#i.e. the NATION. the imagined home

[fursasaida]

This article is from 2022, but it came up in the context of Palestine:

Here are some striking passages, relevant to all colonial aftermaths but certainly also to the forms we see Zionist reaction taking at the moment:

Over the decade I lived in South Africa, I became fascinated by this white minority [i.e. the whole white population post-apartheid as a minority in the country], particularly its members who considered themselves progressive. They reminded me of my liberal peers in America, who had an apparently self-assured enthusiasm about the coming of a so-called majority-minority nation. As with white South Africans who had celebrated the end of apartheid, their enthusiasm often belied, just beneath the surface, a striking degree of fear, bewilderment, disillusionment, and dread.

[...]

Yet these progressives’ response to the end of apartheid was ambivalent. Contemplating South Africa after apartheid, an Economist correspondent observed that “the lives of many whites exude sadness.” The phenomenon perplexed him. In so many ways, white life remained more or less untouched, or had even improved. Despite apartheid’s horrors—and the regime’s violence against those who worked to dismantle it—the ANC encouraged an attitude of forgiveness. It left statues of Afrikaner heroes standing and helped institute the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which granted amnesty to some perpetrators of apartheid-era political crimes.

But as time wore on, even wealthy white South Africans began to radiate a degree of fear and frustration that did not match any simple economic analysis of their situation. A startling number of formerly anti-apartheid white people began to voice bitter criticisms of post-apartheid society. An Afrikaner poet who did prison time under apartheid for aiding the Black-liberation cause wrote an essay denouncing the new Black-led country as “a sewer of betrayed expectations and thievery, fear and unbridled greed.”

What accounted for this disillusionment? Many white South Africans told me that Black forgiveness felt like a slap on the face. By not acting toward you as you acted toward us, we’re showing you up, white South Africans seemed to hear. You���ll owe us a debt of gratitude forever.

The article goes on to discuss:

"Mau Mau anxiety," or the fear among whites of violent repercussions, and how this shows up in reported vs confirmed crime stats - possibly to the point of false memories of home invasion

A sense of irrelevance and alienation among this white population, leading to another anxiety: "do we still belong here?"

The sublimation of this anxiety into self-identification as a marginalized minority group, featuring such incredible statements as "I wanted to fight for Afrikaners, but I came to think of myself as a ‘liberal internationalist,’ not a white racist...I found such inspiration from the struggles of the Catalonians and the Basques. Even Tibet" and "[Martin Luther] King [Jr.] also fought for a people without much political representation … That’s why I consider him one of my most important forebears and heroes,” from a self-declared liberal environmentalist who also thinks Afrikaaners should take back government control because they are "naturally good" at governance

Some discussion of the dynamics underlying these reactions, particularly the fact that "admitting past sins seem[ed] to become harder even as they receded into history," and US parallels

And finally, in closing:

The Afrikaner journalist Rian Malan, who opposed apartheid, has written that, by most measures, its aftermath went better than almost any white person could have imagined. But, as with most white progressives, his experience of post-1994 South Africa has been complicated. [...]

He just couldn’t forgive Black people for forgiving him. Paradoxically, being left undisturbed served as an ever-present reminder of his guilt, of how wrongly he had treated his maid and other Black people under apartheid. “The Bible was right about a thing or two,” he wrote. “It is infinitely worse to receive than to give, especially if … the gift is mercy.”

[justacynicalromantic]

Borys Humenyuk🇺🇦 Ukrainian writer, poet, soldier. Member of the National Writers' Union of Ukraine since 2006. His works are not in the Project Nedopysani because he has been MIA since Dec. 2022.

Read his "Zapovit" ("Last Will") that I translated into English:

Today, we dig the earth again,

This hateful Donetsk earth,

This hardened, unyielding earth.

We press against it,

We hide inside it,

Still alive.

We shelter behind the earth,

Sit quietly in it,

Like little children behind their mother’s back.

We hear its heart beating,

Its weary breath.

We are warm and safe,

Still alive.

Tomorrow, we will be dead.

Many of us, maybe all.

Do not take us from the earth,

Do not tear us from our mother.

Do not collect our remains from the battlefield,

Do not try to piece us back together.

And—please—we beg you,

No crosses, no memorials, no stone plaques.

We do not need them.

They are not for us—they are for you,

The grand monuments you build in our name.

Do not carve our names anywhere.

Simply remember:

On this field,

In this earth,

Lie Ukrainian soldiers—

And that is all.

Do not return us to our parents.

We do not want them to see us like this.

Let them remember us as children,

As mischievous boys

With slingshots and bruised knees,

With bad grades in school,

With pockets full of apples from a neighbor’s tree.

Let them hope we will come home one day,

That somewhere, somehow, we still exist.

Do not return us to our wives.

Let them remember us as handsome men,

The ones many girls liked,

But who belonged to them alone.

Let them remember our burning lips,

Our hot breath,

Our passionate embraces.

Let them not touch our cold foreheads,

Our frozen lips.

Do not return us to our children.

Let them remember our warm eyes,

Our warm smiles,

Our warm hands.

Let their trembling lips never touch

Our lifeless fingers.

Here, in these trenches,

Which today are our shelter

And tomorrow will be our graves—

Bury us.

No farewell speeches.

In the silence after battle,

They always seem misplaced,

Like shaking a fallen soldier

And begging him to rise.

No requiems.

We already know where our resting place will be.

Just cover us with earth,

And—go.

It would be good if a field grew there,

If the rye swayed in the wind,

If a lark sang in the sky,

And the sky—

So much sky—

Can you imagine what kind of bread will grow

On a field where soldiers lie?!

(In our memory, eat the bread from the fields

Where we fell.)

It would be good if there were meadows,

With many, many flowers,

A bee over every bloom.

If in the evening, lovers came,

Weaving flower crowns,

Making love until dawn.

If during the day, young parents

Came with their children.

(Do not stop the children from coming to us.)

But that will be tomorrow.

Today, we are still digging the earth,

This dear Ukrainian earth,

This sweet, gentle earth,

Writing together, with our entrenching tools,

On its body—

The last poem of Ukrainian literature.

Still alive.

(Project Nedopysani - i.e. Project Unfinished Writing Works - is a volunteer project that collects works of Ukrainian writers and poets that died in Russia's war against Ukraine. Most of those writers have not yet been recognized or even published anything yet. So they become known only after they are KIA - when their relatives or comrades pass their writing notes to volunteers who run the Project Nedopysani. The Project was created to forestall something that has been happening for centuries when Russians attacked Ukrainian lands before, murdering the indigenous population and burning and destroying all works in Ukrainian language - thousands of Ukrainian artists and writers and their works lost to history)

Listen to the work in Ukrainian, read by Borys Humenyuk:

[vioredynamite]

I'm going to ask people to stop spreading the idea that all black people disappeared from Argentina because "we killed them all". Is Argentina racist? Of course it is. But leaving aside the African and Afro-descendant population of recent migrations (20th century), the problem with the Afro-descendant population in Argentina is that it's still incredibly invisibilized, especially the one with roots going back to colonial times.

1) Any Argentine will have heard of the "crisol de razas", ("melting pot"), the metaphor linked to the supposed "homogeneous" integration of the entire foreign population that arrived in the country during the era of the great waves of immigration (1890-1920). This concept, in addition to establishing a false equivalence between "nationality" and "race", always left out the Afro-descendant and indigenous population, not because they didn't exist but because there was a need to create the myth of a "white Argentina".

