#i’m biased because i speak german

[arcadianico]

i hope niki decides to only speak german. it would be funny

[muffincupv]

I think it’s super interesting how the patriarchy is so embedded into our culture that our modern language helps push patriarchal values.

I’ve done a bit of personal research into this topic and thought I would share it here

(Note this was a quick highschool project so it’s not super in-depth but I would love other people’s thoughts on it) sorry this is long :)

I’m currently taking a class in my high school where we are talking about gender, feminism, sexuality, and the patriarchy. Specifically how the patriarchy is imbedded in our day to day lives and how it’s effects intersect with other issues such as racism, homophobia, classism, etc.

I looked into the English language and linguistic relativity.

An Analysis of Sexism in English

In the English lexicon, one of the most obvious evidences of sexism is the affixes which lead to a view of women as a deviation from men. This is commonly seen with suffixes such as -ess or -ette.

Example: Actor “ a person who plays the part of a character in a movie or play”, when attached to a feminine suffix –ess, becomes actress with the meaning of “ woman with profession similar to those of actor”. ← othering of women as if Femininity is inherently not human. Why is actor “a person” while Actress is “A woman” why make the distinction?

Other examples include:

Masculine Feminine

ambassador ambassadress

duke duchess

prince princess

poet poetess

Sometimes adding the suffix -ett or -ess completely changes the meaning and value of the word. (Govenor vs Goveness- one rules a country the other teaches children in their homes).

Why does this matter?

We need to considered how language is intimately tied to behavior, knowledge, and culture. Sapri-Whorf Hypothesis, more commonly known as linguistic relativity is the theory that a person's language changes how they perceive the world around them. Since its conception, this theory has been widely debated. However, most people believe the theory, it's debated how much language impacts our culture, but the idea that it has an impact is backed up by many studies.

Studies include Colour study, how Russian speakers could identify colors faster than English speakers + How German speakers lost that ability after years of speaking English. Note that Russian and German both have more labels for colors, differing them from English speakers.

How has our language accidentally othered femininity?

The acoustic and perceptual bases of judgments of women and men's sexual orientation from read speech.

This studies how people view sexual orientation based on their speech and voice. They found that gay men were easier to identify than lesbians even though they both changed their speech. Men would raise their voice, feminine while women would lower theirs to be more masculine. This shows how femininity is easier to identify because we see it as an “other” so when women show more masculine traits we gloss over it because we see it as more “normal”.

This is only one example that shines light on how we don’t even notice these biases. There are likely hundreds of more that we can't even begin to imagine because it is so ingrained in our day-to-day life, our culture, and our society.

Impact/intersect

Misogyny and Homophobia: Patriarchy, gender policing, and the Male Gaze

It’s hard to tell which came first. Did our black and white language accidentally push an anti feminine belief or has misogyny and the patriarchy impacted our day to day speech? Either way at this point it’s more of a cycle constantly pushing patriarchal values.

Misogyny is not only the act of hating women but hating anything seen as “feminine”. When it comes to homophobia gay men and lesbian women are treated differently. Homosexual men tend to suffer discrimination and abuse because they don’t fit what is considered “manly” This is why people say things like “that's so gay” as an insult. Men not adhering to masculinity or showing more feminine traits are discouraged.

On the other hand, lesbians get more hate due to fetishization and breaking the patriarchy. Many queer women in WLW presenting relationships have experienced comments including “Can I get in on that” or “I can join in if you want a threesome”. Interestingly, “butch” women and others who present more masculine are “treated with fear and contempt for trying to encroach on traditionally male territory and not conforming to normative ideals of female beauty” (Williamson, 7).

Obviously there’s more impacts that have resulted however I just focused on homophobia as an example of intersectionality. If you have any other examples feel free to add on and share them.

Anyways thanks for listening to my rant I just thought it was interesting :)

[alovelyburn]

Sometimes I read the rants from those who have a critical and contextual approach to Berserk about being disparaged with “the fandom” being unable to understand the bare minimum of the story and… I really would like to console you all, because I don’t think young American boys and bros on Reddit or YouTube venting their limited views are a valid representation for the Berserk fandom or even the western fandom. Other countries have very different attitudes while appreciating Berserk and the complexity of the story and also for example most Europeans have actual historical knowledge through physical buildings, songs and tales to know about mercenaries and continued warfare and violence. Discussions aren’t exclusively in English. And when I look at the English speaking fandom I feel that division or radical interpretations or fighting about morality or what not is motivated by particular biases and what the education system has been prioritizing. I’m sorry. I wish I could give you examples of how French, Italian or German for example people such have interesting conversations about historical stuff or art and movies that could have inspired Miura and even the boys are good with accepting multiple interpretations of Guts and Griffith’s relationship without making a big deal of everything and without the attitude of “condemning evil people”.

Oh, I know this is really an English-language fandom issue, absolutely. I've heard a bit here and there about Spanish fandom, but I couldn't really attest to what's going on there first hand. Way back in the day I used to follow a massive Italian Berserk fansite and the discussions there were much more interesting and nuanced even taking into consideration that I don't know italian and had to read through Google translate.

The main non-english fandom I'm familiar with is, of course, the Japanese fandom which, again, is significantly different in tone, in conversational topics, in variety of opinions expressed. For me, this is really where I draw most of my understanding of the series (or rather where I draw the validation of most of my understanding of the series) because in the end it's a Japanese story written for Japanese people by a man who said directly that even though it's a European-esque setting it's ultimately about Japan (thematically, I mean, obviously the influences are all over the place). It's the fact that the Japanese fandom thinks more like me than they do like the rest of English-speaking fandom that keeps me sane, because ultimately the Japanese readers are the ones with the most... hm, accurate? contextual understanding of what Miura was going for/trying to say. Particularly because, as I've said before, in a lot of cases a character type that reads one way to one culture will read very differently to another culture. Griffith being a major example of that.

I'm honestly not sure what is going on with the English-speaking fandom. I have some theories, but in the end it is kind of a mystery to me.

[practicecourts]

8, 13 & 26 please!❤️

Nationality asks here

BRB looking up those numbers, lol

26 I just answered, diamonds, dope and windmills, oh and we don’t speak Dutch but something between Danish and German.

8. do you get confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom?

On holidays I get confused for French, Italian or Spanish, which is more to do with my looks than anything else. Sometimes this happens here too, probably because I live in a city with quite a few ex-pats.

13. does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?

My father’s family has played a version of hide and seek for generations, my kids still play (usually more than 2 generations join, games can take more than a day:) and it’s the best game ever imo (I’m biased of course ;)

[crychan]

hi! saw you asked about the dream/quackity situation and i think the answer you got was a lil' biased so i thought i'd say some stuff too. after quackity announced qsmp dream made a priv tweet saying he was "excited to see Quackity's server." then he added "just though i'd say in advance that i've been working on a similar thing to collaborate with creators from around the world, so people aren't up in arms about copying when it happens haha." he uploaded a vid yesterday where he and a bunch of friends all speaking diff languages (i think it was spanish, japanese, german, russian, hindi, and others) beat minecraft together. they seemed to be having a lot of fun? and when there were translation errors they could either explain or go along with the bit to be funnier. personally i think the mod is really cool because it means creators don't have to learn five diff languages fluently to be part of a worldwide server. like, asking creators to do that is just insane, so dream's mod lets them all communicate with people they wouldn't otherwise have been able to talk to.

sorry i shared my own opinion in the end instead of presenting the plain facts, but i hope this was helpful/illuminating/vaguely interesting! have a nice day :)

oops forgot to mention dream put this in the description of his video: "Whenever this mod's bugs are fixed and it's features are added, I plan on releasing this to the public for free, and with open source so anyone can make any additions they want with ease."

