#i love tumblr because i couldn't say this on any other website

[laceratedlamiaceae]

He's so Izzy-coded (almost diarrhea shat himself in public)

[implausiblyjosh]

Cohost Criticisms

The following was posted on cohost, which you can find here:

Being upset that people are like "why aren't the financial updates on time, why aren't you explaining the downtime" is baffling to me. They built this site on transparency! Their funding comes with the expectation of financial transparency! Regardless of if people should put faith in the four randoms running the website, people have and it's definitely worrying when the "here's the forecast on how long the lights stay on" post isn't on time.

Additionally, it's totally fine to worry about adding on a ton of extra workload to the site. Remember when the bug report page was overrun with viagra and gambling spam for weeks because no one kept up with it? Or when the site was down with no communication. Apparently paid Artist Alley posts got backlogged. It took someone making two posts on here about horribly bigoted comments on a staff post before moderation happened because the official moderation channels were not working (and the one moderator of the site was a bit of a self-admitted coward in handling moderation of a bigoted comment!). And now you're telling me you're adding tag wrangling, a feature that AO3 seemingly needs a volunteer army for, to your site with no plans of making it sustainable? Y'all seemingly couldn't get one of the other three people of the four person team on the ball with the financial transparency posts that are part of your funding agreement, why should we be excited or hopeful for this new feature?

I get people really want this site to work for them. I'd love for any new social media site to work for me! But unless something drastically changes, the writing is clearly on the wall that this is not that site.

The following is new for you, people reading on Tumblr:

There's a lot of stuff busted with Cohost, and while I think a large part of it comes down to culture issues, there are genuine issues at the foundation of the site. The company that owns it is an LLC, despite being labeled as a "not for profit" operation. But that really doesn't matter, they will never get a change to make a profit, because they're paying themselves "tech workers in silicon valley" money to run their site that makes no profit. Additionally, they have not found a way to crack that nut of profitability, being only funded by some pseudonymous wealthy friend, and with no clear path to "making enough money to get out of debt and/or pay staff", let alone profit.

So there are core issues foundational to the site, but Cohost diehards get extremely upset about the concept of criticizing or talking about cohost in ways they don't like, trying to paint people as bad faith as soon as possible. It's incredibly frustrating! A lot of those Cohost diehards are friends of the owners, so every criticism of cohost is an attack on the friends. You can see this here, where one of said friends of the owners is in my comments defending their "if you don't like it, just leave and stop criticizing my friends business" comments. At one point, people were saying that complaining about accessibility features was like whining to McDonalds cashiers and trashing bathrooms... when the site is worked on by the owners. There are no cashiers, just well-paid owners trying to sell you on a nonprofit fantasy so you'll buy ads or get a subscription.

I want the site to work out because I would like for there to be a semi-permanent place for me to exist online. However... it doesn't seem like that's gonna happen if they refuse to change and they keep up this shitty culture.

[sorcerous-caress]

I was the anon that sent the Meluidil ask early today :D Thank you for the content!! I literally read through all the posts, sent your blog to a friend to yap about it, then we proceeded to yap about it at Chili's tonight LMAO

I don't send requests often on tumblr (hence the anon, I am a f r a i d) because I always am afraid of coming off as pushy-but I can promise you if you ever ramble about stupid loser high elf boy myself and the homies will 👁️👁️

I am curious though, how is learning other languages perceived in this world? I know it was mentioned in another post viewers of their porn asking him to teach reader dirty words in Elvish--would he? How would an elf normally view a human learning Elvish? Would it be seen as like 'the whore humans are insulting our language' or endearing?

Is it on duolingo? Imagine she leaves her phone for a moment, he sees the little pop up of a language learning app reminding her to do her five minutes of Elvish to keep her streak up.

Maybe she'd try to learn it in secret, then out of nowhere say something absolutely WILD to him in Elvish during sex. I feel like it could either be the sexiest thing he's ever heard, or she butchers it so badly he finds it adorable.

also I saw other people sign of anon asks with an emoji and i thought that was wholesome, so in honor of discussing elf sex at chili's with a triple dipper ill do one of these

-🌶️

The combination of that emoji and the great Meluidil discussion taking places at a chili's couldn't be any more perfect considering elves' love for spicy food, especially Meluidil.

"Is it on duolingo?" When I tell you I completely lost it. Just for a second I was fully immersed and living in a modern dnd world where learning how to cuss someone out in ancient elvish was a mere phone tap away.

Sadly, no, I don't think it's on fantasy duolingo. Not from lack of effort, believe me the shareholders pulled every string, but elves remain stubborn and have it taken down—especially the high elves are the most vocal about their distaste for their beloved language to be butchered by humans and else.

They're too proud to let learning elvish be easy or accessible, other species must "prove their worth" first before the elves would share their knowledge, and of course, what better way to learn elvish than start with the thickest of books filled to the brim with poetry, prose, and complicated euphemisms.

It's just that... the "dislike/disgust" to "fetishisation" pipeline in some of those elves is far too real, their reclusion is a double-edged sword because now, in the perspective of those lucky few, humans seem to be made for breeding, designed to entice and seduce them, otherwise how would you explain this deep seated attraction and frustration they feel towards your kind? What do you mean it might stem from envy at the freedom humanity tends to overindulge in? What nonsense. They're definitely not jealous of something like that so much that fucking you is the closest thing to freedom they'll ever taste.

Haha...

ha...

Either way, it's a self-fullfilling prophecy. Elves make it harder for others to assimilate into them, whenever someone—elf, human, or else—attempts to bridge the culture gap, it mostly ends in failure, elves really don't like sharing their knowledge, habits, or even language.

The viewers on the forums are another case, they're deliberately requesting that Meluidil makes you say words in elvish because of how sacrilegious it feels, wrapping around to being insanely hot.

Your best bet when it comes to learning elvish is either knowing an elf and harrassing them into teaching you, or browsing sketchy websites full of seedy ads about single hot succubuses near you, and hoping this one doesn't get taken down before the end of the week like all the others.

