#i was today years old when i learn that it wasn't mama and mai it's actually ammaama and ammayi :')

[riality-check]

Hi! I am so very in love with your Appalachian!Eddie 'verse. Everything you've shared about it is absolutely perfect. <3

You've said you're usually open to getting asks about headcanons, so I hope this is okay. I started wondering about what birthdays were like for Eddie, since today's mine. I'm stuck pondering how they were for him growing up, and how they may have changed when he moved in with Wayne. I also started wondering how'd they'd be when he and Steve get together--especially considering Steve doesn't seem to have a typical home life, so he may not even have the experiences we'd expect him to around that kind of thing.

If you have thoughts on any of this, I'd love to hear them, but please don't feel pressured to respond. No worries if you're not feeling it! :)

hi!! i'm so sorry i couldn't answer on your actual birthday, but i'm less busy now and have so many thoughts about this!!

Eddie's birthdays growing up are small. His parents aren't super well off, and they don't talk to the rest of their families, so small birthdays it is. I can see them going out for ice cream or getting fast food for dinner, small stuff like that. They usually got him one or two things, too, stuff like comics issues, books, art supplies (you can't tell me Eddie wasn't a creative kid), and new tapes.

The most important thing, though, is that both of his parents were there. Neither one of them missed a single birthday before Eddie went to live with Wayne, and they were both sober enough to be functional. Holidays were hit and miss, but Eddie's birthday was a priority. They made an effort to be there, and he loves them for it.

When Eddie goes to live with Wayne, he's around thirteen years old. Wayne is better off than Eddie's parents are, so he takes Eddie to Benny's for his birthday and gets him new clothes and his acoustic guitar. It's... a lot for Eddie, who grew up watching his mama count change on the kitchen counter of whatever house (or motel room) they were living in at the time, even when his pa tried to distract him from doing so. He knows he and Wayne aren't well off, not really, but it's still an adjustment.

Steve is big on birthdays. I've written his parents a variety of ways, but for this particular scenario I'm going to settle on the idea that they loved celebrating his birthday when he was younger but didn't like it as much as he got older. I feel like his parents wanted a kid, not a person, and once Steve stopped being a kid, it stopped being fun for them and time for him to finish growing up and become a man. So, Steve is big on birthdays because he remembers loving them as a kid, hating them as a teenager, and then learning to love them again with the Party. Once Eddie becomes a solid part of their group, Steve wants him to have that, too.

They fight about it at first. Steve is a bit pushy. He can be a lot, and Eddie is still uncomfortable with the idea of doing a lot for his birthday. They fight about it, briefly, until they come to the conclusion that they can make Eddie's birthday little and Steve's birthday big, just as it suits them.

Eddie usually wants to go out for ice cream for his birthday, and that's it. Steve's is for the adventures they take, like driving up to Lake Michigan for a weekend or going into Chicago to see a concert.

They wouldn't have it any other way.

[oregon-barbi13]

I am going to put it all out there! IDGAF!

So, I'll begin by saying how healing this is gonna be!

today I am from the "wishamotherfuckerwoods" tribe. today i lay it all bare. i am disappointed. i am heartbroken. i am angry. i feel cheated. i feel manipulated. i feel lied to. I feel taken advantage of. today i am a mother of a child that the system has failed. yea. i said it. the judicial system has failed my child. Her rapest sits in jail and they drag their feet with getting court ordered evalutations, for what? so they can get rich? who fucking wins here? every single time we are forced to "revisit" these court ordered evaluations, we are revictimized. I have to relive the night my daughter, the human being that i grew in my my womb, however she may have gotten there, was raped by the spermdonor that raped me.

the system has failed. it takes weeks for documents to make it to the correct places to make it into the right hands. then it takes more weeks for it to be processed, why? because there aren't enough people to handle the case loads. like wake up people this is not ok. my child shouldn't have to endure 3 years of having to relive this nightmare just to be told and given the hope only to have it strip away at the end it. you have made me the bad guy. because every single time you all decide to drag your feet and order yet another evaluation you postpone the "sentencing" and i am the one she turns to because i am her safety. i have to tell her that the system is failing and i wish i could fix it but i can't. all i can do is give her a voice. make sure that her story is told and that what happened to her never happens to another girl ever again, and to the girls going through something similiar, reach out, you are not alone. mamas, i implore you to reach out, please, i promise you are not the failure here, the system is.