Omg thank you for this thorough reply to my question! I think you remained pretty objective. I’m majorly out of my MCYT phase, but still follow Dream and Quackity’s privs on twt, and the vibe I got from them was much more friendly and respectful like you’re describing. Just individual efforts towards the same goal of positive multicultural interactions!

I’m sure OP had good intentions, and their concerns that perhaps Dream isn’t giving enough respect and credit to the work that Quackity has done is totally valid. As a bilingual, multicultural person, Quackity is certainly breaking ground and trailblazing uncharted terrain. The fear that Dream might swoop in a somehow take over an idea that Quackity has been working on for longer? 100% Valid. But they are friends, with similar goals. I’m a big believer they want what’s best for each other, and themselves. Nobody’s feelings need to get hurt. Any problems they have about each other’s projects, they will work them out privately. Whether the fans can accept that? That’s another problem for another day! 😅

Thank you again for your message! I hope you have a wonderful day🥰💕

[the-travelling-witch]

You may not answer the other kaeya singing asks because this might make you upset but: childe feels like someone who would enjoy german rap tbh like the "du bist heute mit mir" remix types

oh no, i wasn’t upset at all, i just haven’t listened to the songs in a while so my mind kinda blanked

yeah, i can see that and i’m torn between can speak german and sings along or cannot speak german and sings along (probably the latter); i think he’d also really like slavic music but that might be because he is the genshin equivalent of russian, so that thought might be biased

[cursecuelebre]

1. Deconstruct fear first especially before going into deity and spirit work cause you may contact an infernal and be terrified and they don’t want that it limits progression and learning. I learned from it and I’m glad that I did but most importantly deconstruct from fears and biases they probably won’t be as you expected them to be.

2. Do not buy ten million things if a witch tells you to they’re lying. You can easily do beginner spells with objects you already own in your house if you have candles, salt, olive oil, herbs in your cabinet, a bowl/dish, a piece of paper, a lighter, tap water, a cup, you are set for spell work. lot of people don’t realize we can do witchcraft very affordable and free if we look in the cabinets or outside walking in nature. If you don’t say any candles or herbs easily go to a grocery store in America we have Walmart or any thing also thrifting is a valid option. Aesthetic witchcraft on Instagram doesn’t happen in the real world it’s going to get messy period.

3.Learn in different cultures and how they view witchcraft and what is their traditions. I’m German and part of my German family is from Pennsylvania Dutch which has their own folk magic and traditions. Learning my ancestors traditions when it comes to magic.

4. I guess my ancestors can be considered to be and they are very protective and welcoming to speak to me. I’m talking about like minded ancestors that were once pagan and witches I haven’t really talked to my Christian ancestors. I guess a animal spirit that is a bear and this bear is not one type but multiple and I don’t know he feels quite like a teacher I haven’t really connected with that spirit unless in my dreams.

5. Not a mentor but when I do become more knowledgeable and experienced I wouldn’t mind starting a YouTube channel sharing my knowledge.

6. Just be well connected to nature. Everything happens for a reason and knowledge is key to wisdom. Also Balance, balance of the occult and the mundane world. If someone is not hurting anyone (except if they are cursing abusers and oppression), hurting the environment including animals, or hurting themselves I don’t care what people do in their practices.

7. I don’t mind it especially if it’s for self-love, love spells can also help nudge someone to look in the caster’s direction to increase attractiveness but if someone cast it to make it so that they are obsessed with them is very much a problem because it’s affecting someone’s freewill.

8. Mostly focused on folk magic and traditional witchcraft right now

9. Scrying is one of them, improving on my meditations, how to be more considerate to the environment, most of all finding a comfortable spot in my practice to actively focus on.

10. Solitary witch and always will be

11. Tarot

12. Yes but not like how Wiccans believe if it’s justified and done right a less chance of backfiring or you cast it at another witch.

13. I do both, I do it when it feels right.

14. Becoming more advanced in my spirit work

14. It’s hard for me to choose if I’m doing the right thing and accept what’s actually right and fully committing to something unless I feel confident that it’s the right decision.

16. Falling asleep during meditations

17. That infernals are all inherently evil and I’m so glad that I woke up and realized what a stupid belief it was.

18. Evoking deities when my anxiety gets bad, Odin is who I mostly rely on and just imagining his cloak around me securing me it helps calm down.

19. I really do not know

20. My poppets that I made it turn out super well

21. My catholic folk magic and Christian witchcraft

22. The stress of think what’s good and evil and right and wrong

Witchcraft Questions

a list of questions based on the major arcana

the fool: whats a mistake you may have made when starting out or something you often see baby witches do that you wish they didnt/wasnt so common?

the magician: whats some advice you might have for people who might be interested in witchcraft?

the high priestess: whats your favourite bit of witchy knowledge or your favourite bit to research?

the empress: whats your relationship like with your guides? (if you have any and are comfortable sharing)

the emperor: would you ever be a mentor witch and why or why not?

the hierophant: is there a set of rules you go by in your craft?

the lovers: thoughts on love magic?

the chariot: how'd you choose your current path/craft practices?

strength: whats a challenge in witchcraft youre determined to overcome?

the hermit: are you a coven or solitary witch? (do you prefer having a group to practice with or prefer doing it all on your own?)

the wheel of fortune: if you do divination, whats your favourite or preferred method/form of divination?

justice: do you believe that what you cast out will come back to you in some way?

the hanged man: do you prefer waiting for moon phases or do you just cast whenever?

death: whats a change you want to happen?

temperance: how adaptable are you to change?

the devil: whats something you should stop but just cant bring yourself to?

the tower: whats something you used to believe but now realize isnt true?

the star: whats something, spell/media/charm etc, that calms you or cheers you up?

the moon: whats a rumor you heard that you arent sure is true or not?

the sun: whats something youre very proud of?

judgement: whats something youre thankful for but wish to "close the book" on?

the world: whats something youre glad is over and why?

[viola-halogen]

4, 5, 13, 18, 23?

4: Did you learn any languages at school? If yes, what were they?

Yes! I’ve done Spanish for both GCSE and A level. I also did French in year 7 because it was compulsory and Russian in year 8 and 9 for fun.

5: What is the prettiest language?

I really like the sound of German. I watched a lot of German TV shows/films a few years ago and I think it’s a really nice sounding language. I also love the sound of Spanish, but I’m probably biased in that regard.

13: Choose a Slavic (eastern European) language you’d like to learn.

Probably Croatian because I’ve been to Croatia on holiday and I’d love to go back there and be able to speak the language. I think Polish would be pretty cool as well.

18: Name a dead language that you wish to make a comeback.

The Sumerian language! I’m not a historian but ancient history is really interesting to me and I love hearing about it from people who do know a lot about it. And languages are generally something that interests me so ancient languages are doubly cool.

23: What language uses the prettiest alphabet?

Japanese. I once tried to learn Japanese through an online course and while it really didn’t work out I loved learning about the Japanese writing system. It’s extremely complicated, but also very pretty.

Thank you for the ask!