But you know what you'll find on duolingo? Infernal, oh yes. And it's just 10 straight courses full of misinformation and deliberate mistranslations. Honestly, demons can't believe that they haven't thought of this sooner. The number of overconfident mortals signing binding contracts with them skyrocketing ever since, now they only need to litter the words "duck" and "pineapple" across a contract for your average human to misread them as some get-out-of-jail-free card.

Now, back to our beloved loser elf. If his human was attempting to learn some elvish in secret, it really depends on how you go about it.

Maybe you catch on to some of the words Meluidil has a habit of saying? Elvish is very melodic in nature. It's hard not to be drawn to it, leading you to unconsciously eavesdrop on some of Meluidil's phone calls. Not understanding what he's saying, but finding correlations between certain phrases and subtle changes in his tone and demeanour.

You pick up on the word he hisses under his breath after stubbing his toe against the table's leg.

Then there are the words spoken through breathy whispers against your neck, repeated like a prayer as your insides squeeze around him, making him stutter halfway through his sentences.

It's different from the latin-like words magic tends to adapt. It sounds like the whole language is based on poetry.

Maybe picking up words that way will help make them sound more natural, you still butcher the pronunciation, but his reaction is more giddy and surprised than anything else.

But if you do take the risk and dive in head first into these shady "Elvish 101" online booklets...

There's no guarantee Meluidil won't rush out the room because he's trying so hard not to burst out laughing at what you just said, and he feels so guilty because oh you must have went to such length to learn it, but by Corellon it's the funniest thing he's heard in the past decade.

It's unbelievably endearing. He's getting cuteness aggression and has to cross his arms to restrain himself from hugging you to death because. You shouldn't push a man past his first century into having a heart attack like that.

In the end, no matter which method you start with, both routes lead to the same result of Meluidil offering to teach you some Elvish if you're that curious.

It's definitely not an excuse to uh roleplay teacher student... or maybe private tutor and—Okay he needs to go back on track before his mind wanders further.

He doesn't make a good teacher at all, the man is distracted very easily and suddenly this regal put-together elf is a blushing mess because when you leaned down to read something in the book he's showing you, he glimpsed inside your shirt.

Full grown ass man btw, same one who has slept with you countless times, same one who posted these videos on online human kink forums which he admins at, losing his marbles and melting into a puddle at the accidental flash of a small patch of skin below your collar, like he's a repressed victorian maiden.

Yeah... there's no sugar coating it. He's a terrible teacher when it comes to you. You'd tease him for being a massive down-bad simp, wasn't it for the fact he'd wear that title with pride.

Like oh, he's a simp? What gave you that idea, human? Was it his previous massive collection of first-copy human porn magazines?

Don't be absurd, he's not that massive of a simp. He just... stays in the same bed as you while you sleep despite the fact elves don't need to sleep because... uh, he's just enthusiastic about sleep? Yes, it has always fascinated him as a phenomenon.

No other reason.

-

Thank you so much for your kind words <3 your request cheered me up a lot, I genuinely missed talking about this eccentric high elf.

Hell, I reopened my requests just in case you ever wanted to send a second ask, and here you are!

I reassure you that you're not being pushy, I understand that it can feel scary to just burst in gun-blazing with your request/concept idea, especially since you said you don't send often.

But you're very welcome to, even if you send a bunch at once, I'll reply to the ones I find most interesting! Sometimes, a request doesn't get answered not because the author found it offensive, but because we can be at a genuine loss of ideas or how to approach this—How all Shadowheart prompts got squeezed dry out of me.

Yet the Meluidil tank is still half full, so feel free to drop unannounced whenever you have new ideas you'd like to share with the class about him.

Sometimes, life just gets in the way, I meant to reply to your ask sooner, but December seems to be a cursed month where irl problems are never in shortage-

Either way, I got unimaginably happy when you told me that you and your friend have been discussing my writing! And about one of my favourite og characters! and at chili's one of my fav restaurant!!!

I hope life is good to you, anon, do take care of yourself.

[theliterarywolf]

Not gonna lie, as much as Threads seems to be horrible, people on Twitter talking about how much better it is or how they NEED to use it just... annoy me

I've been in there in my own account for less then 2 months, and only follow like, 4 people, but it is the most toxic and annoying big website i even used, and i have been on Tumblr for YEARS. people just love to complain about everything, any sincerity is mocked and anything even a little "weird" turns into a harrasment campain. And since nobody uses hashtags or tags, you NEED to use the algoritm, and see even more people being awful. Really the only good part is the NSFW stuff being allowed.

And them i see people complaining or mocking tumblr... people are very annoying here too, but its like a few toxic bins next to Chernobyl itself

This is why, when one of my earlier posts about Threads was making the rounds and someone accused me of fearmongering, I was sitting here like 'come on, man!'

We all know that the major social media sites are predatory with the types of data they collect. Hell, even as I'm sitting at my laptop typing this response, there's a glowing link on the bottom of the Tumblr window that says 'Privacy Notice for California Users'.

It's the fact that Threads released with bare-bones to little UI elements compared to other social media sites in combination with the fucky-wucky elements of it being a Meta product (you're telling me that the Zuck couldn't have invested some money into QA before launch) as well as the forced Instagram/Facebook connection in conjunction with all of the privacy-botchery that makes people skeptical.

Because, yeah, let's call a spade a spade: Twitter itself is a cesspool that, in the months since Elon bought it, has been falling apart like one of the firefighters at Chernobyl.

And part of that is due to the botched way that things like 'For You' and Blue Checkmarks were handled.

Because, initially, For You legitimately was a benefit and introduced you to similar content to what your Twitter account was comprised of. However, now it just funnels unhinged discourse and Blue Checkmark accounts who KNOW that they would not have an audience if it weren't for the site forcing their batshit brainworms onto others.

Same thing with Blue Checkmarks getting priority placement (along with ads) under people's tweets.

It's one thing for these elements to be present on a site, it's another for that site to make it nigh-impossible for you to curate your experiences to avoid those elements. Because, let me tell you, I've been hearing from people on Twitter that 'oh, those Tumblr people are whinging about XYZ' and I'm just here like 'I! Am actually in those communities/fandoms and I have not seen the wank, so my curating and filtering must be working great!'

