When you say mediator, do you mean the ghost series
If so that's rad
Also rad if not, and what is it if not
Omg YES! The Mediator, by Meg Cabot! It's what my profile picture is from. Have you read it??
Meg Cabot was like my WHOLE thing from like, middle school to college? I was full on obsessed.
Here's some fun facts about me!
I literally identified my religion, when asked, as Jewish-Cabotian.
In my senior picture in my high school year book, I am holding up my copy of Haunted (Mediator #5).
When it was time to paint our parking spaces at school, I painted mine with the words "If you can read this, you can read Meg Cabot."
When an honors college I was applying to asked for an essay on "an author who changed your life," I wrote mine on Meg Cabot, to my father's chagrin. I ended up attending that college.
In high school English, we had to write a senior thesis on an author. My teacher, who was awesome, expressed some doubts as to Meg's literary merit as the subject of a thesis, but I argued that people would've said the same about Shakespeare in his time--his stuff was viewed as entertainment for the masses, not highbrow art, by his contemporaries. So essentially, give Meg a couple centuries.
My first fanfiction I wrote when I was a tween was on The Mediator. It is still on ffnet somewhere. I do not recommend it.
Thank you for the opportunity to share this part of my life!
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one of the things that's the most fucking frustrating for me about arguing with climate change deniers is the sheer fucking scope of how much it matters. sweating in my father's car, thinking about how it's the "hottest summer so far," every summer. and there's this deep, roiling rage that comes over me, every time.
the stakes are wrong, is the thing. that's part of what makes it not an actual debate: the other side isn't coming to the table with anything to fucking lose.
like okay. i am obviously pro gun control. but there is a basic human part of me that can understand and empathize with someone who says, "i'm worried that would lead to the law-abiding citizens being punished while criminals now essentially have a superpower." i don't agree, but i can tell the stakes for them are also very high.
but let's say the science is wrong and i'm wrong and the visible reality is wrong and every climate disaster refugee is wrong. let's say you're right, humans aren't causing it or it's not happening or whatever else. let's just say that, for fun.
so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars making the earth cleaner, and then it turns out we didn't need to do that. oops! we cleaned the earth. our children grow up with skies full of more butterflies and bees. lawns are taken over with rich local biodiversity. we don't cry over our electric bills anymore. and, if you're staunchly capitalist and i need to speak ROI with you - we've created so many jobs in developing sectors and we have exciting new investment opportunities.
i am reminded of kodak, and how they did not make "the switch" to digital photography; how within 20 years kodak was no longer a household brand. do we, as a nation, feel comfortable watching as the world makes "the switch" while we ride the laurels of oil? this boggles me. i have heard so much propaganda about how america cannot "fall behind" other countries, but in this crucial sector - the one that could actually influence our own monopolies - suddenly we turn the other cheek. but maybe you're right! maybe it will collapse like just another silicone valley dream. but isn't that the crux of capitalism? that some economies will peter out eventually?
but let's say you're right, and i'm wrong, and we stopped fracking for no good reason. that they re-seed quarries. that we tear down unused corporate-owned buildings or at least repurpose them for communities. that we make an effort, and that effort doesn't really help. what happens then? what are the stakes. what have we lost, and what have we gained?
sometimes we take our cars through a car wash and then later, it rains. "oh," we laugh to ourselves. we gripe about it over coffee with our coworkers. what a shame! but we are also aware: the car is cleaner. is that what you are worried about? that you'll make the effort but things will resolve naturally? that it will just be "a waste"?
and what i'm right. what if we're already seeing people lose their houses and their lives. what if it is happening everywhere, not just in coastal towns or equatorial countries you don't care about. what if i'm right and you're wrong but you're yelling and rich and powerful. so we ignore all of the bellwethers and all of the indicators and all of the sirens. what if we say - well, if it happens, it's fate.
nevermind. you wouldn't even wear a mask, anyway. i know what happens when you see disaster. you think the disaster will flinch if you just shout louder. that you can toss enough lives into the storm for the storm to recognize your sacrifice and balk. you argue because it feels good to stand up against "the liberals" even when the situation should not be political. you are busy crying for jesus with a bullhorn while i am trying to usher people into a shelter. you've already locked the doors, even on the church.
the stakes are skewed. you think this is some intellectual "debate" to win, some funny banter. you fuel up your huge unmuddied truck and say suck it to every citizen of that shitbird state california. serves them right for voting blue!
and the rest of us are terrified of the entire fucking environment collapsing.
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i think the able to work to unable to work spectrum is more of an actual spectrum than people like to realise. like, yeah, overall you do either fit into able to work and unable to work, and yes there's a privellege that comes with the former that definitely deserves acknowledgement, and there's unqiue ableism and discrimination faced by the latter.
however, ability to work itself is a spectrum. there's people who are completely able to work - there's no hinges or what ifs or anything like that. then there's people able to work, but it's environment-focused. they can only work from home, they can only work in quiet spaces, they can't work outside. then there's ability to work but it hinges on what the physical expectations are - they can work as long as there's no heavy lifting, they can only work sitting down, they can only work if there's no talking required.
and then there's also people able to work, yes, but it will completely change how their life and disabilities function. people who can work but if they do, they will need hours or days of rest between shifts, or they'll need a caretaker to see to every need due to exhaustion and flares from working.
i think while its important to talk about how disability affects those who cannot work, under any circumstance, i think the "able to work, technically" group also needs more advice-sharing, talking amongst the community and supports aimed towards them
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sometimes it pains me that people, whether they're bigots, allies, or sometimes even other trans people, will only ever see me as trans first, and anything else second
one of my biggest fears is people remembering me for being trans, and not for being an artist, a writer, or any of my other meaningful accomplishments
"He was very good at what he did—for a trans man."
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it’s just like. how many captain holt lines of dialogue live rent free in my head? how many scenes have made me get emotional & watch & rewatch & ponder over them? it was such a big deal to have an openly gay black male character whose gayness was never the butt of the joke on tv in the early 2000s. then rosa diaz was literally the first character I ever recall hearing say the words “I’m bisexual” on a popular network tv show & captain holt’s compassionate support of her was this thing that just was just simply not often a thing portrayed quite how it was on b99 on television in my experience at the time among multiple lgbt main characters. not only that but I don’t want to reduce raymond holt’s influence to his sexuality. he was funny in a unique, dead pan way that again just totally manages to cement itself in so many peoples consciousness. how many people can hear “BONE?” bellowed in disapproval in their heads? 😂 or picture the pineapple slut shirt? & how many people with complicated relationships with their dad latched onto the jake & holt found family dynamic that was just so beautifully written & acted? brooklyn has constantly been on in the background of my life because it’s one of those shows you can just watch endlessly & never get tired of. hundreds & hundreds of hours of my life have been spent chuckling at this show. & I’m just one sit com fan. we’re talking about one of the most influential sit coms of the modern age. I hope andre had some idea how much he meant to so so many people.
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