[elmer-kasprzak]

in honor of my post abt not every newsie being a wasp becoming my most popular post, here’s some fun hcs about the newsies nationalities and a sprinkle of religion (not much)

david jacobs - we’ll start with the most popular i suppose. he’s ethnically and religiously jewish, and i’m thinking his family is from a german-speaking country. austria is probably likely (there were a lot of jewish people in austria in the late 1800s), but germany is also a likely option. his parents probably emigrated to america before he can remember, and at the very least les was born in new york. all three siblings can speak german fluently, though they don’t have much of an accent. they were raised in new york.

elmer kasprzak - not to be biased or anything, but i’ve done quite a few thinks about elmer and his family history. he’s from poland, and moved to new york with his mom and dad sometime after his 5th birthday. because he grew up with english as a second language, he most likely had to attempt to learn a “proper” new york accent. he was born in a village close to the german-polish boarder, and so he probably also could speak some german. he could understand more than he could speak.

racetrack higgins - okay this is specifically talking about livesies racetrack (because 92sies racer is so very italian /pos). points. that man is irish, through and through. i want to say first or second generation american, but the idea that he has an irish accent is fucking hilarious so maybe he was born in ireland. either way, he’s catholic. a HUGE majority of irish people who moved to america were catholic, so it would make sense that he was, too.

york - okay, okay. i know he’s not technically a livesies or 92sies newsie, but i think he deserves to be talked about more. originally, this hc was a joke, but then i thought about it and suddenly i decided it was no longer a joke. york is from york. old york. britain. he’s a british little fuck and he has the accent and it’s so good. granted, because he moved to new york when he was 10, it’s a bit faded, but it’s DEFINITELY still noticeable. he’s proud of it, so good for him. actually, he’s probably the most wasp you can get.

graves - okay so this is something i’ve affectionately dubbed the anthony zas effect. basically, any newsie he plays is polish. graves is second generation american, although he doesn’t have much connection to his polish heritage. it’s most prominent in his surname (i hc it to be dudek, but that’s just me), but only spot really knows that. he’s also not one specific denomination of christian, and so he avoids any shit based off of that. he kinda flies under the radar.

buttons - okay i lied about york. this is the most wasp-like newsie. his last name is davenport. do i need to say more? he doesn’t really know much about his heritage. his family has been in america since before the civil war, and so it doesn’t really matter to him where he’s from. (hint: he’s british. that man is just english and it’s really funny).

okay… i’m so very exhausted so this list is short but if you have anyone else you want me to yell about when it comes to nationality hcs, lmk because i absolutely will. i’m vaguely thinking about more poc newsies, but i need to do more research on immigration policies before i do anything for them. until then, enjoy, gay people.

[omg-im-such-a-masochist]

Hello Beautiful! First off, (very belated) happy birthday to my fellow libra queen!

Secondly, I'm updating my first Damian Priest fic atm and I want/need inspiration 😂!

An hc with a single mom reader and she has all sorts of issues with men and D proves her wrong in many ways 💕

Much love 🥰❤️

Hi, darling! Well, thank you very much 🥰 And I’m biased about how incredible Libra folks are 🤣, but we are pretty amazing 😉 (Damian’s a living proof of it 😂)

Uhhh, nice! Good luck with your writing 💓 OMG, this is EVERYTHING 😍

Much love to you, sweetie 😘💋

@ziasaph, @alyhull, @theworldofotps, @sophiewolfheart-blog, @new-zealand-chic, @aerynscrichton, @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch, @sassymox, @ava-valerie, @sultryfandoms

Being a part time single mother was not your original plan when you first got pregnant

The father of your daughter, who at the time was your fiancé, is the lead singer of a rock band

A few years back, you went on an exchange program in Germany, to study music

You ended up meeting him and having a relationship

You got together until your daughter was one year old

Then you decided to break up, since the relationship wasn’t working anymore

But you remained very good friends

You brought your daughter back to the States and got the job of “double parenting” (at least with everyday tasks)

Now that your daughter is four years old, and is able to travel with you

You could come back to your old job as a writer on WWE

You tried to have a relationship again

But every men you’ve met, has proved themselves to be complete assholes 

So having a relationship was not on your plans...EVER again

But of course that life had it’s own way to fuck you up

And you met Damian Priest

The handsome, charming, lovely and completely out of your league, Damian Priest

He always flirts with you and throws his charm here and there 

But that was as far as it got

You never gave him any sort of informations about your personal life

And you wanted to keep that way, until he bumped into you and your daughter on the hotel room hallway

“There she is! I was looking for you“ He smiled at you and his eyes soon found your daughter “And who’s this little princess?“ He squatted down to look into her blue eyes 

“Ich heiße Ida“ She smiled at him, before looking at you “Mama, wer ist das?“

“Mama?“ Damian frowned

“He’s mommy’s friend and he doesn’t speak German, pumpkin“

“What’s your name?“ She asked with that cute heavy German accent of hers

“My name is Damian“ He smiled at her

And of course that Ida and her blunt honesty made you red with embarassment

“You’re pretty” She smiled at him “Do you want to be mama’s prince charming? Papa said we need to find her one so she doesn’t feel lonely. I don’t like seeing mama so upset. It makes me sad“ 

 “Ida, das solltest du nicht sagen!“ You reprimanded her

“I’d love to be mama’s prince charming“ Damian winked at you, which instantly made you blush even harder

“I’m going to have a tea party in my room. Do you want to come?“ She asked and before you could say something to her, he agreed “Of course, princess“

Damian played with Ida all afternoon and early night until it was her bedtime 

She snuggled with him on the pull out couch while watching cartoons on the tv

When she was deep asleep, Damian tucked her under the covers and went to the kitchen to find you 

“She’s so sweet“ He sat on the chair by your side and smiled “Why you never told me about her?“

“Why would I?“ You shrugged 

“Because I like you?“ He cackled “I think we both know that this has passed the flirting point, Y/N“ He intertwined your fingers “I really, REALLY, like you, mami. It’s beyond physical attraction, I-“ He smiled shyly “I think about you everyday and you’re the only woman that I can  really see a stable future with“ He kissed the back of your hand “And that beautiful German princess in the living room made me even more certain of it“

“So you’re ok with her? Because she’s my main priority and if you don’t accept her-“

“Baby” He quickly pecked your lips “She won my heart when she asked what was my name with that cute little accent“ He laughed and you couldn’t help but laugh along

[kittyprincessofcats]

Siggy and Hendrik betrayed me

See, I thought these two (German Eurosport commentators) were my bros, because I remember their amazing freak-outs over Rika in 2018 and their commentary about Wakaba’s low score in the Olympic SP was amazing.

But then I did this thing where because I didn’t want continue watching the Women’s shitshow I went back to watch only Yuzu’s performances AKA the only good part of these Olys that I’ve seen so far, and listened to them (and other commentators) freak out about the 4A.

And then I got curious to see if they’d said anything about the judging, so I skipped through their further commentary for the Men’s FS a bit and... I don’t get it. One the one hand they made a few valid points (like that the base value of a 4A should be way higher than it is), and there were some scoring decisions they critizied, but as soon as we reached the top 3, it was like the critical parts of their brains had been turned off.

And now I wonder if I’m the one with “tomatoes on my eyes” because I just honestly don’t understand what anyone sees in Nathan’s skating. After NC’s skate, they said this:

Hendrik: “It’s incredible how it’s possible to jump that many quads and still have a memorable program, a program that has more to offer than just jumps.”

Siggy: “Can you.. can you... I don’t know, can you say it? This is, at this point in time, really the greatest figure skater of all time, right?.”