[evegwood]

I was rereading your breakdown of the playlists and I was kind of intrigued by how you outright stated that David's insecurities are not related to his transness but to the power things - because, like, I don't think it's all meant to be a 1:1 metaphor, but specfic stories like that exist very much in conversation with more mundane issues people face so that distinction stood out to me? (cont.)

(cont.) Like, people such as David get detained in places that feel and work and look like the institutions in Inhibit IRL for various non-specfic reasons, and stories like this are a bit of a dialogue with these issues, especially one like this that goes into the mundane little miseries of it all. Would it be correct to say that that was your way of saying "I don't want people to reduce his character entirely to transness"? Thanks, love the comic!

Hey that's a good question! For sure there are real-world counterparts to a lot of the themes of Inhibit, but specifically when it comes to my queer characters I wanted the story to be completely neutral about their queerness. I do have a lot of thoughts on this so this might be long haha. Hopefully I cover everything I want to cover, I wrote this whole thing out and then hit ctrl+z to delete a line and Tumblr deleted the entire post without letting me ctrl+y because this is a working website that doesn't suck ass. I had to retype it all so I'm sorry if any of it is disconnected, I couldn't remember the exact order I said everything argh ANYWAY

When I started writing Inhibit I didn't realise I was trans, and then I came out as nonbinary, and then I started to transition, so I've had a whole spectrum of thinking "how should I handle transness in this comic?" over my time working on it. Pretty early on I decided that none of the characters would suffer because of being trans, they wouldn't have any anxiety about it, other characters wouldn't treat them differently etc; the story takes place in a world where superpowers are real, so it wouldn't be crazy for transness to also just be normal and accepted there lmao

However now I think that this is a pretty reductive way to represent the trans experience. Like it or not, being trans informs almost everything about you, and I didn't let my trans characters have that nuance. Vic being a white, seemingly cis* seemingly het** dude is pretty central to his character arc***, so actually examining queerness in this society would have been interesting. There was room to do that; something that is canon and just has never come up is that Urquhart sponsors their trans officers' HRT etc so they don't need to go through the NHS, meaning those officers are reliant on Urquhart long past their service. You're right: what would a conversation between the mundane and fantastical elements of Inhibit look like? I, 2023 Eve, would like to have that conversation! But this far into the story, I kinda missed the train on it.

* he uses any pronouns, he is shrug-gender ** he is bi *** spoilers wow he is privileged actually

I honestly think that I haven't done a good job at highlighting my trans characters, particularly for an audience that doesn't expect to see trans characters. I don't think I've done David and Masha justice as trans characters beyond little nods that readers could miss or not even understand, and there are some characters whose nonbinary/trans identities have just never been mentioned (Holly is nb, Jezza and Toby are trans - again just hasn't come up because of scenes and lines changing or being cut, there's so much that you can't fit into a story even when it's as long as this). So to finally answer your question, it isn't that I didn't want people to reduce David to his transness, because I don't think there's enough of his transness in the comic for that to even happen. I don't think anyone reads Inhibit and thinks oh yeah, David, you know, the trans one. It really was that at the time of writing the playlist breakdowns, I was firm that none of the Inhibit characters had anxiety or neuroses about being trans. Instead, all their neuroses were about their superpowers, because that's the fun angst.

Now looking back on Inhibit, there is actually an excruciating amount of evidence for the story kind of being a trans narrative ("oh god i can't control my own body oh god", "oh no people think my body should do this thing" etc). It's so interesting how creators have these themes that they continuously go back to in their work, even unintentionally, and mine is oops all trans. If I were to rewrite Inhibit from scratch now, I'd probably try to include more of that nuance and actually engage with those themes because I realise that they're there haha.

I hope all this answers your question? Kind of? A little? My ultimate conclusion is that I thought what I was doing was writing good trans characters, when ultimately I think I failed to write characters that are truly explicitly trans. On the other hand, maybe characters like David and Masha are the exact kind of trans rep that some people want and are looking for. Either way I'm actively working to write better trans characters in the future because trans people rule, and this was a really interesting question to reflect on, thank you!

[leviaana]

Hey there!

First of all, I love your art and comics, bith are amazing! Thanks for putting so much love for ML out there!

Second, please excuse any mistakes I might make, english isn't my mother tongue.

The reason I write this message is because of your review of the movie. I'm nit here to trasg your opinion or anything, it's just that the new access "problem" I seem to not be able to access it. If you don't know: Elmo Mushy decided that it's a good idea to limit the access of people to Twitter. Non users are "allowed" to see 300 tweets a day, verified users 600. There's a bit more going on with his spaghetti code not knowing why it blocks people from viewing, therefore sending ten asks to the website a second to check if there is access now (god I wish I was making this up) and. Yeah. I and many others can't access Twitter at all.

My question now is, would it be possible for you to screenshot your post and upload it here as well? Your takes on Miraculous are one of the very few I really enjoy reading (mostly because you are neither unfair nor too harsh, while also saying it if there was something stupid in a nice way) and I was a bit bummed when I see that I couldn't read your little "review".

If you don't have the spoons or simply don't want to, that's totally okay. I just thought that asking won't hurt :)

Thanks for reading this much longer ask! Have a nice day/evening and stay Miraculous ;)

Hey, youre so sweet!! Thank you very much for the kind feedback on my work and my reviews!

I’m happy to see you’re interested in reading the post. Since Elon decided to make his website unusable I will certainly post an honest review on tumblr. I might rewrite and add something!

It should be out during the upcoming day!! 🌟💓

[mjparkerwriting]

Author Ask Tag Game

Thank you @rickie-the-storyteller for tagging me! Using The Bird Book to answer these questions even though I've barely dug into it yet.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

There's a lot going on here and my main characters are teenagers (which I never do because I don't really like writing kids). They are learning and growing every day, but if I could name one thing I want people to get from this story it would be the value of friendship, community, and accepting that some things are the way they are for a reason. I want it to be a coming-of-age story, but something that speaks more to me and my community.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Oh yes. There are tons of references to black culture and life and it's really a love letter to my childhood and my culture. This won't be the last time I say that exact line. The story is low fantasy so many elements of our world are present.