2) There are other sources of invisibilization:

a) At the end of the 18th century, the Spanish monarchy approved a Real cédula called "gracias al sacar" which established "monetary compensation" (a payment, so to speak) so that freed black people could acquire the status of "white" and thus access some of the privileges and benefits that this position entailed (it's important to note that in colonial times, at least here, "white", "black" or "indian" were legal categories rather than racial).

b) During most of the 20th century, the DNI (Documento Nacional de Identidad, "National Identity Card") included a description of the physical traits of individuals, one of which was skin color. One such color was "trigueño", a category difficult to describe accurately because it was used very broadly to describe people who were "brown" or "morenos", neither black nor white. As Miriam Gomes (activist and literature professor) mentions (in Spanish), many black people were pigeonholed in this category (in Spanish, see min. 21:40), which contributed to their invisibilization. Imagine that this category was so broad that even my own paternal grandmother, who has Mapuche (but not black) ancestry, was also labeled as "trigueña".

3) According to the 2022 Census, the population that recognizes itself as Afro-descendant or has black or African ancestors totals 302,936 people in the national territory. This population group constitutes 0.7% of the total number of people living in private homes, while in the 2010 Census it represented 0.4%. [[I must remember that we should take into account the possibility that for whatever reason there are people who don't know or don't identify themselves as Afro-descendants even though they are]]. The third graph of the linked document shows that most of the Afro-descendant population in Argentina is located in those provinces/jurisdictions that concentrated the black population (either enslaved or free) during the colonial period (i.e. Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires). Unfortunately, this graph doesn't provide information on the migratory origin of this population, but according to the data I risk establishing a certain continuity with the colonial period.

4) I will strongly urge you to follow Afro-Argentine activists and people who write about their history to get any doubts you may have out of your mind: I recommend Miriam Gomes, Sandra Chagas, Piba afroqom (@ pibaafroqom on Instagram), Mesa Afro Córdoba (@ mesaafrocordoba on instagram), Malungo Libros (@ malungo_libros), GEALA (Grupo de Estudios Afrolatinoamericanos), Comisión 8N (@ comision8n), and Asociación Misibamba (@ misibamba).

[saviorellie]

wrestler!abby headcannons.

pairing : abby anderson x reader

pov : second person , fem terms for reader

warning(s) : just fluff !!! college au obviii

notes : abbyyyyyy my baby :,)))) i’ve been obsessed with her for so long but recently she’s taken over my every waking thought!!!!!! it hurts my soul that there aren’t more wrestler!abby things on tumblr so i will b your dealer

ooohhsdhsksdh wrestler abby

wrestler!abby goes to your school on a full ride scholarship (super smart)(national championship wrestler)

as much as she enjoys wrestling she’s truly just the sweetest person ever

like on the mat she look soooo scary but as soon as soon as the match is over she’s smiling and shaking hands and giggling

she could never ever try boxing cuz she as violent as wrestling is, she is terrified of boxing because it’s so violent

she would never ever use her size for anything other than good outside of a match

in high school so many people were scared of her cuz she’s tall and strong and shy :((((( so in college she made it her goal to be more outgoing

the first time she hurt someone during a match she cried so hard she almost threw up

literally almost quit wrestling because she felt sooo bad

wrestler!abby’s main way of flirting is picking you up and throwing you over her shoulder

she likes that it makes you laugh (and she likes showing off)

wrestler!abby lovesssss it when you go to the gym with her

even if you’re just sitting there watching, she loves having you there

abby would never admit it, but seeing you at her matches really gets her going

she likes to think you’re her little good luck charm

wrestler!abby’s muscles are always sore so when you run her a bath or rub her shoulders ohhgdhshds

she could cry tears of happiness

most of the time she is super super hyperaware of how much stronger she is than the normal person

but she sometimes forgets how tall and strong she is around people she really trusts (i.e. you)

if it’s just you guys around, personal space does not exist unfortunately

one time, she truly forgot how strong she is and slapped your arm really hard (playfully)(on accident) and you cried (for like two seconds)

she felt terrible i think the words “i’m so sorry” left her mouth at least 25 times

she didn’t touch you for like an hour she was so scared of hurting you again :(((((( poor baby :(((((((

she really is just a giant teddy bear though :(((((

she lovesss standing next to you or holding your hand because she’s so much taller than you and her hand is so much bigger

(biggest size kink ever)(what who said that ??!!!!)

she would never say this out loud but she loves being babied sometimes!!!!!!

*her exes would expect her to be this super strong, super tough person all the time and it really sucked :((((

she loves to be little spoon and to be held and to be called “baby”

wrestler!abby loves the idea of you being her cute little housewife

as much as she loves to be babied she is a provider to her core!!!!

she sees those tiktoks that are like “day in the life as a stay at home girlfriend” and she’s like….. yeah

speaking of being a provider ! wrestler!abby’s love language is 1000% gift giving

just imagine her coming home with the most random shit just because it reminded her of you

i’m tearing up just thinking about it

she never ever lets you do anything by yourself when you’re at home

if she sees you struggling AT ALL !!! she is by your side in 2 seconds

she has like a 6th sense . if you’re struggling with anything she’s like……. something’s wrong

wrestler!abby is sooooofdjkjdhfs overprotective

holding your hand at parties and if you’re going out or putting her hand in your back pocket

every time someone approaches you at a party or at a club, she is staring them downnnn

checking their vibes and what not

now as much as she hates being super violent, more than once has she gotten into as… altercation with a creepy guy at a party

what can i say ! she’s gotta protect her girl !

[thelostgirl21]

How I'd imagine Trump's attempt to assimilate Quebec into the USA would go...

Seriously, Canada is an officially bilingual country, home to many Franco-Manitobans, Franco-Ontarians, Franco-Albertans, Acadians, etc.

And there is one province, Quebec, where the only official language is French, that makes for 23% of the whole population of the freaking country!

Many of us barely know a single word of English (neither of my parents spoke English when I was a kid, my 14-year-old godson doesn't speak English, a girl in my bellydance class yesterday had no clue what the title of the song "Madness" meant...)!

Ever since the British Empire took the Nouvelle-France (New-France) from us by force back in 1759, we've been bitterly and stubbornly refusing to become linguistically and culturally assimilated into the Anglo-Saxon culture.

As a French Canadian, I've fiercely been taught, pretty much from birth, to fight for my language and my culture, perceive the "Anglos" (i.e. English Canadians and Americans) as evil colonizers trying to dominate us and make us go extinct, and resist forced assimilation into English society with every single fiber of my being, no matter the cost!

Sadly, the consequence of that belief - when taken to the extreme - is that people immigrating into the province from foreign countries (especially non-French speaking cultural minorities coming to live in Quebec), are often perceived as part of a global English conspiracy to thin out our numbers and make the French Canadians go extinct, rather than treated as fellow minorities that should be allowed to keep both their language and their culture of origin and find pride in it, while integrating a new culture and community (the Quebecer people) as well.

I believe most Quebecers - including yours truly - have successfully integrated into a more global Canadian society, and developed a strong dual sense of identity by considering themselves a distinct and unique nation within a nation.

We've moved away from separatist ideals of making Quebec our own country (friendly reminder that 49.15% of people from Quebec voted to "divorce" from Canada back in 1995), found other outlets and means of asserting and expressing our cultural identity and demanding respect from the rest of Canada, and have grown rather proud of contributing to Canada's rich cultural heritage and diversity!

I've personally found that people sharing the same country being different is a good thing. Because the more difference there is amongst all the provinces and immigrants coming to share the land in term of culture, the more we are forced to learn live together, make concessions, and respect each other's such differences.