Hendrik: ���Yes, yes. Without a doubt. Without a doubt, he dethrones Hanyu there.”

Siggy: “Yes!”

Hendrik: “Not just here in this competition, but in general, because... it’s incredible that something like this is possible.”

--------

And I’m here like... what?? I literally went back and actually watched Nathan’s performance (I hadn’t bothered until then) because I wanted to see what was possibly so amazing there. I thought ‘okay, maybe I’m being biased and missed something because I didn’t even watch it’, but then I watched it and... WHAT??? How.... how are they head over heels for this?? “Memorable program”? Bitch, where? It was literally just a bunch of crossovers with jumps and one bit of weird dance choreo?? That’s it? And that’s what you’re calling someone the GOAT over?? For a bunch of crossovers? Heck, *I* can do crossovers! Like, what?? What am I not seeing? What else is there in this program besides jumps (which aren’t even as good as Yuzu’s)? How does someone honeslty watch this and then pretend it’s some masterpiece?

And the weird thing is - Siggy and Hendrik were partially critical of the scoring until that point, but only in select places. For instance, they complained about Jason’s PCS supposedly being too high because, in their words: “Six points above Hanyu - above Hanyu!! - that’s a joke.” And I do partially agree with that - not in the sense that I think Jason doesn’t deserve very high PCS, but in the sense that Yuzu being six whole points behind that isn’t right.

But then, when freaking Nathan got an even higher PCS than Jason.. crickets, not one critical word from Siggy and Hendrik. And come on, really? You complain about Jason’s PCS being too high in comparison to Yuzu (fair), but then you don’t say a word when Nathan, who should be way behind both of them there, gets the highest PCS of the day?

And another thing is that they literally pointed out Shoma’s underrotations and even said that Yuzu should get bronze if those get deducted properly... but when Shoma’s score came up they just went “Huh, guess they didn’t deduct anything” without pointing out that that’s... you know, unfair??

----------

And what really gets me is that it’s not just Siggy and Hendrik. I switched around between languages on Eurosport player a bit and there was not a single commentator who wasn’t singing Nathan’s praises. NOT A SINGLE ONE. (Granted, I don’t speak all of those languages, but you can generally tell by tone and so on if someone’s excited or not.)

The way they were raving about him and calling him the GOAT (🔪🔪🔪) over a skate that was just mediocre AF... it makes me feel like all these commentators watched a different performance, like they think this sport is something else than what I think it is or like they’re all trying to gaslight us. (I’m glad that the general public didn’t fall for it, though. Seeing so many casual watchers point out that ‘this performance was awful, actually’ felt SO SATISFYING. We’re not crazy after all.)

And I get that as a commentator at the Olympics you maybe can’t straight-up say “Actually, this entire sport is just one big unfair ball of corruption and shouldn’t be an Olympic sport”, but I wonder when someone will finally point out that the emperor’s actually not wearing any clothes.

(Speaking of clothes, Nathan Chen’s figure skating outfits themselves should give him a 10 point deduction, and I say this completely unironically. It’s his business that he’s an insecure straight guy with fragile masculinity and therfore allergic to sparkles or whatever, but it’s actually possible to wear outfits that look masculine and still not like complete shit - just look at a whole bunch of the other male skaters for examples.)

[alexalblondo]

Talk to me about Jake Dennis I’m new to FE and thinking of stanning but I know very little about him

1. ekay, I can do that ... I think?

Just so we're clear I am insanely biased but also most of this is about him as a driver (jk jk ... it's about his abs)

1. he looks like this ... he also likes to post pictures like this on his official social media (or used to ... I think he has new management, rip)

2. he started racing in FE in 2020 / 2021 season and ... didn't get the warmest welcome? Cause he was fairly unknown at that point and people just looked at his racing record which wasn't that impressive at that point tbh so they were shitty but the then BMW i Andretti team apparently put their development drivers through a training camp to see who was the best and guess what? Ma boi was :D (there was also something about Lando fans hacking fanboost so Jake would get it i don't really remember)

3. like so many FE drivers he's also racing in other categories, mainly GT ... for example he did DTM in 2019 for Aston Martin ... he also did some GT3 stuff in 2021 but I cannot find it right now

4. and speaking of Aston Martin that's also how he became a RedBull Racing development driver, which he still is, doing simulator work for them before races (yes, I have a thing for men who've been taken hostage by that stupid energy drink company, yes, it's def me also having Stockholm Syndrom from growing up so close to them)

5. as a driver Jake Dennis is (in my absolutely biased opinion) about the best qualifier in FE, which was one of the main reasons he ended up P3 last season as a rookie, because of all the new tracks they did (Valencia E-Prix was funny as a whole but a masterclass from Jake Dennis like omg)

6. coming back to the beginning and his looks: he is insanely vain ... not a week goes by where he doesn't talk about his hair on Instagram ... yet he ALWAYS ignores people asking about his skin care routine ... rude, imo

7. aside from being very rude and talking about his hair a lot (eg his official FE vlog which had him talk about his hair for at least 2 minutes (X)) he's also a lil no thoughts head empty ... but in an insanely smart way?

8. he has a sister he clearly loves a lot

9. he's friends with A lot of drivers, like Clement Novalak or Dan Ticktum or Lando Norris, idk idk it's mostly Clem these days, which is fine by me and also @andretti-autosport who likes to message me about them (as she should) <333

10. Speaking of no thoughts: the man struggles ... like a lot ... like omg he has rotten luck, his luck is SOOO bad his struggles have their own twitter account (x) ... like if he doesn't have at least one road car issue a week it's a miracle?

11. some of those struggles are also man-made though like that time he used dish soap for his dish washer (x)

12. or him misplacing the P3 trophy ... you know the P3 CHAMPIONSHIP trophy (x)

13. another struggle could be the fact that the german and the english wikipedia pages have different birthdays for him idk idk

14. @alx-albon says he looks and sounds like Charles Leclerc except bri'ish which is rude but also true

15. Just watch the Valencia E-Prix 2021 and the London E-Prix 2021 and tell me he is not amazing, I dare you!

Anyways that's it cause I cannot find the video I wanted to link but basically: he is hot ... he is incredibly talented ... he is a lil bit stupid ... he is super nice and friendly ... he is vain ... he might be my soulmate ... you should stan him and maybe one day he'll reveal his skin care routine and you too will have as clear skin as him

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

Hi. It’s me, Fanfic Anon #2. I had the day off yesterday, so I had time to write something sooner than I normally do. Hope you all don’t mind the faster turn around (I could have waited to send it, but I’m afraid I would forget ha ha). Thank you to the Kind Anon who sent me a list of prompt suggestions. They were super helpful, and I will make my way through them. I also will get on the prompt from the German Anon (at least Google translate said that was German, I only speak English and French, so if I write to the wrong prompt eventually, blame Google).

One of the prompts the Kind Anon asked for was Emmanuel’s reaction to/comforting Brigitte after the death of her brother (I’m assuming you meant the one who died in 11/2018. I’m sorry if you were asking about someone else) so heads up, this piece is probably a little on the sadder end, but I tried to focus on the comfort part of the hurt/comfort genre. Anyways. I hope you all enjoy and have a great weekend!

He was in the middle of a meeting, finalizing the last details for the 100th anniversary of the armistice, when suddenly he was just struck by this feeling something was wrong, really wrong. He couldn’t explain it. Other than some usual adjustments that had to be made in light of Trump being a jackass, which while like everything associated with the man was certainly one of his least favorite things to deal with, nothing has happened to him today that would logically lead to this feeling in his gut.