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, and help readers grow as a person?

My MC is a teenage boy named Johnny. Johnny is simple. Johnny wants a girlfriend. That is literally it. He is chasing after a girl. BUT besides that, there's a lot going into it and I want people to see themselves in Johnny. When they read it, I want them to be reminded of the stupid stuff they did as teens with their friends.

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

Not sure. It may be around 25 chapters? I haven't worked out any goals for this yet.

5. Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

This is original content. I don't know how it will be put out into the world, but I will of course post snippets and fun stuff about it here, just like I did with TLBH.

6. When and why did you start writing?

I have been writing since forever. I've always just loved stories and loved telling them even more. I only got more serious about it when I felt like I couldn't find the exact stories I wanted. Then, I realized I could just make those stories. And then, I realized I could just keep making stories.

7. Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers on Tumblr do you follow?

Have fun with it! Do what feels right to you. It's your story, so you are what matters at the end of the day. Don't worry about who will read it. Just write something that you want to read.

I am tagging my "other writers" so that people can follow them and see how cool they are but also so they can maybe do this tag if they're up to it. These are some really cool people and it's very difficult to narrow it down. I just wanna tag all of my mutuals lol: @mjjune @girlfriend-champion @quinnharperwrites @macabremoons @fayeiswriting @writeblr-of-my-own @squarebracket-trick @toribookworm22 @words-after-midnight

[killmebutneverinsultme]

If you could give rping advice to an amateur, what would be the most valuable?

// You know, I've seen some fabulous tips and guides rolling around this website and can I blimmin' find any of them I thought I'd reblogged? Can I bugger. Let's see what I can think of off the top of my head!

First things first, your blog: This is the first thing people are going to look at to make a decision if you're suited to them. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Ensure you have an icon so we don't assume you're a spam bot. Have a bio and/or a rules page so people know what you expect and note if you're 18+/21+ as many adults aren't comfortable role-playing with people under this age for safety reasons. If you're writing a canon character, a bio page can just be a brief summary of who they are and what they're about. If you're writing an OC, a reasonably detailed bio is practically essential. You might know why your muse is awesome, but your prospective partners don't so give everyone the goss on who they are, what makes them interesting, what their backstory is etc.

Next is both the most difficult and probably the next most essential: Have no fear. What I mean by this is not to let insecurity get the best of you. If you love writing, have that be your anchor. Not everyone is going to say yes and that's ok. Not everything works out. Starting out is often the most difficult time because it's easy to feel like no one is interested and that you're doing all the work. I promise you, it will get better if you keep plugging away, but you have to reach out and brave things for a bit. Be kind, be open about what you want, and enjoy every little thing until you get more opportunities.

Good ways of finding partners are to search tags for 'rp masterlists' in fandoms you are interested in e.g. 'marvel rp' or 'potc rp' or even 'open rp'. Scroll down people's blogs and have a look at who else they're playing with, read their rules and pages etc. and see if they have preferences on how to be contacted. Some people will do open starters, some will greet you if you follow them, some accept memes from anyone. If someone mentions you need to be mutuals this means that you have to wait for them to follow you back before they will be open to writing with you. Once they do, check their rules how they like to be contacted. If it's not clear, brave an ask, send a meme, or a private message.

Private messages - best advice for these are not to start off with 'wanna rp?'. I recommend dropping in, saying hi, expressing that you'd be interested in writing and leaving an idea for something you'd be keen on doing should they be interested too. If they're not, thank them and move on. If they are, hooray, make friends and have fun plotting!

An extremely valuable RP tool is the New X-kit and X-kit Rewritten browser extensions. Tumblr is not built to be friendly for role-playing and I couldn't manage without these. Rewritten lets you trim posts so you can get rid of the pesky top post that would otherwise stay when using tumblr's new beta post formats. It helps us keep posts looking neater on our blogs and dashboard, although thankfully tumblr introduced the 'shorten posts' feature to save everyone's eyeballs from super long threads.

General etiquette: Lots of role-players have preferences on how long they prefer replies to be and how often they are active. Trial and error until you find partners that suit you. Ideally check your spelling and grammar if it's not something you're adept at. A big thing not to do is godmodding, which is when you might be tempted to write someone else's character doing something on their behalf. Even if this might mean your post is shorter, do not do this. You must let your partner write all of their own muse's actions. If your muse attempts to do something to their muse, they should be given permission to dictate what happens on their end. It's a give and take relationship to make the best possible fun for both of you.

Other big ones: don't let jealousy get the better of you. There might be duplicates of your muse or you might like someone who gives lots of attention to someone else. It's very easy to get wrapped up in your muses' feelings and get obsessed with gratification. Be gentle with each other, we've all got our own stuff going on, and we all need different things. Be gentle with yourself, too, that's most important!

Hopefully these are some of the basics and are of help! If anyone would like advice on something more specific, please ask, or ask one of these other lovelies for their opinion also.

[transmonstera]

In regards to your posts about ao3 and how vile it is in actuality, I wanna say thank you. I've not put much thought into the website I've been using but this has put things into perspective. I no longer want my work (work that I am proud of) on a website like that. Ao3 doesn't align with my values and I'm assuming many other people's who use the site.

Do you have any suggestions on a better site everyone can use?

(Side note: I absolutely adore your work!)

sure thing!

while there are no websites quite like ao3 in terms of filtering, curation, bookmarks, likes/comments etc there are a few alternatives out there!

Wattpad - I know people make fun of this one because it's where all the rpf for bands went back in the day but it is still operating and many people use it so you'll likely just switch viewers from ao3 to wattpad pretty seamlessly

Tumblr - you can always post directly on here! there is a character limit i believe of 4k so it's great for showing previews or even cutting up a small fic into parts 1, 2, 3, etc. a little clunky but it's an option if you only write short stuff! (Twitter threads can even be an option for this though again, a lil restrictive and works better for super short works!)