But, just as French Canadians fear assimilation (and can unfairly opress other minorities they perceive as being "in cahoots" with the Anglos), some English Canadians see French Canadians (Quebec's people especially) as a threat to national unity, and the country being able to have a strong Canadian national identity.

They see Quebecers as whiners that want preferential treatment, consider themselves "too good to be Canadians", etc.

They don't understand why all Canadian provinces should be considered bilingual, except ours.

They do not understand that there used to be a million people part of a distinct Cajun French American community (the descendants of French Canadian people, Acadians more precisely, that were kicked out of their own homes and torn from their families and communities by the British people at the end of the Seven Years War) in Louisiana back in the 1960s.

They don't see (nor care) that, today, there are barely 120 000 of them left that are still able to celebrate their culture in their own tongue, because they live in an uningual country with no strong policies in place to avoid having them become assimilated into English America.

Making Quebec an uningual French province where the only officially recognized national language spoken is French, making sure that only people that can fluently speak both English and French can be elected as Canadian Prime Ministers, and making both English and French the two official languages of Canada, are all part of Canada's efforts to protect its French Canadian minority (if we include those living outside of Quebec, we account for 29.2% of the population) and make sure Canada won't lose part of its rich history and culture.

But there are some French Canadians that feel too discriminated against (and hated) by English Canadians to take pride in a more multicultural Canadian identity, that still refuse to call themselves Canadians to this day, and that only identify with being Quebecers.

We call English Canada and French Canada "Les Deux Solitudes" (The Two Solitudes) of the country.

Two people struggling to communicate with and understand each other.

English Canada and French Canada tend to bicker like an old married couple, get on each other's nerves, push each other's buttons, complain that the other is always trying to steal all the covers on their side while they sleep.

And yet, when push comes to shove, we're still fond of each other (though sometimes too proud and stubborn to admit it), and remain fiercely protective of each other (much like we're seeing now).

It's almost like "How dare you piss English Canadians off! That's our job! No one's allowed to get on their nerves and make their lives more difficult but us! Now back off, or we'll fuck you up!"

Seriously, I almost wish the other Provinces would just go "Sure, we'll be willing to consider becoming the 51st State if you can convince our French Canadians from Quebec to become Americans!", then send him to negotiate with us, sit back, and enjoy the show!

Because English Canada might not be perfect, and neither are we (like I said, some of us have unfortunately taken nationalism to the extreme! And both sides seem to have a tendency to forget that Native Americans were here first. So the land's not even technically ours, and they, too, have cultures and languages worth protecting that are part of our country's heritage!).

But, at least, English Canadians are aware of our existence and, historically speaking, we've elected leaders that did take how important it is for us to survive as a nation into consideration, and allowed us to govern ourselves for the most part.

The trust between us might be fragile at times, but it's still there and we could have found a worst partner to be married to, regardless of how many time we came close to a divorce.

English Canada, we still love you even though your feet are cold and you tend to fart in bed is what I'm saying.

But the USA?!?! It wouldn't work! We can be neighbors and friends, and regularly have breakfast together (we'll bring the maple syrup, they'll bring the orange juice, etc.)!

But as a married couple?!

Their current President doesn't even know French Canadian people exist, apparently, or how importantly vital our national identity is to us!

Else he wouldn't be talking so flippantly about Canada becoming the 51st State, without specifically addressing those delicate cultural issues, and what his plans would be to make sure Quebec wouldn't need to worry about suffering Louisiana's fate!

Of course, we wouldn't trust a single word he says and know any promise he'd be making would be pure bullshit!

But it would show him having at least the tiniest grasp of Canada's unique political landscape. And he visibly does not.

I used to feel bad for the unflattering American stereotypes depicted in the movie "Bon Cop Bad Cop 2", but seriously, I think these morons were likely modeled after Trump!

Dude, most of us would rather go hungry and freaking die than ever allow ourselves to be swallowed up by you and your English culture! We are a fiercely proud Latin people (not to confuse with Latino, that form their own specific ethnic group) that don't fuck around when you do anything that could remotely threaten our place as a distinct Francophone nation within North America!

We do love the American people and are horrified by the way you are abusing them right now, but we're not them.

We love being friends and neighbours with them, but can do so without becoming someone else!

We can tolerate a sometimes difficult and often challenging, yet still ultimately healthy and rewarding marriage with Canada, because there's usually a genuine effort being made to understand each other, and strive for win-win scenarios between the English Canadian and French Canadian people and cultures.

But Quebec and the USA, even under another President, would face too many irreconcilable differences to make us work as a couple.

And you? You're an abusive and dangerous malignant narcissist bully that would only seek to control and impose your will on us without any regard nor empathy for our own needs!

What you offer your people isn't freedom, it's a freaking dictatorship!

Leave French and English Canadians alone!

[thatgirlwbraids]

hi sophiee today I got my results from this national exam and I had SUPER low expectations but I reminded myself to make a heaven within me & that there’s no one or nothing to change but self and that what I do within myself is controlled and that SELF WILL ALWAYS BE EXPRESSED and you change self through feeling i just closed my eyes and knew that the feeling is what I have ti change leave this outer world alone and look within at SELF fulfill urself EVERYTIME you think of ur desire so I did that and scored 92% ISNT THAT CRAZY i had sm anxiety but on the bus ride home I kept reminding myself and fulfilling myself and AHHHHH i’m so proud of myself because I DID NOT STUDY my entire family is shocked and proud of me and my relatives are speechless thank you for introducing me to edward art he really opened up my mind <3 im still in disbelief tho 😭 ily sophie and take care precious

woww thats an amazing success story anon i’m so proud of you & wow those are such pointers to the law omg .

“ a change in feeling is a change in destiny “ ~ neville goddard .

this makes me so happy because wow ♡

reminders from anon :

no one or nothing to change but SELF

you can control what is done within you ( i.e , be whoever you desire to be in your imagination )

feeling is the secret

make heaven within your imagination

SELF WILL ALWAYS BE EXPRESSED

look within yourself change your feeling .

reminders from me

go within and find ur feelings , once you find ur feeling change it to CHANGE SELF and SELF will be expressed .

you are the problem and the solution .

you can choose to be in bondage or be free within urself

your goal should be to fulfill ur inner man EACH time you find urself in a state of lack within urself or anytime u care about the 3D

don’t let ur outer world dictate ur inner world .

the mistake is that the inner man thinks he is the outer man of senses and proves a false identity .

ur dwelling state manifests so for example u enter the state of lack 10 times a day but at each time u get back into the state of the wish fulfilled with your desired method ( could be simple as intention ) and fulfill ur inner man so let’s say u get back 11 times out of 10 times being in a state of lack that’s ur dwelling state and it expresses .

but ur focus should be on changing ur feeling or SELF . think of neville’s army story .

I feel like this can be SO HELPFUL to look back on when u feel like u overconsumed .

[nanowrimo]

NaNoWriMo and the Meaning of Sunshine

Did you know that National Novel Writing Month is a 501(c)3 nonprofit? Today, NaNoWriMo Executive Director Grant Faulkner explores the guiding metaphor for how he thinks of NaNoWriMo—and how we’ve been approaching fundraising. (For more, see Community Fundraising Means Showing Up for Each Other.)

NaNoWriMo is an ecosystem.

No, NaNoWriMo is part of an ecosystem—it’s a community within an ecosystem, like a grove of apple trees in a wider ecosystem that also includes butterflies and bees (let’s say they are the writers, pollinating the world with stories), forest sprites (because ecosystems hold magical possibilities), flora and fauna, and a running brook.