He was about to ask a question of Alexis when the whole room heard a very weak knock coming from the back door to his office, a door only one person not presently in the room uses, all eyes turning towards a very small, very fragile looking Première Dame as she slowly, carefully, too quietly entered the room.

"Can we have the room, please?" Emmanuel politely commanded upon seeing his wife, realizing with a hard hitting clarity that this sudden sinking feeling must have had to do with her. Turning and seeing his staff still hadn’t left, he loudly ordered, "Get out! Now!"

A chorus of, "yes Mister President,"s was mumbled as they scrambled out of the room.

As soon as they were alone, he rushed to his wife’s side, and gathered her in his arms, who no sooner than when his arms encircled her tightly collapsed into him, as if her legs gave out under the weight of her tears. He’s only rarely seen her like this: when her mother died and when they lost his grandmother. And that realization, that someone must have died, sent him into a panic. But he waited until she was ready to talk to get the answer as to who, his own fear secondary to her clear anguish.

When she finally settled down a little, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her back, and waited for her to open up. "It’s my brother," she said quietly. "He’s gone."

"Oh, mon cœur," he replied, he squeezed her tighter to him. He knows they were close. He knew that although for a while their relationship was tense (because of him, because of the way her family was treated by others because of him), he knew how much she adored her brother, and he her. And for that alone, separate from his own feelings for his brother-in-law, he was grieving now too. "He loved you, so very much."

"I know. I loved him too."

"And he was so proud of you."

"Yeah, I’m not sure about that," she demurred, trying not to reflect on, remember the harsher words, the darker memories from a time she wishes she forgot.

"I am. You’re spectacular. He couldn’t have been anything less than proud."

"Your biased."

"I am just telling you the truth. But I am biased. I do love you, so very, very much. You are so strong. We will get through this."

She smiled weakly at that, and tried to pull back from him with a, "you need to get back to work and I need to help with the funeral arrangements."

"When are they thinking?”

"Well, it can’t be before Wednesday, can it?"

"Shit."

"Yeah. Practically every leader and their wife in the world is going to be here this weekend for Monday’s anniversary. We have those bilateral events planned on Saturday and Sunday too. You and me have to be here."

"If you need to go home, we can figure it out," he told her sincerely, already thinking through how they could make the logistics work.

"I am home."

"Brigitte," he sighed.

"I am serious. You need me, the country needs me -"

"Your family needs you too."

"And I’ll be with them as soon as I can. As soon as we can, right?" she asked, a little scared, a little daunted by the prospect of having to do this all alone.

"I’ll be with you every step of the way," he told her before leaning in for one deep, consoling, loving kiss.

"I need to let you get back to work," she told him when they pulled back for air.

"When you finish your call, will you come back? I just want to keep my eye on you."

"I’m okay, chéri. Really."

"Well, what if I’m not?"

She smiled indulgently at him, seeing through his attempt to make this about him so she couldn’t refuse. "Then of course I’ll be here."

"I love you!" He called out after her as she started to close the door behind her as she left.

"I love you more," she replied, pulling it flush behind her.

Hellooo, Fanfic Anon #2! ❤️

Glad you had the opportunity to publish earlier!

Yes, it was sad but at the same time, it was so beautiful... the support, the way they are always there for each other no matter what. God, it’s just so touchy 🥺 And that’s all because of the way you write and you continue to portrait them individually and as a couple 👏🏻

You have a lot of prompts in your hands hahaha cannot wait to read (im actually quite excited and curious about the “first fight”, I confess hahaha)

Thank you, fanfic Anon #2! ❤️❤️❤️

[perfectlyvalid49]

I’m sorry you’re getting sick of the responses to this post. To be honest, I’d rather your responses not be on it either. I’m hoping that if nothing else comes of this, you’ll at least think twice before jumping in to Jumblr with your lukewarm antisemitic takes.

I will say this as a person with a degree in linguistics, who has had to do translation work in Spanish, German, Latin, Old English, Middle English, and Mandarin – machine translation is great until it isn’t, and when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. There’s a whole YouTube channel devoted to running songs through Google Translate and back again and singing the ridiculous results. I’ll link to my favorite: I’ll Make a Man out of You from Disney’s Mulan. In general, if something is pretty clearly a slogan of some sort, a Google search is going to be a better friend than a straight translation, especially because machine translation almost never handles idiom well.

You say I’ve been a shit to you? Can you tell me what I did? I really did think that I was being pretty chill on the whole given that your participation in this conversation basically started with you walking into my house and taking a dump in the living room. I’ve certainly been kinder that most of the other responses to you that I’ve seen. I called you a fool because you saw something you didn’t understand and instead of asking a question, you decided to try to speak with authority while not comprehending the topic at hand. And you were antisemitic while doing it. What else would we call that but foolish?

As for the third degree burns comment, it was a joke that obviously didn’t land playing on the dual meanings of chill – “relaxed” and “cold” vs not-chill being “aggressive” and “hot”. My previous posts have been made with a pretty tight grip on my temper, as I am actually pretty annoyed with you at this point, but my anger would be burning a lot hotter if I let it, and that was the point I was trying to make.

Given that you’re not appreciative of all of the work that I’ve been doing to keep it civil though, that this thread is a pain in your rear, and that you’re not interested in whatever this is, I feel like a block is probably incoming. So, I’m gonna earn it.

I don’t think we agree on what’s going on, actually. I think the global rise in antisemitism is a tragedy, you seem to think it’s an invitation to join in. I think that best case scenario you have a ton of antisemitic biases that you have yet to examine, and the worst case scenario is that you’re a raging anti-Semite who has learned how to hide it behind appropriate turns of phrase to make it acceptable. Given that you have refused to apologize for being antisemitic, even when multiple Jewish people have confirmed that, yes, your behavior is antisemitic, I’m inclined to think that you’re closer to the latter than the former.

I’m sure that you don’t like being called antisemitic. I don’t particularly care. I don’t want to have to deal with anti-Semites on my posts. Neither of us is happy today. If you don’t want to be called antisemitic, DON’T BE ANTISEMITIC. If a Jewish person, or in this case if multiple Jewish people, tell you, “hey, that’s antisemitic, can you stop?” The appropriate response is, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.” And then you stop. That’s how you get people to stop calling you antisemitic. That’s not what you did. You doubled down, and tried to goy-slpain (And before you try to get into it, “goy” is not a slur, it just means non-Jew) to Jewish people that we were wrong. Can you not see how that might provoke a reaction?

“But I wasn’t being antisemitic, I was just – ” Shut up. Yes you were. Just because you don’t recognize something as antisemitic doesn’t mean it isn’t, it just means you’re woefully uneducated about something that you can’t seem to stay quiet about. I don’t want you to be able to continue to claim ignorance though, so let’s make a list of the antisemitic shit I saw from you today.

Derailed a post about antisemitism with a “but, Israel!” – already discussed, ad nauseum

Putting Judaism on a pedestal - this is called philosemitism and it’s also incredibly hurtful to Jewish people – still just as othering as being hateful, but now we’re not allowed to complain about it because how can we complain about you liking us?

Claiming that Israel is the one who has broken ceasefires (that was Hamas. Repeatedly), paired with complaints about hospital bombings (done by both sides, including Palestinians bombing their own hospital), and mentioning dead Palestinian children – in combination, this works to paint Israel as being particularly bloodthirsty, which is an antisemitic talking point. There are ways to discuss these things. This wasn’t it.