just when i thought i was healing, here comes all the emotions screaming back up like a valcano. the guilt. the shame. the disgust. the odasacity. I am absolutely just blown away by what's being projected on to our youth. this is disgusting yall. we need to do better. we need to hold these people accountable for the trauma. abuse. trauma. it's not ok. yall our youth are committing suicide at a desprately alarming rate. their mental health matters. their feelings matter. they are people. yall, we all need to learn how to navigate these huge emotions, like abdaondmant trauma, trauma bonding, our parents didn't have these studies or services available to them. that's not an excuse, everyone's accountable. but to ask a 15 year old to make these kinds of decisions AND uphold societial norms.

i am so tired of being forced to relive every single abuse that has ever been handed to me by the wade family. from the physical right down to the kidnapping of my daughter. i have lived my life in fear of them taking her away from me. ryan spent the weekend in sept raping the child he raped me to get. rape has many forms. what he did to me was rape. i was scared. i didn't want to be in the relationship but i thought i was doing the right thing by at least giving him a chance, hoping that he would grow up after his child had arrived. he did not. i asked for a couple of weeks to get my shit togheter. I wanted to spend some time with my daughter and spend some time thinking and deciding if i could actually be a single parent. because at the time i wasn't even sure i wanted to be with travis. ryan and cindy confronted the gem county police department who then met them at tom cabin diner and said, "because there is no custody in place, you take her anywhere you want and there's nothing legally she can do." i was fucking crushed. they kept her from me for seven days. i had no way of knowing if she was cold or hungry or anything. their excuse for taking her like that? " Sarah would have done it"

i am fucking angry. because this isn't fair. my daughter has to relive, i'm forced to relive. my family is forced to relive.

[guillemelgat]

So here’s the gist of the family vocab included in the book, I’m not going to super explain stuff/go into dialectal variation atm because I was planning to do that for a separate post. If you’re confused then survival Malayalam you need to know the words for mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, child, older brother, and older sister – these are ones that I hear a lot (well, at least the variants that my family uses which I’m not going to put here). Other Malayalees, please share what you use/distinctions you make, (especially if you’re not Nayars since that’s what my family is).

കുടുംബം /kuṭumbam/ - family

തറവാട് /taṟavātŭ/ - family house*

അമ്മ /amma/ - mother

അച്ഛൻ /acchan/ - father

മുത്തച്ഛൻ /muttacchan/ - grandfather

മുത്തശ്ശി /muttaśśi/ - grandmother

ചിറ്റപ്പൻ /ciṟṟappan/ - father's younger brother

ഭാര്യ /bhārya/ - wife

ഭര്ത്താവ് /bhartāvŭ/ - husband

കുട്ടി /kuṭṭi/ - child

ആണ്കുട്ടി /ānkuṭṭi/ - boy (lit. male child)

പെണ്കുട്ടി /peṇkuṭṭi/ - girl (lit. female child)

മകൻ /makan/ - son

മകൾ /makaḷ/ - daughter

��േട്ടൻ /cēṭṭan/ - older brother

അനിയൻ /aniyan/ - younger brother

ചേച്ചി, ചേടത്തി /cēcci, cēṭatti/ - older sister

ചേടത്തി അമ്മ /cēṭatti amma/ - wife of oldest brother**

അമ്മാവൻ, അമ്മാമൻ /ammāvan, ammāman/ - uncle

അമ്മാവി, അമ്മായി /ammāvi, ammāyi/ - aunt

മരുമകൻ /marumakan/ - nephew or son-in-law

അളിയൻ /aḷiyan/ - brother-in-law

* - Here's Wikipedia's explanation of what this is

** - the wife of the head of the Tharavad/family house, since Nayars are matriarchal she's very important

[witches-grimm]

Cooking Journey

Okay, this does have something to do with blog, but it is also some personal growth I wanted to share.

When I was really young, I would love to cook...even though what I made most times weren't fully edible (salt does not belong on salads filled with grapes, pickles and tuna) and sometimes weird (seafood spaghetti, though it was good). I did however manage to make homemade chicken noodle soup for my mama when I was 6, and it was pretty good.

However, as I headed into the double digits, cooking didn't interest me. I didn't like to cook; it took too long, didn't have the ingredients, was too difficult, wasn't going to taste good, ect... The closest things I would make was tacos and spaghetti.

Now, coming at 20 years old, I'm finding myself trying to cook more often, mainly on my days off; seeing as I still live with my family. But, as a closeted witch, I've decided to make this a way to connect with my magik...without my mom knowing. And, seeing as I'm still a new witch as well, I wanted to test out what I've learned.