The organisms that live in our ecosystem go beyond writers and forest sprites, though, and include schools, readers, teachers, libraries, book stores, and other writing organizations—all interconnected because we develop our stories, our voices, our discipline, our joy, our purpose, and our imagination with others, not just alone.

A single tree, no matter how large and mighty, can not sustain itself without the tiniest microbes of life teeming in the soil around its roots.

The ecosystem flourishes when all of its elements are working together—when organizations like NaNoWriMo can nourish writers and teachers and schools, and everyone grows creatively, lifting each other up, cheering each other on.

But to flourish, the ecosystem needs something else: it needs sun and water, and the sun and the water take the form of donations. This is why we ask for donations. Without the sun and water of others’ support, the ecosystem becomes stressed—as if there has been a drought or deforestation (or a “destorystation,” God forbid). 

The Symbiosis of Stories

Some people view ecosystems and the species within them through the lens of competition—i.e., only the strongest survive. But the definition of a healthy ecosystem is one that’s symbiotic—where relationships are formed and resources are exchanged and growth happens in harmony. 

We are all called upon to contribute to this ecosystem, whether it’s by donating or volunteering or simply spreading the word. A healthy and diverse ecosystem is one that provides abundance to those who live in it—food, shelter, recreation, and natural beauty.

"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home,” said the poet Gary Snyder.

Just like our stories are our home. Our stories provide shelter. Our stories give sustenance. Our stories help us breathe. Our stories connect us to others. And our stories help us see the forest sprites that would otherwise be invisible.

Our contributions to this story-powered ecosystem are meaningfully rooted in the support of our donor community. Year to year, we’ve had anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 of our writers join us with a small dollar donation. Thanks to this support, we’re proud to be a largely community-funded organization with more than 35% annual revenue coming from individual donors. 

We’re deeply grateful that so many shine your light on NaNoWriMo each year. As we head into our busiest season, we hope you think of how you can contribute to the NaNoWriMo community and the ecosystem it’s part of. We want to provide the apples on our trees to everyone so they can taste the sweetness of their creativity.

Grant Faulkner believes in NaNoWriMo because stories tell us who we are and shape the world we live in. He has been a writer since his earliest memory, and he’s proud to be the author of Pep Talks for Writers and Brave the Page. He struggles with rough drafts (hence his love—no, his need—for NaNoWriMo), but luxuriates in revision. His dog Buster serves as his lap dog/lap desk and has traveled with him for thousands and thousands of words.

Top photo by Dan Freeman on Unsplash  

[zukkaart]

Okay LISTEN

I don’t jump on the divorced Zukka bandwagon- not because it’s stupid or invalid but because it makes sense and I hate it because I want them to be domestic and happy until they’re grey and old okay???????

That being said

“Bleach” from 5sos5 gave me a thought-

So we know that cutting your hair is generally seen as a formal act of losing a part of yourself or your nation. Seen very clearly here- Iroh and Zuko cut their hair off when they realize they no longer have a home to return to.

A little more indirectly when zuko shaves everything except his top knot after being banished as a sign of his exile and dishonor but still tied to the fire nation.

And even a little MORE indirectly when we see Azula cut her own hair- not out of solemn realization or dishonor but because she is LITERALLY losing pieces of herself to her madness

All this to say

(Sorry I went on a bit of a tangent there)

And IF Sokka and Zuko DID break up or get a divorce it would be seen as improper for the fire lord to cut his hair over something so “trivial”

After all Ozai didn’t alter his when Ursa left

SO I think Zuko would probably try everything possible to alter his hair without actually cutting it. I.e. braiding, hiding under hoods, etc.

I think he would even go as far as to bleach his hair- especially if they really did get divorced because even though there was no love lost- their lifestyles of being leaders of separate nations just couldn’t cope. He’d start a little at first- just a few strands on the underneath where no one could see done by himself late at night.

Little by little he realizes “cleansing” little pieces of him makes him feel the slightest bit better because the man in the mirror is starting to look less and less like the man who Sokka loved, who loved Sokka…

Obviously he couldn’t bleach all of his hair but imagine Sokka comes to the Fire Nation as his Ambassador and Chief status requires to find Zuko with one stark strip of white cutting through the right side of his hair, he looks closer and finds the smaller- subtler ones in the under layers, some obviously more well done than the others, some faded with time.

Imagine Zuko finally turning to lock eyes with him- but before he can get a word out to explain Sokka reaches up and brushes the light strip that leads into his topknot.

“What’s this?” He asks, dangerously closer than most Ambassadors should be to their hosts.

“An experiment” Zuko says quickly, unsure why he chose those words in particular, but Sokka is a scientist right? He’ll understand.

“Oh,” The playful smile drops from the darker boys features, although Zuko is unsure why.

“Does it bother you?” The words came out more defensively than Zuko meant. Why should he care now anyway?

“Not at all it’s just…” nothing. Everything.

All the words Sokka left unsaid somehow came down to this one white strip of hair, as white as Yues. The truth was that he had hoped Zuko would tell him that he had no idea where it came from, letting Sokka come to the logical conclusion that it was in fact Yue who had blessed him, and he could take it as a sign that he and Zuko were meant to be together. That they could make it work this time if they really tried. Spirits knew that stuff right?

It doesn’t matter now. The hair was fake. For whatever reason Zuko had done it on purpose. It unsettled Sokka in a way he didn’t expect.

“Sorry” He snapped out of his own thoughts. “It just looks so different from the pictures I have, it looks good though.” Sokka offered a timid smile.

Zuko stiffened imperceptibly at that but still responded in kind. “Thank you, I should go. I have others to greet before dinner.” His voice did not waiver but his mind raced. He still has pictures of me? Of us? And he looks at them? Zuko hadn’t been able to do that for months.

“Of course” And when Sokka turned to leave Zuko noticed something. A thin strip of leather braided in to the underside of Sokkas wolf tail, dyed such a deep shade of red that it almost blended in to his hair, but Zuko noticed, because Zuko always noticed.

It was the same strip of leather that Zuko had used to tie his topknot with on his first visit to the South Pole. Deeper in color than his usual choice because he didn’t want to stick out too much, but Sokka had protested anyway, gently pulling it out of his hair and replacing it with one of brilliant blue, a color as deep as the ocean but somehow still as alluring as a familiar set of eyes. At the time, he would have gladly drowned in both.

That was 15 years ago now, when Zuko hadn’t even been brave enough to hold his hand.

Sokka had kept it. All this time. And now he was even wearing it - subtle as it may be. And Sokka was just the same, just the same, same blue eyes, same genuine smile, same gentle brush of fingers against his hair, the exact same Sokka. His Sokka.

Zukos hair was back to its natural color by morning.

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Xenophobia

Xenophobia is a strong antipathy or aversion to strangers or foreigners.

As I recall, it was in Alexis De Tocqueville’s book Democracy in America, published in 1838, in which (to paraphrase) I read that in the beginning there were three civilizations in America. There was the ruling class, the white Caucasians from Europe, the Native Americans whom they murdered, and the Blacks whom they enslaved. Our murder of Native Americans is a subject for another venue for another time.  Slavery has been an institution of man since time immemorial and continues through today—we read about it in the book of Genesis re Joseph in Egypt, thousands of years ago and, here too, another subject for another time; but the chronic mistreatment of our black population throughout our nation’s history is indisputable. It is an abomination and inexcusable. The very culture of the black people in our country today is the direct result of our neglect and mistreatment over the years, i.e. lack of education, poverty, social morals, etc. We brought this upon ourselves. I do not argue otherwise. I must, also, point out that we have with full knowledge, forethought, and conscious intent, through our elected representatives over the years, molded our nation’s demography as one of multi-ethnicity, exacerbating the cultural and political differences we are experiencing today.