“Germany currently considers anti-Zionism to be antisemitism. Israel has a fascism problem” – this isn’t necessarily antisemitic, but holy non-sequitur, Batman! And there are readings of this that are antisemitic – that Jews or Israel control the German government. Consider that Germany has a somewhat unique experience with antisemitism in that they were taken to task for it in a way that no other government ever has been. Maybe they know something you’re refusing to acknowledge.

“Zionist bullshit” Zionism is a Jewish political movement, and a conversation to be had amongst Jews. As a non-Jew, your opinion is about as welcome as a white boy’s at a Black Panther meeting. There are ways to be anti-Zionist without being antisemitic, but given that you are being antisemitic in other ways, you don’t qualify.

Israel is a colonial project – Israel is a land back movement come to fruition. To be a colony, you need to be colonized for an empire – to which empire does Israel belong? To be a colonizer you must be a foreigner – Jewish ties to the land of Israel go back to before Palestinians identified as a group, before Islam, before Christianity. The archeological record of Jews in Israel goes back for 3,000 years. Show me another group of colonizers that can say the same about the land they’ve colonized.

Israel is to blame for the rise in antisemitism – Really? And all the other countries that are slipping into fascism are also seeing a rise in attacks against their people as well? People from Hungary and Turkey and the United States are also getting attacked for their fascist governments? No? So we’re both holding Israel to a higher standard than other countries (antisemitic) and victim blaming the Jews for their own suffering. I hope I don’t have to explain why that’s shitty. Also, if that’s your excuse for the rise in antisemitism, why did it rise before Israel existed? It couldn’t possibly be that we see spikes in antisemitism every 50-100 years regularly for centuries if not millennia, and this one showed up just like clockwork.

Relatedly, the belief that Israel represents all Jews is also antisemitic. And ridiculous. It’s like saying that England represents all Anglicans.

I am absolutely positive given what you’ve expressed above, you probably have other antisemitic views that you haven’t expressed here. That’s for you to unpack. You can either figure it out and stop, if that’s what you want, or you can use Israel as an excuse to be a raging anti-Semite as so many others are already doing. I can’t choose for you, but if you choose the latter, I hope it continues to bring you exactly as much joy as it has today.

On being Jewish, and traumatized (It’s been 5 months and I want to talk):

Judaism is a joyous religion. So much of our daily practice is to focus us on the things that are good. I know that there’s a joke that all our holidays can be summed up as “they tried to kill us. We survived – let’s eat!”, and you might think that holidays focused on attempts at killing us might be somber, but they’re really not. Most are celebrated in the sense of, “we’re still here, let’s have a party!” When I think about practicing Judaism, the things I think about make me happy.

But I think a lot of non-Jews don’t necessarily see Judaism the same way. I think in part it’s because we do like to kvetch, but I think a lot of it is because from the outside it’s harder to see the joy, and very easy to see the long history of suffering that has been enacted on the Jewish people. From the inside, it’s very much, “we’re still here, let’s party” and from the outside it’s, “how many times have they tried to kill you? Why are you celebrating? They tried to KILL YOU!”

And I want to start with that because a lot of the rest of this is going to be negative. And I don’t want people to read it and wonder why I still want to be Jewish. I want to be Jewish because it makes me happy. My problem isn’t with being Jewish, it’s with how Jews are treated.

What I really wanted to write about is being Jewish and the trauma that’s involved with that right now.

First, I want to talk about Israeli Jews. I can’t say much here because I’m not Israeli, nor do I have any close friends or family that are Israeli. But if I’m going to be talking about the trauma Jews are experiencing right now, I can’t not mention the fact that Israeli Jews (and Israelis that aren’t Jewish as well, but that’s not my focus here) are dealing with massive amounts of it right now. It’s a tiny country – virtually everyone has a friend or family member that was killed or kidnapped, or knows someone who does. Thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel in the last few months – think about the fact that the Iron Dome exists and why it needs to. Terror attacks are ongoing; I feel like there’s been at least one every week since October. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes, either because of the rocket fire, or because their homes and communities were physically destroyed in the largest pogrom in recent history – the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust ended. If that’s not trauma inducing, I don’t know what is.

And there is, of course, the generational trauma. And I think Jewish generational trauma is interesting because it’s so layered. Because it’s not just the result of one trauma passed down through the generations. Every 50-100 years, antisemitism intensifies, and so very frequently the people experiencing a traumatic event were already suffering from the generational trauma that their grandparents or great grandparents lived through. And those elders were holding the generational trauma from the time before that. And so on.

And because it happens so regularly, there’s always someone in the community that remembers the last time. We are never allowed the luxury of imagining that we are safe. We know what happened before, and we know that it happened again and again and again. And so we know that it only makes sense to assume it will happen in the future. The trauma response is valid. I live in America because my great grandparents lived in Russia and they knew when it was time to get the hell out in the 1900s. And the reason they knew that is because their grandparents remembered the results of the blood libels in the 1850s. How can we heal when the scar tissue keeps us safe?

I look around now and wonder if we’ll need to run. We have a plan. I repeat, my family has a plan for what to do if we need to flee the country due to religious persecution. How can that possibly be normal? And yet, all the Jewish families I know have similar plans. It is normal if you’re Jewish. Every once in a while I see someone who isn’t Jewish talk about making plans to leave because they’re LGBTQ or some other minority and the question always seems to be, “should I make a plan?” It astounds me every time. The Jewish answer is that you need to have a plan and the only question is, “when should I act?” Sometimes our Jewish friends discuss it at play dates. Where will you go? What are the triggers to leave? No one wants to go any earlier then they have to. Everyone knows what the price of holding off too long might be.

I want to keep my children safe. When do I induct them into the club? When do I let my sweet, innocent kids know that some people will hate them for being Jewish? When do I teach them the skills my parents and grandparents taught me? How to pass as white, how to pass as Christian, knowing when to keep your mouth shut about what you believe. When do I tell them about the Holocaust and teach them the game “would this person hide me?” How hard do I have to work to remind them that while you want to believe that a person would hide you, statistically, most people you know would not have? Who is this more traumatic for? Them, to learn that there is hatred in the world and it is directed at them, or me, to have to drive some of the innocence out of my own children’s eyes in order to make sure they are prepared to meet the reality of the world?

And the reality of the world is that it is FULL of antisemitism. There’s a lot of…I guess I’d call it mild antisemitism that’s always present that you just kinda learn to ignore. It’s the sort of stuff that non-Jews might not even recognize as antisemitic until you explain it to them, just little micro-aggressions that you do your best to ignore because you know that the people doing it don’t necessarily mean it, it’s just the culture we live in. It can still hurt though. I like to compare it to a bruise: you can mostly ignore it, but every once in a while something (more blatant antisemitism) will put a bit to much pressure on it and you remember that you were already hurting this whole time.

On top of the background antisemitism, there’s more intense stuff. And usually the most intense, mask off antisemitism comes from the right. This makes sense, in that a lot of right politics are essentially about hating the “other” and what are Jews if not Western civilizations oldest type of “other”? On the one hand, I’ve always been fortunate enough to live in relatively liberal areas so this sort of antisemitism has felt far away and impersonal – they hate everybody, and I’m just part of everybody. On the other hand, until recently I’ve always considered this the most dangerous source of antisemitism. This is the antisemitism that leads to hate crimes, that leads to synagogue shootings. This is the reason why my synagogue is built so that there is a long driveway before you can even see the building, and that driveway is filled with police on the high holidays. This is the reason why my husband and I were scared to hang a mezuzah in our first apartment (and second, and third). For a long time, this was the antisemitism that made me afraid.