Google Docs + Linktree - if you have a linktree account you can always just link a view only (make sure people can't edit!) google doc of the fic! having the fics on a linktree still give people the ability to see all of your work in one place, and you can even see on linktree the click statistics for each fic! while it doesn't give the reader the ability to like/comment, you can always encourage those who do like it to leave a message on your tumblr!

Discord (or any groupchat tbh!) - similar to above you can always set up a discord server and post your fics view docs links there! it gives a curated experience and you can see the comments of people directly in the server

AO3 has seemingly made people believe that each and everyone one of their fan creations must be thrown out into the void where you hope everyone sees it and loves it. I think this has really stifled people's abilities to truly be creative in terms of making content of their favourite medias (and even with transitioning to making original work!) because you may subconsciously be adhering the current trends and whatnot of everyone else, even if you don't really like it yourself! I mean look at how common modern/high school aus still are today when I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes them. Look at how many books that have been published lately that painfully follow AO3 tag systems, where they don't even havea blurb anymore and instead just have "friends to lovers meet blah blah blah! read it now!". (Not to mention the quality of the books being published is fucking atrocious)

AO3 has ruined publishing and I am being entirely serious about that.

But back to where you wanna go with your fics now. Don't be afraid to restructure how you interact with your hobbies! It doesn't have to be so exposed and vulnerable to anyone and everyone having their say on it. I used to participate massively in fandom and I'll be honest, it made me miserable. I constantly felt like I couldn't keep up, that my ideas were wrong because another idea was more popular, and I really struggled. So I took about a hundred steps back and only interact with the media I like through my friends who also like it! And it's a lot better! You may not get hundreds and thousands of likes on fics from here on out if that's what you're used to, but I guarantee you'll have more meaningful interactions that you actually hold dear to you far more than any "a guest has left a kudos on your work" notification.

(Also just a pre-emptive thing of anyone who wants to defend AO3 on this post because "it's an integral part of fandom!" or "they need that much money because they run a site with no ads!", or you want to try and tell me that the fics on there are fine because it's fiction regardless of what the fics is (including literal fucking CSAM), just know you are completely unserious and I don't value a single thing you say. So don't even try it. How about you donate to a marginalised person's mutual aid for the first time in your life and you'll calm down.)

[digital-chance]

Author Ask Tag Game

thank you @rmgrey-author for the tag!

I'll be using "you still would've been mine" for this. Template beneath cut.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it? I would say that the main lesson is anti-war. I heard once that all war movies are anti-war, and I'd even extend it to writings. Showing war and showing the impact of it on society and overall life is not only exactly what I want to show but also a huge part of anti-war. // I chose that theme because I was thinking about Captain America and his timeline. He went into a war and woke up and had to continue fighting for SHIELD. It didn't seem like he got much of a break. And also I didn't like how Endgame happened. It was too sudden and implausible and pissed me off. He deserves a break but I really wanted to do it my way.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)? tumblr, pinterest, webcomics, sometimes kdramas or tv series. inspiration comes and goes at the most random of times so I honestly can't quite say for sure. i also have shitty memory so idk haha

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person? Cap is the main MC and the main POV of the fanfic and he is trying to achieve balance after being thrown out of time. I hope to show people his recovery and stabilization and to show people how that process is different for each person. Bucky is the other MC/POV and with him I wanted to show that self-forgiveness and being able to let things go is important.

How many chapters is your story going to have? I have literally no idea. It'll have as many as it needs. Hopefully it'll be an even number.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it? It's fanfiction and I'll post it on ao3, here, and maybe wattpad too.

When and why did you start writing? I started writing initially as a kid because I wanted to read a story and no-one else would be able to write it like how i wanted it.

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow? Just write. Literally just open up a word document and write shit down. It doesn't have to be any good quality content, but it is something. I've learned with art and again with writing that the empty page is worse than literal scribbles or ramblings. Using brackets [] as placeholders is also a useful way to keep this flow. // I follow quite a few writeblrs. I tend to tag the writeblrs I follow in most tag games and the ones below are just part of the amazing community on here. The one section of writeblr i heavily depend on are all those writing prompts. I love you guys and couldn't do this without you <3

gently tagging : @tea-and-mercury, @scribbling-stardust , @anonymousfoz , @squarebracket-trick , @leisoree , @bethodical , @mthollowell-writes , @all-write , @karolinarodrigueswrites , @janec23 , & @daughter-of-inklings

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

[janec23]

Author Ask tag Game

I want to thank the lovely @digital-chance for tagging me I really like this tag game! :) Here is the original post!

Questions at the bottom!

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

The main lessons of Echoes in Cosmos are the importance of second chances and accepting ourselves, plus kind characters are not weak. Is it cliché? Yes, but the more I look around the more I realize that just because society doesn't accept how some people are, doesn't mean someone won't or that they are different (what does it mean being different? who chose what is normal? -.-''). My OC goes into a very deep and dark place before realizing this, so I am trying to get him back from there.

2.What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Everyday I get news about how climate change is affecting our lives, so I start to feel anxious about it. Writing about a future where climate change crisis is averted (and the end of social media which is causing social instability and more hate than good) made me feel better. So I went on with that, building life on another planet with a society that managed to learn from past mistakes.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

Robin is my main MC, he wants to find out about his difference, why is not able to express his feelings using his symbionts? He's desperate to find someone who can understand and accept him even if from another planet. I want people to understand that they are not alone in their research of love. Corinna is the other MC, she is kind and compassionate, but she can fight when needed. With her I want to show that a strong female character doesn't need to be rude or aggressive and that forgiveness needs to be earned.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

28 or 30 chapters (I am at the second draft now)

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

It is original content, I will post a first chapter soon here, but it is un-edited, because I am a writer not an editor XD

When and why did you start writing?

I started when I was 12, I couldn't sleep at night, so I started to invent stories to fell asleep. I did it until the stories become so real and so full of details they entered in my life, so I needed to write them down to get rid of them and make space for the new ones!