As we have addressed our racial problems over the years, however, to the extent we have addressed them, we have done so from the myopic perspective of what the white man must do, i.e. changes in white treatment toward blacks—changes in white behavior. Without any doubt, some, if not many, white attitudes toward blacks must change! Black lives do matter! However, so also do white lives matter. All lives matter. There are those black attitudes toward whites that must change as well. Attitudes must change by all of us toward Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, Indians—all peoples of the world. There is no place in our society or our world for xenophobia of any kind in any way, shape, or form—all lives matter! Whether you believe in God or not, the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is imperative if we are to have any peace on earth ever. For that matter, if we are to continue to exist at all.

This is not a matter of opinion. We have no real choice. We must make peace with one another in this country. We must make peace with one another in the world. Hate has been a major motivator of people throughout history. We have graduated from weapons of rocks to spears, swords, knives, guns, and on and on to those we have today. Now we have the nuclear bomb. Just over the past one hundred years alone, all other countries notwithstanding, our nation has been involved in one war after another. As to when or where the first nuclear bomb will fall can only be left to the imagination. War is no longer a viable option. On the one hand, nations all over the world are “in debt up to their ears”. Conventional war is unaffordable. On the other, nuclear war is self-destructive. We must make peace with one another, domestically and internationally—black, white, brown, yellow, olive. There is no longer room in our world for xenophobia. We must learn to live with each other at home and abroad. We can choose to live or we will die. From: Steven P. Miller @ParkermillerQ,  gatekeeperwatchman.org Tuesday, June 18, 2024, Jacksonville, Florida., USA. Founder and Administrator of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Groups: Https://gatekeeperwatchman.org/post/751889961062744064/daily-devotionals-for-may-30-2024-proverbs-gods? X/Twitter ... @ParkermillerQ   #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO FACEBOOK/META GROUP: Founder and Creator… Steven P. Miller/ Gatekeeper-Watchman International Group Https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sparkermiller.JAX.FL.USA Timeline: https://www.facebook.com/gatekeeperwatchnan TAGS:  #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #IAM, #Sparkermiller, #Eldermiller1981

[lotus-tower]

could you please explain the "give my regards to sensei in hell" quote re: shouyou? (sorry i read gintama a while ago so i forgot the details but i love your analyses)

sure! they're among my favourite scenes. i'm not sure exactly which part you want to know about but here's the gist:

in the courtesan of a nation arc, gintoki faces off against oboro, and right when he's about to impale him on a rooftop he says "say hello to sensei for me." then at the very end of the arc, takasugi who at this point has only appeared briefly a couple times as an unhinged antagonist sneaks into the jail where the shogun's uncle is held, and says the very same line right before killing him. we don't know a thing about his relationship to gintoki or zura at this point other than "they used to be comrades." the shogun's uncle is a primary antagonist of this arc, but he's Just Some Old Guy and relies on oboro to do the actual fighting. so it's a very sexy and unexpected moment where gintoki and takasugi say the same line regarding their sensei, who is also shrouded in mystery at this point.

what that sorachi quote is getting at is that it's strange that gintoki and takasugi would say this to scumbags that they loathe before killing them, i.e. implying that their beloved sensei is in hell. shouyou is very much the saintly dead mentor shounen trope, but he's not actually a saint, is what sorachi is saying. because he was human

what i was saying about the scene being funny is that oboro is, in fact, in daily contact with their sensei (utsuro). because he swore to make his own life suck forever. but no one knew this at the time, not even the viewers. so he couldn't be vindicated. he got impaled on that roof, revived, and then had to take his ass home to sensei. but i'm sure he did not actually pass on gintoki's hello. so he had to hold that in too. can you imagine how full his constipated insides are

[just-a-re-blog]

ALRIGHT THAT’S IT—I’VE REACHED MY LIMIT! MY PATIENCE HAS RUN OUT!!

I’m sharing my Haikyuu!! Pokémon!AU because I’ve been seeing everyone else’s and now mine demands to break free of the confines of Google Docs!

To start, I’m just gonna post my thoughts on the Karasuno kids, but I have. A Lot Of Other Ideas.

As a universe note, I have done my best to reconcile the passage of time in the PokéAni world, the passage of time for us irl viewers who grew up watching it, and the canon passage of time in Haikyuu!! Why the hell would I do all of that?

✨Because my particular brand of autism demands that I establish those kinds of rules!✨

I also have a ton of quirky calculations I’ve done to figure out how many Pokémon it makes sense for everyone to have and how the evolution rates work because, again, my particular brand of autism demands that I establish those kinds of rules! But I’ll post those at a much later date.

The important info for now is that I’ve included the year everyone starts their journey, their home region (listed first and noted again with their starter/partner), plus other regions they’ve been to. My little imagining ultimately takes place with everyone congregated in Kalos in 2009, so Kalos is included for everyone.

Teams are in dex order within the order of the regions they were caught. So a Johto kid who goes to Hoenn has all their Johto catches listed in dex order before they have all of their Hoenn catches listed in dex order. (This is not a super important detail, but it is one that I would want to know in order to understand why an Applin is listed before a Roggenrola.) Also worth noting that some evolutions are listed earlier or later than their national dex number if an evolutionary stage was first introduced in a different regional dex (i.e., the retroactive addition of a baby Pokémon stage).

Last notation notes:

* — Evolved with Trainer through one previous stage

** — Evolved with Trainer through two previous stages

Without further ado!

Daichi (2006, Kanto, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Kanto: Charizard**

Type Preferences: Ground

Team: Charizard**, Raticate*, Fearow*, Sandslash*, Growlithe, Poliwrath**, Victreebel**, Onix, Rhyhorn, Pinsir, Tauros, Hoppip, Cherrim, Palpitoad, Sandile, Crustle*, Diggersby, Litleo

Daichi got a late start as a Trainer because of family matters and the care of his younger siblings, but he has more than made up for it with his disciplined approach; when the third-year guys challenged the Indigo League, he made it the farthest, and his Charmeleon partner was the last standing member of his team, despite the fact that it had not yet reached its final evolution

Suga (2004, Hoenn, Kanto, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Hoenn: Swampert**

Type Preferences: None

Team: Swampert**, Dustox**, Ludicolo**, Pelipper*, Skitty, Roserade*, Swalot*, Torkoal, Cacnea, Milotic*, Kecleon, Snorunt, Butterfree**, Gengar**, Exeggutor*, Tauros, Whimsicott, Foongus, Goomy, Carbink

Loves, and I mean LOVES, to catch the first Pokémon in an evolutionary line so that he can try to raise it through every stage—especially if it’s a split line; this is why, despite being the first of the third-years to set out, he doesn’t have that many Pokémon to show he had a head start; feels like someone who prefers to rotate his walking buddies so they don’t spend all their time in Pokéballs if he can help it

Asahi (2005, Johto, Kanto, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Johto: Audino, Meganium

Type Preferences: Normal Types

Team: Audino, Meganium, Ampharos*, Ambipom*, Sunflora, Quagsire*, Forretress*, Granbull*, Ursaring*, Piloswine*, Phanpy, Beedrill, Gloom*, Marowak*, Tauros (20), Happiny, Patrat, Minccino, Deerling, Bouffalant, Furfrou, Phantump