But the left has a problem with antisemitism too. And it has always been there. Where the right hates the “other”, the left hates the “privileged/elite/oppressors.” It’s the exact same thing, just dressed up with different words. They all mean “other” and “other” means “Jew.” It hurts more coming from the left though. A lot of Jewish philosophy leans left. A lot of Jews lean left. So when the left decides to hate us, it isn’t a random stranger, it’s a friend, and it feels like a betrayal.

One of the people I follow works for Yad Vashem, and a few weeks ago she mentioned a video they have with testimonies from people who came to Israel after Kristallnacht, with an unofficial title of “The blow came from within.” The idea is that to non-German Jews, the Holocaust was something done by strangers. It was still terrible, but it is easier to bear the hate of a stranger – it’s not personal. But to German Jews, the Holocaust was a betrayal. It wasn’t done by strangers, it was done by coworkers, and neighbors and people they thought were friends. It was done by people who knew them, and still looked at them and said, “less than human.” And because of this sense of betrayal, German survivors, or Germans who managed to get out before they got rounded up, had a very different experience than other Holocaust victims.

And I feel like a lot of left leaning Jews are having a similar experience now. People that we’ve marched with or organized with, or even just mutuals that we’ve thought of as friends are now going on about how Jews are evil. They repeat antisemitic talking points from the Nazis and from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and when we point out that those ideas have only led to Jewish death in the past they don’t care. And if someone you thought of as a friend thinks of you this way, what do you think a stranger might think? Might do?

The Jews are fucking terrified. I’ve seen a post going around that basically wonders if this was what it was like for our ancestors – when things got bad enough to see what was coming but before it was too late to run? And we can see what’s coming. History tells us that they way people are talking and acting only leads to one place. I’m a millennial – when I was a kid the grandparents at my synagogue made sure the kids knew – this is what it looked like before, this is what you need to watch out for, this is when you need to run. I wonder where to run to. It feels like nowhere is safe.

I feel like I’ve been lucky in all this. I don’t live in Israel. I have family and acquaintances who do, but no one I’m particularly close to. Everyone I know in real life has either been sane or at least silent about all of this (the internet has been significantly worse, but when it comes to hate, the internet is always worse). I live in a relatively liberal area – there’s always been antisemitism around anyway, but it’s mostly just been swastikas on flyers, or people advocating for BDS, not anything that’s made me actually worry for my safety. But in the last 5 months there have been bomb threats at my synagogue, and just last week a kid got beat up for being Jewish at our local high school. He doesn’t want to report it. He’s worried it will make it worse.

I bought a Magen David to wear in November. At the time it seemed like the best way to fight antisemitism was to be visibly Jewish, to show that we’re just normal people like everyone else. Plus, I figured that if me being Jewish was going to be a problem for someone, then I would make it a problem right away and not waste time. I’ve worn it almost constantly since, but the one time I took it off was when I burnt my finger in December and had to go to urgent care. I didn’t think about it too much when I did it, but I thought about it for a long time after – I didn’t feel good about having made that choice.

The conclusion I came to is that the training that my elders had been so careful to instill in me kicked in. I was hurt, and scared, and the voice inside my head that sounds like my grandmother said, “don’t give them a reason to be bad to you. Fight when you’re well, but for now – survive.” It still felt cowardly, but it was also a connection to my ancestors who heeded the same voice well enough to survive. And it enrages me that that voice has been necessary in the past. And it enrages me that things are bad enough now that my instinct is that I need to hide who I am to receive appropriate medical care.

I wish I had some sort of final thought to tie this all together other than, “this sucks and I hate it,” but I really don’t. I could call for people to examine their antisemitic biases, but I’m not foolish enough to think that this will reach the people who need to do so. I could wish for a future where everything I’ve talked about here exists only in history books, and the Jewish experience is no longer tied to feeling this pain, but that’s basically wishing for the moshiach, and I’m not going to hold my breath.

I guess I’ll end it with the thought that through all of this hate and pain and fear, we’re still here. And we’re still joyful as well. As much as so many people have tried over literally THOUSANDS of years to eradicate us, I’m still here, I’m still Jewish, and being Jewish still makes me happy.

Am Yisrael Chai.

[galateagalvanized]

Where in the South are you from and what do you miss about it? I'm German and spend a year in rural Texas and other than tex-mex and a handful of people there's nothing that I miss about it, there was just too much problematic stuff

Hello! Always happy to talk about myself hahaha. First off, I’ve gotta point you back to the US cultural map I made yesterday:

Texas is Texas! Texas is not entirely the South (though it’s got some South mixed in), so a lot of what I’m about to share may not match your experience. I’ve never lived in Texas, though I’ve got plenty of friends in Houston and Austin, and those seem like neat places. To answer your question, I’ve added a little star for where I’m from—Atlanta, Georgia! I have added it in a peach color, as I’m a true Georgia peach ;) (Georgia is the peach state. It means we’ve all got incredible 🍑s hahaha).

A second caveat, too, is that I love my home because it’s my home! It’s where all my family is. It’s where the way I speak is the same way other people speak; it’s where I know all the roads by heart; it’s where baristas know my name and my order when I walk in the door; it’s where, if my car breaks down anywhere in the city, I am ten minutes away from someone who will bring me coffee while I wait for AAA. It’s where I, to quote a song about the area, “learned a lot about livin’ and a little ’bout love.” This is where I grew up! It defined me! That doesn’t mean anything special about the South, but I am very biased towards my home because of those reasons, and it would be a disservice to the human soul to try to be unbiased about it.

My experience is also unique in that it’s my experience and not anyone else’s. I can’t speak for the whole South. I can’t speak for anyone but me; but you did ask me, so I’ll answer.

Anyways, what do I miss that other people would miss? WELL. I miss two things that both have many songs about them: the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chattahoochee River. I really much prefer the “quiet geography” of the east to the loud, barren beauty of the west.

I miss the Blue Ridge! I miss the Hooch! I miss the Nantahala—the land of the noonday sun, where the trees are so thick that light only penetrates the foliage when the sun is directly overhead. The mountains are sisters to those in the Scottish Highlands. I studied geology in the southeast; it means a lot to me.

As John Denver says, “Life is old there; older than the trees; younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze.”

As a last note on nature, to quote my favorite southern magazine:

The national parks that we do have in Georgia are historical —  preserving forts and battlegrounds and the birthplaces of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Jimmy Carter. We have nothing like the vast expanses of land that we have out West. Is the South any less beautiful, less ecologically complicated, less rare, less awe-inspiring than the West? Do we need the loudness of geology to understand power? Can we have a quiet geography? Can we understand the quiet muscle of botanics?

And Atlanta… I miss having good grocery stores close by with cheap produce and friendly people. Honestly, y’all might laugh, but southern hospitality is something I miss, too. I got a flat tire on a Sunday once and no fewer than four people stopped to ask if I needed help. They were all heading Church, and they all said, “Oh, if I’m late, I’m sure He’ll understand.” Beyond that, I miss the city! I miss the mecca of southern hip-hop! I miss the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement! I even miss the way the streets make NO sense and how we messed up road/bridge infrastructure so badly in one area that we call it “Spaghetti Junction”!