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

I just want to say, write what you like, because you like it. Doesn't matter if it is cliché, boring, too fluffy or too dark, just write it. We are 8 billion, someone who likes your story is out there, you just need to reach them! And don't feel pressure about writing 10,000 words a day, take your time, enjoy your writing :) I follow a lot of people, mostly because their WIP are amazing and I am learning how to improve my english and my style. There are a lot of cool writers out there, so I hope someday they will be published :)

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Gently tagging (I don't know if you already did this or not, sorry): @rickie-the-storyteller, @everthewip, @rbbess110, @mariahwritesstuff, @all-write, @macabremoons

[maryellencarter]

it is well past midnight here so i should probably not be Trusting Feelings About Things, but i was pondering why i get a major anxiety attack every time i consider commenting on a fanfic (even leia's solo fics), and i think it really boils down to the number of different fanfic interaction behaviors i've repeatedly seen viciously attacked on the tunglrs. even if a particular author explicitly tells me they'd love to get x or y type of comment/interaction, i can't seem to get past the "but it is Badwrong and makes me a toxic person" :P

like, a brief noncomprehensive list:

* "kudos without a comment means you actually hated the fic and didn't finish" -- ??? if i got to the bottom where the kudos button is, i have read what's above it and probably did not wander off looking for the brain bleach. i really can't comprehend this mindset. who goes around leaving kudos on fics they're backbuttoning out of unfinished? do i need to make a tumblr poll and find out i'm in the Incredible minority here?

* "commenting just an emoji is lazy and not a Real Comment and means you actually hated the fic and couldn't come up with anything nice to say"

* "keysmashes are offensive and babyish, Use Your Words"

* "a one-word or one-sentence comment means you're only commenting because you think you have to and you don't think the story is worth any more than that"

The only comment/interaction type I haven't seen multiple authors say they hate is the long essay comment with lots of quotes and excerpts saying exactly what I liked. And I don't have the fucking spoons to leave those on every fic, even if I had all the time in the world and it was remotely feasible on mobile.

So I don't comment.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the other people who are targeted by the increasing number of "you have to comment, preferably on every chapter, or it's your fault authors stop writing" posts have the same... I'm going to call it trauma. It's fucking trauma. If you've been in fandom long enough, you've been in range of so many contradictory "all comments are good! except for Those Losers" posts that you're all too aware you may be upsetting your favorite author more by interacting Wrong than if you just read and lurk and never interact at all.

(I've literally seen people I respected complaining about how hurtful some logged-out interactions were that they didn't know were from me, because they interpreted my best low-spoons efforts as meaning I hated their work. I know we're all on the mental illness website here, but if you're going around rejecting anonymous attempts at positive interaction because you default to assuming they're insincere... well, you sure aren't encouraging people to talk to you logged-in.)

Maybe I will make a poll. Not in the middle of the night. But sometime.

[donnerpartyofone]

One time when I should have been talking about how much my dead mother hated me or something, I stupidly mentioned to my therapist that someone said something annoying on one of my tumblr posts, and she went after me about what did I expect to get out of social media. She wasn't being sarcastic or hostile, she just kept asking me what were my expectations of publicly posting dearly held beliefs and opinions, or personal experiences; she asked me every time she was unsatisfied (it seemed) with my answer, and eventually we just changed the subject. I kept trying to guess if she had a specific right answer in mind; like, was she implying that I was secretly fixing for a fight, or masochistically putting myself in harm's way? Or was she trying to get me to admit that I was desperate for attention and compliments and I was just looking for them in the wrong places? I seemed to have a hard time explaining that I just love to write, that it doesn't bother me if only the same 4-5 people respond in any way, or if no one responds, and that being pestered and annoyed periodically (that is, not very often at all) is a risk I'm willing to take, but I still reserve the right to be annoyed. I'm only human, or something.

I started using tumblr toward the end of the awful abusive relationship that ate up my 20s. The guy was a crazed narcissist whose only motivation in life was impressing other people, or upsetting other people--anything that forced others to think about him and reflect back to him his personal power. He didn't do anything just because he enjoyed it, so it was very hard--actually impossible for me to describe to him the internal satisfaction I got out of writing and accumulating images for free on a free website. He didn't have the wiring necessary to understand that it was part creative process, part introspection, and part getting to know the world in a certain way. He kept asking me, "What do you GET for using tumblr? But what do YOU GET? BUT WHAT DO YOU GET?" while getting redder and angrier until we just had to stop talking about it. I eventually realized he wanted me to say, like, you get corporate sponsors. You get free shit. You get a book deal. You get famous. You get rich, people fuck you. He couldn't imagine any other reason for doing anything and he was as pissed off about the fact that I just enjoyed something, more or less privately, as he was about anything else about me.

The truth is I don't know what my expectations are. I think I know why I write, at least in part: I'm trying to be understood. I have felt misunderstood for most of my life (yes I know boo hoo), and I think that if I just keep refining and refining and refining the way I articulate microscopic experiences, then eventually it will become impossible for me to be misunderstood ever again. I became an art history major in college more or less by accident because I had no direction in life, and while it turned out that I had no particular talent for the discipline of art history (I graduated with a B- thesis that was called "a grand failure"), I learned a lot about how to verbalize extremely interior and abstract experiences, like that of perceiving art and trying to process its meaning. I usually use this for film now, my main love, which is so much about collaging sensory input to achieve a certain psychic effect, and less importantly about literal, literary-type content.

But who do I want to understand me? Very few people read my writing, will ever read it. And I have learned the hard way that you really cannot force anyone to understand you no matter how skilled you become at saying things or maintaining a paper trail; people just don't listen very well, they project, they twist the conversation into something they WANT it to mean instead of what it does mean, or very often people just want to have fights and they will refuse to hear anything that might resolve the exciting conflict they're having with you. I have had incredibly infuriating arguments about the meaning of individual common words that couldn't even be resolved with the help of a dictionary or sample sentences. Being a good writer or speaker (or listener, even) does not protect you from this.

I think that to a large degree I am trying to make myself understood to myself. I have always been very, very good at internalizing the voices of others, and this can make me doubt the content and quality of my own experiences. Against the influence of people who have disbelieved or ignored me, or tried to get me to believe things I know to be untrue, I write and write and write to submit my findings to an invisible judge and jury. They are all me. It may sound as if I am trying to prove what I believe is David Cronenberg's point about identifying with the body, or trying to debunk what I think Catherine Breillat is saying about human emotion, but secretly I am trying to prove to myself, through these incidental demonstrations of skill and rationale, that I do deserve to feel the way that I feel about the things of which I can no longer speak.