And honestly?

It has been working perfectly!

Every time I've cooked, I've always added intentions to them and strengthen it with spices, humming little tunes that would center in, whatever I do to center myself into my craft. Without fail, be it the day after or the whole week, what I've intented to happen has happened.

And, even though I've had to look for recipes to follow, I've started to feel like I'm gaining a bit of freedom...like I'm growing.

And I honestly have to thank the witching community for that.

My first act of cooking/baking witchcraft. I wanted to celebrate my first Yule, however as I've said, I didn't want my mom to know. So I said I found a dessert recipe and wanted try it out with my sis. My sis, who probably knows that I'm interested in witchcraft, went with it.

I had gotten into a fandom recently for Hazbin Hotel and one of the characters I liked, Alastor, was from New Orleans. So I had looked up some good ol' southern food and found shrimp and sausage gumbo. Now the thing about Gumbo, or any southern or Cajun food, is that there are a lot of spices you can put in it. So I worked my magic. The intention behind this dish was to make the following days productive and rewarding.

This one may seem lazy at first, but a Shepard's pie is only as good as the meats and potato's flavor. Everyone had been cold and sick lately, so I had put a dash of cayenne, some onions and a lot of garlic(our family loves garlic) into this dish. Comfy, warm and hits the spot.

I actually just made this not too long ago; and, I actually worked today too! So progress there!

There wasn't any leftovers like usual from the family dinner, so I just put together some chicken broth, onion, garlic, mushrooms and rice noodles into a quick soup. I also added some sweet chili sauce, cause I'm a sucker for it.

With this dish, I merely wanted to have a good night and a successful tommorow.

[shoujocentral]

Ume Aihara- Best Yuri Mom? (Mother's Day!)

If there's one thing I feel is underrepresented in yuri manga and anime (besides decent male characters) it's mothers. Maybe I just haven't read enough yuri, though I doubt that, but it seems like we rarely get an insight into the characters' families and their view on the girls' relationships. Particularly, I would think that since mothers are usually close with their daughters, there would be plenty of yuri girls going to their moms for advice or comfort.

Thankfully, none other than Citrus mangaka Saburouta delivered to us a character who I consider not only the best mom in yuri history, but one of the best moms in anime/manga period.

Today, we are going to be showing our appreciation for Ume Aihara, mother of Yuzu and Mei Aihara.

(Look at dis precious lil smile! LOOK AT IT!)

Oh, this woman... this beautiful, wonderful, angel of a woman. Where do I even begin with her? Well, how about I start with the fact that she's a construction worker?

I can't tell if this is awesome, adorable, or both. Probably gonna go with both 😎

Setting that aside, one could say that Ume being a construction worker is a (likely unintentional) parallel for how tough and hard working she is. Because this woman has had it rough.

To truly dive into how much I love this woman, I need to point out a chapter of Citrus that's often overlooked: Chapter 35.2, the Volume 8 Special.

It's in this chapter where we learn how Ume and Shou first met... and it wasn't exactly on the friendliest terms. Basically, Ume caught Shou spying on Mei as she left school and confronted him, thinking he was a stalker. Of course, finding out why he was really watching her didn't help much either.

I already love how she's unapologetically calling Shou out on his BS. If you ask me, the dude needs way more than a couple slaps on the back, but that's another discussion for another time.

As the conversation continues, Shou reveals that he left because he felt he needed to grow from an immature person in order to become a true parent to Mei. Ume mutters to herself "To become a parent..."

And we are then treated to two of the most heart-wrenching pages in all of Citrus.

There were a total of 3 times I cried while reading Citrus: when Mei broke down at the end of Chapter 35, the entirety of Chapter 36, and this. This shit right here literally drilled a hole in my heart.

Ume has gone through some shit. Yuzu was only 5 years old when her father died, so it must have happened relatively early into their marriage. What makes it even worse is the fact that Yuzu doesn't seem to understand yet that her father is gone for good. And wouldn't you know, she happens to do an impression of her father right when Ume is having what could be the umpteenth emotional breakdown.

Now, because I like to overanalyze things, I'm gonna take it a step further and assume that Ume's line "To become a parent..." is implying that before her husband's death, she wasn't exactly the most responsible parent towards Yuzu. Her line "Mama is always crying even though she's already an adult" shows a hint of immaturity that still lingers within her. Chibi Yuzu bleaching her hair like her father (supposedly) further drives this home by implying that she loved him so much, she wanted to be just like him, unlike how most daughters aspire to be like their mother.