I miss the food, too. I miss GOOD restaurant BBQ and good backyard BBQs and spitting watermelon seeds off the porch, trying to shoot farther than my cousins. I miss Buford Highway with Korean food so good that my donggi at grad said it was as good as the real thing. I miss fried chicken and being called honey and darlin’. I miss going to Waffle House at 3am with a wig and one eyebrow the wrong color and having my waitress just ask if I need more coffee.

Things are slower down there, but they mean more. There’s a lot of good in the South. Frankly, a lot of us are just trying to make Good Trouble and a Better South. If you want to know more, the Bitter Southerner tells it better than I ever could: https://bittersoutherner.com/about

[maxwell-grant]

Speaking of Tod Slaughter... any thoughts on Grand Guignol theater..?

Looking back on it, the first time I encountered the term Grand-Guignol was also the first time I looked at Fantomas, when I picked up the book above titled The Theater of Grand Guignol, which is all too fitting as Fantomas is Grand-Guignol to it's core. It's also a term that I've seen applied a couple of times to The Spider as well as some darker fan reinterpretations of Batman. Like film noir and sword-and-sorcery, it's a term for a type of storytelling that's associated with dime novels and pulps, influenced and was influenced by them in return, but isn't really the same thing and is, in fact, a separate "genre" (not quite the right term).

Indeed, if the common cultural association of pulp is that of something trashy and violent and darker than it's contemporary culture, one can see Grand-Guignol as perhaps the darkest of it's adjecent family, the Dario Argento to pulp's John Carpenter, the cracked mirror to all that exists.

Short and full-length plays were based on the hot topics unseen onstage at this extent before, from graphic scenes of murders, tortures, sexual violence to psychological thrills like resurrections of the dead, incest, suicide, characters being hypnotized, trapped or guilty of their loved one’s deaths. In most cases, it was a combination of several of those themes in one piece, which of course, multiplied shows’ popularity - AngryFishTheatre's article

‘At one performance, six people passed out when an actress, whose eyeball was just gouged out, re-entered the stage, revealing a gooey, blood-encrusted hole in her skull. Backstage, the actors themselves calculated their success according to the evening’s faintings. During one play that ended with a realistic blood transfusion, a record was set: fifteen playgoers had lost consciousness. Between sketches, the cobble-stoned alley outside the theatre was frequented by hyperventilating couples and vomiting individuals.’

Despite of its scandalous nature, for France Grand Guignol was more than a theatre: it was a tradition, an institution, and an attraction like the Eiffel Tower or the Folies Bergères, and Maxim’s... It was then highly fashionable. Celebrities of the day, South American millionaires and errant royalty went there assiduously to be scared out of their wits.

Going to the Grand-Guignol was less a social act than a private one and certain audience members preferred not to be seen. Some witnesses reported that the iron-grilled boxes in the back of the theater encouraged a certain ‘extremism.’

The cleaning staff would often find the seats stained - — Mel Gordon, The Grand Guignol: theatre of fear and terror.

It lasted almost the exact same time period as the American pulp era (from the late 1880s to 1950s), and even in it's origin, as the theater itself was built out of the ruins of a church, and it would attain fame and legacy as the shadow opposite to Moulin Rouge's glamour and spectacle. It's original intent on being focused on naturalistic theater led to breakthroughs of horror that made it the whole selling point, and much like the pulp lords of terror I talk about, their staged and spectacled terrors were still no match for the horrors of reality that followed.

“We could never equal Buchenwald,” the Grand Guignol’s final director, Charles Nonon, told TIME magazine that year. “Before the war, everyone felt that what was happening onstage was impossible. Now we know that these things, and worse, are possible in reality.”

And of course it goes without saying that the Grand-Guignol's influence on storytellers long transcended it's original lifespan. Gore for gore's sake is hardly something I enjoy, but I've definitely enjoyed many, many films that reached to extremes of horror and violence and gore for horror and comedy alike. I would not claim the Grand-Guignol started this because I could very well be missing out on something, but they are undeniably a huge part of the history of horror as we know it, along with the German Expressionist works of the 1910s that were as well both inspired by, as well as influential, on the Grand-Guignol.

Time and time again we see the pattern emerge, of creators or outlets or mediums that emerge as cheaper and less critically-reputable alternatives to the mainstream attain extraordinary and influential success both in their circles as well as those who would never admit to looking at them for inspiration otherwise. In fact, you could very well argue that it’s alive not just through films and comics and so forth, but in newfound forms of media created by people with all the freedom to put together whatever their imaginations and limited resources and lack of restraints can create.

Like Youtube Poop.

Now maybe I'm biased here because I grew up with YTP, but really, the main intent behind every YTP is to twist the media it's using to provoke a new reaction from you, every YTP is varying levels of a rollercoaster of jokes and edits and little narratives stacking up and flowing together, references and poop jokes and murder jokes and slurs and parody and criticism and SuS and literally anything the creator thinks is gonna get a reaction that wasn't in the original material. And it doesn't even have to be exclusively about jokes, there's a lot of YTPs that are centered on horror or drama or even are just completely original narratives using the assets at hand, sometimes even clocking in at almost movie-length.

There's no filter or censors or teams making sure it's tested to the audience, it's just as much chaos as someone with video editing skills can manage to create, and more so than anything else nowadays, it's the medium that abides and amplifies the same principle that ruled and defined Grand-Guignol: "The Hot and Cold Shower"

Grand Guignol, was not the inventor of this concept, but probably the first performing arts company that used it as its main programming principle. Every evening at the theatre was programmed with plays heavily contrasting in their nature. In the 6 plays presented on a regular night, every 2 horror plays were followed by a light comedy and the light comedy by another horror play or two. Using this contrast the creators aimed to give their audiences a fuller range of emotions. They called it a "hot and cold shower".

You could also make a similar argument for creators that used Garry's Mod or Source Filmmaker to create Youtube content, many of whom either followed the styles of YTP or created their own which ended up influencing others in return, and you can definitely see how YTP as well as these have influenced our current generation's taste in comedy as well as the editing styles of many prominent creators. It even seemed for quite a while that GMOD and SFM content of this type was dead, but it definitely seems like it's gotten a revival recently, and really just never went away. Likewise, a lot of people think YTP died circa 2012 or 2015, which is completely false, it just changed a bit, as things tend to do if they are to stick around.

The entire approach of extreme hot and cold, extreme horror and comedy shuffling per second and extreme absurdity overriding is something you definitely get nowadays a lot more out of these newer forms of media than anything that film and television's capable of giving, and just as Grand-Guignol started out relatively ordinary (focused mainly on naturalistic horror) before it completely spiraled into a perpetual race for excess, we've gotten so desensitized so quickly to surprises that you can see in real time the growing needs for content that's faster and more chaotic and funnier and more dramatic and more absurd and more well-produced but also worse produced and, yeah.

I definitely wonder how we may see future filmmakers and cartoonists and creators be influenced by, not just the above, but also the rapidly changing landscapes of meme culture and social media and the gradually less-funny theater of the absurd that reality's become. I definitely imagine we'll be in for some interesting times.

Y'know, if we make it that far.

Alternatively you could also argue Jackass is also a modern Grand Guignol and they just cut out the narrative middleman to get straight to the "people getting fucked up for your amusement" part, but at this point I'd just be inviting a retread of all the "Is -X- pulp" questions I got for "Is -X- Grand Guignol", and I may have stepped straight into a rake with this one.