Despite being from Johto, his unofficial starting partner is actually an Audino that his older sister caught for him in her own travels; Asahi was really anxious about possibly breaking rules by having a “non-official Starter,” so his sister basically demanded Audino back, made him go get a regular-degular Starter, and then forced him to take Audino back, like “Congrats, now you’ve got two”; one of Asahi’s most notable moments in his journey thus far was when he and his friends went to the Safari Zone where Asahi ended up catching 22 Tauros, giving two to his friends, and getting his picture hung next to one of World Coronation Series Monarch Ash Ketchum in The Safari Zone offices (Ash caught 30 in The Safari Zone when he passed through)

Noya (2005, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Johto: Jolteon*

Type Preferences: Electric

Team: Jolteon*, Scyther, Gliscor*, Qwilfish, Skarmory, Electabuzz*, Magmar*, Nosepass, Electrike, Plusle, Minun, Dusclops*, Porygon, Luxio*, Bronzor*, Karrablast, Joltik, Galvantula, Binacle, Dedenne

Has a partner Jolteon that his grandfather raised as an Eevee alongside Yuu and then gave to him (yes, Noya does his hair Like That so that they can match); was inspired by Ash Ketchum to try and be the youngest guy to ever traverse the routes of every region—so he is speed-running the Pokémon world and having a great time with it

Tanaka (2006, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Hoenn: Honchkrow* (influenced by @devilcakebunny)

Type Preferences: Fighting

Team: Honchkrow*, Dodrio*, Houndoom*, Mightyena*, Ralts, Vigoroth*, Hariyama*, Carvanha, Relicanth, Mankey*, Cubone, Tyrogue, Snover, Kingler*, Scrafty*, Spritzee

His partner is a Murkrow that used to be part of Saeko’s crew, but he met Ryuu, and they became instant antagonists and also inseparable; please, he 158% has a Scrafty; met the Second Year Squad when Noya came through Hoenn and insisted that Ryuu join him on his trek to the Sinnoh Region; wants to take over Dewford Town’s Fighting-Type Gym one day

Ennoshita (2005, Sinnoh, Kalos)

Breeder: Sinnoh: Prinplup*

Type Preferences: None

Team: Prinplup*, Rapidash*, Hypno*, Dragonair*, Espeon*, Gallade*, Numel, Staraptor**, Glameow, Lucario*, Gible, Lumineon*, Flabébé

Ennoshita has had his heart set on breeding for his whole life—caretaking comes naturally to him, and he loves the challenge of puzzling out the best ways to care for Pokémon as members of their type, species, and as individuals; he’s very strict with the care of his Pokémon, and as such, he prefers to keep a comparatively small roster so he can give them each adequate attention and affection; a few of his Pokémon are definitely rescues; battling is harder for him, but he’s spent enough time with his Pokémon that he can communicate with them VERY effectively, which makes him a more dangerous opponent than people expect

Kinoshita (2005, Sinnoh, Kalos)

Coordinator: Sinnoh: Monferno*

Type Preferences: None

Team: Monferno*, Arbok*, Pikachu, Electrode*, Lickitung, Illumise, Bibarel*, Pachirisu, Shellos (West), Buneary, Chatot, Hippopotas, Skrelp, Bergmite

All of the Karasuno boys love their Pokémon dearly, but I think Kinoshita would have some of the highest friendship ratings out of anyone; this is just a fun assortment of little guys, most of whom you might not immediately picture as contest material, but Kinoshita sees a lot of potential in each of them; he’s gotten a lot of care tips from Ennoshita to help his team be their best, and while he has yet to become anything close to a Top Coordinator, he and his team do VERY well in the Performance Stage and have been steadily improving in the Battle Stage

Narita (2005, Sinnoh, Kalos)

Trainer: Sinnoh: Grotle*

Type Preferences: None

Team: Grotle*, Venomoth, Weavile*, Volbeat, Grumpig, Seviper, Absol, Floatzel, Bastiodon*, Shellos (East), Drifblim*, Mismagius, Clauncher

I cannot think of Narita without remembering that Furudate said, “This kid’s into some weird stuff,” so I literally just gave him a balance of totally normal dudes and funky little guys that feel underrepresented to me (vs., like, MatsuHana, who have, like, exclusively funky little guys)

Kageyama (2007, Galar, Kalos)

Trainer: Galar: Corvisquire*

Type Preferences: Dragon

Team: Corvisquire*, Vulpix, Slowking (Galarian)**, Weezing (Galarian), Zigzagoon (Galarian), Nuzleaf, Gabite*, Sawk, Deino, Drampa, Applin, Runerigus, Snom, Arctovish, Duraludon, Roggenrola, Tynamo, Swirlix, Noibat

@soyochii said Kageyama has Kazuyo’s Corviknight, and they were right, except that I’ve put a bit of a spin on it; picture, if you will, Kazuyo, his Corviknight, and two Corviknight eggs Kazuyo procures a little before Tobio is about to start on his Pokémon journey; Miwa, who was then competing in Kalos as a Performer, gets one, and Tobio gets the other so that the grandkids will always feel connected to home; Tobio hatches his and then takes Rookidee with him, and they train HARD together, though Rookidee is slow to evolve because—like trainer, like partner—he’s got some inner roadblocks to work through; they grieve together when, only a year into Tobio’s journey, they lose both Kazuyo and his Corviknight; just as Tobio is to Shoyo, so too Kags’ Corvisquire is instantly and adamantly frenemies with Shoyo’s Fletchinder, and it reaches its final evolution first just to stick it to them

Hinata (2006, Alola, Kalos)

Trainer: Alola: Fletchinder* (credit to @kimbapisnotsushi’s excellent takes)

Type Preferences: None

Team: Fletchinder*, Vulpix (Alolan), Geodude (Alolan), Marowak (Alolan), Blitzle, Pancham, Klefki, Crabrawler, Jangmo-o, Tangela, Scatterbug, Skiddo, Helioptile

So I did this because I feel like it’s exceptionally funny if Shoyo doesn’t realize that the Alolan variations of Pokémon are Alolan variations and totally thinks ALL Vulpix are Ice Types and ALL Digletts have hair and ALL Geodudes are half-Electric; additionally, the fact that Hinata grew up on the Island Trial system means that traditional Pokémon battles are not his forte, but he excels at creative problem-solving, which makes him a formidable foe on the battlefield; while there is a lot of merit to the idea that Hinata likes to specialize in a certain type like Fire or Flying, I just think about Hinata next to Ash, and I feel like their pure love of all Pokémon would unite them so deeply; Ash is in fact Shoyo’s Little Giant in this AU; Kageyama, King of Strategy, Appalled by Hinata’s Lack-Thereof, stuck around ‘cuz he really likes Shoyo’s Jangmo-o

Tsukishima (2006, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Unova: Servine*

Type Preferences: Rock & Poison

Team: Servine*, Nidorina*, Weepinbell*, Starmie*, Lunatone, Solrock, Croagunk, Purrloin, Pansear, Woobat, Maractus, Dwebble, Archen, Swanna*, Klank, Deino, Oddish, Bagon, Roselia

Kei aspired to be an Ace Trainer like his brother for years and years, but when he found out that Akiteru had been lying about beating the Icirrus and Opelucid gyms to earn Ace class status, his love and excitement about Pokemon was replaced by apathy; surprisingly, deep down, he’s a real Gotta-Catch-‘Em-All kid, but he keeps that desire a secret; does desperately want to study Unowns; courtesy of @volleybuoys, this kid DESPISES the Galar fossil system