After seeing this, Ume realized that she had to stop moping around, chin up, and become the parent that Yuzu needs and deserves. She already knew that raising a child alone was going to be hell, and probably thought she wasn't fit to do so, but damn if she wasn't going to give it everything she had.

If that wasn't enough, she blindly agrees in a drunken state to marry this neglectful toolbag and raise his daughter for him. As if one teenage daughter wouldn't already be a handful...

But you know what? She did it. She raised one beautiful girl and took in another without question. Because that's just the kind of person she is. She's a construction worker, building a family and carrying the weight of the responsibility of making sure that family remains stable.

Of course, I couldn't talk about Ume without mentioning this:

What can I say that hasn't already been said?

In Chapter 23, Yuzu met up with some of her old friends. And they just happened to be a couple of homophobes. As you can probably imagine, Yuzu didn't take this very well.

Many chapters later, after Mei left, all of Yuzu's pent-up feelings come pouring out as she, for all she knows, risks the love and respect of her own mother in order to get her pain off her chest. Lucky for her, Ume is a loving, supportive goddess. And what follows is one of the (criminally) few mother-daughter moments in all of Citrus, but it's probably my favorite conversation in the entire story. For real.

In conclusion, Ume Aihara's role in Citrus may be small, but what little we do get of her is just too good to be overlooked. Saburouta gave us a yuri mother who's not only supportive of her daughter's gay incestuous romance, but a mother who's been to hell and back and is still exerting all her effort to raise a beautiful family.

You see this? This byotiful fam right here? This is all Ume's doing. Don't you forget that.

Also, she breaks the Citrus universe rule of "If she breathes, she's gay," so that's kinda refreshing in my book 😋

Here's to you, Ume! The greatest mom in all of Yuri!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! ❤️😊❤️

[klassikhiphop]

2PAC - CHANGES LYRICS & TRADUCTION

[2Pac] 

I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself 

Is life worth livin'? Should I blast myself? 

I'm tired of bein' poor and, even worse, I'm black 

My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch 

Cops give a damn about a negro 

Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero 

"Give the crack to the kids, who the hell cares? 

One less hungry mouth on the welfare!" 

First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers 

Give 'em guns, step back, watch 'em kill each other 

"It's time to fight back," that's what Huey said 

Two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead 

I got love for my brother 

But we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other 

We gotta start makin' changes 

Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers 

And that's how it's supposed to be 

How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me? 

I'd love to go back to when we played as kids 

But things change… and that's the way it is 

[Talent] 

That's just the way it is 

Things'll never be the same 

That's just the way it is, aww yeah 

That's just the way it is 

Things'll never be the same 

That's just the way it is, aww yeah 

[2Pac] 

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces 

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races 

We under, I wonder what it takes to make this 

One better place, let's erase the wasted 

Take the evil out the people, they'll be actin' right 

‘Cause both black and white are smokin' crack tonight 

And the only time we chill is when we kill each other 

It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other 

And although it seems heaven-sent 

We ain't ready to see a black president 

It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact 

The penitentiary's packed and it's filled with blacks 

But some things will never change 

Try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game 

Now tell me, what's a mother to do? 

Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you 

You gotta operate the easy way 

"I made a G today," but you made it in a sleazy way 

Sellin' crack to the kids 

"I gotta get paid!" — well hey, but that's the way it is 

[Talent] 

That's just the way it is 

Things'll never be the same 

That's just the way it is, aww yeah 

That's just the way it is 

Things'll never be the same 

That's just the way it is, aww yeah 

[2Pac] 

We gotta make a change 

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes 

Let's change the way we eat 

Let's change the way we live 

And let's change the way we treat each other 

You see the old way wasn't workin' 

So it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive 

[2Pac] 

And still I see no changes; can't a brother get a little peace? 

It's war on the streets and a war in the Middle East 

Instead of war on poverty 

They got a war on drugs so the police can bother me 

And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do 

But now I'm back with the facts, givin' it back to you 

Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up 

Crack you up and pimp-smack you up 

You gotta learn to hold your own 

They get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone 

But tell the cops they can't touch this 

I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this 

That's the sound of my tool 

You say it ain't cool, my mama didn't raise no fool 

And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped 

And I never get to lay back 

‘Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback 

Some buck that I roughed up way back 

Comin' back after all these years 

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat," that's the way it is 

[Talent] 

That's just the way it is 

Things'll never be the same 

That's just the way it is, aww yeah 

(You're my brother, you're my sister) 

That's just the way it is 

Things'll never be the same 

That's just the way it is, aww yeah 

[ 2Pac] 

Some things'll never change

TRADUCTION CHANGES - 2PAC

Je ne vois aucun changement quand je me lève le matin 

Et que je me demande si la vie vaut d'être vécue, dois-je me tirer une balle ? 