[mxharleyhua]

Harley Hua ~ Task Thirteen: Short and Sweet

What is your favorite book from childhood? I was just talking to Elliot about this the other day, but I loved Watchmen. I know it's not really for children, but my parents didn't. I also had a more age-appropriate book I loved, because the art was so beautiful in it. I remember it took place in the woods, but not what it was called or what the plot was. But it was so detailed, and colorful, and had a unique art style.

Do you own an item that comforts you when you’re sad? Do my art supplies count?

What makes you happy? I seem to have a one-track mind tonight but after a long day I love to go home, take off my cochlear implants, light a candle, and spend hours painting. I do my best work in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep. What are three things you like about yourself? I like almost everything about myself. That sounds like a cop-out, but it took me a really long time to learn self confidence. So maybe that's the first thing I like - that I'm a confident person. I also like the discipline I have to eat right and work out every day so that I can have the body I always dreamed of. And I love my sense of fashion. It's so much fun to dress up for all the events we have here in Merrock.

Which season is your favorite? Summer, easily! I love the heat, getting to spend a lot of my free time at the beach, and how much brighter everything feels; literally and emotionally.

Do you believe in the supernatural? What are we defining as supernatural? Ghosts and witches? Or are more religious symbols such as Gods, angels and demons also supernatural? Being raised both Jewish and Chinese, I got a lot of mixed messages as a kid. Parts of my Chinese culture are clearly against Jewish law. But I didn't grow up orthodox, so I've always taken it with a grain of salt on both sides anyways. I was generally discouraged from things like magic, or ghosts and demons, unless it was coming from a Chinese family member. I think my parents disagreed with how to raise us in that regard and tried to compromise, but it just made any of it being taboo feel nonsensical. Anyways, both cultures say not to mess with ghosts but I really want to go ghost hunting one day. Name a song that has a deeper meaning to you You've activated my Deaf card. What do you think about social media? I think it's great! Obviously, there are some drawbacks. But it allows people to connect in a way we couldn't have just a couple decades ago, and connects vulnerable people to resources that they need. How many queer communities have thrived on websites like tumblr? I remember being a teenager and seeing people like myself online when I didn't know there was anyone else like me in Merrock. It was lifechanging! What would be your dream job? Illustrator. Specifically, illustrating comic books but I also really want to do childrens books too. Name three things you don’t leave the house without My keys, obviously. And my phone. Normally I have my wallet or my cochlear implants on me, but not always. With so many places having tap-to-pay now, you really only need those two things. What is your favorite comfort food? My grandma is an amazing cook and she does this delicious lamb hot pot. It's a good thing she lives so far away, because I could not stick to my nutrition goals if I had the opportunity to eat that every week. Are you an active person? / What do you do to stay active? Is water wet? Technically not, but that's not the point. When I'm not painting or instructing a class, I'm almost always on the move. I try to spend two hours at the gym every day, although that's not always realistic with my busy schedule. I get a lot of steps in, walking around and giving tours at From Brush to Canvas. And I grew up doing gymnastics and cheerleading and try to practice so I don't lose my ability to do some of those stunts. Even as I've transitioned, I've managed to keep a lot of the flexibility I grew up with. I also live in the ocean in the summer, whether I'm surfing or swimming. Name your three biggest inspirations (people-wise) My brother and my grandma are easily my first two. Leaving my family for the third one, I think Gerda Wegener was amazing and pushed boundaries on sexuality and gender with her art in a way I really admire. What is currently your favorite airing show? I don't watch a lot of TV. When I'm at home, I like to take off my cochlear implants and enjoy the silence. And after a long day, the last thing I want to do is read captions for an hour straight. But I'm really excited for Echo to come out in a couple months. If you had to go anywhere right now, where would you go? If I had to? A warm, tropical beach that has complimentary cocktails and crystal-clear water.

[a-real-zero]

My name is Billy Zero aka A REAL ZERO

I'm a near-fourty year old, single male metalhead from Southern New Hampshire. Heavy Music is my life! I'd say I'm a bit of an enthusiast to say the least. I eat, sleep, shit and breathe the many different bands and genres that make up the heavy music scene. However, I do have a solid variety of interests, otherwise.

I thoroughly enjoy sports. I'm not the most athletic person alive, but I LOVE my Boston teams, and I'm DIEHARD for them all. We truly are the #cityofchampions, and I support all my hometown teams enthusiastically!

I enjoy video games, even at my borderline mid-life age. Specifically PlayStation, because that's just the console I have been partial to my whole life thus far. It's just so much better than Xbox, and even though PC trumps all, especially graphic-wise, I'll never turn my back on the PlayStation console .

I have recently gotten back into wrestling [WWE], as well. I grew up loving it, but it really started to go downhill for quite some time, and so subsequently, my interest faded. However, now with Vince stepping down and selling the multi-billion dollar company, and them keeping Triple H [Paul L.] as the main man in charge, it is incredible how much things have turned around. It's become an enjoyable product once again, and very much so worth reinvesting my time into. And so I will...

I'm sure everyone will agree with my interest in entertainment, and by that, I mean primarily movies and TV series. I'm a bit of a movie buff these days, and I love throwing on one of the fifteen million streaming apps and binge-watching an entire series or season of a series. I mean these days, who doesn't?

For some reason, I really admire architecture. More specifically, city skylines and unique, diverse looking stadiums and arenas that are the homes to specific sports teams and franchises. I can't, for the life me, figure out why nor remember when this obsession and admiration first came to fruition, but it's been quite some time now and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, either. Lol.