Yamaguchi (2006, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Sinnoh: Grotle*

Type Preferences: Bug & Flying

Team: Grotle*, Wobuffet, Surskit, Burmy (Trash Cloak), Sudowoodo*, Delibird, Woobat, Swadloon*, Whirlipede*, Emolga, Pawniard, Ponyta, Heracross, Swablu, Skorupi

Tadashi started his journey in Sinnoh, selecting Turtwig as his new partner, and while Tadashi and Turtwig became fast friends, they struggled when it came to catching new Pokémon and battling; Tadashi quickly became the subject of teasing due to his small roster of Pokémon that lacked highly effective movesets; desperate to prove himself to all those who suspected he was not tough enough to be a trainer—including himself—Tadashi decided that he and his team would travel to Unova; a near-disastrous encounter outside Striaton City led to a fateful meeting with Tsukki, who saved him from a strong and aggressive Watchog (because I think it’s so funny that along that route, there’s level 5 Patrat in BW and level 60 Watchog in BW2); after studying alongside Tsukki at the Trainers’ School, the two took turns defeating the Striaton Gym and decided to continue traveling together to defeat the Nacrene Gym and so on and so forth

Kiyoko (2004, Unova, Kalos)

Trainer: Unova: Samurott**

Type Preferences: Ghost & Psychic

Team: Samurott**, Slowking**, Goldeen, Ariados, Shuckle, Kirlia*, Sableye, Mawile, Tropius, Chimecho, Sigilyph, Gothitelle, Duosion, Frillish, Litwick, Mandibuzz, Drowzee, Axew

Everyone in Kiyoko’s hometown assumed she would be a Breeder or a Coordinator or even move to Kalos to be a Performer because “Oh, you’re so beautiful! I’m sure you’ll do great bringing out the beauty of your Pokémon!” but she got sick of that real quick and said “How about I show you the fierceness of our battle strategies instead?”; so she trains primarily Psychic-types because they either look really weird or their beauty belies their awesome power; came SO, so close to beating the Elite Four in Unova

Yachi (2006, Alola, Kalos)

Trainer: Alola: Popplio

Type Preferences: Psychic & Fairy

Team: Popplio, Exeggutor (Alolan), Ledyba, Spinda, Snorunt, Mime Jr., Sigilyph, Garbodor*, Frillish, Elgyem, Flabébé, Doublade, Spritzee, Pumpkaboo (Average)

I’M GIVING YACHI THE ONLY LEGENDARY INTERACTION OF THE GANG BECAUSE SHE DESERVES IT; so she’s interacted with Cosmog because I want that to be true <3; courtesy of the Island Trial system, Yachi is another kid who excels at creative problem-solving but flounders a bit with battling, so she has a touch of imposter syndrome when it comes to calling herself a Trainer; but while she tends to forget all she knows if she is challenged to battle, she has a great mind for understanding the ins and outs of battle, so she’s coaching Shoyo to help him reach his goals of mastery; she’s evaluating her goals along the way, too, trying to figure out if being a Trainer is the right way for her to find herself

[fightaers]

what has sakura been up to post 4th war. again, these are all my personal headcanons and details are subject to change with each respective rp partner(s) i am interacting with !

# — due the villages aspiring for a more diplomatic connection, sakura hops from village to village to assist in tending to the wounded — or what’s left of them. she organises a nation-wide standardisation on how to deal, clean, assess, and manage hospitals and/or clinics all around. it takes her a while, i can imagine she’s gone from eight months to a year ( on and off ) before she fully returns and resides back in konoha.

#— i know canon fast-forwards a lot of stuff, but i imagine the preparation for kakashi's inauguration as the sixth wasn’t as quick. so during the few months of stabilisation wherein the leaf is still under the fifth, sakura is diagnosed with “battle fatigue” ( another name for PTSD because they didn’t have a proper name for it during this time ) by tsunade, and was prescribed medication.

# — in my interpretation, she’s clinically depressed. she changes her medication ( at this point, she self-medicates since she notices the medicine prescribed by tsunade wasn’t working ) after reading some research on it — there isn’t much, she has to go through archives — about a year in, by concocting the pills herself. she did enlist some help, mostly botanist experts, pharmacists, possibly a form of psychologist or therapist (which were rare, and i can imagine coming from another village) and trusted a colleague leading or assisting on the research about her progress. this way, she avoids overdosing. no, she doesn’t tell her friends about the diagnosis nor the medication. her parents are aware of this, however.

# — some of the symptoms she would've shown: a feeling of restlessness, excessive guilt, experiences extreme fatigue ( that she mistakens simply because she does not sleep well ) which can cause her to sleep at random hours. she also becomes unresponsive and experiences lack of interest in normal and/or everyday routine i.e. when ino asks her to hang out and she just seems mentally absent. for a while before her diagnosis, sakura never cleans her bedroom. she doesn't think much of it since she isn't there a lot anyhow except to sleep, and she doesn't care to. it'll take her a while to really look back and understand that that's not laziness.

# — this is just a light-hearted headcanon but, sakura’s mental health improves around her family so, so much. she loves going to her grandfather’s ancestral home near the woods and just spend time with her brother, his family, and her parents. sometimes her civilian extended family joins. she actually doesn’t like them asking nosily about her “shinobi life”, but other than that, she loves the gossips and when they all gather in the kitchen to prepare meals.

# — after the war too, while working shift-by-shift to stabilise the wounded, she attends private funerals ( besides from the mass funeral ) of any family she is invited to. yes, this includes the yamanaka and the nara ( although that was more because she wanted, than invited ). she always finds the time ever since — unless she’s in surgery, or was really needed, then she visits the family after. from that alone, sakura keeps a black dress and/or kimono in her office at all time.

tl;dr — sakura organised a nation-wide standardisation of cleaning and assessing wounds among several villages, an effort which lasted from eight months to a full year. shortly before kakashi's inauguration as the sixth, sakura was diagnosed with battle fatigue, and was given medication. because the medication didn't improve her condition, she sought out to research and concoct a set of pills herself. mostly though, you can find her working in the hospital, or getting ready to embark in her research into battle fatigue, battle trauma, and post-battle rehabilitation.

[quasarlasar]

GALAXY MERGER - PART 1

In my imagination, galaxy mergers are basically star wars. Not Star Wars, but literal wars between stars. Galaxies are like star nations, and sometimes a bigger galaxy tries to forcibly assimilate a smaller galaxy. They insist on calling it "annexation" though, not galactic cannibalism like astronomers do...cannibalism is such a dirty word.

This particular comic is about a galaxy merger between Stella's home galaxy Antiocheka and a neighboring galaxy in the galaxy cluster, Oglinant. Antiocheka is basically a galaxy that will eventually become the giant elliptical galaxy at the center of its galaxy cluster. This comic is set roughly 10 billion years ago, and even back then, it had already lost a lot of the cold gas necessary to form stars (it is the yellower galaxy in the first panel). This is why the Antiochekan government launches wars of acquisition against bluer galaxies that still have this cold gas. Though of course it's never called that. Like our own civilization, the galaxy always tries to cloak its self-interested behavior in benevolent terms.

I was trying to combine two hypotheses for elliptical galaxies' formation here. Some papers say that the precursors to ellipticals are similar to these galaxies called "red nuggets" which are bulge-dominated. However, other research indicates the ellipticals quenched (i.e. stopped forming new stars) while they were still disks. So Antiocheka has both prominent disk and bulge components. It sort of resembles Centaurus A. And like Centaurus A, Antiocheka is known for a powerful radio-loud AGN...but that comes in the next parts of this comic!

