingling and there be some angst on our horizon.

- Also Fjord is still a goddamn changeling that half-orc at the bathhouse had tusks and Travis only said “interesting observation” or something when a fan mentioned lack of tusks in official art. He is a fucking changeling or doppelganger or some shit I swear to god and him critiquing Beau on how she delivers compliments only strengthens the other evidence.

[beginagainagain]

Where I Stand.

Four days in New Orleans. Four days in that city of southern pleasure, on it’s peak week of ecstasy. It took a plane landing to turn me into a satyr of a human being. There were meetings and reunions of the Atlas sort, their was the return of striking images all in one bus drive through average neighborhoods in an abnormal city. The memories just flood back, become stories that I hardly believe myself. “Did I really live here,” my mind asks me? Because the memories seem all too good to feel true anymore. The three week love affair with that thoughtful writer from Queens, the time in the 9th ward’s first nonprofit, the friendships made with far flung visitors with the backdrop of a city that comes from a frantic history of colonial mergers and acquisitions. Fact and fiction become a hazed mess before I even arrive to my former-residence. 

I spend a grand total of 15% of my time focused on any objective. The rest is spent patrolling the streets searching for some sort of sin that I honestly could fulfill myself. It is these couple of days that I see what laser pinned focus I may have, even if it is fueled by pure testosterone and negligence. It is with that sweet Gulf Sun and the air of Mardi Gras sweet distraction that I willfully let my guard down. To feel what it truly means to lose oneself to hedonism. 

I have never truly believed in the power of divinity or deus of the sort spoken in mythology but that last official day in New Orleans taught me that when you are surrounded by such common good feeling, deities do emerge. Mardi Gras has such a deity. She is lush and she is beautiful, but how destructive she is to the weakest of us when we our eyes meet. I was so bold to believe I could meet this goddess on her play ground and what a spell she cast. Spiritus Mardi Gras is a spirit I respect for the powers she has reigns on us all, we seek our pleasures and take what we can get and no more than we should. Our greed will hurt in that end. These lessons I learned with the help of a couple dozens douses of cold water. 

So then how does this city of such power house 400,000 functioning human beings. It’s odd to say but the common theme of this trip has not been my own maturity but the recognition of human will placed on others. If New Orleans is a playground for adults then the residents of the French Quarter are on the battleground of maturity. Everyday seems to be a fight with a cotton candy addiction. When pleasure is across the street or one grindr message away from fruition, we all must learn to survive intact. That is the story and struggle of the countless I’ve met in the crescent city. Mike the Bourbon Pub man serving drinks to people he loves to criticize, the the mustachioed gutter punk at the Leather Bar every parent would be horrified to discover, or my personal favorite, the senior bar tendress coming home from Mardi Gras Saturday with her cheetos at 6 o’clock, ready to call it a night. These working people have seen the hard stuff, they’ve had the experience to back it, and their minds develop through their outcomes. 

What I believe they find and what Lady Mardi Gras may show us in our faults may be one in the same. The feeling came to me after my missed flight on the chaotic night of Mardi Gras Saturday. Hearing of drunk truck drivers plowing into people, the lustful search for pleasure, and the images of people already succumbed to too much I found myself, for the first time in ages, missing the one person I criticize the most. Yes, as it sappy as it sounds, my mother and her incessant simple messages of perpetual worry became things I missed. This some how cracked up a part of my long hardened due to over-analysis. I experienced that connection one must have to life with personal grace. I speak of that connection we hear in the past but now I found elusive in modern conversation.

Love. 

Love is not a simple thing. Four letters are just a cork behind which lay a casket of emotions that make a sane person go mad. Yet when stream lined and looked after with thought and wholly outside of our personal ego, we see that it is a bind from which we can escape from. We huddle towards it like moths to a flickered flame. Love is what I take from the city of pleasure, for they are only expressions of it’s force, sweet and raw. 

Before New Orleans I was a mess, during New Orleans I was mess, and still now I see the forces of disarray that hover around me. Yet for the first time in some time I feel myself. A part of my head, the attic if you will, open up for me after dusty years of neglect. From up hear I may piece together some sort of guide, resourceful and empathetic, who may lead me to something better. 

Time will only tell, yet may the feeling of love carry me  ever on. 

It only took four days.