J'en ai marre d'être pauvre et pire encore d'être noir

Mon estomac me fait mal donc je cherche un porte-monnaie à arracher 

Les flics s'en foutent des négros 

Appuyer sur la gachette, tuer un nègro, c'est un héros 

Donner le crack aux enfants tout le monde s'en fout 

Une bouche de moins à nourrir pour l'assistance sociale 

Tu leur fournis de la drogue et leur laisses vendre leurs frères 

Tu leur donnes des flingues te retires pour les voir s'entre-tuer 

C'est le moment de contre-attaquer comme un Huey disait 

Deux détonations dans le noir, désormais Huey est mort 

J'aime mon frère mais nous n'arriverons jamais à rien 

Si nous ne partageons pas 

Nous devons commencer à faire des changements

Apprends à me voir comme un frère 

Plutôt que de penser que nous sommes de lointains étrangers 

Et c'est ainsi que ce doit être 

Comment le diable peut-il s'emparer d'un frère s'il est près de moi ? 

J'aimerais revenir aux jours où nous jouions comme des enfants 

Mais les choses ont changé, et c'est ainsi 

Allez, allez 

C'est ainsi 

Les choses ne seront jamais comme avant 

C'est ainsi 

Eh oui 

Je ne vois pas de changement, tout ce que je ne vois que des racistes 

La haine mal placée cause des problèmes raciaux 

Nous subissons je me demande ce que ça apporte de faire ça 

Une meilleure place, supprimons le gâchis 

Enlever le mal des gens, ils agiront bien 

Car noirs comme blancs fument du crack cette nuit 

Et le seul moment où nous nous rencontrons est quand nous nous tuons 

Ca demande des capacités pour être vrai, 

C'est le moment de nous soigner 

Et bien qu'il semble que le paradis l'ait envoyé 

Nous ne sommes pas prêts, à voir un président noir 

Ce n'est pas un secret, ne nie pas ce fait 

Les prisons sont pleines, et remplies de noirs 

Mais certaines choses ne changeront jamais 

On essaie de te montrer une autre voie mais tu restes dans la drogue 

Maintenant, dis-moi ce qu'une mère peut faire 

Etre vrai ne réveille pas le frère en toi 

Tu dois choisir la voie normale 

J'ai eu un G aujourd'hui mais tu l'as eu par paresse 

Tu vends du crack aux gens. Il me faut de l'argent, 

Eh bien, c'est ainsi 

Nous devons faire un changement... . 

C'est le moment pour nous en tant que peuple de faire des changements. 

Changeons notre manière de manger, changeons notre manière de vivre 

Changeons notre manière de nous comporter les uns envers les aux autres 

Tu vois, l'ancienne manière ne fonctionnait pas donc c'est à nous 

De faire ce qu'il faut faire, pour survivre 

Et encore, je ne vois aucun changement, 

Un frère ne peut-il pas obtenir un peu de paix 

C'est la guerre dans la rue et au Moyen-Orient 

Au lieu de combattre la pauvreté, ils combattent la drogue 

Pour que la police puisse me mettre des bâtons dans les roues 

Et je n'ai jamais commis de crime que je pouvais ne pas commettre 

Mais revenons en aux noirs et je te le redis 

Ne les laisse pas t'attraper, te rabaisser, 

Te mettre dans le crack et les proxénètes te claquer 

Tu dois apprendre à te comporter 

Ils sont jaloux quand ils te voient avec un téléphone portable 

Mais dis aux flics qu'ils ne peuvent pas y toucher 

Je n'ai pas confiance quand ils se ramènent je sors mon flingue 

C'est le bruit de mon jouet, tu dis que c'est pas cool

Ma mère n'a pas élevé un idiot 

Et aussi longtemps que je serai noir, je dois rester armé 

Et je ne pourrai jamais avoir de repos 

Car il faudra toujours que je me méfie des retours de bâtons 

Des types que j'ai maltraité il y a très longtemps 

Revenant après toutes ces années 

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat c'est ainsi