In other news, I recently became a postdoctoral student. I've branched out a bit and started studying neutron stars too, so there might be more comics about them in the future.

[cyberphuck]

I think most people are confusing 'graffiti' with 'street art', the latter of which gives your building character and the former being a sign to other young punks that they can do whatever they fucking want to your building, which will not stop at graffiti. Every person everywhere wants control of their own lives. They want autonomy. They want the freedom to choose what they do and when. If your entire world is designed to crush you into a shape that can only move enough to work and then die, you become frustrated and start looking for ways to give yourself some control over something. Often the only way to do this is to Wreck Stuff. Thus people set fire to public playgrounds and drive around hitting mailboxes with a baseball bat and fuck up public bathrooms and scrawl words (often their personal tag) on everything that holds still enough. People do this specifically because they're not supposed to (through law or social norm), and they're making the only choice they have by choosing to do something they're not supposed to. If you tell someone that they're allowed to tag the side of a building now, that it's fine and they won't get in trouble for it and no one will mind, it stops scratching that itch. They will find something else to do that they're not supposed to do (i.e., break windows, take valuables, set things on fire). (I want to make it very clear here that this is anyone who feels like they need more control, not just a demographic that you typically imagine when you think of 'someone who vandalizes a building.' If someone has money and privilege and time they may have other choices available to them-- though wealthy and privileged people vandalize shit too, see 'people who wreck million year old natural structures at national parks'-- but anyone who feels trapped will eat the bedding in their enclosure, regardless of how comfortable it is.) Like yes we should be addressing the very real and very serious problems of poverty and gentrification and systematic oppression and institutionalized racism so that we have more street art (good) and less graffiti (bad). But we can't do it top-down by just smiling and waving at the guy writing 'SPLOOJ' on the wall. You have to go home with Slpooj and figure out why he chewed up his mattress.

it's so funny how graffiti is like a non issue that effortlessly reveals peoples' reactionary tendencies.

[40sandfabulousaf]

大家好! I've tried and loved Anta's sports bras, shorts, gym tights, shoes, tees, backpacks, sling bags and caps. In a previous post, I said I would try their socks. Imagine my excitement when my order arrived! Numerous Olympics medals have been won by athletes wearing this brand, so it's definitely high quality. I haven't worn them yet, they have to be washed and dried, but I'll test them out soon. The fabric feels thick and durable, the elastic strong. I'm quietly confident that I'll like them as much as I've liked all my Anta buys so far!

It's been some months since Mummy had lunch at the swimming club, so I took her there. She ordered Hokkien mee (stirfried egg noodles and vermicelli in prawn broth with prawns, squid, pork and egg), I had the salmon rice bowl. The meal came with crunchy cucumbers, sweet corn, broccoli, onsen tamago and a thick slice of salmon. Unfortunately, there was too much mentaiko sauce. This is partly made up of mayo so it was rather gloopy. Apart from that, the salmon was moist and tender and the veggies were fresh. I slurped up the onsen tamago at once; it was too good to break apart and mixed into the rice! Except for the gloopy mentaiko, this was delicious; I'll return to savour their other menu items.

The rainy season is here, along with downpours and cloudy skies. I craved soup, so SC, ML, MI and I returned to the stall which sells delicious red garoupa soup. As I slurped down springy thick bee hoon (vermicelli), sank my teeth into tender fresh fish and sipped piping hot broth, my thoughts returned to Gaza. It's winter there; their storms and strong winds seem worse than ours. Do Palestinians have enough hot meals to keep them warm? It can get chilly in Singapore right now, but we're sheltered in buildings; they live in flimsy tents. Thankfully, besides my country, other nations are chipping in to help. Meanwhile, American funding for UNRWA remains suspended.

I'll share my weekly simple breakfasts out of compassion for Palestinians in Gaza more often because Israel's genocide in the war-torn strip seems to be worsening. Innocent civilians barely have enough to eat and those who're in northern Gaza are experiencing severe famine. How so many of them can still smile warmly at the world in their videos, I don't know, but their spirit and determination to survive is amazing. As my stomach growls louder and louder after eating these weekly simple breakfasts until it is time for lunch, I'm reminded of how terrible Palestinians' hunger is. I feel so sorry for them and pray that their suffering will end soon.

In the next post, I'll share how I make a quick and easy lei cha (ground tea rice) at home using canned vegetables, lentils and tau kwa (firm tofu) without the gross soup. This meal is high in protein and fibre and because lentils contain starch, they're a quality form of carbohydrates. There's no cooking involved, i.e. you save on gas or electricity costs. It's also low in saturated fat. The bonus: it takes less than 10 minutes. Year end closings are extremely busy for companies and I'm not spared from this hectic pace. When I'm extremely tired and don't feel like cooking, this is my go-to for a quick and easy moderately healthy meal. If you're also looking for ways to prepare dinner in a jiffy, I hope it helps you. 下次见!

[senbons]

This is my second question about #aibg . In some of the comments it was asked about the relationship between Shikamaru and Hiashi and how it ends. And you said he would have to turn her up or he has to kill her. Which one would you choose? How many years it continues? Because as every relationship it is really hard to continue with one person for that long time plus it is mentioned that she likes having more lovers.i imagine that is getting bored with them and she is the one in control and if he has to turn her up their relationship has to either progress which will lead to her asking him to get rid of Temari or I don't see how she will just decide to side with them, because of him.

Okay!!!! Number two!

So, like the last one, I definitely already tried to answer this in a prior ask (though rereading it I was so dead after this story, it is completely incoherent) and will hold to that answer.

Like I said before, I obviously don't know the answer to your question. I am still spitballing. And it might be one of those situations where I would try writing this and realize I couldn't make it realistic at all and scrap the whole thing.

But if you're asking which option I would choose, I think I'd have him turn her. You're 100% right that he was able to use her desire to have dominant sexual relationships with young men, so he would play to that until he couldn't or until it was no longer valuable. I think if thd relationship ended up continuing to be valuable to him, she would end up being too compromised for the relationship to just end.

And what I mean by that is I think in the end he would turn her... but I don't think it would be the way you're thinking. Like, she wouldn't purposefully work for Suna/Konoha (unlike the student protestors in your other ask) out of love or an amended moral conviction.... she wouldn't work for them until she was forced to. He would get information from her (minor things) and eventually more things. Like she'd take him to meetings and introduce him to people or use her connections to help him get a job or even just show him the work she is doing in her home. And he is feeding all that information to Suna/Konoha. And at some point, it has suddenly been years and she has been working for Suna/Konoha without even realizing it. Maybe he helps her secure funding through a shell company or something and she ends up having research products tied up in money to these enemy nations. Like, shit like that. So she ends up being essentially a spy for these countries without even knowing that she is. And then at some point they can come to her and show her proof she has been spying for them and say they will out her to her country and she will be convicted of treason unless she actually does work for them knowingly. I think those tactics happened all the time (from the books ive read idk). Does that make sense? So turn her, but not politically/morally. Just force her into a position of being a spy.

And I think maybe like two years after their affair begins, Suna/Konoha decide pursuing her in a serious way (i.e. having him continue the affair) is worthwhile, and that's when it eventually goes on so long that he would be forced to kill her or turn her. I think he'd try for the latter, but would be ready to actualize the former if necessary.

Does that make sense???? So it's not really that she is turning out of love for him. I don't mean that at all. I think her hands would just be tied because of his manipulation in her relationship with him.