In a nutshell, that is what I, A REAL ZERO, am all about interests-wise. Heavy Music is my main thing. I call myself a heavy music enthusiast because of how frequently I listen to or talk about it. It's my life! It's also the MAIN point of this blog, so expect to see more of that than anything else. I enjoy writing and blogging my perspective takes, opinions, and reviews on heavy music, not to mention just about anything I find interesting enough to write about. So I decided I wanted to create my own little slice of the www [pie], and have somewhere where I can comfortably share my love for heavy music and all my common interests, or hate, depending the specifics of what I'm writing about at the time.

Expect to read many heavy music album reviews, featured band showcases with ratings, heavy music news, my most anticipated upcoming drops, my top bands of any given moment, and so much more pertaining to music, aswell as just about anything pertaining to my other topics of interest.

Please remember that any and every thing you read here is all just my perspective and opinion. If we share interests, and opinions of said interests, then that's just fucking dandy, but PLEASE do NOT take offense to anything you read and don't agree with. Like I said, it's merely just my OPINION! And this is my blog so...

Thank you, and I hope you find whatever you read here useful and/or entertaining and worth your time. If not, it's too bad because, like I said, this is MY slice of pie, not yours! 😉

**My Tumblr blog is just a temporary home to hold me over while I'm currently designing my actual website. I figured why wait on the blogging, because I want to write about things sometimes and couldn't without a website being complete. So that's a work in progress...but it is coming!

[lunaprincipessa]

ENTRY SEVENTEEN

This entry is gonna be about what brought me to Tumblr. I only joined recently, this year (2023). I ended up creating a profile after watching Crime Scene: The Vanishing at Cecil Hotel.

I never knew about it before, but ended up learning a lot about the hotel itself, its history, and all of the tragic events that took place behind closed doors.

It's hauntingly intriguing, this docuseries, especially when it told the unfortunate story of Elisa Lam.

As you watch the episodes, it starts Elisa's segment with a post she made on here. She talked about how people can be themselves on Tumblr. She talked about writing candidly. Both of these things immediately caught my attention. She also talked about people hearing your random thoughts and how satisfying it felt to click "publish." Her blog apparently explored an array of topics giving me the impression that she, amongst many others, felt comfortable with raw expression here.

Truth is, this little blog of mine could've started and ended with those positive remarks about the website, but anyone who has watched this show knows there's so much more to it than that - and it all left quite an impression on me.

The viewers end up finding out that there isn't a happy ending for the young Elisa. There's no denying the misfortune that crossed her path, or the fact that the sting of it still lingers today. For anyone that may be unaware, an innocent traveler went missing for quite some time before she was found deceased.

For those who have watched it though, we can all agree episodes filled to the brim with information about the Cecil Hotel, Skid Row, Elisa Lam's tragedy, and the events surrounding all of the visitors and residents over the years makes for quite an experience as a viewer, especially when you see it with your own eyes.

As the show explores Elisa's story, the possible contributing factors to her unfortunate death initially mentioned are:

-the hotel itself having a dark energy

-paranormal activity

-illegal drug usage

-neglecting medications that eventually led to psychosis

-government conspiracy

-assault and murder

-employee wrongdoing accompanied by a cover-up

-plain and simple tragic accident

To this day, people still read and respond to her blog. People still theorize what might have taken place during those final hours of her life. It was almost surreal watching all of this. Lots to go through, lots to uncover.

I couldn't help but notice how the general public and social media influencers flocked to Elisa. No judgment of course, I was one of them. I just wanted to explore that a little more out of curiosity. It was obviously captivating to all of us, but why? What makes us get so involved in these stories that we attach ourselves to complete strangers like loved ones? I'm not saying it's wrong. Just wanting to dissect it a bit to see how it works.

So why do we spend so much time and effort getting emotionally and mentally invested? NEEDING to know the outcome, NEEDING to find the solution for someone we've never met. Again, no judgment but perhaps proof that we are social creatures indeed. Moving forward, I have questions.

1.) Do we want more out of life with an independent investigation giving us that very element?

2.) Do we get a sense of purpose and accomplishment from the participation?

3.) Do we want to see justice prevail because we can sympathize or empathize?

4.) Do we feel connected to the subject after being led to a social media account with multiple, honest and relatable posts?

5.) Do we simply just get drawn in by the mystery of it all?

6.) Maybe any combination of all that's listed above?

The possibilities are endless but I am curious about stuff like this because as scary and as jarring as these types of stories are, we eat them up. I just randomly felt like exploring because the way the human mind works fascinates me sometimes.

While the human mind can fascinate me, the human state can break my heart. Seeing all the suffering on Skid Row was hard. I heard about it, but I admit I really didn't know until I saw it. After becoming a mother, I don't see people in the same light. Everyone is someone's son, someone's daughter. Not that they weren't before, hard to explain. It was also heartbreaking to see tourists happy to visit America, and then having rotten experiences if they even survive the visit. Our country has so much more and so much better to offer...

Parallels, synchronicities, theories, conspiracies, mysteries, and... accusations. I felt sorry for the musician who was accused of hurting Elisa because of the ways in which he expressed himself. Sure, it was dark, but are we all killers for enjoying dark books, movies, music, and/or clothing? He had his life disrupted but I hope he finds strength and comfort in each day that's further away from this particular time period in his life. Hope he has moved on the best he can.

What an emotional roller coaster it was! Circling back to Miss Elisa, if the outcome is accepted or not, it was a bittersweet event. Bitter because she's no longer with us but sweet because her writings have reached hundreds, if not thousands of people, helping them to feel heard and understood, simply by sharing her thoughts. What a gift to leave behind for people to discover. Still, I think we can all agree the preferred outcome was her returning home safely from a fun trip, inspiring her to continue to write.

Leaving us all to ponder and reflect in its wake, we finish the docuseries with yet another wonderful post from Elisa Lam.

"Tumblr, I am so grateful I found you. You remind me the world is big and I have a place in it somewhere."

It does feel nice to have a place to express ourselves, doesn't it? It feels nice to be heard and to have a safe space in general. However, we should also strive to provide this to one another in real life. The internet is always great for going global, but we shouldn't neglect the life in front of us, nor the lives in front of us, including our own.

Elisa also said, "We can be empathetic here. Remind people you are human. If you just listen, you will understand more." I conclude with that.

More thoughts later.